First sign of Trouble [Asther & Sven]

[Sven & Hermes]

DATE & TIME: May 29th, Late Morning
CHARACTERS INVOLVED: Asther&Puff, Sven&Hermes
PREVIOUS THREADS? N/A


Hermes, now fully recovered from her misadventures, was itching to ride the airs once more, after so long being grounded. Sven couldn't agree more.

As Hermes was snoozing in the sun, the dragonologist sneaked up to the dragon and tackled her - at the same time strapping on the saddle. Hermes jumped up in fright, desperate to fend off the attacker - but turned immediately giddy upon realising the saddle had been placed upon her back. Sven had to hold on for his dear life as Hermes began to prance around the clearing excitedly, Sven swinging from her backside like a rag doll. She slowed down soon enough, and once he was ready and well positioned, she took off into the patchy sky.

Hermes decided to fly far away from the island, from which she had been tethered for too long. Sven said nothing - Hermes deserved this. They had flown so far that land could be seen in the distance.

"That must be Hysteria!" Sven announced, remembering a map he had seen. He knew the Berk Vikings and the Hysterians were mortal enemies. Whilst he was busy looking at the island, Hermes' attention was elsewhere.

"Hey, Sven, what's this?" She motioned below her. Leaning sideways so that the human could see, dotted in the iron sea was a fleet of boats with red and white striped sails. And they were heading straight to Berk. Sven scribbled details of the ships and their visible cargo."Those aren't Hooligan ships."

"Let's investigate." Sven said. Hermes lowered her altitude. Unfortunately no one had told these outsiders that the Hysterians were strictly anti-dragon. As soon as the Hysterians had seen them, a volley spears were fired in their direction. Hermes avoided them easily, but they both knew that wasn't a good sign, especially with Berk so close.

Hermes darted to the land of Berk. "We need to talk to the chief!" Sven cried over the whistling winds. They arrived quicker than they had left, and Hermes deposited Sven in front of the long house where the Chief Asther supposedly resided.

"I think you should stay with me, to show that I'm friends with dragons, thus with them." Sven advised. Hermes grunted in approval, staying close to his side. He had no idea how the Leader of Berk would react to an outsider. Two vikings guarded the doorway.

"No entry for outsiders." One said gruffly.
"This is urgent. I think this island is going to be invaded!" Sven insisted. One viking looked to the other. They shrugged, and let him past, dragon included.

At the sight of Asther, both Sven and Hermes bowed in respect, following rules of conduct and awaiting permission to speak. He was still familiarising himself to Viking culture, but it was best to be respectful of someone who commands over the entire village.

[ABYSS]

Asther had awoken that morning with a sense of foreboding. It wasn’t as though it hung in the air like a rank stench from the carrion of a rotting carcas baked in the sun, but it was something Asther could feel in her gut. The feeling wasn’t pleasant, and as soon as she jumped from her hammock of a bed, Puff picked his head up to look at her, his large, blue-green eyes looking at her curiously. It was as though the dragon had an ever-present sense of when something was not well for his Viking. She pulled her deerskin blanket off from around her shoulders and dropped it in her bed. Although it was summertime, nothing prevented the winds from the sea to brushing over the village in a cold sweep in the middle of the night.

Sighing and shaking her head, Asther told herself not to be stupid. There had been no ill reports to her from those that had gone out on flies over the island, and everything seemed to be fairly normal besides a surprising amount of outsiders that seemed to have taken up spots of residence around the very outskits of the village lands, just across the ‘border’ that Berk had claimed for itself. She saw no problem with them, other than the surprising number that had sprung up lately. Truly, if it were up to her and not set in stone that outsiders were to be mistrusted without good reason, she would give them all a chance to prove themselves worthy. Needless to say it would be close to a difficult task, but it was better than believing that no outsider had a good intention, right?

She knew this was a fact because of the one instance where Puff had been healed by an outsider – a young girl at the time – after eating some fish that Asther had told him was questionable. She rolled her eyes at the memory, glancing at her black dragon with a small smirk. He tilted his head to the side and sat up straighter, with his ear flaps perked up slightly. She could tell he was wondering what she was thinking, especially since it seemed to have amused her after waking up with a strange feeling.

Asther shook her head and brushed her hand against his ebony scales, walking forward to the more ‘living’ area of her hut, through the animal skin flap that separated her bedroom from the rest of it. Puff followed quietly, walking forward to do his own thing in the room when Asther paused to look around as though she were expecting something to have changed overnight. However...there was something. She could see silhouettes moving – more than the usual two guards that had taken up positions overnight by her house since the strange happenings all over the land and sea had begun.

She tilted her head to the side, straining to attempt to hear them. She only caught a few muffled words. Of course having a door or a wall in your way didn’t help, but for Asther it only made the situation worse. The door opened suddenly and let in an unfamiliar person, alongside a dragon Asther had only glimpsed perhaps once during her years. The village leader blinked in surprise, finding it too soon after she had awoken to completely mask any expression on her face.

Based on their appearance and how unfamiliar she found them, she determined they were outsiders. Despite her belief that not all outsiders were completely against vikings and their ways, she was a bit suspicious. What had they said to convince the guards to let them in? That much kept her curious, pushing away the suspicion that ran through her stomach. Puff was at her side within seconds of their arrival, his blue eyes narrowed, and his nostrils flared. He was ‘investigating’ them so to speak, but Asther couldn’t help noticing a nearly smitten look that threatened to overcome his eyes as he looked at the other dragon.

....really, Puff...? she asked him silently, preventing a small, amused smirk from spreading across her face. Though it wasn’t completely outside of his nature, Asther had rarely seen Puff become interested in another dragon at first sight. In fact, the last instance she could recall was a few months ago.

Swallowing to clear her throat, she decided it best to handle the situation in a calm manner unless it was shown that other means were required.

”Stand....both of you...” she told them quietly, the air of authority coming from her words. ”Why are you here?”

[Sven & Hermes]

Regaining their position, Sven made sure that he looked like he knew what he was doing. He straightened his posture, as if he was about to impart some important news. Well, in a sense, he did.

"Me and my dragon, Hermes, were flying over the sea between The Isle of Berk and Hysteria Land." Sven started, his eyes darting every so often from Asther to the Night Fury by her side. Now was not a time for note-taking. "We spotted a fleet of longboats heading towards this island, not bearing any markings related to this village. I have suspiscion that they are going to attack the village. Whilst investigating we were attacked." The blonde man explained. He hoped he would be trusted enough to be heard out.

Drawing his infamous notebook from his jacket, he flicked it open to a page. There were brief sketches and lots of numbers from the brief encounter. He had roughly studied the fleet, with the help of Hermes' keen eye of course, and noted down all visible threats. Scrawled across the page were vague sketches of trebuchets, weapons, shields and all sorts. Sven dutifully presented it to the Leader of the Hairy Hooligans.

"I think this might be of some help, it's some information we managed to gather from the encounter."

In the background, Hermes eyed the conversation, keeping quiet, nodding in confirmation at the right parts. She was also observing Puff interestedly. She noted certain similarities in physique - rather large wings, a 'rudder' just after the rump and a large tail piece. Despite this, the Night Fury's scales were standard, not loose and sharp like Hermes'. The dragon was also a lot smaller, with a stronger build, short legs and a flat but rounded head. She wondered if they were perhaps of a similar family, but she would probably have to inquire with her little dragonologist later.

[ABYSS]

They moved swiftly as she'd commanded. Truly she didn't think bowing to her was necessary. It seemed like a finer art than the lifestyle of a Berk Viking would allow. However, it was a tradition that had been practiced for generations, and that was unlikely to change. The only being that knew of her few complaints about the formality was Puff. She moved her hand lightly against Puff's broad head, scratching the ridges of his scales just above his eyes. She felt him shudder with a silent sigh beneath her fingertips and she knew he was appreciative of her actions. Raising her eyes, she watched the young man's lips move as he spoke, silently repeating the words within her mind, reading his words as well as hearing them (albeit faintly).

Her eyes narrowed seriously with his report. Longboats? A fleet of them? No markings related to Berk. Suspicions for attack? Given the location in which they were first spotted, it would only be natural for one to assume that Hysteria was headed for their shores, ready to attack for whatever reason. What had called for this breach of enemy village etiquette? At least give reason for your attack, why don't you? Asther mused silently, unimpressed by the Rash actions of Hysteria's vikings. The reason would hopefully be deciphered soon enough, but until then Asther knew she had to seriously consider this outsiders words. Her gut instinct shouted at her not to trust him - he was an outsider. However, memory of her father's words overtook her.

'Trust your heart and not your ears.'

After a moment of silence, she walked forward slowly, holding her hand out somewhat, silently asking to see the book he held within his hands. "Tell me more about what you saw, explaining the drawings as I get a better view of them?" her words were short, but they were not displeased. Her tone was more severe than she intended, simply because of the numerous thoughts forcing their way through her brain than anything, not displeasure with his appearance.

[Sven & Hermes]

Sven allowed Asther to take the booklet. He was a little uncomfortable about giving out his work, though; the notebook contained all his dragon information he had collected over the years. He had rarely let his book into the hands of others. But that wasn't important right now.

As Asther skimmed through the pages, he began to explain the documented information. The fleet was about 20 strong, each full of around 50 men each, except for two or three, which were loaded with lots of weaponry and war devices. This was where Hermes' keen eyesight had intervened, telling of many catapult and ballista-like mechanisms on board. He pointed out to Asther what everything he had drawn and written meant.

After this, he mouth pulled a little at the sides in a frown. Sven really hoped that Asther would believe all that they had said. He ran the incident through his head like a video reel. There were no other islands in sight that they could've been heading to, and they were definitely too far out for a mass fishing trip with ranged weaponry. Most of all, they were attacked by said fleet, and so they obviously weren't welcome at looking what they were doing.

Sven couldn't decide whether Asther's tone of voice was because of the serious topic, or whether she felt he was wasting her time. He hesitated to say something, feeling it to be slightly impolite of him; but alas, something had to be done. He had no idea what the Hysterians were up to, and it was up to the Village's Leader, Asther, to make the final say. He decided to speak, anyway:

"What do you think? Are we going to stop them or something? Defenses?" Sven, coming from a culture that rarely participated in battles or wars, had completely forgotten to mention the factor that ultimately defines Vikings: War.