A Word Of Warning

[fric2626]

DATE & TIME : 4th of June. Early Evening
WEATHER CONDITIONS : Somewhat clear.
CHARACTERS INVOLVED : Curtis and Sven.
PREVIOUS THREADS ? Just after Deadlines
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Curtis walked along the forest floor with Silvia and Slity right beside him keeping an eye out. The hystarians wernt going to be playing nice when it came to the actual battle. From what he has learned about them, They arnt very merciful. Curtis counted through some of the un finished arrows that he held between his arm and his side. "Twenty two.. Twenty three." And he continued on until he finished them. "Fifty one arrow shafts we gotta finish off Slity." Slity responded with a small rumble as if complain. Curtis had been getting his stuff ready for this battle, He didn't want it to come to where he was unprepared for the inevitable. He looked down at the forest floor walking through getting closer to his home. He was surprised that the enemy didn't send anything like scout parties into the forest. Maybe they just wanted to head on attack the village and that was it? Was all they really wanted to just get rid of the people of Berk? It seemed odd to him that they would just come out of no where and get ready for a war with them.

Curtis looked at the two ice pillars that stood outside the entrance to his home. He walked past them and set the unfinished arrows onto a small round table outside. He began to get to work on them before he heard something behind him. He turned around to see who or what it was..

[Sven & Hermes]

Sven quickened his pace as he entered the village. He had one thing on his mind: Find Curtis. After his little moment that Luna had stirred in him, he was desperate to tell Curtis some advice, so that he would not suffer the same fate as he did.

Returning to the village, he looked around. All he could see were huge muscular Vikings. Though he had only met Curtis once, and a few glimpses of him from time to time when he visited Luna while he was tending to Hermes, his remembered what he looked like. Young, athletic,dark hair.

Suddenly a gust of wind with a flapping sound was made behind him. Turning round, his green eyes met a familiar figure. Hermes was supposed to be keeping an eye on the village, making sure no spies or anything were entering the village.

“Looks like you're a man on a mission? What's up with you?” She asked, smirking. Sven's expression remained serious.

“You're supposed to be keeping an eye on the lands around Berk. Did you hear that there's a boat heading to the port tonight?” Hermes gave a curt nod, staring at him. She wanted to know what was going on with him. Slumping his shoulders and sighing Sven decided to let it loose. “I suppose you haven't seen Curtis... have you?”

Hermes cocked her head. 'What a strange request', she thought. “Yes, I have seen him. He was heading into the forest not too long ago. He's got two white-looking dragons with him that might interest you.” Sven flapped a hand at her, before mounting her. She rolled her eyes before taking off. He really was acting weird recently.

Sven allowed Hermes to take him to the forest. He said nothing, but his mind was racing. What should he say? The first and last time he spoke to Curtis, was probably the most awkward moment of his life. He had no idea how Curtis felt about him after that, would he be understanding? Angry? No matter, the message had to be passed. But how to say it... he wasn't sure whether telling it bluntly was a good idea.

Before anything else, Hermes was already at the forest, and was about to land. Sven raised an eyebrow. Hermes was agile enough to fly through the forest, so why land? She answered as if she could read his mind, “We're going to have to walk from here, because I can't see through trees.” She continued to walk, not allowing him to dismount, because that would take time down.

For once, Hermes could make use of her sense of smell, though it probably wasn't as strong as other dragons who spent more time on the ground. There were no smells high up in the air after all. She quickly found fresh footprints, her keen eyesight working tenfold close up.

Sven kept a general lookout, and quickly he could see something strange in the distance... It looked like two columns of something white and blue. Clicking his tongue and patting the beast's neck below him, he pointed out the weird pillars, changing direction towards it like a moth to a lamp.

“Okay... Stop, stop stop!” Sven whispered, slipping off the black creature. Through the shadows of the trees, her bluish hues were not apparent, making her look as black as night, save for perhaps her eyes, a slightly deeper blue than the ice several metres away. “Stay here, I need to do this by myself.” Hermes complied, though followed Sven a little ways.

In front of the two looming pillars, it looked like it was some sort of gateway into a clearing, where there was a wooden house in the middle. Briefly distracted by the glacial fingers, running a hand over one. Returning his gaze to the clearing, he could see Curtis at a workbench, and two pearly white dragons, one bigger than the other. Now, if Sven wasn't distraught over war and loss, he would have paid more attention to those two dragons that had not yet been recorded in his booklet.

Sven marched right into the clearing without a second thought. Curtis' head turned, noticing the arrival. Hermes was at the entrance now, refusing to come any closer, but ready if this idea of Sven's goes horribly wrong.

“Curtis!” He called out, quickly in front of the younger teen. He ignored the evidence of fletching that had been going on. And so, it began.

“What the hell are you doing here? There is a war about to break out, and you're just going to leave your girlfriend up there by herself? I've just left her now to go see you, and she's really, really upset. And you're not even nearby to comfort her! What the hell is wrong with you?” He eyes flitted briefly to the workbench, before fixing on Curtis once more.

“If you wanted to do your preparing, you could at least work next to her or something! Who in their right mind stays as far away as possible from their lover at the brink of war!? The next few days might be the last chance you'll ever get to be with her, or vice versa!”

Sven's hands were trembling. He'd never lashed out like anyone like this for years... It wasn't in his nature to be aggressive, even though a part of him wanted to push Curtis around. The last time he was truly aggressive... was that day.

Sven bowed his head, his tone of voice shaking, but still the feeling of anger was shining like a beacon. His voice quietened. “You have no idea. You have no idea how important someone is to you until you lose them! What are you going to do if Luna dies out there? You'll going to regret spending your time here, rather than spending it out there with her!”

Finally, his eruption of emotion finally incapacitated him to speak, and he sort of stood there with his mouth opening and closing like a fish. He quickly stopped, but started at Curtis with his green eyes, hoping desperately that what he said would sink in, and that he would be clever and go to Luna's side. Sven shouldn't have been the one to take in Luna's hug. It should have been Curtis.

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Curtis was shocked at what sven had said and also abit mad. "Do you think that I wasn't going to talk to her before this entire thing had started?!" He screeched back at Sven. Who was he to think that he could come over here and yell at him?

Slity and Silvia's eyes grew abit wider and fixed them on Hermes. they quietly snuck over to her without having to draw attention to themselves not wanting to see what might happen next. They just sat there and watched. "What is going on here?" Slity turned his gaze from the humans over to the leaner black dragon. Silvia kinda just sat between the two and listened to the conversations.

Curtis Glared at Sven, he wasn't mad at him because of anything in the past he was just mad from the reason that Sven waltzed right in and started to scream at him about not being with Luna. Sven said that he had no idea how much you miss someone until they are turely gone. Was this something from his past experiences, Sven was of corse older then Curtis by at least four years from what he could see. Maybe he had someone that he loved and something happened to them. Maybe a family member or a friend, but it all stayed the same.

"I'm getting ready to protect the ones I care about Sven! If I didn't care about them I would of just left this place as soon as the hystarians had landed." He stopped for a moment and thought for a moment before continuing on. "Look, not like I don't want to see Luna and be there for here but so many things have been getting in my way."

Curtis' eyes were set and locked onto svens for a moment. It was as if he was in a state of mind where he was only focused on one thing. If you probably took an axe and whizzed it right by his head he wouldn't flinch or notice it. He just stood there still and quiet.

After a minute Curtis shook his head slightly seeming to come out of the state. He sighed and took a deep breath in and then exhaled it again. "Look Sven, obviously something has happened to you. Lost someone you loved and came here to tell me to keep Luna safe so I wont have to go through what you did." He leaned against the table. "Please, tell me who she was and what happened to her." He pointed to the seat beside the table allowing sven to come over and take a seat to tell his story.

[Sven & Hermes]

Sven's eyes narrowed as Curtis snapped back at him just as loud. He frowned and folded his arms while listening to Curtis' reasoning. The older man didn't buy any of it. All that Sven made of it was “Pfft.” There was a brief silence, and Curtis continued. Sven's expression grew irritable now.

“What kind of a bullshit excuse is that?!” He exclaimed. Though he somewhat agreed about not fleeing, as it was Sven's nature to protect people he cared about, he found Curtis' argument for not being at Luna's side when she needed it appalling. “If you really loved her, she should be your priority, with or without obstacle!” There was a deathly silence between the two, no further words exchanged, there appeared to be an ongoing psychological battle between the two as they stared at each other.

Meanwhile, Hermes was stood in between the two ice pillars. She just stared as well, dumbfounded and confused. Noticing the two White Fears pad along to her side, her vision was diverted to them. They looked a lot like Asther's Dragon, but white. The big one had blue eyes, much dark and deeper than her own, and the little one had dark violet eyes. The bigger one asked her what was going on. They appeared just as confused. Hermes made a sort of shrugging motion with her folded wings.

“Honestly? No idea. He's been acting all sorts of wrong ever since we first saw those stupid boats.” She briefly looked at the duo again, who were still locked in a psychological battle of some kind. “I don't think I'll ever understand humans.”

Curtis was the first to move, shaking his head slightly. But what he said next completely stalled Sven. He widened his eyes, not anticipating it. Had he been that obvious? In a somewhat kinder tone, Curtis invited him to sit down and recount what happened to get him all worked up like this.

Sven was still quite upset, and although he wasn't comfortable about telling what happened, he knew he had to to get his point across. Slumping his shoulders, he accepted the invitation, taking a seat. He gave a sigh, looking up at Curtis, resting his elbows on his knees.

“Her name was Kari.” He said quietly at first, as if he didn't really want to share the information. “I had already known her for a year already, and we were really close... So we both decided to enter a relationship... together. Another year passed, and we both knew that we were the one for each other... the love of our lives.” He gulped a little, looking once more at Curtis. His gaze then strayed to the three dragons in the background, who were watching them. All eyes were upon him.

“... And then she got sick. At first we thought it was just the flu, so no one paid mind to it... but it got worse. I was naïve. I thought the local healer would maker her better, he always made everyone better. It was only the last couple of days that I realised how serious it was. That was when I started regretting not spending all my time with her...”

His eyes were watery again, old memories resurfacing. It must've been clear as day to Curtis what happened. But he had to say it. He forced down a gulp. “She... She died, at dawn.” He remained silent for a moment, trying to compose himself, with no avail. “I beat the crap out the healer. He did nothing to help her... to ease her pain. If her parents hadn't come in... I probably would've killed him.” He stopped again, a wave of guilt washing over him.

“Do you want to know what she last said to me? She told me to be strong for her... At first I couldn't. No way. I was an emotional wreck for so long... Too long. It was only when I was walking on the hillside and I met Hermes... she distracted me from my pain, and my loss. Hermes taught me to be strong and brave. I became a Dragonologist for her... heh, I even named a dragon after her... Kari's Runner...”

Sven stood up, bleary eyed, he put a hand on Curtis' shoulder. “Promise me you'll stay as much as possible with Luna in these last few days. You have no idea how much pain it'll bring you if something happens.”

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Curtis looked at Sven and then lowered his head taking in what Sven was saying. Curtis wasnt sure how he would feel if he lost Luna. Of corse he would be devestated, He never wanted to loose the one person that he truley loved. After Sven was done he looked up and looked at the hand on his shoulder. He turned his gaze back to Sven and nodded to his statement. "I will.. Ill go to her now." He looked over at Slity and motioned with his head for him to come over to Curtis. He did so and Silvia ran off towards the house, she was gone inside the home not long after. Curtis patted Slity's head, "Im sorry for you Sven." He walked around Slity and hopped onto his back and looked at Sven again. "I truley am sorry for your loss." He pushed Slitys side and he bounced into the air.

Curtis looked around the forest as they drew closer to the Village. "I feel like such an ass.." He sighed before looking over at the village. "How could I just leave Luna there." A couple minutes later Slity circled the village afew times before going in to land on the road there. Slity hovered over the ground before landing onto the ground. Curtis slid off and looked around. "Stay behind me Slity." He started off looking for Luna. "She would be at the encampment. So ill go there." Curtis and slity made their way to the encampent. They passed some people and moved out of their way not wanting to be a pest of any kind.

Curtis and Slity came up to the encampment and looked around for Luna. They searched for a moment before Curtis spotted her. He walked over and tapped her shoulder. "Hey Luna." Curtis looked at her. "Im sorry for not spending time with you before this happened." He stood there and waited for a response from her.

[Luna Heiler & Ayer]

After Sven had left awhile ago, Luna's stress hadn't decreased. She was still terror-stricken from the realization that the hysterians- the feared people of her terrible secret homeland- were to land on the island this night. She Had been in hiding from them for years now. Luna had no idea what their intent was in coming to Berk- but if any of them recognized her, they wouldn't hesitate to kidnap her drag her back to the dreaded isle with them. Her worst nightmares were, quite literally, unfolding right before her very eyes.

The young dragon healer had been busying herself with preparatory work in attempt to distract herself from the personal wars entailed in this massive external war. She stopped for a moment and stared blankly into the distance. She wondered where Curtis was. She wished he were here. Simply his presence tended to calm her terror-stricken spirit. It always had.

She tried to shrug the Thoughts off. He was probably just as busy as she was. Her mind snapped back into conscienceless and her blinked her eyes and stared aimlessly for another moment before clenching her fists and taking a breath. She turned and paced over to the other side of the tent that she stood under. She looked out over the encampment. Everything was busting and hustling.

She wondered what the cause of this war was. War was such a petty thing. Such a brash, physical, overdone way to solve problems. It wasn't even a solution! It just made things worse! It killed people, ruined lives, destroyed work, wasted time, and caused more war. It was a vicious cycle of hatred and discord. War was never over because people refused to reason and fix the problem. Instead they wanted to try and make the other's surrender. Luna had been exposed to war since birth. It had been all around her for the girl's entire life. She had seen what war was capable of.

All this was barely enough of the ginger-haired creature to process. She closed her eyes and prayed to all the gods. Even the ones she didn't like she pleaded to them silently. Her lips moved, emitting no words, as she meditated. And again she began crying. Not a sound came from her mouth- the tears fell silently unaccompanied by whimpers amd moans.

Luna stood motionless until she heard a familiar voice and a hand on her shoulder. Curtis! She turned around and grabbed the hand that had touched her and pressed herself up against them gently. "oh Curtis..." is all she could manage to say to her lover as her tears began to soak into his shirt.

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Curtis wrapped his arms around Luna and hugged her. "Luna.. My so, so sorry I havnt spent time with you." He pulled himself back slightly and looked at Luna with his arms still wrapped around her. The embrace from Luna was un earthly. He just loved it so much even if she was crying. Curtis looked around the area for a second then returned his gaze back to Luna. "I'm sorry I havnt been able to get to you, I've been so busy preparing for this and I regret it so much."

Slity looked around the area, he walked off but not too far from Curtis. He just sniffed the air around him and examined the village from where he was. It was odd to a dragon to see these kinds of things happening. The dragons around Berk must of never seen somthing like this before, at least not recently. Mabye somthing in their past happened that they remember that might amount to an event such as this that is going to happen.

Curtis smiled at Luna. "If it wasn't for Sven I wouldn't of realized what me not seeing you would of been like." Curtis stopped for a Moment. "His story really opened my eyes." Curtis looked at Luna's expression, Sven must of not told Luna about it. "I'm not sure if I should really say the story or not but in simple terms it was this." Curtis went on an told the same story that Sven had told him.

After Curtis finished he looked at luna to see what her reaction might be. Slity walked back to them and just sat there.