With the stark lack of adventure and danger in Somarium, and stark lack of other dragons period, Toothless had found himself with a lot of free time on his hands. ...Claws. With this free time of his, the Night Fury had taken to trying to fly on his own again-- he knew the attempts were largely futile, he wasn't a stupid beast by any stretch of the imagination, but when flight once came naturally to you, it's to be expected that you would continue to try until you can try no more.
And so, with a great number of flailing leaps and irritated yowls as he plummeted back toward the earth, Toothless had begun to regularly make quite a show of hurling himself into the air only to skid into the dirt again some scant seconds later. Quite a few times, he would get so frustrated with his own inability (even if he had figured out that the loss of his tailfin was Hiccup's fault, he could never blame the boy) that he would spat fire at the earth, as though condemning it for rising to meet him so prematurely. He was a dragon, he was meant to fly
( ... )
So far Merlin had only met one magical creature here, that being the unicorn Amalthea. And since she had left him to his own devices, the young warlock was still meandering around aimlessly. He had yet to find the dreamberry in his pocket, so there was nothing to play with and awe over until later. The village seemed more or less like every other village he had been in
( ... )
Oblivious at first to Merlin, Toothless froze in place when spoken to. He swiveled, moving slowly, and looking about the area for another dragon, only to find... Merlin. Who wasn't a terribly unusual sight to Toothless, really-- he had a lot in common with Hiccup. Small-ish, unsuspecting, similar style of dress. The red was a nice touch. He didn't verymuch look like a Viking, but then again, Hiccup didn't really look much like a Viking, either.
...But that wasn't the point.
To anyone else in the area, Toothless returned a sort of inquisitive gurgling sound to Merlin's speech. To Merlin, it sounded exactly like the dragon were asking "Are you speaking to me?". Somarium had shown the Night Fury some unusual things, namely the Dreamberry still tucked under his saddle and people like Cid Highwind, but never in a million years had the dragon expected to discover a human capable of communicating with him.
Well, communicating with him more than the guesswork he and Hiccup shared.
Merlin was still in a somewhat defensive stance, knowing only from his experience with Kilgharrah that dragons could be rather aggressive. Dragonlord or not, they were very intimidating creatures and he didn't know anything about this one. When he got an answer though, Merlin's stance relaxed a bit as if trying to show that he didn't mean any harm to Toothless. He really didn't, he was just overly curious.
"Yes, I'm talking to you. Unless there are other dragons here?" he glanced around as if they would just appear out of nowhere. "My name is Merlin."
Still thunderstruck, Toothless ambled around until his entire body faced Merlin. His eyes narrowed briefly, scrutinizing the wizard, until he finally eased himself into a seated position and let his ears perk curiously to listen. It would take a long while before he would get used to actually talking to a human. He stayed seated as such, sort of mirroring Merlin's pointed lack of harm intended and flicking an earfin.
"I don't think so," Toothless offered, joining Merlin in glancing around for other dragons. "My boy calls me Toothless."
Yeah this was probably still really weird to anyone happening by, as Toothless was mostly making odd little clicking sounds.
Merlin eventually took a few steps forward, easing himself closer to the dragon as they spoke to each other. Surely to an outsider this might have looked strange, but it would have been worse if Merlin was actually talking aloud in that odd dragon tongue.
"You don't know Kilgharrah then do you?" so the great dragon wasn't in Somarium? Why was he not surprised? He shook his head as if to answer his own question. "Your boy? So you have an owner?" He didn't ever hear of that either. Maybe this kid was a Dragonlord, too? How weird would that be.
Wary, Toothless leaned away just slightly from Merlin's approach. He was by far much better about handling humans than he was prior to his arrival in Somarium, but he was still a tamed wild animal.
...Very tamed, but that was beside the point.
From the way Toothless garbled the pronunciation of Kilgharrah's name to echo it curiously, Merlin could likely assume that no, he didn't know of the dragon. "The name isn't familiar," he said-- which was still a strange thing. When had humans gained the ability to speak to dragons? And why in Thor's name had Hiccup not learned this yet? At Merlin's mention of Hiccup being his owner, Toothless made an interesting sort of guttural sound, not unlike a laugh. He shook his head, briefly. "Hiccup is not my owner, he's my friend."
When Toothless backed off, Merlin halted his approach, not wanting to scare the dragon off. If he wanted to, of course, he could just command him to stay and speak with him, but Merlin didn't like doing that.
He had to stifle a laugh at the dragon's attempt to pronounce Kilgharrah's name, shaking his head again to try and dismiss the topic. Well that answered that question. He would have figured as much, since he assumed Kilgharrah would have been able to hear him if he were here, too. Anyway,
"Your friend?" his friend's name was Hiccup? Not going to comment on that. "Is he here? Can he talk to you like I am now?"
Toothless appreciated Merlin's halt, and settled back into a comfortable seated position. He would be somewhat more okay with Merlin getting closer, now, which was vaguely counterproductive but hey, it helped to know a person would stop advancing if you looked uncomfortable about it. He liked it when humans were accommodating of that sort of thing. Though he was far too intrigued to have even thought of leaving in the first place.
...Yes, his friend's name was Hiccup. And his friend named him Toothless. Vikings weren't very good at names, it seemed. Toothless sort of frowned, pawing the earth beneath him almost awkwardly. "Here, yes. But I can't talk to him." It was really very frustrating, playing a constant game of charades. Hiccup most often got what Toothless was trying to say anyway, but it still would have been much easier if this... strange sort of non-speaking conversation like he and Merlin were having was a possibility.
Merlin stayed where he was for a few minutes longer, still not entirely sure if he should try that approach again so soon. Amalthea had been a bit more welcoming, but he couldn't assume the same for all the other magical creatures here in this 'Somarium
( ... )
It was funny, Toothless realized, how almost all humans reacted that way, regardless of their upbringing or place of birth. If they actively wanted Toothless to trust them, they came at him slowly, quietly, and oft times with one or both hands outstretched toward his snout. Given it was a gesture he was quite used to by now, Toothless trilled without actually speaking, condoning the gesture. He kept his eyes open, watching Merlin carefully, but in an open enough stance to let the boy know his approach was allowed
( ... )
That wasn't something he expected to hear from any magical creature, let alone another dragon. All he had been told was that it was his destiny to protect Camelot and Arthur, to become some great sorcerer. So it was odd to hear that destiny, in fact, was not always everything. That was true in some sense. What he did with his magic mattered, what was in his heart and what he believed mattered. He just never thought about it so deeply before.
"How is he different?" he asked with a hint of genuine curiosity as he set his hand atop Toothless' nose when he could reach it and pet there gently. The great dragon would have kicked his head in if he tried that. Not that he ever would. "It's nice to see that regular people and dragons get along enough to be called friends. I wouldn't have thought that back in Camelot."
Sort of like how it was supposedly destiny for Vikings to kill dragons and dragons to raid Vikings to feed their Queen Bee for the rest of ever? Yeeeah that sounds familiar. Hence why destiny needs to be thrown out the window or removed by a tree from time to time. So we're glad to give you a little bit of insight. Make you think. Because grumpy old dragons that do nothing but spew nonsense about destiny and how you should live your life sound like no fun at all.
Toothless had to think on the question for a moment. How was Hiccup different? An easier question to answer may have been "how is Hiccup the same?". He grunted again, in that funny sort of laugh-like way he did. "He thinks with his head, not his fists," the dragon stated, his tone obviously fond. To the latter half of Merlin's statement, however, he shook his head and pawed the earth again. "Not always," he added, recoiling his snout from Merlin's hand if the wizard hadn't already removed it.
... Watch out, because Toothless may detect a slight delicious aroma wafting through the air.
"Toothless!" Hiccup was calling out and walking around the village. The dragon usually stuck around that area. On his back, he was carrying a huge basket, filled with fish. They had gotten back into the daily ritual of Hiccup offering Toothless meals on a daily basis. It was SO much easier when he knew exactly where Toothless was, but now Toothless was free to go wherever he wanted, so he actually had to go out and find him.
He might not be within sight yet, but he's definitely within earshot.
That reasoning explained a lot. Whoever this Hiccup was he sounded like a good person, likely someone Merlin would enjoy meeting. "Sounds like the opposite of someone I know." he was teasing about Arthur, but even with that he knew the prince thought with his head, or with his heart over his fists or his sword. He nodded, "I didn't think so, but it's better than nothing right--"
If Merlin hadn't already stepped back, then he was doing so as soon as he heard someone calling for Toothless. He looked in the general direction of the approaching boy, unable to see him at the time, then back to the dragon. "Is that him? Your friend?" Should he go?
Toothless' ears perked just before Merlin looked off toward the sound of Hiccup's voice, and he sniffed at the air. It was about the time of day that Hiccup sought him out with that delightful basket of fish he had gotten into the habit of presenting the dragon with-- which was to say, Toothless' favorite time of day. He trilled in a pleased fashion and glanced at Merlin, then toward the sound of the approaching Viking, and whuffed softly with a nod. Yes, that was Hiccup.
He turned a rather meaningful look on Merlin, wordlessly asking him to stay where he was. He seemed like the type of person Hiccup might enjoy, and maybe he could teach the Viking how to do that magical talking thing he did. Once he was done fixing the wizard with a stay face, he bounded off in the direction of his boy.
Once he got there, he fully intended to drag Hiccup back to where he'd found Merlin, and introduce the two, as it were. Whether or not he ate some of the fish in Hiccup's basket first would be decided when he got there. Watch it, Hiccup, there's
( ... )
And so, with a great number of flailing leaps and irritated yowls as he plummeted back toward the earth, Toothless had begun to regularly make quite a show of hurling himself into the air only to skid into the dirt again some scant seconds later. Quite a few times, he would get so frustrated with his own inability (even if he had figured out that the loss of his tailfin was Hiccup's fault, he could never blame the boy) that he would spat fire at the earth, as though condemning it for rising to meet him so prematurely. He was a dragon, he was meant to fly ( ... )
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...But that wasn't the point.
To anyone else in the area, Toothless returned a sort of inquisitive gurgling sound to Merlin's speech. To Merlin, it sounded exactly like the dragon were asking "Are you speaking to me?". Somarium had shown the Night Fury some unusual things, namely the Dreamberry still tucked under his saddle and people like Cid Highwind, but never in a million years had the dragon expected to discover a human capable of communicating with him.
Well, communicating with him more than the guesswork he and Hiccup shared.
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"Yes, I'm talking to you. Unless there are other dragons here?" he glanced around as if they would just appear out of nowhere. "My name is Merlin."
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"I don't think so," Toothless offered, joining Merlin in glancing around for other dragons. "My boy calls me Toothless."
Yeah this was probably still really weird to anyone happening by, as Toothless was mostly making odd little clicking sounds.
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"You don't know Kilgharrah then do you?" so the great dragon wasn't in Somarium? Why was he not surprised? He shook his head as if to answer his own question. "Your boy? So you have an owner?" He didn't ever hear of that either. Maybe this kid was a Dragonlord, too? How weird would that be.
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...Very tamed, but that was beside the point.
From the way Toothless garbled the pronunciation of Kilgharrah's name to echo it curiously, Merlin could likely assume that no, he didn't know of the dragon. "The name isn't familiar," he said-- which was still a strange thing. When had humans gained the ability to speak to dragons? And why in Thor's name had Hiccup not learned this yet? At Merlin's mention of Hiccup being his owner, Toothless made an interesting sort of guttural sound, not unlike a laugh. He shook his head, briefly. "Hiccup is not my owner, he's my friend."
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He had to stifle a laugh at the dragon's attempt to pronounce Kilgharrah's name, shaking his head again to try and dismiss the topic. Well that answered that question. He would have figured as much, since he assumed Kilgharrah would have been able to hear him if he were here, too. Anyway,
"Your friend?" his friend's name was Hiccup? Not going to comment on that. "Is he here? Can he talk to you like I am now?"
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...Yes, his friend's name was Hiccup. And his friend named him Toothless. Vikings weren't very good at names, it seemed. Toothless sort of frowned, pawing the earth beneath him almost awkwardly. "Here, yes. But I can't talk to him." It was really very frustrating, playing a constant game of charades. Hiccup most often got what Toothless was trying to say anyway, but it still would have been much easier if this... strange sort of non-speaking conversation like he and Merlin were having was a possibility.
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"How is he different?" he asked with a hint of genuine curiosity as he set his hand atop Toothless' nose when he could reach it and pet there gently. The great dragon would have kicked his head in if he tried that. Not that he ever would. "It's nice to see that regular people and dragons get along enough to be called friends. I wouldn't have thought that back in Camelot."
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Toothless had to think on the question for a moment. How was Hiccup different? An easier question to answer may have been "how is Hiccup the same?". He grunted again, in that funny sort of laugh-like way he did. "He thinks with his head, not his fists," the dragon stated, his tone obviously fond. To the latter half of Merlin's statement, however, he shook his head and pawed the earth again. "Not always," he added, recoiling his snout from Merlin's hand if the wizard hadn't already removed it.
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"Toothless!" Hiccup was calling out and walking around the village. The dragon usually stuck around that area. On his back, he was carrying a huge basket, filled with fish. They had gotten back into the daily ritual of Hiccup offering Toothless meals on a daily basis. It was SO much easier when he knew exactly where Toothless was, but now Toothless was free to go wherever he wanted, so he actually had to go out and find him.
He might not be within sight yet, but he's definitely within earshot.
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If Merlin hadn't already stepped back, then he was doing so as soon as he heard someone calling for Toothless. He looked in the general direction of the approaching boy, unable to see him at the time, then back to the dragon. "Is that him? Your friend?" Should he go?
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He turned a rather meaningful look on Merlin, wordlessly asking him to stay where he was. He seemed like the type of person Hiccup might enjoy, and maybe he could teach the Viking how to do that magical talking thing he did. Once he was done fixing the wizard with a stay face, he bounded off in the direction of his boy.
Once he got there, he fully intended to drag Hiccup back to where he'd found Merlin, and introduce the two, as it were. Whether or not he ate some of the fish in Hiccup's basket first would be decided when he got there. Watch it, Hiccup, there's ( ... )
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