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'.
Toothless was more befitting a dragon at least. But it was pretty clear that wherever the dragon and his 'friend' came from they weren't very good with naming their children. He didn't think about that much now as he finally stepped closer, holding his hand out for Toothless to smell or...whatever it is dragons did to try and tell whether they could trust the human approaching them.
"I didn't think so," he said with a slight frown. He really was the last Dragonlord even in a world he had never heard of before. Part of him hoped that Toothless would say yes just so he'd have someone to confide in with this 'Hiccup.' too much to ask for, clearly. "I only recently inherited this power from my ..." he sighed, "from my father. Communicating with dragons, that is. I've only spoken to one other before, but you're both rather stunning." enjoy that ego boost. He laughs, "At least you're not yelling at me about my destiny."
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.
"Hiccup is different from most humans," Toothless offered, and promptly preened at Merlin's ego-stroking. He stood a little straighter on all fours, puffing out his chest and fluffing his wings just slightly. "I've only recently learned that destiny isn't always everything." ...By which he meant, despite being a dragon and Hiccup being a Viking, thus the pair being destined to be at war for all eternity, being knocked out of the sky and rendered flightless was probably the best thing that had ever happened to Toothless. When you were an elusive, dangerous breed among your own kin, it's nice to be able to make friends with someone equally as strange.
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 an excited dragon on a crash-course for you. Hopefully he'll actually skid to a half before he plows right on into you. Again.
Hiccup came into view, rounding the corner of one of the cottages. He was looking the opposite direction first, taking a deep breath to call again
"Toothl----" Just as he was yelling, he turned his head, and suddenly his eyes widened up, getting a good look at the dragon now bounding towards him, getting ready to... OH GODS.
"AHH, wait, wait!" The boy quickly slipped the basket of fish off of his shoulders, dropping it, and dodging out of the collision course, hoping that would distract his overexcited buddy.
Merlin caught the look, and just stood there looking like the confused derp that he was while the dragon bounded off and headed for his friend. He could see the whole thing from there, and winced when they nearly collided. Wow, he was like a really big scaly dog at dinnertime. He found it hilarious, honestly.
Instead of waiting for Toothless to drag Hiccup over to him, he opted to head over that way, making himself known to the boy instead of just surprising him. "You must be--" He caught himself before he threw out information he clearly shouldn't know. He didn't want to blurt out anything about magic, or talking to dragons, that would seem odd. Even given Amalthea's word that magic wasn't forbidden or all too strange here, "--another person that got dragged here, huh?" Nice save, Merlin.
Really big scaly dog at dinnertime, indeed. Toothless did manage to skid to an excitable halt before he actually collided with Hiccup, but he promptly bounded around in circles and chittered at the boy. Hiccup, Hiccup there's a guy and he can talk to me come see-- by the way are those fish for me? He paused at Merlin's approach, and for a moment just balked at the wizard.
Seriously, Merlin? Did you actually just-- yes, yes you did. Thor, you and Hiccup will get along splendidly.
More importantly though, Hiccup! Toothless nudged the boy gently, still chattering in his odd sort of clicking speech. Merlin may have recognized that he was nattering on about the strange boy that he could talk to, and Hiccup maybe he could teach you, and--
...Yeah, scaly dog at dinnertime. Excitable, overly friendly and quite affectionate, scaly puppy at dinnertime.
Hiccup let out a relieved breath that he didn't realize he was holding. He raised an eyebrow in amusement as his big scaly hyperactive dragon practically pranced around him. He just followed him around with his gaze, not understanding anything more then he was a big, happy, excited dragon. The most obvious message was 'yaaaayyyy, fish!'
"Yeah, I hear ya." Hiccup reached over to untie the lid on Toothless's meal. "Here you, go!" The last word was more of a grunt as Hiccup was pushing over the heavy basket with his boot at the same time, spilling fish out so Toothless could get them.
As soon as he was done with that though, he realized that someone else was there, talking to him. He blinked, looking up at Merlin... Huh.
"Yeah, I am." Hiccup said as he wiped his palms on his shirt, since they were still a little covered in fishy slime. "You too, huh?"
He smiled. "We haven't met before, right? My name's Hiccup."
Merlin couldn't help but laugh both mentally and outwardly when Toothless got so excited. He tried to imagine the great dragon from home acting like that. Which only resulting in him laughing more. Hi, I'm Merlin and I must look insane. He made sure to compose himself by the time Hiccup noticed him though.
He offered a friendly smile, and he would have offered to shake the boy's hand but the last thing he needed was fish guts all over him. "I just arrived actually."
The young warlock nodded his greeting instead, "No, we haven't. My name is Merlin. It's nice to meet you, Hiccup." and I'm sorry you were given that name.
He turned toward Toothless now, "A good friend of yours from home?" as if he didn't know already. But he wanted to hear how Hiccup would say it.
Toothless gleed in place when Hiccup knocked the basket of fish over, diving at them and swallowing a few of the vertebrates whole before remembering he had other things to be excited over. (He and Hiccup both shared having the attention span of a sparrow, it seemed.) He paused over his fish, swallowing another before sitting back on his haunches and considering the wizard and the viking.
He let the two of them talk, bemused, slowly going back to paying attention to his fish. He could natter more at Hiccup over the fact that Merlin could talk to him when he was done eating. For now, the boys could talk amongst themselves while Toothless chowed the hell down.
Hiccup nodded back. He was sorry for it too, sometimes.
... And then Merlin wasn't addressing him anymore. He was looking at Toothless and talking. Hiccup quickly looked between the two in slight confusion.
"You've already met Toothless?" He said, definitely sounding perplexed. Ever since he arrived here, he had been struggling to keep the dragon a secret to most people, and yet, every time Toothless met someone, he was making way more friends then he was making enemies. When your dragon beats you in friend count.... No, he aactually wasn't going to entertain that thought.
Merlin snapped his head back toward the boy. "Uh...yes! Just a few minutes ago, actually. It's not hard to tell you're friends with the way you're acting." Easy, Merlin. Why do you have to be so bad at lying? He totally wasn't talking to a hyperactive dragon and he totally couldn't understand what he was saying. What are you talking about that's madness.
"It's nice to meet you both, you don't often see dragons ever interacting with humans like they're friends. Not where I come from anyway."
Oh, Hiccup, if only Toothless could understand your thought processes, he may have cuffed you for that one. You silly adorable social derp, you.
In the meantime, Merlin he is giving you what is quite possibly the most comically are you kidding me look one has ever seen on the face of a dragon. Or any reptile, truth be told. Because, honestly. Are you kidding me. I was excited that you could talk to me, and now you're passing it off with silly, easily-seen-through lies! What in the name of Thor's beard is wrong with you, boy.
With a grunt, pointed directly at Merlin in the form of "Tell him", Toothless bumped the flat part of his head against Hiccup's back once he had finished wolfing down his basket of fish. Thank you, as always, for the delicious fish that you so graciously provide me with, dear Viking, by the way this guy can talk to me and it's really cool. Also feel free to pet me, I haven't seen you all morning and that is terrible.
Toothless was more befitting a dragon at least. But it was pretty clear that wherever the dragon and his 'friend' came from they weren't very good with naming their children. He didn't think about that much now as he finally stepped closer, holding his hand out for Toothless to smell or...whatever it is dragons did to try and tell whether they could trust the human approaching them.
"I didn't think so," he said with a slight frown. He really was the last Dragonlord even in a world he had never heard of before. Part of him hoped that Toothless would say yes just so he'd have someone to confide in with this 'Hiccup.' too much to ask for, clearly. "I only recently inherited this power from my ..." he sighed, "from my father. Communicating with dragons, that is. I've only spoken to one other before, but you're both rather stunning." enjoy that ego boost. He laughs, "At least you're not yelling at me about my destiny."
Reply
"Hiccup is different from most humans," Toothless offered, and promptly preened at Merlin's ego-stroking. He stood a little straighter on all fours, puffing out his chest and fluffing his wings just slightly. "I've only recently learned that destiny isn't always everything." ...By which he meant, despite being a dragon and Hiccup being a Viking, thus the pair being destined to be at war for all eternity, being knocked out of the sky and rendered flightless was probably the best thing that had ever happened to Toothless. When you were an elusive, dangerous breed among your own kin, it's nice to be able to make friends with someone equally as strange.
Reply
"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."
Reply
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.
Reply
"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.
Reply
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?
Reply
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 an excited dragon on a crash-course for you. Hopefully he'll actually skid to a half before he plows right on into you. Again.
Reply
"Toothl----" Just as he was yelling, he turned his head, and suddenly his eyes widened up, getting a good look at the dragon now bounding towards him, getting ready to... OH GODS.
"AHH, wait, wait!" The boy quickly slipped the basket of fish off of his shoulders, dropping it, and dodging out of the collision course, hoping that would distract his overexcited buddy.
Reply
Instead of waiting for Toothless to drag Hiccup over to him, he opted to head over that way, making himself known to the boy instead of just surprising him. "You must be--" He caught himself before he threw out information he clearly shouldn't know. He didn't want to blurt out anything about magic, or talking to dragons, that would seem odd. Even given Amalthea's word that magic wasn't forbidden or all too strange here, "--another person that got dragged here, huh?" Nice save, Merlin.
Reply
Seriously, Merlin? Did you actually just-- yes, yes you did. Thor, you and Hiccup will get along splendidly.
More importantly though, Hiccup! Toothless nudged the boy gently, still chattering in his odd sort of clicking speech. Merlin may have recognized that he was nattering on about the strange boy that he could talk to, and Hiccup maybe he could teach you, and--
...Yeah, scaly dog at dinnertime. Excitable, overly friendly and quite affectionate, scaly puppy at dinnertime.
Reply
"Yeah, I hear ya." Hiccup reached over to untie the lid on Toothless's meal. "Here you, go!" The last word was more of a grunt as Hiccup was pushing over the heavy basket with his boot at the same time, spilling fish out so Toothless could get them.
As soon as he was done with that though, he realized that someone else was there, talking to him. He blinked, looking up at Merlin... Huh.
"Yeah, I am." Hiccup said as he wiped his palms on his shirt, since they were still a little covered in fishy slime. "You too, huh?"
He smiled. "We haven't met before, right? My name's Hiccup."
Reply
He offered a friendly smile, and he would have offered to shake the boy's hand but the last thing he needed was fish guts all over him. "I just arrived actually."
The young warlock nodded his greeting instead, "No, we haven't. My name is Merlin. It's nice to meet you, Hiccup." and I'm sorry you were given that name.
He turned toward Toothless now, "A good friend of yours from home?" as if he didn't know already. But he wanted to hear how Hiccup would say it.
Reply
He let the two of them talk, bemused, slowly going back to paying attention to his fish. He could natter more at Hiccup over the fact that Merlin could talk to him when he was done eating. For now, the boys could talk amongst themselves while Toothless chowed the hell down.
Reply
... And then Merlin wasn't addressing him anymore. He was looking at Toothless and talking. Hiccup quickly looked between the two in slight confusion.
"You've already met Toothless?" He said, definitely sounding perplexed. Ever since he arrived here, he had been struggling to keep the dragon a secret to most people, and yet, every time Toothless met someone, he was making way more friends then he was making enemies. When your dragon beats you in friend count.... No, he aactually wasn't going to entertain that thought.
Reply
"It's nice to meet you both, you don't often see dragons ever interacting with humans like they're friends. Not where I come from anyway."
Reply
In the meantime, Merlin he is giving you what is quite possibly the most comically are you kidding me look one has ever seen on the face of a dragon. Or any reptile, truth be told. Because, honestly. Are you kidding me. I was excited that you could talk to me, and now you're passing it off with silly, easily-seen-through lies! What in the name of Thor's beard is wrong with you, boy.
With a grunt, pointed directly at Merlin in the form of "Tell him", Toothless bumped the flat part of his head against Hiccup's back once he had finished wolfing down his basket of fish. Thank you, as always, for the delicious fish that you so graciously provide me with, dear Viking, by the way this guy can talk to me and it's really cool. Also feel free to pet me, I haven't seen you all morning and that is terrible.
Reply
Leave a comment