For Imperial_Saga

[dragon_trainer]

-1-

[There's a blacksmith shop set up, full of tools arranged haphazardly on heavy wooden tables. An open fire pit in the middle of the shop makes the space within uncomfortably warm.]

"This? Yes, I think I could repair it. Not completely familiar with its construction, but I suppose I could improvise."

-2-

[A boy of around fifteen or sixteen is leaning on a black dragon the size of a horse, though shorter and wider, with large black wings and a face the shape of a shovel blade. The dragon is...watching a ladybug walking across his front paw, perhaps wondering if it might be good to eat.]

"Sure, Toothless and I can give you a ride, though no sharp objects allowed on board. It's just for your safety and your safety only."

-3-

[Where there's smoke, there's fire.]

"Toothless! No! Bad dragon, that is NOT supposed to be on fire!"

Comments

[nomen_est_numen]

"You've never heard of peafowl, clearly. Hm. Your loss."

His gaze flicks between Hiccup and the dragon. He could kill the boy in an instant, but the dragon would be a fight and not a fight he's willing to engage in without any kind of artillery backing him up. He puts the knife away and takes an only slightly more relaxed stance.

"Very well, I will accept your apology." He looks down at his spattered self. "This... was the finest silk in the province..." He turns slightly and flicks his tail, sending a great spatter of spittle in the direction of dragon and boy. "...which hopefully can be cleaned. At any rate, I need a bath, now." He shivers his feathers in disgust, but hasn't walked away quite yet.

[dragon_trainer]

Hiccup and Toothless are spattered with drops of spit. Hiccup wrinkles his nose and wipes it off his face, though this hasn't been the first time he's encountered dragon spit. Toothless, for his part, licks his wing clean and then snuffles at Hiccup's bag. Defending his human deserves a treat, right?

Hiccup sighs and rolls his eyes, can't quite believing that he's trying to make up to a talking giant chicken. "I'm afraid I can't offer you any compensation...for your...whatever a silk is. Unless you want a herring...they're pretty tasty." Rummaging around in his bag, he brings out a herring, whole and smoked, and pushes Toothless' interested nose away from it.

[nomen_est_numen]

Shen stares at it. He can likely smell it, if the squinting is anything to go by.

"Ah-eh... nnno.... That's... quite all right."

[dragon_trainer]

"Hmn. Really. Thought birds liked fish." Not going to let such a prized fish go to waste, Hiccup tears off a strip from the side of the fish and gulps it down.

"You're missing out, this is some of the best herring. Especially the little eyeballs." He slurps one out and chews with a blissful expression.

Toothless is drooling and prancing with his front paws as he watches each morsel of smelly fish disappear. Hiccup turns to the dragon and holds up the fish. "You want some, boy? Okay, SIT."

Toothless sits with a thump that makes the ground shake a bit, and is rewarded with a fish head which he crunches down, bones and all.

[nomen_est_numen]

"Not where I'm from and certainly not raw," Shen replies, appearing slightly woozy. He makes a few incoherent sounds as Hiccup slurps up fish eyeballs and by the time he's got the dragon seated on the ground, Shen is staggering away. The nauseated bird leans against a tree, panting.