Rebuilding Berk (Open)

[Midnight[x]Traitor]

It was evening. The sun was just past its highest point, and was slowly sinking into the sea. They still had plenty of time though. The village was bustling, ever since the attack. Kiira strolled through, Vermundr trailing cautiously behind her. He held his head down, and he growled at anyone who so much as looked at him. The stable was a very active area. One of the entrances had been caved in due to explosives. Many of the strongest vikings were here to clear the rubble. Several gronckles were enjoying a meal of the smaller rocks, while larger dragons aided in carrying larger boulders out of the way using ropes and cloth. It was slow work, but they made a lot of progress of the course of a day. Baby dragons darted about, doing nothing but getting in the way. Kiira giggled as baby nadders chased each other around her. One ran into her leg, falling back onto its rump. Ki bent down to caress the baby. It yipped at her, letting out a tiny breath of fire, and then nuzzled Ki's chin. Vermundr gazed at her in the baby dragon, his expression a mixture of curiosity and wonder. 

Ver et watched as the youngling purred at the human as it would its own mother. Yet the human girl--Kii-ra?--was obviously not. The younglings back where he was captured were mistreated. Vermundr wondered if it was better or worse that they had never tastes freedom. On one claw, they never got to fly through the skies on their own, or eat from rich fruit trees. Yet on the other claw, they wouldn't have the agony of remmebering the freedom they once had, and yearning for it. But... He was free now? Ver lowered his head to come face to face with the little nadder when it ran up to him. It stared at him for a few heartbeats, then licked his face. Vermundr snorted and pulled back, shaking his head. The human girl laughed, and Ver couldn't help but feel amused himself.

[Dusty the Small]

Halvor had walked back into the village with Kii, but he left her and her new friend as soon as they reached home. He knew he was a bit of an outcast; he mostly just kept to himself and he didn't want Kiira to be made fun of if she was seen with him. The first place he went was to his mother's house to see if everything was alright. Then he would go about the village helping wherever he could.

Hiccup and Toothless stuck together, doing their best to calm the people that had lost their homes and hatchlings in the attack. There had been a lot of loss, of course, and he wasn't surprised, but it still made Hiccup sad when he heard about everything. At least no one had died. But as he looked out across the village, all he could see were burning buildings or empty places where buildings used to be. Before taming the dragons, it had always been this way, but he had gotten used to the peace. It seemed he would have to get un-used to it.

Meanwhile, Dusty and Slicediver worked with the stronger vikings to try and clear the rubble from the stables. She herself was not big at all, but Slicediver was. Even still, there wasn't much one would do without the other. So she sat on his back, out of the way, and guided him when he needed an extra set of eyes. She turned when she saw some strange movement out of the corner of her eye. Something she hadn't seen before. She tilted her head when she saw it, and she looked at it head on, she grinned widely. "I'll be back!" she called as she slipped off of Slicediver's back. He turned his head around to glare at her.

She landed with an "oof!" and waved at Kiira. Was that the poor dragon that had tried to kill her only last night?

Dusty's Speech	Dusty's Thoughts
Slicediver's Speech	Slicediver's Thoughts
Halvor's Speech	Halvor's Thoughts
Hiccup's Speech	Hiccup's Thoughts
Toothless' Speech	Toothless' Thoughts

[Deleted]

Since leaving Hawkeye for the night, the young night fury had not wandered far from Berk. Rather she had kept to the outskirts, pretty much avoiding all the humans and stalking the village as she watched them. During the same night that she had arrived, the village had been attacked. During the attack her and Hawkeye had been separated, causing Rain to leave the village to lurk in the shadows. Since she didn't want to attack any particular human at the moment, or be attacked herself, she had kept to the forest surrounding Berk, watching the fire reign down from a distance. She had kept a watchful eye for Hawkeye, but after having not seen him for a long while worry began to rear its ugly head within her.

During the night, as the firestorm went on, she paced, watching for Hawkeye from the brush. Still nothing; the smoke caused it hard to see, and she dared not risk her neck to check on him. She reassured herself that he was fine, but still she worried deep down. Finally, the firestorm ended and dawn broke. Somehow Rain had fallen into a restless sleep; yet something woke her quite suddenly, causing her to spring to her claws with a snarl. Yet what she saw caused her snarl to fade, she tilted her head to get a better look at the one staring back at her; it was indeed her. That same pesky human who had given her a fish. Snorting, she turned away, before something caught her eye. A human boy; he was familiar, but what really caught her eye was the dragon next to him.

The other human forgotten, Rain sprung from her hiding spot, bounding over to Hawkeye much like a hatchling would after being separated from their mother. Bouncing around him, she circled him, sniffing all over to check for injuries, before finally nuzzling against him, "You're alright..." She breathed at last, and for once, the strong night fury was visibly shaking; she had truly feared for her friend, feared that her worst nightmare would come true and he would be taken from her yet again.

[Midnight[x]Traitor]

Kiira waved back at Dusty. Hard at work I see. I wish I had been here to help, but my help was needed somewhere else. She glanced back at Vermundr, who wasn't paying attention to her. He gazed at Slicediver with a look of recognition in his eyes. He paused, then walked towards the cloudjumper, his head low and submissive. He did not want to show that he was a threat, but merely that he wanted to talk. When he got close enough, he sat down and let out a tired sigh. Then he said, You are the one that pulled the metal cage off my face, is that correct? I thank you again for that. I have one question: why do you stay here with the humans? Ver had slowly begun to see that perhaps not all humans were bad. It was only a theory, of course. He wanted to get the answer from a dragon as well. Just like there were bad dragons and good dragons, perhaps there are good humans and bad humans. Perhaps the entire world worked that way. A balance between good and bad was just part of this world.

Ki watched the two dragons curiously, then turned back to Dusty. How bad is the damage? She was there when the stable collapsed, and had killed a Berserker with her own knife trying to save the eggs. She wasn't sure what else the Berserkers had gotten away with. Overall, though, she figured they won this battle. She had also heard a peculiar rumor that another night fury was here, but perhaps that was just hope talking. There had been that one rumor of an albino one that went around once, but since then she had not heard much of it since.

[Dusty the Small]

She nodded. "Yeah, I can see you were busy, too. It's funny; I think he's the one that tried to kill me." she said about the desert wraith behind her.

When he heard a dragon's voice, Slicediver pushed the last rock off his back and turned his head around to see who it was. He looked confused and curious at once, but his frill fluttered a bit when he recognized who was speaking. Exhausted, he turned to face the desert wraith and sat down as well. "Yes, I remember you. You don't have to thank me, though. I Know how it feels to have your head stuck in a cage." For a split second he was self-conscious of the piece of flesh missing from his nose, but he got over it. "I stay here because it's a good life. No fighting over food, no dirt stuck between my scales... But it's more because of her than anything." He turned his head to look at Dusty, who was still talking with Kiira.

"Oh, it looks like Slicediver just cleared the biggest rock out. That part of the stables is just going to need some rebuilding. Well, so does my house... By the way, did you see where Halvor went?" she asked, looking around, trying not to look as concerned as she was.

Elsewhere, Toothless heard a sound nearby and was about to snarl viciously at the potential threat to Hiccup. Then he saw who it was and surprise crossed his face. He watched her circle him and hopped about as she did. Hiccup chuckled and let them have their space. He had things to tend to, anyway.

Toothless smiled at Rain. "Of course I'm alright. Are you? Did you get away in time?" he asked.

Dusty's Speech	Dusty's Thoughts
Slicediver's Speech	Slicediver's Thoughts
Halvor's Speech	Halvor's Thoughts
Hiccup's Speech	Hiccup's Thoughts
Toothless' Speech	Toothless' Thoughts

[Deleted]

Rain bounded up to him, hesitating only slightly when she heard him snarl. Yet soon replacing it was a look of surprise, to which she smirked a bit, "Didn't think I'd leave so quickly did you?" She said softly, her tones playful despite her shaking limbs. After sniffing over every inch of him for injuries, she heard his worries about her and shook her head, "Fine, fine. A few scratches and burns, nothing that won't heal." She had a few gash wounds on her hide from arrows that had grazed her, a few that were rather deep. If one looked closely they could tell that one on her leg was causing her to limp slightly, as the arrow had hit her joint. In fact, the tip of the arrow was still burrowed in her leg, the rest of it having been gnawed off during the night.

Nuzzling against Hawkeye, she looked to the humans warily. Just as she turned to look back at Hawkeye she found her vision doubling, the noise around her turning into a blur of sounds. "I... I don't feel so good..." She muttered, taking a step sideways, unaware that her pupils had dilated to an unhealthily large diameter. Her breathing grew shallow, just before she collapsed, falling temporarily unconscious due to loss of blood.

[Midnight[x]Traitor]

Did he now? She looked over at the desert wraith. Yea, I followed him out into the woods. He was pretty badly injured, so he's staying with me and my mom right now. His injuries already looked better than the night before. The swelling and inflammation had gone down, but he still limped. He seemed tired as well, but refused to show it. Typical guy... Kiira thought.

Vermundr looked back at Dusty, and noticed Kiira watching him. He snorted, then turned back to the cloudjumper. I apologize for not introducing myself right away. My name is Vermundr. It seems that you have a history with that human girl. If you would tell me your story with her, I would be honored. Though I understand if you don't wish to tell me.

Kiira smiled at Dusty's concern for Halvor, which she could see right through Dusty's ploy to pretend like she didn't care. He was her close friend,  after all. Oh, actually he was with me last night to help the desert wraith! A small fire started out in the woods, and he helped me to put out the flames. I think he ran off to make sure his house was okay. Suddenly, Kiira felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Gothi tapping her on the shoulder with her cane. O-oh. Hi grandma. W-what are you doing here? Gothi didn't say anything, but instead hobbled over to where Vermundr and Slicediver were spiking. She walked right up to the desert wraith, and stared at him eye to eye. The Ver seemed taken aback by the tiny human, and once he regained his composure, growled at the human. Suddenly, she took her cane and bopped him on the snout. Grandma no! Kiira as about to run over to save her grandma, but stopped when she saw Vermundr just cock his head curiously at Gothi. He suddenly felt the age and history behind the human, and froze where he was, staring at her. They stared at each other for awhile, then Gothi turned and walked back over to Kiira. Grandma... Gothi held up a hand, then used her cane to write something in the ground. Ver-mun-dr? Wha-? But before she could ask the question, Gothi was already walking away.

[OOC: I crack myself up sometimes XD Freakin Gothi bops Vermundr on the snout like a bad dog]

[Dusty the Small]

"Mhmm. Slicediver pulled off his restraint and he looked like he wanted to take a shot at me. I guess I'm lucky I didn't get hurt." She chuckled at the dragon, seemingly having a conversation with Slicediver. "I'm really glad you found him. No dragon should be treated that badly."

"I'm Slicediver. Yes, I've been with Dusty for... five winters? To make a long story short, she and a couple of other humans found me caught in a trap, and they brought me here. By the time I had recovered, I didn't want to leave." Very short version of the story, but they didn't have a lot of time. Vermundr seemed as tired as he was, and he just wanted his perch and a peaceful night. He looked behind the desert wraith just in time to see Gothi approaching Kiira. Dusty was still speaking with her.

"Yeah, I saw him follow you into the woods. I thought he was scared of big dragons. Well, maybe not scared, but-" She stopped short when Gothi tapped on Kiira's shoulder and watched the elder curiously. Even when the dragon growled and Gothi smacked him, Dusty knew that she knew what she was doing. Excited, she peeked around Kiira to see what Gothi had written.

"Ver... mun... dr... Ver-mun-der. Hmm..." She looked over at the wounded dragon, and then she smiled. "I bet that's his name. He looks like a Vermundr, doesn't he?"

Toothless was so happy to see that Rain was alright, that he temporarily forgot about Hiccup. Before he had the chance to say anything to her, she fainted right in front of him. His wings shot up in surprise and he let out a roar of despair. Hiccup was there in a flash to see what had happened. As soon as he saw her lying there, he grabbed the closest person he could - Halvor. "Halvor, I need you to find Holly or Gothi. Even Kiira. Get someone to look at this dragon!" With a nod, Halvor was off. Since he had a rough idea of where Kiira was, he ran there first. Thankfully, she was still there, talking to Dusty. Oh, gods, why Dusty? There were so many other people on the island... He shook himself out of it and hastened to Kiira. "There's a wounded dragon. A night fury. Hiccup needs help with it." he panted.

Dusty's Speech	Dusty's Thoughts
Slicediver's Speech	Slicediver's Thoughts
Halvor's Speech	Halvor's Thoughts
Hiccup's Speech	Hiccup's Thoughts
Toothless' Speech	Toothless' Thoughts

[Revan]

Magnus had arrived in Berk some time ago with Dusty, and since then he'd mostly been clearing out debris from inside the larger buildings that had collapsed or were near to it. The physcial work wasn't too hard, though he wasn't able to lift as much as the larger viking's unless Sandstripe was there to help. Eventually, he was sent to the dragon stables to help with the rebuilding effort there.

Sandstripe followed close behind her human with her head held high as they moved locations. Magnus wasn't having too much trouble handling most of the work himself, so she'd taken to looking around at all of Berk's dragons. Berk seemed to be a melting pot of sorts when it came to different dragon species. A certain dragon caught her eye though, one that she recognized. It was Slicediver, and his rider too. Magnus hadn't noticed them yet, but she brought his attention to the pair with a friendly purr. And there was someone else there too. Another small human and.. another desert wraith?

"Sandy, look!" Magnus whispered excitedly too her, pointing toward the desert wraith. "There it is!"

[Midnight[x]Traitor]

Vermundr considered what the dragon said, but still shook his head. But haven't you ever wondered what happened to your family? If you knew where they were, would you go find them? And if you found them, would you leave this life behind? Although he had no idea where to start, he thought it would be best to take off as soon as possible. He might be able to find his family if they were still... He didn't want to finish that thought. But perhaps if I stayed with the humans a little longer, I could get information... And granted he knew the fact that this dragon had grown up with a kind human, and perhaps he considered her family now. But he had not, and he wondered if he ever could consider a human "family".

Kiira nodded at what Dusty said, putting her hands on her hips. Yea, I guess he does look like a Vermundr. At the sound of his name being spoken out of the girl, Ver cocked his head to look at her curiously, a confused look in his eyes. She laughed a little at his confused expression. I guess it is! Vermundr. That flicker of recognition crossed his eyes again at the sound of his name.

There were many people bustling about, and many dragons as well. But a scent caught the attention of Ver. It nagged at him - teased him. Urging him to remember something that he had long forgotten. It danced at the edge of his conscious, but when he tried to snag it, it fluttered away.

[OOC: We are going to continue without Fern and pretend like her fainting never happened.]

[Dusty the Small]

Slicediver rumbled in his throat as some small amount of guilt struck him. His family? He hadn't thought about them in years. "Well... I guess I never thought about it. Maybe if I knew where they were, I'd visit, but I like it here. It's hard to explain." For a moment, he wondered if this smaller dragon was right. Where would he be today if he had left instead of staying? He snorted, trying to dismiss the thought. He couldn't change the past and he'd be happy with a future on Berk, and that was all that mattered to him.

Dusty watched for the dragon's reaction, hoping she was right. "Haha, cool! It must be his name. Are you planning to keep him around? He's a handsome dragon, after all, if a little scarred up. I mean, you already know his name, and you're the one that found him anyway. I bet Halvor was just scared of him, huh?" She giggled at the thought of Halvor withdrawing from the dragon. "Well, I guess Vermundr can be a little scary when he's angry, but it looks like he's getting along fine with Slicediver." And she knew that Slicediver didn't take very well to strange faces.

Dusty's Speech	Dusty's Thoughts
Slicediver's Speech	Slicediver's Thoughts
Halvor's Speech	Halvor's Thoughts
Hiccup's Speech	Hiccup's Thoughts
Toothless' Speech	Toothless' Thoughts

[Crystal]

(Is this still active/relevant?)

[Midnight[x]Traitor]

(OOC: haha yup! Feel free to join.)

[Crystal]

A pretty face peeked out a window. Long blond hair framed her face, her pale eyes wide and eager as ever. For a teenager, the girl still acted like she was ten. Inkeri moved from the window and slipped out the door of her house, treading on quiet feet until she was close enough to hear the other Vikings' conversation. The one dragon caught her attention, since it was one she hadn't seen before. Had they brought home a new dragon?

She wondered wistfully when she'd have a dragon of her own. She didn't have much longer in Dragon Training, and then she could become a real rider. She couldn't wait for all the Vikings in Berk to realize just how good she was. She may be young, but she was definitely determined. Not to mention enthusiastic.