Pack Hunting

[FuryDance]

Exhausted and with her leg inflamed in pain, a lone speed stinger limped to a small cave sheltered by a few trees. It wasn’t much, but it was the best she could find during her pathetic attempt to hunt on her own in the night. It had been a few days since her last meal with her pack and now she hungered. She hungered for food. She yearned for the comfort of her pack.

Alone in this shallow cave, she sat down on the rocky floor. She leaned onto her right side careful of how she moved her left leg. Her long tail curled around her body for warmth. Tenderly, she nibbled at the spike protruding from her muscle entertaining the thought of pulling it out yet again. And yet again, the pain that shot through her body upon nudging it alone was enough to quickly make her let go.

So with that thought passed, the speed stinger settled down for the day. Curling her neck around, she laid her head on her tail and closed her eyes.

The speed stinger blended in with the green of the bushes but stood out against the oranges and reds of the fallen leaves around her and the brown-grey of her temporary shelter. Maybe someone would find her and she hoped it would be her pack. But truly, she knew it was not likely, especially during the day. She could only hope that she would be left in the peace and safety of this tiny cave through her rest.

ooc: For when you're ready, Revan and Dusty the Small

[Dusty the Small]

It was still early enough in the day for Dusty to go out flying. As always, she had to get permission from Hiccup, and as always, he said yes. She figured it was because he wanted one less villager to worry about. "Dragon Island it is, then." she said to herself as she walked to the stables. She wondered if Halvor or anyone else would want to go along with her, just to get away from all the destruction on Berk. She'd really like it if Halvor went, but he was shy to begin with and after the attack he'd withdrawn almost completely. Might have something to do with the desert wraith that had bonded with Kiira. Right in front of him, poor thing. She thought he must be very lonely.

Sighing, she made her way over to Slicediver's perch and found him bright eyed and almost eager to go. Strange; usually he was rolling his eyes and grumbling. Maybe he just wanted to get away too. Dusty smiled at him and patted his scales. "It'd sure be nice to have someone along with us, wouldn't it big guy?" He rumbled his response. It wasn't that she was tired of him, but it was nice to have some human company sometimes. They left the stables together and Dusty made sure they were well-prepared before they took off. After everything that had happened, she didn't want to run into anything unexpected and be unprepared.

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

ooc: Your turn, Revan!

[Revan]

Lanayril weaved through the passing townspeople of Berk who were, for the most part, either repairing damage to the island or just going about their morning routines. They didn't pay much attention to her, thankfully, since she did feel bad about not helping with the cleanup. There wasn't an awful lot she could do being as small as she was with no dragon, though at one point she did help round up some lost and scared chickens. She was good at that sort of thing.

But nevertheless, with a left of heavy-lifting left to do, Lana couldn't help but feel she was getting in the way by being in Berk during the repairs. Not that she wanted to leave permanently, just that she felt it was best if she could leave for a bit. With a dragon, that wouldn't have been a problem.

A familiar voice made Lana perk up a bit, and when she turned she spotted Dusty and Slicediver exiting the stables. Lana hadn't been very sociable in her time so far on Berk, but Dusty and Holly were still the two people she was most familiar with. With only a slight tinge of hesitation, she approached the pair. "Hey Dusty," she greeted them, offering a nod and smile to Slicediver as well once she'd realized she'd forgotten to greet him too. "Are you headed somewhere?"

[[ OOC: When trying to get an idea of a timeline, I figured Lanayril must have arrived before the events of the Silent Night thread took place, so I'm pretty sure it's something along the lines of: Lana arrives at Berk > Berk is attacked (and she likely stayed inside) > This thread ]]

[FuryDance]

(( OOC: I think I'll sit this round out. Thank you, both, for joining. I just have little to say as she is basically falling asleep at the end of my last post. Maybe next round or the round after. Depends on when you get to her.   ))

[Dusty the Small]

She was about to ask Slicediver for his claw when she heard a voice behind her. It was vaguely familiar, someone she hadn't known for very long. She turned to see who it was, and smiled at Lana. Slicediver blinked at her a few times, like an owl. "Hey, Lana! We were just heading to Dragon Island for a little outing. You know, to get away from all this." She looked around at the ruins of Berk, eyes resting on her charred home for a moment. "What are you up to?" she asked politely. Behind her, Slicediver lowered his head, gurgling in his throat the way a stormcutter will do when he's contemplating things. He narrowed his eyes at Lana for a moment and then held out his claw for her.

Dusty laughed merrily at the dragon. "He really never does that with anyone! I'm starting to get jealous." she teased. "I'm pretty sure he wants you to come with us. Are you up to it?" She didn't want to force the outsider to go along, but maybe some flying would be good for her. Plus, Dragon Island had all sorts of dragons there. Lana would be there to see how friendly even a wild dragon could be.

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]

Lana nodded, understanding why Dusty was wanting to get away for a while. She followed the girl's gaze toward the burned house, which she knew was Dusty's. She had picked up that much information from the townsfolk. Lana felt sorry for her, though she figured that in a town mostly made of wood that housed dragons, it probably wasn't the first time a house had burned down. "Oh, I'm not doing much really, just kind of wandering around Berk.."

When Slicediver reached out a claw toward Lana, she was taken aback. She was fairly certain she hadn't done enough to make him like her as much as he seemed to. Still, she couldn't help but smile, especially at what Dusty said about Slicediver never doing that with anyone. At first she was uncertain about the offer, but then she figured, why not? A chance to get herself out of the way for a bit was exactly what she was hoping for. "Sure, I'll go with you."

[FuryDance]

(( OOC: While I really want to get into the game, I think I'll sit this round out again too. @admin, your turn!   ))

[Dusty the Small]

Dusty practically jumped for joy. Finally there was someone to fly with. Even Slicediver purred happily. "Awesome! Here, I'll help you up and strap you in." As she spoke, the stormcutter lowered himself to the ground, remembering that Lana didn't know that Dusty just used his claw to get in the saddle.

"Oh, I should probably tell you where we're headed. Have you been to Dragon Island? It's this great place where all these different kinds of dragons live. I know it sounds kind of scary but it's really not. Not anymore, anyway." Dusty said as she took one last look at everything; making sure the saddle would stay in place, making sure the saddle bags had enough food and fish for them, and making sure her staff was in its place. Sometimes she had trouble remembering it and ended up leaving it at home. She was just glad she hadn't left it in her burning house...

She smiled at Lana. "We're all set, if you're ready. Not really in any hurry if you wanted to do something else." She couldn't help but feel a tiny bit guilty about suddenly inviting the newcomer for a relatively long journey. Well, at least Lana didn't seem upset about it.

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]

Lana smiled at Dusty's excitement, feeling that she made the right choice to tag along. With Dusty's help, she climbed up into the saddle. Despite having done this once before, the thought that they would soon be off the ground and in the air was still weird to her. Even so, she couldn't help but feel excited and anxious at the same time.

"No, I've never been to Dragon Island," Lana answered, gathering from the name that they'd see a lot of dragons there. Hopefully she could meet some dragons friendlier than ones she'd been in contact with recently. "It sounds cool, though." She spoke the truth, but at the same time she was a bit worried about travelling to an island filled with dragons. Weren't dragons territorial?

Lana then shook her head. "No, I don't need to do anything else. I'm ready when you are." She took a deep breath in preparation for their takeoff.

[[ OOC: We could probably skip the flight so that FuryDance isn't waiting too much longer : P ]]

[FuryDance]

[[ OOC: I don't mind waiting another turn (or two... three...). I promise I'm keeping busy and I haven't abandoned you all. ]]

[Dusty the Small]

It wasn't long before Dusty had Lana all strapped in. She was confident in her own ability to stay in the saddle just by clinging on. As she did so, she rambled about some types of dragons they'd seen on the island, how nice and lush the place was. But she was careful not to mention that far-off battle with the red death. After all, it had been ten years. There wasn't a great chance of running into a colossal dragon like that again. Well... except for Drago's. Not a day went by when she didn't think about that one.

It was a rather uneventful flight to Dragon Island, just as Dusty had expected. The takeoff was a little rocky as usual, but once Slicediver straightened out, he kept calm and level until the landing. He circled a clearing, slowly descending every time he went around. Finally his thick legs touched down. He leaned forward to rest his weight on his wings as he always did, and lowered himself to let the riders down. Dusty unstrapped Lana and slid off the stormcutter.

"This is Dragon Island." she announced. She could already hear some dragons calling back and forth in the forest surrounding them.

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

ooc: guess it'll be Revan and then FuryDance

[Crystal]

(So I was thinking about Keri stealing a dragon from the village and following them from Berk. They could discover her right after my first post if you want, since they've arrived at the island and Keri isn't exactly the best at stealth)

[Dusty the Small]

ooc: i'm okay with that. furydance and revan have been notified, yes? i'm having trouble keeping track .-.

[Crystal]

(Yes I believe so)

Inkeri hopped off her stolen Deadly Nadder's back as soon as the dragon's clawed feet touched the ground. She ducked down, more for dramatic effect than to actually hide herself. They were in a copse of trees with thick foliage, so the two Keri was following probably wouldn't notice them. She crept forward and peered through the leaves at Dusty and Lana. I'll get in so much trouble if they catch me, she thought gleefully. Life wasn't exciting without a little risk, right? The thrill of following the two unnoticed ignited a thrill that still coursed through her body. She'd never done something so... bad. She was a troublemaker, sure, but not necessarily on purpose. She just always found herself in bad situations somehow.

"What do you think they're doing here?" she whispered to the Nadder. She actually didn't even know the dragon's name. Her nabbing of him was more an act of convenience and opportunity than carefully thought-out reasons. 'Carefully thought-out' was not Keri's specialty. 'Impulsive' and perhaps 'foolish' were more like it. She didn't think things through, even afterward. There was no such thing as hindsight in Keri's book. She did stupid things and just moved on when she realized maybe it wasn't such a good idea, giving her a chance to jump right to the next stupid thing. If she had it her way, life would never cease to be interesting. Not a dull moment.

This was certainly not a dull moment. She'd never been on this island before, not even accompanied, and she could hear the dragons calling in the distance. Every now and then, the Nadder's head would tilt and it would make a low chittering noise. She hoped it wouldn't decide to run off and leave her stranded. Surely it had been trained better than that, right? She turned her attention back to Dusty and Lana, making sure they were still in sight. She certainly didn't want to lose track of them.

[Revan]

Lana was more than relieved that their flight to Dragon Island had been uneventful. Still, having been only her second flight in her life, she was still in awe of the sights. She handled it much better this time, which meant no screaming and she was able to keep her eyes open for most of the trip.

Once they'd reached their destination, Lana waited until Dusty unstrapped her before she slid off of Slicediver's back. Even while crouched down he was still a tall dragon, so Lana's dismount was hardly graceful. The first thing she noticed was the sound of dragons calling in the distance. She nervously scanned the forest that bordered the clearing they had landed in, half expecting an angry dragon to leap out at any time.

"Is it safe to be here?" Lana asked. She was unsure if dragons were territorial or not. Then again, she didn't think Dusty would bring her here if it wasn't safe.