It took a bit of prompting to get the riders to chill out, after all that happened. And by a bit, I mean a lot. Everyone was tired, sweaty and to understate even more, frazzled.
"I've never seen anything like it!"
"It's huge!"
"No way that's a dragon."
There were a lot of bases to cover. Step one, make a certain ponce say he's sorry. Easier said than done.
"How dost one apologise to humans?" North wondered aloud, baffled beyond comprehension. I sighed and turned to walk to them, signalling him to follow my lead with my head. I trotted up to the group, making sure he was watching, then flopped onto my belly. I rolled over then scurried back to my feet, moving quickly out of what was his estimated drop zone.
"Now you!" I barked, giving him plenty of space.
I honestly don't know what I expected.
The resounding thud from his head hitting the ground was just barely muffled by the sand, which flew up in a wave of particles. I let out a startled yap of "Hey!" as I scrambled to not get buried alive. "Not that hard!"
I blinked my eyes clear, sheepishly glancing to the group. Stormfly and Toothless managed to protect their riders with their wings, Hookfang just let Snotlout take it, B.B. tried but failed, and whatever Meatlug did, she wound up spitting up a glob of liquid glass. I chuckled awkwardly as North began slinking back into the water, keeping his head down.
"The deed is done!" He crowed, half triumphant. I really wished I had hands to bury my face in. Toothless shook himself off and glared at me.
"You better have a good explanation for this." He grumbled in a way so that the humans couldn't hear.
"I make friends?" I said, clearly more a question than a fact. North snorted, misting everyone.
"We art more than mere 'friends'!" He stated. "I owe Dame Pepper mine life!" I muffled a groan behind a cough. Toothless shot me a look.
"What? Sand..." I bluffed, "Anyways now that... All that's done with, I think some introductions are in order, yeah?" Toothless rolled his eyes and went back to fretting over Hiccup and North only blinked. Good gracious fuck, take some initiative man. He readied himself before giving his spiel again.
"Greetings, air and land dwellers! I am the ninth-" I interrupted him with a bark.
"Short version, man!" He huffed, but complied.
"Pepper hath bestowed upon I the title North." He grumbled, a little put out. The dragons shuffled about as they introduced themselves, not really making eye contact. The humans took this as the go-ahead to investigate for themselves.
North blinked in surprise as Hiccup walked up and put his hand out for him to sniff. He looked to me, and I nodded to reassure him. Ever so gently snorting another fine mist of sea water, he inched forward and allowed the boy to run his hand across his muzzle as the rest of the humans fanned out to examine the parts of his body still visible.
"Amazing..." He mumbled, gears in his head probably already turning a mile a minute, knowing the heir apparent. "Could this be a new species of dragon? An alpha like the Red Death?"
"It doesn't have any wings!" Fishlegs hollered from halfway down the beach. He then started saying something along the lines of trying to classify him, tidal class I think, but North pouted and exhaled, abruptly drenching Hiccup.
"I am no dragon!" North whined, wiggling uncomfortably in the sand as he dried out in the evening sun. Toothless growled a little as he let Hiccup dry off on him.
"That much is obvious..." I would've snapped at them both to play nice, but I was hoisted into the air Simba-style by my rightly proud Ruffnut.
"MY DOG'S A MONSTER WHISPERER!" She shouted, waving me about gently. Tuffnut squinted at me in suspicion.
"Yeaaaaah... What do you know that we don't?" He questioned, leaning in towards my face.
"Knowing you? Loads." Astrid joked, brushing some wayward sand grains off of Stormfly's back as said Nadder preened like her life depended on it. I took the opportunity to lick at his face to get him to buzz off, and Ruff just laughed and held me close at his cries of disgust. I smirked inwardly. I was brought out of my moment of relaxation at Snotlout picking up and examining North's scale, the one I left spiked in the beach.
"How did your dog get this thing anyway?" He asked, wiggling it and watching the light dance off its surface.
Oh shit.
"Yeah, Pepper, how did you get a scale off of that guy?" Hookfang asked, glancing from me, to North, to the now considerably scratched up scale, and back.
"I said I make friends!" I stated as my tail began swishing.
"'Cause she's awesome." Ruffnut proclaimed, scratching at my ears.
"Know what, let's just go with that." I said, before being startled by a sickly noise coming from the serpent still laying in the dirt.
North had let out a low wheezing sound as Hiccup brushed past a facial fin and wriggled uncomfortably. I squirmed until I was set down and scampered up to him.
"Get back in the water if you need it dumbass!"
"But!-" I headbutted his lower jaw, eliciting an 'oof'.
"In! In the water!" As he slid backwards several underbelly scales were left. I grabbed one and ran back, wagging my tail purposefully. Hiccup knelt to grab one for himself as well.
"She must have picked up one of these while it was fighting us." He inferred. Wrong, but close enough. Or at least a excuse. Better than nothing.
"Whatever that is, we have to study it more!" Fishlegs declared, already scrbbling furiously in a book.
"I think it's calmed down enough," Hiccup agreed, "but will it stay here long enough for us to observe it?" Astrid walked to him and put a hand on his shoulder.t
"Then let's camp out for the night. A few of us can run and grab supplies, and you two can study it while we're gone." She suggested. Hey, it worked for me. Gave me time to explain to everyone, and North, what just happened. And maybe talk to Hookfang again. I'm pretty sure i've been traumatised.
hiccup nodded and smiled softly at her. "Let's do that, if everyone agrees?" He phrased the last part of his thought as a question, turning to face the twins and Snotlout and raising his voice so they'd hear. After hearing some vague noncommital sounds of agreement, Astrid slipped her hand down to his and squeezed before approaching Stormfly and mounting, likely to go do as she said she would.
Ha, straight.
It took around an hour and a half for the humans to set up, just enough time for the sun to go down completely. The y were nestled around a bonfire they had set up to cook dinner, while the dragons and I were busy recounting North of the hell that had broken loose in the time he was away.
"...So now these cats have mind control powers alongside who knows what the fuck else, my best friend's been mind-boned, and pretty much everything we know is at risk of washing away in a tidal wave of what I think is a magic slime mould." I finished, slightly out of breath. "Any questions?"
"Nay, I understand." North nodded. "I see now why thou doth liketh thine humans. They compose notable companions."
"Uh, thanks, I guess?" Hookfang said, scratching himself behind the horns.
"Hope you don't mind them studying you more," Meatlug cut in. "They've never seen a sea serpent before."
"Uh, neither have we- ow!" B.B. tried correcting, only to get smacked by her tail. North laughed, a loud, booming sound.
"Tis fine by me! A great as a specimen am I to be these curious little creatures first example!" He chuckled.
"Yeah, they're weird hairless monkeys but they're our weird hairless monkeys." I affirmed.
"So, what brings you to our territory in the first place?" Toothless asked of North, eyeing him suspiciously.
"I hath sworn to Dame Pepper that I should return by a moon to assist her orange companion, but..." He looked to me as I tucked my tail in to the sand next to where I had lain myself and made a point of not looking him in the eye. "It appears that to no longer be feasible."
"I see." Toothless nodded, accepting the excuse.
"I believe this is twice now, thou hath saved mine life, Pepper, and i've yet to do anything in return!" North stated, laying his head down again in my pose of apology, softly this time. "Pray tell, what I can do for thee to right this."
"Well..." I sighed. "How about if we need your help, you just promise to be there for us? Berk in general, I mean."
"Consider the deed done! My protection is the least I can offer!" He proudly stated. I smiled at him.
"One more thing!" I called up to him as he raised his head once more. "Let the kids finish studying you!" I joked. Everyone chuckled.
"But of course." The train of conversation was broken as Ruffnut whistled for me, holding a small bowl of leftover fish parts. A humble but effective dinner. I darted over, the days excitement left me starving. She pat my head as I wolfed down the bowls contents.
Just one more thing to protect, I guess.
Author's Note;
smacking pots and pans together*
GO WASH YOUR HANDS! GO WASH YOUR HANDS! GO WASH YOUR HANDS! GO WASH YOUR HAAAAAAAAANDS!
Yeah my school got shut down for like two weeks thanks to Corona 'cause both some kids mom at my school and an elementary school teacher two towns over caught it. Whee. Personally i'm young and healthy so my risk of dying is like slim to none but i'm not exactly a big fan of spending two weeks hacking up blood and shitting myself sooooooooo...
Wosh ya hams.
Enough about real life you don't read fanfiction for that hot garbage it's time to talk about my story!
Pepper has had a really fucking long day. I mean it this is the longest string of chapters that has taken place over the span of a single day, usually its just one or two. You can expect more strings like this as the action rears its ugly mug again, but for the chiller bits it's back to day chapters. I hope to keep a healthy mix of the two, chill chapters to fill the cracks, long strings of chapters for the meaty bits.
No but really Pepper needs a nap. Homedog's been running around getting her ass beat all day. Let her rest, Carly! Screams the crowd. I'm gettin' to it keep ya pants on! Screams Carly.
North's role will become more apparent once we reach the initial burst of main conflict, which is actually coming in just a few chapters. I don't know about you but i'm excited as fuck.
FF's still fucking over my formatting but i'm too damn stubborn to leave so if you find any issues pleeeeeeeease review! Or PM me if you're the type that feels guilty about publicly correcting people. I get that. It's okay. I respect you.
Animal Crossing Switch will keep me sane during isolation time. Or maybe it won't. Muhaheeheehoo.
Happy Ides of March, don't get stabbed!- Carly
