Turns out they don't want a fight.
The not-dragon riders enter my cave with a fair amount of trepidation, which is appreciated. And it is Cripple who approaches me first, not noticing Cascabel who had hidden in her sandpit as soon as we heard them flying nearby. Astrid hangs back near the entrance, probably staying back from the fight this might turn into.
Cripple keeps a distance of 10 feet at all times before he starts with his no-doubt convincing speech "Hey there Shadowtalon, how have you been? I'm sorry if you felt you had to leave, but we do need to talk about this. Liste-"
I interrupt him before he can continue "I got hungry. You no like how I hunt, but I need eat. I eat lot. I need to hunt lot. More now"
It takes a couple of moments for him to decipher my jagged sentence, but I can tell when he does due to the tangy scent of confusion wafting off of him "You need to hunt more than before? Is something wrong?"
I snarl quietly at the insinuation that I can't take care of myself and I try to reply, but Cascabel whispers from her bed of sand "What did he say? Did he say something mean? Should I cook him for you? Would that be okay?"
The scavengers, Astrid not included, gape at the sand. I sigh "You may as well come out Cascabel. You gave yourself away, you were not quite as quiet as you thought"
Cascabel pops her head out of the sand with a sheepish grin before fully getting up and walking over to my side. I look back to the Scavengers and scoff at Delicious's reaction, there are practically stars in his eyes. Cripple wanders closer to Cascabel, coming up to her chest in height, he holds out his hand to touch her, but I growl loudly. He is NOT allowed to touch Cascabel! She is a mighty Pyhrrian, thus she deserves the respect owed. Cripple backs away wisely without touching her.
Cascabel leans her head down slightly to be at eye level with him "Is he a mean scavenger?! He looks funny. What is up with his leg? I think he is missing one, aww, poor thing. No! Not a poor thing he is a mean scavenger right! He looks so skinny compared to the chunky one over there! What is his name? Does he have a name? Do any of the new scavengers have names? Can I name them if they don't! Pleeaaasssseee?"
Delicious hurries over to Cascabel and looks over all her features, his tiny fingers twitching. I ignore most of her questions and give a general answer instead "He is a mean Scavenger, but I think he is trying to be nice now. His name is Cripple, the fat one's name is Delicious, the one with the black tufts on his head is Snot-nose, and you can name the identical ones if you like"
Delicious squeaks when Cascabel brings him close to her and immediately begins chatting to Cripple "She is so warm! It's like she is giving off her own heat! Hiccup, I think she is a Sandwing if Shadowtalons drawings are accurate! But she is so small that she must be juvenile! Oh, this is so exciting!"
Cripple runs a hand over his face with a wince "Yes Fishlegs, but please focus"
Snot-nosed is suspiciously quiet as he takes in Cascabel before piping up "Hey Fishface, watch out for that stinger, I don't want to be the one who has to drag out your blubber if it gets you"
I have some trouble following the conversation, but I snort when I get the gist of it "If she stinger him, he no need to be dragged out. Just bury. No-," damn, what is the word for antidote? "No not-poison here. Her name is Cascabel"
Delicious pales when he figures out what I mean and tells the others in a shaky voice "I don't think I will just get paralyzed if she stings me"
Cripple's eyes widen and he begins to watch Cascabels tail very closely before speaking quietly "Fishlegs, try and get away. Slowly"
I huff and lay down, if they are just going to mess about instead of fighting me, then standing is just a waste of my energy "Cascabel. Let Delicious go, they figured out that if you sting them by accident, they will die."
Cascabel whines a little but lets him go "Aww, do I have to? But he was so cuddly. Ok, goodbye Delicious"
Delicious scrambles away as soon as Cascabel lets him go. Cripple spreads her hands out wide and begins again "I think we had some miscommunication going on, so I think we should fix that before this gets out of hand"
I narrow my eyes, I didn't get that big word near the middle, so I honestly have no idea what the hell he was on about.
Astrid calls in from the entrance "Smaller words Hiccup! She probably didn't get it!" Thank you, Astrid, I appreciate you. You have my blessing should you ever spontaneously become a Pyhrrian dragon.
Hiccup coughs awkwardly before trying again "We didn't talk, we should" That's better, but I don't agree
I snort "No. You talk, I listen, I do anyway. You no be able to stop me, you no reason to. I do what I need to. You try and make Scavenger me, I will never be Scavenger. I am dragon, Cascabel is dragon, you are not dragon"
Hiccup frowns, he drops his hands, and it looks like he is about to argue but Snot-nosed interrupts "Uh, Hiccup? She has a point. But of course, I am far more like a dragon then you ever could! We warriors understand each other"
A twin snickers "Yea, in grunting and staring contests" "Ooooh, buuurrrnnn!"
Cripple steps back "Ok, you know what? Let's head back for now, we will try again tomorrow"
I snarl as he turns to leave. I use my talon to knock him to the ground before pinning him, Toothless jumps into the cave, snarling and hissing at me. Cascabel, who had been watching and trying to follow along, flared her wings and hissed back, curling up her tail high. I growl at Cripple "No! You no make idea! This is MY home! You no come when you like! If you want talk, then you talk with Queen Mala. You come with me no say and I will eat you" He dares to just assume he can saunter into my home like he owns the place?! No, he will either come in by my invitation, or we can meet at Queen Mala's village.
I let him up from under my claw, watching as he scrambles to his not-dragons side, who lowers his tone in hissing. Cascabel lets her wings fall back down to a more relaxed position before looking up at me "You're right. They are mean! Did you see the way the little black dragon was snarling at you!? He looked like he was going to attack you!"
I smirk as I watch them all leave quickly, with the exception of Astrid who just shakes her head before following them "The black not-dragon is fast, but it is weak. I think you could take him down pretty easily as long as you could get close. The Cripple was talking like he could just saunter into our home at any time he wanted, so I told him off"
Cascabel flung herself at my side, hugging my arm while looking up at me "You mean it!? Do you really think I could? You are so cool! Not quite as cool as my momma, but still really cool!"
I let out a small chuckle "That is some high praise there. Don't think about it too much though, I would kill them before the not-dragon even got close enough to even try and attack you. I will go talk to them in Queen Mala's village later"
Cascabel let go of my arm and looked out of the cave determinedly "I will show you how good I am at fighting! I will go out and go get us something to eat! And then you can be in awe of my amazing hunting skills! And then we can both be really cool!"
I settle my head down on the cold stone as she bounds out of the cave "Sounds good to me. Just don't go to close to Queen Mala's village, you must respect her territory"
Cascabel shouts back her agreement as she takes off into the sky. She should be fine, it is a small island with plenty of easy prey, and she can call for me should she get in trouble. I let myself relax and settle into a light doze, Cascabel should be fine. She can't get into much trouble, right?
I am cultivating a bad habit of writing at midnight. I still felt bad for not posting for such a long time, so I pumped out another chapter. Hiccup fully realizes that Shadowtalon can kill them, and he also knows that he is on her shitlist at the moment so he is being extra cautious. And really? who wouldn't get annoyed at someone just barging into your house like they own the place and demanding for you to do something?
Cascabel is just trying to figure out what the hell is going on. I don't think it has sunk in for my baby that Cas is stuck in a different world.
