How to Train Your Dragon

"How to Train Your Dragon" is a BOTGD 2 thread written on [IRL DATE].
== Summary ==
Liam and Verdandi train a Changewing to carry them to Haligan.
== Full Text ==
Liam Arnason: “Okay! So!”
Liam dropped his basket with a thud on the forest floor and squinted through the sunlit trees, his hair ruffling in a stiff, cold breeze. A wooded landslide area lay up ahead, burrowed through with holes and entrances. He rubbed his paws together and took a deep breath. “You’re sure you’ve never ever done this before. Because neither have I.”
aroleplayingcephalopod
“Never,” Verdandi says, almost cheerfully. She eyes the basket in front of them. “But dragons like fish, right? It should be fine.” She readjusts her grip on her own basket of fish, turning her gaze towards the landslide ahead. “It’ll be fine,” she says again, as if saying it enough times will make it true.
Liam: “Okay, good, I’m glad you think that, because you’re gonna be the bait.”
Verdandi: “I’m sorry, what?!” she exclaims. 
Liam: Liam pulled open his basket and pulled out the coil of rope he had stored at the top of it. “You want to wrangle the dragon instead? I could get my skin melted off.” He raised an eyebrow at her.
Verdandi: “Fine, fine,” Verdandi grumbles. “What do you want me to do?” she asks in a resigned tone.
Liam: He drew a finger in a gesture around where they knew the dragon’s den lay. “Fish out front. Bring the dragon out back. Then, uh…we’ll go from there.” He hoped it wasn’t apparent that he was sweating a little bit more than normal.
Verdandi: Words fail her, and Verdandi nods mutely. She carries her basket of fish up to the entrance of the den, walking on trembling legs. The reality of the situation settles upon her, and she realizes that if this goes poorly, it could very well lead to the both of them being killed by a dragon.
Swallowing nervously, Verdandi pulls a single fish out of her basket and tosses it into the mouth of the den.
Liam: Liam crept around to where he was out of sight of the den’s entrance, coiling up the rope and holding at the ready, waiting for something to emerge, screaming and spraying poison. “Pssst. Remember, don’t look it in the eye!”
Verdandi: “I know that!” Verdandi hisses back, tossing another fish into the den. “C’mon,” she whispers, “please. I don’t want to hurt you.” She keeps her gaze lowered, looking more at the fish than into the cave itself. Upsetting a wild dragon is the last thing she wants to do today–or ever.
Liam: Liam drummed his claws on the rock in front of him, anxiously waiting for something to emerge. He was so, so annoyed that the Warden had decided to ditch him. His ears flicked irritably and he wrinkled his nose as he peered from his hiding place, trying to keep as quiet as possible.
Something flickered across his vision in the forest, and he tried rubbing the sleep out of his eyes again and squinted into the trees, which was shifting with shadows from the moving clouds and the bright sun. His heart began to pound as he heard a rustling of plants.
“You see anything?” he hissed.
Verdandi: “Shut up!” Verdandi shoots back, staring at the two fish.on the ground. Quickly, almost too quickly for her to catch it, a claw, almost the color of the ground beneath it, swipes at the fish, dragging them into the den.
With a startled squeak, Verdandi takes a slow step back, dropping another fish, further from the entrance to the den. A low growl sounds from inside, and she stops in her tracks, holding her breath.
Liam: “Oh gods. Stop, stop stop–” Liam started to scramble over the rubble back to Verdandi, fumbling the rope in his sudden panic. “It’s right behind you!” He shoved a paw down into his bag, searching for dragon nip.
Verdandi: A cold prickle of dread snakes its way down Verdandi’s spine. She slowly turns her head to get a look over her shoulder, not daring to fully turn around.
Liam: There wasn’t anything clearly visible at first, but it was like the air rippled in front of her, and the snout of a rust-colored dragon began to form in midair, right in front of Verdandi’s face. Liam bounded over, almost tripping, but then whipped around and pressed his back to hers as another growl came from the den again, and a second Changewing began slinking into the sunlight, teeth shining with a slick yellow hue.
He reached back and fumbled for Verdandi’s hand, smashing a handful of slightly-crushed dragon nip into her palm. “I-it’s fine! It’s gonna be just fine!”
Verdandi: Whimpering quietly, Verdandi holds up the dragon nip to the Changewing’s snout. She turns her head away, gazing at the dragon’s feet–and the razor-sharp claws she sees there. With trembling fingers, she reaches her other hand back to grab Liam’s paw, holding on tightly.
Liam: He had a gut instinct to pull away from Verdandi, but this wasn’t the time to be hostile. He gripped her fingers and stared intently at the ground just below the Changewing’s chest, offering the dragon the nip. Its eyes shifted a little, and it drew extremely close, and then he jumped as he suddenly felt massive teeth nibbling past his paw, and he stomped a foot in place, his eyes welling up as the barest traces of acid brushed his fur and stung his skin. “Aah! Ah! Hot, hot, hot, acid, hot…” he whispered furiously.
But it seemed to be working, so he held still.
Verdandi: Verdandi squeezes her eyes shut, continuing to hold out the dragon nip. Oh please let this work, please let this work, she thinks. To her great surprise, the Changewing before her rubs its face on the dragon nip before falling over at her feet, rolling on the ground. She sways as it bumps her legs, and she dares a glance at the dragon, relaxing slightly at the look of pure bliss she sees there.
Liam: With a sudden lurch, the Changewing before Liam shoved into him and bowled him over, and he landed beside Verdandi flat on the ground as the Changewing snorted through his clothes, looking for more nip, or possibly some fish. It opened its jaws with an insistent rumble, not aggressive, but definitely demanding. Liam tried to shove himself upright but the dragon’s chest was wide and heavy and flat, and he slumped back down on his back again, wheezing, “Verdandi…fish…please!”
Verdandi: She casts a look around, trying to locate the dropped basket. Upon finding it, Verdandi tips the basket over, nudging some of the fish towards Liam, while picking up one to toss to the other Changewing.
“Hey,” she says softly. “We’re not gonna hurt you, I promise.” Tentatively, she holds out a hand to the Changewing, leaving it in the air between them. It seems more interested in the fish at first, but after gulping it down, it eyes her hand before pushing its snout against her palm. Verdandi lets out a relieved chuckle and rubs her hand along the Changewing’s scales.
Liam: Gasping, Liam rolled out from under the beast and backed up, keeping a paw on his dual sheath, ready to draw a knife if he needed to. “Shit…kinda looks like we did it?” he said, out of breath but gratified to see both dragons were purring like cats.
Verdandi: “Didn’t we only need one, though?” Verdandi asks doubtfully, glancing between the two dragons, to Liam, then back again. “I’m not sure if we’ll even be able to feed two dragons,” she adds as the Changewing steps away from her hand to devour another fish.
Liam: Liam shrugged and looked between the two. One was lighter than the other, closer to a bronze color than the typical red. “Eeny, meeny, miney, mo.” He waved a paw at the darker Changewing, which hissed softly, sizing him up. Fuck. “Um…scram. Git. Go on, now.”
Verdandi: The Changewing lets out a louder hiss, and Verdandi flinches. Shooting a nervous look at Liam, she looks at the dragon. “I’m sorry,” she says to it, “but we can’t take both of you.”
The dragon looks decidedly unimpressed by this, and she swallows nervously. “Liam? Help,” she hisses. 
Liam: He laughed softly, throwing his arms up into the air in exasperation. “Listen, unless you can scare one of them off, we might be doing a double liftoff here to get to Haligan. I mean, at least they like each other.” He carefully reached out a hand, and after smelling it intensively, it gave it another test nibble, this time avoiding his fingers with its razor-sharp teeth and just clacking it with its faceplates. “More than you and I can say, right?”
Verdandi: Verdandi gives Liam a wounded look. “Yeah,” she mumbles. “Guess so.”
She steps closer to the darker of the two Changewings. “Maybe we’ll come back,” she says to it, reaching out to rub the top of its head. “But we can’t take you both, right now. It’s–we…” she trails off with a sigh. “I’m sorry,” she repeats to the dragon.
Liam: Opening his mouth at Verdandi’s obviously crestfallen face, he shut it as she approached the dragon, his ears flicking briefly. He wasn’t really used to someone not instantly getting his mean-spirited jokes, as Nala always did. I guess I’ve been away from people too long. He was annoyed at the small drop in his chest and twisted up his nose, squinting at the extra dragon. “Maybe I’ll just kick it and we’ll run,” he suggested.
Verdandi: “Oh, yes, that’s a brilliant idea,” Verdandi says, putting as much sarcasm into her voice as she knows how–which is, admittedly, nowhere near the levels of sarcasm Liam himself could achieve. 
“Go on,” she says to the dragon. She and the Changewing gaze into each other’s eyes for a long moment before the dragon huffs and turns away, slinking back into its den.
Liam: Liam sighed with relief and went to gather his things, wrapping the rope around his forearm to loop it back up again. “So, we just need to get this thing to let us on its back, right?” he said. “How hard could that be?”
Verdandi: Given the way the Changewing is now eyeing Liam suspiciously… “Er…” Verdandi lets out a giggle, with a bit of a hysterical edge to it. “I have no idea,” she says.
Liam: “Well, watch my back!”
And without much warning, Liam sprinted at the Changewing, looping the rope around the dragon’s head, and used the rope to swing up and around onto the Changewing’s back, yanking its head close to him so that it couldn’t swing around and destroy him with acid.
Verdandi: Unsurprisingly, the Changewing lets out a furious roar, and Verdandi can only bring herself to sigh at Liam’s chosen course of action.
All the same, she runs forward with another bundle of dragon nip in her hands. “Hey, hey hey,” she says in a soothing tone. “It’s okay,” she tells the Changewing, holding out the dragon nip again. “I swear we’re not going to hurt you. We just need a ride to Haligan Island.”
Liam: The dragon opened its mouth wide, and Liam felt a gurgle in its throat, and he tightened the rope, heading off any breath attack that the beast had planned. It choked a little and bowed its head, backing up like an angry mustang, but when it laid eyes on Verdandi again, it rumbled and sniffed the dragon nip, nudging her hand again. Panting, Liam let up slightly on the makeshift harness, his arms shaking with nerves.
Verdandi: “In the short time I’ve known you,” Verdandi begins, not looking up at Liam, “that is one of the worst ideas I’ve seen you try.” Still, she smiles gently at the dragon, happily rubbing at its scales when it pushes closer to her.
Liam: “Ahh.” He leaned an elbow on the dragon’s neck just in case and shrugged with his other arm, bending over a little. It was clear he was sweating profusely from the brief stress he’d just put himself through, but he had a triumphant smirk. “I’ve done worse,” he said. “Believe me.”
Verdandi: Verdandi rolls her eyes. “Sadly, I believe you,” she says. His offhand comment still stings a little, leaving her reluctant to look up at Liam. Instead, she keeps her focus on the dragon, continuing to scratch its neck. She finds a spot it must love, because it all but rolls over.
Liam: “Oh fu–!”
Liam is trapped under the Changewing once more.
Spitting dirt, he shoved valiantly against the dragon, trying to protect his pack. “Hey! Get this thing’s ass off me!” he yelped. “I’ve got valuable shit in here!”
Verdandi: Sighing, Verdandi lifts her hand away, giving the Changewing a considering look. She grabs for one of the fish and tosses it a short distance away. Though the dragon seems to find Liam’s squirming amusing, it also wants the fish, so it rolls back to its feet, plodding over to retrieve its snack.
“Are you alright?” she asks Liam, her gaze on the ground somewhere to his left.
Liam: Growling shortly, Liam rolled to his feet and dug through his satchel, checking on the bottle full of dark red liquid. It had an extremely sharp lid sealed with wax; it looked enough to cut if it was pressed into something hard enough. It was still intact. His tight chest relaxed in relief, and he exhaled. “M fine,” he grumbled, stuffing it back inside. “We should stop fooling around. I don’t want Crazy McFucknuts to find us again.”
Verdandi: “Yeah,” she murmurs. “I guess you’re right.” Verdandi spares a curious look at the satchel, but gives herself a shake and moves over to the Changewing, looking for the best spot to hold on when they take flight.
Liam: Liam hooked his boot into the back of the Changewing’s leg and got up on the dragon again. He watched her eyeing the dragon’s hide and sighed, reaching a paw down towards her.
“C’mon.”
Verdandi: Verdandi takes a deep breath before grabbing hold of Liam’s paw and scrabbling up onto the Changewing’s back with his assistance. “We should probably think of a name,” she says.
Liam: “Assbreath.” He dug his heels into the dragon’s sides and it squawked as it leapt forward haphazardly, spreading its wings in an attempt to take to the skies. “See! He loves it.”
Verdandi: Verdandi yelps as the dragon moves underneath them, lunging forward and wrapping her arms around Liam’s waist, desperate not to fall off. “That’s a bad name,” she says. After a moment of silence, she adds, “You’re not allowed to decide anymore.”
Liam: The dragon lurched up into a half-fallen tree and took off into the air, making Liam grab its neck tightly to avoid slipping. He laughed hysterically out of triumph and fear. “Awww, I’m not!?”
Verdandi: “No, you definitely aren’t!” Verdandi yells. “I am not going to curse just to call the dragon by its name! Gods, you’re ridiculous,” she grumbles.
Category:Events
Category:BOTGD 2
Category:Liam Arnason
Category:Verdandi Østergård
Category:Act I