Here Be Dragons

Lambi was quiet as they walked to the other's hut, still upset they didn't see it when flying in. He chastised himself quietly as he moved to find a spot, choosing the furtherest one from capper but closet to the trough. Luna looked at him before going over to the trough and sharing it with Tide. "Thank you," he thanked him quietly but still polite. He was a bit surprised by the offer to take the bowl but accepted it and set it off to the side to take home later. "Thank you...I'll make sure she gets it," he hadn't really heard anyone call his mom lady bluebell before. He assumed it must've been a name given to her when she still lived in the village, no way he was going to even attempt to ask her about it.

He started eating his bowl quietly, occasionally checking on Luna. Triston seemed alot more eager to talk to capper so he let him take over most of the talking. The shorter male was vaguely paying attention to the island when he noticed a question was asked. "No. We haven't seen anything," which was true but they hadn't really explored the island either. And clearly they weren't good at spotting people since they missed and entire hut. The smoke from a chimney should've at least hinted to it. Lambi knew his mother would chastise him for not noticing the hut either, at the very least Luna would've seen it.
 
As the group continues eating dinner, Triston can't help notice how sullen Lambi seems. He hasn't known the boy long, but he's pretty sure that's not his usual personality. He tilts his bowl back to take a drink of stew and then scoots his chair toward the other boy. "Hey. You doing okay?" he asks softly. "You're kinda quiet tonight." Then he realizes how personal of a question that might seem and clears his throat, straightening up a bit. "You know. Just out of curiosity." He almost adds "Not that I care," but that's a straight up lie at this point, and he knows it.

Tide chirps in surprise as the three Deadly Nadder dragons scamper up his back and slide down his nose into the stew. Then he huffs and carries on eating, being careful to avoid the baby dragons now swimming in the trough.

Capper finishes his meal and stands up, stretching with a soft groan. "Welp, I'd better go get some water to douse the babies off with," he decides with a nod. "I'll be right outside the hut if ye need anything." With that, he quietly heads outside, closing the door behind him.
 
Lambi was mostly engrossed in his meal as the conversation went on. He hadn't even noticed that it went quiet until Triston scooted over to him. His question kind of threw him off, surprised he noticed. But the quick thing added afterwards threw him a little bit more and he was confused how to answer. Luna had stepped back when the baby dragons cannonballed into the strew. The light fury had her fair share of dealings with babies so she wasn't too effected.

Seeing capper leave to get something to clean the deadly nadders off he decided to answer. "I'm ok. Just I've been raised not to talk to anyone from the village...no matter who. I know my mom's upset with me being near anyone from the village at all," he sighed quietly,"And I'm disappointed we didn't see the hut from the sky. I've spotted plenty of harder things easier yet I blatantly missed this hut somehow. Got my mom's hopes up on the island being empty and turned out not to be." He knew there was no way she was ever coming back to the island, the fact he was even allowed to come back during the day was nothing short of a miracle.
 
Triston raises an eyebrow. "Oh. Yeah, I guess that's a lot to deal with." He stands up and brings his empty dishes to a wash basin, and then starts to scrub them clean. "Look, I know you just met me. But I've met a lot of terrible people and I don't think Capper's one of them. Especially since he left the island in order to help dragons."

Tide polishes off his own meal and licks his paws clean. Then he plucks the baby Nadders out of the stew, one at a time, and licks them clean as well. He rumbles proudly at his work before nudging the babies toward the fireplace. There he promptly curls up around them and folds a wing over the yawning triplets like a blanket.

"And heck, if you won't take my word, take Tide's. He's only relaxed if he knows we're both safe. And the fact that he's already fallen asleep around Capper has me sold," Triston adds. He smiles and holds out a hand to take Lambi's empty bowl. "I know it's more your mom who needs convincing, but - I just wanted you to know I think we can trust this guy."
 
Lambi was eating slowly so he hadn't quite finished his yet. "Yeah. Quite alot to deal with. Just alot to go from just us to 4 people," he also was reluctant to be around alot of people. Just being around 2 people at once kind of stressed him out. But 3 other people was too much for him, too many conversations going on and social ques he didn't understand. Like his mom he was more of a one on one type of person. Luna had already finished getting her fill before she headed back over to Lambi, letting tide and the babies finish off the stew.

"It's not that I don't think he's a bad person, just not used to so many people," he shrugged noticing Triston offered to take his bowl he smiled a little before handing it to him. "Thanks...i guess being raised with just one person to talk to has some effects," he said with a small laugh.

(yeah 😂 I was kinda planning to have his mom be more of an occasional character they interact with as the two got more involved 😂 I like more one on one interaction rather than groups too many conversations to follow 😂)
 
(Oh, same, not to worry! I was planning on having Capper around long enough to build his character/have the group trust him, and then he'll mainly be a background character ^^)

"Maybe," Triston says with a shrug. "But don't worry. I'm sure you'll get the hang of things." He yawns and stretches, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "Huh. Guess it's been a lot for me, too - meeting so many people who haven't tried to kill me or Tide on sight. Kinda nice, that way." He wipes the dishes dry with a nearby towel and carefully stacks them on a counter. "Tell you what. If your mom lets you come back, why don't you and I try mapping more of the island? Then we can get away from everyone."

All at once he realizes what that must sound like. He blushes and clears his throat. "Uh - you know, so we can make sure the island is safe. To check for anyone else who might be here. A smaller group would be able to move faster." He grabs one of the bowls again and dries it a second time, locking his gaze onto it as though it held the secrets of the universe. "Yep. All about efficiency, me and Tide."
 
(sorry I didnt reply alot today! I got a new form for my characters and I spent all day messing around with it 😂 redoing all my charries forms)

Lambi felt a bit tired and peeked out the window to check and see what the sky was looking like. He was sad to see it was already losing a bit of light, meaning he didn't know too much. "Lots of new things and changes all in one day, it's alot for anyone to process," he looked over to Luna who was getting in a small nap before they left. Or well trying to anyways with one of the deadly nadders deciding he liked her back as a place to chill.

He looked back to the other when he offered to have then walk around the island again tomorrow. It did make him blush a tiny bit, thinking how they would get to be alone but he tried not to think about it. "I'd like that...mapping out islands is always something fun to me," his book was absolutely full of maps of all the islands he had been to and where they were. He noticed the other pick up the bowl a second time and start drying it. "You keep drying that poor bowl and it's going to turn into dust," he teased the other playfully,"I should get going though...looking at the sky I'll get home before it gets dark if I leave now." He headed over to Luna, carefully taking the one nadder off so she could stand up.
 
((Ooh sounds like fun!))

Triston laughs nervously and sets the bowl aside. Then he clears his throat. "R - right. Um . . . we'll see you both tomorrow, then! Meet here at Capper's house?" he asks as Lambi prepares to leave. He follows the pair toward the door almost out of instinct, and when they finally leave for the night, he stands in the doorway waving until he can't see them any more.

Tide seems content to stay curled up with the baby Nadders, and he takes the stray baby gently in his jaws from Lambi's hands. Then he falls right back asleep.

The next morning finds the skies bright and clear. Triston and Tide are already right outside, finishing up the last of their breakfast with Triston stuffing half a muffin in his mouth as he leans against Tide's side. ". . . So I don't know, for some reason I don't feel as tough as I used to. You feeling that, too?" he asks.

Tide only rumbles and laughs, swishing his tail. He knows full well what's really going on, but he knows Triston wouldn't believe him if he told him. The boy's in love.

And so's Tide. When he catches the first glimpse of Luna, he leaps into the air and spreads his wings with a roar of greeting, sending Triston crashing to the ground.

"Ugh! Why do I keep leaning on you if all you're gonna do is drop me?" Triston asks, laughing as he staggers to his feet. Then he realizes why Tide flew up. He smiles and waves, nodding. "Hey, Lambi! Luna! Great to see you two!"
 
(yeah 😂 it's alot of fun but I'm soooo bad at finding like matching pictures that are the same color and tone and match like 😂 it's hard to explain)

Lambi gave him a small smile as the pair headed towards the door. Once he was outside he double checked Luna's saddle and everything. "See you tomorrow morning yeah," he confirmed as he hopped on his dragons back. He gave the other a wave before they took off into the sky. Since the two were alone they were allowed to fly as fast as they wanted back home. It was still a bit dark when he got home which he was nervous about.

The next morning it was mostly debating with his mom about how he didn't need to carry an extra knife. Eventually she gave up and let the pair head off towards the island. Seeing as he was mostly mapping toward, Luna's bag was filled with supplies for that. The pair were quiet as they flew, Lambi yawning a bit still tired. They found the island easily and went in for a landing. First thing that caught his eye was tide and Triston immediately falling to the ground. Lambi couldn't help laughing as they pair landed nearby. "Morning! Tide seems lively today," he laughed again as he hopped off and started getting stuff out of his saddlebag. He would take Luna's saddle off eventually, just needed to get everything off first. The light fury sat patiently, knowing if she was calm the saddle would come off faster and she would get to go play. "Anything eventful happen while we were gone?" he asked jokingly.
 
(I think I know what you mean! You could try running them through a color filter so they match, maybe ^^)

Tide chuffs a greeting to Luna, flapping his wings before rolling across the grass to invite her to play. His fins splash out almost like feathers.

Triston scoffs and crosses his arms, rolling his eyes with a grin. "You haven't missed much. Just this guy stealing my muffins this morning. Oh! That reminds me - " He holds up a nearby whicker basket. "Capper made extra and sent them along with our lunch for today. Do you want to taste test one before we head out?"

At the mention of food, Tide rolls back into an upright position. Then he slithers his head between Triston and Lambi, making puppy eyes back and forth to beg for one of the baked goods.

"No, you goof, you've already had seven. Let Lambi try at least one," Triston says with a laugh. He tosses the muffin to Lambi. "Quick, catch!"

Tide pouts and sticks out his tongue. Then, to further protest his dismay, he puts his head on top of Triston, knowing the weight will push him over. Sure enough, the boy crashes to the ground and is pinned beneath his chin.

"Oh, for - Tide, come on! We've got work to do!" Triston protests, playfully trying to shove the dragon off without much success. "Lambi! Luna! Help!"
 
(ooooh I've never heard of doing that!! I'm terrible when it comes to editing stuff 😂 but I wonder if a color filter would work!)

Luna looks to tide before back at her rider as if telling him to hurry up. He laughs as he gets her saddle off and she's allowed to run off. Carefully he sat the saddle down somewhere safe before turning back to listen to Triston. "Muffins? Don't think I've had those in a long time," usually they got their food from what they would grow. They did trade for other foods but the village wasn't always welcoming on trading the good stuff. When the muffin was tossed to him he fumbled a little before catching it. Luna, now curious, headed over to him to smell the muffin.

"Smells really good!" he was just taking a bite out of it when tide sent the other crashing down. He laughed a little as Luna came over and reached the basket but not Triston. "I think you're on you own, this muffin has my hands full," the shorter boy teased laughing as Luna set the basket down next to him and safe from the danger. He broke off a piece of his own muffin and gave it to the light fury.
 
(I'ver never used one myself but they look fun!)

"What? You can't just leave me here," Triston says, laughing. "But not to worry! I have an idea." He gently rubs the underside of Tide's chin, and slowly, the dragon rumbles and relaxes. His head rolls off of Triston and onto the grass as he gives a content huff. Triston grins and hops back to his feet. "There! Never fails."

He reaches into his leather bag and pulls out a large piece of parchment and a stick of charcoal. "So I was thinking we should do a flyover first - get there basic shape of the island down. Then we can walk through it and add more details. What do you think?" he adds.

Tide slithers over towards Luna. Then he reaches out to playfully nip her ear, trying to get her to chase him again. He chitters and zooms off to hide in a bunch of bushes.
 
(Just a quick heads up, I'll be going on vacation from tomorrow to Saturday, but I should be back on Sunday to role-play! Have a great week! I'll see you soon!)
 
(thanks for telling me! Hope you have a great vacation!!)

Lambi continued to eat his muffin, splitting it with Luna as he watched what was happening. "The power of the muffin is too great I'm afraid, reaaaal busy eating my muffin," he laughed as the other found a way our from under tide in the end. He finished his muffin just in time as the other pulled a piece of paper. As he was opening his book Luna felt a nip on her ear. She was confused before seeing tide and chasing after him. Noticing them leave Lambi chuckled,"Ahhh I'm afraid a flyover is going to be a bit difficult without them," he pointed out before getting to the page he needed,"Anyways I already drew a quick sketch of the shape the first time we came here...kind of a habit of mine." He turned his book around to show a decent drawing of the shape of the island.
 
Triston grins widely as Tide rushes off to play with Luna. And when Lambi mentions he already has a shape of the island, he nods and puts his paper and charcoal away again. "Perfect. In that case, let's start walking through it and drawing out what we see. I'm guessing it'll take us at least three days to do the whole thing; it's a small island, but it's a long one."

He ambles off through the forest and draws his spindrift sword, just as a precaution, and waves his arm for Lambi to follow. "I'm thinking we start with the beaches and outside edges. That way we can work from the outside in, and if we get hot or tired, we can go swimming. What do you think?"
 
Lambi laughed a little to himself as he watched the two dragons hurry off. He was happy knowing she would get to have some fun while they were here. "3 days is probably a good estimate, since we can only really map it out during the day. Though...we don't know how big and long the caves are so those might take a short time or really long," he was still figuring out the best way to map those. As they started walking he drew rough sketches of the area, just generic, adding notes on the side if he planned to make a better map later. "Should we make some kind of marker so when we need to stop for the day? That way we can easily find where we left off?" he made a note to look for distinguishable features to use as landmarks.
 
"Oh! Good idea," Triston says with a grin. He glances around too, raising one eyebrow thoughtfully. "Let's see . . . there's this one weird tree Tide and I have passed a few times. Looks kind of like a giant skeleton hand. It's really spooky," he adds.

He calmly strolls through the tall grass as the pair moves further inland, stuffing his hands into his pockets and even going so far as to partially close his eyes to soak up the sun. He's never been so relaxed around another human before. As he glances over at Lambi, his expression softens. "So, uh . . . how do people usually make friends?" he asks hesitantly. "I mean once people have decided they want to be friends - what do they do after that?"
 
Lambi laughed a little as he jotted down a note about a skeleton looking tree. "We should see if we see that tree then and mark it on the map, it'll make a great landmark!" he smiled as they got started. Mapping out islands was one of his favorite things to do so he was happy drawing away in his book. He was in the middle of drawing a symbol of funny shaped rock before turning the page to draw the rock in more detail as a landmark when he heard Tristan. The shorter male paused for a bit as he thought about it. "I um...I'm not sure...luna's my only friend really and I don't think dragon logic really applies to other humans," he laughed,"But some stuff we do with our dragons has to count as things friends do. Like hang out, joke around, stuff like that. Just not the um...sittinf on the other person or licking them parts of dragon friendship." His cheeks were bright red as he instantly regretted going into rambling again when he got nervous.
 
Triston heaves a deep sigh and chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck. "Hoo! Good, I thought I was the only one who had no idea how to interact with people." His own cheeks light up with blush as he averts his gaze. "Maybe we could learn together? You know, just kind of . . . practicing how to interact with each other the way people would?" Then he huffs, blowing his hair out of his face. "I sound like an idiot. Look, what I'm trying to say is - do you want to be friends?" he adds, glancing up with a hopeful wince.

A short distance away, Tide has no such hesitation with Luna. He's been aching to make friends with another dragon and join a flight, and Luna already seems interested. He pops out from behind one of the nearby trees and chirps a hello. His tail swishes back and forth, and his eyes are dilated and half-lidded to announce how comfortable he is.
 
Lambi's cheeks were still bright pink as he finished drawing the funny looking rock. He did not do very well when he started getting flustered and embarrassed. Hearing the other fumble too he smiled, feeling better that he wasn't the only one who fumbled when talking. "I would love to be friends," he looked up once he was finished with the rock, smiling at the other,"Our dragons already seem to be best friends so we've got alot of catching up to do in the socializing department. Think we've both been around our dragons too much we know more about being friends with them then our own species!"

Luna was happy running around the forest around tide. Even though she was surrounded by dragons daily they were usually the injured ones or babies who couldn't play. Seeing tide she laughed before shooting a small plasma ball at the tree above him, sending leaves falling onto him.