{Liz & Kat} Non-muddy forest explorations! {Hydra & Measle}

“Erm, no, no injuries. Are you ok?” Jackdaww asked suspiciously as Hydra landed near him and started asking questions. It seemed like an odd way to start a conversation, and he could only presume something was up. He wondered if Measle had done anything, or if she was still upset after that morning, but he had no idea. He would never claim he understood women, be they dragon or human.

Measle landed a few feet away, and made his way up to Hydra and Jackdaww slowly. He walked a little behind them, panting slightly as the strain of flying caught up with him. He was about ready for a rest, but he knew Jackdaww wouldn’t let him have one – he was to keen on covering every square inch of the woods in search of his father to allow even a moment to be wasted.

Hydra shook her head and moved back behind Measle sadly. "It's nothing. Measle, a word?" she asked nervously. She was operating on impulse but knew this just wouldn't end well. She looked at Jack and reassured him, "We'll catch up in a moment, promise!" She looked back to Measle and felt her face heat up. "How could you scare me like that up there?! I love you too much to lose you Measle!" Ice tears fell from her eyes. "If I lost you I don't know what I would do, please never scare me like that again, please." she begged as she looked at the ground.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to – wait, what did you just say?” Measle started to apologise, before realising what he had heard. He went very quiet and still, and found himself speechless.

“You… love me?” he asked softly, stumbling over his words. His tongue felt like it had been tied in a knot, and his heart was beating faster than he thought it ever had before. For a moment he though he was going to fain again, but he managed to keep himself stable. He wasn’t sure what to say. He had been feeling strange around Hydra all along, but he had never known that she might feel the same.

However, just as Measle was building up the courage to speak again, he heard Jackdaww start to crack up behind them. He had a hand crammed into his mouth to try to stifle it, but before too long he was roaring with laughter. Measle looked down, embarrassed, and silently wished that either the ground would swallow him up, or that it would swallow Jackdaww. Either had to be an improvement.

Hydra glared at Jackdaww and roared at him as loud as she could. "SILENCE YOU STUPID HUMAN!" She was still crying, but now out of anger and embarrassment rather that sadness. She sat on the ground and hid her face under her forelimbs as she continued to shake a bit. "It isn't funny, it isn't funny at all." She hid up in a tree away from them and the leaves gradually froze and fell off like large snowflakes. It seemed Measle didn't feel the same about her from how he was acting and she didn't feel like seeing him anymore than she wanted to hear Jackdaww laughing about this.

“Now look what you’ve done. Can’t you keep quiet for five minutes?” Measle growled at Jackdaww as Hydra hid herself in a tree nearby. He had been caught off guard, but now that he was thinking straight again, he knew deep down that he felt the same way. He needed to speak to Hydra – he needed to tell her how much she meant to him.

“Well, what was I supposed to do? I tried not to laugh, didn’t I?” Jackdaww said, looking very sheepish. Measle clacked his teeth and spat a little shower of sparks at Jackdaww, and made his way to the bottom of the freezing tree.

“Hydra? Are you alright? I’m sorry – you just surprised me. Please come down.” He called, his voice gentle and heavy. Jackdaww backed off a little, giving them some privacy, but Measle knew he would be back on their case before the day was out.

Hydra looked down at him, a few little snowflake looking tears feel to the ground below. "I'm sad, embarrassed, and angry. And somewhat heartbroken." She still hadn't a clue if he felt the same about her. She hesitantly moved down a few branches and looked at him shyly. "Y-Yes...?" Her voice croaked a bit and she slowly got to the ground, looking up at Measle. She couldn't manage to speak, fearing he'd confirm her worry that her feelings were unrequited. She shook away the remainder of her tears. "What is it, Measle?"

“I… I know I reacted badly there. You caught me by surprise, that’s all. I never meant to upset of embarrass you.” He said, his scales glowing in a little bit of a blush. Taking a deep breath, and trying to ignore Jackdaww (who was standing a little way away and giving him a thumbs-up sign, very unhelpfully), he managed to keep himself talking.

“I never knew that was what you felt.” He said, feeling that he was taking so much care with his words that he was actually going round in circles. Giving himself a mental shake, he told himself to just get on with it.

“I…I think I’m falling in love with you too, Hydra.” He said softly. His heart pounded in his ears, and he felt lost and confused, but something deep inside him way screaming that he had spoken the truth.

"Y-You. . .I. . ." She was overjoyed and unable to complete a sentence at that point, and suddenly everything went black. Hydra turned a bright purple all over and fainted on the spot in shock. It was only a minute or two before her body temperature dropped back down to normal and her scales turned blue again, but her wing stripes had brightened in color and stood out against the rest of her. She moved slightly and her tail flicked back and forth. "Oh wow. . ."

“Hydra!” he gasped as she turned a startling shade of purple (just as she’d warned earlier) and fainted. “I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?” he panicked, fanning his wings and scales in worry. He was aware that her wing stripes were still the wrong colour, and she had never told him what to do if there was something wrong. He was terrified, and had no idea how to help.

“Right, what have you done now, Measle?” Jackdaww asked, marching over. He had been watching carefully, but hadn’t actually heard what had been going on. He stood a few feet away, watching Measle panic and looking for signs of improvement in Hydra.

“Jack, shut up. You’re not helping.” Measle hissed through his teeth, feeling flustered. As if Hydra’s reaction wasn’t worrying enough, the concept of Jackdaww watching them for the next few minutes was truly horrifying.

After a moment of dizziness she opened her eyes and shook her head. "Tell me that wasn't a dream." She slowly sat up and looked between Jackdaww and Measle. She stood and glanced at Measle. "You. . .Did actually say that right?" She nestled up close to him a light blush on her face. She was hoping with every fiber of her being that what he'd said was true. She smiled at the warmth he was radiating and calmed quite a bit to the point she nearly fell asleep. "Shall we continue walking?" She was still dazed and had little knowledge of the stress she'd put on her two companions.

“Yes, I definitely did.” Measle smiled, blushing a little. He swiped at Jackdaww with his tail to tell the man to give them some space, and stood up. “Yes, let’s go.” He said, eager to move away from that mildly startling scene.

Jackdaww took the hint, and walked off ahead of them quickly (although Measle realised he had positioned himself well within earshot, just in case of any juicy gossip). Well, never mind - it was good enough.

“What just happened?” Measle asked Hydra, still concerned. He didn’t want anything to happen to her, especially not now that he knew what that weird fluttery feeling deep in his chest was.

"I-I fainted. . .I didn't think you felt the same about me as I did you. When you said you did I was just overjoyed." She licked his cheek and smiled. "Let's not keep your silly human waiting, we can talk a little later about this, right?" She knew Jackdaww was listening in and wasn't going to give him any reason to tease them. "Perhaps when your human won't eavesdrop." she whispered. She turned and looked at Jack. "No gossip here little skinny one. Let's get moving along shall we?" Hydra gave up on using three legs and started to walk with a limp again not caring about the pain, she was in love and was loved in return. Nothing else mattered at that moment.

“Ok, later sounds good.” Measle said quietly, feeling both excited and scared. However, when Hydra called Jackdaww ‘little skinny one’, he settled right back into his skin. If they could both throw mild insults disguised as endearing comments at Jackdaww then the world must be at rights. It was practically his measure of normality.

“Alright, little lovebirds.” Jackdaww laughed, shaking his head. He remembered Measle hatching still, and had been waiting for this stage in his life for ages. He had had his own little crushes, or course, and seeing the same thing happen to his dragon was possibly the funniest thing in the world.

Hydra gave a small laugh and ran a few feet ahead. "Jackie can you run? Catch me if you can!" She ran off ahead into the trees only to run right back. "Not that way! Not that way!" A firestorm had broken out just minutes earlier and it was heading their way. "Lots of smoke there's a fire coming this way!" She pushed Jack in the opposite direction he'd been heading in, whichever way that was, and watched the woodland creatures run off. She took off into the air and gestured due west. "That way's your best bet!" She stayed close to the ground but kept on the wing because she'd only slow them down.

“Fire? Really? Damn. West sounds good.” Jackdaww said, in broken sentences. He broke into a run (his limbs jarring at all angles as his long arms failed to coordinate themselves properly) ad dashed to the west. Measle (still feeling a little giddy) followed, choosing to run rather than fly if there was really a danger. In woods like these a fire would spread, well, like wildfire, and their only hope was to outrun it and reach the edge of the forest.

“Wasn’t there a stream somewhere west, Jack? If we can reach the other side, the fire shouldn’t be able to catch us.” He called, racing to catch up with Jackdaww. Although the human looked ungainly when he moved at great speed, his light weight meant that he was actually quite quick, and was almost a match for Measle. Almost.

“Yeah, I think so. Unless that was to the south… I can’t remember. We’re sure to find something this way though. Just run.” Jackdaww shouted. He wasn’t fond of fire, and didn’t fancy being fried in this firestorm.

Hydra took off low to the ground and got behind Jackdaww, trying to push him in the direction he needed to go. "Measle could you check to see if this is the right way? I'll try to keep Jack safe down here, you have my word." It was better the ice dragon handle the fire at any rate in her mind. Measle's abilities would just make things a little warmer and more electrifying. She nudged Jackdaww and smiled. "You're safe with me, but don't ever laugh at me and Measle again. Got it? It's bad enough we're both awful and expressing how we feel, you laughing just makes it worse."

Jackdaww gave a tiny snort of laughter, but quickly stifled it as he continued to run. He didn’t want to be on Hydra’s bad side really – especially if there was a fast-approaching fire hot on their heels.

“Alright, I’ll check it out.” Measle called, before breaking into a full sprint. Jackdaww was fast for a human, but Measle had twice as many legs as him, and easily three times the muscle. His limbs rippled as he tucked in on himself and ran, using his tail to steer. He wasn’t as fast as, say, a shade runner, but he would still be able to get a good way ahead to check things out.

Twigs slapped against his scales, and Measle was forced to duck his head more and more, but before too long he heard the gurgling of a stream in the distance. A few moments later he could see the stream as a thin line of silver in the distance, which confirmed that they were on the right tracks. He turned around to race back, and winced.

He could see Jackdaww and Hydra in the distance, but behind them the trees were erupting in a wall of flame. This was getting dangerous, and he wasn’t sure what to do. Well, either way he had to get back to them, so he tore off in their direction again, panting against the heat as he went.

"Measle take Jackdaww across the stream. Now!" She breathed frost onto the ground behind herself and kept at it, eventually landing and simply freezing everything in front of her as she went. If anyone was going to be slow it was her, but she soon got out of the trees and to the stream. It took a hop skip and a jump to avoid a falling tree, but she made it with only a few scratches from nearby twigs and branches. "That. Was scary." She watched the forest on the other side of the stream burn and shook her head. "Too hot too fast."

“Definitely. Hydra, you should really take care – anything could have happened, and I…” Measle trailed off, turning a little pink again. His first reaction after reaching dafety was to worry about Hydra, and Jackdaww didn’t look impressed.

“Gee, thanks Measle. I’m glad to see you care about me enough to check I’m alright – you dragons have it easy!” Jackdaww scoffed, brushing himself down and making a big show out of looking emotionally hurt. Measle stuck out his long tongue and nudged at Jackdaww playfully, before settling down near Hydra. His heart was pounding from the effort of getting away, but he wasn’t that worried by the fire. He had never been afraid of it, so it had never seemed like such a drastic threat.

Hydra moved over to Jackdaww. "Measle and I care about you Jackdaww, just our first impulse is our other half. It's not on purpose that's just how it happens. Good to see you're alright though!" She sat back down near Measle and yawned, she'd never frozen that much of anything in her life, it was a real drain on her energy. "I suppose. . .We should get moving away from here. . ." she said with a bit of an accidental yawn. She got up and stretched her legs promptly sitting back down, for the moment too tired to move.

“Other half… that’s such a pretty phrase. It suits you perfectly.” Measle smiled, nudging Hydra’s side playfully. However, he did try to pay Jackdaww a bit of attention – he was only a simple creature, and needed a bit of looking after really.

“Sorry, Jack. You know you’re my favorite human though, right? You’re alright.” He smiled. That was about as close to a compliment as Jackdaww was ever going to get. He would be crushed if he lost Jackdaww, but he could never tell him that. This arrangement was far better, Measle decided, and they both knew it.

“Thanks, Hydra. And of course I know that, Measle – I was just kidding with you.” Jackdaww grinned, before jumping on the spot a bit to loosen off his muscles. He wasn’t that tired really – they hadn’t run far, all in all, and his persistent training had left him with more stamina than Measle would ever give him credit for. However, it also did well to break the odd tension n the air – he was becoming a little uncomfortable with Measle being all mushy. Measle was usually the tough one, so seeing him turn soft was a bit strange.

Hydra blushed and laughed a bit. "I'll still race you the next quarter mile or so Measle, if you like? Jackdaww's a grown human he can defend himself for that long yes?" She had gotten her leg loosened up a bit more with the bit of running she did, and the limp had gotten a bit less noticeable. The bone must've moved a bit or something, she had no idea. She was ready to run about the countryside like mad dog with a flea it couldn't quite reach. She'd brightened up a bit as well after seeing that everyone was alright. She thought for a brief moment she could outrun a fluffy little bunny rabbit if she tried.

“A race? You mean, like, running?” Measle asked, ruffling his scales and sighing, letting his muscles relax after the tension of the last few moments. He could do running, but Hydra’s leg would put her at an obvious disadvantage, wouldn’t it? However, he knew fully well that the build of a frost dragon was stronger than his own, so who knew?

“Alright, then, you’re on.” He grinned, finding that it was much easier to break into a smile when Hydra was around. In fact, other that the frantic dash to escape the fire (which was peacefully burning itself out in the forest across the stream) he hadn’t stopped smiling all day.

"Of course I mean running silly!" she said with a smile. It was almost like her leg pain didn't exist as she took off in a sprint. She kept heading west/northwest so that it wasn't a sidetrack from where they were going. She took off in a sprint through the woods, ignoring a massive stabbing pain in her leg from a bone moving into place. Poor Hydra was lovestruck, that was all there was to it. A dragon in love, one must suppose, is oblivious to even the most obvious of dangers. Re-breaking a leg is one of those dangers.

Gosh, Hydra was faster than Measle had expected. He set off at a mad sprint after her, trying to catch up. In the air she had an obvious advantage, but Measle should have had the edge on the ground. His well-build muscles rippled, and he tore off like a lightning bolt, before settling into a steady pace. Here he had enough stamina to run for miles if he had to, but he knew that he wouldn’t be.

Once he had settled into the rhythm however, he couldn’t help worrying about Hydra again. He had seen how much it had hurt her even to walk moments ago, so it seemed impossible for this to be a painless exercise for her. He would have to make sure she was alright once they slowed, but while they ran; his heart was leading him, not his mind. He was undeniably, head over heels in love, and catching up with the graceful, beautiful dragon just ahead of him was all that mattered in the whole wide world

» [Syn & Hydra] Little Wandering Child
» The Forest of Tarz (Exxor x Eldarwen)
» Measle {Miniture but Mighty}
» :: Mystery of the Godless Forest :: -{Aero, Nen, Spirit, Rogue}-
» Hydra :: A Place In This World