Sleeping Dragon wake up, mr. west!

Despite the fun that she had had with Wildfire there also had been some information shared that she needed to share to her siblings. After parting ways with the fire-haired Bandrona, Freya had quickly made her way from the creek and back to the family den. Despite the chill she felt from her damp fur or the hunger she felt gnawing on her belly she pressed onwards in hopes of catching one of her siblings.

Once she had arrived to the den she quickly poked her head in as thoughts of the buddy system and death churned through her mind, words bubbling in her throat as she peered in the den. “Thyri? @Hvitserk? Eske?” Her tone with rushed and breathless as she called into the den.

The adventure taken the night before had left him exhausted and in desperate need of sleep, and so the boy had settled down early in the morning in order to rest. For how long he'd slept, never would he be aware, but it'd been well into the afternoon when he'd been awoken by a voice. At first, he'd ignored it, having rolled onto his other side and sealed his eyes shut. Sleep wasn't keen on taking him back, however, the voice of his sister having started to repeat within his mind. It'd made him curious, the need to know what it was that she wanted having forced him to sit up. Yawning, the next step had been taken as he'd pushed himself up to his feet, and then gave a somewhat rough shake of his body. It had served two purposes: to rid his coat of any debris, as well as to wake himself up fully.

As Hvit had walked towards her, he'd stretched out his legs, waking up his muscles and readying his body for whatever she had planned. With her words having been rushed and her tone breathless, he'd wondered what exactly she might have been doing, as well as if it tied into why he'd been woken up. A nudge to her cheek was offered shortly after his approach as a way of greeting his sister, but he'd done nothing else afterwards, keeping still and attentive in order to hear what it was that she had in mind for the day—or to at least receive an explanation on what she'd been doing prior to having arrived there, for his touch had revealed a dampness to her fur.

She lingered at the den’s entrance, her eyes shifting about as they adjusted to the poor lighting. As she saw a figure shift she turned her attention quickly as watched on quietly as he brother woke. “Hvit,” she murmured in reply, falling comfortably into his embrace before taking a step back to look at him once they broke away. It seemed that their other siblings were out and about-- hopefully not swimming alone-- but she was glad to see her brother.

Quickly shifting gears, she turned to the matter on hand: the buddy system. “Do you remember when Mom taught us about the buddy system?” she asked suddenly, taking a seat after she spoke.

Still tired, he'd blinked several times as the gesture was returned, another yawn finding its way out of his mouth. It was too late to go back to sleep now, for the sun was out and he'd already approached his sister. And so he hoped that the tired feeling would wear away with whatever she might have in mind for the day's activities. It was always an adventure when they were together, he'd come to realize, a dull moment having yet to appear—in his eyes, anyways. Whether or not the same could be said for her, he didn't know, but also didn't bother with focusing on that. They had something fun to do!

—or so was what he'd originally believed. Rather than suggesting some sort of elaborate journey, though, the buddy system was brought up. He'd taken a moment to think back, but couldn't drag anything up. So much had happened that was far more thrilling, and it was memories of those moments that filled his mind. So, of course, he'd responded to her question by shaking his head.

As he shook his head she felt her heart skip a beat. Despite this initial fretting she was also glad that she was there to inform him of something so important. “Well,” she began officially, ready to teach him of this very important lesson. “The buddy system means not going swimming in the creek alone. There is a chance that you can go under the and then DIE because there would be too much water in your body!” She paused for a moment for dramatic effect. “And in the colder time if it’s cold outside you can FREEZE and even HERBS can’t save you.” She knew that this part especially would get through to her brother.

“And… I just wanna make sure you’re safe.” Her dramatics were followed by this soft confession and she smiled at him gently.

Hvitserk would have preferred that the topic be dropped in favour of something more interesting, but it hadn't been that simple. Apparently, the buddy system was a fairly important thing, for his sister had proceeded to then explain to him what it was. Her speech was dramatic, but had succeeded in making his eyes widen once or twice. Never had he thought about going swimming in the creek, and especially not alone, but her words served as a way to better ensure that he wouldn't. She'd spoken of freezing and death, but what had hit him the hardest was that herbs couldn't do anything to save a wolf from such a fate. If he were to go swimming alone, then there'd be nothing in existence that could save him, and that scared the viking. The concept of death was a hard one to understand, but even still, he was certain that he didn't want it. No, life was going far too well for him, he didn't want to ever lose it.

By the time she'd finished and confessed to him, Hvit's ears were back and his posture drooping. "Don't wanna swim," he'd muttered, then wondered immediately after if that's what she'd been doing. From skeptical to suspicious, his expression had shifted whilst he stared at Freyja. Had she gone swimming alone? And, if so, what had been the point to her story? The child wanted to believe that his sister wouldn't ever lie to him, but her fur was damp and there was no one else around them. She'd done something, and he wanted to know what.

As his posture accordingly drooped to the subject matter, Freyja frowned. Though she knew just how important that the topic at hand was she also hated making her sibling feel this way. As his expression shifted Freyja also shifted her position, feeling uncomfortable under his suspicious stare. She was catching on that perhaps her two-toned sibling had caught onto the fact that she had indeed gone swimming alone.

“Yes,” she admitted after a long pause, sighing as she turned her head away. This emotional rollercoaster seemed to be the ride that kept going-- offering many unexpected ups and downs. “I was swimming alone and Wildfire found me. She told me about the buddy system.” She was embarrassed that she was admitting such things, but she also was not one to keep anything from her beloved brother. “But, nothing happened to me!” She was quickly to tack that on to what she had said. “And… I just wanted to make sure you knew, too, incase you swam alone like me.” She couldn’t imagine anything happening to Hvitserk that she could have potentially prevented.

Suspicious had he been, but, apparently, it'd not been without a valid reason. She'd admitted to having gone swimming by herself, a confession that had led to him frowning at her. The dangers of doing so had been shared already, and yet she herself had done the exact thing that he'd been warned away from! Hvit wanted to be upset with her, but the only emotion that he could muster was relief. Despite the dangers, nothing had happened to her; he was glad about this, too, for he knew not what he would have done had anything happened to her. Each of his sisters held a special place in his heart, but if at any point he'd be made to select a favourite, it was sure to be Freyja.

It was understood that she only wanted to keep him safe, which he wasn't upset about. A mistake had been made when she'd chosen to swim all alone, but now they both knew of the dangers, and so neither would do so again. With her words accepted, he'd drawn closer and offered a wolf-y hug, which more or less consisted of him briefly shoving his face into the crook of her neck. "Won't go alone," the boy said as he pulled away, assuring her that he'd respect the buddy system. Of course, he also felt inclined now to always keep an eye on her, just in case she gave into temptation.

She had been all too nervous to confess to Hvitserk all of her wrong doings that she was taken aback when he drew near and embraced her. A warm smile crept upon her dark lips and she leaned into his touch and closed her eyes. She only opened them as he pulled away to make his promise and as she did, she replied with a promise of her own. “I won’t either,” though she would be tempted, she felt like this was a promise that she had to keep.

Now that they not-so fun agenda had been taken care of, the gears in her mind shifted quickly and she turned her attention to what else had been on her mind: his superior pouncing skills. “Hey, also,” she said quietly, drawing back their conversation. “Can you… teach me to pounce? You’re much better than me and I need to be better to be a good hunter.” She was not one to compliment for the sake of complimenting, she only offered such words if she deemed them to be true.

Both had given their word, and so he was hopeful that there would be no future mishaps. Hvit was almost certain that he’d never attempt to swim all alone, but things could change, and so he’d have to do well to remember his conversation with his sister. Especially since he’d promised her that he wouldn’t, and going back on something like that didn’t seem right at all. It seemed similar to lying, which he never wanted to do to his sisters. They were important to him, and so they deserved the truth and honourable words.

An abrupt change had been made to the topic of their conversation, which he was glad for—at first, that is. Just as soon as Freyja had spoken, his head tilted and his brows pinched together. As far as he knew, there was no special technique to pouncing, and definitely nothing that could really be taught. All he ever did was spring forward, which had never seemed, to him, like something that anyone could be better at than another. Although... she had told him about the buddy system, so the least he could do was try, right? With a decision having been made, he’d given a hesitant nod of his cranium.

Briefly had his gaze turned away from her, drifting over the area that surrounded them until he’d found something. Without a word, the boy padded off a short ways in order to pick up a stick, which he’d then brought back towards his sister. It was dropped several steps away from her before he’d backed away from it, looking towards her and then nodding towards the stick. “Jump,” the child instructed, focusing then on her body. It was towards her hind limbs that he’d looked the most, waiting to see her put them to use.

She hoped that the sudden change of topic wouldn’t throw him off too much, but this had been something that had been burning in the back of her mind lately. When he agreed to help out she jumped to her paws with a smile upon her face, happy that he was offering his advice.

She watched as Hvitserk went off to retrieve the stick, waiting patiency got what was to come next. She was unsure of whether or not he would give a demonstration or not, she waited on for his next instruction. When it was given, she dropped herself and pulled herself towards the stick. Once she was close enough she hesitated, over thinking what was to come next. What if she was doing it all wrong? Attempting to push such thoughts aside, Freyja rocked on her haunches and sprang herself forward, easily landing on the stick.

Though she had done it, she still turned to her brother with an unsatisfied expression. She did not say a word and instead shook herself off, waiting for whatever he had to offer.

Following the offering of instructions, never had his eyes left her figure. He watched her form, her legs, and took mental notes on how she had moved. There had been hesitance shown prior to her pounce, which he’d been quick to point out after the fact. “Hesitated,” Hvit said, then frowned at her expression. “Jump, don’t think. Wich yu klin.” He stared at her afterwards, then looked back towards the stick.

As if to offer a demonstration, the boy crouched down and sprang forward, landing on the stick. There’d been hardly any pause between when he’d stopped speaking and when he’d lurched forward, his body moving with the simplest of commands. Back to Freyja was his gaze soon directed, a nod of his head encouraging her to try again.

Wich yu klin. The words rang in her ears as she watched with interest as hvitserk demonstrated just how one should pounce. Once the stick had been pounced, Freyja nodded, concluding on what she had to do.

Stepping up to the plate, Freyja crouched down swiftly and pounced without any hesitation. Landing easily on the stick, she stood quickly and turned to her brother, beaming. “Did it!!”

Again, he watched, though he seemed to pay even closer attention this time than he had previously. He knew what it was that held her back, and so he knew what to watch for. It was the entirety of her figure that his eyes roamed over, searching for any and every sign of hesitation that might appear—yet, there was nothing to be found. This time around, Freyja had pounced with ease. There had been no pause beforehand nor after the fact, only clean, fluid motions. And the moment she’d turned to face him, the boy’s tail had started to wag furiously.

Hvit moved over to her and touched his nose to her cheek, a smile etched into his features. “Did good,” complimented the child, feeling nothing but joy for her. Truthfully, he knew that she’d be able to do it. She was always doing great things, as well as helping him out, so he’d had no reason to ever doubt her or her capabilities.

She smiled as his praise and returned the nudge her offered with a quick kiss to his snout. “Thanks,” she replied happily as she pulled away from his embrace. She was very glad to know that she always had the support of her brother, even when things seemed silly. Despite this, she realized that she had yet to help him out on anything. To this, she offered a willing, “Do you need help with anything?”

A kiss upon his muzzle was delivered, which he’d wagged his tail in response to. Of his sisters, Freyja had always seemed to be the most affectionate, and he was rather fond of her because of that; that, and the fact that she was always there for him, of course. Even then, as their lesson was drawn to a close, she’d remained with him and offered her help. It was more so, then, out of his want to stay with her for a bit longer that he’d thought about her question, rather than because he was in dire need of her assistance. Few ideas came to mind, however, and so the second a decent one had appeared, he’d jumped for it. Without taking another moment for his thoughts to work themselves out, he’d asked, “Spar?” A tilt of his head followed after, curious of her answer. He wanted to train whenever he could so that he could get stronger, that way he'd be able to protect Freyja and the rest of his family. As always, he wouldn’t hold it against her if she declined, since a day couldn’t pass them by without her being there to help him in some other way.

“Spar?”

A smirk was quick to press upon her darks lips and a wicked gleam shone in her eyes. “Yes, we can spar.” The answer came easily and confident undertones lifted her voice easily. Though she was not an expert in the art of fighting, she was more than happy to assist her beloved brother in any way possible. Dropping herself to a crouch, Freyja looked to Hvitserk expectantly as she anticipated his first move.

The spar was agreed to and a grin spread across his lips, mimicking her smirk. He watched her crouch down, but nothing followed the movement. His own body lowered in a manner similar to how it did before he pounced, but it wasn't identical. When he pounced, the boy went for height, but this time he’d position himself in a way that might help him achieve a greater distance. Then, he watched her, tail whipping around behind him out of excitement.

Without warning, he’d sprung towards her left side, only to dart over to her right at the last second. He’d seen Hush do it, except, unlike the mute, Hvit hadn’t stopped. He’d not pulled back at the last second, but continued forward with the intent of ramming his head against his sister's shoulder.

Her gaze remained upon the form of her brother, unwavering as he easily crouched. He did not give her much time to prepare herself and soon she found herself thrown off by his sudden approach. She watched on carefully, bracing herself  and preparing to lurch herself to the right to avoid his blow.

Her rear wriggled before she launched to the right only to realize with a lurch of her heart that her brother was also heading in that direction. With her caught in the surprise of the moment, Hvitserk was easily able to ram his head to her shoulder and knock her back.

As she was knocked back, the Feisripa lashed out at him with her right paw as she attempted to whack wherever she could reach.

Okay, so a headbutt hadn’t been the greatest of ideas.

Whilst Hvitserk had landed his hit, the force of the impact had left him momentarily stunned. He had started to stumble back, but not without having first felt his sister’s paw collide with his muzzle. Several retreating steps later and he’d huffed, which was followed by a rough shake of his head as he attempted to clear away his daze. A mental note was made that he should not do as he just had unless if it was absolutely necessary—that recoil was wicked!

Once he’d recollected his bearings, the viking began moving with the intention of circling her. He kept his ears pulled back, the decision to do so having been an instinctual one, rather than conscious. Should he find a way to reach her side, the boy would, once again, rush her. This time, however, he would not ram his head into her. Hvit had chosen to aim himself towards her legs instead, acting with the purpose of throwing his entire body towards her in the hopes that he’d be able to unbalance her.

She felt a small pang of pride from within as she landed her blow, though, the pride quickly faded as she saw what the recoil of the ramming had done to him. A sense of worry wrenched her heart, but she did not allow such concerns to break the surface. She would check on him after their fight concluded and not a moment before. Instead, she kept herself low and watched him carefully, waiting for his next move.

Said move came suddenly and despite her better judgement Freyja reacted by launching towards him, hoping that somehow she would overpower him.

Minor PP. Lemme know if you’d like anything changed! ♥

Hvitserk had been confident that his next plan of attack would be successful, but fate hadn’t agreed with him. Perhaps he would have held a chance at overpowering her had he continued forward, but he’d not. As soon as the boy had seen Freyja coming towards him, he’d pulled back, not wanting to cause any serious damage. Due to this, the two had been met by a standstill, neither side having progressed passed the other, which he was satisfied by. A draw was, after all, the better option this time around; had she been a stranger, he would have continued with his attack, but she wasn’t. They were siblings, and he wished only to protect her, not bring her harm.

Given their close proximity to one another, he’d leaned forward and nipped—playfully—at one of her ears, a smile pulling at the corners of his lips. “Could never hurt you,” the viking told her, explaining himself. A head-on collision would have, of course, been far too risky.

Perfectly fine! Wanna wrap up this one soon in favor of our newer thread? <3

In a flash their charging had ceased and a standstill occurred. Hvitserk was quick to explain his actions and she nodded in turn and smiled. “Me either,” she promised quickly with a wave of her tail. She could never hurt her brother because he was far too special to her. She felt, out of all of her siblings, that if anything happened to her he would be the first one to be at her side.

Now that the fight had been paused, Freyja picked herself up to a stand and then quickly dropped to bow. “Want to try again?” she asked, wagging her tail.

Sure! ^^

Hvitserk had spoken with honesty, knowing himself to be incapable of ever hurting her. When the sentiment was then returned, he’d wagged his tail, believing her immediately. When it came to Freyja, he could never doubt a single thing that she said. She could very well tell him that deer could fly, and he’d believe her, for he was certain that there would never exist between them any lies. With her, he could be honest—he could speak—and he made it known whenever he could that the same could be said for her. Nothing that was shared between the pair would be held against her, especially since the viking child simply wasn’t the sort to do such a thing.

It was observed as she’d moved away and then bowed, prompting him to spar once again. He’d considered accepting it, but had ended up shaking his head instead. “Want to get better first,” he’d told her. If he were to train just a bit more, then perhaps he’d find a way in which he could spar with his sister again—but with a guaranteed method that would prevent any harm from ever being inflicted upon her.

Nodding to her brother’s response, Freyja picked herself up and smiled. Though she was in the mood to spar, she would not press her brother. Instead, she beckoned him with a jerk of her head. “Come on, let’s go get something to eat,” and without another word, the pair went on their way and did just that.