Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-37981206-20190723213858/@comment-34572969-20190812101748

'''Translations at the end of chapter! (You'll see what I mean)'''

Katina

"Hey, Katina, what's the date?"

I looked up from my plate of food, already knowing that right underneath my nose, Flame was beginning to nibble away at the leftover chicken I had. Isla seemed lost in thought from where she sat on the couch, awaiting an answer to her question.

"September 1st, 1989," I deadpanned. Isla cocked her head to the side simply as I huffed.

"Never mind. And... uh... October 3rd?" I thoughtfully tapped the table a few times. "I have no idea... holy Thor I forgot," I mused.

"Huh, same. There's a calendar here, right?"

"There should be."

I left pretty soon after that. The day was fairly normal; Aud was romance-deprived and being extra shippy, Isla was all worried about Michael and Jeremy, Rita and Vix were being way too adorable to not ship, blah blah blah...

I flopped dramatically onto my bed, bored and empty-minded. Flame fluttered forwards for further inspection. (That sentence was a lot of fun.) I scratched him behind the the horns as he wriggled around contently, purring in delight as I exhaled for an ungodly long amount of time.

The day had been fairly uneventful leading up to then. And, as a result, I was incredibly bored, to the point where I was talking to myself, idly singing (much to Flame's displeasure) and having sword fights with myself. I sighed once more, dropping the sword and scabbard I had been using.

"This is really sad," I remarked, exasperated. Flame squawked from where he perched on my desktop, flapping over and dropping onto the scabbard. He sniffed questioningly at the intricate patterns as I sheathed the sword.

"That was my mother's sword, ya know," I commented, fully aware that the only words Flame could probably understand were 'mother' and 'sword'. I then recalled what I had just said.

''An only child working with their friends to save their world and using their mother's sword as a weapon... what is this, Steven Universe or something?''

The Terrible Terror glanced up to me questioningly, prodding at the sword.

"She gave it to me when I was like, twelve," I answered the unspoken question. "I think it was supposed to be some sort of good-luck gift when I first tried getting a dragon at the whole Initiation Programme thing." I laughed hollowly. "Well, we both know how that turned out, huh boy?"

At that moment, Tiger came lumbering in, growling in greeting. Flame squawked in acknowledgment as I hopped off my bed to greet him.

"Hey, buddy!" I cooed, subconsciously taking on the voice similar to that of a mother talking to her baby.

Okay, weird analogy.

The I remembered. This was going to be my last day with Tiger before I let him back into the forest. He seemed to know that too, as he nuzzled my cheek and prodded affectionately at the locket that I continued to wear around my neck. I stroked his snout as Flame came over, hopping around Tiger's back and crooning sadly. I petted the Monstrous Nightmare's neck a few more times, before an idea popped into my head.

"Hey, the Bewilderbeast lives near freshwater, right?"

Naïve and stupid. Stupid and naïve. There's a fine line between the words.

Stupidity denotes someone ignorant, lacking basic common sense and next to no cognitive decision making skills. A good example would be a student who refuses to partake in a group project that counts for 70% of their grade, solely for the purpose of self-indulgence. They express stupidity, as they willingly ignore the consequences of dismissing an important facet that would greatly increase chances of success. That would refer to both social and academical improvement.

However, naïvety pertains to someone with a lack of knowledge or experience in whatever society deems as 'the real world'. For example, if a young child were to believe that their deceased pet was simply sleeping for an incredibly long time, that would be naïve. Or, equally, if that child trusted that the strange man in a hoodie in the dark alleyway was offering her free candy in the back of his white van, that would also be naïve.

There's a hazy barrier between the two words and they're often used interchangeably, however still have differing meanings. Honestly, the whole thing is kinda dumb and ambiguous, but one thing was for certain: what I was doing was very, very stupid.

Tiger crouched down cautiously over the pool of water in front of us. Proteus, our Bewilderbeast, glanced warily over to us, blowing silent bubbles into the water. I waved.

"Hey, Proteus," I greeted. He looked down at the water then back at me, his eyes asking a silent question. I shrugged dismissively. "You'll see."

It took a while, but we eventually found what we- or, more specifically, what I- were looking for. A tiny, red creature, similar to that of a leech, sat squirming around on the edge of the pool. Its minuscule wings flapped around aimlessly, a tooth-lined mouth snapping at the air. A grimora.

From what I had learnt from Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III's Dragon Documents, as they were called, and from what Freygair had told us about the geography of our base, grimoras were small, parasitic creatures that latched themselves onto dragons and released a toxin into their bloodstream that turned them wild. However, because the Bewilderbeast lived so close, these little pests knew better than to try and control any dragons, so they more or less left them alone. But I still kept a small packet of salt in my satchel, just in case.

Still, Tiger was quick to rear back in fear at the sight of these parasites. I paid it no heed, though, as I hopped off and scooped the grimora into a glass jar. Flame prodded at the container as I held it up, taunting the insect-like creature in whatever language they dragons spoke. Something like... Dragonese, or whatever.

After a while, I had successfully collected about ten-ish grimoras. They sat scuttling around in the jar, snapping at the glass and squealing. Tiger sniffed cautiously at the creatures, butting the jar to see if it was safe. I laughed lightly at his antics.

"Hey, relax, nothing's gonna happen. Trust me. And, if anything at all were to happen, we still have this." I pulled out the salt from my bag and that seemed to satisfy Tiger's concerns.

As we headed back, I noticed Kate and Aidan talking idly to each other. It was probably something about the Harns or our teammates, or heck, they could have been having an innocent conversation about the weather. But, since me and literally everyone else seemed to ship them, I decided to have a little fun.

I steered Tiger towards Aidan, taking on an overly-deep, masculine (ish) voice.

"Bésame y abrázame, mi flor."

I then went over to Kate's side, making my voice about fifty times higher than it should have been.

"Ay, te amo, mi principe!"

Both Kate and Aidan looked at me questioningly, then turned to each other to have their own silent conversation.

I cackled evilly, moving back to Aidan. "Tu es muy perfecto, mi amor, en el amanacer."

"Ay, ahora que te encontré, mi querido, soy indefenso!"

At that moment, Devil sauntered past, wondering what was going on with his two owners and that one weird girl who tried riding him a bunch of times. I looked down to him.

"Ay, mira, el Diablo es-" I cut myself off, realizing what I was saying. "I mean, uh- hey, look, the Devil is here." I giggled sheepishly and turned back to Devil's owners. They were both beet red and exchanged a glance between each other, finally getting the gist of what I was saying. The glared at me, fuming.

"Kat!" they both yelled in unison. I pulled back on Tiger's horns.

"Aaaaand that's my cue to leave. Bye!" I gave a hurried two-fingered salute and flew off, back to my hut. I could have sworn I heard Aidan mutter, "Es loco," to Kate as I left.

I slid into a seat in front of my desk, placing the jar of grimoras in front of me. I figured, if I was bored and had nothing else to do, why not study?

...okay. To be fair, most of that time was just spent observing the little parasites and occasionally waving them away ("Begone, foul beast!" I cried dramatically as one of them escaped the jar and was slowly approaching Flame).

Although my primary focus probably should have been on the grimoras not biting my dragons and turning them insane, my mind had drifted elsewhere. To my dad.

The battle with the Harns was coming up soon. My dad was one of them, I knew all too well of that. I was perfectly aware that I would have had to fight him in the next battle, and without Tiger's help especially.

But it wasn't just that, the lack of help and preparation I felt. It was the fact that I would have to face my father, the one I had adored so much when I was a child and unaware of his... antics. In battle. In a kill-or-be-killed zone. No matter what he had done, I somehow still felt that bond underneath everything.

I sighed, wondering briefly if this was how Aud and Rita felt about having to battle their own father, before dismissing the idea. I had enough on my mind without having to regard other people's feelings.

Once Tiger and Flame had had enough of the little pests that sat on my desk, I dumped them back into their pool and headed to the forest where I agreed to let Tiger leave. Oh, how my heart cried, yearning for his presence once more as we parted ways, never to see each other again--

...okay fine, you probably know me well enough to not make a fool of myself like that. I hugged Tiger tightly around his neck, unclasping his saddle as we broke away.

"Seeya 'round, Tiger," I said, waving him off as he slowly approached the forest. He clawed uncertainly at some of the trees and ground, turning to face me. I urged him on. "Go on, buddy, it's okay."

He glanced between the forest and me, concern glowing in his amber eyes. I laughed.

"C'mon, bud, don't go all soft on me now," I joked. He trudged towards me, gave me a farewell lick on the cheek, and turned to the forest, soaring back into the wild.

---

'''Oof that ending was cheesy. Anyways, here are the translations for the Spanish bit:

'''Bésame y abrázame, mi flor = Kiss me and hold me, my flower

'''Ay, te amo, mi principe! = Oh, I love you, my prince!

'''Tu es muy perfecto, mi amor, en esto amanacer = You are so perfect, my love, in this sunrise

'''Ahora que te encontré, mi querido, soy indefenso! = Now that I've found you, my dear, I'm helpless!

Es loco = She's crazy