sirenspull_logs | What's Going On

Entry tags:

What's Going On

Who: HICCUP and ~* Asssstrid *~
When: Sometime after Astrid's arrival
Where: At the Tower Apartments. Outside. Somewhere.
Summary: Late to Astrid's welcoming party, Hiccup tries to make up for it by meeting her at the baseball diamond and its starter apartments. Confusion ensues.
Warnings: THESE ARE VIKINGS. VIKINGS.

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The amount of dishes being brought in from the front always had a tendency to look like they weren't going down. Even if he had gone through ten, twenty of them at a time, there were still more to get to. He knew he had to finish doing them, but this day suddenly became very important to him.

Astrid - the star Viking pupil in his dragon-training class and the girl of his dreams - was here.

In his haste, Hiccup made it a point to fish out the rock from the bottom of the metal sink, yanking off the apron and shrugging into his fur vest as he sped out the back door of Nibbleheim, making up explanations for his departure as the shouts of his supervisor faded behind him, thin legs sprinting toward the baseball diamond and its apartments.

The distance itself was something he forgot to acknowledge ahead of time, causing his epic run to falter, slowing to a stop. But with his type of persistence, he caught his breath and continued running the rest of the way.

Once the diamond was in sight, all Hiccup had to do was look for the blond girl with the axe in her hand. And she did say she was going to climb a tree. So the best way to go about spotting her was to glance at the trees in the area while calling her name. "Astrid?" The boy jogged, taking in a few calming breaths while green eyes darting back and forth. "Astrid! Hello?"

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The fury behind the punch translated itself into an explosion over all of the nerves in his shoulder, forcing a yelp from the boy's mouth as he cringed. It felt like his arm was broken, and considering who just hit him, it wasn't too much of an exaggeration.

The pain then faded into numbness under the yelling, only to flare up on the opposite side in the middle of it all.

Hiccup shut his eyes tightly, staying that way as he bit down on his lip to stave off another pitiful cry, groaning through gritted teeth. The thin frame of his body curled slightly in reaction to all of this, failing to completely lock up in form as he raised his hands up defensively.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about! Honest!" he gasped. "The last thing I remember is dad shipping out with the others to find the nest! And that was when I was sent to train with you guys...I almost got killed twice because I didn't even know what I was doing!"

Almost. He was going to have to explain that part.

"...The second time when the Gronkle in the ring...and the first time when I freed Toothless from that stupid sling I fired off that one morning." He paused, grimacing at the realization of what she mentioned. "You even know about Toothless- I barely just gained his trust!"

It was Astrid's turn to feel as if she'd been hit by a ton of bricks. There was a twisting in her stomach then as she watched Hiccup pathetically hold up his hands in defeat and squeeze his eyes shut. So many days had passed since the events Hiccup had managed to stutter out. So much had happened and changed since then. She let her fingers uncurl, arms hanging limply at her sides as she sat atop him.

This was unbelievable.

But it made sense, right? In a way something that makes absolutely no sense would make sense. People had told her that all the people dragged here were from different worlds. That would include different times in history too, wouldn't it?

So this boy below her was Hiccup the Useless, not Hiccup the Hero? No, she shouldn't think that way. Hiccup was still Hiccup. He was still the boy she'd learned to respect and even like. He was still her, well, boyfriend of sorts, even if he couldn't remember the night he'd taken her flying on Toothless. Even so, this was a mess. Everything was a mess. Her head was a mess. If only she could punch herself unconscious and be done with the throbbing headache she felt coming on.

She kind of wants to cry, but even the thought of doing so is bizarre in itself. Vikings didn't cry. Only babies did and Astrid Hofferson was anything but a baby.

Biting her lip she settled on a sigh, swallowing her anger, letting it give way for a more chilling numbness. She slumped forward then, forehead meeting his chest lightly, even if every last inch of her felt as heavy as lead. Her words too, held that weight, surprisingly soft considering the tone she'd been yelling at him with just moments ago.

"You have no idea how much things have changed Hiccup. No idea."

And it's the thought that he doesn't know that oddly hurts far more than she thought it should.

Remembering being tossed into the lake after fitting the tail fin on Toothless for the first time was normal for him. That was the last event that took place in Berk before being brought into the Port. All of this information - all of the things he had done as told by Astrid were great. Great and bad, but it still sounded wonderful. Greater than anything he could imagine.

And yet nothing clicked.

This made him feel worse.

It took him a while to relax, muscles still stiff from his defensive position. Hands fell to either side of the Viking, hitting the ground unceremoniously, his body visibly exhaling a heavy sigh. Hiccup stole a glance at the girl, feeling the weight of her words, the weight of her hurt. He didn't understand it fully, but it was present.

He didn't mean to do that.

Again he looked away, trying to mask his own mixed feelings with a dull pang of sarcasm. "Believe me. I wish I knew."

She kept her head rested on his chest for a few moments longer, daring to let her eyelids close. A few deep breaths were taken to even out her breathing, to try and help her find that sense of calm she was sorely lacking. As much as she wanted to punch the living daylights out of Hiccup, she begrudgingly knew that it wasn't his fault. Admitting that though, had been the hard part. It would be so much easier to just make him eat dirt.

But really, if she thought about that, she didn't want to really brutally injure him. Even if he couldn't remember, she still cared about him. Caring, as far as Astrid was concerned however, at least right now, really, really made things difficult.

"Fine. I'll tell you everything you don't know later. When my head stops hurting."

Resigning herself to her own word, she pulled her head up and away from his chest. She didn't get off him though. She would, soon enough, she honestly would. But there was something she needed to be certain of first.

"Tell me something, okay?" Oh and why was this suddenly so hard to say? It was stupid to even need confirmation on...but with her world turning completely upside down, who knew if even feelings would've remained intact. Anything was possible and that thought alone was the most frightening of all.

"You still like me, right Hiccup?"

The simplest of questions made his heart beat faster.

This obviously explained her actions and how they differed between the alpha harshness of her need to win the opportunity to kill a dragon in the ring and her current behavior and physical treatment toward Hiccup here on the cold ground.

He did need to hear everything. Just to make sense of it all. He wanted to. It was too late to pretend that it didn't matter. Morbid curiosity had already settled. And she wanted to know one thing in return.

Cautiously, he turned his head a few degrees to meet her gaze. Another breath was drawn in and exhaled in exhaustion, never taking away the truth in his hesitant tone.

"Yeah. I do."

A trying smile failed and fell lopsided.

"...I always did."

"...Always?"

Well...now that she thought about it, in hindsight, it was pretty obvious. But even back then she'd just thought it was Hiccup being Hiccup. Weird, skinny Hiccup, who always made a mess of things. His answer though gave way to a breath she didn't realize she was holding, but felt all the better releasing. She let a smile fall on her own lips then, although it looked somewhat drained. Relief was evident though - if there was one thing she could be certain of it was this. That Hiccup still liked her. That some things would never change.

"Well, good then." She gave him a half hearted thump with a fist in his shoulder, a lot lighter than the previous two punches had been. As expected she could already hear his whining at the pain she'd inflicted. "That's for freaking me out."

Whatever he was saying in protest, she didn't bother to listen. When Hiccup complained he always sounded the same; there was no point in listening anymore. Impulsive as always however, she leaned down, uncurling her fingers, cupping both cheeks in her hands. Only a moment was spared to study green eyes before she leaned in to give him a kiss, lips on lips. When the contact was broken she sat back up, lips quirked upwards.

"And that's for being here...in one piece."

If he had to repeat himself, he'd feel stupid for admitting it in the first place. But seeing her smile made his fear of another unpredictable emotional explosion subside.

Along with some things never changing, he flinched when she thumped him again.

"Ow. Hey! Twice is enough for one day, don't you think- "

The complaint wasn't fully completed because Hiccup definitely wasn't expecting that to happen.

His whole body felt funny. Warm. A dazed expression took over his features as he shrugged.

"Okay, maybe I can work with this."

"You better get used to it."

It was meant to be a threat, but there was nothing behind it as she finally climbed off him, only realizing now that she'd been sitting on him in a rather precarious fashion, too furious to notice beforehand.

Up she went, grabbing his hands in her own without hesitation or warning, pulling him up off the ground and onto his feet. "Let me grab my axe and we can go." Go where? Well that was the question, wasn't it? Trotting off she picked up her battle axe and made her way back to him.

"Well, are you going to take us to where we're going to live or not? I talked to that lady you live with, or well...she started talking to me. Anyway, she said I can stay with you both but we have to share a room....but I don't think you'll have a problem with that."

Even if the tone was softened, he still felt the original intent of the statement. "Yeeeah, I figured as much."

Being peeled off of the floor, he regained stability, smoothing out his clothing as she went to get her axe. He found it strange that she had it with her, but it was one of those questions related to the Core and its workings.

Of course he was clueless until she mentioned his own living arrangements. "Oh! Yeah. Snow. Yeah, I'm staying with her," he confirmed, nodding dutifully. He then made a face when she assumed the rooming situation, but a moment later he wordlessly relented.

Sharing a room shouldn't be too bad.

There was an eyebrow raised at the face he made when she mentioned the sharing of his (and now their) room, but she shrugged it off as just Hiccup being Hiccup. It wouldn't be too bad. After all, she'd end up with the bed. It wasn't as if she would be losing anything out of it.

"Well, c'mon. Take me there. I want to check it out. I told her I wasn't going to live anywhere without you, so you're both stuck with me."

It was because he knew he'd end up on the floor. Not that it was a problem or anything, though - it would be like his bed at home.

Sadly, he was starting to get use to the idea of a mattress.

With a shrug, Hiccup nodded, holding up his hands. "All right, all right. That's fine with me. Not like I can change your mind or anything." He was sincere about it, even if there was a hint of dryness added into his tone. He then smiled, tilting his head in the direction of the apartment. "It's gonna be this way."

It was true, though. Trying to change Astrid's mind on anything was a dangerous task, one that involved a lot of yelling and potential physical violence. Luckily for Hiccup though, he knew that, and Astrid was pleased enough with his answer to follow him as he lead the way to their little hut inside a hut.

Walking there might've seemed like a decent distance for normal people, but they were Vikings, and until dragons came into play, they walked or sailed everywhere. Walking was nothing for someone who walked everywhere their entire life.

Axe held to her chest, she walked alongside Hiccup the entire way, mostly quiet aside from the odd comment here or there. Mostly she was in awe of everything she saw. The landscape was completely unimaginable for her, and with every step things became even more strange, wonderful (and somewhat frightening).

When they reached the apartment, she was still rather quiet, following silently until they came to the wooden door that marked their new home. This was it. Well, no time to lose, right? She pushed forward against the door, but it didn't budge. Weird. Maybe she had to...do something with the metal handle sticking out of the wood. There was a bit of a struggle, confusion taking over her features before she began to yank forcefully at the handle, ready to fully throw herself at the door.

"Hiccup, it's stuck-"

He watched as she took in everything, walking alongside her during most of it. Although he had to pull her back from being run over at one crosswalk, the trip in general was pleasant enough.

Up until now, that was.

Here, Hiccup blinked as he patted himself down for something. Astrid's struggle with the door held his attention, however, a mental alarm going off right when she was about to charge.

"Hold on! Astrid, lemme get- ah! Where is it??"

His hands finally yank a metal ring and a key from his garb as he stumbled between the girl and the piece of wood. "There we go..."

Click.

With the metal key in the lock, the sound of the click (and Hiccup dangerously putting himself between her and the door, how daring of him) she froze mid charge, going limp as she simply stared, dumbfounded. Just what had he stuck in the door to open it? What had made that clicking sound?

How frustrating.

"It's open now...?"

Well then.

Pushing past Hiccup without an ounce of hesitation, she managed to push the now unlocked door ajar, stepping into the apartment. Lights were off and the rooms were dim thanks to the only light source coming from the windows in the humble home, but she could see well enough to find herself wowing quietly to herself. Nothing could have prepared her for the inside of the apartment. There were so many objects, more unknown than familiar.

She could barely contain her curiosity and sheer excitement.

"We're going to live here in this weird hut?"

Interposing himself like that only brought about the thought that it wouldn't stop her either way. The subconscious bracing for impact as he stuck and turned the key dwindled away as he removed it from the keyhole, holding up the piece of teethy metal for Astrid to see.

That didn't last long, though. The little spiel he was going to provide was shoved away with him unintentionally, leaving him to spin clumsily in place.

He still tried.

"Well, uh, I thought it was weird too, at first. Using small things to secure a door this size. B-but I was thinking, y'know, there's a reason behind this and the size of the population around here and all of its individual and charming characteristics..."

Yeah, that was all a lost cause.

Hiccup gave in, frowning a little. He plodded in after Astrid with a Hiccup-like sigh, waving a hand over all that she saw. "Yeah! This is the place. Apartment. Thing." A half-shrug was added after a pause. "Welcome. I guess. Not really my place to say so, but..."

Without thinking, he flicked on the light switch, moving forward to further explain the rest of the layout.

The explanation never reached her ears.

She would've listened, really. It wasn't as if she was actively ignoring Hiccup. It was just that everything before her was just so strange and new she didn't know what to focus on or look at first.

The 'welcome' was the last thing she heard before she heard herself shriek, eyes widening instantly as the light was flicked on, stumbling back in surprise and shock. What what just happened? Where was the light coming from? Who had started a fire so quickly?!

"H-Hiccup?!" She stuttered without meaning to. What magic was this? "What did you do?!"

Now that was a sound he didn't hear everyday. Hiccup jumped, whipping around in surprise. "What! Do what- what did- ?!"

He saw nothing wrong with this picture. He stared at the girl as he tried to calm down, not moving from where he stood.

"Wh-what's wrong??? I don't..."

"The...the light! It just...came on! Where is it coming from?!" She sputtered, turning on her heel to face him, blue eyes wrenched wide.

"What did you do?!"

A few seconds passed.

"Oh! The- the light." His heart was still racing as he tried to be calm, green eyes darting to glance at the lighting fixtures before blinking back at her. "Yeah, the light. Um. Well."

The boy made small circles in the air with his hands as he spoke. "From what I've been told and seen, it's nothing like...magic or anything. It's just a series of things called wires- these thing metal strings coiled together. They all touch and send something called electricity through them." He was going to have to look that up later to know what it was, anyway.

Thin hands weaved through the air sloppily to sum everything up quickly. "Annnd then all of that goes through a room or a building, you hit that switch or something like it and bing!" He claps his hands together, posing as he pointed at the lamps. "Light."

"...Huh."

As Hiccup began babbling his explanation at her, she visibly began to calm down, although her eyes were as wide as ever. So, it was just...technology, that had lit up the room. Her attention peaked at the mention of electricity. She'd heard that before somewhere, hadn't she?

"Electricity...hey, someone told me about that! They said lightning was a form of electricity. Isn't that ridiculous to imagine? There's lightning lighting up this room, Hiccup!"

And a bit dangerous, if she took a moment to think about it. But, she didn't. Obviously she was proud of herself for knowing (somewhat) something about what Hiccup was talking about. In a world that made no sense, at least looking smart made you feel at least a little bit better about yourself.

"So...you hit a switch?" The question was, what did a switch look like? Thus began her search along the walls of the apartment, fingers stopping at a lightswitch protruding from the wall. Cautiously, brows furrowed in concentration, she flicked it downward, gasping when the light turned off and things were dim once again. "By Odin's beard..." Again, she flicked it, this time back up, and it went on once again. Then down, then up. Then down and up. Then down. Then up again. On and off she began to flick the switch, a ridiculous grin taking over her face as she found herself laughing in wonderment.

"Hiccup this is amazing...!"

For once he wasn't given a blank stare over this bit of information. He had to smile at that. "Yeah, that's exactly what's so weird about it!" he laughed. "All that power...confined into stuff like this. Crazy."

And as she scrutinized everything even further, Hiccup just nodded, letting his arms drop down to his sides. The lights went off, leaving them in the dark for a while. He glanced around the room. "Yup. It's off now."

Click. "And on. That's the basic idea- "

Clickclick. Clickclickclick.

"-Annnd someone's enjoying this a little too much..."

The scrawny Viking trotted over to where his girlfriend (girlfriend - this term had some getting use to) was, leaning against the wall as if nothing was wrong. "Uh, hey, yeah, I know it's great," he started, laughing a little, "but I think that's enough for now. I've been told people here are concerned about wasting these kinds of energy sources."

Well, he couldn't say he didn't do the same when he got into all of the modern stuff.

Click.

Up the switch went to the on position, flooding the apartment with light once more as she pulled her fingers away sheepishly, giving Hiccup a somewhat embarrassed smile in return. "Sorry...I got carried away a bit." More than a bit, however. If she'd have had her way? She probably would've wasted away an hour playing with the switch. But, if the power could be wasted, the last thing she wanted to was break it or use it all up by being an idiot.

Straightening up, pulling away from the wall, she chewed on her bottom lip as she spun around to survey the room before her. What else was there in this strange new home?

The floor was clean (so clean, really), some parts shiny and other parts...somewhat furry, although she knew it wasn't fur at all. She had enough of a mind to slip her boots off, stockinged feet coming to stand on the floor as she wiggled her toes and began her exploration. Into the kitchen she went first, eyes trailing over everything. Somethings she could identify, others she'd no clue. A hand moved to pull open the door of the refrigerator and another gasp slipped her without her meaning it to as the cool air hit her in the face and the light popped on. Inside there was food, some she'd never seen the likes of, and it was all cold?!

All she could do was stare, letting all the cold air escape while doing so.

"Hiccup look!"

Never mind the fact he'd already seen his fridge and the contents of it, he still had to marvel at how wonderful and strange this invention was with her.

"It's cold!"

As much as he tried to play it cool, Hiccup found himself grinning inwardly at Astrid's reactions. It was a rare glimpse at the girl's curious side and he couldn't get past the thought that she was easily letting her tough exterior slip. Then again, they were alone in the apartment; it was safer, in a way, to let things like this slip in private.

He stayed where he was as she poked around the rooms like a cat, crossing his arms loosely over one another. From what he could tell, she was starting to settle in just fine. It was rough, but it was expected.

And then he sort of lost track of her for one moment. She was just standing there on the carpeting a while ago. Eyelids fluttered rapidly as he straightened up again away from the wall. "Astrid?"

When she called, he perked, shuffling around in the direction of her voice. A hand reached out, palm placed flatly onto the wall as he halfheartedly swung himself around the corner to see the girl sticking her face into the ice box.

"A refrigerator. Always stays cold in there," he replied plainly, leaning his head against painted plaster. He couldn't help but look smitten. "It helps preserve the food."

Even if the two weren't alone in the apartment together, there was no way she could even begin to imagine holding face in front of all these strange, but amazing devices and objects.

"A refrigerator..." She echoed, shoving her head in even further before closing the door gently. Always able to keep food cold...brilliant. After all, preserving meats and dairy was always hard in Berk - they only lasted so long unless milk was turned into cheese and meat smoked or dried. This however...this was the most amazing thing she'd seen yet, aside from, well, the lights.

Door closed she turned completely to face Hiccup, biting her lip mid smile before trotting over to him, taking his hands in hers. Although she wanted to look at everything (which she would) she wanted to tell him everything he didn't know before she got too carried away.

"C'mon, let's find somewhere to sit. I said I'd tell you about everything, right? Then after you can show me more of these weird things...and our room too."

His response was delayed, almost as if there was an audible pop somewhere in his mind. The recovery was terrible. "Oh. Oh, yeah. Almost slipped my mind, actually..."

Hiccup trailed off as his hands were taken, his body almost floating as he stepped away from the wall. An awkward smile twisted his face at this, nodding as he tilted his head at the furniture in the living area. "There- there's a couch. Sofa. Over there. Here." And with that, he clumsily led Astrid to sit.

This time, the couch was much softer than the last time he sat on it.

Green eyes looked downward at the floor as he sunk an inch or two on its padded cushions, mouth forming a thin line for what felt like several minutes before turning upward on on side.

"Um. Okay. So." Hands clasped together in front of him as he glanced back up at Astrid. "...About all of this...everything."

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Fuu spelling mistakes...

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