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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"Well..." She started off, leaning back against the sofa, blue eyes fixed on his green ones. "We were in dragon training together, as you know. I was the best, of course, for awhile, but then you started getting rather good. Too good. I knew something was up. So, I began trying to follow you when you'd slip off after training to find where you'd gone off to, but for awhile you'd always manage to get away. To be quite honest, it was making me rather upset. Suddenly you became the popular one - Ruffnut and Tuffnut always fighting over who got to sit beside you or Snotlout trying to impress you. Even Fishlegs stuck to you more than he already used to."

It was a bit funny really, to recall just how well Hiccup had managed to slip away. Then again, he'd probably perfected the art of passing under everyone's radar considering the social standing he'd held for much of his life.

"Being the sudden master of dragons that you were, you won the honor of being allowed to kill a dragon. I really wanted to smash you to pieces, but I didn't. This time when I went into the woods to follow you, I found you with Toothless. By then I guess the two of you had become rather good friends, because he listened to you and everything. He...scared me, and I ran off to go tell everyone what you had done, but Toothless scooped me up in his claws and dropped me at the top of a tree. I wasn't allowed down either until you forced me to see your point. So, on I went, dragged onto Toothless' back, sitting behind you. And then?"

Her voice became conspiring before she shot her arms out into the air to emphasize her point.

"Then he started flying like crazy! Spinning, diving, dunking us into the freezing ocean - it was only when I relented and apologized that...well..."

Well that's when everything had changed. She'd been able to touch clouds and see just how beautiful their little village looked like from above. Her whole perception of the world and her place in it had morphed into something so much more than just her tiny piece of the world. Things had become far bigger than she ever would have imagined they would have on the back of that dragon, with Hiccup.

"Well, you both gave me the most amazing experience I've ever had in my entire life."

Embarrassing to admit? Definitely. But it felt as if Hiccup had to hear it, to know it, just to fully understand how much she'd been affected by their flight.

"While we were flying though, Toothless suddenly flew into a swarm of other dragons, following them back to, you guessed it, the nest. It was like a beehive Hiccup and inside was the most giant dragon you could possibly even imagine. He was the size of a mountain, probably! We managed to fly back, and I wanted to tell everyone about it, but you made me promise I wouldn't...so I didn't. To protect Toothless. Unfortunately for you, you still had to kill a dragon the next day."

Fingers moved then to brush her bangs out of her eyes as she shifted against the cushions.

"When tomorrow did come, you tried your best to show everyone the dragon wasn't dangerous...but your father freaked out and forced the match to stop and because he was yelling he frightened the dragon and you were, well, in danger. Toothless must have heard you, because he came out of nowhere and jumped into the ring and began to fight with the other dragon. Unfortunately for him...well he was captured. Your father figured out the only way to find the dragon's nest was to use a dragon to find it, so they tied up Toothless in one of the ships and all of the adults sailed away leaving us behind."

It had been brutal really, to see things through a different lens then. Toothless wasn't just another stupid dragon or even just a Night Fury - he was Hiccup's friend and seeing him being exploited like that, well it had made her chest burn.

"But, luckily for you I was there to knock you out of your depression and push you to do something crazy. Which you did, of course. You-" And she pointed a finger at him then, sitting straight up, "taught all of us to ride a dragon - the twins, Fishlegs, Snotlout and even me. We all flew off after our parents and when we arrived, they were already attacking the massive dragon. We flew off and began attacking then, all of us, while you hopped off and went to go help Toothless. Everything was burning. There was fire and smoke everywhere. We attacked and attacked and then you and Toothless flew up into the air, forcing the dragon to follow you, which it did. It was as if Thor himself was behind the clouds - the sound of the fighting was like thunder and the shots of fire were like lightning. Then you and Toothless came flying down, and it almost devoured the two of you whole, but you managed to fly away at the last second sending the giant dragon crashing into the ground!"

The excitement began to slip away from her voice then, as she settled back down, head against the back of the sofa.

"When the smoke and ash cleared, all of us came running to try and find you both. The whole village Hiccup, I'm serious. Toothless' body was laying there and your father ran over. We thought you were gone and dead. I thought you were dead...but when Toothless opened his wings and showed us all that he'd saved you in his arms...you can't imagine the cheering that was had. You were alive, Hiccup. Your...leg was a bit worse for wear and you were unconscious...but you were alive. You stayed asleep in your bed for a bit. Days, really. I wasn't sure you'd ever wake up...but you did."

She reached out a hand then, index finger poking him in the chest gently over his heart.

"You, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, taught an entire, stubborn village something. You changed everyone's opinion...you changed my opinion, and you already know how difficult that is."

Pulling her finger back she laughed lightly, letting her hand fall into her lap.

"I bet you've questions, huh."

It was unbelievable. And yet Hiccup sat there, subconsciously leaning forward like a child attentive in the storyteller's dramatic retelling of events that may have been exaggerated for entertainment value. Astrid did very well in recounting this particular span of history she had lived through, the same one he was suppose to have lived through, eyes wide as he listened to every single detail.

He seriously thought it sounded more like an epic centuries old than anything he would do in his lifetime.

The range of emotions immediately washed over him again at each interval, picking up, dropping, and somehow ending with relief. Was there any sadness? He wasn't sure. The feeling of uncertainty was strong and it held itself over everything that had been said, everything he went through.

Everything he was going to go through.

When she touched his chest with a finger, it was like he was reminded to exhale. He didn't even realize he had been holding his breath the entire time. His brow furrowed. Him? Change the opinion of a whole village? That was impossible. There weren't many who could do that. "That would take a miracle," he thought aloud, dropping his gaze as he crossed his arms over his stomach. And yet Astrid said he did. She wouldn't be lying - it would be terrible if she was, but she wasn't.

He knew she wasn't. Because she was right.

After a long pause, a sad chuckle escaped him. Green eyes flicked back over to the other Viking.

"...I don't know where to start."

Really, Astrid didn't blame him. If it was her in his position? She wouldn't know where to start either. It was an overload of information certainly, but she hoped it'd possibly be a bit of a motivator for the scrawny viking. Sure, Hiccup hadn't tamed seas like his dad, but he'd tamed dragons and that was something no one else in the village could say they'd done without his help.

Her brows furrowed for a moment as she thought of what she would ask. How big was the dragon they'd destroyed, for starters. How gnarly did her leg look after it was amputated - but she knew these were details Hiccup probably wouldn't focus on, at least not at first. He always had a radically different approach to everything, questions included.

"Well..." She started again, fixating on a patch of freckles that dusted atop one of Hiccup's cheeks. "Think about it. You don't have to ask right now, if you can't think of anything. I know it's a lot to take in, trust me."

Maybe, perhaps, she could make things a bit simpler. "How about this instead...is there anything you want to ask me, about, you know...me?"

Well that certainly came out far more awkward than it had sounded in her head. Maybe if Hiccup had a different topic to focus on first, then his questions would come easier, and if he'd adored her forever like he said he had, then surely he'd have questions about her, right? And she was the most familiar topic at hand between the two of them.

Sort of.

They'd bonded throughout the fight they had lived through, but here Hiccup was lacking that. No wonder he was acting like such an awkward duckling. In that case, she thought, they could remedy this now.

Maybe.

Astrid. The girl who was a champion among their peers, the one who was slated to win dragon training by a landslide. The one who was serious in her role as a Viking, and still is. His crush, and now his girlfriend by some greater force in the universe- a trick of the gods, perhaps, but it was truly genuine.

Asking anything about her was going to be just as difficult as asking about everything related to what she had just told him.

Hesitation weighed down heavily as he quietly panicked, pursing his lips as he tried to come up with something reasonable enough to go over. Slender fingers interlaced, untangled, and re-weaved themselves out of unspoken apprehension. He then sighed, smiling lopsidedly.

"...Uh..."

Nope. He had nothing.

"You're hopeless."

There was a sigh from herself then as he smiled at her, dorky as ever. She couldn't help but roll her eyes, even if a wry smile was on her own lips. Hiccup really was hopeless, but she couldn't blame him. "Nothing at all?" If there was something he wanted to ask, then he certainly was drawing a blank at the moment. "Well...think about it, I guess."

What more could she say?

Nothing really. Nothing more intelligent than Hiccup's dazed 'Uhh'.

He gaped, shutting his mouth after another beat passed, shaking his head. There was so much to ask and nothing wanted to come out first. He hated that - especially when it came down to the most important things. Eyebrows raised slightly as if to say 'Yup, that's me! All the time.'

He slumped a little, nodding afterward. "I will. Maybe."

He did want to. He also felt like asking her stuff that's already known to him and everyone else in the village was redundant.

"I'll hold you to it."

There would be no maybes when Astrid was present. No grey areas. She was a black or white kind of girl, unable to please with middle ground. But, Hiccup would know that.

"Alright then, Hiccup. I think you owe me a tour, don't you?" She stood up then, straightening her skirt on her hips as she stood up before him, hands on her hips. "I want to see the other rooms, including ours."

Oh, he definitely knew that. Her directness usually had that sort of effect and there was no escaping her expectation.

Hiccup looked up as she stood, giving her a shy smile. "Okay. I can do that."

It didn't take long for him to stand and lead her around the place. It was small, but roomy enough for three people. "You already saw the kitchen. Annnd we're in the living room." He then walked toward the other rooms, turning to look over a shoulder as he pointed them out. "There's a bathroom...and that's Snow's room. Ours is right here."

The door was opened. He stood aside, letting Astrid go in first.

As she was led about the house, Astrid once again found herself in a marveled state. The kitchen, yes - she'd have to ask about a few (or well, many things) inside it that seemed interesting. Then the living room had other objects she had no clue about. When he pointed her to the bathroom and she peaked inside, she couldn't help but gasp. A question of whether that large basin was a bath or not was answered with a yes and she couldn't help herself. What was even better about it? They could use it any time. Sure, washing once a week was fine and all, but to have a warm bath whenever she wanted?

It was as if she'd died and went to Valhalla.

She couldn't nose around however, not when he pointed toward what would now be their room and without a moment of hesitation she stepped inside when the door was opened for her. Now this seemed a bit more normal to her. The room itself was rather simple, with a bed, technically big enough for two scrawny Vikings and a table by it, along with other bits and pieces of furnishings here and there. What was different about the bed was that it looked, well, soft - and there weren't any furs covering it either. Curious she wasted no time before climbing up atop the mattress, flopping back with her arms spread eagle, head hitting the pillows.

"It's so...comfortable! And....springy?"

The thoughts that ran through her mind were easily readable on her face as she scrambled up onto her feet, balancing atop the bed. There was only one last thing to do which was, naturally, to start jumping. It really was springy, and the sound of the springs in the mattress squeaking slightly attested to that as she laughed in delight.

"This is amazing! Who knew you could jump on beds?"

The main thought behind the spottiness of it all was to just give the general layout. She would have time to explore more later. And Hiccup had to agree - the bed that was in the room was better than the bed he had at home.

Sadly, he was in the process of getting use to its softness. The boy already forfeited his bed privileges to sleep on the floor. Not that he was complaining or anything; the floor would help get him back into sleeping on harder surfaces again.

But her rhetoric (was it rhetoric?) led him to shrug. "I don't know, I thought they were just there for rest and all that." Jumping on it never crossed his mind.

"Of course they're for resting, stupid. But look, doesn't it look like fun?" She certainly was having a blast. There really was nothing to compare it to. It was like flying, if only for a split second and nothing more.

"C'mon Hiccup, don't tell me you haven't tried this." There was no way he couldn't have, but then again, this was Hiccup. His sense of adventure had always been slightly skewed. She slowed her jumping to a halt, peering down at him from her higher place on the bed.

"You have to try it." She bent down then to pick up a pillow and proceeded to throw it right at his face. "You're not getting out of it." She couldn't help but be insistent, really, she couldn't. Sure, Astrid was bossy by nature, but her reasoning behind her actions right here and now was to get Hiccup to relax a bit; to smile just a little more. Maybe he hadn't had a lot to smile about here in Siren's Port for however long he'd been gone, but she was determined to change that starting now.

There was a response for this. It never fully formed.

Just as he arched a brow, he got hit with the pillow. It had a muffled sort of thud upon impact, muting the noise uttered from his open mouth. As it fell away, his face was still scrunched up before giving her a flat look.

"...Okay. Fine."

He marched over to the bed, unceremoniously tossing himself onto the mattress. And he bounced. This was repeated several times, changing from his prone position to a seated one.

That also might have been a smile sneaking up on his face.

That smile didn't escape Astrid's gaze as she watched Hiccup throw himself over and over against the mattress. There. She knew it was fun in general and it wasn't just her riding out the high of her excitement.

He was almost there, but not quite there yet.

"Here." She offered him her hand, wanting him to stand atop the bed just as she was. "Try it standing. It's a lot better, trust me."

Hiccup took her hand, kneeling as he stood up, holding an arm out to steady himself. He found it to be more challenging to some degree, feeling his legs wobble underneath him.

Still, it was worth it.

A few test jumps were done, barely inches off of the bed, resulting in him almost losing his balance. "Whoa!" He swayed back prior to stepping forward, causing him to trip. What he didn't plan on doing was latch onto Astrid to keep from falling.

"...Er...sorry..."

"Ah-"

She hadn't expected Hiccup to literally fall forward either, eyes going wide when he latched onto her to save himself. Luckily for the both of them, she had way more balance than he seemed to have.

What a spazz.

"It's...alright. Here, take my hands if you can't balance yourself. C'mon Hiccup, it's not that difficult. It's just jumping."

"Oh. Okay."

He could do this. The thin frame of a boy leaned back as he took hold of Astrid's hands, wobbling while shifting. It didn't take long to try bouncing in place again.

Practice makes perfect. It wasn't much practice, but he was getting the hang of it. "Heh! This isn't so bad!"

"See! I told you."

Hand in hand the two of them jumped, Astrid far more sure of her footing than Hiccup could ever be. When he went up, she went down, and vice versa. Up and down they went, pillows finding themselves on the floor from the momentum of the two jumping.

"I was right - it's fun, isn't it?"

If he concentrated too much on the perspective of each jump, it got dizzying. But it flooded him with this kind of energy, like endorphins being released the higher they went. Except he knew nothing of this scientific term, so it was just an experience of a really good feeling, having fun and messing up the bed.

"Yeah!" he piped up as he went down, boosting himself back up into the air again. "It's great!"

She took another jump herself, hands still gripping onto hands as she did so. Making a mess of things was always fun and the squeaking of the springs in the mattress only just egged her on as she continued to jump. This time however, her footing was wrong, one foot slightly too far out and she soon found herself wobbling before toppling backwards onto the mattress.

"Ah-!"

What goes up must come down. And in this case, Astrid was already going downward.

If he had let go of her hands a little earlier, he would have avoided sharing her fate.

"-AHH!!"

The landing could have used some work. Hiccup groaned, not realizing that he pretty much landed either on the side or directly on top of the girl. The jolt from falling was the more obvious to focus on. "...And now I wished the floor was padded, too..."

Falling back onto the bed really wouldn't have been that terrible if she hadn't had the weight of Hiccup topple onto her right after. It wasn't as if Hiccup was heavy of course, but the jolt of added weight knocked her dazed for a split second.

Of course, it didn't last.

"...You're not on the floor."

Nor was it his fault that he'd landed on top of her. No, for this mess she only really had herself to blame.

"Huh? What do you mean- "

He looked down.

That explained a lot.

"...Oh."

With a delayed start, Hiccup scrambled back, hitting the bedside first before rolling off the other way onto the wider floorspace. He then stayed curled into a ball for a few minutes to recover. He then stared up at the ceiling, lips puttering as he huffed. "Well! That was fun."

With Hiccup scrambling off her, Astrid lay back for a moment longer before pushing herself up with her elbows, legs swinging over the side of the mattress.

There was a bout of awkward silence then, as she brushed her bangs to the side, staring at the wall hard enough to bore a hole into the plaster. "Yeah, it was." It had been fun, despite the fall and Hiccup landing on her.

Peeling her eyes away from the ceiling she turned them back to the boy on the floor. Today had proven to be quite the emotional roller coaster of a ride and now that she was coming down off her high of excitement, she could think a bit clearer now. Then came the hard part - what to talk about next?

"Have you ever seen any of the monsters people keep talking about? After dark?"

The boy's legs unbend, splayed out first across the floor. Arms still remained close to his chest, resting now more than being held tight in their position. His eyes, however, never left the ceiling.

"I never really had the chance to look," Hiccup answered. "That was because I just got here at the time, and everyone was already telling me to head indoors when it was still light out."

Except he wasn't running around past people who were telling him to get inside in various annoyed vocal tones. Some of them were more concerned, in a way.

He shrugged. "I'm guessing it's pretty bad if they were in such a hurry to say so. That and checking everything to make sure it's strong enough to hold for the night."

"Yeah."

She answered, staring more at her feet now than anything else. People had been quick enough to tell her to get inside and not come out after dark. It had been a bit irritating if she were to be honest with herself, even if she knew they had her best interest at heart.

She kicked her feet a bit then, still focused on her toes.

"I kind of want to go out there, if only for a few minutes. Just to see what they're all talking about...but that'd be pretty stupid, huh."

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