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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"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."

"Eh. It would be."

He didn't mean to agree to the thought right off the bat like that, and it was too late to take it back. Then again, it was a force of habit he never tried to curb. He rolled his eyes at himself, smacking a hand lightly against the side of his face. "Not like you could be told to stay in one place and let other people handle things like that." He frowned at himself. It was like he couldn't stop. "I mean- it's all...Viking instincts!" He threw his hands up in the air as he ended the rambling there, letting them drop unceremoniously.

Another pause took hold.

"Besides," Hiccup turned his head, faintly smirking. "That's exactly what I would've done, anyway."

Viking instincts, huh?

As she watched Hiccup fumble with his words, she couldn't help but smirk. He was so quick to agree, so quick to stumble and trip over himself when he spoke.

"That's exactly what you would've done? Really?"

Astrid couldn't keep the challenge out of her voice. She couldn't help herself, in that aspect. Almost everything was a challenge or made into one when it came to her daily life. She wanted to be the strongest, the quickest, the smartest - she wanted to be the best. Even if she'd learned how to cooperate far better than she had in the past, the independent, stubborn streak of her personality was just as prevalent as ever.

"You wouldn't last out there at all, Hiccup. No offense."

She leaned forward then, a conspiring grin tugging at her lips. Partially goading just for the sake of it and partially serious, Astrid couldn't help but tease.

"I bet I could though. Maybe I could even get a cool scar out of it. What do you think?"

It was a possibility. He should have learned from his earlier bouts of running into trouble, but the time taken to reflect upon those moments were brief.

Out of habit, he flinched at her tone, slumping again after it dissipated.

He let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, you're probably right," he said, dry tones slipping in without faltering. "A stick can't survive unless it acts like a stick. And I doubt that would do any good out in the dark."

Hiccup tilted his head back to glance at the girl at a weird angle, almost upside-down. "Well," he added, with a faint smirk, "Most likely. Since it's you."

Sliding off the bed she moved over to where Hiccup was before squatting down, a finger reaching out to press against one of his temples, prodding at his head.

"Hiccup the stick then, are you?"

She pulled her finger away then, resting elbows against knees as she cocked her head to the side. "Well, what do you think? Should I give the monsters a go tonight? Would I look better with a bit of mauling or am I fine just the way I am?"

Was she serious? Partially. Would she go out there just for the thrill and challenge? Most likely. Did she know how stupid it would be? Absolutely.

At the poke, Hiccup's whole face scrunched up. "Someone told me I still got time to grow. But for now it'll be that way." Self-depreciation was easy to fall back on.

As his facial muscles relaxed, a more serious and thoughtful look crossed his freckled features, brow slightly furrowed. It was Astrid. She was the competitive type, full of that true Viking spirit to take things head-on. Even a person with the right amount of sense would warn her (or anyone else for that matter) of the dangers that lurked outside in the Darkness would fuel curiosity and foolhardiness, doing the opposite of the warning's intended effect. But Hiccup knew she had enough of that sense to know when a bad situation got worse. Even Vikings knew that. They just accepted the fact that, whether in victory or defeat, the end result was for the best.

"...Maybe...wait a while," Hiccup replied cautiously, his voice quiet. "You just got here." He then tried to lighten things up again, an awkward shift from his own version of seriousness. "I doubt the monsters will go anywhere else, anyway."

"I guess you're right."

Acquiescing she sat down, tired of squatting, palms pressed to the floor. Even though she was only half serious, being told it was a bad idea by someone else made the fact all the more sobering.

"They won't be leaving any time soon."

Then, a switch again, away from the topic of reckless destruction and back onto a more teasing focus, brought on by Hiccup himself. "Oh yeah? You'll grow?" She couldn't help the smirk on her lips. "You're going to have to drink ten goats dry to see any progress I think. Better get on that."

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