Soup Soup

[axetrid]

Who: Hiccup & ~Astrid~
When: April 2nd.
Where: Snow White's apartment.
Summary: Astrid and Hiccup have not only lost their jobs, but Astrid's managed to put metal in the microwave. Yup.
Warnings: Vikings, microwaves and soup.

Calling it a disaster was a slight understatement. Sure, it hadn't been the end of the world, but it probably was the end of the microwave and the bowl of soup she'd attempted to warm was now broken to bits and smeared across the floor. Astrid was, understandably, upset. New technology was only continuing to prove to be increasingly harder to use and use properly, without the attempts blowing up in her face.

It wasn't so much herself that she felt bad for. No, feeling sorry for herself wasn't something Astrid indulged in often. What she did dread however was Snow's reaction to all of this. If she hadn't been so stubborn and had just hadn't touched the darn thing like Hiccup had so lovingly cautioned her about with his stupid notes around the kitchen, this wouldn't have ever happened.

Unfortunately, it had, and so now she had to deal with it.

Cursing to herself Astrid had grabbed the dish cloth from the sink, getting down on her hands and knees to clean up the mess she'd made. Fingers carefully began to pluck shards of ceramic bowl off of soup coated tiles, their edges sharp. One managed to nick her finger, causing it to bleed a bit, but she ignored it. There were bigger things to worry about than simple, little cuts. Hopefully, if she were lucky, she'd be able to wipe away the soup off the floor quickly and without any more mishaps.

The day couldn't possibly get any worse.

Comments

[axetrid]

She was still slightly taller than him. Not by much, but there was still a difference. Enough of a difference that she didn't have to stand on her tiptoes to push her face into his shoulder, instead of simply her chin. She wouldn't tell him how glad she was that he hadn't let go, but the fact she was still clinging just as strongly would probably be enough of a giveaway.

It wasn't Hiccup's fault that he didn't measure up to what she'd come to know him as. In fact, thinking of it that way was completely wrong. Hiccup was still Hiccup and she still liked him just as much; he just hadn't had his chance to shine yet. It was still all there in that thin chest of his, locked up and away, buried underneath layers of insecurity. She just needed to dig at it to have him show his true colors, or well, the palette he kept hidden away.

Weakness. She was showing it again. But it was okay, she argued with herself. It was just Hiccup. She could feel the leather of her circlet press into her forehead against Hiccup's bony shoulder, but she didn't mind.

Lips parted then as she kept her face against him, fingers curled in the fabric of his shirt. "I think I know how you've been feeling." She said after a moment, choosing her words carefully, even if her voice was barely above a mutter. "Back home. On Berk. Before you proved yourself to everyone and me. That feeling of always messing up or people looking at you weird."

It wasn't that Astrid had never been above making mistakes. She did, often. But they usually weren't big ones (except for the time she'd planted dragon eggs in everyone's houses and they exploded without ceremony) and usually someone else would mess up worse than her. Here however, in this era, she was constantly making mistakes and making a mess of things. The only thing she'd been able to do right was perform at Nibbleheim, which was something that would be put on hold until the place was rebuilt. Feeling like a failure, like an idiot, no matter how hard she'd been trying, it left a terrible taste in her mouth.

"I think I know how that feels now. It's pretty awful."

[summing_it_up]

Having her feel the same way he did was...great. To a certain degree. A terrible way of putting it, to be honest, but that perspective mattered. It put them on a level playing field, being far from home and the expectations of their people, their culture. Here, despite what they already knew, one was no better than the other. They both had to go through the daily struggles the city brought about, facing the same problems half of the other Newcomers put up with.

And that was fine. That meant that Hiccup was better at adapting into these circumstances than she was. He had the upper hand. Just this once.

...But it was also heartbreaking.

"Isn't it?"

He wasn't the type to hold a grudge. He could say whatever was on his mind, anything that could ruin their relationship if he was the type to shoot her down even further. But he didn't. It wasn't him. And he was thankfully not the kind of kid who would think of doing that to someone who needed support. Stooping that low would make him feel worse.

"It's...well. I can't really say it's okay." His usual commentary was derisive, but it toned itself down at this point. "But. Yeah. That's that. Can't really change this until later on, like you said." Gently, he pulled away from her, each hand settling on either arm as he looked at her with a slight smile. "But I'll do whatever I can to help you out here."

[axetrid]

Hiccup had a lovely smile. Really, it was. Sure, it was a bit dorky in certain aspects, but there was a real soft sincerity to it that Astrid couldn't say she ever truly saw very often on people's faces. Usually the smiles she witnessed were great big grins full of terrible teeth or sneers from their mutual Viking peers back on Berk. There were hearty smiles filled with laughter brought on by the comfort of ale or the glory of battle. When it came to Vikings, smiles usually weren't soft things, regardless of how real they were.

Leave it to Hiccup to smile so sincerely that it made her chest tight.

Sympathy was one thing. Empathy was another - something Vikings usually were rather terrible with. Not even she herself was very good at it, even though she tried. There was a moment of silence in which Astrid tore her blue eyed gaze away from Hiccup's green eyes, but only for a moment. Soon enough she was back to staring at that smile, listening to each word and savouring it.

All she could do was nod in response to that smile and those words, the corners of her lips tugging themselves upward ever so slightly. He was good at getting her to smile, even if he didn't know it.

"Thank you, Hiccup. Really. I mean it"

[summing_it_up]

There. It was nice to see her smile. It brightened her features. It made her less menacing. He felt more at ease when he saw the change in her demeanor and her thoughts, going from that degree of angry depression to something lighter. Comforted. A little more hopeful.

Out of habit, Hiccup looked down and shrugged. "Glad I can help."

He knew they were going to have to go through things together. They shared the same feelings every other new person would go through, one that they would constantly be reminded of during their prolonged stay. But thankfully Hiccup wasn't too aware of the extent of that thought. Not yet.

[axetrid]

"You're very helpful." Just a little bit of praise, in the hopes that it'd stick with him this time. Astrid's bowl of half eaten soup was forgotten then, in the meantime, as she counted the freckles on Hiccup's cheeks, quickly losing track before turning her eyes onto his.

"Hey, I've been thinking." And she had - Astrid did a surprising amount of thinking compared to most Vikings, although she was certain that Hiccup had her beat in that department. It was a topic change, but one needed to get her mind off of more recent things. "We really ought to find a calendar, one of our calendars, so we can go about the days a bit better. You know, so we don't miss any important celebrations. It's a bit disorienting not knowing which month we're in. Well, I know it's April, but that means nothing to me."

If there was one thing Astrid would never sacrifice, it would be her culture, especially amongst this fast paced city. If she had to wear clothes that others wore to fit in and get a job, fine. She'd do so. If she had to eat their food she wouldn't complain. But she was a Viking - traditions, myths and beliefs - they all shaped her into the warrior and person she was today. There was no way she could live without keeping those ideologies at the forefront of her mind. Stubborn? Yes. But that's what Vikings were.

"Apparently there's a place called a museum and there's Viking stuff there. At least that's what a girl told me. She thought I was from the museum. What do you think?"

[summing_it_up]

As strange as it felt hearing that, it was still very reassuring. Astrid was always blatantly honest; it was a defining characteristic. That, hopefully, wouldn't change.

He caught most of what she was talking about, noting the change in subject as he tried to play off his earlier distraction with the girl's glances. "Calendar. Right," he coughed, eyes darting the other way. He almost forgot about that, and converting their calendar dates to the city's was tricky.

At the word 'museum,' he perked with interest. "Really?" That could have gone for both the place and the mistake someone made. He nodded after a moment. "I mean– it wouldn't hurt to try, right? If it has stuff we can work with, that would be great."

[axetrid]

"Exactly. If there's any place in the city that we can find a calendar and maybe even other things we're familiar with, I think the museum is the best bet. Surely there has to be someone there that would know what we're talking about, right?"

Optimism. Astrid needed to maintain it. There was no way that she was going to go about the year without a calendar of all things. That would be unthinkable. Unacceptable.

"I mean just imagine it, gods forbid, we're stuck here for years without a calendar we miss our birthdays so many times that we forget how old we're supposed to be-"

It was a horrifying thought but she cut herself short before she allowed herself to go any further. Hiccup's birthday was in the winter, wasn't it? Winter was over, which meant that the boy's birthday had come and gone - fifteen winters turning into sixteen. Another change. That meant hers would be coming soon, wouldn't it?

"You missed your birthday, didn't you?"

[summing_it_up]

When she mentioned the whole thing about birthdays, Hiccup stared at her. And then he smiled.

"...I...think it did."

Well. It was a trying smile. One that said that he just realized this as well. February was a short month. Too short.

An awkward laugh escaped him as he waved a hand dismissively, busying himself with what was left of his now-cold soup. "But that doesn't really matter! If it passed here, it passed here..."

[axetrid]

"Sixteen Winters old." She started, turning back to her soup when she noticed Hiccup do the same. "Who would've thought."

Hiccup could wave his hand all he wished, trying to brush the subject away as if he were swatting at a fly, but it wouldn't stop Astrid from keeping her focus. The fact that any of them had lived as long as they had was clear as any sign that they'd had the luck of the gods at their backs. Growing up in a Viking village meant that the average life expectancy of an individual usually wasn't very high. When it came to their own little village on Berk, not only were numbers depleted by the usual expeditions to various other lands, but the number of people who had found themselves dinner to dragons had been rather large. It was short of a miracle, at least in Astrid's opinion, that Hiccup had even survived infancy. Sure, she'd never seen him as a baby but judging by how scrawny he was now after sixteen Winters had past, he must have been an awfully small thing when he'd been born.

"Whether it passed or not, that still doesn't make it not matter."

Vikings liked to celebrate, and even though birthdays weren't huge celebrations compared to others, they were still an important time to reflect and thank the gods for keeping one's health for another whole year. They were a time to appreciate the life of that person with words or tokens of gratitude, to show thanks to that individual's existence.

It didn't seem right that Hiccup had missed his birthday. They really needed a calendar; that was definitely clear now, more so than it had been before. She would rectify this. Somehow.

"If you're sixteen Winters old, then that will make me seventeen in turn soon."

Now that was a heavy thought to hold. Not that there was anything wrong with growing older - growing older meant that she was maturing and would only grow smarter and more talented as the years went by. What it also would have meant back home on Berk was that soon her mother and father would have started having awkward talks about marriage. It was common for teens to marry young, at least in other settlements - that's what she'd heard - but on Berk people usually tended to wait a little longer. There were dragons to kill and slaughter, or there had been. That and rebuilding houses that had been burnt to the ground were the main issues usually at the forefront of everyone's mind. There wasn't time to think about planning weddings, at least not very often, which in all honesty, was more than fine in Astrid's opinion.

Sure, she'd been taught the basics that every lady had to learn to take care of their husband - cooking, cleaning, sewing and the like - and while she wasn't terrible at those things, she still wasn't the most adept at them either, certainly not wife material yet. Her stitch was sloppy and sometimes she burnt what she cooked over the hearth. She'd been still learning (when she hadn't been training to kill dragons or honing her skills as a warrior) but being tossed a thousand years or more into the future only made developing those skills even more difficult. Astrid always loved a challenge, but nothing could match with what she faced here in Siren's Port. For someone who strove for perfection not being able to pass as mediocre in most things was infuriating. That didn't mean with practice she wouldn't reach a level of skill that she could be satisfied with. It could take some time though, all considered.

But, she was getting ahead of herself. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third was sixteen Winters old and she, Astrid Hofferson, would be seventeen soon enough. Unless Stoick the Vast suddenly appeared on the island (or her parents) there'd be no talk of marriage or anything of that sort - a fact she'd covet as a blessing. Someday, it would happen, but not for at least a few more passing of winters.

She caught herself staring then, having zoned out for a moment, cheeks pink with her thoughts as she refocused, clinking her spoon against the edge of her bowl somewhat harshly without meaning to.

"We'll celebrate it. Mine too. I wonder how they celebrate birthdays in this day and age?"

It'd be interesting to find out.