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Ripples
Sept 11, 2011 14:48:51 GMT -5
Post by Hiccup on Sept 11, 2011 14:48:51 GMT -5
Somehow, Hiccup wasn't all that surprised by Astrid's reaction. She had been so competitive in classes that it was only reasonable to think she had seen him as a rival in dragon killing. He, of course, wasn't sure what he thought of the whole thing. Hiccup cringed as the punch made contact with his arm. He should have expected that. The cuff, though, completely caught him off guard. "Gah! Why would you do that?" Hiccup asked. A pointless question, really. That was the typical Astrid thing to do.
Tuffnut's reaction, though, struck a cord. He had to say something. There was no way Hiccup was going to just stay silent after the blond boy had questioned him.
"You think I wanted this?" Hiccup asked, clearly annoyed by Tuffnut's reaction. "You think I wanted to be some 'hero'? I never wanted that! I just wanted a little respect. I just wanted... I wanted..." Hiccup faltered again. What had he wanted? Recognition? To be acknowledged as more than a useless stick of a Viking? ...His father's love? Hiccup didn't know. He had thought that by killing a dragon he would be able to fix his situation. He had thought that he would be someone by doing what no one had expected him to do. In the end, it hadn't made all that much of a difference. Hiccup was still a coward. Still not a killer. Most of all, he was still disliked by his peers.
"...I just wanted to be one of you guys." he sighed, his voice becoming pitifully small as he spoke. "It didn't even fix our problem. Berk's problem, I mean. So I kill a dragon... one that I never even meant to kill. It didn't point out the location of the dragon's nest. It didn't help us find out why they raid Berk all the time. No. If I'd wanted to be a hero I could have... I don't know. Found the nest. Then people would really be singing my praises." Hiccup stated, rolling his eyes a little as sarcasm danced through his tone. That would have been impossible. He would have had to sprout wings and fly before he would have any idea where the dragon's nest was.
"...I guess now's as good a time as any to just... disappear. I mean, it's only a matter of time before the rest of the village figures out I really am a useless screw up." Hiccup remarked. Where would he go? How should he know? Hiccup didn't necessarily want to leave, but if word got out that he had never intentionally killed a Nightmare... he could only imagine what Stoick's reaction would be.
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Ripples
Sept 11, 2011 15:46:50 GMT -5
Post by Astrid on Sept 11, 2011 15:46:50 GMT -5
Astrid couldn't help but laugh as Hiccup asked her why she'd done that. She was still riding the giddy high that she was the best teenage dragon slayer in Berk. And then Tuffnut and Hiccup's argument broke through.
She opened her mouth to join the arguement, clenching her fist if she needed to break it up violently. But Hiccup faltered, and she wondered what he was going to say. What had he wanted? Clearly not to be the best, he'd said he didn't want to be a hero. Curious and anticipating shooting his hopes down, she hadn't expected his next words.
He'd wanted to be one of them? She couldn't help the shocked look on her face. And for the first time ever, she felt something that resembled pity. "Oh." was what she managed, and she cursed Hiccup for rendering her speechless. Of course he hadn't done anything special besides kill his first dragon. But that only mean that her killing her first dragon meant the same, and she scowled. Why did the scrawny teenager have to make a sudden revelation now? "yeah, you didn't do anything special." she agreed, not able to admit why her tone sounded so bitter, denying that she had done the same.
At Hiccup's next words, she glared at him, she wasn't to shocked, she'd wondered if he'd run away after horrible training in dragon classes when he'd been the worst off. "Oooh no, your not." she took a step forward, reaching her hand to grab his shirt collar. "Yeah, and have everyone blame me for your disappearance." she jutted a thumb at Tuffnut, "or him?" she spat bitterly. She could only imagine the look on the vikings faces when Astrid and Tuffnut were to get home to the vilalge, someone was bound to notice the chief's son missing.
"But maybe, " (if she'd grabbde it) she released Hiccup's collar taking a step baking and giving him a once over, and crossing her arms, "if your that much a coward." she shrugged, taunting the scrawny brunette, her gaze steady and cold.
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Ripples
Sept 11, 2011 16:08:24 GMT -5
Post by Hiccup on Sept 11, 2011 16:08:24 GMT -5
Something that sounded almost like a whimper escaped Hiccup when Astrid grabbed him by the shirt collar. He almost anticipated a punch to the face. A bonk to the head. Anything, really. What he hadn't expected was her telling him that he pretty much wouldn't get away with running away. Surprise flickered through the redhead's green eyes briefly, but vanished just as quickly after a moment. What would he get by running away? It wouldn't change what had happened. Hiccup knew that much.
Of course, he also hadn't expected Astrid to let go of his shirt collar so suddenly. The sudden action was enough to make him lose his balance a second time. "Whoa, whoa, WHOA!" and with another great splash, Hiccup found himself sitting in the lake again. Wonderful. Really wonderful. Hiccup thought, trying to shake his clothing free of the water. Then Astrid's accusation of him being a coward began to sink in. Hiccup realized he wasn't the bravest Viking in Berk. That had been proven with his accidental killing of a dragon. Not to mention that he had barely stood up to any of the dragons in dragon fighting classes. His best attempt was against the Terrible Terrors. They, at least, made him feel better about being scrawny. Shaking away those thoughts, though, Hiccup met Astrid and Tuffnut's gaze.
"Well, what do you expect me to do? Go back there and face my dad's disappointment? Go back to the daily ridicule and have it rubbed in my face that the only thing I've ever accomplished was an accident?" Hiccup asked, exasperation evident in the scrawny, soaked redhead's tone. "I already know I'm a coward. I know what happened was an accident... that I'm not a killer. It's not so easy to just announce that to a crowd, though. What? You want me to go up in front of all of Berk and say 'Oh, by the way. You know the one thing I actually did right? Yeah. That was an accident. Go back to treating me like scum now', Astrid? It's not that easy!" Hiccup threw his hands in the air, clearly at a loss of what to do, before letting them drop to his sides in the water and hanging his head.
Is it any easier living a lie, though?
Hiccup had to wonder. What was he accomplishing by letting all of Berk, and his father, think he had killed a dragon on his own? Intentionally, at that. "I wish I'd never even seen that stupid Nightmare. It would have been better if I'd just... let it kill me." he sighed. It was inevitable. He would be dragged back to Berk and the secret would be out. What then? Banishment? The cold shoulder for the rest of eternity? Hiccup didn't pretend to know.
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Ripples
Sept 11, 2011 16:29:15 GMT -5
Post by Astrid on Sept 11, 2011 16:29:15 GMT -5
Astrid rubbed the bridge of her nose as Hiccup fell into the water. It was amazing how he hadn't had the pillar crush him, or how he was able to outrun the Nightmare to get to the pillar. He was so clumsy. Had this surprising revelation not happened so suddenly, she would have laughed, but now she offered Hiccup her hand once more, a grim scowl on her face. She shook her head in exasperation as Hiccup continued to raise his voice, lower it, and rant about what would happen. All in all, she'd wish he'd shut up and listen.
"Well I'm not telling them!" she growled, she waited letting her words sink in, sending a glare in Tuffnut's direction, telling him to do the same. If the teenagers were a pack of dogs, it would appear that Astrid was the highest up, and Hiccup the Omega. "Dear gods Hiccup can you shut up?" she sighed clearly exasperated. He was lucky she hadn't decided to interrupt his angry rant. "I'm not telling anyone. I don't want Stoick blaming me for pushing his son into the water so much he was forced to tell me. Heck, I'd probably be blamed!" she growled again, it wasn't to much a lie. She'd be blamed for ruining the blanket of happiness that Hiccup wasn't useless. She'd be given dirty looks just the same.
"Anyway, you did kill the dragon, accident or not. It's dead." she said this matter of factly, it was the truth, and she'd never thought of herself actually try to help Hiccup. It was an odd change from picking on him. She made a guttural sound in her throat as Hiccup suggested suicide, and she rolled her eyes.
"No wonder the gods hate you! Your always whining!" she rolled her eyes, for some reason she wished she'd brought her double edged battle axe, sharpening it would have made her calm down, she'd hoped.
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Ripples
Sept 11, 2011 16:48:40 GMT -5
Post by Hiccup on Sept 11, 2011 16:48:40 GMT -5
That was enough to make Hiccup actually stop complaining and listen. She wasn't going to tell? Seriously? Were he not so startled into keeping silent for once, he would have asked just why that was. Instead he accepted Astrid's hand again and let her pull him to his feet. He let what she had said sink in. Hiccup had never really considered himself 'whiny' before, but he'd never had anyone actually listen to him complain openly before. So maybe he was a bit whiny. ...He didn't have a good argument against that.
"...Okay, maybe I am whining. Sorry, Astrid." Hiccup apologized. His tone indicated that he had calmed down significantly, as he did sound truly apologetic. She hadn't deserved to be his verbal venting punching bag. He was at a loss of what to say, and mentally he was kicking himself for letting Astrid rob him of his words. Another reason she was better than him, he supposed. Of course he wasn't going to admit that much out loud. They probably knew that much, anyway.
"So... if you're not going to tell, what are you going to do?" Hiccup asked at last, quizzically raising an eyebrow as he spoke. He certainly wasn't going to admit what had happened was an accident. Not in front of everyone else, anyway. ...Not yet.
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Ripples
Sept 11, 2011 17:14:56 GMT -5
Post by Astrid on Sept 11, 2011 17:14:56 GMT -5
Astrid thanked the gods as Hiccup shut his trap, enjoying the stunned silence had settled in the air. She pulled Hiccup up, not as roughly as before, wiping her wet hand on her shirt. She looked at him, he seemed in thought, atleast he was quiet. She rolled her eyes as Hiccup broke the silence, though silently pleased he wasn't ranting.
"Yes Hiccup, you are. That's ok. I guess." She responded, letting out a gust of air, cooling off herself. It was odd to take a turn being the punching bag. Hiccup was her physical punching bag, accepting punches, slaps, butts of her axe, with little more than a protest. Now, her turn being the verbal punching bag, which she'd admit, probably wasn't as bad as being on the other side of her fist for around 15 years.
At Hiccup's next question, Astrid didn't really have a real answer. "I don't know, what do you expect?" she quizzed back, leaning back and raising a brow. "Just fight dragons and train I guess." Was there really anything else to do? There was no drama in Berk, and clearly no need for it now.
She turned her head to look out over the lake, maybe she'd sit and fish... nah, to boring. Maybe she'd go back to the arena and train? But she glanced at the trail Hiccup had left from Berk to their standing place. She let out a steady sigh. She hadn't thought of what she'd do returning to Berk, nothing much really. She could go, train, and continue to ignore and pick up when she very well pleased right?
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Ripples
Sept 11, 2011 17:37:34 GMT -5
Post by Tuffnut on Sept 11, 2011 17:37:34 GMT -5
Tuffnut had not responded for the majority of the argument and shouting that had been going on between Astrid and Hiccup. The girl had everything under control. When she shot him the glare he held up his hands defensively. "Chill out Astrid, not going to tell anyone." he replied. Though, if it was in his voice that made it sound sarcastic he hadn't meant it.
Either way, Hiccup had killed the dragon, that didn't make it any better for the blonde teenager. He still resented the brunette boy for making that first kill accident or not.
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Ripples
Sept 11, 2011 18:06:56 GMT -5
Post by Hiccup on Sept 11, 2011 18:06:56 GMT -5
Typical unimpressed look crossed Hiccup's face at Tuffnut's response. He should have expected the blond boy to be stubborn. Hiccup was familiar enough with sarcasm. He could detect it in the other boy's tone. Regardless, he decided it would be better to not comment on it. There was no reason to kick up the argument again. "Well, I guess that's better than nothing Tuffnut. Thanks for that." Hiccup remarked dully.
He gave a little nod in response to Astrid's own response. Hiccup hadn't anticipated Astrid going off to do anything other than what she did best. Namely training. He supposed it made sense. After all, she was the best in their class. That was reason enough to want to make sure she stayed in top physical condition.
"I wouldn't expect any less from you, actually. As for me, I think I'm just going to try to... ya know. Get dry." Hiccup said with a slight laugh, shaking his arms a little to try and free himself of some of the dampness. The dark redheaded boy had to wonder how he had gotten lucky enough to avoid having something horrible happen to him before killing the Nightmare. He was a klutz. "After that... I guess I'll head back. Don't know what I'm going to do, though, but I'll figure it out." Hiccup said, shrugging his shoulders casually as he finished speaking.
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Ripples
Sept 11, 2011 18:33:28 GMT -5
Post by Astrid on Sept 11, 2011 18:33:28 GMT -5
Astrid rolled her eyes at Tuffnut. "Better not, or I'll do a little one on one training." It seemed like a joke, but a threat was embedded in it's center. She stretched, not ready to head back to Berk right now. She walked to the nearest tree and leaned against it. Unsure what to do.
The silence was maddening. To eerie, to well, silent. The forest rustled and she could hear the lake's waters lapping at the shore. "Uh-huh." she said absently in response to Hiccup, her ears and eyes searching for something to do in the secluded area by the lake. No signs of dragons, and Hiccup's second fall was sure to have scared away any fish who had ventured back over. And bringing home eels was a very unappetizing thought. She shook her head at the stillness, the quietness, the peacefulness. Nothing like the little town of Berk. Berk had vikings bustling around, sheep milling about, and at night, dragons attacking. Not every night, but enough to harden and capture a few to train with.
For some reason she felt vulnerable being unarmed, and she cursed herself for being so stupid as to leave without so much as a knife. Instinctively, she picked up the largest rock she could find, and played with it in her hands. Hiccup's words itched at her head, was she that predictable? Maybe she should change up her daily routine. She was mulling all of this over in her mind, her mouth twisted in thought. A flapping of wings caught Astrid's attention, spinning on her heels, not large enough to be a large dragon, but maybe a terrible terror? Spinning, eyes searching, all she saw was a bird, startled from it's stillness, flying away.
Slightly embarrassed, Astrid turned to the two boys. "So er... now what?" she wasn't usually one without a plan, but right now, she hadn't thought of anything. What was there too do? If they went back to Berk, there was no doubt she'd have to do a few chores before getting to the arena to train... Or worse, she'd have to eat some of her mother's cooked eels.
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Ripples
Sept 11, 2011 18:39:14 GMT -5
Post by Tuffnut on Sept 11, 2011 18:39:14 GMT -5
The other teen shook his head. He was not about to go back home and do chores. There had to be something to do here, it was a little weird and creepy with no other life besides the three of them. Rubbing his neck he shook his head. "What is there to do in this place?"
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Ripples
Sept 11, 2011 18:42:29 GMT -5
Post by Hiccup on Sept 11, 2011 18:42:29 GMT -5
"That... is a good question." Hiccup replied. What now? He had just been mindlessly tossing rocks into the lake, disturbing the still water and watching ripples, before Astrid and Tuffnut had shown up. The silence was bothering him as well, as much as he hated to admit it. Usually he preferred the silence. Strangely enough, though, out in the open it was bothersome. What if a dragon showed up? What then? Shaking those thoughts away, Hiccup at last spotted a particularly smooth looking stone not too far from him. Intrigued, he bent down and scooped up the little mineral.
It was absolutely ordinary in appearance. Just an average grey-black stone with nothing much of interest about it. But maybe, just maybe, perfect for something he had in mind while staring at it. Hiccup took a couple of steps away from the lake, staring out at the water and trying to focus, and after a moment offered a dorky sort of smile.
"We could skip rocks." Hiccup suggested. A rather dull suggestion, but in the serene valley he thought it was perfect. Just the sort of thing they needed to get their minds off of dragons and what was expected of them. At least, it was in Hiccup's mind.
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Sept 11, 2011 18:54:15 GMT -5
Post by Astrid on Sept 11, 2011 18:54:15 GMT -5
Astrid looked to Tuffnut and Hiccup uncertainly. "Uh... suuuure." she bent down, grabbing a relatively smooth rock. She bent her wrist at an angle, and tossed the rock, enough force to have been chucked, it only hopped twice. Frankly, this irritated Astrid. She'd never really skipped rocks before, a few times in boredom, but that was by herself. Now, she was with the two others, and well, she sucked.
To anyone else, it would have been ok, a nice learning process. To Astrid, it was a challenge, a rather frustrating, harder than she thought one, but a challenge nonetheless. So much for changing up the routine, competitiveness was in her blood. Bending down again and scooping up a handful of rocks and sorted out the flat from the non flat.
Unleashing her load of rocks, the farthest any of them had gone was about 4 or 5 skips. Better than the first, but still slightly displeasing to the blonde. It had deffinetly cleared her mind of dragons, forcing all of her focus into skipping rocks farther than anyone. It just didn't seem to be one of her talents. And she made a resolve to herself, she'd work on it.
"Wow." she grimaced, attempting to make light conversation, "skipping rocks is..." she wasn't going to say hard. No. Nothing was hard when she put her mind to it. "challenging?" she tried, her eyes peeking to the sides, looking to the boys.
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Sept 11, 2011 18:57:23 GMT -5
Post by Tuffnut on Sept 11, 2011 18:57:23 GMT -5
Tuffnut smirked at the thought of skipping rocks being challenging. "Please, this can't be that hard." he said. "if anything, I know I can handle this difficult task." he replied with a overconfident gesture. Picking up a rock, he flung it into the water, it skipped once before making a splash into the water.
A frown formed on his face, picking up another rock he tried again. Only this time it didn't skip at all. "This is rigged." he muttered.
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Ripples
Sept 11, 2011 19:03:42 GMT -5
Post by Hiccup on Sept 11, 2011 19:03:42 GMT -5
Hiccup was, admittedly, surprised that Astrid had agreed to his suggestion. He had half expected her to shoot it down. He observed Astrid's attempts, admittedly becoming entranced again by the ripples and more than a little impressed with what skills she had. Maybe it was just his own sort of dorky attraction to her that made him impressed.
"It takes practice. I don't think you're doing too badly, though." Hiccup told Astrid as he tossed his rock up and down in his palm. He had to suppress a bit of laughter at Tuffnut's remark. The poor blond clearly wasn't all that practiced in rock skipping. After a few moments of contemplating the angle and power of his toss, Hiccup made his move. The rock didn't go incredibly far, only bouncing against the water four times before making a soft sploosh as it vanished into the depths, but he didn't think it was too shabby. He stooped down again and gathered a couple more rocks before returning to his full height. He wasn't incredibly skilled at rock skipping either, only managing six hops on his last throw out of sheer luck, but he didn't think he was terrible.
"Sure beats going back and doing nothing." Hiccup admitted. There really wasn't much to do in Berk now that he thought about it. It wasn't the liveliest of places, not unless a dragon raid happened to be occurring, but it was home.
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Ripples
Sept 11, 2011 19:18:42 GMT -5
Post by Astrid on Sept 11, 2011 19:18:42 GMT -5
Astrid stopped her attempts to smirk in victory to Tuffnut. His attempts more pitiful than hers. Turning her head, to Hiccup as he spoke. She definitely didn't mind a little ego stroking, especially since it was in a task she'd deemed a 'worthy' challenge. She watched as Hiccup started skipping rocks, making careful note of the angle his wrist twisted at and that he bent down when tossing the rocks. She took up Hiccup's challenge of passing off six skips.
"Yeah Tuffnut, definitely rigged." she rolled her eyes. "The gods deliberately gave you rocks that can't skip." She rolled her eyes, picking up four smooth sided rocks. Bending down as Hiccup had done, and flicking her wrist in one quick motion. 5 skips. She launched the other one, this time cocking her elbow up, twisting her hips so she was at a slight angle, crouched down. Bringing her hand to her other side, and then twisting forward, and launching the rock again with another swift flick. 6 hops. She was pleased, it had looked like it would have liked to skip a 7th, but at it's rebound from the water, a slight wave up lake water surged up, defeating it's attempt to defy the rule that it couldn't fly. Taking up the other two, and trying it in the same fashion, the first getting 4 skips, the fourth get another 5 skips.
She hadn't beaten Hiccup's unintended challenge, but she'd matched it. Standing up straight and brushing of the small rocks that had collected on her leggings.
"You mean it beats doing everything." she corrected, "Chores, gutting the fish, cleaning the steel.." she trailed off rolling her eyes. She admittedly liked Berk, being one of the teenage dragon slayers, and one of the hardest training teens, she was quiet good when dragons raided unexpectedly during the day or night.
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