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Ripples
Sept 11, 2011 19:35:00 GMT -5
Post by Hiccup on Sept 11, 2011 19:35:00 GMT -5
Hiccup couldn't help but laugh just a little at Astrid's remark to Tuffnut. "Yeah, obviously it's just the gods spiting you by giving you bad rocks. Bad, rocks! Bad, bad! Why you not skip for Tuffnut?" Hiccup asked, playfully kicking away a rock as if he was punishing it for being 'bad'. He wouldn't have put it past Tuffnut to punch him for making such a remark, but it would have been worth it. Hiccup couldn't pass up the opportunity.
"Okay, I'll give you that much. There is stuff to do back there. But how often do we just get to relax like this?" Hiccup asked, shifting his gaze from Tuffnut to Astrid as he spoke. "It's always something back home. Training, chores, raids... when do we ever get quiet moments like this?" Hiccup asked. He decided to send one last rock out across the water as he pondered over his own question. Hiccup stooped down one last time, picking up a fairly small rock, and tossed it. Only five skips that time.
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Sept 11, 2011 19:43:48 GMT -5
Post by Tuffnut on Sept 11, 2011 19:43:48 GMT -5
Tuffnut smirked. "Damn straight, these gods hate me for not giving me good rocks." he laughed at what Hiccup had said but then punched him the arm, not the way Astrid did but hard enough to probably give Hiccup a bruise.
As much as he hated to admit it, Hiccup had a point. "I doubt we will get much quiet time for awhile. Who knows though."
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Ripples
Sept 11, 2011 19:52:11 GMT -5
Post by Astrid on Sept 11, 2011 19:52:11 GMT -5
Astrid raised a brow as Hiccup followed on with her comment, making quiet the spectacle, kicking rocks, while continually speaking 'Bad rocks'. The comment that got her to finally laugh was: "Why you not skip for Tuffnut?" the way he said it was just as humorous as he had looked, talking like a 2 year old, kicking rocks. He'd asked for it from Tuffnut, unsurprised the fellow viking gave him a nice punch on the shoulder. She didn't expect Tuffnut to punch her, if he tried, she'd get him back. The prospect of accidentally connecting with her shoulder pads though, must be quiet unappealing.
She nodded in agreement with the two boys. Today had been the first day she'd actually had a decent conversation with Hiccup and Tuffnut. Sure she'd hung out with the viking gang plenty before, but she'd train so much it wasn't a frequent attempt. She did have to admit, she didn't have much time to relax in her life. Not because her parents forced her to work all day, or because she was constantly running errands, but she always pushed herself. Going into the ring, practicing fighting moves without and with dragons.
"Yeah, yeah. I guess growing up in Berk, relaxing isn't really something we get to do often." she shrugged, "Fighting, training, chores, hunting, fishing, it all seems to take up her time." she mused, rocking on her heels.
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Sept 11, 2011 21:45:32 GMT -5
Post by Hiccup on Sept 11, 2011 21:45:32 GMT -5
Well, he had practically been asking for it making himself look like a doofus. The punch in the arm did hurt, especially from a stronger boy like Tuffnut, but it had been so worth it just to say something like that. Hiccup cringed a little, but beyond that didn't complain. He was becoming used to being treated like a punching bag... sort of. He still wasn't fond of it, but who else would the other Vikings use for a punching bag? He offered a sheepish laugh, followed by a shrug, before turning his attention back to both his fellow Vikings.
Hiccup silently mulled over what Astrid had said. He supposed she had a point with what she was saying. With everything that happened in Berk, it was hard to just... be a kid. Okay, so they were teens. They were still technically kids. Even they deserved a little relaxing time every so often. That would definitely be something Hiccup would try to improve upon once he became chief. ...If he became chief.
"Yeah... Vikings. Great life we have. Between the daily tasks and dragon fighting, it's almost like we forget that... we need to unwind a little. You know?" Hiccup asked. He didn't expect a resounding response. He had sort of pulled the topic out of nowhere.
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Sept 11, 2011 22:25:40 GMT -5
Post by Astrid on Sept 11, 2011 22:25:40 GMT -5
Astrid shrugged, really unsure of what to say to that. She didn't really want to get to deep... It would make her seem weak. Clearly Hiccup didn't find being a viking fun. Astrid, questioned her own thought. Did she? She'd always been so focused on being the best, best viking, best dragon slayer, did that make her like being a viking? Yes. She stated firmly in her mind. Right? Right... She shook her head, clearing her thoughts.
"Yeah, I guess." she ended up shrugging. "Some time off is good, I guess." she was guessing a lot lately. She stretched, hoping to brake away from the uncomfortable feeling, let out a yawn, and blinked, looking over their surroundings once more.
"Well I guess skipping rocks got tiring... How about we climb tress or something?" it was a prospective challenge, she thought, looking up at the pines and deciduous trees lining the lakeside. They'd probably get a pretty good view from one of them.
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Sept 11, 2011 22:33:58 GMT -5
Post by Hiccup on Sept 11, 2011 22:33:58 GMT -5
Climb trees? Well, Hiccup supposed it was a good idea. After proving himself to be a doofus at Tuffnut's failure with rock skipping, they probably could use a good view of the valley. Hiccup found himself nodded in response to the suggestion, for once not looking like a complete doofus as he smiled. "Sounds like a good idea to me. I bet we could see a lot more of this place from higher up... though, that's probably obvious." Hiccup replied at last.
Being higher up means you could also dry off faster.
Well, the thought made sense in Hiccup's mind. Being higher up meant more wind would blow. More wind blowing meant his clothes would dry off sooner. Therefore, he would be dry faster. It seemed logical. "Now we just need to find a good enough tree..." Hiccup said. There were plenty in the area. It was all a matter of picking one that didn't have too many fragile branches.
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Sept 11, 2011 22:35:52 GMT -5
Post by Tuffnut on Sept 11, 2011 22:35:52 GMT -5
Tuffnut rolled his eyes at the thought of not being a viking. That's what their parents were and what they were destined to be. Any kid in Berk who didn't want to be a viking was like the end of the world. However the thought that there might have been something better out there intrigued him.
Climbing trees seemed like it would be a good way to let off steam from it all and maybe even a race to see who could climb a tree faster would be cool to. If anything he wanted a competition.
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Sept 11, 2011 22:42:47 GMT -5
Post by Astrid on Sept 11, 2011 22:42:47 GMT -5
Astrid smiled, glad her suggestion had been acknowledged. She looked around, deciding to put training into good use... as well as show off. Looking around, she saw a large rock, a tree an easy distance away. Its branches weren't to far up, nor were they close enough on the ground.
"Found one." she smirked striding over before the rock, facing the tree. Taking two steps back and running forward, onto the rock and jumping of the edge. She propelled her way to the tree, colliding with it, she hadn't reached the branches, but she was close enough, shimmying up the rest of the way, her spiked skirt getting caught every so often. Finally, she was ontop of one of the lowest branches, a victorious smile on her lips.
Deciding to show off even more, she wrapped her legs around the thick branch, swinging, down so that she slightly dangled, and her head peeked out from under the leaves. "Coming boys?" she smiled, acknowledged Hiccup and Tuffnut. She steadily climbed a branch higher, perching on it, waiting to see if the two could make it up. The bark wasn't to rough, a little breakable and wiry, but not bad. She squatted, arched back against the trunk, one hand dangling off the branch, the other holding it for balance. She couldn't see to far ahead of her, the thick branches and leaves barring her view from everything but the rock before the tree and the lake water when it lapped up against the shore.
She hoped the view would get better, and look up, the branches getting thicker, and then thinning, weaving an intricate pattern. It'd be interesting to see how well they could climb through it. The blonde briefly wonder if she'd fit in the tight spaces, looking at her shoulder pads. Nah, they'd make it.. She'd be able to fit, she hadn't honed her agility abilities for nothing.
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Sept 11, 2011 22:58:41 GMT -5
Post by Tuffnut on Sept 11, 2011 22:58:41 GMT -5
Tuffnut smirked at Astrid. "Don't think i can make it huh?" he asked. Overconfident as always, the boy took a running start and jumping off the edge of the rock, the boy collided with the tree in the same way Astrid had done.
Unfortunately for him, Tuffnut was not the fastest of the group and fell to the ground, hitting his head. With a viking curse, he dusted himself off in preperation to try again. "You will not beat me you evil tree." he said more to himself than to the others. As he climbed the tree again, only a few slips this time.
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Sept 11, 2011 22:59:20 GMT -5
Post by Hiccup on Sept 11, 2011 22:59:20 GMT -5
Hiccup followed, but stopped short as he approached the rock. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." he murmured. She expected him to jump off of that? The task was quite daunting to the scrawny redhead, and it seemed to magnify the distance between the tree and the rock. But he couldn't let a tree get the best of him. That would just be stupid. "Okay, okay... you can do this. It's just a tree." he told himself. Hiccup backed up a couple of paces, getting a good look at the tree and trying to judge the distance as best he could, and before long he found himself racing toward the tree in question.
Hiccup, needless to say, was nowhere near as graceful as he should have been. Getting up the rock was a challenge in and of itself, and after much scrambling as he tried to climb the rock, made just a bit more difficult because of how damp he still was, Hiccup found himself on top of the rock. Now the difficult part came into play. Jumping from the rock to the tree.
This time, Hiccup didn't back up. He was a Viking. Backing up was for woossies! ...At least, that was what he was telling himself. A tiny bit of mental preparation was in order, but it was short lived. Hiccup couldn't tell whether it was sheer stupidity or just the desire to prove that he could run with Astrid and Tuffnut that caused him to launch himself at the tree at last. The realization that maybe it wasn't the best idea only sank in when Hiccup's face made contact with the tree's trunk, sending a resounding thunk through the air. Regardless of the pain going through his face, Hiccup had managed to grab on to the tree's trunk.
"I'm okay." Hiccup mumbled through the tree trunk. Hiccup pulled his face away from the trunk, shook his head after a moment, and looked upward. It was still quite a ways to climb before he caught up with Astrid. Did that stop the young redhead? Not at all. Hiccup grasped for the nearest tree branch and soon pulled himself up onto it. Still a ways to go, but Hiccup didn't give up. He was much slower than Astrid and a bit more awkward, having never really bothered to work on his tree climbing skills, but he thought he was managing all right as he slowly made his way up.
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Sept 11, 2011 23:15:00 GMT -5
Post by Astrid on Sept 11, 2011 23:15:00 GMT -5
Astrid stiffled laughter as the two boys attempted to out do her. Tuffnut falling from the tree with a large viking curse, and Hiccup making out with the tree. Inwardly Astrid flinched as she heard and felt the thunk through the wood.
"Tree hugger." she crowed down, watching as the dark red head made his way up to the lowest branches. She had to say she was quite impressed with Hiccup's determination. She'd never seen him actually take a real physical challenge, accept in dragon training where running for your life after losing your shield is a skill that needs to be learned. She assessed her 'competition' of sorts in climbing the tree. Tuffnut was skinny, and could probably more easily weave among the branches, as could Hiccup if he sent his mind to it. Though Hiccup was also a known klutz.
Astrid wasted no time, weaving her body in and out of the paths of branches. Either squeezing her shoulder pads through, or giving her shoulders a hard shove and breaking through the ones barring her way. She'd look down every so watching the boys make their way closer. Raising her head in surprise as she found that her next branch was more above her, she crouched, the branch wavering under her thick booted feet. Her leap up seemed to be cut short with the sound of snapping, her push up seemed to have been to much for the admittedly thin branch and her fingers skimmed the thick branch she had been aiming for. Spring branches and leaves whipped her fast, and she let out a small shriek of shock, before catching a branch, and swinging on it. Dangling from the branch, Astrid kicked the open air beneath her, starting to do a pull up so she could continue her climbing mission.
"Dumb branch.." she muttered angrily, not realizing where she'd landed, and slightly disoriented. "Ugh, how far did I fall?" she wondered aloud, finally blinking to look around her.
(ooc: I was thinking she maybe landed face to face with someone, which would scare the crap out of her, or accidentally kicked someone during the swing x3 )
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Sept 11, 2011 23:26:35 GMT -5
Post by Hiccup on Sept 11, 2011 23:26:35 GMT -5
Hiccup thought he had been doing fairly well with the climb. He rolled his eyes at Astrid's remark, though. How else was he supposed to launch himself at the tree without slamming his face into it? ...Okay, so maybe he could have found a better way to attempt climbing the tree. It definitely wasn't one of his shining moments of intellect. But Hiccup would excuse it for the time being. He was slowly making progress, slowly and a clumsily making his way between branches and starting to think that he was catching up with Astrid. His thoughts were shattered when a scream broke the air.
Hiccup looked up, fully prepared to ask if Astrid was all right, but soon regretted his decision. A boot to the head was the response to his unasked question. "OW!" Hiccup groaned, stopping his climbing just after pulling himself onto a branch to clutch his head where he had been kicked. Ironically enough, it happened to be the same branch that Astrid had landed on.
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Sept 11, 2011 23:33:43 GMT -5
Post by Tuffnut on Sept 11, 2011 23:33:43 GMT -5
Tuffnut had managed to get up the tree, though despite him wanting to chop it down right now. It was evil. Glancing at Hiccup and Astrid he smirked. "ooo Hiccup and Astrid sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" he sang with a childlike laugh. No doubt he would get a smack on the head or pushed out of the tree by Astrid for that one.
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Sept 11, 2011 23:44:08 GMT -5
Post by Astrid on Sept 11, 2011 23:44:08 GMT -5
"OW!" Oops. Astrid thought, only to late, her foot having collided into the side of Hiccup's head. She seemed slightly embarrassed, having fallen, though Hiccup wouldn't be laughing at her because of the head/foot collision. Astrid pulled herself up to her elbows, glancing us Hiccup clutched his head. Throwing her weight by swinging she managed to perch on the branch. The branch bounced and wavered under the weight, and Astrid quickly shifted to the branch beside, it.
It wasn't to far, the gap between the branches was a little more of the width of her leg. "Erm.. your head ok?" she asked, unsure on how to go about the concerned business. And then an childlike voice started singing.
"ooo Hiccup and Astrid sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" A wild blush burned it's way to Astrid's cheeks, and without thinking, Astrid dropped the handful of branches down to Tuffnut's branch. Landing squarely in the middle of it, the branch wobbling enough that she had to grab the branch next to her.
"Oh shut up Tuffnut, you've got as much brains as gronckle!" she spat, hoping to have jostled him enough that he'd fall from the branch. Than she agilely climbed the branches back to the one she'd perched on before. Mumbling viking curses, and trying to pass off the blush she'd had earlier as a mild flush from climbing so quickly. Astrid decided to look above her, she had fallen quite aways, and she only realized she had minor cuts on her arms, and pink mark from where one of the branches had slapped her on her cheek.
"Yeah, so your head ok? Your not gonna fall out or anything right?" she raised a brow. She wouldn't be responsible for the chief's son breaking his arm, or worse, his neck.
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Sept 11, 2011 23:47:27 GMT -5
Post by Tuffnut on Sept 11, 2011 23:47:27 GMT -5
Tuffnut was fortunate enough to not fall out of the branch, at least that was one thing, he didn't want to break his neck, especially by a girl! That would be embarrassing, not to mention if Ruffnut found out then he would be the laughing stock of the family. "Relax Astrid, just joking." he smirked, though the tone of his voice was one that meant that he was being serious.
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