1: (and we hit the ground running) [OPEN COMMENTLOG]

[dat_astrid]

[It was like blinking. That's all it was, really. A blink and suddenly--]

Where--

[She wasn't in the forest near Raven's Point anymore. The axe she just had in her hand was missing. Everything was odd... she was in some... stone dungeon-looking place, like the areas beneath the arena. There was a bed, a weird little black box

Comments

[talkingfishbone]

[Coming down from the top deck--now immensely less creepy than it was the other night--Hiccup fancies himself alone. When he starts down the stairwell, the only sounds are his own, lazy footsteps.

Then, somewhere several decks below, there's the loud bang of a door slamming shut and the smacking of boots running up the stairs. The teen quickly starts hugging the walls. He doesn't want whoever to plow him over. He keeps his eyes to the floor, only glancing up when the steps get dangerously close too for comfort. Finally, Hiccup just presses himself into the corner of the landing of Deck 2 and waits for the person to pass. Juuuust to make sure.]

[dat_astrid]

[Astrid runs, taking three stairs at a time when she can, leaping like a mountain goat to propel herself up stairs as fast as she can when she spots--]

YOU!

[Forgetting any other objective, she bounds up the last couple of stairs, fury already showing in her face.]

I swear to every God we know, if this is your fault somehow--

[talkingfishbone]

[Hiccup stares at her dumbstruck.

...He's asleep.

He's dead?

No, he's just asleep. He's asleep, or Astrid is back and she is pissed and he didn't do anything--]

I--I-I didn't do anything!

[Exactly what you should yell at the girl you like who's just come back from the dead.]

[dat_astrid]

Hiccup, I want answers. Where are we? I just saw you in the woods-- and now--

[There's a frustrated growl and she grabs the front of his shirt.]

Start talking.

[She missed you too, Hiccup. In her own, very, very special way.]

[talkingfishbone]

You're--

You're alive.

[He is truly the smartest of Vikings.]

Well--

Yes, you--

You're that, and you're on a boat. And we're--

On a boat together. Again.

And there's other people, too, I mean, it's not--it's not just us.

Uhm.

[dat_astrid]

Alive, of course I'm al--

[She actually listens to part of what he says! Amazing!]

What do you mean again? And-- a-- what? This isn't a boat, you're crazier than I thought you were! I just broke out of some dungeon down there--

[talkingfishbone]

No, it's--it's definitely a ship.

[He tries to smile. It quickly becomes a wince.]

Astrid...

What do you...what do you remember? I mean. You said, uh. You said you just...saw me?

[dat_astrid]

What do I-- You were just-- sneaking off somewhere with a bunch of leather and tent poles or something in your arms, I don't know! You weren't where you were supposed to be, that much was obvious.

[She's not going to say that she tried to follow you and lost you. Not yet, anyway.]

[talkingfishbone]

[He squints at her, trying to place when that would've happened. It's not coming to him. It's been too long, and to be frank, most of his brain is still flipping out over the fact she's even HERE. It's all he can do to squash the extremely strong urge to throw his arms around her and hold her until she's beaten him into a bloody pulp.

Thank you, Gods, for Viking Emotional Training.]

...oookay, then...

...You are going to think I'm crazy.

[dat_astrid]

[Astrid cocks her head to one side like a curious Nadder, her eyes narrowing. She loosens her grip on his shirt, though, for now.]

...too late.

[It's her way of inviting him to continue that train of thought.]

[talkingfishbone]

[Would you look at that, he's staring again. For a brief moment, he's doing so completely openly. If Astrid's looking closely--which she should--she may see the absolute relief that overtakes his expression before, abruptly, he reigns it all in.

Hiccup jerks his eyes to his own shoes--flip flops--and clasps his hands together with a dull smack.]

Hooow to explain this.

Uhm.

So.

Okay.

[The shorter of the two starts to gesture in his usual, spastic fashion, never really committing to one movement, just doing one after another in rapid succession as the words practically fall out of his face.So we've either been kidnapped or rescued by a God named Redd, he controls the boat, and everyone on it, to the point where he can change what we look like, what our ages are and even make us switch bodies. You're from a different time than you were last time--because you were here before, and then you left--but I've been here for several months. It's really not all that bad once you get past the whole Probably Never Going To See Berk Again,

[dat_astrid]

[Her flat look turns into a glare, and she gathers his shirt up again, pushing him up against the wall this time.]

Don't lie to me, Hiccup, I'm not stupid!

[Because if you don't understand a concept, it's immediately untrue. Viking Fact.]

[talkingfishbone]

I'm not--

I'm not lying!

Why would I lie about this? Jeez, would you give me just a little credit?

[dat_astrid]

You and that--- ugh, that long-eared guy-- how is this a boat? It looks like a whole village! There's no way it's a ship-- and how could-- why would--

[She lets him go mostly so she can throw her hands in the air in frustration.]

You know what? Prove it.

[talkingfishbone]

[At first, the suggestion seems...impossible. How can he possibly--

It's so crazy there's no way he--

Then Hiccup squares his shoulders and takes her hand.]

Fine, come with me.

[...oh gods, wait, he took her hand. ABORT. ABORT BEFORE SHE CHOPS IT OFF!]

Just--

This--this way.

[He starts up the stairs, hoping she won't tackle him and pound him into the floor for that little mistake.]

[dat_astrid]

[Astrid merely scoffs at the motion and yanks it away right around the time he lets it go-- but follows him anyway.]

Where are we going?

[You're not going to lead her around blindly, Hiccup.]