imeeji_frontstage | (no subject)

Yes?

[A natural reaction.]

[THEN his scatted mind catches up.]

Oh. [He grows red.] Yes. Yes. Yes? Yes. [How many ways can a person say the same exact word, Hiccup is certainly working to try and discover them all. Complete with awkward gestures that mean nothing except to try and get that awkward energy OUT.]

Yes, that's me. Hiccup. I am Hiccup and I was. Hiccup. Yesterday.

Alcheme has some off the wall abilities and that is saying something here.

Edited 2022-09-22 22:35 (UTC)

[ Got it in one.

But then he goes off? And now there is a flash of confusion followed by exasperation. She unfolds her arms to put one hand on her hip, letting her weight lean on the one leg as she listens.

And waits. When he finally gets out his explanation she offers: ]

Yeah, so subtlety is definitely not your strong suit, huh?

[ ~~No wonder they're so bad at stealth missions.~~ ]

Edited 2022-09-22 22:45 (UTC)

...no. [He slumps a bit.]

Not usually. [He's more then aware of the fact anytime he's subtle, he has to be thinking about it ahead of time. Has to be a Plan.]

I have been called painfully earnest. Several times. By people with severe trust issues who said it was so painful, even they couldn't distrust me.

[Including Izanagi who is Trust Issue Central.]

That sounds dangerous.

[ Said bluntly, not for them but for him. Despite the whole giving a knife yesterday she's starting to think maybe he's too soft for this place - somehow. ]

I mean, they're not wrong about me. [He shrugs.]

[Because why would it be dangerous for him-]

Yeah-huh.

[ Said with some manner of disbelief, like he's not getting what she meant. ~~Too soft.~~

A beat and she offers smoothly: ]

You wanted to talk.

[ not a question, but not a demand. an offer to let him decide to tell her to go or stay. ]

Edited 2022-09-22 23:17 (UTC)

...you'll see. Most people do, but it does usually take talking a little bit.

[He's absolutely not getting what she meant.]

Yes! Yes, I did. If nothing else, its important to establish boundaries for this sort of thing. Plus, I also know all the things that feel foreign here and know how to explain it because we're about a thousand years before our world has anything like all the stuff outside.

[The catio is just full of plants, and swings, and bridges, okay. He can't gesture at it.]

At least if the timeline followed what it did in other worlds, it might be sooner now. [Another shrug, a hand waving vaguely in the air. HE HAS PLANS.]

Not that I'm underestimating your capability, I just know how much it all is from experience.

Oh, no, I think I'm getting it all right.

[ She sounds? Confident in that fact? She just thinks she has a good perception of people - Or maybe he's just been so weird at her she... thinks he's just always like this.

But at least she's not running off and she still has the one hand on her hip as opposed to crossing her arms - a good sign when dealing with her! Listening, too. Boundaries, huh? She ignores that part for now. ]

I'd noticed. Difficult not to when you don't need a fire to cook food... and the bath water is warm. [ Also? You can??? Just use as much of it as you like? And it's not just a small wash basin? What's with that??? ]

You're right, it's a lot. [ On top of the amnesia, on top of him - and apparently other people knowing who she is (and she's not fully aware of that one yet, oh boy). And then she just drops her arm to her side with an exhale, slight annoyance : ] It just seems like one thing after another here.

Oh good. [He likes giving a good impression and sometimes good is just trustable.]

Isn't it the best? Wait until you try out the showers. It makes everything so much easier, but still super nice. [He's walking across the bridges to get deeper into the dorm.] And microwaves are fascinating. It uses these waves you can't even see and magnify them with the metal until it causes the water in food to move in a way that makes heat and that makes the food hot! At least if I understand it right, it took like three books to get my head around the concept. Oh, and the books. There is a huge building, like bigger then a Great Hall big, just full of them!

[He is. So excited, and the gesturing doesn't stop either. He really is just Like This.]

[Then he pauses.] But yeah, its...a lot. And it will be like that for a while. I mean, everyone knows the Games and the other stuff the Producers like to pull is a lot, but so many are from around this time they don't always think about how much it is for those not used to it.

There are tools to help with that, if you're active in your understanding though. One of the best thing about this place is finding information is fairly easy.

[ No comment on the if it's good or not honestly. He talks enough she doesn't have to give a response and it's - a lot. Enough to make her wonder if he just talks a lot when he's feeling nervous or he's just like this (or worse).

She half keeps up in what he says, keeps some space between him and her over the bridge as she listens. ]

Well, it'd be the same in reverse. I bet some of them don't even know how to light a fire. [ Like, they wouldn't survive on Berk in that case - But she doesn't linger on it, instead offering: ] You sound like you're having fun learning about all of it.

[ Not a question, either, but there's a touch of uncertainty there - she doesn't really have the seem saming interest as him. She doesn't think to use the phone more than she has to. ]

[The answer is yes.]

Some absolutely wouldn't know how to light a fight. There's a lot of survival skills most wouldn't know how to do.

[A lot wouldn't do well on Berk At All. At least not without a lot of help.]

... [There is another blush, though more sheepish and shy them flustered embarrassment. Rubbing the back of his neck.] I'm a genius. [Not a brag. More of a statement of fact.] I've always learned a lot faster then others, at least when it comes to information. I think its part of why my dad had me apprentice in the forge even though my family has some other important duties. [Because chief AND blacksmith would be A Lot.] He needed some way to keep me occupied. [And probably keep him occupied during raids with Gobber as a babysitter.]

Its....thrilling, to find things I don't just get. Things I really have to work at to understand.

Yeah, I can think of some people already.

[ Sorry, Tsukasa, you left an impression of soft and probably should be protected - She lets him talk though, skates over how it's kind of cute that he's embarassed. Mildly impressed by some level at confidence, but don't mock it. ]

So it's all like - some giant playground for you.

[Honestly]

[Yes, protect Tsukasa, Rye feels the same. This is what happens when you meet someone as they're dying of Black Lung.]

Yeah. Though there isn't a lot of opportunity for survival skills here.

Not this whole place. [Another wave at the general all of the place. Then opening the door to the next room.]

But being able to learn new things? Yeah, kind of. There's always something new to look up and understand. And I have a forge to try things out in. The knife is made of a metal called steel, a lot stronger then iron.

[ Or when they're bemoaning they're actually dead. ]

[ She kind of gets it, in her own way - ] It's kind of nice to know there's more things out there.

[ To expand beyond what you already know, even if her own desires are more simple than his. But she leaves it at that, because for the moment it's still overwhelming. ] Speaking of the knife, what else do you have?

[ From curiosity, purely. Clearly. ]

It is. And there is a lot. There'll be tons to see after this place. Because its possible to visit at least some of the other worlds at this point.

[Hopefully ALL of them because he has people on both sides, but that is something he needs to get help from others for because its way out of his purview.]

[Oh, his face lights up.]

I have so much. Let me show you. My room is this way. [And into the living room and then towards the bedrooms.] But this is my favorite right now. [Walking backwards, but keeping aware of what's behind him. Komodo Dragons are pretty good at smelling changes in air flow.]

[He's pulling the handle from his thigh and extends out the blade that alights instantly.] I actually made a version of this back home, but I had to figure out a different incendiary.

[ Please Hiccup. She's barely wrapping her head around this strange world she doesn't want to think about others -

At least? He seems to... not be as anxious as he was a bit ago or yesterday. So maybe she feels a little less guilty even if there's a touch of exasperation - he doesn't stop after all.

But she also can't entirely mask her own surprise or (mild) delight at a flaming blade.] Now that can be useful -

[ Maybe not for her, but! She can appreciate the usage. ]

Edited 2022-09-23 01:15 (UTC)

[The best way to get Hiccup out of his anxiety is to get him talking about his special interests and there had been Many Options in this place.]

Incredibly. Both utility and combat. Fire makes people nervous, so it can give me a chance to talk people down, or at least keep them away and makes it good for protecting others too. And in making it hollow, its a lot easier for me to disarm people, especially with stuff like steel, its a lot sturdier then people are expecting.

It can also help put some dragons at ease when you can create fire in a moment. [He presses another button and the blade retracts.]

It's also just good for making you a crazy person. Which is the best way to scare people off.

[ She almost says it teasingly - lightly. ]

Dragons, huh.

[ The way she says it makes it seem like the idea isn't like... Entirely left field, right. But then her immediate answer to Tsukasa dying was go fight a dragon and Caeli... Sure did become a giant reptilian bird so yknow - ]

Oh, I don't need a fire sword to do that.

[His own joke. Probably.]

[He studies her at that part though, the semi-manic energy calming.]

Dragons. Let me guess, you've got two different impulses. Right?

[Because on one hand, he had known so much about dragons when he arrived. On the other hand, there had been a high awareness of their danger. It hadn't made sense for quite a while, what had happened.]

Maybe that's true. [ She ain't denying he's insane - she can. See it in her own way. ] But I'm just saying - you doing the flailing arms thing with that? Totally means to set you and everything around you on fire.

[ Total insanity. She doesn't exactly enjoy being perceived so she crosses his arms once more at that - glances away. He's not wrong. ]

I know a lot more about them than trains. [ Pointedly, thinking about the day prior and then exhales shrugs her shoulder with a face: ] But it's definitely strange.

[ Dangerous, can kill - but there is something calming in the idea of a dragon's flight. ]

[He rolls his eyes at that.] I don't have flailing arms. [Huffs.] And I know how to fight with it. I wouldn't be using a fire sword without knowing how to use it, I'm pretty sure several people would have gotten on my case if I tried. [Astrid among them, he's sure.]

Trains are very different, yeah. I prefer flying, but trains can be nice when you want to relax.

[He hums, nodding his head.] That would be because we're in a time of change. Our views on dragons changed a few years ago. [He taps his temple.] Long enough it to be normal for dragons to be familiar in a nicer way, not long enough to get away from the stuff we needed to know to survive.

By the way, that is a trick to learn more about home, even without memories. Its one advantage we have in being from somewhere so different from all this. Things aren't going to be normal for you if they were never normal, so you can use your first impulses to know more about home. [He opens a door to his room, and one of these days I'll have a descriptor, but its got some fake trees, a cave nook area where his bed is, and a small pond with a rocky beach for lounging. Plus some other furniture and a closet for his clothes, another door to somewhere else, and]

[A stupid amount of paper.]

[There are So Many Drawings and notes just scattered on papers and books he has around, pinned to the wall or discarded on something.]

[There's a lot of drawings of dragons and weapons, but other people to.]

[There's also other things that are definitely Foreign. Plushies, and keychains, and several objects that have a black dragon with the same eyes Hiccup has, and more merchandise of his friends and teams and himself. The....innocent stuff, anything even the bit risque gets hidden away. There is some cute pictures of him with a strong looking girl with cyan hair, a blonde boy with a robotic leg, and Izanagi, which is mostly notable in they are pictures where its just the Two Of Them that looks weirdly Soft.]

[Also a doggy bed which is when a small, purse dog suddenly gets up and rushes over. She has some fur that's a pastel colored and also has...]

[Far more teeth...]

[Then should be in a mouth that size.]

[Somehow.]

[Don't look at those teeth too hard, it can be a headache.]

Hey Bauble. [Rye scoops her up, scratching behind her ears.] Athena, Bauble. Bauble, this is Athena.

Let her sniff you first if you want to pet her.

No. You definitely have flailing arms. [ She's known him like an hour and that's all he does - Don't make her do the thing. But she won't disagree he probably knows how to use it, at least, just - disagrees with the flailing arms entirely. ]

[ She's half surprised he's actually answering an unasked question - but also not. It makes sense. Why she would immediately want a weapon on hand and definitely feels naked with just a knife (two, but really). Or how the idea of flying feels calming - relaxing. She disagrees on the idea of a train - flying wins. She wants to ask what changed, but decides she'll learn eventually: ]

I was sort of figuring that out already. One of my unitmates made coffee just after I arrived - [ Her tone says she may not have exactly liked that experience, too strong. She doesn't mention the maid cafe, but it's there. ] So I'm guessing we didn't have a huge variety in food.

[ Flavors, at least. ]

[ The room is honestly a lot. She half expected something similar to in Avante, but it's wildly different to walk into a little piece of nature that she does stop for a moment. Takes it in, feels awkward, because it's personal and part of her feels it's probably best she's not in there.

But he? Brought her in.

The sound of her designated name makes her look up and at them with a bit of a start - It's not really a surprise he knows it, given how easily it is to find. But it forced her back into the present and to... ]

What kind of animal is that?

[ It's. The teeth. ]

They're really not that flaily. Just a regular amount of flaily. [They are very flaily.]

[Really, its because he has to fly himself. Trains are good for long distances he can't comfortably fly himself.]

Wow, they threw you on the deep end for drinks, coffee isn't exactly a subtle flavor. It can be handy, it helps you wake up, but I also can't drink a lot of it. I get more....more. [He gestures vaguely at himself. He gets a lot more talky and manic.] And no, we didn't. We're really far North, so there's a limit of what we can grow, and the times when it wasn't so good with dragons didn't help any. A lot of burnt crops and stolen livestock. Be very careful with anything that says spicy, the amount of kick it can have goes up pretty fast.

She's a dog.

Technically.

She was actually made in one of the bad games and I think she was meant to be a harmful to potentially fatal obstacle. But I have a way with fanged things that might want to kill me. [He scratches under her chin and she leans into it with a happy grumbly sound.] I've had her since almost the very beginning of my stay here, so she's pretty well trained, but if you spook her, she can still give a pretty nasty bite.

[ She just. Rolls her eyes. ]

Well, there was only one way to find out - [ Drinking it, which seems to be the answer now. But she smirks, just a touch, and rolls her arms in the same minimal amount - ] Yeah, the whole flailing thing.

[ Something tells her she hasn't seen a whole lot of dogs before - let alone dogs with mini teeth. It's no offense to Bauble, but she's more comfortable not offering to pet her right now. So she folds her arms once more, feeling safer like it for the moment. ]

Seems like you've definitely made whatever home you can here.

Oh ha, ha. I don't do that with my arms. [He does exactly that with his arms and proves it by basically doing the same thing with one arm. Since the other is holding a dog.]

[Who he returns to giving scratches and moving to the dog bed when she crosses her arms.]

I have been here a while. And...its kind of important too. Maybe it won't be the case with Avante, but all things considered, our world is....kinder than a lot. [He kneels down to set the dog in the bed.] Stay Bauble. [He pulls out a bit of jerky and gives it to her to gnaw on.]

Sure, its not an easy life. We have to work hard for survival, there are dangers, there is fighting, but there is...a hopefulness and a love a lot of worlds seem to lack. At least in the village. [He stands up, turning to her, crossing his own arms.] I've had a distressing amount of teammates who don't have a lot to return to. And friends on other teams. For far too many people, even with the death games and the messed up status effects, this place is a better home than what they left. Because the people here are also kind. So making Wild City feel like a home is important. And I can only do that if I'm willing to look at it that way, because the people I meet here deserve better.

I've even offered a number of people a place at home because of it. [He makes a sweeping gesture.] Because I know the village would accept them with my word that they're good people. Even with the lack of technological convenience, it would be a nicer place to live because they would have people who care.