imeeji_frontstage | (no subject)

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.

No, no. You definitely don't.

[ Said with all the dry wryness of someone seeing their point proved right in front of them. But this Astrid isn't fully comfortable around him - yet - so she goes no further than she has. ]

[ She stays where she is as she listens, somehow more patient than she feels she is as she does. A hand curling into a fist from where it's tucked for want of something to do. A natural instinct recoiling at the idea of allowing strangers to go home - a word she doesn't even have a definition of right now.

She doesn't even know him right now, after all. But she can tell he cares - his lack of subtlety is certainly earnestness as well. ]

Isn't something like that just running away from your problems? [ From the way she says it she actually doesn't say it meanly, but there's something firm in her voice. She does look away, because really does she have any right to say anything? ]

I just mean it's a nice idea - [ and it is? ] but it sounds... complicated. [ Not wrong, but she shakes her head slightly, decides against saying more on the topic. But he's not the first person to call the people here kind and it's just another nail in the I should try to be friendly coffin - even if she's not exactly trusting right now. She turns her eyes back to the room. ]

I've met him.

[ Gestures to the too life-like portrait of the sensitIV. ]

[He just rolls his eyes. He knows she doesn't mean it, but really, the argument could only be made so long.]

Not for the people I make the offer to. [He says it calmly. No defensiveness, or self doubt.]

Some places just don't have problems that can be fixed. Too few resources, too much damage to the land, the only way to survive is to find another place. And others... [His eyes trail away from her, staring at an assortment of pictures, but its hard to say who he's focused on.] There is....far too many worlds that ask children to die. That tell them they're expendable. An acceptable sacrifice. That are only alive now because they were strong and broken enough to get here.

But no one is ever treated as expendable back home, no matter how desperate we were. [He looks at her and smiles.] Its really not that complicated. I just think people deserve to happy, and it is amazing how much a difference that care makes.

That's Izanagi. One of the first people I met that was off my team. I imagine he was very...cheerful. Friendly. Maybe teasing, but it was hard to say if he was just being nice or if it was on purpose?

[ Between not really having any knowledge to stand on or knowing him at all she can't help but feel like she's being talked down to - scolded, even. But even if she doesn't disagree she can't help but wonder how much someone should intervene. Perhaps, she just doesn't get the blur of other-worldly jumping this place now has yet.

Either way, she doesn't like the feeling of it so she quiets. Doesn't respond for a moment because, honestly, she really - doesn't know what to say and it's just another drop into the over-whelmed bucket that almost wants her to bolt. ]

No one was saying everyone didn't deserve better lives. It's not like I disagree.

[ Because she doesn't. She just has a strong feeling that running away, no matter how difficult it is, isn't something she could do - But this is about him and his friends, she's no place to say anything more so she won't. She might be regretting coming down here some. ]

He seemed pretty cheerful when I met him.

[ A rather distant response that one, but it might reaffirm he was(?) just being nice. ]

.... [He takes a breathe and lets it out.] Sorry. I know, you're not someone who backs down from a challenge. Pretty sure that's not a surprise to you. But not everyone has that inner strength.

I just...wanted you to understand I wasn't making those offer idly. [He rubs the back of his neck and shrugs, moving to one of the doors in his room.]

He usually likes being friendly to new people, but if he thinks he can get away with teasing, he absolutely will. He's a pretty good guy, though, very dependable. [There is hesitation as he grabs the doorknob because should he say? He doesn't want to HIDE it, because hiding is usually bad, and also it could give Izzy a complex.] Also he's my boyfriend.

Anyway, here's my forge! [He opens the door and steps inside quickly.]

[ Not someone who backs down from a challenge? Well, it doesn't sound wrong, but still. She unfolds her own arms to offer a wave of her arm with a shrug. ]

I was just trying to say - Nevermind, it doesn't matter what I was trying to say. [ Because he's clearly passionate and she doesn't disagree in protecting people, but!! ] They're your friends. And it sounds like you have a pretty big role in the village, so it's your call. And theirs.

[ She says it simply - it might seem like a touch of trust? Because he seems like he wants to do the right thing, but she's just not so sure what the right thing is, really. But at least! The other topic serves as a distraction and she was listening - but the quick way in which he stops, decides to say something, and then move on is enough to make her raise a brow. ]

...Congratulations?

[ Said as a question, because how does one take that?The only thing she has going on in her noggin about that information is why did he say it so rushed??? Is he Embarrassed? She'll just let him ignore it by talking about his forge more, if he wants. This once. ]

[It might be trust.]

[He'll take it.]

[He is definitely blushing, so it might be embarrassment! Totally valid thought to have!]

[Which, okay, kind of is, because saying someone is a boyfriend or girlfriend can be A Lot because of the rush of feelings, its just even more so when he definitely has Feelings for Astrid and Zero Context for how any romantic entanglements might have gone because even if nothing came of it, they may still have talked about it.]

[Or he sat on his feelings forever.]

...thank you.

[He's not quite looking at her, and gestures around the forge. There are, of course, an assortment of regular weapons. There is is a lack of a final polish on them, more practice and techniques then one he's regularly handing out to use. The ones he'll melt down when he has a real project in mind.]

[There is also more paper in here, those all of it is carefully pin up on the walls, designs for a large assortment of weapons. Some familiar, some very not. Basic weapons, siege weapons that are somewhat familiar, and then there's things larger, cannons and bombs and guns.]

[As well as combined with power tools.]

[There are also half finished weapons around that are looking far more...complicated then a normal weapon.]

Now, I have a lot of projects I'm working on, but there are two weapons I've gathered here that are really interesting and I think I'm getting the concept down.

Edited 2022-09-23 05:31 (UTC)

[ Yep. So we're just leaving it at that for now. At least a forge, in a cave or otherwise, is a little more familiar - even if the weapons aren't all ones she knows. There is still some comfort at just seeing them and her attention may be more torn to them than him.

Those she is listening! ]

Yeah? What are they going to do hit people with lightning?

[ It seems legit after fire, but well - It's an offering, willing to let him go on even if she has her own questions to ask. ]

Edited 2022-09-23 05:39 (UTC)

That!

Is a longer term goal.

I am figuring out how to make wires, and then the lightning can happen. But there is some fun things I'm doing with liquid nitrogen which makes things freeze, and I think I can use dragons with ice breath as a substitute back home. Because if dragon breath has a gas to set on fire, then the dragons who breath ice must also have a chemical compound to freeze things.

[ Is this the part where she nods along like she understands? Yes, it is. ]

Uh-huh. [ At least! She's trying to be supportive(?) ] I see.

[ She does not see, don't call her out on it - just. Keep talking if you want, Hiccup! ]

It would make weapons that could freeze things. [He's going for all sorts of elements.]

Gotta go through test runs, especially want to avoid freezing for the wielder, but the other weapons.

This one I've gotten pretty far with. [And then he pulls out a gun.] I know it doesn't look like much, but this is called a gun. And its basically a super powerful crossbow.

That sounds a little too dangerous - What happens if you accidentally freeze something you don't want to?

[ She can't see it being like. That easy. But the gun is foreign and she gets a feeling - She doesn't like that. Or crossbows. Definitely more of an up close person. ]

Where does the bolt go?

Well, that is what testing is for. To figure out the right mix to be effective in a fight without it just wrecking everything. That's why the fire can burn out quickly if its not getting fuel from somewhere else.

[He opens it up and pulls out the bullet.] This. Is the bolt. [He holds it out.] You see how its not a solid piece, the metal has a case?

Sure, but that's one of those one mistake and that'll be permanent damage.

[ Like dying. Please be glad she doesn't actually remember him making the flight suit or she'd be back to full judging mode considering she knows how his testing goes.

She'll take the bullet and frown at it.]

Looks pretty small.

[ Said in the tone of 'how does it do that much damage'? Definitely a bigger the better kind of person.]

True, but that's the same thing with the fire sword. Or any weapons if you make a big enough mistake.

[A pause.]

I feel I should say losing my leg was not a weapon related accident.

It is, but it definitely packs a punch. And that's because of what's in that casing. [He taps it.] There is an explosive powder in there. With the tight casing around the bullet, that's the part that hits targets, when it goes off, all that force goes sends the bullet flying at a high speed.

[ ... ]

The fact you decided to clarify that is even more concerning.

[ She listens, turns the bullet between her fingers after he taps it and considers it. Definitely dangerous, if how he's explaining it is how it works. She moves to it back in his hand - ]

That's. Wow. Dangerous, powerful? I'm not sure how I feel about that.

[ but then she's definitely a more in your face person than projectile person, there's that. ]

I just wanted to be clear that I have never done a major self inflicted injury.

[He takes it and puts it back in the gun.] Its incredibly dangerous and powerful. It's very hard to get the ammo done properly though, so there is some limitations, but also definitely something to be utilized only sparingly.

But it would help a lot for aerial combat.

Yeah, yeah. Sure.

[ It's said lightly, enough. But she'll be the judge of that - eventually, she imagines.

She folds her arms and considers it: ]

Good for long-distance combat, but isn't that what you'd use a dragon for?

A lot of dragons are mid range, requiring to get close to do damage. Things like bows and crossbows are a longer range and that can make dragons vulnerable if they need to fight instead of run.

And firing a bow or crossbow from a dragon in that range between when the arrows and bolts can't hit and when the dragons can fight back isn't exactly easy. The dragons need to focus on dodging and those weapons are too burdensome for most to use well like that. The compact size could make a difference.

So you're planning on trying to take them back.

[ Less a question, more an observation from how he said it. ]