The great and wonderful AvannaK gave me a list of Hicretstrid prompts, and I am going to fail miserably but try to fulfill them anyway.

The series will be Eret-centric, and range from platonic to more depending how I feel it flows.

-HTTYD-

"... factor all that in plus the speed and venom and Terrible Terrors are actually almost as dangerous as..."

Eret tuned out Fishlegs for a moment. He was eager as could be to really learn about dragons, but gods could the Gronckle rider talk.

Chief Hiccup had, very kindly, allowed Eret access to their weird yet wonderful system known as 'Terror Mail', where they literally tied mail to a dragon the size of a cat and sent it off.

"I thought maybe you could use them to maybe write to your shipmates. Or we could go flying, find them ourselves."

Hiccup offered, but Eret declined.

"The mail works fine. Those guys will survive another few days without me, I picked the best sailors yanno. Besides, you have a whole lot more to be getting on with chief, and me and Skullcrusher here aren't really at the long voyage stage just yet."

"If you're sure..."

Eret waved off Hiccup's concerns, hoping the chief will get back to... chiefing. Every minute he spends with Eret, putting time and effort into an ex trapper who wasn't really worth saving, those minutes could be spent on Berk. Berk needed Hiccup far more than Eret did.

Well, maybe not needed. Gods, Eret needed forgiveness and friendship like he needed air. But Berk deserved their chief more.

The chief, with his youthful face already hardened by responsibility a mere three days after the Alpha fight nodded and turned away. He stopped, then turned back.

"You can have today to work with the Terrors and write your letters. Tomorrow you're on ice patrol with Astrid and the other Dragon Riders. You guys make sense, since you all ride fire breathing reptiles."

Something about his words made Eret as happy as they did nauseous. He waited for Hiccup to leave the academy, jumping up on his Night Fury and soaring off toward the village, then dropped to the floor and wrapped his arms around his knees, hugging himself. Skullcrusher padded over on his huge paws, nudging sos gently with his horned head it was hard to believe the Rumblehorn had been named for his hard skull.

Hiccup was counting him as a dragon rider. Not five days ago, Eret had been despising them and all their kind. Then Stormfly had to go and save his life and throw Eret's whole world view out. Standing against Drago had been easy after that - Eret was a man of conviction, of loyalty to his cause. He just feared he had followed the wrong cause for so long he was beyond redemption.

Eret wrote his letter for the crew, but as soon as he opened the box to choose a Terrible Terror, he was besieged by dozens (ok, maybe one dozen) of cat-sized dragons, who all wanted his attention at once. A couple nipped at exposed arms, but mostly they crawled all over him, sniffing and purring and nuzzling.

A light, happy laugh he felt deep in his bones touched his ears, unsure he could turn his head but knowing he would find Astrid if he did.

"The mighty dragon wrangler has been defeated! By Terrible Terrors!"

She continued laughing, helping to swat away a couple but Eret was sort of enjoying them after a couple of minutes. They were remarkably cat-like. Eret liked cats.

"Ah, I surrendered pretty easy. They remind me of my old ship-cat."

"You had a cat?"

Astrid plopped down in front of him, tossing a fish from the barrel to Stormfly - Eret had a soft spot for the Nadder who extended her trust to him - then Skullcrusher, and prepared to listen in. Her golden hair caught the sun perfectly and Eret knew a moments breathless awareness that the chief was a lucky man, then turned his mind back to his old pet.

"He was the mightiest ship cat in the Archipelago. Eret, cat of Eret. Finest stowaway rat hunter there's ever been. Plus he..."

Eret trailed off, the weakness of paralyzing fear washing through him out of nowhere. Skullcrusher huffed and bumped his shoulder, the Terrors all started nuzzling him more tenderly and he felt a warm hand brush the back of his own.

"Eret? You ok?"

"Yeah. Uh, yeah. Fine. Just remembering."

"Remembering... what?"

"He uh... he stayed by my side the whole time I was healing from this. Drago branded me and it hurt, but that cat stayed with me through the fever, the pain and helped me get back on my feet when I was on the road to recovery."

"Well, there's nothing else for it."

Astrid's voice was rather matter of fact, but Eret wasn't sure what she was getting at.

"Nothing else for what?"

"We're going to get lunch. This sadness can be fixed by a stiff yak broth and some mead. Pick your Terror, let's go."

Bemused, Eret picked the Terror currently draped around his neck, a purple one that somehow seemed to be sporting a mischievous grin. Astrid handed him the little rope cuff to tuck the letter in, and Eret described his boat as best he could, pointed to the compass-point he had the best guess of the likely trail his crew would have taken back to port to fix their ship - the Berkians had done a number on their sails.

"Ok then. Lunch?"

Eret wasn't blind. He knew the locals were wary of him, even when some had let him carry their children to safety when the Bewilderbeast attacked. Still, Astrid and the other riders sat with him, ate lunch and included him in their conversation. Skullcrusher was perched next to Cloudjumper, sharing a pile of still wet tuna, freshly caught.

Cloudjumper's rider was sat with Hiccup, deep in conversation about something. She gave Eret's newly-gifted dragon a smile, but the lips pursed and tightened when she saw Eret. He guessed he deserved that - he had been prepared to fight "the dragon thief" to the death before. Before he knew.

Hiccup followed her gaze, and he offered Eret a friendly, genuine smile. It soothed his nerves after Astrid's lunch invitation - the chief and his betrothed were backing him. Eret could convince the others. Turning to Fishlegs, he started listening in properly as the large man waxed poetic about all the reasons he loved Gronckles above any other.

"There's nothing like a well placed tail bludgeon!"

-HTTYD-

I'm not sure this is any good at all but I have finally begun to flex my Eret muscles I guess? Hopefully this little drabble/one shot series improves. Don't hold your breath... I'm not promising.