A/N: An update!! Holy crap, I'm alive!! I'm so sorry you guys!! And thank you all so much for reading. I've been so busy. Got my teeth out, and missed three days of school thanks to the wonderful turn of events (I'm alergic to the medicine they gave me) and have been piled under make-up work.
Well, here's an update. Not super long, gotta work on making my chapters longer.
I glanced at Hiccup, then back at his father. That came from that?!
Maybe Hiccup took after his mother. But, then again, his mother was a viking as well and, so far in my life, I hadn't met a petite viking. That is other then us teenagers, but I doubt we count. We have a lot of growing to do.
There was something special about Hiccup, something different... but a good different. I'd have to ask them for the whole story later.
"This must be Sigrid and Samuel!" Stoick said before letting out a booming laugh. "The whole village is talking about you! And twin vikings are so rare."
Us, rare? Hmm... I looked at the viking chief, not offering much of a smile.
I'm a viking. We don't smile much. Get used to it.
So, Stoick helped catch us up on everything, pretty much giving us a history lesson of Berk. They told us about the war and (I barely even knew Hiccup, but this still hit me) when Hiccup jumped in to finish the story, my heart clenched. The way he explained the fear, the thought of that dragon swallowing him and Toothless whole, the way it felt to have one of your body parts burnt off...
It was horrible. I felt horrible for the kid. So young, only fourteen, two years younger then Samuel and I, but to have been through so much.
"And it took you forever to get used to the prostectic," Astrid threw in, looking at Hiccup who sent her a sad smile in return. She then turned to us, continuing. "It used to hurt him," She told us, her voice almost wavering. "He used to stumble everywhere, it hurt him almost all the time. And Berk's wonderful weather didn't help at all." I could tell she was being sarcastic about the weather. It was freezing out side, winter drawing near. Yet another reason coming to the village had been a smart move; this winter was predicted to be the worst in a while. If Samuel and I would have had to live through it alone, out in our clearing- Well, the results wouldn't have been pretty. Espicially considering Sam had no boots, and my fur vest was rags.
"And he was a stubborn idiot about the whole thing," Astrid said, punching Hiccup's shoulder. "He refused to tell anyone when he was in pain, like the complete." A punch. "Idiot." Another punch. "That." Punch. "He." Punch. "Is!" Hiccup was now hiding behind his dragon who had ran to his human's protection. Stoick gave a throaty chuckle, shaking his head and turning to us.
"All we have open for right now is the one barn. We've been attempting to build new buildings for the new population of dragons." Astrid had showed me all the new buildings earlier on our tour. There was the equipment shed, where rider's kept the majority of their tools and equipment. There were a few barns that dragons stayed in unless you were like Astrid's Nadder or like Toothless who got to stay in the human's houses. There were the new feeders set outside that stood at about 20 feet tall that provided food for the dragons, as well as the training arena, which is just a nicer version of the used to be fighting arena. This was where new riders learned how to train and to ride their dragons.
"We're fine with the barn. You have to remember we've been living in the wilderness for almost a year. Any form of building seems like we've died and been sent to our afterlife." Whoops, gotta be respectful. Almost forgot. "Sir," I threw in.
Hiccup gave a chuckle at my attempt at formality. He'd finally came out from behind his dragon (who had scampered back over to Snow) and was back at the side of a seething Astrid, who punched him again. I laughed, enjoying the unintended comical relief after hearing the story of the war.
Astrid smiled at me while Hiccup sent me a glare, holding his shoulder. I shrugged at him, turning back to Stoick.
"Thank you, um... Sir, for welcoming us into the village." It surprised that they welcomed us with open arms (pure symbolism, Vikings didn't hug much). Vikings were usually quite fierce and unkind, not really liking new peopleor excepting change. But, then again, these Vikings had conquered a seven generation war, all thanks to one scrawny teenage Viking. Maybe changing their traditions changed the Vikings as well. They were still quite fierce and mean, holding onto their Viking demeanors, they probably always would, but the dragons changed them. It made them slightly more exceptable of change.
I wasn't complaining, they excepted us, that's all that truly mattered. We had a home (sorta). A place that excepted us (so far...).
"Do you all have vegetables and fruits? Like, a lot of them. At mealtime and everything?" Stoick looked at me funny. "Um, 'cause, you see, Samuel and I are vegetarians."
Hiccup and Astrid turned to Samuel and I with a look that screamed 'WTF?!' and Stoick stared at us before letting out a booming laugh.
"A vegetarian viking? That's a good one!"
We just stared at him. We weren't kidding, and maybe, eventually, Stoick would pick up on that. It seemed to finally dawn on him.
"You're serious," He stated.
"We have pets, and have had many others in the past," I started.
"We have grown to see pets as that alone, and not as food." Samuel finished. Oh my gods!! No stutter!!
"They are so damn weird!" Astrid said, looking at us with a scowl filled with disbelief. "There's nothing viking-like about them."
"There's nothing viking-like about me either," Hiccup threw in, looking at Astrid with a glare. She opened her mouth like she was about to argue, but shut it again when she saw the look on his face. "I'm sorry," She said, shrinking back. "And, yes, we have food for you guys. You'll be fine." Astrid turned to Stoick. "We need to get them some bedding, Chief. They're just staying in the barn for now, and, well, that's no stone foundation built home with a fireplace. They're gonna freeze left alone."
Why does everyone seem to forget that we've lived alone for almost a year?? My mind asked in disbelief. We survived without bedding, with only the samll fires our dragons built for us, and Sam with no shoes. Life was tough, but we survived.
"Of course!" Stoick's booming laugh answered. "We'll have ya guys yur own place soon 'nuf. Winta's on da way, and it ain't gonna be pleasant!"
"We know," Sam and I muttered in unison. Stoick sent us a wide-eyed look. "Sir," We threw in.
"Dad," Hiccup said. "They've lived on their own for awhile. They know how bad the weather gets."
We nodded and Stoick sent another look. One filled with... pity? Saddness? Suspcion? He also sent a glance at Snow. Yepp, suspicion takes the win. There wasn't anything to be suspcious about, but I guess a white Nightfury can bring up some questions. Hey, any Nightfury could. I also sent a look at my dragon, to find her with her head resting atop of Toothless'. They belonged together, possibly the last two of their kind. And you could easily see that they knew and cared for each other. I could never cause someone I loved pain, and taking Snow away from Toothless would cause just that. If Snow's happiness ment Sam and I would have to barge in on some strange viking village and take up residence in a barn, then so be it.
Happiness comes at a price, and this was a small price to pay. And, anyways, Samuel really needed some new boots. His feet looked close to frostbite, his toes curled up for warmth. I'd give a lot for a fur vest as well. Oh, look at us. One hour in a viking village has turned us into wimps.
Anyone else see the irony in that sentence? 'Viking' and 'wimp' don't really belong in a sentence together. That's like... Cherry and pumpkin pie. It's just... weird.
Haha, WARNING: Viking with short attention span is narrating. Oh, look, a butterfly.
Back to the story.
I was beginning to feel awkward coonsidering no one was talking.
GAHHHH!! The silenece must be broken!!
"So.." Samuel muttered, coughing a little. Wow, Sam breaking a silence. This is new. "I guess we better go..."
"You know," I jumped in. "To settle into our new living courters and everything."
"Sounds about right," Stoick said, walking off. "Be right back with ye stuff."
Oh, yeah, we needed bedding still. My mind was so clogged that day.
"If you guys wanna go on, I'll bring the bedding and furs to you later," Hiccup offered. I didn't really like to use people, but I needed fresh air.
"That'll work!" I said with a bit more entuasiasm then intended, and jogged toward the door, Samuel right behind me. "Come on, Snow!!" I yelled to the dragon, who said her goodbyes to Toothless before following us out the door.
"I swear, they are stalking us," Samuel whispered to me. We were now sitting outside the front of our barn, avoiding heading inside. Hiccup had already brought us some supplies and food, and told us dinner was in half an hour. Viking's only had two meals a day, might as well enjoy them while we could. At the moment, Sam and I were discussing a predicament that we were both stuck in. The Thorston twins were stalking us. And I'm not kidding in the slightest. They were currently hiding in the bushes beside our little barn. We probably wouldn't have noticed them in their hiding spot, but the twins seemed to have... disagreement issues. They fought over everything. And everything they fought over was some of the stupidest crap in the world.
"This is my bush, get your own!!"
"But you can see better from over there!"
"Exactly why I'm here!"
"Idiotic pig!"
"Bride of Grendal!"
Ruffnut gasped. "You're an ass, you know that?"
"Yes, yes I do." They were silent for a minute.
"Get your elbow out of my stomach!" Ruffnut started.
"Then scoot over, get out of my way, and maybe my elbow wouldn't bother you so much."
"But your hogging the bush!"
"Your point?!" Another moment of silence.
"You stink, do you ever bathe?"
"Yes!! I just bathed last night, I don't smell-" Tuffnut trailed off, and I heard a sniff. Did he really just sniff himself?
I sighed. "If two don't shut up, Imma hit you both over the head with my axe. And I do not bluff." They shut up, and the bushes rustled a tad. Hopefully, they were leaving.
Yeah, why would they do that? Tuffnut plopped down on the ground beside me, and Ruffnut sat down beside Sam. Sam leaned a tad toward me. He disliked being around people more than I. I really didn't mind sitting beside Tuffnut (he smelled surprisingly nice for a viking, I dunno what Ruff was tallking about.). Ruff seemed offended that Samuel had moved away, and she herself slid away from him a bit with a muttered 'sorry'.
"I-i-it's f-fine." Sam stuttered. Back to stuttering, are we now. I glanced over and... was he blushing? Holy crap! And, maybe I was haluccinating this part, but it kinda looked like Ruff was blushing to. I smiled a little, and turned to Tuff.
"Is there a real reason behind hiding in our bushes?" I asked Tuff with a crooked smile. He smirked back.
"Nope, not really. Just felt the need."
"Really, didja now?"
"Yes, yes I did." He leaned back against the barn, folding his hands behind his head. "How do you like Berk so far?"
"It's nice, for a viking village anyway." I smirked at him, and he stuck his tongue out at me in response. "The people and other dragons are really nice."
"That's how we were raised, to treat the pretty girls nicely." He winked at me, and I smiled in response.
Did he just call me pretty? I think this casual convo has transformed into flirting. And, strangely, I didn't mind.
"Did you just call me ugly?" Ruff asked, her voice containing a scary tone tinted with anger.
"Your my sis," Tuff leaned over, slugging his sis on the shoulder. "Of course your pretty, but I'm your brother. I'm obligated to be mean to ya."
