There were some things that seemed as timeless as Berk island itself, that had always been there and would continue to always be there.
The Thorston twins' propensity to fight, for example.
Vikings stepped smoothly out of the way, pausing here as the twins rushed past them, lifting a foot there so that the duo could roll freely down the hill while they bent fingers and pulled hair and spat insults at one another. Gobber patiently waited for them to pass, Ruffnut slamming her brother into the wooden pole face-first, before finishing hanging up his clothesline.
At the bottom of the hill, Ruffnut spat on the ground, trying to get the taste of dirt out of her mouth as Tuffnut stood up, dusting off his dirt-stained clothes and sneering. "Nice try, butt-elf."
Ruffnut scowled back as she nimbly leapt to her feet, dashing for the door. "It's not over, boot-sniffer!"
Tuffnut slapped her hand away just as she reached for the handle. Ruffnut slammed the heel of her boot on his kneecap. Tuffnut howled and hopped up and down. Ruffnut shoved the door open. Tuffnut grabbed her braid, trying to tug her back. Ruffnut jerked forward.
They both ended up sprawled on the floor at their mother's feet.
Ruffnut's mind already had a 'gods, you're fatter than a Gronkle that can't fly!' comment conjured to throw at her brother, who really wasn't that heavy but was currently on her back in a way that pressed her chest uncomfortably into the wooden floor and made her wheeze. Her brother probably had a 'gods, you're clumsier than a newborn kitty-cat!' comment or something like that lined up, too.
Ruffnut's mind shuddered to a stop though as she registered the other pair of boots next to her mother's.
Standing next to the immensely displeased woman was a stout man, leaning towards the shorter side. His helmet was made out of cheap metal that was adorned with countless dents. The horns attached to it were meant to look like a Monstrous Nightmare's, curved and dark, but Ruffnut could tell immediately that they weren't from a dragon at all – they were from a ram.
Instead of leather, his shabby armguards were made of the same string-like material she had worn growing up. His shirt had grease-stains down the front, some permanent, some new, Ruffnut observed suspiciously as she caught sight of the table with the dirty dishes and leftovers on it. And his boots were atrocious, with a hole in the left one that let a noxious smell drift out.
Ech the Six-Toed stared down at them – at her – for a moment before sniffing as though she were the repulsive one.
"The meal was a pleasure," he told her mother. "Your daughter, however, is not. Thank you. I won't be coming back."
Ruffnut cringed as the nauseating middle-aged man stepped over them and out the door. There were approximately ten seconds silence after he left.
"You!" their mother growled, grabbing Tuffnut by the arm and hauling him off his sister. Ruffnut barely got the chance to revel in her un-smooshed torso before she was roughly grabbed and thrown onto her feet, too. Her mother instantly began trying to brush her permanently-stained clothes off, Ruffnut flinching with each sharp-sounding smack. They didn't actually hurt, but the tense, fast slaps let Ruffnut know that their mother was furious. "You two were fighting again?!"
Ruffnut's lip curled at how incredulous her mother sounded. But they didn't say anything.
"This behavior is unacceptable!" the woman hissed. Tuffnut went rigid as their mother started trying to comb her fingers through his tangled hair to get the mud and grass out of it. "Unacceptable!"
"That was unacceptable!" Ruffnut cried back. "Did you actually ask Ech to come over here to talk about marrying me to that-that disgusting swine he calls a son!"
Her mother's eyes narrowed. She was absolutely enraged. Ruffnut flinched as her mother grabbed her by the wrist and practically threw her away from her brother. Thin and weedy rather than muscular, both twins took after their father more than their plump but strong mother.
"Well you have nothing to worry about because not even he wants you!" she snapped. "Look at you!" Ruffnut stared resignedly at the warped image of herself in the metal pot. It wasn't good enough as her mother grabbed her chin and forced her closer. "Look at you! Your face is filthy with mud, your hair is dry as straw! Your lips are so chapped they're bleeding! You look like a sour bar wench!" Ruffnut viciously twisted her head free of her mother's grip, eyes simmering with anger.
She looked like Ruffnut, she thought. A very unhappy Ruffnut.
"This ends here and now! Go upstairs! Go get changed into something suitable! And then you come straight back to me, young lady, you hear! Straight back! And if you don't, I will drag you here by your horrendous hair myself!"
Ruffnut stomped away, listening as her mother began laying the whip, figuratively speaking, into her brother. The angry words followed her upstairs, losing volume but not losing any clarity.
"-start being a man! This childish behavior is unacceptable! You are an adult, and you will act like it!"
Tuffnut mumbled something Ruffnut couldn't make out as she searched her small clothes-corner.
"'Training' my ass!" their mother hissed. "Training is taking a weapon and practicing with it, not play-fighting with your sister! She just lost one of the last chances she has at marrying because of your disgraceful behavior!"
Tuffnut said something else.
"A SHIELDMAIDEN! Hah!"
Her twin fell silent. Mother must have been wearing that look. Ruffnut despised that look their mother seemed to give Tuffnut every single day.
"No, this is IT! Go get changed and then come straight back here, young man! RIGHT here!
"There are going to be some CHANGES in this household, and Aesir help me, you two are going to FOLLOW them!"
Ruffnut's lips tasted slimy and her hair felt disgustingly oily. As if that wasn't good enough, she could still feel the pull of the ropes that had kept her shoulders tied to the T-shaped sticks of wood even though they were no longer there. And, as if that wasn't outrageous enough, her vest was sewn shut around her bosom, hiding the fair bit of cleavage that "only the mead hall whores showed," her mother had said in disgust as she snapped off the string.
She shut the door gently behind her, severely subdued.
"Hey."
Ruffnut's head jerked up.
Tuffnut stepped out of the shadows at the side of their house, a couple of spears in hand.
"What are you still doing here, lame-brain?" she scoffed tiredly. "Mom sent you off to get those sharpened an hour ago."
"What are you still doing here, cow?" he shot back, nervously twisting the shafts in his grip.
Ruffnut immediately flew into the T-posture – spine straight, shoulders back, chin set. The word curled through her mind. Cow?! Was-was she just called a cow? Their mother had had the gall to call her "damaged" as she roughly rubbed fish oil all over her chapped lips, to call her "impaired" when she burnished the oil into every single strand of hair, right from the scalp all the way down to the more-often-than-not split ends. "Incapable" and "weedy" and Ruffnut could deal with all of that because she liked standing against the salty wind that made her lips crack and the fights with her brother that were more important than learning how to poke at fabric.
But serious hurt lay in store for the moron who dared claim she was un-proportioned and ugly. Because she wasn't. She had a bust and she had hips, and she was fine the way she was.
(Tuffnut swallowed, the spears almost spinning in his hand now as he watched that all-too-familiar I'm-about-to-kick-your-ass-off-the-edge-of-the-world spark catch like an ocean of oil.)
Ruffnut's nails looked a lot like claws as she reached out to throttle her terrible twin.
"Ah-ah-ah! Remember what Mother said! You have to be" – and here he snorted with genuine laughter as he stared at the feral look on his twin's face – "a lady!" His lips curved into a smile anyway of their own volition no matter how hard he tried to keep his face straight. He snorted again. "You! A lady!"
Ruffnut clearly didn't give a shit as she followed up with a swift kick that Tuffnut danced away from. In summary, there was a lot punching and swearing and screaming and hair-tugging (and the typical we're-ignoring-this looks) and Ruffnut was finally starting to feel like Ruffnut rather than a perfect porcelain, stuffed doll, when her brother sprinted away in the direction of the market, the basket on his arm swinging madly.
She stared at the spear she had been trying to stab him with in her hand for a moment.
Then she bent down to pick up the other three her brother had dropped and changed her course for the smithy, a thrill of excitement bubbling up and spinning through her veins.
If Mother ever discovered what Tuffnut had just done for her, then may the dragons mercifully pluck her up and fly her far, far away.
Hey y'all! Welcome back to Berk, and our first look at where the twins are in life at 19 years of age in this AU. Also, I should probably note that there's a smidge of language in this story? I think I said it a little earlier in answer to someone's comment. It's pretty much what you would hear on a college campus. If people feel it should be bumped up to M because of it, let me know.
Thanks for reading, and special thanks to the fabulous reviewers:
Stripesicles222 - Oh my gosh, YES. She IS. I think I've figured that she's black-and-white and aware that grey areas exist but has chosen to ignore them in favor of a strong constitution. That's still not easy to communicate. Thanks so much :)
CajunBear73 - If that's what you think of the village and Astrid's attitude toward Hiccup...then I am doing my job very well ^^. A few bones for the future...consider the fact (as we see in this chapter) that Hiccup isn't the only loser out there. Also, not a big spoiler but Hiccup DID receive training. The movie stays the same up until Hiccup finds the crash site where, lo and behold, there's no dragon. So Gobber convinced Stoick to put him in and Hiccup was as enthusiastic as ever until he nearly got his brains blown out by a Gronkle and then I like to think Gobber pulled him out because he didn't want to lose anymore limbs. Wish I could bake you cookies for your great thoughts :D
