Starlight, Star Bright - The Story of a Fool, Through an Even Bigger Fool's Eyes
What with a stranger washing up on Berk and taking a special interest in his son and news of Outcast activity reaching his ears, Stoick the Vast is uncharacteristically uneasy. Sequel to 'To Be Loved the Way You Love Me'.
Chapter 11: Good Luck
A/N: Well, here it is! I hope I kept everybody in-character, except the OCs. You don't have to worry about OCs. Melkorka is the most evolved OC I have so far for this story xD
Anyway...yeah, book characters, though...they're slightly more slippery than movie. I've been writing movie longer.
I hope I kept Stoick in-character as well. He's really hard sometimes, but I hope I did him well enough! Did I? :D
"Hiccup?" There was a loud knock on my door. "I know you're in there. Come on out, it's time to play!"
I groaned and buried my head deeper into my pillow. My Viking helmet slid off my head with a small clunk, falling onto the wood. I ignored it and shut my eyes against the scratchy fabric of my pillow, hoping Stoick would go away.
It wasn't that his knocking had woken me up; I had been up for hours, in fact, but I had retreated into my room after being told the rules for the Smashsticks-on-Ice game to be played later that day – or should I say the lack thereof.
"I'm going to get creamed!" I shouted, resolutely sinking deeper into the bed.
"What?" the door opened and Stoick poked his head in. "Oh, come out, Hiccup! Really! The game isn't that bad!"
"I'm going to get creamed." I repeated, my voice slightly muffled by the effect of the pillow.
"Well…" Stoick sighed. "If you won't come out, I guess there's nothing I can do to get you out."
"Thank you." I huffed.
"Only…this is the first year I've had someone to root for in the game." The bed creaked as he sat down. "Normally, you're supposed to root for your child, but this is the first year my child will be in the game…or apparently, he won't be." he sighed. "It's alright. It's been like this for years."
I buried my head in my pillow, trying not to listen, but hearing his words made me feel guilty. I reluctantly sat up, smoothing down my hair and grabbing my helmet again, setting it down on the floor. "If it'll make you feel better, I'll play," I mumbled.
When I looked up, Stoick did have a faraway look on his face and that made me feel even worse for making this year hard on him in all the ways I had. Like Alvin the Treacherous and his band of Outcasts…and…I shifted guiltily on the bed and Stoick rested a hand on my shoulder. "Regardless," he said, like he was forcing himself to be cheerful, "c'mon." Then he added a small smile that looked genuine. "I knew that a guilt trip would get you out."
"You were trying to make me feel guilty?" I demanded, aggrieved and I protested the whole way to the arena, but I still went anyway, because deep down, I knew I ought to feel guilty.
When we made it to the arena, Stoick began going over the rules of the game and ended it with, "But of course, these are just rough guidelines. There are no actual rules."
And that was the rule that made me nervous. I clutched my Smashstick harder and gulped, looking around at all the other Vikings in the game, all so much bigger and tougher than me.
Camicazi, the girl from the Bog-Burglar tribe, danced over to the front of the line and waved Skur and Melkorka to the front.
Skur sighed, resting her chin on her Smashstick. She looked a little like Astrid: slight, pretty and soft, but one look at her in battle and you could tell she was an amazing fighter, no matter how delicate she looked.
Melkorka looked around at all of the Hooligans and sneered. "I hope you're all ready to become a stain on the ice," she threatened.
Astrid smirked. "I'd love to see you try."
"Let's get started!" Gobber announced, waving his prosthetic hand around. In his other hand, he clutched a small black puck. "Have both teams had a chance to go over their strategies?"
"Yes, sir!" Melkorka called out for her team.
Astrid turned to me and said in a low voice, "Alright, you and Tuffnut guard the goalpost, alright?" she gestured toward our goal.
"What about me?" Ruffnut demanded, leaning on her Smashstick.
"You'll be trying for the puck with me," Astrid told her.
Ruffnut smiled. "Sweet."
"Who made you captain of this team?" Snotlout demanded.
"I made myself captain, seeing as it's only under my rule that we ever have a hope of winning!" Astrid roared at him.
He mumbled something submissive.
"Good," Astrid nodded. "Now, you'll enter the scrum with me and Ruffnut, and…Fishlegs…" her gaze lingered for a long moment on Fishlegs, who began looking disappointed. "Um…you can…"
"Basically, you don't add much," Snotlout informed him.
Astrid leaned over and pressed her left boot onto his foot. He let out a squeal and leaned down to massage his toes. Astrid smirked before hurriedly trying to salvage Fishlegs' feelings. "You can…join the scrum."
"I don't know," Fishlegs muttered nervously. "I always mess up whenever I do…"
My eyebrows flew up when I heard him doubting himself. I guess I believed that if I grew muscles and became a real Viking, I'd never have a day's self-consciousness in my life. Looking at Fishlegs, I saw that it wasn't the case.
"Oh, c'mon," Astrid said encouragingly. "Who helped us cream the Bog-Burglars three years back? I mean, sure, it was a while ago," Astrid continued, "but it was the best win we've ever had and you were the main player in that game."
Fishlegs shot her a grateful smile and I looked at her appreciatively. She made a good team captain, I decided.
Astrid smiled at all of us one more time before Melkorka jabbed her in the shoulder. "Is your team done kissing and hugging? I think we're about to play."
"Oh, we're done kissing and hugging," Astrid assured her. "We are so done."
The whistle blew, piercingly loud, echoing all around. I caught Stoick's eye as I was skating over to the goalposts with Tuffnut. He smiled at me and gave me a thumbs-up, mouthing, "Good luck."
I clutched my Smashstick closer to myself, nervously hoping that's exactly what we'd have.