A/N: Hey guys, time sure is flying how on earth is Christmas next week?! Anyway I for sure wanted to get this chapter out before the madness of the holiday kicked in. So this chapter we see a few more interactions between Henry and Audrey and an incident that puts a strain on the budding friendship. I will give you a guess as to who causes it. Plus we get to meet a long overdue character who has some fun at Hayden's expense.
WinterBreath0602- Welcome to the madhouse, so glad you could join me again for another story. Super happy you are enjoying it and thank you for kind and encouraging words. Feliz Navidad!
Mystery- I'm super glad you like the concept, it is a lot of fun to write. As for Toothless, I mean Henry just got a neat tip in this chapter. Feliz Navidad!
gandalf- I'm thinking of giving the adorable little Sharpshot a role, just wait till you see what I have him do this chapter. and come on Toothless takes a minute to get used to anyone, I'm sure a certain Auburn haired boy will have a plan though. Feliz Navidad!
Stormskies8- Please, what would Toothless do if he wasn't sacring people, lol! As for the stunts, those will have to wait. Feliz Navidad!
Furrylover- In order here... We shall see about that leg, Toothless' fin I haven't decided yet, Henry and Toothless will have stunt time together, as for the separation for Toothless, he likes to scare people. Feliz Navidad!
CB73- We get to see another familiar introduction this chapter and it is a bit difficult to write in an accent let me tell you. Simon is always in 'character'. The twins are a natural disaster in human form so that will be fun, and the eventual meeting between our two co-stars will be ever so much fun. Hope you enjoy the holiday Feliz Navidad!
Thank you all for the reviews I absolutely love reading them, as you can see. I have no idea if I will be able to write a chapter next week for obvious reasons, in the event that I don't Feliz Navidad and a Happy New Year!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Mexican ;p
Disclaimer: It would a great Christmas gift if I owned HTTYD, but I doubt that is possible.
(Wednesday, October 10th, 2018)
A few days after meeting the director and the dragons, filming was finally set to begin later this evening. Henry had poured over his script looking at his lines and scenes and seeing if anything looked like it needed to be changed.
For the most part there wasn't much that he changed, the writing wasn't cringe worthy, and the scenes seemed well put together. He might also just not be used to editing scripts seeing as he has never been given the option to freely change something in his script. Shrugging his shoulders Henry stacked his script and stood up from the desk in his room. He turned to see Sharpshot laying in the middle of his bed sleeping peacefully, Henry smiled and walked over and began to pet the small terror.
The dragon gave a big yawn and opened his eyes to see his friend smiling down at him. Sharpshot smacked his mouth and stood up on his back two legs and licked Henry's face a few times.
"Well good morning to you too buddy." Henry laughed as he pulled Sharpshot off.
Now fully awake the small dragon began to scurry around the room, stopping to smell a few items before moving on quickly to the next one before stopping at the base of the stairs and looking back at Henry. Recognizing the look, Henry stood up and made his way down the stairs being careful to not step on Sharpshot. Just as the boy and his dragon were nearing the door, Steven called out to them from his room.
"Henry, that you son?" Steven asked as he walked out of his room.
"Nope, just a doppelganger. Your real son is lost on the island and if you want to find him you must answer my questions." Henry replied mystically.
Steven, looking very bored with the response, stared at son waiting for him to drop the act. To Henry's credit and Steven's surprise the moment lasted far longer than either of them thought it would but finally Henry sighed, feigning annoyance.
"Fine, you win." The boy groaned out, though he had a sly smile on his face.
"That's what I thought. Where are you off to son?" Steven asked as he moved over to the fire place and threw on a few logs.
"Just taking Sharpshot out. He was giving me the look." Henry explained.
"Say no more, better get to it then, I will not be cleaning up after that dragon. For one so small he makes such a mess." Steven complained.
"What are you complaining about, you don't have to pick it up." Henry countered as he opened the door.
"Not anymore, I'll see you later son. The director came by last night after you had gone to bed and said there would be a meeting at the blacksmith stall at noon." Steven told his son.
Henry nodded and walked out the door with Sharpshot right on his heels. Henry walked to the center of the village and looked at the sundial that had been installed on Monday. Another way that they were trying to get everyone into character, he saw that it was 8 in the morning and turned away to walk towards the outskirts of the village.
"Henry!" Audrey called out to him.
Henry stopped and turned to see Audrey waving and walking after him. He waved back and was thankful for the distance between them. Audrey was in her costume and once again Henry found himself gazing at her, it really is unfair that someone can look so beautiful and deadly.
"What do you think of this?" Audrey asked as she swung an axe before Henry.
Henry had to back up quickly to avoid being hit by the weapon but quickly recovered and looked at axe. Taking a closer look, he was able to tell that it was merely a prop and while it might not have cut him, it still would have hurt. Henry took a step back a looked at Audrey's updated costume. She had the axe slung over her back and had a determined look about her and a deadly smile. Henry thought his heart was going to stop, he didn't think it was possible for Audrey to look even more gorgeous, but he was wrong. The axe brought everything together and she looked every bit the Viking warrior she was portrayed as.
Henry's silence was starting to worry Audrey. She thought it was a stroke of genius to add a weapon to her costume. Her first reaction after she got the idea was to get Henry's opinion, after all he was honest about her costume so surely he would be honest about this too. Henry still had yet to say anything and now she was starting to get mad, if he didn't like it he should just tell instead of making her stand there looking like a fool.
"You don't like. Alright I take a hint." Audrey said, irritated.
"NO!" Henry suddenly cried out.
The sudden outburst shocked Audrey and had her flinch back, Henry though had turned bright red at his reaction and was trying to duck his head between his shoulders. He could feel Audrey's gaze on him and knew that he would have to own up to his reaction.
"Sorry, I- uh- I really like the axe. It makes you look fierce." Henry said softly as he brought his gaze up to meet Audrey's.
"You think it makes me look fierce?" Audrey asked after a moment.
Henry nodded lamely again. He wanted so badly to tell her that she looked both deadly and beautiful, but images of Simon getting knocked out danced in his mind and he didn't feel like inviting Audrey's wrath. So he smiled at her and gave her the thumbs up. Audrey smiled and softly brought the axe down to the ground and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear.
"Thank you, that's what I was going for." She smiled back.
"So what are you doing out here?" She asked.
"Oh, I was just taking Sharpshot out. He was giving me the look." Henry explained.
"The look?" Audrey questioned.
"Yeah, the look. He just really needed out, trust me if he gives it to you, you will know." Henry said knowingly.
"Well mind if I join you?" Audrey asked.
"Not at all." Henry replied calmly.
His reply might have been calm but Henry was doing backflips on the inside. He smiled at her and began to walk towards the edge of the village. They started wondering up and over the hills, watching as Sharpshot jumped in and out of the tall grass, chased butterflies, and disappear for a few moments only to come back looking relieved.
"He certainly is a character." Audrey commented as Sharpshot began flying after a bird.
"This is nothing, you should see him when he is 'hunting' around the house back home. He thinks he is sneakier than he actually is. He will try to get a squirrel but it will hear or see him long in advance and when the squirrel is no longer there her gets this confused look on his face and can't figure out what happened, it is quite funny." Henry laughed out as he reminisced.
"Sounds like it." Audrey laughed as well when she felt something nudge her leg.
Looking down she saw that it was Sharpshot and he had managed to catch the bird and laid it down at her feet, his tongue fell out the side of his mouth, he started to pant and looked very pleased with himself.
"Gross." Audrey grunted as she cringed at the dead animal.
"He likes you, this is his way of showing that." Henry laughed.
"Tell him to show it a different way." Audrey said as she nudged the bird with her boot.
"That would be him licking you to death." Henry explained.
"I think I would take that compared to dead animals." Audrey replied as she nudged the bird away from her.
"Hey be glad it was only one bird, when he started to like me, I'm pretty sure he gave me have of the local rat population." Henry chuckled out.
Audrey looked appalled and disbelieving. That was until she looked at Henry and saw the truth of it his eyes. She looked back down at the bird, then to Sharpshot, and finally at Henry.
"Okay so a bird isn't so bad." She commented as she knelt down in front of the dragon.
"Thank you Sharpshot." She said as she held out her hand.
Sharpshot closed his eyes and leaned his head into her hand and sighed loudly, showing his content.
"Neat, I've never seen him do that before. He must really like you." Henry commented on the scene.
"What can I say I must have the magic touch." Audrey said smugly as she stood up with Sharpshot in her arms.
Henry laughed and looked up at the sky, seeing the position of the sun he gauged that Audrey and he had spent a few hours out in the hills and needed to get back for the meeting. Sharpshot climbed onto Audrey's shoulders and took off into the sky above them.
"Why did he do that?" Audrey asked as she followed him through the sky.
"He likes to watch over me, and you now I guess." Henry explained.
Audrey accepted the fact and continued walking with Henry. After a bit they saw the village again and it was then that Henry noticed something odd.
"Hey Audrey have you seen any rigging for the camera's?" He asked looking around, trying to see if he had just missed it.
"Now that you mention, no I haven't." Audrey said as she too looked around for the rigging.
"Aren't we supposed to start filming tonight?" Henry asked.
"Yeah we are, let's ask Helga when we see her." Audrey suggested.
Agreeing with Audrey, Henry called Sharpshot down to them and the little dragon began walking in front of the pair. Making their way to the center of the village and to the sundial to check the time. Seeing that they had a half hour before the meeting started they decided to head over to the blacksmith stall to wait for everyone else. As they neared the stall they heard off key singing coming from the stall.
"Ooooooooooooooh! I've got my axe and my mace, and I love my wife with the ugly face! I'm a Viking through and through!" The song came belting out of the building.
Henry and Audrey looked at each other, slightly horrified and wondering if they wanted to step any further. Hearing the other actors coming toward them and heading toward the blacksmith stall, the decision was made for them and they trudged on ahead of the group. The singing continued and grew even louder with each step they took, until finally they opened the door and the singing mercifully stopped. Sharpshot had gone behind Henry in an attempt to hide from the signing, the small dragon poked his head out and sighed with relief before scuttling into the forge to explore.
"Oi! Who are ye and what you doin' in me shop?" A heavy Scottish accent asked Henry and Audrey.
Neither one knew how to respond and just stood, frozen to the ground. A heavy set man stood up and hobbled his way over to the two teens. The first thing that both Henry and Audrey noticed was that the man had an actual peg leg, like a pirate. The second thing they noticed was that he had a metal hook for a hand.
"Well, are ye just goin to stand there gaping all day or you gonna say somethin'." The man continued to question them.
A moment passed and Henry and Audrey still had no idea how to respond when the man in question began to laugh hysterically.
"Oh, you shoulda seen your faces." The man laughed out.
Henry and Audrey still had no idea what to do or say, they just stood there trying to process everything. The man's laughter subsided and he was finally able to take a good look at the two teens who had entered his shop.
"Names George. I'm the prop manager on set." He introduced himself.
The greeting seemed to break Henry and Audrey out of their trance and they were able to greet the man properly.
"Hi, my name is Henry." The boy greeted.
"Audrey." Her voice clipped and short.
"Feisty one I see, no wonder you hang around her so much there lad." George said as he winked and nudged Henry.
Henry turned several shades darker as he blushed at the comment and insinuation. Audrey frowned at the man and crossed her arms in an attempt to seem intimidating.
"It's not like that, we are just friends." Henry said softly, finding his voice.
"Sure, whatever you say lad." George said with a shrug of his shoulders and went back into the shop.
"George stop pestering my lead actors." Helga laughed as she walked into the shop, having watched the show from the window.
"That were nowher' near pestering woman! I'll show you pesterin'!" The portly prop manager shouted back.
Helga rolled her eyes and smiled at his antics. Just then the other actors walked into the blacksmith shop lead by Simon who just had to make his presence known.
"Hey there beautiful." He said smugly and with a wink toward Audrey.
Audrey growled and glared at him, though this time the boy was undeterred by the glare and just held his gaze. Henry felt a spike of jealously flow through him at the comment, he knew that he shouldn't feel that way towards Audrey, they were just friends after all.
Simon finally broke his gaze with a chuckle and looked up at the director, he pulled out his script and shoved it toward her.
"Here I made some changes to the script that I know will improve the movie tenfold." He said smugly.
"Oh I'm sure you did." Helga said knowingly as she took Simon's script.
She flipped through the first few pages and saw a pattern instantly and one that she expected. Without saying a word Helga leaned down toward Sharpshot and fixed her mysterious purple gaze on the dragon. The dragon locked his eyes with her and without a word or sound, he lunged at the script and began to tear it apart piece by piece.
"Hey!" Simon shouted as he charged the dragon.
Henry stepped in front of Simon to stop him from hurting his dragon, but Simon was a good deal bigger than Henry and pushed him over. The sudden shove caused Henry to fall back into a rack of props that were still in progress and they crashed to the floor. The noise startled Sharpshot and he let out a stream of fire that quickly caught some cloth that was hanging nearby on fire.
"Shit!" Simon yelled as he dashed out of the building.
"Fire, Glorious fire!" The twins screamed as they began to snicker and praise the flames.
Finnick tried to snuff the flames out with a towel he found but as he got closer to the flames he grew nervous, turned around and ran out of the building as well. Audrey was uncharacteristically frozen, watching the chaos unfold before her, memories began to pour forward of the accidents that plagued her Uncle and got him blacklisted. Anger flooded through her as she looked around and found a pitcher of water and doused the flames with it.
Henry got up clutching Sharpshot close to him, he looked around to see the mess that was now the blacksmith shop and cringed at it. Props were on the ground in pieces, scorch marks were all over the place, and smoke was trying to find ways outside causing everyone to cough.
They all finally found their way outside as the smoke followed them out. Catching their breath they all looked at the blacksmith shop and noticed the smoke was making it look worse than it actually was. Safety crews burst into action and made sure that nothing would catch on fire again.
"Nice going Henry." Simon sneered.
The accusation caught Henry off guard as he turned to stare at Simon.
"How was this my fault?" Henry asked.
"If you would have better control of that pest, he wouldn't have freaked out and nearly burned the blacksmith shop down." Simon said, trying to place blame on Henry.
"Enough!" Helga shouted at the top of her lungs.
The outburst brought everyone's attention to the director.
"Now then, I don't care whose fault it was. All I care is that it gets fixed and we move on." Helga said as she gazed over her cast of actors.
"I will fix what I can, it is the least I can do to help." Henry offered as he glared at Simon before turning to nod to Helga.
It wasn't until Henry turned to face the other cast members that he realized that Audrey was glaring at him. His brow furrowed in confusion as he sent her a questioning look. Only to see Audrey look down and then back at Henry, before turning away and walking toward her hut.
"I guess filming will have to wait till tomorrow. Everyone get yourself checked out by medical and report to the holding pens at noon tomorrow." Helga instructed them as she walked out in a huff.
Henry nodded and made his way out of the shop, he looked around trying to find Audrey but only caught her back entering her hut as she slammed the door closed. Henry sighed and walked slowly to his own hut, thoughts of doubt and second guesses flooding his mind.
A/N: Seeds of doubt have been planted and memories have caused progress to be halted. Can the budding friendship of Henry and Audrey survive, Perhaps Toothless can help when we eventually meet, not to mention Sharpshot, and what about George giving his two cents LOL! What about Helga and her weird connection with dragons? Questions to be answered eventually, see you all next time leave a review as you can see from above I read all of them. Until next time, Feliz Navidad and have a Happy New Year should I not see you before then.
Published 12/19/19