Thunder rumbled in the distance. It hadn't reached Berk but everyone could see black clouds on the horizon.
"What's up with the weather lately?" Hiccup wondered aloud. "It's like the gods are angry or something."
Toothless was only mildly surprised he didn't notice. Dragons and their enhanced senses are usually sensitive to the weather. Thinking back on it, the weather has been foul for the past two weeks, black storm clouds visible every time he went flying with Hiccup, the sound of thunder sweeping across the ocean, lightning storms engulfing waterspouts. He didn't know if these gods that these Vikings believed in existed or not, but he would buy that they were angry. But Hiccup and Astrid had started fighting two weeks ago so Toothless was busier being bothered by that.
Toothless watched the Berserker ships sail up, one ship separating from the armada. Dagur's flagship was recognizable. It was good to see some things stay the same. Dagur's flagship was the same as five years ago, skrill symbol and all. The actual flagship probably sank but it seemed he didn't like change and modeled his new one to look exactly like his old one.
Toothless glanced at Hiccup, who shifted uncomfortably.
"This belt is too big," he grumbled, pulling it up once more. Hiccup was no longer in his black leather flight suit and was now wearing a much fancier set of leather armor along with the belt Stoic used to always wear when signing the peace treaty with the Berserkers.
But Stoic's waist was several time's the size of Hiccup. And while the belt's biggest couldn't fit Stoic, its smallest couldn't fit Hiccup.
Toothless looked at the ship as it pulled into port, a rather crazed red-head on deck.
"Brother!" Dagur exclaimed in an overeager voice. The ship hadn't even actually made it to the dock when Dagur leapt off the deck of the ship and onto the dock, running up to Hiccup and wrapping him in a tight embrace. Hiccup's eyes bulged from his head as he struggled to breathe.
"Hey, Dagur," Hiccup choked out awkwardly. "My broken ribs missed you too."
Finally, Dagur pulled away.
"Hey, I heard about Stoic," he said in a solemn voice. "As you know, I know what it's like you lose a father. So if you ever need to talk…you know, shoulder to cry on, big brother hug…"
Toothless nodded. Dagur was sincere. While Toothless has certainly seen Dagur be something other than deliriously happy or angry, it was a rarity. Though, there were about a dozen better ways Dagur could have phrased it statement.
Hiccup gave an awkward chuckle.
"I'm good, Dagur," he said.
"SO!" Dagur said, rushing up and putting an arm around Hiccup. "What's on the agenda? Tour of Berk? Maybe dropping by the Dragon Academy? OOH, maybe you can show us some of those new inventions? Hey, where's Astrid?"
Of course Astrid's absence is noticed. Her and Hiccup had been inseparable for the past five years. And that was the last thing Hiccup needed to be asked right now.
"Look, why don't we give you a quick tour of Berk then we get to the signing," Hiccup said, quickly changing the subject. "We need to talk about the Bog Burglars."
"Hiccup!" another voice called form the boat. Heather leapt onto the dock, their dragons slowly following. Hiccup gave a wave. No point in a welcoming hug since had had met her earlier. She put her hands above her eyes to shield them from the sunlight as she took in her surroundings. "Man, it's been forever since I set foot here."
"Since you set foot here?" Dagur exclaimed in a comically overdramatized voice. "Last time I was here I was trying to take over. Oh, those were the days."
Toothless exchanged awkward glances with Hiccup. This was the first time Dagur's been on Berk since his change but it was still odd hearing him bring up all the times they fought, tried to kill each other, and hated each other.
Toothless glanced up at Strykee, who still had Shattermaster on his back, licking him. Windshear also emerged. Toothless had turned back to Heather but was met with a hurt expression on her face. Actually, Toothless was completely caught off guard by this. Even on her worst days Heather tended to maintain a straight face.
Toothless looked around, wondering what could have prompted such a reaction. But it was his nose that found it before his eyes. He smelled mutton…and fried yak…and chicken…and three days' worth of food. Looking in the direction of the smell, he saw Fishlegs scurrying through the village on his two stumpy legs with a small bouquet of flowers for Ruffnut no doubt.
And suddenly the reason for Heather's pain was all too obvious.
Was this the future? Was this what was in store of Hiccup and Astrid? When Toothless looked back at Heather, he didn't see Heather. He saw two other people standing where she stood, but the same expression was on their face, and the mere image in his mind made his heart ache.
Hiccup must've also noticed Heather's pained expression.
"Hey, there's someone I want you all to meet," he said, abruptly ending the silence. "Follow me," he added, jumping into Toothless' back. Shattermaster finally got off of Strykee so Dagur could get on while Heather mounted Windshear. Toothless followed Hiccup's lead, heading for a house on the far side of the village. Tootlhess knew who Hiccup wanted them to meet.
It felt so weird for Hiccup to greet someone without Astrid by his side. Toothless wasn't going to forget his mission. There wasn't going to be a Hiccup without an Astrid or vice versa. He was going to fix these Vikings and bring balance to existence once more.
But when Toothless glanced at Heather and Windshear…maybe there was one more thing he had to do to set the world right.
Toothless swooped down, hovering above the ground before finally touching down. Behind him, Windshear and Strykee also landed.
Cloudjumper was roosting on the roof, his back turned toward the newcomers. When they touched down, the stormcutter turned its head 180 degrees to turn to look at them.
"Now that is something you don't see every day," Dagur remarked, clearly unnerved by seeing a head turn so far.
"Mom!" Hiccup called out while Toothless watched on. "Mom!"
Valka had to have heard her son. The house wasn't finished, half the walls weren't even in place so nothing would stop the sound.
Sure enough, Valka responded to her son's calls.
"Hiccup!" she called out, appearing from behind a finished wall. "Ah, so would these be the representatives from the Berserker tribe?"
Valka may have been talking but Dagur was not listening. He had picked up on Hiccup calling her 'mom'.
"Wait, you're Hiccup's Mom?" Dagur jittered excitedly. Immediately he rushed forward, seizing her hand and shaking it vigorously. "Man, it's finally nice to meet you. You're practically my mom too since Hiccup and I are like brothers. I always thought you were dead. Why are you not dead?"
Good lord, Dagur. Not a good first impression. Better than his normal ones which would make a person want to kill him the first minute but that's not saying much.
Hiccup cleared his throat and stepped between them.
"Mom, this is Dagur, Chief of the Berserker Tribe," he introduced. "And Heather, his sister."
Seeing Dagur making a fool of himself, Heather pushed forward to introduce herself.
"Heather, is it?" Valka asked, shaking Heather's hand. "Well, it will certainly be an honor for you both to join us in the meeting."
While the Vikings were busy chitting and chatting, Toothless caught a whiff of another. He looked behind him, spotting a nadder peeking out from behind some huts.
The nadder squawked again to get Toothless' attention. Toothless glanced at Hiccup. The chief was busy talking to his mother so he could slip away.
Toothless slinked away, running up to Stormfly. Stormfly let out a weak squawk, trying to make sure she wasn't heard. Toothless took a whiff of the air. Astrid was nowhere in smell so they had some privacy.
They kept their squawks and growls quiet, making sure they didn't attract any attention.
At first, Toothless thought Stormfly was just as frustrated as he was over what was going on with Astrid and Hiccup. But a few squawks and throaty croaks later, and it turned out that she wasn't frustrated at all. She was just here to see how Toothless was handling this.
To say Toothless was in a state of shock at hearing this would be an understatement. Stormfly may not have put as much effort in those two as he has but she was just as invested. Hiccup and Astrid had spent every night for the past two weeks arguing. That meant sleepless nights for Toothless and lonely nights for Stormfly.
How?! How could she not care?
But Stormfly's answer was simple. This was Hiccup and Astrid they were talking about. They were best friends, inseparable for the past five years, so close they all of Berk thought they were a mates before they were even mates. It was unreasonable to assume that they wouldn't fight occasionally. And they were both under enormous stress from their new positions. As chief of the village and general of its military the fate of the entire village rested in both their hands. Stormfly was confident things will go back to normal once they hit their stride.
Toothless wasn't convinced. He's been right outside for most of the fights and they sounded way worse than mere disagreement. Back during the Drago fiasco, Astrid followed Hiccup without question, completely faith in him. Something was wrong. Very wrong. But stubborn Stormfly wasn't convinced.
It didn't matter. Toothless was alpha and as alpha he ordered Stormfly to gather the OG dragons along with WIndshear.
Stormfly looked at Toothless in confusion. Why was Windshear being called too? But Toothless didn't explain himself, simply telling Stormfly to do it.
-.-
Toothless keenly watched everyone file into the Great Hall. Normally Hiccup and Astrid would wait for each other then walk in together. Sometimes they would give each other a kiss before the meeting but they always walked in side by side. Toothless' heart dropped when he saw Astrid already walking up the stairs.
Maybe Hiccup would call her and catch up…
Nope. Hiccup just starts ascending the flight of stairs like she wasn't there. He definitely saw her. Kinda hard to miss the only person lugging an axe around.
Toothless had enough. It was time to set his plan into motion.
The Berserkers arriving for the treaty signing and the discussion on what to do with the Bog Burglars meant Toothless had the chance to get away. A meeting like this meant all the important people had to be there. That meant Chief Hiccup and General Hofferson would be there along with Chief Dagur and Heather. Valka would also be there as an elder along with Gobber. That Eret person was a military advisor. And Fishlegs was the scribe.
Toothless made a toothless grin at this. All the Vikings were busy. He could now get to work. First thing's first. He turned around and looked at the dragons Stormfly had gathered. That meant Barf & Belch, Hookfang, Meatlug, and Windshear. They were all gathered. Between his alpha duties and Hiccup's chief duties, there hasn't been a gathering like this in ages. It was rather nostalgic.
Now they needed a meeting place. Toothless let out a bark to order them to follow.
-.-
"Alright, settle down!" Hiccup said as loudly as he could. He thanked the gods that the hall echoed or else he might not have been heard. His father could usually boom so loudly everyone had to cover their ears. He clearly had a long way to go. One by one, the people around the table found their seats and fell silent. They used the old fire pit as the table, same as they always did. Hiccup intended on replacing it one of these days but he's been putting that off.
As everyone found their seats, Hiccup and Astrid were left staring at each other. Normally they sat together. Lately, they weren't so sure about that. Gobber must've seen the rising tension. Rolling his eyes, the plump Viking plopped down in the seat next to Hiccup. And with Valka on the other side of Hiccup, that meant the bickering couple definitely couldn't sit together.
"Alright," Hiccup said once the room was settled. "The reason we're here is twofold. We're here to sign the peace treaty between the Hooligan Tribe and the Berserkers. But we're also on the brink of war with the Bog Burglars. Tensions between them and both our tribes have been high for the last few years and they don't like dragons."
"The Berserkers are ready to stand by Berk," Dagur announced. "Whatever your decision is, you have our support! It also helps that my armada's already here."
"And I've been in contact with Alvin via terror mail," Astrid said. "He says he's willing to give us all dragons available on Outcast Island." Valka looked up in shock upon hearing this.
"Alvin?" she repeated. "As in Alvin the Treacherous?"
"We ain't kiddin when we said much has changed," Gobber explained. "Ol' Hiccup here helped turn Alvin into an ally."
Valka stuttered for a bit. It seemed strange. Her last memories of the Outcasts were them being Berk's worst enemies, second to only the dragons. It seemed a lot really has changed. She heard about the war with the Berserkers. Dragons, Berserkers, even the Outcasts, Hiccup had found a way to make peace with just about all of Berk's enemies. And she looked at her son in pride for that.
But Hiccup didn't notice her expression.
"And that's great if we're preparing for war," Hiccup said, more focused on Astrid comment about gathering dragons. "But that's what we're trying to avoid here. If we start gathering dragons and ships, the Bog Burglars might see this as a reason to go to war. We're here to try to find another way."
-.-
Toothless needed a meeting place. The first thought was the Dragon Academy. With the OG team, might as well meet where it ball began. But, as they approached the arena, they could see Gustav busy with a class, training another generation of riders.
Amateurs, Hookfang scoffed, seeing the new riders and their dragons.
Well, if the Academy was in use, Toothless knew Hiccup's house wasn't. They wouldn't be able to fit four dragons inside, so they settled with the front door. It was right in front of Hiccup's house they all gathered. Stormfly perched on the roof while the rest of the dragons lay about.
And there, Toothless laid out his grand plan as he paraded around in front of his troupe, his neck high and his back straight like he imagined a proper alpha would be. It was simple.
Targets: Hiccup, Astrid, Heather, and Fishlegs.
Time table: until the treaty is ratified, and the Berserkers go home. Granted, it would matter for Hiccup and Astrid but if the Berserkers left that meant there was no hope helping Heather.
Mission objective: get the Vikings to reconcile with their proper mates. Hiccup with Astrid and Fishlegs with Heather. Bring balance to existence.
Toothless was about to explain further when he noticed a stormcutter standing not too far from them. It was Cloudjumper. He stood there on the hilltop, looking at the six dragons with an expression as if to say 'don't mind me'.
Toothless could use his alpha status to just order Cloudjumper away. But he didn't want to bother. He turned back to face the other dragons to explain his masterful plan.
They needed their riders to either bond or repair their bonds with their destined mates. And so, there was only one thing to do: put their riders in perilous and life-threatening situations that would force them to rely on each other for physical and emotional support to survive!
Toothless looked at his troupe, expecting applaud or some form of approval.
He was met with unamused stares.
Toothelss didn't understand. Terrifying Astrid to the point of begging for mercy worked wonders for her and Hiccup.
Stormfly pointed out that this wasn't quite true. Toothless didn't torment Astrid to push her toward Hiccup. He tormented her because at the time he didn't like her.
Didn't matter though. It was love at first flight.
Hookfang rolled his eyes at Toothless using the same phrase again.
Regardless, they still needed a way to get each person alone with their mates in a position that would make them need the other, make them realize just how much the other meant to them.
Easiest way to go about it: fear.
Ok, what did each person fear?
Meatlug went first, explaining that Fishlegs was afraid of heights. Ironic, considering they were dragon riders but whatever. But there was a problem.
'Unless you can find us a floating island, there is no way we can get Fishlegs alone with Heather like that.'
Windshear looked away, not wanting to answer. All the other dragons looked at her. It was clear she knew something but didn't want to say it. She knew exactly what Heather didn't like and didn't want to put her rider in that position again.
It would've been easy for Toothless to use his alpha status to order Windshear to spill. But, Windshear was a friend. The night fury walked up to the silver dragon, giving a comforting nudge.
Windshear gave an irritated snarl before explaining: Heather hates caves. All the dragons looked at Windshear in surprise. Heather was as much of a warrior as Astrid so her hating caves seemed…odd.
But it wasn't the cave itself that Heather hates. She was on her own for a long while after her village was destroyed. She was on her own before she spied on the Dragon Hunters. And she was on her own again before joining the Dragon riders. She hated dark, narrow, stone enclosures since it reminded her of the dark times.
Toothless gave Windshear another nuzzle, assuring her that this was for the best.
That left Hiccup and Astrid.
Toothless had a plan for that. It was bit of a cheap trick but it was the only one he could think of.
Stormfly leapt off the roof and landed next to Toothless with a skeptical stare. She was clearly not reassured by Toothless and his scheming. She still didn't believe what was happening was anything serious which meant this would probably put unneeded stress on the two of them. What if this is what causes their relation to fracture?
The meeting came to a very abrupt end when a panicked screech filled the sky. All the dragons looked up to see a hobblegrunt floundering through the clouds, her scales a pale white. The flock of dragons already in the skies cleared a path for the hobblegrunt.
'Was that Stormfly?', Stormfly wondered. With their keen eyesight, they could see someone on the back of the dragon, a black cape and a mass of wild blonde hair fluttering about in the wind.
The other dragons spread their wings and flew after the hogglegrunt. Being the only dragon who couldn't fly, Toothless was left pathetically croaking 'wait up' as he ran after the others. The dragons all followed the hobblegrunt as it flew over the village. It was as if the dragon had one too many mugs of yaknog as it floundered in the air before it crashed right outside the Great Hall. A plume of dirt shot from the Earth where the dragon skidded across the ground, a long trench left behind from where the dragon had skidded. Alerted by the sound, the Vikings inside came rushing out.
Atop the hobblegrunt was a Viking woman with a mess of blonde hair. She was clearly Hiccup's age but at least a head shorter than him. She wore a tight dark red suit with a black cape draped around her shoulders, black gauntlets on her forearms. Though, it seemed her gauntlets were adorned with a whole manner of shiny bracelets like she wanted the protection around her forearms but couldn't resist showing off her jewelry.
Hiccup immediately recognized the rider that had crashed on their front lawn.
"Cami?!" Hiccup called out rushing down the stairs. Toothless and the other dragons were also rushing to the scene to check on Stormfly.
Astrid rushed over the Cami, who was stroking the snout of her dragon in comfort, the hobblegrunt turning a gentle shade of blue.
Cami always had wild hair but this was a new extreme for her. And her suit and cape had its fair share of tears and rips. She was covered in sweat and struggled to catch her breath.
"Cami, what happened?" Hiccup asked as Astrid removed an arrow embedded in the woman's pauldron.
"Uh…" Dagur commented as he walked out of the hall. "Hiccup, who is this?" Heather was more on edge, having her double-sided axe drawn and ready.
"That's Camicazi of the Bog Burglars!" Heather accused.
"Heather, it's ok," Astrid reassured. "Cami's a friend."
"And the bearer of bad news," Cami added as Astrid helped her to her feet. "Mom's putting together an invasion force. She'll be here by the end of the week."
Hiccup looked at the small flock of dragons gathering in front of the Great Hall. It was a beat later that Toothless realized Hiccup was looking right at their secret congregation. Luckily, it seemed Hiccup had too much on his mind to realize the dragons were secretly plotting something.
"Alright, guys!" Hiccup called out. "Nothing to see here, clear out!" He took out his Inferno sword, igniting it as he twirled is above his head. The dragons got the message, turning around and flying away. Toothless joined them…or at least he pretended to. He glanced back to see Hiccup kneel next to Camicazi. With eyes off of him, Toothless quickly used his jaw to grab Astrid's Stormfly by the spine and drag her to the side and out of sight.
Stormfly squawked in confusion but Toothless quickly hushed her. They hid behind a bush. Frankly it wasn't much of a hiding spot. And if any of the Vikings weren't distracted, they probably would have noticed the nadder spines and night fury tail. But they were distracted and this let the bush be an adequate hiding spot. The two watched as Fishlegs lead Camicazi's Stormfly away. Hiccup proceeded to lead Cami toward the Great Hall, the rest of the Vikings following him back in.
Once the door was closed, the coast was clear. Toothless leapt out of the brush and scurried up to the door, pressing his ear against it. Stormfly came out and did the same. Something was going down and Toothless needed to know what.
-.-
"If the Bog Burglars don't like dragons, how come they let you keep yours?" Heather asked suspiciously.
"One of the perks of being the Chief's daughter," Cami said. "I thought I could use Stormfly to help convince Mom that we could avoid going to war with Berk."
"You still haven't changed her name yet," Astrid remarked, her tone a lot more pleasant than it had been in days.
"It's the only name she answers to," Cami said, throwing her hands up innocently.
"You only named her that to piss me off!" Astrid playfully argued.
"As amusing as this whole thing is," Gobber cut in. "If Big-Boobied Bertha-" Gobber had begun to say when Dagur burst out laughing, the entire hall falling silent as everyone's voices were drowned by the uncontrollable cackling.
"Sorry but that name just gets me!" he chortled, pounding the table in violent fits of laughter. Heather, Astrid, and Camicazi just rolled their eyes.
"Anyways, if Bertha is determined to do something, ya ain't convincing her otherwise," Gobber finished.
"That can't be true," Hiccup argued. "If we can show her-"
"Gobber's right," Cami interrupted. "I'm sorry, Hiccup. But there was no convincing Mom to not attack. You don't amass a fleet of fifty ships for fishing."
Hiccup caught the look Astrid shot him. She couldn't say anything, so she was using her expression to say 'I told you so'. It was equal parts smug as it was annoyed, pleased that she was right but at the same time not pleased because of what this meant.
"But why now?" Eret asked. "A week isn't much time to build an invasion force. Drago spent years gathering his army of just humans. Why the rush?"
"The plan was to prepare for the next few months," Cami explained. "But one of our sentries reported seeing a deadly nadder with a rider. I'm sure it's a mistake since none of you are dumb enough to try spying on us but Mom thinks she needs to attack now."
It wasn't a mistake. Hiccup wasn't going to miss the chance to shoot Astrid the glare she had given him. Hiccup had to admit that part of him was pleased he could show up Astrid. But he also knew what this news meant. There was an invasion force getting ready.
Astrid didn't miss the look. She gripped the edge of the table in agitation. Good thing it was stone and not wood else it would crack from her grip.
"Excuse us for a moment," Astrid said in a level-headed voice, standing up. She walked out of the room, Hiccup standing up and following her. She didn't say anything but she didn't need to. They went over to a side room, out of earshot of the council. Astrid even closed the door to make sure no one could hear.
"Is there something going on with those two?" Cami asked. Everyone exchanged glances. Hiccup and Astrid's fighting was kinda hard to miss with how loud Astrid yelled and how sour Hiccup had been lately. It was strange hearing someone not know what was happening.
"Hey, don't' look at me like that," Cami said defensively. "I don't live here."
-.-
Toothless and Stormfly needed to know what was happening in that room. They leapt away from the door and headed for the other side of the mountain that was used as the Great Hall. There was a tiny window that was their only hope of hearing what was going on. And it would let them not get caught. They finally reached the window. The window was a tiny square hole in the rock but it would suffice. The two dragons huddled underneath it, their sensitive ears picking up on Hiccup and Astrid's conversation.
The moment the door was closed behind her, Astrid did not hesitate to say what was on her mind.
"Well, I hope you're happy," Astrid said.
"Me?!" Hiccup exclaimed. "No, I'm not happy! I'm not even remotely happy! Thanks to you, Berk's about to be attacked!"
If Astrid had one fault, it was her pride. Hiccup knew this all too well. So, accusing her of something like this was not a good idea. But he was too emotional to recall this, and Astrid was none too pleased with the accusation thrown her way.
"ME?! Hiccup, you heard Cami. Bertha was going to attack us no matter what you did!"
"We don't know that!"
"This is her daughter we're talking about. You telling me you know Bertha better than her daughter?"
"At least it would've been months before she attacked. Thanks to you, we have a week!"
"We needed intelligence. Right now, we're completely in the dark."
"Yeah?" Hiccup jabbed back, crossing his hands. "How'd that work out for you? How many ships do they have?" Hiccup paused to let Astrid answer, knowing she wouldn't have it. "How many Burglars are they going to send? What weapons do they have? What type of ships do they have?"
"I don't know! Alright!" Astrid shouted, throwing her hands up.
"Great, so you provoked them, and you didn't even get any intel."
"At least I was doing something, which is a lot better than waiting for the next few months with us defenseless."
"I was trying to avoid war!"
"Right, and how'd that work with Drago?"
Stormfly's eyes bulged when she heard this. Hiccup misjudged Drago and Stoic was gone because of that. This time, the entire village may pay the price. Still, this was not the way to bring this up. Hiccup clearly knew this. It was a rarity to see Hiccup truly angry but Toothless could tell.
Hiccup was angry.
Toothless and Stormfly were frozen to the spot, afraid what either of them might say next. Toothless would say there was no way for this to get worse, but feared it would get worse the moment he said it.
Luckily fate intervened. There was a creak as the door opened a crack, a blonde woman peeking in.
"Hate to interrupt," Cami said, her voice trailing off when she saw the truly furious expressions on both their faces. "Or maybe it was a good thing that I did…"
"What is it, Camicazi?" Hiccup asked with an exasperated sigh.
"Ooh, full name. It's that bad, huh?"
"Cami!"
"Alright. Everyone's wondering if we, or rather they, could get back to the meeting."
Hiccup and Astrid both looked each other dead in the eye. It was clear they had a lot to say, both knew that they were continue fighting if either of them said it, so neither wanted to say anything. So not saying a word, the two of them followed Camicazi back to the main hall, leaving Stormfly and Toothless outside the window.
Toothless was…he didn't know what he was. He had hoped and prayed this fighting would die down and it hasn't. Stormfly was completely shocked. Finally, she agreed with Toothelss.
Something needed to be done.
-.-
A/N: Ok, I'll say this. I've never actually read the books before so my knowledge of elements from them is barebones at best. So I hope Cami is pretty close to her book counterpart for all you Camicazi fans. In terms of her look, since everyone got wardrobe updates from the first movie, I figured adult Cami would also have a wardrobe update from how she is described. I do have a question though. As you can tell, I've been using descriptors when dealing with draconic matters instead of dialogue. Reason being, I am working on a story in which dragon dialogue is a pretty big deal and I fear that having a story preceding that with dragon dialogue may take away from the impact. But now I also fear having all descriptors instead of dialogue when it comes to the dragons may come off as janky. So, do you think I can get away with descriptors? Or should I switch gears and make it dialogue?