Here's the next chapter, and we'll see if Dani will stay with the Riders or not.
Onto the story!
Can I Stay Here?
After Dani, eventually, managed to get out from underneath the Night Terrors, she made her way to the clubhouse that Hiccup and Astrid had shown her and promptly collapsed on one of the seats, exhausted from today's events.
"Ugh," Dani groaned, hand over her eyes, leg swinging over the side of the seat she was sitting on. "What a day."
A clucking sound came from beside her and Dani took her hand off her eyes and saw a chicken looking at her.
"Oh. Hey there. Where did you come from?" Dani asked the chicken, getting off the bench and gently picking up the chicken and stroked it's feathers, the chicken clucking contentedly.
"Are you lost? Where's your owner? Does he know that you're here?" Dani asked the chicken, smiling as she continued to stroke the chicken. "You must be a very naughty chicken, getting out of your coop. I bet you're giving your owner a heart attack right now."
The chicken clucked in agreement.
Dani laughed. "I think you better get back to your owner."
And that was when Dani heard a familiar voice say, "Well, guess we found both Dani and Chicken."
Dani turned and saw Hiccup, Astrid and the other Dragon Riders standing there. The blonde Viking with dreadlocks, Tuffnut, grinned at seeing the chicken in her arms.
"Chicken!" Tuffnut yelled happily. He ran up to Dani and scooped the chicken out of her arms, holding it in front of his face.
"Are you okay, Chicken? She didn't hurt you or anything?" Tuffnut asked the chicken anxiously.
The chicken just clucked.
"Chicken's fine, Tuffnut. I've had to look after some of my aunt's chickens on her farm," Dani told him as she stood up and folded her arms, smirking.
"You sure?" Tuffnut asked her suspiciously.
Dani shrugged, smiling secretively. "I have a way with birds and smaller animals."
That was true. While larger animals wanted to steer clear of both her and Danny, smaller animals like cats, dogs, snakes, lizards, and yes, chickens, adored them, so much so that most animals followed them after school. It made things a lot easier when she needed to get a cat out of a tree, needed to bring home a lost pet, or needed to chase a poisonous snake out of a house.
But, with larger animals… that was a whole different story.
As if to confirm her claim, a Night Terror that appeared to be an albino sneaked up to her and gently butted it's head against her leg, purring.
"And that includes smaller dragons," Dani added. Despite most of the Night Terrors having tackled her to the ground, she gently scooped up the Night Terror and stroked it's scales, making the small dragon purr in content.
Ruffnut noticed the Night Terror being content in Dani's arms and said, "Smidvarg likes you."
"Smidvarg? That's his name?" Dani asked, scratching Smidvarg under the chin.
"Yep. I named him," Tuffnut said, puffing up his chest. Ruffnut's eyes widened at that and she turned to her brother, a frown on her face.
"Uh, I named him," Ruffnut corrected. Tuffnut frowned at her.
"Sis, I named Smidvarg, Smidvarg."
"No, I did!"
"No, I did!"
"I did!"
"I did!"
"Wanna settle this with a fight?"
"Bring it on."
They drew out maces and with battle yells charged at each other. But before they could hit each other, or Hiccup could stop them, a voice shouted, "STOP!"
Everyone looked in the direction of Dani. She had put Smidvarg back on her floor and was now in front of the twins, a hand on their chests.
"Do you two always settle things with violence?" Dani asked them, a frown on her face.
"Uhh… yes?" Tuffnut and Ruffnut answered in unison.
Dani sighed, her frown deepening.
"Have you two tried talking to each other?"
The twins frowned at her.
Dani sighed again and elaborated, "Look, so what if one of you named Smidvarg Smidvarg? Is it really all that important? A name doesn't make a dragon. Sure, it gives them an identity, but does that name really matter?"
Ruffnut and Tuffnut looked at her, as did the other Dragon Riders, before Ruffnut said, "That was really confusing."
She looked at her brother and asked, "What were we talking about again?"
Tuffnut shrugged and the two dropped their maces and walked out of the clubhouse.
Dani shrugged. "That didn't go as expected, but it worked, somewhat."
"What exactly did you do, Dani?" Astrid asked.
"I tried to have them see that the name of the dragon didn't matter; be the mediator. And it worked, somewhat."
"Well, I'm impressed with how you managed to deal with the twins," Hiccup said, honestly impressed.
Dani shrugged again. "It was nothing. I had to be the mediator between two of my friends a few times."
"So… you make peace?" Fishlegs asked her.
"Yes. Isn't that what a mediator is? Making peace between two angry people before things go totally crazy by talking?"
"That sounds wonderful."
"It sounds weak," Snotlout said. "Who wants to settle things by talking? It's better if you settle things by fighting!"
Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs got looks of exasperation on their faces while Dani looked at the floor, her bangs obscuring her eyes.
"Weak you say? Settling things by talking instead of fighting? Is that how you settle things?" Dani asked him.
"Yes," Snotlout answered her, grinning.
It happened so fast, Hiccup was still comprehending it.
Dani lashed out; her hand grabbed Snotlout's right arm and twisted it behind his back as her other hand grabbed the back of his neck and shoved him against the wall. Snotlout let out a yelp of surprise at the attack.
"Well, let me tell you something, Snotlout; violence isn't always needed. Violence can make things worser. Violence can cause two villages, who are signing a peace treaty by fighting each other, go to war. Violence is the factor that crumples relationships, destroys peace and fuels blood-feuds and wars. Sometimes violence is needed, but only for protection and defence of your home, not by settling matters in a pair of fisticuffs or prove your dominance over a person. Because violence, when it isn't needed, bloody hurts!"
As if to prove her point, Dani twisted Snotlout's arm, causing him to yelp in pain, her eyes as hard and cold as glaciers.
"Look, I know that you're Vikings; I get that you typically settle things with violence. But settling things with violence can lead to chaos, and when chaos is here, people get hurt. Wars and feuds are started. Common sense and reason is thrown out of the window, until all that is left from the remains of civilisation is just a clan of barbarians, hurting even those they love and fighting needlessly. So tell me, Snotlout; is violence worth all that I've said?"
She let go and Snotlout walked away from her and out of the clubhouse, whimpering and cradling his arm.
Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs watched Snotlout walk out and Astrid said, "First the twins, now Snotlout? I like even more than I did before."
Dani rubbed the back of her neck as she smiled shyly. "Thanks. I just wanted to prove a point to Snotlout that violence isn't everything, and that talking isn't weak. By the way, I didn't break his arm; I just twisted it. But I took no pleasure in doing that."
"Still, I'm impressed."
"Yeah, well, I sometimes had to do that when my brother and a former bully of his almost get into a fight. Trust me, you do not want to fight my brother. But I don't like using violence when there's no need for it or it's not in self-defence. I prefer to use other methods."
At that, Dani threw back her head and laughed, a cold, harsh sound. "Wow. If I said that to the younger version of me, I would have called myself crazy."
Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs looked at each other before Hiccup looked back at the laughing girl. Dani was a strange, complex character; she was obviously a good fighter, if her throwing Tuffnut over her shoulder and shoving Snotlout to the wall and twisting his arm behind his back were any indications, but she obviously didn't want to use violence unless she was defending herself, or to prove a point, the latter which she only seemed to use hardly at all. She hated needless violence, that was clear. She didn't want to use her impressive fighting skills to win arguments. And yet… Hiccup was sure what Dani had shown of her fighting skills were just a small percent of what she actually could do, and that she had more than fighting and talking things out up her sleeves to win her battles. She was fearless, confident, and brave, but she was modest, humble, genuine and decent. She was sarcastic and witty, and Hiccup could tell that she used banter and quips in her fights. And yet there was something about her that had caused Toothless to be scared of her, and yet hate her at the same time, and it was the something that had the Night Terrors and Chicken love her. Dani wasn't Heather, as he first thought, not by a long shot, despite their similar appearances. Their personalities were different from one another. And yet… Dani and Heather were also similar to each other besides their looks.
Hiccup must have been staring, because Dani had stopped laughing and now frowned at him. "What?"
Hiccup blinked and stammered out, "N-nothing!"
Dani arched a brow, but didn't say anything.
Astrid and Fishlegs looked at Hiccup, as if they could guess Hiccup's thoughts about Dani.
The girl herself in question, as if sensing the suddenly-tense mood, cleared her throat and asked, "Sorry if I sound rude, but what's for dinner? I'm starving."
…
Later
Dani bit into the mutton chop, hiding her cringe. She knew that Hiccup and the other Dragon Riders, being Vikings, would eat this sort of meat, but did it have to taste so gross? It tasted like a month-old strip of jerky left out in the sun too long. Basically, her tastebuds were not happy with her, and Dani was nostalgic for meats like beef and pork.
Mmm… cheeseburgers… pepperoni pizza… meatloaf… Christmas and Thanksgiving turkey… hot dogs…
"Hey Dani, you're drooling," Astrid pointed out to her.
Dani snapped out of her meat fantasies and wiped away the drool, smiling sheepishly.
"Sorry about that," she apologised. "Just… lost in my thoughts."
Astrid nodded and was about to say something when Ruffnut jumped in and stopped Astrid from speaking, much to the other blonde Viking girl's irritation, and asked Dani a question that she should have been prepared for:
"So, Dani… what are your clothes made out of?"
Dani's eyes widened at that.
She couldn't answer that question! Her clothes were made from materials completely foreign to this place in time(shirt; cotton. Hoodie; possibly some man made fabric. Jeans; denim. Sneakers; fake leather). And more than that, she was kicking herself for not fixing this before it became the problem that it now was.
How could she be so stupid?! Clockwork had always told her and Danny that if they accidentally fell through a natural portal and found themselves in a different time period, they should have instantly gotten rid of their modern clothes and gotten into the clothes of that time period. When she first woke up, she should have distracted Snotlout, turned invisible, sneak out and smuggle some clothes from either Astrid's or the twins' hut. But instead, she had stuck around, and now found herself in this pickle.
Think, Dani. Think, think, think…
"They're an, um, unique material to my village, found only on my island," Dani replied. It wasn't technically a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. Dani just hoped that answer would stop the questions about her clothes.
Ruffnut appeared to be satisfied with that answer, and returned to eating her mutton.
A second of silence passed and Dani said, "Hey, um, Hiccup?"
"Yeah?" Hiccup asked, his attention focused solely on her.
"Thanks for catching me out of the sky and bringing me here. I owe you my life. And thanks for the hospitality too, even though the larger dragons hate me. I just wanted to ask you, until I find a por-way back home… do you think I could stay here?"
Silence.
Everyone looked at Hiccup and Dani squirmed in her seat, feeling uncomfortable as the brunette Viking looked at her, expression unreadable.
"But it's fine if you don't want me to stay here! I'll leave tonight, if you want me to go, or-"
"Dani, you can stay here."
Dani was so shocked, her eyes almost flashed green. "Wh-what?"
A smile lifted the corners of Hiccup's mouth.
"You can stay here, Dani. We don't cast people out who are looking for a place to stay. And besides, we talked about it earlier and we decided that you could stay here until you found a way back to your home."
"Although I might consider objecting to this from what Dani did to me earlier," Snotlout said, glaring at Dani.
Dani just ignored Snotlout's glare and smiled at Hiccup.
"Thank you, Hiccup. I promise that you won't regret it," Dani thanked. She then looked down at her clothes and asked Astrid, "You wouldn't happen to have any spare clothes lying around, would you? This is kinda my only pair."
"No, but maybe we could find some clothes for you at Berk's markets," Astrid suggested.
Hiccup raised his eyebrow and was about to say something, but Astrid cut in, "Hiccup, we do have to go back to Berk, though. Our supplies are running low."
Hiccup thought about it, then sighed. "Okay. Looks like we're heading to Berk tomorrow. We better get some sleep."
Astrid looked at Dani and grabbed her hand before gently pulling her up from her seat and taking her to her hut, saying, "You can sleep in my hut, Dani."
"Thanks, Astrid," Dani thanked, before frowning. "What's Berk?"
Sorry if the ending was cruddy. I really had a tough time writing it.
Anyway, Dani's staying at the Edge! And next chapter, she goes to Berk! What will happen?
Please read and review!
GhostWriterGirl out!