fandomtownies | Serenity Cove, early Saturday morning

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Serenity Cove, early Saturday morning

The air smelled like rain, and the day felt like a storm couldn't be far away, but right now it was warm and fine. The clouds scudding across the sky cast shadows over the boy and the dragon floating in the ocean; coming as they did from the land of ice and snow and more ice, they both considered this perfectly lovely weather.

Toothless was floating on his stomach, buoyed up by his spread wings, doing an entirely credible imitation of a raft. Hiccup was perched on his back, fishing pole in hand, catching breakfast. His false leg and the spare fishing rod were on the beach, lying on a garishly coloured hot pink towel.

There was already one large silver fish resting on Toothless' back. "What do you think, buddy, one more?" Toothless twitched an ear in the affirmative and Hiccup baited the hook and dropped the line in the water.

[OOC: Expecting one, but totally open, and I took the best guess possible on the weather based on the forecast.]

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Ender was practically glued to the beach this week. He came in early as he usually did, his mind set on taking the raft out-- luckily, he was baggage-free. In one sense of the word, at least.

He wasn't surprised to find Hiccup there as well, although the way he found him was another thing entirely.

He stopped by the towel on the beach, blinking once, and murmured, "Well, that's one way to catch a fish."

Hiccup spotted him and waved. Toothless lazily paddled closer to the shore, staying just past the level where his feet would hit bottom. "And a very good morning to you, Ender," he called, obviously in an excellent mood.

"Good morning, Hiccup." Ender's mood was more notably subdued, but he could manage his usual placid expression a lot better than the day before. "Is this how you usually fish, or did I just have the luck of walking in on a show?"

"At home we'd use a net. Actually, at home, someone else is in charge of the fishing. Nets and me? Not such a great combination." There was obviously a story there. "Fishing from the beach is a good way to get soaked. This," he shrugged and waved a hand at Toothless, "just works." Toothless snorted, blowing a plume of water into the air, and Hiccup grinned. "And, okay, it might be a bit more fun than sitting around."

Ender's eyebrows had gone up during Hiccup's slightly more technical explanation. He was grinning lightly by the time the addendum came around. "I can see that," he said, sparing a glance at the towel and the objects strewn across it. "You and nets...?"

Hiccup dropped his head into his hand. "I didn't know they were all attached! Of course, when you've got twetnty or so swarthy vikings all sharing close quarters in a fishing net, they're not really in a mood to listen while you try and explain that you were only trying to help." He lifted his head, looking sheepish. "That was twelve years ago and I'm still not allowed anywhere near the fishing boats."

Ender let go of an unexpected, light burst of chuckles. "That'll stick in the collective memory," he said. "Still, you'd think they'd understand that with age comes better dexterity." He wriggled his fingers.

"Vikings are not so much with the understanding," he said. "I think it goes along with the stubborness issues."

Toothless blew another plume of water and rolled an eye back to look at Hiccup. Or, more precisely, the fish. Hiccup grabbed it and passed it down to the dragon, who opened his mouth, snapped out his teeth, and gulped it down.

"So, do you have any plans this morning that require you to stay dry and fish free?" he called to Ender while he wiped his hands on his tunic.

"I was going to go down to the animal shelter and hug all the cats," Ender said, thoughtfully, "But I'm willing to trade that in for something wet and fishy if you make the right offer."

"Ah, the cats will like you better if you smell like fish," Hiccup deadpanned. "Grab the spare pole, come and help me feed the dragon. It's the best offer going on the beach this morning." He held up a finger. "But don't decide yet, there's more to this offer: we'll even come in and pick you up so you don't have to wade through the surf."

"No wet ankles and a happy dragon," he said, as he leaned down to pick up the pole. "I guess I could be okay with that." With the pole firmly in hand, he began his trek towards the edge of the beach. "But if my knees get wet, I'll be really upset."

Toothless was already fording through the waves, heading for the beach, water streaming off his wings as he folded them neatly. He stopped in front of Ender, looking wicked. "Toothless, no. Don't even think about it, not if you want him to help catch you breakfast." A golden eye flashed back at him, and the dragon snorted. "Thank you," Hiccup said as Toothless crouched in the sand so Ender could climb aboard, helpful given there was no harness to step on.

"If your knees get wet," he said to Ender, "I'll loan you my towel, as long as you promise not to give it back."

"I think I can manage that."

Ender gave Toothless's ear an amused scritch before he actually did climb aboard, careful where he put his feet and his hands so he'd stay put without hurting the dragon. "He's got a streak, doesn't he?"

He wasn't going to say 'bratty' within earshot of the creature that could easily throw him off.

"He has his moments," Hiccup conceded, and Toothless made a sound best described as amused as he turned and forded back into the water.

Once he was deep enough, he folded his legs, unfolded his wings, and paddled out to deeper water, bobbing gently with the movement of the waves.

Hiccup stretched out his good leg, leaning back a little, braced on one arm, and smiled up at the sky. "I think it's probably worth it, though."

Ender smiled slightly at the expression on his face, and took care to find a spot that didn't seem like it would be too much of a burden on Toothless. There, he stretched out his own legs. It was almost like being on his raft. "It probably is," he agreed. "You've got a friend for life." He patted Toothless's side. "My sister is the same - although probably a worse pain in the ass."

"But presumaby less scaly," he added, sitting up to scratch behind Toothless' ear before letting his line trail in the water. "Maybe not so many wings."

He pulled a pouch off his belt, opened it, and held it out to Ender. It held grubs, still moving.

He only had a passing familiarity with fishing - tried it once or twice, out on the lake. But he could guess the general principle of the thing, so he reached out and took a grub, taking his time to pin it on the hook.

"Definitely less scales and less wings," Ender said. He glanced at Hiccup. "I take it you encountered some of our seasonal weirdness yesterday, too."

He glanced at Ender, then shrugged. "The bags? Yeah, they visited me on the roof. Have to admit, not the most fun I've had since I've been here. Ben - I met your friend Ben, by the way, he really liked Toothless - was getting it even worse than I was."

"I know."

He should feel relieved Ben was the only one to have seen his baggage yesterday, but considering how that had gone, he... wasn't.

Ender threw out his fishing line without elaboraing much further. For the moment, anyway.

Hiccup watched his line trail in the water, glancing back at Ender for a moment, then gave it a tug, hoping to attract a fish. "So, there's a couple of options here as far as I can see." His voice was light and casual. "I can ask you if you want to borrow my ear, because my bags weren't exactly fun and games and I'm guessing yours weren't either, I can tell you another of the endlessly embarrassing tales from Hiccup's youth, or I can ask you why your morning plans revolved around hugging cats." He smiled. "Or something else, but it's your turn to think of alternatives."

Ender shot him a wry look, and offered him a rueful little grin. "'Talking about our issues' seems to be the Fandom national pastime," he said. "Possibly because of all of the triggers the island likes to throw our way. But I'm starting to think a little honesty might breed a little more honesty in return. If anything, it might keep certain people from trying to appropriate my problems."

He glanced down at his line. "A few years ago, I did a very bad thing," he said. "I'm not denying that it was bad, or that it's affected me since. Ben likes to be more selective about his own problems."

Edited 2010-05-29 06:49 (UTC)

Hiccup was actually surprised, because it was not the option he'd expected Ender to pick; he had an embarrassing story all ready to launch into and everything. "Vikings are more the 'hit the issue with a stick until it goes away, then drink mead to celebrate' type," he said. "But I can adapt."

Toothless turned an eye up to watch the two boys on his back, then paddled a little further out, nose pointed out to sea.

"I'm guessing yesterday's little bonus gift was all about the bad thing?" he asked, feeling more than a bit awkward, but he hid it with the long practice of someone who'd spent most of his life feeling awkward.

"Some of it," Ender agreed. "But the specifics really aren't that important. Well, they are to me, obviously, but I've been living with it for a very long while, so it's not really the point."

He sat back, observing his line in the water. "Ben tries to save people from themselves so he doesn't have to deal with his own baggage," he said, "It's kind of like hitting the issue with a stick, except the stick is the mead and a compassionate look." He made an amused little gesture at Hiccup, trying to draw him out of the awkward: trying to communicate 'I'm not trying to make this into a serious thing, so you don't have to feel weird about not knowing how to deal with that'.

"I might have vast amounts of emotional baggage, but I also have a strong back." He was just frequently emotionally exhausted; that was something else.

Edited 2010-05-29 07:08 (UTC)

Hiccup smiled at the gesture, relieved, because really, he had zero experience listening to people's issues. "So, yesterday wasn't fun for anyone, but you can deal with it," he said, nodding. "And you should probably know that Viking mead has a lot in common with being hit with a stick; keep it in mind if you're ever offered any."

"I can deal with it," Ender agreed. "Whether Ben can deal with me dealing with it is another question, but not really something you can answer."

Now that he had wrapped up his problem in a little bow and presented it to Hiccup with as little drama as possible, Ender could shift topics.

"So what was this I heard about an embarrassing story?"

"Well, I did offer," he said, laughing a little. "The one thing Berk has more of than dragons is sheep." He slanted a look at Ender. "Do you know what sheep are? Short, wooly, not too bright, tend to panic with no good reason?"

"We have sheep," Ender affirmed. "Although I've never had the privilege of watching one panic."

"Panicking is an important part of this story. I was nine, and most of Berk was gone, had been for a month, so there was just the old, the young, and those missing too many bits to go," he paused, oddly reluctant to reveal what exactly those vikings had been doing, and went with, "out to sea for that long. But there were still sheep, and they still had to be brought in to be sheared. I wasn't allowed to help, which nine year old me thought was completely unfair."

He resettled the fishing rod and himself before going on.

"So, I waited until everyone was at dinner before putting my plan into action. You herd sheep by getting a bunch of people to sort of scare them in one direction. So I soaked a whole lot of rope in lamp oil, set up tiny piles of wood, also soaked in lamp oil, all around the paddock, and ran the rope from every pile of wood to where I was standing at the back of the paddock. All I had to do was light the rope, which would light each of the wood piles, and the sheep would all run into the shed."

From the expression on Hiccup's face, it was obvious that this was not what had happened.

"In theory," Ender said. After a beat: "In very flawed theory. I think I'm feeling where this is going.

"As it turns out, sheep? Not fond of fire, not fond of fire at all." Which could have something to do with years of being hunted by fire-breathing dragons. "It also turns out that vikings aren't too happy when a herd of sheep pushes through the fence, runs through town, and breaks down the doors of the Mead Hall." He paused. "The sheep did develop a taste for mead, though."

Edited 2010-05-29 08:33 (UTC)

There was a short pause.

"...I guess that could work to your advantage if you need to lure them somewhere in the future."

"I suggested that," Hiccup said, a strange expression on his face, part grimace, part bemusement. "They weren't too interested in listening at that point."

"Did they smack you with a stick and drink mead afterwards?" Ender inquired, with a slight twitch of his mouth. "Or did you burn through their entire stocks?"

It was a silly tale of childhood mistakes, but a lot of Hiccup's life seemed to be built on those. He pulled on his line a little. He swore he could see a fish down there.

Hiccup chuckled, shaking his head. "Just sent me to my room and told me to stay there," he said. "While they rounded up drunk sheep which, you have to admit, would have been something to see."

"That might be a party trick for the next Fandom graduation," Ender said, seriously, and tapped his own nose. "Any bites?"

He leaned forward, peering down into the water, jiggling his line. "Not so far. But fish are known to have a deep seated fear of stories involving drunken sheep, so they're probably hiding."

Toothless snorted and flicked his ears. "Or it could be that all the talking is scaring them off."

"Should we dedicate ourselves more fully to the vaunted task of fish-wrangling?" Ender asked. "Before Toothless loses his patience and throws us both into the water."

Toothless lazily swept his tail through the water, sending a half-hearted swoosh of water vaguely in Ender's direction. Whether as protest against the implication or agreement with the sentiment wasn't entirely clear.

"We'd better, or you'll never get to the hugging of cats part of your morning," Hiccup said, nodding, and settled back to focus on catching fish.

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Serenity Cove, early Saturday morning

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