eachdraidh | ( ✈ first flight; VIDEO, both courts — forward-dated to 1st, post-feast )

[ What the viewer first witnesses is a foot. Not a real foot, thank goodness, because it happens to be detatched from its wearer and currently being stolen; that is, until a book is thrown at the thieving imp, lamping it on the head, and the locket is placed down on a table as a young man hops over to retrieve his prosthetic, muttering as he does so. ('Steal my foot, will you? Nasty little ... Yeah, you just enjoy your time-out, bud.') Pegleg re-attached to a left leg, the tall man picks up the imp by the scruff of a leathery neck, strides out and tosses it into the arms of its awaiting (disappointed) companions. ]

Try it again and I'll show you what the ice-pick is for!

[ He sits back down with a sigh, twiddling the locket around. ]

Anyway, hi. Sorry about that. My name's Hiccup and apparently, monsters aside, this necklace can help me find people without cursing me or also trying to steal my limbs. Great! So.

[ Hiccup has very clever green eyes, almost too many freckles to count, and a slight gap in his front teeth; as well as being ~~weedy~~ slender, you wouldn't think he was the sort of person to be so confident with an unknown audience, but he certainly is. If anything, he's eager to talk, at least five years older at twenty than he was the last time anyone in the Drabwurld saw his younger incarnation ... not that he's aware of that. ~~Baby boy grew up and then some.~~

Those of a keen eye will notice he's broadcasting from an Unseelie princely estate room, contrary to the state of the battered leather armour he now wears. ]

I'm looking for a girl about my age, tall and blonde. [ Wait. ] Not just any girl! That would be weird. Really weird, like ... girl-shopping, or something. Sorry, let me rephrase; I'm looking for a tall, blonde girl called Astrid, whom I happen to actually know. [ THIS IS GOING SO WELL, ahhh. ] Don't just call me back if you happen to randomly fit that description. [ Okay, fuck it, moving on.] I'm also looking for my mother, and she's ... [ He rubs the back of his head with a chuckle. ] Uh, she's an unforgettable sight, just tell me if you see a masked, armoured person with spikes poking off their helmet. Oh! They'll also have their dragons with them.

[ Casually throwing that out there as a genuine afterthought. ]

If you see a black dragon with big green eyes, looking sort of nocturnal? That's Toothless, my Night Fury. Tell him Hiccup is at Caer Scima, he'll understand. He won't hurt you if you don't hurt him first — obviously attacking a dragon is a phenomenally stupid thing to do, under any circumstances, so hopefully no one will opt for that course of action.

[ Sitting back, he puffs a breath that ruffles an auburn fringe and raises his brows invitingly. ]

I'd love to get to know more about this place, I've never even dreamed of being anywhere this incredible. Magical. Does anyone know where the nearest dragon nest is? I want to find something to ride until I can find my own and horses aren't really my thing. Stirrups, hard ground, you can see where I'm going with that. These lockets are incredible, has anyone opened one up and looked inside? Uh, and lastly — I promise I'll shut up soon — where can I get some decent, detailed maps of the terrain?

Thanks in advance! Nice meeting ... whoever you guys are.

( ooc: forward-dated to the 1st after the welcome feast, after which he'll lose his optimistic verve as he gets to know the world a bit better. )

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[No, it's ~*magic*~!] Geralt. [Of Rivia, BUT THAT IS SO IRRELEVANT HERE. Geralt is pretty irrelevant, too, let's be real.

He wonders how much it'd help if he said, "I hunt monsters," but Hiccup didn't ask what he was....]

And you're interested in dragons, Geralt?

Only if I have to be, but it depends on the dragon. [Hiccup thinks he's some kind of dragon molester, doesn't he? He understands. It's the hair, isn't it? Or the eyes.]

I don't hunt them, if that's what you're implying.

That's a relief to know, otherwise I doubt we'd be getting along right now.

[ Don't badtouch dragons pls, Geralt. ]

So, what is it you do do, if I may ask?

[He'll have to remember Hiccup is fond of dragons. Not that he'd slay any, just... for future reference.] I'm a witcher.

People pay me to kill monsters.

Monsters I can understand a need to be rid of, but, uh. What are they like? Out of curiosity.

[Well, there's two things there he can explain, but he goes for the second one first.] The monsters? They're all different. Some are people cursed, some are spirits, some are just mindless beasts looking to kill. [And some are men.

He thinks men are the scariest kinds of monsters, but he doesn't hunt those necessarily.]

Can't you heal the cursed ones? [ Thinking back to Kieren. ] It's not their fault, right?

I can try. Some of them can't be healed, and sometimes the cure doesn't work.

I have a new friend who ... admittedly, happens to be dead but he's a good guy, I think. He takes his own version of a cure, his medication, but if he runs out then he might get a little ... monster-y. Brain-eating and things, he said.

[ He may have only just met Kieren today and, yes, the Dead Thing is stranger than fiction, but the other boy is nice. He doesn't seem vicious at all, and now that Hiccup has run into a monster killer ... Well. ]

If you ever see him like that, or if we do, I don't want him hurt. Could you help with that? Just restraining him until we can get him his next dose. He's just, [ shrugging ] sort of sick.

[A friend who is dead, but not dead, but can potentially be brain-eaty? Geralt's a walking mythical encyclopedia--sort of--so he knows what that sounds like.] Your friend's a zombie? [He seems surprised.

And then he seems thoughtful about the request. He's never met a dragon to be ridden, and he's never met a, uh, living zombie. The ones he knows are soulless creatures often raised to be interrogated about their deaths.] I'll consider it, but necromancy isn't something to take lightly. [A pause.]

I may be able to make his medicine... [He's not sure if his alchemy skills will help.] ...but I would have to know the ingredients, and they would have to be available here.

Yeah, that's the term he used. I don't think he's suffering from necromancy, it's more a ... disease? Or something like that. He'd prefer to be alive, it sounds like, so you can tell he's not crazy and worshipping undead gods or whatever. That would be nuts.

I'll ask him what his medicine's like and tell him there's someone who is willing to help back him up. [ Earnest in his relief, he offers a lopsided smile. ] Thank you, Geralt. I know you could just get rid of him if you wanted to, but you don't sound like a bad person yourself so I thought I might as well come to you, just in case. I'm glad I wasn't wrong.

[Fortunately, he doesn't usually have to eliminate too many zombies unless there's a crazy necromancer using them to be a pain in the ass to everyone else. Zombies on their own are relatively harmless because they are only raised under strict spells.

Seeing one that is, well... sentient should be interesting.] If he can extend his medicine without having much adverse effects, he should try to do it. I can't promise that I'll be able to make more.

What's his name?

It's more your compassion that sticks out. His name is Kieren.

[He nods, though doesn't say whether he's agreeing with the compassion part or the name.]

What do you plan to do when he does run out?

People said the High-King and High-Queen give out magical boons of whatever you want, so ... I'd probably use mine to help him whenever he needs it.

[ After getting Toothless back, anyway. Hopefully. ]

You'd use your boon for someone else? [Well, Hiccup might not be so bad after all. Not that he thought Hiccup was bad to begin with anyway.]

What if another friend needs it, too?

Then I suppose I'll have to be inventive with my wording when I make the request.

[ Heh. ]

[Sneaky.] Not a bad idea.

Just be careful what you wish for.

( ✈ first flight; VIDEO, both courts — forward-dated to 1st, post-feast )

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