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

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( ✈ 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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Yeah, but it's huge, and the imps aren't exactly as obliging as I'd like.

[ Stealing his foot, giving him directions to the outhouses (which are inside and super clean, whoa), etc. Generally they're an unpleasant lot.

He nods to the latter, leaning forward. ] I do, I'm trying to find him. We were taking a nap and the next thing I knew, these little monsters are dragging me here in a sack yesterday. Have you seen anything like what I described? I'd appreciate any help.

[ If it wasn't already obvious, he's anxious to find his bud. More so, perhaps, than his girlfriend or mother. ]

I cannot say I have. Dragons are not unheard of here, but are not too common either. If he is yours from home, I would imagine he would not be too far. [Hnless a dragon is prone to going off on their own. She doesn't know; she isn't a Targaryen.]

He'll come for me the second he knows where I am, dragons are loyal like that.

[ It's spoken with a shrug, more to himself than to impart anything meaty to the conversation. Rubbing a hand at the back of his neck, he knows better than to worry too much for Astrid, who will probably be angry but more than able to take care of herself, or for Valka, who doesn't need anything to look out for her at all. But Toothless is like Hiccup; he'll be daunted and anxious, thrilled and excitable in the same breath.

Strange lands are wonderful to explore in the safety of company; yet, not so much on your own. ]

Who am I speaking to, by the way?

[ He lets the locket govern the greater part of his attention, fascinated by the convenience of the magic implemented in such a tiny thing. Could he take it apart? Probably. Somehow, he doubts that's wise. ]

I hope you find your dragon then. [And then she feels terrible rude when he asks her that.]

Meera Reed of Greywater Watch, currently castellan of Cothromach. It is well met, Hiccup.

[ Oh, formal ... introductions. Best get to his? How do people even deal with manners over talking pictures. ]

Hope and Heir to the throne of Berk, son of Stoick the Vast. Nice to meet you, Meera. Cothromach, uh ... [ He unfolds the map the imps gave him, scanning it. ] Looks like we're pretty far apart. This locket is amazing, how does it let us talk like this? Do you know?

I am closer to Caer Glaem, yes. [She is Seelie herself.]

I've been told it is magic, though I haven't inquired further. It's nothing like we have where I'm from.

Same here, I have no idea where to start looking at this thing in more detail; I'm a smith but this is beyond anything I've ever made. [ Meh, shrugging. ] I suppose 'magic did it' is as good an explanation as we need, really.

You'll find that is the answer to most questions. Though many still seem to go unanswered. [About the shards, the war, the magic itself.]

Welcome to the Drabwurld.

You sound like you're really having a good day there, Meera.

[ It's spoken in jest, poking a bit of fun without prying. She can brush off the wry humour if she wants. ]

This place is trying even at the best of times. [She tries to smile, but the last few weeks have been rough. She had to flee a city or possibly be slaughtered, found out her liege lord left, was made in charge of another city, and then only earlier in the week she found out the Unseelie have plans for the city she is supposed to be presiding over until it's rightful heir can claim it.]

Well, how about when I find my dragon, I come and visit? You can take me on a tour of Cothromach.

[ If things suck now, then it can't hurt to make loose plans to cheer her up in the future. He doesn't doubt things are tough here, having already come from a period where war was brewing against his own home. ]

It would be an honor. [Even if she hardly knows him. He seems willing to help, and she would not turn that away.] Whenever you would like, I will have rooms prepared.

Thank you. You'll have to come for a fly with us sometime, I'll repay the favour and give you a lift wherever you want.

[ Because he's in no doubt he will find his best friend, no matter what. ]

I've never been on a dragon before.

Not many people have, but Toothless would never let you fall.

I wasn't afraid of that. [It's just the fact that it's a dragon. They're thought to be extinct where she's from.]

[ After a thoughtful pause, ] He's like a big cat, really. If you tickle under his chin he purrs, you could always say hello to him that way first. There's nothing to be afraid of.

I've dealt with direwolves. All creatures are not wild all of the time.

What's a direwolf? They sound ... dire. [ Heh. ] I've never heard of anyone getting close to a wolf before and not having their throat torn out.

They're larger and fiercer than regular wolves. And I had a net. [She pats the breast pocket of her cloak with a smirk.]

I've never heard of a friendly dragon that purrs. All the ones in our stories were fierce and were barely controlled by the Targaryens.

That's kind of amazing, Meera, that you caught a direwolf. I could never do that in a million years, not even with a hundred nets.

[ He means it, too. He'd be wolf!chow. ]

Dragons are fearsome if you provoke them or if they're protecting their babies, mostly they're just like any other animal.

Edited 2014-09-30 23:11 (UTC)

I did not catch him like that. Summer is the direwolf of a friend. We were sparring, and I used the net to capture him. [She shrugs it off like it is not a big deal. Even if many Lannister men died by the jaws of Summer's brother Grey Wind.]

I wonder if the Targaryens would say the same. They united all of Westeros with their dragons. And none would challenge them until the last dragon died.

Oh, I see. That's still impressive.

[ It's not like she was playing with a regular old dog, after all, and his appreciation for her remains. ]

United all of ... [ That sounds familiar. Eerily so. ] Are you saying you know people who ruled with their dragons?

For hundreds of years. I was told Daenerys Targaryen was here with three of hers, but I have not met her.

And this ... Daynereese Targehreen, she used her dragons in the same way?

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

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