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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...are you done?

[Tetra's fist, she had never encountered someone who could speak so long in one sitting! Did this human need to breathe, or was he some sort of inhuman creature that didn't require air?!

Still, she might as well be helpful. Ish. Having other people to call on in a strange land certainly didn't hurt. But the long sigh made it clear this was still a very much forced habit on her part.]

I have not seen your Astrid, your dragon, or your mother. I have no detailed maps to provide, and even if I did, I would not offer them up without some expectation of proper payment.

[Not that she'd been looking for either of things. The only dragon she'd heard mention of was the one responsible for the Atlantean's injuries, and that one likely wasn't the same.]

And, as we do not share a castle, I must ask...what is yours like? Are there at least preparations for an attack soon? I grow tired of waiting for battle, I would much rather fight one.

[Unbelievably unlikely that she'd get an honest response if they were, but she felt obligated to ask anyway. Unless explicitly told otherwise, she'd probably tell him if the Seelie forces were preparing. No harm in warning the enemy you were coming, in her experience. So long as you took pains to avoid mentioning the wheres and hows.]

You can't expect payment from someone asking for help as they settle into a completely foreign world. If it's such an inconvenience to you, don't bother responding on principle.

[ Even if he knew anything about Caer Scima beyond the surface, he wouldn't offer it up to a demanding, arrogant, haughty person such as the one that flickers into view on the locket. More than that, Hiccup finds being frank with her is the only response he can dredge up; he's tired, as well as mildly freaked out the day after being kidnapped, and doesn't need the extra stress. ]

If making yourself useful puts you out, I'd rather you stopped.

[ And be grumpy in a corner or something, it doesn't affect him that way. ]

Actually, I can. Money isn't the only thing of value. Here, or on any other world.

[Well, that, and she supposed he was technically an enemy. Not smart to just go around giving things to the rival court. Might provoke the one she reported to. Actually, that might not be such a bad idea, just...not right now.]

This is also not an inconvenience. If we're going to be enemies, I may as well know what to expect.

...and the dragon parts do sound interesting.

[As does the mother part. Humans wearing armor is sort of a new thing to her, and she supposes they're just some sort of rare outlier of the species that actually fights.]

[ At which point, he adopts a look of incredulity. ]

Are you serious? I'm not gonna fight you just because this place slapped an allegiance on my back! I don't even want war, let alone ask to be conscripted into theirs. Magical or not, this is ridiculous.

Then don't worry, you won't. Do not interfere, and you won't have to!

[She had nothing to gain from just fighting everyone who crossed her path, after all. There was no honor in maiming the civilian populace.]

What, so you just, you just want me to stand aside while you actively participate in and encourage a war? [ Whattt. ] And that doesn't sound insane to you?

Should it? War is common enough on Khoros, it is why I assume they brought me here. But I have no interest in fighting those who do not take to the field to meet me, if that's what you're worried about.

Unless of course there's plunder! But I doubt you have anything worth taking. As you said, you're new!

[Awfully chipper about the subject, all things considered. Then again, kind of a way of life!]

[ Thor above, this woman is like a demonic Alvin. Luckily, Hiccup has spent his fair amount of time around Vikings like this, so instead of remaining riled up he just starts to look resigned to her craziness. ]

Do you have a name?

I am Princess Looma Red Wind. Daughter to Warlord Gar, and heir to the family throne.

[There's no bowing or any other such formalities to be seen over the locket, though. To be fair, it's not much of a Tetramandian thing to begin with. The most they'd do is salute, and considering Hiccup was certainly not a rival warlord, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.]

Is that enough? I am trying to grow accustomed to the titles many in this realm expect.

Huh, is everyone here royalty?

[ Somehow doubting Jack is, but maybe spirits rank the same way? Merida's a princess and a few other people have pretty high-standing ... ]

No. I do not know how many are, nor do I care, but I have encountered those who are not.

[Unless knights actually were, in which case, well, someone should have given her the memo or something.]

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

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