(first stake) video ✧ open to both courts

[herotypical]

[ the locket swings jarringly into action -- like a camera stuck to a pendulum, shuddering back and forth and only occasionally picking up a stern-eyed blonde. ] Ugh. Whose idea was it to glue a webcam onto a necklace--

[ there! steadied. there is first a grimace and then a forced smile and then a flutter of girlish eyelashes. ] First order of business? Those of you still bumming around the Station -- could you tell me how those repairs are coming along? I'm feeling a serious oncoming modernity craving. Like, a gallon of lattes and underwear that doesn't require learning whole new categories of knots.

Second: does anyone know how to make a quick buck outside shilling it for either court? [ she is not a fan of either of the caers. ] Preferably while also maintaining some facade of dignity.

And third and last but absolutely never least: does the name Sunnydale mean anything to anyone? Y'know, anyone other than the someones I've already talked with. [ hey! it's worth asking. doubly so now that it looks like she's here for the long(ish) haul. double ugh. ]

Comments

[smithwork]

Oh, please, there are far less dangerous tools in a forge. I say this from extensive personal experience.

[ He's going to be fluffy-haired forever, too bad and so sad. ]

[herotypical]

-- You forge things?

[ this just got legit interesting. ]

[smithwork]

Yeah, I've worked as a blacksmith since I was eleven. [ Reading that look, gurl. ] I don't have a forge with me right now, if you were wondering.

[herotypical]

Talk about a summer job.

[smithwork]

It was the only thing worth doing on Berk, growing up. How about you, what's your whole home-slash-job deal? You mentioned a place called Sunnydale. That sounds nice.

[herotypical]

It was. Now it's a little less...well, everything. But I was working at a school.

[ kinda. sorta. yes. ]

[smithwork]

You look unsure of that.

[ Buffy McShifty. ]

[herotypical]

I am sure that the school is now a pile of rubble. So I guess my more accurate description is unemployed.

[smithwork]

Why don't you teach the kids here? That would probably pay, right?

[herotypical]

Oh. God. I never taught.

[ except for the part where she started training a baby-slayer army whoops. ] My gig was more a...student outreach thing. Counselling. [ wait. she bets that's a modern concept. ] Do vikings do counselling?

[smithwork]

No, but they should, it sounds like it would be pretty beneficial. Small island, huge fire-breathing lizards — there's a certain degree of stress involved.

[ Giving her a wry, amused glance. ]

Vikings do a lot of things, just nothing anyone here seems to think is very important. Like building houses and storing food for really, really, really long sunless winters. Taking care of animals, all that junk. Making weapons.

I'm untapped potential, clearly.

[ Ahw yiss. ]

[herotypical]

I dunno. Sounds pretty important to me. [ especially the weapon part ok. ] If you didn't look a little on the youthful side -- [ she squints ] -- I'd jump the gun right here and right now and ask you to marry me. A charge-free arsenal for life.

[ don't be too offended hiccup. anyone under a hundred is too young for miss serial vamp dater over here. oh and also she is majorly kidding. ]

[smithwork]

"A little on the youthful side"? Is that your tactful way of saying the scruff does nothing to make me look twenty? I'll have to invest in a full-blown beard, maybe work some artful beading in there for good measure.

[ And besides!! ]

You look barely older than me, you must be going for guys about a hundred.

[herotypical]

[ oh god don't get her started on beard-beads that's a whole other problem. ]

You know. I am a little disappointed. Beardless viking? Way to disappoint the audience, Mister Haddock.

[smithwork]

Wow, don't boost my confidence too much. I have enough hair in other places to make up for any facial deficiencies, thanks, you can sleep more soundly at night knowing there's a burly Viking nearby sprouting mile-long beards from every angle of his offensively hench figure.

[ These two, the most dry. ]

[herotypical]

[ oh sweet mercy if she had a drink in hand now would be the perfect time for a spit take. ]

Look. I didn't mean your face was deficient--

[smithwork]

[ You started this, Buff. ]

Could you tip a yak? Force a dragon to sit down using only your thighs? Then I'm disappointed in you and you're not the girl for me. I'm glad we straightened this all out.

[herotypical]

[ oh buddy she can absolutely tip a yak. she can tip five yaks. she can tip yaks all day. sadly, she can't boast about her hypothetical yak-tipping because she's not keen to go all blast announcement on her slayer dealio. ]

A little early to be discussing anyone's thighs, isn't it?

[smithwork]

This relationship is moving along at breakneck speeds, I have to say. Some sort of record is being set here.

[herotypical]

Who needs romance and candlelight when you've got -- uh -- thatch roofs and those funny boats with the llama heads?

[ dragon. dragon heads. just -- yeah. ]

[smithwork]

I have no idea what a llama is but I'm going to skip an explanation I don't care about to assume you're being facetious, Miss Sassy.

[ Progression up the rank ladder: Miss to Miss Sassy, next on the list Sarcasm Valkyrie. ]

And I can do romance. [ Protesting that because hmph. ] I take Astrid to the Dragon Training Academy every now and then for a date.

[ No, Hiccup, she just humours you because you love that place too much to understand it's a shitty locale for sweethearts. ]

[herotypical]

[ oh pretty pretty please she so wants to be a sarcasm valkyrie. the stupid courts can keep their stupid titles -- she'll wear that one proudly. ]

Hiccup. Hiccup Hiccup Hiccup. My very very new but alarmingly confessional friend -- I can't even begin to count the things that trouble me about that statement.

Let's start with: every now and then. Dates shouldn't sound like they're on the same schedule as when you clip your toenails. [ ... ] You do clip your toenails, right?

[ or do they (MUCH LIKE YOUR VIKING BEARD) also not grow. ]

[smithwork]

[ ;lkjdff LEAVE HIS ALMIGHTY SOMEDAY-BEARD ALONE. Laughing, wow. ]

You're so mean and rude, how did you ever successfully integrate into society like this? [ Meanwhile he's just as rude so it pans out. ] Also I'm busy training dragons, working as a blacksmith and dabbling in a little cartography as a side-hobby, she knows I don't have time to go lounging about every single night. Never mind that, though, forget I need a life too. Buffy, now that me and you are dating, as of this very moment, exactly how many times do you expect to be taken out?

[ ... Mildly, genuinely curious. He is not a bad boyfriend!! Probably. Most likely. ]

[herotypical]

Oh. Cartography on the side. Well excuse me! [ we got a badass over here. ]

Three times weekly. And one of those has gotta be brunch. But either of the non-brunch options becomes suddenly negotiable in return for sweet-ass axes.

[ hey. he's the one who brought up the blacksmithing again. ]

[smithwork]

Maps are very important, yes, you're excused. No axes for you.

[ !! Deja Vu of talking to Astrid, whoa. ]

Assuming you're going to see me anyway over the course of this week, why do three of these occasions have to stand out? Once seems enough for anybody.