how soft your fields so green, can whisper tales of gore

[hiccup1puberty0]

Who| Hiccup and You
What| Hiccup's freaking out a little bit.
Where| Pick a Scenario
When| Present day
Warnings/Notes| SPOILERS ahoy.

No village, no Astrid, no Toothless, no clue. That was how things were looking right now. When Hiccup had first woken up, naturally, he'd looked for his father. He was dead, right? He expected his father to be sitting right nearby, smile on his face, unhappy Hiccup was dead but otherwise enthused about showing him around Valhalla.

He could practically hear him, imagine the heart slap on the back. "Hello, son! I waited for you so we could go feast in the hall together!"

But his dad wasn't there and he woke up in a strange bed that was far too soft, in a strange empty room, with some kind of...thing attached to a wall. It was playing images from the foggy place that he'd been, showing people getting slaughtered.

What.

His dad was nowhere to be found.

"Oh gooods, this can't be real, please tell me this isn't real." Hiccup tried blinking his eyes open and shut a few times, then pinching himself. Nope, still there. He wasn't in the afterlife but it wasn't a crazy dream, either, or if it was, he couldn't wake up.

He looked down to see what he wearing. Okay, it wasn't that different from the kinds of things he wore at home, wool and leather and fur lining, but the fact they'd dressed him in his sleep? Creepy. There was a boot next to the bed so he slipped that on and went running for the door.

A. In the Hallway

The next few hours were a blur of terrified exploring and trying to escape. Just getting out of the building was an adventure in pushing random buttons and then he wandered through a - not a village. A town? A city? With stone obelisks taller than any house from home. The ways out were barred shut and guarded by soldiers that wore the same kind of strange armor as the ones that had shoved him into the arena. It didn't help that there seemed to be some kind of plague going on, making it even more difficult to move around.

So it was after a rather frantic and exhausting search, overwhelmed by his death repeating over and over again in his head and the new sights he'd seen (metal flying carts of some kind? Metal carts that seemed to roll around on their own?) that he came back to the Tribute Center, stumbled his way into a random hallway and sat down, back against the wall, to indulge in a nice, thorough panic.

Ooooh yeah, it was about time get at good bout of hyperventilation in. Just one.

[ooc: This one I'm just going to limit to one person, whoever tags it first, since he'd likely calm down after]

B. Choose a location

After calming down (slightly) Hiccup decided to take a look around the Tribute Center. They'd left him his notebook and he'd managed to get a pencil from one of those people that wasn't speaking, and he was pretty much drawing a map of the entire Tribute Center as he went. It couldn't hurt to make sure he knew his way around, right? It was a big building and he had no idea what kind of threats he might face in it.

He was occasionally jotting little notes of things as figured them out, like the buttons on the lifterator that opened at each floor of the building.

Unfortunately, this meant he sometimes stopped right in the middle of where people walking, completely oblivious to that fact.

[ooc: He can be found in pretty much every place in the Tribute Center and that includes District Common Rooms that are not his own. Just state where your character finds him in the subject.]

Comments

A!

[seestheman]

Clara had seen the kid run down the hallway on her way in from grabbing lunch at one of the few restaurants that had been left open. If there was one thing she was good at, it was mom-ing at panicked kids, and this one definitely seemed like he needed it. It wasn't until she got down the hallway to where he was sitting that she realized that, as gangly as he was, he definitely wasn't a kid. Or at least old enough to probably be offended by being called a kid.

She sat down next to him, putting her bookmarked copy of some cheesy romance novel she had found that morning to the side, and started rubbing little circles on his back like she did every time David woke up terrified by a nightmare. "It's okay, you're safe now," she said softly, which may not have been completely true, but for the moment? He was safe for the most part.

[hiccup1puberty0]

"Foooor nooow," he said slowly, the words drawn out so much it sounded as if they'd been strangled to death.

He tried to slow down his breathing and made some progress but that was just his breathing. Actual calm wasn't coming so easily, especially when he was so revved up from running around the entire city trying to find a way out.

"Uuh."

He didn't even know what to say, what questions to ask. There were far too many. That was the problem here, and instead of the usual wonder he'd feel at seeing so many interesting things, he was just overwhelmed because of the horror of it all.

"So, the impression I've gotten is that this isn't exactly Valhalla? What with the lack of a mead hall or Valkyries or Vikings all over. I'm pretty sure I'd have noticed the Vikings, we're a very conspicuous people." He said the next part very slowly, as if he was having trouble controlling the tone of his voice as he said it, "And my dad isn't here. Which is why all that is really confusing because I'm pretty sure I died?"

[seestheman]

Clara wasn't going to argue the 'for now' part, considering how true it was. It would be for the best to be honest with him and not give him false hope that he was only going to die the one time (which still hadn't quite sunken in for her either, but she wasn't going to tell anyone that).

"You definitely died," she finally said after trying to figure out which one to start with. And she could confirm that he had died. Hell, she had seen his death in the highlights reel the Capitol showed as part of the local morning news "They kill us and bring us back for entertainment, so no, you aren't in Valhalla. You're in the Capitol."

She wasn't sure if it was her own curiosity or an attempt to try to draw him away from being so panicked, but she couldn't resist giving him a perplexed look. "So you're seriously a Viking?"

[hiccup1puberty0]

Hiccup nodded slowly.

"There's a lot of -" He gestured vaguely at nothing in particular. "- whizzing things outside. And people who don't even look like people who I can only assume are what humanity is supposed to look like a long, long time down the line. I mean, who am I to say we all won't turn into bird people, right? This place is either the future or a place that's so alien and has advanced things it's like a future could be."

The augments on some of the Capitol people had freaked him out a little but he was taking it to mean that maaaaybe some people would wind up looking that way down the line. Who knew?

"And there's flat windows that have moving pictures on the other side that I can only assume are some kind of contraptions that are so advanced they seem like magic. And there was the lifterator. The lifting thing that goes up and down to all the floors. So I'm a little - I guess you could say there's some culture shock. Just a little bit."

He sounded dazed.

"It's not like all this stuff will be impossible to understand in the long run. I think? It's more just having it all come in at once, you know?"

[seestheman]

There were a few things in there that Clara had been tempted to jump in and explain, but figured it would be for the best to wait until he took a chance to breathe so as not to interrupt him. Maybe rambling like this was his way of calming down. There were worse ways he could have gone about it. After being mostly sure that he was done talking, Clara figured that was her cue to start trying to explain things to him.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," she said warmly, almost feeling like this wasn't that different than having to explain various things to David. Except this kid...young man...was older than her son by a handful of years. "This entire place is more than a little overwhelming at first."

She figured the best place to start would be explaining from easiest to hardest. "The lifting thing's called an elevator. Back home, we call the things with the moving pictures televisions or TVs. I...I'm not exactly sure what they call them here, but people use them to watching things as entertainment. As for the people, it's cosmetic surgery if what I saw was right." Which is when it clicked that he probably didn't even know what cosmetic surgery was. "They went to a doctor or someone professional to look like that. Unless things get even weirder in the future, we shouldn't end up sprouting feathers in a few thousand years."

[hiccup1puberty0]

"Uuuh, I really wish they'd just have sprouted feathers, that's a lot less weird than someone putting them in."

His eyes were very wide. He couldn't shake the very gross mental image of someone somehow sticking them in someone's skin. Then something occurred to him. His mind had just been sloshing around, unable to take it all in, but it was starting to piece it all together. The arena, the revival, all the screens showing people dying.

He turned to her, expression stricken, clearly knowing that the answer would be a bad one but unsure of all the details.

"How do they bring people back? Why are we here?"

Congratulations, Clara, you get to be the one to explain the living nightmare of it all to him.

[seestheman]

Clara wasn't quite sure if she agreed with him on that or not. Both options sounded painful, but only one of them (probably) involved being knocked out. And she wasn't sure that she should tell him that, really, that's not the most extreme thing people do to their bodies here.

The look on his face makes her forget anything she might have said. She knows that face. She's made that face recently (she's made that face a lot recently). She didn't know how to answer that when she didn't have all the details, and god she wished she did. It would make explaining this so much easier.

"I don't know how," she said, making sure to keep her voice even and steady as she launches into the next part. "We're here to kill and be killed for their entertainment."

B

[hit_girl_mindy]

Quarantine. Yay. It was one of the crowning end of one of the worst few days she had, so now she was confined to here, training again and more than a little irritated that there was literally little else to do. After a pretty intense workout, Mindy'd had a moment to splash some water on herself still wiping her face and, by accident, crashing into someone who'd chosen to stay pretty stationary.

"Dude, what the shit..." she trailed off, taking a look at the guy and what he was wearing. "Oh man, another viking."

[hiccup1puberty0]

"Another one?" Forget his maps, finding out who they were and if he knew them suddenly became top priority.

Did that mean he wasn't alone in this place?

At the same time, he wouldn't wish it on anyone.

"What's their name? Where are they?"

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Forgot the district." Hell, these guys were pretty direct. "One of them, Thor. Big guy, strong as shit, known on my world. But the way you're dressed you look more like the girl I got these bruises on my face for. Ruffnut. Pigtails, long face, looks more stupid than she is. Don't tell her I said that. Um...lugnutt. Something like that."

She might remember where she is, but wanted to be sure with this guy first. She had actually sort of liked the girl despite how they met.

[hiccup1puberty0]

"Ruffnut? Ruffnut is here?"

Waaaait.

"Hooold on. Thor? As in...Thor?"

That was impossible. Maybe someone had gotten too big for their britches and it was a somewhat blasphemous nickname?

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Yeah, that's the one. Hold on, before I tell you anything...she doesn't owe you any money, or have some blood oath to kill her, do you?"

Oh right. Why did she think mentioning him wouldn't be a big deal?

"Thor. The God guy. Brought down in this place too. It's...a little fucked up how they can do stuff like that here."

[hiccup1puberty0]

"No no, we're good, Ruff's one of my friends." He was a little more stuck on the Thor thing, though. "And you mean the actual god. The actual god Thor, as in one of my gods, is here. In this place. Thor."

Unbelievable. That couldn't be possible, could it? That these people, whoever they were, had managed to trap a god?

"If he's here why hasn't he, I don't know, smited somebody yet? Smote. I would think there would be some smiting going on."

[hit_girl_mindy]

"I...think we are? Or she's courting me. Or she hates my guts. You know, no joke, distinctions hard to tell with you viking people. Either way, we're on terms. And, uh, don't mention how she lost. She's sensitive about that. No one likes getting eaten, of course."

She was lucky enough to have NOT had that happen.

"If he could, he would have. Lots of people here had plenty of intense powers, and they lose them here. It's pretty scary, actually. Just ask around, you'll hear the same thing."

[yourmove]

Alex has had a few days to adjust to the idea that he's not even capable of feeding himself like he used to and it still doesn't feel like enough . He needs techs and handlers for things as basic living from day to day because if he doesn't, he gets a repeat of the Arena. Starving to death because he can't process food and he barely absorbs water. Nice to know he can't grab breakfast anymore.

He finds himself missing greasy scrambled eggs. Coffee. A crappy beer the perfect level of ice cold.

Alex makes himself scarce when District 5 trots out brunch. There's nothing worse in his mind than sitting there staring at the plate while the Escort gossips and the other Tributes (mostly) look miserable. Nevermind the Avoxes. He hadn't known they couldn't talk until he tried to hold a conversation with one and the Escort pulled him aside to stage-whisper that they didn't have tongues anymore so he shouldn't pay them any mind. He'd stared, too surprised to blow up, and when he turned around, the Avox had vanished. Alex has a sinking feeling he doesn't want to know what happened to their tongues.

He catches Hiccup out in the hall. He's scrawny and Alex doesn't realize he's actually older until he gets closer to realize he's definitely old enough to be tried as an adult. (Old habit from his job). When he gets even closer, he can see he's drawing and he's actually...pretty good? Like he expected stick figures, but these look almost like blueprints, notes. Someone's taking this more seriously than the other Tributes he's seen out there.

"Plotting an escape route?" Alex knows he can't sneak up, so he doesn't try. His smile is a little wan despite telling himself he'll be more upbeat today. "Good luck."

[hiccup1puberty0]

"Not so much, but when they inevitably send monsters running through the halls to chase us - just for giggles - I figure it'd be nice to know my way around. I'm also taking notes on the technology. We don't have anything like it where I'm from, so I'm making sure to keep track of how it works as I figure it out. Some of this stuff is more advanced than anything I've ever -"

Hiccup looked up from his notebook to properly greet the strangers and the moment he did, his eyes popped open wide.

"- seen."

He didn't look freaked out so much as surprised at the sight of a man who seemed to be made of metal and really, judging from his clothes it was easy to tell why he was a little stymied by the technology he was seeing. Clearly, he wasn't from a time where it was common.

"Huh."

[yourmove]

"Tell me about it."

Alex tries not to take it too hard and in a way, it's easier because the what the hell is that thing look coming from a stranger is easier than family, friends. Other cops at the station. Besides - the kid's kinda growing on him. Big talker, this one. He figured they had something in common, flicking a glance down at the glint of metal where there should've been an ankle. Instead there's what looks like a prosthetic foot, like it came out of a garage or something.

"Alex Murphy," Alex holds out his hand, the joint purring. He makes sure to hold out the right one because at least it's got skin and muscle there (he thinks). "Arena or before?"

Alex tilts his head down at the young man's foot, the kind of nod you'd give to another cop and go nice war wound.

[hiccup1puberty0]

It was the nod and the whirring of his suit as he held out his hand that made Hiccup realize that maybe it wasn't a suit of armor like he'd initially thought. The whirring gave the impression of something mechanical underneath. However, he didn't look disgusted or frightened by Alex's appearance, more like he had something of a professional curiosity as to how he even existed. His expression even had a tinge of the exhilaration a kid might have upon meeting a robot, tempered somewhat by the fact he was an adult and this was clearly a person standing in front of him, not a new gadget.

It was also tempered by the sobering reality that if it wasn't a suit, if he was in the same longship, it meant almost his entire body was made of some kind of metal. Hiccup couldn't even imagine that kind of loss and he had a good imagination and a good starting point thanks to his leg.

And as proud as he was of the reason he lost his leg, as much as it represented something brave, something selfless, done out of a love of his tribe, he still missed the feeling of having two sets of toes to wiggle in the grass. As good as the peg leg was, he missed the balance and awareness of where his limb was that could only happen with a flesh and blood limb.

To have almost his whole body made of something artificial...

"I lasted a day," Hiccup said, voice dry, raising his eyebrows, making it clear he had been dumped right into the arena. "Kinda got backed into a corner and wasn't okay with the whole killing strangers thing. It seemed a little rude to do it without at least having a good ol' fashioned blood feud going first."

Hiccup wasn't quite sure to do with his hand. The occasional tough guy (or tough lady) hand clasp was definitely a thing with Vikings as a sign of alliance or that two Vikings were battle buddies, but the formal handshake hadn't been invented yet.

So he turned the handshake into that, clasping it in the hand opposite Alex's in a sort of broish hand clasp that was more suggestive of "let's go kick some butt together" than formal greeting between strangers.

Training Center: Training hall

[ruffntumblenut]

Things could be going better for Ruffnut.

After getting in trouble for a barfight and being returned to her room the entire tower had been put on lockdown.

Three attempts at escape had all been met with peacekeepers, stern glares and threats of more pain. One of Ruffnut's handlers had suggested she work out some of her aggression in the training hall.

The results of this could be seen all over as piles of broken spears, shredded ropes, scattered arrows and snapped bows. The girl in question was hanging from a netted rope she had been climbing. One of her legs was twisted up in the robes and her face was getting red from all the blood rushing to it.

She was almost unrecognizable other then that. Her hair was clean and oil free, her clothes were new and modern. A training jumpsuit with District 7's logo on it. Even her skin seemed clearer and cleaner.

Re: Training Center: Training hall

[hiccup1puberty0]

She really was almost unrecognizable. Hiccup glanced at her once without noticing it was her, but on second glance the hair color and long face caught his attention.

"Ruff! Hey!"

One the hand, did he wish his friend wasn't stuck here in a horrible situation? Certainly.

On the other hand, was he tremendously relieved he wasn't alone? Definitely.

"Someone told me you were here."

Re: Training Center: Training hall

[ruffntumblenut]

"Hiccup!"

She started writhing and twisting till she spun around from the rope. Her hair swung like a curtain and her top began to slide down her belly towards her face. Absent mindedly she gripped at the shirt to make sure she didn't expose herself in the process.

"You died on the first day!" She shouted as the spinning slowed. "I at least made it three weeks." But the sound in her voice was delight. She wasn't alone either and for someone who had spent all her life with a brother around, being alone was turning out to be surprisingly awful.

Re: Training Center: Training hall

[hiccup1puberty0]

"Yeah, well, what else would you expect from me? Especially without Toothless."

He held out his arms as if to gesture to...well, all of him.

"You do whatever you need to, to survive, but I'm gonna pass on the killing our fellow prisoners thing. That's just what I personally need to do to be able to live with myself."

And was it really that surprising?

Hiccup immediately starting climbing up on the nets to help untangle her. It was pretty much instinct by now to help the twins out of their own messes.

Re: Training Center: Training hall

[ruffntumblenut]

"Huh. Some Viking." She muttered before she was freed and fell to the floor with a audible "Thud!"

Sitting up and rubbing her head she felt dizzy. The blood drained from her head slowly and she let her stomach spin. "Come on, even without your fancy shield I've seen you fight better then that. What happened? Did your leg rust up or something?"

Obviously not given how easily he'd hauled himself up the ropes. No small feet with only one real foot.

Re: Training Center: Training hall

[hiccup1puberty0]

It was easier to go up than down. Now that Ruff had fallen her way to freedom, he got himself tangled this time, falling and dangling from his peg leg. Fortunately it was strapped on pretty tight or else it might have fallen right off.

"Ow."

Very dignified. So chiefly.

He managed to get himself untangled and fell on his back, rolling over and getting up, dusting off the wool and furs they had him in. He'd been a little more fortunate than Ruff in that his stylist wanted him to have a proper Viking look, even if it was through a filter of high fashion.

"All I had was a knife. Unlike a shield, a knife is a little on the fatal side if you attack someone with it," he said. "And it's different back home. Back home we're always fighting people who have titles like 'the Treacherous' and 'the Deranged.'" He wobbled his head back and forth as he said it, in an 'ooh, so scary' gesture. "They're people that attack our home or have their little schemes to attack it that we route off before they ever manage to. These people aren't a threat to Berk and they're just doing what they're told because they're afraid they'll be punished otherwise. I'm willing to fight back when I can but not when the only way involves killing someone that's a prisoner here."

He brushed his clothes with a last few petulant hand gestures.

"And I'm def'nitely not doing something that terrible just because some crazy people told me to. We're vikings. Yes, we do the whole fighting, show-no-mercy thing sometimes, but since when have we let people boss us around?"

Re: Training Center: Training hall

[ruffntumblenut]

As he explained Ruffnut's face lost it's expression of interest. The longer he talked the harder it was for her to focus on what the point of it was. She got the gist of it being he didn't want to kill anyone but she still didn't understand why. The rest of it all became white noise.

This however gave Ruffnut a moment to notice that Hiccup was...different. Taller and something more. Filled out? As he continued babbling she moved closer so that by the time he asked his question she could lean forward and study his face with much more interest.

"Yeah I guess never...hey what's up with your face?"

Queen of tact: Ruffnut Thorston.

Maybe she had missed it before because of being upside down or dizzy. But now that the world was steadying itself he definitely wasn't the Hiccup she'd seen a night before waking up in the Capitol.