Creeping Quietly (Open)

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For once, the woods were silent.

Hiccup glanced down at the forest floor from his perch in the tree, his blue eyes scanning the area for any sign of life. Nothing. The silence was deafening, and the young Viking found himself almost wishing for something to come by, just so he wouldn't have to sit so quietly. The bow dangling from his hand had an arrow notched, but he hadn't drawn the thing in several hours. He hadn't needed to. He was tempted to practice shooting again, but he didn't want to risk anyone finding the arrows and going on high alert. He was dangerously close to the border, after all.

Hiccup gave the area one last scan before putting the arrow back in the small quiver strapped to his back and slipping the bow over his shoulder. As much as he hated being adventurous, he wanted to do something, and he couldn't help the Tintagel Resistance by just sitting in a tree. Gripping the branches carefully, he climbed down slowly, not wanting to be injured by his clumsiness again. The last small branch was apparently rotted, and snapped under his weight, sending him tumbling to the ground. Scowling up at the sky,Hiccup sighed as he sat up, dusting the dirt and dead leaves from his clothing. He retrieved his circular shield from where he had hidden it inside the trunk of the old tree, and strapped it to his left arm. Once that was done, he unsheathed the hunting knife on his belt and set off.

The past months hadn't been easy for Hiccup, but he'd learned quickly. He still wasn't a perfect Viking warrior, but he had an advantage when it came to intelligence. When he'd initially set out to the wilderness, he hadn't been expecting to see so many traps set up. Of course, he'd finally been given the chance to concoct a few traps of his own, all of which were scattered throughout the woods. He'd even managed to catch a few enemies in his traps, which had been a source of pride for the young Viking. He absentmindedly wondered what his father would say if he saw how he was doing now.

"Aww, who cares?" he muttered, kicking savagely at a pile of leaves. "He'd probably still be disappointed. 'Hiccup, tha's not 'ow a real man fights, ya hear?'" he mocked, waving his knife around as he high-stepped over one of his traps, buried in the leaves and dirt. Shaking his head, Hiccup trudged along, completely oblivious to his surroundings. Had he been paying more attention, he would have heard the rustle of leaves nearby...

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"It's really not," said a voice that was no doubt familiar to the young Viking. The other Viking from Berk stepped from the bush, moving almost silently. Astrid looked decidedly different than she had mere months ago. She wore the woods on her now, looking almost like some kind of crazed creature of the forest. Sticks worked their way through her, along with a handful of leaves. Smudges lined her face, and her hair had clearly not even heard of a comb for some time. Leather armor of some kind covered most of her, and what was bared actually looked somewhat tanned now. At least she still had the weapons, including an axe that she gripped now.

"What," she said, pointing the axe at Hiccup, "are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back in town? You know, where it's safe? This isn't the place for rookies like you."

She flipped the axe, staring hard at Hiccup. She'd been tailing him for a little while now; he wasn't exactly a stealth master. True, Astrid wasn't sure entirely why she hadn't abandoned him to his inevitable demise. Boredom or something. Probably.

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Hiccup flinched as he heard a voice, whipping around and raising his shield on reflex. At least he'd learned something useful over the past few months. The second he recognized who it was, though, he lowered the shield, a tiny shred of relief worming its way into his mind. "Astrid? Jeez, I know camouflage is important out here, but..." he trailed off, clamping his mouth shut as he remembered that he probably shouldn't annoy her, as the girl could still beat him with her hands tied behind her back. He might have improved a bit, but he hadn't improved that much.

He raised his hands slowly, taking a step back as the axe was pointed in his direction. "I... uh..." he stammered, trying to think of a reasonable explanation besides the fact that he was really worried about where she'd gone off to. Because that wouldn't go over well at all. "I... wanted to help?" he offered.

Then he realized that he'd been called a rookie. A spark of indignation flared up in his mind, and he lowered his arms, scowling at Astrid. "Wait, hold on? Rookie? Excuse me, but I'm faring a heck of a lot better than half the people caught up in all of this. I've been out here on my own for a month and a half, and I'm perfectly fine." That last bit had been a blatant lie, but he figured he could get away with it. It's not like Astrid needed to know that he had nightmares about dragons every time he closed his eyes.

He took a few steps forward, jabbing his hunting knife at the Viking girl as he continued. "And maybe I don't want to be stuck waiting around for everything to work out. Maybe I want to - oh, I dunno - help? I might not be the best fighter out there, but I can make some pretty good traps, and I can at least slow them down." He normally didn't rant like this, but he hadn't spoken to anyone in nearly a month, and he just needed to blow off some steam.

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There had to be something wrong with Astrid's brain. Because as Hiccup started talking, she began to picture all the different ways she could take him out. A shot to the knee; a backhand to that silly knife and then an elbow to the face. A good jerk of the knee upward would cause him to double over, and then she could easily handle him. How long had she been doing this? This was... Hiccup. Sure, beating him up was fun, but Astrid was standing there literally thinking of how many different ways she could cut his throat while he was babbling about whatever it was he was babbling on about.

"Yes, rookie," she repeated, her tone icy, her mind desperately denying the thoughts. Aim for the throat. "You've been stumbling around and getting incredibly lucky. Do you realize how easily I could take you out?"

She was practically snarling by now. At range, with the arrow. First to the leg, to hamstring, then hop down and deliver a few quick blows with the axe.

"Help?" she was definitely snarling now, "help? Slow them down? You're--arrgh, if you poke me with that knife one more time, I swear to Art--Thor that I will make you eat it. You're practically a civilian," bend wrist back, break fingers, use knife to slit wrist. "You should be in town with the others. You know, at a blacksmith's or something. And get the knife out of my--"

Astrid paused. at some point, her hand had gone up to grab Hiccup's wrist, and her grip was far, far tighter than it needed to be. She wasn't sure if she was noticing it or Hiccup would have to point it out...

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Hiccup opened his mouth to shout something at Astrid, but thought better of it, and kept it to himself. Part of his normal introverted personality was starting to seep back, and he was back to keeping his thoughts to himself. He was actually starting to regret having gone to look for the Viking girl after all. He'd enjoyed himself more when he was alone, anyway. "Yeah? Well, luck's important, too," he retorted, his tone sounding thoroughly childish. Yes, he had gotten lucky, but he was using that luck to his advantage.

His shoulders sagged slightly as Astrid brought up the inevitable fact that he was an easy target. "Well... yeah," he sighed, before waving the truth off and standing back up straight. "But no! That's not important! The people we're fighting don't know our every weakness. They're just rushing us blindly, and if we can set up traps or catapults or something, we can outsmart them."

He couldn't help but flinch, backing up a step when the Viking girl snarled in his face. He'd forgotten how scary she could be. Actually, come to think of it, she hadn't been anywhere near this scary before. Maybe that was just his imagination, though. "I'm not going back to the blacksmith's," he stubbornly replied. "What am I gonna do there? Be even more of a failure? Look, Astrid, I already know how useless I am. I don't need you to shove it down my throat ever five seco-" Hiccup abruptly stopped talking, choking back a yelp as Astrid grabbed his wrist far too tightly. Wincing, he twisted his arm pathetically, knowing he had absolutely no chance of escaping.

"Astrid, let me go," he whined, wincing at how pathetic he sounded right now. He glanced at the blonde, noticing for the first time just how ragged she looked. Concern flashed across his expression as he tentatively asked, "Are you okay? You're acting really weird. I mean, I - "

Hiccup's questioning was cut short as, in the process of trying to step back and tug his wrist out of her grip, he tripped over a tree and fell backwards, dragging the girl along with him. He hit the ground hard, but the surface gave way, a series of clicks alerting him to the presence of a trap. "Oh, this is just perfect..." he groaned, right before a net flew up. A second later, the net was hanging from a tree branch nearly twenty feet from the ground, with him and Astrid securely inside. Hiccup scowled down at his hunting knife, lying where he had dropped it. "Great... Just peachy! Because I wanted to spend my afternoon stuck in a net up in a tree!" The boy growled in annoyance and embarrassment, curling in on himself as he muttered, "Don't. Even. Start. Astrid."

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What was Hiccup talking about? Astrid dimly recognized the idea of strategy, something that she'd actually studied in times past; mostly before this whole actual war thing had started. Plus, it sounded very much like the sort of thing Artemis would tell her, were the goddess of the hunt actually here. At least Astrid took some solace in knowing that she'd definitely improved under Artemis' tutelage; her record in that regard spoke for itself.

"You're not use--okay, not completely useless,' said Astrid, some of the snarl fading in the face of Hiccup's counterattack. She wasn't even entirely certain where it was coming from, just as she wasn't really sure where all the sudden emotion and outbursts had come from either.

The whining just made her snort though, along with giving him an exasperated look. She was about to spit out a "wuss" when Hiccup fell, taking her with him. Astrid was startled by the sudden shift, and she lost her grip on her weapon as she tumbled into Hiccup. The trained warrior did try to roll, hoping to get distangled from the other boy. But Hiccup seemed about as gangly as Astrid herself, plus, they were both wearing gear. All they really managed was to get caught up in one another.

Then the clicks, which made Astrid freeze. She spat a curse, relaxing at just the right moment. The net grabbed her, pulling her against Hiccup and pulling both of them into the air. She hissed as their feet left the ground fully, and she felt Hiccup connecting with her back.

"Start?" she snapped back, shifting. One hand was caught around Hiccup, looping about his chest in a near hug position. The other she'd managed to get through the net, so that it stuck out at an odd angle. Her right leg dangled out a hole in the net as well, though the other was crammed against Hiccup. Unluckily for her, most of the blades she could get to were near the crammed hand.

"Just shut up," she muttered, shifting in the net. "This is... you do realize you're supposed to trap them not us, right?'

She sighed in frustration, wiggling to try and get to some of her weapons. "Hold still, I'm going to see if I can get a knife or an axe or something. Some of us don't drop all our weapons just because we're surprised."

she was not mentioning the axe, and if Hiccup knew better, he wouldn't either.

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Hiccup was more than a little surprised to discover that Astrid didn't think he was completely useless. He'd been under the impression that everyone back home had thought he was no better than a sack of flour. It was oddly reassuring, and he probably would have actually felt somewhat happy about it, had he not been worried about the whole stuck-in-a-net-twenty-feet-above-the-ground-in-close-quarters-with-a-girl thing. He didn't need Astrid to tell him to hold still; he was literally frozen in place. He was also extremely glad that he'd ended up facing away from the girl, because his face had gone bright red.

Of course, some of his embarrassment dissipated when Astrid started chewing him out again. "Yes, I do know what a trap is for, thanks," he grumbled, scowling out at the tree. "S'not like I was trying to trip or anything. And clearly the trap works, so if it had been the enemy, it would have worked perfectly."

Hiccup glanced down when the girl suggested getting a knife, and instantly regretted it. "Um. I do hope you realize just how high up we are," he nervously mentioned. He had a feeling that Astrid wasn't too keen on listening to him, though, so he started to formulate a plan of his own. He quickly noticed the position he was trapped in, with one leg awkwardly twisted through the side of the net, and his other ankle caught in a rather tight knot. His arms were free, though, and there was a bit of room in the net for movement. He knew he'd dropped his knife, but his quiver and bow were still strapped to his back. He didn't know how many arrows he had, though. Sitting up slightly, he twisted as best he could, reaching behind him to pull an arrow out of the quiver without hitting Astrid. After a few failed attempts, he finally got the bolt out, gripping it closer to the arrowhead as he leaned forward toward his feet. If he could get his feet free, he could maybe shoot the release trigger that he'd put in for such occasions.

"You never actually answered my question, though," he started warily as he sawed at the ropes around his ankle. "Seriously, are you okay? I mean, I know we're Vikings and all, 'born and bread for battle' and all that nonsense, but... We're still kids." No, wait, that wasn't the right word. Hiccup paused as he tried to think of a better wording. "I mean, not kids, but - you know."

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Astrid's mouth opened to protest again, but she soon closed it, mostly because Hiccup was most assuredly right: had they been enemies, his trap would have worked perfectly. True, it was a little trite and cliche, and Astrid was half tempted to point that fact out, if only to save her dignity. Except it had worked, making matters all the worse.

Astrid tried to put that out of her mind, instead twisting and turning to try and pull the various weaponry from her. Her fingers latched onto what she thought was a belt knife, and she began pulling. Unfortunately, her hand was twisted behind her back, and she could already feel her fingers scrabbling to hold it. Then, Hiccup twisted and moved, likely trying his own plan or something, and Astrid felt the knife tumble from her fingers. She spat curses, fumbling for it, only to watch as it hit the ground.

"What the Hel, Hiccup!?" she demanded, turning to fix him with a glare. She followed it up by punching his shoulder. "What do you---" she stopped, realizing that he had an arrow out. "oh, yeah, because shooting us down is going to be so much better."

she rolled her eyes. How exactly did he think he was going to get off a decent shot like this? even Artemis would probably have problems. She let out a groan of frustration and shifted, again patting herself down. It was then that she realized, again, that Hiccup had arrows. without thinking about it, she lunged for one, her hands grasping onto one and jerking it, which meant she was essentially pulling Hiccup toward her.

oh, yeah, and there was the whole question thing: "Of course I'm fine. I've been training with several gods for months now. I'm probably the best warrior in the entire damn school by now," mostly because fighting and hunting had literally become all Astrid did. She couldn't even remember when she'd stopped, really. She focused on getting the arrow, trying desperately not to notice that she had to effectively hug Hiccup to manage it.

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Hiccup glanced back behind him when Astrid cursed, confused as to what he’d done. He wasn’t prepared for the punch to his shoulder, and he yelped, almost dropping the arrow. By some stroke of luck, though, he managed to hang on to the bolt with one hand, rubbing his shoulder with the other. “Ow, jeez! What was that for?” he demanded. “I’m trying to help. Y’know, instead of sitting around uselessly.” He grumbled, adding on in a lower tone, “… Like I normally do.”

Getting a good grip on the arrow again, he waved it in the air slightly, making sure the Viking girl could see the arrowhead. “And I’m not planning on shooting us out. Yet. I hardly use these, so they’re sharp enough to cut the ropes,” he explained, hoping that Astrid would catch his drift. It was no knife, but it was the next best way of helping to free them. His ankle was still twisted rather painfully in the ropes, and he moved to start trying to free it again, continuing as he slowly worked, “If we can cut some of the ropes, we can either risk trying to climb up the main rope to get back to the tree, or we can try for hitting the release trigger over there.” He stopped to point at what looked like a bird’s nest. He had taken a lot of time to hide the trigger, and he would hate to mess that hard work up, but he was going to have to reset all of this anyway.

Hiccup probably would have gone into more detail about his patchwork plan, but he was suddenly dragged backwards. He choked as the strap of his quiver dug into his throat as Astrid unceremoniously tried to get an arrow out of his quiver. He tried to ignore the fact that the girl was basically hugging him, and instead focused on listening to her grumbled answer to his question. “I wasn’t asking whether you were okay physically,” he huffed. “I never doubted that you’d be able to handle your own out here. I mean, you always were the best fighter back home.” Glancing over his shoulder, he continued. “But do you ever, y’know, not fight? It’s gotta be bad for you to be on guard all the time. I mean, I wouldn’t really know, but… I do pay attention. I’ve seen what happens to people in wars.” That was one of the few things that people didn’t really notice about Hiccup. He actually was quite observant, when he wanted to be. And since he had generally just been left to his own ends, he had made a habit of wandering around the village, and observing the state of everyone around him.

Of course, that also meant he’d seen the few dragons that weren’t killed right away too. He’d seen how terrified the beasts were, and he’d developed his doubts about the Viking’s war against dragons, but he’d never voiced his concerns. Better to be silent and considered sane. Hiccup was quiet now, lost in his thoughts for the moment. He blinked as his brain chose to register part of what the girl had said. “Hold on, gods?” he asked incredulously, craning his neck to look over his shoulder. “As in, plural? Which ones? And how the Hel did you manage that?”

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Astrid had a few words about Hiccup's general uselessness, and her mouth even opened to begin delivering them. However, there was something in his delivery of the words, something in the way he looked, the way he carried himself, that made her pause for a moment. Pause the talking thing, because she was still lunging for the arrows like they were her one and only lifeline.

No, the arrow lunging didn't stop until Hiccup began explaining what he planned to do with them. Then Astrid froze, staring at Hiccup. "That's... actually a good plan," she mumbled the last few words, letting out a long, slow breath of air, one that hit a few loose strands of her blonde hair. She rolled her eyes, pausing for a moment to stare at the net. It had been Hiccup's fault they'd gotten stuck in this, but it looked and sounded like he at least had an idea for getting them out. She had to give him that much, at the very least. And it was the very least. Really.

Wait, "Release trigger?" now Astrid had her attentions on something else, even as she said the words. She figured she could probably hit the trigger... if they were free. She nodded, her head shifting slightly to look at Hiccup. "Right, you cut us out, and leave the trigger to me." Maybe if she was extra lucky, she'd land on Hiccup. That would be a definite plus.

So they had a plan, even if it was one that didn't leave Astrid with a lot to do right now. She stopped attempting to hug Hiccup and instead moved to lace her hands and arms through the netting. The last thing she wanted was to lose control of the fall; the release option was already bad enough as it was. Then, they'd be able to know exactly when to fall. Sort of. Okay, so there wasn't a lot of logic here, but Astrid was still gripping the netting tightly.

Plus, it gave her something to do while Hiccup prattled on. Something about wars and what they did to people. Like Astrid didn't realize what wars did to people; she was a Viking. Vikings fought. Well, Vikings that weren't Hiccup fought. Technicality, that.

"I don't fight sometimes," she practically growled the words in response. Her eyes flicked to Hiccup, clearly informing him that there would be face punching if he suggested otherwise. "We're at war right now, so it's mostly fighting. But I do other stuff. I... hunt, and train," she shifted, feeling sheepish for a moment, "and I'm on the track team."

There, that was something. Astrid shifted again, taking a deep breath, one that she held in for perhaps a bit too long before letting go. She looked toward where Hiccup's hands were, figuring that he should have made decent progress on the whole cutting them free bit by now.

"Oh, you know," she said, loosening a hand enough to wave distractedly, "a few gods. Thor. Loki. Artemis mostly, especially lately. Haven't met Hel, but I hear she's here. Just sort of happened. Have you cut through the stupid netting yet? I don't know about you, but I'd like to get out of here before my next birthday."

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Hiccup was infinitely grateful that Astrid hadn't chimed in on his uselessness. It was nice to not be insulted constantly. Of course, he couldn't help but roll his eyes and give an exasperated sigh when the girl seemed surprised that he had an actual escape plan. "I know, sooo surprising that pathetic lil' Hiccup actually knows what he's doing for once. Big shocker there," he drawled, laying on the sarcasm pretty heavily. Scowling, he grumbled, "I have good plans. Nobody ever listens, though."

Shaking his head, Hiccup went back to cutting at the rope. Which was going pathetically slow. Sometimes - well, most of the time - Hiccup wished that he had a bit more strength. He absentmindedly listened as he worked, a bit of feeling coming back into his foot. He snorted derisively when Astrid tried to justify herself, and find a time when she didn't fight. "Ooh, look at you. One thing that doesn't involve violence. Progress," he muttered a bit louder than expected. He clamped his mouth shut quickly after that, fully expecting to get hit for his sarcastic remark. Sometimes, he hated his motor-mouth.

Scratch that, he hated it all the time.

Of course, he quickly forgot about that as Astrid mentioned the deities she'd met. Hiccup had to admit, he was impressed. He'd done a lot of reading before the war, and he'd read up on a lot of the gods from other legends. All of the ones she listed off were impressive, but not necessarily ones he wanted to meet. Well, maybe Loki. A god who specialized in tricks and fought without using brute strength? It sounded almost too good to be true. He had to admit, he was a bit jealous. Astrid was turning out to be everything he was supposed to be as the chief's son: strong, brave, blessed by the gods. What did he get? Brains and wit. Real good for a Viking, that.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of hacking at the rope that left his arms burning slightly, the rope was halfway cut. Scowling, he glanced back at Astrid. "Well, excuse me. I want out of here too, but I'm not exactly Mister Macho Man."

Of course, he probably should have been paying attention to the rope, because as he was talking, the thick rope he'd cut partially began to fray, and suddenly snapped. The entire net creaked ominously, and Hiccup froze, glancing up at the ropes holding the net up. Grabbing his bow and quiver, he practically shoved both in Astrid's face as he backed against the netting. "How about you hurry up and shoot us down, yeah?" he said nervously, still eyeing the ropes above. So maybe it wasn't as stable as he'd thought it would be. He'd have to fix that later.