Snap the Tension {wide open}

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Tension dominated the mess hall. The students, the ones that hadn't fled, knew the truth. They now knew that there was a very good chance that they would all be soldiers in a war very, very soon. Even the ones that hadn't heard Gandalf's warning were fully aware of it by now. The school wasn't that large; rumors flew through the halls far faster than reality. Those rumors carried weight with them too, and that weight had fallen hard upon the soldiers of everyone there.

Including Astrid. She frowned down at the tray of food she'd gathered. As one of the trained warriors, she'd actually been named, sort of, in the speech that everyone was talking about. Her role had been defined; she finally had her course set. So why was she feeling so tense?

She reached up, rubbing at her neck. A ball of tension had formed there the moment she'd taken her order and walked. It simply refused to leave either, plaguing her as though it took specific glee in doing so. The girl sighed, lowering her hand. She rubbed her face. This was just... frustrating. She was a Viking. They lived for war and battle. She'd been looking forward to this for ages, had been there on the forefront...

had seen someone charge a group of armed men...
had seen them be captured.

"I WILL NOT BE BEATEN!" she shouted, slamming her fist down onto the table. This would likely have been quite the dramatic statement, had her fist not hit her spoon, and had said spoon not been filled with what was generously being called mashed potatoes. A glob of the stuff flung through the air, and had the misfortune to hit someone who wasn't Astrid.

There was that tension again. The heads that had snapped up at Astrid's words now turned to look at the potato wearer. He reached down, grabbed what appeared to be a handful of peas, and launched them toward Astrid.

He missed.

And the tension snapped in the most glorious way possible:

"FOOD FIGHT!!!!"

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Hiccup hadn't been looking for trouble.

Really, he hadn't.

He'd been wandering the school, minding his own business and trying to figure out why everyone was so damn somber. He'd gotten lost (as usual), and had wandered about for a while until he smelled a whiff of the glorious scent of food. His stomach had rumbled right then, and he'd followed the scent, finally staggering into the mess hall when he almost couldn't bear it anymore.

And when he pushed open the doors, he'd staggered into a war zone.

Hiccup had stood there for all of five seconds, gaping like a fish, before a glob of potatoes had been flung at his head. Naturally, despite his best efforts to dodge, the glob had hit him smack in the face. Cursing quietly under his breath, Hiccup ducked, fervently wiping the food from his face as he searched for a safe place to hide. He skidded across the floor on his knees, crouching beside a table and peering over at the chaos unleashed around him. There were people launching food at each other right and left.

Another glob of food shot past his face, missing this time, and Hiccup decided that now was a good time to set up a defense. His eyes darted around the room, and he quickly spotted an overturned table, set up as a barrier of sorts against the onslaught of flying food. Jumping from his crouch, he grabbed a tray, held it protectively in front of himself like a shield, and made a beeline for the flipped table. Unfortunately, he stepped on a cluster of peas as he closed in on his target, and his foot slipped, sending him crashing on his rear and skidding across the floor. The next thing he knew, he was on his back, staring up at the ceiling with his shins slammed into the table. Groaning, Hiccup ran a hand over his face and huffed, "Jeez, this is no better than Berk... Next thing I know, I'll see Snotlout or Astrid running around, lobbing food at someone."

He's spoken too soon, because as soon as he sat up, he saw a familiar blonde darting by. Hiccup stared, gaping once again, until another glob of potatoes smacked him in the face. "Okay, seriously?!" he shouted, scrubbing the mash from his face and glaring around the room. He shouldn't have shouted, because several more clusters of food were hurled his way, including a whole apple. Ducking, Hiccup glared around the room, sincerely wishing he hadn't come here. But there was no avoiding it. Hiccup glanced around, snatching up a handful of hash browns and hurling them blindly over the table. He'd show them, dammit.