Dated May 5, 2013

[talking_fishbone]

To say things hadn't gone as planned would have been both a gross understatement and, essentially, the story of Hiccup's life. Last time, it had ended with a dragon for a friend and, maybe, some interest from Astrid. Today, though, it ended with him covered in a splicer's blood and creeping towards the showers. Normally, he'd have just dove into the waterfall to get the worst of it off, but the feel of it was so foul that Hiccup had a feeling he'd do better with more immediate measures.

Hopefully, he wouldn't have to make too many explanations. No matter what the reason, saying hello to someone whilst dripping with all manner of filth never went well for anyone.

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[followsthewisps]

Being of age and in need of an adventure, Merida had given going to Rapture some thought. It would be fantastic to see something new on the island, and the strange land below them certainly sounded it. But it was also reported to be more dangerous than a mere adventure as she'd have back home, even with the threat of Mor'du, and more like the city of winter time, which quite overwhelmed her.

The debate was weighing heavy on her head as she paced in the storage room, dressed in trousers, a small pack of food at her hip, and armed with her bow and Feremauch in case her bravado and curiosity win out. Tossing an apple between her hands, Merida mutters all the pros and cons, starting to lean towards going for the sake of it, right before she catches the sight of her viking friend, soaked in filth and gore.

"Hiccup! By heavens, are you alright?"

The apple drops as she rushes to look after him, to make sure none of that blood is his. Adventuring could wait.

[talking_fishbone]

It figured that it would be Merida he ran into while covered in blood. The concern in her face as she ran over startled him and Hiccup quickly put his hands up, hoping to show her that he was okay. "Hey! I'm fine. It's not mine. I don't think any of it is."

He could probably expect a bruise for his idiocy later, but that was far less of a concern.

"I was down in Rapture."

[followsthewisps]

Merida purses her lips in disapproval and reaches up to smack him upside the head, completely ignoring his state for a moment.

"You daft boy! Why didn't you tell me before going down?! I would have gone with you!"

Grabbing him by the cleaner of his shirt sleeves, she drags him over to the laundry to fetch him fresh clothes to change into.

"What is all of that from, anyhow?"

[talking_fishbone]

"Ow! Hey!" Although given his friendship with Astrid, he should have been used to it.

"I just wanted to explore. I wasn't planning on getting in a fight but I found a friend taking on this huge brute of a splicer. We fought it off and Toothless got a death bite in and I..."

He gestured to himself. "Guess who was in the splash zone."

[followsthewisps]

Hearing that the dragon was with the viking, Merida sighs in relief. At least Hiccup wasn't alone, and with the best protection he could have at his side.

"Next time, you're going to fetch me so I can go with you. No arguing."

[talking_fishbone]

"Yeah, IF I ever go back down there." All the monsters aside, Hiccup didn't really see much point in going down there. Maybe he could salvage some metal but there was plenty on the surface.

"That splicer was huge." And being so big, there was plenty of blood.

[followsthewisps]

"Perhaps I'll have to change my plans to go down then," she mutters, having picked out his clothes. Holding them up in a bundle, she looks at him pointedly.

"Well? What are you just looking at me for? Go on, to the showers with you! And when you're all decently human looking again, you're going to tell me every detail."

[talking_fishbone]

"Oh. Right!" he started toward the hall before remembering to come back to grab the clothes first. "I'm not even going to try and wash these. They're way past saving."

To emphasize his point, Hiccup pulled off the blood-soaked shirt and dropped it in the trash. Underneath all the muck, he could see a spectacular bruise rising up under his skin.

"Be back in a second."

[followsthewisps]

She laughs, pulling a slight face at the sight of his bruise and the sound of the wet shirt going into the bin.

"I'll just go to the kitchen and fix up a hot mug of tea for you. And maybe fetch some salve for that bruise."

[talking_fishbone]

Hiccup raised an eyebrow, expecting more ribbing before the presentation of such an offer, but deciding not to push his luck.

"Seriously? Thanks."

[followsthewisps]

"Just no complaining if it's complete rubbish or turns you into a dragon, you hear me? I'm only doing it out of the kindness of my heart, lamb," she says, emphasizing with a none-to-gentle poke to an unbruised rib.

Merida walks off to the kitchen, unloading her weapons on the table and getting a kettle of water boiling.

[talking_fishbone]

"It can't be worse than yaknog. And no you don't want to know."

Before Merida could poke him again, Hiccup dashed over to get clean.

[followsthewisps]

Once the kettle starts to heat up, Merida finds the tea leaves and tosses a decent-looking amount in and runs of to find something for his bruises, returning just as the kettle whistles. With lots of bubbles going over.

"Ach! Darn this–"

She drops the salve and goes to rescue the tea before Hiccup could see.

[talking_fishbone]

A few minutes later, Hiccup reemerged dressed but barely dry, his hair stilled plastered down on the back of his neck.

"Hey, I'm back."

[followsthewisps]

Merida turns, recovered with tray with two mugs of tea, the kettle, and the salve in its jar on the side, clearly marked. She's grinning a little stiffly, even though her tunic is clearly soaked with spilled tea and her fingers slightly red from scalding.

"Tea's ready!"

[talking_fishbone]

Politely, Hiccup pretended not to notice the spilled tea and turned his focus on the tea and salve. "Thanks. I'm pretty sure it's just the bruise. I don't think I'm bleeding."

[followsthewisps]

She rolls her eyes at him and put the tray down on the table before nudging him into a seat quite forcibly, though she's careful about his injured side.

"Aye, but I saw the size of that bruise. Ye'll thank me for it. Now take that shirt off again, so I can treat it."

Merida takes a seat beside him and opens the jar of ointment, smelling the slightly familiar scent of arnica and what she's come to recognize as clove.

"I thought to grab some of the cider vinegar from the cupboard, but why settle for that and rob the cooks of ingredients when there's a perfectly good supply of medicine in the clinic? This should help numb any pain and help the bruise to go down. At least, that's what it says it should do on the label."

[talking_fishbone]

"Gobber would have just chewed up some leaves–and told me that the spit was the thing that did the trick." Granted it had worked pretty damn well, but if he could stick with the ointment then so much the better.

"You really think it looks that bad?"

[followsthewisps]

"I've certainly seen worse," she answers with a shrug. After all, much like Hiccup, her father was missing a leg. He's not the only warrior of Merida's clan who'd suffered injuries from sport or battle that she's had the displeasure of witnessing.

"I just think there's no sense in having our resident blacksmith suffer longer than necessary. You're lucky that it isn't bigger, or I'd wonder at the state of your ribs all together. It couldae required bed rest and I'd have to be the one hammering away at scrap and entertaining your beastie for you."

[talking_fishbone]

"Hey, I would pay good money to see that," Hiccup joked, quickly adding. "The entertaining Toothless, I mean."

Though he thought she looked like someone who could learn the tools of smithing. A little practice and experience with the heavy tools and they'd have more than one smith handy.

"I could show you how to use the forge though."

[followsthewisps]

"And I'd do a fine job of it, worth your money," Merida laughs, poking his uninjured side again. With the salve properly warmed between her fingers, she smooths a generous layer over in bruise, making sure she covers all the sickly yellow-violet skin.

The mention of actually learning his trade had her pausing. It would indeed be both useful and interesting to her, as well as to the island, what with the seemingly small number of smiths present. Merida can't help but wonder what sort of objections her mum would raise.

"I'd have to consider... And I think you'd have to consider learning to actually use the weapons you make with me, in that case."

[talking_fishbone]

"If only so I don't learn to shoot my eye out." He took a deep breath as he felt her smoothing the salve over his bruise. If only because he told himself it would help, he felt better.

"I'll show you how to make a sword and then we'll get a few swings in."

[followsthewisps]

"Let that soak all into your skin and don't put your shirt back on until it's decently dried. I'll make sure no cheeky lasses try to turn your stomach into washboard again."

She caps the jar of salve and wipes away the excess on her fingers, happy that they also cooled down the slight burns from the tea on her finger tips. Taking a seat to enjoy her own tea, she grins across the table at him.

"So, it'll be my turn to make you a worthy sword then?"

[talking_fishbone]

"Only as worthy as the one I made for you," Hiccup said, grinning wryly. He went over to another chair and sat carefully to avoid smearing salve everywhere.

"I don't think that's anything to worry about, unless Valkyrie's around to tease me."

[followsthewisps]

"That's a hard challenge, then. Feremaucht is a fantastic piece of steel,"she grins back, lifting her mug to her lips. Merida doesn't doubt that she'll take to the forge faster than she had with the loom, but even then, anything she could create in the next few months will likely pale in comparison to Hiccup's more practiced hand.

[talking_fishbone]

"When you make a sword for someone you care about–friends, family, whatever," Hiccup carefully didn't mention romance. "Then you're going to put your all into making sure it'll protect them."

He hoped that Merida understood that it meant he'd put even more effort into perfecting her sword than any one he'd made before.

[followsthewisps]

Merida smiles softly at him. It's admirable how he cares for his friends in such a way that he makes them the best for their safety.

"The island must be full of your master works, then."

[talking_fishbone]

"Only for people who ask it of me. I wouldn't force a sword on someone who didn't want it." He paused and added, "Or for someone whose father forbade me to give the four-year-old a sword for everyone's peace of mind."

[followsthewisps]

She laughs, not needing much to guess who's child Hiccup is speaking of. "Normally I'd point out that I was four when I was gifted my first weapon, but I think our wee neighbor can wait a bit still."

[talking_fishbone]

"Yeah, but at four years old, none of us were Reynald," Hiccup reminded her. Not that he really thought Reynald was any kind of threat, but he would abide by Robb's request.