maskormenace | ( 001 ☁ video )

( 001 ☁ video )

[It starts off as an audio to start with a few mumbling noises of "How do I even get this to — oh, maybe this button? Oh, gods, that's not right" until finally the view of a young man appears, with a mess of auburn hair and face plastered with freckles appears on the screen, a smile popping up as soon as he sees the visual seems to be working.]

Ah, see, there you go! Not so hard once you get it going. [Sure, the technology was immensely different from what he's used to, but he could handle it.] Okay, well, ah, they said you could talk to this thing? Right, well.

[He opens his mouth to speak, but as soon as he does, you can hear quite a loud thumping nearby that snatches his attention.] Toothless! Be careful there, bud, you don't wanna — [A louder thump, probably equal to the sound of furniture tipping over. The young man winces, but ultimately just sighs.]

He's ... he's fine. It's just kind of cramped in here. Small room. Big dragon. You know how it goes. Anyway. [Even if they don't, he's smiling at the screen again even if it's a bit nervously.]

Hi, folks! Hiccup here. And that, over there, is Toothless. [The screen shift to temporarily show a giant black dragon growling at a couch for making it difficult for him to sit, before it goes back to Hiccup.] We're not really from around here — well, a lot of you aren't either, I've heard, but my home's really far away. Like, blast into the past far away. Berk, it's an isolated island of Vikings, who just happen to also be dragon riders. And speaking of, has anyone seen any dragons around? I thought I might check around to see if — h-hey, watch it!

[In a moment, Toothless snatches the communicator between his teeth, forcing viewers to stare into the mouth of a Night Fury, as pink and gross and wet as you'd expect any dragon's mouth to be. The grumbling sound of Toothless' attempt to chew on the device is amplified in its current location while the muffled sounds of a desperate Viking is heard in the background.]

Toothless! Come on, bud, this isn't something you can just eat. Give it back! You know that doesn't wash out!

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[dragooooon. Jonathan is completely enthralled, as any proper Englishman would be, and perhaps taking it with much less disbelief than some of the other folks. he's dealt with vampires, how much more far off was something like a dragon?

and, unlike said vampires, this one seemed to be benign. so cool. but Jonathan's noticed that the other responses seem to zero in almost exclusively on Toothless - which, while understandable, probably isn't very fair to Hiccup. and so he uses his vast and somewhat inhuman reserves of self-restraint to not ask the six million questions shooting around in his head, instead focusing on something a little more conversational.

he still looks pretty obviously jazzed, though. who knew a guy that big could look like such a little kid.]

It's a little overwhelming to suddenly find yourself stepping into the future, isn't it? Although I think you have me beaten by several hundred years. There's a great deal to catch up on, but it's all quite fascinating.

[Hiccup didn't mind the attention towards Toothless, knowing he'd be the same way on the other end, always pretty much preoccupied with dragons one way or another. But with the current circumstances, he's definitely grateful when people seem to check up on him, still lost and confused on this new world he's been thrown into.]

The future. It's still kind of weird to say it. I like thinking ahead, but this was a little more ahead than I expected. [He gives a chuckling laugh with a shrug.] So you were behind like me, huh? You're right, it's all pretty cool, but how do you manage it? It's kind of a lot all at once.

I just try to take it one day at a time, or else it becomes completely unmanageable. It's best to focus on understanding the things you encounter on a daily basis first, and then start researching what interests you once you're certain you won't destroy your home while making breakfast.

[he laughs in a way that makes it clear he's speaking from personal experience on that one. boiling water is apparently a dangerous operation when you're not prepared!]

The libraries make that second part much easier, although if you aren't careful you might not come out again.

That's ... actually pretty decent advice. They've already tried showing me a bit on how a stove works, so I can at least skip over the destruction part.

[Learning home appliances first is probably the best advice he's gotten so far.]

People mentioned something about google. Supposedly that tells you everything, but ... well, it all didn't make sense so I figured I'd reserve that lesson for another day.

I've heard a bit about that function myself, but I can't say that I've used it very much yet. Perhaps when I become more skilled with typing on this keyboard in general.

[giant bara hands are not your friend when it comes to texting. let no one tell you otherwise.]

From what I understand, google is rather like having access to thousands of books at once. I don't think it's capable of telling you anything more or less reliably than the old methods I'm used to, just faster.

The typing part isn't so bad. It's actually pretty fun to do it, especially since I don't really have the best handwriting so at least I'm not forcing anybody to try and read it. [But he has long, nimble fingers so the actual act of typing is easy on him.]

Yeah, that's what I've been told. Apparently it's better to use that than to actually ask people questions sometimes. At least for awkward questions or something, or so I've been told.

I'd like to say my writing is a step up from the manner in which I text, but...[he trails off, laughing ruefully]

Ah, I can understand that advice. It's a bit more reassuring to know that you can find answers without alerting anyone else to an unfortunate predicament.

It's actually probably a bit better for people like me. [He gives a short shrug.] I used to not really talk to people as much, or avoided it, mainly because the people I lived with were pretty difficult. So I used to read more and just try figuring things out myself.

I never minded asking others when I could, but I've had a great deal of experience in dealing with difficult people.

[boy is that an understatement]

Much as I love books, they've never been considerate enough to awaken me when I fall asleep studying them late at night. They could learn a bit from people in that way.

[Hiccup laughs over the bit about the books.]

That's true enough. Lucky for me, I've got dragons to do that job. I'm usually up pretty early with how much Terrible Terrors start singing on the rooftops. Sleeping becomes kind of a rare occurrence that way.

I can't say that I'd know much about that at all! Dragons are exclusively relegated to storybooks at home.

[he's. pretty sure, at least. god he hopes so, dealing with vampires and zombies was difficult enough.]

Well, lucky for you, I've got the real thing right here and I happen to be Berk's exclusive dragon expert, so I can tell you anything you might want to know.

[The sheer lack of dragon knowledge in these parts is killing him. But at least he gets to brag.]

[hey man he knows a lot about dragons and dragon-type creatures! just. not any that actually exist. Jonathan worries his bottom lip unconsciously, caught between politeness and really wanting to take Hiccup up on that offer.]

Ah, I wouldn't want to overwhelm you just to satisfy my own curiosity. You've only just arrived, and it takes some time to settle in.

Trust me, talking about dragons will make me feel a lot more at home than most of the other stuff going on here, so it's not a big deal. [Only that it makes him really miss Berk when he talks about it.]

But hey, we can meet up sometime and I can fill you in. Maybe even let you take a ride on a real Night Fury.

[hnnnng Hiccup no you're appealing greatly to the not-so-secret little kid in Jonathan. who doesn't want to ride a dragon, like seriously.]

I think that I'd enjoy that very fun - both the ride and the chatting. I could even bring some of the stories on dragons I grew up with, if you're interested in seeing how other worlds perceive them.

[And he knows it too. Everyone's a sucker for dragons and he's a sucker for bragging about it.]

Oh, absolutely. Considering it's weird that dragons don't really exist in a lot of places, but they still manage to write about them — it's definitely something to be interested in.

Nearly every culture seems to have some sort of dragon involved in their mythology; it's really quite fascinating to see the difference between, say, a Chinese river dragon and the red dragon of Wales.

[he looks primed to keep rolling on, but checks himself with some sheepish laughter.]

But I don't think most people care to hear about dry things like that when there are far more thrilling tales to be had.

Red dragon? [That gets a memory that he grits his teeth a bit over.] I'm really hoping that's nothing like a Red Death. Hopefully not if it's just a story, considering the latter is very real.

[His lack of a foot is proof of that.]

Stories or not, it's still good to learn about them. At one point, a lot of the dragons we knew about were only in books since they were so rare. There's actually tons we haven't even discovered yet.

It's more of a national symbol than anything that would merit such an epitaph. I'll be certain to bring a great deal on it so you can see for yourself.

[which suits Jonathan just fine, since they're all stories that he's pretty familiar with as a good British kid.]

But it seems that there's always more to be discovered, no matter what world we reside in. I'd say that mine doesn't have the same prospect of dragons, but I'm willing to allow the possibility of nearly anything these days.

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