Fourth Viking Assault. [video]

[punchandkiss]

[When the camera clicks on, Astrid is sitting on a chair, with her sentret perched on her shoulder, tail hooked around the Viking teen`s neck. In the background, a growlithe pup and her axew are chasing each other in circles. Astrid is stuffing things into her bag, and after a few seconds she glances up at her phone. She looks...worried, honestly. And tired. And she doesn't seem to have any idea what to say. After another moment, she sucks in a breath.]

Hiccup`s gone.

[She says this rather matter-of-fact ly, and continues to talk as she resumes packaging.]

I was told people disappear. But Hiccup had been here for months, he said. I didn't think...[She shakes her head.] It doesn't matter.

[Another pause as she stuffs some more things into her bag, and her sentret climbs up onto the top of her head, prompting the girl to reach up and lift her off, setting her down on the floor. The little pokemon bounces up on her tail to stay in the frame.]

...I guess I'm going to head back to Violet. I wanted to get the gym badge there, and I...[She hesitates.] No reason to keep waiting around here.

[She reaches out to pick up her gear, looks like she might say something else, then shrugs and turns it off.]

Comments

[usedshooshpap]

Pfft. It's a little too late for that. I've been here for almost a year now. Shit, I've been human for almost a year.

Do you know how much that can change a troll?

She's still my first crush. You never really lose that fondness, even if you eventually move on.

[punchandkiss]

How is it so different? Other than not being in space.

[usedshooshpap]

Trolls have a different set of instincts. Our DNA and blood types dictate our mental stability and even our lifespans. Humans just aren't so feral.

[punchandkiss]

Feral. What, like bears?

[usedshooshpap]

I am seriously starting to think you have a rather peculiar fixation with bears...

[punchandkiss]

...There just weren't a lot of animals around Berk, alrigth?

[papshooshing]

Trolls get bigger than bears. Or some do.

[punchandkiss]

...Jeez.

Would you have gotten that big?

[papshooshing]

Probably not. Then again, I have no fucking clue. Adults don't live on the planet.

[punchandkiss]

What, no adults at all? Who'd you live with?

[papshooshing]

My Lusus.

[punchandkiss]

No clue what that is.

[papshooshing]

For me? It was a giant crab monster. Bigger than a bear.

[punchandkiss]

A giant crab monster.

[papshooshing]

What? You think raising beasts comes naturally?

I did this for six goddamn sweeps. Lusii take care of us and we take care of them.

[punchandkiss]

Well, that's...what are parents are for. I live with my mother and father, not...

[She trails off, she doesn't know what to say really. Raised by a crab monster.]

[papshooshing]

We don't have parents. Any and all genetic material is given to the Mother Grub which, in turn, lays the eggs that troll grubs hatch from.

[ he's had to explain this sooooo many times. ]

[punchandkiss]

Grubs? Is that like babies?

[papshooshing]

Close enough.

[punchandkiss]

...Right.

So wouldn't the Mother Grub be your mom, then?

[papshooshing]

No? It's just a host for our genetic slurry.

[punchandkiss]

I...don't think I want to know what that means.

[papshooshing]

Yeah, you probably don't.