Forget puppies [OPEN NON EMO POST! Great Scott!]

[staturity]

Cassie had originally come to hydroponics to check out the puppies but she had ended up falling in love with a very different creature, one she had noticed on her first visit to the place.

The creature she'd fallen in love with? The conventionally unattractive Kyth grub mole. There was just something about that little critter she couldn't resist.

"What am I going to name you?" She said to the pink little grub in her arms, cooing up at her in contentment.

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[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

"You said a bunch of words but all I heard was blah blah science, blah blah--oh hey, now you're small."

Hiccup crouched down to talk to her.

"You're powered by science, right? That's what you're trying to say? I'd normally call it magic, but I'm learning a lot of things I'd call magic actually make sense somehow."

[staturity]

"Yep, science. To make a long story short. Hold on, I'll grow back now." She gave him some time to back up before going back to normal size. "So, if you're convinced I'm not going to eat you, can I have my mole grub back?"

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

As she grew, Hiccup fell back on his rear again, but this time, he held out the mole grub, letting her take it, and then just sat there, staring at her.

"How can you do that? I mean, how can science do that? What are particles? I know they're very small, small things, but I didn't know they could make other things small or big--"

Judging from the prosthetic, he was from a time where knowledge of these things didn't exist yet.

"--Never mind, I prob'ly can't understand what you say yet anyway. But I will! Eventually. I'm still learning science--now that I know there's a word for it."

[staturity]

"Thanks." Cassie said as she took her baby the mole grub, then took a seat right by him. "It's pretty complicated. I don't even understand it all. You'd have to ask Dr. Pym, and he's not here- or well, he's not out of the pods. But I'll give you the basics later. You'd need to know some chemistry and biology. Have you made it that far?"

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

"Sort of? I've been learning the basics, and the basics of earth science and I probably should actually stick to one subject, but there's too many for me to learn and they're all interrelated, and they're all just about equally interesting--"

He paused.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Hiccup, by the way. Are you one of those people that handclasps to say hello? I can do that."

He held out his hand like it was a somewhat alien thing for him to do.

(You only clasped hands with bros or to seal a deal or something.)

"And yes, I know it's an odd name. It's a thing my people have. Naming schemes. Ugly names to scare off gnomes and trolls."

[staturity]

"Handcla- oh yeah. Handshake." She shook his hand. "I'm Cassie. So you've got gnomes, trolls, and giants where you're from? Sorry for scaring you earlier."

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

"Well, technically we do. I've never seen any--but Gobber thinks he has. He's the blacksmith I apprentice under. He says they steal your socks."

Hiccup explained, "But I've gone troll-hunting a couple times just to see if they're real, and I'm not sure if they are."

He waved a hand. "As for scaring me, it wasn't your fault. You'd think by now I'd understand that judging on first impressions is a bad idea."

He gave her a shy grin.

[staturity]

"Yeah, well I think everybody has problems not judging on first impressions. So you're a blacksmith apprentice? That could come in handy around here." If she ever got the helmet she'd been messing with working and it needed repair which... was never going to happen. But it was a thought.

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

"Pfft. I doubt it. I've seen some of the things the others are building in the lab--that's what it's called, right? Anyway, if they could get any more over my head, they'd be flying." He joked, "And I'm sure some of them are actually flying machines of some sort."

Hiccup shook his head. "Right now, I'm just tagging along with everyone else on our little adventure. I just hope I find something soon that I can actually help with--but I guess that means if you ever need the help of a somewhat ineffectual Viking, I'm your fur-wearing guy. I even bathe more than the typical Viking--I'm learning that's very important to you future people."

[staturity]

"Viking?" Cassie blinked. "O.K., that explains a lot. But just because the technology's advanced doesn't mean you can't help fix it. And I know there are some people who still use swords. So if anything gets bent out of shape you can help them out. And when you catch up on some stuff who knows what else you can do."

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

He sat and thought about all that.

"I guess you're right. I mean, is there even a blacksmith on board?"

[staturity]

"I'm not sure. If there is I know there couldn't be many, maybe not even more than one." Although she could have sworn there had been one on board at some point. Probably GLaDoS or her memory acting up.