DISTRACT Is Super Effective! [Open]

[astridhofferson.livejournal.com]

She sneezed and the fishing rod in her hands briefly jumped in her grasp.

Astrid huffed out a grunt, a hand relinquishing hold on the line as she indignantly rubbed under her stubby nose with the back of her finger while her blue eyes dully leered at nothing in particular off-screen.

That sneeze. Someone talking smack about her?

Disregarding this fleeting suspicion, she shrugged it off, merely readjusting her grip on the handle, and settled posterior more comfortably on the moss-covered boulder beneath her.

Within the encompassing towering stone walls of what appears to be a lost oasis, Astrid engaged in fishing on these familiar grounds taken from her memory of a memorable location somewhere on the outskirts of the Viking's home village -- the exact place she stealthily pursued after Hiccup and discovered Toothless subsequently. 'Course, for Hiccup and his dragon, this secret watering hole served as a base where they established their bond as well.

Today, though it just served as a relaxing getaway for one of the female's less than energy draining hobbies. Or so she thought? There's a sudden reflection of a figure on the waters pristine surface and it was impossible not to notice she now has company.

Astrid blinked a moment, then pursed her lips and turned her head to look up sidelong at whoever approached her with a stare clearly of "Hey, don't scare the fish."

Comments

[badassfreakingoverlord]

What is the book doing here and why is it staring at her fishing pole in fascination?

Because Zetta seemed downright enraptured by this item, and the way she was using it.

[astridhofferson.livejournal.com]

Oh she knows this book.

Noting his fixation on her fishing rod, she glanced back and forth between the rod and him. "Yoou... fish?" she asked, vaguely surprised someone like Zetta would take a fascination in this kind of time consuming thing to begin with. Surely he lacks the patience.

Actually, the real question is does he even understand what she is doing?

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"I've never seen anyone use a fishing pole for fishing before!" the book said in some disbelief. "I mean, I know that's what it's supposed to be for, but what a hell of a waste of a weapon!"

[teethofneedles.livejournal.com]

There's the sound of a line playing out as Karis casts her own hook out into the water. Yep, she's gonna do some fishing too. She's got a broad-brimmed hat on and she just glances over and returns the stare with a little nod.

Then the zombie goes back to watching her bobber. Because stuff like this happens every day.

[astridhofferson.livejournal.com]

Her body visibly flinched and her face changed instantly upon locking eyes with her new visitor. Astrid's expression must be a little funny right now considering... considering this, like, happens never for her.

Realizing she is staring, she turned her attention back at the water, shifting awkwardly, and throwing glances in Karis' direction every now and then.

A living dead joining her for some casual fishing -- well, this wasn't weird at all. If it wasn't for the ghoul's ridiculous hat and the fact the pods did pop recently, Astrid would almost believe she was being haunted and flee make her exit.

But, hey, this zombie can't be all bad if they just wished to partake in the act of fishing rather than partake on...

Shaking that last thought out of her head, Astrid chuckled somewhat nervously. "Nothing's really biting--" Ack, wait, that's gotta' be the wrong thing to say in this situation. "...ah, I mean, it's almost like.. like the real thing, you know. The fish are awfully stubborn for some reason," she corrected herself, attempting to venture in small talk at the very least.

[teethofneedles.livejournal.com]

"If you get bored easily, fishing really isn't the activity for you," Karis reflects, half to herself. "Besides, half the entertainment is the peace and quiet, right?"

She can still remember days from when she was young, going fishing with her father or younger brother. She'd continued after her unfortunate turning, if only to get a little taste of her life back. It was something she took solace in. And it was, as she said, quiet.

She watched her bobber for a few moments longer. Nope, nothing yet. She'd let it sit for a while. Then again, you couldn't really expect them to start biting on the first cast. She slowly started to reel it in for a re-cast. "Fish don't want to get eaten. Probably more then you wanna eat 'em."

[governorkang]

Kang held his hands up and smiled, slowly sitting down next to Astrid. He kept his voice low, "I didn't know you knew how to fish."

It looked like it wasn't going to be too difficult to keep her distracted. Now all he had to do was try not to let the conversation steer towards Hiccup and where he currently was. There was no way in hell he was going to lie to her, but he could at least do that much for the boy.

[astridhofferson.livejournal.com]

Astrid offered a smile when she saw it was only Kang, minding the draconian's girth as she edged over to make adequate room for him. To be honest, she doesn't care if the fish were startled by his massive presence. After all, they were simple catch and toss game anyway. The real purpose is to enjoy this serene, familiar atmosphere.

She flashed an amused grin and gestured that it was okay to speak normally. "Shocked? Is it weird? Even I don't train all the time," she said, chuckling lightly. "It's an old habit from home, really. What about you, Kang?"

Oh the subject of Hiccup will likely leave her mouth at some point, but as long as she's unaware of what has been going on while she was loafing around ship, Kang needn't have to worry about divulging anything.

[governorkang]

"No, it's not weird. I just didn't know," Kang shrugged, letting his tail curl around his feet. "What, do I know how to fish? Not really. I know how to set a few different types of traps, though. There was usually someone else that did all the hunting." And the cooking. It was one of the perks of being an officer, and then the governor.

[radiantcourage.livejournal.com]

Hoshi had made sure to keep as quiet as physically possible so that the fish weren't that interrupted. She decided to bring Seraphiel who perched himself on one of the branches after being on her shoulder.

"Do you have another fishing pole?" she asked quietly as to not disturb the peace nor the fish.

[astridhofferson.livejournal.com]

Truthfully, Astrid's not worried about anyone disturbing the fish so much as disturbing her pleasant mood. As for the fish, with how real the Sensoriums reflect their memories, sometimes its hard to forget everything is just a simulation. Hoshi suddenly appearing isn't a big deal.

The moody expression left her face when the unfamiliar girl requested for a rod, not expecting that kind of response.

Astrid shut her eyes peaceably while giving the rod a one-handed gentle wave, explaining, "Not on me, but this one is probably... outdated compared to what most people around here -- or you -- are accustomed to." Extremely outdated in some cases when the Viking female is from a "prehistoric" age considered to others. But who cares when it does the job, yeah?

"--so if you're aware on how to work the Sensoriums and get your own, be my guest," she concluded, opening an eye and flashed Hoshi a knowing, friendly smirk, while completely distracted of the fact Hoshi didn't come alone.

[radiantcourage.livejournal.com]

"Ah, sorry. I'm still getting used to the Sensoriums and being around here," Hoshi explained while nervously rubbing the back of her head with one of her hands. She noticed that Seraphiel seemed peaceful in this kind of place -- how could one not be when it was calm and quiet here? She thought back to when her father would take her on the amount of vacations they took and she soon had a fishing pole in her hands.

Although, the comment on Astrid's fishing pole got her thinking a bit. Outdated? Did that happen to mean that she came from the past? Well, then, if that was the case...

"I'm Hoshi Hikari. It's very nice to meet you." Western order, but she didn't seem to mind to change the order. After all, being in New York and other areas of the world had different orders of how to introduce one's self.

[ruffntumblenut.livejournal.com]

The first of two voices broke the silence oblivious to her stare, it was Tuffnut with a curious "Hey whatcha doing?"

"She's flying, what's it look like she's doing?" And there was Ruffnut smacking her brother in the back of the head with an audible "Tha-wack" Yes even when only one of them was really there it seemed the twins never could get along for long.

[astridhofferson.livejournal.com]

You can forget things like "quiet" and "peace" when these two are together, Astrid knew that much, so she wasn't exactly bothered as they paraded in on her moment of solitude. She could use the entertainment, right?

"Hi, Ruff. Hi, fake Tuffnut," Astrid dully called out, cupping a yawn, shifting again on the rock and bluntly answered, "Fishing for monsters."

A lie, but who could resist?

[ruffntumblenut.livejournal.com]

"Monsters?!" They both asked echoing one another excited.

"You can't catch monsters in a lake, monsters only live in the ocean!" Protested Tuffnut only to be shoved away by Ruffnut.

"She can't catch anything with your big mouth always flapping!" She protested testily.

"Look who's talking bucktooth!" He shot back shoving his face in hers.

"You have the same teeth!" She growled back, "Except they're crooked and brittle!"

"I could tow a ship with my teeth and some rope!" Boasted her fake brother only to find her staring him down, "Yeah maybe if it was a little toy boat like the kind mom gave you when you were a brat!"

"You're still a brat!"

"Least I'm a smart brat!"

"And you're a rat!"

"Takes one to know one!"

This quickly dissolved into what should have been a painfully unbalanced scuffle since Ruffnut had been training and Tuffnut wasn't real but for every punch and shove he gave as good as he got till he got belted hard and started wailing about being "Badly hurt"

[guardian-haylin.livejournal.com]

"...Sorry!" Hay Lin replied quietly, doing her best to be as quiet as possible when approaching the other girl. Part of her had wanted to use her abilities but that might've been too much.

"Been here long?"

[astridhofferson.livejournal.com]

At least they apologized.

Astrid leered at the newcomer a moment longer before shrugging and lazily palming her cheek, responding nonchalantly, "Probably. I tend to lose track of time in here."

There was a quick inquisitive glance over, eyebrow raised. "Who are you?"

[guardian-haylin.livejournal.com]

Hay Lin blinked in confusion as she was stared at before quickly sitting down, curiosity written all over her face. "As quiet as this place looks, anyone could lose track of time!"

Both eyebrows rose in surprise as she glanced over after a moment or two; normally she'd have been a little faster on introductions than this. "I'm Hay Lin! It's nice to meet you...?" Her response was purposefully left unfinished, for various reasons.

[foreseen-future.livejournal.com]

Nura gave Astrid a deadly stare of her own. It said "Put the look away, before I make you put it away". She stood with her arms crossed, a brow raised, thinking that maybe going to the sensoriums was not her best idea for today - especially since she could have stayed in bed with Querl and continued sleeping and doing...other things.

"Nice stare," she coolly said.

[astridhofferson.livejournal.com]

Taken back by this woman's stare-- totally not expecting to be challenged right back -- Astrid's eyebrows lifted as her expression just switched to a look of brief bewilderment. Nura's eyes... that was almost like a mother's stern gaze. Suffice to say, it gave Astrid an all too familiar chill.

"Uh... yeah."

What does this lady want?

[foreseen-future.livejournal.com]

"You're never going to intimidate someone that way." Blunt. To the point. That was how Nura always acted when confronted. Or not. "You need to put in more body language." She walked on forward, shoulders straight, head slightly raised. Confidence. She rarely backed down. "Or else you'll just get into a staring contest, and those are boring." However, it varied with different people.

She sat down next to Astrid, tailor-style, looking into the water. "Plenty of fish in the river today," she casually said.

[nobel-berserker.livejournal.com]

Ever since learning just how the Sensoriums worked, Allenby had avoided them. It had been bad enough to wake up in a mucus pod with some lady speaking inside her skull and trying to make Allenby feel like it was her mom. The thought of willingly walking into a space that would let Stacy poke around in her head? No. No way.

Everything about this ship was just too damn intrusive. It wasn't as though Allenby could watch what was going on inside her... her liver or wherever, so why did Stacy get to breathe down their necks in all but a handful of places on the ship?

But her run had taken her close to the Sensoriums, and she'd poked in, reasoning that she had to want to use them for anything to happen. And it looked like someone else was already doing that, which meant that Allenby's head wasn't the one being invaded. That... well she could be okay with that. Maybe.

It looked like a girl, not older than fifteen, fishing at a pond. "Hey, whatcha up to?" Allenby asked, looking around as she walked over. If she didn't know better, she wouldn't know that this beautiful little dell was a fiction.

[astridhofferson.livejournal.com]

Astrid let go of the acrimonious stare towards Allenby and shut her eyes briefly as she nonchalantly waved the rod with a to-and-fro motion, gesturing exactly what she was doing.

Isn't it obvious enough?

[hasnoteefs.livejournal.com]

Disturb the fish? Disturb the fish? Astrid are you completely crazy? Toothless doesn't intend to disturb the fish, he intends to eat them.

But first he's going to say hello.

He ambled over to her easily, quietly. Settling himself to sit on his haunches beside her like an overgrown cat, he caught her sidelong stare and met it with his own, gurgling in his throat as a greeting. Hi, Astrid. If you don't mind teethmarks, I can probably catch you a fish faster than that stick of yours can.

[astridhofferson.livejournal.com]

These fish are so doomed.

Astrid's annoyed stare immediately vanished at the sight of the dragon and a warm smile replaced the scowl. "Oh, heey."

When he ambled up next to her, she extended her arm and offered a one-handed rub and pat along his scaly, dark neck. "You look excited. And I know exactly what you want."