trans_9 | A warriors madness

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A warriors madness

Ruffnut Thorston, lightning lass, Apprentice Overlord.

Vagrant Viking.

Rather then settle down in any one given place on the ship she had developed a habit of claiming whatever land was convenient for herself and making little "nests" that she could sleep in using materials she had "borrowed".

Tonight (Which was a relative term in the city where the sun rose and set whenever it damn well pleased) Ruffnut had found her way down into a dark quiet and echo filled basement of one of the ruins. She lied basements. They reminded her of the caves of Birk and more to the point, they didn't have windows so the sun wouldn't bother her when she was sleeping and it decided to rise for the third time in six hours.

The only downside is the basements tended to be cool so she had to gather together lots of fabric to wrap around herself to keep warm. Curtains, bedsheets, towels and the like. A good thick blanket was harder to come by. She did find a thick warm cloth with sleeves one day while rummaging through the lockers. It was like a blanket but the sleeves made it easier to do things with her hands. Ingenious!

She had learned from her first few mistakes involving building a fire as well and made sure if she did that the smoke had somewhere to escape. She had thrown some broken wooden furniture into a trashcan and used re lightning power to set it ablaze. Now the room was warmer and had a pleasant glow. You'd almost forget you were indoors if you tried.

"Man you look like a rat under all that." Tuffnut taunted from his place near the fire. Ruffnut did her best to ignore him. He'd been particularly derisive lately and it was working her last nerve.

"Then again I guess you kind of are right? I mean what kind of proud warrior does the stuff you've done?" He continued rubbing his hands together. "I mean you were never gonna be as awesome as me but at least you could have been loyal to Astrid and Hiccup right?"

Ruffnut grumbled and pulled her covers closer together eyes focused with almost laser precision on the fire. If she stared hard enough maybe she'd see something like the elders back home.

"It's a good thing Snotlout and Stoic were put back to sleep, I'd hate to see what they'd think of all this."

"Shut it." Ruffnut finally responded which was all the encouragement that Tuffnut needed.

"And what if Mom and Dad knew?" His lips peeled back into a wicked grin that Ruffnut herself often wore when she was enjoying a particularly painful fight.

This fight however hurt her in a different way and she lost control of her temper, screaming at the brother that wasn't really there. Her scream of rage echoed through the building as she threw off the sheets and fabrics and cut loose with a blast of electrical energy. As Tuffnut wasn't really there it connected with the trashcan exploding and sending flames and kindling scattering about the room.

"Oh no! Oh no oh no oh no!" Ruffnut scrambled about with a towel from her pile and began beating and smothering out the scattered flames. In the cement basement it wouldn't spread but the smoke was already stinging her eyes and choking her lungs.

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"Huh." That was strange, but she didn't know all of the things that Ruffnut had been through, right? Who was she to say what she could and couldn't see? Then again, this might be some weird ship thing, so she'd better get all the facts.

"Um, how close were you and your bro anyway?"

"I hate him!" Ruffnut answered instantly earning a silent "Yeah well hate you too!" from the figment as Ruffnut turned her back on him. "We fought all the time he was so annoying! Always trying to top me, always messing up our training, bragging about how tough he was and then the minute he gets like a splinter he's whining and crying "Oh ow I'm hurt! I am really hurt!"" She did a pretty passable imitation of her brother even clutching at her hand and dancing about in mock pain.

Hit Girl snickered. "So in other words, you two were typical brother and sister. You were always on each other and stuff like that. So now, here you are, in this weird ass ship with no one from your world but Hiccup and that Astrid chick...wait."

She thought a moment. "About WHEN did you actually start seeing him outside the Sensorium?"

"Um..." Actually that was a good question. "Guess I didn't actually start "Seeing" him till just after all that crap with the possessions and crap."

"Cause you don't give a crap!" Tuffnut called and to vent Ruffnut kicked a piece of broken wall at him. Of coarse it bounced harmlessly off the wall.

Hit girl scratched her head. She was damn well not a psychologist, thought she'd read enough comics to know that stuff like this could be brought on, or triggered, by certain events.

"Well think about it: you've only been seeing your brother outside of the Sensorium after that fall out, right? And the only people IN your world is Hiccup and Astrid, but you think they're all mad at you and stuff. So wouldn't it kinda make sense you start seeing the only person you were close to that ISN'T on the ship, your brother>:

Ruffnut listened and shook her head confused, "But it totally doesn't make sense because he's not here!"

Apparently she didn't get it, though Hit Girl's logic was sound.

"Back home when people had visions they were either old enough to be wise or too too many hits to the head." She stopped and pondered that for a minute. "Doesn't make sense at all." she groaned pulling on her hair again. "And I hate it."

Hit Girl scratched her head. How to make Ruffnut understand something she barely got herself (feelings and such) was difficult, but she'd have to do her best. After all, if this got worse, those bastards on the ship might decide she needed to be stuck in the brig with that head doctor.

And that was not gonna happen on her watch.

"You miss him," Hit Girl said bluntly, "and he was your brother. I won't deny you haven't gotten hit on the head a lot, but think about it: why see him outside the Sensorium now? What type of stuff is he saying to you?"

Ruffnut twitched a little and ripped her fist, "Stuff that makes me wanna knock him through a wall!" She yelled the last part like she was warning him to shut his trap.

"Nyah nyah! As if you really could~"

"How can you be SO annoying when you're not even here? You might be dead for all I know! In fact? I hope so!" Now she was straight out talking to him in front of Hit Girl despite how utterly weird that was.

Darn it Ruffnut, it really would help if you were more specific. Not that she minded hearing Ruffnut talk to someone that wasn't there (it was funny in an insane kind of way), but she was still trying to figure this stuff out.

"So he's making fun of you and stuff. So maybe...you're seeing him because you wanna punish yourself or something? Think about it: you're getting all this praise, no one is really saying bad stuff, so maybe he's there, like, as a balance, you know?"

Weak, but it actually made sense, from the parts she'd seen of him anyway.

"Punish myself?" To a sheltered girl like Ruffnut who's entire life teachings had been something to the tune of, "Only The strong belong" the concept was baffling. "Why would I wanna do that? I'm awesome!"

"Yeah right! Awesome like a toothache!" Tuff shot.

"I'm twice the man you'll ever be!" She shot back almost crackling with lightning again lighting up the room.

"Well you're not doing it on purpose, stupid!" Hit Girl said, glad to break from being all warm and fuzzy. "When you start seeing stuff like that, its never something the mind does consciously. Besides, think about it: in order to GET awesome, you have to get over thinking you're not in the first place."

Shit, how to explain this?

"You have lightning powers, right? Would you ever have believed that you could have those back on your world? Probably not, because you accept the world works a certain way. Here, that's different, but there's always gonna be a part of you that says it can't be done, that you suck. Usually that's your inner voice, but after that Hiccup stuff, now you;re actually seeing your bro."

She gave Ruffnut a look. "I'll bet you haven;t talked to Astrid or Hiccup about that shit yet, have you?"

Ruffnut was nodding and beginning to understand Hit Girl's logic even if it seemed as insane as the visions she was having.

Then she brought up the truth about Ruffnut not talking to her fellow Vikings and she shuffled and muttered "Well I haven't really um...no...haven't seen em yet." Of coarse she hadn't gone looking specifically yet...

Hit Girl was short, but quick: she pulled one of the girl's pigtails quickly, enough to bring out a yelp.

"You haven't even tried, have you, dumb ass?" she said plainly. Seriously, Ruffnut could be so hopeless sometimes. "Look, I get its hard to talk about, but if you don't talk about it and keep it to yourself, THIS happens. We might be awesome and kick ass, but the things we actually care about, that matter, are going to affect us if we leave it alone. You need to talk to Astrid and Hiccup, or you're just going to torture yourself about it. You're a viking, your mind has to stay sharp and focused, remember?"

Ok, the hair pull was to wake her up...and for the headlock from last time.

Ruffnut actually stumbled and the sparks died off instantly. "Ow! Watch it!" She barked but then balked as Hit Girl gave her a much appropriate chewing out. When she was done Ruffnut let the words sink in. It was true, it was all true and once more it made Ruffnut realize what she was doing was cowardly.

"I always did have a thing for pain." She muttered looking at Tuffnut who simply rolled his eyes and called her a wuss.

"FINE!" She barked out loud. "I'll go looking for them. If it'll get rid of him!" She jerked a thumb at Tuffnut who laughed, "You're stuck wit me dirt face."

"You're a dirtface!" Ruff shot back lamely.

"Good," Hit Girl said, giving her a stare. "Because you'll be no good for fighting if you're fucking nuts on the battlefield. And if you think I'M bad about it, imagine what the book will say. Nah, better to take care of it soon, and then we get to go kick some more ass the next time."

She shrugged. "Besides, even seeing crazy shit like your brother is better than trying to memorize all these spells written in a different language. I set fire to my own ass at least five times a day!"

Hit girl laughed. "If dirtface is the best that dork can come up with, I think I'd have him beat in the wit category. Oh yeah, and I know he's not here, but I remember him spouting off in the Sensorium that time. I could totally kick his ass."

Just sayin'.

Ruffnut smiled her crooked smile "Yeah...you totally could."

She could do this, she would. She had to face up to what was coming to her or she'd never be a strong warrior.

...that is if facing up to it doesn't mean Astrid killing her.

"Damn right I could."

Hit girl punched Ruffnut's shoulder. "Besides, if this Astrid girl's worth it, I'm sure she'll forgive you. She might beat you up, but I mean come on, we ARE girls. We have to express what we're feeling, and sometimes that means not talking."

She winked.

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A warriors madness

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