[Spitnose] Growing Pains

[Gunnar the Gullible]

Time and Date:: December 15th - mid-morning

Weather:: Very cold, lightly snowing, cloudy

Previous Threads?::  N/A

CURRENT IC SEASON - Winter

The day was starting out to be yet another cold, dismal day. The skies were empty of dragons, so most vikings stayed indoors on this chilly morning. But not one young viking, no, he was wide awake, ready to head outside. He had just woken up and with a yawn headed downstairs. A chipper voice greeted him in a sing song voice, "I made breakfasssttt! It's your favorritteee!" She called to him, and he groaned inwardly. "What the-?! Mom, I'm too old to have smiley faces made out of my eggs!" He cried indignantly as he caught sight of the eggs, formed together in a smiley face. Two eggs made up the eye, and pieces of chopped up yak meat made up the smile.


"Nonsense! You're never too old for your mothers cooking!" She replied without giving his cries a second thought, "Now get down here and eat!" And he did, and as quickly as possible to avoid being seen. Then he headed for the door, "Where do you think you're going mister?" Came his mothers stern voice. Groaning, he called back, "Out! Just.. I'll be around.. somewhere.. Well, I gotta go! I'll be back later."

Bolting out the door, he found himself running down the village trail and finally made it to a dragon feeder, where he sighed, sitting down for a moment. Breathing a sigh of relief, he was finally glad to be rid of his mom for a bit. Looking around himself, he noticed he was quite alone. But perhaps someone would come out sometime soon, maybe he could have someone to talk to.. someone.. other.. then his mother.

[Spitnose]

The smell of fish was overpowering as a cart full of them was being hauled through Berk. Of all the fishers who had gotten stock for winter, her family had been chosen this week to fill the dragon feeders. And of her family, she had been chosen to do it. Or more, been told that if she didn't she was going to be kept locked up in the house for the rest of the season. Grumbling to herself as she walked, wheels struggling in the snow. "Stupid fish, stupid dragons, eating the stupid fish." She yelped as the wheel struck a rock and a few fish flew out. "Why!" She picked up the fish and chucked them back on pile.

Poking her head around the cart she noticed some one sitting by it. "Oi! Fish, coming through!" She stopped and walked ahead of it. "Hey, I need to dump these fish in that." She leaned on the cart and scratched her head. Her mood wasn't quite the best right now, but she didn't mean to come off as rude but the sooner she got rid of these fish the better. "Or, yanno, you could do it." She lifted her bangs and got a proper look at them.

But she didn't get much of a chance before a Terror landed on the fish. "Hey, get off!" Spit launched herself at the cart, arms flailing. "Wait till it's in the stupid feeder!" The dragon hissed and took off, taking a fish with it. Grunting she backed up, and shook her head. "Okay, now before there are any more interuptions." She turned her head back to Gunnar.

[Gunnar the Gullible]

Sitting there, he sighed, lost in thought; that is, until a sharp voice rang through the air. Looking around, he jumped a little as he saw the cart coming towards him. He recognized the voice that greeted him in a not so kind manner. "Y-You're Sp-Spitnose... right?" He asked, dumbfounded for a moment. "Right, right! I'll move." He got up, and without thinking started to throw piles of fish into the feeder, as she mentioned that he could do it. He had always been the gentleman type, especially when it came to helping out girls. For some reason, he found it more rewarding to help a girl; at least they appreciated the work he did... Most of the time.

Just then a terror climbed up, with Spitnose yelling at it to shoo it, but alas... the dragon took off with a fish, anyway. He had stopped shoveling in the fish any more, but at her words, he quickly turned and resume his work. Meekly, he tried to think up conversation, something to brighten her day. So he turned, looked at her, and opened his mouth, before closing it and resuming his work.


"Erm... You're mighty.... strong.. for a girl." He said quietly. Oh gods; couldn't he think of anything better? Awkwardly, he shoveled in fish, before one of the fish out of his hands, having been still alive. Jumping nearly out of his skin, Gunnar let out a girl scream. He quickly clapped a hand over his mouth. "Um.. I.. I don't usually do that..." He said, laughing nervously, but his laughter faded quickly. "Ahem, right.. so how'd you get stuck with fish duties?"

[Spitnose]

She grinned a bit as he actually started to toss the fish in. Well that worked out better than expected. "One and only." She brushed her bangs aside before actually beginning to assist in the moving of the fish. "And you're... uuuh..." She chewed her lip in thought, trying to remember his name. Every one knew every one to some extent on Berk, but remembering all their names was a bit of a challenge. "Gunnar!" She snapped her fingers as she got it and grinned wide again at her victory. But she paused, and frowned a bit. "Right?"

Watching as the terror left with a fish, she grumbled a bit. Sure the fish were for dragons, but it was still a pain if they started picking at it before it was ready. But then his next statement caught her off guard. "Eh?" She paused before tossing in more fish. "Thanks... I guess?" She wasn't sure she had seen many girls who weren't at least a little strong. Or ... well, any one really. Except for a handful of people who were basically twigs. However her train of thoughts where cut quite abruptly as a shrill scream escaped him. Nails digging into her palms out of shock she stared at him in disbelief. "Let's do every one a favor... and maybe not do that again?" She rubbed her ear until it popped and gave her head a rough shake.

Thankfully by this point, with the added hands the cart was nearly empty. "Me? Hah! Dad is busy preping for when the boats go out again. Mom is taking deliveries to any where that needs them, and Drumgut is sicker than a dragon with a belly full of eels." A shudder rippled through her at the thought of her brother curled and shaking on his bed with a bucket beside him. "So that leaves me." She spread her arms as if displaying the fact she was here. "But I'm a fisher, so makes sense. You aren't a dragon so why are you here?" She leaned against the cart after having tossed the last of the fish down.

[Gunnar the Gullible]

Glancing up at her in between shoveling fish in, he noticed her swipe a bang away. Huh; weird... Why did girls do that, anyway? He wondered to himself, and as he thought that he furrowed his brows and crinkled his nose a little. Perhaps a small quirk that he did whenever he was deep in thought. He hardly noticed himself doing it, although if one had seen it they probably would have laughed at the expression, as most do. Snapping out of his thoughts, he heard her say his name, following by a need for approval. "R-Right! Right... that's me..." His voice turned slightly downward in pitch, to a slightly sad, embarrassed tone, "...good old Gunnar the Gullible."

Yet moments later his scream came from him as the fish flopped out of his hands. He turned a pale shade, yet at her words he found his cheeks hot, though he figured it was more due to embarrassment then anything else. Humiliation, embarrassment, maybe because she was a girl. Wait what? The last thought caught even himself off guard. He quickly pushed the thought away. He hung around with girls all the time. This was no different.

He realized she still hadn't answered his question about how she got fish duties, but he needn't wait much longer; her answer came in a talkative tone. Lots of talking. Somehow, though, he didn't mind. It was rather... interesting. Soon enough he had finished shoveling in the fish when he suddenly slumped down onto the ledge, breathing heavily at the work. Catching his breathe, he found her asking him questions in answer to his own. "Not much for a boy without a dragon to do. I don't have many friends, ye see...." He said softly, looking to her with a look of sadness. "Not many fancy anything about me.. my voice, my fish-bone like build, my big nose, or anything really. Most find somethin'... Somethin' they don't like to pick on." He managed a smile, joking softly, "And 'esides, I'm too awkward to have friends; I'd scare em off at the first sound of my yodel like singing."

[Spitnose]

Stopping she looked at him, as he announced himself properly. She grinned a bit and nudged him in the arm with her elbow, perhaps a bit harder than she meant to. "Hey, you know what they call me?" She waited a moment, to let it sink in if it hadn't already. "Spitnose the Disgusting." She folded her arms. "Not much better is it?" She laughed. But she did feel a bit bad about roping him into helping. But she wasn't going to say anything about that, just falling silent again.

Leaning against the cart still, she listened to him. "Well you know what then?" She stood up straight again, hands on her hips. "I'll be your friend!" She grinned a wide toothy grin, eyes squinting slightly in the most ridiculous face after. "Us weirdos need to stick together, right?" She meant 'weirdos' in the most endearing way possible.

"First act as friends, you got anything else to do today?" She turned and patted the empty cart. "You can help me take this stupid thing home." Before he could say yes or not she started pushing it. But she did stop a moment and pause, glancing back at him. "Is your singing really that bad?"

[Gunnar the Gullible]

At her folded arms and stern reply, he crinkled his nose a little, squinting at her with furrowed brows. Suddenly his brows rose, "Aye, I suppose yer right." He said softly. He looked down a little. "You're not disgusting..." He said quietly, his tones so quiet they were barely audible, but audible enough for her to hear them. "...I reckon yer just... unique." Before it could get too sappy he heard her mention friends; he breathed an inward sigh of relief, more in his mind then out loud, yet after her words hit him he turned sharply to face her, his eyes wide. "Ya.. Ya mean it?"  A small smile formed on his face, growing as she said  they needed to stick together; and even though she indirectly called him a weirdo, he found that the name weirdo was the furthest thing from his mind.

When she started to command him around again, he shrugged his shoulders, "Aye, I got all day." He said, his tones matter of fact. He looked to her as she grabbed a cart followed her, but before he reached her she had abruptly stopped and turned to face him; asking about his singing. He laughed a little, "I was only joking. Tisn't the best, but it's not horrendous." He looked to her, grabbing the cart handles, "Just.. sounds a little different on a fact of my accent."

Pushing the cart forward, he sang a little song, "I have a song to sing, O.. It's a song about spring and the thing that it brings and all the melting snow-O...." He smiled a little, "It’s the song of Freyja planting seeds, that usually end up being catnip weeds, putting flowers in trees, her hair flowin in the breeze, as she skips through the fields, like a lady!"

Nodding for her to join in, he sang softly, "Freyja, Freyja-skipping round trees, with cats round her knees, she throws some seeds, her hair blows in the breeze, O as she frolics thru the fields in the spring-O!" He ended with laughter, "Oh Thor, I reckon there's more to the song.. but I can't recall it... Oh well; that's enough singing for one day."

[Spitnose]

She laughed a bit, scratching her cheek. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not." Shrugging she took her hand back to her side. "Point is don't let a name get you down bud!" Compared to him she was most certainly being a little, too loud. "Do I mean it? Does this look like a lying face to you?" She grinned wide and elbowed him again. "Of course I mean it!"

"Great, because getting this thing back takes a while. I could really use the company." Listening to him talking as she began to push the cart again, and he joined her as he began to sing. A grin began to spread across her face, having heard the song once before. And honestly, it wasn't as bad as she had been expecting. Then again she had been preparing herself for an explosion, so anything short of terrible was actually a surprise right now.

Once he reached the chorus she joined in, her own singing lighter and more jovial than her normal rather grating voice. Her own singing stopped when his did, laughing as well. "That was great!" Giving him a friendly thump on the back, Spit grinned wide. "You sing just fine, you even got the song right!" She hummed a bit of the next verse, but stopped and laughed again. "You want to hear a bad singer, then ask my brother!" Laughing once more, she scratched behind her ear at the thought of his singing. Drumgut really didn't have any idea of how to carry a tune, and it was hilarious.

With her mind elsewhere, she didn't notice the very same rock she had hit on the way here. As the empty cart jostled far more than it had when full, a yelp escaped her as it knocked her back. Stumbling a bit she caught herself on the edge of the cart, knees bent and sticking out at strange angles. "You would think I would notice it the second time..." Straightening up with a groan, she grinned sheepishly in an attempt to brush it off as if nothing happened. She didn't even really think that maybe he had been knocked about by it as well.

[Gunnar the Gullible]

Gunnar flashed her a small, at her seemingly endlessly positive attitude. One minute she went from joking to encouraging, and he couldn't help but chuckle a little. Instinctively his hand went over his mouth, for he wasn't used to laughter all that much. The sound was rather foreign to him, for he had spent so much time wallowing in his own self pity that he had forgotten to enjoy the good points of life. At her next words about not letting a name get him down, he questioned only for a moment before she asked if her face looked like she was lying. "Umm... I'm bloody terrible at readin' peoples faces...."

However she piped up soon enough, and he hardly realized that he had been holding his breathe. Letting out a puff of air, he smiled a little, running a hand through his hair, scratching his head while deep in thought. "Well... er.. thanks..." He looked to her and smiled as she accepted his help. He moved to push the cart, singing along. The two of them sang together before they both ended the song with laughter. He caught his breathe and suddenly realized he had sang in front of someone, becoming bashful. "I wasn't bad, was I?" He asked hesitantly.

"Oh thank Thor!" He said happily at her response. He looked to her and smiled, laughing softly as she mentioned her brother, "Can't be worse then me, can he?" He said jokingly, before suddenly the cart toppled over and fell, one of the wheels falling on his leg. He cried out, barely hearing her words as she got up seemingly unscathed.

[Spitnose]

Spit laughed, rather bird like sound. "Oh no, he's much worse. Trust me! Think of... the sounds a Gronkle makes, and then imagine it singing!" She was almost crying for how funny the thought was. "And that's Drumgut." Perhaps the strangest part of all that was that it was one hundred percent true. Her brother was far to gruff to make any sort of pleasant sounds with his voice. Though it was a shock she could either considering how sharp her own voice was.

When the cart decided it wasn't in the mood for their pleasantries, when he cried out from the pain, a yelp escaped her as well. She had been tripped up by this cart enough times to recover from it quickly, but he was not so lucky. "Thor almighty, are you okay?!" Grabbing the cart close to the wheel, she strained to lift it. Arms shaking from the effort. "By Odin's beard, roll! Get out of there any way you can!" Her cries where desperate, it was one thing she she got hurt, but now some one else had gotten hurt because of her ignorance. "I don't do this to all my friends, I swear." A pitiful attempt at lightening the situation. Her teeth clenched from the effort of giving him enough time to get out. "Oh Gods I'm so sorry." With a final shake of her arms, she had no choice but to drop it. She only pray she gave him enough time to get out from under the wheel. Her normally joyful face was torn into a frown, tears stinging her eyes. She felt like an idiot, she could have been more careful and none of this would have happened. 

Provided he got out safely, she knew they would need to get him help. "Does it hurt? Can you move it?" The questions just spewed out, concern and worry drowning out all else. "What if we have to cut it off?! Oh Gods did I just make you lose your leg?" She clutched her head and pulled at her hair.

[Gunnar the Gullible]

He laughed at her mention of her brother, but all too soon the laughter ended as the cart flipped and landed squarely on his leg. He cried out in pain, barely hearing her cries as she attempted to help. He had his eyes squeezed shut tightly, gritting his teeth as hard as he could to prevent himself from screaming once more.

Hearing her instructions, he nodded, before he felt the weight lifted off his leg. With as much strength as he could muster, he rolled over onto his good leg, using his arms and hips to maneuver the rest of the way out. As she started to panic, he loosened his grip on his gritted teeth, wincing as he reached out to touch his leg.

Upon touching it he inhaled sharply, "N-Not.. y-your fault." He managed, reaching his hand up to grasp hers. "He-Hey... Look at m-me." He said softly, "It's not y-your fault." He heard her next words, asking if he could move it; he looked down at his leg, inhaling slowly before attempting to move it.

It moved just a little, but wouldn't bend, so nodded. "A little..." He looked to her as she mentioned cutting it off, shaking his head. "N-Nah. I d-doubt it." He said softly. He managed a smile and said softly, "Help me up? I n-need to get to a m-medic."

[Spitnose]

Spit was obviously flustered right now, trying to speak but no words actually coming out. Thankfully one of theme was speaking, and when she realized what he had said, she nodded. "Right, some one who can fix this..." She exhaled deeply and went over to him. She wasn't sure she had ever thought so much about something before, but she knew she had to make this work out. After all, she had caused the problem."Okay let's do this!" Helping him to his feet was no easy task, but together they managed. She had to make sure she kept most of his weight on her shoulders to keep the pain off his leg.

She knew the walk was going to be slow and tedious and she likely wouldn't be back for quite some time, but her cart could wait. An injury like this wasn't something she could put aside. Especially when she was putting aside taking a stupid cart back to her parents. Some one would find it and return it probably, where as she couldn't just leave Gunnar sitting there and hope some one would take him to get the help he needed.

Boy, this was going to be an interesting one one to explain.

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THE END