. So Being The Incredibly Smart Person That I Am I Forgot To Post Day 3 Here. I Swear I'm Usually Not

. So being the incredibly smart person that I am I forgot to post day 3 here. I swear I'm usually not this forgetful, but uni is kicking my ass repeatedly and finals haven't even started

Anyway, gonna leave this one here! I had fun writing this one and figuring out some creative ways to introduce woolly howl's abilities and nice synergies with a rider that needs different means of defense rather than regular fighting

Day 3: Full of Colors

“You want me to do what?” Hilda asked while glaring at the dragon rider’s leader.

“It’d be a pretty simple mission, just-” Hiccup tried to reason.

“You want me to retrieve changewing acid. With the twins.” The healer crossed her arms, her glaring not getting any better.

“Well, when you put it like that…” the young berkian rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, his eyes moving away. “Look, we need more acid soon or our supplies won’t last. And, you and the twins are the only ones available for the job right now.”

Hilda sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Boreas, right behind her, merely glanced at the two riders lazily as he rested on the ground, one eye open.

“Can’t Snotlout do it?”

“I need him and Hookfang at the forge, Fishlegs has decoded another part of the dragon eye and-” Hilda raised a hand and stopped him before he started info dumping on her about the dragon eye and all there was to it.

“What about Astrid then? Stormfly and her are far more capable than me when it comes to tracking down dragons” she protested, begging to any god that would listen to save her from that not-so-appealing task.

“She is out with Heather, scouting the nearby islands.” When Hiccup saw Hilda’s mood wasn’t improving, he sighed “Look, I wouldn’t send you out on a mission like this if I didn’t have to. I’m aware Boreas isn’t the best dragon to send out against acid-spilling dragons,” the woolly howl huffed annoyed by the comment, icy wind coming out of its snout “and given what Fishlegs has in mind for the dragon eye… Let’s just say that not having a healer around is probably not the best case scenario. But, we do need the acid, and fast.”

Rationally, Hilda knew that Hiccup was right. That didn’t mean she liked the idea, though. Going out to chase changewings and collect their acid was a tough job on its own, but going with the twins on top of that? She didn’t have anything against them—if anything, they were on rather good terms as long as they didn’t pull any pranks on her. Not to mention, their zippleback gas made the task of finding camouflaged changewings much easier. Yet she knew that mixing those Loki worshippers with acid-spewing dragons and a lack of supervision from someone who could actually infuse some sense into them, would lead to an absolute disaster.

Hilda wasn’t one to complain about her tasks, even if she disliked them. She usually just sighed internally, stayed quiet, and did whatever she had to. But this time she just didn’t have the energy to play along and keep her head down. Of course, it wasn’t like Hiccup knew. What was she going to say? “Sorry I can’t go, I stayed up late working on some antidotes and unguents for the guy we are at war with and his men”? It was hard enough as is to hide her morally-questionable activities from the others, and she already suspected that Heather wasn’t quite sold on her act; refusing to go on expeditions without apparent reason wouldn’t help her cause.

Begrudgingly, the healer mumbled an affirmative that brough some piece to Hiccup, and with a hand gesture she called for her dragon to go with her. They’d need to bring some supplies to the expedition, and if she was going to visit changewing island she figured she’d at least take advantage of the trip as much as she could. Back in her hut, she hid any suspicious documents in her personal chest before preparing her bag and belt. Bottles, a water skin, some gloves, scissors… She yawned as she closed the bag, now with everything she needed (and could find) inside.

“Let’s get this over with, big guy” Hilda set her saddle on Borea’s back, the dragon staying still and letting her rider prepare him for the flight.

“Aw, haven’t started and already want it to end? Hildi, you wound us” a very familiar voice said from the roof of her hut.

“Aren’t you excited? We gong to a changewing hunt!” another one added with enough excitment for the three of them.

“It’s not that chasing around changewings and collecting their acid isn’t my favourite activity of all time…” Hilda replied without looking up, fastening the belt of the saddle “but some of us do have more important things to deal with”

“Like sleep?” the twins flew down to the ground on their zippleback, Barf and Belch greeting Boreas with a playful chirping that her dragon returned with a soft growl. “You look like shit” Ruffnut pointed out.

“Yeah well, that is pretty high up in my priority list, but no” she stifled a yawn and got up on the woolly howl’s saddle. “I’m working on something a bit stronger for Hiccup’s pain, and I need to perfect the dosage”

“Has anyone told you you work too much?” there was a hint of worry in Tuffnut’s voice, which made Hilda smile a bit and forget about her grumpy attitude. It was sweet of them to care, even if she knew there was little to nothing they could do to help her.

“Some times. Now, lead the way. The sooner we get there the sooner I came come back to my desk” The twins did a mocking salute and took off, Boreas following closely.

Thankfully the island wasn’t too far from Dragon’s Edge. And thankfully, there wasn’t any trace of hunter activity. The riders landed on a more secluded section of the island, following Hiccup’s advice to avoid entering changewing territory right away and instead sneaking up on them. The male twin had been whining about the procedure, saying it wasn’t as fun as immediately landing in between a flock, but his sister kept him in check.

Once on land, the real work began.

“Booooooriiiiiing” Tuffnut complained, making Hilda’s irritation grow.

The search for a changewing proved to be harder than usual for some reason. They had followed all the usual steps: look for signs of acid markings, clawing, or discarded scales. If none or few of the usual signs were visible, like in their case, go to the nearest water supply and wait for the dragon to approach the area. Which was what they were forced to do, much to the twins demise. It was a boring, long, and absolutely dreadful process that wore Hilda’s patience thinner and thinner with every passing minute and every comment one of the twins made. The healer tried to pass the time by looking at the few pieces of evidence they had left, wondering why this was happening. It was far too early for that. The twins, back when they were still acting a little bit sane and the lookout had barely begun, had suggested that maybe it had been the hunters’ doing, but Hilda knew that couldn’t be it. Viggo and his men were exploring other locations from what she recalled—their last meeting had been to the west, and from the quick glance she took of the base when she was flying with her dragon, she knew it wasn’t likely they had changed settlements so quickly. Besides, if the hunters had been there, they would have left more than enough traces for the riders to notice later. The twins discarded the theory as she shared her second point, and that’s where the ideas stopped.

“Where in the Hels are they?” Hilda mumbled as she sat back against Boreas, the woolly howl seemingly just as bored out of his mind as the everyone else.

“Beats me” Ruffnut shrugged “Do you have any nerd notes?”

The healer reached into her bag and searched for her the papers she had brought along. She knew they had to be there… Ah, there. A bit wrinkled, but no matter. Fishlegs had prepared plenty of papers with information about different kind of dragons, and as they explored more nearby islands, he added more information regarding specific flocks and what information they had gathered about them. The card format wasn’t big enough to fit all the boy wanted to write down, so instead they switched to using bigger pieces of lose paper, usually available for everyone at the clubhouse. Hilda had made a point to pick up the ones that had anything on the flock that lived in that island, the “tamest” changewings they had encountered yet. She yawned as she scanned the papers, searching for anything that could help locate the dragons.

“21 dragons total, blah blah blah, diet consists of I don’t care… Here!” Hilda pointed at a line from the paper, both twins leaning in to look at the section. “Fishlegs mentions that this specific flock has been seen around a cave in the west side of the area, some members using it as a den to sleep. I mean, changewings aren’t really known for living in dark places, but it’s either cave time or…” she looked around, the river flowing calmly without barely making a sound, no creature but the three of them and their dragons to be seen.

“Cave time it is!” Tuffnut announced as he jumped up, leaving behind his sluggish attitude and bringing back his more energetic side.

Locating the cave wasn’t too hard, given the size of the island. The twins seemed more determined than ever to find the changewings, probably just as desperate to get the mission done as she was. They hadn’t explored the inside of the cave in their first scouting, given they had never had the dying wish of being in a strange closed space surrounded by acidic dragons… But desperate times called for desperate measures. Besides, Hilda had come prepared. Once they had checked there were no changewings around the mouth of the cave—zippleback gas proved incredibly useful to spot these dragons even when they were fully hidden, the woolly howl landed softly on the ground, as quietly as possible. The twins landed behind him, looking confused as Hilda rummaged through her bottles.

“Uh… what are you doing?” Belch’s head leaned on her left side, letting its rider look over Hilda’s bottle.

“Gonna heal them to death?” Barf’s leaned on her right, the other twin joining in “Oh oh, are we throwing bottles at them?”

“I was thinking more like…” Hilda found the bottle full of the powder she was searching “induced nap time”

Carefully, Hilda opened the bottle with a pop before sprinkling them on a piece of cloth, slightly damp to make sure the spores would stick but not so much so they would get stuck. She had been toying with the idea for a while, but hadn’t properly tested it quite yet. At least, not in this scale. Following Fishleg’s maps, the cave’s airflow system’s main entrance was that same entrance, which meant this could work. Or at least Hilda hoped it would.

“Alright big boy, let’s do this. Just like we practiced”

Hilda set the cloth over Boreas’ snout, right after the dragon inhaled deeply. Then, the dragon breathed out. Woolly howls had the curious ability to create mist at will if they had a good enough control over their icy breath. Her rider wasn’t quite sure how it worked, but it was similar to how other dragons could hold their breath to light up the dragon eye. Boreas let out a strong, icy wind, that soon turned into a heavy mist, spreading deep into the cave. With the cloth on front of his mouth, the mist had a pale purple tone, with what Hilda hoped was enough dosage to affect whatever dragons resided in the cave. The twins observed the process as the dragon did it a few more times, a hint of curiosity and mischievousness in their eyes. Their friend was sure their heads were already coming up with multiple ways to use this new trick in their pranks.

“…So how do we know if it worked?” Tuffnut asked after a few minutes of nothing much happening.

Hilda was about to answer, but then she hesitated. She hadn’t though about that.

“Want to do the honors?” She asked the Thorstons twins, putting a smile on their faces.

Before she had the chance to regret it, Barf and Belch was already flying past them. Hilda sighed and looked at her dragon, who just huffed in what probably was mild disappointment. “I spent all day watching a river flow, then breathed some air, and now they get the exciting part?” his rider felt like she could read her dragon’s thoughts “I’m never coming to other mission”, he probably grumbled in his mind. Thankfully they didn’t need to wait more, and instead the twins voices resonated through the cave walls.

“YOU GOTTA COME HERE!” the twins shouted.

The healer didn’t know if that was a good news shout or a bad news one. Either way, she got on Boreas’ saddle and the dragon immediately took off, dashing through the increasingly darker cave with great agility. Hilda worried that the darkness would be too much at some point and they’d get lost. But then, she saw something. Hard to notice at first, mere shadows that moved as they flew past, she guessed, yet those turned to be the complete opposite. Bright, colorful splashes of color, hitting the rocks and ceiling of the cave. It made no sense. There was no other entryway, and even if somehow sunlight managed to get in, why were the lights so colorful?

Hilda didn’t need to wait too long to find out. Boreas stopped as they reached the room where the twins were waiting for them. It was beautiful. The changewings were indeed living inside the cave, much calmer about intruders than they had ever been. Some walked around and gently sniffed the newcomers, others simply returned to their naps or crawled around without giving them a second thought. That, Hilda had expected. What she wasn’t ready to see, however, was the nest. There was a section of the cave that turned into a small lake of sorts, probably a deviation from the river above ground that found its way into the subsuelo. But right in the middle, there was a piece of land. A small circle, covered in acid and with eggs resting on top, as if the acidic bed somehow made it a safe place to set them.

“Are those… changewing eggs?” Hilda asked in awe.

The twins were looking at the nest just as amazed as she was—changewing eggs had the fun characterictic of having some sort of recubrimiento that made them glow, as if surrounded by an actual ever-changing changewing’s coat. That, along with the acid and the water, made it so the small light that came from the eggs reflected on both superficies, illuminating the room with a mesmerizing show of lights and colors.

“Forget the nest, why aren’t we dead already?” asked Tuffnut after a few seconds of just staring at their surroundings.

“Oh, right. I made an extract from those fruits Mala used on our dragons once, the ones that calms them down. I thought if Boreas could spread it with his mist to reach these guys, we’d be good to go. …I actually hoped I had added enough to make them sleepy since in larger quantities it can be used as a dragon somnifero, but, this works too” she shrugged non-chalantly, even if inside she felt so incredibly proud that her idea had worked “But, we should still try to collect the acid as soon as possible. I don’t know how long these effects will last”

With that said, the three of them got to work, collecting multiple vials and bottles of acid that the changewings so kindly donated in their drugged state. Once they were done, even if they all knew the sooner they left the better, Hilda couldn’t help but stare at their colorful surroundings once more. Beautiful was far too little to describe the scene. She smiled, knowing Hiccup and Fishlegs would get consumed by jealousy when they heard, and got on her dragon.

omfg i forgot that i never showed tumblr my greatest achievement. my pride and joy, my pi-ass de résistance

I'm falling so behind but I swear I'll see this challenge through! For now have the fourth day, featuring my lovely doomed yuri couple, Kairos and Kyn <3

Having some more random thoughts about my httyd sona (Hilda)

I want her to be resentful to Stoick and almost every Berkian, partly for having lots of issues grow from the roots of being deemed "not good enough" because of her disability and despite her efforts, but still have a very frail thread that makes her stay and help Berk's people. That thread of course being her little sister Ebba.

But given her chaotic good energy and how little she cares for the actual village she's just gonna. Do some shady shit. First being trading and working with Viggo way before the hunters and the riders get into a war.

Hilda starts buying rare medicine and plants from Viggo in exchange for either gold or free healthcare for his men, which helps Berk so much without them even noticing. They just think this new medicine is Johann bringing more stuff, or Gothi and Hilda figuring out new remedies together, and while Gothi does know something fishy's going on I don't think she bothers asking as long as it heals their people.

I want to make it darker though, have Hilda grow into a mad scientist, pushed by Viggo's vision of her. He sees such incredible potential in this shy and anxious healer, and he pushes her to her limits. She toys with poison and some substances that can be used in battle, she turns her head when the hunters kill some dragon so she can get a specific part of the beast, she dissects dragons once dead to learn more about their properties and how to exploit their abilities for medicine. All her work is dedicated to saving the lives of other vikings, and she has such a mad scientist take on it.

Ofc she also has a probably very unhealthy tendency to rely on Viggo for emotional support as their transactions become less professional and more personal. He provides her with care and praises she's never heard before, so why wouldn't she fall for this handsome, incredibly intelligent man? She wants to dissect his brain so badly, but for now getting to know him and dipping her toes in the romantic side of their relationship will do.

Said it a year ago and I’ll say it again.

Pirate all your favorite shows, movies and games while you still have the chance.

Oh, and never stop supporting physical media.