♖ 001.

[summerschild]

Who: Bran Stark and YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: The HS Marsiva Hospitality Deck
When: 6/13

[On the Hospitality Deck, there's a little lump of dirt and fur on the floor next to one of the cots, twisted up in the white sheets. Bran had woken up in a fit of panic, scrabbling for the damp floor of the Queenscrown holdfast, and then-]

Is anyone there? Hello?

[A bump on his head aches from the tumble. He doesn't understand what he's seeing in front of him, through the clear glass of the bowing windows. It makes him dizzy, and he rubs at his nose with one grubby hand. His fur cape is still muddy from the thunderstorm, making him look a bit like an abandoned puppy.]

I need some help!

[He tries to use the cot to pull himself back up, but with a click the wheel unlocks, and sends the bed teetering towards anyone coming across the floor. Oops...]

Comments

[summerschild]

Thank you.

[Out of habit Bran pulls the top sheet up to cover his legs, disliking the sight of them. Already, his mood has improved slightly. Not being tangled up on the floor sure makes a difference.]

... How did you... [He gestured to Hiccup's metal leg, his cheeks flushing just a bit.] Can you tell me?

[horrendous]

Sure.

[Hiccup's had a lot of time to sort out how he feels about his body. Nothing Drago hurled at him was anything new; he's heard every joke in the book and some that were unwritten. He sits on the other end of the bed and stretches his legs out.]

What if I told you it was from fighting a dragon?

[summerschild]

A dragon?!

[He's heard a million stories about them, growing up. But they aren't supposed to exist anymore...]

[horrendous]

A dragon. [He leans toward Bran a bit.] It was as big as a mountain. We called it the Red Death.

My friend couldn't save all of me. He tried, but in the end we've got no left feet. [... That was terrible, Hiccup.]

[summerschild]

[Bran lets out an awed breath, trying to imagine a dragon that massive. Even the ones he'd heard of weren't the size of a mountain.]

I've never seen one before. They're all gone, where I'm from.

[horrendous]

Wow. Never seen a dragon. [This isn't something he wants to think about.] I can't imagine life without dragons. They've been a part of Viking tradition since-- since there were Vikings.

Maybe they just went somewhere else? Dragons go where there's food and... an ancestral sort of calling, sometimes.

[summerschild]

The stories say that they went extinct, over a hundred years ago. The Targaryens used to ride them into battle, but there was a war - the Dance of the Dragons. All that was left were some eggs, but they never hatched.

[He knows world lore like the backs of his hands, especially when it involves something cool and deadly.]

[horrendous]

That's... sad. But, you know, as long as the eggs aren't broken, it's possible for them to come back. [He smiles a bit.] Usually it's up to the parents. They'll warm the eggs with their breath, if they've got it. Or you can toss them near a big fire.

Sometimes they'll explode on their own. [Astrid, please.] But someone probably would've noticed that.

[He really doesn't want to think about dragons leaving nope nope nope nope nope LET'S CHANGE THE SUBJECT]

What's your name?

[summerschild]

They could still hatch? But how could they have lived so long?

[His eyes are wide with fascination at this subject, but Hiccup's question brings him back down to earth.]

It's Bran.

[horrendous]

Dragon eggs are pretty resilient.

[Ah good yes a subject change.]

Hiccup. Nice to meet you.

[summerschild]

[A police nod in acknowledgement, then another change in subject.]

You said you could make me something to help me move around? What would it be?