newberktown | Eleventh Flight. [glitched audio/brief video/action at Mahogany Inn.]

Current Location: Mahogany Town; Inn.

Entry tags:

Eleventh Flight. [glitched audio/brief video/action at Mahogany Inn.]

▒▒or Almighty... Where d▒▒ ▒▒is storm come from all of ▒ ▒udden...?

[That sure is a familiar voice to some people in Johto, even as distorted as it is...

The speaker pauses, unsure not only of the weather, but the strength of his network connection as well. After gathering a breath, he continues on with the reason he started this recording in the first place.]

Er, hey guys? H▒▒▒▒ang stole my leg and took off a ▒▒▒▒▒ ago.

[There's another pause as a loud crack of thunder rolls by, followed by a bout of static.]

▒ ▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒ink anyone should be outside, but if you can keep an eye out for ▒ ▒▒owlithe carrying something that looks like a foot, I'd appre▒▒▒▒▒ it. I thought h▒▒ ▒ome back, since it's raining, but I hav▒▒▒ seen him...

[Hiccup's face appears briefly as the feed freaks out one last time, looking just as it had three weeks ago when he had vanished without a trace. There's concern there over his current predicament, but he doesn't seem to be aware of his time away from Johto.]

Thanks anyway... I'll be in my room here if anyone in Mahogany finds him.

[ooc note: HEY WHAT'S UP, I'M BACK! Tags might be slow yet for a little while! Also (maybe?) posted early because I don't know what I'll all be doing today.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If you're sure...

[It still seemed a little weird, but with the knowledge that Carmen had also been a passenger on the Chief Express, Hiccup accepts his new ride.]

So, uh... How long was I gone?

[He could always check for himself, but... Part of him didn't want to know.]

For the moment, it's a better alternative than having you try to walk. Especially if stairs end up involved.

[For what it's worth, Chief doesn't look particularly fazed by this new development, either. Hiccup is an excellent size for a passenger, and one of the many things phenomenal psychic powers are good for is helping to support theoretically heavy objects. He's got this.

Carmen, on the other hand, goes a bit solemn at the inquiry.]

A few weeks. It's lucky we didn't move; we'd been talking about heading toward Cianwood for a little while now.

[Hiccup's quiet for a while at this new revelation. Cianwood had been his own destination for so long, but life had gotten pretty cozy, living in Ecruteak, then Mahogany. The small towns were familiar, and he had settled easily with the assorted group of travelmates. Then Astrid had come, making life all the better.

It sure would have been confusing to come back to find that not just the viking girl moved to a different town, but all the grown-ups, too.]

...We should all go, soon. To Cianwood.

[She's always been the driving force in the party, really; it's her nature to want to stay on the move, to travel the world, to avoid being tethered in one place for too long. She gets restless when it starts to feel as though she's putting down roots. She was the one who most wanted to go, this time.

And now, here, she's suddenly stunningly glad they didn't.]

You've never been, have you? [A fond look flickers across her features.] It's a beautiful city. It's on the ocean, too, but with more cliffs and rocky places than Olivine or Goldenrod.

Not yet...

[For being there as long as he had, Hiccup hadn't really done very much traveling. Even if he had been one to wander off, back home, it still wasn't natural for a citizen of Berk to head out to an unfamiliar place when there was no boat to carry them.

Hearing Cianwood described lifts his spirits a little. He'd heard it was a nice place, but so far, the beach had been all that was mentioned.]

That sounds nice. Almost like Berk. Are there forests there, too?

[Ecruteak is making a fair bid toward becoming her favorite for reasons of history and personal memories, but purely in the arena of scenery, it's hard to beat out Cianwood in Carmen's esteem.

Also because she dumped Cobra Commander's snake throne there after stealing it, so hey, it comes with its own set of personal memories, itself.]

Not around the town, but further up and in there are. Cianwood is on its own landmass, separate from the rest of Johto — that's why it takes a boat ride or flying to get there. The town sits on the coast, surrounded by cliffs, but once you surmount those, there are forested areas farther inland.

[As if he needed more reasons to head on over there... Getting Fly had been enough, really.]

I bet Astrid would like it there... Might be good to be in a familiar kind of place.

[And then they could go flying on dragons out over the water. Or, uh, something like that. You know, whatever.]

I looked at houses there, once.

[Hiccup, this is a BIG ADMISSION here, bro. No one has ever heard this story before. Not even Coop. FEEL SPECIAL.]

There aren't as many available as in Olivine or Goldenrod, of course — it's not nearly so big a town. But there was one near the beach that I liked. I wonder if anyone's snatched it up since then.

[It's a good thing Hiccup doesn't know about Carmen's thieving habits, or he might be inclined to wonder if she means "snatched it up" in a figurative sense, or a literal one.]

Really?

[Learning about frands is always special.]

We should look when we're there.

[Even if he couldn't exactly imagine Carmen getting settled down anywhere for too long, it would be nice to check. Besides, he wanted to see the spot special enough to catch the woman's attention.]

After these storms clear up, we'll talk about heading out that way.

[She flashes him an amused smile.]

Though we might pick up another passenger along the way, while we're at it. Another of Agent Cooper's friends arrived while you were gone, though he's still a few cities away yet.

[Pause.]

He's considerably more pleasant than Agent Rosenfield.

[He nods to show his approval of this plan. It would be wrong to put it off any longer, especially since they had all planned to go when he had vanished mysteriously.

Absently doing a headcount... Carmen, Coop and his friends, Astrid, and himself.]

That'll bring us up to six, then. Our group sure has been growing, lately. Wonder if it'll be your turn to get a familiar face around here, soon.

[FRIENDS OF CARMEN. Exciting to think about.]

I've only talked to him once, but Mr. Rosenfield didn't seem so bad to me...

[The conversation had mostly been positive, anyway.]

[BAWWW, HICCUP, SHE DOESN'T HAVE FRIENDS. :( ]

I wonder what you'd think of them if they did.

[Better Zack than Ivy, really, if such a thing were ever to come to pass. Ivy's dedication to bringing her in was something to be admired, no doubt, but Zack, at least, might be able to appreciate Johto life more easily than his sister. To say nothing of the fact that he and Hiccup would really be two of a kind.]

He'd better not seem bad to you. I'll have to have a few words with him if he does.

[HA HA, don't be silly. Thief Mom is awesome! Naturally, she has lots of friends. She practically OOZES friends.]

Hey, I can take care of myself.

[It's not an indignant BUT MOOOOOOOM tone, but one that's ready and amused. Why Carmen, he's practically a man! It's not like he does irresponsible things like disappearing. Come on.

...Th-though really, what is up with you two, it's weird. You shouldn't threaten the friends of the guy you smooch.]

[Yes. Oozes them. Sure does. Ha-hah...sob.]

Just make sure to say something if he gets out of hand. [A beat.] And if he calls you stupid, he's wrong.

[He is ALWAYS WRONG when he calls people stupid, GDI.]

Pretty sure he hasn't gone that far... [Though he made a lot of references to things Hiccup didn't get. What was that one thing he'd called him...?] What does it mean when he calls me 'Snoopy', though?

Snoopy?

[Now that's a new one. She casts him a sideways look, brow furrowed as she tries to work out where that might've come from.]

That's the name of a dog — a cartoon dog, that is. Where we're from, there are people who make a living telling stories through sequences of drawings called 'comics', not for the sake of recording history but for humor or comedy. One of the most famous characters in a set of these comics is a dog called Snoopy. But why would he come up with that for you?

[Even with the time spent out of Johto being literally nothing to Hiccup, it was still a ways back for him to remember. What had they been talking about...]

I don't know... Does it have something to do with a 'Red Baroness'? Or, uhmn... [Hmmmn.] Oh. He called me that after I said I knew you before I knew Cooper.

Oh.

[Surprisingly, she actually gets a faint laugh out of that. It's not entirely free of wry sarcasm, but there is some humor in it, too.]

Well, that's flattering. One of the most famous Snoopy stories is "Snoopy and the Red Baron" — it's set in the middle of a worldwide war, and casts Snoopy in the role of a heroic pilot who singlehandedly skirmishes with the very best of the enemy's aviators: the Red Baron.

So if nothing else, you can take it as a compliment. He thinks you make a remarkable pilot.

[OH. So the first memory was correct. With this 'Snoopy' being a dog, Hiccup had sort of been expecting it to be a jab at loyalty. It certainly seemed like the type of thing the Albert Rosenfield that Carmen knew might say.

...But it wasn't. Which made him think again that perhaps this friend of Cooper's wasn't as bad as Carmen made him out to be. Even though he did take note of the fact that Carmen was apparently an enemy aviator.]

Huh... Okay, thanks. [For explaining it and stuff.]

[The problem is, Albert's the one who likes to drag as many third parties as possible into the midst of his battles; that's not Carmen's style by any means, and especially not when the person in question is someone like Hiccup. If there's going to be a war, he doesn't deserve to get caught in the crossfire, no matter how determined Albert Rosenfield is to haul him there.

Unlike Hiccup, she can appreciate the greater context of the reference, and spots what Albert intended by it. It's not about what roles the pair played within the story; it's that they come as a pair in the first place. Snoopy and the Red Baron. Hiccup and Carmen.

"You two" and "us".

But Hiccup doesn't need to know that. And she's not going to tell him otherwise.]

Of course. Now, let's go find Hookfang, shall we?

[He nods, though he's still a little hesitant about it. The Growlithe had made a mad dash for the inn's exit once the prosthetic was secured, not seeming to care about the weather. It would be hard to tell just where Hookfang had carried it off to, or if the dog would have even bothered to keep it.]

Okay... If you don't mind the storm. [He glances over to the Leavanny, who is still awkwardly doting on the bitty dragon.] Think Stoick can handle Abbie, or...?

It's far from the first time I've been out in one. And besides, some of the greatest innovations in the world have come about thanks to a well-timed thunderstorm.

[She glances back as well; he raises a good point about the Leavanny, not because she doubts Stoick's ability to handle her dragon but because sometimes Abbie is just difficult to handle in general, and it doesn't really seem fair to saddle someone else's Pokemon, however generously they offer, with her. In Hiccup's absence, keeping tabs on her had largely fallen to Chief and Zack, but with the two of them occupied...]

I hate to put her away, but it might be for the best. She's getting better at staying put when she's told, but as you saw firsthand, when she gets excited, she has a tendency to...forget.

[Even with the indignant look Stoick got when it was implied that he was nurturing, Hiccup could tell that the bug was far more soft-hearted than he let on, and would have happily cared for the younger pokemon. At the suggestion, though, the viking makes a soft noise in agreement, corners of his mouth twitching up as he watched the Deino. She certainly could be a handful.]

We'll have to work on that later, then. Her and Hookfang.

[After recalling the Leavanny, Hiccup shifts a bit on his perch, returning his attention to Carmen.]

Can you tell me more about these innovations while we look?

[With a hint of a frown, she recalls Abbie as well — she really does hate to put some of them away, but necessity and prudence dictates and it'll be better all around if she rides along on Carmen's belt for the duration, instead of potentially wreaking havoc throughout the inn.

But that frown quickly turns into a smile at Hiccup's optimistic pledge. It's been too long since she last heard one out of him, and there's something altogether pleasant about hearing it now — as though he'd never been gone, and everything is simply business as usual once more.]

Don't let me forget to show you her latest trick — Zack's been teaching her how to navigate by sound. It's fun to watch.

[She gives Chief a fond scritch behind the ears, earning a pleased but mildly indignant whuffle, and then starts heading for the door at a pace Chief won't have trouble matching.]

Have you ever wondered how the lights overhead work, or the Gears, or just about any of the powered machines in Johto? It's all because a very brilliant man once had the idea to fly a kite in a thunderstorm...

[And with that, Hiccup will probably hear the entire history of the discovery of electricity as they set off to look for his dog.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Eleventh Flight. [glitched audio/brief video/action at Mahogany Inn.]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject