Fade Rift - Application

[dragondowner]

PLAYER

Name: Bubbles
Age: 28
Contact: hikuswing
Other Characters: Varric Tethras (hugeinorlais) and Galadriel ( laurenande)
Interests: I'm looking forward to some awkwardness, some arguments, and a whole lot of cultural misunderstanding. With my other characters, both knowing and well-traveled as they are, I don't get quite as much trouble or as many shenanigans as I'd like. With Hiccup, I gleefully welcome both.

CHARACTER

Name: Hiccup
Canon/OC: How To Train Your Dragon (Movie)
Journal: dragondowner
Race: Human (Avvar)
Nationality: Avvar
Occupation: Smith's Apprentice and Part-Time Walking Disaster Magnet.
Age: 15 16

History

Hiccup's Wikipedia Entry

Hiccup's problems began at the beginning, basically from birth. Right from the start, Hiccup found himself in a harrowing situation and everything has been slowly escalating ever since. It wouldn't be correct to say that Hiccup had a long history of anything, given that he's fifteen, but as far as fifteen year stints go, Hiccup's was one of the longest.

Hiccup, unfortunately, was born to the Avvar. As if being born into a society of brawling, ax wielding, hard-fighting, mountain-bred raiders weren't already risky business, the gods saw fit to place Hiccup in Black-Ram Hold. Whether this was a joke on the gods' part was a topic of no small debate in Black-Ram Hold, given that Hiccup is, quite possibly, the least intimidating creature ever.

Now, nobody would ever accuse any particular Avvar Hold of being anything as banal as "safe", but Black-Ram Mold was so markedly unsafe that even the other Avvar tribes were usually a bit leery of dealing with them. It wasn't that they weren't friendly or welcoming; Stoick the Vast, Thane and mighty bulwark against the sky-foe, was the picture of a strong, upstanding Avvar. Assuming anyone survived long enough to land on their rocky little island, and that he wasn't cleaving something in half at the time, Stoick was positively welcoming. He allowed any and all guests into their Hold, gave them food, shelter, and even weapons. He was so upstanding that Stoick had yet to actually break an oath to anyone, all his life. Sure, he could be a tad severe (and judgmental), but he was about as ideal a Thane as there could be.

No, the reason nobody wanted to visit Black-Ram Hold was the pests.

Some places had bears or wolves, Stone-Bear had spiders, the Stormhold even had Undead on occasion, but not Black-Ram Hold.

Black-Ram Hold had a dragon problem.

This wasn't to say they had a high dragon to contend with and they were scared of it; they were Avvar, not frightened Orlesians. Black-Ram Hold (referred to by most of the other tribes as Wyrmhold, for obvious reasons) was beset by dragons. Seven generations had lived on this island and seven generations of dragon-slayers had been raised here.

Why not leave? That was a question Hiccup asked, once he was old enough to speak, and was directed to the tough, ill-tempered, and nigh immortal Hold Beast--Sheepnir, the black ram. Sheepnir had survived more dragon attacks than most people did winters and, stubborn as a rock, it was a perfect reflection of Hiccup's tribe.

The Avvar, as a people, didn't usually believe in Luck. When faced with Wyrmhold, however, even the most devout of Augurs would agree that they were Unlucky. Hiccup, unfortunately, was also a reflection of his people and, of all things, he seemed to embody their general ill-fortune.


Personality

Hiccup is clever, creative, cunning, sarcastic, and a bit of a whiner. While the first three gain him some approval among his Hold, the last two have never helped his popularity. As Stoick's only son, Hiccup's cleverness is encouraged, but only tentatively. Hiccup has a tendency to make things far harder than they need to be, and often engineers brilliant solutions that ultimately create new, increasingly dire problems. He has a prodigious talent for accidentally setting everything on fire (usually simultaneously) and is rarely as mindful of his location as he should be (in that he is always in the wrong place, no matter what is happening). Unsurprisingly, due to his skill, his intelligence, and his unfailing ability to draw any and all forms of danger to himself, Hiccup often requires rescue. He's thankful enough, once the danger has passed, but fifteen years of being chided because he's small and feeble have resulted in Hiccup being cutting and sarcastic, even in dire situations or while being rebuked.


Despite all of his failings, Hiccup very much wants to be his Father's son and is terrified of being disowned. He is proud to be an Avvar, proud of his people and his home, and while he's probably the worst possible example of an Avvar (a fact he is aware of), that doesn't prevent him from upholding their traditions. Well...attempting to.

The Avvar are strong, stalwart, loyal, and as immovable as the Frostbacks themselves. Hiccup, by contrast, could be knocked aside by a particularly strong wind--but he tries, often putting himself in great danger as he does, to be a true Highlander. He wants his Legend Name, to find out where he fits in his Hold, and in life, and more than anything, Hiccup wants to become someone his father is proud of.


Strengths & Weaknesses

Sadly, despite being surrounded by warriors so tough they could split granite with their heads, Hiccup is not tough.

He can withstand the cold, like most Avvar, and has a stomach that puts cast iron to shame, but he is otherwise very, very unimpressive. He has some skill with a hammer (and forge), can repair, rework, and hone actual weapons, but he doesn't know how to wield anything he didn't invent himself.

With the general build of a stalk of Embrium, Hiccup does not strike fear into anything. Ever. His long gangly limbs and hard angles give off the impression of someone who has been constructed, almost entirely, out of knees. He is surprisingly agile (probably due in part to all the knees) and excels at scaling rock (or just about anything), especially if it means escaping from death (or just about anything). He's quick, in the way most nimble, flighty things are, and can avoid most immediate threats with speed, but he is also extremely easy to catch off guard.

Being small and skilled at dodging does have some perks, however, mild though they are.

His size makes him less of a target for large creatures, and less likely to be spotted overall. It also affords him quite a few hiding places that more...robust people wouldn't be able to occupy. His ability to quickly dart into cover has saved his life on multiple occasions and generally makes him less likely to be snatched up and eaten by one of the many, many dragons that plague his home.

All of this could account for his continued survival in Black-Ram Hold, but it doesn't. Certainly, people saving him from precarious situations is a large contributor to his surviving, Hiccup wouldn't deny that, but he isn't entirely inept, either. Hiccup is extremely observant, as one is when they are small and everything else is not, and years of distressingly up-close observation of dragons (so many dragons) have resulted in a curious ability.

Hiccup can't fight a dragon but he's probably the only Avvar who's ever managed to calm one down. If pressed, he couldn't explain how he does it--he suspects that he just looks so delicious that dragons have to take a moment to appreciate it before they try to eat him--but Hiccup has a way with the beasts. Unfortunately, on more than one occasion, this has resulted in them seeking him out when they swoop in to devour everything.

As such, Hiccup assumes this ability is another punishment from the gods.

Inventory

In his pack Hiccup has:

A boning knife (small), a considerable amount of smoked, dried fish and eel, an assortment of furs jammed haphazardly into the bag, two pressed pulp, simple bound books he uses for notes and sketching, charcoal and a small stick to attach it to, a waterskin, a whetstone, and a severed horn from a Gamordan Stormrider drake that has been fashioned into a multipurpose cup/blunt weapon/warhorn (really, more of a "please come save me horn").

He also has a horned helm that doesn't quite fit him, a round shield painted with distinctly Avvar decorations of warriors fighting serpents, and an ax (of the variety intended to chop wood and/or meat, not so much for combat, but as he couldn't lift the latter he decided the former would do).

Motivation

Bad luck is literally what brings him to the Inquisition.

Hiccup's increasingly bad luck is something he ascribes to the gods' displeasure with him. After a particularly catastrophic attack on Black-Ram Hold, during which Hiccup did more damage to the Hold than the dragons attacking them, Hiccup did what any loyal, hold-loving, loyal Avvar would do and decided to set out on a journey to appease the gods. (Before he causes the island to sink into the Sundering Sea, or causes the sky to reopen, or something equally horrible.) He borrowed a boat, packed his gear, and headed for the most obvious sign from the gods--the sky-scar where the breach had been. He learned about the Inquisition en route (and fortunately it is a very long route) and reasoned that if they had already assisted the Lady so much, they were a good place to start his appeasing.

Helping out someone who was already helping seems like a solid plan, right?

If nothing else, they had already survived the sky being rent in twain. Even his cursed luck wasn't worse than that...and, this far inland, there was no chance he could sink anyone into the ocean. Hopefully he wouldn't set the whole Inquisition on fire, but Hiccup was nothing if not a realist.

SAMPLES

Sample 1: Hiccup at the Test Drive Meme

Sample 2:
Hiccup was used to a great deal of (shall we say) eccentric behavior. He'd traveled from Holding to Holding to get here, to Skyhold, and in each new Hold, he'd seen at least one odd custom that didn't exist back at home. He'd watched a group of Avvar play a game that involved seeing how far each of them could just throw a heavy ball of ore. He'd watched a fisherman and a hunter competitively run on a rolling log, floating free in a river in the wilds. In Dunbroch Hold the Thane, the actual Thane of the Hold, had declared that an argument be settled by juggling geese--well, baby geese--goslings. Hiccup knew better than to question the customs of his brethren, but this seemed odd, even in comparison.

"Uh, just so we're clear," Hiccup said and raised his hands, obligingly, as the nice Inquisition guards with the pole-arms requested. "I'm traveling with him but I'm not...with him."

There was an offended bleating 'baa' as Morvan hefted another ram by its horns and, casually as anything, spun in a circle and chucked the live beast at the wall of the fortress. It flew in a wide, overhead arch and thudded, indignantly, against the stone before dropping onto the walkway. The lowlander guards seemed just as flummoxed as Hiccup was. They looked at him--as if he magically knew why someone would throw goats at buildings--and Hiccup just shrugged. Morvan shouted something colloquial, and a bit off color, and let the ram he'd been carrying over his shoulder slide down his arm. He didn't bother with all the spinning and fanfare for this one, however, and just threw it overhand, like a ball, against the gatehouse.

It slid to the snowy ground and stumbled. When the beast caught its feet, it huffed and tossed its head, but decided to limp away rather than charging. The guards stared. Hiccup stared. Morvan looked at him and, as though he hadn't done anything unusual at all, shrugged.

"They killed my idiot son."

Hiccup just blinked.

"Oh, well...alright then?"