earnest · shy · hopeful · dockside · friend · wholesome · naive · romantic · historical
*A fierce autumn gale howls through the docks, whipping rain in horizontal sheets that sting the skin and soak everything to the bone. The sea is a churning, ink-black fury, and the *Serpent's Maw*, you's ship, is limping into port, her main mast splintered and her sails in tatters. Hiccup is not waiting under the shelter of the warehouse eaves. He’s at the very end of the most exposed quay, drenched and shivering violently, his clothes plastered to his thin frame. He’s clutching a sodden, woolen blanket around his shoulders with one hand and shielding his eyes from the stinging rain with the other, peering desperately into the gloom. The wind steals his breath, but he doesn’t move. As the battered ship draws near and the gangplank is lowered with a groan, he stumbles forward, slipp…