Discord dump. I keep drawing art and then never posting it…. 😅
But yeah. I’m trying to get back into the swing of drawing jack, and I redesigned how I draw EJ yet again…. But now I’m really vibing with her color scheme so. Good thing!
Do u guys ever think that this is what Hiccup sees when Jack gets mad or angry (not upset cuz that shit hits HARD-) at him in Heart of a Dragon's Soul?
Not to angst on main, but what if Jack somehow found the betrothal token in the present? When Hiccup has been dead for over a thousand years. And he has to live with the knowledge that Hiccup was going to ask Jack to marry him. Live with the fact he never got to say yes.
Sorry for shitty quality (no good lighting rn oof)
Me: I’m just gonna do a quick sketch to get my feelings about this chapter down on paper.
My feelings: SLSJAIBDKE EKD LFIWNDBND AHHHHHHHHHH THEY KISSED THEYRE TOGETHER IM SOBBING USE FULL SHADING AHAODBWNBRNB BLUDVIST HOLY FUCKIING USE A MICRON PEN FOR LINES AFOWBSDJLAHSNEJWIFBDNS AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH *vague sobbing noise that keeps breaking into squeals*
Alright so. The six year anniversary for HoaDS is coming up fast, and I wanted to celebrate it with something special. The good Norn of Silence once mentioned that she originally had a concept for a scene in the series where Jack would walk in on Dream Pirates feeding off of Hiccup and have a legitimately scary moment over it, but that the series ended up developing in a different direction and she decided to shelve the idea.
I’ve thought about what that scene might be like a bunch of times, and while this interpretation is probably nowhere near as good as whatever she had planned, writing it out and posting it is my best idea for paying tribute to all the effort, time, and care the Norn puts into this series.
Silverly, I love this wonderful story you’ve crafted a ridiculous amount, and I wanted you to know how much I appreciate all the effort you put in even when it comes to things that don’t end up in the final draft, be that the behind the scenes research to keep the world coherent and logical, or the scenes that get cut.
The sun was already long set when Jack slipped out out of the treeline and made his way to the zipline connecting the old cliffside oak with Hiccup's hut. Snotlout had teased them both relentlessly for this particular line, but Jack figured it was more than worth it on days like this. It was much faster to take the line from Hiccup's hut to his than to take the clubhouse route after all, and after spending all day carving runes into trees and rocks anything that got him to his bed faster was welcome.
And he'd have to do it all again tomorrow; Outpost Island might not be particularly large, but it would still take him at least two more days to have it fully warded. It was exhausting work, but it'd be worth it to ensure the Edge remained free of Dream Pirates. Stifling a yawn he peered sleepily down at the dark huts framed against the sea, each locked down and braced against the coming storm promised by the heavy air and thick clouds blanketing the sky. He couldn't see any lights, so he should be able to slip back into his own hut with no one the wiser to his late return.
Reassured that his decision to risk the coming storm in favor of getting more runes laid would go unnoticed, he slung his staff over the line and leapt from the Oak's roots. Unfortunately he must have underestimated just how tired he was because his landing was significantly clumsier and louder than usual. Jack winced at the loud, hollow thump of his feet against the deck, glancing instinctively up at the loft window for any sign he woke Hiccup. For a long moment there's nothing, but just as he was about to breath a sigh of relief he saw a shape dart past the frame.
Jack's shoulders slumped regretfully. When he told the riders this morning that he'd be working on a project today he might have implied that said project would involve etching runes into leather rather than rock, so they've almost certainly assumed he's simply been holed up in his hut all evening. And while Hiccup might be a bit unconventional for his people, he's still a viking down to his bones. More importantly he's a Haddock. His first thought for strange noises in the night when everyone in their little settlement should already be safe and accounted for is going to be that there's trouble. Sighing, the druid resigned himself to the inevitable upset over his misdirection and knocked sharply on the door.
He really was too tired for this. He couldn't very well tell Hiccup that he was coming back late because he was in the process of setting Gothi's wards around the entire island. If he did the Hiccup would very reasonably want to know why he felt that was necessary, and it wasn't as if he could explain the dream pirates. He could say that he was wandering around the settlement because of a bad dream, but given their recent heart to heart and how much his dream-pirate induced night terrors had concerned Hiccup he didn't want to lie about something like that. Jack was so caught up in how to explain his late return that it took him a minute to register the lack of response to his knock.
Confused, he knocked again and called out in a voice pitched not to carry across the water to the other huts. "Hiccup? Relax, it's just me." Nothing.
Frowning, Jack backed up to squint up at the dark window tucked under the hut's eaves. He didn't see anything moving now...maybe what he'd seen before had been a trick of his tired eyes. Still, Toothless and Hiccup were usually light enough sleepers that he would have expected calling out at the door to wake them. Of course they had been out on a long flight today, it was possible they were sleeping more deeply than usual and it wasn't as if anything could get to either of them without waking Toothless and thus alerting the rest of them to trouble but...
He was still wavering between worry and dismissing his own concern as paranoia when there was a sudden screech and Sharpshot burst from the window, diving frantically towards Jack.
The former-spirit's heart leapt instantly to a double-time beat, instinctively ducking as the frantic creature swooped around his shoulders. "Sharpshot what-?!" The little dragon cut him off with a demanding cry, latching onto the shoulder of Jackson's cloak and doing his level best to drag him to the door of the hut. The druid needed no further prompting.
Well and truly alarmed, he shoved the door open and darted into inside, calling out as he went. "Hiccup? Toothless?" Still there was no answer, but Jack was already racing up the stairs to the loft after Sharpshot. "Hic-"
His throat locked as he hit the top of the stairs.
The loft was full of dream pirates. One or two were stooped over a still Toothless but the majority were feeding from Hiccup, swarming so thickly around his bed that Jack could barely catch a glimpse of his fitful thrashing past their amorphous forms.
Jackson had never thought of himself as a particularly angry person. He had occasional fits of temper of course and he had often struggled with resentment in his time as a Spirit, but he'd never felt the sort of burning anger that he'd seen Bunny or Astrid or Snotlout flare up with, so he'd assumed that just wasn't built for real anger.
He was right.
In that instant it wasn't anger that filled him but a cold and deadly rage. It spread through his veins with the ruthlessness of a glacier, bringing with it terrible stillness and clarity of mind. In the heartbeat before he acted, for the first time in his life as mortal or spirit, Jackson Overland felt the desire to kill. It wasn't that he was resigned to the necessity of it, he wanted with everything in him to crush the creatures in front of him out of existence. And he knew he could do it; he knew the magic surging through him would answer his call in spears of razor edged burning ice. The killing cold of a blizzard rolled off his skin like fog from dry ice, and for an endless instant he was a potential avalanche; a single choice and he'd be roaring down the mountainside, crushing and unstoppable.
Devastating winter breathed in, frigid and raging-
And Jackson Overland breathed out.
Amber eyes flared to blazing gold as pure sunlight blasted from the druid like fire from a dragon's throat. More than half the Dream Pirates simply vanished, their shadowy flesh boiling away in an instant as the tortured spirits trapped within escaped toward the sky. The rest streaked out the window even as the light faded, burnt and hissing in frightened fury as they fled.
Sharpshot dove valiantly out the window after them, his screech of victory startling a disoriented Toothless awake, but Jackson's focus was on Hiccup. He was across the loft in an instant, kneeling on the side of the bed as he caught hold of Hiccup's shoulder. "Hiccup! Hiccup wake up!"
The dragon rider wrenched awake with a gasp, jerking wildly upright as green eyes darted unseeingly across the room. "Wh-wha-?" Jack's chest seized painfully at the confused fear in his face. Moving slowly, he cupped the side of Hiccup's face with his free hand, drawing his attention back as gently as he could manage. "Easy, you're okay." Hiccup shuddered, bringing his own hand up to press Jack's more firmly against his jaw, and the druid had to work to keep the anger off his face at the hesitance in the movement. "What happened?"
Jack offered him the most reassuring smile he could manage. "You just had a nightmare, it's over now." Hiccup grimaced, his hold on the former spirit's hand tightening slightly. "Oh great. That's..." His voice trailed away as he visibly tried to calm himself. Thick brows wrinkled into a confused frown as his eyes fixed on the druid with a touch more clarity. "Wait, why're you here?" Jack lifted a brow teasingly, tone kept purposefully light and playful. "What, not happy to see me? I'm hurt." Hiccup snorted in halfhearted amusement, some of the tension collapsing out of his shoulders. "Jackson." The smaller teen shrugged one shoulder as if it was nothing to worry about. "Sharpshot came and got me. Guess he was worried about you."
Hiccup groaned in embarrassment, dropping his forehead against Jack's collarbone and sliding his grip from the hand at his cheek to his upper arm. "He woke you for-? Gods I'm sorry." The druid hummed soothingly, his hand sliding up to comb softly through the viking's mussed hair. "I'm not. I'd rather be here if you need me." Hiccup grumbled stubbornly, though he did lean more heavily into Jack's shoulder. "It was just a nightmare Jack. You shouldn't have had to climb over to my hut in the middle of the night with a thunderstorm coming-" Jack cut him off cheerfully, still running gentle fingers through his hair. "Snowstorm. And I meant what I said. I don't care if it's dragon hunters, a nightmare, or a stubbed toe, I'd rather be with you than anywhere else in the archipelago or beyond."
Jack could feel the heat of Hiccup's blush against his collarbone, freckled arms coming up to wrap loosely around his waist as the viking settled against him. "You're the most ridiculous person I've ever met, you know that?" Jack laughed, tipping his face to rest his temple against the side of hiccup's head. "Pot, kettle." The bed dipped sharply as a concerned Toothless climbed up to curl around Hiccup's back, tail flipping around to drape protectively across his riders legs and behind Jackson's waist. Sharpshot, who must have returned from his chase, fluttered in to snuggle up against Jack's leg with a self-satisfied chirp. And as the tangle of humans and dragons slowly began to settle, Jackson made a silent promise in the privacy of his own mind.
He'd always be there when Hiccup needed him, even if it meant waging war single-handedly on every fearling, dream pirate, and nightmare man in the archipelago.
“Look again,” the burnet swept his arm around towards the surrounding greenery.
Jack doubted the chief’s son saw the forest the same way he saw the natural wildlife all around them. To amber eyes, everything was brimming with life.
(Excerpt from Soul of a Druid, chapter 33, link is below)
Or, in other words, I’m going back through the series and re reading all my favorite moments between these adorable dumbasses. Ahhhhhh I’m so happy they got together!!! Once again, thank you @silverlysilence for such an incredible chapter!!!
“I know that I’m not my father... and I never met my mother... so, what does that make me?”
Suddenly, there was a weight in his lap as two hands grabbed either side of his head and drew vivid green eyes to stare straight into livid liquid amber. “That makes you Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, the Hope and Heir to the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans, the Boy who Befriend the Dragons, the Conqueror of the Red Death, the Head of the Dragon Training Academy, and oh so much more. It makes you, you. You don’t need to look for who you are because I already know who you are and I’ll always be there to remind you of that: always.”
