InsaneJournal

Who: Henrik and Floki
What: crazy animals
Where: at home
When: let’s go with beginning of February
Warnings/Status: none!/Complete



Henrik hadn’t actually thought that the Seal would really give him a dragon but he would never regret making the wish that he had. Even if the dragon was very good at getting into trouble which often led to him getting into all sorts of trouble too. At least it didn’t seem to want to eat any of the other animals in the house. He knew he would have been dragonless before he could muster a response if the baby dragon had tried to eat Lily.

If anything Toothless--because what else was he going to call his new, amazing dragon friend?--was afraid of the other animals instead of them being afraid of him. He flew high up whenever Lily came into the room, yapping away at him. The poor little guy didn’t even try to venture near the stables where the horses were located.He had done it once and had ended up flying quickly away from the annoyed creatures and gotten himself tangled in a net.

“We will build you a place to play,” Henrik told the dragon who was perched on his shoulder and waiting for the bits of chicken to be flown into the air. “Like I have with my treehouse.” And outdoor area was probably best. At least they didn’t have nosy neighbors hanging around on either side of them.

Henrik wandered around the back yard, tossing pieces of meat into the air and watching as the dragon sped after them, diving to catch them. He wasn’t surprised when the baby goat wandered out too and tried to get in on the game. The little thing seemed to like causing as much trouble as Toothless did.

“Floki?” Henrik called out, figuring the man must have been near with the goat roaming around.

~~~

The past is a foreign country, so the saying went, they do things differently there. That it had been written by a man born centuries after Floki, and yet simultaneously dead for some four decades, did little to undermine the sentiment. This place - this ‘Kansas’ - where the Seal had unceremoniously deposited him was a strange one indeed. Perhaps it was unsurprising, then, that the knarrsmithr spent as long as he did in the stables - they, at least, had barely changed from the structures he remembered, and there was a comfortable familiarity to the smell of hay and horse. But he missed the forests, and the beaches, and Helga…

Maudlin thoughts profited a man nothing; if this was the skein the norns had chosen for him, then it would do him little good to try and follow a different thread. And so he did his best to avoid brooding. Tanni had been a quite literal godsend in that regard; she had Loki’s own nose for mischief, and the business of keeping her out of trouble had become a fulltime occupation.

Floki grinned broadly when he heard Henrik’s shouts, appearing from around a corner. The boy had been a different sort of godsend; someone patient, and kind, who loved the old stories almost as much as he himself did. It did not surprise him that the Powers That Be had granted the boy a dragon; if ever there was a hero worthy of one, it was he.

“Little Mikaelson! Is that terrible goat-monster harassing you?”

~~~

“I think that she wishes to play, is all.” Though Tanni’s version of playing often got the lot of them into trouble. The last thing Henrik wanted was another round of reprimands for the destruction that the animals caused. He probably took it a lot better than most his age would, enjoying the fact that someone truly did care about what he was up to. Not a mother, nor a sibling, but close to one.

“I do not think that Toothless wishes for her to be in the game though.” The dragon was hissing at the little goat who was trotting around trying to get attention. Henrik patted the dragon on his head, soothing the creature, before tossing a piece of wood over to the goat to catch. “But we must learn to share with others, my new friend.”

He then tossed a piece of meat up in the air and watched the dragon fly high to try and catch it. “What are you doing in the stable? Are the horses doing okay? The littlest one is mine.” It was only a few months old and he was unable to ride it just yet, but he enjoyed feeding it little sugar cubes when he could get it away from Caroline’s horse.

~~~

“And a fine horse it will be, given time.” he grinned, kneeling down next to Tanni and scratching her behind the ears. “They are all well, Henrik, do not fret. And they, at least, are no different here than in Kattegat.”

That was not quite true - these modern horses were slimmer, and taller, not like the stocky Norse ponies he had grown up around. But they were still recognisably Horses, and with everything else still so new and strange it was a blessing. With so many people coming and going the continuity was a precious and lovely thing all of its own; quietly - mostly to himself - he added “... and the Seal cannot take them away.”

Tanni wasted no time in ejecting him from his maudlin train of thought; unamused at the slowing and eventually ceasing of her scratches she bleated pointedly, ramming her head into his chest. Floki toppled melodramatically, laughing as he fell. “Ah, woe is Floki, to be saddled with such a cruel beast when there are noble horses in this world.”

~~~

Henrik laughed at the creature, further amused as the dragon shook its head at what the goat was getting up to. “You did wish for the goat,” he reminded. Though he wasn’t sure if Floki had wished for it to come when it was still so young and not quite ready to take on the mantel it was destined to do.

“I am sure you could ride the horses if you wanted to. You would simply need to ask Nik and Caroline.” He didn’t think that either of them would say no to the request. It would be harder to ride Caroline’s one though with how close the foal seemed to stay near the mare. Leaving its mother was just something it wasn’t ready to do quite yet.

~~~

"For the goat of Legend Henrik. The mighty beast that pulls Thor's chariot" Righting himself, still giggling, Floki swept the goat up in his arms, holding her in his lap. "Not this vile creature. Woe to the house of Mikaelson, that I should bring it such a monster."

As if well aware she was being talked about, Tanni bleated happily, nibbling at Floki's fingers as he wagged them chastisingly at her, his tone joking.

"She had best learn manners, or I will feed her to Toothless long before next Jol."

~~~

“I am unsure whether Caroline would agree to that or not since it would stop the bleating but it would teach him that he could eat Lily.” And if Toothless ate that dog, Henrik knew that his time in the world would be severely limited. There was no getting around that at all. But the dragon seemed to fear the small dog so Henrik didn’t think that would be an issue.

“But you should definitely try to train her in some manners.” Because the little goat definitely didn’t seem to have any of those.

“And maybe the Seal has given you that one but expects you to raise it to the fullest of its glory.” It could be a possibility. Or perhaps it just didn’t like to give them animals that could cause real harm.

~~~

“Perhaps.” Floki shrugged, scratching Tanni’s ears. “Who knows what the Seal wants? Perhaps this is all a joke, and she is Just A Baby Goat, not the legendary Tanngrisnir. And when we come to eat her that will be that. That seems the sort of thing the Seal would do, doesn’t it?”

Maudlin, maudlin, maudlin. It would be easy to sink into that, to become once again the monster he was when he worked for Horik - he had no Helga, no Torstein, no Angrboda. But he didn’t want to. He’d much rather be the trickster than the beast, and so he giggled, and gestured towards the dragon.

“At least we know Toothless is what he is, no?”

~~~

“He is definitely a dragon.” Toothless seemed to preen at those words, butting his head gently into Henrik’s cheek as he perched on his master’s shoulder. “Though I think some would rather that he was a goat.” He glanced over at Tanni and rethought that idea. “Or no. Probably a dog.” Though Lily would probably have tormented another dog that showed up at the house as well. For such a tiny thing that dog sure did think she was the alpha of the household.

“The Seal does what it wants when it wants to. But wishes are usually for good things. I do not think they go badly.” At least they hadn’t ever in his experience or the experiences of those he knew. Other things would go horrendously for people because of it, but never the wishes. He really hoped it stayed that way.

“I think Tanni will surprise you yet.”

~~~

“We shall see, Little Mikaelson. We shall see… Now. I hear it is your birthday soon; that you are to be a man, at least.”

Tanni bleated indignantly, dislodged from her comfy perch as Floki bounced to his feet, clapping his hands together excitedly as if he had just been struck by a wonderful thought. Which in a way he had. But it was just as likely he had just gotten bored of sitting; the man seemed perpetually full of energy, constantly fidgeting with something.

“Have you thought what you would like? It is still the done thing to give gifts on such an occasion, is it not?”

~~~

“It is, yes.” At least in this time it was. It had taken a bit of working out when exactly his birthday would have been but he was happy with the day that he had finally picked out for it.

“I do not know what I would like but giving gifts is something that people do.” He did not think he really needed anything. Klaus and Caroline got him whatever he required. There were clothes on his back and more than enough food in his belly. He had books and Toothless, various toys already to play with. What else could he possibly need?

“I would like to learn how to make larger things than the wooden animals that I carve.”

~~~

“Indeed? Ah. If only you knew someone with such skills. Someone far from home, and lacking an apprentice.”

Now, that would be a fine thing. He had never thought to take an apprentice before - always he had been too busy, his moods too mercurial, his tolerance for the company of others too fragile. Perhaps in time he would have taught Angrboda… would still teach her, when the seal saw fit to return him, Floki grinned wickedly for a moment before forcing his features into a more sombre expression.

“You know, I cannot think of anyone who fits that description….”

~~~

Henrik quirked a brow at him as he tried to contain his laughter. It was a lost cause though. “I think I know someone who fits that description perfectly.” He looked expectantly at Floki, hoping that becoming his apprentice might be a thing that could happen.

All of his tutors were gone and while they were looking for new ones, he needed something to do, something to learn. Building things, carving things was a worthwhile task to learn and one that he enjoyed doing. Plus it would keep the both of them out of Caroline’s hair. Surely that would be a good thing too.

“If you think that I have the skill to learn in your footsteps.”

~~~

Floki blinked. Once, in mock-confusion. Twice, in a pantomime of growing realisation, his hand pressed to his chest in a silent who, me?

“You flatter me, Henrik.” He grinned. “But yes, I will teach you, if you wish to learn. Come! We should begin now. There is a great deal you must learn, if you wish to work with wood as I do.” He giggled, delighted, gesturing for the boy to follow him. “Come! We must find a tree, see what it says to you. It is an eye you either have or do not, little Mikaelson, but I think… yes, I think you may just surprise me...”