[Gladios Haggard]

Gladios hummed along with the songs of nature he was hearing all around him, the tunes easy to follow once you understand the pattern. He was currently working on the roof of someone's home damaged from a gronkle dropping a boulder on it, from what he had heard around the villiage for the short time he had been there so fa,e it was nothing new. For Gladios is was nothing hard to repair either. In order to listen to the birds singing he used his thumb to push nails in rather than hammer them, nothing hard for the large man. He slid down from the roof to start working in the beams, peeking up when he heard a familliar caw of a crow that had stopped by every day for the past week, normally he would recite poetry... but today he was quiet aside form occasionally calling out, no words or meaning behind the noise, which bothered Gladios. The man tilted his head up at the black bird, never had he directly spoken to an animal before... perhaps it was time to try?

"Why so quiet today?" He asked curiously, and the bird turned its head to the side so that's its beady black eye could focus on the human. "I enjoy your poetry. Normally you'd have spoken a book by now."

"No human has ever liked my calls? How come you are different from them all?" The bird asked back, Gladios wasn't surprised to find he spoke in rhyme. Most song or poetry animals did. 

"Dunno. But I'm happy to listen to you." The crow beamed, feathers fluffing up before he rose his head high and started to loudly proclaim lyrics about loving someone far away, hoping that she would hear him. To other people it sounded like loud angry cawing, but to Gladios it was rather peaceful and delicate art. Especially because it wasn't really a song to draw in a mate, but to find his lost love.

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[Gustav]

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for @tag

"Gustav" - "Fanghook"

Remember that your gifts are your gain

He'd seen the enormous man around, it was hard to miss him, given that he was literally the size of a dragon himself. He towered over most people as it was, but Gustav was probably the shortest viking on Berk, not counting the children who had an excuse to be knee high to a flea. He was curious about him though, he'd never stricken Gustav as an especially violent man despite his size, he seemed fairly gentle in fact, fairly soft, most people save for a few like Hiccup and the angry one that was always with him gave the man a wide berth, he supposed he couldn't blame them...He'd been somewhat intimidated by him too until he observed him and figured out that he was about as harmful as a sweetroll.

And he knew what that felt like anyway, being avoided and looked at funny, he didn't think the poor guy had many friends, and he was well aware that there was just as much chance that he wouldn't even want to be Gustav's friend...But never try never know, he'd always been a trier, that was what he did best, and if he could get even one more person who didn't seem to hate his guts...Well more friends didn't hurt.

He was alone for the moment, Fang preoccupied with what he imagined was another failed attempt to court Frey's dragon, but that was fine by him, as much as he loved Fanghook, it was nice to stroll through the village alone sometimes. He stopped a little short though, ducking into a hiding place for a moment as he just watched the man interacting with...A crow? It sounded like he was having a real conversation with the bird...Gustav's interest was immediately piqued as he strolled closer.

He couldn't bring himself to say anything as he came to stand beside him, watching the bird crowing with an intrigued expression, if only because the man...Gladios, right? Seemed enthralled by whatever these crows and caws meant. The sound was raucous to Gustav, but there was something a little endearing about the way Gladios was listening so patiently. He didn't want to interrupt, so he didn't, he just listened with him until the bird finished and he could make his presence known.

x

[Gladios Haggard]

The crow only spoke a few more verses before he beamed and looked down at the human expectantly, "I thank you for listening." He said and flapped his wings, about to take off. Gladios made a small wave of his hand and smiled, "Any time, I hope you'll come back again tomorrow too." The crow gave a nod and then took off, cawing out happier verses as he flew away. Like people, animals also had things on their minds. Gladios was sure the crow had lost his lover, as his poetry was usually filled with love or joy... today it had been sadder. "Poor guy." He turned and grabbed more nails, using his thumb to push them into the wood.

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deltra of gangnam style

[Gustav]

### words

for @tag

"Gustav" - "Fanghook"

Remember that your gifts are your gain

He glanced between the crow and the behemoth of a man a few times before the bird took off and the man continued working as if nothing had happened. The small boy put his hands behind his back and poked his head around in front of the man, looking up at him with curious eyes, "do you usually go around talking to animals?" He squinted an eye, more curious than anything...Did the bird talk back or was he just guessing at what it was saying? He had so many questions, but he was momentarily distracted from them by the sight of this guy just...Pushing the nails into the wood like it was easy, "how are you doing that? Are you just really that strong?" He still had too many questions...He looked curious as he went around to climb up onto one of the more stable beams, so he could look the guy in the face instead of craning his neck up.

"Where'd you come from?" He decided that that was the question that was most pressing in his mind, he remembered something about this guy had set Hiccup on edge for a while, something to do with Viggo...But Gustav couldn't see it, he seemed relatively harmless, "you had Hiccup in a bit of a spin for a while...Uh...What's your name?" He grinned and held his hand out, "I'm Gustav!"

x

[Gladios Haggard]

Gladios wasn't all that startled by the sudden appearance of Gustav, glancing to the boy with a warm smile at his curious questions. He wasn't one to hide things, and he didn't see any reason to with Gustav. If the boy didn't believe him, then oh well. He was also thankful that Gustav had moved higher up, so that neither had to strain their neck to look at the other. "Animals normally talk to me... I think it is a gift. Today I found out they listen to me too. As for my strength..." He slowly pushed another nail in, "I can not call it a gift, but yes, my strength is only matched by my fondness for animals." He beamed and shrugged when the boy asked where he was from.

"I unknowingly worked for Viggo. I was a builder, I make cages and repairs. I found out what Viggo's... operation was and left to find a place friendly to dragons, and here I will work to make up for all the bad I did." Was his heartfelt answer, "Hiccup does not trust me yet. I do not blame him." He very gently took the boy's small hand, giving it a shake. "I am Gladios. It is very nice to meet you."

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deltra of gangnam style

[Gustav]

### words

for @tag

"Gustav" - "Fanghook"

Remember that your gifts are your gain

He tilted his head to the side as he kicked his feet idly, looking half amused when he spoke, "like...Actual words? What was the crow saying?" His tone suggested that he didn't quite NOT believe the man, but it wasn't entirely every day that you heard someone just...Talking to animals, so he was fairly curious about that. He pursed his lips when he mentioned his strength, getting to his feet to balance across the beam as he walked along it, "yeah? I guess I can see that...I mean...If you're strong enough to just straight up push a nail in like that...Bet you break stuff a lot?" He said it plainly, but not in a way that suggested he was trying to be rude, "I get that, I mean...Not because of Thor-like strength...But like..." He didn't get a chance to actually finish that statement before his foot slipped and he thumped hard against the ground, knocking the bucket of nails on his head as he did.

"Well...That..." He chuckled, pulling the bucket off his head and listening to the man speak as he gathered up his nails, looking thoughtful, "yeah that'll do it." He giggle snorted, looking up at him, "but then again, Hiccup's wary of everyone these days..." He shrugged it off, "well I trust 'ya! You seem like a pretty solid guy to me!" He got back to his feet and passed the nails back to him before climbing back to where he was, "Gladios then." He poked his tongue out as he got into a crouch, like a dog, and then jumped up and onto the man's back, climbing so he was sitting on his shoulders, "I think you win the tallest person in Berk award!" He looked down at him, "it fits that we be friends, tallest and shortest, you have a Sandwraith don'tcha?"

x

[Gladios Haggard]

"He was telling me poetry. Normally he's a very happy crow, but I think something happened with his mate." He spoke worriedly, seeming unphased by the boy knocking over his nails, as he was picking them back up and didn't seem to be hurt from the fall. He paused with the nails and simply didn't answer the boy about his strength, not feeling up to explaining the mess.

"I think he will trust me in time, I'm glad you seem to trust me though." He shifted as the boy climbed him like a tree, which made him laugh. He steadily walked forwards and grabbed his bucket of nails, carefully reaching up and pressing the last one into place before moving on to the next beam. "I think you are a good size. Small means mobile, but I am very large, and very slow. He smiles brighter at the mention of his sand wraith, "Yes, his name is Pumpkin. He is very friendly, if not for him I would have had a rather hard time getting away from Viggo. He enjoys sleeping, so he's resting in the stables now."

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[Gustav]

### words

for @tag

"Gustav" - "Fanghook"

Remember that your gifts are your gain

Gustav looked thoughtful as he leaned forwards, resting his arms and his chin on the top of the man's head, "poetry? Really?" He chuckled, that had sounded more like angry screaming as far as he was concerned, but he also couldn't talk to animals...So he supposed he wasn't really qualified to judge avian poetry.

He decided to leave the topic of the man's strength for now, given he could practically feel how much he didn't wanna talk about it, "you haven't really given me a reason not to trust you." He said this plainly, with a shrug, he never tended to judge people without talking to them first anyway, it was something that kind of came naturally when people tended to judge you without actually talking to you...Rumors and stories could be dangerous. He grinned and patted the big man's cheek, "slow, maybe, but I bet you have the endurance of Thor..." He wasn't sure if this guy was even into fighting, but the idea struck him, "you worked for Viggo then, right? You'd like to rescue dragons?" He grinned, taking the man's cheeks before hanging over so he was looking upside down into his face, helmet slipping off his head to the ground.

"Join my team! The Auxiliary riders!" He grinned, "we could use someone strong like you, and you'd get to rescue dragons, and keep them safe from Viggo!" He grinned wide, "what do ya say?"

x

[Gladios Haggard]

Gladios smiled at the fact Gustav seemed to not mind his presence nor his background. He couldn't help a laugh as his cheeks were grabbed and Gustav's helm fell the ground, his fluffy hair meeting his eyes. "If you wouldn't mind having me along then I'd be happy to be with your team." He said and kicked the helmet up with his foot, grabbing it in his hand and offering it back to the small boy in his shoulders, "I can really begin to make it up to the dragon's then."

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deltra of gangnam style

[Gustav]

### words

for @tag

"Gustav" - "Fanghook"

Remember that your gifts are your gain

He grinned wider as he took his helm from the man and adjusted it back on his head, looking beyond thrilled when he agreed to join them, "Right! Then it's settled! Welcome to the A Team!" He chuckled, moving to get to his feet and standing on the man's shoulders, "well that's what we do!-Man you're tall!-We help dragons and we kick Viggo's tail end!" He grinned, shifting so he was standing on one shoulder, "Hiccup and his gang, they're all about meticulous planning, oh no don't do this we have to think about it for five weeks..." He made a mocking voice as he said that, "but us? We're all about..." He crouched, before taking a leap off the man's back to roll when he hit the ground, popping back up and punching the air, "Action!"

He turned to him, chuckling softly, "granted it's sometimes under Hiccup's nose...But he overthinks things a lot..." He shrugged, "sometimes you don't have time to think, sometimes you have to figure it out as you go!" He chuckled, coming to stand by his side, his expression much more sincere, "you'll do a lot more for dragons helping us than you will just doing repairs around the village, and if Hiccup sees you helping us, he'll learn to trust you too." He came up to pat his arm, "for whatever it's worth, I trust you, and my teammates trust me, so they will too."

x

[Gladios Haggard]

Gladios laughed whole heartedly at being called tall as the small boy spoke quickly, making him shake his head. "Fast and small is a good strategy, I am large and slow, so if you need me to fight then best keep that in mind." He pat the boy's head very lightly, and glanced to the side as his sand wraith, Pumpkin, came up to his side, looking pleased that he had a very long nap. "Quick action and planning are both good when used correctly... but I am very glad you trust me."

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