#httyd stuff

Woolly Howl(and other Furies) possible sexual dimorphism. Which is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction.

Like gyrfalcons the female WHs are larger than their male counterparts.

They nest on rocky cliff faces or in mountain crevasses just bc they can.

Females are usually white with black speckles or varying shades of grey for camouflage while hunting. Males come in ridiculously flamboyant and vibrant colours with bright antlers that come in during mating season when they mature.

Though both can be white or grey when they are young and fluffy for protection from possible predators. (Just bc they are dragons doesn't mean they don't have predators, Hell even dragons prey on other dragons)

They carry their young on their backs on their return flights after they hatch. (Dragon eggs explode. Furies are not the exception)

Dragons shed their skin and scales. Woolly Howls molt.

They have feathered tails instead of fins.

They don't swim much. But they are sort of more like penguins when they do.

Also like penguins Woolly Howls have an oil producing gland that makes a waxy coating on their feathers to further keep them warm and dry in their preferred habitat.

…

Nice job, there, tumblr.  Anyway, two of my favorite couples.  Thanks :D The HTTYD one is set sometime between 2 and 3, and the TWEWY one is just normal postgame.  These got a little long, but 700 words per isn’t bad?

Hiccstrid + leaping hug

A sound like bells in a hailstorm burst from Hiccup’s right as he looked up to see Fishlegs holding a pewter tray between the two of them and Tuffnut’s barrage of mostly-picked bones.  Fishlegs winced at the noise, but it didn’t seem to give their other friends any pause at all.  If anything, the chime spurred the twins and Snotlout on as the latter jumped up on one of the great hall’s many tables, claiming the high ground.  Hiccup both envied and cursed their ability to be so uncaring of consequence.

“You think Astrid’ll be home soon?” Fishlegs asked, ducking to keep his head behind the makeshift shield.

“I think so,” he said.  He sobered slightly, shaking a head at the sound of cracking wood from somewhere in the hall before looking at Fishlegs.  “They’re not too far, and I’m choosing to believe no news is good news.”  Fishlegs didn’t seem convinced, though, so Hiccup added, “We don’t have any reason to think—”

“—think these people are hostile, I know,” Fishlegs said, rubbing a hand down his face.  “But it’s been a few generations.  We’re just giving them a heads up about the dragons so they don’t freak out.”

Hearing Fishlegs parrot what he’d said three days ago nearly perfectly was somehow as flattering as unnerving, so Hiccup settled for just gently nudging him in the arm.  “Exactly.  Astrid can handle herself.”  By his leg, Toothless suddenly stirred, chirping lightly in the back of his throat.   Hiccup wondered if maybe someone had pelted his dragon with potatoes again when Toothless’s ears pricked up and his attention snapped to the doors of the hall.

Over the din, Hiccup hadn’t noticed that the doors opening, letting in beams of dusk light.  He stood up to see what had Toothless so excited and almost instantly broke into a soft smirk.  “See?” he said to Fishlegs as Astrid walked in.  The relaxed smile on her face quickly cycled through confusion and fond exasperation at the chaos, finally settling on joy as Toothless bounded up. The dragon nudged Astrid’s stomach, smearing some of the dirt from her clothes onto his head before slinking past her and outside in search of Stormfly.

A wave of silence washed over the hall as more and more people noticed the open doors and their champion warrior silhouetted by the twilight.  Astrid’s eyes swept the room, tight with disapproval at the chaos but otherwise unreadable.  Hiccup took two steps forward, hoping to draw her attention, see through her business face and to the heart of the matter.

Finally, she seemed to find him, and her face broke into a smile that was sharp with satisfaction.  “No need for extra patrols,” she said, putting a hand on her hip.  “Just warn the riders not to accidentally shoot people passing through for the next week.”

Cheers like thunderclaps resonated through the wood and stones, probably vibrating down towards the nearest houses as Berk rejoiced not having a real enemy again so soon.  But Hiccup found he couldn’t join in, grounded by his own relief even as it took a moment to truly sink through the skin.

“Hiccup?”

He blinked once, only to see Astrid standing less than three paces away, confusion laced through her posture.  “I know you’d rather have done this yourself, but we managed fi—”

Breathing deeply, Hiccup felt his previous heaviness vanish.  In its wake, he jumped forward, covering the three steps between himself and Astrid in a single stride and throwing his arms up around her neck.  Her arms were around his back almost as quickly as his girlfriend—his girlfriend, his best friend, his right hand, his rock—spun on her heel to keep them from falling.

“You’re the best,” Hiccup said.  Finding his footing again, he leaned his forehead against Astrid’s and opened his eyes to see the faintest of traces of a blush on her face, vanishing like the last snow in spring.  He felt her squeeze at his hips once in reassurance as her smile returned in full force.

“I know.”

 Nekushiki + surprise hug

It wasn’t often that they agreed to meet up so late at night, but since Rhyme had an English test and Neku was working on a new mural that day, Shiki’s friends had agreed that maybe waiting until eight or so was acceptable. Also, being the middle of August in Tokyo, she had a feeling they were all secretly trying to avoid the worst of the summer heat since the humidity was unavoidable.  Shibuya Crossing was just as crowded now as it was during the day; the difference was that now, the mass of people was mostly students like her, hurrying home from club meetings or going out to dinner, instead of the salarymen and women rushing for lunch breaks or meetings.  Somehow, it made the city softer.  

Thankfully, it didn’t make Neku’s spiky red hair any less easy to spot.  He was standing, as always, just to the right of Hachiko’s statue, one foot tapping its heel against the stone in some strange rhythm that Shiki couldn’t make out from here.

Just as Shiki was about to wave, make herself known in the crowd, she heard a voice from the other side of the statue call out. It sounded like a greeting, but Shiki couldn’t quite make it out.  Neku, however, immediately turned, putting his back to her and facing who Shiki presumed to be Beat and Rhyme.

She watched as they approached Neku and Beat greeted him with a soft punch to the arm while Rhyme folded their hands behind their back and beamed bright enough to rival the stars.  Still, he hadn’t noticed Shiki, even as she was forced to walk closer or be swept away by the sea of people.

It wasn’t often that she had the opportunity to sneak up on Neku Sakuraba.  She damn well wasn’t going to waste it.

(In the space between her heartbeats, Shiki swore she felt a warmth on her back, a gentle push decked out in the echoes of someone’s laughter.  “Yes,” he said, smiling.  “He certainly deserves it, doesn’t he?”)

As Shiki approached with almost unnaturally silent steps on the pavement, Rhyme caught her eye and nearly called out.  But, a single finger against Shiki’s lips had them nodding minutely, lips still sealed and face sparkling with the joy of a secret.

Shiki managed to snake her arms around Neku’s stomach and squeeze, rewarding her (and Rhyme’s) secrecy with Neku’s indignant and positively shrill cry of, “What the–?!”  He jerked at the touch like Shiki’s fingers were made of lightning instead of flesh, knocking her glasses askew even as she pressed her cheek into his shoulder.  Beat nearly collapsed against Hachiko’s base laughing as Neku struggled to turn around in Shiki’s grip.

“Hi,” Shiki said, shaking with the force of her own smile.

Neku stared down at her, mouth still open and arms frozen in midair, apparently too shocked to try and push her away yet.  “Shiki—Why—What—Are you—Why would you do that?” he finally managed.

Shiki shrugged, arms catching in the fabric of his jacket as she kept holding on.  “You had your back to me,” she said.  “I couldn’t pass up the chance.”  Neku was still frozen, and his posture suddenly set off warning bells.  “Unless—Oh, sorry.”  She started to pull away, afraid that maybe this was too much, too soon, even with how much more open Neku had been to casual touches between them and their friends.

Eyes now fixed on her simple black shoes, Shiki was startled to feel something touch her arm, keeping it in place.  “No,” Neku said, “it’s not—I mean, you just sc—” (he glanced towards Beat, then reconsidered) “—surprised me.”

Beat snorted.  “You should’a seen your face, dude,” he said.

Shiki felt Neku roll his eyes, whole body seeming to sigh with the motion, though he seemed determined not to actually look at her.  “Yeah, yeah,” he said.  “None of you are ever getting that lucky again.”

“That sounds like a challenge, Neku,” chirped Rhyme.

“Only if you like losing,” he said, but he wasn’t looking at them as he answered.  Instead, he stepped back from Shiki, just enough to break her grip, and reached out, nudging her glasses back into place with two fingers.

Swallowing past the sudden tightness in her throat, Shiki smirked up at him.  “Oh, Neku,” she sighed.  “Have you met us?  We don’t lose.”

(In the corner of her eye, the reflection of her glasses lens, a white feather alighted on the ground.)

Like can you imagine? Hiccup is with her all day and night 24/7 doting on her as much as possible until it's time, at which point Valka, Gothie, Heather and Ruffnut declare the No Men Allowed rule and kick him out of the house. Hiccup is pacing around the door frantic and excited with Tuffnut Fishlegs and Snotlout all just nervously gabbing away and Hiccup's all "this is it, oh my Thor this is it, it's actually happening-" 

"Hey, how about some music?"

My sleep playlist, probably high on something:

Okay so reading David Attenboroughs: The Trials of Life A Natural History of Animal Behaviour. I rethought how they would look again.

Yes yes annoying I know. But that's just how it goes with me lol. Anyway, a Woolly Howl would be more likely to have smaller ears or none at all and a Sand Wraith would have weirdly large ones. I know they aren't mammals so the same rules don't actually apply to them but dragons are mostly fictitious creatures anyway normal rules wouldn't exactly apply to them I'm just spit balling shit because I'm bored. Nightfuries and lightfuries both have "ears" and are probably the oldest fury species but the game designs for both Sand Wraith and Woolly Howl neither have visible ear flap things. Sand wraith have a bunch of facial horns like a horned lizard or thorny devil even; and a Woolly Howl has "fur like scales" but no skin flap ear things either.

Okay yes design choices and whatnot. I don't care about that.

So they could have just evolved to not have them because of their preferred habitats. But that's dumb the "ears" or frills (bc they were inspired by Axolotls) are cute and I want to keep them but have them better fit for their environments. The cold weather acclimated woolly howl would have smaller feather covered frills like how most cold weather mammals have smaller ears. And the desert dwelling sand wraith would have larger ears for heat cooling like desert mammals have (I am well aware some reptiles don't have ear shells like mammals and just have skin flaps to protect their ear holes or none at all). Plus they just look cute.

Furies already act like big ass cats with wings so I'd just give them cat like attributes like small or large ears to fit their habitats.

Nightfuries I'd assume have larger earflaps/frills because of their echolocation ability and a reliance on hearing over seeing if they evolved to live in caves. And lightfuries have smaller frills for easy swimming and diving or whatever would they hunt using senses similar to sharks I wonder..?

Back to sand wraiths and woolly howls. Would woolly howls have smaller ears because of their preference for living in blizzards and creating them or larger ones to help them find prey? Hn maybe they have eye sight better adapted to their conditions than their hearing. So they'd be a more sight based dragon (also they have purple eyes and mouths?) as opposed to the nightfury's super hearing... Oh but they'd have great night vision too living in caves and being predominantly nocturnal (Toothless being an exception as he adapted to suit Hiccups needs) so I guess it stands to reason woolly howls would have a similar echolocation ability to bounce back prey locations in storms they create (yes they do this. Sometimes purely for cuddles, no joke).

Sand wraiths would have larger ears to help regulate body heat/temperature. Plus radar like hearing to find prey. Maybe they poke their ears out of the sand they buried their bodies in to listen for potential threats and or food. Yes they spikey too but I don't want to take away their large ears I made up in my head bc it's cute and the horns can fit elsewhere.