Greetings, wanderer of profiles. I will infer you are here to learn about me and/or my story, so I will categorise as such. You could also be here to check out my favourites, of course, in which case please do go ahead.

A Gift of Wings
After realising how terrible The Hidden World Was, I fell back on fanfiction and tripped over the dragon Hiccup genre. But there were a lot of gaps in it I wanted to see filled.

For one, it took me several tries to get into it. We usually start with a magical encounter that I always felt uncomfortable when wedged into the canon universe, and though I've become used to it I was tempted for something that hooked the reader before presenting the idea. At that, my definition of magic is "something I can't be bothered trying to understand". Sufficiently advanced science and all that. Could this genre work without an 'alakazam'? I pondered this until I had an answer.

Hiccup always tells Stoick, Astrid, and Gobber, and often everyone else as well. I wondered what would happen if he didn't. He also nearly always rejects the change, persistently, for the majority of the fic, and often changes back by the end. Only three fics come to mind where he accepts it from the start - in one, the change occurs halfway through the story, which I hadn't read at the time, and another didn't exist yet.

When I put these points together, I discovered an original plot. Yeah okay, to fill the gaps I borrow from the movies, series, and books, but I tell it my way, with a focus on dragons and a healthy grounding in realism.

I intend to finish it, even if it takes me two more years. What I have planned is too big to stay untold in my head, I have to do it justice. Also I can't let VigoGrimborne down, especially now he's beta reading it lol.

- Dreamer - ((wJCi5gRY5P4)) "E.T."
- Wanderer - ((Qzw6A2WC5Qo)) "Feel Invincible"

Please do leave any feedback you have, particularly if it is constructive, either by pm or review. I'm not going to accept it blindly of course, so be prepared to back it up, but I know I still have a lot of room to improve, and want this to be the best story it can be.

About Me
I am an analyst by nature, I like numbers and logic. Technically I work in IT software support, but am studying and practicing data analysis.

Honestly, I don't really understand people, not like everyone else does. Part of coming here and then starting A Gift of Wings was to help deal with my acceptance of this, and it has even helped me understand myself. I have been told many times I write people in character very well, and that is because I observe, empathise, and analyse until I understand what comes naturally for others, which gives me a far more conscious and complete model of the person or type with which to work from.

However, my system is not perfect, not for reality. I am blunt and speak my mind, which often doesn't work too well when I am also perceptive and critical, and when I see many things in totally different ways. I apologise if I have offended, and can guarantee there is a misunderstanding somewhere, so please be patient and just tell me what I'm doing wrong - no offence meant, none taken. Though I do love discussion, so be prepared for one lol.

There is a name for this condition, and if you know it, good for you. However, at the start of all this I had the 'pleasure' of being around someone who used it as an excuse to say and do whatever they wanted, and I refuse to be like that. It is an explanation, one I have already given, but it is not an excuse, and I will not use it as one.

Fun Facts
Good on you for reading this far! Here's some fun facts about A Gift of Wings as a reward (no spoilers), will probably be updated as the story progresses.

Dreamer and Wanderer were initially very literal names I intended to change. Writing chapter 3 I realised how ludicrously appropriate the name Dreamer was, and Wanderer felt fitting as well, so I kept them. 'Nightstriker' is a similar story, something I created as a placeholder and ended up keeping.

I did a complete fail on the layout of Berk (failed the layout of the main island, assumed the forest was behind Stoick's house, misplaced the training ring, and several smaller things) and had to spend an hour combing the movie and screenshots to work it out, then rewrite those sections. I also failed to notice Toothless' scales are not all coin-sized, most are tiny. Not uncommon mistakes, it turns out, so I don't feel like a complete fool at least. I can provide all this at request, if you are interested in writing your own canonically accurate story.

The real reason the Furies are colourblind is sheer convenience - so I don't have to check with someone every time I want to mention a colour, and to give credence to why colour doesn't often come up. I think it furthers the whole 'alien' (not my word) feel to the Furies, but I'm not sure it will (or even can) ever significantly contribute to the plot.

Somewhere near the end of the first act, I realised I'd screwed up my timeline and had an extra year to fill but no story to fill it, and then that I needed another year to fit in the story later on. Rather than retcon the whole thing, I thought I'd make a joke of it and blamed the character who originally explained it. Shortly after publishing the change, I realised that it allowed me to resolve Alvin's plot much more tidily and more satisfyingly to conclude the first act with, rather than having him bleed into the second act as I originally intended. So that was a very happy accident.