"There...There's so many." Was all Astrid could manage as she gazed at the endless number of cages and the animals within them.
"That there are," Valka agreed as she eyed the two teens that had tagged along with her son and his...female friend.
"Hiccup knows what needs to be done, so I'll leave you all to it," she said before heading back to her office. There were still a half dozen forms she needed to fill out so more ownerless animals could be given shelter.
Hiccup was left in the room with Astrid and the twins—who had invited themselves along strictly on the principle of avoiding boredom and discovering adventure—looking to him for guidance.
"So...I guess we'll start with letting them out..." Hiccup began, his voice laced with uncertainty as the three followed him to a nearby cage.
"Some of these guy are a little hostile at first, so jus-" Hiccup unlatched the cage and a large German-Shepard came bounding out towards the auburn haired teen with a blood curdling snarl. The trio watching him were just about to rush in and help their friend when they realized that Hiccup had the animal completely under his control.
The dog was wagging its tail and panting softly as it licked Hiccup's hand while he scratched the underside of it's neck.
"Just be gentle with them and scratch them...it uh, takes hands on learning, I guess?" Hiccup said as he hooked a guide line to the dogs collar and continued to another cage.
"So who's first?"
Astrid felt her two terrified friends push her forward and she glared at them over her shoulder before turning back to Hiccup. The gentle cousin of her douchebag ex unlocked the cage and a slight hissing could be heard. Looking inside, Astrid saw a blue and yellow stripped snake slithering about in a rock bed with a heater set up nearby.
"You're k-kidding right?" Astrid said as she stared at Hiccup, sounding far less sure of herself than she normally did.
"Not really," he replied, trying to fight back a smile at her face. It was priceless and he didn't even have a camera.
"Why do you even have a snake in here!?" Astrid complained as she tried to back up, only for Ruffnut to stop her.
"Scared Hofferson?" She taunted.
"We don't normally keep reptiles here, but she was stuck in a wire fence and my mom wanted to let her recover before we released her." Hiccup explained as he gestured for Astrid to pick the snake up.
"It'll bite me..." Astrid said, still hesitant.
Hiccup sighed and handed the guide line to Tuffnut before reaching into the cage and gently grabbing the snake. It slid up his arm a little bit, but other than that it remained completely docile. Hiccup then gestured for Astrid to come closer and he slowly placed the snake along her arm.
It felt weird to her as the armored scales of the snake slid across her forearm and began to coil around her. It was only Hiccup's trusting and encouraging gaze that kept her from flinging the thing across the room. After a minute, she actually got used to the feeling and after she had calmed down she noticed that there were in fact small scar marks along the scales from where the steel wire had cut into the snake.
"She's a common garter and while they do have poison, there isn't enough to do you any harm." Hiccup explained.
"Rad..." Ruffnut and Tuffnut whispered together as they stared at the creature in awe. Hiccup led them to another set of cages and the twins—feeling a little less apprehensive after seeing two other animals tamed easily enough—went about bringing out their own charges.
Ruffnut got her bulldog out of the cage easily enough and was warming up to it as it licked her palm.
Tuffnut staggered down the aisle screaming at the top of his lungs as his bulldog bit his ankle.
"HICCUP WHAT THE HELL!?"
After they had gotten the animals out of their cages—and Tuffnut had gotten his ankle treated—they had gone out into the heavily fenced-in pasture behind the shelter's main building and let their charges roam free for the most part.
"She moves so fast!" Astrid commented watching the snake slide through the grass like a hot knife through butter. It did seem to have issues with moving the lower sections of its body however.
"She's almost healed up, but mom wanted to wait another week or so." Hiccup explained while Tuffnut and Ruffnut predictably got into a fight over who's bulldog was tougher and then they were wrestling on the ground.
As luck would have it, the two bulldogs took after their overseers and began to tussle across the soft grass of the pasture alongside the Thorston twins.
"Where's Fish?" Astrid asked as she remembered the large, but knowledgeable, lineman had been unable to join them today.
"He said he had practice and then a ton of homework, so he couldn't make it this time." Hiccup said as he patted the Shepard laying at his feet before smiling mischievously.
"What are you up to-" Astrid started to say, only for Hiccup to toss a small neon green frisbee towards the dueling duos across the pasture from them. The frisbee sailed perfectly and wacked Tuffnut in the back of the head with a loud "whack!"
The blonde man had barely enough time to turn around and scream at them before the German-Shepard bull rushed the poor teen, sending him straight to the floor as the dog tried to reclaim the green trophy. Of course the bulldog pair stopped their fight and ran to help the tall blonde and that ended up turning into a massive scrap.
Ruffnut was laying on her side laughing so hard that Hiccup was worried she would pass out as her brother screamed in pain and tried to fight his way out from under the threeway dog war going on ontop of him.
"Get them off! Get them off! Get them off!"
Hiccup gave up and burst out laughing as Astrid joined him on the grassy floor as they all enjoyed the memorable sight.
"That was not funny!" Tuffnut complained later as they began to bring the animals back into the shelter and their cages.
"Totally was," Ruffnut taunted.
"Was not!"
"Was!"
"Not!"
"Was!"
"No-AGH!"
Tuffnut and Ruffnut ended up rolling around on the floor in another punch-up as the animals all went wild at the sight of the two fighting.
