Ruffnut eyed the painted 'X' she had drawn on the wall as she angled her dagger.
"Almost, got it," she muttered and then threw it. The dagger flew and landed a few inches to the right off the mark.
"Rats," Ruffnut grumbled as she went to retrieve her weapon. "Okay, time for round ten."
Toothless gave a disapproving growl from his spot next to Hiccup's bed.
"Hey, you won't let me draw on Hiccup's face," Ruffnut replied as she twirled the dagger in her hands. "I need to do something to keep me busy."
Toothless gave a judging glare until Ruffnut sighed.
"Fine," she said with a huff and slumped in a chair. She set the dagger on the floor and folded her arms over her chest. "This has to be the most boring job, EVER. Man, I hate this!" she whined.
Ruffnut then gave a sideline glance. Colour had returned to Hiccup's face, and his fever had been steadily going down in the last couple of days. However, while he was more stable, he still was having delusions each time he woke up. Hiccup was on the mend, but they weren't out of the woods that.
"I hate it when people are sick," she grumbled to Toothless. "All they do is lay there all helplessly, moan and groan. It's a pain to watch."
Just like it was with Scauldy. She flinched at the memory. For only knowing the dragon for a day, she had gotten oddly attached to the guy, which made it even worse to watch the creature be in so much pain and left to die. She was grateful they had been able to save him.
Still, that was bad enough for a dragon she just met, it was even worse for her to see people she personally knew in pain. Drumming her fingers against her arms, she glanced over her shoulder. Confirming no one was there, and no chance of Hiccup being conscious to hear it, she cleared her throat.
"Hey, Toothless," she started. "Can you keep a secret?"
The Night Fury tilted his head.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Ruffnut said as she slouched. "Truth is, I hate seeing people sick and there's nothing I can do about. Guess it's why I wanted to try all of those cures so badly." She shrugged. "Just made me feel like I was doing something, you know?"
Toothless seemed to understand as he gave a nod.
She sighed. It felt good giving that off her chest...although if anyone had actually heard her she would forever deny it.
Suddenly, a moan was heard. Ruffnut sprung to her feet. Oh, great, so this was it! After seeing the mess Snotlout had to deal with she was prepared for anything.
Hiccup said nothing as he sat upright and looked around sniffing.
"Hiccup?" Ruffnut called out as Toothless joined her side. "You feeling-"
A growl cut her off.
Ruffnut huffed. "Well, no need to be cranky about it."
However, Hiccup didn't hear her and growled again as he climbed out of bed...and proceeded to crawl on the floor.
"Huh?" Ruffnut asked, scratching her head and Toothless mummered in concern.
Things continued to become even stranger as Hiccup started to sniff the ground. Ruffnut chewed her lip. Okay, first hypothesis, Hiccup was having another fever hallucination. If so, what exactly was he doing?
Toothless then decided to cautiously approached Hiccup. The young viking responded with a growl, but then sniffed and looked content to rub his face with Toothless's.
"Hmm," Ruffnut muttered as she watched Toothless nuzzle Hiccup's face. "It's almost as if Hiccup's acting like-"
A light went off her in head and she slammed a fist in her hand. "A dragon! He thinks he's a dragon!"
The meaning of the words then suddenly dawned on her, and she groaned. "A dragon, just great. Of course of all the vikings, Hiccup would think he's a dragon when sick."
Hiccup then suddenly became aware of her presence and snarled at her.
"If you're trying to breath fire, it's not going to work," Ruffnut replied as she went for the medicine. "So, then let's get this down your-"
Hiccup jumped back and hissed before Ruffnut could even stepped towards him. Ruffnut sighed and tapped her foot.
Well, this is going to be a pain in the butt. How am I going to get him to drink this if he won't let me near him?
Toothless looked tempted to move closer, but stayed where he was.
I could chase him, Ruffnut thought. But he could run out of the hut and then we have to run around the whole island to catch him. Astrid will never let me hear the end of that one.
She glanced around the room, searching for ideas. Her eyes landed on the barrel of fish that sat outside the hut. Recalling what exactly was in the barrel, an idea struck her.
"Toothless," she stated in a steady tone as she inched her way towards the barrel. "I'm going to drive Hiccup to the corner of the room and you got to pin him, okay?"
The Night Fury blinked, glanced to Hiccup who was currently chewing on his hand, and growled a 'Yes'.
"Then here goes," Ruffnut said as she got to the barrel and dug through it. She let loose a maniac grin as she found for what she'd been searching for, a fat eel.
"And Hiccup complained I never paid attention," she cackled.
She tucked the eel behind her back, taking care that Hiccup didn't catch on what she was holding as she approached.
"Hey, Hiccup," she said in a teasing tone as she picked up the bottle of medicine. "Want to hear what I think?
Hiccup turned to her, and with his back arched growled swiped a hand at her.
"If you think you're a real dragon," she continued, "then I'm betting you don't care for these!" She held out the eel and wiggled it in front of Hiccup's face.
As expected, Hiccup's eyes widened and he tumbled backwards. He hissed, backing up into the corner behind him as he attempted to whack the eel from her hands.
"That's it," Ruffnut beckon as she kept a steady course. "Just keep trying to get away from the eel." She smirked as Hiccup's butt collided against the wall and the boy fumed at having nowhere else to go.
"Pin him, Toothless!" Ruffnut directed.
The Night Fury obeyed and immediately jumped onto his rider, pinning him to the ground. Hiccup growled and struggled to shake off his dragon. To his dismay, Toothless stay put and refused to move an inch. All Hiccup could do was flail his arms about and keep hissing.
"Yeah, yeah, just wear yourself out," Ruffnut said as she dropped the eel in order to get a mug and pour the medicine into it. She kneeled to Hiccup's level and smiled at him.
"Here you go!" Ruffnut said as she took hold of Hiccup's chin and dumped the contents into his mouth. "And this time, it's not one of my cures, I swear."
Hiccup coughed and gagged as he swallowed, but slowly the medicine took effect. The boy's eyes started to shut. He gave one last pleading look to Ruffnut before his head dropped face first into the floor.
"Well," Ruffnut said as she signaled for Toothless to climb off him. "That takes care of that." She set down the bottle and swung Hiccup over her shoulder. "Let's get our fearless leader back into bed."
Toothless growled as he trailed after them. Ruffnut gave a cocky grin. "And look on the bright side, he is getting better." She dumped Hiccup back into his bed. "So, Hiccup should be back to his regular annoying self soon...hopefully."
Toothless cooed in concerned and Ruffnut could only offer a comforting pat. "Again," she stated. "You tell anyone that I actually care, and I'll deny it. Got it?"
Toothless rolled his eyes, but gave nod before resting his head on Hiccup's bed.
Ruffnut sighed before resuming her seat. "This has been a weird week, man."
Toothless couldn't resist giving a grunt in agreement.