Dragon Treasure, a DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl
Chapter 7 - Evaluation (rough draft)
Stoick was ordinarily an early riser, so the next morning was unusual in that Hiccup and Toothless woke up and soon discovered that Marta was the only one around.
Immediately upon seeing Toothless, the housekeeper crossed herself and tossed a treat at him, apparently to bribe him into ignoring her. As the dragon was happily preoccupied, Marta moved closer to Hiccup so she could caress his face and croon to him in her native language, then she bustled him to the table and set a plate in front of him. "Vege-tab first," she instructed firmly. "Then fish."
"I...don't really want the plants...the fish looks really good."
"You will eat vege-tab. Good for you, growing body, you need it. Eat."
Hiccup reluctantly choked down the vegetables, then devoured the fruit she rewarded him with before settling in on the fish. As he ate, Marta dumped some raw fish into Toothless's bucket, then went back to cooking.
Neither of their remaining housemates had appeared by the time Hiccup and Toothless finished breakfast. The boys curiously started searching, and found both Stoick and Valka still fast asleep in the master bedroom.
Clothes were strewn all over the otherwise tidy room, and Valka was nestled in her husband's arms. A sheet covered them for the most part (half of the rest of the bedding was drooping to the floor), but all the skin exposed above the edge of the sheet was bare. Toothless cocked his head at the scent in the room; Hiccup made a face at it.
Hiccup recognized this sort of thing from TV. He didn't know how to feel about seeing it here. Stoick and this house were supposed to be safe, they were supposed to be, but this- But then, Hiccup had already known that he couldn't trust anyone except Toothless, so this shouldn't be as surprising and disappointing and frightening as it was.
Yet why did Valka look so relaxed and content? The only other woman in real life Hiccup had seen looking like this after sex was Ruby, just once, when Hiccup happened to have caught a glimpse of her lying in Seth's arms rather than a customer's. Hiccup hadn't understood it at the time, and he didn't understand it now, only that it probably had something to do with that alien other world he'd glimpsed through the TV screen.
Toothless's curious noises had started to rouse the sleeping pair. Stoick shifted, tightening his arm around his wife and laying a tender kiss on her temple; Valka smiled without opening her eyes. The man's gaze moved to the clock - then he shot upright. "How did this-?! My alarm didn't go off!"
"I turned it off, love," Valka said sleepily, rolling over to cuddle against him. "Didn't you say you work from home now?"
Stoick had noticed their little audience by then. "Hiccup?!"
Valka quickly rolled back to look, clutching the sheet over her breasts as she stared at the boys.
"Breakfast," Hiccup said uncomfortably. "In the kitchen. Marta made it. She said yours is done."
"Stop staring and shut the door," Stoick snapped.
Hiccup frowned in confusion, but obeyed. He waited until he heard the shower running, then he cracked open the bedroom door again and peeked inside. Valka was wearing a bathrobe, looking contemplative as she combed her hair. She glanced up and smiled a little when she saw the boys. "Good morning."
"Good morning..." Hiccup edged inside the room, and settled on the floor when she did not protest his presence. "Did you have sex?"
"Er...yes, we did," she said awkwardly, then smiled a little. "We are married, you know. Informally separated, but... Well, let's just say I never use a guest room when I visit this house."
Hiccup wasn't quite sure what that meant, but let it pass. "How much did he pay you?" Stoick looked a lot richer than the usual sort of men who were interested in the harem at the circus.
Valka stared at him in shock. "Pay me?!"
"I was just curious... Ruby's never gotten more than 300; usually it's less than that. Sasheena charges a lot more, she said one time she got one guy to pay her 1,000 - that doesn't count the fee to Hunter just to get inside the harem - but Seth says she's exaggerating. I've never been able to figure out how much Seth makes for real, I think he lies about it. I think it's a lot. Kieran's lucky to get anything-"
"Oh God!"
Hiccup had no idea why she was staring at him with such a horrified look on her face.
She came straight to him, reaching out almost desperately. "Oh, Hiccup, oh, sweetheart, that's the sort of place you came from?! I thought... I- Oh, sweetheart."
"I wasn't in the harem," he mumbled. "Toothless kept me safe." He swallowed. "From most of it." He felt uncomfortable when she hugged him, not liking that he couldn't see her face or that she was restricting his movement. However, he could tell she meant well, so he kept his hand on Toothless and endured it. He finally whispered, "You looked happy. I don't understand that. It bothers me."
They talked for a long time. Stoick, coming out of the master bathroom after his shower, realized what they were talking about, winced, and hurried across the room to leave.
After about twenty minutes, when Hiccup was starting to feel a little better even though his mind was wild with confusion and surprise and analyses, someone rang the doorbell. Hiccup and Toothless instantly stared in that direction, frozen, like cats poised between fight or flight.
Valka stood up and held out a hand to Hiccup. "Let's go see who it is," she said gently.
The short, black-haired woman at the door introduced herself briskly as "Dr. Alen Ikeda" and stepped inside. The instant she caught sight of Toothless, she rocked back a step with her arms slightly raised in a self-defensive gesture. "Oh my goodness gracious the dragon's loose!" she gasped, all in one breath.
Stoick, having heard her enter, hurried into the living room and said quickly, "It's all right, Alen, he's been uncaged in my house for about three days now and hasn't caused any harm. He's very tame."
"I see." The hand she extended was a little unsteady and the tension in her body was evident, but her expression was mostly composed as Toothless approached. He sniffed at her fingers, nosed along her forearm, then poked his snout gently into her stomach before returning to his place beside Hiccup.
"May I please scan you?" Valka asked eagerly.
"Pardon me?"
"He's just marked you. I'd like to see-" Valka was already running the DO-graph over Dr. Ikeda's arm and stomach. The spectrum of color on the screen was difficult to see, very dim compared to the readings Valka got from saliva. "Not-a-threat and not-prey, 51%," she muttered. She glanced up at the doctor and smiled. "He trusts you decently enough. Just don't do anything to upset him, such as lunging at Hiccup or yelling at him."
"I would do no such thing," Ikeda snapped. She sighed and raked a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry, Hiccup. I'm a bit rattled; usually I'm more polite than this."
"Are you scared of Toothless?" he asked curiously.
"He is a dragon, of course I will be cautious. However, I am trusting Stoick Vast's word that the animal is well-trained and will behave himself during my time here."
After introductions had been made and refreshments had been offered, Dr. Ikeda sat down with Hiccup (and Toothless) in the living room. "All right, Hiccup. Let me explain my purpose here, and what I hope we will be able to do during this session."
In the kitchen, Marta was washing dishes, Valka was starting on her breakfast, and Stoick had positioned himself to be able to keep her company while simultaneously keeping an eye on the trio in the living room. After a few minutes, Valka said her husband's name in an attention-getting voice.
Stoick frowned over at her, confused. "What's wrong?"
"I thought they came from a circus," she said tightly. "I was told that an abused Night Fury had been rescued and needed to be transported to the reserve. No one told me that poor boy had been trapped in a- And what was a dragon doing in a brothel, anyway?!"
"It was a circus, Val. Well, not a real one, I suppose; but there were performances involving acrobatics and trained animals. But obviously it wasn't mainstream or reputable, and a large portion of their income was coming from prostitution behind the scenes. Most of the sex workers doubled as performers, and most of them were minors...it was terrible. It's still terrible. The children aren't being abused anymore, but they're still suffering."
Valka buried her face in her hands for a long moment. When she finally raised her head again, she asked softly, "Hiccup was the dragon handler?"
"Yes. It means he was protected from some of it, but even so... Val, he lived in the cage with the dragon. They locked him in there like he was an animal, too; all he had to eat was the same raw fish they threw in for Toothless, it- Agh."
"Let's adopt him, Stoick," she murmured.
They held each other's eyes for a while. "We should discuss this later," Stoick said gently.
"He looks...he's the same age Henry would have been now, he's so small just like him, he-"
"And he has a Night Fury."
"Well, yes..."
"It's not a decision that can be made lightly. For one thing, the boy could have some family out there to claim him; we're still investigating. He might not even be available."
"I want him," Valka muttered, then lapsed into silence as she resumed eating.
At one point during the morning, Will arrived, peeking eagerly past Stoick even though the larger man was blocking the doorway. "Hello, hello! Yes, I do in fact remember that you said to call before I, well, but I didn't think it- Is this a bad time?"
"It is a TERRIBLE time. Go away, Will!"
The man did, though only after he'd gotten a chance to pet and squee over Toothless a little bit.
After Dr. Ikeda had finished her evaluation, she let Hiccup go play with Toothless and Valka in the backyard, and Stoick showed her a lot of the footage he had filmed of Hiccup's interactions with Toothless. Ikeda watched carefully and took notes, listened when Stoick told her what he knew of Valka's observations, then began sharing her preliminary conclusions. "Of course Hiccup needs to start regular therapy," she said, "which we both expected. I will continue to make home visits to work with him until his and the dragon's mutual codependence has been dealt with enough for Hiccup to start coming to me instead."
"Codependence..."
"They can't live without each other. They are fixated on each other to an unhealthy degree, and Hiccup simply won't be able to function in society in the long-term if he is unable to separate from his dragon for periods of time."
"What about the possibility of Toothless being his service animal?"
"I highly doubt it would work. Toothless, while performing tasks that are surprisingly very similar to certain tasks of trained service animals, has received no formal training himself. Furthermore, he's a dragon, Stoick. No judge is going to allow a dangerous exotic animal to legally work as a service animal."
"That boy needs that dragon. He needs him, and you know it, Alen."
"Yes, Stoick, I agree, but the problem here is convincing a judge if this issue ever ends up in court."
"What about an Emotional Support Animal, then? He won't be able to take Toothless everywhere he goes, but it would at least help the case for not permanently separating them, wouldn't it?"
"It would, and would also be easier to pull off than the service animal approach. I can say for certain that Toothless's companionship is essential for the boy's mental health, and I will officially specify Toothless as Hiccup's ESA. You might still face some legal opposition, due to the simple fact that Toothless is a dragon rather than a domesticated animal, but you'll have a better chance if you have my letter and can find an understanding judge. Those videos you keep filming of them are a great help as well."
"Thank you, Doctor."
To be continued...
Author's Notes: *deletes deletes deletes previous author's note* Soooo many people tried to help me with the "psychologist vs. psychiatrist" thing, even though they didn't say anything that other readers hadn't already said, or that I hadn't already seen in my research. X''''''D Veriea Fornnan was the one who explained it in a way I finally understood. :) I realized that it was the overlap that had been confusing me - I had been trying to figure out which kind of mental health professional would work with Hiccup in this situation, and there were so many similarities that I couldn't determine which was the right one, which was when I gave up. ^^;
Ftr, Ikeda got her doctorate in an unrelated field; she's a hard worker and has multiple interests.
It should hopefully have already been clear in the story, but the 'circus' in this fic was not a real circus, though it pretended to be in some ways. I researched real circuses, and found a lot of controversy about the use of animals, particularly exotic ones. A lot of the negative articles were obvious propaganda, and the ones that weren't propaganda still didn't seem to have balanced research - they sounded like the authors were spending most of their focus on negative cases and only giving the positive ones a passing mention. (There was also one really perplexing article where I honestly couldn't tell whether the author was condoning or deploring animal cruelty. *sweatdrop*)
The positive articles I saw tended to be more detailed, thorough, varied (as in, referencing several different kinds of situations rather than just generalizing), and written in the tone of people who love and respect animals, just like an ordinary dog- or cat-lover would. A couple of sites also had pictures. Of course there are always going to be cases of animal cruelty, just as there will always be cases of child abuse and domestic animal cruelty in the outside world; but training animals for performances is not inherently a bad thing, especially if the animal wasn't born in the wild. What matters is how the animal is trained, whether or not it's done with respect and sensitivity and positive reinforcement, and also whether or not the animal is naturally inclined to perform (some are, some are not; it depends on the individual). (Though one person did bring up a good point that circuses which strive to take proper care of their animals can find it difficult to compete with rivals who lower costs by cutting corners and breaking animal-protection laws... :/)
I still dislike writing original stories and I still dislike Fan Characters in general, but for some reason, I find that, against my will, I am more and more enjoying creating original characters to use in my fanfiction. *sweatdrop* I keep initially creating them just to be throwaway background characters, but more and more often now, they'll quickly develop their own individual personalities. X'D Seth started telling me some things about himself that have no relevance to this fanfic, and also informed me that, by the way, he and Ruby are in love. ^^;
And then Dr. Ikeda. I wanted her to be a descendant of Japanese immigrants, so I wanted her to have a Japanese family name and a non-Japanese given name that could still be spelled easily in katakana. For some reason, the first name that popped into my head was "Alen." It intrigued me because it's a non-traditional spelling of an English male name, and it can be spelled exactly in katakana but has an L in it (the Japanese language does not distinguish between the 'L' and 'R' sounds).
22 July 2015 Wed. - At one point during my dreams last night, there was a part where Hiccup was trying to carry Astrid over a pile of debris that was blocking their way, but she jumped out of his arms and strode away, saying, "I wish you'd stop doing that." They passed in front of a group of men who were staring at them, one of the men even smirking at Hiccup's seeming failure to be manly. But then, as Astrid stood there struggling to unlock a door, Hiccup gently plucked the keys out of her hand, practically only had to touch the key to the lock, and the door sprang open. "After you, milady." I have no idea why I dreamed that, I don't think the rest of my dreams had anything to do with HTTYD; but, to reinforce what I said in the author's notes of Inadequate, that's my favorite kind of HiccStrid. And it's also a better example of HiccStrid I find enjoyable than Inadequate itself was. XD (Ftr, this has nothing to do with Dragon Treasure; this is a literal last-minute note I'm adding because I thought it was interesting. *sweatdrop*)