Merida sighed as Gobber told the story of how he lost his arm and leg. The Viking teens seemed so enthralled, but she just couldn't understand why.
"...and with one twist he took my hand and swallowed it whole. And I saw the look on his face. I was delicious. He must have passed the word, because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg." Gobber finished with a proud look.
"Isn't it weird to think that your hand was inside a dragon. Like if your mind was still in control of it you could have killed the dragon from the inside by crushing his heart or something." Merida rolled her eyes and tried to catch Hiccup's eye so they could share in the ridiculousness that was Fishleg's theory. But, of course, he was to lost in thought to even notice.
"I swear I'm so angry right now. I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight, with my face." Snotlout made a show of trying to look super manly towards Merida, but she just rolled her eyes and turned away.
" Un-unh. It's the wings and the tails you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon." Gobber said with disinterest. Merida watched Hiccup out of the corner of her eye as his face slowly shifted to one of horror.
"Alright. I'm off to bed. You should be too. Tomorrow we get into the big boys. Slowly but surely making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare. But who'll win the honor of killing it?" Gobber teased them as he stood. As Gobber walked away the teens all began laying their claims to the beast.
"It's gonna be me." Tuffnut said with a pride to his voice that was sickening. "It's my destiny. See?" He rolled down his sleeve to reveal a red dragon tattoo.
"Your mom let you get a tattoo?" Fishlegs said in awe.
"It's not a tattoo. It's a birthmark." Tuffnut responded rather to quickly for Merida to believe him.
"Okay, I've been stuck with you since birth, and that was never there before." His sister responded.
"Yes it was. You've just never seen me from the left side until now." He glared at Ruffnut as he said this.
"It wasn't there yesterday. Is it a birthmark or a today-mark?" Snotlout retorted. Merida stopped listening to the conversation as she watched Hiccup rise and leave the group, a deep expression on his face. She glanced over at Astrid who was also looking at him, a curious expression on her face that rubbed Merida the wrong way. She caught Astrid's eye and glared her down, but Astrid just shrugged her off, which made Merida even angrier. She stood up and stalked off from the bonfire, back to the house she hopped Hiccup would be at so that he could answer some of her questions.