"Toothless. You know you can't keep doing this." It's ration day and, like usual, I'm given a big pile of nothing but instant ramen noodles. At least they're shrimp flavored. Stormfly is right behind me in line. After I get mine, she's handed a much bigger box. Hers is filled with all kinds of canned food, potato chips, soda, and even some fresh packs of chicken and a pair of boots. "I mean, how long has it been since you put in a request for new clothes?"

"Two months."

"Two months! In case you haven't noticed, it's not getting warmer. I don't know how you're going to managed with those short sleeves of yours when it starts snowing. You're not a Nightmare!" I readjust my hold on the box.

"I don't think which missions I go on make that big a difference." We've walked past the group of dragons around the distribution table. It's not so loud here and I can hear our footsteps while we walk. She gives me a steely look and purses her lips.

"They're going to stop serving you at the Chinese place."

"What?" Dinner out with the gang is the only thing keeping me sane on this diet of noodles.

"They told me when you left early last time. You've used up your credit."

"How? I'm on almost every scouting mission. I should still have some."

"Well, you don't. You need to start taking on more important ones. You should sign up for the next raid."

I sigh. We've had this conversation before. "I'm not going on anymore raids."

"Why not? Do you have any idea what this looks like?"

"No. And I don't care."

"Well you should! You're losing credibility with everyone. You're a strike class. A Night Fury, Toothless. Scouting missions might work for Grounkles but not you. It looks like you're getting lazy and not pulling your weight. You know what happens to dragons who don't do their job! And the Boss already has your number. Don't make things worse." I ignored her for most of her nagging. It wasn't like I hadn't heard it before. That last bit bothers me though.

"Wait. Is that why I don't have any more credit? Did he pull it?" She opens her mouth to say something but a shout stops her. Up ahead a group of Nadders have spotted us. Or more specifically, they've spotted her. I can see a few in the back pointing at us and whispering between each other. Storm just grins and waves back, nearly dropping her box.

"Just sign up for the next raid. I don't want to see you get eaten, ok?" It's her last bit of advice before she runs off to meet up with the other Nadders. I watch them for a few minutes. One of her friends pulls out the pair of boots and they immediately start squealing, probably about how cute they are. It's not long before the entire group has turned down a different street and disappeared. Something flutters on the ground next to me. It's Stormfly's scarf. It must have fallen off when she was jumping around earlier. I shift the box so I'm holding it in one hand and pick up the blue fabric. I'll give it back to her another day. For now, I put it on and start trudging home. This time next month, it's going to be snowing and I'm really going to need a jacket.

I stretch when I wake up, forgetting about where I am and what condition I'm in. The pain fixes that quick enough. I sit up, grinding my teeth to keep from making noise. I hear the same scratching as I did last time. That meant the boy was still here. I still don't understand him. The light coming in from the windows is orange and what sky I can see through the hole in the roof is a dark dusty blue. It's sundown. I lie still and listen to his pencil for a moment. Did he stay here all day long, even though I wasn't awake? Why? Why was he doing any of this? It didn't make sense. Doing my best to stay quiet, I roll off the boxes and walk behind where he's sitting on a box of his own. He tenses when he notices me behind him but he doesn't jump like I expect him to. I guess he's figured out that I'm not going to kill him. At least not so long as he doesn't do anything iffy that is.

"What are you drawing?" It looks a little like a crossbow but I'm not sure. I also notice a little doodle in one corner. It looks like a picture of me with scales showing.

"Uh, nothing." Hiccup sticks his pencil in the book and closes it before I can figure out what the crossbow thing was supposed to be. I don't say anything about the other drawing on the page. "I got some stuff while you were asleep." He pulls up the same bag that he had before but this time it has a lot more stuff in it. He hands it to me to inspect. I dump it all out on the box behind him. I didn't want to go digging through it. I start going through it while he just lists the stuff off, watching me. "I brought a sleeping bag and one of our first aid kits. It's military grade so there's probably something in there. My dad has, like, twelve so use whatever you need. There's also a box of Advil, and some paper towels." I stop sniffing at what he brought and lock onto two plastic containers. I know what they are before he even says it. "And I got you some sushi since you seem to like fish." I have three pieces in my mouth before he stops talking. The sardines from earlier helped but I'm still starving. Half the roll is gone before I stop long enough to grab a bottle of water that he also must have brought. The whole time I'm stuffing my face, he just stares at me with this amused look on his face.

"What?" It comes out muffled. I just stuffed a few more pieces in. "You've never seen a hungry person?"

"You eat like a Viking."

"You would too if you hadn't eaten anything for two days." I eat the last piece of the roll and move onto the next container.

"Fair enough." The second one lasts longer. After a few bites I hold it out for him to take some. "Uh, no thanks. I don't really like sushi." I just stare at him, still waiting for him to take a piece. I'm not going to eat all this without him eating some too. Eventually my stare breaks him and he takes a piece. I still watch him until he's actually eaten it. Rude ass Vikings. It's amazing they can even function in society.

When the sushi is gone, I take the first aid kit and sleeping bag back to my line of boxes. As it turns out, standing up long enough to lay out the sleeping bag is too much for me. When he sees me having trouble, Hiccup offers to help. I hate that I can't do it myself but I let him. It only takes him a few seconds to put it up. I just went ahead and moved back to the box where I had dumped the stuff out. I unwrap my leg and roll up my pants. If I'm not going to be leaving this place soon, I may as well fix myself up the best I can. I ignore Hiccup while I do it. He's just standing there, fidgeting awkwardly. Apparently the boy didn't have very good social skills. Either that or I still freak him out. I'm ok with the second one.

My foot is about as bad as I expect it to be. Wrapping it up last night was definitely the right choice. It's still swollen and bruised but not as much as it might have been if I hadn't wrapped it. My knee is another matter. Wrapping it didn't help as much. It's still hard to move and the inside of my leg has turned an ugly purple color. Seeing it makes Hiccup even more uncomfortable. I really wish he would stop. If he's going to act like this, he can go home.

"I'm sorry." He finally says after I've fixed up my ankle. I glance up at him.

"For what?"

"For what? For that." He gestures at my leg. I just shrug and start wrapping my knee.

"Don't worry about it." He stares at me for several moments, thoroughly confused. I don't bother to say anything.

"So you're just fine with it?" He sounds exasperated. He's obviously not getting it. "I shot you out of the sky and almost kill you and you're fine with it?"

"Yup." I cut the gauze from the rest of the roll and look at him again. "Do you want me to be upset about it?" He holds up a finger like he's about to tell me that yes, I should be upset before rethinking it. He looks away and just wags his finger at me in silence. "I do have a question though." I carefully rearrange myself so my foot is on the ground again. "Do you have a Gameboy?"

I get the feeling he was expecting something else. "A Gameboy? No." Well shit. "I have an old DS I don't use though. I can bring it tomorrow after school if you want?"

"Awesome. Bring some more sushi too." He blinks at me but doesn't say no. We stare at each other in the dimming light before it finally dawns on him that the light is dimming. Outside, the sun has nearly disappeared beneath the horizon. Muttering some rather interesting vocabulary, Hiccup gathers up his bag and heads towards the exit.

"I'll be back tomorrow!" He calls. I just wave at him, rather amused. Vikings are so weird.

The first snow smothered the Nest, turning the dark buildings white. So naturally, the entire Nest was caught up in one huge snowball fight. I couldn't leave the house without getting pelted with snowballs. Eventually I climbed up a fire escape to try to get away from it all. My coat was absolutely soaked otherwise I could join in on the battle field. The empty lots next to the building had been turned into a war zone. Zipplebacks to the south, Nadders to the east, and Grounkles in the west. The Nightmares were a few lots away playing their own game. Nobody wants to try and have a snowball fight with dragons that melt the snow around them. The Nadders had made a low wall with groves like a castle's and were in full offense mode, hitting anything that came into their line of vision. The Grounkles meanwhile were pulling a heavy defense with a thick snow fort. Every so often they would catapult huge balls of snow at one of the other camps. The Zipplebacks were balancing between defense and offense. They'd put up a rather tall wall and would organize massive attacks when every single one of them threw snowballs at a camp, aiming be damned. No one knew who was winning. No one cared. I sat and watched from my perch.

Stormfly nailed Belch in the face, actually managing to knock him back. Barf's face popped up in the whole in the wall where his brother's used to be. "Hey!" A snowball smacked him almost as soon as he said it. He went down after his brother. Stormfly was cracking up from her side.

"You're going to regret that!" They both nearly got hit again when they yelled at her. The next time they reappeared, they each had a huge armful of snowballs. Not a single one hit her. The Nadder girl dodged them, teasing them the entire time. When the twins ran out of snowballs, they started breaking off pieces of the wall to throw at her. The closest Zipplebacks tried to pull them down while the Nadders just cheered them on. They finally managed to get her when she leaned down to grab snowballs of her own. Not one, but two chunks of snow sent her toppling backwards. The entire field gave a collective 'ooh'. The twins only got to celebrate their victory for a few moments before Storm stood back up. I'd never seen them work so fast trying to get that wall fixed. With an angry Stormfly as their leader, the snow war was taken to a whole new level. I just laughed at them while I watched. It'd be nice to have a team to play on.

Something made the fire escape shake. When I looked down, it was Meatlug hauling herself up. I wasn't really worried about her trying to get me. Any of the others would but not Meatlug. She was a lot more relaxed than the others and still gave off a serious big sister vibe. When she reached me, I scooted over to make room and she flopped down beside me. Her face was bright red from the cold and based on her lopsidded pigtails, someone must have just hit her in the back of the head.

"Are you enjoying your first snow day here?" She asked, giving me one of her sweet little smiles. I just shook my head and grinned.

"They're all insane." Barf and Belch were on snow duty now and having to run out into the line of fire to gather up snow from in front of their wall. They would run out, gather up as much as they could as fast as they could, and run back to safety, screaming the entire time and being followed by a line of Nadder snowballs. Beside me, Meatlug laughed.

For a while, we just sat in silence, me watching the battle and Meatlug fixing her hair. The Grounkles were launching their massive snowballs again when she spoke up. "You know it's fine that you waited before going on raids." I should have known it was something. I'd been there for a while now and what I was doing was still the talk of the Nest. I didn't answer her. "I started late too so there's nothing wrong with it." She continued. I know she was trying to help but she was really just getting on my nerves. "I was afraid too." I stood up suddenly and grabbed the ladder to the next landing. Meatlug gave me a pitifully apologetic look, like she had offended me. She had but I wasn't going to let her know that.

"Come on." I grunt and head up the ladder. I don't stop until I reach the roof of the building, Meatlug right behind me every step of the way. I head over to the ledge. I can hear her footsteps in the snow behind me but I don't turn around. Without gloves, making a snowball makes my fingers hurt with the cold. Meatlug's getting wary behind me and leans down to make her own weapon. After making three snowballs, I turn and give her a smirk before launching the first one down at the field. The first hits a Nadder boy in the side, making him stumble to the side. The next hits the girl next to Stormfly who actually falls into her. And the last one, I aim at a Zippleback pair. It hits one in the head and makes him fall, dragging his other down with him. Meatlug is practically in hysterics laughing. I flash her a smile before starting to make more snowballs. She takes it as a cue to unload her own arsenal.

For several minutes, the field is in chaos trying to figure out where the snowballs are coming from. Together, we're hitting all three camps. I take up the Grounkle camp since Meatlug can't throw that far. Both Stormfly and Barf figure it out at the same time, sharing a look from across the field. Belch is just a second behind. I can see them yell 'Toothless' and they start to scan the skyline for me. When they do find us, we give them sarcastic smiles before firing. I manage to get Stormfly and Belch. Meatlug, meanwhile, managed to nail Barf in a rather sensitive spot. I'm sure it was accidental but that doesn't make it any less funny. While we're busy trying not to fall off the building from laughing so hard, the others start coming up with a way to get us back. Snowballs slowly start inching up the side of the building until one finally hits Meatlug in the gut. She just laughs like she's been tickled and flings a huge snowball at the dragon who hit her. But now that they can get to us, things start to shift back to the way it was. Every species for themselves. The battle wages on until evening when everyone was too tired to keep going and most of the snow was beyond usable. Meatlug practically falls on me on the way down, she's so tired. I love snow days at the Nest.