Chapter 3 – Astrid Goes For A Spin
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Tracks: Astrid Goes For A Spin/Romantic Flight
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"Ow! Why would you do that?"
Awh great. Human messing up Night Fury's sleeping habits. Nothing new there.
"That's for the lies," says a foreign voice. The dragon's ears perk up. "And that's, for everything else."
Completely awake, he gets out of his napping cave with a threatening growl. He was probably just imagining things, really –
His eyes widen slightly at the sight of another human.
"Oh man," the boy mutters.
Night Fury charges as the other – recognizable as a female – throws Human to the ground with a gasp.
She swings her axe to gather strength as the dragon prepares to pounce on her – but Human intervenes.
"No!" He jumps to throw her weapon to the grass, where it can do no harm. Night Fury really wants the boy to get out if his way, so he can finish off the girl who dared to hurt his pet.
Not that he has any real feelings of affection. Pfft. The very idea of it is preposterous. A dragon – a Night Fury – with a soft spot for a Viking? Yeah, right.
Unheard of.
"It's okay," says the boy to him. "It's okay," he repeats to the newcomer.
"She's a friend," he says to the dragon soothingly.
Wait a second…
Human has friends?
"You scared him," Human states to – well, Female, for the lack of a better word.
"I scared him?" The girl asks loudly, earning a powerful growl that, undoubtedly, made her legs go weak. "Who, is him?" She wonders almost to herself.
"Astrid, Toothless." So Female has a name.
"Toothless," Human looks at him sideways, almost afraid to examine his reaction. "Astrid."
His most terrifying roar is put to use. Always nice to make a good first impression.
The dragon can see that, without her weapon, the girl – Astrid – is as harmless as Human. So what's really driving him to be unkind, if the boy told him she was a friend?
Maybe that's just it.
He wasn't expecting Human to have any friends besides – well, besides him.
Female shakes her head out of disbelief and frowns.
Night Fury wants to roll his eyes. Really, who does she think she's scaring?
Oh. Human, apparently.
She turns away and runs.
"Ta-da-da, we're dead."
The dragon turns away too. Everyone has a limit. His, apparently, is one human at a time.
"Whoa whoa whoa, where do you think you're going?"
Argh, what now? He's sleepy.
"When she gets to my village, she'll tell everyone!" he throws his hands up in exasperation.
Night Fury fails to see the point.
"And they'll discover you! Toothless, they'll kill you."
The dragon's eyes widen in understanding.
"Let's go get her, bud," Human jerks his head to the forest.
He doesn't need to be told twice; Night Fury finds the girl and grabs her.
And Thor, what a voice she has.
Her squealing form is carried all the way up to a tree, where the dragon lets go of her on a branch.
"Hiccup!" She squirms, trying to hold on. "Get me down from here!"
Is Hiccup a new interjection? He really needs to go out more. His social life is down to his meetings with Human, and that's just sad.
Human tries to argue, and Female's squealing voice starts to really annoy the dragon.
"Please, Astrid," the boy pleads again. Night Fury did not pay much attention to the previous dialogue. He was too busy trying to figure out the meaning of 'Hiccup.' Was it meant to express surprise…? He was genuinely concerned. What if he slipped it into casual conversation and the other dragons looked at him strangely?
The girl nears him and he growls. She doesn't deserve to be called Astrid yet. She's Female for now, and Female deserves growling.
Eventually he lets her climb, begrudgingly beginning to accept her presence.
But then he sees her slap away Human's hand.
How dare she?
He is the only one who can slap the boy! Plus, Human's only trying to help. That's all he ever does. He's smart and caring, and Female should appreciate that!
"Now get me down," she commands.
She commands. Night Fury. To get down. She does realize there's Fury in his name, right?
"Toothless… Down," asks Human. "Gently," he adds.
Down it is, humans.
"Whooah!" The boy is startled at the sudden jump up.
"Toothless! What's wrong with you?" Well, the dragon muses. The only way to appreciate kindness is to be unkind first. That was one of the reasons why Night Fury liked Human. The rest of his kind was violent towards the dragons, but the boy brought him food when he was wounded.
"Bad dragon, bad – he's not usually like this," Night Fury hears him explain to Female. She has to learn first, his mind insists. Otherwise she will just rat them out –
Actually, rat him out.
The dragon dives quite suddenly and even goes into the water rapidly – he missed the crazy flying stunts from back when he was whole and free.
"Toothless, what are you doing?" Human asks exasperated. "We need her to like us…"
Night Fury was about to give in, he really was, when he noticed the boy's choice of words.
Like.
Oh, this is too good. Female is Human's potential mate?
This just took a whole new level.
"And now, the spinning. Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile."
The cheeky dragon was enjoying himself far too much to mind Human's dry humor.
"I'm sorry!" Female says suddenly, no longer using that blasted squealing voice. "I'm sorry. Just get me off of this thing."
Seeing that she seemed about to be sick, Night Fury decides to spread his wings and stop the frantic flight. It wouldn't do to have her throw up all over the place.
And, she apologized. Even though she did call him 'thing.'
Human's relief was practically tangible.
The dragon floats around lazily, letting her into their world of wonderful skies and touchable clouds.
See? His face seems to tell the boy. She learned.
…
They fly for hours straight, Night Fury even approaching the village the humans referred to as their home – Berk. The dragon remembers how many times he showed up to protect his species against the vicious Vikings on that same island. He never takes any of the flock or food – he's against the whole feeding-the-fat-dragon idea –; he only goes to the raids to protect the other dragons (even if they don't thank him for it).
He really has no choice.
Night Fury hopes his human never gets to meet the Green Death.
"Alright, I admit it," Female speaks, snapping him out of his reverie. "This is pretty cool."
Hmmph. Pretty cool. More like, best experience of her life, the dragon rolls his eyes inwardly.
"It's… amazing," she says. Better, he thinks.
"He's amazing," Female corrects herself, caressing the dragon carefully.
No, not Female. Astrid.