HI! It's me… Turtle. Yes, we're still writing the story. Sorry it's taken so long, but someone (Dolphin) is an extremely slow writer. As in she was busy with her life and never got to writing it. I wrote my bit in about 15 minutes. HA! Yeah… but I'm a bit of a bad person in this, so yeah. But, all's well now. We've written this new chapter as an offering to the angry people who've been reading this FF (sorry again). Happy reads. "If nature knew what was best for it…" 2015 ~Turtle

Hello! We're back! No, we have not abandoned this story, and I apologize for the wait. Hopefully this chapter will make up for it. Like Turtle said, I've been busy with schoolwork and life and so it took a while to finish my part of the chapter. Hopefully updates will be more frequent than a chapter every six months from now on. Hope you enjoy chapter 4! -Dolphinsplash

Chapter 4

Shaina's POV

"Okay, everybody! Time to get cleaned up!" Gobber calls out.

We all hurry to try and straighten the heaps of weapons and tools lying around. Something tells me this place hasn't been organized since its creation. Still, we manage to get it to about the state it was when we arrived and head out.

"See ya tomorrow Hiccup!" Lauren and I say as he heads off to his house.

"Yeah. Bye," he says without even turning around. Is it just me, or does he not seem too enthusiastic?

We make our way back to Gobber's house with him, and he asks us how our first day on the job went.

"It was great!" Lauren says. "I never thought I would get to help make shields before! Hiccup could have been a bit friendlier though, you know. He hardly did any talking. Seriously. Are 'yes' and 'no' the only words he knows?"

Gobber laughs. "Don't mind him. He's always grumpy like that. It's nice to finally have some enthusiastic kids like yourselves in the shop for a change." He tells us, and then opens the door to his house. "You girls can go up to your room if you like. I'm gonna start on making dinner. I'll call you down when it's ready."

"Are you sure we can't help?" I ask.

"I'll be fine really. The last time there were multiple people trying to cook in this kitchen there was a very nasty incident involving a fish, some salt, Hiccup, and several airborne spoons."

"Ooookaaay then…." Lauren and I slowly retreat to the staircase and head up to the spare room, keeping our eyes trained on the kitchen, so as to be prepared to dodge flying utensils. When we get up there, we sit down on our bed together, and Lauren sighs.

"How was your fictional day?" She asks me.

"My fictional day was just peachy. I got to sharpen some weapons, so that was a lot of fun. You?"

"Fine. I got to meet, like, Hiccup, and he thinks I'm a total nutbag." She frowns.

"Don't you mean nutcase?" I ask her.

"No. I mean nutbag. I'm such a nutbag, I call myself a nutbag." She smiles a bit at her own joke, but her eyes are still cast towards the ground.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I just... I don't know. I expected this to be better. Like, I wish I fit in a bit more. But, I made a fool of myself and am now a nutbag. But, you know, nutbags are okay. Some of my best friends are nutbags."

"Yeah, sorry about that. But you see, we can't exactly go around saying that we have magical all-seeing powers, can we? Then people will start asking questions that we can't answer without revealing things that will impact the plot. And if we start revealing things that will impact the plot, then people will want to change it. And if they change it, then we might not be able to get out of here," I tell her.

"I suppose you might be right," Lauren replies.

"GIRLS! DINNER'S READY!" I hear Gobber yell from downstairs.

"COMING!" Lauren and I yell in unison. We burst out of our bedroom and fly down the stairs to eat.

Lauren's POV

"Well, I suppose you two know that tomorrow is the first day of dragon training?" Gobber asks us, his accent not ceasing to amuse me.

"Yes, we know." Shaina says, smiling, eating whatever meat Gobber cooked. I don't trust it. I'm currently eating something green, but the origin of it is unknown to me. And all of the human race, as well.

"Don't forget to come back to the forge with Hiccup and I after training." Gobber says, putting a large piece of meat in his mouth. No wonder these people get so fat, I think. They eat entire… "steak-things" in a bite or two.

"Okay. We won't forget." I say, trying to hide the smile from my previous thought. I am terrible, I think. Yes, yes you are, another part of me answers. No wonder I'm a nutbag.

"Hiccup won't be there," I whisper to Shaina, and she smiles a little at my comment. Hiccup will be somewhere else in his off-time. Training Toothless.

That… that came out wrong…

"Well, you two eat kinda slow, huh?" Gobber asks us. I notice his plate is clean, and mine is only a fourth of the way done. Wow. Shaina's like, a twelfth of the way done. She takes forever.

"Sorry, it's just… where we come from, people eat slowly. We like to avoid choking on our meals." Shaina says.

"Ah, yes. People here often choke. It's common. We do the ol' hug and chuck to get the food unstuck." I stare at him with my mouth open, and Shaina talks.

"Well…. Isn't that nice?" Shaina asks.

"Laurel, close your mouth, you'll catch flies." Gobber says, and he gets up from the table. At least I'd know what I was eating if it were a fly… I think.

"I'm off to get more meat. I'm still hungry. I'll be right back, don't mess around." Gobber says, and leaves the house to- I hope- get more meat. Whatever the meat is.

"What meat is this?" I ask Shaina when he's gone.

"I'm not sure… it tastes like prime rib, so I'm just trying not to think about it." She shoves another heap of it into her mouth and she smiles at the taste.

"Prime rib?" I ask her, my mouth getting watery.

"Yeah." She says, lifting a forkful of it to her mouth.

"Move over, I want some!" I grab the fork before it reaches her mouth and shove it in my own.

"Lauren!" She yells at me, trying to take the fork back, but my jaw locks and she can't get it back out.

"Give… it… back!" She says, stopping to talk between pulls.

"Mm-mm!" I shake my head 'no' and keep my jaw shut tighter than a bank vault.

She puts one foot on my chest, and the other on the ground. She pulls the fork with all her might and I have to keep the fork in my mouth with my hands.

"WHAT IN ODIN'S NAME IS GOING ON IN HERE?" Gobber walks in. Shaina drops the fork and her foot off of me, and I drop my jaw, and the fork clatters onto the floor. Shaina picks up the fork silently, and we bow our heads to Gobber.

"What was that?" Gobber asks us, and I make no noise.

"We were… uh…" Shaina doesn't finish.

"… practicing dragon fighting." I finish with pride. "I was the dragon, and Satina was the Viking. I think she did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself."

"Oh… well good job, but save the fighting for the ring. We start tomorrow." Gobber smiles. "Now get some rest, you'll need it if the dragons' jaws lock that well." I smile a little and we go up to our room.

We lay down in our clothes, and we take the covers off the bed.

"I suppose we're both nutbags…" I say, and we both get in bed.

"I suppose we are." She smiles, and we both fall asleep.