"The more I see of these things, the more I wonder how we've made it this long." Stoick joked.
"Yeah it's pretty crazy." Hiccup commented as they watched Toothless begin to dress the other deer. "Their only disadvantage really is that they don't have hands." Hiccup placed his hands on his hips and monitored Toothless' work.
"It doesn't seem like that much of a disadvantage to me."
"Until you realize that they can't make anything. They can't build homes, weapons, can't make or invent new things. They can't write down their language, and therefore don't have an alphabet. Which means they have no written history except for what humans have written about them. Which does not paint them in a good light.
They can fly, and are natural weapons. They're organized and have rules. Are social creatures with language.
But eventually it won't mean anything. Humans will create something that can fly. Will it be as effective as theirs, we don't know. Their weapons are organic and need a long time to regrow or recharge, and as they get older that becomes slower or altogether impossible. Their organization is fantastic and from what I've seen is mostly worked out and effective. It just depends on who the alpha is. Which is sorta an issue since not everyone has the physical requirement to challenge the current alpha and take over. And while each flock has rules and ways they do things but don't have a written language they can't write them down.
So while they're amazing creatures with amazing natural abilities it'll all be nullified once humans figure out a way to do it too. That's why we have to help them." Hiccup stared at Toothless, not really paying attention just looking at his dragon. "If we don't help them they'll become stories no one believes." He whispered. Hiccup gathered himself and began to pay attention to what Toothless was doing again. "You ready for me yet bud?" Hiccup asked.
"Just about." Toothless respond. Hiccup moved over to the dragon's side and pressed the back of his hand against the dragon's neck. He rubbed back and forth slowly. "Made yourself sad again, yuh?" Toothless asked.
"Yeah sorta. You know I have a hard time thinking about dragons going extinct. It's not fair."
"That's just how it is, Hiccup."
"I know but I'm still going to do my best to make sure that doesn't happen."
"I wouldn't expect anything less." Toothless leaned into Hiccup's hand. "Now then I'm were I'm gonna need help. Hiccup nodded and got underneath Toothless chin. He stuck his hand into the deer carefully and helped move the insides out.
Now finished, both deer were moved towards the campsite they set up, and the hides were set out to dry.
"Alright then." Hiccup huffed. "Just cut some pieces off these and we got dinner for tonight."
"Well done boys." Stoick complimented. "And a fantastic show of skill Toothless. I must say seeing you dress those deer was rather impressive, I must admit." The other humans agreed and complimented the Night Fury themselves. Hiccup closed his eyes and sighed to himself knowing exactly what was about to happen.
Toothless puffed his chest out and held his head high. When Hiccup finally opened his eyes Toothless was staring at him knowingly.
"I think they like me." Toothless said smugly.
"I think you're an idiot." Hiccup jabbed.
"Well I think you're just mad cause they're praising me and not you."
"And I think you have an ego the size of Helheim, that somehow gets bigger when others compliment you on something. And then you always look at me like I don't see it."
"Well I just want you to be more proud of me." Toothless sat down and deflated himself.
"Bud, I couldn't be more proud of you. You've just become numb to me being the one who compliments you on what you're doing. Which makes sense since we're so rarely apart that a 'good job' or 'well done' is just background noise. Besides, I show my appreciation in other ways. I doubt any of them would let you anywhere near their mouth or backside." Hiccup placed his hand under his dragon's chin and lifted it slightly. "Or the other way around for that matter. And it'll be an exceptionally cold day in Helheim before any of them will lay a kiss on you." Hiccup pecked Toothless' snout. "So you see it's not that I don't show my appreciation, it's just that every compliment, scratch under the chin, kiss, and hug are just another one to throw onto the pile."
"I guess I kinda… Sorry Hiccup."
"No need for that. You know damn well I'm the same way."
"We really are soulmates huh?"
"Like there was any doubt." Hiccup chuckled. "Plus it's not like you don't impress me with stuff." He held up the huge antler. "Who knew you'd end up killing a god? Or at least something related. That's pretty impressive. And sexy." Hiccup winked.
"Maybe I'll go find more gods or whatever to kill then." Toothless smiled.
"Did you not hear Freya? She'd kill us herself if we actively went after anything like that. An accident is one thing but we can't go after them."
"Ugh, how boring. Just as I got a taste of it."
"You're very funny." Hiccup rolled his eyes. He moved and sat down in front of the unlit fire pit where everyone else had started to gather. Toothless without missing a beat was laid down behind him, letting Hiccup rest against his chest. Giving Toothless access to most of Hiccup's body, and allowing the dragon to lick at Hiccup's cuts and bruises.
Hiccup watched as the others started to sit and talk, and bond a bit more with their respective dragons. Gobber on the other hand was still visibly apprehensive and trying to do his best to stay calm.
"Pretty crazy ain't it Gobber?" Hiccup asked. "Seeing all this. My dad especially."
"It's not what I expected, that's for sure." The older blond man said, looking around.
"I suppose I haven't apologized for the way we had to get you here yet. We'd rather have had you come on your own terms but seems it wasn't gonna be that way." Hiccup shrugged.
"What would you have done if a group came and said get on this dragon and it'll take you to Stoick and Hiccup."
"I think I'm the wrong person to ask Gobber."
"Aye, that's true. You've always been curious of them. Always watching the ones in the arena. Doing your little drawings of them, your notes. Don't think I didn't catch you comparing what you saw to Bork's writings in the dragon manual. I bet he'd be very proud to see someone else had just as much interest in them as he did. Which now that I saw that, probably a whole lot more than he did."
"I hope you don't hate me for basically turning his work on it's head."
"Hiccup, the point of people like you and him, and others like you are to make sure we understand things. Bork wrote what he saw. But he wasn't trying to do what you are. He was just as scared of them as any other sane person and wanted people to know what to do when they came across a dragon. His work made it so we could survive. Your work, Hiccup… It's gonna change the world. You've done the impossible kid. You've changed our minds." Gobber smiled at him. Hiccup bit his lips and was nearly in tears at the kind words of his mentor. Toothless shifted the way he was laying and offered the large blond man his tail to touch. The rest of the group noticed and now were watching in silence.
Gobber gently took Toothless' tail into his hands. Feeling the course scales under his fingers. Slowly working his way down to the tails tip. He ran the thin bones of the tail fin between his fingers, and pinched and pulled carefully at the leather like skin stretched between them, before letting go completely.
Stoick put a hand on Gobber's shoulder and nodded. "Like nothing else you've ever touched right?"
"It's like having a handful of rocks that have been sitting near a fire. But then they're soft and pliable too somehow and you're almost confused cause you can feel the blood rushing through it."