(Untitled)

[lastof_five]

HELP NEEDED

Veterinary Offices have recently been built on the island and are in need of capable individuals with a love for animals and the willingness to learn. No experience is necessary, merely the desire to do well. Twelve and older, please. Contact Dr. Helen Magnus either via mail or at the (human) clinic on Mondays and Wednesdays.Helen

Comments

[a_real_viking]

He'd picked up a few of the letters so far, but it was a bit of a challenge to read the sign post, stabbing in the dark at which letter translated to what in the Futhark. It meant a whole lot of standing around looking like an idiot...which wasn't that unusual for him anyway.

With his weight leaned mostly on his good foot, it took him a second to realized that Helen had tripped over the one he couldn't feel. "No," he replied, arms out to keep her from falling if necessary. Empty gesture of course. Unbalanced as they both were, they'd end up in a pile on the ground.

"I didn't really...ah...even...feel it?" The sentence tapered off pathetically and Hiccup rubbed the back of his head, shoulders tensed.

"So, um, what does that sign say?" That would totally distract her.

[lastof_five]

Helen nodded back toward the sign for a moment before she spoke, hating that she'd nearly tripped the boy. She liked Hiccup and had wondered if he'd settled in well since helping him on the beach that morning.

"Ah, it's an interest notice for a veterinary office. I used to work with both humans and animals, of varying sorts, and I thought it was something island needed."

[a_real_viking]

He wasn't sure he'd heard the word 'veterinary' before, but he figured if the clinic was for people and Helen was a doctor then she must have meant one for animals. "Well...I'm interested," he offered. "I know a little about animals, and dragons."

[lastof_five]

"I was hoping you'd say that," Helen said, smiling a little. "I could use your expertise when it comes to Toothless, certainly, and an extra set of hands for anything else. I suppose I can count you as interested, then?"

[a_real_viking]

"Definitely!" Hiccup could feel how big the grin on his face was. Having some kind of job, some purpose, would be kind of great actually.

"I'd write my name, but I don't think the alphabet would work very well."

[lastof_five]

"That's all right," Helen promised, tapping her temple lightly. "I've got it up here anyway."

She paused for a moment. "If you'd like, I can help you with learning our letters too. The school would be best for it, but I don't mind helping too."

[a_real_viking]

A sense of being an idiot child passed over him, even though he knew that it just came of not knowing, not of being stupid. "I think I'd have to talk to a teacher. It's weird; I understand the language when I hear it, but I can't write it down."

[lastof_five]

"And nobody should expect you to. You said yourself the letters are different," Helen said, then softened her voice a little.

"I don't mean it condescendingly, Hiccup, not at all, so please don't think I ever would. Being different or not knowing something is not inherently a bad thing, it just means you have something you need to learn and work at. Just as I'll need to learn about Toothless and anything else that gets thrown at me here."

[a_real_viking]

"No, I know you don't!" he said just a little too quickly, voice pitching up a bit. The last thing he wanted Helen to think was that he was being ungrateful, especially now.

"It's just a pain, you know?"

[lastof_five]

"I can imagine," Helen said, laughing a little. "And frustrating, but you seem to be a bright young man. I have no doubt in my mind that you'll pick it up, and quickly. Until then, perhaps I'll just have to learn your alphabet?"

[a_real_viking]

The vote of confidence helped and Hiccup nodded, wondering what he'd need to learn. Paper and something to write with, of course. "Maybe I can find something on the shelf too?"

[lastof_five]

"Possibly. The shelf tends to be accommodating enough," Helen agreed. "I was going to go myself to see if I can find anything on domestic animals. I'm quite knowledgeable about unusual ones, but nothing about regular dogs and cats."

[a_real_viking]

Hiccup chewed his lip for a moment, thinking back to the animals he'd seen back on Berk, besides dragons. "I know a little bit about sheep and animals like that?" he suggested. "We kept a lot of sheep at home, for food and wool. A couple of goats too."

A bit was better than nothing, right?

"But it doesn't hurt to raid the shelf."

[lastof_five]

"No, and you officially know more than me about sheep," Helen said with a laugh. "I know absolutely nothing. I've always lived in cities and never anywhere where I would be raising livestock."

[a_real_viking]

"And we had pretty much nothing but. There's not much else to do besides rebuild houses and make sure there's enough sheep, really." It was just a practical skill everyone picked up between alternately running from and trying to kill dragons. That and axe-throwing.

[lastof_five]

"So different from my life," Helen said, smiling a little in admiration. He was a young boy, even by her standards of seeing everyone as young, but seemed to have a good, steady head on his shoulders. "I lived in a city when I was your age. Very crowded and not a lot of room for livestock or, daresay, dragons."