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[has_2ls]

Clearly the idiot who had written 99% of the dog training books the bookshelf had to offer had never had a pet direwolf. When Susan had given him the pup, Jack had been pleased. After all, her own direwolf was well-behaved and gorgeous, so why shouldn't the pup be the same way? Jack had even given him a good, strong name and everything was for the

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[a_real_viking]

Despite how the island seemed to crawl with direwolves sometimes, Hiccup was surprised that this was the first one he'd seen besides Grey Wind. Where Grey Wind was quiet and watchful, perhaps with good reason in Hiccup's case, this one seemed to be happily running at full tilt right toward him. Without thinking too far ahead, Hiccup jogged toward it, slightly to its right, hoping to feint left at the last second and maybe grab it by the collar.

Luckily, Hiccup had befriended a dragon much smarter than his human. Seeing Hiccup apparently running toward a perceived predator, Toothless quickly shot down from the tree where he'd been resting, landing on the ground with the barest sound. Teeth bared, but not growling, he spread his wings as if he meant to net the direwolf coming his way.

"Hey! Toothless! What!? No!" Hiccup protested, trying to find a way around or under the dragon's outstretched wings. "That is not necessary!"

[has_2ls]

"Whoa!" Jack yelled. He hadn't figured on a dragon showing up and while Thor seemed perfectly happy to bounce over to it, Jack was more worried about the kid stuck between them. Hazard of living on the island, he guessed, but damn.

"Thor! Come here. Leave the kid alone."

[a_real_viking]

When the direwolf approached instead of attacking, Toothless immediately lowered his wings, though his teeth were still out. He snorted at the wolf and tilted his head at it, looking up at Jack as if to scold him.

Hiccup glanced between the three of them and offered up his usual sheepish smile. "Hey, uh, sorry 'bout that! He doesn't really know direwolves so, you know, he...did what he does."

[has_2ls]

"No problem," Jack said, taking the opportunity to snag Thor by the collar. "If this guy wouldn't run off all the time he wouldn't run into angry dragons, now would he?"

For his part, Thor looked almost apologetic. Or begging. Either or.

"I'm Jack. What's your name, kid?"

[a_real_viking]

When Thor seemed to surrender, heeling to his human, Toothless' jaw snapped shut and he suddenly looked a thousand times more friendly than threatening. He even leaned forward to get a good sniff at the direwolf.

"I'm Hiccup. He's Toothless."

[has_2ls]

"He's Thor," Jack said, scratching the direwolf behind the ears before holding his hand out. "So, if I try to pet this little guy, is he going to take my hand off? Or no? I like to know before, you know. Losing limbs."

[a_real_viking]

"Thor?" Hiccup asked, raising a quick eyebrow before looking down at the wolf. It seemed a little odd to him to name a pet after one of the most powerful gods in his pantheon, but if there was any companion to take that name, it would be a direwolf.

"As long as you don't startle him or threaten us, he'll be fine. Just, uh, give him a minute to get used to you."

[has_2ls]

"I'm good with a minute," Jack said, thinking he'd give, oh, a lifetime to not get eaten by a dragon. "And yeah, Thor. Buddy of mine back home is named Thor, so. I thought it fit."

[a_real_viking]

"Just kinda funny, 'cause where I'm from Thor is one of our gods." It didn't bother him really, since he knew everyone came from somewhere different, but it did put a crooked smile on his face.

Toothless leaned over and took in a whiff of Jack's hand before lowering his head for pets.

[has_2ls]

Yeah, the Asgard used to pose as gods to the mere mortals since they figured they couldn't handle the truth and Jack wasn't about to burst that bubble. He scratched Toothless's head while he spoke.

"They're still sort of gods where I'm from too," he said, grinning. "Thor's a great guy. Helped me out of plenty of scrapes."

[a_real_viking]

"It's good to hear," Hiccup said, smiling crookedly. Thinking it over, he looked down at Thor to rub his head. "I mean, always nice to hear good things about the people you've been sacrificing goats to all this time, right?"