(Untitled)

[a_real_viking]

Living on a magically beautiful tropical island and having a dragon at his back, it was easy to feel immortal. It was easy to fly up close to the sun, lean forward to grin recklessly at Toothless, and laugh as he unhooked his leg from the pedal. They were so high up that the air almost felt cool, despite the cloudless sky and warm sun, and the wind

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[_kinginthenorth]

Considering it hasn't been that long since Hiccup and Toothless got back into the air at all, it's a pretty impressive thing they've doing. Reynald, of course, thinks it's brilliant, and tugs Robb to a stop so he can tilt his head so far back he looks like he's about to fall over backward and wave, enthusiastically, with both arms.

Once boy and dragon are out of sight, it takes Robb and Reynald a few moments to catch up to where they've landed. Reynald runs toward Toothless, beaming proudly. "Doofus fly!" he declares gleefully.

[a_real_viking]

Toothless noticed them first and was on his feet and sniffing happily at Reynald's hair before Hiccup was even finished standing. He walked over, grinning, the book held open against his chest.

"Yeah, he's pretty awesome at it," he agreed.

[_kinginthenorth]

Reynald beams and reaches up to 'pet' Toothless, which mostly just means half-batting, half-rubbing at his snout. Robb watches, but has long since stopped worrying--at least about things Toothless might do on purpose. What trouble Reynald might get them into by accident is something else entirely.

"What's that?" he asks, motioning to the book.

[a_real_viking]

And in return, Toothless was more that happy to ease himself down onto his belly, making it even easier for Reynald to express his affection.

Hiccup, meanwhile, grinned and lowered the book to give Robb a good look at it. "Back home on Berk, they made us study this to prepare for battling dragons. But, uh, I just found it and I'm going to be making some adjustments."

[_kinginthenorth]

Robb looks over the descriptions of the dragons with a quiet chuckle. "I think this is about what a book on dragons from my home would have looked like," he admits. "Dangerous flying thing! Kill it!"

Reynald, clearly, would never be much of a dragon hunter. Dragon groomer, on the other hand, he might have a future as.

[a_real_viking]

"Pretty much," Hiccup said, pointing to a line of runes. "The exact words were 'Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight.' Except for Toothless here. Then it was 'pray it does not find you.'"

Toothless raised his head at the sound of his name and made a snorting sound.

[_kinginthenorth]

Robb glances at Toothless, who tends to resemble a moody cat more than a killer beast, and smiles. "It's actually nicer than the things they used to say about Grey Wind back home, and these days he doesn't look dangerous either."

[a_real_viking]

"I guess no one ever thought to try and turn an enemy into an ally." Hiccup remembered his own ballista designs, made to take dragons out.

"Took me a while to notice it too."

[_kinginthenorth]

Robb shrugs. "The old gods sent them to us. At least, that was the prevailing opinion. Also, I think most creatures will be less likely to rip your throat out if you've raised them from a puppy. Not," he adds, with the barest trace of relief, "that what's actually going to come up, in this case." He hopes.

[a_real_viking]

"If you can get something to trust you, everything gets a lot easier," Hiccup agreed.

He paused before taking a smaller notebook out of his vest and making a quick note of that to himself. He'd add it to the manual later.

[_kinginthenorth]

"True of most things," Robb agrees. "...Children and animals, definitely. Wolves, maybe less so." Case in point, the way Reynald is happily petting Toothless on the nose, in a position most people would not consider safe.

[a_real_viking]

And Toothless, for his part, was lapping it up.

"I think he's smart, though," Hiccup said, shorthanding as much into his notebook. "I mean, like. He's not just an animal. He can figure things out, you know?"

[_kinginthenorth]

"So can animals," Robb points out. "Even human ones, if we're very lucky. I didn't mean to say he wasn't very clever."

[a_real_viking]

Hiccup laughed, smiling to show that he wasn't offended. "Let's face it though." He patted Toothless' head. "He's probably smarter than me."

[_kinginthenorth]

"I could probably say the same about Grey Wind," Robb admits. "But someone has to keep us out of trouble?"

[a_real_viking]

"Well it's pretty obvious I wouldn't do it on my own. I read a book that says things like 'Extremely dangerous, kill on sight' and I start looking for just that." Hiccup held up the book again, grinning.