Fearless Fables

Talons and Toddlers Part 3

The diaper was a little worse for wear. By a little, this meant a gaping hole through both pants and undergarment. In other words, completely ruined.

Astrid and Hiccup responded naturally, as most parents would when faced with this phenomenon. They stared, open mouthed, at their son's clothes before turning to face the playpen again.

"What did you DO?!" Astrid said in a sudden flurry to grab her son and inspect his bottom. "That looks like Stormfly's beak—but she'd never, but there's no way, but... but... there's no mark so I guess we'll never know what he did!"

Stormfly nodded, perfectly happy for her human to not ever know what methods she had resorted to so as to return the young unscathed.

Hiccup had managed to undo the mechanism entrapping Adrianna. The little girl toppled, sleepy, but still extremely happy out into her father's arms. As she snuggled into his neck, Hiccup saw another thing which made his heart leap into his throat. There were holes—no, teeth marks in his little girl's shirt. And they looked mysteriously like...

"Toothless."

The dragon opened his eyes wearily and focused on his human with a soft coo. Hiccup pulled the shirt up to first inspect his child's back (no bite marks, check) before beginning his interrogation.

"Why," he started slowly, "why are there... why would you do this?"

The dragon jumped up by the window, stuck his head out and meaningfully looked straight at the offending bridge. Hiccup walked over and followed Toothless' gaze.

"I don't understand. Could you... mime it for me or something?"

Toothless' head plates fell flat on his head as a look of irritation crossed over his features. He turned and returned to where he had been napping.

"Okay... I'll just think about it for a bit, shall I?" Hiccup inspected his daughter's back again. No wounds, some dirt, and what appeared to be dried dragon saliva. "Aaah, that's just great." He groaned. "That'll take a while to come out."

Toothless shot his human a scathing look. Great way to be ungrateful.

"Strip her. Time for a bath." Astrid was already filling the tub with the buckets they had set aside for that evening.

"Never words I like to hear," Gobber said, having now entered the house and collapsed at the table. "Looks like your son has inherited Hiccup's art skills."

Astrid and Hiccup, hands full of toddler, both turned their heads to inspect it. Astrid sighed. "He's been preparing for his bath all day by the looks of it, and he was mighty busy doing so. Painting the table, playing in mud, visiting Gobber's workshop—"

"Destroying my workshop more like. The entire place has been turned upside down. It looked like a full-scale dragon attack happened in there." The parents eyed their dragons again suspiciously. Gobber continued, "and then of course he left his skivvies by the furnace."

That took a moment to sink in. "THE FURNACE?!" Astrid's face began to change color in shock. She plunged the little boy into the water and began scrubbing, desperately seeking singe marks. Finn began screaming at the top of his little lungs (which had amazing lung capacity when he decided to use them), in sharp protest to his freezing washing.

"Umm... Astrid, I think it's cold..." Hiccup said awkwardly. Astrid fixed him with a glare which was probably about the same temperature as the water.

"Shut up." She glanced to Toothless across the room, "a little help?"

The dragon still looked rather peeved, and refused to give too much attention to the scene. He spat a fast spark at the fire pit beneath the tub, and it ignited with a white flame. He then turned his back on the family to continue stewing in peace.