Fearless Fables

The Mud Bath

Fearless Finn Haddock was a rambunctious little boy on the best of days. For this reason, he almost always needed supervision. Left to his own devices, he was likely to wander off and get himself into trouble. This was already something he'd done on multiple occasions so Hiccup and Astrid thought it was best to assign the dragons babysitting duty when they needed to run an errand. Toothless and Stormfly's enthusiasm fluctuated quite a bit. Some days they were quite happy to babysit the bright eyed toddler. Other days, they would rather eat a whole basket of eels than chase the little boy all over Berk.

Today was one of those days in which Toothless rather enjoyed the little boy's company. It was fun to chase him around and keep him distracted from all the sharp objects and large rocks of which he would immediately try to jump off. The boy had turned three about a month ago and since then, his speaking was getting a little bit better so Toothless at least had an idea of what was running through his head when he was misbehaving.

"Toofwess!" he called, running away from the dragon as fast as his little feet would carry him. "Catch me!"

Toothless grinned and pursued the boy, careful to remain behind him but slowly gain on him until his nose was periodically bumping up against Finn's back. The toddler giggled loudly every time the Night Fury did this and Toothless liked that sound so much that he pursued the boy far outside of the limits his rider had set up. Soon they were in an unfamiliar clearing. Toothless looked around, feeling a bit sheepish and hoping he'd be able to find his way back.

"Wun, wun!" Finn hopped up and down in front of the dragon. "Catch me!"

Toothless grasped the boy's shirt in his gums so that the game would be over. He had to think. How was he supposed to lead his rider's young back to the house when he didn't even know where the house was? He snuffled and watches as the child made a beeline to a very large black... thing in the middle of the clearing. Toothless crept forward to investigate and managed to stop the boy from jumping into it before inspecting it.

The rain the previous day had left a very large mud pit. In fact, the middle of it was deep enough for the small boy to wade. Toothless was about to grab Finn's shirt again and get him away from the mess when the redhead leaped out of his reach and landed with a squelch on his bottom. He let out a squeal of delight.

"Yook Toofwess!" he grabbed a huge handful of the stuff and let it run down his fingers. "I aww messy!"

And messy he was. Toothless glared at the toddler through narrow eyes. He took several steps forward to attempt to retrieve him and suddenly slipped in the substance, landing face first into it. Letting out a growl of frustration, he wiped his eyes off. His legs were covered in the stuff... and it was quite nice, actually. The warm summer weather had made the mud very warm and it was like taking a hot bath. Toothless splashed in it, spraying mud in all directions. He looked over at Finn, a gummy smile on his face.

"Pway with me Toofwess!" the toddler called again, overjoyed that his daddy's dragon had figured out that getting dirty was a lot of fun.

Toothless backed out of the mud, making Finn's face fall a bit. Seconds later, when he had gotten a good distance away, the Night Fury wiggled his hindquarters and ran at top speed into the mud. Once he had submerged all four legs, he slid next to the young, sending a tidal wave of mud all over him. Finn screamed with laughter and splashed in the stuff with his little fists.

"Again! Again!" he squealed.

Toothless laughed at the sight of the toddler once he had gotten a good look at him. Finn was covered head to foot in the substance. His once bright red hair was now a sludge brown and dripping all all down his face. His green tunic was now the same color as his hair and arms and legs. The dragon was going to have a lot of explaining to do when he got back... and he didn't care one bit. This was loads of fun! He was so fond of this little boy and they were having the time of their lives out there.