WHO Hiccup Haddock & John Wick WHAT Washing Patches WHEN This afternoon WHERE Animal Shelter WARNINGS Nah not really! STATUS Closed | Incomplete gdoc
Hiccup generally kept to himself at work, but he was trying to be more personable. Some things made it necessary, such as giving the dogs their baths. That just worked better when it was two people since it limited the chances of him taking a bath along with the dogs. As much as he wanted to complain about something in regards to his job, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Working with animals was as close to what he did at home as he could get and dogs were a lot easier to deal with than dragons. Less chance of getting roasted accidentally.
It was about that time and he figured he'd see if anyone else was around to give him a hand. Hiccup spotted the new guy, John he thought his name was, and smiled as he approached him. "Hi," he greeted, a bit timidly. He was still getting used to people, truthfully. "Are you in the middle of anything? I'm looking to get started on giving some of the dogs their baths and it works better with another set of hands." Hiccup figured he could give the guy an out to say he was busy if he didn't want to help with bath time. He'd gotten through it on his own before and he could do it again if he needed to.
Working in the shelter had proven relaxing for John. There was a routine to everything in order to keep the animals calm, healthy, and to help them become accustomed to socializing with people in case they were strays or ferals picked up from the street. John thought it was a bit like how he was learning to adapt to Madison Valley. He, too, enjoyed routines with guaranteed reactions he could count on in addition to soft or friendly voices to help him learn how to communicate more freely.
If only he could teach the animals to talk, John thought he'd have the perfect job.
"Hello," John greeted the man, extending his hand, "John Wick. I just finished helping cut a mat out of a very fussy Persian's fur. I was hoping someone would come along with another job for me. I don't have any dogs scheduled to walk for several hours and I've already finished the cat cages."
Puff the Angry Persian was getting over her mad spell from the last John had seen of her. Everything would have been much more simple if she'd been able to tell them there was a tangled clump of hair near the bend of her leg. John was only lucky he had good reflexes or he'd have wound up clawed good.
"I'm better with dogs."
John realized it sounded like a confession only after he'd said it and chuckled at himself. He hoped his coworker had a lot of patience for new guys. Bathing the dogs wasn't something John had undertaken before.
“Oh, you had to deal with that?” Hiccup winced in sympathy. “She doesn’t like me much. Most of the cats don’t.” He tried to stick with the dogs as much as possible, which was most of the time since he took care of training them and socializing them. “I’m better with dogs, too. Except for bath time. They’re worse than the baby dragons,” he admitted as he turned to head towards the back area that was set up as a washroom.
“It’s nice to meet you, John. My name’s Hiccup Haddock,” he added, since it was only polite to introduce himself to his new coworker. “I’m sorry I haven’t introduced myself before now.” Hopefully John hadn’t been working so long as to make this awkward. “I’ve got Patches first up for his bath and half the time I end up just as wet as he is by the end of it if I’m not careful. He can make quite the splash.” Patches was a Dalmatian, big and playful and though bath time was more for fun than for getting clean. He was going to be a handful if they ever got a chance to bring the dogs to a pool to relax in this summer.
“I appreciate the help,” he added with a smile.
"Someone had to," John said, smiling softly, "I never knew if I was a dog person or a cat person until I suddenly had a dog. I can honestly say I'm more of a dog person though my nature and my previous job makes me more suitable to own a cat."
Cats were highly independent animals who didn't need a human to tend to their needs beyond the most rudimentary of ways. Dogs needed a human to walk them, socialize with them, clean up after them, get their food, get their water, and train them how to behave when around strangers. There always seemed to be some task to be accomplished with a dog whereas the cats all seemed to live strange, secretive lives of their own which they only paused when humans came into their sphere of influence as if to spy on them.
Children should be given a dog first in John's opinion. He thought a dog taught responsibility in a way having a cat never could.
John also thought he was hearing things when the man told him he worked with baby dragons and his name was Hiccup?
"It's really no problem. I'm sorry to ask you to repeat yourself, but did you say your name is Hiccup? Like the sound? And you work with dragons? Who have babies? Do you mean here in Madison Valley or where you were before?"
Somehow the idea dragons were reproducing in Madison Valley was both perfectly reasonable and perfectly insane at the same time. John wasn't sure how he felt about dragons. If he'd been asked to give a necessary opinion on them, John would have said if there were dragons in existence, they'd have to be ancient, on the verge of death and extinction, because they'd have shown up in a news report or a National Geographic expose by now if they were plentiful.
"We never really had pets on Berk, just sheep mostly," he offered. No one would ever really believe that a dragon was a pet, at least he hoped they wouldn't. Dragons were always a danger, but the trust built between dragon and rider allowed for them all to coexist in harmony. Mostly. There were definitely better days than others, especially considering there were new threats every time he turned around, it felt like.
"Oh, it's okay. Yes, like the sound. I'm from...very far in the past. We didn't really mark years the way that it's done now. I'm a Viking," Hiccup explained. He knew it was weird, so he tried not to make it too much weirder than it already was. "My home, Berk, used to be raided by dragons constantly. I knocked one out of the sky, but we became friends." Hiccup wasn't proud of the fact that he'd nearly killed Toothless. "It was through Toothless that we were able to free the dragons from the threat of a larger dragon. That dragon had been eating the smaller ones if they didn't bring it enough live food. That's why they'd been constantly raiding our village and the villages around ours."
He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "So we sort of...adopted some of the dragons. We learned to live together in harmony with them, since they aren't inherently bad. They just...do what they need to, in order to survive. The baby dragons are...a lot, but it's still good to have them. My dragon, the one I knocked out of the sky? He's here. And my...Astrid's dragon, Stormfly, is here too. They stick to the forest though, for the most part." Or else they were at Erik or Tefe's house depending, but usually they were in the forest. "They won't bother you, or anyone else," he assured John. That was usually the biggest thing.
"Sheep? So you lived in a---farming community? A Viking farming community with dragons who coexist with you in harmony?"
John Wick was a New Yorker through and through. The idea of living somewhere livestock shared real estate with him was one step up from agreeing to buy a summer house in Hell. He thought there were people who were made for that lifestyle and he was grateful for their work ethic. John had no inclination to join them himself. He also had no desire to visit any past era he hadn't lived in himself. The world was backward enough in the twenty-first century. John Wick had no place in a world before the here and now.
Moving into the grooming room, John gestured to the sinks on the wall, "Do you think we can get Patches in the big sinks or should I pull out a tub? I was told it's usually easier to use the sinks with the extending arms, but I've never done this part before. I'm still the new guy here. I hope to get better so I can be of use here."
Dragons roaming the forest in Madison Valley was easier for John to believe than some of the other things he'd seen to date under the dome. He thought the idea of encountering one was fascinating. Some people were undoubtedly scared of them based on their history in fiction -if there were people whose fiction mimicked John's at least- but they didn't sound horrifying to him. Hiccup made it sound as if they were nothing more than large, flying animals. Wild animals weren't capable of being evil as far as John was concerned.
They only did what they had to in order to survive which was exactly what Hiccup had said during his description of the creatures.
"Would it be---I don't mean to keep asking questions, but I was wondering if it would be possible for me to see a dragon while I'm here?"
Hiccup nodded. "Pretty much, though we raided frequently. Well, my father and the others. Not me." He wasn't invited, which was fine even if it was disappointing at the time. It had turned out well enough, all things considered. "But once we had the dragons, we started freeing them where we could. Some other vikings were dragon hunters, so we had to stop them." Obviously, because what else would they have done? Just left the dragons to their deaths?
He followed John and nodded. "The sink should be fine. It will be easier with the arms and we'll have more success with it being the two of us. If you can get started, run the water and just grab those bottles there-" he pointed to the bottles on the shelf at the wall adjacent to the sink tubs. "I'll go get Patches." Hiccup already moved towards the door but he did pause with a grin.
"Hey, you're doing great. You've been a big help so far from what I can tell. Once you learn the ropes, you'll be even more helpful." Hiccup saw how dedicated John was to learning something new, which was half the battle in any new environment. If he was willing to learn, then he was going to be a help.
"And yes. I'll be right back though." He never minded introducing people to Toothless and Stormfly. It was just also necessary to keep the process moving along so he disappeared to retrieve Patches from his cage. Hiccup really didn't like seeing the animals in cages, but all he could do was try to make them as comfortable as possible. Patches was excited and pulling ahead of Hiccup towards the washroom.
"Okay, okay, we're here," Hiccup said with a laugh. "Patches, say hello to John. Nicely." Patches woofed and wagged his tail, which was an improvement over the jumping on that usually happened. "Good boy," he praised. "Alright, let's get you in the tub." He bent down as he spoke and picked Patches up to put him in the sink. Hiccup was a lot stronger than he looked.
Once Patches was settled, Hiccup tied the lead to the corner post of the sink, which would give them all enough slack. "You really want to meet the dragons?" he asked, a little curious but still totally interested in sharing.
Dogs always seemed to enjoy water more than cats so John went with the theory if he ran the water at a nice room temperature it would be welcomed by Patches. He had a feeling it was a lot more trouble to try to bathe a cat. Hiccup lifted the big dog into the sink with an ease John found surprising, an eyebrow raising at the show of strength, but keeping his thoughts to himself otherwise.
Everyone came from somewhere. Hiccup was from a medieval past where raiding parties weren't chic descriptions for weekend raves. It stood to reason he'd be physically more hardy than a modern man.
"I would really want to meet the dragons. I've always had an interest in animals and I suppose I like the idea of encountering something which is supposed to be scarier than me."
John didn't bother holding back a chuckle as he rubbed shampoo into the dog's fur, trying to make sure to get it down to the skin where it would dislodge as much dander as possible. Many people were allergic to pet dander of all kinds; the other shelter employees had stressed the importance of doing all they could to make an animal more desirable as a potential candidate for adoption. He rubbed a short brush over Patches and moved his hands out of the way to allow Hiccup to use the extending arm to rinse the dog.
Some might wonder what made John Wick believe he was scary, but he knew himself and his own reputation better than most. Many people had bet against John in his life and many of them had paid the highest price.
They'd all paid something.
"Do you miss the simplicity of your home? Or are you happier here where you have more modern conveniences? I can't imagine it's easy to just get through a day in a world where dragons are normal and people raid each other's villages for supplies."
Considering what Hiccup had seen of John so far, he was more than willing to introduce him to Toothless and Stormfly. The older man was gentle with the animals and he didn't think too highly of himself, not complaining once about having to clean out cages and litter boxes. Hiccup liked to think that he was able to judge people correctly fairly early on - though there have been some exceptions to that - so he felt confident that the dragons would take to him. It was interesting though, that John said he thought he was scary. "Dragons can be scarier than just about anything," Hiccup replied, thinking that was what he meant.
Hiccup tried his best to make sure that Patches didn't get too excited, but his tail was definitely wagging and he was dancing a little on his paws. It wasn't too bad though, so he just let it be and began to rinse off the dog, following after John carefully so as not to rush him. He was definitely a natural with it, which made Hiccup glad he'd asked him for assistance. "You're doing great," he said, though whether it was directed to John or Patches, it was up in the air. It certainly applied to both.
At the question, he paused to consider. "There are many things I miss from my home. People here are...disconnected from each other in a lot of ways. The technology that allows for indoor plumbing and better food storage and the like, it's all great. But there's also technology that makes it harder to talk to people like this, one on one. I miss being closer to nature as well. All the buildings have completely taken it over. Now that the weather is getting warmer, I'll likely stay out in the forest with the dragons at night. It's more like home that way." He smiled slightly. "What I am grateful for most is the friends I have here. It makes it all worth it." Absently, he fingered the runestone he wore around his neck. It had been a gift from Shuri to allow him to speak and understand English because he'd only been able to speak Old Norse when he'd arrived.
"The people here are complicated, but they have such a capacity to help one another. The sense of community is the same, for which I am grateful." Hiccup glanced at John. "Have you felt welcome here?"