#but yeah hopeless

[grungeeuvu]

Have I mentioned yet how much I love Hopeless? No? Well, that is a crime.

[doberbutts]

Recently Youtube's algorithm really wants me to watch Schindler's List and I never had so the other night I sat down and actually watched it.

Having a lot of thoughts about it but a major one I keep coming back to is how even an immensely and deeply flawed human being can go against "just following orders" and instead put in the work to actually help.

It may never be fully enough. It may never save as many as you'd hoped. But when you have a choice to either follow orders or save your fellow humans in front of you, I hope you choose the latter.

Schindler died in poverty. He was not a renown war hero nor was he at all famous or widely beloved. But he saw that he could help, even in some small way, and so he helped.

He was a Nazi who saw what the Nazis were doing to Jews and said no more. Enough. If I can even spare those under my charge, maybe a few extras, then at least I will have tried to do something about this.

I think a lot of people do not fancy this type of activism. It is messy, dangerous, and often completely thankless. Schindler survived as long as he did after the war due to those he saved helping him with donations. He was not popular in his hometown due to his association with Nazis, he was not popular in Germany, he was not popular in Argentina. His businesses all failed. His wife left him. A movie about his deeds was released several years after his death, where he would receive none of the benefits. He went to prison multiple times for simply refusing to hate Jews.

I think a lot of people like to think they're activists, but are sorely unprepared for doing this type of work, and then in truth become activists in name only. This is hard work. But without him, another thousand or so people would be on that death toll.

He took his position of extreme power- a Nazi owning a factory almost entirely operated by Jews, making oodles of money off that cheap slave labor- and said you know what? No. I'm not doing that. I can't save everyone, but as long as they are within my factory, you will not kill my workers. As long as I'm here you aren't harming one hair on the head of any Jew under my care. You're not sending or keeping them in Auschwitz. You're not randomly executing them for entertainment. They're people. You're not murdering them.

"Just following orders" they say. But they didn't have to. They could have helped. They could have did what he did, look around and say "what the fuck am I doing here", and stop. He did. They could have. They didn't.

[qdkdraws]

Hiii! Radiobelle request!

May I ask for outfit switch? Their redesigns for the series felt matching to me, so I'm curious how would it look the other way around

The other idea if you are not into the prev one is Alastor putting his chin on Charlie's shoulder and she's giggling (his ear tickles her)

And five seconds later:

[fudgelling-away]

[pokimoko]

The fact that Main-verse Ooo is as good and as kind as it is (relative to the other universes shown so far, at least, it's obviously not perfect) all because of the same character that starts off as the OG series' antagonist, the person we were made to see as the bad guy (albeit an often ineffectual one) for several seasons, is making me lose my mind.

Imagine finding out the guy you spent your childhood beating up and saving princesses from is in fact a driving catalyst behind you being able to exist, and not only exist but also live in a world that knows what kindness is. All because that man, the same man who you've witnessed do terrible things, once met a little girl and taught her how to be good.

Simon's story really shows us that even if you lose your way and forget how it is to be good yourself, the world keeps the memory for you. That act of love Simon showed Marcy by protecting her and seeing her as more than the monster she thought herself to be created ripples upon ripples, small at first but eventually enough to help give their wreckage of a world—a world that easily could have been forsaken, its goodness overlooked because of its inhospitable remains—a chance to grow into something beautiful. Because of those very same ripples Simon created, the people of Ooo grew up in a world where they know enough about kindness that they were able and willing to spare the 'bad guy' some, to see beyond the wreckage and allow him to grow too.

In saving Marceline, Simon helped to not only to save the world, but also himself.

[ashipiko]

teehee

[rickybaby]

L: CH came up to you on the grid. What did he have to say before the race? D: He said he'd ordered me waffles, so he was just going to keep them warm for me 😁 No, he just wished me well and to keep my head down and not be discouraged. Obviously, I know how I feel but not everybody does. It’s a very different situation to McLaren. Especially 2022 I was running on very very little confidence. I was kinda confused with the car and didn't really understand it. I This isn’t that. We’re certainly not achieving what we thought we would be, but it’s not through being lost or losing confidence or anything [...] We're not gunna start letting the noise creep in. We're going to stay true to the course and it'll turn around.

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

I really love how you draw Karkat and Calliope. You've already talked about how the other relationships within the POABPCL, so I was wondering if you could talk about Callikar in more depth as well.

Heehee okay so the short reasoning is that first of all, Karkat is also highly reminiscent of Caliborn, so there's Calliope's natural attraction there. But also Calliope desperately wants to experience a flushed romance, and Karkat is a crazy person who can't keep his quadrants straight. Which, for Calliope, would actually be a plus instead of a minus????

But yeah, for the Caliborn similarities, apart from the grey text and (mostly) capital letters and general cantankerousness and candy red blood and random textual callbacks to shit Karkat says:

CG: OK I DON'T SEE HOW WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE BECOMING FRIENDS IF YOU RECOIL FROM MY OLIVE BRANCH LIKE I'M WIGGLING A GNARLED TREE MONSTER'S DICK IN YOUR DIRECTION. [...] uu: HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BE BECOMING FRIENDS. IF YOU RECOIL FROM MY OLIVE BRANCH. uu: LIKE I'M FLAILING A WITHERED MUMMY'S SEVERED LIMB IN YOUR DIRECTION.

CG: THE FACT THAT YOU ARE DUMB CG: IS AN IMMUTABLE FACT I AM STATING FOR THE RECORD. CG: IT DOES NOT MEAN ANIMOSITY IS WHAT IS TAKING PLACE HERE. [...] uu: AND THE FACT THAT I MIGHT NOT CLuE YOu INTO YOuR FATE ALL THE TIME. uu: DuE TO MY AGGRAVATED APATHY OVER THE MATTER. uu: IS AN IMMuTABLE FACT. I AM STATING FOR THE RECORD. uu: IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT GIVING A SHIT IS WHAT IS TAKING PLACE HERE.

Did you know they both weirdly have a thing for right angles?

DAVE: i dont want to see your lines making any right angles do you understand KARKAT: IN MY MIND'S EYE I AM PICTURING A BEAUTIFUL LATTICE OF LINES AND COMPARTMENTS, INTERLOCKING WITH SUBLIME PRECISION AT NINETY DEGREE ANGLES. KARKAT: I IMAGINE THIS MODULAR RETICULATION AS AN ELEGANT VESSEL, IF YOU WILL, FOR THE GRAND SYNTHESIS OF OUR SHARED SHIPPING DREAMS.

So yeah, you know, they've got some similarities! Enough to fuel some initial cherubic romantic interest, I feel.

But obviously, cherubic romance is primarily - if not exclusively - pitch. Calliope expresses this in a way that makes it very much sound like it's a setup that her happy ending does, in fact, involve her finding a matesprit.

UU: thoUgh i trUly wish i were capable of those feelings. UU: perhaps the fact that i am not is why the topic fascinates me so. UU: and why i have been prone do indUlge in sUch... UU: fancifUl visUalizations. UU: of yoUr people's lovely bright red relationships. UU: they mUst be nice. u_u

Personally, I think that cherubs "can't experience redrom" the way humans "can't experience blackrom". In that, y'know. ;)

But let's move from Calliope's side from a moment and talk about Karkat. Hey, do y'all remember how he had a crush on a different Space player? (The fact that Karkat actually totally had a crush on Jade, and continued to think incredibly fondly of her for years after the fact, to the point of using one of her passwords as the password to his dream hive, gets lost in the melange of ~yaoi~ is honestly one of the reasons I'm not a fan of DaveKat).

CCG: I'M GOING TO VOMIT. CCG: I'M MAKING A MENTAL NOTE TO SLAP MYSELF THREE HOURS FROM NOW, FOR BEING ENOUGH OF A SAP TO START DEVELOPING RED FEELINGS FOR A DUMB ANNOYING HUMAN, IF I'M READING BETWEEN THE LINES CORRECTLY. FCG: I JUST SLAPPED MYSELF! I REMEMBERED MY LAME NOTE TO MYSELF FROM THREE HOURS AGO, AND THEN SLAPPED MYSELF SPECIFICALLY TO MOCK YOU. FCG: IT STINGS TOO, YOU'LL FEEL IT IN A WHILE. AND THEN THE GHOST OF PAST ME WILL CRY.

Hussie's commentary on this is also fucking hilarious, by the way:

First, by defending Jade like this, Future Karkat is virtually making the case to his own past self to give her a chance, and to try to acknowledge that his aggression toward her is masking romantic attraction. If that wasn't nuts enough, the altercation doubles as an actual confession of this to Jade, which she now has to bear in mind as she goes forward befriending this guy. Like most other shouting matches Karkat has with himself, it's a complete free-for-all of self-owns and eyebrow-raising psychological revelations. And yet, in the totality of this clusterfuck, it's probably about as sufficient as anything else he could have done to get her to start giving the friendship a chance. How do you sidle out of something like this? You don't. This miserable basket case needs all the help he can get.

But this is another example of Karkat's horrible problem with mixing his quadrants and sending out all sorts of mixed signals, which he lambastes himself for later RE: Terezi.

FCG: IS IT?? TELL ME, HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU TREATED HER IN A WAY THAT COULD BE OBJECTIVELY CONSTRUED AS A FORM OF BLACK SOLICITATION? CCG: THAT'S JUST CCG: NO, THAT'S HOW WE'VE ALWAYS ROLLED TOGETHER. IT'S LIKE CCG: SPIRITED PLATONIC CONTENTION. CCG: TOTALLY NORMAL TERRITORY IN A HEALTHY MATESPRITSHIP. FCG: YEAH, A *HEALTHY* ONE, NOT ONE INVOLVING A DEMENTED LOUDMOUTH WHO CAN'T KEEP HIS SHIT UNDER CONTROL. FCG: LET ME ASK YOU, HOW MUCH OF THAT ANIMOSITY IS INNOCENT "PLATONIC RAGE"? FCG: COULD IT BE THAT SUBCONSCIOUSLY YOU WANT TO PUSH THINGS WITH HER ONTO CALIGINOUS TURF, MAYBE SEE HOW THINGS WORK OUT THERE? FCG: SEE IF YOU CAN HAVE YOUR GRUB, AND CULL IT TOO?? FCG: THAT WAY YOU HAVE HER ALL TO YOURSELF!

And even his "confession" to jade has shades of this, as he basically forced her to auspicetize between himself and... himself. Just a really messy guy who can't keep his quadrants straight. I've already talked before about how this would be completely fine for Eridan, who is literally too bad at social shit to notice and is just happy for the attention, but... doesn't that seem like it would work for Calliope, whose fundamental attraction model is based in pitch?

And to really get into this, we should also talk about Karkat's taste in movies. The three posters he has hanging up in his room are for Serendipity, Hitch, and 50 First Dates. Between the three of them, it becomes really clear that Karkat is really into the idea of soul mates - of finding a romantic partner that just kind of perfectly clicks with you and all your idiosyncracies, with whom the romance is natural, and brings out the best in both partners.

Serendipity most obviously, as the entire movie is practically a treatise on destiny and fate (and also, if you're only going to watch one, watch this one - it gets namedropped twice in the comic and I genuinely think HS draws like 30% of its DNA from it). Hitch's A-plot couple is widely considered the worse one, but the B-plot couple turn out to be perfect for each other - all the guy's lame, embarrassing aspects just happen to be what she finds adorable, and he just needed a courage boost and chance to be noticed by her. And 50 First Dates features a guy in Hawaii who loves taking visiting tourists on whirlwind romances, but is terrified of commitment, meeting a girl who can't make new memories - functionally rendering every date their first from her perspective - and it's really sweet. It doesn't even make you want to punch Adam Sandler at all. Like, not even a little bit.

In any case, what this says to me is that, while he still needs to undergo character development to be ready for it, the romance Karkat should eventually end up with is one where he doesn't have to compromise who he is, warts and all.

A lot of Karkat's more common fandom pairings tend to downplay, or even outright forget about, how genuinely uncomfortable it is to experience Karkat's nutso vascillation. Even if the edge is taken off via moirallegiance, Karkat is still the sort of messy guy who tells his flushed crush to "set the table on [his] bulge for their candle light hate date." Jade clearly isn't a fan of being treated rudely, while Terezi eventually gets driven off by the mixed signals he puts off... but what if there was a species who primarily experiences pitch attraction, who would find Karkat's frequent dips into black-coded flirtation hot?

And also... Karkat is obviously Calliope's favorite character troll...I mean, she's got his symbol as her cufflinks. And also:

CG: I THINK THIS SUBJECT IS BEYOND A LOT OF PEOPLE'S GRASP BUT I KNOW A LOT ABOUT IT, NOBODY EVER REALLY WANTS TO TALK TO ME ABOUT IT THOUGH. AG: Whoa really? Oh no shit, REALLY???????? CG: OK, MOST PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T HAD THEIR LOBE STEM CAUTERIZED ARE CAPABLE OF FEELING THE TWO PRIMARY EMOTIONS, HATE AND PITY. CG: PITY IS OF COURSE JUST THE TONED DOWN VERSION OF THE CENTRAL EMOTION, HATE. CG: AND ALL THE NUANCES OF PITY MANIFEST AS VARIOUS OTHER KINDS OF FEELINGS LIKE WHATEVER CHEMICAL REACTIONS TRIGGER MATING FONDESS OR THE MYSTERIOUS FORCES THAT ARE BEHIND MOIRALLEGIANCE.

And:

UU: actUally, i have written hUndreds of pages examining the striking differences between hUman and troll romance, as well as reprodUctive habits, as the comparison makes for a marveloUs case stUdy in xenobiocUltUral differences. UU: as long as i am sharing specUlation with yoU, perhaps yoU woUld like to read my essays? UU: i coUld even paste each page right here in sUccession, and allow yoU to read them back to back to back to back to back to back! ^u^ TT: Oh hell no. UU: ah. UU: yes, yoU're right of coUrse. i'm probably getting carried away as UsUal. UU: forgive my enthUsiasm, it's jUst that i so rarely have anyone to talk to who shares my passion for these matters.

They could both be SO ANNOYING about quadrants and romance together. It would be beautiful.

[butchrindou]

i lovee loser rindou so much i don’t care if u guys think it’s ooc or something that bitch can’t talk to women for the life of him it doesn’t matter if he’s always out he just can’t unless ran literally forces him to it’s so cute to me i want to embarrass him so bad LIKE HELLOOOO

[hooved]

i just think they've fucked

[danieyells]

So my current suspicion.

I think Kaito is the spy.

I think this for a few reasons.

The first is that Kaito doesn't really seem like the type to have a demonic pact.

Leo says that it's pretty understandable that none of the ghouls listen to the player--they're all selected by demons. While this doesn't apply to Luca either, he made his pact for noble purposes and generally is of noble disposition. Kaito is a coward who doesn't really fit the idea of a pactmaker. If he's instead working for demonkind to possibly sabotage the efforts of ghouls and darkwick, or just monitor them to understand what they're doing and see that they don't pose a threat, I think that'd make sense. He was probably scared into it, or forced into it somehow.

This also leads me to something else--Hyde seemed uncertain as to what Kaito's stigma even was. He sees auras sometimes, he thinks.

He's been here for a whole year and you aren't sure??? I know he avoids missions but surely you'd've found out at some point?

Kaito's ability to see auras explains why he saw the monster that the pc saw when enhancing Luca's stigma--except if he could only see auras, surely he'd see a ton of energy rather than actually seeing the thing and his reaction wouldn't have been as intense as this.

Because everybody else just saw a big red shield

Even for Kaito that's a bit of an overreaction, I think?

What was Kaito afraid of if he couldn't see the giant houndoom looking thing? He very clearly saw it. It's not likely he was using his stigma at the time either--he didn't just see its aura, he saw the monster.

Next, it's likely to be a second year. Several third years so far(namely Tohma, Alan, and Taiga) seem to be aware of the spy--if it was someone who came recently(as the third years only came in the past three or four months) they probably wouldn't know yet or really be working so dedicatedly to find them, and if it was someone in their year they probably would know more certainly already. Tohma is a red herring because of his naturally eerie nature. Haku also strikes me as a red herring--Taiga peobably would not have trusted him in the prologue if he felt like he was suspicious. (On the other hand Taiga may have simply cared so little about your wellbeing that he didn't care if someone suspicious dealt with you.)

Another thing about Tohma. . .he used to be in Vagastrom. But he transferred to Frostheim, and is keeping up with Alan about the spy(and they had a meeting about this after Luca tried to fight Sho and Leo over insulting Kaito, inciting unrest among the general students about the ghouls). . .which leads me to think the spy is in Frostheim. And I don't think it's Jin. His sword letting him teleport and that he barely leaves his room anymore and Tohma is very attentive to him does lend some credibility to it possibly being him but I don't think he's the spy--Tohma is doing that to get Jin's trust to keep a better eye on Kaito, I think.

Subaru is naturally the next suspicious person due to being introduced and shown behaving oddly a little while after Taiga told you about the spy, but I think Subaru is too. . .obvious.

Also, Taiga's specific use of "keep letting him fool you" leads me to believe it's someone we already know and trust.

We don't know Haku well enough for it to be him. Luca hasn't been around long enough for him to be suspicious. Kaito's around the casino enough that Taiga could reasonably be suspicious of him.

There's also Kaito's pendant. It's extremely valuable--though why, we don't know--and it means a lot to Kaito. He won't give it away even when threatened, even if it'd save him from other suffering.

Another thing. . .while it makes sense for Kaito to be scared of Mortkranken on the basis of being a coward and that Yuri experiments on people(most people don't wanna be dissected after all!), I also wonder if he doesn't wanna go there because he's afraid of being analyzed by someone who'd probably be able to tell that he's either not a normal ghoul/human, or that he's some sort of demon or anomaly. Like he passed the stigma test and basic health checkups but could he pass closer examination?

I dunno. I also think it's possible that Kaito isn't even aware he's a spy. Like his pendant is monitoring the world around him while he's blissfully unaware. He never consumed or subjugated his demon--it's just around his neck, listening to everyone or something.

I just absolutely believe that Kaito would turn out to be the "bad guy". Even if not on purpose. It just seems like it's someone we already know and trust, somebody who's in Frostheim, and somebody you wouldn't suspect at all.

[carry-on-my-wayward-butt]

You know, I like you and I've followed you for ages but when I see you posting about how you want ethnic cleansing it kinda grosses me the fuck out

no, actually. i don't know. because i don't know you. you are a complete stranger to me. and i don't care how much you liked me or how disappointed you are. your disapproval means less than nothing to me. what gets your approval is horrific.

you already know that 'from the river to the sea' means 'palestine will be free' you know that it's a call to end the ethnic cleansing of palestinians. you are so drunk on internet juice and brainwashed by the disneyfication of colonialism you think that the ongoing annihilation of innocent people for nearly a century is somehow justifiable and that a slogan representing earnest hope of freedom is an attack on you. you think hoping for people's freedom and safety is threatening to you. you believe that hope is a threat.

you already know all of these things, and you are approaching in bad faith because it's all you know how to do. you want me to post frieren not arguing with a zionist kill yourself image because it will reinforce your victim complex. you want me, someone with absolutely no skin in the game so to speak, to overreact because it's painful subject matter and you'll be able to point to it and say whatever it is you feel like saying that will justify in your heart or to your friends that millions of people should be killed so that some other people can steal their homes, kill their children, desecrate their graves, and piss on their existences.

you want me to tell you to kill yourself so that you can feel better about supporting a genocide. you want me to be toothlessly mean to you online so that you feel better about supporting a genocide.

not that a strangers blog is some important place that you need to seek refuge in, but you will never be welcome here. i will not make you comfortable about your position and i will not allow you to feel peaceful here. you don't get to enter my house and put your feet on my couch and watch my children play and hear me laugh over meals with my loved ones as we share art and tell jokes and talk about our day.

you want me to tell you to kill yourself because you're miserable and cruel and you want to believe you are justified, but you aren't. you never will be. im not going to tell you to kill yourself. i'm telling you, despite your proclivity to the contrary, to get the hell out of my house.

Some Links for Palestine:

One Click to Help

Operation Olive Branch - Google Sheet

UNRWA

eSims for Gaza

[zu-is-here]

Hey Zu!

Can we please see more rockband kross? I wanna see that two gay again.

I hope you have a good day/ night! :]

<– • –>

[squeezil]

I don't usually write, let alone share fan fics, but I've been on a DEEP Httyd hyperfixation lately and it's been particularly inspiring, and I'm a slut for a good Hiccupxreader so have this lil piece I wrote, I plan on writing more and if people like it who knows maybe it'll be more than just a collection of one shots 🤷🏼‍♀

This Changes Everything...

Hiccup x Fem!Reader

This takes place between Rtte and Httyd2 when Hiccup is working on his map and trying to find the part of himself he thinks is missing, little does he know he’s going to find something else along the way that he really didn’t expect.

Y/N = your name

D/N = your dragon’s name

H/C = your hair color

E/C = your eye color

F/C = your favorite color

Chapter 1

It was late afternoon on a beautiful midsummer day, the sun was shining bright over the calm seas, the steady waves sparkling in the warm light. "What better time for an exploratory flight around the the archipelago?" Hiccup thought, ignoring the other glaringly obvious reason being that once again his father had tried to talk to him about taking over as chief soon. That wasn't something he wanted to talk or think about right now. There was still far too much he hadn't discovered yet, about the world, and more importantly, about himself. 

He and Toothless had been soaring around the neighboring islands for what seemed like hours at this point, noticing nothing new or out of the ordinary, much to Hiccup's disappointment. He leaned forward to place his hand on Toothless' neck and opened his mouth to tell him to turn back towards home when the Night Fury's ears shot up in eager curiosity, and began sniffing excitedly at the air. 

"What is it, bud?" Hiccup asked, curious himself now. 

Before he knew it, Toothless dove towards a nearby island with such speed he nearly fell backwards from the sheer force. "Thank Thor for this harness!" He thought. 

"Whoooa, bud! What's gotten into you?" Said Hiccup, as they plummeted faster. 

They landed so abruptly that Hiccup lurched forward and tumbled off of Toothless' back. With a quick glance back at his best friend to make sure he wasn't hurt and an impatient bark, Toothless set off into the woods, eagerly bounding through the trees to find the source of his interest. 

"Toothless, wait! Where are you going?!" Hiccup called, getting up as quick as he could to run after his wayward dragon. Try as he might, he couldn't quite keep up with Toothless and soon lost him in the brush. 

"Toothless? Toothless! Toothless, where are you?!" He screamed, praying to the Gods that there weren't dragon hunters on this island. In the near distance he heard the distinct roar of a Night Fury and quickened his pace.

Eventually he came to a small clearing nestled in a thick canopy of trees, which blocked out most of the sunlight, making it difficult to see well. He saw a large, dark creature moving in the shadows and squinted for a moment before letting out a sigh of relief. It was definitely a Night Fury.

"There you are! What in Thor’s name was so important that you couldn't wait for me, huh bud?" He said, a twinge of annoyance in his voice, despite trying to maintain a calm tone.

The dragon shifted quickly and whipped it's head around, letting out a low warning growl as it did so. 

"Wh-Hey, hey bud, it's me, it's Hiccup, what are you-" he stopped cold as the dragon moved into a small streak of light peaking through the trees, illuminating it's deep violet eyes that were angrily boring into his startled green ones. 

Shock, then dawning comprehension, and finally fear spread across Hiccup's face as he realized Toothless had green eyes, this was not his dragon. He had somehow managed to find another Night Fury…and they were mad. 

"Ohh my Gods…Wow, another Night Fury! And look at your eyes, I've only ever seen Razorwhips with purple eyes before, incredible!" He started, his fascination getting the better of him for a moment before remembering that this dragon was not friendly, yet. "Uhh, whooa-okay, easy, I-I'm not gonna hurt you, it's okay." He said gently, his hands up in attempt to show he wasn't a threat. 

The wild Night Fury growled louder, and narrowed it's eyes, clearly not believing his assurances. He backed up slowly until he was backed up against a tree and suddenly, from a branch above him Hiccup heard a woman shout, 

"You're damn right you won't hurt her!" 

The next thing he knew, he was face down on the ground with a knee pressed between his shoulder blades, pinning him in place and the distinct sound of a dagger being unsheathed above him. He shifted nervously under her weight and tried to speak through the dirt and grass he was currently being shoved into.

"Look, ugh, I don't know who you are, but I really don't mean either of you any harm, I would never hurt a dragon, especially not a Night Fury!"  

"Uh huh, sure, just like the last guy we caught sneaking up on us. You hunters are all the same! Why can't you just leave her alone?!" She said, angrily digging her knee harder into his back.

"Argh…Hey, could you ease up a bit? I'm telling you the truth, I'm not a hunter, I'm a dragon rider!" He said in a strained voice.

"Well that's a new one, huh D/N?" The Night Fury made a disdainful huff of agreement beside her, "but I'm still not buyin' it, I know you were just here for same thing they all come for, the last Night Fury in the world. Well, if you want her, you have to go through me!" She said, raising her arm to strike, but before she could bring down her dagger a purple plasma blast came out from the bushes, disarming her. She looked up at D/N in confusion, and the dragon simply gave her an equally confused look in return.

Toothless sprang out of the bushes, growling and baring his teeth as he slowly advanced on the young woman holding his friend hostage. With his captor sufficiently distracted, Hiccup managed to push her off of him and swipe a foot under her, knocking her to the ground.

"Look, we don't want to fight you, please just listen to me." He said, getting to his feet and once again putting his hands up in a gesture of peace. 

She stared, dumbfounded at Toothless, who had positioned himself in between them to protect Hiccup, "I can't believe it" she uttered under her breath. She turned back to Hiccup with a suspicious glare, "who are you?" narrowing her eyes at him, one hand reaching for the bow slung across her back in case she still needed to fight her way out of this.

"My name is Hiccup Haddock, son of Stoick the Vast the Chief of Berk, and leader of the Dragon Riders of Berk. This is Toothless, and up until now we believed he was the last Night Fury left in existence…" He said carefully, taking a tentative step towards the young lady and her wary dragon.

D/N was so distracted at this point by Toothless that she had stopped growling and had begun eyeing him with curiosity. They cautiously approached each other. Glancing at the dragons, who had both dropped their defenses and started sniffing each other inquisitively, Hiccup smiled slightly and let out a relieved sigh "see? Toothless just wanted to say hello." He turned back to the girl who had now lowered her hand from her bow, but still looked uncertain. 

"Look, I'm sorry we scared you guys, we were just scouting out new islands to add to this map I've been working on and I guess Toothless heard or smelled, er, D/N, was it? Anyway, dragons are gonna do what dragons do, right?" He said, smiling wider now.

He had such an unassuming, warm smile, she couldn’t help but feel more at ease, and there was something in his eyes that made it hard not to believe him. Realizing that maybe he wasn't quite the threat she thought he was after all, she relaxed slightly and  took a few steps closer to him. With how fast everything had just happened, Hiccup hadn’t really gotten a good look at her before, but now that she was standing only a few feet from him he could see that she was easily one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen. She had long H/C hair with two small braids around the crown of her head that met in the back where they merged with a larger braid that fell down the middle of her back, with the rest of her hair falling free underneath. Her eyes were a stunning shade of E/C. She was dressed in a long F/C tunic with a off-white fur wrap around her shoulders that clasped around her neck with a strangely carved broach, a leather skirt, and fur lined boots that matched the fur around her shoulders.

“Wow…” Hiccup thought out loud, then catching himself said “uh, I mean, how…did you find a Night Fury? For the last five years we assumed Toothless here was the last of their kind.”

“We sort of…found each other, I guess.” she started, pausing a moment as she recalled their troubled past. “Where I’m from dragons are considered evil, all anyone cares about is capturing or killing them, but something about that never sat right with me, even though they terrified me. It wasn’t until I came across D/N in one of our traps that I realized why, I saw how scared she was, how helpless, and it was like…” she trailed off staring at the ground, trying to find the words.

“It was like she was just as scared of you as you were of her? Almost as if you could see yourself in her?” Hiccup finished. 

She looked up at him speechless, “Y-yes…how did you know that?”

He let out a light hearted chuckle and said “Because it was exactly the same with me and Toothless. I looked at him, and I saw myself, and we’ve been together ever since, isn’t that right, bud?” he said gesturing for Toothless to come over to him, prompting the dragon to jump over, nuzzle his arm, and lick him across the face. “Haha okay, okay, easy bud! You know that doesn’t wash out!” 

She couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at this sudden display of affection between the two. D/N came over to her and gently head butted her as if to ask for her turn. She stroked the dragon’s smooth scales and whispered, “well, what do you think, girl? Should we trust em?” D/N cooed happily in response. 

Taking another tentative step towards Hiccup, she said "I-I'm sorry I attacked you…it's just, we've never met anyone else like us…either of us. It's just been the two of us for so long, I learned trusting other humans doesn't usually turn out well." A look of quiet disdain darkened her face at the last few words. 

Hiccup furrowed his brow, his smile fading with concern as he turned back to look at her and said "Sounds like you guys have been through a lot…we can relate.” 

She looked from Hiccup to Toothless, suddenly noticing that he had a prosthetic leg, and that Toothless had a prosthetic tail fin as well.

"What happened to you guys?" She said, feeling as if she already knew the answer, "hunters?" she added with a scowl.

"Uh…not exactly." he replied sheepishly, absent mindedly rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. Realizing this wasn’t much of an explanation, Hiccup sighed and said, “it’s a long story.”

“Well, I have time.” She gestured to a large rock nearby for them to sit on. Hiccup smiled and followed her over. He started telling the story of how Berk used to be, how he had shot down Toothless only to realize that he didn’t want to kill him, how they had slowly gained each other’s trust, and eventually how they had managed to change everyone else’s minds about dragons. 

“Sure, life’s a little more chaotic now with dragons everywhere, but it’s so much better!” He said, absolutely beaming. She couldn’t help but return his infectious smile. 

“That’s amazing! I wish my tribe was like that…” she said, her tone turning wistful. “We had to run away to keep D/N safe, the people back home just didn’t understand, they only wanted to mount her head on their walls” she glared at the dirt, fuming at the harsh memories, “even my own family turned against us.”

Hiccup gave her a sympathetic look and said “Well, if you don’t have anywhere else to go, why don’t you come back to Berk with me and Toothless?” 

She looked up at him, her nerves suddenly returning, “Oh…Uh, I don’t know…I mean, you two do seem nice, and I still can’t believe we met another Night Fury…but, we don’t really know you that well or how well we can trust you, no offense. I have to do what’s right for D/N, she’s saved me countless times, I have to keep her safe too.”

“Well…if you won’t come to Berk, how about we come back here to check up on you from time to time? That way you know you’re not alone, and Toothless and D/N can finally have one of their own kind to spend time with, it’s a win-win!” He said hopefully.

She thought for a moment, unsure, but something tugged at her gut to say yes. She didn’t know why, but she really did want to see Hiccup again, and he did have a good point, this was D/N’s only chance to be with her own species, this chance wouldn’t come up again. 

“Hmm…I guess that would be okay.” She said, smiling softly. 

He grinned back at her sweetly and said “Great! Hey, uh, I just realized I never got your name.”

“Oh, right, it’s Y/N.”

“Y/N? Wow, that’s…that’s really pretty, uh I mean, I’m really glad we met, Y/N.” He said, once again smiling wide, his cheeks turning the faintest shade of pink.

She felt her cheeks warm slightly too as he looked at her, his green eyes bright with earnest enthusiasm somehow made her feel that for the first time ever, she was truly being seen. For once in her life, she was genuinely hopeful.

[shoezuki]

have to do my final essay for my banned books class n i aint started yet n im jus tryin rn to start it. but the prompt/topic is a vague 'can books harm adults?' and i have to base my argument on one of the books we have been assigned n like

its kinda hard. because obviously i have to argue it through the lens of book banning, but so much banning is done at a school system level and sometimes public schools. and tbh like i wanna say Yes books can harm people but then what kinda harm? because the kind of 'harm' i think would be for books like manifestos or propaganda or some sorts of misinformation things.

and i COULD argue that books can 'harm' adults in terms of harm being. discomfort. but is that harm? does someone being uncomfortable with something mean it harms them? and even if i go with this concept of 'harm' being discomfort or causing people to be disgusted, possibly triggered, then i still would not argue such justifies banning books because sometimes the Purpose of books is to 'harm' people in such a way. like naked lunch or lolita.

idk im rambling. like im tryna figure out which book to base my argument on and i wanted to do american psycho but i dont have much time to read it all properly. i could do to kill a mockingbird but i dont think that really can harm an adult. maybe the bluest eye then because that one is. yeah. but i havent finished it either. ugh