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blinkies are back and i’m doing taz now! here’s a set for balance ^_^

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I feel like there's a really interesting way to interpret Toothless and Hiccup's relationship where Hiccup, to a certain extent, sees himself as a part of Toothless's prosthetic.

Like, Hiccup did not set out to be a dragon rider. He set out to give Toothless a way to fly again.

The very first time Hiccup attaches Toothless's tailfin, he sits on Toothless's tail - but he only does so to keep the tail still while he's fitting the prosthetic. Toothless was wriggling around, Hiccup needed the tail to be still, and so Hiccup sat on the tail.

Then Toothless launches off with Hiccup still sitting on the tail, and it absolutely takes Hiccup by surprise. I don't think, before that moment, Hiccup had even thought of dragon riding as a possibility.

And then the flight fails. Toothless jumps into the air but doesn't get the proper height, and they go careening towards the sides of the cliffs that have been keeping Toothless trapped. During these few seconds, Hiccup realizes that a basic leather mimicry of the working tailfin isn't enough. The prosthetic needs to be able to flare and tilt depending on what Toothless wants to do.

Hiccup realizes that, if the fin is going to work, it needs to have an active control mechanism - aka, a rider.

So Hiccup starts learning how to be a rider. He takes some time to figure out how the positioning of the tailfin works, testing it out with Toothless close to the ground and then during the sea-stacks scene - and then he gives control of flying back to Toothless completely.

When they snatch Astrid, Hiccup pleads with Toothless multiple times to slow down, fly straight, stop with the spinning, etc. But Toothless doesn't listen, and Toothless doesn't have to listen, because it's not Hiccup giving the cues for how they're going to move. Hiccup is the one following Toothless's body language, moving the prosthetic into position according to how Toothless wants to fly. And Hiccup doesn't even attempt to wrest that control away, even when Hiccup has immense personal reason to - if Astrid remained terrified of Toothless, she wouldn't have kept Toothless a secret, and her telling the village everything would have destroyed Hiccup's life.

So yeah. Hiccup didn't become a dragon rider to be a dragon rider. He became a dragon rider because a dragon rider is a necessary part of Toothless's prosthetic.

(I also think this interpretation of how Hiccup sees their relationship makes for a great angst prompt, but that's a separate essay.)

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whenever I see archeological remains of a human who suffered from a terrible disease that couldn’t be treated in their lifetime but could be fixed now, this wave of sorrow and mourning washes over me. a woman in the 14th century who spent her 35 years of life bent at the waist because of congenital scoliosis. a man from the 18th century who died because of a non cancerous mass on his jaw that made eating progressively more difficult. remains of a woman from the Neolithic who died in childbirth having evidence of peri-mortem trepanation on her skull.

and yet she survived to 35. and yet the physicians in his time tried to strengthen his jaw. and yet someone 4,000 years ago tried to save someone they loved from dying of preeclampsia/increased cranial pressure. we tried. we tried and we tried and we tried. we failed and we learned but we tried. that’s what makes humans so beautiful.

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ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (2016) dir. Gareth Edwards

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I wish Americans fucked with more foreign music. You don’t have to know the language to appreciate a good record. Folks in other countries listen to our music and don’t speak a lick of english. Music needs no translator

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Idk, here take a glittery gay Yugi.

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My apologies to whatever poor Ao3 tag wrangler first sees the 'Bruce Wayne Muppet Threeesome' tag.

Your gift basket is in the mail.

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Ghost, during a mission that’s going badly: Right, lads. I think we are well and truly fucked

Soap, under his breath: I would be if you’d just give me a chance

Ghost: what

Soap: what

Gaz, frantically reloading: No. Nuh-uh. I’m not dying here. I refuse to let that be the last conversation I hear

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i feel totally normal about this and the scope of my desire is completely average

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Ghost, during a mission that’s going badly: Right, lads. I think we are well and truly fucked

Soap, under his breath: I would be if you’d just give me a chance

Ghost: what

Soap: what

Gaz, frantically reloading: No. Nuh-uh. I’m not dying here. I refuse to let that be the last conversation I hear

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one piece on the brain

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Was trying out a new brush with a study and it quickly turned into Sanji