When the big dog comes, tell him what this puppy done.

[awfulcer]

Who: Jason Dixon and You!
What: Dixon goes looking to pick fights and blow off steam. Bonus points if we can escalate to a straight-up fist fight.
Where: Around the Melai Temple.
When: Before the Crossroads Post
Warnings/Notes: all your typical Dixon warnings



[Each night so far he's been sneaking off into the woods from where everyone sleeping. He tells whomever is on watch that he's going to stretch his legs, and then he pops on his headphones and wanders out about half a mile before finding the base of a tree, where he'll sit and start his nightly breakdown. He probably shouldn't be listening to music wandering around in the dark in the woods, but he feels as if he isn't going to make it as far as the tree if he doesn't.

Once he gets there he just starts crying, snot-filled, stressed, shaking weeping that burns him out. Cries because his Chief killed himself and he would have let Chief down anyway and he's a fuck-up who got fired and threw an innocent person out a window and because he misses his mother and because he's useless and stupid and can't get anything right, couldn't solve a case, couldn't keep his temper in check, can't keep up here with everyone so much faster and hardier and smarter than he is, and because he's just sad and doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know what to do.

He's out of smokes, which makes it all the worse. Once he gets it all out of his system, the nic-fitting morphs sadness into anger; these two have always been kissing cousins for him, or rather tectonic plates, bumping up and grinding next to each other, rattling shockwaves all through his impulses. So with sadness stirred up he slides easily into a thunderhead, pissed off, stomping around, spoiling for a fight. In the absence of anyone to take it all out on, he chucks rocks into the river or uses sticks to beat the hell out of trees until his hands hurt. And then he'll storm on back to the temple and try, mostly futilely, to get some more rest.

The sun's coming up by the time his crying jag is done, turning the whole sky a rosy pink. Birds are chirping. The beauty's lost on him. He almost feels in a trance, animated by an aura of rage that makes it feel like the air around him is vibrating. His fingers twitch in need of a cigarette. He gets a sort of tunnel vision.

It'll all feel better when it's someone else's fault.

When he runs into someone, his voice is thick and annoyed. If he gets close enough, he might enough shove them at the shoulder.]

The fuck are you doing out here? You been following me?

[He hopes they don't have a good answer, so he can escalate it.]

Comments

[wherenoonegoes]

No....?

[Hiccup is currently in the middle of strapping Toothless's tack to the dragon.]

Just getting ready to fly morning patrol. How about you? What are you doing up?

[awfulcer]

How about you mind your own fucking business?

[God, he hates that fucking dragon. He has no reason to hate that dragon, and yet just the sight of it makes his jaw clench.]

[wherenoonegoes]

[Hiccup has spent his entire life around people who yell and rage for no obvious reason on a regular basis. Given that experience, it's pretty clear what Dixon wants, and Hiccup's not inclined to give it to him. All Dixon's outburst gets is a slightly raised eyebrow and a very dry look from Toothless.]

Fine, I'll leave it be. I suggest trying to calm down before you go inside, though. Starting a fight isn't going to solve any of your problems. It's just going to get you punched in the face.

[awfulcer]

Who says I'm looking for a fight? I'm calm. I'm calm as hell.

[And so he does start to head inside the temple...but not before walking past Toothless and giving the dragon a shoulder-shove as he passes by.]

[wherenoonegoes]

Gods, how could I possibly think otherwise.

[Dixon's shove gets a small snort of annoyance from Toothless, but not exactly immediate retaliation. Toothless chooses to wait until the man nears his back feet and kicks, knocking Dixon's legs right out from under him.]

[awfulcer]

[Dixon goes down hard, and for a second is only able to roll onto his shoulder, stunned. And then he gets to his feet and shoves towards Hiccup, jabbing at him with a finger.]

You need to get your bitch on a leash.

[wherenoonegoes]

[Hiccup just crosses his arms and looks Dixon right in the eye. He deals with people far more intimidating than Dixon on a daily basis. Hel, he's in a relationship with someone far more intimidating than Dixon.]

He's not a female dog, first of all, and acting like he is is only going to get you in more trouble. Toothless is only treating you with about the same amount of respect you're treating him with.

This right here is why I told you to calm down. Because sooner or later you're going to pick a fight you can't win. Especially if you're trying to pick a fight with a full-grown dragon.

[awfulcer]

Just keep your animal in line. [He shoves a finger towards Toothless, impudently ignoring how close to Toothless' mouth the gesture is.] And don't ask me to respect a lizard like it's a person.

[He's like, this close to full on punching a dragon out of spite. Nic-fitting is hardcore, man.]

[wherenoonegoes]

I have as much chance of doing that as I do of keeping you in line. Maybe slightly more, considering he does actually listen to what I'm saying occasionally.

[Meanwhile, Toothless is making a ln attempt at mimicking human speech, with a bored expression to go along with his tone. It's fairly clear he's mocking Dixon.]

[awfulcer]

Yeah, well you can teach any dog tricks if you hit it hard enough. [This time it's Hiccup he shoves past, heading back out to the forest even though moments ago he was moving towards the temple. He's got more steam to blow off and maybe some rocks need chunking into the river.]

[wherenoonegoes]

Dixon. [There's steel in Hiccup's voice instead of the usual varying amounts of sarcasm. The snarky dragonrider takes a backseat to the Viking chieftain.]

The last person who thought hitting Toothless would work ended up being dropped from nearly 200 feet up. I'd suggest you not be the next person to try.

[awfulcer]

[There are some creatures when, trapped in a situation where they're outmatched, will play dead. Then there are animals like Dixon. The kind that lash out at kindness and cruelty alike, that intensify their fierceness the more cornered they feel.

Dixon's not about to win any Nobel Prizes in chemistry but even he can tell he's outgunned here, what with an actual living, breathing dragon next to him. He turns on his heel.]

I'm walking away. You're the one still talking to me. [He doesn't like the way Hiccup's talking to him; there are some people whom he'll accept orders from, whose command he'll jump to meet in a flat second. Hiccup's not one of them. Dixon shoves him again, this time face to face.]

[wherenoonegoes]

[Hiccup ignores the shove, and the fact that it activated his stabilizer fin, instead choosing to pinch the bridge of his nose.]

It was a warning. Because, let's be honest, you are clearly looking for some kind of fight. And don't try to tell me you're not. I'm a Viking, I know the signs.

We already have injured people and we probably have who knows what coming after us. We can't afford more injuries because you want to work out your problems with your fists.

Save the aggression for an actual battle.

[awfulcer]

I don't give a fuck if you're a Viking. [Caught up in his eddy of temper, every additional bit of input sends Dixon into a greater snit. Hiccup's tone, the condescending I-know-you-better-than-you-know-you prescription, the patronizing logic as if Dixon's too stupid to put that together himself. It's all true, of course, but truth isn't anodyne to rage; it really just throws gas on the flames.

So this time he moves to grab Hiccup by the collar and lift him up.]