[For Hiccup, but open.]

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

A cranky fire prince is waiting for his test student. He's still patchily burned in places from his latest round of maze-running, but the best cure for Zuko's crankiness is to get to work on whatever task has been put to him at the time. Currently, Hiccup is it.

Of course, this means he's sensorium-camping, which might not go over so well with the rest of the crew.

Comments

set before aliens plot

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

There was a slight wave.

Zuko didn't look happy and that didn't mean good things for Hiccup.

"Welp, you look nice and miserable. Today's going to suck for me, isn't it."

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

"Let me see your breathing technique."

That Zuko dodged the question there is probably not a good sign.

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

Hiccup stood up perfectly straight and just...breathed. In and out, just like Zuko taught him.

It wasn't perfect, but it was better. It showed that he had actually worked at it, and that he had, quietly working on it when reading, when tinkering, when going about his day.

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

He's right. It's not perfect. But Zuko watches him thoughtfully for a full two minutes before he makes his decision.

"You're wrong. Today isn't going to suck for you. Every day from now on is going to suck for you."

And it is.

Because a few minutes later, Hiccup is positioned in a wide-legged horse-riding stance, balancing a cup on his head, a rock in each outstretched fist, and a glowing pile of coals smoldering beneath him.

This is where that deep breathing is going to come in useful.

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

"And this is--" breath "--going to make me--" breath "--into a warrior--" breath "--how exactly?"

...He asked. Mildly terrified.

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

"Remember how I said the breath was the foundation of the body?"

Zuko sits cross-legged and to the side, just inside Hiccup's line of vision.

"Your body is pretty pathetic. So before you can use it to fight anyone, you're going to condition it. A lot."

Tact is not Zuko's middle name. Or preferred teaching method.

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

"It's not that--"

Hiccup tilted his head just a little too much, the glass dropped, splashing on the coals and sending up smoke, Hiccup started coughing, dropping one of the rocks on his foot, and then...

All in the course of a second, Hiccup was splayed out on the ground next to the coals, coughing, eyes watering, and holding his foot in pain.

"Okay, so it's pretty pathetic," he wheezed.

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, that's gonna happen."

Zuko stands up, but not to offer Hiccup a hand. Somebody's got to restart those coals.

"Are you going to get up or what?"

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

"Getting up."

Hiccup got up, he dusted himself. Then he went back over and picked up the rocks again.

If this was supposed to make him stronger...

[livestoannoy]

Marco had been hoping to just chill out for a while in the sensoriums. Sure, he didn't have any specific plan in mind, but he could figure that out when he got there.

Except when he did get there, Marco found himself rolling his eyes instead. Great. 'Let's set the grass on fire!' guy was here. Although, from the looks if it, grass wasn't the only thing that had be burning. Marco raised an eyebrow. "Practicing how to set yourself on fire now?"

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

If glares could shoot fireballs.

Oh wait. Zuko's can. Sort of.

"Practicing not getting incinerated by GLADOS," he corrects, then looks away. "This sensorium's taken. Go get your own."

He doesn't look like he's using it for anything, standing there with his arms crossed, looking sour and singed.

[livestoannoy]

"Dude, you should be practicing how to incinerate GLaDOS instead," Marco said, actually feeling mildly sympathetic for the guy. Hey, it surprised Marco too. But then, hating GLaDOS was definitely something he could agree with.

Of course, not even that could stop Marco from looking around the sensorium, smirking at Zuko, and saying: "Sure, I'll just leave you here to figure out how to turn it on, shall I?"

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

"I tried." His tone is momentarily neutral. Then, "I know how to turn it on. I'm just waiting for someone."

A sunlit field with a few trees appears around him as he speaks, temperature warmish, sky white with fluffy clouds, otherwise nondescript. He doesn't need much more to train someone.

[livestoannoy]

"Ah, you're going to set the trees on fire. Nice," Marco said, nodding sagely. "But shh, don't tell my friend Cassie. She'll have you locked up for destroying imaginary environments."

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

"I'm waiting for a student. Who I'm NOT going to teach to set things on fire."

Zuko pauses, thinking of the last time he spoke with this guy.

"Anyway, I wanted to apologize for my behavior last time we talked." His voice drops, and he mumbles a little. "I was in a bad mood. But it wasn't really justified."

[livestoannoy]

Okay. That Marco hadn't been expecting. Especially since last time, he'd gotten the impression that this guy was the kind to just rage and do nothing else.

Still - even with the apologies, the guy was a hothead. A literal hothead - the fact that he felt sorry about it now didn't mean that he couldn't lose his tempter again. (Which kinda made the fact that Marco wasn't going to stop provoking a bad idea, really. But hey, annoying people was one of Marco's life goals - he wasn't going to stop just got some idiot might want to singe some innocent foliage. Plus, it was fun.)

In response to the actually apology though, Marco just scoffed. Perhaps it was just because he wasn't the type to give apologies himself, but Marco wasn't really all that concerned with getting apologies. "Dude, don't get your knickers in a twist. It's no sweat. Now, the grass, whoever - that's who you gotta apologise to, man. Those poor little tufts. They left this world too soon," Marco said, shaking his his head in mock sadness.

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

"You don't take anything seriously, do you?"

Just what he needed. Another joker.

"Why don't you go talk to Sokka. You two can just . . . bounce bad jokes off each other so the rest of us don't have to hear them."

Surprisingly, he says it without much venom. He doesn't dislike Sokka. Now that he doesn't dislike him automatically on the principle of Sokka being common, that is.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alice decided that she didn't quite feel like listening so much as she felt like exploring. So she had ignored Alex asking for her to come back, and made her way into one of the sensoriums, squeezing through the slightest bit the door had been left open.

Now, Alex was never too good at judging body language, but even he would have been able to tell that Zuko was in a bad mood. Unfortunately, Alice, for all her instincts on how good or bad of a person someone is, does not know human body language at all, except for Alex's.

As such, Alice had no reservations about sniffing around and making her way towards the cranky fire-bender, completely oblivious to the fire-bender's mood.

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

Zuko just stares at the rat.

Don't tell him it's a crew member. That would just . . . he'd facepalm. Seriously.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex rushed in, out of breath. Clearly he was far from being anywhere near 'in-shape.' It was a wonder the scrawny kid could run at all. "Alice! No! C-come here!"

The little rat finally decided to turn around and return to her master. He bent and put out his hand and she ran up his arm to sit on his shoulder, looking rather content with herself. Could it be that she was trying to get Alex to meet new people?

That was when Alex looked up and noticed Zuko. He jumped a bit and scratched the back of his head, "S-sorry. Sh-she d-doesn't a-always listen, b-but she's u-usually very w-well trained. Oh! Uh, I-I'm Alex b-by the w-way..." He offered his hand, but sort of let it drop a bit, "S-sorry a-about interrupting. C-can I m-make it u-up somehow?"

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

Handshakes aren't a thing in the Fire Nation. Zuko looks at it, wondering why the kid is holding his hand out if it's empty.

"It's fine." Although Zuko's still in a bad mood from running mazes for weeks. "I'm just waiting for someone."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

He let his hand hang there awkwardly, not sure what to do with it, before pulling it back and putting it in his pocket.

Hadn't Katara mentioned knowing someone with a bad scar on the side of his face? He wondered if this was the same guy, but Katara had also said that she had been travelling with him, but never mentioned that was on the ship too.

Alex swallowed hard, tapping the ground with the tip of his toe while rubbing at his arm. He felt terrible for asking, but he wanted to know if this was the same guy, "H-h-how'd y-you g-get th-that s-scar?"

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

He bristles suddenly, tense from head to toe and angry.

"That's none of your business!"

Who asks about these things? Just right off the bat that way?

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex shrunk from Zuko, looking down. "S-sorry. I-it's j-jus'... K-Katara m-mentioned a g-guy w-with a s-scar... I s-should've a-asked i-if y-you knew K-Katara... I'm r-really s-sorry..."

Of course he should have. Why hadn't he thought of that earlier? He knew that getting asked about his scars made him upset- granted, he didn't get angry- but just because he couldn't see his own shadow didn't mean that he didn't know that an inanimate shadow surrounded him too. He really needed to practice these terrible social skill of his more, before they ended up getting him injured.

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

Oh. Zuko backs off, relaxing a little.

"You're friends with Katara?" then again, who isn't? "Okay. Fine."

She must have mentioned him. By his scar. Something about that stings, that that's the first thing about him people recognize.

Even though it IS a pretty distinct feature.