[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

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

Zuko scoffs.

"No offense -" wait, no, he definitely means to offend. "But your warrior tribe sounds pretty stupid. 'How do you become a good fighter? By being bigger and stronger than everyone else, and having a bigger sword than anybody else can lift!'" he snorts again. "No wonder nobody ever made you do any conditioning."

[theregularguy.livejournal.com]

Sokka nodded in agreement with Zuko.

"No offense--I know what it's like to have other people look down on your tribe," he gave Zuko a significant look there, "But if the only way to make yourself better is to be bigger and better, then, well...no wonder you have self-esteem problems."

Sokka poked Hiccup in one stick-like arm.

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

Hiccup swatted his hand away.

"Who said I had self esteem problems?" It wasn't like he was hugely self-deprecating or anything, right? Riiiiight?

He was still examining the sword, its weight and heft, its aerodynamics, taking careful note of the detail work and the hilt.

"What kind of metal is this? And who forged it? This isn't the best I've seen, but it's still very good work."

[theregularguy.livejournal.com]

"You keep putting yourself down. It's pretty obvious. I used to do it a bit too. Doesn't help when you travel with the Avatar, a master earthbender, and your sister who happens to be a waterbending prodigy and you've got nothing. Or it feels like you got nothing anyway," Sokka replied.

"And I don't know what kind of metal it is, technically. It came from meteor. And I made it myself, under the tutelage of Master Piandao.

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

"Nice work," he complimented, handing him his sword back.

A meteor. Wow. This sword was made from a falling star. He didn't even know those were made of metal.

He'd ask him how to make it, but y'know, had to defend the honor of his entire tribe for a second.

"The way my tribe fights works just fine for my tribe, by the way, and it definitely works just fine against dragons. Trust me, you have to be big and strong to take down a Gronckle. It just...doesn't work for me. So I have to find my own way."

Raising his chin, he said, "But I think I can do that learning from you two, so...thanks."

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, well." Zuko frowns. "My peoples' way of fighting allowed them to kill all our dragons, so, you know. We do some things wrong, but we know how to do wrong things right."

He doesn't look proud of this, but what can you do?

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

"We probably have a lot more dragons than you did," was the glib response. They had a ton. "And it worked. ...Until we figured out that we shouldn't kill them."

He was bristling. One part of him hated how he'd been treated, that he'd ever been an oddball. The other part of him just--his tribe was strong. That was just how it was in his eyes. He didn't like anyone saying a word against them.

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

Zuko snorts again. "Yeah, well, at least your people got to that stage. Mine didn't."

And you don't exactly get a second chance with extinction.