[video] Show Me Your Moves

[whyarewehere]

[The camera bobs and judders as someone sets it up, catching flashes of a scruffy, unkempt face and pale arms and the sky for a moment.]

Okay so I've been thinking, we've got super powers here, right?

[The picture steadies pointing out at what appears to be a beach, but is more likely to just be a simulated section of beach on the Legion World. It falls over, and Grif swears as he rights it again.]

...Anyway. By super powers I mean amazing things you couldn't do before, because otherwise you're just from some world where you can do cool stuff most of us can't and that's not superpowers, that's just life being unfair to the rest of us.

[Satisfied that the comm is stable, Grif steps out in front of it as he continues.]

So, I want to see what you guys can do. And because I am all about being fair, I'm going first.

[He swings his arms a little, takes a couple breaths, then bolts to the waterline. He's nothing but a speed blur followed by a trail of thrashed sand. He stops at the surf and charges back just as quickly. At the end he's doubled over in front of the camera, hands on his knees, huffing and wheezing.]

Whoo!

[He laughs as he catches his breath, which makes it somewhat harder, and is grinning despite how much that tiny display of super speed seems to have taken out of him. In good shape, this guy is not.]

It's like... it feels like everything's normal speed to me when I do it and everything's all slowed down. It's crazy shit, man.

[Grif plunks down heavily in the sand and picks up the comm again, still visibly panting.]

So. That's me. Show me what you got.

((OOC: Feel free to threadhop each other and talk about powers if you like! Grif is encouraging sharing.))

Comments

[failbender]

[Zuko shrugs haplessly.]

I have no idea. We weren't friends then so I didn't hear how she figured it all out.

[Y'know, on account of Zuko being a bad guy.]

All I know is she just does it.

[wherenoonegoes]

She can Earthbend, right? That's what it sounded like from the way you were talking. Maybe that's how she did it, manipulated the impurities inside the metal instead of the metal itself.

Or something like that, anyways. I'm kinda out of my depth here. Powers like that don't happen in my world.

[failbender]

That makes sense.

[Not that he knew a ton about metal but it did make sense.]

You need to find a master. If people in this universe can metalbend maybe you can ask the Legion to find you one that can teach you.

[Because Umbra can only teach shadowbending and that's not the same thing.]

[wherenoonegoes]

I might look into it, but it's about as similar to what I can do as what your friend does. They don't really control metal, just the force that makes certain kinds of metal attracted to magnets. Which sounds really, really cool, and I may go find one of them just so I can ask them about how it works, but it's not really the same thing.

[failbender]

Then you should probably lean on your fighting skills that don't involve powers since it might be a while before you learn to control them.

Do you know how to fight with a weapon?

[wherenoonegoes]

Swords, shields, and crossbows mostly. Although I probably do need to make a new sword now. A retractable, flammable sword may look impressive, but it's mostly a dragon-training tool. It's not really built to handle a fight with a solid blade.

-although, looking at some of the metals and alloys here, I might be able...

[Hiccup grabs a stick, and starts doodling plans onto the ground, before remembering he's still part of a conversation. He looks back at the comm sheepishly]

Sorry, got off track there for a second. I should add that Toothless and I are together way more often than not, and he breathes explosive balls of plasma.

[failbender]

You made a fire sword?

[That actually sounded impressive. It sounded like something Sokka would be in awe over.]

[wherenoonegoes]

Nothing really that special. Just a spring-loaded retractable blade coated in flammable Monstrous Nightmare saliva, some canisters of Hideous Zippleback gas I can release from the pommel, and lighters at both ends.

[failbender]

Are those names -- are they types of dragons?

[Hiccup said he used his fire sword as a dragon-taming tool and how Zuko's curious about what dragons might be like in his world. Ran and Shaw showing him and Aang the true meaning of Firebending had been...transformative. It's something he's never going to forget.]

[wherenoonegoes]

Yes they are. Hang on, I had a sketchbook in my saddlebags somewhere, hopefully the air on that world we ended up on didn't ruin it.

[Hiccup goes offscreen, and shortly returns with a somewhat haphazardly made book.]

Here we are...

[Hiccup rifles through the book, and opens the page to a large dragon that, unlike Toothless, looks little closer to what Zuko is used to, aside from the fact that it has two legs. Its wings do double duty as its front limbs. There's a wide, brawny looking human with the dragon, and the pair both have expressions of cocky overconfidence.]

That's Hookfang, my friend Snotlout's Nightmare. They're big, strong, have a habit of intentionally setting themselves on fire, and aren't too bright. And by that I mean Hookfang, Nightmares in general, and Snotlout himself.

[The next picture is of a two-headed dragon, which does have the four legs and two wings most people expect. The insane looking twins near it seem to be fighting about something, while the two heads look on exasperatedly]

That's a Hideous Zippleback, specifically Barf and Belch, with Ruffnut and Tuffnut. The right head breathes explosive gas, the left head makes the spark to set the gas off.

I've got plenty more drawings where those came from if you want to see them.

[failbender]

[Hookfang sounds okay. After all, Avatar Roku's dragon was named Fang. But...]

Barf and Belch?

[he wrinkles his nose.]

Those -- that's a stupid name for a dragon.

[Zuko thinks that if he had a dragon -- not that he ever will -- but if he had a dragon he'd name it something a lot less stupid. He's not sure what, but it'd be less stupid.]

They're lucky it doesn't eat them for showing it such disrespect.

[wherenoonegoes]

Barf and Belch aren't really that bright, and I don't think they care either way. We Vikings sort of have a habit of giving things really dumb names. Mine is Hiccup, his [He thumbs back at the Night Fury behind him] is Toothless, we're from the island of Berk...the gross names just make them part of the tribe.

[failbender]

Dragons are smart back home. They don't tolerate disrespect.

[A pause. Then his voice goes soft.]

There aren't many left. They were hunted nearly to extinction. My uncle found the last two and told everyone he'd killed them so the rest of the world would leave them alone.

Then me and my friend Aang found them and were honored by them teaching us the true meaning of Firebending. We haven't told anyone else about them either.

[He pauses.]

Except for me telling you. Right now.

[Another pause.]

I'm Zuko, by the way. Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation.

[wherenoonegoes]

Well, if we're going to be formal about it...I'm Chief Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, of the Hairy Hooligans of Berk, and my friend here is Toothless, Alpha of the dragons of Berk.

And thanks for that. They might the same kind of dragons I'm used to, but I have sort of a soft spot for dragons in general, if you couldn't tell.

[Toothless decides that now is a good time to lick Hiccup.]

Except when they do that. Seriously, bud, you know that doesn't wash out.

[Toothless definitely seems to know, judging by the strange, honking laugh he gives.]

[failbender]

[Zuko actually smiles a little bit. It's hard not to, especially when he's been in Hiccup's place himself, getting affectionately slobbered on by Appa.]

You've tamed yours?

[He thinks about the dragons back home.]

Or did he choose you?

[He can't imagine a dragon being truly tamed, only deigning to grace a human with its presence.]

[wherenoonegoes]

Tamed, no. Definitely not. Choose isn't really the right word for it either. We just ended up befriending each other while I was working on fixing his tail.

[failbender]

He was hurt when you found him?

[A loaded question, not that he knew it.]

[wherenoonegoes]

[That gets a guilty wince from Hiccup.]

It's more like I found him because he was hurt. Mostly because I was the idiot who did it in the first place.

It's a long story, but it basically boils down to the fact that my people only just stopped hunting dragons about five years ago.

marking off for AC

[failbender]

[Zuko could sympathize with that. A lot.]

It...happens.

[Hurting and hunting down people that you realized you shouldn't be. It was strangely comforting to know he wasn't the only one in the universe to make the same mistake -- or the only one to become friends with people he'd hurt.]

My world is at war. It took me a long time to realize it was wrong, but I eventually became friends with the people who used to be my enemies.