markofthewise | Sokka the 77th

[On February Twenty-Fifth, Sokka turned nineteen. On the Twenty-Sixth, he left on a routine mission to work as a mechanic on one of the Malnosso's three space vessels high up in orbit. There was no battle, this time. Just good honest work, people to relate to, and a small bunk to call his own. Seven days, just like that.

On March Fourth, one of the mechanics triggered a malfunction on the hangar doors. The crew quickly fled, just as the power went down. They needed to close the hatch leading to the hallway. But without power, it could only be closed from one side. The one about to be opened up into space. The hero, the stupid hero, closed the door. In those brief moments, he thought that maybe if he reached a Tyr Fighter, he could climb in one of those. He ran. Hard.

He didn't make it.

Today, he fell into the sea, nearly drowning, and was saved by the Avatar. It distracted him from what happened, but now that she was off exploring town, he had the chance to go in his room, get dressed, and collect his weapons. It was a good thing he chose not to bring them. They'd be out floating in space right now, otherwise. One thing was strange, though. He wasn't upset. He wasn't distressed. He could only look back on it and regret that it even happened. That was a week's worth of points he wouldn't be getting. Damn Malnosso cheapskates.

After a bit of cleaning up, he went to go approach this new day. He'd be gone from Luceti for two weeks. People would probably miss him. But his first destination was the smithy.

The only problem was that once he got to the smithy, he found himself looking at the walls. They were barer than he left them. People had been picking up some of the weapons he'd made. Well, that wasn't going to do. He wasn't running a charity here.]

Hey Luceti. Looks like I got back in time for the new feathers to roll in. I'm Sokka. Hope you guys are settling in fine! I run the Slash 'n Crash, the local smithy and weapon shop. I make most of the weapons here. I do take commissions if people want stuff. But since there's no money, just talk to me and we can work out a trade. No point in breaking your back for nothing, right?

Anyway, did I miss anything important?

[For the rest of the day, Sokka can be found at the smithy. Later he does about an hour of catch up work at the library, before going home to dinner. Remarkably enough, he doesn't feel like drinking today.

Today is a good day.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Actually, I was thinking we'd empty them instead.

Ha ha, yeah, real funny. That'd go over well.

I'm not trying to be funny.

...Wait, what? Why would we empty the shelves?

So we can make room for the new display. Something to keep them locked up tight until we let people have them.

Whhhhhy do we need to keep them from people?

Because then they'll just take them. When they pick up weapons, I want one of us to be there, so we can figure out a trade.

...You want to get paid now?

Compensated. For the considerable amount of work I put into this stuff. I'm tired of getting favors owed to me. Especially since those people tend to vanish and I'm left with nothing.

[ That's...sudden. ]

Uhh...well, okay then. Youuuu don't mind if I stick with doing my stuff the old way, do you?

[Sokka takes Hiccup by the shoulder. Carefully, so as not to knock him over.]

Hiccup. Buddy. We have to put up a united front. What are people going to think if one of us is working for free and the other isn't? It puts us in an unfair kind of competition. And that'd be kind of a jerk move on your part, don't you think?

[ ...Wow, uh, so. That was unexpected.

Hiccup holds up his free hand. ]

I-Iiiiiiii. Really don't mean it to be that way. I just...want to keep doing my thing the way I've been doing it, you know? I don't want to get paid for this stuff.

[A frown.]

You're killing me here, Hiccup.

[ He frowns, hesitating, but he manages to hold his ground. ]

Hey, it's not me. You're the one changing things. [ Pause. He didn't want to step on toes, but what was he supposed to do? ] A-and that's fine. I mean, you can do things the way you want. I just want to keep doing things my way, too.

[For a moment, he considered just firing Hiccup. But. He was still useful. So Sokka pulled away and shrugged.]

Fair enough. Do what you want.

[ He breathes a sigh of relief. ]

...Thanks.

We'll just have to set up a section for your stuff, I guess. Maybe put up a sign.

Yeah, that'd be fine.

Then I guess you better work on that sign. Figure out which stuff is yours, too.

Right. I'll just...do that then.

[ :|

And he hobbles off to get started on such a task. ]

Sokka the 77th - [Action/Voice]

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;