thebastion | Day 325 [Open]

Who: Zuko, Colin, Ikuri, and anyone else!
Open: Open!
When: Day 325
Where: Around the Bastion, Dragonfield
What: Time for some Talks
Format: I'll match
Warnings: Honor. Also fury, and not much patience.

It's been a few days since the disaster of Crona's death. Zuko would like to think that that's given her time and distance to process it, but most of her feelings haven't changed much since their return. If anything, she's just forced herself to focus on other things, and avoid dealing with her grief, and her guilt. Not that she's realized it.

It probably doesn't help that she hasn't gotten a decent night's sleep since. But she's used to that, and if she's going to lose sleep, she can at least do it standing guard instead of tossing and turning. She's been taking regular shifts guarding the prisoners, and she's taken to carrying her swords with her within the Bastion, as a precaution not only against escape attempts, but any threat of outside attack as well.

And the swords are also for Colin. Once she's finished a guard shift, she'll be looking for him to take him up on his challenge, and also for Ikuri, for the talk she thinks she's clear-headed enough now to give.

[Later...]
Besides all that, she is still a dragon mom, and that's probably the only thing that's gotten her to settle down at all. Later in the day, she can be found near dragonfield attempting to teach Kizuna how to breathe fire. In addition to a short demonstration, this seems to involve lying down on the ground with the little dragon on her chest so she can feel Zuko's breathing.

So far it doesn't seem to be working, but neither of them appear discouraged. For Kizuna's part, it may be because she doesn't know she's supposed to be breathing fire.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Rob has been taking it easier these past couple of days, having discovered that even with magical healing injuries can still ache afterwords. He also needs to replace all the potions he used on that trip, which is what he's been focusing on since it requires relatively little physical exertion. At the moment he's heading back to Colin's workshop with a basket in hand, having been gathering more alchemy ingredients. Large bandages and pads of gauze are still on his cheek and shoulder, and smaller bandages are on his knee and ear. None of them look bloody today, which is probably a good sign.

Rob notices Zuko and Kizuna out of the corner of his eye and stops to watch the cuteness, smiling slightly but not saying anything immediately.]

[Zuko is focused on Kizuna and on her breathing-- it isn't just for Kizuna's benefit, really, she's hoping it will calm her down. Help her center herself. So far that hasn't really worked either.

It's Kizuna who notices Rob. She sits up on Zuko's chest, sounding a little trill. Are you coming over?

Zuko tilts her head to see who she's looking at.]

Oh. Hey.

[Well when an adorable baby dragon asks you to come over you come over. So he does.]

Hey. Taking a break?

[No one can resist adorable baby dragon.]

I guess so. [She's been having the worst day, she probably needs a break.]

How's your... [Face? Shoulder? Knee?] ...everything?

A bit sore. My shoulder and face are both a bit stiff too, but everything's working right even if it doesn't look the greatest right now. Magical healing definitely sped things along.

[She nods a bit, hesitates, and then asks:]

They're going to leave scars?

[He chews on his lip once, for a moment.]

Probably. I don't think you can pull arrows out of your body without leaving some kind of mark. [And he wasn't exactly gentle about the removal process which can't have helped.] I'm definitely missing a piece of my ear, but I don't know exactly what the others are gonna look like yet.

[She remembers the dread. Checking under the bandages to see if the mark had faded, even a little. Hoping the hair that had burned off would grow back.]

Maybe they won't be that bad. [Or maybe they will.] At least you'll be able to bear them with honor.

[He snorts with vague amusement.]

I could call them honorable if I'd gotten them in an actual fight instead of getting caught in some sharp rain.

You put yourself in danger to help someone else, and you succeeded.

You did well that day.

[Unlike some of them.]

[Oh are we doing the "I failed the group" thing? Rob can get on that train too.]

And yet I failed to help Crona. I just assumed he was dead and went to Vee without making sure. Colin says that there was no way to survive that many puncture wounds, but...

[A helpless shrug. Maybe he couldn't have done anything more, but that doesn't stop him from feeling guilty about it.]

[Zuko freezes for just a moment at the mention of Colin. So he's telling everyone else they did what they could, but not her?]

I checked her. She was dead well before you reached her. It's not your fault.

[Rob unknowingly made things worse, didn't he?]

No, it was the fault of the people who set that trap. But I basically ended up being the team medic there. I should've checked myself.

[Maybe, but then his next statement winds up helping a bit. It's the first time anyone's actually said that to her, that it was the fault of their attackers. They've all just been blaming themselves, or blaming Zuko. And she still feels responsible, but he does have a point.]

You did check, after you helped someone you knew for sure still needed it. Vee owes you his life. That's nothing to be ashamed of.

[Like he's said before, knowing something intellectually isn't the same as feeling it emotionally. He knows it wasn't his fault, that there was probably nothing at all he could have done with his near-zero first aid knowledge, but he still feels like he should have done something more.]

I'd rather Crona owe me his life too.

...I know.

Instead, I owe her mine.

[Let her just feel guilty about that forever.]

...

[This conversation was probably destined to go dark, but that doesn't make it any better.]

...So what happens, if you owe your life to someone or someone owes their life to you? Never been in this situation before.

I guess... you try to honor their memory. Be the best of yourself.

Day 325 [Open]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject