Day 171 | Freedom, at last.

[individuating]

Who: Hikaru Hitachiin and EVERYONE
Open: Open
When: Day 171
Where: Absolutely everywhere inside the Bastion.
What: Hikaru is finally all healed up from his crash landing, and is out on a mission to meet everyone he possibly can.
Format: Any; I'll match.
Warnings: Super sneaky ninja Kaoru may be called in to avert disaster if Hikaru starts making messes with people. Swearing, probably. Warnings will be edited as they become needed!


It feels so good to finally, finally be out of the hospital. 17 days - yes, he was counting - of being cooped up with nothing to do besides absorb the apparent fact that his world had ended. It had gotten to the point where he had honestly thought he would go insane from sheer lack of things to do.

It's with great relish that Hikaru strides through the Bastion, exploring and generally getting to know the place. He's seeking out the other people who have been brought here; Kaoru's told him very little about anyone, but somehow still managed to assure him that they were mostly good people.

In typical Hitachiin fashion, Hikaru will make a nuisance of himself wherever he goes. If there's something to be touched, it will be fiddled with. If someone looks like they're deep in concentration, he will most likely be determined to distract them. For more subtle cases, he will hover over people's shoulders, and he will pretend to be on a safari and stare at them from a distance until they notice him. He may also wander into people's residencies without knocking, if their door is open.

Aside from the brace on his right arm, there is no trace of injury left on Hikaru, and he is otherwise exactly identical to Kaoru. He doesn't know how many people - if any - have been informed of his appearance yet, but he guesses he's going to find out pretty soon.

Comments

[daughterofursa]

Zuko is doing what Zuko seems to do on most days: training. She has a hard time just sitting still and hasn't been convinced to get a hobby yet. Of course, it's a little hard to train firebending when she's limited to just fifteen minutes a day. Her solution, for the moment, is to run through the forms without the fire, so it resembles the unarmed martial arts of Hikaru's world.

She doesn't react to being the subject of a safari. It's tough to tell whether she's outright ignoring her audience or whether she's so focused on what she's doing that she just hasn't noticed him. Either way she doesn't have the most inviting expression.

[individuating]

[Hikaru is, admittedly, kind of impressed with Zuko's practice! It's not like he's never seen martial arts before - in fact he's gotten pretty used to having front-row seats to 'anything goes' matches - but her style doesn't seem to be quite what he's used to. Once Hani or Mori get here, he'll have to demand why they haven't demonstrated this style before.

His safari-style, close-to-the-ground watching will end quite abruptly at what he considers to be the end of a kata, with a loud cheer and applause. He's giving a standing ovation, Zuko; take a bow.]

Encore, encore!

[daughterofursa]

Zuko doesn't seem surprised by his revealing himself, but she does look over in confusion at that particular reaction. "What?"

Well, whatever an encore is, she can at least recognize the clapping.

"I'm not putting on a show."

[individuating]

"You're not? That's a waste." Hikaru's voice is light and carefree, and now that she seems to be finished, he's comfortable enough to stroll closer.

"What sort of style was that? Did you make it yourself?" He wouldn't be surprised, considering every martial artist he knows is apparently insane and likes doing things like that.

[daughterofursa]

A waste? "It's called training," Zuko says flatly.

She eases up just a little bit at his questions and shakes her head. "Those were firebending forms."

[individuating]

"You mean like fire-eating? What does that have to do with martial arts?" Do all fire eaters have to do stuff like this...? Hikaru always thought they kind of just did it.

[daughterofursa]

"More like fire-breathing," Zuko corrects him. Well, not that she does a lot of actual fire-breathing, but it is something a firebender can do. Her uncle's signature move, even.

"A firebender makes fire. I just can't do it for very long here."

[individuating]

"Like a magician?" That's kind of cool! "Show, show!" You can't just make a claim like that and then not demonstrate, Zuko. Hikaru fully expects a show, now.

[daughterofursa]

"I'm a firebender, not a magician. And I'm definitely not an entertainer."

[individuating]

"So you're just making it up, in other words." Disappointing, Zuko. Disappointing.

[daughterofursa]

"No, I'm not. I'm just not going to waste my effort just so you can have a little 'magic show.'"

[individuating]

Man, what a loser.

"Whatever, Miss Faker." Hikaru shifts his weight onto one foot, all former awe now fully dissipated. "So martial arts is the only thing you can actually do, then?"

[daughterofursa]

"You seemed impressed enough when you thought that was all it was." Not that Zuko really cares if Hikaru finds it impressive or not, but she is annoyed that he seems to think that's the purpose of her training.

"And I don't see you doing anything but critiquing an art you know nothing about."

[individuating]

"It's only impressive when you don't lie immediately afterwards."

He shrugs, not really caring that she has a point. "You don't need to be able to do something to appreciate it."

[daughterofursa]

"How many people here do you think are liars? We're from dozens of different worlds.

"And most of us try to be productive instead of wasting space."