thebastion | Day 216 [Open] | Business as usual!

Entry tags:

Day 216 [Open] | Business as usual!

Who: Ryu 3, Open
Open: Open
When: Day 216
Where: The Forge/Aoi's Pool/The Onsen
What: Ryu is getting used to life back at the Bastion, but there's still some things amiss.
Format: Will match!
Warnings: Dergons

Ryu is up and about, his recovery has proceeded quite well for someone in his poor state. While his physical injuries and balance issues are mostly done and gone, there's still the matter of replacing his gear. Especially with his sword lost, this has left him with going to the forge, trying out a variety of different weapons. Even some of the ranged options, which Ryu might have ordinarily never considered before.

It's here people might find him using one of these weapons with varying degrees of success, though he finds himself drawn back to swords whenever he ventures into anything he might consider too exotic. Perhaps you can help him make up his mind, or just chat it up with one of the resident dragons of the Bastion.

---

His habits of regaining his physical prowess have led him to try swimming a bit more often, though he's cautious to go out too far into the deep end. After all, he can't swim very well. He knows Aoi would be a fine teacher, but he hasn't had a chance to speak with her since his departure onto the Skyway. He figures she's probably bound to show up sooner or later, given her natural affinity for swimming.

Though while he's trying to get the hang of swimming, he'll welcome any company that might come by the pool to see just who's making all the waves.

---

Ryu's day after all is said and done closes at the Onsen, where he's keen to relax in the heat while the aches and pains of his body are soothed. The times he spends visiting the Onsen are usually in quiet contemplation. Be it something someone said, the day's events, or whatever it is he tends to mull over in a given day. If your timing is right, you might catch him in the Onsen, or on his way home. He's certainly looking a lot better and walking mostly straight without his walking stick. He seems to be in a good enough mood to talk, at least.

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Zuko actually decides to investigate the splashing to see if Aoi is there, but Ryu's is also a welcome face. She'll wait near the side of the pool until he pauses from his... attempt at swimming.

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"Absolutely!" He answers, floating on his back. He seems particularly proud of himself until he bumps his head into the side of the pool. The sudden thud hurts and sort of catches him off guard, causing him to flail and sink. He regains his footing since he's in the shallow end, and he rises and looks up at Zuko.

"Okay, maybe not."

Another person might have laughed. Zuko just raises her eyebrow.

"Well, at least this is a good place to learn." Not that the lake or river are exceptionally deep, but Aoi's pool is definitely a more controlled environment.

"I have to be honest, most of my experience with swimming is just not sinking." He answers after a moment. He's not really ashamed to admit it, since he's trying to improve. "Were you coming to swim too?" It occurs to him he might be disturbing other people with all the noise. He hopes it wasn't the case.

"It's an important first step." She's only half-joking because it's basically true.

At his question, she looks a little awkward. "Maybe. I thought Aoi might be here."

"I was kinda hoping she would be here too. She's really good at swimming, so I was hoping she could give me a few pointers." He chimes in without skipping a beat. If he perceives any awkwardness on Zuko's part, he doesn't say anything. He just chalks it up to Zuko being Zuko.

"Though now I kinda feel bad for getting your hopes up." He answers with a slight smile, taking to slowly wading through water deep enough to come up to his chest.

Zuko shakes her head dismissively. She doesn't know how to say that it's not a disappointment to run into him instead, so she doesn't try, but maybe he can figure it out from her expression.

"Maybe she'll show if we stick around," she reasons instead, taking a seat by the edge. "This is her pool."

"Were you gonna ask her for advice on how to swim too?" The question comes innocently enough. It's not like he would have any reason to think Zuko might harbor other reasons for wanting to see Aoi. He at least understands she was hoping to find her instead of him, but he wants to think of a way to make it up to her.

"I finally got around to trying one of her donut trees."

"I already know how to swim. Actually, I kind of- joined her swim team." She's embarrassed by this in part because it seems so unlike her, joining something that's meant to be for fun and not useful in any way, and in part because Aoi's looks may have done some of the convincing.

"Is that what they're called?" Zuko never bothered to ask about the bizarre trees; everyone just seems to take them in stride.

"Maybe I'll be good enough to join someday. It'd be nice to do more than just fight all the time." While he does find it a little strange, he figures it's just Zuko coming out of her shell. "I'm happy you found something to do though. You deserve to have fun!"

Ryu nods at her question. "Bakers sometimes made them where I'm from, though depending on the region they might have used sugars or crushed berries for extra flavor."

"Well, it seems like something she did back home..." It's not about Zuko deserving anything. Aoi should have her piece of home. Right? "And I thought you had your fishing." She may not have grasped the concept of multiple hobbies yet.

"They're a little like sweet buns." But with holes in the middle.

"It's all about broadening your horizons. Some people like being devoted to one thing, others like exploring life. Plus I think I've caught at least one of every type of fish that lives here. There's no more challenge to it, y'know?"

Especially after catching whales. Then nothing was a challenge.

"...I hadn't thought about it either way." It feels like it's been a long time since she's wanted anything just for herself, the way Ryu's talking about.

"The longer I've thought about it, the more I've realized we seem to have nothing but time. I've every intention to keep my skills sharp in case anything threatens the Bastion, but... I can't really carry on like I had originally meant to. I guess I've been thinking a lot, especially about the future."

At this point, Ryu has taken to allowing himself to gently drift on his back again.

"I mean... If Elder Jono is anything to go on, I'm probably going to be around for a few centuries. What should I be doing with that time?"

"That, I have thought about." Though it doesn't mean she has as many answers as she'd like.

"We can't go on like we have been forever. I mean, we're getting by, but most of us are still thinking about home. But if this is it, then we're going to be raising kids here. This is going to be their home."

This is something he's mulled over for a very, very long time. He's always been fond of kids, but part of him would always say that he could never settle down. That love and other matters relating to it were not in his future. "To be honest with you, I'm not even sure that's possible for me. I mean... There's nothing I ever saw of the Brood and humans or members of other clans having children together."

He has no idea if it would ever work, and is perhaps one of the greatest thoughts weighing on his mind. That might really be it. He's gone, and all that's left of him is bone and chrysm.

"Even if that is the case, I still want to make sure any child growing up here isn't lost like I was. I still had Rei and Teepo, but..." There was the fire that separated them, and the rest is history.

Zuko doesn't know enough to contradict him. Instead she offers, "The children you raise don't have to be your own. It was like that with my uncle." She really would have been lost without him.

"I guess- I always figured I would, though. Have kids. So there'd be an heir to the throne." She frowns, because obviously it's meaningless now, and it's no reason to have children anyway.

"He's really important to you, huh?" While the question is posed, he's careful in how he asks. Though her uncle is dead along with the rest of her world, there are just some people that important that simply don't leave you.

"I can't imagine being stuck in a castle all day." His answer comes with a small frown. "And... I guess Nina would have eventually ended up doing the same." The words come out slowly. The idea of Nina being separated from him like that certainly hurt. But it didn't matter now, she was dead and gone like everything else. Like everyone else.

"Yeah. He was there for me through the worst. When I was at my worst." Zuko wishes he could have seen her at her best, whatever that turns out to be.

"...friend of yours?" She can't recall if he's mentioned the name before.

He nods. "Nina was... Is the Princess of Wyndia. We got into a lot of trouble as kids. The men who burned down my home tried to sell me off to the King for a bounty on dragons, and then when that didn't work, they tried to kidnap her and hold her for ransom." He explains. While doing so, he turns his back and motions to the larger scar in the center of his back. "That was from when they captured me. It was the first time I changed."

"Of course, I couldn't let them hurt her because she got mixed up with me. I never wanted to use my power unless it was to keep her safe."

Zuko glances away, not from the sight of the scar but because his description of what happened bears a resemblance to some of the things she'd done in her pursuit of the Avatar. She can identify more with the bad guys in his story, and she's not proud of it.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Ryu shakes his head, it was a long time ago for him. "I cut them both down with my own two hands. And some years later their organization was completely dismantled. Nina had headed up an investigation and almost arrested the entire organization from her own initiative." From the way he speaks, it's pretty clear just how highly he thinks of her. "In fact, the first time I saw her again after Angel Tower was because she was arresting the Mayor of McNeil village. He put his goons out to attack us because my brothers and I were tricked into robbing him."

Though while the organization and pretty much all of its members were dead or arrested, there were still some matters that couldn't be overlooked. "I was always more angry they tried to kill my family than anything else. But we all survived somehow. I found Rei almost a decade later, and Teepo..." He trails off, frowning for a moment. "Sorry... It's a little harder to talk about him."

"You don't have to." Teepo--that was the brother he'd been forced to fight, wasn't it? Zuko never had many qualms about fighting her sister, but she imagines it's very different for those who actually have a caring relationship with their siblings.

"...your friend Nina sounds like a capable leader." Would he rather talk about her?

Ryu nods in thanks. "She wanted to see the world, she felt like her parents didn't understand the way the world worked outside of their castle."

And perhaps what endeared her to him most? "She always believed in me. No matter what anyone else thought of me, she would always proclaim 'Ryu isn't a bad dragon!' and anyone who thought otherwise was gonna get a stern talking to." He adds with a small laugh. "The king had it in his head I was a crook and kidnapped her from the castle, when in reality she left of her own free will. When Garr said there was a possibility I might die at Angel Tower, she wasn't going to have any of it. I think... Without her, I might have turned out to be a very different person. When everything seemed so confusing and terrifying, she was there to remind me what was important. I wanted to protect her at any cost."

"It's important to have people like that." People who believe in you and support you, especially when you're having a hard time doing it for yourself.

"Although, it's hard to imagine you being a bad person. I'm sure you would have been different, but not that different."

pool!

pool!

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