Day 325 [Open]

[daughterofursa]

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.

Comments

HONOOORRR also, dual-route post! Route [A] for Zuko, [B] for everyone else

[darkshooter]

* * *
[A]
* * *

[Someone's found themselves some nice treeshade to sleep under. The wind plays at the leaves, creating a peaceful rustling and a play of sunlight and shadows over Ikuri's face, seemingly in a state of genuine rest. Indeed, Zuko wasn't the only one who'd found that such a hard thing to come by in recent days... this may even be the first time Ikuri's actually, honestly slept.]

[The stray dragon kits one can find in the Bastion don't seem to be bothered by her. Sometimes one or several will even curl up to join her in sleep, though they never stay there.]

[Sure you wanna bother her, Zuko?]


* * *
[B]
* * *



[Ikuri's worse off during the waking hours. She still hasn't quite shaken off the pain and fog from several days prior, and so she's been trying her best to simply avoid thinking about it. Mostly she's done this by finding some of the more peaceful or thought-inspiring sections of the Bastion to visit and linger around, though it may be noted that she may be avoiding the rest of the population somewhat. By contrast, the areas she's most drawn to seem to be the bodies of water in the Bastion, such as the main river. The peaceful sound of the water flow and the sun's play upon the surface seems to be the most soothing for her right now.]

[She seems to want her own company, but you are of course welcome to disturb that.]

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko stops short at finding the girl asleep like that.

Not because waking Ikuri would especially bother her, but because one of the stray dragons is curled up there with her and Zuko doesn't like disturbing adorable sleeping dragons. She just stands there for a while with her arms folded in annoyance as though she can glare Ikuri awake without disturbing the dragon.

Eventually she gives up on that and takes a seat nearby. She'll give this half an hour before she wakes Ikuri (and the dragon) anyway.]

trolololol

[darkshooter]

[Time passes. Lots of it.]

[We're near that half-hour mark now. Will you do it?]

[daughterofursa]

[Tiny dragon, why can't you just wake up peacefully on your own and wander off and not be involved in this?

Zuko sighs. But yes, she's going to do it. She raises her voice.]

Wake up.

[darkshooter]

[nope. not so much as a stir.
not from the larger body, at least.]

[tiny dragon may be more susceptible, but as with a pup, you might want to be a little louder and clearer about wanting its particular attention. you may even have to disturb it more directly, depending on how deeply it's sleeping.]

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin's been keeping himself more than busy these last few days. Security devices need constructing, networking, and proper redundancies in case of sabotage. He's been in no rush to go see Zuko, but he's been monitoring her position in the Bastion this whole time. Just in case.]

[When she comes looking for him, he's where he can almost always be found, in his workshop. The normally pristine workspace is a mess right now, with boxes of parts scattered everywhere. (The mun is reminded he needs to go to the shard page for that, whoops.) When she reaches the door of his workshop, he looks up.]

Stop.

[He stands and looks at her.]

We're not doing this here. Outside the Bastion. No defense field.

[He smiles at her, not at all a friendly gesture.]

You're going to want to hit me, and I see no reason to deny you the pleasure.

[daughterofursa]

You mean I'm going to hit you.

[Considering she's wanted to for about as long as she's known him, and now he's saying he's going to let her?

She turns to head for the Skyway bridge. He issued the challenge, he can choose the place. Anyway she doesn't want the Bastion's magic calming her down either.]

[freedom_engineer]

You're going to hit me.

[He walks behind her, stripping off his gloves, his shirt, and his goggles in short order and leaving them by the door.]

Whether you're going to hurt me is another matter entirely.

[He reaches the skyway bridge and he nods to her.]

But more importantly... you're going to listen.

[daughterofursa]

Because I'm sure what you have to say is the most important thing I'll ever hear.

[Her attempts at civility may have done something to hide her venom towards him before, but that's definitely not the case now.]

[bakegarasu]

[Otoha does not sleep very much, but when he does it's usually during the 'day'. Not that days or nights mean much here, but keeping up with his old schedule is just fine for him. So when he finds Zuko and the dragonling in the field, it's 'morning' for him. He doesn't have to take his turn guarding the prisoners until later, so he sits down, just watching the two for the moment.]

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko glances over at him without getting up.]

It's not time for my shift yet, is it?

[Though that would be preferable to another argument about what a failure she is.]

[bakegarasu]

No, not yet. I was just... checking on some of the plants, and I saw you.

[He eyes Kizuna a little warily. He's still not a huge fan of dragons, and just because she's small doesn't mean she can't do damage.]

[daughterofursa]

Oh.

[Kizuna chirps anxiously. Why are you looking at her that way, stranger? She is a magnificent baby dragon, doesn't everyone love her?

Zuko strokes her mane comfortingly.]

She doesn't bite. [At least not unprovoked. Zuko would not advise stuffing her in your shirt.]

Later...

[twinked_witch]

[Megaera's approach to Zuko was open, and she seemed... Well-adjusted enough. Her steps are her usual tight near-sashay, and she's slightly adjusted.]

Hey. You... Okay?

[daughterofursa]

[It's a little harder to shrug from this position, but Zuko tries anyway.]

Are you?

[twinked_witch]

... I... Honestly don't know.

There's questions I have... And I don't know if anyone can really help answer them.

[daughterofursa]

I probably don't have the answers either.

But you might as well ask them.

[Who knows, maybe the universe will answer?]

[scary_music]

[Ibuki's passing by and...]

[... well, okay, apparently the musician is just gonna flop onto the ground next to Zuko]

[daughterofursa]

[...quietly?

Zuko glances over at her and Kizuna gives a little chirp of greeting.]

...hey.

[scary_music]

[She can be quiet when she wants to be!]

Hey, Zuko-chan!

[... and then she proceeds to do a pretty good imitation of Kizuna's chirp back at the dragon]

[daughterofursa]

[She seems cheerful enough.]

How are you doing?

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[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.]

[daughterofursa]

[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.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

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

Hey. Taking a break?

[daughterofursa]

[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?