Zuko (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
daughterofursa) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thebastion2015-07-17 07:54 pm
daughterofursa) wrote in thebastion2015-07-17 07:54 pm
Entry tags:
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.
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.
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[It's said under her breath, half a growl, because she's done arguing. Because she didn't see it coming, because Crona died on her watch, everything she did right that day doesn't matter? Colin wasn't even there, and he's trying to assign credit to a berserker who would have been more help if she'd listened to orders, and luck. It wasn't luck that got them through that situation, because they sure as hell hadn't had any. It was Rob and Megaera, Tobias and Mitellux. And herself.
He's like her father. Ignoring her efforts because they don't lead to perfection. Ignoring the fact that it's hard, and perfection is impossible for anyone, not just her. Even ignoring the fact that two people dying is a big deal, even if they're enemies, because the only path to victory doesn't have to be a violently bloody one. A hard heart doesn't make a good ruler.
It took her years to learn that she doesn't have to take this. No one has the right to tell her who she is or who she will be. Especially not someone who wasn't there, and won't acknowledge the efforts of her friends either.
Forget swords. Zuko brings her leg up and kicks a plume of fire directly at Colin. Because it's Zuko, the heat dissipates quickly enough that it's unlikely to burn, but the force of it would knock a normal person down.]
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[He knows a lot more than he's saying.]
[But right now, he just wants to hurt you. And he's going to give you every chance to try and hurt him. Because you've certainly earned it for dealing with him all these months.]
[But the key word there is "try".]
Are you so militarily inept that you don't know what a tactical retreat looks like?
[And here comes the kick. He simply shifts his weight into it, and he barely moves when she hits him. It's a good kick, there's no denying it. But the flames don't frighten him, and he's been raised with people who've taught him at least enough about combat to not die horribly, so he knows how to take a hit.]
Harder. That would have been enough to take out a squirt, maybe.
[To say he's expecting perfection is the truth. Normally, he doesn't care. The only place perfection is expected in his life is on the job. But he's buried too many people, watched too many people make mistakes, and too many people here don't realize just how much the rules have changed.]
[When the worlds were whole, when people could live life mostly carefree, he'd have left this alone. But now, everyone else's decisions have a miserably important effect on his own life expectancy.]
We STILL know nothing about who's coming after us. You wanna root for yourself? You wanna feel good about getting screwed? That's your call. But I'm not the only one judging people by an insane metric.
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Even with all his goading, her next fireball just goes flying past his face. He's just standing there, he's not even fighting back.]
You think I feel good about this? You think it's insane not to want anyone dead, on any side?
I don't want to see the world you come from.
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What will it take to get you to see that?! I haven't killed ANYONE except that damn lizard that ate me, and I had a lot of help on that one! Until last week, every single weapon I've built has been non-lethal except for two turrets and a couple of HE grenades that I don't plan to use except as a last resort!
[And the grenade launcher, but that guy went and got himself killed or lost.]
But if you want to fight back without killing someone, you need to get some intel on who you're fighting! Because I GUARANTEE you that they don't feel that way about us.
And for gods' sake, quit trying to scare me! You suck at it! Work out your damn aggression already! I didn't come here to drink tea!
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[If Colin was a firebender she would have challenged him to about 60 agni kais by now.]
I know we need to deal with these people! I know they're still out there and they could show up any day now and attack us or attack the Ura-- but we haven't gotten them to talk yet and I bet you'll call that my failure, too!
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We need to go back to the Ura, investigate the scene, find out more about the weapons they used and how they made them! Find out where they retreated to! Find out if the Ura saw anything suspicious in the days leading up to it!
We need to use our brains!
[He scowls.]
Why did I even tell you to bring the swords out here if you're not gonna use 'em? You need to get out your aggression just as much as I do!
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I'm not carrying these swords for you. As much as we hate each other, we're on the same side.
And this is a waste of my time.
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You think I want you to try and kill me? ... Let me rephrase. You think your swords CAN? Your swords might be the only thing you've got that could do any damage to me at all.
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... Are you trying to tell me you're fireproof?
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And I brought you out here to try and get through to you and maybe let you work out some aggression. The insults are just a happy bonus.
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She's just going to blast another fireball directly at his face and turn to walk back to the Skyway bridge without saying anything.]
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Reminds me of everything you told me about your father.
[He actually doesn't know hardly anything about her dad, but the anger? He's betting that will hit a mark.]
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Me? You're more like him than I'll ever be!
[She hopes that's true. She really, really does.]
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Am I? Am I really?
All I've got to use against you is words, and the hope that you might actually see an opposing viewpoint.
You're the one throwing fireballs, and ignoring me because you don't like me. Well, and because I'm insulting you, but that's only new to today.
Tell me... just how far from the mark am I?
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[She jabs a finger towards her scar.] You think this was the worst thing he did to me?
He made me believe I deserved it. He did that with words, by telling me every chance he got that I was weak, and worthless, and a failure. The things I cared about didn't mean anything and the things I did were never good enough.
For sixteen years, I believed him. Fuck you if you think I still should.
[Thanks for the curse words, Rin.]
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Your father was a piece of rancid smegma on a flacid cock. As I recall, saying a variation of that's what pissed you off towards me in the first place. But since you want to get vulgar, listen here you pitiful stain on the frayed edge of the tapestry of your mother's honor.
[Don't start cursing at him unless you're prepared for it to come back at you, Zuko.]
If I wanted you to feel bad, I'd be trying to worm my way into your good graces, eroding your confidence with thinly veiled platitudes. You don't listen to a word I say, so trying to make you think you're worthless is a plan that's doomed to failure. People only care about what people think about them if it's people they LIKE.
I'd been hoping that I could get you to want to prove me wrong, show me up, but I missed that mark. Probably because I also wanted to hurt you for your callous treatment of your fellow survivors. Which, by the way, is closer to your father than you'll EVER admit to.
You're going to get more people killed, princess, because you're too proud to admit when you're wrong. I'm proud too, I won't argue that. But my pride is tempered with tolerance for different beliefs, and the knowledge that I shouldn't be leading anything but rebuilding efforts.
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Zuko's fists are balled up so tightly she's shaking, and smoke comes out of her nostrils when she exhales, but she's not going to give him the satisfaction of attacking him again. She's not going to do it.]
I don't need you to tell me when I'm wrong and I don't need you to tell me to do better. [She'll do that to herself plenty as it is. And he's absolutely wrong if he thinks he doesn't have the power to make her feel awful about herself just because she doesn't like him.]
Don't. speak to me. again.
[The thing is, she was willing to listen to him before. She tried to filter out the attitude because she knows he's smart and he has good ideas, but she just can't deal with it on this level. Every word out of his mouth tells her he has no respect for her.
Skyway bridge. That is where she's going.]
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That's not the world we live in.
[He's going to circle around her and get in her way. And yeah, the soot and smoke on his arm is one of those reasons why he didn't want to wear a shirt out here.]
You think I'm happy doing this? You think I LIKE insulting people? Let alone someone who SHOULD be one of our biggest assets?!
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Zuko glances at his arm and proceeds to try walking around him.]
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Fine. Then let's make two things clear and I'll leave you alone.
One, you stay out of my workshop. You cross the threshold, you're getting pasted to the wall and then bodily removed. That's your warning.
Two, you stay away from Ikuri. You've done ENOUGH damage there.
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Instead of acknowledging either of his points, she pulls her amulet off over her head, chucks it at him, and makes another attempt to walk around him. Whatever he says now, she won't understand unless he actually knows Chinese.]
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