thebastion | Day 219 [Open]

Who: Zuko and anyone
Open: Open!
When: Day 219, morning
Where: By the lake
What: Being Paar's secretary
Format: I'll match
Warnings: Honor

Zuko can be found by the lake shore, on the Dragonfield side, with a few piles of stone slabs nearby. Many here should clearly recognize the marks carved into the stone as Dovahzul, and some of Paarthurnax's students might pick out the names and skills of those in the Bastion. Zuko has a stack of paper in her lap and is transcribing them with a writing brush. For the ones she understands, she's also adding a line in her own language (traditional Chinese to any Earth folk), and for the ones she doesn't, she's leaving space until she can ask Paarthurnax. Every now and again she makes a note aside on a separate sheet, more for herself.

Some of the turtle ducks are milling around in the water nearby. One particularly curious one is hanging around by her inkstone and probably in need of being shooed away before it gets ink on itself.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Zuko gives her a flat look, because they aren't trying to be turtles, but then she shrugs.]

I've always liked them.

Yeah, I can see why. They're pretty, uh...

[ ... yeah, just gonna let that hang there.

she turns her attention back to the other girl and raises an eyebrow. ]

Whatcha writin', anyway?

It's a list of skills of the people here. Paarthurnax and I thought it would be good to know the next time we find ourselves facing some kind of crisis.

Did you talk to him?

Parthpbbt-what?

[ yeah she actually managed to blow a raspberry trying to pronounce that. ]

Who's Parthnuzz? [ skyla ]

...Paarthurnax. The dragon.

[Come on, if she can say it, you can say it.]

Paa-aa-th-nax...?

[ that's probably as close as you're going to get skyla, give up while you're ahead.

she does look fairly caught off guard though and promptly raises an eyebrow. ]

The what?

Dragon.

You must have at least seen him. He stands out.

... wait, he's the fucking dragon?

Like, I heard we had a smart-ass dragon here and I saw him around, but I didn't know he was...

[ aaaand we've just gonna let that hang there too. ]

Shit, I guess it was pretty stupid to think we'd only get humans here. I mean, people show up in most of the worlds I've been, but I guess there has to be at least a couple million where we don't even exist, right?

I guess.

[She takes that reaction to mean dragons don't talk in Skyla's world either, but still.]

Wait. You've been to other worlds before?

You haven't?

[ it's said wryly, though, with more than a hint of self-deprecation and she looks back towards the turtleducks, doing her best to keep her expression as neutral as she can. ]

S'what my powers were before I came here. Some lady I met once called it "world walking", but that's dumb.

Now it's more like, uh... teleportation, or something? I mean, it's not like there's anywhere else for me to go, but it's gotta keep working somehow.

[Zuko would go ahead and add that to her list, only...]

Tele...portation? What's that?

[Skyla isn't the only one in the Bastion who can do it, but Zuko doesn't know the Dovahzul for it either. Those entries on her list just have a nice blank under them where her translation would go.]

... you don't know? Isn't that like, your basic-- ah, never mind.

[ she gives a little huff of a sigh and then shrugs her shoulders. ]

Disappearing from where you are and poppin' up someplace else. I can show you, if you want -- s'not like I can go that far with it, anyway.

No, that's all right.

[She thinks she understands. What it is if not how it works, anyway, although the answer to that is probably "magic."]

How far can you go with it?

[ she shrugs. ]

Not really sure.

S'not far though. Most I've been able to make it about, uh... ten feet or so? So it's not really that big a deal.

It's enough to avoid most attacks. It could save your life.

[Isn't that a big enough deal?]

[ she actually looks... surprised by that, as if it'd never even occurred to her before and she tilts her head. ]

Huh.

You really think so?

Yeah. I've never known anyone to move that fast.

[ she shifts from one foot to the other, looking almost... bashful. ]

Well, s'not really... moving exactly...? It's like... blinkin' I guess, one place to another.

Still, no one's going to keep up with you.

...what was your name? [So she can write this down and all.]

Huh. I guess. I can only do it a couple times before I get tired, though but I guess it's useful in an emergency.

[ she's clearly pleased though, even with how much she's trying to cover it up. ]

Uh -- Skyla. Skyla Arkin, if you need surnames, too.

[Zuko doesn't notice. She's used to others being more openly expressive about their positive feelings, even if she's cautious with her own.

She writes Skyla's full name down in Dovahzul, because the phonetic alphabet makes that easier.]

Not everyone has a family name. [Which suits her just fine, she supposes.] My name is Zuko.

No family name, then. Makes my job easier -- s'one less to remember.

[ she finally leaves the edge of the lake and walks over to peer down at the tablet properly. ]

So what's your thing? If mine's teleportation.

Me? I'm a firebender.

Though, I use my swords here more, with the limitation.

Firebender...?

What's that? Like, you control fire or something?

[ she actually looks duly impressed impressed by that. ]

Guess I wouldn't want to get into a fight with you if I could help it.

[Zuko nods in confirmation, but she looks uncomfortable with Skyla's last remark.]

I'm not interested in firebending at anyone. That would be a poor show of restraint.

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magisperica - 2014-09-10 14:03 (UTC) - Expand

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