Day 256 [Open]

[daughterofursa]

Who: Zuko and anyone
Open: Open!
When: Day 256, evening
Where: By the lake
What: A failure to meditate
Format: I'll match
Warnings: Honor

Zuko knows she's always been hard on herself, but she's never really considered it to be too hard. But some of the things people have been saying about her... Well, people in the Bastion have always expressed a more positive view of her than she thinks she deserves, and she always figured it was because they don't know what she's come from, but she's finally starting to wonder. Maybe the flawed perspective is her own.

Which is why she is attempting something else which, like positive thinking, she is not very good at: meditating. Whoever really wants to can find her by the lake, sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed and... definitely scowling more than she ought to be.

Comments

[daughterofursa]

Her heart? Well..

"It seems pretty stupid to care about someone who hates you, doesn't it? But I see how other people are with their siblings..." Maybe she's just envious, and wants something she could never have with Azula.

[twinked_witch]

"Other people have other circumstances, including a father who wasn't actively guiding them towards insanity," Megaera countered. "Their experiences aren't yours - never will be, either. You can take advice from them, but no one's the same, and every path's a little different from every other, when you get right down to it."

[daughterofursa]

"I guess I just wish our path had been different." Zuko frowned. "If she showed up here, I'd have to fight her again. Part of me... hopes that won't ever happen."

Part of her hoped that Azula was dead. She couldn't quite say it out loud. That had to make her a bad person, didn't it? As many times as they'd fought before, she'd only ever thought about defeating Azula. Wanting her dead was so much worse than that. It wasn't the sort of thing she should think about if she had really made any progress as a person.

[twinked_witch]

"What is in the past is in the past, ultimately. It is important that you learn from it, but vital that you don't let it consume your future."

Megaera's view on this was, of course, skewed. "There's one other thing, I suspect. If she were to show up here, you'd have people willing to help you face her down. That matters, right?"

[daughterofursa]

Learn from it, but don't let it consume you. That was a balance that Zuko hadn't found yet.

"I know I would. It might be safer if they didn't help." Her hand unconsciously went to touch her abdomen, and the hidden scar she got from that fight.

[twinked_witch]

"Hrm... Let me show you an example of what I mean. Do you have energy left for your fire manipulation techniques?"

Megaera was actually out of her main spells... But for this little demonstration, she could go without.

[daughterofursa]

Zuko frowned in confusion. "Yes, but what does that have to do with it?"

[twinked_witch]

Megaera chuckled, raising her hands, blue tendrils of energy forming around them as she began a precise series of motions. "Protection From Energy, Fire."

She did actually know that spell, but as the energy faded, she hadn't actually cast it.

"Try it on me. Not your fullest force, but enough that it'd definitely hurt normally."

[daughterofursa]

"What? I- I'm not going to bend at you." At least not in a way that it could actually hurt her.

[twinked_witch]

"I'd like to see how you fight firsthand. And the spell I just cast, combined with a bit of good old-fashioned toughness, will be enough to keep me safe. Assuming you don't go to extremes of force way past what's the level in my world, which I don't think to be too likely."

[daughterofursa]

"I don't need to attack you to show you how I fight. And it's not Azula's fire I'm worried about, it's her lightning. Can your spell protect against that, too?"

[twinked_witch]

"Different form of it, but yes. In fact, when I use it on myself, I'm essentially immune to lightning."

Megaera couldn't help but chuckle. "It's a common problem, where I'm from, sadly."

[daughterofursa]

Immune to lightning? That was a little hard to believe, and... almost insulting if true, from how easily she said it. But for it to be 'common'? At least lightning generation was a rare skill for a firebender.

"How is that funny?"

[twinked_witch]

"Only that your tone implies that lightning is a very, very special power where you are from. Where I'm from, it's the signature weapon of blue dragons and many forms of magic. The hazards change with the world, is all. On the other hand, your world's unarmed arts are probably much more evolved than those I'd recognize - so I'd have a hard time blocking your attacks."

[daughterofursa]

"I don't see how it's anything to make light of. That kind of power is deadly. Unless you're a firebender, and one who's been trained to redirect it, the only thing you can do is run."

[twinked_witch]

"It isn't. It's possibly one of the most dangerous things I've heard described since I arrived. However, it's also something that I, specifically, have a specific technique to mitigate. Again, with the spell I mentioned, your sister's lightning by itself would do nothing to me. I'd have more to worry about from her direct strikes, though. Like some kind of cosmic balance, perhaps."

Her voice was slowly calming as she spoke. "I am not underestimating the threat, let me be clear. I am saying that, with the right help, you can handle it. Don't close yourself off to possibilities from beyond."

[daughterofursa]

"I'd rather everyone stay out of it so no one has to get hurt. She'd target people I care about, and that... That's the last thing I want."

[twinked_witch]

"We're not exactly in that large a space, unfortunately, here in the Bastion. If she shows up, we'll likely be involved no matter what. As a result... Well, knowing is half any Wizard's battle. And that rule isn't just for Wizards."

[daughterofursa]

As much as Zuko hated to admit it, she was probably right.

"...so, what? You think I should issue a general warning or something? 'Watch out for my sister'?"

[twinked_witch]

"Potentially, though she may be an unlikely hazard. More importantly... Don't be afraid to ask others for ideas how to handle things. You know your world and the limits there, but different worlds have different limits."

Megaera shifted a bit. "More than that... It's not just your worry about her potentially returning that's got you off-balance, I don't think."

[daughterofursa]

Zuko glanced away. "No, I wasn't really thinking about Azula."

Because, like Megaera said, it wasn't that likely that she would show up.

[twinked_witch]

"True enough. The conversation simply turned that way. But then, if I might ask... What does leave you so disconcerted? Your tension is... Very present, I feel."

[daughterofursa]

"... It's what you said before. About being confident. I don't really care how I look--" Well, that was a bit of a lie, but it was true that her appearance wasn't a priority. "--but other people see things about me that I don't. I used to think they just didn't know me that well."

[twinked_witch]

"... It's very hard to look at oneself in the mirror and see what others see, indeed," Megaera responded. "To understand another's emotions and how they affect their perception of you, even harder. Sometimes, the most important thing to do there, though, is to trust that what other people say about you is what they really think of you. Regardless of who it is, honesty is the default, because you have to think about a lie more."

... How true that one was, Megaera considered with a bit of a sense of irony, given how she had been holding onto a lie her entire time here. She knew how to bluff and lie easily, but even then, she preferred to be truthful if the truth wouldn't cause her problems. Funny how that was true among most of her kind.

"And, of course, I've already told you what I see in you, and having spoken with you more, I wouldn't have much to add to that."

[daughterofursa]

"I don't think anyone's lying. You don't have to lie to be wrong about something."

She just wasn't so sure anymore about who was wrong. If everyone else agreed on something and she was the only one who felt differently, it was worth considering whether she was the one seeing things wrong.