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]

"I hunted the Avatar. I betrayed my uncle and helped my sister conquer Ba Sing Se to win the war. I was... on the wrong side and I didn't even know it."

[blackblooded]

"I knew I was on the wrong side. That's worse."

[daughterofursa]

"What?" It never actually occurred to Zuko to wonder what Crona might have done.

[blackblooded]

"You didn't know you were on the wrong side." And Crona tried to destroy the entire world. "I know I was on the wrong side. If I get another chance, you should too. I got another chance. So you get one. That's how this works."

[daughterofursa]

"Isn't it worse not to know? I haven't been very good at telling right from wrong. That's supposed to be basic."

[blackblooded]

"It isn't, you know." The difference between right and wrong. "If you never know what right is, you don't recognize it."

[daughterofursa]

"...you mean you don't just.. feel it?"

[blackblooded]

"If.... um... if you never ate something before, you don't know what it is." That's a good example, right? "If you never ate a tomato, you wouldn't know it was a tomato. You wouldn't even know if it was good to eat."

[daughterofursa]

"Or like you might eat something poisonous thinking it was tea?"

Zuko is not always the best with metaphors.

[blackblooded]

"Just like that." Thankfully, the metaphor is exactly what Crona was going for. "You didn't know it was bad."

[daughterofursa]

"But what if there's more bad tomatoes or whatever that I don't know about? It took me years to figure it out, and I hurt a lot of people."

[blackblooded]

"Are you going to hurt anyone? If you're hurting someone, that's probably bad. So just don't hurt anyone anymore."

[daughterofursa]

"...I've been trying not to."

[blackblooded]

"Trying is what you should do. You just have to try."

[daughterofursa]

"Not everyone is that forgiving of mistakes."

[blackblooded]

"The people here are." Crona nods. That's something the meister's learned by now. "I've been here a long time, and I know that."

[daughterofursa]

Zuko hesitates, and then nods. "Yeah. They seem like it."

[blackblooded]

"They are." Crona carefully reaches out a hand to Zuko. "I-if you need a friend, I can, um, I can try that."

[daughterofursa]

Zuko blinks. She's not sure what the hand is for, but the offer of friendship?

"I'd say I'm not that great at it, but... maybe I'm just a bad judge of it. ... I could try, too."

[blackblooded]

Crona makes a little attempt at a smile.

"Th-that would be nice."

[daughterofursa]

"All right. We'll... try to be friends."

[blackblooded]

And then Crona taps cautious fingers against Zuko's hand.

"Th-there. Now we're friends."

[daughterofursa]

"Oh. Are we supposed to-?"

She remembers she did this hand thing once. She reaches for Crona's hand to give it a good shake.

[blackblooded]

Crona freezes, staring down at the handshake. That's not really what Crona was looking for, but maybe it's not bad? Zuko's grip is a bit too strong for Crona, but it's probably okay because it means Zuko is trying to be friendly.

[daughterofursa]

No, that doesn't seem like the right reaction.

"Did I do it wrong?"