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

[twinked_witch]

"One of the only times my powers have the leg-up, it seems. I can read all of it naturally, since one of my abilities grants me an inherent understanding of language. Unfortunately, for me, it's natural enough that I wouldn't be able to really do proper academic linguistics on it... So I couldn't teach the language."

Megaera chuckled. "But that's still kind of a solitary thing. People are social, but I'm.. Not always so."

[daughterofursa]

Well, then there was plenty for her to read.

"But you want to be?" Social, that was. Not being social wasn't necessarily a bad thing, unless it wasn't by choice.

[twinked_witch]

"Come on, someone as pretty as me shouldn't be all antisocial! Especially not when I have long-built piles of wisdom to share with people."

... Was she puffing up past what she honestly thought of herself for the sake of a point? Hard to tell.

[daughterofursa]

"That wasn't what I asked. Being pretty has nothing to do with it."

Despite what Megaera had told her before, for someone who didn't think of herself as pretty, saying that was a little insulting. Like maybe it was better for ugly people to be antisocial.

[twinked_witch]

"I was joking, to be clear", Megaera responded. "I like my look, but I also encourage you to like yours. You're great as you are, and I really do mean that."

She smiled, then continued, "But you're right that I do want to be more social. The big question is, do you feel the same? To you, which is better: A small circle of people you deeply trust, or a village who supports you and you support in turn?"

[daughterofursa]

"Can't I want both?"

She wanted anyone in the Bastion to know that they could count on her (and she wanted to believe it herself), but she also needed people who really cared about her.

[twinked_witch]

"Perhaps you are wiser than I, to recognize the value of both," Megaera observed with a chuckle. "But it's more about if you're fundamentally an introvert or an extrovert. Do you recharge by being with people, or being alone or with just a couple of people?"

[daughterofursa]

Zuko squinted at her, not understanding this line of questioning. "What are you talking about? I 'recharge' by sleeping."

Did Megaera not sleep?

[twinked_witch]

She didn't, but that was beside the point.

"Your sleeping is entirely tangental to what I'm trying to ask," Megaera responded with a sigh. "Introverts, when they don't have to be, prefer to be alone or with only a few people. They tend to prefer quiet, so to speak. Extroverts are the inverse, preferring to be with people when they get the chance. They're commonly considered 'louder' people. It speaks to your priorities, is what I'm getting at."

[daughterofursa]

"I like people." The statement came out somewhat defensively, because she knew she often didn't seem like it. People told her she didn't smile enough (or at all) or thought she was prickly because she didn't like being around them.

More often, if she left a social situation, it was because she was frustrated with herself for not knowing how to handle it.

[twinked_witch]

"That sounds like an extrovert, perhaps with some awkwardness issues," Megaera responded, the smile returning to her face.

"Then, the question becomes, from whence comes your confidence, and what gets in the way of that?"

[daughterofursa]

"I don't know. I don't always.. get people. It's a lot easier giving orders, or if you share the same goal."

See also: the part where she knows how to handle a battle but not a party.

[twinked_witch]

"But when there's no goal other than a bit of fun, you've got a rougher time of things. You haven't figured out for yourself how to relax and unwind. I could offer ideas, but they wouldn't necessarily be right for you."

[daughterofursa]

The bigger obstacle was letting herself enjoy things, but having something she enjoyed was also a problem.

"Well, it couldn't hurt to try them."

[twinked_witch]

Megaera chuckled a bit. "Well, the ones I've stuff for are few. Maybe I should burn some Shards on some things, actually. I have rather been racking them up."

She paused. "Perhaps that, itself, would be a clue. What would you wish for that isn't a person, and doesn't relate to the larger goals of the Bastion?", Megaera asked. "Off the cuff. Don't overthink it."

[daughterofursa]

"Dragons," Zuko answered without needing much time. She'd thought about it before and it had come up with a few people, but... "But that's a bad idea."

[twinked_witch]

"What interests you in dragons, if I might ask?", Megaera continued. A quick answer - a good start.

[daughterofursa]

"They're the original firebenders. It... might be the only way I ever see another firebender."

And if they were extinct now, it wasn't the Calamity that had done most of the work.

[twinked_witch]

"A connection to your history, then," Megaera observed. "And... You have a point."

[daughterofursa]

"I can't put everyone in danger like that though. I don't know that much about dragons, but I'm pretty sure they're fine with eating people they don't like."

It would be a sure-fire way to get rid of Colin.

[twinked_witch]

"'Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are tasty and good with ketchup.' An old proverb from my world. Mind, dragons are... Different where I'm from, I think. Only the red ones breathe fire."

Actually, she was misremembering that.

"Still, your answer was swift. And it says a few things about you. Tell me, were you ever one for flight?"

[daughterofursa]

What was ketchup?

"Flight?" Zuko repeated, not having expected that question. "Well, I've ridden Aang's sky bison and Paarthurnax the one time, but I had other things on my mind."

Mostly the end of the world. And the end of the world could be a real downer.

[twinked_witch]

"Just thinking of common ideas associated with dragons. History and fire are two things, but flight's a big one where I'm from. Death From Above and all that, but they're also really majestic fliers for scaly megaliths. How large are they in your world, if I might ask?"

[daughterofursa]

"Ran and Shaw were big. At least three times as big as Paarthurnax."

It was somewhat difficult to measure under the circumstances, but they could have easily swallowed both her and Aang whole.

[twinked_witch]

"Paarthurnax being how large?", Megaera asked by way of clarification. To her, a large-by-dragon-standards dragon was close to thirty feet tall... While sitting.