38 - [video] Item Rain~

[forged_anew]

[Here, guys, have a Zuko in his shiny new Fire Nation cloak and looking fairly pleased about it. Behind him, spread out over the couch, is his armor, and Momo is perched on the back of the couch next to it, huge ears twitching curiously as he prods at a point with one paw.

Zuko smooths the cloak over his chest, just watching Momo for a moment before he seems to remember he was going to say something and turns back to the camera, frowning slightly]

I don't know what the scientists are trying to pull, but I'm getting kind of suspicious of all the useful things I've been getting... first the pepper tree, now this and even some spices from home along with the clothes.

Then again, it seems a bunch of people got things they didn't want or need. I don't see the pattern... Could it be a mistake? Or are they just giving us random things from home? Why doesn't this place ever make any sense?

Comments

[voice]

[forged_anew]

[this time, his laugh doesn't sound so nice. Guess who's been in the forest lots~]

If the need comes up again, there's no point in suggesting that, Claire.

[voice]

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

[suddenly serious] Zuko, you could get hurt!

[voice]

[forged_anew]

[oh, for the love of Agni, not you too!]

Or I could help somebody else not get hurt. I can handle myself, Claire, with or without my Firebending.

[voice]

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

[She can't help it, she has to point out the obvious risks to everyone in a whiny voice.] You think you can handle yourself, but what if you're wrong? Do you really know everything that's out there? These monsters only need you to slip up once.

[voice]

[forged_anew]

So you're saying that I should sit at home because it's not safe, is that it?

[voice]

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

No, I'm saying you should be careful and smart. Smart means not running off into the forest where you could easily get swarmed by monsters.

[voice]

[forged_anew]

[sigh]

I'm not gonna go running off into it for no reason again. I'm just saying--

Look, I've had to help friends out more than once when they were attacked. One time, a friend of mine wandered in by accident. I'm armed and skilled, and if I wasn't willing to go in there when it matters, that doesn't speak too well about me, does it?

[voice]

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

[long silence while she tries to come up with an argument for this]

...

[sighs] Fine. I guess that ... makes sense. I just don't like it when people put themselves in danger. Especially not friends.

[voice]

[forged_anew]

[quietly]

Neither do I, Claire.

[wait a second. paaaaause.]

...wait. Does that mean I'm a friend?

[voice]

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, if you're okay with that.

[voice]

[forged_anew]

Uh... yeah. I'm okay with that...

[voice]

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

Good, I'm glad. [laughs] Why do you sound so surprised?

[voice]

[forged_anew]

Um...

[yeah, he really shouldn't be after months here making friends and all but... it didn't used to be this easy]

I guess because I'm still... kinda getting used to it.w

[voice]

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

Still getting used to what, making friends? [The idea of not being able to make friends easily shouldn't be as foreign to Claire as it is, but she grew up ~popular~ despite her new feelings of not quite fitting in.]

[voice] ...random W wtf? ._.

[forged_anew]

Making, having... yeah. Something like that.

[voice] lmfao i was wondering how that got there.

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

[her tone is very telling of how weird she finds this] But, you're so nice.

[voice] it's a ninja W. I have no idea. lmao

[forged_anew]

[a soft, somewhat bitter laugh]

Not really.

[voice]

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

I don't know about that, I'm a pretty good judge of character.

[voice]

[forged_anew]

For a long time... I wasn't a very good person. I did some pretty bad things and I didn't care about having friends. I didn't think I needed anyone.

[voice]

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

... How bad are we talking?

[voice]

[forged_anew]

[a long pause. Sob, if it's bad enough, are you gonna stop being my friend? 8( But he's not gonna lie so...]

I spent several years hunting down and trying to capture the one person who could end a terrible war... And that person was a 12-year-old kid, too.. I was willing to destroy the balance of the world just to make myself feel better. I stole. I hurt people for selfish reasons.

I hurt people I cared about...

[voice] /tldr

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

[She was being cautious for Sylar indicators, but what he's talking about just sounds like what you'd hear about from any soldier who'd been through a bad war -- just following orders. It was an excuse she'd given her dad more times than she could count, so she lets out a little sigh of relief. No killing. The rest was excusable.]

Zuko, back home? My dad spent twenty years hunting people like me and locking them away because they were "too dangerous." Yeah, he was mislead, but he knows it was a mistake now and I've forgiven him [mostly] for it. That's what's important.

You feel guilty for it, and you know it wasn't right, don't you? You would never let something like that happen again? Then, you're a good person now, even if you may have missed the mark when those things were happening.

[a pause] When I say "my dad" I don't mean Nathan. Nathan didn't -- [well, okay, he did.] spend years personally hunting people like me. [Great recovery, Claire.] I was adopted, Nathan's my real dad, it was my adoptive father that did that stuff. Um. Sorry, I know you don't really like Nathan so I just ... wanted to make sure you didn't ... think worse of him?

[voice] Awww, I love tldr <3333 /have some tldr right back~

[forged_anew]

[He listens quietly, knowing in part what she'll say. What everyone says. And yes, he knows it and he's trying to make up for it but he can't even do that here. He needs to be home helping the world recover and patching up his country and its relations with all the other nations it hurt... But she's right, and it sounds like she's been on the Aang-side of this sort of thing, in a way.

A soft sigh]

Abilities aren't common in your world, I take it? My country waged a war on the rest of the world for a hundred years and systematically captured and imprisoned Benders from different countries so we'd have less opposition.

I do feel guilty for it, and as Firelord I'm doing everything in my power to help the world recover. But sometimes I think... it took too long for me to realize. Maybe if I'd figured things out sooner, less people would have had to die and be hurt.

[...]

Oh. Yeah, Nathan mentioned he only met you a few years ago. And you don't have to apologize.

[voice] mmm can't get enough tldr~ <33

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

[She gives a quiet 'mmmhm' when he asks if abilities are uncommon in her world, listening quietly as he explains. She doesn't quite understand the situation in his world, and she's not going to pretend to, but she liked to think she gleaned the more important nuances, even if she didn't understand the war.]

No amount of dwelling can change the past, but you can make sure it isn't repeated. I know that it can be hard to do, but sometimes the best thing you can do is to let go of the past and use the energy you'd focus on the past onto building for the future instead, especially if you're a leader. Just make sure those mistakes are never made again and you'll have done all that you can.

[laughs] And, now it sounds like I'm ... some kind of expert on this thing. I'm not. I just ... I've done a lot of forgiving in the past couple years and seen a lot of people keep beating themselves up over what they've done even after they've been forgiven. The longer you dwell, the more time you sacrifice that could have been used to move in a more positive direction. [pause] I mean, not here, obviously, because there's not much you can do here, but since you're going to return right in the same place you left from I guess you'll ... still get that chance, right?

[voice]

[forged_anew]

Yeah, that's what I keep telling myself too. But beyond even just me, it's going to take a lot of work to get the Nations back in order. Aang's helping me, obviously, but the Fire Nation just--

My ancestors started the war and my father wanted to make it even worse. My family's done some really bad things. War, genocide, irresponsible military tactics that even got our own killed... But my father also had a lot of supporters and I wasn't supposed to be on the throne. There's so much I need to do, but instead I'm stuck here and sometimes I just can't stand it. I really hope we actually return to when we were taken from or things could get so much worse...