☀ 02, log

[flammatory]

Who: Zuko and whoever wants in! OPEN.
When: Sometime this week, whenever.
Where: Around the island.
Format: Action tags, please?
Warnings: None! Not even swearing for this guy, at least.

on the beach.
[It's early morning at the beach, and the sun is glinting across the waves, a darker blue-green contrast to the pale white-blue of the sky. The air feels light and crisp, salty, this early in spring; but regardless of how cold it is, it's still the best time to firebend in the morning.

Which is what Zuko's doing. He has a very practiced, sharply punctuated style of martial arts, because it is literally a form of kung fu. He sweeps across the sand, plumes and waves of fire preceding him. He's frowning with concentration, but focused as he is, he's aware enough to notice someone approaching. He knows the beach is more or less public, and doesn't want to catch anyone with fire accidentally.]

in the village.
[Later on in the day in early afternoon, the clouds are starting to roll through and cast gray over the island. Zuko's taking the chance to dig through the rubble in the abandoned village, and anyone walking by might hear him grumbling from within a half-collapsed building.]

Ow! Stupid beam... [Yeah, he just hit his head on a structural beam. His life is hard.]

at the harbor.
[Once evening comes, though, Zuko is back to his preferred default activity: brooding. He's standing near the edge of the pier, staring out into the ocean with a pensive expression. He's trying to be blank and neutral, but it's undeniably not working; there is a darker, preoccupied cast to him.

It matches the fact that by now the cloud cover has become more of a carpet across the sky, and the fading light is weak and dreary over the roiling water.]

Comments

[flammatory]

... What, really? More flying people?

Do you use that ki stuff? [Since the only person he's seen fly without a glider for lift was Trunks.]

[rainbowarch]

[All he does is tilt his head to one side.]

No. I don't even know what that is. I use wings, of course.

[flammatory]

And your wings are where now?

[rainbowarch]

Right here!

[TRANSFORMING NOW. First the strange tattoo on his leg glows blue and his body changes into the flying creature.

Cielo, stop forgetting to warn people you turn into a winged demon with big sharp teeth.]

[flammatory]

[Yeah, he probably should start doing that, because Zuko immediately takes several quick steps backwards towards the edge of the pier.]

Wh-what is this?! [He's about an inch away from throwing fire around to defend himself if he needs to.] Is that really you?!

[rainbowarch]

Ja, ja, it's me.

[Even his voice is different in this form.]

Nothing to worry about, I won't hurt you. See? Here are my wings.

[flammatory]

You didn't have to give me a demonstration! [he snaps, but though he's still keeping his distance, he falls out of his fighting stance.]

What did you just do?

[rainbowarch]

Sorry, sorry. [He looks apologetic despite the fact that this form can't show emotion very well.]

Just transformed into my demon, ja? Everyone where I'm from can do it.

[flammatory]

What do you mean, a demon? Like an evil spirit?

[He gives him a dubious look.] And can you change back now? I can't talk to you like this.

[rainbowarch]

[Woah, woah okay, calm down. He's reverting as fast as he can. There. All done.]

Demons are demons. At least, where I come from they are. Whether they're good or evil depends on the human.

[Demons are just hungry.]

[flammatory]

[Don't worry, Cielo, it's not you. Zuko just never calms down.]

We don't really have them where I'm from, just spirits and gods. I've barely even heard the word used before.

Anyway... I'm Zuko. [There we go, finally some manners.]

[rainbowarch]

And I don't really know what spirits or gods are either, so it evens out, ja?

[It's okay Zuko. He also knows a guy who never calms down.

That guy is also a fire aligned dude.]

I'm Cielo. Nice to meet you.

[flammatory]

[It's a fire thing, maybe. Though Heat and Zuko should probably never ever meet to test that. There would probably be an explosion.]

How do you not know what spirits are? [he asks, doubtful.] What kind of place do you come from, exactly?

[rainbowarch]

[Oh, I'm sure it would be fine.]

It's called the Junkyard. A place of rain and war.

[And...well, nothing else really. Rain. And War. That's it.]

[flammatory]

Sounds... [A short pause as he tries to find a polite way to put.] Different? Do you like Vatheon better?

[Look, see, he's capable of polite conversation. It's not all flailing and insults.]

[rainbowarch]

[From what he's heard from the many other people he's talked to, his world is very different from everyone else's.]

Ja. I like it here. It's not Nirvana, but it's nice.

[flammatory]

[Nirvana? Okay, whatever. That's not what he's concerned about.]

And you really just... got used to it? [He's looking a bit pensive again, frowning as he looks out over the waves.] How can you let everything go like that?

[rainbowarch]

[He hasn't let go, really. The Junkyard is still a part of him, and likely always will be. It still persists in his habits, his thoughts, and his memories.]

Everyone... [Cielo pauses, remembering a few people he's talked to, then corrects himself.] Almost everyone in the Junkyard doesn't like it. That's why there was a war, ja? There was a very special prize for whoever won.

[He looks up at the evening sky.]

Whoever won got to leave.

[flammatory]

That's not the way our war worked, [he says critically, unable to contain his opinion on this.] You might think you get something, but the way the world's left after that... no one won anything.

Maybe it is for the best that you're here for now. [Zuko would never advocate avoiding responsibility-- and a war is everyone's responsibility-- but he has to admit they might as well make the best of the situation. Even if he's not very good at that.]

[rainbowarch]

[It's hard explaining his world to people. At first, he thought it was other people's worlds that were different. They weren't. It's his world that's the weird one. And he can't exactly disagree with that.]

No, you're right. We didn't get anything.

[They played by the rules and at the last moment, they were denied everything they were promised.]

I'm not even sure my world exists anymore. I hope yours is better than mine is.

[Or was. Whichever.]

[flammatory]

Why wouldn't it exist? [It's such a strange comment he has to ask, but then he turns slightly melancholy at the last statement.]

My world is... I don't know, it's mine. I gave up everything I thought my life was going to be in order to restore balance and peace to it. It's worth it.

[rainbowarch]

It's hard to explain, but it kind of exploded.

[All of it.]

You did that? You brought peace to your world?

[He sounds really impressed!]

[flammatory]

--The whole world exploded?! [he yelps, because that is just too much to take.] How is that even possible?

It wasn't just me, it was me and the Avatar and a bunch of people. But... yeah, I think we did. It should be over now aside from a lot of politics and assassination attempts. [He says this relatively matter-of-factly. Zuko might not like politics, but they were a fact of his life, and the assassination attempts even moreso.]

[rainbowarch]

[He shrugs.] I don't understand it myself.

[He's not surprised to hear Zuko had help. He doesn't think that bringing peace to a world is something one person can do alone.]

Someone where I come from said he remembered being in politics and that it was brutal.

[That guy said that politics was a Tribe, but the way Zuko talks about it doesn't make it sound like one.

Cielo doesn't need an explanation on assassination though. He knows quite well what that is.]

[flammatory]

Politics is brutal, [he agrees wholeheartedly, frowning just thinking about it.] At least our planet didn't explode, though. That's just crazy.

I spent my whole childhood getting ready for being in politics, and just because I have a bad history with it doesn't mean I can ignore it. I'll get the hang of it. [He's confident that he will because he has to, no choice.]