eachdraidh | 4 ☼ VIDEO / UNSEELIE

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4 ☼ VIDEO / UNSEELIE

[ if you know zuko, his hair is always hanging in his eyes. pulling his bangs up, it's almost as if he's run a hair straightener through it to keep it raised above his head before it thinks to deflate and droop down over his scar. he's as exasperated as he feels, as defeated as he's always been; a little girl with short, dark hair and red feathers braided into it sits beside him in a red coat, threading together blades of grass. ]

[ with his knees pulled up to his chest, zuko holds his hands out, fingers curling into fists, as his voice is a little sharp and exasperated despite his attempts to calm down. his communicator happens to be leaning against a rock in the grass. he's thought this over pretty well. ]

Ugh! [ he almost smacks his forehead. almost. his knuckles turn white for a moment. ] How do you talk to animals? All they do is eat your food and grumble!

[ the little girl beside him laughs, a tinkling sort of sound, as she continues to thread her grass together. sokka leaving has left a rather big void in zuko's life. he's had to turn to his dragon to brainstorm things sokka would readily help him with — and druk sucks at brainstorming. (zuko thinks he's pretty selfish; he's run out of apples to feed him.) ]

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I don't think you talk to animals, Zuko. They don't usually talk back. Maybe you shouldn't hit your own head so often.

Same as you talk to other people, Zuko.

Edited 2015-07-02 14:28 (UTC)

Just talk to them. They'll figure out what you mean.

[Lumina treats animals like they're just people who don't talk back.]

I haven't — [ and as if she knows what he's about to do, jia throws her grass blades at zuko's face as though it's meant to be a stone. zuko seems to seethe. he mumbles, ] — hit my head.

[ his voice is restored to being as loud as it was before. ] Aang used to tell me his sky bison spoke back to him all the time! [ or, you know, acted like appa spoke to him all the time. as far as zuko knows, appa disagreed with aang each and every time the avatar asked for his opinion. ]

[ zuko yells, ] I have been! I even told him he looked great today even though he could use a wash!

[ though he suspects druk walks around the forest at times whenever he wishes to, he's had a lot of leaves and dirt on him over the last few days. he isn't so sure what his dragon has been up to, but zuko isn't certain if he wants to know. ]

[ zuko's been treating his dragon like he's a person who will talk back. maybe that's the problem — zuko's so used to people back talking him that he doesn't know what to do when one simply cocks his head and breathes smoke toward him. ]

How do you know? [ zuko throws his hands out, as if he's trying to weigh it within his palms. ] Sometimes people don't make sense when they talk to me! [ his uncle, for one, even though he suspects uncle doesn't make sense most of the time to people who aren't directly related to him. his voice becomes slightly stressed, cracking a little, ] What if he doesn't get what I'm saying?

Then try again until he does?

[This isn't that hard.]

Point too. Pointing helps.

[ zuko lets his arms hang over his knees. it's like his entire being deflates. he thinks he's done that. he's repeated things over and over — his voice going from soft to incredibly loud as he grows more exasperated by the second — and waved his hands around comically, but maybe he needs to point his fingers properly. he's seen some of the villagers teach their small dogs how to sit, telling them home is where they point their finger. maybe that's what he needs to try with druk. ]

Does pointing and repeating things help you?

[ jia doesn't lift her head from where she's threading long grass blades together when she suggests, ] Maybe you should speak like him. Meow, meow, meow.

[ he rolls his eyes and sighs, ] That's stupid.

Sometimes with the chocobos. Other times they just do whatever they want.

[Lumina mostly left the training to her stablehands. She just made sure the chocobos always listened to her once they learned something.]

...Meow?

[ that sounds like druk to him. zuko's about to open his mouth, but jia seems to burn so brightly the moment lumina says meow right back to her. ] Meow! [ without sparing a glance to zuko, she tosses her grass blades at him. ] What's a chocobo?

[ zuko wipes the grass from his face, a blade or two remains sitting on the top of his head. plainly: ] It's a creature that doesn't like annoying little girls. Isn't that right, Lumina?

[She giggles at that, covering her mouth with her hand, and then smirks at Zuko.]

I don't know, I mean, chocobos like me and I know what people say behind my back.

[She didn't mind. Being annoying was fun. And then to Jia.]

They're really big birds you can ride. Like horses but so much better.

You could start by being a little less loud.

[ she covers up a smile. ]

That child seems to be trying to help. Perhaps she can tell you. What's a sky bison?

( Oh no, this is adorable. While Elizabeth does not laugh, her expression is full of amusement as her lips twitch upward into a grin. )

I think they understand us much better than we do them, Your Grace.

[amusement clear in his voice] Actually, you watch, listen and don't talk. Then you can hear what they have to say.

You'd be surprised at what they have to say.

[ zuko may be oblivious to a lot, but he isn't to the sound of amusement in one's voice. though it's nothing like azula's, condescending and laughing at him cruelly, it gets his back up the moment he hears it. he frowns, his voice loud, as he curls his hands into fists and feels them warm with his own bending. ] He doesn't speak!

[ the little girl beside him shrugs her shoulders, looking at the grass in her hands, as she doesn't miss a beat in trying to stir him, ] He does to me.

[ pulling a tuft of grass from the ground, he throws it at jia who laughs. with his brows knitting together, ] What have the animals said to you?

Well, not by yelling at them. They're not much different than actual people; you wouldn't liked being yelled at. You should try to sound happier.

[ Like it's the most obvious thing in the world. ]

Animals can grumble?

[ before zuko can even speak, jia leaps toward his communicator and starts to growl. ]

That's not grumbling.

[ she swipes her arm out at him and continues to make her sounds. zuko chooses to speak over her, even though johnny will only see jia's face, up close and personal. ] Have you ever heard an earthquake before? That's what my —

[ jia pulls back from the camera to cease her grumbling and quite possibly cover for zuko. ] Meow! He has a cat!

[ zuko doesn't look convinced, given how he side-eyes her. ] ... Yeah.

[ jia leans forward to press her fingers against the corners of his mouth to pull them upward. zuko only scowls even more. ]

I'm never happy. And I'm always yelled at.

[ jia smiles. ] I yell at him all the time! It makes him sparky.

[ he's quick to correct her with no bite in his tone. ] It's Zuko.

[ jia laughs. ] Your Grace! He can't even walk in a straight line!

[ zuko looks at her with a frown before he returns his attention back to his locket. ]

Do you think my dra — cat knows what I'm saying? He never reacts! Momo used to lick me whenever I talked to him.

I'm very helpful!

No you're not. [ zuko plucks a bunch of grass blades from the ground and throws them at jia to distract her. some of them spark, singed by his hand, and she seems preoccupied in trying to find the blackened blades. ]

A sky bison is an animal that looks like a cloud. He's as big as a dragon, smellier than one, but softer, if he takes care of his fur. [ zuko doesn't know how to describe appa without saying he's appa. he can't think of any animals he's seen that may equate to a sky bison in some of the books sokka used to look through. ]

[ jia puffs up her cheeks. ] Like this!

You're not as annoying.

[ lumina's meant to be on his side. he's found that, like a lot of people, she's team jia instead of zuko. ]

And they don't like little girls.

[ jia pokes out her tongue at him. ]

They sound cool. Do they answer you when you talk to them?

[ jia is endearing, and katsa gives up hiding her smile, giving the girl an absentminded one while she tries to comprehend all that zuko is saying. ]

A talking, smelly cloud with fur. Is that as absurd in your world as it sounds, too, or just to me?

It's very ab — [ jia turns to look at zuko and pokes him hard in the arm with her index finger. her voice is a loud hushed: ] What did she say?

[ he doesn't look at her. he frowns, evidently annoyed. ] She said you're absurd.

What does that mean? [ she pokes him again. ]

It means you're strange.

You're strange. [ she pouts and looks to katsa. ] Isn't it strange he's talking about a fluffy cloud?

They're both strange. [ Katsa agrees with Jia solemnly. ] I didn't know he likes to watch the clouds. But I'd like to fly on one, perhaps. Wouldn't you, child?

[ zuko huffs and crosses his arms against his chest like a petulant child. ]

I'm a princess, not a child. Sometimes Zuko likes to watch the grass, too, like it can move! [ even though she's judging him, jia's voice sounds whimsical. she even rocks where she sits, peering up at the sky with her hands thrown out wide. ] I once drew a picture of a sky cloud bison! It was this big — [ she holds her hands, exaggerating the width of her drawing to be bigger than her. her hand knocks into zuko. ] — and super fluffy.

He didn't talk, but you always knew when he was hungry. [ jia mutters no, he can't talk because his mouth and tongue are made of clouds, but zuko ignores her. he sighs, exasperated at himself rather than at his annoying companion. ] I just want to know if there's a way to understand animals!

[ she roars, like a lion. ]

He sounded like that.

[ Katsa laughs. ]

Grass does move, Princess. The long grasses in my Middluns move with the wind sometimes, if you watch carefully: before I'd seen the sea I imagined it would look like the way the grass moved. Though the sea is much more impressive.

I can't help you talk to animals, though. I've not heard of such a thing. But your cloud bison sounds fearsome if it's like that.

[ with astonishment, jia latches onto the word: ] Middluns.

[ abruptly, she turns to zuko and punches him right in the arm. he winces and glares at her, lifting his hand to rub at his upper arm. ] Take me there on my cloud bison!

No.

[ she punches him again. she turns to katsa, ] You'll show me the sea, won't you?

[ she loves this child. she loves her and sorry zuko but she's still laughing at you ]

Neither of us can take you to the Middluns, I'm afraid. But I'll show you the sea. I've a house that overlooks it, and you'd both be welcome to visit. As long as you promise not to beat Zuko before you get there.

[ the moment katsa informs jia she can't ever see the middluns, her face falls and her lips form a pout. she lets the grass blades in her hands drop rather pathetically. as soon as she droops, she brightens up once more, peering up at the locket and grinning. she grabs zuko's sleeve and tugs on it harshly. ]

We're not going now.

[ jia thinks to punch him again, he can see that, but she refrains from doing so. ]

I promise! Middluns' Katsa! [ she looks to zuko, then back to her newly acquired friend. ] Do you have a boat? Is he allowed on it? He'll set it on fire!

I won't set it on fire.

[ katsa's still laughing at this girl and her excitement and poor zuko's grumpiness. there's a sudden pang in her heart for another girl she hasn't seen in years. bitterblue—how katsa can't help but think of bitterblue. ]

No, but I have towers, and you must be careful on them for if you fall you would fall directly on the cliffs and the sea below. They're made of stone, which is lucky, for Zuko can't set them on fire. I would have been likely to set them on fire, when I was still his student.

[ jia gasps, eyes going wide. ] You were his student? [ she looks between the two of them, head moving so fast zuko thinks it'll fall off. he looks at her with his eyebrow arched, a silent challenge for her to say what she will inevitably insult him with. ] But ... He's Zuko! He knows nothing!

[ zuko shoves her shoulder. she teeters back and forth with a laugh. ]

He knows plenty more than I do about some things. Particularly about firebending. I have other skills that he might not, but in a fight, that's something he can do that I can't.

[ she smiles briefly at zuko instead of jia this time. ]

Give him some credit. How did you two meet?

[ zuko blushes. ]

He scared a spirit away! [ she turns to zuko. ] Boo! [ she looks proudly to katsa, even though zuko doesn't jump in fright at all. ] Like that. And then he stayed.

[ zuko shrugs. ] She lives in Azure. [ with a laugh: ] She won't let me leave!

[ jia rests her head on his shoulder. ] Nope. He's my shardbearer now. You can't have him, Katsa Middluns! I will fight you. I'm really good at throwing snow. You could've asked Sokka, but he left to be with Suki. [ she makes kissing noises as quickly as she says sokka's girlfriend's name. ]

A spirit?

[ katsa completely misses the blushing, luckily for zuko. but jia sure is a charmer. katsa claps a hand over her grin. ]

I don't know who either of those people are. But I bet you're a good fighter. I'll fight you someday too, Jia. Perhaps Zuko needs a rescue.

[ jia puffs up her cheeks, as though she'll look tough when zuko thinks she looks funny. with her preoccupied in trying to make her small frame look bigger, zuko finally finds he has a chance to talk to katsa. ]

There was a spirit haunting their village. Some people were killed by it, so I helped them out. [ he shrugs his shoulders. ] They're nice people in Azure. You should come by again sometime.

[ jia lets the air out of her cheeks and doesn't inhale, sounding slightly winded, ] You can stay with me! I make good tea. Zuko even said so!

Don't forget to breathe, child. [ said absentmindedly. ] I'd like to hear that story.

I'll return soon if I can, and you know you're always welcome to visit Srathmarbh whether I'm there or not, so that Jia can see the ocean.

[ there's a note in her voice that she tries not to let slip through, for jia's sake: a note of worry that the ocean may not still be there, of the void that she's been watching from her towers and knows grows closer day by day. ]

( His little friend is bold, and her comment makes her smile a little, raising an eyebrow at Zuko. ) I shall drop the formality if you wish it.

That child is a bold one, is she not? Quite the sense of humour. Shall I tell her that I have seen you move with much grace when it counts most?

( Tilting her head, she smirks more readily now, and laughs a little. )

Yes, I think he does. But perhaps he would have more incentive to react if you were to offer him food! I believe he would respond well to a treat.

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4 ☼ VIDEO / UNSEELIE

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