eachdraidh | 1 ☼ joint tutorial video / open to both courts

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1 ☼ joint tutorial video / open to both courts

[ for the first time since zuko had unlocked his locket, it turns on without fuss. perhaps because it's in the hands of toph that it does. for viewers with a keen eye, they'll spy a thin, red ring around the ring finger on his left hand. after tapping into the power when he had been practicing his firebending techniques, his flame hotter and brighter than anything it had been before, zuko's been attempting to tap into sozin's comet once again. but as he hadn't taken the time to note the time of day he had used his ring, he believes it to be broken (he’s momentarily forgotten what the imps had informed him of, overloading him with information when he had already felt overwhelmed at his boon actually appearing in his hand, a living ring that didn’t feel as hot as sozin’s comet, but had left him feeling invincible). with that thought in mind, he's almost fuming. ]

[ with a scowl, the right side — the good side — of his face can be seen. his left hand is currently occupied, but his right curls by his side into a tight fist, knuckles painfully white. unaware of being filmed, zuko's holding an imp by the scruff of his neck. the little creature snaps its small jaw at him, but the fire lord looks nonplussed. ]

Where are the dwarves!? [ the little beast twists, despite zuko's long fingers digging hard into his flesh, to try and bite at his wrist. leaning in further, he yells so loud the earth may move beneath his feet in fright, ] Where do I find them!? Stop snickering!

[ for good measure, he shakes the imp before his other hand forms into a gun, index finger aiming for the little beast's feet. small blasts of fire shoot at the imp's toes, the creature squealing as it tries to chomp at the air in front of zuko. ] Stop laughing every time I ask what a dwarf is!

[ at first it starts as a small, indistinguishable sound, then grows into a gigantic, unruly, loud, exasperated yawn. ladylike as always. then, a voice comes from off-screen. ]

You’re so predictable. [ a beat ] And loud. [ another beat ] Also boring.

[ the locket clatters to the ground, the view shifting to show mostly the ground, though zuko’s legs are still visible. closer to the locket, a leg covered in green pants is there, a foot crossing over the knee that’s mostly covered in dirt. the toes wriggle. ]

I know where the dwarves are. [ she doesn’t. ]

[ zuko doesn’t hear toph until he hears the d word. not that anyone can see — thanks, toph — but zuko’s head snaps in her direction. how his neck hasn’t is a trick of the spirits. his grip on the imp drops — his ugly feet hit the ground and scamper away — as he turns on her. he shouts, ] Where!?

[ if anyone’s paying close enough attention, they’ll see a subtle shift in toph’s foot that’s on the ground. there’s a soft rumbling and it looks as if something’s moving underground. in the distance, the imp flings off to the side with a yelp. she admits to nothing. ]

I can hear, you know. [ avoid the question. she’s not answering. ]

I know that! [ curling his fingers into a fist, he smacks his knuckles against his head. zuko sighs, exasperated. his shoulders slump slightly, as if the exhale of air has rid him of all the anger keeping his bones upright and stiff. (it hasn’t.) his tone is softer, less of an inferno and more of a comfortable hearth, ] Where are they?

[ she sniffs, then pitches the locket in his direction. sorry but not sorry for shaky cam. her voice grows a little distant. ] Don’t know if I feel like telling you.

[ his voice is as loud as ever, hands balled into fists as he yells, ] WHY NOT!?

[ her voice is definitely farther away now, but she does yell back: ] Don’t feel like it!

WHY NOT!?

[ there’s a long moment of silence, followed rapidly by a rumbling and a moderately sized boulder comes flying right at zuko, courtesy of one earthbender. ]

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[ his tone is quiet and humble as he looks down. ] Aang saved the world. [ not him. didn't you read that in your history books? fire lord zuko is merely the kid who kept tripping over his own feet, scraping his knees, and blamed everyone else before he finally decided to look in the mirror and see his true foe. he glances up, tone still quiet, but it's obvious he believes his words. ] He's the hero.

Well, yeah, sure, I won't say he's not a huge hero, too. I was just telling someone last month about how amazing the whole story is! [ it's good he's not here too right now tbh there'd be no end to the fanboy within. and when you're potentially fanboying a 14 year old instead of an adult it's like. awkward. ] But I always figured one of the best things about hearing it was hearing that Avatar Aang didn't do it all by himself. He had you guys to make sure he didn't have to. I mean, come on, people from every nation working together to make the world a better place? That's some amazing stuff!

[ he's not really sure how to take any of this. he tries in stride, but zuko does stumble and trip and scrape a good portion of his knee along the way. what he speaks of so happily is what zuko wants for his nation — it's what he wants for the world — but he doubts his own fingers will ever truly be able to hold the needle steady as he loops the thread into its eye and stitch what his family had broken. ]

[ even though the diplomats from his future are telling him his hands remain as steady as stone within an incredible storm. ]

[ the blush merely intensifies along with his desire to nuke this kid's disillusionment of him. ] Did they forget to tell you I tried to kill him? [ he amends: ] Them? [ numerous times. hence: not a hero. he thinks he'd know a little better than someone who found out through the grapevine. ]

[ his voice is quieter, pessimistic as zuko usually is. ] The world's still not a better place. [ zuko has too much to do. and this conversation is beginning to remind him of what it is he's missing out on back home. he can't be here when he's required there. ]

[ ......... hm. ]

You're really not big on the compliments, huh? Even in a general truth form. Wow. [ He sounds neither offended nor disillusionment-nuked. More like a big dumb idiot who only just figured that much out and who also still thinks Zuko is great tbh. ] I mean, just wondering. Not a problem if you have a problem with that, I guess. Usually, uh. Usually don't have attempted murder brought up in these situations, is all.

[ is he not matching up to his future self? is zuko feeling insecure about himself? especially when compared ... to himself? ]

[ no ... he doesn't feel anything akin to disappointment at the notion that he's letting this kid down. not at all. ]

[ his voice is quiet, ] I don't want people getting the story wrong. [ or calling him a hero. he's not. he's done nothing. this kid needs to stop praising him already. he doesn't really know how to feel, especially if he's not high on bad fire flakes and hallucinating meeting a zuko who is older and the fire lord, someone who deserves such a warm and fanatic reaction. ]

[ zuko lifts his head, scrutinising him over the locket. he doesn't look like fire nation. he's earthy, like toph. stubborn as a rock in his own beliefs. ] Aren't you from the Earth Kingdom? Why do you even like me? [ it's kind of difficult to let the fact that all nations seem to join hands and sing songs around the campfire sink in. he distinctly remembers jet and the earth kingdom civilians. he's fire nation. ]

[ it makes more sense he likes toph. she's pretty likeable. ]

[ zuko you're such a grandpa deep down, you gotta curb yourself.

but if it helps, he's nigh impossible to actually let down. maybe he'll just have to help lord zuko work on his confidence or something. but how do people do that... what a mystery. on the earth kingdom front, though, he'll kind of look over at mako and korra to have an eyebrow conversation about exactly what to say.

since he's getting tired of elbows to the kidney and stuff. ]

I guess technically I'm from the South Pole. [ In the hop from home to here, anyway. ] Like I don't know you because of diplomatic stuff, but it's pretty much why I was there! You know, big dramatic speech, brief engagement to a lovely, terrifying princess. I was pretty sure I covered why I like you, though. Did you want me to go over it again, or?

[ for real though becAUSE HE WOULD.... ]

... I gave a big dramatic speech? [ that people actually listened to? disbelief is evident in his tone at that. he's the kid no one really looks at, especially when people like azula are around. why look at him when you can look at a real firebender? a real fire nation royal? ]

[ better yet ... ] ... Terrifying princess? [ is that ...? his heart stops. even though he likes to believe azula's alive and well, getting better as she comes to terms with who it is she truly is, rather than the girl father had tried to make her be. terrifying doesn't make it sound like she's grown very much with the character development, however. ]

[ but brief engagement makes him think of mai ... and she's always been fire nation royalty to him. ]

[ perhaps he taps into his fire lord voice. he'd stomp his foot if his newly made friend wasn't so easy to get information he wanted and didn't want from. ] Who?

Oh, man, I wish! Not that Korra doesn't give a great speech or anything. You know, her home turf and all. And, uh. Who, who?

[ zuko's waiting for the name. he's waiting for the name that never comes. so, bolin's imitation of an owl sees to his own impatience rising. ] Who is the terrifying princess?

Princess Eska? Northern Water Tribe. Not that she's- well, I mean, she is on the terrifying side, but not like super evil terrifying. Any....more.

I'm gonna say you probably haven't met her.

[ is it wrong to feel disappointment that it isn't azula? she's still terrorising innocent people simply because she's drunk on the belief she's superior? it is, isn't it? ]

Uh ... [ the name honestly isn't familiar to him. he's been around the world and has never met a princess eska. he looks uncertain, ] I only know of Chief Arnook of the Northern Water Tribe. His daughter was Princess Yue. [ the moon spirit sokka kissed? he thinks that's it. the ember island players taught him a lot about his own history. ]

[ he sighs, dejected, ] It seems like I haven't met a lot of people. [ after a moment, ] Sorry.

[ Sibling stuff is complicated like that, dude. ]

Nah, don't worry about it. I mean, it's not like I've met everyone in the world, either! [ For lack of trying??? perhaps not. ] Especially now that we're not even in the right world. It really pushes your social plans back!

[ it makes him feel a little better knowing that his future self will know these people. it's difficult to not be too hard on himself; he's the man they come to know, except he's still just a clueless boy who is completely and utterly hopeless. but he appreciates bolin's optimism, even if he doesn't show it. it reminds him of aang, how he sees the bright side to dark situations. ]

I don't really have social plans. [ except zuko can't help but push right back ... ]

Ohh, I gotcha. More like a social improviser! Yeah, no, that's a great way to do things, too. Suave and aloof and stuff! [ He never knows what he's talking about. But frankly, that's the same kind of tone he gets out of Mako at least twice a day, so it's easy enough to let it roll on over him. ] At least it means you're not waiting until we get done with whatever we're doing here to have dinner with someone. Man, I wonder what explaining that would even be like.

[ he's not any of those things. ] I'm not any of those things.

[ he doesn't have a dinner date, either. that had been mai — about a month and a few days ago. she's going to kick his ass when he gets back home for standing her up and not even leaving her a shitty note. ]

What are you doing? [ other than confusing him with your words and optimism. did he spy birds before? hanging around bolin? like a disney princess? despite zuko not knowing what that is right now. ] Are those birds? [ is one fluttering in the corner ... ? ]

[ This is the face of someone who still thinks ur gr8, Zuko. Get used to it. ]

Oh- uh, yeah! Birds. Not sure why they're everywhere right now, exactly, but you're not wrong. Yeah, we kinda came out here to do some shopping and relax a little. I mean, the place is a little worse for wear right now. It's fine, though. Then we went outside this morning and I guess all the birds were just really cool with that or something? Because they definitely weren't landing on me yesterday, I'd remember that.

[ no. ]

[ should zuko go back inside? he doesn't really like birds. he doesn't really like anything. but if bolin thinks that this is a bit of a strange occurrence, then maybe it might mean something bad ... ] What's different about today? [ because bolin has all the answers. ]

Uhhhhhhhh. [ Looks at one of the birds like it might have the answers???? ] I wish I knew, sir. There are feathers everywhere and I think they might eat all the bread in the Station if this keeps going? Which is great for them! But probably not for business.

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1 ☼ joint tutorial video / open to both courts

video; done.

video; zuko precious child

video; CAN YOU PLEASE STOP.

video; SORRY NOT SORRY BRUH

video; OFF WITH YOUR HEAD.

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