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genessia2014-06-18 11:01 pm
banishment) wrote in genessia2014-06-18 11:01 pm
i β video
What in Agni's name is a vid-ee-oh-pho-nuh supposed to be, anyway?
[ zuko has no idea that the strange looking device he's holding up over his head and squinting at is the item in question. it's not his fault he has no concept of electronic communication, let alone electronics. his world has yet to hit a true industrial age. "advanced technology" in his day and age involves fires, steam, and bending, not... whatever this is supposed to be.
useless β that's what zuko decides it is. just a strange, mangled piece of metal and glass.
he discards it, setting it against the roots of the tree he's propped up against, but it's still recording him as he draws the pamphlet back out of the box. the necklace glistens on his wrist where he's affixed it like some sort of beaded cuff as he unfolds it. ]
[ zuko has no idea that the strange looking device he's holding up over his head and squinting at is the item in question. it's not his fault he has no concept of electronic communication, let alone electronics. his world has yet to hit a true industrial age. "advanced technology" in his day and age involves fires, steam, and bending, not... whatever this is supposed to be.
useless β that's what zuko decides it is. just a strange, mangled piece of metal and glass.
he discards it, setting it against the roots of the tree he's propped up against, but it's still recording him as he draws the pamphlet back out of the box. the necklace glistens on his wrist where he's affixed it like some sort of beaded cuff as he unfolds it. ]
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Who said that?
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[ She'll wait. For like. A little bit. She's not that patient. ]
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zuko retrieves it, looking down at the girl's image on the screen. it's extremely bizarre to see someone's image so small and moving, lifelike as if there's a smaller version of them within. definitely going to take some adjusting to. ]
Guess I should've finished reading that flyer. [ which he'd been about to do, but... ]
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[ She's definitely judging him, but to be fair, she's the kind of person who occasionally has pamphlets to hand to people. ]
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[ aang almost got killed that way. he hadn't been lying to katara, but she was certainly foolish for trusting him then. zuko was trying to earn her forgiveness, but he couldn't argue with her about that. he did betray her misplaced trust in ba sing se. ]
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[ She might only be a student, but she's dealt with an actual war situation considering her family's position. She knows not to trust everything from your opponents, but you should still know it. ]
However, as a fellow kidnapee I can tell you that the information in that pamphlet is accurate and not dangerous.
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[ his eyes narrow. ] And how do I know that you're telling me to truth and not working with our kidnappers?
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[ She shrugs, then pulls her necklace out. ] All of the people from other worlds have this. You can ask around. Either you can assume that everyone here is against you, or you can believe me.
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[ he regards her necklace, then raises his wrist into the air where he's got it wrapped around his arm like a gauntlet. zuko could easily put the videophone face down on the ground and read the pamphlet in peace β but she has a point. believing everyone is out to get him would do him no good. zuko has a lot of trust issues, but he's learned the hard way that you can't do everything on your own. ]
My name is Zuko. I'm from the Fire Nation, but I'm guessing you've never heard of it.
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[ She sounds reasonably annoyed about that. If she could figure out how, she could figure out how to get home she figures. ]
I'm Weiss, from Vale in Remnant, which you probably haven't heard of either.
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Can't say that I have. Are you the only one from your country here?
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[ At least that's all she knows about here anyway. ]
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still, it would be nice to have at least one of them here. even the waterbender with her threats and icy glares. at least he wouldn't be alone and so out of sorts with technology that's obviously way above his familiarity level.
was this what it felt like to be made to feel inferior? he regrets all the times he did it to others. ]
You have people you know. That's something.
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[ She's not denying that she's lucky. In fact, even if she doesn't say it, she's grateful for it because she's aware that there are a lot of people who don't get the opportunity to be alone. Having one of the people who consistently tried to destroy her family and everything they stand for here is a small price to pay to not have to be alone. ]
I'm not entirely unhappy here. It isn't a bad place, even if there are a few terrible people.
[ Like the man who tried to drown Ruby, or that guy who apparently has threatened to kidnap her- she doesn't remember that though. Or Adam. ]
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Even if this place isn't all that bad, I don't belong here. I'm supposed to be teaching the Avatar how to firebend. I can't do that here.
[ the way he says that last part stresses how important that task is. aang won't find another firebending teacher in time for sozin's comet. zuko can't stay here. he can't. ]
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[ At least, everyone was acting like they wouldn't miss the Vytal Festival and Weiss is pretty sure they've been here long enough to miss it if time didn't stop. ]
If you don't mind me asking [ she'd ask even if he did of course ] What's the Avatar and what's firebending?
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zuko sets the device in a shallow groove in the tree's trunk where a branch once was and takes a few steps back so he can give her a proper demonstration. he moves through a few basic firebending forms β red-hot blasts shot up into the air and across the field, fire drawn in an arc over his head by both his hands and his feet.
the device is retrieved from the tree once the demonstration's complete. ]
That's firebending. The Avatar is the only one with the ability to bend all four elements: air, water, earth, and fire.
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You don't need Dust to do that? At all? How do you do it then?
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[ zuko looks down at his hand, flexes his fingers. a small flame whooshes across his palm. it doesn't burn him, nor does it create or leave dust behind. ]
Fire is energy β life. It's like having the sun inside of you. You don't to find a fire to bend, because you can create the fire yourself, using that power that you have inside yourself.
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Where I'm from, all life was created from a substance we call Dust originally. Well, no one's alive from back then anymore but that's what we're told anyway. Humans managed to harness it and people like my family made it useful, more efficient, and can use it for all sorts of things. In that sense, it's similar to your fire but we can't do it without the Dust.
[ Give her a second as she shuffles around, holding up Myrtenaster's revolver chamber as close as she can to the camera without losing picture quality. ]
Inside these chambers is Dust. It's energy refined into a usable form so that we can do things like that.
[ She turns the chamber to show the red Dust, pointing to it as best as she can with one hand still holding the phone. ]
This is fire. It's dangerous to use it if you don't know what you're doing, but if you do it can be very useful if you do.
[ Of course, Weiss's uses of fire have proved somewhat.. less than fruitful, what with partially burning down some of a forest because she panicked when she saw Ruby in the way before they really were a team-team.
Well, she's a student for a reason and definitely an enthusiastic one. At least, she's self-proclaimed herself as the "smartest kid in school" and she doesn't goof around when it comes to learning time. Which is probably why she's so interested in fire-bending now. ]
We aren't limited to what single type we can use if we understand how to use Dust, but we certainly can't do it just by existing. Being able to do it without Dust sounds absolutely fascinating. Does everyone where you're from have the ability to do that with at least one element? Is it something you can learn?
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zuko shakes his head when she asks her question. ] No. Bending is something you're born with, and is more likely in bending families, though sometimes non-benders will have kids that can bend when they can't. It's instinctive, mostly. The first time I showed any signs of being able to bend, I was five and I set fire to a tapestry in the throne room, because I wanted to go play in the gardens instead of sitting still with the rest of the court.
[ it had scared him and his father had proclaimed "finally!" as if he'd been afraid he'd been cursed with a child who couldn't firebend. ]
Beyond instinct, you have to learn how to refine it. Some people teach themselves using bending scrolls as guides, depending on how much they want to learn. Others have private bending instructors or go to bending schools. Sometimes, the ways of bending are passed down through family members and you learn at home.
The Avatar is the only one capable of bending all four elements. The rest of us are bound to our individual elements. The current Avatar was born an airbender, so airbending is what comes most naturally to him. The other elements can be challenging and require a teacher. His firebending's rough, but he's getting there. He's a smart kid and picks up pretty fast.
[ when he's focusing and isn't distracted by something or wanting to play some sort of game instead. there are some days when zuko's truly amazed that the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of this playful, easily distracted kid. ]
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I understand that you all have these bending abilities and you have the Avatar, but.. from what I can tell, most other worlds don't have the creatures of Grimm to contend with. What do you guys use your bending for? Why is it so urgent that you get back, and why can't someone else teach this Avatar?
[ That's important too. She has some suspicions as to the answers, but she knows they could be entirely influenced by her own family's.. less than peaceful situation. ]
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[ zuko shrugs. ] Everything, pretty much. Bending isn't just a gift, it's a way of life. It's an art form, a fighting style, and an integral part of yourself all rolled into one. My bending went on the fritz for a while, once, and I didn't feel likeβ [ myself.
she's asking too many questions at once and that last one, well... ] It's because my country is at war with the other nations and the Avatar is trying to bring about an end to that war. To teach the Avatar firebending would be assisting him in these efforts, which is considered treason.
[ and he's the crown prince who's doing just that. ]
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[ Weiss doesn't look like she understands. Like at all. Mostly because she doesn't, because she's never been in a situation where you realize that everything your group of people stands for is a lie. Some of it's been shaken, sure, but she couldn't see ever flat-out betraying anyone. She's not unwilling to learn though, and she is honestly interested rather than intentionally being as insulting about it as she sounds. ]
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[ he's never shared this story with anyone, but it's been on the tip of his tongue since he fled from his father's chamber during the eclipse. there was a lot of shame and dishonor attached to this story before, but that's different now. zuko's proud of what he did that day, is grateful for the hardships he had to endure as a result of his decision to speak up, because it put him on the right path. had he not been cast out of the fire nation and seen the world for himself, he would likely still be as deluded as any other palace-dweller when it came to the war. ]
When I was thirteen, I sat in on a war meeting. I spoke out against a decision to put our soldiers on the front lines for the sole purpose of being fodder for our enemies. The generals don't care about what happens to their men. They're just pieces on a Pai Sho board that can be replaced if lost.
[ zuko steels himself. ]
Questioning the generals meant I was questioning the Fire Lord, too. He did this [ zuko points at his scar ] to me and banished me for four years. If the Fire Lord can do that to a member of the royal family, to the heir to the throne, [ not his son, because zuko is done being ozai's son ] just for talking out of turn, what do you think he's going to do to the rest of the world once he conquers it?
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