Ninth invocation; video

[betel_geuse]

Betelgeuse floated above a bed. He didn't know who owned the bed, but he was borrowing it for a bit. He tended to switch which house he was haunting, whenever he got bored. A big danmaku event was coming up, but it was taking time. Idly, he flipped through the videophone, reading and playing people's messages and randomly throwing out comments. After a while, he began his own video.

"YO, GENESSIA...and well, the other places, too. How are you babes and fellas getting on? Gotta admit, your resident Ghost with the Most is a tad bit bored. NOW. I could just come up with some brilliant scheme to prank you all, because honestly, you need some shaking up. I've been listening in on some of your messages on this thing, which is the best gossip hotline I've ever seen, I gotta say.

Where was I?

Ah, yeah, yeah, anyways, it's just too damn quiet, know what I mean? SO, instead of pranking you, I'll give you a chance to distract me. I don't care how. JUST MAKE SOME DAMN NOISE ALREADY!"

Comments

Re: video;

[betel_geuse]

"Hey, it's YOU! How are ya, buddy? Yup, deader than a door nail, given that the door nail was never alive. What, you couldn't tell by looking at me? That's kinda flattering, actually."

video;

[banishment]

Uh, yeah. Me. Hi. I'm...fine? [ was he friends with a spirit? a prankster spirit, from the sounds of it?? ]

We kinda have a different idea of what spirits are supposed to look like where I'm from.

[ as if he were an expert on spirits. all he's seen are depictions from scrolls and nightmare causing bedtime stories of koh the face stealer. an avatar, zuko was not. just the great-grandson of one. ]

You're welcome. I think.

Re: video;

[betel_geuse]

"Good, good, glad to hear it," Betelgeuse said heartily. "So. What DO spirits look like, where you're from? Where are you from, for that matter?"

video;

[banishment]

The Fire Nation.

[ which probably didn't mean anything to him. ]

I've only seen drawings, heard stories about what they look like... Well, I did see the Moon Spirit before she was a spirit, but I don't think that counts. She was a girl at the time.

Re: video;

[betel_geuse]

"Fire Nation, heh. How'd your place get that title?" Betelgeuse asked, bluntly. "So, spirits are still dead people in your world. In my world, some cultures have spirits that were never alive."

video;

[banishment]

There was a long, complicated history that went along with the naming of the four nations, but most of it was centered around the benders that inhabited those regions. So, in answer, Zuko simply held out a hand and bent flames into his palm. He held it, casually keeping the fire going as he shook his head and spoke again.

"Not necessarily. Sometimes spirits are people who have died, but not always. Some spirits are just that: spirits, spirits who were always spirits and never had a non-spiritual form."

Re: video;

[betel_geuse]

"Heh, that's really good for a living fella," Betelgeuse praised. "Huh Not sure I like the idea of spirits that were never alive. Don't see how beings like that could be sane, least not if they originated in my world's afterlife."

video;

[banishment]

"I can do a lot better than that." He snuffed the flame out, closing his fist around it.

"Maybe their definition of sanity is different, because they're from a different place."

[betel_geuse]

"Could be, but that could get awkward, having a bunch of definitions for stuff like that. Meh. It's like determining what is normal and I hate normal. So, how'd you get the fire mojo?"

[banishment]

"Firebending. It's called firebending. And I didn't get it anywhere, I was born with it," Zuko explained. "It's a—" What was that term he'd heard someone use... Oh! "—genetic. It's a genetic trait."

[betel_geuse]

"Okay, okay, sorry fire bending, yeesh," Betelgeuse repeated, raising his hands in surrender, his expression dry.
"That kinda thing doesn't happen on my world, not for living folk, anyways. Lotta be got talent like that where you're from?"

[banishment]

"A good portion of the population. Not everyone is born with the ability to bend one of the elements, but it's not uncommon, if that's what you're asking."

[betel_geuse]

"Yup, that's what I was asking," Betelgeuse confirmed, cheerfully. "So, if it's fire, you control it? Why bending? Kind of an odd name for magic, at least from my world's point of view."

[banishment]

"Fire and lightning."

Zuko shrugged. "I don't know. It's always been called that, and we don't exactly see it as magic. Magic is something else altogether and bending is just bending."

[betel_geuse]

"Huh. That's...a lot different from my world. So, how does bending work then? Is it a mental thing or something?"

Betelgeuse was a bit puzzled by all this, but curious, too. He wondered if bending was something his own world simply hadn't discovered yet.

[banishment]

"...kind of. It's hard to explain, but even if you knew the bending strategies we use, you still wouldn't be able to bend unless you were born with it. I could spend the next few months immersing myself in waterbending forms, but even if I mastered them, I still wouldn't be able to bend water, because I'm not a waterbender."

A healthy pause preceded Zuko adding: "Or the Avatar."

Just the previous Avatar's great-grandson. Not that anyone knew that. Not even Weiss — and especially not Azula.

[betel_geuse]

"Okay, I got it. Born with it or nothing," Betelgeuse agreed, a bit impatiently. "That doesn't tell me...look is it an energy thing, like the Force? Oh, damn. Do you know what the Force is? Anyways, I'm not trying to be able to bend. I got plenty of my own juice. I just wanna know how it works or just what it is, y'know?"

[banishment]

Nobody's made Zuko sit down and watch Star Wars, so that would be a no.

"...never heard of it, and we don't exactly share that with non-benders. No offense."

[betel_geuse]

Betelgeuse laughed.

"Don't matter, it's fictional...at least in my world. I'm sure you don't mean offense, but...you gotta admit, that's pretty offensive. Why the big secret? I mean, if I can't bend, it's not like I can misuse the know how."

[banishment]

"Not necessarily, and I'm not the only firebender present. It's not exactly something I can share without my sister's consent, and I already know what she'd say."

She'd laugh and tell him no. There was no reason those outside their trusted circle needed to know that they bent using energy drawn from and fueled by the sun. And nobody beyond Weiss needed to know that Zuko had learned from the dragons how to bend without relying solely on the sun and letting anger and hatred fuel his fire.

[betel_geuse]

"Uh. Okay, so cultural thing, I gotcha. Weird, but fine, fine," Betelgeuse agreed, waving his hands in defeat, though the set of his mouth showed his annoyance. He had very little use for rules, especially ones he thought were a bit silly. "One thing I give Genessia, you sure learn a lot about other realities."

[banishment]

Zuko nodded in agreement.

"Like holidays. Some of them are pretty out there."

Halloween in particular made no sense to him, especially in the way people insisted on celebrating it with costumes and candy.

[betel_geuse]

"What, you don't like holidays? I love holidays, the more out there, the better! Doesn't your world have holidays?" Betelgeuse asked. He didn't really want to imagine a world without holidays.

[banishment]

"Of course we do," Zuko responded. "But I'm also heir to a throne, and being royalty means you usually sit there and observe and play centerpiece instead of actually taking part in the festivities. Sort of takes the fun out of it."

[betel_geuse]

"Ppffft," Betelgeuse scoffed. "I don't know who taught you that, but they need a good kick in the pants! Being royalty should mean making the rules, not being a stuffed doll in a fancy chair. Anyways, everyone needs to blow off steam every so often."