viii ⚜ action + voice

[banishment]

ＡＣＴＩＯＮ, ＯＰＥＮ ＴＯ ＡＮＹＯＮＥ

Zuko hadn't been to work in a while. He took a temporary leave of absence following Weiss's kidnapping and subsequent rescue, determined to keep a watchful eye on her in case Torchwick was foolish enough to go after her again. But time had passed and Torchwick had yet to make a move, and Weiss had recovered enough that he felt comfortable with backing off a little. (Besides, he was sure she knew that he had essentially spent the past month tailing her.) And while the dragon problem in Fayren wasn't as much of a dilemma as it had been, it was still something that required attention.

Which was why the Deputy Guardian could be found in various parts of Fayren throughout the day, from the streets of the city itself to the more mountainous and forested areas where the dragons tended to dwell. It was important to ensure that the native populations remained unharmed and those human-like dragons that had seen to capturing virgins were eradicated.

ＶＯＩＣＥ, ＬＯＣＫＥＤ ＴＯ ＫＡＴＡＲＡ

You said we were supposed to be friends now, that you forgave me for what I did in Ba Sing Se and, you know, everything else? If that's true, then I would like to ask you for a favor.

[ awkward... ]

Comments

[melodiouspacifist]

He looked a little puzzled, something he was considering more and more. The problem was he'd spent years locked away in a castle, a dead world away from normal people and sometimes what they said were leaving him with questions. Questions he should not ask, nor should he even have an interest in. What was happening to him here?

"I guess that could be true." He rarely paid any attention to the temperature, probably a good thing considering his uniform. "But I can do that myself anyway. Or I could pick a room and flood it. What I really miss is a beach."

[banishment]

"You should ask around, see if someone can point you in the right direction. Or--"

Zuko pulls out his device, flipping through a few options until he finds a map.

"Looks like there's a pond in the park in Genessia City, and a decent-sized lake in Everglade."

[melodiouspacifist]

"A lake might be okay. The ocean would be the best but I guess if this world doesn't have one then, it doesn't." He sighed softly. "But I will probably also ask around. Just in case. I haven't been to a beach in so long I'd really like to."

Demyx couldn't help but peer over his shoulder. "There's a map on this thing? All I've figured out is how to talk to people. I never had anything like it."

[banishment]

"There's one on mine? But someone could've put it there... Don't know if it comes, uh, what's the word? Standard? On everyone's."

For all Zuko knew, Weiss or one of the people working at the Guardian Offices in Fayren could've installed it. Technology wasn't really his strong point, and this is the first time he's referenced the map. He preferred to do things the old-fashioned way, so to speak.

[melodiouspacifist]

"Stuff like this is pretty complicated to me so I have no idea." He pulled out his own and poked at it helplessly. "There's a reason I'm not in charge of stuff."

He laughed easily and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well, I'll learn by walking around. Might be the best way."

[banishment]

"Well, I'm sort of in charge here and technology's still mostly a mystery to me."

Oh, the stories his girlfriend could probably tell about how he walks up escalator steps like the stairs aren't moving and tried to bend at the washing machine when it started rumbling while on the spin cycle...

[melodiouspacifist]

"You are? Huh! Guess I should find out who the people in charge are." He leaned away a little, trying to look even more meek and intimidated. Demyx did not need any unnecessary problems. Not until he sorted out what his long term plans were.

"I just haven't had much exposure. It isn't necessary with my music."

[banishment]

Zuko blinked, his brow furrowing in confusion. He hadn't realized--

"You don't know who I am, do you?"

He had something of an unforgettable face, and he'd grown used to the citizens of Fayren recognizing him, considering how long he and Azula have held office.

[melodiouspacifist]

"No idea. I just got here not long ago and we haven't spoken before now." Demyx shook his head, hoping his confusion wasn't a bad thing.

"I'm staying in Genessia, I just came for the day."

[banishment]

That would explain it.

Zuko held out a hand. "Prince Zuko, Deputy Guardian of Fayren."

[melodiouspacifist]

"So much royalty around here!" Demyx exclaimed without much tact. He paused for just a moment before taking his hand with his gloved one. "I'm Demyx. It's nice to meet you."

[banishment]

"...so you've met my sister, then?"

Zuko nodded in acknowledgement of the man's name, drawing his hand back after giving Demyx's a firm shake.

[melodiouspacifist]

"No, I don't think so. She'd look kind of like you right? The princess I met has really long pretty hair. Rapunzel. She painted one of my walls for me, it's really awesome." Demyx smiled brightly at the memory because that had been pretty fun.

"I never met any royalty before but I know of seven princesses in my world. Sort of. Sometimes when the Superior talks I kinda tune him out you know?"

[banishment]

"Yeah, she would. Minus the, you know, scar?" Zuko pointed to that half of his face for a second. But the black hair, alabaster skin, and gold eyes and similar bone structures made it hard for the Fire Lord's children to deny they were related.

"I don't think I've met a Princess Rapunzel."

Zuko nodded, understanding. "I get that. I used to tune out a lot of the ministers when I was a kid. You want to run and play and they want you to listen to trade negotiations."

[melodiouspacifist]

Demyx looked at it as if he hadn't really realized it was there. He had, but just hadn't given it much thought. "Looks like that hurt." He offered in the way of tactful commentary.

"You'll know if you do, her hair goes to the floor. It's really lovely. She let me play with it." Considering playing with his own was a ritual pastime, he'd enjoyed that.

"Seriously?!" He looked at him with a pleased expression. "Some people just go on and on and it's always about the same thing. It's not even new information. The time is at hand, Kingdom Hearts is almost finished, blah blah blah." He mimicked a little bit. "All I could think was how much I would rather play my sitar."

[banishment]

People usually avoided commenting on his scar at all costs, so having someone say something as simple as looks like that hurt was pretty refreshing. He didn't necessarily enjoy attention being drawn to his scar, but considering it took up a good portion of his face and it was going to be like that for the rest of his life, mentioning it wasn't going to hurt anything.

"Like hell," he admitted with a shrug that was perhaps a little too casual for someone who'd sustained that kind of injury.

Zuko made a face. "I think my girlfriend would protest me playing with another girl's hair, but that's, uh, nice? That you got to."

Awkward. But if the girl's hair was as long as Demyx said it was, maybe she wasn't as bothered by people messing with it as others might be.

"Kingdom Hearts? I thought you said your world was called The World That Never Was."

[melodiouspacifist]

If it was too casually brushed off, Demyx had no idea. He tilted his head a little at the mention of a girlfriend. "Maybe? I don't really know much about having girlfriends or anything like that. It was nice, kind of relaxing. Like meditating, but with my hands having something to do."

It was a lot like how he played music sometimes with his mind wandering. He blinked in confusion at Zuko's reaction and replayed his conversation. That might have fallen under saying too much.

"My world is called The World That Never Was. Kingdom Hearts is like...the moon there. It exists in my world."

[banishment]

"You don't?" Well, Zuko couldn't really judge that. He was somewhat socially inept himself, and hadn't had a proper girlfriend until Weiss. Dating someone you were practically betrothed to since childhood wasn't really dating. "When you have a girlfriend, you're committed to them -- loyal to them. Getting that close to someone else is breaking that trust."

Zuko's mind used to wander while he was meditating, back when he was a kid and he was still getting the hang of it, but now he indulged in it to silence his mind more than anything else.

"So, Kingdom Hearts is a Moon Spirit?"

[melodiouspacifist]

"I guess so, although I wasn't expecting to get that close to anyone in the first place. A girlfriend wouldn't be a thing I can do anyway." Demyx knew it involved feelings and love and other important things.

"I don't think it's really a spirit. It's just...what we call the moon. It's shaped like a heart. It's kind of an amazing sight. I could see it from my favourite room in the castle. What it actually is though, isn't really something I could say."

[banishment]

"I get that."

Having a girlfriend of his own choosing would've been difficult back home, whether it be because he was of royal blood (which made romance a game of politics rather than feelings) or the war that had been going on around him. He tried to date Mai for real and that hadn't exactly gone over well when the two of them were standing on opposite sides of the fence and he'd been forced to leave her in the end. Sorting out his feelings for a girl while he was trying to figure out where he stood and whether staying was worth it or not would've only made a messy situation even messier.

"Like a heart?" Zuko tried to picture a heart-shaped moon, but his imagination failed to produce anything. "Weird... But I guess I can't really talk, since the moon in my world is a spirit."

At least it didn't blow up all the time like the moon in Weiss's world did.

[melodiouspacifist]

"Well you're a prince, that kind of thing is probably not easy, although in all the fairy tales there's always a princess eventually!" He smiled cheerfully. "That's the way it is for princes."

He contemplated that. "I guess if anyone would be the moon's 'spirit', it would be Saix. That's his power, whatever that means. I don't want to know, he's crazy!" Mostly he was dangerous and Demyx would never want to fight him.

"But Kingdom Hearts itself is...not really the moon, it just looks that way and shines the only light over The World That Never Was."

[banishment]

Zuko snorted. Demyx didn't know the half of it.

"Unless you count my younger sister, there are no other princesses. And my life isn't exactly worth of any sort of tales, fairy or otherwise." Whatever 'fairy' was supposed to be. "The Princess of the Northern Water Tribe became the Moon Spirit, the Air Nomads are gone, and I don't think the Earth King had any heirs yet."

Their moon was starting to sound more like some sort of optical illusion more than anything else.

[melodiouspacifist]

"Uh, that's not gonna work then, I'm pretty sure it'd be gross to marry your sister. I'm sure she's nice and all but, ew." Demyx offered, pulling a face. "But the princesses don't all start that way, sometimes they're common people who happen to marry the prince."

An optical illusion would be better than the truth, a lot less incriminating sounding.

[banishment]

Zuko visibly flinched. That-- No. He refused to go there. The royal family stopped marrying within it hundreds of years ago. It used to be thought of a way to keep the bloodline pure, but those antiquated beliefs and practices were antiquated for a reason.

"I was betrothed to a governor's daughter. A girl of noble blood. Not-- Uhg. Did you really have to go there?" He made another noise of disgust.

[melodiouspacifist]

He laughed a little bit at the reaction. "Sorry, it kinda just popped into my head you know?" Demyx did not have much of a filter or much consideration for the feelings of others. He didn't need to.

"I'm just saying in the story usually the princess finds the prince, even if she's poor or enslaved or...whatever! And then they live happily ever after. No fairy tales in your world?"