(Untitled)

[irisewiththesun]

Next month, it will be a year since Zuko came to Tabula Rasa. It's something he finds a little hard to believe, despite having lived it

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[irisewiththesun]

"Can you believe this?" Zuko huffs, gesturing at the screen as he glances at Helena. "My life is a cartoon. A cartoon!" He slumps back on the couch, scowling. On top of everything else, this was just...probably perfect timing, by the island's standards.

[irisewiththesun]

Zuko shoots her an incredulous look as he crosses his arms. "I don't care how good it is, it's a cartoon," he says, annoyed. He knows it would have stung no matter what, whether he found out he was part of a movie or a book series or whatever. It just seems to add a little extra twist to the knife, finding out just what kind of show he's in.

[lucked]

"Whoa there," Claire blinks as she steps into the rec room, tilting her head as she peers at the screen. The voice yelling is, of course, immediately obvious to her. She's spent enough time with Zuko as of late, trailing after him whenever she feels that it isn't a nuisance to the young man (sometimes, it's a little hard to tell, with how much Zuko seems to keep bottled inside, but she'd like to think that he'd stop her if it ever got to be too much). With Zuko, things always seem to be safe, secure, predictable in the sense that he's consistently there as a friend, and one who seems to share similar values. Someone worth admiring, for his courage.

Right now, though, his reaction just seems to prove that even the most well-adjusted of guys still have their moments.

"I never said that your scar was on the wrong side..." she adds, voice trailing as she leans against the back of the sofa, elbows resting there. "Whoa. Is that you in... cartoon form?"

[irisewiththesun]

"No, that kid did," Zuko replies, scowling, as he points at the screen. He's noticed, of course, how Claire seems to be around more lately, and he likes her enough that he's not yet lashed out in annoyance. "And yeah, seems that way. Because a hundred-year war between the Fire Nation and the rest of the world apparently is the perfect subject for a kid's show."

[lucked]

"Jeez, seriously?" Claire breathes, recoiling slightly before she gradually steps closer, to where the projected animation is easier to see. On some level, she can see it, how the premise of Zuko's life could make for a pretty appealing show, and even the brief glance shows her that the style and coloring of the animation is totally worth admiring, but none of it quite manages to settle in her stomach. It's one thing to know, practically, that any interesting life makes for decent entertainment. But it's another to see a friend, to know everything that he's been through and how personally it hits him, and come to terms with any of it being the figment of a person's dreams and whims.

"God, that's low," she exhales, moving vaguely towards the projector. "You shouldn't have to watch this, Zuko. Do you want me to turn it off? Or..."

She presses her lips together, wondering if he'll want to watch, if only because it might give him an answer on the war, and how things turn out in the end.

[irisewiththesun]

"No," Zuko says, and waits until she turns to look at him before giving a tilt of his head to beckon her over to sit by him. "I can't not watch, now that I know it exists." He's going to keep watching, but he wouldn't mind some company while he does, is what he's trying to say.

[not_so_smooth]

He didn't see many cartoons on the island, maybe because that wasn't traumatizing enough for the island to show the residents. He had only seen it out of the corner of his eye and didn't plan to stay until he heard Zuko shout.

It wasn't even until Zuko shouted that he realized that the cartoon actually was about Zuko. Sure Zuko and the character had scars, but an animated scar did not look a whole lot like a real one. The voices were exactly the same though.

"Whoa, hey, calm down," Sam said, stepping further into the room. "Trust me, getting mad at a show about your life is not cathartic at all."

[irisewiththesun]

"I don't care if it's cathartic," Zuko snarls, barely sparing Sam a glance as the show continues, showing Suki getting Sokka backstage so he can give some lame tips to the even lamer guy playing him in the show. "It's my life in cartoon form, I'm mad."

[not_so_smooth]

"Cassie had a comic book, I had a blockbuster action movie with more special effects than story based on a cartoon that was all about selling toys," Sam said with a shrug. He could get why Zuko was angry, he'd been there, but Zuko always seemed a bit angry at the best of times.

"You're still you. This can't take away from that."

[irisewiththesun]

He knows about Cassie's comic book. He saw Sam's blockbuster action movie. That doesn't make it any less infuriating when Zuko comes across his own fictional counterpart. "I know I'm still me, Sam," he says flatly. He's worked too hard to find himself and his destiny to let some stupid animated him with stupid, artfully windswept hair take that away. "That doesn't mean it's something I can just get over."

[giftless]

Much as Edmund loved his friends, he did wish they didn't have a slight tendency for making a scene in the rec room. Hearing Zuko's voice very clearly from the kitchen, Edmund set aside his tea and walked into the neighboring room. A glance at the screen made him pause. The drawings weren't exactly life-like, but it was close enough that Edmund could make the connection. The clothes, too, helped, and the voice was exactly the same. He could almost forgive Zuko his outburst, or at least not mention it.

"Did you just find this?" he asked, coming up to the back of Zuko's seat.

[irisewiththesun]

"Yeah," Zuko says in a hard voice, not having to turn around to recognize Edmund's. "There's a bunch of them on the shelf, the name of this one just stood out to me." He glances in the direction of the shelf, just knowing all those reels are still there, mocking him. How anyone could have thought their lives would make a good kid's show, Zuko can't begin to explain.

[giftless]

"I'm sorry," Edmund said, and his mouth, for a second, settled into a tight thin line. He hated this part of living on the island, the discovery of this sort of thing, because it reminded him of his own experience. He couldn't imagine any one taking this well, or any part of this being a good thing.

"It's only a representation, you know. It's doesn't change you or your life, the things you did. You shouldn't let it.. make you doubt."

[irisewiththesun]

In a rare moment of self control, Zuko doesn't immediately lash out, instead taking a second to take a deep breath, because he knows Edmund's trying to help. There's still an anger in his voice, though, when he does speak. "I know," he says. "And I don't. I've fought too hard to find the right path, I'm not gonna let this change that."

[thethirdwonder]

"Who says your scar is on the wrong side?" Cassie asked as she and Iris walked into the room. She'd been trying to studying for her classes in her hut but had found it too quiet so she thought she'd try the rec room. Plopping her books down on the table, she walked over and sat down on the couch next to Zuko, Iris settling at her feet with a pointed glare at Zuko.

She looked at the screen...and bit back a surprised giggle. "Oh Hera..."

[irisewiththesun]

Zuko's about to answer when Cassie catches sight of what he's watching, so instead he lets her watch for a few seconds. When she has to stop herself from laughing, though, his scowl becomes even more pronounced. "It's not funny, Cassie! I'm a cartoon! What the hell is that about?"

[thethirdwonder]

"Sure it is. We're all from something Zuko. I'm from a comic book, for Hera's sake!" She kept watching the cartoon and finally let a giggle loose. "Oh this is awful. Did you see this play before you came here?"

[irisewiththesun]

Zuko continues to scowl away, not finding anything funny about the situation in the least. "No," he says flatly, with a brief shake of his head. "I've seen the Ember Island Players before, my mother used to drag us to see them. But I've never seen this, this one about - us."