[Thread] This much negative energy is bad for your skin.

[banishment]

Characters: Prince Zuko (OU) and OPEN [new character = new thread]
Where: the park, near the pond
When: morning
Summary: Zuko's angry and attempting to let off some pent-up steam.
Warnings: The usual amount of angst and emo-ness that comes with the Zuko package, with a side of rage, father issues, and some flashbacks.

Comments

[poppingseeds]

Persephone hadn't been out at the park at the crack of dawn like she usually was, but had eventually made her way back around to her favorite place after spending the morning wandering around the compound. Thoughts kept bothering her -- this place was too small; what were they waiting for? when would they be able to leave? It felt like never at the rate things were going. And the cold! Autumn really was setting in and it was a little disconcerting, that change, to someone who had never experienced it before

[banishment]

Zuko stood up in the water, having not expected to be approached by anyone. Didn't they know that coming near an angry firebender was a bad idea? No, they couldn't, because none of these people were from his world. And those who were didn't care about testing his temper.

He snorted in a very un-princely fashion and waded out, pushing his wet hair out of his face with one hand. "Maybe not from the angle you're standing. And the fire came from me. I'm fine."

[poppingseeds]

Even if Persephone had known, the goddess probably wouldn't have stayed away; fire in the park never boded well for the plants and as what she considered her realm within Econtra, it was her self-appointed duty to make sure that everything was okay. Still, this kid didn't have to sound like such a jerk about her making sure he was alright.

The verbal whiplash that was at the tip of Persephone's tongue died the second she saw the burn scar on his face, her own scrunching up in a barely contained wince. Needless to say, whatever caused that didn't look pleasant. But making him a monster? Hardly. If Zuko wanted monsters, then he was more than welcome to pay a visit to Greece where one eyed giants roamed and harpies stank up the air with their foul stench. Now those were monsters.

Persephone didn't know what caused her to even bother responding (probably the combination of restlessness and discontent she was starting to feel for the place), but she gave him an equally annoyed snort, poking with her words, "You don't sound fine."

[banishment]

From the way she reacted to the sight of his scar, he assumed she was among those in the compound who hadn't read what he'd spewed out while under the influence of the truth serum. She didn't know that it had been his own father who had burned half his face off at a tender age, when he'd done nothing to warrant such a cruel punishment.

With a roll of his eyes to show his annoyance, Zuko sighed flames and admitted, "I'm not fine. Happy? I haven't been fine in long time."

[to_her_yang]

While the empty lot would have been a better choice, Rei liked training with the contact of nature. Her spinning top in one hand, her launcher in the other, she was prepared for a small Beyblading session when she saw the boy in the water, looking *fairly* angry.
The park's peaceful atmosphere was starting to become questionable, she thought with a sigh. Many people around here came to unleash their distress or their anger, a decision which she approved entirely; it was, afterall, better than venting it out in the apartments.
Still, he looked angry enough to put himself in the water. Rei tried to make herself as discreete as possible, waiting for him to calm down a little to, perhaps, talk him out of the water. Sadly, she was being a white spot against the trees, and was quite noticeable.

[banishment]

Of all the distractions he'd endured while venting his rage, this one was perhaps the most tolerable. The person didn't approach him or speak up or anything else of the sort that had only served to annoy him. He was a bit calmer now and turned around in the water, looking in the direction in where he felt a pair of eyes watching him. He spotted the girl and stood, wading out and shaking his arms in a futile attempt to get some of the water out of his clothes.

"Am I in your way?" He asked.

[to_her_yang]

She had gone through a lot of her more impulsive friends' temper tantrums; to say she was used to these, even from a complete stanger, was an understatement.
He did look in a bad shape, however; once he asked her, she replied, a look of concern over her face:
''No. With what you must be going through, I'd be the bother. Sorry.''.
She looked down a little, remebering how she and her calmer teammates had been yelled at for showing empathy by their distressed friends; ''I'm not a monster'' seemed an all too familiar sentence to her, and she wanted to prove that it was right, as she had done by the past.
However, she knew nothing about this person, and while she'd be ready to offer support, she could as well leave him to be, watching him from afar in case he started to hurt himself.

[banishment]

"Oh."

Well, that was certainly different. All the others who'd interrupted him today wanted to talk or lecture him or try and get him to talk. This girl didn't. He found it made him both relieved and a little uncomfortable. He wasn't the best when it came to social situations, especially if the other person hadn't started doing the talking first.

"No," he found himself saying, "it's...alright. I don't mind."

[okinyanko]

For the best. FOR THE BEST! Ugh. There was something seriously wrong with him. To just agree to forget everything important between them all because Fye really had no choice. Damn that infuriating man and his pride. If it wasn't his way then it was the highway! Well he could just go die in a tar bit

[banishment]

"Maybe not," came the response and Zuko sat up straighter in the water, bringing a hand up to push his unkempt hair back so that the scar and mangled ear were no longer hidden by the long locks, "but I've burned down a few villages. People might've died during that. I wouldn't know. I didn't go back to check."

He got to his feet and turned around to face the person who'd approached him, having calmed down some from his initial rage. The prince crossed his arms over his chest and eyed the newcomer. The amber eyes didn't at all take him by surprise, being someone whose own eyes were gold, but the cat ears and tail were indeed a little weird. But, he'd seen stranger things in this place and didn't let it bother him.

[okinyanko]

"Then you should apologize for wailing on it..." Maybe. Pfft... Of course it wasn't the waters fault. Water is very passive and non-confrontational.

The first thing he noticed when the other turned was the scar and he wondered idly if that was because he acted carelessly with fire. To be polite he never once let his eyes drift to look solely at that. He instead found interest in the amber eyes that were similar in color to his.

"Well. I'm sure it was for a reason. Whether it's bad or good depends on the person themselves." Fye sighed a bit and glanced down at the water and his dripping clothes. He was in a similar boat then wasn't he? Fye had burned a couple villages and slaughtered a good amount of people in the war back on Celes.

Let's see if this person had a blood thirsty tyrant behind him. "You don't look like the type you goes into villages and burns them down on a whim though."

[banishment]

If this person though that water was passive and non-confrontational, he'd obviously not seen Katara one of her bad days--which, when Zuko was around her? Seemed to be every day. Water could be just as deadly as fire, if provoked in the proper manner. And Zuko had done just that. Katara proved she had it in her to at least attempt to do away with him, with the way she'd threatened him back at the Temple. She had said she would end his destiny. Feh, like he even had one of those anymore. Not here.

"I was hunting someone. Let's just say the villages got in the way."

[darkrangerqueen]

Privacy was nearly impossible in Econtra, Sylvanas had come to realize. Too many people close together who were strangers, without a common culture to unite them. What remained of her ranger instincts buzzed whenever someone's attention swung to her...which was often. Thankfully, none had bothered her in her tireless investigation of the grounds and its citizens.

It was not the young man at the edge of the lake, but the arc of fire and hiss of evaporating water that caught her attention. The boy was throwing flame carelessly. She watched, curious. He had great skill, but he was being sloppy, clearly in a rage. The boy had an extensive burn-scar along one half of his face. She watched with interest from across the park.

He finally sat in the water, exhausted. The breeze carried his words to her long ears: "I'm not like you. I'm not a monster

[banishment]

Having been someone who was trained to listen to footsteps, he heard hers before she spoke. They were footsteps he didn't recognize, though, as everyone he knew walked in a way that was unique to their person and thus could be used to identify them. He didn't have an answer for who this person was, however, and the unfamiliar female voice did nothing to help him name her.

Reluctantly and with a heavy sigh, he stood in the water and turned around, pushing his hair out of his face and regarding the long-eared girl curiously. He'd been bothered several times while out here venting, but no one had said something quite like that before and despite his anger, it piqued his interest. That curious side that wanted to know things, that had been stunted and shoved aside after the earning of his scar and the task of hunting the Avatar had been given to him.

"I'm sure a lot of people have," he said. "But there are few who say it and actually fear being it."

[darkrangerqueen]

She lifted a bony shoulder in what might have been a shrug, and moved towards the water's edge. But her white-fire eyes never left his face, and her voice held an edge of bitter pride. "I've done what I must in order to survive. I've killed without remorse. Whatever was necessary to keep my enemies at bay." She stopped before the water touched her feet. "But I was not always like...this." Sylvanas gave him a moment to take in her appearance: too-pale skin, ragged hair. A walking corpse. She finished in a near-whisper, "I did wonder, at first. Not anymore."

[banishment]

"I hunted a twelve-year-old boy and almost killed him and his friends more times than I'd like to try counting. I've burned down villages. All in the name of the lies my kingdom feeds those born to it."

Somehow, Zuko felt he could relate to that statement. He didn't always have his scar, after all. He'd overheard some of the courtiers at the place when he was back home during those few months following the capture of Ba Sing Se. They'd whispered about how handsome he would have been if not for the scar, if he had flawless skin on his left like he did on his right. He was a child born to an ancient line of Fire Lords--he was practically bred to be physically appealing and the scarred flesh and mangled ear distorted all of that.

A hand came up and he closed his eyes, touching the edge of the scar where the marred flesh met his pale skin on the side of is face. "I wasn't always like this, either. I understand it now, but I'm still not happy about it."

[red_gem_queen]

"You are letting your temper control you," a voice remarked matter-of-factly. It belonged to a red-haired woman dressed in clearly expensive fabrics and wearing a tall filigreed crown. She stepped into full view and Zuko, as a prince himself, would likely have little trouble recognizing the mannerisms of someone born and bred to rule

[banishment]

Zuko's head snapped up at the voice, looking over his shoulder at the regal-looking older woman. Royalty, that much was obvious. He was suddenly even more cross with himself for not having heard her approach, to focused on wallowing in his own self pity than paying attention to his surroundings like he was trained to do. Zuko was a far better warrior than he was a prince, but right now, he was failing at both roles.

He stood, his good eye narrowed and fists clenched at his side, wading out of the water. "How would you know what I am?" He spat to the stranger.

[red_gem_queen]

She was used to much more deference, even subservience - whether simply sincere or in fun to keep up her spirits as the shitennou sometimes did to alleviate the stress of their current situation - but she had never demanded it from someone not under her rule, and this was not her kingdom. Econtra had also cured her of expecting to find more normal courtesy among its people some time ago.

"Oho?" she asked, and the she gave him a faintly amused look with a slight motion of her shoulders. "Perhaps you would rather be thought of as one."

[banishment]

"Maybe that would make things easier," he snapped.

That's what people wanted to hear, right? That the poor little prince who's father abused him physically and mentally was so broken that he was slowly becoming the very man that had done this to him. It was what Uncle Iroh had been afraid of. The man may've not said it out loud, but Zuko understood now that Iroh had been trying to prevent him from letting history repeat itself. He'd figured that out before even coming to Econtra.