I won't bother trying to brush all that off. Had things been different? I guess that person... during the flood, I mean. I could have been him
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[As soon as she'd lured him fully into the shade, she shadowstepped, dissolving into nothingness only to reappear behind him in the next instant and immediately take a double-handed stab for his back, the same as she'd done with David... though with only bruising force behind it this time.]
[He had a fraction of a second second or two to realize he'd made a mistake before her strike hit him in the back. He staggered forward and might have fallen over, but caught himself and settled for turning around quickly and backing off, still holding his swords.]
[Hitting him was definitely satisfying, but she wasn't sure if it was just stupid pigheadedness that had gotten him to leave himself so open or him underestimating her again, and the second prospect was not one that made her happy. She didn't follow as he backed away, but stayed balanced, ready.]
... Firebending can be fueled by hate and anger. That's how he - I... my counterpart fought, and I'm too upset and frustrated about just having all these memories of what I could have been like if things had gone differently for me. I'm not that person, I don't want to be that person and I don't want to Firebend right now. I trust my control and I know you can defend yourself, but I don't want to fight you like that. Not now.
[...revenge is an okay thing to set people on fire for, right? Right.]
And how will you be a better leader than him? At least he could have cowed people into following him.
You ended one war, fine. How are you going to keep another one from starting where it left off? How are you going to fix the problems the first one left behind? You're here for information you should be using spies to find, not wasting your own time with. If you can't give work to the right people for the job, you can't lead a group, let alone a nation. If you can't use all the power you have, and well, someone who can will take it from you, by force or by stealth.
How will the people's lives be better if they suffer under a lord who doesn't know how to rule than one who doesn't care how he rules?
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Ow.
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Throw fire at me.
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Not today. If you want to do this again, fine, but not today.
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[Sneer. ...though why this Zuko was having so much trouble with the idea, she didn't really know.]
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[He heaves a sigh, looking away from her for a beat.]
It's complicated.
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Then I suppose if you won't fight you might as well explain it.
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... Firebending can be fueled by hate and anger. That's how he - I... my counterpart fought, and I'm too upset and frustrated about just having all these memories of what I could have been like if things had gone differently for me. I'm not that person, I don't want to be that person and I don't want to Firebend right now. I trust my control and I know you can defend yourself, but I don't want to fight you like that. Not now.
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[This is an unfair question and even she knows it, but politics.
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And how will you be a better leader than him? At least he could have cowed people into following him.
You ended one war, fine. How are you going to keep another one from starting where it left off? How are you going to fix the problems the first one left behind? You're here for information you should be using spies to find, not wasting your own time with. If you can't give work to the right people for the job, you can't lead a group, let alone a nation. If you can't use all the power you have, and well, someone who can will take it from you, by force or by stealth.
How will the people's lives be better if they suffer under a lord who doesn't know how to rule than one who doesn't care how he rules?
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