Zuko FLEE!

[princeinexile]

There are green woods everywhere, and it makes for easy vanishing for a boy dressed all in green... even in the dim light of the wee-hours-of-the-morning.

Little does he realize how accomplished and steathy the bat clan can be...

Comments

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph is stealth plus!

- only, not in a forest. She does city streets excellently. Forests, less so. There's all twigs and stuff.

CRACKLE CRACKLE STOMP SNAP SCREECH.

"Zuko! What the hell? Where'd you GO?"

[princeinexile]

See, Zuko is master of running over a foot-deep layer of leaves SOUNDLESSLY. And when he ninjas,he gets the little tinkly bell of stealth for his theme music!

And he is totally up in a tree to the left of her. Trying not to laugh at her.

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph is WET AND COLD AND UNIMPRESSED.

Also, the trees are scratchy. And there are, like. Bugs.

Steph does not like this!

"Zuko! You stupid jerk, where are you?"

[princeinexile]

There is a rustle-- and then there is a wet, eggy SPLAT.

Against her back.

Yes, he's mentally regressed to ten, why do you ask?

[alwaysroomforhope]

...






Steph's just not going to ask.

This is WEIRD EVEN FOR ZUKO, and that's saying something!

"YOU'RE TOTALLY GETTING THAT CLEANED FOR ME," she yells, in the wrong direction, "AND I AM BLOODY GOING INSIDE NOW, IT'S FREEZING OUT HERE."

Vengeance will come. Oh, just you wait. Just ... not now. She turns around and starts back towards the edge of the forest.

[princeinexile]

"I told Wells about you!"

Once she's at the edge of the woods, he drops down from his perch, two more eggs in hand. Abandoned nest, trees--it happens.

He looks at her, smirk appearant. "He explained to me what that 'it changes nothing' means, and what you're thinking! And-- you know wha? You're right! It doesn't change that you're-- horrible and shallow and faithless!"

...oh yes, he's going there.

[alwaysroomforhope]

WHAT.

She freezes, and then turns so fast her wet hair smacks against her face from momentum.

"Oh, you did not just say that to me."

[princeinexile]

Zuko stands firm.

He did SO.

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph glares and storms back towards him, hands planted on hips.

She's doing a lot of storming about lately. ALL HIS FAULT.

"I am not. And you didn't exactly push me away, did you, so what does that make YOU? AND," before he has a chance to answer that, "I talked to Sharpe and he said fighting out in the woods is okay, so don't think I won't hit you!"

[princeinexile]

"Means I thought you were something you aren't. I won't think it again!" Zuko retorts, though his pride is wounded.

He did kiss back. In that instant, he forgot about her boyfriend Billy, he forgot about honor, and he... just... wanted to have somebody want him.

Fat chance of that, though.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"You thought I was what, exactly," Steph demands, glaring at him. He's got a couple of inches on her, and that's just annoying. "Care to explain that?"

[princeinexile]

"A bitch, for one thing. Selfish, for two," Zuko says. THAT'S A START, ISN'T IT?

[alwaysroomforhope]

"You kissed me because you thought I was a selfish bitch?"

Steph is NOT BUYING IT.

"You are so full of shit, Prince Sulko."

[princeinexile]

"No, you kissed me because you're a selfish bitch!"

... he doesn't want to talk about why he kissed her.

[alwaysroomforhope]

...he's probably right, actually. A brief flash of guilt before she changes tack. No WAY is she letting him win this one.

"And so that makes it okay for you to dump water on my head and throw bloody EGGS at me, does it? You're such a jerk!"

[princeinexile]

"And why not? Somewhere in your brain you're trying-- to justify this! Cheating on your boyfriend, giving me-- some sort of test run! But you know what? I'm not a noble prince! I lie and I steal and I have no honor! I'm following my father's orders, to bring back a child to my peple so I can have my throne! And I don't care if he'll be scared and alone, because it'll get my throne, my home, my father's respect! He'll welcome us back, and he'll pardon uncle and it'll be fine!"

Wwwwwwwwwwhen did this become about him? Oh yeah. Justification.

"So stop thinking -- I'm better or whatever it si! I'm not! And it wouldn't matter if I was-- anything that anybody wants, because I hate you!"

[alwaysroomforhope]

"..." says Steph, glaring - not daggers. Glaring broadswords, maybe. "I. Look, Prince Stupid, I didn't kiss you because I thought you were - anything, I kissed you to SHUT YOU THE HELL UP, and it WORKED, and that's the end of it!"

Enough of a pause to breathe.

"And you're just STUPID if you think your stupid father's going to welcome you back and forgive everything EVER, if he's anything like you he'll hold a grudge for EVER, and I hope he does!"

[princeinexile]

"You're lying."

Because he needs her to be, really. That's all that's in that statement. That he needs to be victorious, she needs to want, and he needs to be able to walk away, the one that can abandon, the --

-- the one that isn't left in the end.

Because she would leave him, wouldn't she?

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph never leaves anyone. They always leave her first. That's why Zuko doesn't matter, because he'll walk away one day too, and it'll be forgotten and she won't have to apologise to Billy any more for things that weren't even her fault and -

"You wish," she retorts, planting her hands on her hips. "You just wish I was."

[princeinexile]

There's disgust on his face, and defeat too.

Hurt under it.

He turns, and walks.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Oh no. You can not start this and walk away!" She catches his shoulder, angry. "You don't get to call me all that and then just waltz off!"

Coward. FINISH WHAT YOU'VE STARTED, ZUKO. Especially if it means she gets to hit you. Her fists are itching!

[princeinexile]

"Why not!?" he demands, jerking his arm fre of her touch. "You knew-- you knew that kind of thing was important to me! You knew it was-- supposed to mean something! AND YOU DID IT ANYWAY!"

Doesn't he have the right to walk away from that? Even if it makes him a coward?

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Maybe it did mean something and you're just TOO STUPID TO NOTICE," Steph snaps furiously, before she has a chance to even think.

... and maybe she would've said the same thing if she had thought. Just not where Billy could hear. Because ...

Yeah, she has no idea.

[princeinexile]

"Then what the hell did it mean!?"

ANSWER! PONY UP! IT'S TIME!

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Maybe it means I don't think you're such a hopeless loss as YOU think you are!"

You want answers, you can HAVE 'EM.