(no subject)

[princeinexile]

Mt. Etna-- is warm. Nearly stifling. In the great hallway, there is flowing lava visible beyond hot, crystal walls-- far away not to be touched.

The rest of the place is incredibly moden; stainless steel kitchens and more. The boy releases Katara as soon as they are here-- his dogs back away from his legs, and then pad off down the hall; they're getting tired of watching their papa fight with everybody.

"Welcome to Mt. Etna. Your first taste of another world."

And he's your only ticket out. He secures the ring on his finger and smirks at Katara; welcome to his power-zone!

Comments

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

The dogs aren't the only ones who have backed away - Katara backs, no, jumps away and wastes no time in backhanding him hard against the shoulder. "Who the hell do you think you are?! Don't you ever touch me again! Take me back right now!"

She is less than happy.

[princeinexile]

Zuko rolls with it-- but his eyes have narrowed and his experssion has twisted.

"No."

And then he turns around and walks after the dog.

Welcome to being stranded in a strange, alien place with no idea how you'll ever see home again!

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

No?

"Yes!" she cries, stomping after him with hands fisted tightly. "You had no right to bring me here or take the doll or act like a big jerk! What's the matter, Zuko? You've finished ruining Stephanie's life, so now you have to ruin everyone else's?!"

[princeinexile]

"There it is!" Zuko says, as he turns around, still walking backward. "There. Go ahead, say the rest. I want to hear it." He's going to go right into the kitchem and rummage. Ooh, olives! He'll eat some of those.

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

That's... not what she expected him to say, blinking and coming to an abrupt stop when he turns to face her. She stays still, watching him rummage and eat, and is quiet.

"...what are you trying to get me to do?"

[princeinexile]

"I want to hear what you have to say."

He pops an olive in his mouth and then walks on. "You can tell me. I want to know."

He wants to know Stephanie hates him, you hate him-- it's all the cycle. He needs to know he's loathed. He has to know he's fighting the world.

Otherwise this would be worthless.

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

"...No, you don't. You're waiting for me to say something specific." She frowns and follows, keeping plenty of room between them. "You came down there and deliberately challenged me and you're trying to get me to yell at you now."

Glaring again, she crosses her arms over her chest and manages to refrain from tugging at her collar in the overwhelming heat. "What's the matter, Zuko? You need the peasants to justify your anger? You need us to hate you so you feel better about hating us?"

She wants Stephanie to see this side of him.

[princeinexile]

"No," he says. "I don't hate you people. I wish you'd realize that. This might be simpler. I spent two years in Wells' world, living as a fugitive. Now-- I'm repeating myself in my own. It gets tiring, being told that I hate you for being a peasant when I'm little better then that myself," he says.

He leaves the plate out; full of olives, kalamata, or otherwise. He bites into one, scrapes it's flesh from the pit, and then spits it into the trashcan.

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

"Then what do you want from me?" she growls, rough and angry, watching him spit with nothing less than disgust. "What did you bring me here for? Why won't you take me back? Why were you being such a jerk about the doll?!"

[princeinexile]

"I want you to say exactly what you want to say. You were swallowing hate like coffin nails. Spit it out!" he snaps.

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

"No!"

[princeinexile]

"Then enjoy your stay."

He pops another olive into his mouth, and repeats the previous strip-and-spit.

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

"Damn it, get me out of of here!" she snaps, yelling it angrily in frustration, taking a step closer. "Who the hell do you think you are?! You don't have any right to keep me here and I haven't even done anything to you!"

Today.

[princeinexile]

"Today."

Zuko eats another olive. "THey're quite good. Eat one, and stop being a bitch. I just want to hear what you think."

He's waiting.

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

"And since when have you ever been interested in my opinion? I don't trust you-- or your spitting food."

[princeinexile]

"I'm very interested now. Will you refuse me out of spite?" Zuko asks, and then gets up, goes to the sink, and gets two glasses of water.

"There, you're even armed now. Or you could sit, drink, and unload. Your choice."

He watched her now, wary, but then sips his water.

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

"I'm not refusing out of spite," she says, though she does make herself feel better by realizing she could freeze the water in his throat and choke him.

Much better.

"I'm refusing because I don't know why you want my opinion when you never did before. And you never do anything without a specific reason behind it."

[princeinexile]

"You've never cared about my reasons before, you won't now," he says. Then he smirks. "It could be worse, Katara. I could have you tied to a tree."

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

"You don't get it, do you?" After a beat, Katara moves toward him, taking a seat without changing her look of incredulous anger. "This is different - this is nothing like how it was at home. This isn't you being cruel because you don't know any better, this is you breaking someone's heart and not giving a shit, this is you being a bully just because you can and not thinking about the consequences."

Leaning back in her seat, she crosses her arms tight and glares - but it's softer, somehow, defeated. "This is me, watching you destroy the people who care about you, just because you can. And it has nothing to do with our world or peasants or royalty.... you did just because you could."

[princeinexile]

Zuko's face slips into something blank; he flickers with something like hurt, and something like hate, and-- then is quiet.

"I didn't -- do it carelessly," he clarifies, voice light, without inflection. "I don't care if you believe that. But I didn't. I did not do it callously, or to hurt her, or-- without pain."

She doesn't believe him, which is fine; she won't, she can't. Whatever. "I didn't do it because I 'could'. I did it out of necessity. For both of us."

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

"Right. Because this isn't your home, because you can't feel safe here when you have to return to the Fire Nation - when you have to go back where you belong and she can't follow you."

This is, verbatim, what Stephanie told her.

[princeinexile]

"Tell me that it's fair; for me to have two lives. Fair to either of us." His eyes narrow a fraction. "I can't do both."

And he won't give up his destiny.

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

"It isn't fair. I wouldn't ask you to do it - Stephanie couldn't either." His eyes narrow, hers stay relaxed. But she does lean back and watch him, chin lifted slightly. "And she would never ask you to give up the life that hurts you most.

"I can, though. 'Masochism.' That's the word, isn't it?"

[princeinexile]

"Because you're so concerned about my happiness and desires," Zuko drawls. "Sing me another."

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

"Where's the doll, Zuko? How did I get my necklace? When are you planning on speaking to me without yelling?"

Her jaw sets, expression set in stone - controlled, waiting. Expecting him to react and shielding herself from it.

"Why should I care about your happiness? You don't care about anyone else's."