[Zuko's Room - Mt. Etna]

[princeinexile]

Zuko slept well in a warm bed for the first time in the last few days. He rose in the early morning, made breakfast, and waited for Wells to crawl out from beneath the heap of blankets the no-longer wolfy man had managed to wriggle under sometime in the night.

He had decided sometime there that he liked fried eggs, and was glad that Hephaestus' larder stocked eggs. Eggs and juice made for a fine breakfast.

Comments

[milkbonesoldier.livejournal.com]

Wells had awakened that morning to three discoveries:

1. He appeared to be entirely surrounded by blankets of whose origin he was uncertain.

2. He was quite entirely human in shape.

3. He had apparently chosen to use his bundled uniform as a pillow the night before.

This made it significantly easier to avoid potentially distressing moments. When he emerged from the heap, he had at least managed to pull on his undershirt and trousers. "Morning, Zuko," he said with a yawn.

[princeinexile]

"Morning. Juice is in the ice box. So are the eggs." ...and it's just an icebox to Zuko. THeere is no 'fridge' or 'freezer' distinction for him yet; just 'icebox' and 'really cold part of the icebox'.

[milkbonesoldier.livejournal.com]

Wells nods. "Thanks," he says, brushing bits of grey wolf-hair away from his trousers. Something catches his attention; he pauses, expression puzzled, and then looks up. "Here- did I eat anything last night? I don't seem to have anything stuck in my teeth..."

[princeinexile]

"You did. You just had water afterwards," Zuko replies, picking at the last of his eggs. "Do you not remember what happens?" he asks, tilting his head.

[milkbonesoldier.livejournal.com]

"Ah," says Wells, before fetching the eggs and juice. "I remember a bit- a few patches, here and there- but it's all... foggy, I s'pose. Bit like trying to remember an old dream, if I'm lucky. I get little bits now and again, but they're not much connected to anything else."

He tends to prefer his eggs hard-cooked, but he's not fussy. Scrambling will do quite well today.

[princeinexile]

He can cook them any way he pleases; Zuko cooked his own!

"Well, you seem -- more on? Alert? Something. Communication is clearer. You made clear when you were happy, hungry, grateful... bowled me to the floor once for a laugh, too," he says. "Glad you don't recall that, personally!"

[milkbonesoldier.livejournal.com]

Wells thinks about this, poking at the eggs with a wooden implement to make sure they don't get any ideas about burning or sticking.

"Suppose that makes sense," he says. "There wasn't anything threatening me, and I wasn't starving; that's what sets it off worst." He looks over at the prince with a bit of a grin. "Did I, now? You don't look any the worse for it-"

And there's a moment's flash of memory. Not of the pounce, nor of any other recognisable thing. Just a flash of remembering a sense... Wells blinks his eyes rapidly, shakes his head once, and goes back to scrambling the eggs.

[princeinexile]

"Hardly. Stone floor didn't really welcome my backside, but I'm alright," he says, though he notices Wells' strange look. "You alright?" he asks, as he cleans his plate. Empty now, time to considere what to do with the rest of the day.

[milkbonesoldier.livejournal.com]

"Hm?... Yeah, I'm fine." The eggs look about done, he figures. "Think I just remembered why I was all right with you, instead of going batshit or such."

[princeinexile]

This piques Zuko's curiosity! The young man looks up from where he washes the dishes, and then says, unablee to resist, "Why? I'm not exactly a calming influence."

[milkbonesoldier.livejournal.com]

"No," Wells agrees, "but you're pack. Might as well attack one of my own brothers."

Pause.

"Well, attack one of 'em and mean it."

Pause again.

"Other'n David."

[princeinexile]

Zuko glances back, the scar offered. He just -- looks for a minute, and then smirks a bit before he goes back to the washing. "I see."

[milkbonesoldier.livejournal.com]

Wells nods; he doesn't need a reaction, really. It's been said, which was the important part.

No. It's been said and meant. Instinctively, not just consciously. That's the important bit.

What he does need is breakfast, and mercifully he's a lot neater about this eating than he was about last night's. Huzzah for hands!

It occurs to him, as he eats, that a place like this offers a certain number of opportunities. Mostly of the sharp-edged kind that you can't get from the Bar.

[princeinexile]

Yes, it does! THere are weapons here, but Zuko's not about to offer them on loan, or attempt to uses any of them. Certainly,t here are all FLAVORS or sharp pointies, but...

He keeps his hands to himself.

Sitting down with the las tof his juice, Zuko says, "When do you want to head back?"

[milkbonesoldier.livejournal.com]

"If y'wouldn't mind the extra time here," Wells says thoughtfully, "I'd sort of like a look around- just the places we're allowed to go, I mean. I'd like to be able to put sight to smell-memories, before I go."

[princeinexile]

"I can walk around with you a bit," Zuko says, blinking at him. "There's plenty to see. i'm not sure where you went after i went to sleep, though. You were back when I--" woke up in a cold sweat, nightmares of home under my skin "--got up, so..." He shrugs.

[milkbonesoldier.livejournal.com]

Wells shakes his head. "I dunno either. I'll know it when I get there, though."

He hopes, anyway. He's pretty sure he behaved himself, so unless he shed or something, he's only got a few traces of smell to go on.

[princeinexile]

Well, that means Zuko should take him to the most pungent place here: The forge. which is in fact his plan. Take him to where it smells the strongest...

It's -- got a hint of modern here and there, but it otherwise a traditional forge. Zuko touches nothing, but does look around to see if Hephaestus has started anything new...

[milkbonesoldier.livejournal.com]

This looks... familiar.

Not in the way that the wolf remembers. Wells is pretty sure he's never been into this room himself. No, this is something else...

"What a place," he says quietly, reaching for one of the walls but not quite touching it. "I don't think there's anything quite like this back home."

[princeinexile]

Zuko is still and silent; there is a great deal of things like this back where he is from, but oh, oh, that makes it all the worse. The homesickness is palpable; one doens't have to be a wolf or kin to them to smell it on his skin.

"Not quite like this," he allows, looknig at the lava flowing beneeath the crystal on the walls.

[milkbonesoldier.livejournal.com]

No, indeed. Wells glances over at Zuko thoughtfully.

"It'd be something, to see your world someday," he says quietly. "I can see from here just how little it is like mine."

"Maybe somewhere else, now? If you like?"

[princeinexile]

"THere's long tunnels, and a few guest rooms, but the rset of the place is Hephaestus' ... and I never went there." He gestures to be followed, though; the hallways in and out of the place deserve to be seen, glorious reds and golds from the lava dancing over the floor.

Zuko doesn't mind the heat at all, looking here and there. "It's very much like home...

[milkbonesoldier.livejournal.com]

Wells follows, looking, hands either behind his back or paused bare millimeters from whatever surface is closest to hand. "England don't look like much, next to this," he muses. "A great, grey, drizzling dump of a land, somebody called it... no wonder you're proud of your home."

[princeinexile]

Zuko chuckles softly. "I have seen many beautiful places," he says, "in my travels. But none... compare to home." But that's what makes it home. Even if it's a midden heap, it's still home.

And his heart hurts for it.