[Zuko's Suite - milliways_bar]

[princeinexile]

He all but kicked in the door.

The shower wasn't hot enough; it would have left anyone else lobster red, but for him, it wasn't enough. So he raged privately at himself in the shower, slithered out of his dirty clothing, and crawl into bed.

He traded one cell for another. But at least this one had a modicum of privacy.

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[futures_of_ash]

She'd promised Nathan she'd try to sleep, and she'd stayed true to her word, waiting until he left so she wouldn't wake him up whe she dreamed.

Of course, she probably doesn't realize how thin walls can be, or how much she projects beyond her voice...but the screaming starts. Piercing and heart wrenching before it suddenly stops, doors slam, and a Rachel starts padding up and down the hallway, walking off the nightmare.

[princeinexile]

Zuko is rattled from his sleep, blinking and shocked-- and then there is a boy in the hallway, blankets around his waist, wide-eyed and more then a little stunned.

The hell was that?

[futures_of_ash]

Well, it was Rachel, pacing with her arms hugged to herself and her hair sleep tousled. Had she been thinking, she'd have kept her blankets for comfort sake, as it is, she's in one of her brother's wife beaters.

She has a nice pattern going, twenty steps, deep shaking breath, pivot, twenty back...

[princeinexile]

There is an awkward moment where Zuko considers Do I go back for my pants? and instead just knots the sheet at his hip and pads after her.

"R--Rachel?" he has no idea how to comfort another, really. He just doesn't. But he reaches out, gingerly, to touch her.

[futures_of_ash]

She actually jumps, her face feral and frightened for a moment before the knowledge of who he is slips into her mind and eyes.

"Zuko?"

Zuko in bedsheets.

....

That was new.

Of course, coming from a girl n less, she shouldn't find it strange.

[princeinexile]

Zuko was sort of thinking the same thing about Rachel in a wifebeater. If she lifted her arms just so...

Alright, that's totally not the thing to be thinking about when you were wearing sheets, unless you wanted to pitch a tent. And he didn't. So instead, he just put a hand to her shoulder, and said very gently, "You shouldn't wander. Some people here are hardly good or kind. SOMEONE will do something stupid if they see you like this."

Ignore that it's coming from a hormonal teenage boy, this message. "C--come over. Here. My Door. Right there..." SO HE CAN GET PANTS.

[futures_of_ash]

Unfrtunately for Zuko? Rachel never did learn the modesty bit. Happened when you grew up in a cage. So she's not likely to think about pants of her own.

"Don't wat to have hurt people" she admitted, gaze dropping even more for a moment, hair a dark curtain to hide the fear.

"I woke you up didn't I?" she asked, stepping into the room. She didn't mean to.

[princeinexile]

Okay. He's -- got her in the room!

...what does he do with her now?

OKAY FORGET ABOUT HER FOR FIVE MINUTES! Get pants! His jeans are there, boxers too. "Sit down. Do you want anything to drink? I'm afraid I've just got -- whatever's in the fridge.

Bar provides with the room, after all. Isn't she nice?

He vanishes briefly into th bathroom for the sake of PANTS! and then returns, and tugs on his shirt. Where she has no modesty, he is a shy teenage boy before a pretty girl, and a prude to boot. He is not comfortable with being half-naked unless it involves exercise or ritual violence against his enemies.

"...you're not going to hurt anyone here," he says with the simplicity of the young. There is no one here worth hurting.

[futures_of_ash]

"Water?" she asked, knowing what a bad idea alcohol would be right now, no matter what she really wants.

She's seated, read sprawled, on the floor when he comes back out, back leaning against the wall near the bed as she continues trying to calm herself.

"Not on purpose" she muttered, something far darker than flame in her eyes for a momet.

[princeinexile]

Oh dear. That's not a good place to be sprawled. And -- oh god, GET THE WATER.

He marches off to do that, and comes back from his fridge with it, cold and crisp, and offers it, crouching down and keeping his eyes at her face rather then anywhere else.

"I-- I know." Even if maybe he doesn't.

[futures_of_ash]

"I didn't mean to wake you up. I'm sorry" she needs to ask Bar to soundproof their rooms...

Luckily, she doesn't notice his struggling at the moment, or perhaps unluckily. She's still a little too mired in nightmare to be sensing things clearly. Poor Zuko.

She's just staring at the water really, letting the codensation bead over her hands.

[princeinexile]

Eventually, the boy just sits besides her, uncertain of what to do

"You really ought to drink that. Feels better down your throat then dripping on your hands," He points out quietly.

He doesn't know what to say beyond that; do you ask? He'd hate being asked. He hates being asked now! So he sits, and indulges briefly in emotional retardation.

"... what do you need?"

[futures_of_ash]

She likes the way water looks, it distracts her often in truth. Eventually she manages to blink and take a sip though. No wonder her brother's worry eh?

"A lobatomy probably" she chuckled, a dark, lost sound. "Or a gag it seems."

"Don't worry" she hates when people worry about her. Hates being a burden. The gazese turns on him though is still dark and flame-less."I'll be alright in time"

[princeinexile]

"...but you're snuffed."

That's just not right. It makes him want to do strange things like intiate contact and try and-- talk to her or something! Highly abnormal behavior and he doesn't understand it, either.

[futures_of_ash]

"Snuffed?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

"I probably always am, if you mean worn out...and I still manage okay" waking up screaming? Is normal for her.

[princeinexile]

"... because people who are dead inside attempt to make other people feel better by showing them things like a star being born," Zuko blurts. THIS IS CRAZY TALK.

[futures_of_ash]

Dead inside...

It makes her wince, the hands on the glass shaking slightly.

She knows. Dead in areas, if no longer shattered...

"I know"

"I'm sorry"

[princeinexile]

He doesn't know what to do. What would UNCLE DO? Proverb? Hug her like an idiot?

He scrubs his hands over his knees, before he reaches out and nudges her shoulder, two knuckles sliding a short pace down her arm.

"... don't go out. There has-- to be some reason-- you burn, Rachel."

[futures_of_ash]

Touching a disturbed telepath?

Poor Zuko.

Especially since she didn't expect it, didn't shield in time...

Suddenly, the air tastes like blood. Thick and cloying on the tongue as Rachel's shivering increases, making the water slosh onto the carpet.

And there's the soft ringing of chains, like chimes...and the glint of knives...

[princeinexile]

There is this vague sound, almost like gagging -- and Zuko? He's gone a little green around the gills, as it were, bringing his hand back.

He has no experience with past-lives, with the spirit world -- something like this is beyond his ken. There is a weight he cannot understand, a terror that is and isn't his, and he is frozen, flesh against her flesh.

He is colder then a Firebender should be.

[futures_of_ash]

She actually bites her lip, using the pain and blood to focus on slamming shields down about herself, around Zuko, around the room...

Too late perhaps...

But the sudden peace might help?

[princeinexile]

He-- doesn't-- feel right in his own skin anymore.

His hands come away and he looks at them, for a moment, like they're not sure of they're his.

"... it can't be like that," he says in a quavering voice after a minute, as if in denial. "It can't. Eventually, those memories have to fade. They can't hurt you forever. They can't."

He needs her to confirm this for his sake as much as for hers.

[futures_of_ash]

"I've forgotten the first century or two I think. Let them fade as much as I can." telepaths can't forget.

"I can take it away from you though...you didn't deserve..shouldn't have seen that. I'm sorry"

She carfully set her half empty glass down on the floor between her knees and reached out to cup her hands around his. And oddly? Her hands are warm.

[princeinexile]

"What do you think I am, a child?" Zuko snaps, his eyes bright. "You think -- I haven't seen suffering, or that people hurt? I know-- what the world is like! Don't--"

Don't take something from him in the name of protecting him. HE doesn't NEED to be protected! She's not his mother; his mother is far away...

His hands are cold.

[futures_of_ash]

And she jerks back, flame flickering upward into her hair as teh glass gets knocked over entirely. She just..does not like seeing anyone in pain.

Hurting anyone.

"No, never a child...a friend"