one fish, two fish, red fish, (blue fish)!!

[honorbends]

Who: The passengers of the Blue Fish and visitors!
Action: The Blue Fish!
When: It's a mingle for the month of January, losers!

[ mingle for the month for the blue fish, to meet up with new crew members, hash out stuff. come get free therapy from zuko, who has 100% put up a sign on his door saying 10 credits because allen owes him money. ]

Comments

[honorbends]

[ zuko has always had difficulty sleeping, and can often be found in the kitchen with said tea while he tries to figure out the fastest way to go to sleep. he's tried meditating tonight, and counting sheepbears, and now he's aimlessly reheating his tea. every so often, there is a slight hiss of steam from the edges of the cup, which zuko is clasping between his hands.

somewhere, iroh is bemoaning his nephew's total lack of regard for tea. ]

[steeledskin]

[ it's the second or third hiss that catches her attention. until now, they've been sitting in (relative) harmony. two quiet people, sharing a wordless space. but when she sees steam rising from his mug once again...?

well, sansa stares. it's not much polite -- but it can't be helped. she waits and watches and listens for another hiss. ]

[honorbends]

[ zuko can feel sansa staring more than seeing it, and after a few seconds, he glances up at her from across the table.

he's seen her around (has he spoken to her? maybe), but she seems to be extraordinarily shy. and reclusive. and generally doesn't like talking to strangers.

which he can both appreciate and sympathize with. ]

Is that bothering you?

[ and zuko removes his hands from his cup. the water is still hot, but the hissing stops. ]

[steeledskin]

No.

[ quick. and emphatic -- like hiding behind her dismissal, in case her attention has caused any unease. sansa sighs. she keeps her distance. ]

Only -- how are you doing it?

[honorbends]

[ oh.

well, in that case, zuko places his hands back on the cup itself. ]

I can manipulate heat and fire.

[ with the slightest exhale of breath, the water turns to a boil. (somewhere, iroh groans at the ruining of tea.) ]

It helps keep my tea warm.

[steeledskin]

[ sorcery! -- but, somehow, she finds its existence a mite more comforting than all these 'lectric gadgets. plugs and cords and funny little lights that don't flicker at all like candlelight. therefore, zuko becomes a point of interest. ]

Are you a wizard, too? [ she asks -- quiet and humbled. perhaps he is like james, she thinks. ]

[honorbends]

No, a firebender.

[ he moves his hands from his cup and rolls his wrist, a small ball of fire appearing in the palm of his hands. ]

But I guess people who don't know what it is would consider it some kind of magic.

[ even though it's kinda not. ]

[steeledskin]

[ sansa nods. after all, she's one of those people who don't know. the very word 'firebender' conjures up some idea of a mummer at a royal fest. a man of entertainment, and spectacle.

this young man behaves nothing like that. ]

What is it, if it isn't magic?

[honorbends]

It's a transferral of energy -- our chi, to create fire.

[ the use of their own chi, their own energy, is different from the other elemental manipulations. ]

It's a part of me.

[steeledskin]

Apologies, ser.

[ gentle. polite. she doubts he's any knight, but she wants to call him something other than a name she doesn't know. sansa flexes the fingers of one hand against the palm of another. uneasy. ]

But I don't know -- what's a chi?

[honorbends]

Zuko.

[ it's said at her uncertainty, because she obviously doesn't know his name. and he watches her for a moment before he moves his tea out of the way, and conjures a ball of fire between his hands, stretching it into a thin line of flames in mid-air. almost like he's holding a string. ]

Chi is what flows through your body, and connects to your soul. It gives you life. I can take that energy, and turn it into fire, by manipulating the flow of energy through me.

[ the fire curls around his fingers briefly before being dissipated into a puff of smoke. ]

You have it too. You just can't turn it into fire.

[steeledskin]

I do not have it.

[ her protest is caught somewhere between -- between what? disgust and envy. uncertainty and conviction. sansa could never be so special as to have bright energy inhabiting her veins. she has blood and steel and nothing else. nothing else, mayhaps, except for northern frost. ]

[honorbends]

You may not feel it, but you have it.

[ don't be sassy, sansa. ]

Everyone does, even people who can't control the elements. It's how you live.

[steeledskin]

[ her attention narrows. she doesn't want to be rude, so she tries to word things as gently as possible: ] Were that the case, I would have thought the maesters back home would have discovered it long ago.

[honorbends]

Mmm. Maybe.

[ okay. that sounds fake, but okay. ]

I guess you wouldn't know it was there unless you were looking for it, anyway.

[steeledskin]

How do I look for it?

[ she's concerned, now. is there something foreign and unnatural living inside of her? mayhaps that's why everything's gone wrong. she could blame all her misfortune on chi. ]