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

Perhaps he finds you to be overly analytical. [ Sasuke would want to know every bit of science behind it if it mattered to him, while otherwise just accepting it as it was if it didn't. He likes to think he doesn't waste his time on pointless ventures while spending hours sitting in complete silence in dark rooms. ]

Or he wants you to find the answer on your own.

Probably the second one.

[ it's murmured, watching the tea lives finally settle and drift.

azula, certainly, never mastered the art of making tea. ]

He's pretty insistent on self-discovery -- it should be fine, now.

And yet you still don't know. [ Sasuke's unconcerned with and unbothered by the temperature of the cup when he picks it up, no more worried over the tea itself when he takes his first sip. ]

[ The difference between it and the one he'd prepared is marked, showcasing that when he's unsatisfied with just that one taste and ends up nearly immediately taking another. ]

... is it possible to research it here? I don't know what materials you have available.

I'm pretty sure he meant for me to never find out. "It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit." Or something.

[ iroh talks a lot ]

But there is a library on the Iskaliut, I think. I could look it up, but it wouldn't change whether or not the tea tastes to standard if I do.

[ iroh, translated: who the fuck cares, zuko, it is what it is. ]

You could be inspired to do things that weren't the things he intended. I'd appreciate the flavor of something more if I knew the complexity of it. [ But... ]

Yet it's possible I'm uncreative, or interested only in dull things. [ self-aware moment ]

I pick and choose my battles.

[ with iroh, there is no winning. not that zuko really wants to win against his uncle, ever, because iroh is usually right when it comes to zuko and his Bad Life Choices.

but there's a slight twitch of his lips, into a slight smile, and zuko collects up another cup. he kind of wants some, now, too. ]

They're not dull to you, so that's what matters.

[ Why pick and choose your battles when you can simply battle absolutely everything. ]

I suppose. I dislike nearly everything in this world or in my own, so finding something I don't hate is worth noting. [ Starting with this tea, which clearly suits his palette if how quickly he's drinking it is anything to measure by. ] And your interests are tea and swords?

I like pai sho and chess, too.

[ chess was something he learned how to play in adstringendum, and while he's still learning how to be relatively good at it, it's a calming thing. even if zuko is super impatient and tends to lose because of rash moves. whoops.

he touches the kettle again to bring it to an abrupt whistle, allowing it to settle once the water boils. ]

Swords are really just my weapon of choice.

[ he enjoys them but he wouldn't consider that a hobby ]

[ That ability is frustrating just because Sasuke finds himself jealous of it, having zero need of such a talent but that's never stopped him lusting after someone else's power before. He dismantles blenders upon finding himself in unfamiliar territory; he's not well-adjusted. ]

Pai sho? Is it similar to shogi?

... but fine, I'll broaden the category to fighting just for your sake.

I'm told it's like a cross between shogi and go. And Chinese checkers.

[ pause ]

The board is a large round table, and you use tiles to move across the board. Each tile has a different symbol, which does a different thing. Whoever takes up all the remaining space on the opposite side wins.

[ another pause ]

The swords are really just an insurance policy.

[ though zuko is extraordinarily proficient with them, he's much more able to move around quickly and fluidly without them. when he can't firebend, though, they're helpful to have. ]

[ He just quietly watches him throughout the halting explanation, gradually draining the rest of his tea. Shogi and go. And Chinese checkers, whatever that is. Right. Whatever it is it sounds incredibly time-consuming, which is all the better for a place like this in which they have time in abundance. ]

I'll challenge you if the materials become available. [ Mainly because he'll challenge almost anyone in almost anything. ]

And my sword is the same, but I wouldn't say it isn't still an interest. I'd rather spend my time with most swords I've encountered than most people I've encountered.

I'd disagree, but.

[ zuko genuinely loves his friends, and he adores the people that he's met that he can trust. but even he needs to take breaks, and even he needs to just... step away from the madness for a bit. ]

And fine, but you'll lose.

[ xo ]

[ 'but', yeah. Exactly. Sasuke ~~loves~~ ~~likes~~ ~~tolerates~~ cares about his close comrades too, but they're so loud. ]

Start running your mouth when you aren't too cowardly to face me in a simple fight first.

[ t h a t gives him pause, and zuko stares at him for a long moment

weighing on whether or not to take the bait

should he take it

should he

hmmmm ]

Shut up, Sasuke.

[ it's said so easily and with such familiarity that zuko surely has said it at least sixteen thousand times before, and zuko offers sasuke the tea he just made for himself. as sasuke has already finished his. ]

A fight has variables on both sides within our control, and the coin could fall either way. Pai sho is different.

[ pai sho is a fight to the fucking death and zuko will win, peasant ]

That's what I mean about running your mouth. You're so used to some old version of me that you're convinced it'll be as easy to beat me now as it was then. [ He raises the cup slightly, inspecting it before actually holding it back out for him. It's Zuko's, after all, and he can fight his own selfish urge to just keep it. ]

I've changed a lot. We can wait for the pai sho match first if you're so insistent.

[ there's a slight slip of his fingers against the kettle, causing a slight whistle, at the blunt statement -- because that's true, it's not the same -- and he immediately wants to be snappish, but zuko holds his tongue.

instead, his tone is slightly curt, but lacks anger. ]

I never said it was easy.

[ and he ignores the cup, set on making another. the water is still hot, so. ]

I know.

[ Regardless of whether Zuko's referring to the game, a match, his expectations, or dealing with Sasuke in any form at all. ] If you could make me into him and just relive that instead, would that be your preference?

[ Perhaps even more blunt. ]

[ you know.

zuko has had a bad week. it's been an incredibly difficult week, actually. this has been terrible, if he's perfectly honest, and while he's beyond thrilled that someone he once considered Actual Family is back, it's also devastating to know that it's not the same. and for a moment, zuko wants to be snappish, but there's no real answer here.

yes, he wants his version of sasuke back, but no, because sasuke needs to go through what he needs to in order to become the sasuke that's being a total asshole in his room right now. what's done is done, and zuko knows he needs to move on. and he's been trying, in his own way, which has been an abysmal failure.

but for sasuke to be that blunt and callous over something that is A Huge Deal when zuko has made every attempt to be delicate about sasuke's emotional baggage just pisses him off. ]

No.

[ sharply. ]

Because doing that would go against everything you told me I needed to do in order to keep going.

[ zuko has a huge amount of respect for uchiha sasuke, in any form, because sasuke was the first person who spoke to him after he defected. (in his perspective, anyway.) and immediately understood. and while his version of sasuke is so important to him, and always will be, zuko knows that sasuke would be furious if he did any of that. and he would never disrespect him in that way. ]

Shut up and drink your tea.

[ Sasuke has also had a particularly unpleasant last few days, starting with breaking out of Obito's hideout after his eyes had healed, finding Itachi, fighting with him and watching him leave him again, resurrecting Orochimaru, learning his family's full history, heading to the battlefield, ending the war, challenging Naruto, losing his arm, and then ending up here. When he finally actually stops to register any of it he'll no doubt be coping worse than Zuko is, and in the distant reaches of his mind he realizes how damaging that one simple question had been...

But he hears the answer that he wanted. Not because he wanted to be more important; he's not that callous or lonely (perhaps). But because Zuko is motivated.

He can't even express approval of that without sounding like he was testing him, though, or coming across as emotionally removed in a way that might just bother him more. ]

... I don't know yet what my best course of action is, with you. Until I determine it, I'll continue to speak with you. Tell me directly when I shouldn't and I won't be offended. [ Finally another sip of tea. ]

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

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