March Mingle Madness (aka SURPRISE it's another mingle)

[bryces_pup]

Who: Crew members and visitors of the SS Blue Fish
Broadcast: nope
Action: On the Blue Fish, naturally.
When: Throughout March!

[Another month, another mingle. Once again, any visitors on the ship should bear in mind that there are locks installed all over the ship, so someone on board's gotta let you in. Or you can just stand there. And stare. And hope someone takes pity on you.]

Comments

xoxo

[honorbends]

[ zuko is in the kitchen when he gets the text, idly considering food -- and he's almost surprised, seeing as sasuke has somehow gotten into the ship without texting him for the past few weeks. but zuko soon abandons food to just go directly to opening the door, not bothering to text back. ]

Hey.

[ and he waits for sasuke to come in so he can close and relock the hatch ]

What's up?

[eyeforaneye]

[ The fact that he has a large white cloth bundle tucked under his arm is probably cause for alarm, or at least should be for anyone that knows him even remotely well, but he doesn't bring any extra attention to it as he indeed steps inside. ]

A number of things. Talking about every one of them as an introduction would probably just be a pain, so let's go to your -- [ my ] -- room instead.

[honorbends]

[ zuko, indeed, eyes the large cloth bundle under his arm, slightly suspicious -- but he's long since learned to just not question sasuke because it's not worth the headache, and so once he closes the door, he heaves a sigh and gestures. ]

That better not be another statue. Or a body.

[ zuko isn't sure what would be worse ]

[eyeforaneye]

It's not a statue.

[ There it is again, that winning sense of humor as he edges around Zuko to already move deeper into the ship like he owns the place. ]

How are you?

[honorbends]

[ ... great. ]

I've been better.

[ he's gotten a lot of pretty terrible news from home, but. whatever. his life is a joke. what else is new. and zuko follows after sasuke, not really all that bothered that sasuke seems to think this ship belongs to him ]

Who did you kill?

[ look equally winning sense of humor :) ]

[eyeforaneye]

[ He almost expected that answer, not because he's heard much more from Azula -- and he knows nothing about what Sokka's revealed either -- but because Zuko has incredibly shitty luck. Much like his own. ]

I'll write down the list of names for you later and you can look it over on your own time. [ Naturally he heads right for Zuko's office, paying the fox little mind when he lets himself in. ]

Do you want to talk about any of it?

[honorbends]

I'll make sure to hide the bodies.

[ dryly, and zuko nudges naruto the fox back into the room with his foot -- but he freezes, just a little, at sasuke's question. it's not prying -- sasuke, in his own way, is just trying to be nice. and he supposes that sasuke, of all people, would probably understand.

but the thought of talking about it weighs heavily on his chest, and he knows that it's just going to open a can of worms. but he also doesn't want sasuke to ask someone else. not that he would.

... eugh. ]

I found out pieces of my future that I wish I hadn't.

[ finally, and he closes the door, careful not to shut it on naruto's tail ]

It's not as clean as I would have hoped.

[eyeforaneye]

[ ... it sounds like a nightmare situation, really. Sure, the temptation to know his own future and the ability to accept resignation to it might find a home in his mind for nearly an entire five seconds, but overall? ]

Are they unavoidable events, or are they just pieces of 'a' future? Your being here already changes a few things, minor though they may be. [ That bundle he's carrying is placed neatly on the desk, a muffled clatter sounding as the objects tucked inside are jostled. ]

[honorbends]

They're unavoidable. Sokka told me what happened -- he wanted me to know before Azula could tell me, if she suddenly remembered our future.

[ and zuko sinks onto the couch, eyeing the bundle with a little bit of suspicion before he sighs, allowing the fox to hop up onto his lap ]

My mother is alive. My father didn't kill her.

[ which is... great, really, but. ]

She left Azula and I with our father and left to be with the man she really loved, and had a spirit wipe her memories of us from her mind, so she wouldn't remember we existed.

[ so. congratulations, sasuke, you picked a great time to come hang out. ]

[eyeforaneye]

[ If even Sasuke feels conflicted over that bit of information he can't imagine how Zuko must feel. Sure, Zuko's father sounds like the kind of man that she should rightfully wish to escape, but to leave her children? ]

... do you want to meet her? [ Because that's the part that matters most right now. Now suddenly he has the opportunity, but under what circumstances? ]

[honorbends]

I do meet her, in my future. And I take her back to the palace, with her family.

[ which is the right decision, in the end. he knows that, deep down. but as zuko says it, he still feels conflicted over it, and he stands with a huff, to walk around the room. he needs to move. ]

But it doesn't change the fact that she willingly forgot my sister and I, and left us with our father. Azula never recovered from that betrayal -- and when she found out, what my mother had done, she escaped. I couldn't find her again.

[ zuko is jumping around the story a bit, and not telling all of it -- mostly because he hadn't expected to tell it, and therefore he's just focusing on the painful parts, instead of the exact story. but -- ]

Taking us with her would have prevented so much, and she didn't. She left, instead.

[eyeforaneye]

[ He shakes his head when Zuko begins to speak but doesn't interrupt, well aware that the willingness to talk about this at all is genuinely as important as whatever he actually has to say. But... ]

You're talking about what will happen -- or what has happened in another future -- but that doesn't answer my question. [ And yet really, it does. The fact that Zuko is struggling with it indicates his mixed feelings; of course he wants to see her, but that doesn't mean he feels positively about what might happen. ]

Maybe it's better that you've had some warning here of what will happen.

But I'm sorry. The two of you didn't deserve that.