post-DDD

[flammatory]

[ Zuko hasn't even really thought about the community in years. Sometimes he thinks on Azula and how she'd ended up, and how he probably won't be able to contact her ever again. That shouldn't fill him with grief or anger, but sometimes on nights where he can't sleep and it feels like the Fire Lord's bedroom is a farce that echoes too loudly around him, he can't help it. His feelings are a thorny tangle that he has no interest in teasing apart. It won't do any good. It won't help him with anything. There's nothing to do.

Azula, and everyone else on different worlds that he'd left behind, are out of his reach. And there's plenty to do as Fire Lord.

Even so, once in a while Mai blandly enforces a break onto him, or Iroh pretends he wants to see his nephew for a few days and then conspicuously leaves him to himself half the time, and Zuko knows it's their way of expressing concern when he's overworking himself, because no one else is about to tell the Fire Lord to slow down. He doesn't always appreciate it at first - he's an adult and he has responsibilities, he doesn't need to be put down for a nap like a child! - but by the end he feels a lot less likely to snap and set someone on fire, so he figures, begrudgingly, that they had a point.

This time, he uses his enforced day of solitude to work on some letters. He doesn't write too often, and Aang and everyone else don't always have time to write back to him, either, but Zuko admits it helps him feel less isolated to have people to send and receive letters from that just have him signing with a simple Zuko at the end. This still leaves him missing Toph - not that he's about to admit it - but it's usually worth doing.

Zuko sighs and sits down at his writing desk, taking out a brush and ink pot. ]

Aang,

I can't tell if you're helping me or destroying my reputation when you go around telling everyone the Fire Lord is a big softie. I've started getting twice as many people coming to me with personal requests. Think you could add 'but he has no tolerance for people wasting his time' to your public relations campaign?

Otherwise I'm going to start telling them all that I personally know the Avatar and he'd be happy to help. You probably would! So take care of it yourself. I have too much to do. Uncle keeps forcing me to take breaks, and if I refuse he comes up with increasingly embarrassing excuses for why my schedule has to be cleared for the day...

Comments

[jailbirds]

[ the community has never left Minatsuki. she's so accustomed to it by now that it seems like an ordinary part of her life, most of the time; like a social circle she keeps separate from the people she meets. even if it is a social circle that occasionally kidnaps her for parties and whatever else. it's been around through so much of the major upheaval she's experienced the past few years, seen her progress from a villain to a survivor to... someone who is trying very hard to readjust to living in the world. sometimes, it's nice to have a place where she doesn't have to uphold that facade of normality quite so carefully.

it has its downsides. there are people she misses who she'll never be able to reconnect with, simply because of the community's nature. she's not a person prone to regrets, but it does— irritate her, to think that someone might remember that stupid little brat she used to be, when she's put all this effort in to become someone better now. people that tried to reach out to her before she was ready to accept anyone's hand.

Zuko is one of those people. which is why she fumbles her phone and watches it hit the floor, after she sees his name come up on the community, and she doesn't pick it back up for a few minutes. does he even remember? if he does remember, he still may not actually give a shit, and Minatsuki isn't going to leave herself open to that kind of humiliation. she should be casual about it, right? like he never left. god, she freaked the fuck out on him the last time something like this happened, didn't she. ugh. definitely play it casual.

she scoops up her phone and flops down on her bed. ]

oooooh look at mr big shot over here
so busy with his super important fire lord duties
i've got a 4 page biology essay to write by next week but you don't hear me bitching

[flammatory]

[ Zuko has changed quite a bit in some ways - he's matured into a hard-won reserve that he needs in order to function as the Fire Lord, for one thing - but in others, he hasn't changed at all. It's completely beyond him to imagine someone else might be worried he doesn't care about something, or someone.

It's always been his problem that he cares too much.

Another thing that hasn't changed is his gracelessness when he's surprised. Zuko abruptly halts painting characters as the words begin to appear, and he stares dumbly for a few long moments. It doesn't immediately register for him that this might be related to the community. It's been years, and weird stuff does happen when you get involved in Avatar business.

So his eventual response is a flat, unpunctuated: ] What

[ Or, as Zuko writes it, 什麼 ]

[jailbirds]

[ she's so used to the community being the extremely obvious source of everything strange in her life that it doesn't even occur to her that he might just be caught by surprise. she thinks: great. he's forgotten. she already steeled herself for a confrontation that's not going to go anywhere, because now this is a— this is a stranger with Zuko's name.

well, even if that were true, it's not like she can just stop caring. she's stuck now. ]

what what
do i have to explain the community to you???
i fuckin hate being the one stuck with that

[flammatory]

[ If there's anything that gets Zuko snapped back to reality, it's being told he's being slow. ]

No, you don't need to explain the community to me! I'm just not expecting it after five years!

[ So if this is the community... Zuko suddenly starts looking for the username. Surprise makes his strokes heavier, translating into bold text. ]

Wait - Minatsuki ?

[jailbirds]

ah
wasn't sure if you'd remember or not

[ what she means is "wasn't sure if you'd remember me" but this is a good, casual distance from that. people forget the community often enough; it doesn't have to be personal. on her side of the phone, though, there's a definite feeling of relief when she sees her name there. —wait, what did he say? ]

it's been five years for you??? Σ(゜゜)
you still sound the same to me lol