Inbox for Sn: Pai Sho - Avalon

[uncle_iroh]

(Please note that Iroh still does not quite understand his phone so... this will be.... interesting.)

"My nephew tells me that I should ask you to leave a message. He says he will show me where to find that message once I have one. So please, leave a message."

Comments

[uncle_iroh]

"I look forward to it."

[rediscovering]

I'll send you a video if you aren't there the first time we play... He's gonna come over now so I can show him, but no piano today. I haven't played tsungi horn in like— a year. Since that one you got when we were on the ship, I think... I'm probably rusty. Not bringing it to that bar...

[uncle_iroh]

"We could practice first, if you wish."

[rediscovering]

Yeah. It's better if I practice with you, anyway. Look—

[ He sends a picture of a set of teethmarks on his calf with his pantleg rolled up. It's been cleaned up, but clearly the skin was broken and it was bloody at some point. Why's he always covered in injuries somewhere...?! ]

Azula's dragon hates the tsungi horn, apparently. Or— just found it as another excuse to bite me for no reason. It does that sometimes... But this time in particular, I think it doesn't like the sound of the music.

[ Neither does Azula, get out of her house, go practice at Iroh's room with your giant noisemaker, shoo! ]

I mean, that, or I'm just that out of practice.

[ He's trying to make this seem funny and it's... not... really funny... Ouch? ]

[uncle_iroh]

"We will see to the wounds as well when you arrive. I shall put on tea." [He is not impressed.]

action;

[rediscovering]

[ Zuko doesn't bother responding. They live so close, he just loads up the tsungi horn on one shoulder, and his own non-biting dragon on the other, and within moments, he's knocking at Iroh's door, quite the sight like this... But even if he got bitten again by Zuko II, truly he doesn't seem in bad spirits, not compared to how he'd been not so long ago after his argument with Azula, at least. ]

Hello, Uncle...

Re: action;

[uncle_iroh]

He let him in. "Sit on the sofa, tea is nearly ready. We will see to your bites first."

[rediscovering]

"It's not that bad..."

He does as told, setting the tsungi horn down on the floor beside him when he does. Zun scurries onto the arm of the couch to oversee everything here. He goes ahead and rolls up his pant leg, revealing the bite, which indeed isn't that bad, but it's definitely still a wound to be tended. It was more than a nip. But how nonchalant Zuko is about it clearly shows this is not the first time the other dragon has bit him.

[uncle_iroh]

He hissed softly when he saw it and set about tending it as best he could with what he happened to have on hand. "It is, in fact, that bad, Prince Zuko. You cannot let wounds like this fester." Or happen.

[rediscovering]

"I wouldn't have let it fester, Uncle... It only happened like an hour ago," he says with a roll of his eyes as the man set about to tending the bite.

Zuko winces slightly when Iroh touches it directly, but there's something soothing just about the way Iroh touches him, so familiar, so comforting, so caring, and it puts him in a bit of a wistful mood. When Gokudera and Zuko fought shortly after Zuko's arrival in this world, the bomber did a number on the firebender by not fighting fair, as Zuko saw it then. He jumped out of the shadows and decked him in the face once; and then later on blinded Zuko with his light magic and decked him in the face again... Which wouldn't be so bad were it not for that the mafioso wears a shit ton of tacky jewelry all the time and has fat, ornate, metal rings on nearly every finger, which had dragged deep gashes across Zuko's cheek and jaw and landed him with a right shiner on his good eye. He'd also been hit by a bomb and thrust against a tree by his familiar with great force, which left his neck, back and both his shoulders fucked up. And to gauge exactly how badly he'd been hurt, it was Nurse Azula who tended his wounds immediately that night upon his return home, which she did with a much less tender touch and many harsh words... Such a contrast now to having his uncle here, tending a wound caused by her dragon. Zuko's still furious with her about Ursa, though he'd chewed things over enough to go back to his own apartment, at least. But he can't help but draw an unnerving parallel between these two moments he's had his wounds tended in Avalon. It drew him back, too, to Iroh tending his wounded eye in the weeks after his banishment; and the time Iroh helped tend his wounds after the assassination attempt made by the pirates blowing up his ship; and the time he was sick in Ba Sing Se; any and every training accident, pulled muscle, burning mistakes, Iroh was always there. This time, all just for the love of a tsungi horn... and Azula. The symbolic thought of these two foils in his life draws a silence from him for a spell, letting Iroh do what needs to be done. Zuko gazes off into the distance of the room and not really seeing... There's always so much on his mind.

[uncle_iroh]

"And some would say it should not have happened at all," he said, his voice a whisper. A dark whisper, but quiet enough that Zuko could easily have failed to hear it. Or could pretend to have failed to heal it.

His touch remained gentle, despite the anger within.

[rediscovering]

Zuko heard it... but pretends he didn't, indeed. All he does is glance to his uncle, but if he meets his eye, he'll just look away and sigh. After a moment's silence, he redirects slightly.

"Uncle, I need a salve, by the way. To heal raw skin. Gokudera has an injury, too — sort of," he hesitates, not sure exactly what to say about it. "He, uh— it's a long story, but he has this kind of necklace stuck on him... But it's, uh, more of a collar, like a pet would wear. It's made with some magic technology from another world but it's malfunctioning. Only one person can take it off and he's not ready to confront him about it. But the thing is rubbing his skin raw, and he told me it sends him like— pain signals... It hurts him at random. I saw the skin on his neck, I'm worried about it. Is there some kind of ointment or something he can put under his collar to help heal the skin beneath it?"

Zuko won't pretend to know much about first aid, but he'd told Gokudera he'd ask his uncle, and now seems like a topical haha get it moment to bring it up. Maybe whatever ointment Iroh is using on Zuko's leg would do the trick for Gokudera's neck, or Iroh knows some herbal remedy Zuko can deliver to the bomber... Something... Whatever the case, it's easier to redirect the conversation away from himself and Azula.

[uncle_iroh]

"We can go into the woods and see what plants we can find for making salves. And tea. But perhaps f there are any Water Benders here with healing magic, that would be swifter and would save him much pain. They might also have a safe way to remove it, as water can get into most things with relative ease."

He is aware you are changing the subject.

[rediscovering]

"I don't think it works like that. It's gotta be removed by this one particular person. It's... a long story... And emotional... So I don't think he wants Katara giving him a neck rub on the regular, Uncle." Zuko sighs. Katara'd already healed Gokudera once before when he shot himself in the foot with an arrow; he's not sure he can call on her to heal the kid daily with this dang collar he can't take off. "But— I have to say... I'm nervous to just go searching the woods for herbal remedies with you. I don't wanna make Gokudera a salve out of some alien maka'ole berry because you thought it looked like a bacui berry or something. He's having a hard enough time as it is without being poisoned by our good intentions."

[uncle_iroh]

"I have hardly ever poisoned anyone with the wrong herb," he grumbled. "But who would not want a healer to manage them regularly?" Some people make no sense.

[rediscovering]

"Yeah, just yourself," Zuko mutters under his breath, thinking back to how scared he was that day in the woods when Iroh decided to take a risk for the love of some delectable tea... He may have acted irritated — and he was! — but the truth was he was frightened, and will never forget that time. They were lucky to find that kind nurse and her mother when they did.

"I know Gokudera. He's very self-sufficient. I think if he had to get healed by someone regularly, especially for something small like that — he'd feel like a burden... He's always had to take care of himself, ever since he was a little kid. But— I don't want him to be in any extra pain until Yamamoto can take that collar off. At least if we can soothe the skin underneath the leather, where it's rubbing him raw... That's something."

Zuko obviously cares a lot about his friend, and it seems every time he comes up, he's dropping some new insight to the mafioso's character that makes their friendship make even more sense, foils to each other almost as much as they are kindred spirits.

[uncle_iroh]

"I was fine, Zuko. It all turned out fine, and we learned about a new plant. I'm sure we can find something for your friend." He might be scratching just a bit, thinking about it, though.

"And it does not have to be a burden. He can find something to do for the healer regularly, then it is a trade. There is no shame in people coming together to help each other out."

[rediscovering]

Zuko just shakes his head, swallowing a secret smirk when he notices that unconscious itching.

"Maybe... He'd more readily accept the ointment, I think. He's the type of person who'd feel guilty to ask servants for help even though it's their job, y'know what I mean?" he leans back in his seat as he speaks, getting comfortable. "Not that he's ever had servants, that I know of, I mean — well, except when he was little, maybe, I dunno. He told me his parents were rich. But he ran away from home when he was eight. He's been on his own since then. I don't think he's known much luxury or love in his life, Uncle. Now... I have a feeling he'd feel uncomfortable with something he'd have to rely on others for. He doesn't wanna impose on people, even his friends."

Ah, so the truth outs. This makes a lot more sense why Zuko and Gokudera are so close, and how the poor young man ended up on a pedestal in Zuko's life. Of course this is the kind of tortured, triumphant figure Zuko would find to admire. He doesn't feel hung up airing Gokudera's life story to Iroh, because Gokudera'd already shared so much of his life in the mafia with Iroh when they met... and it's Uncle. Who's he gonna tell? It's better that he have the background info privately, Zuko thinks. It's a better insight into Zuko's life in Iroh's absence, too, learning the kind of characters he'd been idolizing.

[uncle_iroh]

And a trade was not asking for help, but fine. He wouldn't argue. Not just now, anyway. "Then we will go find herbs, and if you are so concerned, we can test the before you give them to your friend, alright, Zuko?"

[rediscovering]

"Yes. Thank you, Uncle," Zuko said with a more even tone, glancing back to the man as his leg was finished up. He pulls it away as soon as he sees the chance to once it was bandaged.

"Okay, so... Since you won't bite me—" he turns to the dragon sitting on the armrest still, watching the world out the window, which turns to Zuko quizzically, like what. "...Tsungi horn practice?"

[uncle_iroh]

"Very well. Let us see how you are coming along with that." He set aside the first aid supplies and sat down to listen.

[rediscovering]

Zuko repositions himself, sitting further to the edge of the couch, spreading his legs to balance himself as he mounts the massive horn around his shoulder and wraps his lips around the mouthpiece. He pauses before he begins, glancing at Zunyan. It better not bite him, too. Without Zuko II here to influence it, Zunyan's pretty tame and predictable. But Zuko can't be blamed for being wary. He takes a deep breath, catching Iroh's gaze briefly before he closes his eyes, and begins to play. It's a song he knows Iroh knows how to play well himself, but indeed, sounds a little off — not bad, just off. He's warming up with something familiar.

[uncle_iroh]

Iroh smiled gently, settling in on the floor to sit and listen.

"Not bad," he said when the boy finished. "That was an interesting transition you added in the middle there."

[rediscovering]

"Interesting good or interesting bad?"

He looks worried as soon as he stops playing and hears Iroh's comment. It was off and he knows it, but like he said: he's not played in almost a year. Probably since the last time he played for Iroh on their ship, so long ago now, like another lifetime. He's flummoxed himself to be sitting here wanting to play tsungi horn, indeed feeling in an alternate reality... but very grounded in this sudden interest in it again, though. It's a way he can share his culture with people. No one abroad at home wants to learn about Fire Nation culture, after all; they hate them, there's no interest. And talking with Fire Nation locals, you just get a lot of nationalism... Sharing his culture with his friends from other worlds, the beautiful parts of Fire Nation culture that go unappreciated outside their small island nation, has been so reaffirming and inspiring for Zuko. Tsungi horn is just another great opportunity for that. One he knows he's good at — and wants to make sure he's still good at. He has a knack for little in life but tsungi horn, Iroh's always told him he's gifted at. Hot on all these ideas about music and dance and art from talking with Gokudera and Aurora, it's got Zuko on a healthy new kick here. He's gotta make sure he's representing when he plays for his friends! Always so serious...

[uncle_iroh]

He chuckled. "With music, that is always up to interpretation. I liked it, however. How did you feel when you made that choice, Zuko?"