Mutatis Mutandis: Everything Changes. [OTA]

[princeinexile]

It's like a special engagement. The Midnight Showing. You know, that one time you get to see that one thing again? Maybe a rare showing of a cult favorite. It's always when you least expect it and rarely when you're ready (however you need to prepare) for it.

The Bar is like that. Zuko knows it. But he figured, a while ago, he was done with it. It had let him out into the world and it had not let him back in. He had left a student -- he had left friends and arguably, those who he could consider family. Sometimes he missed them; he missed the smell of loam and fur, bakeries that invoked a longing for a mother's touch, and dogs. After nearly two years away, he has tried to forget women with blonde hair (and the trouble they bring) and he's only been semi-successful.

But when once crown prince Zuko, now Fire Lord Zuko, at the tender age of eighteen, finds the door to his study has become the bar, he stands there, a bit dumbfounded. He is not what he was, standing in his long robes, hair done up in the queue of his station,the golden flame of the fire nation set into the knot. A lot has changed in the last couple of years for one young man. Not enough, though, that he doesn't remember something simple, something like home.

"Just a smoking mountain, Bar," he says as he approaches, and settles in to stare across a crowd that he recognizes some, doesn't others.

It has been a long time, hasn't it?


[A limited engagement showing of one Fire Lord Zuko, post animated series, after a very long absence of bar, in honor of the ATLA movie being universally loathsome. Get him while he's hotter then Dev Patel, people. You won't get another opportunity anytime soon!

CLOSED TO NEW TAGS. Thanks for the warm reception!


Tiny Tag Totally Like Aang: NARUTO]

Comments

[mnr_splinter]

"It is your move, my child," says a voice that sounds eerily similar to one Zuko left behind.

But a quick scan of the bar will reveal no such personage in the familiar nation robes. Though, there is a large greying rat playing against an unseen opponent.

[princeinexile]

The colors he wears are remarkably reminiscent of the Fire Nation's preferred bold hues, but the rat? Not his uncle. Very much not his uncle. He knows that.

But it's still damn disconcerting.

"Excuse me?" is all he can muster at first, blinking pale gold eyes.

[mnr_splinter]

"Yes?" he asks without looking up. He will not be deterred from his game. Bar cheats when you stop looking.

[princeinexile]

"No, I--" He's not a child (dammit, he's KING), "I just must've misheard. I thought you were someone else."

Someone a lot less furry.

[mnr_splinter]

"One second, if you please."
He picks up a white tile from the bowl to his right, and considers his next move. "I almost have her, you see. I just need to find the right..." He grins, and with the smug serenity that only the elderly can muster, he makes his move.

Pleased with his decision, he looks up at the young man standing before him.

"It is not often that I am confused with others. Whom are you searching for?"

[ghostwitch.livejournal.com]

A very long time, indeed.

It's been quite a few years since Malu encountered the young Fire Lord, then an exiled prince, but she remembers their last conversation (http://community.livejournal.com/milliways_bar/14405486.html?thread=590435182#t590435182) well.

"And how are things faring in your world?" There is no malice in her voice; no emotion, really. Just one person making conversation with another.

[princeinexile]

Zuko looks at the girl-- the stiff-backed prince is not here any longer, but a Lord wearing the burden of his crown more easily then he might've expected it. He bows once, a politeness, before he says, "We have had two years of peace. It is -- taking some getting used to."

[ghostwitch.livejournal.com]

Malu's eyebrows raise in surprise when Zuko bows to her; she'd never expected to see such a gesture from anyone from the Fire Nation.

But at the mention of two years of peace, Malu feels something stir in her chest. It takes her a moment to recognize it as relief. Even though she can never go back; the war is over.

"Two years," she echoes, smiling. "That's good. Congratulations...Fire Lord."

[princeinexile]

"It's a beginning. There are still-- things to be ironed out. The Earth Kingdom wants certain concessions, there are still Fire Nation families across the continents, Aang's running around like he's still got the Fire Nation on his tail trying to put things back together..."

He shrughs once. They knew it would be hard. Winning the war, ending the war-- however you wanted to put it! -- that was only the beginning. They had so much more to do.

[wannab_hokage]

Have a hyperactive blond kid. He'd just recieved a little money, and found a door to bar. The only other place that had Ramen almost as good as the Ramen from the Ichiraku Ramen Bar.

Zuko gets stared at. Naruto doesn't know what to make of him.

"Wow!" he said, "You must be important!"

[princeinexile]

Naruto gets a blink-- he's never seen this kid around before. People come and go in Milliway's, though. That's just a fact of life in or around the bar.

"Not as important as some people think," Zuko says in reply. Humility has been ground into him over the years, thanks.

[wannab_hokage]

"Oh," said Naruto, "I'm Naruto Uzamaki! Dattebayo!"

He smiled and put out his hand.

[princeinexile]

Zuko gripped it; he was perhaps, a hint warmer then the average person. But firebenders just had that about them -- heat lingered. "Zuko, Son of Ozai and Ursa."

He leave sout the Fire Lord part. It's pretty damn obvious, right?

[ellectrical]

[ooc: If you don't mind a late and inevitably slowtimed thread...]

Speak of the devil. Or at least, of blonde women.

Though at the moment, that blonde hair and the fact that less than a year has passed in her own world is all that Elle retains. Her hair is tied back into a simple ponytail; she's in jeans, tennis shoes, and a blue hooded sweatshirt, a far cry from the heels and blouses that were her typical fare... well, what felt like a long time ago, no matter how you slice it. She has to go again soon, and she's not looking forward to it.

For now, she takes a seat near Zuko without seeming to realize it, and orders a cup of coffee from the Bar.

[princeinexile]

Attractive blonde women who are trouble? Yes, Elle fits that bill quite generously, actually. Zuko hasn't slept with this particular troublesome blonde, but that's probably best for both of them.

He glances at her, noting the changes in a dim sort of way-- he remembers her, Sylar, the lot, but it's a far away thing. "Hey," he says, taking his mug in hand. A hot drink on a hot summer day: Must be a firebender thing.

[ellectrical]

Elle doesn't look up immediately. Not because she doesn't realize this is addressed to her, but because in the balancing between a familiar but unrecognized voice and her need for caffeine, the latter wins out in that moment.

When she does look up (she hasn't arranged her bangs so as to cover her own scar yet, but there's nothing she can do about that), it doesn't take very long. Even if in the meantime, Zuko had been relegated to something like 'fire prince person' in her mind.



"You look different."

Okay, some things don't change.

[princeinexile]

"You too," he says. Something less-- maddening about her, maybe. Something different. Not just scars-- but something-- beyond that. Something about her carriage.

"Been a while," he adds. "How have you been?"

[walking_napalm]

Liz was hunting an unidentified creature through an underground tunnel, dressed all in black with her gun in one hand (pointed at the dirt floor) and her other hand lit on fire and raised in front of her. The flames are red-gold and engulf her hand from her wrist to about six inches above her fingertips. Her hair has been pulled back into a messy-but-functional braid and there are several thick splashes of mud on her damp stab vest, one almost covering the patch that says SHERMAN.

Then she is suddenly standing in the doorway to Milliways like that. There are voices from around the bend in the tunnel behind her and Liz immediately, instinctively kicks the door shut behind herself.

Even as she's holstering her gun, her fire reacts. Her head comes up sharply, and -- there. She glances over at Zuko and then one side of her mouth lifts faintly and she heads toward the bar, flames extinguishing into her palm, fingers, and wrist as she approaches.

[princeinexile]

Zuko wasn't hunting for anything; he was taking this moment to enjoy a drink they just haven't quite replicated back home. The cocoa refinement thing is new to them, after all. But the sudden yank at his qi from one flame to another has him putting down the mug and glancing back. He blinks once as he sees his errant student.

"Liz," he says, almost a little shocked. "Dammit. Should have known Bar would time this well. I should apologize!"

[walking_napalm]

"It's good to see you, too," Liz deadpans wryly (but warm enough), shooting him an amused look as she takes the stool beside his.

[princeinexile]

He smiles now, warmth reciprocated. She's seen better days, but he knows her work is harsh. Someone has to fight monsters, though. Zuko does it in his own way, but his tend to be politicians with standing armies as opposed to ... whatever glopped her.

"I should, though. You prepared me for another student. I just -- didn't know I was at the time," he says. He should have, though. He knew what he had to do -- what no one else COULD do.

Teach the Avatar firebending.

[alwaysroomforhope]

It has been a long time. Some things change.

Dead girls don't.

Not much, anyway. Maybe she's a little quieter these days, less vivacious, more thoughtful. She certainly doesn't run to greet him, just looks up from her book, from where she's sitting perched high in the rafters, away from the general noise and hubbub of the bar, and looks him over.

And smiles, a little. Sad and fond and still, after everything, still a little bit in love with him. Nobody else has ever brought so much fire into her life or her afterlife, not before and not since. But it was a long time ago; he's a king now and she's still a child, really.

She doesn't run to greet him. But if he happens to lift his eyes, she's smiling at him, even after she goes back to her book. It's good to see him well.

[princeinexile]

He's grown up, filled out a little more. Not that anyone can tell; Fire Nation royal robes seem to be calculated to hide anything but the most obvious body traits-- broad shoulders, strong chest, but it doesn't' exactly follow the tapering body of an athlete or warrior -- just draped and poors around those damn curled toe shoes.

Who came up with curled toe shoes for a king, anyway?

The lines are less heavy; his hair is longer, but taken up in the queue they bears the crown he knew he was going to carry but always worried about. He's as serious as he ever was, nursing hot chocolate like it was the last time he had it.

But he still remembers flashes of blonde hair, and he knows where to look. Even if maybe he thinks he shouldn't. He (arguably) has a girl at home, and (arguably) has this eventual duty to marry and produce heirs. (They'd been over it all before). It's why it'd been all wrong.

Zuko learned, however, that sometimes you had to run with what was wrong to do what was right.

He finishes his mug, converses a little with the friends who come by, and steps away into the crowd for a time. Goes upstairs, maybe, to check a suite.

Or maybe he's just saving the best for last.

When he returns, it's in a loose Manchester jersey and jeans; his hair is queued and his crown remains, but Zuko can take to the rafters without having to worry who looks up the royal skirt. (They're made to keep the king from running about like an errant ninja, even if Zuko is an errant ninja.) He finds a place not far, but not near; and settles in. Enough to be heard, but not quite invading space that isn't his to invade.

"Been a while," he says. "See you're still keeping an eye on the place."

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Horrible job, but someone's got to do it," Steph says, cheerful. She puts her book down and draws her knees up, wrapping her arms around them, balanced with graceful ease on her beam.

Up close, she ... still hasn't changed. Sixteen is still very young. Only her eyes are any older for all the time that's passed. Sadder, maybe. It isn't easy to watch all her friends, her family, growing up and leaving without her.

"You look good. You found what you were looking for?"

[princeinexile]

He has; it's in everything. There's a settling that is-- there. Something that's eased. Something unknotted in his heart, and some things are still hard, he's-- well, he's better.

"I don't know, exactly. I - figured a few things out. The hard way. But sometimes I think that's how it has to be. You don't learn anything of you don't hurt a little along the way." Some one else might say that a lesson without pain means nothing-- but this isn't that person.

"We're doing well enough, though. We have-- peace. A tenuous peace, but peace. Aang's--" not the Avatar, no bitterness or frustration in the boy's name, or any of the others he says, "-- busy, I'm busy, Katara and Sokka are busy, putting things together on so many fronts. It gets-- a little nuts, sometimes. I can't always chase what I want to now, but... I guess it's important to stay focused, huh?"