11/21 (the docks) - Katara, Prince Zuko. [PART 1] WHO: Katara, Prince Zuko WHERE: the docks WHEN: November 21st, morning WHAT: confusion, lots of confusion RATING: TBA STATUS: COMPLETE
"First, I'm going to break my uncle out of prison. Then I'm going to beg for his forgiveness. And then I'm going to join the Avatar and help him stop this war."
Zuko remembered uttering those words, remembered his father's angry protests and vicious threats, remembered him throwing a bolt of lightning at him and catching it--but, apparently Zuko hadn't deflected it back at his father like he'd intended. He'd seen it all in his mind, how his triumph over his father would be. He'd defeat him and instead of taking over the throne, simply leave. It had taken him a while, but he'd realized that becoming the next Fire Lord, even a just one, would not end the war. Being back home taught him that. It was going to take something else, something more drastic. Something he couldn't do from within the palace, living that lie of a prince's life. Perhaps later he could assume the throne and pick up the pieces of the kingdom he was born to rule, but now?
It didn't matter. He failed. He was...not in the palace. Not anywhere he recognized. Was this...was this the afterlife?
Zuko stood, wearing the maroon cloak with the gold trim, standing on a dock of some sort stretched out across the water. Behind him stood a skyline filled with buildings that seemed almost frightening in their construction. So high and shimmering with light. Other dead firebenders, perhaps? He didn't know.
He balled his fists, shaking. "I'm sorry, Uncle," he whispered. "I've failed you for the last time. I tried, but it was a foolish try." waterbender KATARA
Katara had no idea what was going on. One minute she'd fallen asleep after finally convincing Aang that he needed to sleep, with worries about the arrival of the fleet the next day running through her mind, and the next thing she knew she was waking up on a beach of some sort. She knew she had not fallen asleep on the beach. She also knew she had not wandered from her friends in the middle of the night. She didn't sleepwalk. She barely even moved when she slept, in fact, according to Sokka.
So what in the world was going on?
Without an answer, disoriented and confused, Katara simply stood on the beach for a moment and stared out at an ocean that didn't seem familiar in the slightest. Her stomach was in knots, her eyes were wide as saucers, and it was getting a little hard to breathe. She refused to turn around, however. The buildings in the distance scared her. They were too big, even for the Fire Nation. The strange clothing worn by what few people she'd seen so far also frightened her. And this was coming from a Southern Water Tribe Master Waterbender currently wearing Fire Nation garb.
Drawing in a shakey breath before she passed out, Katara finally made herself look away from the ocean and take in her surroundings once more. She needed to get off this beach, to higher ground. Maybe then she could start looking for her friends, or at least a familiar landmark. Unfortunately, the only 'higher ground' she spotted was the long dock that jutted out into the water. It wasn't high enough for her purpose, but she supposed it would just have to do until she could figure something else out. She was loathe to get too far from the area she'd found herself in on the off chance that her friends came searching for her.
Trudging through the sand, her loose hair blowing lightly in the breeze, the young woman finally reached the steps leading up to the dock. She climbed them carefully, cautiously, eventually making her way onto the main part of the dock itself. It was then that she noticed someone familiar, too familiar, and quickly spun away so he couldn't see her face.
Frantically she tried to think of a way to escape. Clearly this was some kind of trap. After all, how else did you explain the appearance of Prince Zuko in the middle of all of this madness? firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Zuko's ears picked up on the sound of movement and he whirled around, finding himself staring at the back of a girl's hea--wait, was she wearing Fire Nation clothing? He didn't recognize the person, but assumed (based on his theory that this was indeed some sort of afterlife) that she was another dead Firebender. Just like himself.
So, strolling up to her and being ever the direct person he was, put his hand on her shoulder and spun her around to face him. He relinquished his touch the moment he caught sight of her face, stumbling back some with a wide-eyed expression on his face.
That was not what he was expecting to see. Yet another person he inevitably let down by rashly challenging his father. Granted, he didn't know her, didn't really remember name - what was it, Kat..Kaiya or something? - or anything of the sort...but she was still someone he failed. He'd been intending on seeking her and her friends out, joining them, and handing over all the knowledge he had on his homeland. With the sort of stuff he knew about the land and the military, the Avatar would've been able to stop the war. Easily.
He frowned as he looked upon her, feeling even more like a failure, and the traitor Ozai accused him of being. Yes, he was one of those. In many, many ways. He'd betrayed this girl, once upon a time, when she'd offered to heal his scar. No one had ever shown him such sincere kindness in a selfless offer like that before, especially not someone who was supposed to be his enemy. But, he'd attacked her and the Avatar.
And for what, a meaningless death. He was pathetic.
"Oh," he said after a long period of silence. "It's just you." waterbender KATARA
Just her? Just her? All of the fear that Katara had been feeling was immediately overridden by righteous indignation and, to some degree, downright fury. "Yes," she snapped back, blue eyes narrowing and a clear look of dislike filling her features, "it's just me." With a shake of her head, she looked past him, half expecting to see Azula and half the Fire Nation ready to kill her. When she didn't see anyone, a look of confusion flickered across her features.
"Where am I? Why are you here? Where is everyone else?" she demanded, shoving the confusion of the lack of an obvious trap aside in lieu of answers. She gave him a hostile look once more. "The truth, this time. If you even know what that means." firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Zuko wasn't bothered by her comment about him knowing what 'truth' meant. He knew the meaning of the word, now moreso than ever. It was infact that very word that had gotten him into this mess, or so he thought. So, looking to her and shrugging his shoulders in a nonchalant way, he dropped to the ground, coming to sit crosslegged before her. He propped an elbow up on one knee, rested his chin in his palm, and peered up at her.
"I'm not sure why I'm here or where here even is. I was in the palace, confronting my fath--" He stopped, gulping and frowing, looking away for a moment. "--then I was here. My best guess is that I died, which wouldn't surprise me, and that this is some sort of afterlife. By that deduction, you're dead, too." waterbender KATARA
"I'm not dead," Katara replied instantly. "I went to sleep and then I woke up here. I didn't die." That didn't happen, not unless someone had attacked while she was sleeping, but she would have woken up. Or, if someone had managed to kill her before she could wake, then they would have done the same to her friends. They weren't here, which meant this wasn't any kind of afterlife. Not to mention the fact that she was still very much breathing. So no, not dead.
She was going to say something more, prove him wrong by stating every fact she'd just gone over in her head, when his words registered. "Did you say you were confronting your father?" Katara questioned with a slightly shocked expression on her face. That made... even less sense than their arrival in this place did, really. He finally got to return home and ended up confronting his father to the point that he thought the Fire Lord had killed him? That made no sense to her.
Her gaze locked onto his, the wariness slowly being replaced with curiosity, she too sat down on the dock so she was facing him. Then she waited to see if he would answer her. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Zuko bowed his head and let out a long sigh, shrugging his shoulders as if having been killed by the Fire Lord, by his own father, were nothing. It wasn't like it was a shock to anyone. At least, a shock to anyone he was normally around. It wouldn't surprise his uncle, nor would it surprise Azula, Ty Lee, or Mai.
Mai... He didn't even know what he should expect her to be feeling right now if she knew he were dead. Zuko had thought that she cared, that she liked him for the person he was and not the person everyone thought and expected him to be. But when he'd decided to go against Ozai and this blasted war, what had she done? She'd stepped away, leaving him instead of staying by his side like someone who really cared would've done. Had she ever cared?
"Yes," he said after a minute or two of silence, looking up and meeting that blue gaze of hers, "I confronted my father. It was foolish of me to do so, even if my reasoning was just. Let's just hope the Avatar has better luck than I did." waterbender KATARA
Katara blinked. Then she blinked again. And a third time, just for good measure. Yet no matter how many times she blinked she couldn't seem to wrap her mind around any of this. She was in a strange place, Zuko was here, and he'd apparently confronted his father and believed it had led to his demise. It was all so unbelievable that she felt she had no choice but to believe it.
"Okay," she finally spoke. "First of all, we aren't dead." She pointed to herself, then to him. "We're still breathing." Her fingers went to her wrist and she fell silent for a second before nodding. "My heart is still beating and I'm sure yours is too. So whatever is going on, death isn't to blame."
Glancing toward the skyline and the buildings that filled it, she sighed softly. "But we're definitely not anywhere I've ever heard of, or seen. Those," she nodded toward the buildings then looked back to Zuko, "aren't familiar at all."
Falling into thought for a moment, Katara finally gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. "We're just going to have to ask someone," she decided. "Find out the name of this place to start with and go from there. If we look hard enough, we'll find our answers." And a way to get back home, too, though she didn't say that out loud. If Zuko had confronted Ozai, he might not want to get home quite as quickly as she did. Either way, though, she was going to find a way. Her friends needed her and she couldn't let them down.
Rising to her feet once more, she asked, "Are you coming?" If he would rather work alone, she'd leave now and not look back. The decision was his. Either way, she was going to get some answers. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
"Me, coming with you?" He looked insulted for a moment and opened his mouth again to verbally retaliate, but quickly closed it. If he said no, bitched at her, and stalked off in an opposite direction, he'd be choking on the words he practically screamed at his father not too long ago. And Zuko promised himself that he would NEVER go back on his word again, for that only led to even further dishonor.
With a sigh, Zuko stood nodding to show that yes, he was coming. "Not like it wasn't my plan in the first place." waterbender KATARA
Katara was a little surprised he'd agreed when at first she'd been sure he was going to do the exact opposite. She stared at him for a second as though seeing something in him she hadn't noticed before, then shook her head and glanced toward the edge of the dock that ended on dry land.
"I can't believe this is happening," she said with a soft sigh. "This couldn't have come at a worse time." Squaring her shoulders, she glanced at Zuko. "Well, let's get on with it, then. Maybe we'll get lucky and come across someone else familiar." Although, on second thought, Katara wasn't sure that was actually luck. If he was right and they really were dead, she didn't want to see any of her friends again. Not for a very, very long time. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Zuko fell into step beside her as she walked, crossing his arms over his chest and glancing around them at the unfamiliar setting she'd been so kind as to point out earlier. As if he hadn't noticed. He may have limited sight in one eye, but he wasn't blind or stupid, contrary to popular belief.
"You can say that again," he agreed. "The Avatar and his--your friends don't know what their up against. I would've been on my way to inform you all of exactly that, but confronting my father didn't exactly go the way I planned..."
He frowned, truly ashamed of his failure. The one time he'd actually been doing the right thing, and it got him killed. It was just his luck. waterbender KATARA
The young woman sighed and glanced back toward the road that was sure to lead to civilization if they followed it long enough. "I just hope Aang doesn't spend so much time looking for me that he misses the eclipse," she commented softly. "He needs to focus and I'm not sure he will." Katara didn't think that highly of herself, not in the grand scheme of things, but she knew Aang cared for her and didn't want whatever mess she'd gotten herself into this time to cause him to slip up when he needed to be at his absolute best.
Making a sound that was almost like a growl, she suddenly whirled on Zuko. "Would you listen to me? You're not dead. We're not dead. Death doesn't feel like this, it can't. And besides which, if we are dead..." Her voice took on a slightly softer tone, her expression turning almost caring for an instant as she inched closer.
That...was a very good question, he had to admit. One of the few appealing aspects of being dead was the chance to see his mother again, to be held by her, to be told that everything was going to be alright in that reassuring sort of voice that only she had the power to use. A small pang of pain coursed through him, wanting so badly to see his mother and half pondering leaving Katara standing there to go run off in search of her.
"Where's Roku for that matter?" He found himself wondering aloud. "I've got a bone or two to pick with him." waterbender KATARA
"Where is anyone we might know or at least recognize. There's a war going on back home and yet we're the only two who are here? It can't be some sort of afterlife, Zuko. It doesn't make-" Stopping, going completely still, Katara's eyes narrowed slightly.
"What does Roku have to do with anything concerning you?" she questioned in a low tone. She remembered what Aang had told her, regarding the previous Avatar and Zuko's great-grandfather. The friendship that led to the ultimate betrayal. It still hurt her, just to think about it. If Zuko so much as said one bad thing about the man she wasn't going to be responsible for her reaction, she really wasn't. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Zuko's eyes narrowed as Katara hit an obvious soft spot. In the recent weeks, since his uncle had revealed his maternal relation to the previous Avatar to him, he'd regarded Roku as a sort of...idol. Someone from the past whom he felt he could honestly look up to. Someone brave, courageous, loyal, and fully willing to do what needed to be done. Zuko never had someone like that to look up to, not even his uncle quite fit that description as well as Roku did. But what had that admiration brought him? Death and failure?
He wondered why Iroh had even told him. It hadn't really been worth it. Another false idol for false hope.
"I think the question should be, waterbender, why my great-grandfather concerns you?" waterbender KATARA
"What?" The shrill response was out of her mouth before she could stop it. Yet she didn't bother to try and apologize, or take it back. She simply stared at Zuko with a mixture of shock and faint horror. He was related to Roku? That was... impossible. Utterly impossible. Aang would have known.
Wouldn't he?
"He was left to die on that volcano so your other great-grandfather could carry on with his war, and you have a bone to pick with Roku?" she finally managed to form a coherent sentence. Never mind that he was related to the previous Avatar. That was going to take a few minutes to get used to.
Or possibly a few years. If ever. Honestly, Katara didn't really know. The mere concept was enough to make her want to sit down right there in the street.
"This is... how did you find something like that out?" she asked, a glimmer of suspicion shining in her eyes. It wasn't aimed at him, persay, more his source. Maybe they were mistaken. Or lying to him for some reason, although Katara couldn't imagine why. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
"Don't you think I know that!?" Zuko suddenly shouted at her, stomping a foot in frustration, hands raised in the air near his head. Fisting his hands, he brought them down to his sides, fire trailing through the air as he did so. "I read Sozin's memoirs, I know what he did to his friend! Don't you think it kills me to know that one of my great-grandfathers killed the other!?"
He turned away from her, fuming in anger, though refusing to let him take it out on her. She had every right to be confused. It wasn't like he'd always been the truthful, trusting person he had been trying to become. He'd lied to her, countless times. Why should she believe him now?
"My uncle told me," he said a bit more calmly, turning back around to face her. "I think it's part of the reason my father hates me. I've seen paintings of Roku. I sort of look like him. Or, I used to. Before this--" he pointed at his scar.
"It's like, all of a sudden, everything made sense!" He told her, a strange light in his eyes. waterbender KATARA
Although Katara's eyes widened at his outburst, she didn't respond. She wanted to yell back at him, or possibly douse him with some water, but she refrained and tried to keep as much of an open mind as she could.
At the mention of Iroh, she softened slightly. Him, she liked. He had helped them escape Ba Sing Se. She worried about him, wondered what had happened to him. And she would have asked Zuko, too... if not for that look in his eyes.
"Okay," she said calmly, hoping to prevent another outburst, if only for a few moments. She drew in a breath and exhaled it slowly. "I don't know what to think about this," she finally admitted with an almost pained expression. Her father loved her. She couldn't imagine having one who didn't.
"But the fact is, Roku isn't here. He's dead... and we're not." There. Bring it around to their original subject. It at least bought her a bit of time to assimilate the information a little more. She glanced back to the city spread out before them. "We aren't dead," she repeated softly. "Unless Combustion Man showed up in the middle of the night and killed me in my sleep. Which, I doubt, since he's after Aang." She shook her head and looked back to Zuko with a somewhat guarded expression.
"If you've actually done the things you say you have... thank you," she stated sincerely. "It's a start, at least." Which, she supposed, it was. Zuko had done a lot of damage in the time since he'd been chasing them. But for him standing up to his father said a lot, and at least in her mind, erased a few of the more awful decisions he'd made. Provided this was all true. She'd believed him in Ba Sing Se and had almost died because of that belief. She wasn't going to be so blindly trusting this time.
"We should probably get going," she spoke again. "The longer we wait, the harder it might be to get back home again." And now, she thought, he might actually want to go back. If he was telling the truth, he'd want to see this thing through to the end as badly as she did. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
"Yes, a start," he agreed with a nod. "A start to many things I intended to do, but appreantly I won't--"
Zuko cut himself off, deciding that it was probably best not to provoke another argument out of the waterbender. He had intended on joining her little group, right? Well, on the off-chance that he wasn't dead and they'd get back to where they belong, it was best he try and remain civil. Perhaps then, with a word from his little girlfriend, would the Avatar not attack him. Or, at least, not kill him, for even Zuko would admit that perhaps he did deserve to be attacked.
"You're right. We should get going."
And with that, he stepped forward and took the lead, walking a few paces before stopping and turning around to her. Holding out a hand, he asked, "You coming, Ka--Kat--waterbender?" waterbender KATARA
Katara stared at him for a second, well, stared between his hand and his face. Her brain seemed to be having trouble making sense of any of this. Then she realized what he said and she couldn't help it. She laughed.
"You don't even remember my name, do you?" she questioned with a slight shake of her head. She knew she should be upset, or at least irritated, at that fact but she actually found it rather humorous. Apparently he'd planned on seeking out her and her friends and convincing them not to kill her by calling them 'Avatar, waterbender' and whatever titles he came up with for Sokka and Toph.
Maybe, she decided, it was a good idea they'd come across each other before that happened. At least he'd know their names by the time they returned home. That would make things run a little more smoothly.
With another faint shake of her head, she smiled. "It's Katara," she reminded him. And yes, I'm coming." Still smiling she covered the distance between them until she was alongside him once more. She would have added something else, most likely a question of where to go next, when a car went whizzing by.
Never, in all her life, had she seen anything like it and without even thinking she practically leapt toward Zuko to the point that they were literally touching completely down one side. Her eyes wide, she watched as the vehicle drove past then slowly looked up at him.
"What," she asked warily, "was that?" firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Zuko moved in front of Katara as another one of those...things came zooming past them. Instinctively, Zuko raised a fist, drawing upon the conflicting emotions he felt to cover it in flames. Gathering them in his palm as he flattened his hand, he drew his elbow back and launched a fireball at the thing. It struck one of the wheels, causing the thing to zoom right, then left, the right, and left...until finally coming to a stop. It's side opened and a very disgruntled looking man emerged.
"Just who they hell do'ya tink you are, man? That's my fuckin' taxi, my money maker!" He balled a fist and brandished it at the former prince. "You're going to pay for that, kid."
Part of him wanted to fight. ...okay, most of him wanted to fight, but this new stance he'd taken on life refused to let him do so. So instead, he reached back and seized hold of Katara's hand, pulling her along with him as he broke into a run, determined to get the hell out of there.
Coming to a thin, dark juncture between two buildings, Zuko pulled Katara in with him, having to literally press himself against he girl in order for them both to fit. He put the palms of his hands against the brick at her back, turning his head to the side so that he could watch as the angry man ran past them, letting out a sigh of relief. waterbender KATARA
It had all happened so fast that, by the time Katara could even think to breathe much less speak, she was in a small area with Zuko pressed against her and some angry man trying to chase them down. Once the man had passed, she waited a second to make sure he was gone then whispered softly, "Zuko... I don't like this place. And I really don't like taxis."
Peering up at him, only just able to make out his eyes in the darkness, she added, "I think it's safe. He seems to be gone." Although she made no move to leave. Not that she could, with him pressed against her, but she didn't feel much urge to leave either. Ironically enough, stuck in a small, dark area with the Fire Nation prince was the safest she'd felt since she woke up on that beach. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Zuko started to scoot away from her, when the sound of something moving made him narrow his eyes and take hold of Katara's waist, pulling her tight against him as his arm around to her back. He bent his head a bit so that his lips were near his ear and whispered, "Don't move."
Holding up the hand that wasn't pressed between Katara's back and a brick wall, he summoned flames to his hand, revealing the form of something that should've looked human. But, it didn't. It's face was twisted and snarled, pointed teeth were visible in it's mouth, and a smirk Zuko did not like was pasted on it's lips.
"Well, well. A warlock and his floozy," it said as it stepped closer to the benders. "A new one, but I'm always up for some...exotic flavors. waterbender KATARA
Floozy? Floozy? Katara's eyes narrowed in anger, her indignation temporarily beating out the fear she should be feeling at the sight of this... creature. "He isn't a warlock," she replied in a condescending tone. "And I'm not a floozy."
The problem was, she couldn't really prove she was a Waterbender at the moment. Her pouch was trapped between herself and Zuko, with no hope of reaching it without getting even closer to the... thing that was eyeing them as though they looked like a good choice for a meal. Granted she could use the water in the area, but that would take more movement than what she could manage in such close quarters and she ran the risk of accidentally putting out Zuko's fire. Considering that was their only source of light at the moment, she'd rather not run that chance.
So she had to contend herself with just standing there, pinned between the Fire Nation prince and a wall, with some angry human searching for them in the streets and some sort of beast approaching them in the shadows. And hoped like hell that Zuko would decide to actually fight this thing than try to flee again. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Pulling her even tighter against him, Zuko used the lean body Azula often teased him for to his advantage, managing to slip away from the waterbender so that he was now in front of her and somewhat facing the creature. "Don't come any closer," Zuko told it, making the flames in his palm grow higher.
"Oh, I'm shaking in my boots," the creature said with an airy sort of laugh, moving closer to Zuko. "The big bad warlock can conjure flames. I'm so scared."
Zuko's eyes narrowed. "I'm not a warlock," he told it. "I'm a firebender."
The creature lunged at Zuko, to which the former prince of the Fire Nation turned his flames into a ball of fire, throwing it at the creature. It, apparently, had not been expecting Zuko do that, for it gave a cry of shock and in the next moment, it was engulfed in flames, as if it had been covered in oil or something prior to encountering Zuko and Katara.
Wide-eyed, Zuko stumbled back, raising his arms to bend the flames coming off the creature away from him and Katara. He, with a bit of difficulty, turned around to move out of the crevice, urging Katara to run.
e didn't have to tell her twice. At the sound of her name, she snapped from her state of horrified shock and made her way out of the crevice and a little ways down the street, only to come to a stop at the sight of the man that had chased them into the crevice standing no less than five feet away.
"There you are!" he bellowed and Katara didn't think, she just reacted.
Summoning the water in the area with a wide sweep of her arm she hurled it at the man. It crested into a large wave and lifted him clear off his feet and against a building. Solidifying the water so it was ice, she pinned him with it and barely cast a quick glance over her shoulder at Zuko before taking off at a full-run down the sidewalk.
Blindly she turned at the first available street, then again at the next block, until she could no longer hear the gasps from the astonished onlookers or the yells of fury from the taxi driver. Only then did she stop, leaning lightly against the side of a large brick building. Doubling over, her hands resting on her thighs, she focused on the ground and sucked in some much needed oxygen.
Her heart was hammering wildly in her chest and her eyes were wide as saucers as she finally raised her gaze back to Zuko. She opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't think of what to say, so she simply closed her mouth once more and stood up, leaning her head back against the cool bricks and staring up at the sky. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
"You're right," Zuko said in between pants, now on his knees and breathing hard, "we aren't dead. Hell would be more direct with torture and pain, and heaven wouldn't have any of this nonsense."
He sat back, stretching his legs out and peering up at her. "We should find somewhere to hide." waterbender KATARA
Katara couldn't help it. At his suggestion they hide, she began to giggle. After a few seconds, the giggles became full-out laughter. There was a slightly hysterical edge to them and she couldn't seem to stop for a moment. Finally, though, she composed herself and tore her attention from the sky to Zuko.
"We tried to hide," she pointed out as she stepped away from the wall. "It nearly got us killed." Shaking her head, she grew somber and glanced around. Of course, nothing looked familiar, but they did seem to be closer to what might be the center of the city. There were more people present, at least.
Without saying another word she approached a man in a suit and tie, her eyes going wide and her expression one of complete innocence. "Excuse me, sir? Could you please tell me where I am? I'm a bit... lost."
The man hesitated, staring down at her for a moment. With a nod, he spoke into the small device that he was holding to his ear. "Let me call you back, Gary. There's a girl here that needs some help." Then he closed the device and slipped it into his jacket pocket. "The beach is that way," he pointed in the direction she'd just come from, "downtown is straight ahead," he pointed in that direction, "and the interstate is that way."
Katara nodded and gave him a smile. "Thank you. Also - I know this is going to sound a little strange but I have a terrible memory and only just arrived this morning. What city am I in, again?" she questioned.
The man didn't even bat an eye, just gave her a fond sort of smile. "Los Angeles. One of the best cities in California, if I do say so myself." Then the device he'd slipped into his pocket began to make noise and he quickly pulled it out and glanced at it. "I need to take this call." Hesitating, he looked back to her.
"If you need something while you're in town," he said, pulling out a business card and handing it to her, "give me a ring. A pretty thing like you should be careful in a place like this. Oh, and if you need a place to stay, check out the East Hills Teen Centre. I think it's still standing." And then he was gone, Katara's thanks trailing after him as she turned her attention to the card. She couldn't read the numbers or lettering so she simply shrugged and glanced back to Zuko. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Zuko watched as Katara used kindness and manners to get her the answers they sought. He was impressed, but would not voice it. Her method was a lot better than what he had in mind: grabbing someone off the street and threatening them with a face full of fire until they answered his questions. She was rather good at this, but he supposed she had to be, what with all the traveling she had done with the Avatar over the years.
He stood, moving to stand behind her so that he could look over he shoulder at the card, catching her blue gaze as she turned to look back at him. That brought her face very close to his and he flushed momentarily, taking a good step back to put some distance between them.
Katara flushed slightly - also from the close contact - then offered him a small smile. "Thank you," she replied, holding the card out for him to look at. Maybe he could make sense of it. She certainly couldn't. "I've never seen writing like this before," she admitted in a quiet tone, some part of her very disturbed by the fact that she was admitting such a thing, especially to someone who was her enemy more times than not.
"We do have a location, now, though," she pointed out, trying to look on the bright side of things. "Los Angeles. California." The names sounded weird on her tongue. She had definitely never heard of them before. "Should we try to find that place he mentioned? Maybe someone there could help us." Truthfully, Katara wasn't sure what else to do. She knew she didn't want to run around in Fire Nation clothes for any longer than she had to. She'd worn them back home to fit in, now they just made her stand out even more. And she knew that the longer they stayed on the streets and in public, better their chances were of getting into some kind of trouble again. So really, they didn't have many other options besides following up on the one lead they'd been given.
She just wasn't about to order Zuko to do that. She'd let him make the call. Something told her it would make him feel better, being the one to 'call the shots' so to speak. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Zuko made a face, a sort of contemplative face with his mouth pulled sideways and his eyebrows scrunched together, and took to the card from her. He held it up to his face, running his golden gaze over the words and letters that were very, very unfamiliar to him. Turning it over so that he held it with what was the side of the card facing up, so that it was long like the scrolls they wrote on back home, he though maybe--no, still unreadable.
Pursing his lips together in frustration, Zuko looked up, spotting a woman carrying some small, fuzzy animal in her arms walking towards them. So, straightening up and putting on a calm, almost friendly, face, he walked up to the woman and kindly asked her if she would ever be so kind as to direct them to the location of the building listed on the card, explaining how they were new in town and weren't used to navigating such a heavily populated city. It was perhaps the first time the diplomacy lessons he'd been put through as a boy had come in handy, for it was useless in a time of war.
Thanking the woman again, Zuko turned around walking back to Katara and pointing over her shoulder. "It's two streets over and to the left."