Re: On the rooftop: is the word/Hello
Cool was our Zuko's default. That was his name- Zuko- for the night. Some part of the hip cat in the leather knew that wasn't his real name, but he was gonna go with it. His ma didn't raise no fool, dig? He was willing to get friendly with people on this bright and happening street, and he did not intend to waste a single moment of this evening. At the very least, he'd be able to carry himself home and wonder what all his new acquaintances were doing in the light of day. It wasn't exactly a new school year after summer, but it had the same kind of gauzy appeal to the dude. This was all very objects in the rear view for the true him.
"Stone of a peach- Ha-ha-ha." The laugh was exaggerated, and Zuko shook his head without dislodging that perfect curl that corkscrewed against his forehead. "Even my ma curses worse than that," he told the buttoned-up geek with a glance at the hand the geek had pressed to his chest. "You afraid that's gonna escape or somethin'?" he asked. Zuko knew some nerds. He even protected them from the other T-Birds- when he could do so and retain his cool- but this guy was even worse than Eugene. "Look, I get you guyses don't hang with my crowd, but it can be our secret for this evening." He winked at a passerby, a dude in a suit. "What's happening?" and then back to the nerd at hand; this guy needed help in a bad way.
This dude was stammering like his tongue had swollen up in his mouth or something, and Danny- Zuko, as it were- put his hand back on the nerd's shoulder. "Relax. Relax. I am here to assist," he offered, charm and smile and teeth that his ma had always insisted he brush for five full minutes every night. Again, he motioned out before them in an arc of arm and extension of fingers. "How can you say this isn't an oasis. Look at all these chicks wearing pedal pushers." Zuko grinned over at his new friend. He, himself, wasn't as into the chicks in the pedal pushers as he usually was, but he could be cool about that too. "What's a waste land? Like a dump?"