unstable | avalon inbox.

So.
Are you settling in alright?

[He promised to try and get along with her, so here he is. Asking a polite question.]

🔥

azula uncle is here....!

[ Some random afternoon, though Zuko's not home (as he's often not these days), Azula will find a bracelet sitting on the dining table without a note. That's it. ]

[ Zuko's at home lounging on the couch lazily, scrolling through his phone with a scowl on his face. Wherever Azula is in the room, lucky her to get to listen to him complain. ]

Ugh, there's nothing interesting on the Questboard...! I'm tired of running errands and doing magically tedious chores for people! Why is this so irritating!

[ His recent job hunt hasn't been going so great and it's leaving him extra annoyed... He's been in a bad mood for a couple days now, truth be told. He's broke, and he's growing restless not having enough to do... He hates lounging about like this. He's annoying himself! ...And probably Azula now, too. ]

[ Zuko's finally home just at nightfall, later than usual. His pants and hands are dirty from sitting in the dirt with Gokudera in the woods until sunset. He's none too quiet as he enters their apartment, slamming the door behind him, and immediately he's noticeably disgruntled, even before seeing Azula. Zunyan follows him in, and dashes to the kitchenette awaiting its usual "we're home" snack, it gets... nothing. So it dances around his feet, lacing itself between his ankles around every step, which only aggravates him further. ]

Stop it, you— you stupid dragon! Get out of my way!

[ ...Zuko has never insulted their dragons. Not even Zuko, but definitely never spoken harshly to Zunyan like that. Zuko's making a beeline for the bedroom and not acknowledging Azula right away even when he sees her, nothing more than a quick, hot look, before slamming the bedroom door behind him. He doesn't lock it, though. Just sets to pacing. He thought he'd prepared some words, regained some composure, but catching a glimpse of her now... He's faltering. ]

I'm coming over. Wine? Chocolate? Both? A surprise? All of the above? None of the above? I'll be there in about twenty minutes.

[Notice how he is not asking.]

Edited 2021-06-17 02:07 (UTC)

[ Time has passed. Dust has settled. Zuko spent about a week with Iroh after his confrontation with Azula about Ursa, as he'd told her he would. And it's been several days since his return even since then... But that time has been awkward at best. He's been avoidant but not aggressive, which is hard to make heads or tails of. He's come home as promised, not doing anything weird like sleeping on the couch or refusing to touch her or anything pointed, but there's been a certain hesitation about him on the rare occasion he's been home around Azula since his return... more withdrawn than usual. Muted.

That is, until today. When suddenly he seems to just shift full throttle back into typical Zuko gear. He's had enough time to think, it must be. That or someone said something that affected him... who knows. But whatever's happened, it marks a clear change in disposition again. Bemusing and, on the one hand, rather self-serving as it is, it's his way of expressing what he struggles to with words alone. Not like Zuko to dial back on dramatics, for better or worse.

Zuko'd been keeping track of what times Azula tends to get home, on the days he happens to be home first, and so puts this knowledge to good use one random rainy evening without warning. She'll come home at a time she's usually home at, a time he's not been usually home at, tending to get home later than her these days out of avoidance once he figured out her latest schedule, and find... a virtually new apartment. It's clean. All their laundry done and put away. No scorch marks on the walls or floor or furniture from their dragons, all wiped away to the best of the prince's ability. Any expired food from their little kitchenette has been cleared, a case of flavored water chilled in the fridge, whatever Zuko'd noticed Azula's favorite flavor might be. Bed made with fresh sheets and fluffed pillows. Incense burning, filling the air with a spicy sweet smell as soon as one gets to the door.

But most noticeably... Both the living room and bedroom are full of flowers, at least a half dozen large bouquets in each room. There are hyacinths, geraniums, larkspurs in purple as they'd once had before, but now also in white, red and gold, plus poppies of all colors, and a whole bunch of asphodels, the largest bouquet being the focal point of the living room area as soon as one walks in. Aerith made him all of these bouquets by request. He paid money for these — no stealing, no charity. She tried to tell him to defer his payment but he insisted on sending her all the gold right away, as soon as he had this idea. He was determined about that.

The sound of water running in the bathroom can be heard in the distance, but otherwise there's silence in the home. Zunyan is nowhere to be seen, which is... worrisome... considering Zuko's home, rare the dragon's not at his side, especially when all he's doing is lounging on the couch putzing on his phone like nothing, as if he's not just created some far out over-the-top spa environment in their home out of nowhere on a whim. But he's wearing his Fire Nation clothes instead of his now more usual modern alien garb and his hair is damp and spiky from his own shower, taken cold to save all the hot water for the bath being drawn now. It's... quite the scene. But clearly one specifically designed for Azula to walk in on, like he's just there waiting for her with all this. He'd be pacing the room were it not for that he wants to seem distinctly chill when she comes in. But whatever facade he's trying to put on himself, the space is more warm and welcoming than it's been in at least two weeks. He even preemptively has the heater on in the bedroom so it's not cold after getting out of the bath.

Oh... there's Zunyan. Curled up on top of the heater, hidden behind more flowers. Figures. ]

Edited 2021-06-21 05:42 (UTC)

text; un: boomerang-guy

text; un: fireprince; backdated to some hours before his fight with Gokudera, after meeting Taichi

text; un: fireprince

action?;

action; backdated to may's fire setting quest

action; backdated to night of Aang's arrival

text; un: smoking_bomb