Catch-all: Zuko

[ercnerd]

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Week 0: Friday

[ercnerd]

[Their paths intersect at a point of the star-shaped pool. Sieghart's neutral mien twists into a grin at the sight of Zuko.]

Oh? Do I get to see it?

[cuedoves]

[ zuko just huffs in response. he is such a sulky baby. ]

Get to see what? The pool?

[ercnerd]

[Aw, baby.]

What else? The summoning of doves!

[cuedoves]

The wh---

Oh, that. It's just a stupid joke. Don't take anything those profile things say seriously.

[ercnerd]

Really? . . . Then what should I call you?

[cuedoves]

Zuko is fine.

And what should I call you?

[ercnerd]

Call me Sieghart.

[He folds his arms across his chest.]

No matter the dimension, royals like you seem to prefer their names.

[cuedoves]

I'm not a royal anymore, Sieghart. So... don't worry about it.

Which murder kidnapping did you come from?

[ercnerd]

[That's one way of putting it.]

It was a school. We were expected to finish the school year before we could leave.

What about you?

[cuedoves]

... Weird.

[ though school in itself is a horror story... ]

Uh. We were in a timeloop and kept losing our memories. It was messed up.

[ercnerd]

Ugh. Talk about tedious. I don't want to do everything again if I can help it.

[cuedoves]

Well, maybe it won't be the same thing. These things all seem to have different themes.

[ercnerd]

This one appears to be a hotel . . .

How did you stop the timeloop?

[cuedoves]

Yeah, but are we going to visit other worlds? Or what?

[ a bit dryly: ] The power of friendship. You?

[ercnerd]

Shall we say . . . the power of storytelling?

I don't know about you, but friendship sounds like the better choice to me.

[cuedoves]

Storytelling?

[ it's not the better choice because it's all terrible!! but he's looking at sieghart expectantly. america, explain ]

[ercnerd]

[Friends are better than pens.]

It was nothing special. There was a story that wanted an ending, and everyone came together to write one. Before that, we were preventing each other from getting assimilated into the setting.

[cuedoves]

Assimilated into the setting? [ that sounds like splintering. ] What does that mean?

[ercnerd]

To put it this way . . . there was a period where two of the kids thought I was their dad.

[cuedoves]

Oh.

[ those cyoas were so good ]

So... brainwashed into a story. That sounds pretty messed up. I guess... maybe being a dad wasn't that bad, though.

[ sieg's probably a better father than ozai anyway ]

[ercnerd]

[Terrible.]

It was just a role. Things only came to a head once the assimilated started turning against the rest of us with their fabricated memories; even the brightest minds and the strong of will couldn't resist. That was the power of assimilation.

[cuedoves]

... Crazy how much these things can change a person.

[ zuko remembering splintered people... fuckt up. ]

[ercnerd]

[He nods.]

Was there something like that in the timeloop?

[cuedoves]

Splintering. People would... lose memories, fall apart. That kind of thing. It was a threat to everyone.

[ercnerd]

Memories can define a person. Losing them isn't easy for most . . . Did you get them all back in the end?