trans_9 | You Can't Go Home [Open]

When she wasn't with Zuko, Mai needed to find something to do that wasn't throwing knives at the wall. Even that got boring after a while. You could only practice so much before your muscles decided you needed to do something else. So, she'd taken up simply wandering through the city. It was decent exercise and she was less likely to run into people who wanted to ask her stupid questions. Or any of the Avatar's group, for that matter. After Ozai, she'd been avoiding them. Not out of any hatred toward them, but simply because she would rather not have to explain herself if any of them wanted to know why.

So, the city had its appeal. Until she found her old family home, anyway. It was her family's manor from the Fire Nation capital, but here, it stood on a side street, in between a walled manor made of adobe, with curving, elegant archways and a squat, steely, sullen looking building that looked more like a bunker than anything else. It was also empty. She wandered the hallways and for the first time, she realized how omnipresent the servants actually had been. She had been so used to seeing them out of the corner of her eye or just passing by on some chore that they'd become part of the scenery. PArt of the house.

Without them, it was strangely empty and quiet.

The garden was there, of course. As immaculate and well-trimmed as the last time she remembered seeing it (who or what kept it from overgrowing and becoming a disaster area was a mystery). The furniture was there, too. A bit dusty, but otherwise in perfect condition. She slowly settled onto a couch on a balcony that overlooked the street. Back home, the Fire Nation Palace was just across the street - she could see it in her mind's eye - and it had been a point of pride for her family that they had a town-house that close to the Fire Lord. It showed royal favor, her mother had told her once. Which was why her father had become governor of New Ozai, of course.

She slumped back against the cushions, feeling oddly homesick for the first time in a long, long while.

"Figures. I can't escape my parents, even when they're in slimy pods..."

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"Maybe," Mai shrugs noncommittally. It'd be too weird. No servants. Just empty hallways and rooms every morning and every night. Too empty. Too familiar.

"It'd be more comfortable than the rooms they give us."

"It seems like a pretty open layout, though. Not particularly great for keeping unwanted crew members out."

Why, a crazy firebender could just waltz right up and...

"It's not supposed to. It's a manor," Mai replied in that same, bored tone. Not like royalty would tolerate a small fortress next door to their small fortress.

Zouichi vaulted upward onto the balcony in a single, easy movement, landing lightly on the railing.

"And manors don't need security?" He looked out onto the street, as if surveying the area. "It looks like you have a nice view, in any case."

Mai didn't flinch; just watched him with bored disinterest. She half turned to eye the large building they were standing in.

"...not back home."

With that vague statement, she turned her attention back to the street, staring out over the city, "Yeah, I guess so. The Fire Nation was better."

Hmm.

"Better how?" Other than the my-home-hasn't-blown-up-yet factor, that is.

"I didn't have to deal with people," Mai grumped. This whole stuck in space thing sucked.

"Dealing with people isn't so bad. I rarely had to talk to anyone when I was on Earth. However, I have met many people here with perspectives I would never have been exposed to on my world. I find it encouraging, generally."

"You must've had better people," Mai retorted, "Or maybe just less annoying."

Mai had issues with people.

"I don't need other perspectives."

"It's possible," said Zouichi. Although probably more likely that she just found everyone annoying. "Why not?"

"I know what I want and I know what I need to do. What else do I need?" Mai isn't big on opening up. There's a wall behind her eyes and her expression.

"In those terms, knowing what other people want can help you get what you want. Sometimes guile or diplomacy can achieve what the direct approach fails to."

Although Zouichi mostly just liked listening to other people.

Edited 2011-10-21 19:19 (UTC)

"Trust me, I know all about diplomacy," Mai deadpanned. Her mother had never let her forget it - make the right impression, be the perfect daughter, think of your father's career, think of your future.

Ugh.

Zouichi tilted his head at her, curious at the reaction. "And I suppose it's never done you any favors?"

"It works," Mai shrugged ambivalently. She wasn't about to tell him all about her childhood. Or her life.

"But I never saw the point in humoring idiots."

"Idiots? As in people you don't agree with?" Man, Mai was reminding him of a couple other people on this ship he could name.

"Just because people disagree with me doesn't make them idiots," Mai rolled her eyes. Although it usually made them stupid. "Zuko and I disagree sometimes, but he's not always an idiot either."

Not that ZOuichi knows who Zuko is. But she doesn't humor people.

"No, I mean idiots. Real idiots. Like the Council."

Zouichi did know who Zuko was, but not personally. Mostly through Security reports, because people kept trying to burn his face off.

"They certainly don't seem to be doing themselves any favors. Or much of anything, honestly."

Which was fine by him.

Yeah, that was troublesome. The whole getting faces burned off thing.

"Except releasing psychopaths," Mai replied dryly, "They're useless."

Just like most bureaucrats.

Zouichi frowned. "Azula, wasn't it? Only apparently, they didn't particularly feel the need to listen to the concerns of the people who were already familiar with her history before cutting her loose."

You know, after she'd already attacked someone. And then they set her free, and she showed up to threaten someone else. Awesome.

"That would have been us," Mai sighed, "But apparently we have to give everyone a second chance here. Wouldn't want people to feel threatened."

Mai was being very grumpy.

Unfortunately, Zouichi agreed with Mai, grumpy or not.

"I suspect some of the councilmembers themselves have a rather personal stake in the maintenance of that policy. But in this case, it was taken to ridiculous extremes. She didn't just attack people in some distant past, she attacked someone while on the ship. And they essentially let her walk."

"I know," Mai finally turned her vacant expression on Zouichi, "She attacked me."

Sheesh. She's well aware of just how messed up it was.

Mai didn't look any worse for the wear, but he supposed that was beside the point.

"She's ill," Zouichi said, almost to himself. Even he could see that, from the short visit he'd paid Azula. "And that's unfortunate. But it's also irresponsible to let that and worries about being 'fair' jeopardize anyone else's well-being."

Except that that tended to happen often enough on this ship.

"She's always been a psychopath. Now she's just an uncontrolled psychopath," Mai glanced at Zouichi, "I should know. I was her friend for ten years."

Or something like that. She didn't keep track.

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