tampered | (no subject)

(no subject)

When; March 15
Rating; PG?
Characters;

hatersbehatin
Summary; After a certain few events over the past week, Zuko decides it's time to seek Mai out to talk. To really talk. And to give her back her communicator that he broke by smashing against the wall...
Log; Complete

Although Katara had managed to take away most of the pain Sunday night/early morning, Zuko still felt a twinge here and there. Her healing ability had come as a bit of a surprise to him, something he hadn't fully anticipated a waterbender could do. It had helped immensely with the aching and hurting muscles, however, the splotches of bruising along the expanse of his back remained but were hardly as dangerous a color as before.

Zuko turned the corner and approached the apartment just in time to spot the petite brunette stepping out to wave at him. She beckoned him to hurry up and so Zuko quickened his steps, pulling the door open wider. "She's not expecting you," she told him, "but she's on the third floor in our apartment. Be nice to her, Zuko! I worked hard to make her smile!"

And then Ty Lee was leaving his side to do whatever it was she had plans to do that afternoon.

He watched her go, frowning to himself. A paper brown bag in one hand, Mai's newly repaired network communicator in his back pocket, Zuko let himself in and began to make the climb up to the third floor.

What had happened that night on the roof, he was still trying to wrap his mind around it. Zuko had seriously thought he had bumped his head a little too hard and had imagined the kiss, but now... now he wasn't so sure. Thinking back on it, her lips pressing over his had felt way too real to not be.

{ooc; Ty Lee's part in the beginning was added with permission ♥}

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It's been a pretty rough few days for Mai. Since the moment she woke up in the City and got her first glance of the strange world outside a strange window ... things have just been really, really crazy. An emotional ride like she has never experienced before in her life. All the Avatar stuff and Zuko stuff aside. What happened to her this past weekend... was... she wasn't sure what it was, but she was far from happy about losing control of herself. It was an awful feeling, and she's been doing everything possible to forget about it since she woke up Monday morning and realized it wasn't just a dream.

Ty Lee proved to be a good distraction, and although she's never said so, Mai is very grateful that the other girl is here. If not for her, Mai probably would have been living on the streets, sleeping in any building she found abandoned and living like a homeless peasant. It wasn't a life she wanted, but it would have been a welcome alternative to going to strangers for help. Which would have been a step above asking Zuko for help. At this point, the last thing she wanted was to be indebted to him in any way. That would just make their situation even more uncomfortable.

She's also been avoiding him and anyone associated with and has been holing herself up inside the apartment, honestly perfectly content with being there. She found many things to keep herself entertained, and had to become resourceful when Ty Lee mentioned that throwing knives indoors, while she didn't personally mind it, the landlords probably would have a problem with it. So, Mai, found different things to ease her anxiety so that she could keep her emotions in check.

One of her more favorite activities being drawing on any bit of paper she could find in the apartment. Paper bags, receipts, napkins, even sheets of paper that her roommate had important uses for, if Mai got a hold of it, she was scribbling on it. And while she wasn't an artist, she did have steady hands and could spend hours just making swirls, curves and other random shapes, abstract objects forming from the black lines she connected and looped around one another. The hobby had a soothing and mind numbing affect on her, and that's something she wanted right now.

And that's what she's doing as Zuko made his way up the stairs. Soon after Ty Lee had left her alone, Mai had come across a slip of paper she had managed to miss before. Or maybe her friend had just left it there on purpose. Whatever the case may be, Mai was sitting in the living room of the apartment on the couch, hunched over the small table set in front of it. One hand holding the paper in place as her other hand carelessly stroked a black pen over it. Starting at one corner and working her way up and outward, curving the lines like fire, with sharp edges like knives and slopes of vines. It really isn't anything at all, but she focused on it, adding and adding more in order to keep her mind and body occupied.

As Zuko approached the apartment door, he noticed that it stood ajar. He assumed that Ty Lee had left it open for him and hesitantly let himself in, first peeking his head into the apartment and looking around. He didn't spot anyone at first and pushed the door open further to completely step into the front area, closing it behind him.

Apartments were new to him; Zuko was always so used to the tea shop and the gardens and ponds, the fish swimming around peacefully in the water. Everything about this world was still new, particularly the tall, towering buildings made up entirely of glass. Such things... he'd never imagined them existing.

Making his way along the hall Zuko came to the living room and paused just in the threshold of the doorway, golden eyes making a sweep around the room to find the dark-haired girl hunched over and... drawing? Zuko wasn't sure what it was that she was doing, but opted to remain where he was standing.

A little enthralled with her task, but not so consumed that she didn't hear the door close. Mai knew that Ty Lee had left some time before, but she hadn't lost sense of time to not realize that she had not been gone long. Moving without any worry to rush herself, she finishes several more lines before she lifts her head.

"Well. That was fast."

She set down the pen and began to move, turning so that she was looking toward the door as she continued. "Did you forget something?" The question was out before she actually saw who stood in the door way, and her mouth was pulled into something between a smile and a smirk. It wasn't a bright expression, but it certainly was in comparison to the look on her face that followed once her mind processed that Zuko was in the space where Ty Lee should have been.

What little emotion had been on her face faded almost instantly,leaving her eyes more narrowed and her mouth pressed close so tightly that her lips almost disappeared completely. She stared at him silently, trying to decide how she is going to deal with her roommate the next time she saw her, because she assumes that this was her doing. While Ty Lee wasn't as vicious about it as Azula, Mai knew that the girl sometimes liked to tease about Mai's ever present fondness of Zuko... but this was going too far.

"Uh-- hey..."

And that was all Zuko had to say. What else was there for him to say anyways? He was only there to drop off her network device and that was that.

Okay, not true. Zuko was there to talk with her. He'd made the mistake himself of acting hostile in the beginning to a few certain people, as had she days ago in the tea shop with Aang. The incident still made Zuko a little uneasy on the inside. The root of the problem was him, him walking out on her with only a letter. He had to fix this, that was the only way.

Edited 2011-03-15 22:24 (UTC)

His greeting got Mai to tilt her head, eyes gazing down the length of her nose and cheek at him. While she understood why he was uncomfortable, she felt no sympathy for him because that awkwardness was entirely his fault. He brought it onto himself.

"What are you doing here?"

She stood as she spoke, and once on her feet, she crossed her arms in front of her. The pose meant to give him a silent signal that she didn't really care what his answer was, but he could still go on and try to humor her at least.

He should have expected her to pose such a demanding question. Her stance wasn't helping matters either.

Sighing to himself, Zuko reached back into his pocket to retrieve her network device. He held it up for her to see. "You... left this in my room. And, uh-- you kind of need it here in the City."

Her eyes flicker to the device a few moments, but then she looked back to him, seeming unimpressed with it. "Why would I need that?"

"To communicate with people." Straightforward answer is straightforward.

"Because I have so many friends here." Sarcastic reply is sarcastic.

"You really came all this way just to give me that?" With a shake of her head she stepped forward, holding out one hand. Her voice and expression clearly giving the impression that she felt like she was having some undesirable chore forced onto her. "Just give it to me."

Zuko put the device into her hand, the very tips of his fingers accidentally grazing the inside of her palm. He pulled his hand away, flexing his fingers while trying to ignore the weird tingling. Then he frowned. "You can still make friends, Mai. I did."

He meant that; she was just misguided by the lies the Fire Nation had put into their textbooks. Sure the Fire Nation was a great city and that greatness should have been shared equally with the rest of the world, but through a war? Zuko couldn't see how that was sharing anything.

If she had felt anything from his touch, she didn't give anything away. Though she had raised an eyebrow at is reaction before she turned away from him. "Yeah. Well. I'm not you."

She pulled the communicator in closer to look at it carefully. It really didn't look like anything useful to her, so it only had her attention for a few moments before she looked back to him. "What. No threats this time? Not going to warn me not to touch the Avatar... or else." She didn't go into details, but the way she said that last word implied that whatever his punishment would be, she wasn't afraid of it. If anything she concerned it to be a joke.

"I didn't come here to threaten you," he answered in a quiet voice. He continued to hold the paper bag at his side, watching her, taking in the expression she wore which was as it always was; impassive, hard to read, a mask.

After his reply, she kept a steady gaze on him during a prolonged silence, then suddenly turned away to walk back toward the couch.

"Well... it looks like you have something to say."

When she sat back down, she put the communicator on the table, letting it fall several inches so it made a loud thunk sound on the wooden surface.

Zuko scowled at the sound of the device hitting the table. "Hey! I didn't spend money on that to have it fixed just so you could break it again."

He figured it was safe to move further into the living room to follow her and he did so, coming to stand in front of the table that sat between himself and Mai.

She waited until he's standing in front of the table, then she lifted her head to look at him. Just as she reached out a hand to pick up the device again and after she raised it half a foot of the table, she released it so it fell onto the table again. Even before it would have hit the wood, she spoke to him.

"So. What are you going to do?"

The sound of the device hitting the tabletop with a hard thunk had Zuko tightly gritting his teeth. The muscle in his cheek flexed in irritation. "Why are you being like this?" he pushed out through his teeth.

Mai pulled back against the couch, crossed her arms over her chest then crossed one leg over the top of the other before she tilted her head so that her face was turned away from him.

"What do you expect, Zuko? Did you think I'd welcome you in here with open arms? Have you forgotten that you broke up with me? Do I need to remind you that I'm still mad at you?"

Of course he hadn't expected her to welcome him with her arms wide open, and of course he hadn't forgotten that he'd broken up with her; his entire time here in the City, his mind and thoughts continuously drifted back to the day he'd written the letter that would end it for them. Zuko had had plenty of time to reflect on the decision he'd made, the mistake he'd made.

"Then why did you kiss me?" came the quietly spoken question, his gaze remaining on her where she sat at the couch.

The question didn't surprise her, because... well she had thought about it herself. Scolded herself and wondered over and over why she had kissed him on that roof. The answer was simple. Obvious, even. But she couldn't swallow the pride and pain that would let her accept the truth. So. She lied to herself, and in turn, she would lie to him.

Her shoulders shrugged as she spoke. "I don't know." She didn't turn her head toward him, and instead shifted her eyes away from him and focused her eyes on some random spot on the wall. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"'It seemed like a good idea at the time'?" Zuko deadpanned, not entirely impressed by the response. His own reply came without much thought, "The same could have been said about our break up."

And it was the truth. At the time Zuko had written his letter to her, his mind had been made up. He would have the letter delivered to her house via a servant and by the time she read it, he would find himself joining the Avatar and helping him in his quest for peace.

"Yes, Zuko." She rolled her eyes. "They are exactly the same." She hid behind a wall of sarcasm, and she took a couple moments to stare at the wall and ready herself to look at him.

"Because you obviously didn't notice...." She uncrossed her arms, but only so she could make a gesture with a hand. It didn't really mean anything on it's own, but together with her next words it seemed to try and emphasis them a little. "Sneaking out at night. Wearing that outfit. Attacking people and robbing strangers. I wasn't myself this past weekend."

"Really? Because clearly I hadn't noticed," he returned with a sarcastic bite of his own to his words, eyes narrowing in her direction.

Zuko shifted his weight restlessly. "Anyway--" He held up the bag in front of him, hoping she'd get the gesture. "I didn't come here to argue with you."

The bitter edge left inside her from their break up compels her to open her mouth and let loose more hot words. Though, somehow, she managed to keep her mouth shut long enough for the urge to pass. After a deep breath she tilted her head and gave him a long look. Her eyes focused on the bag within a moment and she instantly recognized it as a peace offering.

But she gave no indication that she planned to stand up, or reach over to take it from him. "What is that?"

Zuko resisted the urge to roll his eyes, taking her question as safe ground to walk around the table. He lowered the bag to the couch next to her crossed legs and sat on the edge of the sturdy table. "Open it, and you'll find out."

She watched his every move as he approached, and when he set the bag down, her eyes followed it to make sure it didn't touch her, then she looked back to him as he sat down. Mai narrowed her eyes just a little when he spoke, but she said nothing as she reached out to lift the bag onto her lap.

Her eyes never strayed from him while her hands fumbled to open the bag, the look she gave him clearly one of mistrust. And while she could have just thrown the bag at his face, she was too curious to not see what was inside, and well truthfully she also wasn't such a bitch that she would throw his effort to make peace with her back into his face quite so literally.

Once the bag was open she turned her head downward to see what was inside it, and blinked a few times until she began to realize what they were. Fruit tarts. Four small, single servings, and for several moments all she could do was stare at them. She couldn't tell if the sensation in her chest was from her heart throbbing or breaking more, and he might have seen the brief moment where her expression softened. Though it was gone too quickly to be able to tell for sure if it was a look of sadness or tenderness.

Her silence was finally broken when she lifted her head to look at him, her expression carefully controlled so that he wouldn't know her inner conflict. "I hope that you really don't think I'm this easy, Zuko." She struggled to remain neutral and held on to her composure.

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