Inbox

[beautyrest]

INBOX Action / Text / Video / Voice "Well hello, dear. I'm quite sorry, but I'm afraid you just missed me, I stepped out for a bit. Please leave your message and I will get back to you as soon as I am able. I hope you have a wonderful day and I wish you well." code credit

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1/2

[rediscovering]

[ Zuko retreats to the men's room to lean against a wall furiously texting Hikaru. He lied about looking for Zun. He couldn't care less right now. But he finds some elucidation in his short conversation with Hikaru, being scolded for what he already knows was a major fuck-up... But indeed, he just panicked. He's only gone but five minutes or so, and for good measure does pop into the kitchen and scream for Zunyan at the door. The poor dragon looks up with panic in its own eyes, and quickly abandons its little plate of snacks the staff had prepared, zipping through the air to meet its master. Zuko practically snatches him mid-flight, and forces him onto his shoulder. Zun has no idea what's going on, and is anxiously wriggling along the boy's neck, Zuko's hand holding the dragon down to prevent escape as he exits outside again.

But when he returns to the table... Aurora is gone. The waitress is awkwardly lingering near the table, unsure what to do in this unusual situation. Zuko rushes her, a suddenly wilder look in his eyes, seeming angry by his automatic reaction to so many feelings that are so, so far from anger. He's confused. That's the bottom line. ]

Wh-Where did she go?!

She, um— She went home, sir... Uh— Would you still like to order—

No!

[ Zuko barks at the poor waitress, wheeling on the empty table. He's eating himself inside. He's awful at romance — he's the worst boyfriend, he's sure of it. He's never had a simple relationship in his life, and the one relationship that seemed straightforward and uncomplicated and safe, suddenly has imploded somehow. And in one stupid moment of malfunction, he feels he lit that fuse. He sits in a random chair with his head in his hands, the waitress awkwardly glancing aside and then slowly inching away, feeling she's clearly intruding... She'll have an interesting work story to tell her own boyfriend when she goes home today, surely.

It takes Zuko only a few seconds to resolve himself again, but he is still, after all this time, so poorly practiced at allowing any more complex emotions to translate in his reactions as anything but angry. He's not shown this side of himself to Aurora much; he's not had occasion to. He's scarcely acted hotheaded around her in general. He's ashamed.

So after a few seconds of "composing" himself, he fires off a text. ]