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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Apr 3, 2022 19:04:26 GMT -5
Sal didn’t think it was fair to anyone to be quite that broad about it. In some ways, he guessed the nobility did have it easier…they didn’t have to worry about starving to death, or dying of cold, or thirst, or who knew what else. But there was more than one way to struggle. Maybe they didn’t have to deal with those specific problems, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have problems the Skaa didn’t have, too. He wasn’t used to thinking about it like that. But…he could tell Zuko wasn’t, either. If they were ever going to have any common ground, they were going to have to step out of their comfort zones a little, it seemed. He swallowed back the anger that sparked at Zuko’s words, forcing himself to listen without reacting, at least for a few minutes. It was hard, to consider that anything about the Lord Ruler wasn’t horrible. He didn’t think he wanted to try and find the things he was right about. Maybe he could agree that there were neutral things. Things that weren’t actively awful. Baby steps. “Easiest way to win an argument is to convince the other side that there’s no argument,” he said quietly, swallowing as much bitterness from his tone as he could. “Even I know that. I mean, that’s kind of what he’s been doing with the entire world, isn’t it? He doesn’t have to justify anything as long as he’s a god.” He met Zuko’s eyes. He wondered if they were both thinking the same thing…there was no question that things were wrong about this world. That the system they had now needed changed. But that was as far as he knew how to go. They couldn’t both get what they wanted, no matter how much they could understand each other. They couldn’t both fix the world. And as long as they were both trying… They would be enemies.
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strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Apr 3, 2022 23:26:21 GMT -5
Zuko thought he saw the flash of anger in Sal’s eyes, and he was surprised by the lack of incendiary words that met him. Sal was taking time to think and listen. Zuko could do the same in return. They were fighting a losing battle, looking for common ground only to find that no matter how similar their beliefs and morals, they would be enemies. Zuko didn’t want the nobility to die. Sal couldn’t fathom the nobility living after everything they had done to the skaa. Unease roiled in Zuko’s stomach, but he tried to push it back down. They may not ever agree, but maybe that was okay. Maybe that meant that once his leg healed, they could just go back to being enemies. Somehow, though, Zuko found he didn’t believe it would be that easy. “He’s… done a lot of things that could make him a god,” Zuko whispered, clenching his jaw immediately after. “I mean… I won’t tell you everything I know, because…” he trailed off, realizing that what he had been about to say wasn’t quite true. I’m not a traitor. Ha. It seemed as though he was. He had done and said enough to fully classify him as one. “I don’t think killing my father is the best way to solve the way the world is.” He swallowed, finally letting himself look up to meet Sal’s gaze. “So I won’t tell you everything. But a lot of the myths… the religion everyone has to follow… is true. He saved the world, once.” “So maybe he’s right, about some things. But you’re right. It’s not an argument anymore.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Apr 3, 2022 23:51:39 GMT -5
It felt impossible for this to end peacefully. Of course he didn’t want anyone to die, he just…didn’t see any way around it. He felt like the Skaa had been backed against a wall for so long, they could be forgiven for hurting the people keeping them there. Self defense wasn’t the same thing as coldblooded murder. He gave Zuko a long look, his expression conflicted, but he didn’t push. He wasn’t going to tell Zuko where the Survivor was. There was no reason to think Zuko would tell him all his father’s secrets, either. They could like each other all they wanted, but at the end of the day, they could still never trust each other. “It doesn’t make this okay,” he said quietly, pulling his knees close to his chest. “This stupid war wouldn’t exist if he would just…stop. No one would be trying to overthrow him if he would just…leave us alone. Maybe he saved the world once, but that doesn’t mean it belongs to him.”
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strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Apr 4, 2022 0:06:36 GMT -5
“I know it’s not okay,” Zuko managed, picking at one of the bandages on his arm. He glanced at the rope-wrapped sword, now laying abandoned by the bed. He was still going to teach Sal how to use it. He could pretend all he wanted that it was only because Sal was his sole source of information, but the truth was… he liked Sal. He didn’t want him to die because of something perfectly preventable. If he could teach every skaa swordplay without risking a rebellion, he would. But the world didn’t work that way. The world would never work that way. “The war would still exist if he stopped,” Zuko whispered, not quite managing to meet Sal’s gaze. “It’s like you said. Nobody is ever going to forgive him for all the deaths he’s caused, even if he stops. Even if he apologizes and honors the families of every skaa his people have killed. And… and he won’t do that. He would argue that he saved every life on the planet, once. That you should be grateful.” Zuko didn’t offer any contradiction to that, but it was clear by the tone of his voice that he wasn’t sure he agreed. He would never admit it to himself, but the seeds of dissent were growing.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Apr 4, 2022 0:25:13 GMT -5
Sal didn’t know why Zuko was willing to risk teaching him. Maybe that was another reason he’d felt so opposed to it…even when you were starving, you didn’t accept food from people who might want you dead. You always had to weigh the risk before you accepted help. “Not the whole war,” he replied, his voice unexpectedly gentle. He was angry, but he wasn’t angry with Zuko. He was angry that the situation was unfair enough to pit two desperate children against each other. “People would hate him, yeah. The Survivor…well. We both know what he’d do, if he had the chance. But no one else. He could end it, and maybe he’d have to sacrifice himself, or maybe he could just make some kind of deal for protection, I…I don’t know. But honestly, if that’s why he’s continuing this, that’s…that’s almost worse. He’s just willing to let an entire people live in torment and despair because he doesn’t want people to be mad at him?” He breathed out, but he didn’t reply to Zuko’s last words. He could hear the question at the end of them. He didn’t think he needed to point it out.
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strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Apr 4, 2022 2:02:30 GMT -5
“No one else?” Zuko replied, brow quirking. “I have my own opinions about the people who follow the Survivor. They’re a lot of things, but they’re not cowards. I have no doubt that many of them would hesitate to do the same thing as the Survivor. It’s not… it’s not about sacrificing himself. I don’t think he wants to change the way things are, because the way things are is… it’s really good for him. And I believed for a long time that maybe he just… maybe he just doesn’t know. But my father is a smart man. He knows, he just… knows that the way to keep balance is to let things continue the way they are. I just think…” he sighed, shoulders hunching. “Maybe I could change it. Maybe I could make things better. If I can just… if I get rid of the Survivor, I get to go back home. And if I can take over for my father, if he believes that I can continue running Scadrial the way he wants, then maybe I could stop the bloodshed. Maybe I could make things better.” He repeated the words, trying to make himself believe them. Trying to make himself believe in a world where his father would let him take over. Where his father had banished him and given him a task that was meant to prove a point, not be a death mission. He just had to prove himself. He couldn’t let himself believe that he had been sent to his death.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Apr 4, 2022 2:20:33 GMT -5
“Oh, things are just great for him,” Sal replied, unable to stop the reply from slipping free, though he knew Zuko wasn’t saying he agreed with it. He was just…saying what the Lord Ruler thought. And based on his own experience, he had to think it was probably true. “I believe you,” he added, forcing himself to breathe out slowly. “I mean…that you want that. And it’s a plan, but that…it would take years for it to happen, even if he did ever step down, and I’m not saying I think he definitely would. And he’s supposed to be immortal, so if he did…couldn’t he just step right back up and take the throne again if he realized you were changing things?” But he could see why Zuko wanted it. If he knew it was going to work…he might have almost been convinced. “The Survivor is going to end this, and soon. And the sooner it happens, the more people get to survive it.”
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strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Apr 4, 2022 2:29:12 GMT -5
“I don’t understand you!” Zuko exclaimed, exasperated. “You have concern for the nobility who aren’t given choices under the Lord Ruler’s reign. You seem to want them to have the freedom to make their own choices. You seemed shocked that they don’t have the freedom the skaa all assume they have, and I don’t know, you seemed… frustrated for them. You see that they’re human, just as I see the skaa are human, but yet… you can support the Survivor, who would see them all dead!” There was a note of anger to Zuko’s tone, but it wasn’t entirely directed at Sal. He was frustrated and confused, and there was something in hist one that implied he thought Sal something of a hypocrite. “I just don’t see how you can be concerned that the Lord Ruler doesn’t actually take care of the nobility when you have no problem siding with someone who would see them all dead, even if they haven’t done anything wrong. Or… even if they have, had little choice in the matter.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Apr 4, 2022 2:38:52 GMT -5
“It’s not that simple,” Sal replied, his tone shifting into something just a little bit defensive. “Of course I wish things were better for them, too. And yeah, they’re human, and they’re in a bad spot, and I wish there was a way to save everyone, but there’s not. The Survivor kills them. I know he does. But he just wants the Lord Ruler. His plan has a body count, fine, but he is saving lives.” He grit his teeth, looking down to give himself a moment to breathe. They were getting dangerously close to something that might fling them into another fight, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what they’d do if they were pushed there far. “How do you know he wants all of them dead?” He added finally, looking up to meet Zuko’s eyes, “All the people I’ve heard of that we know was him were really awful people. People like…like Tresting! All the Skaa knew that place had it coming.”
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strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Apr 5, 2022 1:15:51 GMT -5
Zuko hesitated, searching Sal’s eyes. He frowned, staring at the abandoned sword. He would much rather have been teaching Sal how to defend himself than wading through something as complicated and hard to parse as the two very different (and very similar) moral codes that drove them both. “I’ve spoken to people who have heard him speak,” Zuko replied, knowing full well that hearing something second hand wasn’t as convincing as hearing it himself. But he could only go off what he knew, and considering he hadn’t been able to find the Survivor himself… “He talks about the nobility like they’re all guilty. And maybe there isn’t a single nobleman who hasn’t mistreated a skaa. Maybe that’s true, but not all of them deserve to die for it! Not all of them have killed, and even if they have, what good does it do to kill all of them? It starts with the cruelest nobility, but he’s not going to stop. He’s never going to stop. And he kills skaa, too! Anyone he doesn’t think should live. And I don’t like how many people are on that list.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Apr 7, 2022 23:11:14 GMT -5
“I heard him speak, once,” Sal replied without thinking. His eyes were on the sword, and the careful way Zuko had wrapped it, covering all the parts that could be used to hurt or to defend. Technically, it still wasn’t safe, but then…Zuko had a point. Maybe taking a risk now was safer than hoping he never got into a situation where he needed to fight. He did think he might end up being better at self defense without a weapon. Especially since he didn’t have any reason to think he’d ever get his hands on one after Zuko left. But it was still better than nothing, wasn’t it? He shook the thought off, dragging his gaze back to the other boy, just in time to hear him continue. “That’s not what he says!” He continued, putting more force into his voice. “He talks about the nobility like they’ve hurt us, fine. But he doesn’t…he doesn’t talk about slaughtering them all! He just talks about fighting back! And yeah, when you live your entire life barely daring to even look them in the eye, it sounds extreme, but I’ve never seen any reason to think he’s not going to stop once the Lord Ruler is gone. And I’ve definitely never seen any reason to think he’d ever kill Skaa! He’s trying to save us!”
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strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Apr 12, 2022 1:16:40 GMT -5
“You think he’s going to stop once the Lord Ruler dies?” Zuko asked, eyes wide. “There’s no way he’s just going to stop. He’s… he blames the Lord Ruler, just like everyone else, but the amount he blames the nobility… they didn’t create this. But he won’t stop when the Lord Ruler is dead. He’s never going to stop, even when there are only Skaa left.” Zuko shuddered, remembering all too well the first massacre he had seen. It hadn’t been the catalyst for the war meeting Iroh had allowed him in on. The Survivor had slaughtered the head of a House and all of the Hazekillers they had hired. He had murdered every Skaa guard that had stood in his way. “I’ve seen it,” he whispered, forcing his gaze to rest on the wrapped up sword. He couldn’t quite meet Sal’s gaze. “A House he targeted before I was banished. He killed the Lord and Lady of the House, but he didn’t stop there. They had Skaa guards. Men who were paid to protect them, men who surely only took the job because they saw it as a way to make a living. They weren’t a cruel House, at least… they were no crueler than any other House. But he didn’t care who stood in front of him. Anyone who raised a fist against him, Skaa or noble, he killed.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Apr 14, 2022 15:10:44 GMT -5
“What are you talking about?” Sal asked, his voice a little bit sharper than he meant it to be. He knew the Survivor wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of morality, and he knew there were deaths, but… No. No, he was used to seeing death. There was a difference between attacking and fighting back, and the Survivor had blood on his hands, but who didn’t in this city? Everyone had hurt someone at some point. There was no other way to stay alive. But the picture Zuko’s words painted…the way he stared at the sword, like he was living it again… “No…” he whispered, trying to gather his thoughts. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would he kill the people he’s trying to protect?” He was searching Zuko’s gaze, looking for anything that might explain it, when another thought occurred to him. “I’m not saying you’re lying,” he added quickly. “I just…don’t understand.”
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strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Apr 26, 2022 15:09:03 GMT -5
“I don’t know,” Zuko admitted after a long moment, hugging his arms to his chest. “I don’t know why the Survivor does what he does. I just know that… that he has killed Skaa before. I know he kills the Skaa that are paid to guard the nobility. I don’t know any of them well enough to ask why. I guess I just thought… you would know why. Since you’re the one who wants to keep him alive and all that.” He tried to keep the edge out of his voice, but only partially succeeded. It wasn’t directed at Sal, but at the world they were forced to live in. A world where there wasn’t a good solution. Where no matter who was in charge, people were going to keep dying. “All I know is what I’ve seen. The Survivor is never going to stop. He just won’t. He’s going to kill every member of the nobility and anyone who’s even partially associated with them. Anyone who raises arms with them, even if it’s their only way to survive.” Which means you, he added mentally, but he wasn’t prepared to say it out loud.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on May 2, 2022 13:20:14 GMT -5
Sal looked away. He didn’t mean to. He didn’t want to admit that he didn’t have an answer to Zuko’s questions, but the truth was that he didn’t. He had never spoken directly to the Survivor of Hathsin, and deep down, he wasn’t sure he really wanted to, but the rumors were inescapable. The Survivor was hope. The Survivor was the only real chance any of them had at an end to this. He had already accomplished more than the rebellion had in a hundred years. He pulled his knees to his chest, forcing himself to relax. The last thing he needed was for Zuko to throw him off now. Well…more off. “I don’t know anything about that,” he said finally, keeping his voice as even as he could. “But we’re desperate. If he killed them, then…” He swallowed back the words. He wouldn’t say there was a reason for it. Not without knowing more. “I’m sorry,” he said instead, and his voice was surprisingly genuine. “I don’t know what happened. Maybe there’s another explanation for it.”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on May 30, 2022 19:34:16 GMT -5
“Maybe,” Zuko replied, though the doubt echoed through his tone. The Survivor did what he wanted. He killed who he wanted, when he wanted. If he didn’t like what a member of the Skaa was doing, he would kill them just as easily as he would any nobleman. There were a number of reasons Zuko didn’t trust him. There were countless reasons he didn’t believe anyone else should either. “I wish there was an easier solution,” Zuko whispered, shaking his head just a little bit. “I wish there was a way to protect everyone without anyone getting hurt. And… and maybe you’re right that the world my father set up doesn’t wo0rk like that, but the Survivor can’t be the only solution.” Zuko shook his head, trying to stop himself before his voice raised. He didn’t want to start another argument. They had managed to find some sort of uneasy peace (though Zuko wasn’t sure how long it would last). “Sorry,” he said after a long moment, crossing his arms and staring at the ground. “Maybe… maybe we shouldn’t talk about it anymore. Until my leg is okay and I can… get out of your hair.”
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