DEAR DICTATOR → zuko

╸five : the decision

❝ the decision ❞

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          Nari tiredly rubs her eyes, dry and weary from having been glued open all night. And even though she and Zuko took somewhat of an hour break between running to the springs and setting off on the rhinos, that wasn't merely enough time to rest or catch enough sleep to grant Nari mental stability.

She groggily stares at the path in front of her, tugging on the reigns of her rhino's saddle to bring it to a stop behind Zuko. She stares at him blankly, sparing a single blink empty of emotion. "We stopped,"

"Yeah," Zuko jumps from his rhino. "I think I found something."

Nari narrows her eyes to the ground in front of Zuko as he crouches. The object resting against the earthen path sparks a boundless confusion and a lack of importance. What good could a flip flop do?

Nonetheless and to further her confusion, the boy picks it up cautiously, pricking at it with index finger and thumb barely pinched to the heel of the shoe. And he sniffs it.

Nari scrunches up her face, disgust gracing each feature of hers as she sucks in her gut. "I didn't know you had a foot fetish," She remarks, chin tucked into her neck with the same visage she held so squished. The closed-off tone of her voice nearly forces itself out, sounding as though it was trying to walk through a riptide.

Zuko turns back to her with a growl before the smell of the shoe hits him— his nostrils flare so wide that Nari can spot it from her rhino, and his face pinches to the center with utmost abhor towards the stench. "Yep," He states in a fashion that performs so formally Nari isn't sure what he's referring to. "That's Uncle Iroh."

She's grateful towards both their lead and Zuko's fixed atmosphere. He lacks the panic which they both held earlier, and it seems to have washed away like words written in sand. That, or it wore off from her lack of rest. However, Nari is quite sourly discouraged by Zuko's inability to react to her comment further than a snarl. It's not that the boy is signaling massive signs of distress, but rather that it is not a questionable remark which she wants hanging in the air.

"You never answered me," She says lowly, twisting the rope between her fingertips.

Zuko hops back upon his rhino, just as dead set as he was before, and he glares over his shoulder. "Nothing needed answering." He, in his best attempt, uses his voice in such a way to indicate the end of the conversation, but as Nari sought for more, his attempts fall in vain.

"Uh, yeah, there is." Nari grows each word from its original starting point before drawing back to a lower volume, shifting to a more comfortable position. "Need I remind you that you sniffed a shoe that had no link to your uncle?"

"I know how his shoe looks, Nari. He's my family." His words are razor sharp. They cut and sting like fiberglass, presumably just as harsh as his turned-away facial expression.

"A flip flop is more common than you think, dumb ass." It's seldom Nari cusses towards Zuko, but as the skill has developed over all her years, it's become second nature to retreat towards her vulgar words when sassed at.

"Somebody's cranky,"

"Somebody needs to shut up."

Zuko forces out a silent laugh, shoulders bouncing within such a quiet giggle. "You're proving my point, you know?"

"I'm not 'proving your point'. I'm acting like I normally act and you just so happened to single out one of my 'flaws'. I have a lot, so if you want to pick them out go ahead." Nari's face flattens out, her exasperated expression a near twin to the dull ache of her voice.