avalononline | text; un: fireprince

I'd still like to see how your magic works. Alchemy isn't as flashy as elemental magic, but I can use it in a fight easier these days I think.

There's nothing wrong with finding your own path, though! Working hard no matter what and doing your best... I feel like that gets us to where we need to be. Real heroes even if that's not what they're called in every world.

I'd like that! I'm Izuku Midoriya.

Ahhh I haven't gotten any real training from anyone who knows swordsmanship, though. I've been learning on my own. You have a leg up on me, there.

im no master
but yeah i'll do my best to explain sometime
you understand the concept of chi?

i agree with you
a real hero has perspective. someone heroic can't have lived a small life.

my swordsmanship training growing up was unusual
i can pass on some of piandao's philosophies to you perhaps
do you paint?

my name is zuko by the way. nice to meet you.
thats a japanese name right?? do you go by your given name or your family name? i have some japanese friends who go by one or the other, i dont know how it works sorry

Chi? Like the energy flow inside of our bodies? Yeah, I've read about it before. I think monks tend to apply the concept to martial arts.

I- I don't paint, though. That helps with learning swordsmanship?

[He's open to the concept!]

It's really great to meet you too. It is Japanese! Midoriya is my family name, Izuku is my given name. If it's easier you can call me Midoriya.

yes exactly that
everyone has chi, non-benders too
but bending has a lot to do with chi. especially firebending. we must conjure our flames from within ourself, unlike waterbenders and earthbenders who manipulate the elements around them.
it comes from chi.
do you meditate?

i'll explain painting and swordsmanship in person
my master was.... an unusual man. he thought outside the box.
that's part of why he was the best at what he did.
creativity in battle is crucial.

ok. midoriya.
i don't have a family name. it's just zuko.
a lot of my friends here are japanese. almost all, i think. there are lots of japanese people, it seems.

I wouldn't be surprised if the same sort of thing could be applied to how we use magic here. It's all about the energy within ourselves. I guess I've tried some sort of meditating before, like breathing exercises and trying to focus my mind. That's similar, isn't it?

I'm open to the idea though. It's probably the same sort of thing as one of my mentors telling me heating up a red bean paste pastry in the microwave is part of how I'll learn to move my body faster...

Or he just wanted lunch...

Are there a lot of people from Japan here? I've noticed a few! I think it might that Earth is popular... If that's how you'd say it.

i imagine it's probably to do with chi somehow yeah but just the flow is different
waterbending directs chi differently than firebending after all.. not that a firebender could pick up and try to learn waterbending or something but you seem to understand what im saying

and yeah focusing your mind and breathing exercises are meditative
that kind of thing
it's very useful

i'm all for mindfulness and symbolism in combat training but
how the hell does heating up red bean paste in the microwave teach you how to move your body faster??

most my friends here and in the last world i was in are japanese
or at least lived in japan....
i can only think of a couple people i've met who are from earth but not japan
and a couple people who aren't from earth at all
but most people i've met seem to be japanese. maybe i just have a type. ha.
japan and the fire nation seem to have a lot in common. china too. i read about it.

Erm, heating up a pastry in the microwave was his way of saying that if I take the stored power inside of myself and learn to spread out my energy evenly throughout my body like a microwave evenly heats something then I'd be able to control the flow and speed of my whole body moving.

Something like that. I think he was just hungry... But I did learn how to focus my power through my whole body? Instead of just through my arms!

On Earth- Japan is one of the most densely populated countries... so mathematically? It makes sense?

[Or the galaxy or whatever picks them to come here is just a big anime fan. ~~us. we're the weebs.~~]

Your nation must be really interesting if it's a lot like those two countries... That sounds like something out of a hero drama show.

that makes sense
a lot of people think that firebending comes from the muscles in the arms because it's strong and forceful, but in fact it comes from the lungs
breath powers the whole body
chi flows throughout us. the stomach is sometimes called the sea of chi, the center of the self
so...... i guess microwaving a pastry filled with red bean paste is a pretty good metaphor for that too... i get it.

[ And now he's a little hungry, too. ]

you know my japanese friend hikaru told me that a lot too, when we first met
that my world was like a fantasy, my life was like a movie, stuff like that
and some other stuff i still don't know what it means like rpg but
to me from what i know about japan it seems the same way
maybe my world's just not as advanced as i thought it was....

Right! That makes a lot of sense. I think if we can understand pastries in the microwave we should be able to understand everything, ne?

[He's a bit amused.]

It's really amazing, though. There are all these worlds where I thought things like magic and fantasy were all just fantasy. Things I read in books and played in games. But no, there are worlds out there with magic. Things like avatars and firebending... It's amazing! Even if your world might not be advanced, it's still really amazing. Honestly, I wish there was a way for me to visit. That's probably asking too much.

haha is that the peak of wisdom

[ Zuko is, too. It's rare he likes talking to someone this much. Bravo, Midoriya. ]

actually
i went to japan once
sort of
a few months ago there were these ... flower...tub..things.
were you here??
it took you to your memories, or your neighbors' memories
people i knew showed up in mine
and i showed up in my friend gokudera's memories
i got to see japan secondhand that way
it was like i was there but..not..
but it was so different from my world
i wish i could visit for real honestly

It definately is. I should thank him again the next time I see him.

[He was a weird as heck old man but sometimes those are the best teachers.]

Eh?? I did see some of those flower tubs! I think they were pods you laid in? I didn't know other people were seeing memories of Japan too. I did have someone see my school in one of my memories. She thought she was one of my teachers...!

It would be amazing if we could visit other worlds. If there's a chance for it again I would like to see yours too. I feel like there's a lot to Japan to see.

[Become isekai.]

yeah those tubs!!
i got to see my friends' school and their town and his boss's mom's house and stuff
it was nice....... it wasn't like i imagined it
i wish i could show people my world at whim
it's so different from this world and what i saw of gokudera's japan
we don't have electricity or all this technology it's all foreign to me
ive gotten more used to it but it's taken what ten months.....
any high technology the fire nation has is used toward war
not like
movies or something
have you seen movies???? amazing

[ "Have you seen movies," he says, like this is some niche interest of his... ]

[Oh no. This is so wholesome?? Well, aside from the fire nation and making war technology, of course...!]

Seeing things like television and smart phones must have been weird to see or use at first! But everything is useful, I can't imagine what it's like not having technology and electricity. Except maybe for camping?

And I've seen a lot of movies before-! I'm a big fan of hero dramas, movies about heroes going on long journeys or facing personal dilemmas or saving cities and the world from certain destruction. My favorite ones are about the journey heroes have to make to become the greatest. Or samurai movies. What kinds have you seen or do you like?

There's whole movie theatres in Japan!

[ That's Zuko, wholesome with a pinch of war. ]

it took me ages to accept that there's no ink or stamps or paper inside the phone...... i know it's metal inside now but i won't even pretend to understand how it works
"magic." enough for me.

but it really is incredibly useful. i can't imagine what our world would be like even if we just had cameras. let alone phones and internet and stuff. you can just... look something up.... if you ever want to know something, the answer is right there!!!! it's beyond my imagination!!
or just
play music on the spot without anyone playing it
even instruments i'd never heard of before, like my friend showed me what a piano was online before i ever saw him play it in person
then i got to show someone else here a piano online who'd also never heard one!!
i hope you appreciate how amazing that is to be able to do that?!?!!

[ Midoriya just shot right up on Zuko's list of fast friends to talk to, though, because of what he says about movies. Nobody seems to share Zuko's enthusiasm about movies and it's aggravating not having an outlet for his amazement! ]

there are movie theatres..?! why?! what does that mean!? one of the best parts of movies is not having to go to the theatre! all the plus sides and none of the cons

i want to see movies like those!! that all sounds like the kind of story i'd like.
i've seen many movies..... but not in several months. not since i left the last world i was in. we don't have a tv here. my old roommates and i had a big tv in that world and i was tired a lot there so i stayed home and watched movies on this endless catalogue called moonflix a lot. i want to watch more movies again though
i liked kill will, the shimmer, mad matt: rage road, silence of the fawns, schneider's list.....
tell me more movies to watch!!
and i know a samurai here. i'd like to see samurai movies. i can show nobunaga, his world was like mine, no electricity no movies no phones. i bet he'd like that.
oh and if there are movies about the mafia i wanna see those too!!

[It's so amusing and interesting to read someone just experiencing these things?! Izuku never thought he would see something like this.]

Our phones have a lot packed in them- It's useful for when you might get lost that you can pull up a map of exactly where you are and where you need to go. That's saved my life before, it's really changed our lives. It's a big leap in technology, but I'm glad you get a chance to see it for what it is.

[And then Izuku is almost sparkling. Reading of someone so interested in movies makes him sit forward in his seat.]

Whole movie theatres! You can watch a movie on a giant screen almost as big as a house! It might be crowded and you have to go there but getting to watch a movie with your friends in front of a giant screen... I miss that. I wonder if there are theatres here in Avalon? Or even tvs and dvd players...??

I've- I've heard of those movies?? I think? ... Maybe something like that? Hero movies are the best ones, some of the action and fighting scenes I've seen are the best acting across the genre! The Revengers, Steel Man, Superb Man!

b

Nobunaga?! ... THE NOBUNAGA?

[His brain is overloading with nerdy joy.]

yes!!!! thats amazing too the magic maps!!!!
i spent three years living at sea and had to learn how to navigate and read all kinds of old maps i found all over the world and here you can just
press a key and go
mind-blowing

[ The Avatar is lucky Zuko could find him with GPS in this world. No time wasted at all. ]

screens as big as houses?!?! i want to go!!
i used to go to the theatre all the time when i was young, my mom loved the theatre
if she could see movies....... wow. i can't imagine.
but i don't like the dramatic stories as much as she did i like the fighting too
there was this scene in kill will where a woman was wearing all white and having a sword fight in the snow and another woman scalped her and you saw the black hair and the red blood on the snow and it was like a painting it was so beautiful but chilling i never forgot it
another scene in the same movie where a cute girl got hit in the face with a spiked ball and the blood ran down her cheeks from her eyes like tears

[ Dumb teenage battle-crazy boy had a movie crush on both Gogo Yubari and O-Ren Ishii, yes he did. ]

whats the revengers
what do you mean by hero
doesnt every story have a hero

[ Nobunaga has told Zuko a fair bit about himself and Zuko's impressed with the daimyo, but he's been warned by his modern Japanese best friend about the man's historical reputation, too, so he has a mixed opinion about his samurai friend. ]

yeah oda nobunaga
hes here
and some of his vassals
masamune, the one-eyed dragon of the north
or something like that

Edited 2021-06-11 22:19 (UTC)

[Did their friendship just level up again? Izuku is on the verge of vibrating with delight, it's so fun chatting with someone who likes the same sorts of things. Getting excited about movies for the first time is so amazing to see! And he's not being called a nerd for liking so many hero movies or liking old Japanese history figures like Nobunaga!]

Sometimes the special effects in movies are amazing like that! How they figure out how to make it so beautiful and lifelike is like... an art! I think if a movie can make you feel something as deep as that, to make a memory you can't forget? That's the best thing.

But I mean SUPERHEROES! Heroes with special superpowers that can protect people who can't protect themselves! Stoping villains who want to destroy half the galaxy, with great power comes great responsibility! All of that!

I can't believe the real Nobunaga is here... I don't know what I'd say to him if I could meet him in real life. He's an important figure in Japanese history...!!!

mom said theatre showed us life like a mirror
i think movies can be like that too..

superheroes sound interesting then, that is all true, with great power does come great responsibility, and the strong should help the weak
especially in the face of people so blinded by their pursuit of power they'll destroy the world itself

[ He, like, is a superhero, casually, and has never heard of such a genre, so he's not catching any of this tongue-in-cheek rhetoric... this is just how he thinks... his everyday thoughts... ]

nobunaga is an interesting guy
we talked about military philosophy and he told me about his world
he likened japan in his time to being ruled by "crabs in a bucket"
all these different warlords fighting each other and pulling down anyone who tried to get out of the bucket
i liked talking to him even if he has some harrowing stories too
mixed opinions maybe. but interesting guy.
you should meet him.
especially if hes so important. you can gain another understanding of your country. thats important.
if i could meet Avatar Szeto or something from ancient Fire Nation history i wouldnt know where to start the conversation so i think i know what you mean

Your mom was right about that! I think so too. Movies and theatre can teach us a lot of things.

And that's why superheroes are important! Heroes can teach us that we should help people who can't help themselves, to protect people and that everyone deserves to be safe. Movies are a great way to show how important heroes are.

That's why I'm training to be one too.

[He doesn't even feel bad for sounding so nerdy about it. He's found some kinship!]

Wow... It's really like you talked to an actual celebrity. Japan's history can be a pretty messy one, especially during those times. I feel like I'd freeze up if I got to meet him. I better write down some questions if I get the chance...

[ It doesn't even register to Zuko that this guy might sound nerdy. Zuko's so earnest and serious, he just thinks this guy sounds moral? He's into it. He likes that schmaltzy heroic shit. ]

whats a super hero??
you talk about it like it's a career rather than a mindset....
thats noble of you to want to be like a protector of the people though
in a way i have similar aspirations.. not sure how much i'll be out there fighting anymore when i return home though. hopefully not much because there will be peace!! the war will be over!

but i definitely agree that the strong should feel compelled to help the weak, that people should be safe and free to express themselves and make art about anything they want.... in my country, most of the plays you'll see are very patriotic in nature in some way or another. it's a constant theme, that our art brings glory to the fire nation and the fire lord. it's good but it's not like these movies i've seen.... people just.. doing anything. stories that do nothing to glorify their country. even criticizing their governments!!! it's so different from anything you'd ever see in the fire nation..... i hope that my country's future after the war has ended will promise to better our culture. you know what i mean?

as for nobunaga
he talks a lot
he'll tell you whatever you ask about probably, that was the impression i got
we had long conversations about war and philosophy and he explained a lot about his world and their current politics and things he's done, shared about his life, his family...... we really covered a lot of ground honestly
he's easy to talk with. for me at least. i don't feel like that with most people.
and it's been easy talking with you too so you'll probably get along with nobunaga just fine. don't be nervous. he's just a person still. don't forget that.

Edited 2021-06-21 21:16 (UTC)

[Izuku isn't all the greatest about talking about himself but he feels oddly okay with doing it now! It's kind of really nice to talk to Zuko.]

Actually- in my world being a superhero is a career! Everyone has so many different sorts of abilities that our society is made up of a section divide between villains and heroes. Training to be a hero means protecting everyone and keeping villains from doing any damage. That's what I'm trying to do! Being a superhero means you're a pro! But if you're doing your best to protect people and do what's right? Especially with things like helping to stop a war? I'd say you're already training to be a pro hero too, Zuko-kun!

And I do know what you mean. Even in Japan's history and a lot of cultural history countries tend to use things like plays and media to help what people think of their nations... It can be hard but I think with the right people and the right way to express things I think people can learn a lot about themselves and be open-minded to the real world? I hope your home nation gets to that point too.

Thanks. I didn't expect to find someone who loves movies and things as much as I do. I'm glad I did. Nobunaga seems like the type of person who would be a good sort of mentor... But it's true, he's just a person too.

[Izuku is just a bit of a fanboy, that's all! He'll probably still freeze up. Like meeting a celebrity...]

interesting.. how do people decide if theyre heroes or villains.....? does it have to do with the nature of their powers??
seems like a strange way to separate society, like that just begs for more violence and unrest by polarizing people like that...
but i've heard of crazier bases for a society than hero vs villain.
thankfully my world has far more heroes than villains, i think. just one very powerful villain who needs to be taken down.
im sure there will always be more popping up though. but my friends and i will see to a global peace. and if im a hero to my world for that.... so be it. but im not chasing any glory for it.

my home nation has a long way to go in our culture before we can connect with ourselves like that again i think
i mean as we are now, we sing a lullaby to children about sons going off dying in war....
we've been defined by our military for so long, by others and by ourselves. i hope the fire nation can rediscover more beautiful parts of our culture, both those that were lost to a time before the war.... and new ones we make now.
i'll be excited to see such changes over the years.

in the meantime, yeah, i'm glad to meet someone who likes movies too :)
we'll get together in person sometime to watch more movies.
and yes nobunaga definitely seems to have a certain brand of wisdom, youre right. he's an interesting guy.
is he viewed as a hero in japan?? maybe he can be your mentor
my uncle is here in avalon, i dont need another mentor :)

The definition of a villain and a hero can be broad in the sense of those words in my world... I mean, it's more like looking at a criminal and the crimes they pick to commit. Villains are people who choose to hurt or cause distress for their own reasons. What makes someone a bad person that they want to do selfishly hurt others? I think it's those things that would classify a villain. A hero is someone who wants to keep the peace, and that's what we fight for. For a fair world for everyone.

[It's definitely a complicated topic. Izuku almost feels like he's in his ethics class again. Defining a Hero and a Villain can be tricky... Because are villains bad people? Or is it just circumstances? He wonders that...]

But yeah... History takes a long time to form. Making a path can take generations. But if it has people as hopeful as you? I think it's well on its way to peace too.

Anyway- Yeah! I think that would be great! I can't wait to see if I can find some movies here! I wonder if Camelot has its own movies? I'll try and find out! I'll get back to you soon?

[He's really happy to have made a friend?? Gosh, he might be still blushing furiously thinking about Nobunaga as a mentor though!]

Edited 2021-07-01 02:24 (UTC)

but those can be the same person
and what about people who change
it's not so black and white.....

[ Casual ethics class, yup, that's talking with Zuko. ]

thanks. i believe a little hope goes a long way.

im sure camelot has its own movies yeah
we'll find out.
text me whenever

[ Quite an invitation from the fire prince. He doesn't make friends so easily — or so he thinks — but he really is thrilled to have someone to dork out about movies with. His sister didn't seem to care when they'd watched movies together; his uncle can barely use a phone, they haven't gotten to movies yet; he hadn't introduced movies to his friends from home yet, one of whom is blind anyway, and his friends from other worlds were so used to movies as a normal thing that they didn't see the novel quality that excited Zuko so much... Just having a movie buddy alone is exciting. But also someone who trains in broadswords and is concerned about ethics and heroism? Izuku is Zuko's kinda guy. ]

[Izuku has never really been that great at making friends himself until he hit his high school days, honestly! And even to this day he still gets teased by the other people he knows for being a giant nerd. To find someone who likes the same sort of things he likes? And can talk about things like heroes and ethics... Who has a lot of stories of his own... He's excited to make a new friend!]

I think so too. I think people can be moved if we try to learn who they are or where they came from...

Right! I'll text you again soon! It was good talking to you, Zuko-kun!!

And good luck with finding a job! You can do it.

legit, hit up zuko's inbox anytime, i'd love a movie night thread with izuku! :)

rediscovering - 2021-07-03 01:58 (UTC) - Expand

text; un: fireprince

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gruihslfjnkd this is my small joy ok the fourth wall is a thin veil

sjhdfsdf this is amazing!!!

igjrsk theyre so cute, i love this cr already, watch movies w zuko and make cheeky puns w meee lol

omg i love it too they need to be nerdy movie friends???

yesssss let's have them watch all the movies together, zuko needs it too

sorry for the delay, it's been a rough week!

no delay, no need to apologize, sorry to hear that it's been tough though! that's rough, buddy...

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legit, hit up zuko's inbox anytime, i'd love a movie night thread with izuku! :)