Happy Birthday

[honorinflames]

Who: Natsuki and Zuko
What: Birthday drinks vs. moping!
When: Backdated to Natsuki's birthday
Where: In town somewhere
Rating: PG?

[he really didn't feel like going into town, let alone trying to celebrate anything, but Natsuki hadn't really given him much room for argument. She'd been so insistent... and she's not usually insistent on much. He literally couldn't say no.

Besides... maybe he'd quietly missed being bossed into doing something 'normal.' That probably wouldn't be happening much anymore.

So, still unsure as to what exactly they're going to go do, he's waiting around for her to show, and trying not to think about the little shrine he'd had sitting under the tree...]

Comments

[sexyhitchhiker]

[and soon enough, Natsuki shows up, sans dog. She'd pocketed some money - and maybe a couple of knives. She'd been inside enough bars back home, but she had yet to wander into one here. At the very least, this has to potential to get interesting.]

You ready?

[honorinflames]

Yeah.

[as ready as he'll ever be. Which... isn't very. He'd been in bars back home, but only as brief stopping points during his grand quest. It's not like he knows how to actually have fun in one]

[sexyhitchhiker]

[she'd be surprised if he knew how to have fun at all.

Man, dragging people out to have fun isn't exactly something she's practiced at, but hey. What can go wrong?

She starts walking towards town.] Have you been to any of the bars here?

[honorinflames]

No.

[said in that short sort of way that points out that that's a dumb question]

[sexyhitchhiker]

[that just nets an eyeroll.

Dryly:] Right, I should've known. Guess we'll get by with trial and error, then.

[sheesh. What kind of underage teenagers didn't bother getting into booze.]

[honorinflames]

[the kind that were too busy battling for their lives and trying to restore their lost honor, that's what]

Great... do you even know where we're going?

[sexyhitchhiker]

[gosh, way to get melodramatic. :\]

I've spotted a few places in town. I don't have any recommendations though.

[At least his irritation is familiar.]

[honorinflames]

[yeah, that irritation and anger is only lasting until the awkwardness violently drowns it out]

Well, then you know better than I do.

[aka, she's being elected to drive this adventure train]

[sexyhitchhiker]

[yay adventure train!

A sidelong glance.] You guys have a drinking age?

[honorinflames]

Not really...

[and then that gets him thinking. Has this really never occurred to him before?]

...You're twenty?

[sexyhitchhiker]

Supposedly. It's not like I've grown a centimeter since I got here.

[yup. Still pretty short.]

[honorinflames]

Then that means...

[yeah. He really hasn't thought about this before.]

...I don't feel that old.

[sexyhitchhiker]

Twenty isn't that old. [weren't they in the same year during the high school thing? Just gonna assume he's the same age.]

It's probably easier to tell if it's a much younger kid.

[honorinflames]

I hadn't been keeping track...

[somehow, this puts it into a new perspective that simply tallying the months and years hadn't quite done.

His shoulders are beginning to slump again.]

[sexyhitchhiker]

[no topic is safe, it seems.]

Whatever. I never really thought there would be an 'after.'

[honorinflames]

[it really isn't, especially as he now starts to think about what would happen if the losing-everything trend continues-- which he's sure it will.

He runs into thoughts that he really doesn't want to dwell on though, so it pulls him back to the present in an attempt to ignore it]

How far are we walking, anyway? [as if he really cares about that]

[sexyhitchhiker]

To the nearest bar that doesn't look too shady on the outside.

[And when they get there, she walks in confidently, straight to the bar. Considering that the one she used to frequent back home was in a sketchy alleyway, it's a big improvement to have a bar on an actual street.]

You want anything in particular?

[honorinflames]

[to the casual observer, he seems confident enough, striding in just a step behind Natsuki. ...To someone who actually knows him, however... he has just been dumped outside of his comfort zone, and he doesn't like it.

Glaring unnecessarily at nearby patrons, glancing around as though watching for a hidden threat, the fact you're supposed to go to a bar to have fun seems to have escaped him.

...And then Natsuki asks him a question, and the uncertainty is suddenly visible on his face]


Uh...

[...that would be a no]

[sexyhitchhiker]

[eyebrow raise. Silence crawls by for half a minute before Natsuki turns back to the bartender.]

Two beers. What have you got on tap?

[and soon enough, there's two pints on the bar]

[honorinflames]

[he's trying not to look so desperately unsure as he pulls one of the pints closer... but he's failing.]

...Do you do this often?

[drinking, he means]

[sexyhitchhiker]

[yup. This was totally worth it, just for that expression.]

No. I hung out in bars more often than somebody my age should, but I didn't really drink.

[honorinflames]

["don't really" drink is still more than he's done. The only time he'd even gotten close was once, and that was the castle's fault.

Enjoy all the awkward. There will be plenty of it.

...Especially when he... brings the pint up to his face to smell it. And kind of makes a face]

[sexyhitchhiker]

[and she's taking a gulp of hers]

Not bad. [not the worse she's had, by a long shot.

And is that amusement she's hiding when she looks at Zuko?]

[honorinflames]

[it smells horrible, but he can't let her completely show him up.

So... he follows her lead and takes a gulp himself.



...and immediately regrets it.]

--Uggh!