White Hot Flames (ZukoxOC)

48

Rezalia sighs. "Oh my god."

Zuko nods, squeezing her hand. "Every time."

Sokka leans forward, arm sliding so that just his hand rested on Suki's back. "This is pathetic! My jokes are way funnier than this!"

"I think they've got you pegged," Toph disagrees with delight.

"Every day, the world awaits a beacon to guide us, yet none appears! Still, we cannot give up hope! For hope, is all we have! And we must never relinquish it, even...even to our dying breath!" "Katara" proclaims dramatically before draping herself over the side of the boat and crying. Katara's jaw drops.

She crosses her arms. "Well, that's just silly. I don't sound like that."

A bright light shines and a large cardboard iceberg shows up on stage. The light glows from within the iceberg and the shadow of a figure shows through. "Katara" and "Sokka" stand up in their canoe.

"It appears to be someone frozen in ice, perhaps for a hundred years," "Katara" says, turning toward the audience.

"Sokka" turns as well. "But who? Who is the boy in the iceberg?"

Rezalia leans forward, tapping Aang on the shoulder. "Did you actually hatch from an iceberg?" Aang makes a 'so-so' motion with his hand. Zuko raises his arm for her to nestle under, rubbing his thumb idly over her hip while his free hand grasps hers.

"Sokka" climbs up onto the model iceberg and "Katara" swipes her hand through the air. "Waterbend! Hi-yah!"

The shadow dissapears and a burst of steam spills out from the new fissure in the iceberg. Then, out pops a girl clearly meant to portray Aang. She wore a baldcap complete with a depiction of the arrow tattoo and entirely too much blush. It sort of remined Rezalia of when Ty Lee first got interested in makeup.

"Who are you, frozen boy?" "Katara" asks.

"Aang" laughs, voice pitched up. "I'm the Avatar, silly, here to spread joy and fun!"

Aang gapes. "Wait, is that a woman playing me?"

It doesn't take long for the scene to switch to things that Rezalia remembered. "Iroh" sits on the deck of their old ship, holding a plate of cake. "Prince Zuko, you must try this cake!"

"Zuko" scowls - Rezalia notices that his scar is on the wrong side - and lowers his telescope. "I don't have time to stuff my face! I must capture the Avatar to regain my honor!"

The real Zuko drops his head back onto the back of the seat. "Is it too late to leave?"

"Afraid so," Rezalia hums, grinning.

On stage, "Iroh" make a pun about cake and "Rezalia" does some cartwheels in the background. Well, Rezalia couldn't really complain about that as that was what she'd spent most of her time doing on the ship. Wasn't much else to do.

"You sicken me!" "Zuko" snaps and Rezalia can feel her Zuko's arms tense up around her. She frowns.

He murmurs, "They make me look totally stiff and humorless."

Katara shrugs. "Actually, I think that actor's pretty spot on." Rezalia kicks the back of her seat.

"How could you say that?" Zuko protests and then, moments later, the actor on stage utters the same phrase in the same cadence and Zuko deflates. Rezalia pats his arm.

Overall, Rezalia didn't have much issue with her portrayl. The actress looked similar enough to her and, though some of the lines made her cringe they weren't overall terrible. The others weren't quite so lucky. Suki made out well enough by only playing a minor role as well as the fact that Sokka's actor was there to distract from her. "Katara" continued to cry about hope and other ridiculous things, "Sokka" made ridiculous jokes and, much to Aang's dismay, he continued to be played by a girl.

Rezalia was, however, worried about Zuko. This play was taking the parts of Zuko that he hated about himself, blowing them up, and shoving them in his face. With every harsh word spat toward "Iroh" or "Rezalia", Zuko srunk in on himself more and more. He perked up occasionally, such as when he had the oppurtunity to laugh at Katara about her flirtations with Jet or when he finally learned what the hell Sokka had been talking about when he said that his girlfriend had turned into the moon, but other than that he remained quiet. Rezalia held his hand and made the occasional comment about how Zuko would never say that but it didn't seem to make a big difference.

When intermission is called, they group makes their way to the balcony. Toph, Zuko, Suki, and Sokka sit on the steps while the other stand around them. "So far, this intermission is the best part of the play," Zuko mutters, hiding his face in his hood.

Rezalia hums in agreement. Sokka throws his hands into the air. "Apparently, the playwright thinks I'm an idiot who tells bad jokes about meat all the time!"

And thus starts the bickering over who had the worst portrayl. Rezalia laughs a bit at Toph's additions to the conversation. Katara suddenly turns to Rezalia. "Honestly, I think Lia had the best character."

"Really?" she asks, eyebrows raised. "I thought Suki's was ok."

Suki waves her hand through the air. "I don't count, I had like three lines. Your actress is pretty, she fights pretty well, and some of her lines sound like things you'd actually say. By far the best."

Rezalia laughs as Zuko murmurs, "Zali is prettier."

After a moment more, they make their way back into the theater to watch the second part of the play from hell.