beckyh2112 | [Jeeko Week] Fic: Hope (Reprise)

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[Jeeko Week] Fic: Hope (Reprise)

Jeeko Week continues!

Yesterday:
- Drabble from

spyridona

Title: Hope (Reprise)
Word Count: 500+
Rating: PG
Summary: On board ship, Zuko tries to hold onto hope.

Hope (Reprise)

***

"What made you stay?" Zuko asked sleepily, fingers following the line of a scar across Jee's back.

"Hnh?" The lieutenant raised his head from the pillow to give Zuko an annoyed and puzzled look.

"You don't go grey in your first term of service." Zuko ran his hand up Jee's back to drag his fingertips through the lieutenant's short, silver hair. "You're a firebender, so you had to serve the first twenty years. But everything after that...?"

Jee propped himself up on one elbow, and Zuko curled his fingers in the older man's hair. His nails scraped against scalp, and the flicker-flash of how that had made Jee react earlier-

Zuko was glad it was dark and all he could see with the outline of the lieutenant. That meant Jee couldn't see his blush.

"It'd be easier if it were complicated," Jee said in a heavy voice. "But it's not, Prince Zuko. I stayed because I wanted to stay. I've seen too many people pay in blood for other men's mistakes, and the war is nowhere near over yet. Someone's got to keep the young idiots from getting smothered."

"The Comet-" Zuko rasped.

Jee snorted. "The Comet didn't end anything last time. It just took the airbenders out of the fight. So we take, what, Ba Sing Se out? Still have the savages to deal with. Still have the whole mess of the Earth Kingdom. Ba Sing Se's the heart, not the soul."

Zuko blinked in the darkness, turned on his side to stare at the lieutenant.

The bed shifted, and Zuko tensed as hard arms wrapped around him and pulled him close. "Too many years, my prince. I've fought and burned for almost as long as your father's been alive. Believe you me, you don't know the Earth Kingdom yet but you will." A pause. "Lord and the Sisters protect you."

A shudder ran down Zuko's spine to hear the greatest volcano spirits of the Fire Nation invoked that way. They did protect people sometimes, but their protection was bloody.

"Not them," he said quietly.

Jee's arms loosened around him, and he worried he'd said something wrong. Then he heard the warmth in the lieutenant's voice. "No, not for you. You don't want to sign your war-debts in red, do you? Well. Lady Sun then."

"Lady Sun," Zuko murmured in agreement, knowing the spirit of the sun would no more raise her hand to help him than she would any of the Firelords' line. Not that spirits ever had anything to do with him or anyone. But Uncle had explained it once - battle was chaos, and people needed hope to get through chaos.

People needed hope to get through anything.

Jee held him close, and Zuko knew that he would capture the Avatar and be restored in his father's eyes. He would find out what made the lieutenant cut his hair, and he'd raise the man up to where he belonged.

All he had to do was capture the Avatar before Zhao.

Zuko buried his face against Jee's shoulder and tried to nourish the little flame of hope with the lieutenant's warmth. Someone besides Uncle cared for him, someone besides Uncle wanted him to succeed.

The flame stayed alive.

Zuko knew he couldn't hope for anything more.

-End-

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Meep. I like how you still put those little racist slurs in Jee's speech. Keeps it pretty realistic even if my anti-racist self goes a bit ballistic at it. Xb Just kidding.

But that was so warm. Not hot, but gave me a warm feeling and a bit prickly eyes.

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I tend to throw racism into my Firefolk whenever the matter comes up, much like I throw homophobia into my Earthfolk and sexism into my Waterfolk.

Thank you very much for writing more! :D And actual in-person Jeeko, not just pining! Excellent! :D

I liked this backstory to Jee. We don't know much about him in the actual show, and these kind of thoughts and motivations really flesh out his character... and make his clashing with Zuko in the show make more sense. :)

"Ba Sing Se's the heart, not the soul." I really like this description. I suspect that Jee is right.

"A shudder ran down Zuko's spine to hear the greatest volcano spirits of the Fire Nation invoked that way. They did protect people sometimes, but their protection was bloody." A nice little cultural moment, here! :)

"He would find out what made the lieutenant cut his hair, and he'd raise the man up to where he belonged." Aww... Now I'm really hoping that somebody (you?) will right a fic in which Fire Lord Zuko does exactly that. :3

I went "aww" the most at this bit: "Zuko buried his face against Jee's shoulder and tried to nourish the little flame of hope with the lieutenant's warmth. Someone besides Uncle cared for him, someone besides Uncle wanted him to succeed." I love cuddles, you see (it makes Zuko seem so young, here!), and it's heartbreaking to think that Zuko is so happy to think that just TWO people care about him. D'aww... :)

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

One of the things I tend to do for ship-weeks I run is write something for every single day of said ship week. It's just how I roll.

Ooh, I love it when my characters' backstories come across as consistent with their canon portrayal. *wriggles in delight*

Cultural moments are fun! (So are volcano spirits. Well, if you define 'fun' to include mass killing for no readily apparent reason. Fire Nation gives some RESPECT there; volcanoes are scary.)

*cuddles Zuko*

If that's the case, then I LOVE the way you roll! :D (More reading for me! Huzzah!)

I really do like your backstories. It helps me build my own personal headcanon when you make sense of the little details that I hardly notice. :)

And yes, I do so love cultural moments! When I end up writing an actual novel someday, there will be culture clashes and world building and awesomeness. :3

Yes, volcanoes deserve our respect. ._.

I'd say people should encourage me to do ship weeks more often, but they tend to exhaust me. *is still very proud of everything I wrote for Jeongdao Week and Urzai Week, though*

I blame Transformers for my tendency to glom onto little details. Also, my habit of glomming onto one-episode wonders.

'Someday'?

I was always impressed that the Fire Nation Capital is in a volcanic crater.

Re: "Someday" - I've participated in National Novel Writing Month for three years in a row, and each time I've achieved at least 50k, but never have I actually finished the PLOT of one of my stories. It WILL happen, and maybe not during November, but still! I intend to write a complete novel at some point, and hopefully publish.

I've been doing a lot of research into American Civil War medicine as a part of my honour's thesis, so I may incorporate some of that knowledge into a dystopian/steampunk/post-apocalyptical alternate universe setting or something. May as well make use of some of those details floating around in my brain!

Re: Fire Nation capital in a volcano crater... it's like, the ultimate symbol of the power of the Fire Lord, isn't it? Like, we're so confident in our ability to hold back fire that we can LIVE ON TOP OF A VOLCANO. (Though, do we know if it's active? We know that there's lava relatively close to the surface...)

I would let Amber speak for me, except I can't find the particular thing I want to link. Oh well.

I tend to assume that placating the Lord is part of the Firelord's duties. There was a bit about that in "A Little Help From My Friends". (Someday, I will figure out the names of the four volcanoes I keep referencing, rather than just their titles.)

Interesting that the sun is female.

This is a cute little piece.

I do tend to pattern the Fire Nation on Japan. Also, it fits with Inuit mythology as well!

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I do too! Ever since I read "Embers", with its mention of the "High Fire Nation" language, I've always assumed that formality-wise, the Fire Nation is very close to Japanese. Like, the vocabulary and conjugations that you use with the emperor (AKA the Fire Lord, in this world), are completely unintelligible to the lower classes. Also, Japanese degrees of bowing, levels of respect, etc., would seem to fit in very well in Fire Nation culture, but that's just me. :)

Bleh, "Embers".

Me, I wouldn't pattern the Fire Nation as particularly high formality. Ba Sing Se and the Earth King, oh yes, definitely. But the Fire Nation's militaristic, world-conquering bent suggests to me something where the formality level is strict but not overly-complex. They have more important things to be doing with their time. (Additionally, there's pretty much, oh, all of season one with Zuko and Iroh. Especially both "Southern Air Temple" and "The Storm". An exiled prince is still a prince, and there's no evidence that Iroh himself is exiled.)

You have excellent points! I had never thought of it that way... I was thinking more of the images of Ozai in the throne room of the third season - mainly the image of Zuko doing that formal bow to him. But then again, that may have been exceptional circumstances, and to be on the safe side Zuko may have been being uber-formal.

So... Fire Nation = formal but not to the point of impracticability?

And I agree with you - three weeks to get to see the Earth King? Also, Kuei living essentially his entire life in the palace of Ba Sing Se reminds me very much of child emperors of the Chinese Qing dynasty (even his robes suggest as such!).

If I were an exiled prince returned home to my abusive father under insanely unlikely circumstances, I'd go with the uber-formal bow, too. Just sayin'. ;-)

Yeah, that's what I'd assume. Though, I doubt it's been that way since the dawn of time, but it's not like we have canon to draw on one way or another for any court before Firelord Sozin's.

Long Feng really did a very nice job of weakening Kuei's power down to inconsequentiality. *strokes her handsome Cultural Minister*

I would definitely assume that a century of war has changed some aspects of Fire Nation culture - perhaps formality was more extreme in earlier eras? (Perhaps I'm only speculating because I love the idea of formal high courts on paper.)

Whatever boats your float, man.

The Art of War & The Art of Sex flow into one another....

TY!(again)

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I really like your Jee. You can tell he's a good person at heart, but he's been raised Fire Nation through and through and truely believes the propoganda. That keeps the story very real. Makes me wonder what he'd think of Zuko's ultimate choice to join the Avatar.

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I'd argue with the 'good person at heart' bit, myself. ^_^ But I always enjoy writing very bad people showing that they can be decent human beings.

I think of all of your Jeeko Week pieces, this one is my favorite. You make Jee into such a fascinating character, it's nice collecting puzzle pieces and putting him together from all of the things you've written. He and Zuko both feel very real and true to character.

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Heh, I blame my ability to write characters who only got a single episode's worth of characterization on several years writing Transformers stories. ^_^

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[Jeeko Week] Fic: Hope (Reprise)

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