Zenithier

May I present the best apple:

Zuko, freshly scarred: I had a dream that Uncle and I were clinging to a piece of driftwood for weeks before we ended up at a lovely spa and tended to and all my injuries were healed up

#I think there are explanations other than prophetic dreams but this is funnier#like for example him looking in the mirror and seeing air nomad tattoos is probably#just a manifestation of his anxiety around helping aang and what that means about him#but considering Zuko's grandfather is a former avatar and he later joins aang#that is a very funny dream for him to have#I vote Zuko has been having prophetic dreams this whole time but they involve a lot of symbolism#and he Does NOT do symbolism#so he's just like hm. yeah that was weird#and then when life poetically mirrors his prophetic dreams he doesn't even notice#This never comes up during his life time but some historian eventually uncovers his dream journal and finds it pretty blatantly#predicts every major event from his lifetime and beyond#and it ignites massive debate about how this foreknowledge was affecting his decisions as a head of state#hint: it wasn't (@an-android-in-a-tutu)

#listen not to read too much into the one line about love among the dragons#but zuko definitely knows about poetic symbolism but he doesn't believe in prophetic dreams due to thinking it's old man stuff for his uncle (@rogha)

#zuko thinks the curtains are blue and nothing else#prince ‘…which could mean nothing’ zuko (@averagemrfox)

#apollo throws the dodgeball and it just bounces off zuko @noccolibroccoli)

#Zuko being the spirit’s favored Normal Human (along w Sokka)#and him doing absolutely nothing with it#bc it never strikes him as relevant#(as opposed to Sokka who knows about the spirits but actively chooses to ignore them)#(out of spite and non-belief) (@seaglassdinosaur)

#sokka who had Multiple close encounters with spirits. still thinks they’re total bs#🫱🏽‍🫲🏼#zuko who has prophetic vision and thinks they’re total bs (@aneclecticmoonchild)

#zuko 🤝 sokka#yes I've had encounters with the supernatural no I don't believe in it (@emkini)

#he's that guy#the one who has prophetic visions but also impostor syndrome so he's like 'ugh it's just weird dreams'#'prince zuko have you considered maybe you have a gift--'#'there's only one gifted child in this family and she's a massive pain and also better than me at everything actually' (@aethersea)

Sitting down at the table, I remembered the scars on my arm. The universal signifier of "This Kid Needs Help." Maybe his kindness was only out of pity. He saw those and assumed there was some great misery and wanted to offer me some relief. It's generally good to be kind to people who are hurting. But I wasn't hurting that bad.

The thing is, there is some great misery. People generally aren't doing that great. There is a great misery within me and within him and within everyone, and some people notice the pain, some people express it, others don't. But we all suffer from something.

It doesn't matter if someone seems to deserve some relief. Everyone needs it. Everyone is suffering constantly. Some more than others, but still. This Kid Needs Help applies to everyone.

Thirty minutes later, I went to get a second pastry, intending to pay and leave a tip this time. It was the same cashier. As he reached to grab it for me, I saw scars on his arm.