songerein | Tea For Who?

Who: Iroh and whomsoever wants to find him
Which: Open Log
Where: Not far from the fountain
What: Iroh enjoying sharing tea with strangers.
Warnings: Possible angst, themes of loss, possible war/death/betrayal mentions.

Iroh had found that he had been able to help people during the crisis in a number of ways. But one of them had been tea and talking. Just being there for people with a calming drink and an open ear. So he was trying that again now, once again by the base of the fountain.

Between conversations he was sipping his own tea and considering what it might take to open a tea shop here. For however long he was going to be here, that was...

For anyone who wanted to find him, he is near the fountain with a small comforting camp fire over which the tea pot is heating and a pair of large picnic style baskets, one of snacks and one of teas and tea fixings. So that he can have enough for every taste and stay a while for whoever showed up without over steeping the tea.

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He'll smile and nod in response, but Iroh doesn't have the certainty of the Avatar, in this regard - though he doesn't think for a moment it won't be a complicated, winding river by itself.

And now he builds on his previous move.

"You make me almost wish that I could remember being young," he said with a chuckle as he sprang his trap.

He sighs, his own stratagems falling down around him.

"I see it now, but I still don't believe it."

He chuckled. "Do you wish to continue, or should we start a new game and you can watch to see if you can spot how I set it up?" Of course, that would be made harder by Iroh having no intention of playing the same strategy again so soon...

He thinks for a moment, then nods.

"Play it through to the end. That's the only way, right?"

"Sometimes there are better ways. Stubbornness can sometimes lead one down to a path of ruin. But sometimes it is wisdom hidden within pride." He played his move.

"There have been multiple times that I could have played things through to the end. My life would have been very different had I played a few specific things to the end, after learning the wisdom of trying something different."

Ba Sing Se, for example.

"Here I just thought it was a tradition of games - even if you're losing, you don't just give up. You play it through, learn all you can from it."

He played his own, the endgame unrolling to Iroh's tune now.

"But that only counts for games, Monk Gyatso always used to remind us."

"Ah yes, well... games play by their own rules sometimes. Just beware, not everyone is playing the same game you are."

"Some of them with ancient, ancient traditions of their own," he replies with a smile, making what will be - by his reckoning - his second to last move.

Iroh considered drawing it out, but decided to have mercy on the by, by showing none on the board.

"Yes, that too."

And so it comes to an end, and he nods, agreeably.

"Well played."

"You also played well. Hopefully a lesson learned. Shall we try again?"

He grins.

"Absolutely."

"Very well, should you like to play first?" he asked with a smile.

He nods, and makes the first move. A Fire Nation opening.

He smiled at that and considered for a very long moment before playing a move that looked far more typical of the Southern Water Tribe than anywhere else.

Very interesting start this time.

"So we're both being someone else this game," he says with a grin.

"Not at all, I assure you I am being myself. But myself is not so inflexible as to not see merit in the ways that others think."

"That's true, but I like to imagine it sometimes. Like I'm still Roku, and I can put myself in his mind, just for a little bit."

"In that, you have the advantage over me, I'm afraid," he said with a chuckle.

"Heh, I suppose I do. Though I've always wondered if the difference between the Avatar and other people is just that we get to remember our past selves."

"You think that the rest of us also have past and future selves?" he asked, actually startled a little before sinking into thought.

He nods.

"I mean, why should the Avatar be the only one? I think we're just the only ones who get to remember, because we have to."

"But... then we never actually go to the Spirit World when we die?" He had presumed that was what this place was, when he had first arrived.

He tilts his head, a bit thoughtfully.

"I suppose maybe it's a choice. It could be that only the Avatar reincarnates, which could also make sense."

(no subject)

uncle_iroh - 2024-01-17 04:45 (UTC) - Expand

all_the_aangles - 2024-01-19 03:50 (UTC) - Expand

uncle_iroh - 2024-01-21 12:09 (UTC) - Expand

all_the_aangles - 2024-01-24 03:16 (UTC) - Expand

uncle_iroh - 2024-01-25 03:28 (UTC) - Expand

Good place to end?

all_the_aangles - 2024-01-27 02:11 (UTC) - Expand

Sounds good to me, TY for the thread.

uncle_iroh - 2024-01-27 07:40 (UTC) - Expand