[Locked: Ursa, Millennia Muses] Back to Millennia!

[princeofflames]

Zuko's more than a bit jittery as he waits in the Nexus for his mother to arrive. He's dressed in modern clothes today, a pair of khakis, sandals, and a wine-red t-shirt. The shoulder bag he's worn during his last two visits to the Nexus is once again slung over his shoulder, thought thinking on it now, he's not sure why he brought it.

He's nervous for a good reason: he's about to introduce his mother to his boss and coworkers, and they're an intensely strange lot.

Kat especially.

Still, Zuko's become good at concealing his nerves, mostly due to stress management techniques he's picked up from his Author. Outwardly, he's a little tense, but he's not shaking or sweating or anything. Leaning against a wall, he continues to wait, hoping it won't be too much longer.

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[okaa-kuma.livejournal.com]

The former princess is wearing thick forest green shenyi made of warm koala-sheep wool with a shaw knitted from warm if coarser wool with threads of green and black. Her hair is in Fire Nation style, rather than the neat bun married women wore in the Earth Kingdom, and she carried her traveling knapsack that was supported by strong bamboo. You never knew where you were heading outside of Nexus.

She's a bit more used to 'modern' being at the Nexus for such a short time. She knows she stands out just a little bit, but she's all right with that. She always has stood out. She smiles when she sees her son and gives a wave.

His boss and coworkers better be good, despite being strange. Or Ursa will be an unhappy mother.

[princeofflames]

Standing out is fine! Everyone in Millennia stands out it some way. So, in a way, the Narration supposes, they don't stand out. Yay, oxymorons?

Zuko smiles back and beckons her over to him, then frowns at her clothes.

"Wool?" he asks. "You're going to be boiling. It's still very warm where Kat lives, even though it's 'officially' autumn."

Hooray for Austin weather. Not.

Nevertheless, he grasps her hand, preparing to PINpoint back to Millennia. "Ready?" he asks.

[okaa-kuma.livejournal.com]

She looked at her robe then up at him. "I thought you mentioned it was winter." Ursa sighed for a moment and stripped the green wool robes to the pale yellow cotton robes. Thicker, perhaps less formal, but not as warm as the wool robes. "So it's more like home?" She asked, hopefully.

Cold seeped deeply into her bones. One would think she'd get used to it after six years. But it had spent the first 5/6th of her life in blessed, wonderful, shimmering heat.

She takes her son's hand. "Ready."

[princeofflames]

Zuko arches an eyebrow. "I said to dress for warm weather. She lives in Texas. They don't have much in the way of winter weather, and autumn is non-existent."

He nods and, a moment later, they're standing in a stone corridor decorated very much like an ancient Egyptian palace. It's not quite as hot as Zuko was dreading it would be, but it's still fairly warm, much too warm for it to be properly "autumn". Even though it's November.

Zuko's eyes dart around furtively for a moment. So far, no-one's come to greet them. Hopefully, they won't for a few moments.

He exhales slowly, then says, "Kat will be waking up soon. We're just in time for Morning Brief, actually."

[okaa-kuma.livejournal.com]

Ursa sihs and gives an embarrassed look, “I… just don’t know. I suspect I heard wrong.” Or she can blame her mum, but Ursa doesn’t quite believe in a mum. She takes a breath and smooths out the wrinkles of her robes. “If it’s like home, I’ll be fine.”

The fallen princess takes a look, eyes wide at the decorations. She pauses to study the art, the styles. She hasn’t seen anything like it before. The heat… doesn’t seem to bother her a bit. She’s wore thick and horrible robes in the near tropical heat of her Fire Nation.

When she sits up, she glances at Zuko, an eyebrow raised. “So what is that like?”

The Holidays are eating me alive! I’ll try to be better in keeping the pace.

[princeofflames]

Ahh, but this is a dry heat, not tropical. Slightly different there. Zuko runs a hand along the carvings, noticing his mother's interest. "The style's ancient Egyptian," he says. "Kat's been in love with ancient Egypt since she was eleven. Before I knew her, obviously. She wasn't even seriously writing or drawing at the time, so none of the muses were around."

He smiles a little at the question. "You're about to find out. Come on." He starts down the hallway.

((No worries! I know how it is :) Going to tag with the muse journal next, so hang tight.))

[milennia-muses.livejournal.com]

Just as Zuko starts forward, a creepy, light baritone, hoarse laugh echoes through the hallway. Zuko freezes in place, tensing visibly. "Oh no. Not him."

Out of the shadows materializes a tall, dark-skinned man with messy white hair, violet eyes, and a long vertical scar (though bisected twice with horizontal lines) beneath his right eye. His face is split into a demented grin. "Shinnouhi," he rasps.

Zuko glares in his direction. "Tozo," he answers through gritted teeth. "Do you mind? Morning Brief is in a few minutes."

Tozo laughs and takes a step towards Ursa. "Except this time you have a lovely stranger with you..."

Zuko growls and blocks Tozo's path, Bending a burst of fire that causes Tozo to stop in his tracks and fall back a couple of steps. "Back off," he growls. "Or Kat will hear about this, and your immortal ass be in for another torture session. I'm sure Grim would love to have the opportunity to kill you about a thousand times in a row."

Tozo's face turns from a creepy leer to intense anger. "You wouldn't dare," he growls.

"If you don't stay away from my mother, I sure as Hell would dare," Zuko returns. "Back off. Now."

[okaa-kuma.livejournal.com]

"Ancient Egyptian?" Ursa echoes. She knows from her world there were Sun Warriors, and even the legends of the Water Nomads raids still haunt the stereotypes of the more peaceful Water Tribe. "When the brief is over, you'll have to tell me more."

Ursa tilts her head at her son at the sound of the voice, and prepares to brace herself. She's slightly taken back by the white hair and strange eyes, but seems to be normal... until he smiles.

And her amber eyes narrow when Tozo approaches her; the usually serene mother that Zuko knows suddenly flickers away. Her face is hard and jaw set. "I suspect you are aware of more polite ways of greeting another." She warns until Zuko defends her.

What men do to protect their mothers; she thought with a faint smile.

[princeofflames]

"Kat will know more than I will about it," Zuko answers with a smile.

Zuko sets his jaw and continues to glare at Tozo. "Tozo is never polite," he says, "Thus most of us are never polite to him, barring Uncle. 'Treat others as you'd like to be treated,' you know." His eyes narrow. "Tozo is a pervert. Kat has a rule against him trying to hit on any of us. Or any of our guests. Punishment for breaking that rule is a torture session. Since he's immortal, it never does any lasting harm."

In response, Tozo leers at both of them.

"He's also what Kat likes to call a 'depraved bisexual'," Zuko adds at this with a slight shudder. (Hey, Zuko's straight. The idea bothers him a little, at least when it comes to Tozo.)

[okaa-kuma.livejournal.com]

"Of course," Ursa smiles back. She's simply curious and will listen with rapt attention.

The former princess' look becomes cold on Tozo. "Immorality wasted, it sounds like. Is there more to him than desiring a bedmate?" She'll keep far and way from this young man if she possibly can. Thankfully she can leave to avoid him if she must.

Ursa seems to bristle at the leer, stepping in front of her son in a protective manner.

"Depraved suits," She says curtly.

[princeofflames]

Zuko snorts. "Yeah. He's also a thief."

"The greatest thief," Tozo agrees with a smirk. "King of thieves, in fact..."

"That's what his muse-name, Tozokuou-sama means," Zuko continues with a roll of his eyes. "'King of Thieves'. We just call him Tozo for short. His real name is Bakura. Everyone here has a muse name, which is typically different from their real name. Either that or their name with an added title. He was here before me, but Kat said that one of the tip-offs to his presence was the fact that every single muse had something that went missing. He even managed to steal all of Kat's jewelry."

Zuko starts a little when a voice, apparently without source, tenor-pitched, smooth, and rather soft-spoken, echoes throughout the corridors. "Morning Brief is in five minutes, everyone. Meet in the throne room."

Zuko sighs and steps around his mother and Tozo, still holding a somewhat defensive position. "If you'll excuse us, Tozo..." he says.

Tozo merely laughs his eerie laugh and vanishes into the shadows once more. Zuko sighs again. "He won't come to Morning Brief. Never does."