The Research Results of a First Drink {open}

[Twilight Sparkle]

Probably the worst thing that could happen to someone on their first visit to a bar, except possibly imbibing far too much alcohol and passing out in a corner somewhere, was for that person to experience an alcohol bath, or, to put it a little more specifically: that someone experiences having a drink spilled upon them. Poor Twilight Sparkle was experiencing just that, right now. The beer soaked her long, violet hair, plastering it to her face. Droplets of it dripped from the front, especially seeming to run from her bangs, which now fell about her face. The strong smell of alcohol wafted all about the young woman, and Twilight was definitely glad that she was at least old enough to be in an establishment like this. Otherwise, this would be even more awkward than it already was.

Why was she there? Well, her roommate, Rainbow Dash, had been experimenting with alcohol for some time now. This wasn't experimenting in the usual sense when applied to drinking: Rainbow mostly mixed drinks, and her version of "mixing" usually involved spilling them about. Rainbow had claimed that people went for drinks whenever they wanted to relax, and, considering that Twilight was in a near constant state of stress, the suggestion that the violet haired scholar hit the bar was actually a long time coming. Considering that Twilight did enjoy research and she had no problems with relaxing (really), she figured this was worth it.

Plus, she could research! And wasn't that just the perfect thing to do in a bar?

Which might have been why she ended up with the drink spilled on her. Twilight hadn't caught quite sight of what happened. She'd been bent over slightly, scribbling in a pad and trying to observe drinks, when the drink caught her. Twilight managed to get her pad clear, because obviously that was important, but now the girl herself sat there, perched on a stool near the bar, dripping and wondering what precisely had happened.

[Deleted]

Zuko had half marched, half stormed into the bar of the club with the usual dark scowl on his scarred face. It seemed a bit evident by his mood that he wasn’t here to drink or to party, though clearly he wasn’t old enough to consume alcohol anyhow; at least, not in this world. No, he was here only for business, and he demanded answers. He had learned that sometimes the best giveaways came from the chatty, over-spirited civilians who were busy enjoying their drinks. They usually swapped tales of business and trades in most villages he had been to, while also discussing the war against the nations as well as the movements of the avatar. Here, maybe he could find out just where he was, where his uncle had disappeared to, and where he had to head next to capture the avatar. This wasn't exactly the type of bar he had encountered while traveling though, and it seemed a bit livelier with more obnoxiously loud music and lights, but he figured the dynamics worked about the same. Where there was alcohol, there had to be people from all around the village.

The boy made his way up to the front of the bar and roughly pushed aside an already tipsy man so that he could take his place on an empty stool. Another large man seated beside him turned to give him a look, and among slurred words asked him if he was even old enough to be sitting here. Laughing, he flailed an uncoordinated arm to point towards the door, bellowing that the kid’s playground was in the other direction.

Zuko immediately rose to his feet to face the man with a raised fist, his amber eyes flashing in a sudden hotheaded fury. “HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME! I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I AM PRINCE TO THE THRONE! YOU SHOULD SHOW MORE RESPECT TO YOUR SUPERIORS!”
Maybe he wasn’t very incognito as he had planned, but that tended to be a problem with him. If it hadn’t been for his uncle, he would’ve demanded respect of the civilians on numerous occasions if he felt they deserved it. Besides that, he hadn’t seen any sign of soldiers or of wanted posters with his face on it here. Perhaps this town had not heard that the Fire Nation claimed he was a traitor to be killed or captured on sight, or that he was a banished prince. All the better for his sake.

The man simply burst into a drunken laughter again, which enraged Zuko even more. He furiously struck out an arm towards him. One might think he was aiming to attack in hand-to-hand combat, but instead he was aiming for the man’s drink. With one sweep, he picked it up and hurled it carelessly over his shoulder, unknowingly drenching the preoccupied girl who was sitting at a barstool as it whipped by. The large man repeatedly cursed at Zuko as the mug landed to the ground in a loud clatter. He began ranting in his disgust, though most seemed a bit unintelligible. Then, he hauled himself up and staggered over to the exit door of the club, still cursing under his breath about clubs not being what they used to. Zuko, meanwhile, continued to face down the retreating man with a look of anger on his face, before taking his original seat at the bar. It had served the man right for insulting him.

[Twilight Sparkle]

Apparently, the source of Twilight's current discomfort came from the angry boy standing there, staring at a man as said man grumbling and stomped. Twilight wasn't entirely sure what happened, at least, not in the specifics. The general was pretty easy to ascertain: the larger man had done something to offend or upset the boy, and he'd reacted by lashing out, obviously violently. Somewhere in there, Twilight had managed to get drink spilled on her. And boy, could she smell it, and wasn't that a familiar odor?

She looked to the angry boy as he took the seat, frowning slightly. While Twilight wasn't very good at telling human ages, she still couldn't see this boy as being, well, anything but a boy. His behavior hadn't helped much, though Twilight knew full well that you could be an adult and still behave very much like a child. Still, there was something about the way the young man looked that firmly suggested that, unlike Twilight, he wasn't quite old enough to be here, let alone spilling drinks.

"Excuse me," said Twilight, her voice a little harsh, "but I believe you just spilled that man's drink all over me,' she reached for a napkin, since manners were apparently a foreign concept in this stranger's land. "And actually, I don't think you're old enough to really be in here. This is an establishment for adults to enjoy live music and alcoholic beverages. You should probably be in Streamers."

Twilight nodded, switching to another napkin as the one she'd been using became nearly as soaked as she was. Given even the slightest more provocation, Twilight would definitely launch into another lecture. It was, after all, one of her best talents (arguably more than magic, especially here).

[Deleted]

Zuko had been staring forward with his arms crossed over his chest and hardly turned his head as the soaked girl with purple hair came over to reprimand him for tossing his drink near her. “Sorry,” He replied, though his hardened expression hadn’t really changed and it was unclear as to whether he was being fully sincere about his apology. Spilling a drink just seemed like a small problem compared to the business he was in right now, and not one for someone to complain to him about. So what that she got a little wet? Her life was not going to end because of it.

The boy’s scarred face changed to a look of crossed irritation on top of a scowl as she continued speaking and cast her a sudden glare. This time at least he managed not to leap up in a fit of rage. What was wrong with the civilians here? Didn’t anyone mind their own business?! He had been to quite a few bars and drink establishments while traveling the nations and searching for news, and very rarely did anyone there pay attention to him or travelers. Travelers meant money, and in most villages there were so few that the owners wouldn’t risk scaring them off by asking any questions.

“Who cares if I’m old enough? Since when did they set an age limit to walk into places? If anything, these people should be thankful for my company and welcome me with respect; I should be a guest of honor!” Zuko stated as he struck down on the counter top with the bottom of his fist, causing the liquid in an abandoned glass to shake violently beside him.
He knew though that respect towards a Fire Nation banished prince wasn’t likely in most places. For one, most Nations had been taken over by the Fire Nation navies and soldiers, their villages destroyed or otherwise sieged. The second being that he was a banished prince in the first place, his title of royalty having been stripped from him unless he brought back the avatar. Now, not even the Fire Nation would welcome him as their subject, let alone a prince of the throne. But, here maybe things were different. At least, he hoped they would be.

“Besides, I’m not here for a drink or music. I have much more important matters to take care of,” Zuko replied. He folded his arms up again and shifted his gaze so that he was glowering in the other direction. It looked like his plan of listening into other people’s conversations was not going to go so well here.

[Twilight Sparkle]

That really didn't sound like much of an apology, and Twilight was sorely tempted to point that out. She was, in fact, tempted to lecture the young man on precisely the right way to apologize to someone, particularly a female someone. However, the young man was already hitting the bar, making Twilight jump for a moment. Such rage, such anger, it, well, it didn't sit well with Twilight at all. She met him gaze for gaze, her purple eyes narrowing into slits. Oh, if he thought he'd get away with treating her like this, was he in for a surprise.

"Look here, mister, there are rules and it's important that we follow them," when they weren't wrong, but Twilight definitely wasn't going there. "The rules of this place state that you have to be of a certain age in order to enter and drink certain things. It's because alcohol can have a negative effect upon your body, distorting your senses and causing all sorts of unpleasant sensations. You might end up losing control of your mind and attacking someone! You could become enrag---well, more enraged than you already are! Or you could end up passed out in an alley somewhere with hobos deciding that you look like a good snuggle buddy for the night. Do you want to be a hobo's snuggle buddy? I don't think so! so you'd better obey the rules and---"

Twilight paused, blinking. "And if you're not here to drink or listen to music, then what are you here for? This is the place to go to for drinking and listening to music. If you want to brood, you might want to try the coffee shop. There's quite a few people who brood there and talk about how horrible life is. You'd fit right in. And it would be more age appropriate."

[Deleted]

The boy glared back at her with an unchanged expression. The longer she went on about alcohol, the more ticked off he seemed to be. His amber eyes narrowed; the last thing he needed was a rant about the rules, and more of this girl taking up his valuable time. “I don’t care about the rules!” He snapped. He had no intention of drinking now, nor did he think that he would find enjoyment in such things. He needed his head clear and skills sharp so that he could capture the avatar and find his uncle, and no amount of alcohol was going to ensure that that happened.

“Grrrrrr!” Zuko growled under his breath as the purple-haired girl continued to antagonize him, just when he had thought that she would take the hint and leave him to his own matters. She never seemed to stop talking and lecturing for even a second. “LOOK, WHY DON’T YOU MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, LADY?!” Zuko had raised his voice to a near-shout and clenched his fists. Maybe it wasn’t necessary, but her constant remarks and rants were getting on the few nerves he had. He liked his space and he liked being alone, and she was beginning to remind him of why that was. “I’m looking for someone, two people in fact, and unless you can tell me where they are then I am not listening to what you have to say to me!” The boy remarked.

Her last comment had struck him even more than the rest. She didn’t know anything about him, so what did she know about how horrible a life could be? He doubted that she had ever had any significant problems in her life. She probably grew up in a town with friends and family and everything just went well for her all the time, with her biggest worry being the weather or some other trivial social matter. It was like she was unintentionally rubbing her normal life in his face and waving it about, and he despised her for it.
"I'm glad your life is just completely perfect. Maybe you can go enjoy it somewhere else," the reply seemed more level than his last, but the sharpness to his tone was evident and sorely masked. 

[Twilight Sparkle]

"I'd be minding my own business except you went and spilled your drink on me!" Twilight shot back, her own indignation flaring nearly as bright as Zuko's. Okay, so technically it hadn't been his drink, but he'd certainly been responsible for the whole incident from start to finish. And Twilight was the one definitely in the right here: she was old enough to be here and she hadn't been starting any fights or anything of the like. Though it certainly seemed that this young man (who Twilight was seriously starting to think might be troubled) suffered from quite a few problems.

"Perfect? Honestly?" Twilight waved her hand at her soaked shirt. "I don't think anyone has a perfect life here, and I definitely do not. I used to be a unicorn! With magic and a coat and friends and a library and everything. And even then I had to deal with problems. I doubt you've ever had to deal with an Ursa Minor or an invasion of changelings or a unicorn whose using a secret amulet to give herself magic powers," Twilight waved her hands expressively. "And even if you do have problems, that's no reason to take it out on other people!" Twilight nodded, lowering her hand. It was around this time that she realized that a staff member had noticed her soaked shirt, and, seeing as Twilight was a relatively cute girl (and customer), he had come forward to offer her napkins. Twilight took them with a smile, moving to pat herself down. She shot Zuko a few looks, first to see if her lecture sank in, then to add a much softer:

"Now, if you're willing to calm down and listen, maybe I could actually help. Unless you want to get into some silly shouting contest with me," which Twilight didn't relish at all. She probably wouldn't have even been this snippy if it hadn't been for the extremely stressful life she'd been living lately.

[Deleted]

Zuko raised an eyebrow. The extreme amount of oddness of the response had taken him aback a little. “Are you crazy? That doesn’t even make sense!” He replied with a wild gesture of his hand. He turned back to the bar counter with his arms folded again and glared at the back shelves in frustration. Well, it was no wonder she was giving him such a hard time- she had clearly lost her mind. Either that, or she had become victim of some sort of crazy fever. The former prince had never heard of a unicorn, but he did know that magic didn’t exist. Elemental bending did, yes, but ‘magic’ was only a hoax that traveling merchants tried to play on gullible civilians in order to rip them of their coins. He didn’t think anyone was that stupid to believe that it was real, but apparently he was wrong, and this girl thought she had some sort of magic powers and could defeat armies.
Did she seriously think that she could defeat a whole invasion by herself, or that she had in the past? That was laughable- she didn’t look like the fighting or bending type in the slightest, and nor did she seem to have even a slight muscle tone that would be evident from any kind of training. Zuko was almost embarrassed for her as he pictured her standing face to face with an army, claiming she had magic that would stop them. If what she said was true about encountering the army, then she was lucky that she wasn’t killed or imprisoned for standing in their way. The Fire Nation army would have not stood for such intrusions.

“I’m not taking it out on other people!” Zuko argued. It wasn’t his fault that people had no respect for him and did things to get on his bad side all of the time; that was clearly their own faults! If they all just did what he wanted then things would run so much more smoothly around here.

“Fine,” Zuko replied with a slight frown. He doubted that the crazy purple-haired civilian girl was even going to be of help to him. Was it even worth wasting even more of his time to talk to her? He didn’t think so, but he did come here for leads, and crazy or not, it didn’t take a particularly smart person to know that the avatar was around. “I’m looking for an old man, about this height, large, has a gray beard and likes tea,” Zuko raised his arm to gesture the height, which was somewhat shorter than his own. “Also, I’m looking for the avatar, have you seen him?” He assumed that no description would be necessary on that one. Most of the world should already have heard that he had come back by now.

[Twilight Sparkle]

By now, Twilight had grown used to the "that doesn't make any sense!" exclamation. Generally people did not believe in talking unicorns or magic, or some element of her story. Honestly, there were parts that even Twilight would have struggled to believe if she hadn't lived them (most of those involved Pinkie Pie though, and Twilight was fairly certain there was nothing inherently magical about Pinkie Pie. At least, there hadn't been anything in the tests). So she let the comment slide. She also just gave Zuko a look when he commented about not taking it out. Like that didn't sound like someone dealing with frustrations in all the wrong ways.

At last, they came around to what Zuko was actually struggling with. The comment about the old man made Twilight frown, though not out of frustration, but in concentration. An old man who loved tea? In Tenebrae? He would definitely be in the Hattery at some point, and Twilight was one of their most regular customers. Tea was something she thoroughly enjoyed. Just as Twilight was opening her mouth and turning to Zuko to suggest he look there, he'd added his secondary goal (well, possibly his primary, though how was Twilight to know this, hmm?).

"Which avatar?" she asked, her tone flat. "You mean the avatar as in an incarnation of a particular element or the embodiment of an essential trait, as in the Avatar of Hope? Or are you perhaps referencing the term as used in various computer games and such," and yes, Twilight had figured that out; by studying; a lot. Because she was Twilight. "Or are you possibly referencing a particular someone from your world that wouldn't necessarily be here? Because I haven't heard or seen a 'the avatar,'" Twilight paused, considered, then remembered to add: "And you'd probably have better luck looking for your older gentleman in the Hattery; that's the local tea shop. I'm often there, but I haven't seen him. He might not even be here," Twilight was half tempted to add a "yet," but figured it best to leave things be for now. No need to get up false hope, and she'd already trampled all over his little avatar thing.

Probably.

[Deleted]

“Urgh!” Zuko threw a hand up to his forehead and growled in exasperation. “No, the Avatar! You know, the airbender boy with the arrow on his head; reincarnation of the past avatars and the master of all elements? How could you not know who the Avatar is?!” He couldn’t believe that this girl could be so clueless as to never have heard of an Avatar. Sure, she was crazy, but come on, he was sure that every child had at least heard the stories of the Avatars at some point, if not the flying rumors and recent news from the other nations. Had she been living under a rock her whole life?

And what was a computer anyway…? He shook his head and decided on ignoring it. It was probably just more crazy jibberish from the girl who believed in magic. He had never heard of such a thing existing, and he didn’t really care all that much to find out what she meant by it or listen to another lecture.

Frustration rose and flared in his chest once again like an undying flame. After she had announced that she had never seen an avatar, he felt like he may have well just completely wasted his time here, and time was important. Though then again, she didn’t even know what an avatar was, so what did she know of these things? The airbender could’ve walked right in front of her and asked her a question, and she might not have even batted an eye. In fact, Zuko was sure that the Avatar was here, despite what the girl claimed. He would just have to keep searching, that’s all, and he would tear this whole town apart until he found him. He made a mental note not to ask the purple haired girl for any more help, unless he wanted to be incessantly frustrated and given any more crazy and uninformative replies.

“The Hattery,” Zuko repeated, and looked suddenly focused with a narrowed and determined gaze. Yes, if tea was sold there, then his uncle would have more than likely found it by now. He didn’t know how, but his uncle had a knack for quickly finding tea wherever he went. There couldn’t be any other town that he would be- they had both been travelling together when Zuko had found himself ambushed here. This was probably the only bit of helpful information he had received all day, though inwardly, Zuko was sure that he would have found the teashop himself if he had been looking hard enough. “Thanks,” Zuko simply stated, without any emotion or remote hint of gratitude. He rose out of his stool and immediately (and quite rudely) began marching his way over to the exit. The dancing crowd had thickened and blocked any clear way to the exit door, so once again he found himself having to roughly push past people in an attempt to make any progress. 

[Twilight Sparkle]

"An incarnation and master of elements? You mean, like the Elements of Harmony?" Twilight wondered, blinking. She'd never seen anyone with a tattoo on their head, and she was pretty sure that someone like that would stick out, even here, where such oddities were considered fairly commonplace. Plus she was fairly certain that this young man wasn't getting the primary message here: he was far from home, and it was unlikely that this avatar person was going to be anywhere he could actually find. Though it did seem that people often flocked; Twilight had met nearly all of her friends again since coming here.

Before Twilight could comment or question further, the boy digested the second, more helpful bit that Twilight had been able to offer. Part of Twilight really hoped that he found whomever he was looking for where he was looking for them. This place was rough enough as it was, and that boy clearly needed help. At least he said thanks, though Twilight wasn't certain how much he really meant it. She stared at his retreating back for af ew seconds, blinking and letting things process. She supposed she could stop him, but why would she? Oh, wait...

"Hey! Moody boy!" she yelled, waving an arm, hoping to catch his attention. "You didn't give me your name! You know, in case I find the people you're looking for," though now that Twilight thought about it, she was pretty sure she could just check the records. She did work for the Estates as a New Shifted mentor, after all. Perfect opportunity to use her power.

[Deleted]

“My name isn’t Moody Boy; it’s Prince Zuko!” Zuko irately remarked over his shoulder with an angry flash of his eyes as he shoved yet another obliviously dancing person out of his way. If he hadn’t been offended by the name, then he probably wouldn’t have responded to the odd girl at all. What help could she be in finding them if she STILL did not know what the Avatar was, even after he had explained it to her in the simplest terms he thought were imaginable? He gave up on wasting his breath to explain things to her any further. ‘The Elements of Harmony?’ He had not heard the nations or elements ever called that before. It was true that some people believed that they were supposed to be balanced, but that thought had long since died ever since the airbenders had been wiped out and the Fire Nation invaded many of the remaining cities and villages. In Zuko’s mind, it was foolish to think there could be any balance or harmony between them; the strongest would always conquer, and that strength was surely Fire with its destructive power and force.

“I’ll find them myself,” He muttered as he finally made his way to the clearing at the edge of crowd. The exit door was propped open slightly, but he hurled it open the rest of the way as he marched toward the street and out into the cooler air.


{Zuko has left –unless you really want to say something else? }

[Twilight Sparkle]

Prince, well, that certainly explained a lot. Most of the princes that Twilight had met hadn't exactly been shining examples, though she supposed that her brother technically was one now. He hadn't been born a prince though, so he didn't count. No, Zuko was quite clearly an excellent representation of princes and what was wrong with them, what was wrong with males in general, really. She nearly got so wrapped up in this idea that she missed his muttering. Even though Twilight noticed it, she certainly wasn't close enough to actually hear anything that Zuko said. All she knew was that he was mumbling under his breath.

Before Twilight could say or do more, the prince had turned and stormed his way out of the building. Twilight opened and closed her mouth a few times, as though still trying to work up the lecture she'd been completely ready to give. In the end, she simply had to settle for giving the door a sharp glare, which was about as satisfying as it sounded, truthfully. It wasn't until she heard a cough that Twilight recalled that there had been someone else nearby, someone who had offered to actually help clean her up.

Twilight turned to the worker, offering a quick smile and a nod. There was a mention of her getting another drink, but Twilight shook her head. She was taking all this as a sign: she shouldn't be drinking, shouldn't even bother with it. Besides, now all she really wanted to do was get home and get herself clean. So with a quick nod, a wave, and a few coins changing hands, Twilight left. She would, however, remember to check the Hattery for old men who looked similar. There was a chance, after all, and Twilight never went back on her word, even to stubborn, moody princes.