rediscovering | avalon inbox;

"Perhaps we should look together over your budget." He messed up with the phone, he has to be able to contribute somehow.

“I’d rather not, Uncle… We’ve gotten along just fine this long. I’ve been on my own several months now! I even worked like 30 hours a week in Lunatia!” He’s deflecting. He doesn’t want to look over his budget with Iroh. That would involve receipts. Receipts for things he didn’t purchase. Yet mysteriously owns. Like, uh, almost all his food, that which isn’t overpriced delivery takeout. Ahem. No, thanks. But in Lunatia, it’s true he did better budgeting… …largely because his boss fed him every shift and he also somehow managed to find himself and his fellow hapless aristocratic teenage boy roommates a free private chef. But he’s conveniently leaving those details out when bragging about supporting himself on his tedious part-time job as a busboy.

"Do you work those hours now, Zuko?"

"...No," he mutters, looking to the ground, watching his feet as they walk. But he turns back to Iroh after a beat, still keen on defending himself here, clearly. "But that's because I do quests now, Uncle — not a real job! They're like— stupid errands. Or missions. Or I dunno, tasks. There's another kind of bulletin board on the phone where people post requests for all the different things they want done, and that's how we all make money here. So I just do lots of random quests that don't seem too aggravating to deal with. Some of it's tedious, some of it's adventurous, but that's how Azula and I get paid."

That all stood up until lumping Azula in somehow. She's not exactly the type to make a living doing other people's chores and tedious tasks they'd rather pay others to do than do themselves, at least not enough to create a balanced household with equally shared financial responsibility like he's trying to paint this picture. There's clearly something not being accounted for that Zuko's just as clearly not willing to admit to. And it will just have to remain between the lines until he's ready to either admit it or get a real job and stop stealing hot chips and flavored water from the convenience store and pretending it counts as harmlessly acquiring sustenance in a moral grey zone...

"Somehow I cannot quite see Azula doing that. Perhaps I shall join you for some of these... quests, Prince Zuko."

Was that a plural you? Singular? The world may never know.

"Please do, Uncle," he says with glib defiance. "It's true I do more quests than Azula. But you should definitely join me on some. You'll do many of your own, too. You'll see."

"Good, I look forward to seeing how these quests are handled."

Thankfully, since most everyone supports themselves on quests, there is no shortage on dangerous opportunities for people to break their phones, making Avalon a pretty profitable place to own a mobile phone store, which gives Zuko and Iroh now a rather nearby option. They’ve reached the phone store already, and just in time, too. Because Zuko can’t anticipate the questions Iroh asks half the time, the old man a much better pai sho player socially than Zuko is, it’s not a moment too soon that they can divert the topic away from Zuko’s thievery.

Zuko holds the door open for Iroh as they enter, then follows him in. There are two phone salesmen kibbitzing at the counter and no other customers this early in the morning. The salesmen are on their game, though, not even aware they’ve just got two out-of-touch folks and one young grouch who’s easy to swindle. The pair gets an enthusiastic welcome from one of the salesmen, who’s beaming at Zuko when he walks up to the counter with a scowl.

“We need a new phone,” he says pointedly. “Uncle— give them the old one.” He points at the counter, gruff and avoiding eye contact with the expectant employees. Oh, boy. Here we go.

"There are words such as please and thank you, Zuko," he chided gently. He bowed to the employees. "Apologies for my nephew." He set his phone on the counter. "We were hopping you would be able to fix this fine device, it appears to have taken some damage."

"...Please. Thank you," Zuko adds, mumbling.

"It appears to have taken some damage, indeed! What got you? Dragon? Fae? Was it that one quest on the questboard yesterday? Whoo, what a doozy!" The one salesman is cheerful and talkative, treating this lightly despite his obvious incredulous expression on his face. Zuko just grimaces and looks to his uncle from the corner of his eye. Ha. Explain. He's not.

"It is hard to tell what exactly broke it, since multiple things seemed to happen at once," he said with his kindly old man smile and gentling of his voice. "But before it broke we were having some issues getting it to work. I do think that perhaps a Dragon was indeed involved." The Dragon of the West, anyway.

"What? Uncle, what dragon?!" Zuko's tone is harsh at first, surprised and confused, looking to the old man, but after a moment, the joke dawns on him, and his face falls flat. "...Oh."

He's gotten slightly better at catching jokes, but he's still slow on the uptake. The salesman seems amused.

"Well! I think this thing's kaput! Dragons can be tricky, it's true. We have a promotion going on for the new Pineapple ePhone 17! We even offer an extended payment plan for just—"

Zuko cuts the cheerful man's spiel off, shoving his own perfectly intact, non-burnt phone onto the counter. It's a cheap starter model they gave him when he arrived. A very basic, old smart phone. His voice is clipped when he interrupts the man mid-sentence, leaving the man looking flummoxed.

"We want one like this. ...Please."

See? He remembered his manners, Iroh.

He just gave Zuko a long look until the boy caught on, and tried very hard not to smack his face with his hand.

"Zuko, let the man speak. Even if we do not want what he has to sell, we will not know for certain if we cut him off. When your life is in danger always take the time to listen to others. There is no one in this world that does not have something of interest to say."

Zuko barely keeps himself from rolling his eyes, and just looks away. Both the salesmen look thoroughly confused by this pair. What a morning already... What'd these guys do to this phone — upon closer inspection, did a dragon do this...?! The previously exuberant man shoots a worried look to his coworker, in case the other man wants to chime in, but also as if to say: Are these guys for real?!

"Uh— th-this model it is, then..." he stammers, picking up Zuko's phone to examine it. "I'm not going to be able to get the SIM card out of that phone, just so you know."

"We don't care about that, as long as you can still get the money out of it."

"Uh— Excuse me?" The man sets Zuko's phone down with the most bewildered expression, throwing another odd glance to his coworker before turning to the older man as if he could provide some explanation that somehow... he's sure the old man can't.

Edited 2021-06-29 14:17 (UTC)

"My nephew says that there is money inside that phone. I do not know how to use the tiny message board inside of it yet, but I should at least hold onto my money for tea."

The shopkeepers are just looking at each other wildly confused. What's... happening...?

"Um— I think there's been some misunderstanding... Are you talking about your gold...?"

"Yes, the gold, the money, what else!" Zuko retorts, barely containing a groan.

Meantime, the employee who'd not spoken yet can barely contain a smirk and a snicker, suddenly realizing what the problem is here. The helpful man just shoots his coworker a scolding look, then turns to the fancy hi-tech computer at their counter.

"...Since we can't get the SIM card out, we can still trace your account other ways to set you up a new one in your new phone. What's the username?" the man says, clicking away at the large touchscreen, ready to search.

Zuko turns to Iroh with a flat yet expectant look, like okay, here's your first test.

"The user's name? That would be my name then? Or my nephew's since he has used to more than I have so far?"

"Uncle, we just set it up...! Your favorite game!" Zuko's losing his patience. The shopkeeper must think he's the meanest nephew. He wasn't there for the series of failed phone calls, though.

"Oh! Yes, guess the tea by scent!" Yes, he is very much messing with you now, Zuko.

"His username is pai sho, two words!" he snaps at the shopkeeper, turning away from Iroh sharply. It's too early for these games...

The man gives Zuko a strange look, then smiles at poor old Iroh, and punches in the username. Indeed, an account comes up on the screen, showing also the serial number of the device Iroh burned. The man checks to make sure it matches, a few digits hard to read for scorch marks that traveled, but it appears to be in order.

"All right, this seems to be you! Now, are you sure you don't want that Pineapple ePhone? Because it really is a good deal, and the new ePhone can do so much more than this model you have now. You can even—"

"Please," Zuko interrupts the sales spiel once more in a haggard voice. "Just get us one like this one..." He shoves his own phone closer to the man across the counter.

"...Yes, sir..." the man says dubiously through narrowed eyes, his own patience being tried now by this young grump. "One moment, please." He shoots Iroh a sympathetic smile and steps away, leaving his quiet coworker there smirking over this whole interaction as he peruses some paperwork off to the side.

Zuko heaves a sigh and turns to Iroh with a less sympathetic expression, but says nothing, feeling a wave of relief as he leans against the counter. He'll ask more about Iroh's money when the man comes back.

"There is no need to be angry at these people, Zuko," he said softly as the employee walked away. He rested a hand on the boy's back. "They have their job to do. When you worked in the tea shop, you had a job to do as well. Perhaps I should open a new tea shop here..."

So Zuko would have to work with customers again. It had been good for him, after all.

"Uncle, he keeps trying to sell us that popular expensive phone even though I've been clear I want this one...! It's better if you have the same phone as I do so neither of us is confused!" He's missing the point; or rather, as they so often are, they're arguing two points, and Zuko's focus is on his perspective in this situation, a clearcut goal that is not being achieved. That aggravates him maybe more than it should, but he was already on a frayed last nerve. He doesn't even realize how angry he's coming off as.

Practicing his people skills at work again would help him; he'd not yet found a restaurant job here in Avalon, relying on quests and... other means... to support himself. And surely Azula's not by his side encouraging him to take up his lucrative career as a busboy again, or even better, shoot for the stars as a waiter! He's indeed becoming out of touch again, though, and it shows in how he's so easily aggravated by a couple of failed sales pitches. Not like Zuko was ever great about hyping up daily specials in the teashops, though...

"Because that is his job, Zuko. And possibly, given that he knows more about this than we do, because he is trying to help. If your friend was trying to sell drinks to people, the one you told me about. If he offered his cheap fake tea that you mentioned for a small amount of money, and a proper jasmine tea for more, and you had to work for him.. wouldn't you also try to convince people to buy the jasmine tea? We do not know enough to know if they are pushing because they are told to, or because they are right. The answer is to observe, prince Zuko, and to learn which it is. But in neither case is it a cause for anger. At worst, they are doing what they must in order to continue to get paid. At best they are doing that as well as genuinely trying to help us. Perhaps the other one is easier to use, perhaps not. But we will not learn by losing our temper."

"Hrmm..." Zuko grumbles, absorbing the man's advice, a part of him storing this principle away in his back pocket. Even if he has a lackluster response to Iroh, though, the scowl on his face is actually one of contemplation, not dismissal. He's internalizing the idea in a brief silence as the quieter worker sits, smirking softly to himself overhearing the men's exchange; it's a bit touching, even he can see. And just at this moment, the other worker comes along, carrying the phone Zuko'd requested in a brand new box. Zuko's quick to respond as soon as he returns.

"The Pineapple ePhone you were trying to sell us— I don't have a lot of money, but... is it more intuitive than this phone? My uncle is not used to this technology, we don't have anything like this in our world; I only want us to have the same phone so it'll be easier for him to get used to it. It's easier for me to help him if I know his phone works just like mine," Zuko explains in a suddenly more cool and even-tempered tone of voice, which draws a look of surprise over the man's face. Meantime, his coworker who's witnessed this whole change, can't help but let that smirk turn into a secret grin, unnoticed by Zuko, smitten at seeing this grumpy young boy apply this newfound insight with such quick turnaround.

"Oh, um—! Y-Yes? It's quite intuitive! These standard models work more or less the same, but there are more accessibility features on the ePhone... ...a-and as I'd been saying, there is a promotion going on with the ePhones, if you sign up for a monthly payment plan... There is no payment plan offered with this standard model, so it'd be full price upfront; but with the ePhone's installment plan, though you'd be deferring payments into the future, you could even get two ePhones now and you'd be spending about the same amount today... if not a little less... ...while still being on the cutting edge of New Camelot's technology," the worker explains, catching his speed shakily as he launches into the spiel that the prince had so rudely interrupted, of course flashing a winning smile at the end. The slick sales pitch feeling his bright smile gives Zuko is annoying afresh, but before the feeling can set in, the quiet coworker who'd been endeared by the pair finally pipes up.

"And they'd both come with protective cases for just a few Gold more. For, uh, any other dragon-related accidents..." Everyone in this room knows it was no dragon that ruined that phone; what happened, exactly, remains a mystery to the experts here, but that much is clear, and the quiet worker can't hide his amusement.

Zuko looks to his Uncle expectantly; Iroh was right, of course. He always is, it seems to Zuko. He feels a little sheepish now...

"...Uncle, what do you think?"

"I think that I will have to find a way to earn money myself to help pay for these, if we are going to match, Zuko." He looked to the employees. "If we do get these new devices, will you be able to teach us how to use them? Perhaps on less valuable versions of them?"

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rediscovering - 2021-07-22 15:59 (UTC) - Expand

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uncle_iroh - 2021-07-24 13:55 (UTC) - Expand

avalon inbox;

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if you want to write the other salesman you can, idc, i figured wiggle room would be best with this!

Lol, okay

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idk how avalon technology works, im fuckin making this up as we go along lol...

I have no clue as well, so.... lol

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12 years late, hello, lol, sorry

Re: 12 years late, hello, lol, sorry

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