iknowucan | Friends in Need; RL with Azula

"I know, right? You wouldn't expect it, but - other than tricking me to go someplace totally gross, which actually was Jim's idea, I think - well, he was pretty nice to me when we were handcuffed together for a virus and... I don't know." Ryan was a firm believer that everyone had a soft, fluffy center.

"'Nice' in your mind means that he didn't murder you in your sleep." By that definition, Azula was being pretty nice to him right now.

Though if she took the time to think about it (which she really didn't), she'd realize that she didn't necessarily mind having him here right now. She didn't like him by any stretch of the imagination, but company was... well, nice.

"Well... I'm pretty sure that counts for everyone." He grinned and waved a hand. "But no, he is a jerk most of the time, but he can be nice. I almost had a heart attack when I found out."

He wasn't supposed to tell anyone, either, but Ryan still owed him a little payback. "Nice for me just means that you show some actual compassion once in a while. I'm pretty easy to please, yeah, but trust me, I know there are bad people out there."

Azula closed her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "Like me."

He rolled his eyes skyward briefly before looking back at her. "No, not like you, Azula. You know you're not going to convince me you're a bad person, don't you?"

"I'm not. But I'm also not compassionate."

Ryan shrugged. "Maybe not, but you're not a bad person. You run a country, so I figure you must at least be... you know, just. Or fair, at least."

She gave a small shrug of her own. "To my citizens."

"That says more about you than a couple of nice comments to someone really could." He grinned; Ryan was a master of justifying the actions and attitudes of people around him. He had to be, with a sister like his.

"I I know that." And it was strange that he did, too. After all, wasn't he stupid?

"I know you know." He laughed and shook his head. "I think there's a saying, like, uh... Oh, right. Watch how people treat their employees to see what kind of person they are. Except with you, it's 'subjects' or something."

"Employees and subjects are different." While she obviously worked for the greater good of the Fire Nation, she didn't exactly always treat her servants with respect and fairness-- but after all, they were only servants.

Ryan would probably have to lecture her about being nice to the people who cook your food, being that he knew what happened when you weren't, but he was content to not ask after her relationship to her servants. "I guess, but the general idea is that people show their real nature when they're dealing with people who aren't as important as them."

"I think how you act around people who actually matter is more important."

"Well, it's important to know how to act around people who are important to you, but treating people who aren't necessarily important to you well is a good example of someone who's... I don't know. I just think that if you treat people well, life is better for you."

"I'm talking about people who are just important in general."

"People who aren't important to you might be important to other people, though."

She frowned. "So?"

He pursed his lips. "Well, what if those people become important to you, later? I mean, would you be rude to one of Dr. Cuddy's friends?"

"Her friends aren't going to become important to me just because I liked her."

"But..." He frowned and looked away. That made no sense to him - wouldn't you want someone close to you to be happy? And being nice to their friends would make them happy, wouldn't it?

"If her friends are rude to me then I'm rude to them, and that's certainly not going to change now that she's gone."

"But what if someone isn't rude to you?" He looked back at her. "I mean, I don't think I've ever been rude to you, but you're still pretty mean to me."

"That's because you act stupid, and I have no tolerance for stupidity."

He smiled. "You've been tolerating me pretty good so far."

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