He has never fancied speaking to crowds. Sure, there's always that adrenaline rush, that passion one feels coursing through one's veins when one delivers a lesson. General Iroh II is far too familiar with the dynamics of public speaking. His style is to use analogies to illustrate his point, diagrams are most unsuitable in his opinion and he doesn't like using them, unless of course, he doesn't have a choice.
Iroh makes a face when he notes the massive board behind him. It might not make sense to many, but to him, he knows very well how graphs and the displaying of statistics can distract an audience. He tries to make use of the diagram as he points vaguely at the Earth Kingdom village of Tu Zhong. Damn him and his forgetfulness, he had completely forgotten to bring his pointer.
Frustrated and in danger of succumbing to awkwardness, he begins with an analogy, talking about how colonies of crawlers (minute insects with enormous rears) invade and conquer other colonies. He illustrates his point on how it is important to concentrate only on one front instead of many. Crawler colonies focus their armies on only one enemy for most of their ventures.
He looks over the crowd, subconsciously building rapport with the young undergraduates. He smiles absently, reminiscing about his own university days. He was a study fanatic, eager to live up to his grandfather's reputation of having academically successful descendants. Alas, by the end of the first semester of studying Political Science with a minor in War Strategies, he knew that he would never beat his mother's near perfect college results.
Iroh was right, he didn't even come close to the Fire Lord's grades. He doesn't know why, but somehow there was that competitiveness within him, something that drove him to want to become more reputable than his mother. She is a strange and peculiar choice of competition. Although, he is the only child of a woman who is an only child herself and there is really no one he can pit himself against but her.
As his eyes flow over the crowd of students, he notices a girl dosing off. The young man beside her, looks like he is listening intently, a quick glance at the other students confirms that they are focusing on nothing but his lesson. Yet, despite all of the attention the other students are giving him, he cannot help but be distracted and, if he'd be honest, affected by the dosing student.
"Miss!" he exclaims, his voice is carried by the way in which the theatre is built. He notes off handedly, the ingenious method of design that allows the speaker to be heard without using external devices to augment their voice. He watches as the other pupils turn, their eyes searching for the student who has been singled out.
"You sir, the one with the red scarf, please wake your friend up," he says. Iroh is a fairly patient man, never one to scold anyone or get mad easily. This however, is inexcusable and he refuses to tolerate this… this obnoxious behavior.
"Asami," he hears the boy say as he shakes her. Her eyes open and he, for a moment, is in awe of the complexity of the colour of her eyes. She shakes her head sleepily, but stops mid-yawn, as she notices that she is in a very awkward position. Her eyes meet his, time seems to stop as everything becomes awful, awful and embarrassing.
"Miss…"
"Sato," she offers, her cheeks flushing. "Asami Sato," she says sheepishly.
"Well, Miss Asami Sato," he articulates. "Perhaps this topic is boring to you? Are you very familiar with the detailed and long undisclosed military plans devised by Sozin? Are you are so well versed you think this lecture irrelevant?" his tone surprises him a little.
He has never been one to be this petty. Yet, he cannot help being offended by her disinterest. "I would like to see you after the lecture," he tells her and watches as her cheeks continue to deepen in crimson hue. He seemingly suppresses his anger by blinking as he continues with the lecture. She covers her face with her hands and attempts to block the scrutiny coming her way. Even though, she just feels like an ostrich horse with its head buried in the sand.
A/N: HI EVERYONE *waves* so iroh II is introduced! poor sleepy asami D: read and review!