Lapis Lazuli (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
oceantier) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
tushanshu_logs2015-08-02 09:43 pm
oceantier) wrote in tushanshu_logs2015-08-02 09:43 pm
Entry tags:
Open!
Characters: Lapis and YOU (open!)
Date: Early August
Location: Varied
Situation: Varied. All take place after awakening again from her gem and facing down Irvine. Lapis attempts to adjust to life on the Turtle . . . and escape from it.
Warnings/Rating: Still probably spoilers. Also still may be some threat of Lapis fleeing or dowsing characters. ^^;
A. Turtle's Head - The stars weren't the same here.
At the Turtle's head, distant from the lights of the city, the heavens were laid out in full . . . a dizzying array of tiny lights sprinkled across the darkness.
Lapis knew the stars well. Knew she knew them -- that they were as familiar to her as her own hands. Even from Earth, she'd always been able to name any of them at a glance, and knew with barely a thought where her home was at any given instant.
Not so here. The star that lit Homeworld was nowhere to be found.
It was like a tether had been sliced away . . . without it, she reeled, uncertain and grasping, for a solidity that was no longer there. Without it, she was vulnerable to the inky expanse above her, bare.
She curled her arms around herself as though by doing so she could hold on . . . perched on the Turtle's head, tiny under the unknown sky.
B. Keelai - Water Sector - It had been days, and no sign of Jasper.
It seemed inconceivable that the other Gem would not be here. They had been fused -- one body, one mind, inseparable and pinned together beneath the full weight of the ocean of Earth.
Inconceivable that one could be pulled without the other. Impossible.
Lapis remained alert, combing what she could of the Turtle without inciting the attention of the locals. Surely the other Gem would have made herself visible . . . Jasper was that kind of personality, large and defiant, unafraid of consequences -- the sort who would have stood at the center of Keelai and announced herself, unconcerned about the teeming locals around her. Brazen in spite of the fact that they didn't know what this place was, what kind of dangers it could actually host.
Lapis was exhausted. Sleep wasn't something her body required . . . but rest certainly was. After so many hours of alertness, of vigilance, of forcing herself to push forward, she was at her limits.
As the sun rose higher in Keelai, she searched for a place to settle, wary of the kedan that had started to enter the streets.
C. Beach - Anyone watching might think she would never come up. Having waded as far out into the waves as she could manage, Lapis had dived, arching like a fish beneath the surface. One minute would pass. Two. Three. Longer than anyone should be able to hold their breath -- and yet still she did not emerge.
Follow her beneath the surface, look for her in the water, or wait until she comes back up.
D. Outside Keelai - She's just a dim speck in the sky, flying up, up, up, pushing, testing, ignoring the weight that settles through her stomach and heart and head, pressing, clenching . . . She pushes it as long and as hard as she can -- just a bit farther, and she'll push through. Just a bit farther and she'll be free . . .
And then the vertigo twists like a knife thrust through her insides, and she knows she never will. That's the moment before the blackness takes her, and she yields to unconsciousness.
She wakes up hurling through the air, wheeling out of control in wide, erratic circles. She gasps, pulls up hard on her wings. Wrests against the air, wings hauling hard against the wind.
The impact against the ground is hard. She slams into the earth, rolling what feels like a hundred times before coming to rest.
E. Have another idea? COME TO ME.
Date: Early August
Location: Varied
Situation: Varied. All take place after awakening again from her gem and facing down Irvine. Lapis attempts to adjust to life on the Turtle . . . and escape from it.
Warnings/Rating: Still probably spoilers. Also still may be some threat of Lapis fleeing or dowsing characters. ^^;
A. Turtle's Head - The stars weren't the same here.
At the Turtle's head, distant from the lights of the city, the heavens were laid out in full . . . a dizzying array of tiny lights sprinkled across the darkness.
Lapis knew the stars well. Knew she knew them -- that they were as familiar to her as her own hands. Even from Earth, she'd always been able to name any of them at a glance, and knew with barely a thought where her home was at any given instant.
Not so here. The star that lit Homeworld was nowhere to be found.
It was like a tether had been sliced away . . . without it, she reeled, uncertain and grasping, for a solidity that was no longer there. Without it, she was vulnerable to the inky expanse above her, bare.
She curled her arms around herself as though by doing so she could hold on . . . perched on the Turtle's head, tiny under the unknown sky.
B. Keelai - Water Sector - It had been days, and no sign of Jasper.
It seemed inconceivable that the other Gem would not be here. They had been fused -- one body, one mind, inseparable and pinned together beneath the full weight of the ocean of Earth.
Inconceivable that one could be pulled without the other. Impossible.
Lapis remained alert, combing what she could of the Turtle without inciting the attention of the locals. Surely the other Gem would have made herself visible . . . Jasper was that kind of personality, large and defiant, unafraid of consequences -- the sort who would have stood at the center of Keelai and announced herself, unconcerned about the teeming locals around her. Brazen in spite of the fact that they didn't know what this place was, what kind of dangers it could actually host.
Lapis was exhausted. Sleep wasn't something her body required . . . but rest certainly was. After so many hours of alertness, of vigilance, of forcing herself to push forward, she was at her limits.
As the sun rose higher in Keelai, she searched for a place to settle, wary of the kedan that had started to enter the streets.
C. Beach - Anyone watching might think she would never come up. Having waded as far out into the waves as she could manage, Lapis had dived, arching like a fish beneath the surface. One minute would pass. Two. Three. Longer than anyone should be able to hold their breath -- and yet still she did not emerge.
Follow her beneath the surface, look for her in the water, or wait until she comes back up.
D. Outside Keelai - She's just a dim speck in the sky, flying up, up, up, pushing, testing, ignoring the weight that settles through her stomach and heart and head, pressing, clenching . . . She pushes it as long and as hard as she can -- just a bit farther, and she'll push through. Just a bit farther and she'll be free . . .
And then the vertigo twists like a knife thrust through her insides, and she knows she never will. That's the moment before the blackness takes her, and she yields to unconsciousness.
She wakes up hurling through the air, wheeling out of control in wide, erratic circles. She gasps, pulls up hard on her wings. Wrests against the air, wings hauling hard against the wind.
The impact against the ground is hard. She slams into the earth, rolling what feels like a hundred times before coming to rest.
E. Have another idea? COME TO ME.
A - The Turtle's Head
More so now that Sokka and Katara have joined the list of those who've returned home.
Tonight it's thoughts of them that bring him to the Turtle's Head to pray. The wind kicks up slightly as he lands, his glider collapsing with a click.
no subject
Her eyes whisk in his direction as she prepares to dart up.
no subject
"I'm sorry!" he says quickly as he steps back in surprise. "I didn't...I didn't see you there. I can come back later. I didn't mean to interrupt."
no subject
She's halfway up at that point, muscles tensed and ready to run . . . but the words, the tone, his voice all hold her back.
Like the other before him, he's just a boy -- or at least on the cusp of leaving it. Just a boy . . . and as startled as she is. It's these facts that hold her to earth, twist her face back in his direction. Her eyes are wide; her feet are still a breath away from movement . . . but he's earned a second look.
"I . . . It doesn't belong to anyone here," she replies tentatively. "Not that I know."
Meaning that he has the right to come too.
no subject
Aang takes a chance and offers her the ghost of a lop-sided smile.
"You don't have to go, you were here first. I was just coming to light some incense and meditate. These aren't really time-sensitive things."
Beat.
"Well...not today at least"
no subject
She stares at him for long moments, trying to determine if he means it.
The little smile helps.
She hasn't smiled in a while. Not since Steven released her from the mirror. Not since he healed her wings. Her smile is slow, small, a little shy. "Yes."
More quiet. Hesitation. "You don't . . . have to leave. I was just looking at the stars."
Added, as though it might be needed: "It's hard to see them in the city."
no subject
no subject
But.
no subject
no subject
". . . Are you?"
no subject
The plan had been to earthbend a burner, firebend them lit, and then just...exist in mindfulness.
"My friends went home, and...these were their favorites."
Beat.
"Well these were Katara and Iroh's favorites. Sokka just complained about this one less than the others."
no subject
His answer has seemed reassuring, but she has to be sure.
As though words are promises.
no subject
She's scared of him.
It's not the first time Aang has been faced with frightening someone. There were more than a few fearful, apprehensive looks on the faces of those around him post-Avatar State Rampage, but...never just from him as he was.
A gangling, unassuming, goofy monk.
"You have my absolute promise that I'm not going to do anything to you."
He follows this up with a small bow, and an introduction.
"I'm Aang."
no subject
"I'm Lapis." Her voice is that same soft thread. "Lapis Lazuli."
And then that smile again, tentative and and fragile as smoke.
"Thank you."
no subject
"I'm...I'm sorry that you felt you needed to ask."
no subject
"Not all worlds are friendly. Or good."
"I don't know what kind of world this is yet."
no subject
"The Monks used to say that the world was neither good nor evil, but always suffering towards balance."
no subject
". . . How does suffering make balance?"
And even more importantly, did there mean there were a lot of people suffering in this place? That wasn't exactly . . . appealing.
no subject
Aang says this like someone who's once understood and believed, but has come to lose his faith.