tushanshu_logs | Catch-all for October

"Really really. I’m volunteering here, so what I do is free and there’s nothing people need to give me for it." She gave a short chuckle. "Been a while since anyone’s made a cake just for me, I didn’t think you were the baking type. But sure, when you’re all better I just might hold you to that."

The request didn’t strike her as weird, all the acolytes at Air Temple Island shaved their head and it wasn’t uncommon to see them helping each other do so.

"Necklace for a haircut? Sounds like a deal to me. Good call on not asking Toph." As impressive as her seismic sense was, this was way too delicate a situation for a blind earthbender. "I’m almost done healing, so I can do it in a minute or so."

"I'm in no rush." It's a sentiment he means, but one that's still punctuated with a scratch to the top of his head. Hair is itchy, okay?

"Baking cakes and tarts was one of the things the Southern Air Temple was famous for." Before the War doesn't really need to be said, and so he doesn't say it.

"I never knew that." Hearing about the Air Temples weren’t exactly the most fun times when the orator somehow made it boring. Though odds are, it was Korra who got bored of the tradition and orderly fashion that her airbending master seemed to focus on.

Not being able to heal anything more until Aang’s natural healing process achieved more on its own, Korra sent the water to the sink in his room and applied the fresh bandages she brought with her.

Every time she had healed him, Korra tried to keep to small talk. She was never sure how to field any talk of her time, his future, without somehow making a mistake and end up saying the wrong thing.

If only she had the chance to bring him up to speed on the get-go like she wanted.

"Ever shaved with waterbending before?" Korra asked curiously as she drew water from the nearby faucet with a graceful wave of her arm. The bottles in her kit were the purest water the clinic had and she was given them to use solely for healing purposes.

He knows the moment the healing session has stopped, because that's the moment the slow dull ache returns, though to Korra's credit it is softer than before. Aang gives an experimental stretch, testing the limitations of not only his own body, but the bandages wrapped around it. He's reaching for his shirt when she mentions waterbending.

"Uh uh. Never needed to, I always kept a razor in my pack."

Aang turns and sees she has the water at the ready.

"Have you ever shaved with waterbending before?"

"Uh, yeah. I’d rather use water to shave my le-"

Stopping mid-sentence, Korra’s eyebrows rose and stared at Aang for a second.

"Hold still." She managed an even tone and brought the water up to his head. Gliding the water slowly from front to back, the front of the water that connected with his scalp severed hair from skin and the rest of the liquid behind it healed away any of the itching or burning that would normally follow.

"I used to bend ice at first, but I had to heal the cuts afterwards. Eventually I started doing this instead and it’s worked out a lot better."

That was, in Aang's estimation, one very long second. Especially since he wasn't aware people shaved their legs. That wasn't the sort of conversation one had one hundred years ago, when he had more exposure to women then he does now. And even then it's not something that just came up in conversation.

As the water left his scalp Aang reached up, ran a hand over the point of his arrow, and smiled.

"How do I look?"

"Like a bonafide bald airbender." Disposing of the water, Korra began to close the back of his shirt back up. "It’s going to be a few more sessions before you get back your full range of motion, but we’ll get there."

She closed up her med kit and swung it around to her back.

"How’s your bending so far?"

"It's okay," he says giving her a half shrug. "It's harder to bend, but I think that's because it's harder for me to actually bend."

"You’ll be up to snuff before you know it." She opened her mouth, about to offer a game of airball when he was better, but she closed her mouth and tried to think of something else.

For Korra, it was hard not being able to mention anything about being the Avatar. It was something that was as much a part of her as it was for Aang.

"You can show me some airbending tricks when you’re all bendy again."

"I can certainly do that. Maybe we could practice waterbending together. You know, if you wanted to."

"Sure! I haven’t had another waterbender to train with since I got here." Unless one counted her fight with Amon as training. Being taught by Katara was one thing, but actually waterbending with her previous incarnation.

Well, that’s just something else entirely.

"If you want, I can get a razor for you so next time your hair starts to grow out you can shave it?"

"Yeah? I would like that. Uh...not that I don't appreciate the help. It's just...I haven't had someone else shave my head since I was little."

Back when Gyatso was warning him to stand still, or he would feed him to the lemurs.

"Hey, no offense taken. I’ve never had anyone else shave me, I think I’d find it just as weird."

. . .

Pursing her lips and blinking at Aang for a second.

"Now what’s the wait time on this necklace?" Not serious in the least, going by her putting her hand on her knee and leaning on it. "Now that you have your monkly head back."

He covers his mouth under the guise of scratching his nose, but really it's to hide the fact that he's trying not to laugh.

"Not much longer," he says after wiping away his smile. "Actually, since you're here you can tell me how long you'd like it, instead of me just guessing."

He holds it out to her for inspection. The weave isn't as flowery as the one he made for Katara, but instead resembles the bone choker Sokka always wore. Korra didn't strike Aang as someone who really went in for dainty.

Looking at it more closely allowed Korra to see the Southern Water Tribe influence and she tried to come up with an estimated measurement, but her mind drew a blank.

"Um, I don't know." It could be a necklace, but the way it was looking Korra would put it at being a choker.

"How does it fit so far?" she asked as she elevated her chin so Aang could place it on her to get an idea.

Aang looked at the necklace, then at her neck. With a look of pure concentration so strong it even prompted his tongue to stick out a little, he leaned forward and tried to wrap the necklace around her neck.

"Hmmm. If you want it to be snug against your neck, Then I've got maybe two more pattern repeats. If you want it looser than that, it'll be more."

It wasn’t until he was done that she just realized that he had to stretch his back to test the necklace out. "Sorry, I should have done that." But at the same time, he did need to try and push his limits a bit to get back his normal range of motion.

Which for an airbender was incredibly important, if her not!adoptive airbending family was any measure to go by.

"Loose then. I can wear it with the dress I have. Once in a while something fun comes up and some of us foreigners get together." She didn’t have any neck jewelry to go with it and she really didn’t want any. But a simple, hand-made necklace that reflected her culture, well that was a lot better than any metals or gems.

His head tilts in confusion at her apology. Sure his back was stiff, but it felt loads better now than it did when he first woke up here. And really, she's solely responsible for that positive change, so there's no real need to apologize.

"You don't have to apologize, Korra. I'm okay," he then offers her his most goonie of smiles.

"Loose it is then," and with that he sets back to work, undoing the holding knot he'd put in place and continuing onward.

"Are there a lot of those? Get togethers, I mean."

How could the previous Avatar be a little on the dorky side? From what Korra had seen and heard, Aang had changed the world after saving it. A serious undertaking, and even when he was kind there was a sense of responsibility that he carried.

But-

Twinkle-toes.

Toph’s nickname for him, one she used even when they were older.

After hearing the question, her first instinct to say no. Then her mind went from the Bacchanal, to Zatanna’s Movie Night, to the beach party, to tamales at the Reyes’ suite, and to the grand opening of the Brazen Turtle. "Yeah, there actually is. All it takes is for one or two people to get together and invite the others."

She smirked as she watched him work.

"Why, thought of something you’d want to do?"

"Everything," he says, his small ever-present smile widening. "If I'm going to be here, I'm going to make the best of it and try to meet as many people as possible."

His fingers deftly manipulate the string and it doesn't take him long to get back into the rhythm of weaving. Conveniently this draws his attention to the necklace, which provides him with a great excuse for not looking at Korra.

"Toph told me that time back home freezes while we're here, and that not everyone here is from the same point in time."

Korra couldn’t help but smirk, because that had been exactly how she felt after her first day of arriving. Though, she didn’t want to meet everyone, that would have included Amon.

That next part causes her to pause and her eyes fall to the necklace he’s weaving.

"Yeah. There’re even some people who have another them show up from a similar word to theirs." Right now she was trying to figure out if this would roll around to her and where she came from, or rather, when she came from.

His hands fumble, and then stop. His mouth forms a firm line as he tries to wrap his mind around what Korra has just said.

"...you don't mean in a reincarnation way, do you."

Now she knew that this could lead to something way too complicated, even for her.

"No, I don’t. Like take this guy named Tony Stark. There are two of them here and they both come from different worlds, never knew each other until they got here. Sure, they have a lot in common, but their lives were different. There are a few people that have another them here, but not too many."

She shrugged.

"That’s kind of normal for the turtle." Words Kyle said came to her mind and they never seemed more accurate than just then.

This place is super weird even on the best of days.

"Oh. Okay."
He begins to weave again.

"...is there another me here that no one is telling me about?"

"Nope, you’re the only Aang here." A simple shrug paired with a mild smile was all Korra gave on that and she watched him continue his crafting.

"I think Toph would have lost her mind if there were two of you."

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