tushanshu_logs | Light 'em up

Light 'em up

Characters: EVERYBODY
Date: sundown on November 29th to sunrise on November 30th
Location: A plaza in Earth
Situation: The population of Keeliai could use a little warmth. So Chekov set stuff on fire and invited everyone over.
Warnings/Rating: None, but please put something in your comment header if necessary.

On Wednesday, everyone received the following audio message (and text attachments in English and Russian) from (1) Pavel Chekov in their inboxes:

“Hello. I would like to invite you to a bonfire in Earth sector on Friday at sundown. Please feel free to bring friends.”

A plaza in Earth sector is buzzing with activity-- most of it from one young man. He spends the day lugging folding tables and pushing wheelbarrows of supplies into the plaza. As the day wears on, several entrepreneurial kedan set up stands. By sundown, the plaza is lit up with three large, roaring bonfires. Most of the ice and snow has melted away, leaving a few patches here and there in the furthest corners of the plaza. One patch a bit away from the fires is completely devoid of snow and ice-- it's a sort of dance floor or performance area. Some music is playing out of one of the upper windows of the buildings overlooking the plaza. It's varies from quick and frenzied to slow and soothing. Of course, anyone is welcome to claim the floor to perform a magic show or do a little singing of their own.

There's a hodgepodge of various folding tables set with the essentials: raw vegetables, the closest equivalent of marshmallows Chekov could find (next to the chocolate and graham cracker substitutes), and sausages. There are skewers and tongs lying around should anyone need them. He also brought a few jugs of water, which are refilled periodically. It's not much, but it's the best he could do with a limited budget and not a lot of time. The kedan have taken the opportunity to sell what Chekov couldn't bring-- hot beverages and food, blankets, scarves and gloves, and several other simple wares.

It's not a grand setup, but there are roaring bonfires, food, and good company.

(Posting this slightly early because of Thanksgiving chaos. Let me know if you have any questions)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Letting the subject of Damian slide, there's no need for her to ask about it. Not since she's spoken with Jack.

"I've only been on three dates." One of them technically counted. She didn't have her memories for her second date with Mako, but it still happened.

"Sounds like everything turned out okay between you two." After twirling her skewer over a small flame jet from her fingers, Korra took a bite from the sausage; chewing quickly because of how hot it was.

She nodded.

"He wasn't even mad. All he cared about was that I was okay." It was disgusting sentimental, even for the two of them, but given the circumstances? She figured they could get a pass.

Zatanna took a bite of her own food samples. Some of it was inedible to her, but there were a few bits that tasted kind of like...cheese? Very rich. A little more sugary than she remembered, but overall? Not bad at all. The peanut-butter creme cookies were even better, and oddly enough, less sweet. She would have to remember to look for those at a later time.

"I know this is going to sound strange coming from the girl who lives next door to her boyfriend and yet only has two dates under her belt...but really? Only three? I would've thought you two would hang out together a lot more." She tilted her head upward, looking around for any signs of Mako. "Is he here?"

That made Korra look up at Dick, where he was talking to friends. She didn’t know him that well, but his genuine concern for Zatanna made Korra feel better. The magician was right. Between herself, Dick, and Jack, her safety is pretty secure.

All she can give is a shrug that pushes her shoulders in a little, but the question makes Korra take another bite of the cooked sausage. When she arrived earlier, Korra made an igloo away from the bonfires and stayed in it for the most part, occasionally coming out to get food.

"I don’t know."

She basically her her own mini army of bodyguards.

Korra' impassiveness earned a subtle eyebrow raise, however. It was one thing to not know where your boyfriend was at any given moment--Zatanna spent more time having no idea what Dick was up to than she actually saw him--but she would think, on a night like tonight, they'd have some plans for the evening.

"Need some help looking for him? Ninja boyfriends can be tricky like that."

"No." Her answer is quick, but calm. A flick of her finger brought a small flame to darken the rest of the sausage. Korra took the moment to formulate the words in her head, she couldn’t avoid saying it forever. "We’re not seeing each other any more."

It’s over.

Taking the last bite of that one, she began to cook the other two. Both elbows on the stone arm rests, Korra’s eyes were lidded and the light from her firebending lent an orange glow to her ace.

"But thanks."

Her jaw dropped so quickly, it would have been comedic in any other situation.

"You're...what? What happened?"

There a ghost of a flinch at the reaction, but Korra keeps herself stead and even reaches over to grab one of the cheese bites. "I asked the Emperor to show me the future." Her eyes fall onto the bit of food in the palm of her hand, resting neatly on the fingerless, sleeved glove.

"We, don’t really work out." All the fighting, the breaking up, the lying that follows it, comforting as it was meant to be were just too much for her then and she knows it’s going to be too much for her now that she’s seen it.

"We broke up the next day." Of course, she saw her future. Mako had no idea and got blindsided by it. That was the part that made her not bring it up until now.

To her credit, Zatanna listened to the entire explanation. Growing more and more solemn the more Korra went on. Talks about seeing the future. The Emperor. We don't really work out.

"So you broke up with him now because you two break up later on." Yeah, sure, that made perfect sense to her. "That's..."

Honestly? She didn't even know what that was. Zatanna had never really been the kind of person to plan that far ahead. Live for the moment, and all that jazz. As it was, she was doing everything in her power to try to change certain events that were supposed to happen in her Future. So the idea of letting it completely overtake her present?

Not even an option.

"Are you okay?' First and foremost. Breakups were hard.

"Yeah, I am now. I just needed some time."

And also to flip out, go into the Avatar State while emotionally unstable and almost kill Jim for trying to stop her from going on a rampage thanks to the self defense mechanism of the Avatar State. Find and eliminate the problem that is comprising the Avatar. In this case, Mako.

"It’s best for both us. I think he understands that."

Edited 2013-12-05 18:47 (UTC)

"...I'm really sorry, Korra."

The sentiment was genuine. She couldn't even imagine; even if the Future told her that she and Dick wouldn't be together in the long run...she didn't care. They were happy now.

"I am too." As necessary as it was for her, Korra did love Mako and didn’t want to follow through with it. But it was the first step in being what she would need to be later. "There’s nothing either of us can do about it, so…"

She took a bite of the second sausage and tilted her head briefly in some kind of affirmation.

A twitch of her lips precedes the small smirk she gives. "So why aren’t you over there with him? This is kind of a date, isn’t it?"

Zatanna would argue that there was something they could do. They could screw the rules and defy fate (one of her current favorite things to defy, because reasons) and get back together anyway.

But that was a conversation for another time.

"We thought we'd give the poor marshmallows a break." She picked on up from a nearby bowl, turning it over in her hands for a moment before shrugging and popping it into her mouth. "For some reason, we couldn't keep our focus on the fire long enough to not burn every one we tried to roast. Can't imagine why that would be."

That smirk turns into a toothy smile. Korra knew that feeling, ignoring everything except that one person. Granted that was usually when she and Mako where alone in an extensive make-out session.

"Pretty sure you can come up with a rough idea." One small toss and Korra catches the cheese bite in her mouth. The food is that good and she makes a mental note to pick up another plate from vendors.

"How long have you two been together?"

"Since the night we went to the Opera. Um...I think that was in August. So about three months, give or take."

But that was only officially; she'd known him--as both Dick and Robin--for well over a year.

"Two dates isn’t so bad then." Korra said she’s been on three dates, but only two of those were with Mako. Her first one was with Bolin, before arriving in the palace. So really, to her, Zatanna’s doing just fine.

And by proxy, so is Dick.

"You guys want to borrow my igloo?" Leaning in on her arm so she’s closer to Zee, a slyly grinning Korra points behind her with her thumb. Kissing in public didn’t bother her and Mako, but she knows some people aren’t fond it.

Kind of like how she wasn’t fond of Mako kissing Asami in front of her.

She laughed at the not-so-subtle implication, waving Korra's offer with a single hand.

"No, we're good. Besides, the fire would melt it. And I was kind of enjoying the warmth. A lot." Plus, public displays of affection were the least of her concerns.

"Warmth's overrated." After suffering from a grueling summer, Korra’s embracing the wintry weather full on.

She knows she’s poor company right now, coming out is starting to feel like a mistake. Maybe she misjudged just how much time she needed. "You should go be with him. The night’s not going to last forever."

"I prefer to think of it as getting the best of both worlds, really."

The chill of the air felt wonderful. But so did body heat. She really couldn't complain about either.

"We live next door to each other, Korra. I see him all the time. Besides...I'll go back in a few. Right now, I'm hanging out with you. Unless this is your way of telling me to get lost." A tease.

"No, I’m not telling you to get lost." A small chuckle makes its way into her words. If anything, Korra meant it the other way around. "I’m just- tonight should be fun."

I’m not.

"And all I’ve got are these." A wave of the skewer holding her sausages before Korra takes another bite out of one. "Besides, I usually get you into trouble."

"I usually get myself in trouble, Korra. And, besides, I am having fun. Dick and I have the whole night to spend together."

She prove that she wasn't going anywhere just yet, she reached down for another marshmallow, defiantly popping it into her mouth. Take that.

Any hope she had of avoiding possibly seeing Mako there and just hiding in her igloo was dashed away with that one. marshmallow. She let out a breath that she didn't even know she was holding in and ended with a single laugh.

"Alright. What do bonfires mean back your world, what do you all do when you're around them?"

"They usually mean something's on fire."

Grinning, she took a moment to let that sink in. There were a few extra sticks nearby, so she took one for herself, and one for Korra as soon as the older girl was done reacting to her last statement, and stuck a pair of marshmallows on each end. Hers was then immediately held up and over the flame.

"There's no real significant meaning behind them. It gets cold. Fires are warm. Most people like being warm. So we all huddle together and roast things and just enjoy one another's company in the fresh air. That's pretty much all."

Happy to have an excuse to shove the rest of her sausage in her mouth, eating is one of Korra’s favorite pastimes, Korra puts the stick near Zatanna’s to heat up her marshmallow.

"Huh. I thought there might be more to them. Company part’s nice though." When one side of her marshmallow started to brown, Korra turns it over while staring the flames.

"The fire is nice, isn’t it?"

She nodded, shifting a little in her seat to get more comfortable. Her back was still cold, but her front was starting to radiate warmth from being so close to the fire.

"It is. Functional and soothing. And this is going to sound weird...but I've always kind of liked the smell of firewood burning. Never could figure out why, but it brings back a lot of pleasant memories."

"I don’t know if it’s the same for you, but we almost always had a fire in the fireplace back home." That makes her smile. Once they had discovered she could bend three elements, her parents usually asked her to light it whenever she was home.

"Probably beats having to wear a lot of layers too." Probably. Korra’s never had to wear more than her pants, shirt, jacket, and boots. Maybe her sleeved gloves every now and then.

Before it can start blackening, Korra brings the marshmallow back and offers it to Zatanna.

Light 'em up

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)