Aang (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
12goingon113) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
tushanshu_logs2015-04-08 08:20 pm
12goingon113) wrote in tushanshu_logs2015-04-08 08:20 pm
[Open]
Characters: Aang, Katara...and you?
Date: Mid-April
Location: The Midnight Hotel
Situation: Aang returns home post mugging.
Warnings/Rating:
Times were tough, and they only seemed to be getting tougher.
Day after day Aang returned to the construction site to help with the new development. Waterbending the sopping land dry, earthbending levees, firebending to cure bricks, airbending whenever possible to get from place to place quickly as needed.
It was some of the most grueling training he'd endured since before the end of The War.
To make matters worse, the ever dwindling supply of produce and grain meant there was less food to go around, with the lack of variety hitting those with dietary restrictions, like Aang, hardest. Of course even when there was food for him, he never ate it all, opting instead to share what little he had with those whose bowls he believed should've been a bit more full.
That's just his way.
Helping people is his duty, and he will not be negligent in his duties...never again.
Which is why when the middle-aged kedan woman comes to him seeking help he doesn't hesitate, he doesn't question. As he follows her she tells him of the strange animal currently wreaking havoc in her home. And please, won't he please help.
Only when he enters the house...there is no animal.
There isn't much of anything really. No animal, no furniture, no nothing. It's not until he tries to turn towards her to ask her what's going on that he realizes he can't move.
At all.
He's utterly paralyzed.
His mind races as panic sets in.
No he wants to protest, to scream, but can't.
There's not even time to focus in an attempt to call forth the Avatar State, because in seconds she's on him, rifling through his robes in search of something, anything.
His wages for the day.
The woven necklace he'd been working on.
The several decorative stones that he'd been planing to make meditation beads out of.
And then finally...his soul gem.
There's a clatter as the previous items fall to the floor in favor of stripping this one, singular item from him.
As quickly as the attack had begun, it's over. He hears her whisper something of an apology just before she exits the house, closing the door behind her.
Leaving him alone, still unable to move.
Date: Mid-April
Location: The Midnight Hotel
Situation: Aang returns home post mugging.
Warnings/Rating:
Times were tough, and they only seemed to be getting tougher.
Day after day Aang returned to the construction site to help with the new development. Waterbending the sopping land dry, earthbending levees, firebending to cure bricks, airbending whenever possible to get from place to place quickly as needed.
It was some of the most grueling training he'd endured since before the end of The War.
To make matters worse, the ever dwindling supply of produce and grain meant there was less food to go around, with the lack of variety hitting those with dietary restrictions, like Aang, hardest. Of course even when there was food for him, he never ate it all, opting instead to share what little he had with those whose bowls he believed should've been a bit more full.
That's just his way.
Helping people is his duty, and he will not be negligent in his duties...never again.
Which is why when the middle-aged kedan woman comes to him seeking help he doesn't hesitate, he doesn't question. As he follows her she tells him of the strange animal currently wreaking havoc in her home. And please, won't he please help.
Only when he enters the house...there is no animal.
There isn't much of anything really. No animal, no furniture, no nothing. It's not until he tries to turn towards her to ask her what's going on that he realizes he can't move.
At all.
He's utterly paralyzed.
His mind races as panic sets in.
No he wants to protest, to scream, but can't.
There's not even time to focus in an attempt to call forth the Avatar State, because in seconds she's on him, rifling through his robes in search of something, anything.
His wages for the day.
The woven necklace he'd been working on.
The several decorative stones that he'd been planing to make meditation beads out of.
And then finally...his soul gem.
There's a clatter as the previous items fall to the floor in favor of stripping this one, singular item from him.
As quickly as the attack had begun, it's over. He hears her whisper something of an apology just before she exits the house, closing the door behind her.
Leaving him alone, still unable to move.
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"good answer," he says, forcing a small smile.
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"when we're done closing the factory and have had yang chen's festival, do you maybe want to take the acolytes to the southern water tribe? we can show them where you found me in the ice and introduce them to grangran and your dad."
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She stares at him, now blank for the next few long seconds. The words are vaguely familiar, but she doesn't understand them as well as he seems to think she does.
"Aang... We're--"
She stops without the heart to correct him, to tell him that he's in this condition in an entirely different world. "We can do that if you want," she responds instead, brushing her fingers over the arrow on his head. "I'm sure grangean and dad would love to meet them."
A pause, as she thought it over. What else would he do if he could? If he was home, and healthy.
"Was there...anything else you wanted to do? That I can help out with, I mean."
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"i still don't know what kind of whiskey sokka and hakoda like best."
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"Whiskey?"
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The sentence sort of trails off at the end.
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The word, though hushed, is no less surprised. Her dusky cheeks are now rose, and her heart feels as though it's about to beat through her ribcage.
"I--h-how long do you think we've been... You know--together?"
She's not about to shatter his illusion on purpose, but now her head is swimming and she's willing to gently play his game for answers.
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"since after zuko's coronation."
His eyes open a fraction, and one hand reaches out to touch one of her hair loopies.
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Now her head is definitely spinning. So much has changed, and yet so many of her feelings feel so much the same.
She puts a hand to her own chest, over the near painful throbbing of her heart, then brings her fingers up to her lips, her other hand never straying from his cheek. There's so much she doesn't know, so much she wants to know, and now, looking at him, in the state he's in, with all the time she's wasted... She realizes her chances are draining with the avatar's health.
Tears fill her eyes, spilling over as quickly as they gather while she silently prays for a miracle, and when he reaches up to play with her hair, she lays her hand over his and leans into his palm. "I'm so sorry, Aang...!" Sorry for this circumstance, sorry that she can't do anything for him, sorry that she's wasted so much of their time.
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"i'm glad you're here. i didn't like being here nearly as much without you."
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The promise is sound, and though she's still begging the powers that be for a miracle, she's overwhelmed with the knowledge she's losing him right before her eyes.
"Please don't leave...please hang on...I can't do this without you," she whimpers, her voice just audible enough.
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Even when standing isn't really an option.
"everything will be okay, katara. don't cry," he says softly before gently wiping away one of her tears with his thumb.
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She banishes the tears escaping her eyelashes with the back of her hand, then pushes her fluffy mass of curls out of her face. He can't help it, and she has no reason to get upset with him for trying to reassure her. "I'm sorry...y-you're right..." she amends shakily. If these are to be his last few days...hours... She's not going to make them any harder. She's going to be there for him, no matter how hard it is to see him like this.
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And then, in spite of everything. The tears, the fever, the headache that makes it so he can hear the sound of his own pulse from his ears, and how it feels like his soul is being shredded at the margins. In spite of all that, Aang attempts a joke.
"i'm sorry i'm right too. such a burden to be right all the time."
after he says it he looks up at her with as much of a smile as he can manage.
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Without him, she and her brother would never have left the South Pole, or explored the world, or found themselves. Her sense of justice and her inner strength would never have been tested or have grown without the adventures he had given them. She never would have realized her talents in waterbending if he hadn't pushed her; she never would have tried her hand at healing. The fire nation wouldn't have been stopped, and the world wouldn't be putting itself back together. She wouldn't have made new friends, made new memories, or found a home beyond her family.
He's savior, teacher, guide, and friend all in one...and she knows there's more. There's always been more.
And then, though she doesn't know when she told herself to do it, she's bending down to press her lips to his forehead. He had pursued her for so long... Why couldn't she just see.
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"i've missed you so much," he whispers when she's still close enough to hear. "i've never missed someone who's so close at the same time. here and not here."
It might not make a whole lot of sense to her, but it does to him judging by the sincerity of his tone.
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"I know... I'm here now, though. And I'm not going anywhere," she repeats. "I'm sorry it took so long for me to figure it out."
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It's here that Aang tilts his head up, hoping to catch her in a kiss.