poly_chromatic | 二十四

[ option a ]
The air is frigid, but there's no wind to make it truly unbearable. Korra stands in the middle of her training arena in the South Pole, facing Master Katara and her White Lotus teachers, who stand on a platform above her.

When she looks down, there's a knife in her hand, and Chekov sits with his back to her.

"Begin."

She brings the knife down, stabbing the young man in the back. Blood splatters on her hand, her torso, her face. She pulls the knife out and stabs him again. And again. And again. And again.

She can hear Master Katara turn to her White Lotus teachers. "You were right about her," the Avatar's wife says. "She is a failure."

[ option b ]
She's held on stage by two giant brutes, their hands gripping her arms hard enough to bruise. The stage lights burn her eyes; she can't see the crowd except as a faceless mass surrounding her on all sides. Her attention isn't on them, anyway. Her entire focus is on the other side of the stage, where the leader of the Equalists stands.

"I am not without compassion or justice," Amon says. "I will give the Avatar the chance to fight to keep her bending."

The guards holding her arms let go and Korra immediately unleashes a volley of fireballs. Amon charges at her and dodges each one, moving like a leaf in the wind. She tries to block him with a column of earth, but the stage is made of wood. She wipes the sweat from her brow and sends it flying as razor sharp icicles, but Amon is already gone -- behind her -- twisting her arm and forcing to her knees.

In a moment, with a simple touch to her forehead and a blinding flash of pain, it's over. Her bending is gone.

Korra slumps to the ground as the crowd roars in approval. She doesn't have the strength to resist when Amon kicks her, sending her off the stage with a brutal shove. What does it matter, anyway? Things can't get any worse.

The crowd parts, allowing four shadowy figures to approach.

"What use is an Avatar who could not save her friends?" she hears Amon ask the crowd as the ghouls of Asami, Mako, Bolin, and Tenzin advance on her. "What use is an Avatar who cannot even save herself?"

[ option c ]
Her limbs are twisted, contorted, wrong. The pain is agonizing, but not nearly as bad as the feeling that her body is not her own. Her very blood is bent to Tarrlok's will. With it, Tarrlok sends her floating down the stairs, down into an airless steel container. She screams, struggles, but she can't stop him from throwing her inside and closing the door.

"YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS, TARRLOK!" she screams, pounding on the door. "LET ME OUT!"

Except she's no longer seventeen, but seven. It's dark and she's scared and she doesn't know where her parents are. The door opens and she stumbles out.

The old man leers down at her, and the woman too, and other faces she knows from the Underground. She throws fireballs at them, and boulders, and jets of water, but the crowd just laughs and the circle around her grows smaller and smaller.

[ option d ]
When the nightmares become too much to bear, her past lives step in.

Aang offers her a memory of Tenzin's childhood -- a warm summer day on Air Temple Island. He, Katara, young Kya, Bumi, and little Tenzin are playing on the beach. He passes on a pure, easy joy.

Roku offers her a memory of a quiet moment in his garden -- no people around, only a warm cup of tea in his hands and the peaceful sounds of animals around him. He passes on a feeling of serenity.

Kyoshi offers her a memory of her lover -- a sweet-tempered woman who steadied the earth beneath her feet, who shared the burden of the decisions she had to make. She passes on the comfort of her love's embrace.

[OOC: Hit with Dream Vortex - take your pick! You can mix and mingle, have one dream transition into another if you so choose. A & B, characters can interact with Korra as she is now; in C, characters would interact with baby!Korra; and in option D, characters would interact with either Aang, Roku, or Kyoshi.]

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[Jinora has the good fortune of missing the first three scenes. She finds herself on Air Temple Island--but not quite the same island she left.]

[Little Bumi comes running up the beach, chasing a ball. He stops when he sees Jinora.]

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD. THERE'S A STRANGE GIRL HERE.

[She covers her ears. This kid could rival Ikki.]

I'm not strange! I live here!

You don't. I live here. DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD.

[Aang jogs up from the shoreline at the sound of Bumi's voice.]

What is it, Bumi?

[She's this close to running, but is that...?]

Grandpa Aang?

[Aang stops. Slowly a smile spreads across his face.]

Jinora. [He crouches down.] It is so good to finally meet you.

[Come give Grandpa a hug?]

[That she does. Is there any other way to greet the grandfather you never met?]

You too--I've heard and read so much about you! But what are you doing here?

[Here being Jinora's dream. She's never made it into the dreams of others before.]

Edited 2013-04-12 04:01 (UTC)

[He squeezes her tightly.]

The better question is, what are you doing here? [gentle grin] This is Korra's dream.

It is? [That. Actually explains a lot.] I don't know. I don't have to leave, do I?

Not unless you want to.

[Aang stands up and holds his hand out to her.]

Want to hit the beach?

[She shakes her head enthusiastically and takes Aang's hand. Even if she knew how to leave, Jinora wouldn't give up a chance to talk to her grandfather.]

Okay! [pause] That kid isn't going to start yelling again, is he?

I make no promises for your Uncle Bumi. Bumi will be Bumi.

That was Bumi? [She thinks about this.] He hasn't changed a lot.

[That gets Jinora a big guffaw.]

He takes after his namesake, that's for sure.

[Hand-in-hand, they walk down the beach.]

How are you holding up?

[She smiles up at him. Her smile's reserved; understandable, since she's in the presence of her grandfather.]

I'm fine, but I'm not good at training Korra. I've been reading and I'm considering a new approach.

[Understandable, but not necessary. Remind him to show you the marble trick sometime.]

Korra presents...unique challenges. [affectionate smile] What approach are you considering?

Unique...

[Yeah, that's accurate.]

Well. The way that Dad taught me and Ikki and Meelo bores her, and she's bad at sitting still. I'm reading about tai chi... meditation, but moving meditation. It reminds me a little of waterbending.

[She hesitates before admitting:] She doesn't think she's spiritual and that's keeping her from making much progress. I think that she's confused. Maybe I'm wrong, but isn't the physical the same as the spiritual?

[The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Even now, so many years later, Aang can hear the Guru's voice.]

Where did you learn that?

[That was never a lesson he could really get Tenzin to understand. It's one of the most difficult lessons for human beings to master. He's curious where Jinora encountered this concept.]

[Jinora becomes more animated, clearly eager to share what she's been thinking about with her grandfather. Better yet, he actually seems interested!]

I didn't, exactly, but I've been reading all kinds of books in the library. One was about something called Buddhism and it was kind of like what I've been learning at home. The main idea is that we're trapped in a world of illusion and, if we see through that illusion, we get to be free.

[She doesn't really know how to explain this next part...]

Then I was an adult for a couple days and really started thinking, and I took notes so I'd remember what I thought afterwards. First I was thinking about how Dad's always saying that airbending is the element of freedom, and freedom, with Buddhism, comes from getting rid of illusions. I figured maybe freedom and freedom from illusion could be related. Then I thought about how we're supposed to be more spiritual than other benders, but that doesn't make sense since all forms of bending depend on spiritual energy.

Buddhism and some other things I read about talked about how everything is connected by spiritual energy, which makes everything in the world one thing; we only think that's not true because of illusions. That would mean that the spirit world and the physical world are the same, all of the bending arts are the same... and Korra's good at bending. She's spiritual because everyone is spiritual, just not everyone knows it. Maybe the only reason she can't airbend is because she doesn't think she can, or maybe it's harder for her because Dad wasn't teaching her the way she needs to be taught.

[She doesn't usually talk that much. Yikes. But she does look up at Aang, expression equal parts pride and nervousness. What if she's completely wrong? What if she didn't explain it right or misunderstood something? What if he doesn't approve?]

They're just ideas...

Edited 2013-04-20 06:07 (UTC)

[Aang kneels down to look Jinora in the eyes. He sets his hands on her shoulders and squeezes them gently.]

I think you are going to be an excellent teacher for Korra.

[He doesn't want to say much more -- the lessons will sink in much deeper if she figures them out for herself. He pulls her in close.]

I am very proud of you.

[The girl is so pleased that she doesn't know whether to smile or cry. She compromises and does a little of both, hugging her grandfather tightly.]

Thank you, Grandpa Aang.

Always.

[He'll take her down to the beach, where she can play with young Tenzin, Bumi, and Kya for as long as the curse allows her.]

二十四

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