二十八

[anatural]

[ action ]
[Korra had gotten up early that morning to train with Jinora. She was surprised that the young airbender hadn't woken her already, although Jinora had eased up in the face of Korra's injury.

The young girl isn't in her room.]

Jinora? Jinora, where are you?

[housemates can hear her limping through the house, shouting for the young girl]


[ voice ]
[She means to filter this to Chekov, but she can never remember how when she most needs to]

Chekov, I need a favor.

Comments

voice;

[anatural]

[She's curled up with Naga and yeah, okay, maybe she was crying a little bit. She almost doesn't respond to Mako's message. She's still pissed at him (fair or not), but passive aggressive ignoring has never been her style.]

What?

[sulking, however, is]

voice;

[flammiferous]

[He clears his throat, cough cough!]

How are you?

voice;

[anatural]

Miserable. [It's funny. She's gotten used to hiding her pain, making sure nobody knows just how much she's hurting because she doesn't want to worry anyone, or she's too proud to let them see. But she's being honest with Mako now, not because she trusts him, not because they have some special bond or she feels safe with him, but because she's angry and she knows her pain will hurt him. (Petty and selfish and cruel, but right now she doesn't have it in herself to care.)]

voice;

[flammiferous]

[Shit. He blanches where he sits at a supposedly infamous fountain. The tick, tock in his head distracts him, and it seems like it's become louder with her terse answer.

In his universe, they've been dating for a couple of months, and sometimes their issues take minutes to resolve. Other times they take days. Either way, it's never easy, and there have been times when that knot in the pit of his stomach made him second-guess whether or not he should be her boyfriend to begin with. It's so hard to tell sometimes, what's his fault and what's her fault and when the world around them is just exacerbating a bad mood.

All he knows is that Jinora's gone, he lost his temper, and now she's... well, miserable. So it's time to start from the beginning. He takes a breath to brace himself.]

Alright. Why are you miserable?

voice;

[anatural]

Why do you think? [IDIOT. She's in no mood to give him even an inch of leeway, no matter how much he deserves it.]

voice;

[flammiferous]

[spirits you're so imposs
ib
llllllle!!!!!!!!!!!!]

I don't know. I'm trying to help you out, Korra.

voice;

[anatural]

You can help me out by NOT being an idiot!!!!!

[the upset in her voice is making Naga growl, and Korra has to force herself to calm down some to keep Naga from snapping]

How can you live in this house for three days and not realize Jinora was here? And you're asking me what's wrong when Jinora is gone and I can't walk without this STUPID cane and things between us are so twisted and you don't know anything about what it's been like for me here.

[shit. shit shit shit she's going to start crying again. she buries her face against naga's fur and forces herself to breathe.]

voice;

[flammiferous]

[Ok, he should stick out the pain and keep the device held up to his ear, but he just can't do it and inevitably he holds it away a few inches until she's done.]

You're right, I'm sorry. I should've paid more attention.

[Annnnnd he's out of words, so he has to think.]

Korra... I want to know what things have been like for you. I want to understand this situation the best way I can, but right now you're just hurting yourself by not telling me.

voice;

[anatural]

[You're just hurting yourself by not telling me

Except how's she supposed to tell him? Where would she begin? How could she tell him without making him hate her? She looks at him, talks to him, and wants to be the Korra that she used to be. She feels self-conscious, a little ashamed, of the person she's become in the City.]

I'm sorry. I shouldn't've said that. [less an apology, more a way to dodge the subject]

voice;

[flammiferous]

At least you said something. Just.. I don't know, talk to someone, even if it's not me. Alright?

[It's not like he's your boyfriend or anything...........]

voice;

[anatural]

Okay. [Except the person she wants to talk to about it, Mako probably wouldn't like at all. Fortunately, he never has to know. (Yeah, THAT'S healthy...)]