十一

[anatural]

[filtered to the deities]
[Korra is beaming at the camera, nearly bouncing off the walls with excitement. She can't believe she didn't think of this sooner. She can get her bending back and deal with the Mako issue once & for all, all at the same time! It's perfect!]

I wanna make a trade.

[action]
[The trade did not go well. She couldn't bear to go home, so she's in the park, running through her waterbending forms and questioning whether she made the right decision.]


[ooc: backdated to earlier today]

Comments

|| Deity Filter ||

[laszlo_jamf]

Do you really?

|| Deity Filter ||

[anatural]

I want my bending back. All of it. It was taken from me on my homeworld, but you have the power to give it back to me, right?

|| Deity Filter ||

[laszlo_jamf]

I want my bending back, bending back, bending back... Wait, no.

Oh, like as not we have that power. Sure. Why not? We can do that.

Re: || Deity Filter ||

[anatural]

Great! Awesome! Thank you so much!

|| Deity Filter ||

[laszlo_jamf]

Ain't you forgetting something, kid?

|| Deity Filter ||

[anatural]

Right. Of course.

[She sounds a little less excited now. It's one thing to make the plan...it's something else entirely to actually do it.

It's for the best.]

Last time, you took my love for someone for two weeks. For this, I'd give up my love permanently.

|| Deity Filter ||

[laszlo_jamf]

Wait, wait. You mean you're just going to pay with the same thing for something more and other than before?

Honey, please.

action!

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei is working through prior issues. He is stewing. He is calculating. He is quantizing. Or something. He would not be doing something as mundane as lazing on a park-bench in the afternoon. ]

[ Except he totally is. No hobo. ]

[ Stretched out on the rough wood, a book tented half-across his eyes to block the bright midday light, he sees a figure in his peripheral vision. Oh, perfect. He has her apartment under surveillance. He knows hers and her friends' patterns. He knows where to find her if he wants -- and how to avoid her when he doesn't. And he doesn't. So why is she here? A break in routine, even for -- what are those, calisthenics? -- in the park indicates underlying trouble. ]

[ Not that it's his problem. ]

Re: action!

[anatural]

[More like tai chi. Her every move is slow, careful, deliberate. There's no sign of her usual restless energy; it's almost like she's a different person, though the truth is her energy simply needs a channel, which her bending provides.

Naga lies not far off, a constant presence since the incident with Li. She looks for all the world like she's lazing and relaxed, but her ears are up and at attention. She caught Li's scent early on, and is carefully monitoring his movements, ready to move at any sign of a threat.

Korra is oblivious. She's keeping her awareness tight on her breath and tbe steady beat of her heart. It's the only way to keep her thoughts from spiraling.]

action!

[mortemscintilla]

[ Despite himself, he's curious. The solo forms and techniques are a little different. But the basics are similar to the taolu and katas he's practiced from childhood right upto this morning. He watches her in that subtle way he observes people when he doesn't want them to know he's doing so. Flipping through his book, his eyes barely peeking over the edge. ]

[ He can't remember when he's seen her look so calm. It's almost un-Korra-like. Astounding. And attractive. Three full seconds pass before he registers Naga. The pet's here too? Great. He should leave. Before this moment quickly becomes a Mexican Standoff of Awkwardness. ]

action!

[anatural]

[Would it really have been so bad, giving up her memories of this place? It's not like she has a lot of good ones. It'd be nice if she could forget everything about Li. And safer for her friends -- he'd have no reason to hurt them anymore.

She visualizes her thoughts as water. She goes through the form that would channel water from a pool, pulls them out of her mind and sets them aside.

She would have lost Chekov, and everything he had done for her. She would have lost Bolin and how he encouraged her when she lost her bending. She's grown in her time here, fought for a new identity. To erase it, just like that... it would have cheapened it. She couldn't do that.

She takes these thoughts too and sets them aside. Her mind emptied, she finishes her form and stands, taking a moment to breathe and decide whether she wants to do fire or earth forms next.]

action!

[mortemscintilla]

[ A mark had once told Hei: If I erase my memories, I erase myself. Since arriving here, he understands what she meant. He has no role or identity here. He's another face in the blur of unique, not-unique citizens -- and the eidetic baggage of memory is the only thing keeping him afloat. He doesn't know his next step. That's what the problem is. In the past, he'd always gotten through these situations by focusing on what to do next. Agendas and deadlines. Plan A to Plan B. ]

[ In many ways, he's thankful he was assigned to his team after Heaven's War. He's still not sure what it was about Mao, Huang and Yin -- but their juxtaposition to his life was Plan B to a T. Maybe because they were all looking for the same thing at the same time. A fallback -- a recourse. It worked. Without that, the limbo he's fallen into since entering the City is deeper than ever. ]

[ When Korra stops, he takes his cue to get moving. If she sees him, it'll result in defcon levels of trouble. He just hopes Naga doesn't alert her of his presence. ]

action!

[anatural]

[Unfortunately for Hei, Naga has classified his every move as a potential threat. She growls softly, just enough to catch Korra's attention.]

What is it?

[She turns to look at what's upsetting her friend, and sees Li.

She feels hot and cold all at once. Wistful, afraid, angry, sad. Her chest aches, but it's a pain she's learning to live with.

She turns away, happy to let him leave. She doesn't want anything to do with him.]

action;

[blackshadow]

[ Like a true creep, Tyr just chooses to sit over to the side and watch Korra go through the forms. To him, it's nothing other than that, and that kind of makes it special... And it's special enough to him to sit curled up on the grass and covered in his cloak, looking like a sake of potatoes with a head.

It's just been a really, really long time since he's seen anyone practice waterbending... ]

action;

[anatural]

[Korra comes to the end of her first set of forms, and takes a moment to breathe before moving into the next set. In that moment, she finally notices someone watching her.]

Hi.

[Her tone is friendly, if a little wary.]

action;

[blackshadow]

Hey.

[ He can't blame her for being wary, so he smiles at her (albeit somewhat forcedly). ]

Sorry, it's been a while since I saw anyone practice...

action;

[anatural]

You're familiar with waterbending?

[She perks up, interested.]

action;

[blackshadow]

[ He nods. ] One of my best friends was an amazing waterbender... I haven't seen anyone else do it until she left.

action;

[anatural]

What was her name?

action;

[vengefully]

[Sasuke is just walking by, when he sees her training or something of the sort...it looks familiar enough that he is just watching her out of curiosity]

action;

[anatural]

[She's moved on to her firebending forms. At this point, she's actually getting tired enough that it's hard to concentrate just on the moves themselves. When she notices another person watching, she takes it as an excuse for a break.]

Can I help you?

action;

[vengefully]

The way you were training seemed familiar that's all.

action;

[anatural]

Do you know any waterbenders?

action;

[vengefully]

I did actually— but that was some time ago.

action;

[anatural]

Was her name Katara?