二十四

[anatural]

[ 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.]

Comments

[mortemscintilla]

[ The previous Avatar. Great. What next? Is he going to end up in a cozy igloo, meeting Korra's parents? Aang may seem laidback and cheerful. But that doesn't stop Hei from making a quick sweep of the area, in case there are threats lurking about. Or in hopes that there's a sharp piece of driftwood, a jagged rock, a big conch -- something to snatch up in the event of an attack. ]

[ His encounters with Korra have ended in bruises. No reason to assume it'll be any different with this Avatar. ]

If you were the Avatar before her, that means you died before Korra was born. [ If reincarnation works in her world the way it does in philosophy. ] So how are you in her dream? Unless you're a projection of Aang, based off what she's seen in pictures or heard stories of. [ He's inclined to be skeptical. This is just a deeper abstraction of Korra's troubled psyche. None of this is real. ]

[anatural]

It's my dream too, you know. Why don't you have a seat.

[Aang settles down in the sand and gestures for Hei to join him. He waits for a moment, still smiling, then turns his attention to the water.]

I am Korra, and Korra is me. Just as she is Roku and Kyoshi and the hundreds of Avatars who came before. We may be different people, but the spirit is the same.

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei doesn't respond to Aang's invitation. Nor does he make any move to sit. He remains where he is, with an open view of the beach from all possible angles. The sand feels warm and fine-grained under his bare feet. He flexes his toes on instinct -- not for shits and giggles but to secure his footing on the terrain. Combat on sandy surfaces is always trickier. ]

[ The older man's explanation gets a raised eyebrow. I am Korra, and Korra is me. Jesus. He feels like he's talking to the caterpillar in Alice and Wonderland. ] Hundreds? [ Dry as champagne, without the requisite fizz. ] The girl's lacking several decades of built-in wisdom, if that's the case. [ Not a disparagement. More a flat statement of that lost little girl he just left behind. ]

[anatural]

[You're not going to get any fight in here, Hei. But Aang is old enough and wise enough to recognize that kind of instinctive caution. He saw it often enough in soldiers from the Fire Nation army; men and women who returned to their homes & families, but who could never leave the war.]

She has it. Only it's blocked to her. She is plagued by illusions that keep her from recognizing her true self. Freeing your mind of illusion is a process every Avatar must go through. [There's a little wistful sadness in his voice.] For her, it is harder than most.

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei exhales a breath that's both wry and frustrated, a mix of You Got That Right and Why Am I still Here? His eyes keep moving -- not skittish but focused -- around the stretch of the beach, to the woman and the splashing brats, to the shimmering waters and lacy surf. (It's the sort of place he associates Korra with, despite knowing she's from the South Pole. Gold and white and blue, redolent with zesty life.) ]

[ To Aang: ] It'd help if she stopped obsessing over being seen as important because she's the 'Avatar,' instead of the other way around. [ Based on what's he's learnt from Jinora, from Bolin, sometimes he doubts Korra has no more grasp of the role than Hei himself does. ]

[ His attention resettles on Aang: ] How do I get out of here? [ Korra's brain is the last place someone like Hei should be. ]

[anatural]

[That gets a laugh from Aang.] Probably. But she'll figure it out. We always have.

As for an exit...your guess is as good as mine. [He smiles.] It's my dream, not my curse.

[mortemscintilla]

Hm. [ The default guardedness in his posture doesn't dissipate; Hei's expression remains unreadable, despite his gathering annoyance. ] Then I'll have to make my own way. [ The way he always does, curse or no curse. Slipping his hands into the pockets of his drawstring shorts, Hei spares one last look at the family -- then turns to head up the trail where sand turns to stone and grass. ]

[ Come on, Korra. Wake up. Let me out of here. ]

[anatural]

[Aang gets up and follows Hei.]

Do you mind if I walk with you awhile? Until you find your way out.

[mortemscintilla]

[ The only reaction: a tip of his head. He lets Aang walk alongside him, instead of behind him. Not because of an expected blade in the back (he's trained to catch the signals, subtle as they are, that lead upto that moment), but because Hei has even less reason to trust someone in a dream than he would in real life. ]

[ There's no telling when the scenery might change. When the atmosphere might transition from placid to threatening. ]

[anatural]

[Aang walks quietly besides Hei, letting the peaceful silence settle around them. He has some questions he'd like to ask and things he would like to say, but it doesn't have to be right now.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ What does he want? Hei fights off a surge of irritation. Maybe Aang's duty in this dream is to lead him somewhere -- a maze, a cliff -- and attack him. Maybe his reasons are less sinister, but involve getting Hei hopelessly lost on the island. It doesn't matter. He'll deal with the threat if it arises. Instead he drifts up a narrow dirt track leading to a small jungle. The sunlight barely penetrates here, the thick air heavily scented with flowers and the lush greenery. Off in the tangle of trees strange birds flit and twitter. ]

[ It doesn't make him think of South America. This place is too unique in itself. Almost serene -- except Hei's faint scowl is anything but. ]

[ It's a long walk before he stops. He hears and smells water before he sees it. From the underbrush, he emerges into a green bowl of moss scooped out of a hillside, into which a tiny waterfall -- like a prop in a movie-set -- flows into a shallow crystalline pool. The water seems clear enough; Hei stoops to splash his face, letting the cool water clear his head. ]

[ After a beat: ] If I were you, I'd spend more time with the wife and kids than a cranky stranger. [ It's more a warning than a dismissal. ]

[anatural]

This is only a memory of my wife and children. I've already had my lifetime with them.

[Aang bends a little water from the pool to drink. Casually, conversationally:]

Do you have any family?

[mortemscintilla]

[ Sometimes the fucking memories are all you have left. Of course he doesn't stay that. Just kneels in the soft moss, his face dappled by the bright sunlight through leaves that stir far overhead. To Aang's question. ] I'm too young for a wife or a gaggle of tots. [ Dry, but also terse, like a door left ajar that's abruptly snapped shut. He's never been one to stew when there are avenues for answers -- but he's not in the habit of replying honestly to anything either, much less personal questions. ]

[anatural]

[What about parents or siblings? Aang almost asks, but he can get the general shape of Hei's answer already.]

That's too bad. You're good with children.

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei nearly snaps, How would you know that? Then he remembers: Aang is a facet of Korra's mind as much as the dream itself. He'd prefer not to imagine how that translates into the more intimate aspects he's shared with the girl. ]

Anyone can be good with a child, as long as they're not paying their bills. [ He tips his head up, staring through the leaves at the distant specks of blue sky. This place -- whatever it is -- isn't the Americas. Even Brazil couldn't have this kind of extravagant brightness. This clear blue to the sky that can only be the result of a lack of pollutants in the air. (He wonders, idly, what the stars are like out here). ]

[anatural]

[Aang chuckles and doesn't push. He's indulging his own curiosity and impulse to meddle, but the situation with Hei is something that Korra must work out on her own. (As Kyoshi likes to remind him, he has meddled enough already.)

Almost as though in response to Hei's thoughts, the sky grows dark, and stars begin to peek through the trees.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei's eyes widen a fraction. His hands fly to his face as if to rub them. From day to night -- he should expect it, it's part of the mercurial dreamscape. But despite himself, he jerks up, peering through the tangle of leaves at the starlight. There's a brief glance at Aang -- dubious, questioning, Did you do this? -- before he starts walking again, along the trail of thick trees that leads out to open skies and a white curve of beach. The view is amazing up and down, the twinkling bed of stars sinking into the dark restless ocean. ]

[ He tries to catch familiar constellations. Some navigational trick to pinpoint his location. There's none. This is the idealistic beachy setting he's never enjoyed, not with anyone. Not since Heaven's Gate appeared, that happy childhood evening he'd shared with Pai. That had ended all his moments of whimsy. Where other people daydreamed of moonlit strolls on the seashore with a companion, nowadays Hei conjures pleasant moments of solitude and unexistence. ]

[ Not death, but some kind of oblivion beyond effort and struggle. ]

[ Quietly, gaze on the sky, he says: ] If my dreams were like this, I'd wake up in a much better mood. [ Except these aren't his dreams. Spectacular as the scenery is, he's ready to find a way out. ]

[anatural]

[Aang smiles -- nope, this isn't him. In fact, he's fading away. By the time Hei speaks, he's alone on the island. How long he stays is up to him. When he's ready, he'll find his own way out.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Aang is gone, and the dream-island feels hollow. There's no sound to be heard at all except the giant leaves of the palm trees tossing in the breeze, competing with the roar of the surf. Under the dark blue sky, the white sand glows as if radiating all the sunlight it's absorbed. ]

[ Taking a deep breath, Hei moves on instinct. One step, two, then he's running to the ocean, and right in, leaping at the cold slap of the water, loving the first shock of it. He plunges through the oncoming waves out beyond the line of surf, and out of the dream, into reassuringly dismal reality. ]