generalflirt | ~♥THIRTY-FOUR♥~

~♥THIRTY-FOUR♥~

[Action]

[It's later than he expected to be back from his mountain sojourn, really, when he comes into the town on Wednesday night. Shikamaru, let alone Silver, probably came back before him, but he finally makes it back then, goes to his apartment for a much, much needed proper shower and goes to bed.

So it is on Thursday that Masaomi's properly back in down, Linda on his shoulder. He's skipped class for... well, a long while now, so when he gets up surprisingly early, one of the first thing he does is actually go to school, possibly with an ear to speak with the professors or anyone who missed him from that. After that, House 11 to see how all the people he knows from there are doing. Once that's done, he heads over to the Battle Dome for a few reasons. One of them is to try to see Law, one of them is to ... well he decides to test out the training in the Battle Dome, preferably with Silver or Gold or someone else who knows Pokemon to see if he can run them before going back to the plaza. In the plaza he has some intention of lurking around the Smithy and the library. But also just trying to integrate back into socializing with people, maybe break into some light flirting, if he can muster the gusto? Trying to normalize. And once that is done, well, if he didn't run into some people he's of the mind to run into after all that in order he'll be going to Mikado's apartment and then the Avatar House on the south end of town. And then, of course, back to his place at night.

tl;dr options in order:
A) School (also includes getting lunch in the break period)
B) House 11 (after school)
C) Battle Dome (either lurking in its clinic or fighting digital pokemon in the rooms or getting refreshments between bouts
D) Plaza (in particular smithy and library - will be chatting up people, might hit on girls)
E) Community Building 7 (in particular Mikado's apartment)
F) House 56
G) Community Building 1 (in particular his and Shikamaru's apartment and kitchen on that floor)

You can also run into him in transit for any of these locations, naturally. Oh, right, and he'll be wearing something akin to this, so no soulpatch or whatever he was wearing int he experiment. With a small bag and Linda's luridly yellow pokeball in his pants pocket]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...Hey.

[Oh, she didn't just go]

[A tentative (false) smile.]

...welcome back.

[...okay, you know what? This sucks already.]

Mah, mah, look at how forced at smile is. You'd think you were in despair at my return!

[Well that was. Blunt.

Honest.

Unexpected.]

More like... in uncertainty.

[Ha, she'll meet your honesty and raise you.]

We should probably talk. When yo're ready.

Katara... I just spent over a week in the mountains, training and bleeding and fishing and eating off the land. I crashed and burned and I'm back. I'm ready!

[He scratches the back of his head, looking around a bit before]

Are you?

[Wow, that's...

Wow.

And to think I just picked up the pieces and tried to acknowledge them and keep going.

Once again, she feels small and, in this case, somewhat lost - how does she even deal with that kind of pain?

At least he doesn't look like he's in pain now.]

I guess we'll find out.

[And she starts walking.]

Deal!

[And he slides in to walk beside her. Some reflex makes him actually go to take her hand.

...He catches himself before he does, but the hand does brush near it]

[It is there, that pull to take his hand. They haven't walked together without holding hands since Tokyo. But that was because they were living a lie.

And she jumps in her skin a little at that almost-touch and steps further away, giving him a cautious, assessing glance.]

...I guess since you spent so much time preparing, you should go first.

[He frowns a bit at the increased distance... huh. So she's gotten further away? He doesn't think to protest it. As if I have the right.]

...Do you want me to stop?

["Stop wanting you to date me"

"Stop trying to get you to date me"

"Stop being your friend"

"Stop seeing you" It could be any of those]

[She looks at him, concerned.]

"Stop" what?

[...And he smiles]

...Anything.

Edited 2012-04-22 04:37 (UTC)

[And that is a direct hit on her heart.

Oh.

[She looks down, in the unnatural position of staring at her feet as she walks.]

...I don't know. Maybe.

[It would be so much easier, if...]

[She stops and looks at him, in the middle of the road, not five minutes away from the school, because they are the best at this privacy thing.]

I don't want you to do anything that has to do with who it is that you are and what you want just because I want you to. That isn't right.

[In the middle of the roar, huh? He stops mid-step, turns to face her, his arms now behind his head a moment, but he's slowly lowering them. His voice is even]

By the same token, don't I not have the right to coerce you?

Edited 2012-04-22 04:47 (UTC)

[Her brows come together.]

Yes, if it ever got to the point of coercion, that would be exactly right.

[Hadn't they talked about this ridiculously fine line he was treading? Or was he just... dropping all pretense about manipulation here as well?]

...Do you think I've done that?

[Sokka had. He wondered if it was too much. At this point, it might be. But he needs to make sure she doesn't]

...I think you came close sometimes.

[Objectively speaking, that conversation in front of Shikamaru's new apartment, when he'd been saying and doing things to hurt her, that whole 'kidnapping' thing... close. But never irredeemable.]

Ah, so that's how you see it... that's good, that's good, actually.

[...He looks up at the sky a moment before looking back down at her]

[...so she'll start walking again.]

What's good about it?

It means I'm not out entirely.

[A pause...] Because, if you didn't notice, things have changed, Katara.

[You're doing that Thing again.]

...what do you mean?

Edited 2012-04-22 05:03 (UTC)

[...]

You know what I mean.

[ School ]

[ School ]

[ School ]

[ School ] 1/2

[ School ]

[ School ]

[ School ]

[ School ]

[ School ]

1/2

[ School ]

[ School ]

[ School ]

[ School ] 1/2

[ School ] 2/3

[ School ]

[ School ]

[ School ]

[ School ]

[ School ]

[ School ]

[ School ]

[ School ]

[ School ]

[ School ]