generalflirt | ~♥THIRTY-SIX♥~

~♥THIRTY-SIX♥~

[Voice // Filtered to Katara (mid-morning)]
I think now's enough time, don't you think?

[Action]
[And during the bulk of the day...! Masaomi's forgone most of his training for today other than some things on his wrists. On his left wrist (the one that until very recently was in a cast) has a weighted bracelet on, one kilo. That way, he can work it without switching himself up too much. On his right wrist is still Katara's bracelet. He's also still rocking the Bradstache. BuT more importantly!

...He's here to flirt with girls. He hasn't done it in a while, he's in just the sort of mood where he wants to do it again. So if you're in town and a pretty girl, he's liable to go and flirt with you. If you're a dude, well then you can witness him doing it. React to him, stand there to be reacted to? There's a lot of ways you can roll this]

[Voice // Filtered to Gold and Silver (evening)]
Hey guys, let's go play some Mario Party. [Assumption being he told Shikamaru already]

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...I'm sorry, I can't let you deny that.

[She closes her eyes and leans her head against the trunk with a light thunk.

There are so many things she could say to that. "Let" her? Let her. Ha.

Why do I let him do this to me?

She concentrated on the sound of the river, wishing it would just take her away.

...disturbed at how much she wished that, actually.]

[Hah. He leans forward a bit, and-] You're not alright. You're probably only okay because you feel you have to be.

[She cracks her eyes opened to give him a dour look.]

And you're telling me I don't have to be?

[...This is difficult.] In an ideal world, I'd say it's fine to collapse and rebuild. You'd be more stable, at least. But you're in a world where you're partially responsible for some kids and not even letting me help. [a beat] So fate isn't kind enough to give you that much leeway.

[Oh that's - that's unexpected. It took the speech half-formed in her mind and turned it on its ear, and now a shade of vulnerability and uncertainty enters her eyes.]

That's... at least mostly true. Yes.

Point out to me where I'm wrong?

[Smiling, he leans back]]

I told you.

[She smiles a little.]

If I needed help, I'd let you help.

[And that hurts a little, somehow, but it's true.]

Mmmm... I'm not sure I agree with that. Mind if I make an assumption, you can tell me how off I am?

[...she should know better than to agree to give him permission to say something to make her angry - and to be honest, she does. But. They've been having a strangely okay conversation so far, so.]

...go ahead.

Assumption 1: You have a lot of pride.

[He ends up smirking now, in spite of himself. He can't help it. He's getting into dangerous territory, so his heart rate goes up and he's glad he's comforted by Linda, who now has nessled between his legs]

Assumption 2: You are very family oriented.

But then, really, those are facts, so here's the big one-

Assumption 3: You feel, as those girls' grandmother, you should be able to handle any challenges they presents to you and that asking for help from people, perhaps particularly me, somehow makes you less of where you should be qualified.

Cold, warm?

[Katara calls Ikki and Jinora family for a reason. She can't quite face being a grandmother. She can't quite face being married and having children and grandchildren and being widowed and staying behind and fading away. And it's for that reason that when Masaomi calls her a grandmother, a shadow of pain flickers across her face, a crack appears in her resolve of calm.

They are family. She'd never make them ashamed of that. She'd never let them see how much their presence her rocks her down to her very core and leaves her shaken.

And she is. Shaken. She's happy and full of life and terrified and alone and so, so lost that she welcomes the little responsibilities, the things that she can focus on doing for others so that she doesn't have to think about herself, and where this leaves her, and the dark side of what happened to Aang. What happened to Sokka.

She's going to be alone.

She's going to be a legend, the Avatar's wife, the Mighty Katara, and a matriarch of a new generation of airbenders, and they are all going to leave her alone.

And he's right. She can't afford not to be okay. She can't afford to be shaken. They need her. Aang needs her. Sokka and Zuko and Toph and Roku can't handle children. Not the same way she can. She can't afford to break right now.]

No. I can do this.

[Think of Ikki's laughter, Jinora's smile.

Let the future fade away.]

At least so far.

[But her brows are drawn together now.]

[Aha. He's finally hitting it. He holds ups his his pinky finger, keeping his gaze fixated, hard, on her. he refuses to look away just like she refuses to look back on all this.

She's not as introspective as I am, I know this]

Assumption 4: You're not able to absorb the enormity of the future you've been foretold. Not that I know it all - I'm not so crass as to milk Ikki-chan for facts - but it's written all over your face.

[She reacts instinctively, defensively, her resolution to be calm forgotten.]

That isn't any of your business.

But it's true.

[Flatly. He goes to ... nah, not another assumption just yet. Let's have her sit with that.

...Actually]

...Aang-kun dies comparatively young.

[At that, she goes pale. A lead weight replaces her stomach and she very nearly starts to shake.]

Watch it.

[There are no words, no expression of indignation big enough, no scream of the heart loud enough to express what hearing those words out loud, staring at this fact, does to her soul. She can feel it withering.]

Just an observation, observation. [In a light tone, waving the hand not holding up the pinky dismissively. He hums and then looks up at the sky. Much more sympathetically:] To be honest even if he and I have had our disagreements, if people got what they deserved a kind boy like that would live to be 98 and die in his sleep, never falling into dementia or Alzheimer's or anything like that.

[Slightly mollified, but still too - something for actual words here.

Terrified? Grief-stricken? Angry?]

[...Hah. He closes his eyes and holds up his index finger on the hand which had the pinky up]

Assumption 5: Aang-kun is the most important person in your life.

Edited 2012-07-13 04:37 (UTC)

[You're really going to keep going there?

...and while Katara might have told Aang as much once, she thinks of Sokka and-

Takes a steadying (ragged) breath.

Opens her mouth to say: Aang is one of the most important people in my life - and finds herself saying:]

Yes.

Ah. I knew that. [He opens his eyes, half-lidded. He knew that from the get-go. Initially, he was slightly displeased, then he came to accept it. Then he was annoyed. To be honest, he's still annoyed. But all the same, now that he knows what he's working with]

Assumption 6: I'm not in your top three either [harking back to Shikamaru] Generously, I'd be in your top ten, but I doubt I'm there either.

[And before she thinks he's getting down on himself for that, he holds ups his ring finger on the one with pinky and index up to say-]

Assum- no, more of a Fact 1: Despite that that, you still like me.

[Okay, it's official, she hates this whole conversation. In many ways. And is also blushing a little. Annoyed. But blushing. A little.]

It's not that simple. Ranking people's importance is a stupid way of doing things. Just because Aang is - who he is to me doesn't diminish the importance of anyone else.

[And yes, she's ignoring that "Fact."

She'd known he was going to bring this up, and he still took her by surprise. She didn't know how he managed that.]

Oh, naturally. A heart isn't a room with walls, Katara, it's something that expands to fit as many people as is wanted within it.

[Duh]

[Fine, as long as you know that your system of measurement is wrong and stupid.]

...okay, good.

[She had her footing somewhere.]

Rankings still exist, even if it's relative though. [He smiles, bright and honest] I'm not worthless though.

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