generalflirt | ~♥THIRTY-SIX♥~

~♥THIRTY-SIX♥~

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

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[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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[She opens her eyes and looks at him.]

However much is enough, right? I'm not saying this is a small part of my life--

[fresh tears fill her eyes]

--and I'm not saying that - that it's not important to me. But I won't be happy if my actions hurt the people I care about. I can't live with myself like that. I've been single for most of my life--

[she feels a sob try to work its way out of her throat; manifests it as a laugh. her lungs squeeze painfully and she has to drop her eyes again for a moment before she meets his own whiskey-shot gaze. She does love his eyes.]

--I can handle it a little longer.

[It takes everything, absolutely everything he has to keep looking at her through that entire speech. It takes everything he has to hold his tongue. Because... because what point is there at this point. She hears his points and ignores them. She doesn't want to consider the alternatives - no, maybe she does, and she just knows she can't have them.

This is about you, it has to be about you.

He pets Linda to pacify her and to focus himself. He pets her with his thumb on the free hand rubbing her ports, forcing her to stop charging them]

But no, as he meets her gaze at the end there, tears streaming down his face- Of course he let her take his hand. He doesn't smile, not yet. He can't smile just yet. But he's comforted by her touch, comforted by her gaze. he makes no effort to take her hand back though, despite letting her take his, until she finishes]

Speak...-speaking of timing. Assumption 10: If all this hadn't happened, if you were still unaware of Aang's feelings and the future - you and I would have been dating by now. I... I hope I would have managed to- ah, no. I would have managed to make you very happy. The us of that world would both be very happy.

[And now he he laughs, a mirthless, ironic sort of laugh]

"Fate" has never been that kind to us, has it?

Edited 2012-07-14 01:10 (UTC)

[Knowing it is one thing and hearing it out loud is something else.

Happy. Would they have been happy? Some - some clasp of control snaps over her heart and Katara presses her lips firmly together, but it doesn't do any good because they shake anyway and she shuts her eyes but the tears flow anyway and she just sobs.

She wants to be happy.

Quickly, she moved to reclaim her hand and cover her face as Katara just collapses into tears, like a puppet cut free of its strings.]

[...He can't just let it happen. Even if he's a wreck and he's crying too, saying it out loud gives him some sense of closure and purpose. While he lets her reclaim her hand, he's hardly content to just let her collapse in front of him doing nothing. He sits up a bit more and moves to put a steadying arm on her back

I'm sorry.]

[It's not a lie.

It's not an assumption.

She'd been so confused, so messed up after Tokyo because... yes. She'd wanted to say yes. She'd wanted him and she'd wanted to be with him. She didn't know if he was right, if he would have made her happy, or if they would have fought the whole time, or if her family's acceptance would have been too important or if she would have been too humiliated by his past behavior towards women to ever really relax and enjoy being with him, but--

Those were small concerns in the light of everything. In the light of knowing that she would have wanted to try.

She wanted to be happy.

She loved Aang. She truly and deeply loved him - this him as well as the him she remembered. She loved his consideration and his compassion and his sunny nature. She loved his stupid little marble trick and his intensity as he meditated and his determination to ride everything dangerous and inject life and fun into hopeless situations.

She loved him. And Masaomi was right - in enough time, she could easily be in love with him as well. But right now, knowing what she knows... the thought of capitulating to a preordained future did make her sick.

And right now, Sokka was right - all she felt was trapped.

And she wept.]

[His arm on her back remained. He patted her on the back still, also rubbing his hand on there, gently. He wants to tell her more stories: stories of all the dates he's imagined, of all the things he could have - would have done for her. But those fantasies would be too painful for either of them and frankly, in this moment it would be pointless.

So instead, he decides the back rub thing isn't enough. He shoos Linda out from under him and gets up a bit more to pull her into an awkward sort of hug. To hold her. If she would let him. Maybe he should apologize. He probably should]

[She lets him hold her, for a little while.

But her conscience is gradually creeping up on her again and she can't do this, she can't do this to him, and she can't do this to herself. It's not fair to either of them.

Just a moment more... and she makes herself pull away.]

I'm sorry.

[I'm sorry that I hurt you - I told you I didn't want to, I told you I would.

I'm sorry that I can make my choices, but I can't stop my emotions.

I'm sorry that this is the only thing I know how to do right now.

She wiped at her tears.]

[He wants to hold her longer. He really, really wants to hold her longer. But in the end, he lets her go with minimal resistance. He glances to see Linda now by the water's edge before looking back at her]

...Ah. No, I'm sorry. [A light pause, and then quieter, he quotes her:] "How much pain is necessary to endure in order to protect the people you love," and all. [Because that was his point, until Assumption 10. To Protect her. To Protect her happiness. Assumption 10 he knows was more selfish, but ultimately, it was the same thing.

...Because she's just shown him what she wants.

He'll force a smile in a moment, do something funny, lighten the mood. But right now, he needs to compose himself too]

[She wants a lot of things, Masaomi. Yes, she wants to be happy. Yes, she would have liked to try dating him. But when it comes down to it, she wants Aang to be okay more than she wants to be happy. And she doesn't just want to date you because she doesn't want any regrets - how is that a chance, how is that fair to anyone, "Aang is my endgame, let me just string you along in the meantime while I get used to that."

She exhales softly when he quotes her and shakes her head. Crying is thirsty work, but you don't drink bending water. She pulls from the sky to create a fist-sized blob of water, leaving it hovering just above her hand. She doesn't need to pull her hand over to take a sip, but she does, to create a sort of shield from his eyes as she sips the water from the air.]

[...Wow, air water. That's amazingly cool. So much so that he blinks and finds himself getting thirsty watching that, and also wonders if it's dirty.

...Probably not]

Give me some too?

Aah - sure. [She lift a hand and pulls a little more - from a little further - and another fist-sized blob of water appears. She floats it over to him.]

[Not sure if he should cup his hands under it or suck it out of the air, he ends up doing a little of both. He cups his hands under it but then leans his face in to slurp it]

[Well, she's not going to let it go, so she holds it there.

Which is a weird feeling when he drinks it, but there you go.]

...all right?

[He forces a smile on his face. Maybe 50% forced, given it's a big grin] As I can be, anyway.

[...ah.]

All right.

Buuuuuut. I have something to show you in the same vein as that!

[And in fact, he leaps to his feet. He wobbles a little after this feat (whoops, but now turns to smile at Linda.]

[Oh, leaping?

Huh. Um.]

Okay?

Linda, show her.

[Linda, who blinks and... oh. She's by the water's edge for a drink, but she knows exactly what Masaomi means. She smiles and waves at Katara before laying her tail down on top of the water. She then lightly charges herself - there's no sparks, but she's ioning the water around her tail, coating it in water. And then in a quick moment after a brief charge she front-flips, curving her tail forward in an arc with a blade of water.

Masaomi turns and bows, which Linda copies when she lands on her feet]

[Did Linda just use a water attack?

Her heart wasn't quite ready for this - it's clear he's trying a diversion before something else, but - wow.]

[...Ha.

She smiles.]]

Very nice. I'm impressed.

See, see?! It's called Aqua Tail! She only learned it the other day and I think it's using the same principle as her Iron Tail [Linda waves her tail once now, coating it in metal in a flash to demonstrate] so we're still working with it, but it's cool, right?!

[Genuinely. Excited]

[...oh her heart.]

Yes, it's very cool.

She can do a lot of things now, I don't know if you've seen them all? [He spins in place before crouching down do his upper body is fully bent over and his head is level with hers despite her sitting] Like she can float me and... Oh, oh! I should have brought my Impact Dial Trafalgar-san gave me for my birthday, man that thing's cool...

[It's this childish enthusiasm which reminded her of Aang in the first place that's part of what helped endear him to her. It hurts.

She closes her eyes for a moment and switches gears - or does the best she can to switch gears. Then she opens her eyes and smiles at Linda.]

Which one is your favorite?

[Her favorite, huh...

She considers a brief moment and then nods to herself. With pantomime and little squeaks she explains that she does like to use her electricity (included here is some sparking) so she likes to use Spark, but in terms of actual moves, this is her favorite-

She claps her hand and tail together to do a Fake Out. But her Fake Out is now much stronger than before, it makes a sonic boom which not only is loud and distracting, but makes a small wave of air pressure enough to make someone stumble.

...Masaomi doesn't though because he was ready for it]

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