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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No. Please. [Inhale, exhale. He is still crouched. He goes to open the pocket of his jacket to shove the pokeball and pokedex in there. Close. He looks at the right wrist as he pulls it up out the water again. ...the bracelet, still

Hah. He'll never stop being a burden to her. ...But it's not a burden. It's not a burden to help a friend. It's not a burden to help someone she likes, just like it's not a burden for him to try to protect her as a beloved. He has to believe that. He's worth that much.

...But he's giving her a hassle now. Exhale.]

I mean yes. I am, a little better.

[And he holds up the left wrist with the weight on it still. He needs to pull it off]

[Right, on it, pulling that off.]

Stand up straight, if you can.

[He lurches just a bit when he firsts tries to stand- current. But he catches himself. Okay. There. He stands. Straight]

[All right, good. You're well and properly soaked so she will just - bend the remnants of that puke right off you. Because. Yes. It goes plop in the river, and she steps along beside him, takes his hand with absolutely no permission, and wraps it around her shoulders.]

Come on, lean on me. We're not risking you falling again.

[She saw that lurch.]

Let's get out of the river.

[He's in no position to resist or protest. He just complies with what she says. He keeps his hand there. He mutters "so much more" to himself and also "I love you" but at this point he's just being rebellious to her businesslike thing here.

Let's get out of the river indeed. He walks, knowing she'll be in sync]

[Well. She is RIGHT BY him, so the chances are excellent that she hears what he's muttering, which would probably explain that twisted stomach feeling.

Oh well, out of the river they go, hopefully without any further problems.]

You can just sit on the bank for a bit to get some strength back.

[He nods and... against all odds, he smiles. Once they are out of the river with no more problems than him just muttering things the whole time, he plops himself into a seat on the bank.

...He should let Linda out, apologize. But that can wait]

Yes, Doctor.

[He's not teasing. He's sincere.]

[...ah. That's right.

Didn't I ask you to stop causing me so much trouble?

Something sweet turned slightly sour - how Luceti of it.]

That's better.

[She steps out of the bank and bends the water off herself. Ugh, she wants a shower now, just having witnessed all that - and river water was never the cleanest but ew. And she laughs at herself a little - more evidence of how this place had spoiled her.]

I can't do it anymore, Katara.

[He's still talking. He stands there, groaning. He grits his teeth and then goes to touch her bracelet on his wrist. No. Hold on. Exhale]

This is the last time I do something I know will probably hurt you.

[It's for you own good.

He can't do it. He can't do this anymore]

[She braces herself and turns to face him.

Does that mean he's done, he won't do this again? Or does that mean he has something more that he wants to say, some other way to hurt her, and he wants to do it now, after all this?

Her uncertainty and wariness is reflected in her gaze.]

I never knew. In truth, I guess I never knew anything about you at all.

[And I am so stupid.]

I'm sorry.

[I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I had to. It had to be now. It had to be before you stopped thinking.]

[Breathe.

She exhales, and some of the tension leaves her body.]

I accept your apology.

[She opens her eyes.]

And I wouldn't go that far. You weren't wrong about a lot of the things that you said. Some of them were - off base, and some of them I need to check out further, but I also accept the fact that you thought you were trying to help and you didn't know how much you were going to hurt me.

[And she is still hurting. Her heart is throbbing with it.]

I hope it is the last time. But I don't want you to be afraid to talk to me about anything either. Just take into account that while you do know me, there are things you don't know, and that I have reasons for doing what I do, and we should be all right.

Everyone has reasons, Katara. [He has his own. Nothing, nothing in this or any world matters as much to him as Shikamaru and Katara do to him at this moment. Both of them have been crushed by recent events, and it's been killing him. He's still tried... and maybe that's why he manages to make that sort of almost rebellious reply in a tired and dark tone]

I had to do this now. If- [...If anyone else showed up. If one of her children showed up. then it would probably be too late. But she's too wounded to understand his justification. He licks his lips. His mouth still tastes gross.] I'm sorry.

[Her eyes narrow a little at that reply. He wants to keep pushing? Fine, she'll push back.]

Then what, exactly, were you hoping to accomplish here? What were your reasons for why this had to be now?

[He winces. But he keeps standing. Inhale, exhale, and]

You don't think, not like how I do, Katara. [He's guessing in this next part... but no, he knows this must be true] You're one of the least introspective people I know. I had to make you think.

[Frown.]

And wanted to make me think about what, exactly?

[How you felt I was wasting my life?]

About how you're entrapping yourself. [It's a waste. But he can't say that. She'll misunderstand again] I know you have to be a ... ah, a parent of sorts right now. I know that. [He licks his lips. She had no choice. She would say she does. But she doesn't, not with how her personality is. He grips his bracelet] I don't know what you encountered on the moon either. I know Sokka's probably still hurting. I know that, I know. [His point probably sounds ridiculous to her now]

But. But you're not happy. This has told me. [...] It'd be unreasonable to expect you to be right now. I know. But I wanted you to think about how to get happy. Get happy with Aang-kun, get happy with a more balanced structuring of that family of yours, get happy with something I can't imagine, I don't care what.

I wanted you to think.

[And it's selfish. It might just be selfish. And he feels weak again. He crouches down]

[...again, shockingly similar to what Sokka had said.

And somehow, it makes her feel a little better - a little lighter - that this had been his reason. That maybe it was something she could think about, if two of her most important people were willing to go after her like this in order to get her to consider it. If even Ikki had wanted her to go have more fun...]

All right. [That's said lightly, with acceptance in her tone.] All right. I'll try and think about it.

[...He wasn't yelled at. She accepted it and agreed. She said she would think about it. He... it worked. It really, truly, worked? He feels so much lighter now, and his eyes go wide. He looks up at her from his crouch, but blushes and then looks down. Smiling a bit to himself.]

Thank you.

[She reaches down and pats his shoulder, dropping the weight on the ground beside him with her other hand.]

Go get yourself cleaned up.

[You smell. D8]

[He nods, picks up the weight to stuff that in his pocket too, and then stands. He goes to touch his bangs, still flushed.]

And shave... and apologize to Linda.

[...Not looking forward to that last one. At all really]

Edited 2012-07-15 19:19 (UTC)

[She feels so composed - and distant. Like she'd just performed an operation. She'd never had the ability to disconnect before - she could shut down, but not disconnect - from her emotions. But she could still feel her pain and her anger, she could still feel the rawness of the areas she'd exposed, but it had somehow become so... secondary. She should still be angry, shouldn't she? What was wrong with her?]

Right. Good luck with that.

[A small smile, though she's not sure what he needs to apologize for, if Linda's upset that needs to be dealt with.]

I'll - see you around.

Ah, for sure. [And he smiles too, this having ended a lot... lot better than it could have at any of the other logical endpoints involved here. He reaches into his pocket to take out Linda's ball. ...He hopes the thing didn't flood. They are airtight, but still]

I'll be seeing you later.

[She nods and starts in towards town. Forget grocery shopping. She needs to find her brother.]

Edited 2012-07-15 19:25 (UTC)

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~♥THIRTY-SIX♥~

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