cyclicality | [001] Monthly Catch All

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[001] Monthly Catch All

If you could go back in time forty-five some odd years ago, and ask a teenage Bumi what the worst possible outcome of his life could be, he'd tell you:

Trapped at an Air Temple, pretending to be an airbender.

Bumi thinks a lot about this now, as he holds down Air Temple Island as if it were a fort.
With Tenzin and Pema no where to be found, and Jinora and Korra off to a Spirit Portal, Bumi is the highest ranking officer on deck, as horrifying for all involved as that is.

The spirits, it seems, are not without a sense of humor.

1) The Radio Room
With the Barrier down communications that were once off-line are now once again operational, and Bumi spends a few hours here several times a day. Information pours in from the Air Temples and he's been trying to reach the Water Tribes in an effort to find his brother and sister.

Looking to find family, or possibly a crash course in Morse Code? Then this is a good place for you.

2) The kitchen
People need to eat, and Bumi is more than skilled at making the most of limited provisions.
The menu is Hot and A Lot. The ingredients are both vegetarian and...less so.
(Don't worry, he's using separate cooking implements for the meat goods.

3) The meditation pavilion
He's never really been all that fantastic at meditation, or at least the kind of it that involves sitting still and keeping his mind clear, but at this point even Bumi is willing to try just about anything.

4) About town
Times are getting tougher, but there's still a lot to trade and be traded for, and so Bumi finds himself on various logistical missions getting for the Island things that it cannot produce for itself.

5) Other
Create your own, for hours of fun!

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[BumJu continued trilling and Toph's stubbornness make Bumi sigh.]

I wasn't asking.

[To the best of his ability Bumi crouches down and takes a spot on the floor next to Toph and BumJu.]

Are you hurt?

[In the dark he's as blind as she is. He can't see the trails tears have made through the dirt on her face. Can't see her hands, dark bruises already forming, blood drying on her knuckles. In the dark she's safe; he can't have her secrets, and she doesn't have to give them.]

[The earth builds a rumble around them again, and her hands tighten so hard, the bones ache.]

Go away. [It's all she's got, and she's clinging to it.]

[When the ground moves, so too does Bumi, shifting to shield her from what ever may fall her way. It's not something he thinks about, it's just something he does. One might think that at some point in his life he's been responsible for the health and well-being of others.

BumJu seems unphased by the aftershocks, it's almost as if he knows exactly what's going on and what not to be worried about. So rather than move to protect Toph, he opts climb onto her lap and lick at her hands]

Not going to happen.

BumJu, get down.

[But BumJu doesn't. If anything BumJu gets closer to Toph, forgoing her hands to sniff at her pockets

[If it were just the bunny spirit, it'd be grabbed up and held for all it was worth. Toph's fingers contact the cool, misty creature in her lap in response to its administrations -- a quick, light touch like a reflex, surprised by the affection and the sudden weight of its body yielded to her.]

[But between it and Bumi, it's too much. She's supposed to be alone; this is supposed to be private, and the old man is staying, not going away. He's in her space; he's refusing to leave . . . it rubs a wound already raw; it breaks it open. The rumble around them grows, demanding and insistent, and her hands come up to his chest, shove him for all she's worth, likely spilling the spirit from her lap. Her mind explodes miniature fireworks of pain; she shoves it into her rage.]

You think you can just come in here -- that you're so well-meaning? You can save everyone; you can help everyone because you know better? What gives you that right? Because you're an adult, and I'm some helpless little kid that shouldn't know right from left?

I carry my own weight. I still will, even if my bending's gone, and I can't see and this stupid earthquake is so loud and I can't even feel it--

I'm not weak. I'm not helpless. I'm not.

[To the untrained eye this seems to happen all at once. The aftershock. The outburst. The physical assault. But for Bumi, who's seen this sort of thing before...many times, it is what it is.

The stress reaction of a scared soldier.

So he doesn't fight back, and instead rolls where he's pushed...and stays there.
Search and Rescue was one of Bumi's specialties when he was active duty, and to date he hasn't come back empty handed yet.

And he's not about to start now.
His voice is soft, but firm. There's a hardness that underlies his words.]

Of course you're not. Without bending you made it here, right under my nose, and I make it a point to know everything that goes on under my command. And that's what this island is right now: Under my command. I'm sorry about your bending, there....there seems to be a lot of that going around right now.

But I'll tell you what I've told every enlisted man and woman under my command: You Are Not Your Bending. I can barely see down here, and I wouldn't have even known you were down here at all if it hadn't been for BumJu...

[It's then that BumJu, having rolled onto the floor, flings something onto Bumi's lap. It's weight is familiar, more so when Bumi takes it in his hand. He doesn't need light to know exactly what it is: his money clip.

The same money clip he gave to Yin that day in the Eelhound as a way to always find him if he needed her. Bumi looks up, eyes wide, and in the low light provided by the spirit sees in the shadow the familiar shape of the girl from the bar.]

Yin?

[She's mostly to her feet now, her feet braced. He doesn't get it, doesn't understand; her bending is her life, has always been, has kept her afloat when she should have drowned. He can't just dismiss it like it doesn't matter.]

What?

[She'd assumed he already knew her name -- recognized her just as she's already recognized him. The word in response to the name is a demand; she's prepared to fight.]

[She's not afraid.]

Edited 2014-11-26 20:14 (UTC)

[There's a ping as Bumi flips the bill clip on his thumb that ends when he catches it in his palm.]

Nothing! Nothing. I just didn't recognize you until right this second. BumJu...well, it would seem BumJu's as good at the What's In Your Pocket game as you are.

[The aftershock rolls through, the earth trembling once again to a slow rest. Her feet are still braced.]

I'm not cashing it in.

Are you still going to stand there and pretend like you know something about how I feel, or are you going to leave?

[Her tone says it had better be the latter.]

[He rolls the clip over his knuckles with practiced ease.]

You're right, I don't know anything about what you're feeling right now.

[Bumi rolls up to his feet, old-man-grunting as he does so.]

But I do know that if we don't both get out of here soon the chances of both of us not feeling anything ever again is higher than I'd like. Come with me now, you get this back.

[He taps at the clip.]

You're welcome to stay, but you don't have to. Just come with me now. Please.

[She's poised, still ready to fight. Still ready to take him out however she can manage, because there's catharsis in it -- relief in taking something else apart, even if it takes her with it. She's so angry, she can't stand it; she'd like to wrench the whole world apart if it would only bring relief.]

[But that word. Please.]

[It's not a command. Not something she can rail against. It's a vulnerability left exposed. It's a plea.]

[She feels herself bend. Tries to dig into her rage, hold on.]

It's just earth.

[But there's just a hint of hesitation in it. Just a whiff.]

[Maybe she's also afraid to stay alone.]

[Bumi is not a small man, and he knows it. He moves a bit closer to her before crouching so he's speaking to her on her level.]

And the ocean is just water, and a tornado just air, but that doesn't make them any less forces to be reckoned with. Come with me. If for no other reason than to make sure me and BumJu get out of here with the same number of pieces as we had when we came in. I'm way too pretty to die today.

Edited 2014-12-02 16:58 (UTC)

[She holds. Stands, every muscle resolute.]

[Then, slowly, she gives. Her muscles ease, first by millimeters and then by feet, taut slackening into surrender.]

[Maybe, if she's honest with herself, it's a relief to give up.]

[Her head dips in a nod.]

[BumJu trills and butts his head against her leg.]

Thank you.

[His voice is quiet as he reaches out to take her hand in his. He gently presses the bill clip into her palm, because after all: a deal is a deal.

The ground around them quakes again.]

Did you bring anything with you? Anything we need to take with us?

[When they get out of here? The bunny spirit is getting cuddled. Fiercely.]

[Toph twitches at the quake again, obviously agitated, but lets Bumi's larger hand close around her own. To his question, she gives a quick shake of the head. Just the blankets. Everything important to her is already on her person.]

Just me.

[BumJu is great at cuddles, and welcomes them with open paws. For now though, she'll have to be content with one final headbutt before BumJu flutters off to gather up the blankets.

Bumi stands and adjusts his robe, tying it securely about his midsection. Placing a guiding hand on her arm, he begins the slow process of getting them out of the tunnel.

BumJu flies overhead for a moment, draping the now folded blankets over Bumi's shoulder before glowing brighter and leading the way.]

[Probably better that he ultimately goes for her arm; he might have caught a hiss as his fingers caught her hand.]

[Her steps, though, are hesitant; the ground is uneven, and the slowly increasing rumbles of the aftershock are messing with both her hearing and her certainty of step.]

[She's getting frustrated again, and he might be able to tell it in the muscles of her arm, re-tightening under his touch.]

[They're not moving as quickly as he'd like, and he knows by her body language that this escape isn't exactly going as well as she'd hope either. The ground beneath their feet is angry, and ever in flux.]

Do you trust me?

[Normally people say that sort of thing before they do something stupid.]

[But at the moment, it probably couldn't be any worse than now.]

I guess . . . [Her tone is somewhat measured. And suspicious. But it's still consent.]

[Well...she's not wrong. Only a crazy person would heft Toph Beifong up in his arms and over one shoulder.

It just so happens though? That Bumi is just that crazy.

Though, in his defense: He doesn't know she's Toph, so there is that.]

Hold on tight.

[Was it too late to renege on that vote of trust? Toph yelps in surprise as she's swept up from the ground, deposited over Bumi's shoulder as though she's no more than a small sack of potatoes.]

Hold on to what, exactly??

[Her tone is on the edge of panic, yes. Riding an old man's shoulder, blind and completely out of contact with the ground is not doing much for her sense of stability.]

Not my hair.

[He says as he rounds a corner at a speed that might be just a bit too fast considering the circumstances. He recovers quickly, but there's a second there where it feels as though he might topple over.]

We're almost there. Just...a few...feet....more.

[He didn't exactly come with handles, and were she in a better frame of mind, she'd be all too glad to point that out. Toph grasps onto a couple handfuls of his robe as best she can, yelping again as he tips. He'd better hope she doesn't urp down his back.]

[This is worse than flying on Appa. She'd like to get down. Now.]

[It would hardly be the first time someone yaked on Bumi, and it would most certainly not be the last.

Bumi rounds one final corner. The corridor ends and they emerge into the greater outside world of Air Temple Island.

He lowers her down to her feet just as one final earth-shake causes several decent-sized rocks to dislodge from the walls. ]

Just in time.

[If you'll excuse Bumi, he'll just be over here catching his breath.]

[Land. Land. While Bumi is catching his breath, Toph will be over catching hers, plopping onto her butt for the solidity underneath her. The sound of the rock fall hasn't escaped her, but . . . she doesn't want to think about it. She hunches over, loose hair spilling into her face.]

[When he does look, he may be able to see now that her hands are a mess, torn up and smeared, new bruises forming on the skin.]

[Breath caught, Bumi makes his way over towards where Yin has plopped herself, and it's only after he joins her on the ground that he notices the state of her hands. There's no stopping his cringe, he's been injured that badly before, he knows how much it hurts.

"I don't suppose I could interest you in some first aid for your hands, could I?"

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