[001] Monthly Catch All

[abitofawildman]

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!

Comments

[abitofawildman]

[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.]

[dustonmyfeet]

[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.]

[abitofawildman]

[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?

[dustonmyfeet]

[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.]

[abitofawildman]

[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.

[dustonmyfeet]

[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.]

[abitofawildman]

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.

[dustonmyfeet]

[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.]

[abitofawildman]

[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.]

[dustonmyfeet]

[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.]

[abitofawildman]

[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?"

[dustonmyfeet]

[And where is the promised bunny spirit? Cuddling was promised.]

[Toph's lips press together, hands lifting in his direction.]

[abitofawildman]

[Actually...that is interesting. Where has BumJu gone? Oh wait, there he is! Apparently he went to get a first aid kit from the more inhabited portion of the island.

From how Bumi doesn't really react one could easily assume that this is the sort of thing BumJu does all the time.]

This might hurt.

[He says as a warning before he examines each finger in turn, checking for breaks in bones and tears in tendons and ligaments.]

[dustonmyfeet]

[Without eyes or earthbending, her ears catch the flutter, but little else. An eyebrow shifts up at his words if he can catch it, but otherwise she makes little comment, letting him poke and prod at her hands, only hissing softly at one particular finger -- a middle one -- that's apparently fractured. Aside from the serious bruising and cuts, bones and tendons are in pretty miraculous shape -- possibly due to the considerable amount of callus and strength her fingers have built over time.]

[abitofawildman]

[He mutters a quiet Thank you to BumJu as he takes the medic kit. He then sets to cleaning her hands the best he can with what's available in the pack. Bumi isn't a healer, but he's been hurt enough to know more than the average person about being a field medic.]

Well, I'm no healer, but I think you're going to live.

[There's a smirk in his voice.]

I think you might have a busted finger, so what I'm going to do is clean you up and splint you. That oughta hold until we can get an actual medical professional to look you over. Sound okay to you?

[dustonmyfeet]

Yeah, fine.

[Her voice in response is weighted, dull, and her shoulders slump. The hand with the unfractured finger, her left one, separates from the first, stretching out. She's not sure where the bunny spirit is, but hopefully it'll come anyway where she can collect it into her lap.]

Then what?

[abitofawildman]

[BumJu flutters away for some more clean water, but once he returns into Yin's lap is exactly where he goes. His ears flatten down so as to not disturb Bumi's work. There's a resonance to the spirit, a slight hum.]

Well...if I were you, I'd say you were staying here, at least until your hands settle. Second day after an injury is always the worst. But, I'm not you, so...there's that.

[dustonmyfeet]

[The bunny spirit's presence is welcome, and the cool weight grounds her. Absently she runs the fingers of the hand that Bumi isn't working on along his ears, grazing the outside rim and his back. She does this with Momo, and though she may not say so openly, it's oddly soothing. Her movement falls into a slow, even rhythm, allowing her to retreat briefly into her own thoughts.]

[There's a lot that's jumbled up right now. Nothing's behaving as it should be -- not even this old man, who's demanded that she come out, scooped her up . . . but still isn't treating her like a little girl. Isn't fussing, isn't protecting. Acts like she has a choice . . . and more than that, acts like he'll go along with whatever she chooses.]

You know I'm blind. [Her tone stays flat.] And with my bending gone, I can't see anything.

[abitofawildman]

[It's kind of hard not to notice the affect that BumJu has on people, and it's even harder not to smile.]

There are worse fates.

[dustonmyfeet]

[Worse fates. Worse fates.]

[Pale eyes snap up suddenly. Narrow.]

Remember the part where you said you didn't know what this meant to me?

You don't.

Then and now you're just talking out your butt because you think it helps.

It doesn't.

[abitofawildman]

Wait wait wait, now just hold on second. We both just survived a potentially fatal cave-in. I'm just trying to supply some perspective.

Yes, your bending is gone. Yes, you are blind. Yes, I don't know what either of those things are like. But we're both alive. And where there's life, there's hope.

[Even without her ability to detect lies, there's no doubting the deeply held sincerity of Bumi's words. He...truly believes this.

...

Blame Katara.]

[dustonmyfeet]

[Her expression doesn't change, though she doesn't say anything immediately, her eyes glaring through his shoulder.]

I was born blind. I was the only kid of a family who really wanted a kid, and when I was born, it made my mom so sick, she didn't dare risk having any more kids.

And I was sick too. A lot when I was little, so I wasn't strong. My parents worried a lot. They did everything for me -- everything . . . including someone blowing on my soup when it was too hot. They kept me inside. I never saw anyone. . . . I don't think most people knew they had a kid.

Earthbending saved me. I could have been exactly what my parents wanted -- some spoiled, little sick girl. I could still be there right now, with people blowing on my soup and following me around with a pillow in case I tripped on something. Never seeing anyone, never doing anything.

[Her eyes narrow.] You tell me that's being alive.

You tell me that, and you're officially a butt sucker.

[The words seethe out, sharp and acidic. You tell her that, Bumi, and you're no one she wants to deal with.]

[abitofawildman]

[Bumi doesn't take his eyes off Yin. Not when she allows silence to fall between then, and certainly not once she starts talking. The tale she tells, it's...familiar somehow. Maybe not her telling of it, certainly not word-for-word, but he knows he's heard its like before.

And then one by one...the pieces fall into place.
Blind.
Metalbender.
Sickly childhood.
Overbearing parents.

Bumi's eyes widen in realization.
She isn't just some street waif taken in by Su, or taught by a wayward and wandering Toph in the wilderness...she is Toph Beifong.

Yin is Toph. How...how could he not have seen this before?
Instantly his mind is flooded with so many questions.

Does Aang know she's here? And if so why hasn't he told Bumi to keep an eye out for her? Was it Aang that helped sneak her onto the island? What about Katara and Sokka while they were here? Or Zuko?

So many questions that there's a pause between when Toph stops talking and when Bumi catches up to what she's expecting from him answer-wise.]

No...no...I wouldn't call that living, no. Surviving, sure, but not living. It's been my experience that the two aren't necessarily the same thing. And if that makes me a butt sucker, then so be it.

There's not a single doubt in my mind that you'd have gotten out of that house, earthbending or not. It might have taken longer and way more runaway attempts, but with or without the badgermoles you'd have done it.

[dustonmyfeet]

Surviving isn't living. [Her voice goes flat, and there's only the briefest pause, and her nose wrinkles at his next assertation.] Fine, maybe not a butt sucker, but at leas--

[But she doesn't finish the sentence. Instead it hangs there, her eyes widening slightly.]

[Because in the few things she's told him, she's never mentioned badgermoles at all.]

[abitofawildman]

[She really didn't, did she.
Whoops. Guess Bumi just went and showed his hand there, didn't he.
Never one to quit while he's ahead, Bumi continues on.]

Which isn't to say I don't think your earthbending wasn't a boon, but...I think you give it too much credit. Let it do too much of the heavy lifting. That was all you.