Bumi (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
abitofawildman) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
cyclicality2014-11-11 12:37 pm
abitofawildman) wrote in cyclicality2014-11-11 12:37 pm
[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!
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!
no subject
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?
no subject
[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?
no subject
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.
no subject
[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.
no subject
There are worse fates.
no subject
[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.
no subject
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.]
no subject
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.]
no subject
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.
no subject
[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.]
no subject
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.
no subject
[He knew.]
[Without even thinking, she lashes out with a punch -- which goodness knows where it lands, and results in a punctuated yelp as the contact explodes pain into her mind. The movement pretty much spills the bunny spirit from her lap.]
You knew. [Her voice was absolutely fierce, accusing. Demanding.] How long?
no subject
It is, however, the first time a Toph this tiny has lashed out at him this way, and so rather than get him in the shoulder or back of the head, the jab lands square on his gut.
This is a good thing for Bumi, seeing as Toph's punches are solid...but tiny, and therefore hurt all that much more.]
Ooof, just now! I only figured it out just now! ugh, it's like being punched by a dagger...
no subject
Who are you?
no subject
I told you, I'm Bumi. I'm...I'm Aang and Katara's oldest son. Stop with the punching, I'm old and you're hurt.
no subject
[And she relaxed, easing back down into her seated position, looking thoughtful.]
I guess that makes sense.
[On the Aang and Katara part, anyway. Her shoulders lifted.]
Kind of figured that would happen.
[And if he's Aang and Katara's kid . . . it's probably okay. She wasn't in any danger. (Though what kind of danger she was preparing for, she probably couldn't say.)]
no subject
You're taking this remarkably well, which isn't all that surprising really, just...Does Aang know you're here? On the Island, I mean.
no subject
What's there to take? We're in the future. There's buildings that are way too big and stuff that flies. Anybody even looking at the others, especially Aang and Katara, knows they're going to have kids. --You know, whenever Twinkletoes gets around to actually telling her he likes her in my time.
[She wiped at her nose with the back of one hand.] Just not me. I'm not doing kids.
Just so you know, though: Whatever you've got up your sleeve about my future, you can stuff it. I don't want to know.
Also, as far as you're concerned? I'm still Yin. Call me Toph in private if you want, but I'm not advertising.
[A blink in turn.] Yeah, he knows. I didn't exactly find this place myself. The underground part, I mean.
no subject
Aunt Toph was never someone to cross. Not as bluntly as that. Not that she was ever Aunt Toph to begin with. Always just Toph, though occasionally Sifu Toph worked in a pinch, but only when trying really hard to kiss up.]
Noted.
[It's here that Bumi puts down his hands, though one does raise back up to stroke thoughtfully at his beard.]
And...I've got to say, for a terrible liar, Aang's done a great job of keeping you secret.
I didn't think he had it in him, honestly.
[And then in an instant, the entire thread of Bumi's thoughts turn left and he's off on a new mental path. One that is bold, enterprising, searching a distant horizon for possibility...and that sounds a bit more Wang Firey than anyone strictly ought to.]
Well, I don't know where we go from here, but...you're more than welcome to bunk here with us. Though, I've got to warn you: I don't run things around here like Tenzin would. Everyone's got a job to do, and no one coasts for free. I don't care what people say about airbender hospitality.
no subject
I'm here to camp out with Aang and wait for my bending to come back.
[She won't go back into that dark place where it might not. She won't.]
[She can't.]
I pull my own weight.
[She's learned to, over time, on a team. Though technically he could take that statement either way.]
As for Aang . . . [She snorts.] Yeah. Well. As long as it didn't come up in conversation, he could probably keep it down.
[As for what they were talking about before she learned who he was . . . she'll distract him from it. Keep away. Because the truth is . . . she can't ever agree.]
[She'd rather bury it again. And hope they both don't remember.]
no subject
A smile which only grows wider when he manages to make her laugh.
Who's distracting who again? Never, don't answer that...in the end it doesn't matter.]
He's a good kid, that one. Very different from how the world remembers him, that's for sure. I'm kind of looking forward to all the double-takes and slack jaws when he goes public.
[Because Bumi knows he will go public at some point. Either by choice or circumstance.
At that moment something occurs to Bumi, and he turns his attention back to BumJu.]
You knew who she was the entire time, didn't you.
[Have you ever heard the long suffering sigh of a very put-upon spirit before? No? Well you have now.]