one's chastity is / widely believed a virtue / not personal choice

[roc_on]

The next day there's an article in a scandal sheet insinuating that there may be something inappropriate going on between Delightful Jun and the Avatar.

Beila adopts a strategy of completely ignoring this insinuation until an interviewer asks her point blank, at which point she says, "No," and declines to elaborate further. Because there is nothing to elaborate on.

She shows up, exasperated, for her next firebending lesson.

Comments

[thinklikethis]

"I am adorable." He kisses her.

[roc_on]

Kisses. If their milkshakes melt she can refreeze them. Kisses kisses.

[thinklikethis]

Kisses! So many kisses. Adorable kisses.

[roc_on]

"It would probably," kiss, "embarrass you if I actually mentioned this to him at some point, wouldn't it?"

[thinklikethis]

"...Yeees," he says, "but I think it would embarrass me much less than trying to talk to him myself."

[roc_on]

"Do you want me to?"

[thinklikethis]

"Maybe," he says shiftily. "I don't not want you to. It would be an acceptable amount of embarrassing. And if he laughs at me I won't have to see him do it."

[roc_on]

"I really don't see him laughing at you."

[thinklikethis]

"Really really?"

[roc_on]

"Well, not in a mean way. He might laugh in a 'that's adorable' kind of way?"

[thinklikethis]

"He can totally laugh in a 'that's adorable' kind of way!"

[roc_on]

"I'll bring it up if I see a conversational opening and you don't desperately contact me to change your mind before then, how about. And I will report on his laughter situation."

[thinklikethis]

"You are my favourite girlfriend," says Dao. "Of all the girlfriends I have had. Who are all you."

[roc_on]

"I would be really disappointed in myself if I didn't manage that, considering that."

[thinklikethis]

"I meant it in a nice way, not so much a literal way."

[roc_on]

"I will take it as it was meant." Pause. "And tease you about the literal interpretation, as you have just seen."

[thinklikethis]

"Yes! Yes, I did just see that. That is a thing that just happened."

He hugs her.

[roc_on]

Hugs. "You are so observant."

[thinklikethis]

"Yes I am."

Observant and snuggly.

[roc_on]

Very much so.



So anyway, Beila has firebending lessons pretty regularly. She appears at her next one, humming.

[fiery_delights]

"You're cheerful today," observes Jun. "That's nice."

[roc_on]

"It's a nice day out, I have a roc, I'm the Avatar, my father gave my mother a lovely bouquet of flowers and she grinned about them all morning, it's been a nice time to be me." She cracks her knuckles.

[fiery_delights]

"I was right, that is nice. Time to make fire!"

She's been progressing pretty well in her studies, picking up more and more of the basics and putting them together with increasing complexity. Jun encourages her to take it slow and pay attention to the element, to put as much precision into her form as she can manage, and to take a break every so often and think about what she's learning.

"Your control is improving," he comments at one such interval. "Faster than I expected, with that precision issue you have. Good work."

[roc_on]

"Thanks! I have been practicing."

(She has incentives. 'Cause on the one hand she's not very patient, but on the other, hasty kink has got to be the most embarrassing way to burn down a house ever.)

[fiery_delights]

"I can tell! If you keep it up, in a few weeks I might teach you how to do wings. You'll want very good control for that, for obvious reasons, but it's not that hard if you can get the trick and there's limited potential for disaster down here even if you screw it up. Plus it'll be a good way to get further practice in keeping your air separate from your fire. Does that sound like fun?"