bones are important / advisable to keep them / also, stay alive

[roc_on]

The news is grim today. A self-driving software glitch caused the first Republic City car accident in the last four years, uptown; someone has a concussion and someone else has whiplash from their own car swerving to avoid. The company is swearing to have the software patched as soon as possible. There was a food poisoning incident at the Flame Festival in one suburb, and a fireworks accident out in earth country, but these have resulted in no deaths. Death has resulted from what appears to be a murderer - it's hard to explain natural causes leaving a corpse with most of its bones missing.

The news doesn't speculate. Chali, however, does; Beila brings it up with him once he's home, and he says that out in a little town called Hirakyo there was a graverobbing incident - missing bones. They don't have hard evidence on it yet, but they think the same person may have escalated to taking his trophies from living victims, that this could be a serial.

Disquieting. To say the least. But Chali has no reason to believe that it's Avatar business - no spirits, no geopolitics, no heavy-duty bending. So Beila reads another chapter in the autobiography of Avatar Meixing and goes to her firebending lesson.

Comments

[thinklikethis]

Tiny smile.

[roc_on]

Hiking, hiking.

[thinklikethis]

Such pretty wilderness.

[roc_on]

And nightfall, and an outcropping at the top of the hill.

And all of the stars.

[thinklikethis]

So pretty!

[roc_on]

Yup!

Beila flops on her back on the ground for a clear look at them.

"Lemme know when you want to spoil our night vision and make frybread and lobstercrab."

[thinklikethis]

Dao flops next to her.

"Stars are pretty," he declares.

[roc_on]

"So pretty." She puts her head on his shoulder.

[thinklikethis]

He snuggles up.

"You're great."

[roc_on]

"I am. It is true."

[thinklikethis]

Giggle.

[roc_on]

"You are very lucky to have me." Nuzzle. "Fortunately, you are skilled in the art of showering me with one hundred percent accurate compliments."

[thinklikethis]

"Yep." Snuggle. "Such as: you're great."

[roc_on]

Giggle.

[thinklikethis]

"And cute! And smart! And funny!"

[roc_on]

Kiss.

[thinklikethis]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Kisses!

[roc_on]

And when they've had their fill of stars, Beila gathers some branches and arranges them, earthbends a firebreak, and sets the wood alight.

[thinklikethis]

"So convenient," says Dao.

[roc_on]

"Utility bending for fun and not having to actually pick up rocks or light matches: that's what being the Avatar is all about."

[thinklikethis]

"And building bridges across the ocean."

[roc_on]

"I'll get there. The nuns think I might need the Avatar State for it not to take months, though, and they're pretty sure I can't master it until I've been in it at least once, and I haven't been fight-or-flight enough for it to sneak up on me."

[thinklikethis]

"I mean, that's kind of a good problem to have, isn't it?"

[roc_on]

"Sort of. I mean, the fact that I didn't master it at age twelve already puts me firmly below Aang on the list of prodigy Avatars so it's not like I have to push to make the record or something. I wish I'd tried bending other things as a kid but I was never a precocious enough airbender to strongly suspect it. I mean, I was fine, but in retrospect I must have been constantly distracted just keeping myself upright, and I don't think any of my predecessors already learned that for me."

[thinklikethis]

"Yeah, that seems like a really specific problem that you have."