no seriously / original bones don't steal / or commit arson

[roc_on]

The news gets worse.

The police nailed down a pattern - the guy found with the missing bones was one thing, but there were other missing persons, alternating genders, late teens to early twenties, all taken from the same part of town. Cops, including cops of the relevant age range, stalk the area, and one of them gives chase to a man who proves to be a firebender. He burns out most of a liquor store, proving it, and the cop loses him trying to meet him on the other side and goes back to help evacuate the units above the store.

There's security footage of the fire and some of the chase, rescued from the liquor store, and the media gets ahold of it.

Chali says this still isn't an Avatar matter. Beila, who has no detective skills anyway, defers to his expertise, meditates, reads her book - turns up to her firebending lesson.

Comments

[fiery_delights]

"His name's Sora Oshiro, he was born on the sixteenth of Rain in 594, and that's as much as anybody knows about him because after that he was apparently raised in total isolation by his father." He sighs. "Except I have a few guesses to make about what that was like, because the first son was me, and trust me, setting the house on fire and running was a pretty reasonable response to my dad's idea of parenting. Dad wasn't a firebending teacher, he never just took students; I knew as soon as I saw the video, the only way anybody else could be running around with his exact bending style was if he'd had another kid. So I did a search and there it was. I'd... really rather my part in this story didn't hit the news, at least not with any connection to me. If a bunch of people start wanting to talk to me about my dad, I am going to have to abruptly retire and go be an anonymous hermit somewhere. But I'm willing to tell you if it'll help get this guy found."

[roc_on]

"I'll talk to Chali. He... shouldn't pester you, I think. I should perhaps go talk to him soonest rather than have this lesson. You don't look in the mood anyway."

[fiery_delights]

"Good catch," he says, with a wry smile. "Sorry."

[roc_on]

"I don't blame you a bit." She pulls out a chordpress and her portable screen and writes down the details. "Anything else?"

[fiery_delights]

"It's likely that he has a lot of burn scars. None of mine were in highly visible places, but since records seem to imply that my little brother was literally never allowed out of the house where strangers might see him, the same might not hold true for him."

[roc_on]

She chords in characters grimly. "And probably looks somewhat like you, I guess, although I'll want to render that in other terms for the police department in general. Anything else? I bet you don't want to have to have this conversation twice, so."

[fiery_delights]

He thinks about it.

"...If for whatever reason you end up going after this guy yourself and want to have me with you instead of or in addition to a police squad, I'll go. And as much as I don't want to have this conversation twice, if you come back to me with questions I'll answer them. But I can't think of anything else right now that seems like it would help the investigation any."

[roc_on]

"I'm pretty unlikely to go after him myself, but if I do it'll be because something more involved than a firebender serial killer is going on and in that case I'd probably appreciate the support."

[fiery_delights]

Jun nods.

[roc_on]

"Thanks for the tip."

And she goes.

And she tells Chali.

And Chali does the obvious thing and looks up Sora Oshiro.

Who has traveled to Republic City, among other transactions, under his own name. That's certainly... interesting. But the financials don't immediately turn up where he's staying. They quietly release a description which... basically describes Jun, only two decades younger, but with low confidence and not much fanfare. They don't want the killer to know that they're onto him (or, if Jun is wrong, that they're busily barking up the wrong tree).

Chali appreciates the tip, keeps the Jun connection otherwise quiet, and sends Beila home. She goes. She finishes the Avatar Meixing autobiography. There's a bit about the Avatar State.

From the sound of it, there are no practice effects at all between the startle reflex Avatar State and the fully mastered kind. They're totally different things that simply both happen to involve glowy eyes and supreme power.

The way Meixing describes it, both of the avenues into the state are, well, mental states, but they're unrelated. There's no reason Beila shouldn't be able to just... do it.

That said, "while fretting about a serial killer who may be her firebending teacher's little brother" is not the ideal time to do complicated mental work, especially of the "calm yourself, empty your mind" variety. She sends a message to the nuns. She can't drag her big mirror out to the beach without teaching herself to metalbend or her dad's help, so she goes over katas she already knows rather than working on wings.

Chali's not home yet when she wants to go to bed. Ranyi's waiting up. Beila gets sleep.

[thinklikethis]

Free time and no plans with Beila means woodcarving in the park. Highly preferable to sitting at home; the park is nice and the weather's good. So Dao sits and makes necklace charms, little wooden this-or-thats arranged suitably to be strung on strings. He wants to make a little roc that is not just any little roc but a little Liqing in particular, and it's hard, but it's the fun kind. When his failure to portray the particularness of his girlfriend's bird starts getting to him, he takes a break and makes little ottercats and ferretsnakes and lizard crows and flying lemurs.

[in_silk]

Someone sits down next to him on the park bench.

[thinklikethis]

The stranger is not, actually, sitting too close - he's perched on the far end, a perfectly reasonable strangers-sharing-a-park-bench distance - but Dao is uncomfortable anyway.

[in_silk]

He doesn't do anything, just sits and looks at the trees and the sky.

[thinklikethis]

Well. Okay. He can do that.

Dao contemplates finding another bench.

[in_silk]

The stranger peacefully enjoys this lovely afternoon in the park.

[thinklikethis]

And the worst part of it is, Dao keeps looking at him and being annoyed and uncomfortable about his presence and then thinking about ripping his bones out. Dao is woodcarving; he has a knife; he could, actually, just reach over and grab this perfectly innocent person's arm and cut—

He's pretty sure this isn't him turning into a serial killer, because look at him, not doing that. But it's still not a train of thought he wants to keep revisiting.

[in_silk]

"It's a nice day, isn't it?" the stranger says quietly.

[thinklikethis]

Which makes Dao feel even more socially awkward but interrupts his murder-related thoughts, a trade he is absolutely willing to make.

Even though the first response that pops into his head is, "Ferretsnakes have the most extreme length-to-width ratio of any mammal."

[in_silk]

"...Pardon?" says the stranger.

[thinklikethis]

Dao blushes. "Um. I'm sorry. I was just - thinking about animal trivia. So when you said something and I didn't know what to say, it, um - I'll just go away now."

He puts away his knife and his little half-carved pendant of a coiled-up ferretsnake and—tries to get up. It's less successful than he was expecting. He tries again. Maybe his clothes got caught on the bench; he twists around to check.

[in_silk]

The stranger is smiling at him.

[thinklikethis]

That smile hits him like a bucket of ice water to the face. Instant chills. Before he consciously catches up with the situation he's already trying to reach for his bag, but now his body just plain won't move, and he finally clues in. Bloodbender. Actual real live bloodbender. Oh, fuck.

[in_silk]

He nods, and stands up, and offers Dao a hand to help him to his feet.

[thinklikethis]

Dao finds himself taking it, finds himself picking up his bag with his free hand, standing gracefully, following the stranger away from the bench. It's not like in the movies; he doesn't jerk around stiffly like someone who is obviously being bloodbent. He's only clumsy when he struggles. He manages to stumble and fall, trying his hardest to resist the imposed movements.