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

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

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.

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"Okay," murmurs Spider. He still looks slightly doubtful, but he gets up and goes and fetches a bowl of water and comes back.

Dao offers his hand, for practicing on.

Spider is very hesitant about this.

But he animates the water with quick, sure movements, forming a tiny blade of ice that makes a long shallow cut in the back of Dao's hand and then melts almost immediately.

Dao doesn't flinch.

Spider brings up some more water, and lays it over the cut, and... there it goes. Perfectly healed, not even a mark left.

He looks... slightly awed. Far in excess of this fairly trivial accomplishment.

"...Can I do it again?" he breathes.

"Yeah, of course," says Dao. He is very hopeful about the implications of that look.

So he does it again. Makes the cut, and stares at it, and heals it, and seems completely enthralled by this progression.

"It's... it's the same," he says. "No - it's better—" and he abruptly lunges at Dao and hugs him tightly. The bowl of water is knocked to the floor and spills everywhere.

Dao hugs back. "Hey, good, that's good," he says; he can guess what it's better than. "I'm glad."

After a moment, Spider clarifies anyway. "It's better than killing people because - because I feel okay and I'm not hurting anyone - why couldn't I have thought of this first..."