pendantry | Twelve

Twelve

[Raven arrives to open Slash'n'Crash at the usual time. It only feels too early, she decides, after a night of briefly interrupted sleep and a morning of dragging her feet around the house. With Kyle's help, she goes through the motions of getting the place ready for the day; she doesn't have any big projects lined up, so unless there are a lot of customers today, she figures she'll just tinker around with things.

She's wiping off her counter when Kyle catches her sleeve with one set of claws, motioning toward the door. Nothing is there for a moment. Then, with increasingly loud cries, Soren lands in front of the open door. Raven is an expert in bird distress, and even if she wasn't, his appearance on her other doorstep like this means there's a problem. Soren has problems in a pretty narrow field.]

Stay here. [To Soren, motioning him toward the ground so he doesn't take off somewhere again, and:] Keep an eye on the place for me. [To Kyle and whatever other employee might show up in the morning on a Friday.

She doesn't think twice about changing form and taking off for house 56. It isn't too far away. Much like the bird that just surprised her, Raven lands and raps hard on Avatar House's front door.]

[When she opens the door, it's a teen monk who answers. One who looks very emotionally fragile at the moment, cheeks streaked by dried tears. His prayer beads, which have emblems representing three out of four elements, are slung over one arm; and in his other hand he is tightly gripping a letter.

He and Ikki had always risen bright and early for airbending practice. So this morning had started with panic and a sinking feeling in his heart when he found no sign of his granddaughter. He searched and searched, but he couldn't find any sign of her. Or any of her belongings that were specifically from home. Just her letters, her treasures from Luceti, and the prayer beads that she never took off. That was when he realized it; he didn't need to try a journal filter, he just knew. She was gone again, and he might never see her again. He knows all too well in her time, he's just a statue and a ghost in Korra's head. But then he gets himself to read her letter, through tears and a severe mix of emotions, and he comes to accept that it is so much more than he ever thought.

So there he stands, facing Raven, looking lost and brave at the same time.]

[Video]

[After talking with Raven, Aang uses her journal to make the announcement. And he looks into the video feed with a sad smile; Raven is visible behind him, not looking at the camera. Aang does his best to keep himself composed throughout the message, with occasional cracks in his voice and welling up in his eyes.]

Hi everyone. It's me, Aang. I'm sorry to come here with sad news... but it's not really sad at the same time. It's Ikki. She's gone back home. If you don't know who she was.... she was about this tall, almost 10 and she ran the art club, and she's an airbender and she had a bird Pokemon named Soren with her all the time. I also called her the Avatar princess. She left some items and treasures for people she knew, s-so I'll come around to hand those out later.

I'm sad for all the friends she made here and all the people whose hearts she won't be able to touch. But... I think I'm happy, too. She gets to be with her family again. She has a mom and dad back home, plus her grangran and aunt and uncle, and an older sister and two little brothers. One of them's a baby that was just born. That family... That's where she belongs. I think I'm lucky that I got to have two years to get to know someone like her. And with all that time, she's still been smiling. She never had to go the war or get hurt badly. So I'm grateful for that.

This place bends time a lot, a-and it makes lots of us know about out futures before we're ready to. A lot of the times, the future can be scary... o-or overwhelming. But it also has people like Ikki. So I know it will be worth it. [He stops for a moment, wiping at his eyes while finding the words to wrap this up with.] Let's all wish her a happy return.

[Raven motions for her journal back; anyone who's grown used to her more-expressive-lately self will see the stone mask back on, today.]

Aang's going to do the art club with me instead. We'll have a meeting...soon. [There is some audible commotion beyond the visible frame and she sighs.] Soren's staying with me.

[[ooc: If you get something from here, Aang will be stopping by at some point to drop it off! JOINT POST so- so Aang is more likely to reply with a lot of words but either or both will answer.]

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[Forgive Sokka for having a flair for the dramatic.

Nevertheless, he takes the boomerang back and looks back to Raven as she talks. Don't throw the boomerang inside the building, the same old drill. He nods along with that.] Right, no boomerang throwing, gotcha. [However, everything beyond that... seems quite sentimental for Raven (or at least what he knew of Raven), especially considering how distant she's been to Sokka so far.]

Why couldn't we be friends? Of course we could be friends again! I'm great at being friends!

[He spreads out his hands as if inviting a big hug. But then Sokka turns more serious.]

Okay, so I came here in part because I want to work here because I feel I can do some good to Luceti by helping people be prepared here.

But more than that, I came here because... well, you said it in your note. I wanted to know the past. And I don't see a reason to let the past... stay in the past.

Most people who come back don't want to know, if they don't remember.

[Sokka was always different. Already she feels fractionally more comfortable with him.]

It's easier if...you ask questions, and I answer.

[But she will cover the important things when he misses them.]

[Sokka... definitely doesn't respond the way most people do. For some reason, filling in the gaps of his past seems only to bring him more comfort. At least that way, he knows what he's really working with.

~~Plus, Sokka's got a natural curiosity.~~

At any rate, with the permission to start asking all the questions, well, that opens the floodgates. Has Sokka got questions? Do Lucetians have wings?

He leans against the counter a little non-chalantly.]

Well, there are a few things I think I already know. I'm guessing you and I worked here together? And I'm pretty sure you and I became pretty close friends as we got to know each other.

[He also guesses that simply asking the question "What happened between us?" is probably also useless as a question given her... nondescript answers.]

How did we actually meet? Did... we have some sort of shift thing happen to us?

... Did I tell you my deepest, darkest secrets?

[The habit of his to flail and talk fast, she isn't used to that anymore either.]

We were on a draft. [Remembering it would make her smile if not for how serious it was.] You were protecting people and stuck your sword into the wall outlet to defeat an Elite warrior, and you died.

[She thought it was a really stupid idea at the time. Still does.]

[Well that's not what he was expecting. Then again, he really isn't sure what he was expecting the story to be in all honesty. But that's certainly not the whole of the story; after all, after people die, they come back, or so he read.

Nonetheless, at least he did something brave and courageous to protect others. That made him feel good. ~~Even if it was a really stupid idea.~~]

So I saved your life back. And so after they revived me and dropped me back in Luceti, you and I met up after that and became fast friends? And we started making weapons together?

No.

[No, that isn't how it went at all. Raven even shakes her head.]

Someone else saved you before you...really died, I guess. You were kind of okay then. [Pushing her hair behind one ear, Raven wipes imaginary dust off a perfectly clean display counter.] I don't think we talked much after that until I wanted a job here. And I don't make weapons.

[Friends, though. Friends? That took so long and so many experiences that she can't point out when it happened.]

[Hey, give him a break there. He doesn't remember what happened, and he's getting everything maybe 20 words at a time. He's bound to make some mistakes.

But nevertheless, Sokka nods to that, hmming to himself as he tries to fill in some of the missing pieces. Clearly, he's getting very specific answers to his questions instead of the more broad-brush answers he's actually seeking. Well, now he knows how this works.]

Okay, so we met in a draft, but we really didn't know each other until you started working here.

So.. why work here then? There's a bunch of places in Luceti to work.

And then I'm also guessing you just mind the front of the store? Who else... works in the smithy then? [He gestures with his thumb to the back room.]

I work here because I'm a blacksmith. [One hand half-waves in the direction of her display counter.] I make accessories and jewelry. Other things, if people ask.

[At home she was the more frequent salesperson; Gaius was always too into his hammering to notice whether her attitude turned away business.]

You'll meet everybody who works here when they get here. [Huh.] I guess...they get the chance to decide if you should work here too.

[Sokka was the one who came up with how to 'hire' people and never showed anyone! Raven frowns and crosses her arms.]

Leon should be here soon, at least.

[Isn't that the irony, Sokka never teaching anyone how to run the shop. It's as if it were designed just for this moment. Except not really...

There's a momentary realization when he realizes what she means. It's not that she's not a blacksmith; it's just that she made other things than weapons. The idea hadn't dawned upon him before now... that you made jewelry and accessories in more or less the same identical way. Face, meet palm. He shakes his head.]

Right, right, accessories and jewelry. That... makes a surprising amount of sense. I guess those are just as necessary really.

[He pauses a moment, wondering suddenly just how hard the test for working here is going to be. Suddenly, that moment of self-doubt that makes him wonder if he'll even be accepted is quite palpable.]

I... didn't realize that there'd be some sort of test to work here. I-is it hard?

Test? [What-?] I want to see you make something, I guess. That's about it. I know it takes a while.

I guess that's a reasonable test.

[He puts his right fist against his left palm and bows slightly.]

When can I start?

Today, if you want. We're not very busy.

[Even when they are 'busy' it isn't very busy.]

[Such is the Luceti lifestyle, really.

When Sokka hears that, he smiles. While this wasn't something he was expecting, this at least is something that he knows how to do. And Space Sword, admittedly, was one of this best possessions. He could do this.]

Well, show me to the forge?

It's this way.

[Up a little step and through a door and into their pretty darn spacious shared working area. Raven nods to an empty station.]

That's where- you used to work.

[Sokka follows Raven into the door that he had almost opened up a few minutes ago, finally peering into the area where all the equipment was. It was a spectacle, and he his jaw drops a bit in awe of it.]

It's... so... beautiful...

[He hurries over to his station and starts examining all of the equipment, getting a feel for where everything is located.]

[It's just a forge. A big one, okay, yeah, but. A forge.

It's...strange, and okay, watching him get all excited like this.]

Start whenever you want.

[It was certainly fancier than the one he had used back at Master Piandao's. That's certainly why he was impressed. There was so much at his disposal. But there would be time for admiring equipment later as he actually put his skills to the task. He needed metal first. And he knew more or less what he wanted to make first: a sword. At least that's what he felt like he'd be able to make best, and that was perfect for a test.]

And whenever is going to be now.

[He says that with an air of firm decisiveness and excitement. He can't wait to get back to work.

With that, he heads into the back room to get some supplies and some ore to start his project.]

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Twelve

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