002 - [Video OTA]

[12goingon113]

[Aang takes a slow measured breath before speaking.]

Hi. I'm Aang. I don't know if we've met yet, but...I'm hoping we do.

[He manages a small, hopeful smile that lasts for a fraction of a second. If you blink, you might miss it.]

Chances are good though, that you know some of my friends. General Iroh, Sokka, and Katara. They know a lot more people than I do, and so I want to make sure that all of them know that they went home.

[This is a lie. Aang doesn't know that they actually went home, but he's choosing to believe in the reality that they did. Because the thought of any of them being stuck in the void for who knows how long is...no. They're home. They're just home.]

Anyway, I know I'm not much of a substitute, seeing as I'm no where near as wise as Iroh, or mechanically inclined like Sokka, and I can't heal like Katara, but...I'm still an Avatar and I'd like to help.

So if there's anything that they were doing that you'd still need help with? Or that just needs doing? I'd love to try.

Comments

[ruinsprofessor]

[Raine smiles back. It's not wholly cheerful, but it's an attempt.]

Stories never came into it much, regrettably. We spoke of magic and bending, often, or how to prepare for the problems of the future.

I'm... glad to have had the opportunity to know him.

[12goingon113]

Me too.

He's a complicated man, who had a complicated history, and my life is so much better for having gotten to know him.

Do you know magic?

[ruinsprofessor]

[Raine nods agreement, to the pieces about Iroh. It's as apt a summation as any. And she'll remember him. As long as she can.]

Yes, I do. I use healing artes primarily, but I have some skill with light, as well.

My name's Raine Sage; I run the Healers' Guild.

[12goingon113]

I used to volunteer at the hospital a long time ago. In the Children's Ward.

I'm Aang.

[ruinsprofessor]

[Now that he mentions it, he does look at least a little familiar.]

It's nice to meet you, Aang.

[Better reasons would be nice, but beggars can't be choosy.]

What are you doing now?

[12goingon113]

[In both of their defenses, it was several years ago for Aang, and he's looking a little different these days than he did when he first arrived.]

[Or at least he likes to think so.]

Like right now now? Or now in general now?

[ruinsprofessor]

In general. [She'd thought his current activity was obvious, but perhaps she should have been more specific.]

I haven't seen you much since then, though I suppose beyond work I... don't get out much.

[That's somewhere between wry and rueful.]

[12goingon113]

Well. I had a couple of things I was working on with Sokka and Wan, but they're kind of done now. So I've been mostly rededicating the Turtle's Head as a prayer space.

[ruinsprofessor]

[And those projects are likely a moot point anyway, with Sokka and Wan gone.]

I see. You're religious?

[A bit of a headtip.]

I don't know much about your world, beyond bending.

[12goingon113]

[Aang has never really been asked that question before, at least not in that manner.]

I...I guess I am. Yeah. My people were very spiritual, and for a long time I thought I was going to devote my life to the Southern Air Temple.

[ruinsprofessor]

[Interesting. Is he differentiating between religious and spiritual with a gentle correction, or does he not distinguish...?]

Who were 'your people'? [Beat.] A 'long time'?

[That nets a browraise. He's twelve. But she is genuinely curious about all this.]

[12goingon113]

[Aang sits up a bit straighter, which...probably doesn't help to emphasize that he's nearly 15 these days...what, because of his Baby Face ^th or that he's not yet grown into his ears.]

I'm an Air Nomad.

[ruinsprofessor]

[It does not exactly help, no. He still seems quite young. Not a bad thing-- just something Raine notes.]

And who are the 'Air Nomads,' exactly?

[There are specific questions to ask, of course, but she wants to see how he'll define them without excessive prompting.]

[12goingon113]

[That's...kind of a complicated question.]

We were...are the master of airbending. We're a monastic people who study at the airtemples but spend most of our lives following the nomadic migration patterns of the sky bison.

[ruinsprofessor]

[Of course it is. Half the point is seeing how Aang himself will answer it-- that says something about what he finds important.]

I see. So you have a few set points of rest, and spend the remainder of your time in travel. I take it the sky bison are exceptionally important to you? Do you follow them by land, or by air?

[They sound interesting.]

[There's a pause, and then Raine offers, almost as if in exchange:]

There's a city in my world that floats in the sky. It moves, day by day, though I don't believe it follows any nearly so definable pattern.

[12goingon113]

[He grins again when it's clear that Raine understands.]

They are! They're the ones who taught us airbending, and our tattoos are inspired by their markings. We actually migrate with them. They live with us, and if we're lucky one of them will choose us as a companion for life.

[Woah, a flying city?]

That sounds like something Wan told me about. In his time people live on the backs of Lionturtles, some of which could fly.

[ruinsprofessor]

[Oh. That makes a great deal of sense, actually; their entire way of life was learned from these creatures. Raine looks pleased.]

Lionturtles, hm. I see. Were any of them as large as Tu Vishan?

[Living on the back of a turtle hasn't been a strange idea for at least a year.]

Exire was constructed by people, however. The spirit Maxwell maintains it now.

[12goingon113]

Wan says so, but the only one I've ever seen isn't as big as the one we're on now. But still big. Way big.

[His arms open wide to indicate just how big is big.]

[ruinsprofessor]

[Raine laughs a little, but it's not unkind. She does get the image, fortunately.]

Certainly big enough to support life, then. I see.

Thank you for explaining.