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[Telling Time] This is theYear of the Rabbit.
It is currentlyDecemberin Hou Tian. It's Winterof year107 ASC.
September
- Toph, Teo, and the rescue team finally find Aang in the Ukema Tribe. Having seen the explosion, they make plans to return as soon as possible.
- With the plague abating, Ba Sing Se reopens its gates for refugees and distribution of emergency resources.
- For three days, rumblings are heard from the Caldera of the Fire Nation Capital before it erupts. Chaos ensues.
August
- Sokka and Suki begin preparations for the birth of their child on the island of Kyoshi.
- A meeting of the Senate of the Original People of the Flame is scheduled for next month in the harbor city.
- Katara fails to find a baby in the North Pole, but does find someone else: Hama. Both women survive the encounter albeit with different perspectives.
- The Jade Shark manages to regroup in their underground headquarters in the desert, unsure of their next move.
- Toph forms a rescue team including none other than an old friend, Teo. Preparations are made for a journey into the heart of the Si Wong.
July
- Meanwhile, Aang is enjoying the hospitality of the Ukemanem Tribe on the Plains where he recovers from his ordeal--and makes some new friends.
- In the cover of peaceful Shu Jing, Azula continues her rehabilitation. It's slow-going, but progress is being made and it seems to be only a matter of time...
- Zuko and Katara venture North to see if a reincarnation of the Avatar has already appeared in the Northern Water Tribe.
- Toph journeys to Ba Sing Se to discover the truth for herself.
- The evidence is undeniable. Aang's death is announced to the world. Mourning commences.
- The infant princess, Lei, daughter of Zuko and Katara, has her coronation.
June
- Jun returns on the trail of Azula with new information that will lead the search party in the direction of none other than the Fire Nation.
- It's mutually agreed that Aang's airbending students will be moved to Omashu for safe haven until Aang's true whereabouts are discovered and a course of action is decided.
May
- The Jade Shark continue their trek through the desert only to be caught in a war between sandbending tribes that includes a bid for power and caravan raids, even daring to incur the wrath of Jibade.
- Kuei is alerted to Aang's disappearance and the discovery of the "body;" the matter is kept private to avoid panic.
- Zuko recovers in time to return home for a happy reunion with Katara's family and the introduction of their newborn daughter, Lei.
- With the water slowly but steadily purged of the infection, the residents of Ba Sing Se begin to recover. Quarantine remains.
April
- Seizing the opportunity, the Jade Shark catches the Avatar alone and abduct him, staging his death so they can take him to their base in the Si Wong Desert.
- Aang's intervention restores the international peace and ensures he'll stay behind after the summit is concluded to keep things on track.
- Zuko's illness causes Katara and Ursa to cross the ocean to seek to help, making ripples when they break the quarantine to do so.
- Azula reaches Shu Jing and her rehabilitation commences in full force; her presence is kept from even many of the Flame members.
March
- The plague continues to run rampant and strikes its next victim: Zuko.
- The Flame plan to harbor Azula in Shu Jing, where they'll hold their first Senate meeting in months.
- The trio hunting Azula tracks her to the city, but are waylaid by a side-mission (on Zuko's order) to try and find Jet.
- Efforts to infiltrate the Avatar's closest circle are put in effect by the Jade Shark; Jet contacts Katara, and a new airbending student has anti-bending sympathies.
- The political leaders converge on Ba Sing Se to address the mounting problems.
February
- A summit of the world leaders is scheduled for March in Ba Sing Se.
- Aang chooses to relocate his students to the Fire Nation palace for protection upon discovery of the Air Temple in ruins.
- The Jade Shark begins work on their chi-blocking jewelry.
- Azula and Na subsequently flee the city, heading to the western coastal towns to find passage back to the Fire Nation.
- The newlyweds encounter Azula on their honeymoon in Ba Sing Se.
January { SEVEN YEARS POST SOZIN’S COMET }
- The Jade Shark steals a Fire Nation ship from Kyoshi and destroys the Southern Air Temple.
- Sokka and Suki are wed on the 14th.
- Virtually the whole world gathers on Kyoshi Island for the upcoming nuptials.
December
- A plague breaks out in Ba Sing Se.
- It spreads through a poisoned water supply; the upper and lower rings are the worst affected areas eventually leading to quarantine and blockade of the city.
- The Jade Shark is held responsible.
- The sickness spreads to the north and west.
- Kuei falls into a coma, but later shows promise of recovery.
October
- Azula seeks refuge on Crescent Island.
- The Jade Shark begins work on creating ways to permanently block bending.
- Wedding plans begin for Sokka and Suki, who decide on a January wedding on Kyoshi.
- Katara discovers she’s pregnant with Zuko’s child.
September
- Toph finds an unlikely ally in Jun and manages to escape her captor with the help of his son; they head to the South Pole.
- Zuko and Aang attend a “summit” in Ba Sing Se with Kuei to discuss the next course of action in minimizing the damage of Azula’s escape.
- Katara is kidnapped by agents of the Jade Shark.
- Ransom letters are sent to the Avatar and Chief Hakoda, but written in the ancient language of the Si Wong.
- Taken to underground Ba Sing Se, she escapes relatively unharmed with little to no information about the Jade Shark’s involvement.
August
- Azula escapes from her cell in the palace.
- She becomes a fugitive, harbored by a Senate member of the Flame.
- The death count of her rampage is four with several more wounded and one palace wing destroyed.
- Wanted posters are publically posted, all trade routes are shut down, and Zuko starts negotiations with Kuei for aid from the Earth Kingdom in hunting down his sister.
- The entire palace (including all wedding guests) is evacuated and relocated to Ember Island while repairs are made.
- The Festival of Lights takes place on the island. During the festivities:
- Zuko and Katara sleep together.
- Toph is kidnapped by a financier of the Jade Shark who has arranged her marriage to his son.
- Sokka proposes to Suki and she accepts.
- Katara confesses her infidelity to Aang and leaves for the South Pole early.
- Zuko breaks his engagement to Mai and she leaves after her suspicions of his infidelity are confirmed.
- Ozai is successfully smuggled out of prison under the guise of death, and harbored by the Flame in Shu Jing where he assumes the identity of a commoner named “Shen.”
July
- An ex-soldier prison guard and member of the Flame devises a plan to break Ozai out of Boiling Rock.
- Jet learns that his base was infiltrated by Zuko, Katara, and Jun.
- The Flame begins to plot against the Jade Shark.
- The Jade Shark enjoys loose ties with the new court therapist installed in the Fire Nation palace.
- Mai returns from the EK; everyone is finally gathered for the wedding, still postponed for a few weeks.
- Zuko’s bachelor party is an all-around drunken disaster.
- Zuko and Katara rescue Ursa from the Labyrinth, and return to the Fire Nation with Jun.
June
- Katara hires Jun to venture into the Si Wong.
- She learns that Ursa is being held captive in the Labyrinth.
- In preparation for the wedding, Zuko and Touda fetch Sokka, Katara, and Suki from the South. Aang leaves to fetch Iroh and Toph.
- The former group stops at Seedy Merchant’s pier and discover information about the Jade Shark.
May { SIX YEARS POST SOZIN’S COMET }
- Jet and his Jade Shark continue to make plans from their HQ in the Si Wong desert.
- Patient Zero {Drak} begins his work in chemical warfare on their behalf.
- The Original People of the Flame successfully plant a new spy in the palace.
- The first assassination plot on Zuko’s life is hatched, but fails.
- The new spy is persuaded to become a double agent, aligning with the Dawn.
{ FIVE YEARS POST SOZIN’S COMET }
- Aang resides in and teaches out of the Southern Air Temple.
- Ty Lee returns to the Fire Nation after her time on Kyoshi.
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 15 Location: Omashu
A Hiking We Will Go [Ozha] « Thread Started on Sept 15, 2011, 2:05am »
OOC: Sorry this took so long!
Although he had yet to have his full potential unleashed, Takumi was capable of a number of things.
Ask him to clean a stain that had been stuck to tile for three years, and he could get it done in five seconds flat. Have him solve three plus five (minus two), and he could answer you in… maybe a minute. (But if he had ink and parchment, hooo boy, watch out!) Eventually, he would be an even greater earthbender, and a master at all of the elements (plus a master mop-bender, but his fantasy of inventing a whole new element of bending was beside the point).
That said, even after all of that training in the near future was completed, he still wouldn’t be able to read a map to save his life.
Which, coincidentally, was what he was trying to do now.
“Okay, so if that’s north…” As far as his attention was concerned, the only thing Takumi could hear was his own voice as he mumbled to himself, mingling with the ambience of the wildlife surrounding him. “Then I’m heading… west…?” A raccoon-squirrel overhead chittered a correction to him, then scurried on its way.
Given he couldn't speak raccoon-squirrel, he was left having absolutely no clue.
Stopping dead in his tracks, Tak frowned at the map he had spread out before him; and then tried peering at it from a different angle, twisting his neck to an uncomfortable degree to the right, and turning the map the opposite way. “What direction was it moss grows again…?” he wondered, lowering the fraying parchment to squint at a nearby tree trunk afflicted with the creeping greenery in question.
Joined: Apr 2010 Gender: Female Posts: 228 Location: Ba Sing Se
Re: A Hiking We Will Go [Ozha] « Reply #1 on Sept 15, 2011, 1:19pm »
No worries!
Perched on her Draquine- who now sported several braids, Ozha hummed a sort of half remembered song about a fair prince who fell in love with a swan fish. It was important for her to practice, and sing songs regularly or she would forget them as the months dragged on. Otherwise the woods were silent of human noise until...
Perking up from her trance, she focused on the beast. It too had perked it's ears up. Yup, she had definitely heard something. A minute or two and a slow trot around the next corner, and she spotted him.... not that it was difficult. He had quite a large map spread out between two equally long arms.
"Well, hey, man!" She called in a cheerful voice, typical to that of one of the Earth Kingdom's nomads. "Must totally be slow going if you're asking directions of the trees." Swinging a leg over the beast's back, she landed with an "Oof!" on the dirt road in a flutter of multicolored fabric. "I'll tell ya a secret, hey? They don't talk back." Clearly a travel virgin. This was probably his first time away from home.
This was followed by an even less helpful, "So, you're lost or something, right?" Ozha had been lost before too, but through the years she spent wandering, she'd developed a pretty good sense of direction. "Lame, huh?" She was nearly as tall as him, so it took no real effort to peer over his shoulder at the paper that seemed to be frustrating him so. "You're here." her finger would land on the parchment about an inch south of the dot labeled 'Omashu'. "Probably." was added with a flair.
"If you're going to Omashu, that's where I'm headed. Up and through." She pointed towards the way she was going, it would be several more hours walk, unfortunately. She'd hoped to make the city by nightfall so she could sleep in a warm soft bed, but the spirits of travel were not smiling on her that day. "If you're headed south," She pointed the way she had come, "You'll wanna cut inland soon or you'll get stuck in this made scary swamp. It's totally haunted."
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 15 Location: Omashu
Re: A Hiking We Will Go [Ozha] « Reply #2 on Sept 15, 2011, 9:37pm »
As lost in thought as he was lost in his directions, Takumi gave a start when a feminine voice accompanied by the noise of a steed broke through his consciousness, not at all having expected company. He turned with still-wide eyes to see his greeter, and her ride, at a loss for which one to gape at first (much less what to say). His attention settled on her as she spoke and moved and came towards him, in a whorl of eye-grabbing kaleidoscopic skirts and jewelry.
Takumi wondered, briefly, if he was in the spirit world somehow; because surely a woman this lovely couldn't possibly be mortal.
Before an awkward silence could set in, "Well... I knew that," he eventually, lamely, blustered: Takumi didn't want to appear like he - the Avatar! - didn't know what he was doing. Especially not in front of a girl who was already causing his cheeks to flush and his hands to fumble with his map, such fidgeting only worsening the closer she got. "Of... Of course I know where I'm going!" was somewhat faltering, just enough for him to quit trying to save his pride and listen as she pointed things out to him.
"Haunted?" he echoed when she was done, looking questioningly at her. "Well... I was headed for the swamp..." The prospect of it being haunted certainly didn't put him off; it was the prospect of meeting this woman, and then continuing on without getting to know her further - or secure a chance to meet her again - that did. "I was just going to see if maybe I could pick up waterbending there," Takumi explained, shaking his head. He didn't do so well in cold, and wanted to see if perhaps he could get that element out of the way, first, what with the swamp being closest.
"But... I could join you on your way to Omashu?" was more of a hopeful question than an actual decision, and he tried for - what was supposed to be - a suave, confident grin at her. Mostly, he just came off looking like he had eaten some bad eggs.
He would have to double back, but... an Avatar was supposed to go with his heart, right? ...Takumi had no idea, but decided that was probably an official Avatar law, anyways - just for the sake of getting to see this pretty face a little bit longer.
On that note... "Oh! I'm Takumi, by the way," he remembered, giving her a polite, if excitable, bow. "What's your name?"
Joined: Apr 2010 Gender: Female Posts: 228 Location: Ba Sing Se
Re: A Hiking We Will Go [Ozha] « Reply #3 on Sept 16, 2011, 2:20pm »
Gosh, he was just too cute with the blushing and the disorientation. Just the perfect toy to mess with for a minute or two! Ducking around so she stood in front of him, the outspread map between them, she would lean forward and fold it down, peering over it right as she spoke an insistent, "Yes, haunted."
Ozha immediately clicked into storytelling mode, arms and fingers undulating in a way that might mimic a ghost billowing through the air. Her voice took on a teasing, spooky edge. "You better take care then! They say that you see people. People you lost; people you miss; people who've died. They follow you, gliding monsters in the mist, hungry for blood." Leaning in a little, she added, "At night? You can hear their victims screaming in agony." When passing through, the caravan leader had insisted they were merely plump, swamp shrieking birds, but the rest of the troupe knew better...
Hmm, he did know she was only trying to scare him, right?
The next bit set her back though. "Waterbending?" If he'd been listening, he might have detected a hint of apprehension or disappointment in her voice. She wasn't exactly keen on benders. She would let go of the map then, if he hadn't already pulled it out of her grasp. "Right, I hear that there are waterbenders that live there... spooky waterbenders." The last bit was delivered once again with her 'ghost story voice'.
"Well, you're totally going to have to double back anyway." She said with an apologetic smile, even though it wasn't her fault. It was just up to her to be the bearer of bad news. "Last good campsite I passed was about three hours thataway." She thumbed the path back the way she had come. "...and we got, oh, an hour and a half of light left." It was an estimate. Maybe two hours. "I know, bogus!" The traveling gods were not smiling on anyone today, it seemed.
This of course begged the question, "How long ago did you pass a good campsite?" Hopefully not more than a half hours walk. Maybe less?
"Oh man! Sorry. Totally blew my mind." She rotated an arm across and around the top of her head. Clearly some sort of visual illustration of something blowing over her mind. Then, she leaned forward and grinned in something that might have been a polite bow back, only with more cleavage. "Ozha. Name's Ozha. Nice to meetcha Taku." By then, she would be gathering the reins off of the Draquine's neck and starting a slow walk northward up the path.
"So why the foggy swamp? I always thought that the best teachers were at the poles?" If he did indeed follow her, she would do her best to make cheerful conversation. "You don't really look much like a waterbender, you a half-n-half too?" There were plenty of Fire Nation/Earth Kingdom children like herself. It was one of those wartime inevitabilities, but Water Tribesmen? They had always kept to themselves as far as she knew. "You don't look Water Tribe." He was as pale as she was!
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 15 Location: Omashu
Re: A Hiking We Will Go [Ozha] « Reply #4 on Sept 30, 2011, 4:27pm »
ooc: *slaps ‘Kick Me’ sign on own back* BI
Even if he had been listening close, Takumi likely would’ve missed that note of dismay in her voice, oblivious as he was; he was kind of distracted, trying to focus on the map with his gaze inevitably returning to her face.
“That sounds so cool…” was almost wistful, heart-thumpingly-pretty girl beside him or not. If the swamp was haunted, surely there needed to be some kind of heroics done there! Maybe a dramatic meeting with a long-lost spirit, or some sort of awe-inspiring enlightenment to be found in its depths, or battle with a vicious catgator… Something where he could really prove himself; that everyone could hear about and almost not believe it happened because it was so incredible.
That could wait, though.
“Uhh… I think… maybe an hour that way?” he guessed, pointing northeast through the shrub, sheepishly apologetic. “I wasn’t… really paying attention. I was kind of lost then, too…” Map-reading was so not his forte, and with that in mind - and now having someone better with directions than he was to lead him - he folded it neatly back up and put it in his rucksack.
Takumi thought her name was pretty as she was, but for some reason, when he tried to say it his teeth bit his tongue and his mouth went dry, so he kept it to himself as he followed after her. “I didn’t even know there might be teachers at the swamp, ‘til you told me,” he finally managed out, rolling his shoulders as if he could shake off that unusual shyness with it. “I figured it was the closest and biggest place with water, where I could practice and pick it up on my own,” he explained. “I don’t do as well in the cold… It’s really hard to clean icicles off of a broom.” Not that he knew from experience, but he had heard horror stories from the other janitors at BSSU.
Her next question presented him with an opportunity, one that practically smacked him in the face with its realization. There was a long pause as he considered it - whether he should really reveal this to her - but ultimately he decided, flashing her another confident grin. This was going to really impress her… maybe he could even ask her out on a date right after, and really seal the deal!
“Well,” Takumi began conspiratorially, using it as an excuse to lean in a bit closer to her, “I’m definitely Earth Kingdom… but I have the spirit of several Water Tribesmen in me,” he assured her, tapping his chest with a hand. “You can’t tell anyone, but…" He beamed, and in a tremendous burst of confidence, would sling an arm about her shoulders and draw her in close if allowed, his face flushed and all as he’d confess in a whisper: “I’m the Avatar.”
Joined: Apr 2010 Gender: Female Posts: 228 Location: Ba Sing Se
Re: A Hiking We Will Go [Ozha] « Reply #5 on Oct 4, 2011, 8:45pm »
"Totally radical!" She agreed, nodding her head in quiet wisdom. The swamp was a force of nature to be sure, though nowhere she'd ever recommend mucking about. "But, seriously. Be careful."
"An hour?" She pursed her lips thoughtfully, "An hour... an hour... We can totally make an hour, dontcha think?" Ozha was a nomad at heart, and was happy to go wherever the path took her, nevertheless, sleeping next to a babbling stream where there was already a fire pit dug was a lot nicer than curling up in the leaf litter somewhere.
An Inn would be best of all, of course, but they were too far out in the hills for one of those. "We'll see if we can find it again, hey?"
"Oh wow!" Ozha gushed, truly impressed. "You were going to teach yourself waterbending?!" Being a bender herself, dabbling in the strange and otherworldly power she sometimes conjured, she knew what exactly that entailed. She'd never admit it aloud though. "The cold is awful." She agreed, nodding profusely, sending the beads in her hair jingling. "I bet you have to pick them out one by one... unless you could waterbend them out." Her lower lip was pinched thoughtfully.
Falling in step beside him, the Draquine moseying behind she smiled back and stepped closer. If you got past the odd comments about cleaning equipment, he was quite adorable! Plus the road with just a Draquine? Lonely! Taken in by his bravado, she laughed and let herself be pulled in, even throwing her arm around his waist and hooking a thumb through his belt.
All her cheer bled away though at the whispered confession. The breath that brushed her ear carried with it the haunting vision of horror she'd encountered in the streets of Ba Sing Se. Ozha would stop dead in her tracks, wandering hands leaving him fly up to cover her own face. "That's not..." Bile rose in her throat as she remembered flashes of the Avatar's unhinged jaw, blood welled up, black and clotted as pearly white bones of his skull stuck out of shredded tissue. The way his empty eye sockets still seemed to stare at her wherever she was on top of a neck snapped at an unnatural angle.
...and the smell.
"...that's not funny." It was probably too muffled to understand. Suddenly unsteady knees would give out abruptly, and she would fall in a swish of skirts to the dirt where she would proceed to burst into tears.
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 15 Location: Omashu
Re: A Hiking We Will Go [Ozha] « Reply #6 on Oct 18, 2011, 1:53am »
Okay, so this wasn’t the reaction Takumi had been anticipating. This so wasn’t anywhere near what he had been expecting from her, as a matter of fact. Had he pronounced something wrong, something that sounded like a horrible insult (had accidentally said You eat tar, perhaps)? Was his breath horrifically smelly? But he had just brushed an hour and a half ago, and it didn’t stink (this he made sure of after a quick clap of his hand over his mouth and nose and a deep exhale).
Maybe this was just how girls swooned, was his first naively hopeful assumption over her reaction. Spirits knew he was as unfamiliar with the opposite sex - and hell, the same sex, too - as his hair was unfamiliar with a comb. …Or maybe not, he mentally amended as the sound of sobs reached his ears. Beyond her initial, confusing utterance of ‘That’s not…’, he hadn’t been able to understand anything following, and was much too busy trying to work out the puzzle of why she had ended up like this and just what he should do to fix it to listen, anyways.
Had he been listening, perhaps he would have tried a different, more sensitive tack. Nervous and hesitant, Takumi crouched down to her level, awkwardly reaching out a hand to smooth over her hair and back in an attempt to calm her. Deciding she just had to be overcome with joy at the revelation that he was the Avatar (because his mind wouldn’t let him believe anything else), he gingerly tried to cheer her up with, “It’s true! I know it’s hard to believe, but really - I'm the Avatar!” He beamed at her, admirably resisting the urge to dust the dirt from the both of them as he went on to more than likely screw things up further. “Everything’s going to be okay, now, just you wait. I’m right here.”
Joined: Apr 2010 Gender: Female Posts: 228 Location: Ba Sing Se
Re: A Hiking We Will Go [Ozha] « Reply #7 on Oct 23, 2011, 10:58pm »
In most cases, Ozha swayed whimiscally back and forth between being a gentle soul and a bit of a ditz. Either way, the memory of the Avatar's corpse was a bad one. Coupled with the trauma of being arrested? It never ended well. As usual she sat down in the leaf litter and buried her face in her hands. It wasn't like she was particularly attached to the Avatar, but neither did she want to see him torn apart and mangled, with his organs slowly leaking out onto the cobblestones, his back body swollen and dark from where the blood had settled there overnight.
The heel of her hand pressed deeply into the furrow of her brow, and she screwed her eyes shut tightly, sniffling softly. A denying head shake loosened several tears from her lashes. At the hand on her hair, she looked up, a long trickle of make up and moisture escaping down the curve of her cheek. Eyes wide, she studied him for a long second, completely at a loss as to how to react to the situation. "You're... serious?" He was. How... unsettling. The Avatar was reborn over and over again. Shouldn't he be a newborn right about now?
About to ask him how he knew, she promptly closed her mouth. How bright was it to challenge a slightly crazy someone like that in the middle of the woods where nobody could hear you scream? Ozha was a performer, and acting was rolled into the package. Amber eyes brushed over him as she measured him up. An arm reached out for his. "H-help me up?" Then, she let herself buckle into him.
If he did indeed help her up as she requested, she'd fold herself into the cavity of his chest. Dying leaves and branches that carpeted the forest floor snagged in her hair and on her arabesque clothing. Hands would ghost over cloth. It probably seemed 'innocent' enough, a girl trying to find a good place to put them, but really she was performing a quick little frisk. Any weapons? If he was a bender, and a crazy one, he wouldn't need them.
"I just didn't expect to see the Avatar here of all places..." She crooned, sniffing again, her voice cracking. That much at least wasn't pretend. "Shouldn't you be... helping the Fire Lord or something?"
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 15 Location: Omashu
Re: A Hiking We Will Go [Ozha] « Reply #8 on Nov 2, 2011, 11:32pm »
Spirits, she was really, really overcome with happiness - he had never seen someone so joyous! Her question made his brows furrow in confusion, but his smile remained, daftly cheerful. “Of course I am! Why wouldn’t I be? I’d have to be a weirdo to joke about it…” Little did Takumi know that he was an even bigger weirdo - one she thought potentially crazy, at that - for believing something that seemed like such a joke.
Some concern that perhaps it wasn’t just cheer, but upset causing her tears, was completely forgotten as she asked for help up. He was more than happy to do so, taking her hand in his and using his slight weight to leverage her own up against him; had she not immediately tucked closer against his chest, he might have let her go and skittered back out of embarrassment.
Since she did fold herself into him, he stiffened in silent, absolute over-the-moon shyness. That flush that appeared on his cheeks deepened as her hands moved over him, pink sweeping over even his ears. Tentatively, his own arms wrapped loosely around her, nerves preventing him from tightening his grip or going much further.
He was just working up the courage to move his hands over her back a second time when she spoke again. Against his will his blush darkened further, and his jaw worked for a few moments as he sought for just what to say while she… while this gorgeous, mysterious woman was here, letting him hold her, her touch roving over him.
“I… I, um…” Mortifyingly, his own voice cracked, casting a squeaky pitch to his words. He swallowed and bashfully attempted again; foregoing his skittishness, he began brushing the leaves from her hair, finding some strength in the action. “I guess I should… but I have to learn all the other elements, first.” Takumi tried for a grin down at her, plucking another branch from her clothing with deft fingers. “I’m a fast learner, though, so don’t worry! I’ll so have them all down by, like, spring at the latest!”
Joined: Apr 2010 Gender: Female Posts: 228 Location: Ba Sing Se
Re: A Hiking We Will Go [Ozha] « Reply #9 on Nov 3, 2011, 11:39pm »
Ozha was starting to wonder how she attracted men like this. The crazy ones. Ones that did things like suddenly pack up and leave her overnight, ones that were about a hundred years old and made jewelry and muttered to themselves, or ranted about Pai Sho pieces, or claimed to be the Avatar. It had to be some sort of latent talent within her.
Since it was pretty plain he wasn't the Avatar, and he didn't look water tribe, she figured he was probably an earthbender, if he was a bender at all. The thought wasn't exactly reassuring. Nevertheless, from the weeks she'd spent taking care of Old Man Long, she'd found it was best to never ask any... stressful questions. The problem with madmen was that you never knew what they would do when they were upset. Satisfied that she had searched him thoroughly, and that there wouldn't be any surprises, she let her hands come to rest clinging softly to the fabric of his tunic. She did her best to blink away her tears, but they remained stubbornly on her lashes, and dripping down her cheeks and into Takumi's shirt.
"Thank you," Was directed towards the help he was giving her with her hair before she hazarded the question, "'Other elements'? So you're an earthbender?" From where she was, it was hard not to notice the erratic thumping of his heart inside his chest. Leaning back so that she could look up again, she was dismayed to find him blushing as red as a tomato-beet. One would think she had just slipped the clasps of her top open! "Are you like, really freaking out? I'm sorry." Peeling herself away with the deliberate sensuality that only someone who had the muscle control of a belly dancer could manage, she turned her back to him. "I think I just need a second."
Taking a step, she used one of her long, flowing sleeves to mop up the moisture from her cheeks. Even if he was smitten, she knew she wasn't exactly attractive when she wept. A deep inhale and a soft exhale made her feel calmer, but that was short lived. When she shifted her weight, there was suddenly a whirring sound of rope against rope, and the leaf litter exploded upwards, fluttering out of the hollows in a very large net. Before she could even scream, she found herself swinging gently back and forth a good twenty feet up in the air. Too disoriented by her abrupt new position and elevation to know for sure, she opened her eyes. "Takumi?" Was he stuck in with her or still on the ground?
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 15 Location: Omashu
Re: A Hiking We Will Go [Ozha] « Reply #10 on Dec 1, 2011, 2:28am »
Still flustered, it’s a wonder Takumi could manage a vigorous nod in response to her question: yes, he’s an earthbender. Of course, despite all the very obvious evidence to the contrary, he still tried to deny the tizzy she’s put him in. “N-no! I’m fine! What’re you apologizing for?” But he clammed up again when she pulled away - spirits, he didn’t want her to go, but he enjoyed watching her leave - shuffling just a half-step back himself to give her space.
While she took a second to herself, wiping her face and calming down, he twiddled his thumbs, shifted his weight from foot to foot, tried to focus on anything else. Anything other than her prettiness, or his crippling shyness around girls, or figuring out what to do next. Offer to take her to dinner? Kind of a bust, way out here and with little rations - much less anything worthy of giving to her - on his person. Bravely lead her to the nearest camp? That was ripe with potential for embarrassing himself, given that he still wasn’t completely sure of where they even were. Show her his bending skills? Maybe… but what if she was disappointed by his not being able to yet bend the other elements?
Fortunately - or perhaps unfortunately - a decision was made for him. One second, Takumi was building everything up in his head, worrying over how to impress Ozha, and the next? He was very, very far from the ground, with his knees against what felt like her middle, and his noodly arms tangled up in rope. From the odd angle he was at - aligned with her (vaguely) with head to foot - all that initially crossed his confused mind was, She even had pretty feet!
It took a minute or two for him to answer her, and when his reply finally came, it was terribly befuddled and accompanied with a helpless wriggle of his shoulders. “Ozha?” he spoke to her feet, furrowing his brow at them and fruitlessly attempting to twist himself around to face her - which mostly just succeeded in a lot of flailing of his legs until he realized that might not’ve been such a great idea. “Uh… what happened?” was all the meager apology she eventually got, however laden with sheepishness it was. “Any chance you’re an air bender?” A dramatic pause, and then an excited addition of, “Or… a rope bender?!” Hey, whatever would work to get them out of this predicament, yeah?
Joined: Apr 2010 Gender: Female Posts: 228 Location: Ba Sing Se
Re: A Hiking We Will Go [Ozha] « Reply #11 on Dec 2, 2011, 6:20pm »
"Uggh." she whimpered, still a little dazed by the whole experience. She was still trying to sort herself out when she heard his voice only a few feet away. Just great. He was in the net too. Now there was nobody to cut her down. He began to struggle about then, and the trap began to sway gently. "Ow! Stop!" She whined as his knees dug into her and his boot tangled with her hair and yanked. Only when he stilled would she reach out and free herself, slipping a hand which was stuck on the outside back in through another opening to tug the strands away.
"Are you ok? Did you hurt yourself?" These rope traps could be nasty, breaking fingers and biting flesh. It got even more tricky with two people stuck in them, as limbs were quick to collide.
The winding ropes bit hard into her armpits, and she struggled to push herself up into a more comfortable position, but the tied rope just gave way. "It's a thief's trap... probably set it up then got tired of waiting. He or she'll be back when they feel like it to check." Using the rope as leverage, she tried to pull herself out from under him, but that had little effect other than adding to their sway. Her skirts were so twisted and tangled with him and the ropes they sat suspended on that she couldn't muscle out with them. That was Plan A. "I...." She said, squirming underneath him, hoping he wasn't too embarrassed. Personal space wasn't ever much of an issue for Ozha. "I don't think bending is going to get us out of this." If she could get a leg free...
"But if we can untangle ourselves, I think I can get us out." She was panting by now, twisting her hips back and forth. Then, suddenly her leg slid free, hiking her skirt up. Had he been able to look, he probably would have had a very good view. "Got it!" She said happily resting her heel on his shoulder blade, "We need to get my other leg out too." The trick was that they had to get it out on the same side.
Then an idea struck her. "Can you reach the ties of my skirt?" If he reached his less tangled hand back through, maybe? It would be easier just to slip out of it like a snake out of it's skin than trying to untangle yard after yard of it while airborne.
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 15 Location: Omashu
Re: A Hiking We Will Go [Ozha] « Reply #12 on Dec 13, 2011, 10:58pm »
“I don’t think I did…” Takumi mused to Ozha’s first question, straining to crane his neck and give himself a once-over. With the position he was in, it didn’t accomplish much. “Nothing hurts, anyways!” He beamed, tilting his head back—this allowed him to see just the top of her head, albeit upside-down (and rather painfully). “I think my Avatarness protected us.” Yeah, that made perfect sense.
Of course, that kind of foolish confidence is completely forgotten as she begins squirming underneath him, reigniting that embarrassed infatuation from just moments ago. Focus on getting out of here, instead. Focus on the rope trap! Don’t think about Ozha, don’t think about Ozha, don’t think about Ozha… Just think about rope!
That plan of action was going pretty great for him, actually… and then it was shattered to pieces when she put her bare foot on his shoulder—dear spirits, he could practically smell it!—and asked him if he could reach the ties of her skirt. For a few long moments, he remained silently frozen, as if she had just asked him to lasso the Fire Lord or do arithmetic in his head; eventually, after trying a few times and only managing stuttering squeaks of noise, he managed to eek out, “…I-I-I m-m-might…”
It took even longer to act than it did to speak, and he wasn’t even near touching her skirt, yet: first there was the matter of getting at least one of his arms free. Several minutes of flustered twisting—and at one point, managing to get himself more tangled up—and wriggling, and a forearm covered in rope burn later, he at last succeeded. “Got it!” Which meant only her suggestion remained, and at the reminder he flushed all over again—which wasn’t helped when he was able to turn and better see her.
Gulping, Takumi gathered up all his inner strength; slowly, he reached a shaking hand for one of the ties of her skirt. With outstretched fingers—and a knee digging into her, when he tried to press forward and stretch further—he caught the fabric between forefinger and thumb, then gave it a few nervous tugs.
Joined: Apr 2010 Gender: Female Posts: 228 Location: Ba Sing Se
Re: A Hiking We Will Go [Ozha] « Reply #13 on Dec 15, 2011, 8:24pm »
Gosh he was stiff! She frowned, looking perplexed. Most men would be ecstatic to get the chance to rub on her like that, and he had seemed interested. No. Scratch that. He was most definitely still interested, and still stiff. What was with the face then? "Sorry..." Her foot slid further down his back, maybe that was it. Wriggling was hard work though, and she was panting from it, and he had been the most convenient place to touchdown.
A good deal of net wiggling later, he finally seemed to orient himself in a way that he could reach her skirts. It was a relief too! She was about to suggest he try to reach it with his mouth instead. "Come on, you can do it!" She cooed in encouragement as she felt fingers brush along her hip, "A little more to the left." brought a few more seconds of maneuvering, but then she sighed, "Yes, just like that!" when fingers finally found the ties. Unfortunately, he seemed to be pulling on them like they were butterfly wings. "Harder!" She scolded, trying to twist her hips so that he had a better angle to work with. This caused the rope to bite mercilessly into the tender flesh of her armpits, and she found herself whining, trying to ride out the flash of pain long enough for him to finish. She could feel the fabric loosening. "Ugh, so close!" she encouraged.
Suddenly, due to his hard work, the fabric slipped away, and she fell back against the ropes, breathing a sigh of relief. Now she was flushed from exertion, her ribcage heaving from effort. Suddenly bare, her legs started to prickle with goose flesh in the drafty tree tops. Alright. Her skirt was off. Of course, that had been the easy part. "I'm going to slip you now, brace yourself, hey?" With that, she bucked, forcing space between them and wrenching her calf back up and through the net. Another writhing session later, and her leg traveled between gnawing rope and the soft underbelly of her net-companion, until suddenly, it came free. "Spirits..." She hissed, setting it down next to the other gingerly, in the nice hollow of the small of his back.
After another breath, newfound leverage was exploited, and she hooked a heel into the net and pushed up until her arms had enough height to pull free. "Alright! Got it! I'm out. Now for you." Wincing, she carefully crawled over to him, reclining next to him and trying to get a good look at his bonds. "Just how did you manage to get so tangled up like that!?" Reaching out, she would attempt to help him untie himself. "If you thought coming up was bad, going down is going to be a lot worse. You'll break your arms all tangled up like this!"
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