[ action / voice ] backdated to Tuesday because I was too tired to post it then

[blessingone]

[ So, Fenimore had spent the last event as bittyblessing. That had been fine at the time, but, now that the event was over, it had its own issues.

One of them was clothes. Another was pretty much everything else she owned.

Some of her belongings had stayed in the house -- Stella had rescued and retained some outfits, for example -- but, as they lay unclaimed during the event, many eventually disappeared (Shuri and the trash can are particularly suspect in this matter). She had made a brief effort to find particularly important effects, like the locket Shirley had given her -- that disappearance had sent her into a panic until she found it again. But, for the most part, she was too busy sulking to go out into the general social sphere.

Until, well, she woke up one morning to realize that she was down to one clean outfit. One...embarrassing outfit from when she had spent an experiment trying to be a magical girl. (Top and right, respectively, but with added stockings and arm warmers. After all, it was winter at that time.)

Unable to avoid the chore any longer, she can be found in or on her way to either the clothing or item shops, attempting to pretend that there's nothing wrong with this outfit.


She can also be found partway there under a tree, in the same outfit, seemingly attempting to reason with a strange bird sitting on a high branch. It seems that, sometime between her kidnapping and her return after the event, the peepit chick she got for Christmas escaped and has been living the wild life. ] Look, I said I was sorry. Now would you -- ?

[ The bird squawks and turns its back on her. Fenimore huffs as though she suspects the bird to be intelligent enough to understand an apology and reject it, opening her journal, transmitting a request as Voice. ]

Does anyone here speak bird? [Her intended request was for someone who was good at catching birds, but, annoyed, it came out as a more sarcastic one.]

Comments

[markofthewise]

Yeah, I know they will. If there's one thing I learned about this place? The Malnosso don't recruit losers. All of us always come through or already have.

[And Sokka is glad to be in the latter category. It's really nice not to have the fate of the world resting on his mind.]

[blessingone]

[After a moment, she gives him a small lopsided grin.]

If you're trying to say everyone in Luceti is some kind of hero, I'm flattered, but you're a little off base.

[markofthewise]

Well, not exactly. But you're on the side of, you know, hero-type people, right? Same basic idea. [It works okay.]

[blessingone]

I think you're still stretching it a little. [She shakes her head as if to clear away the darker thoughts -- not entirely successful, but somewhat.] It would explain all of the weapons, though.

[markofthewise]

Well it's true, right? Heroes need weapons. They're very practical when fighting the not-so-much-heroic types. Especially since they tend to like weapons even more. [And Sokka is the distributor of weapons. It's like he OWNS Luceti.]

[blessingone]

I guess you'd know that better than I would.

[markofthewise]

Offer's still open, you know. I mean, if you want some fighting tips. [Well okay maybe he's never offered directly, but he's always made himself open to it? Kind of?]

[blessingone]

...I didn't know you wanted to be a teacher. [She had interpreted it as a suggestion that she should think about learning self-defence, not that he'd necessarily be the one to teach her. And it hadn't seemed worth the effort of finding a teacher. So she had never really come to a conclusion about that -- thus, delay tactics.

Though, now that he was bringing it up, it was bringing back memories of the experiment, where her seven-year-old self had learned from both Sokka and Suki.]

[markofthewise]

[He hadn't really though of himself as one either. But like her, the experience of being a dad had an impact. Though he's not sure he could be that kind of teacher again. Suki was way better at than than him.]

Well... I don't know. I'm not sure I'd be a good one. Suki is way better at that than me.

[blessingone]

[Since it was only a ten day period where they were quite busy anyway, she can't remember enough to be able to compare them. ...And, besides, she had been seven years old and idolizing her parents. Pretty big bias.]

I don't think I'd get far enough that it would be a big difference. [But rather than dwell on that -- it sounds too much like a "well, it doesn't matter if you suck" to be polite -- she admits:] I haven't really thought about it enough. I'm...not as against it as I used to be, but I don't know if it's worth the time for me.

[markofthewise]

[He shrugs and then turns around, so he can recline against the railing instead.]

Well, no one's forcing you. Couldn't hurt, either way. We've got nothing but time here.

[blessingone]

It could hurt if you tried to push me too hard. [She knows sore muscles -- she's overdone being competitive when she was younger. But she does actually give it more serious thought.]

...I guess I won't know until I try, if you'd be willing to give a trial lesson.

1/2

[markofthewise]

[He only hears the first part when he launches into his response.]

I get it, I get it! But if you change-

[markofthewise]

[RECORD SKIP.]

Wait, what? [Trial lesson? She actually wants one?] Really?

[blessingone]

[She turns towards him, arms crossed.]

Aren't you the one who said that I should trust your judgment on this? And if you're not going to stop telling me that I should learn until I try, I might as well get it over with.

[This is not an entirely truthful explanation of her reasons, but it feels good to be able to huff about something small after the heavy conversation they had earlier.]

[markofthewise]

Well... yeah, I am! I'm just, you know, a little surprised. I guess I can try it. I've never really taught anyone anything...

[Or rather, succeeded at it. He made a valiant effort with those five year olds back home.]

[blessingone]

You really are selling this offer of yours, aren't you?

[markofthewise]

It's not that! I'm just saying, Suki would be better at this than me. But I can do it, too. Just cut me some slack if the first lesson is weird.

[blessingone]

You're not really sounding that into it. [But she lets her arms drop from being crossed so that they rest by her sides.] So Suki is some kind of fighting teacher?

[Outside of her "children," since that did happen for Fenimore.]

[markofthewise]

Leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, yeah. She's responsible for keeping them all trained. Me? My students back home consisted of umm... toddlers and five year olds. There weren't any other boys near enough to my age to really train. [So yeah, definitely an exercise in futility, when Sokka's own training had been a bit spotty.]

[blessingone]

[She nods slightly at the first part, accepting the new bit of information -- she had heard about the Kyoshi Warriors and had even gathered that Suki was their leader, but the training part was new. The second part is more unexpected since, correct me if I'm wrong, I'm going to assume he hasn't told her about the village men leaving.]

Was your village really that small? [Fenimore's was pretty tiny, but a rather loose definition of "near her age" surrounding a few years had at least more than just her.]

[markofthewise]

Well... yeah. After my dad left with all the men to go to war, there was only about a dozen of us left, including me and my sister. It used to be bigger before the war. At least, that's what my Gran used to say.

[Had the war gone on for another generation, that village probably wouldn't have existed anymore.]

[blessingone]

[Oh. And that "before the war" thing sounds like it was a really long time ago according to Suki. There's an awkward hesitation.]

...That would limit it. [But she's not sure what else to say, so she'll leave it to him whether to continue on that topic or change to something else.]

[markofthewise]

It's better now, though. My dad and all the other warriors have returned, and me and Katara did... plus there were waterbenders from the Northern Tribe who came to help us rebuild.

[So the future is kind of optimistic.]

1/2

[blessingone]

[She takes a moment to consider how to approach this. He had just done a whole lot of sympathizing with her...maybe she should take that kind of approach with him?]