notabluesbro | 13th Confession [Action/voice]

Entry tags:

13th Confession [Action/voice]

[Of course, Vash wasn't the only kid Legato ran into. The ass confused the hell out of him, but moreover, he wondered if he really was going to be 'trained' by someone. Trained to fight, right? And he said he'd be skillful, too... But right now? He called him useless. Incapable. Just some stray dog.

"If you think yourself capable, that is something you must prove."

Nicholas wanders into town and takes a seat at a bench, with journal in hand. Considers using it—even if it is confusing, and even if he's not the kind to spark up conversation. Instead he simmers a little, brow furrowed, reaching down and shaping snowballs before throwing them at the nearest building ~~totally sorry if he doesn't see you coming around the corner or something~~. For some reason, he feels like he's done this before. Something about the whiteness of all this is familiar, but... ah, well. He's too busy trying to decipher what that blue haired guy told him.

He was worth something. Wasn't he? Or was what every said true...]

[Voice]

How do y'prove you're worth something...?

[After that, he decides to go back into the forest and try to talk with that Eferin guy. Things weren't as bad as last time; he even got to actually speak to him, without any running or cursing. Even if it meant sucking up to the bastard, just a little. He's in the forest, sitting on the gnarled roots of a tree, lighting and putting out the end of a thin twig. It takes all of his concentration, but it's worth it. His pants leg has a hole burned into it, but whatever burn mark was under it has been wrapped up by a ripped shirt.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Ha-ha, much better! She's just a bit too slow in getting out of the way - intentionally so, but it's a kid, not a battle, and she can't help it - and that clips her in the shoulder.]

OH! Much better. Now try dodging this!

[And you'd better duck, boyo - that one's headed straight towards your chest.]

[HA, it didn't hit my chest!

It hit my face. |D]

Ack!!

[RETREAT, RETREAT. Getting behind a tree and trying to wiggle all this snow off.]

[Pffff.

All right, Katara will start a ten count, and in the meantime begin to reload. One snowball. Two... If she makes it to three uninterrupted, she's going to go after you.]

[You can go ahead and go look around that tree. Go ahead. >:^(

BECAUSE I AM SO READY.]

[Meanwhile, Katara - she is disappoint. She expected better and so only takes her two snowballs with her, one in her hand, as she approaches the tree and... plasters herself against it.

She'll just be edging around the base of the tree, having NO idea what she is about to be confronted with...]

[AHA. That tree limb above you has a really nice amount of snow on it, and when Wolfwood stands on said tree limb and jumps like so—]

[Gah! That was unexpected, and it is unfortunate pure instinct that has her raising a hand to stop the snow midair before she-]

[-laughs. And drops her hand, taking the snow like a pro.

Then she's rapidly shaking her head to clear her vision, stepping back away from a tree and aiming a snowball hard at Nick's chest.]

[Direct hit! And, uh, Nicholas drops right outta that tree after a moment of fighting for balance, landing right on his butt in the snow.]

Eck!

[And a little of the leftover snow on the limb falls in a nice pile on top of his head.]

[~~We're sorry, were you looking for sympathy here? Try again on Tuesday.~~ Katara bursts out laughing again and leans down, tossing her snowball over her shoulder to offer Nick a hand.]

You need to pick your spots for ambush more carefully.

[Bah, Nicholas never gets any sympathy! :(

He's gonna lock himself in his room and listen to The Used now, thanks!]

But there wasn't no time for somethin' like that...

[Taking that hand now.]

...Right?

Maybe not. [She'll allow that as she helps hoist him up.] So if you find you're in the open after attacking, should you just keep standing there waiting for someone to attack back?

N-no, you'd run somewhere safer to be at! If y'don't, you'd get killed pretty quick into something.

Right - it's always harder to hit a moving target. [She drops her hand and smiles engagingly at him.] So in the meantime, let's check you for damage. That was a pretty hard fall.

[Bwahahaha, and you thought she'd forgotten about those burns.]

[D'oh! He looks away nervously.]

I didn't get hurt...

[Uh-huh.] Why don't you let me be the judge of that? Genuine waterbending healer here, remember? I'll just use the water to make sure everything is as it should be. It won't hurt, if that's what you're worried about.

[But she's not going to move towards him until she can get him to let her.]

[W-well... He finally rests, sighing.]

...All right. Since you're a healer... n'stuff...

Right. [And streaming some water from her waterskin she puts a hand on his arm. Nick will feel a cool and refreshing sensation tingling all through his body from her hand at the source.]

Yup... you might just be a little sore, so let's take care of that... [And she does.]

And now let's take care of those burns. [And she moves one hand to his leg.]

[He flinches and pulls his leg back, unsure suddenly, which he knew was a silly thing to do—Sanji helped you, fixed you, and this girl's done far less to make you distrust her movements—but the memories constantly replay in his mind, releasing the look of a frightened boy years prior dispelled.

It was hard to get rid of the habit. The Flinching Habit.]

[But he relaxes, both mentally and visibly, lowering his scrawny leg back toward the earth, toward her hand. The word is stuttered and extremely embarrassed (as ears turn red and showcase the shame of it all):]

...S-sorry...

[There's something about that reaction which reminds Katara of herself - her other self. She's never told anyone how many times she's thought of that other little girl whose memories she won't dishonor by saying it didn't happen to her - the one who'd been covered in burns.

And she freezes before keeping her hand away from Nick and meeting his gaze soberly.]

It's all right. Those are some pretty fast reflexes you've got there. But I'm not going to hurt you - and I'd really like it if you'd let me take care of those burns before they get any worse. Your body isn't supposed to be burned.

[And nothing that happened that hurt you like this is your fault.]

Edited 2011-01-18 19:36 (UTC)

[He nods, though he can't bring himself to look at her while she works. The truth? He couldn't even count how many bruises he'd gotten on that one leg, a year beforehand. And when he rubs his arm nervously, he just thinks: a strong, cruel hand used to wrench it around and hurt him for no real reason.]

I know... you won't hurt me.

[Added, very sincerely:]

You're not like the others... You're not a bad person.

[...]

If someone needs my help, I'll do everything I can to help them.

[And she slowly undoes his makeshift bandage to expose the burn.

Katara tries very hard - very hard - to always do what she knows to be right. But there are some things that she has done - that she will do - which may right, but which are certainly not good. Bloodbending - she wishes she'd never learned it; she doesn't regret using it for a moment, despite feeling as though she'd bathed in dirty motor oil every time she thinks about it. Going after the man who killed her mother... not killing him...

No, she wasn't good.

But she wasn't bad either. Maybe. She doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about it.

She did know that she wasn't going to hurt this child. And when she puts her water-coated hand on the burn, it begins to heal.]

That's a promise I made to myself.

[He winces at first, but it's very quickly replaced with the same sort of relief his arm had felt when Sanji fixed him up. See, Nick? Things were okay here. There was nothing to worry about.]

...That's a really good thing to try t'do... I've never thought of doin' somethin' like that...

It wasn't something I was always able to do... but when I got strong enough, I couldn't turn my back on people who needed me - not when I knew I could help.

[And when she removes her hand, the burn is gone. Assuming that's the last of it, she'll stream the water into her waterskin again.]

It can get a little messy sometimes, and sometimes you need help in order to finish what you started... but I think that doing whatever is in your power to help other people is the best thing anyone can ever do.

13th Confession [Action/voice]

[ action ]

Re: [ action ]

[ action ]

Re: [ action ]

[ action ]

Re: [ action ]

[ action ] 1/2

[ action ]

Re: [ action ]

[ action ]

Re: [ action ]

[ action ]

Re: [ action ]

[ action ]

Re: [ action ]

[ action ]

Re: [ action ]

[ action ]

Re: [ action ] 1/2

Re: [ action ]

[ action ]

Re: [ action ]

[ action ]

Re: [ action ]

[ action ]

Re: [ action ]

[ action ]

Re: [ action ]

[ action ]

Re: [ action ]

[ action ]

Re: [ action ]