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Post by desna on Jan 31, 2009 14:24:04 GMT -5
" They'd get over it if they were forced to." Desna noted casually finding a small bit of enjoyment in the conversation, she then noticed Aden fell from her side and she paused, glancing back to see just what it was he was doing, did he decide to turn back after all before they moved too far from the city for most's safety, but it seemed like he was just leaving himself markers. She had to admit it was somewhat creative but it seemed like a superfluous waste of bending. What was it with water benders and needing to water bend. She swore that without that gift they'd fall apart, just cease to function and obsess over their fallen art.
Maybe she was always just a little more favorable to non benders, Aden wasn't horrible though. Keeping back to pace Aden was soon at her side again and this time he did have a tale of heroism she smirked at for a moment before feigning surprise. " Why Aden you rebel I had no idea!" A small cough interrupted her act but she just pushed past it quickly letting the small discrepancy go utterly un noticed.
" Next thing I know you'll be cutting your hair and tattooing your face."
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Post by aden on Feb 4, 2009 12:24:46 GMT -5
"Sounds like a plan," Aden responded, smiling briefly and then adopting a pensieve posture with his hand supporting his chin. "I was thinking maybe a skull, with the sunken eyes and the teeth..." For emphasis he gestured to the appropriate areas of his face and then continued, "Or maybe something like a wolf demon's jaws closing around my face like this." The young warrior then framed the top and bottom of his face with his hands, his fingers spread aparat and hooked like rows of teeth.
"That should make me quite the popular one," Aden remarked as he dropped his hands and continued to walk beside Desna. Try as he might to keep a straight face while suggesting such absurb notions, though, he couldn't help but start to laugh at himself as they continued along.
It was nice being able to simply joke around. It was probably the thing Aden missed most from his younger years. Ever since his unfortunate ice-dodging trip, he had become so locked into being serious. Even if he had wanted to joke around with the other warriors, just the fact that they had never seen a lighter side of his personality discouraged Aden from ever trying to show it.
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Post by desna on Feb 4, 2009 13:13:46 GMT -5
Desna found herself chuckling as he expressed his thoughts on his facial tatoo, his gestures were enough to bring a hand to her lips to cover the too wide smile. Some people would say laughter was the best medicine, talking with him was sure making her feel better, it was also making the time go by, she didn't even notice the steady pace they were keeping, " I think you should go with the skull, it will accent your eyes."
"If nothing else it'll have the firebenders wetting themselves." She added glancing at him with a quirk of a smile, she loved his eyes, well maybe that was the wrong word, it forced her to silence with her head straight ahead and her cheeks taking on a tinge of color that the illness had soaked from her face. There was seriously something wrong with her if she was thinking about Aden this way. He was a friend, one she hadn't known too long at that, he was too nice, there wasn't any explanation for that, he might be spying on her for her father or who knows what. Maybe he did have friends and was lying to her. Saying cruel things behind her back about the weirdo girl from the shelf.
Maybe that was a bit too far as well, he wouldn't have been that nice if he was punking her. Still she'd find anything she could to disprove her feeling before they got their vice grip on her and she wound up hurt again. What harm was there in admiring someone for some physical traits she liked? She was just blowing things out of proportion again like she always did.
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Post by aden on Feb 4, 2009 22:37:53 GMT -5
"And at the end of the day, can we ask for anything more...?"
******************************************************************
The two continued along their way in that fashion for the remainder of the trip. The conversation was light, mostly bordering on the irrelavent and Aden continued to raise up a marker in the snow every few hundred yards. Eventually though they came upon a larger mound of snow that Aden took to be the basis of Desna's home.
As they neared the dwelling, a bit of a silence settled between them as Aden turned his attetion toward assessing the structure. He may have trained furiously to be a warrior, but he couldn't escape his years of apprenticeship as a utility bender. The waterbender was already trying to infer the inner workings of the structure's design and to pick out all the functions of its visible features.
"I guess we're here," he pondered out loud as his eyes swept the house. Aden spared a glance at Desna, waiting for her word on where to go if she would see fit to invite him inside.
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Post by desna on Feb 4, 2009 23:03:49 GMT -5
The rest of the trip was a lot of playful back and forth, a couple of coughs but it was a lighthearted conversation that made the time just fly by. Then they were at her home, it was so failure she could see it even with her eyes closed but it brought up the fact that she wasn't alone. When she'd last been inside she was delirious and she was pretty sure that the house was a mess.
Glancing from Aden to the door she cracked a weary smile, it'd be rude to not let him in so she'd have to face the slight embarrassment a messy house would bring. " Wanna come in?" She offered gesturing toward the ice sculpture and beginning to walk toward it. Pikatti plodded along happily waiting for the harness to be removed which Desna managed quickly, shaking himself free Pikatti pushed through the thick flap of the door with Desna following behind holding it so Aden could enter as well.
The main room was somewhat large, serving many functions, it had a fire pit in the center, two curtained door ways off of that and a depressed closet space with everything from blankets to plants stacked on the shelves. A large bone and hide chair was a feature of the living space along with a couch, a low table with space cushions for the floor and various trappings strewn about the floor lazily. Once the three were inside Desna quickly moved to pick them up not wanting to seem too much like a slob. " Sorry, I don't usually get company..."
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Post by aden on Feb 8, 2009 19:00:15 GMT -5
At Desna's invitation, Aden was quick to respond, "Sure. Thanks." He followed her lead and stepped through the doorway as she held the flap open. His eyes dialated quickly to compensate for the sudden shift in lighting, but after a few moments he was able to take in the entirety of the interior. It seemed like a pretty cozy dwelling, and certainlyroomy for just two inhabitants.
"It's no problem," the young warrior replied to Desna's apology. "I rarely keep my own room in order..." Aden slowly meandered around the room, being careful not to step on the nicer furs with his snow covered boots. His gaze was drawn toward the rocking chair which seemed like a bit of a lxury item in the otherwise typical Water Tribe dwelling. Aden was intrigued by the craftsmanship, but dared not sit in it. He was only here for a few minutes to warm up before heading back out.
"It's a nice setup you've got here," he commented to break the silence, shifting his focus toward Desna.
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Post by desna on Feb 9, 2009 8:26:48 GMT -5
Her quick clean up was steadily halted when she noticed Aden was talking, she stood up straight a couple nick knacks in her arms and she looked at him for a moment feeling like a fish on deck of a fishing ship. Something of a sad smile crossed her lips and she looked away wandering toward a trunk, merely tossing everything in there to deal with later. " My grandfather built it all, he was a utility bender you know, one of the best."
She could still remember her Nana talking about him, the way she'd shake her head and roll her eyes, an obvious fondness in the way she berated his bending skills. She'd always said he could have built this place by hand if he wanted to but he was a lazy man. Of course that was untrue, he did everything he could for his wife and more, except stay forever, no one could do that, it seemed to be a curse of the family, maybe it was just her. Pikatti plodded over to one of the rugs shaking the light dusting of fur off of his coat and laying himself down on the thick fur oblivious to the occupants of the room.
Once she got herself together which only took a couple seconds Desna smiled at Aden a little sheepishly. " That title's now held by your father right?" Letting a small laugh chime past her lips she shook her head and gestured to the door. " Wanna see the plants?"
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Post by aden on Feb 9, 2009 23:37:55 GMT -5
With a bit of a snicker, Aden couldn't help but take a jab at his father after hearing Desna's comment. "Only if you listen to his version of reality," he said sarcastically. In truth, his father may very well be one of the most knowledgeable utility benders in the city, but Aden was always loathe to inflate his good-natured ego any more than it already was.
"But sure," he added, "Do you need any help with them?" Aden started across the room after Desna. Hopefully she wouldn't take the offer as him presuming to know her trade better than her. After all, his knowledge of plants was very limited. He simply figured that in her weakened state he might be able to fetch some things or lend his bending to her chores. But either way, he figured it would be interesting to see how Desna and her family had managed to make the frozen poles hospitable enough to support plant life.
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Post by desna on Feb 10, 2009 9:39:18 GMT -5
"Depends what needs to be done." Desna placed a hand on the small of her back tenderly feeling an ache that was there, she was almost afraid to see inside the white hut, in her nightmares she could see half the plants wilting, the others frozen over and the fire extinguished, all of her grandmothers work down the stream like the ashes from an old mans pipe. She'd have to suck it up eventually though, once again going through the doors she stopped at her sled fetching the whale oil skin hefting it over her shoulder.
Merely a couple paces behind the house it's self an igloo like structure built into a complete dome aside from a door way lined with a thicker door hanging then she had on her own home. Pushing past it she walked into the room glancing back to be sure Aden was with her, she was somewhat surprised that the temperature inside the hut was still warm, she was sure it would have dropped without her to obsess over it constantly. In small pots and planters, on tables or the ground for the larger plants there was green, herbs, some bushes and even a tree though dwarfed at perhaps six and a half feet. " Seems like they're okay...." Somehow she was disappointed.
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Post by aden on Feb 12, 2009 22:07:50 GMT -5
Aden continued to follow Desna's lead as they passed outside in order to enter the separate greenhouse. The young warrior couldn't help but wonder why the two structures weren't merged, or why there wasn't a more sheltered pathway connecting them. Perhaps there were particular concerns from maintaining a room that was above freezing temperatures that made joining the two buildings unfeasible. He wasn't about to question Desna's grandfather's ability as a utility bender, but he made a mental note to offer to bend a tunnel over the path between the two doors. That at least seemed like a helpful and harmless addition.
As they entered the room, Aden was appropriately impressed. Granted, it was next to nothing compared to some of the vegetation he'd seen in the Earth Kingdom, but it was still more green than one could ever expect to find anywhere else on the ice shelf.
"That's good news," he remarked to Desna, offering a smile. "Next time you're sick now, you'll know it won't be catastrophic to spend a night in the city to get better."
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Post by desna on Feb 12, 2009 23:48:19 GMT -5
" Yeah, next time I get sick I'll just stumble around lackadaisically without worrying, it's a good thing to know I can sleep in those horrible healing huts without a care in the world." She added sarcastically in a song-song tone.
" but everything looks okay.... I guess I should just refill the heating pan and lay down then..." She murmured mostly to herself walking along the tables of plants looking for anything that might have have been affected by her absence but after the short walk she found herself in the center of the room with a large metal pan only semi filled with water, underneath there was a burner like stove heating the water and creating the humidity the plants needed. Setting the oil sack down she took the pan and glanced towards Aden picking it up and turning towards him with it. "Could you fill this with snow and bring it back?"
She attempted a bright smile, going as far to tilt her head to the side slightly as an added gesture to the boy. In all honesty she was feeling more and more like she needed to rest. Something just wasn't right with her still, perhaps it was the disappointment in knowing all her worrying was for nothing, still it was bitter sweet, if she vanished all together would the small hut continue to keep the plants sustained?
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Post by aden on Feb 15, 2009 0:14:28 GMT -5
"I was just saying..." Aden said lightly, holding up his hands and smiling slightly at Desna's sarcastic response. He presumed that she was just yanking his chain and that she wasn't really that offended. And when she asked for him to fill the pan with water, he said congenially, "No problem."
The young warrior grabbed the shallow metal basin from her and couldn't help but wonder just how many rarities she must possess in this home. It likely came with the territory of working in such a foreign trade, but Aden couldn't imagine many typical families having solid metal pans like this.
He slipped out of the doorway, but didn't take more than a step out into the cold before he zeroed in on a mound of snow nearby and extended a hand toward it. With a bit of bending he liquidated a chunk of the snow and pulled it toward himself with a gentle motion of the hand. He didnt bother loading it into the pan, as it was easier to simply carry the water with his bending rather than shoulder its dead weight. Instead he stepped back into the hut with the pan tucked under his arm and a glob of water floating above his other open palm.
"Snow or water?" he asked when he came into sight of Desna, holding up his handful of the element for her to decide.
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Post by desna on Feb 15, 2009 13:15:01 GMT -5
She'd set herself to work, Aden was a big boy and he wouldn't need her to keep an eye on him while completing such a simple task. Once he left she simply started pouring the oil into the burner until it was full to her satisfaction, the pouch was left on a hook attached to the nearest table to the furnace and then it seemed Aden reappeared.
Much to her surprise the pan was empty, a small look of confusion crossed her face and then she noticed he was bending. Her expression fell quickly enough and she let out an irritated huff of a sigh walking over to him and grabbing the metal pan from him rather curtly whapping his backside with it as she passed him, headed for the door. Under her breath she muttered a couple unsavory words in exasperation and finally she shook her head speaking a little louder in a somewhat sarcastic tone. " I swear if you didn't have your bending you wouldn't be able to dress yourself in the morning. "
Outside Desna scooped snow into the pan and quickly shuffled back inside setting it in it's proper place where the snow would melt and evaporate, it honestly took her seconds. Sometimes benders could be so full of themselves though her cheeks were a little flushed from the swift movements, it wasn't like she was at one hundred percent yet.
Glancing at Aden she supposed she should say something, she wound up rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly though watching the flames flicker softly in the furnace. " Well, thanks for...walking me out here, even though you didn't have to."
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Post by aden on Feb 15, 2009 13:36:22 GMT -5
Aden's eyebrow twitched upward with both confusion and mild irritation when Desna saw fit to rab the pan and then whack him with it. What was her prolem with bending? "Clothes aren't even made of water!" he shot back at her before she disappeared through the door. Aden stared with slightly furrowed eyebrows in that direction for a few moments before deciding that was just another one of her strange quirks.
He heaved a sigh at the lack of logic behind her dislike of bending and moved the water under his control between his hands. With a few moments of concentration and some gentle curving of his fingers, he formed the water into a round mass of frozen snow and placed it beside the stand where the pan was formerly mounted.
Desna rentered the greenhouse a moment later, carrying the pan full of a few handfuls of snow. Aden couldn't honestly see how that differed from his method, but he held back from pushing the issue. Instead he simply bowed his head lightly when Desna thanked him, and replied, "My pleasure." From her town it sounded like the beginning of a dismissal, and so he decided to leave her be. "I guess I'll see you around when you're feeling better then... And I marked the way back so... yeah. I'll see you later."
Aden rocked a little on his heels as he spoke and couldn't help but scratch at his temple with one hand. He disguised the latter as a wave and then started to step back to leave.
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Post by desna on Feb 15, 2009 13:49:07 GMT -5
Biting her lip a bit she nodded to Aden, she needed to rest and without a doubt he needed to get home to do, whatever it was he did all day. But for some reason she felt like they shouldn't leave on such bad terms. Perhaps it was just in her little world that this was true but she felt one favor needed to be paid back, he'd been doing a lot for her over the past two days. She'd already given him some herbs hadn't she? Well he still came all the way out here right? He should get something for his efforts. Trailing him out she paused at the door way to the greenery and stood there for a few moments, once again feeling awkward.
" Wait right here okay?" moving into her home she shuffled around, Pikatti lifted his head from the warm rug where he was resting to watch her but she was gone after a couple moments a wrapped package of dried and seasoned meat she'd made in her hands. She didn't really know if he liked jerky but it would do right? If she gave him something extravagant he might not accept it,he was odd like that/
Jogging up to him she held out the package waiting for him to take it, moments after she would toss her arms around him lightly squeezing him briefly before pulling back, not wanting to breath her sickness on him more than necessary. Desna offered the boy a warm smile with her hands behind her back and she rocked from her toes to her heels idly, shifting her position again as she gave him a bit of a wave.
" Have a safe trip." She kept smiling but something felt so weird, a flutter in her stomach she couldn't quite explain, it must be because she wasn't feeling well. it was the most logical conclusion, regardless she turned heel and headed inside it was time for some much needed rest.
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