Day 169 |[OPEN] Waiting in the wings, your courage sings

[hellpyre]

Who: Rin Okumura and open
Open: Open
When: Day 169
Where: Various
What: Time to get back to life as usual...
Format: Any
Warnings: Rin is a warning

morning - dragonfield

[Life for one doesn't stop when the death of another happens. For a time, things do slow, directions shift, mentalities change and grief sits heavy in the heart, but nothing stops. Even at the end of the world, so long as there were still beings breathing, life never stopped.

And in time, a return to things as "normal" (as normal as they could be anyway) was needed. Rin had already given in to fear of the skyway and her own abilities once before, and she refused to do it again. Nightmares would still haunt her, probably for months or years to come, bleeding in to the memories of Shiro's death. That much she knew, and she accepted that. But she refused to accept any renewed fear of the Skyway.

Colin was right - they couldn't just shy away from what was needed because one life had been tragically cut short.

So Rin would finally be emerging from her apartment on day 169, dressed somewhat more conservative than normal (capri pants and a plain teeshirt), going with Kurikara to the Dragonfield.

Should anyone come across her during this first part of the morning, well... chances are you'll see blue flames first. Why? Rin has the sword out, and is practicing with it alone, trying to get some measure of the level of control she had in Kyoto back. She can't really do this in the training house that Duke set up because of course things would wind up burning, but the Dragonfield works well enough without making a full on trek to the Skyway.

She can be interrupted, just watch out for blue flames being launched about.]

afternoon - kitchen

[Working in the kitchen was finally not so difficult for Rin now. The arm that had broken was healing quickly thanks to her demonic nature, still sore and a bit weak (something she found out during her work out with her sword and flames), but usable once more. She didn't want to return to the kitchen full time just yet, but she did some in for work after noon had rolled around, and once again the familiar scents of her cooking could likely be smelled near the kitchen and a good distance away.]

evening - forge

[When night falls over the Bastion, Rin will make her way not to her apartment from the kitchen, but to the forge. A recent trip to lost and found had her stumbling on a fairly nice blade sharpener. Not that she had any idea how to use it (and it wasn't Kurikara that needed it but her other, non-enchanted blade) but she was sure going to try. Of course Stewart was no where to be found, and she wasn't really willing to go on the hunt for him.

So she sat there, blade across her lap, attempting to sharpen the thing and doing a fairly poor job of it. The cuts on her fingers were indication of that.]

Comments

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko... doesn't know quite how to take this. About the only praise she's had was from her uncle, and his words were usually simple, and often following hours of instruction.]

My sister was the prodigy... I mean, I'm still pretty good, I guess, but it took me a long time to get where I am. I don't know if I could call myself a true master.

[hellpyre]

[Rin is far more used to dealing with demons having that level of power, not humans. She thinks its pretty cool.]

Still! That's way better than me! I only just got my flames to not burn what I don't want 'em to.

[daughterofursa]

Well... You didn't even know about it until recently, right?

I've been training since I was a child.

[hellpyre]

Oh... y-yeah, not until last year. The uh... seal. On the sword. It kinda... broke.

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko tilts her head in confusion. The flames are gone and Rin looks normal so...]

Isn't it working now?

[hellpyre]

Not how it used to.

[Her tail moved so it was more visible, and she turned her head to point to her ears.]

This stuff showed up when the seal broke. 'course back home only people with demon wounds could see 'em, but I still had to hide my tail. And I didn't have any of the powers until I got older.

[daughterofursa]

Oh.

...what sort of wound is a demon wound?

[It might be clear from the way she asks that she's really not clear on the word "demon."]

[hellpyre]

Just that. A wound from a demon. Could be somethin' as simple as a scratch, could be a whole big nasty thing. So long as it comes from a demon, it makes a normal person able to see 'em.

[Rin gets that, after her explanation of course. She motions at her tail again.]

I'm half. Basically... in my world there's Gehenna and Assiah. Gehenna is the demon world, and sort of the mirror side to Assiah, the human world. Demons aren't supposed to cross over, and neither are humans, but... it still happens.

[daughterofursa]

Sounds like the Spirit World.

[Maybe demon is just Rin's word for spirit? Although the only person Zuko might categorize as part spirit would be Aang...]

[hellpyre]

Spirit World?

[Spirits are present in Assiah, but they're slightly different. Dealt with by exorcists, yes, but not quite in the same way full on demons are.]

[daughterofursa]

According to my uncle, it's a world that balances our own. Without the spirits... Well, maybe this is the kind of world you end up with, where the earth hangs in the sky, and there's no moon to balance the sun.

[hellpyre]

Huh... I'unno if Gehenna-- ... I-I mean most humans that know anythin' about demons at all hate them, or at the very least really don't wanna deal with them. That's what exorcists do - deal with the demons that cross over. I mean they're not all bad, and I was told by a friend that half breeds aren't uncommon, especially among exorcists, but...

It;s always sounded way more complicated than any sorta balance to Assiah...

[daughterofursa]

Respect for the spirits wasn't common in the Fire Nation. I knew an admiral who tried to kill the moon spirit. Didn't work out so well for him.

Maybe your Gehenna is different, or maybe it's not. It doesn't sound like either one of us has any first-hand experience to know.

[hellpyre]

... y... ikes... even I know killin' mostly good spirits is a bad thing...

Yeah I really have no reason at all to wanna go there. I may be half, but I know enough 'bout the demons in my world to know it ain't that great of a place.

[daughterofursa]

Can't say I was ever interested in going either. I hear you can't bend in the Spirit World.

[hellpyre]

So like... no powers or anythin'?

[daughterofursa]

Exactly.

I mean, I've learned to get by without it, but... having it actually gone is different.

[hellpyre]

I lived my whole life without much of my power, but... yeah. I can't imagine not havin' it all. Not after I just got used to it, too.

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko nods.]

It's a part of you.

[hellpyre]

[Rin nods, putting a hand to her chest.]

There was this place we went to a while ago, and there was a buncha Cael tech in it. One'a the things was a... a fire suppressant system. I wound up pretty much buried under the stuff that came out from it, and for like a week after I just felt horrible. Sick, cold... like my fire was there but it wasn't strong anymore...

[daughterofursa]

Fire suppressant?

[Zuko has seen plenty of technology around here that makes no sense to her. This is probably another one, though she's imagining something really cold.]

Your level of control probably didn't help.

[hellpyre]

Yeah it was like this... foam stuff that stops fires from spreadin'. The place we were at, I guess they did a lot of building and engineering stuff? Colin said somethin' about it being necessary in case somethin' caught on fire.

[Rin pretty much took his word on that because the closest she'd ever been to something like that before was a basic fire extinguisher.]

No, probably not. It was gross and suffocatin'. I'd rather not go through that again.

[daughterofursa]

...I guess that's handy for non-benders.

[Or a decent weapon against firebenders?]

Do you think any other places are likely to have it?

[hellpyre]

[Both, probably.]

Uhm. The other Caels would know way better than I would. Maybe ask Rail? He goes out there a lot.

[daughterofursa]

I'll ask him, but it seems like a bigger concern for you. I've learned to firebend in some pretty unfavorable conditions.