thecapitol | And so this is Christmas...

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And so this is Christmas...

WHO| Aang and you!
WHAT| Aang is moping and being contemplative.
WHEN| Christmas day
WHERE| The roof, around the Capitol, generally away from festivities
WARNINGS| Sad child, mentions of past violence, mentions of past genocide, angst over having accidentally killed someone

A

Clementine had briefly explained Christmas to him before. The festival of the all-seeing tree spirit. It seems really popular, since lots of people have decorations up and are singing songs. Songs which he has never heard before. Normally that would be exciting, but right now, it just makes him feel so impossibly remote from the world around him.

He doesn't want to be around a lot of people. He tried staying in his room and meditating for an extended period of time, but he can't achieve the concentration and peace for meditation (how pathetic is that? He's been doing it twice a day since he was old enough to airbend), and he feels restless. Like he wants to run and never stop.

But he doesn't have that luxury, so he puts on a hoody (to hide the arrow on his head), gloves (to hide the arrows on his hands), and shoes (to hide the arrows on his feet) before going outside and wandering aimlessly through the snow, his head ducked to avoid random Capitolites from recognizing him (and to avoid seeing them flaunting unearned arrow tattoos).

He keeps wandering. Purposely giving carolers and festive fashionistas a wide berth. Sometimes, he bumps into people from just staring at his feet.

"Sorry about that."

B

He picks at the stores, buying little things before going to the roof of the Training Center, surrounded by little tools and crafts to help him find something to do with his hands. Sometimes he carves wood. Sometimes he threads beads. Sometimes he ties rope. He makes pretty things, little pieces of amateurish (but good for his age) jewelry. He has a knack for artistry and putting beauty into work, but right now, his hands shake and his fingers fumble, and not because of the cold.

In front of him is a simple green Christmas ornament. Sometimes he puts his work away so he can pick it up and examine it. He doesn't understand the purpose of decorating the tree, but it's new and it's pretty. He's quick to put it aside again before going back to work, though, because right now, all it does is remind him of how little he knows about the culture around him, any of the cultures around him, and how he'll never be in a place where he is completely comfortable with the culture again.

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"Aang?"

The person who he'd bumped into in this case was none other then Azula. She was dusted lightly in snow from the fresh flakes drifting down and clad in a fashionable wine red pea coat with gold lightning trim. She held a woven basket in her black leather gloved hand and the chill had put a faint rosy tint on her pale cheeks.

"It is you." She confirmed. "I wasn't sure you'd been brought back. It's good to see they didn't completely disregard your potential so quickly."

After the fact that Zuko never came back had settled on her Azula had found herself once again frustrated with the Capitol. Every time she started to relax and become complacent again they would do something to irritate her. She'd barely had time with Zuko to find out who she was in that other world and how he might be like her sister.

Well at least she still had Aang and Korra even if she had yet to spend time with Korra. For now she focused her attention on the boy who had clearly been trying to avoid public eye.

Edited 2014-12-27 16:25 (UTC)

Aang flinched away at the sound of the voice, but he didn't seem visibly tense about her presence, which was a step up from before. This version of Azula, as uncomfortable as he was around her, was actually pretty helpful and had treated him well. The only trouble was that she just made him think of Zuko.

"No, no, I'm still here." He looked up to meet her gaze, keeping his hood over his arrow and giving a (very weak) smile. His eyes were sunken, like he hadn't been sleeping well. Losing Zuko, accidentally killing a man, and dying all over again hadn't been good for his ability to sleep. "I don't think they're done with me yet."

He still wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

"You know, I think there was once a time that this roof was empty, no one came here."

Mindy was here, apparently not as free as she thought of missing people she used to know, leaving that gnawing empty feeling that made her hate getting to know people in the first place. Names came and went, but suddenly they got big and swirled around her head when this time came, and all she could think of was a time where a girl and her dad shared a hot cocoa and laughed about life speeding around them. That was New York after all: bustling and hustling and people too busy to give a shit, they were out for their own.

But that was a time gone. She'd left that life for this one, where people's cares were warped. It was almost ironic.

"What's eating you, Aang? Last I checked, you could BS a bad situation into a good one. Don't look too good about that now."

"Hmm." She pursed her lips in thought and glanced around to see if they were being watched. As always there were the couple odd rubber neckers who could spot a celebrity a mile away but they weren't drawing a crowd. Probably because as far as mentors went Azula was hardly the most popular.

"You look terrible." She declared bluntly. "Come along, I'm going to get you a warm drink and something to eat. I can't stand seeing something so pathetic."

This was about as nice as she could stand to be to someone she only knew a little about. Still he was young and harmless without his powers so it wasn't a stretch for her.

Aang probably should have categorically rejected any invitation an incarnation of Azula gave him, but he felt lost and hadn't been going anywhere in particular, so...

"Okay. Thanks."

She had a funny way of being abrasively nice. It reminded him a little of Toph, except Toph was rough physically while Azula seemed to stay elegant while being rough verbally.

He shoved his hands in his hoody pocket, looking down at the ground so the hood could fall over his eyes and hide most of his face from onlookers. He didn't want strangers trying to talk to him like some celebrity.

She turned sharply on her heel and began to stride in short but powerful motions, slowing after the first few steps to make sure Aang didn't lag behind too much.

She was pleased to see the crowded sidewalk seemed to open up in front of her. It was a soothing and familiar feeling of power and respect, the same feeling she was always chasing and longing for. Some days the citizens seemed to forget just who she was and why they should stay out of her way. Thankfully today was not one of those days.

The scent of baking drifted on the cold breeze and Azula led Aang to a nearby shop, not waiting for him as she swept inside to get out of the cold. The smell was stronger inside the cozy little cafe and there was a rustling in the basket that she carried.

"Sit." She ordered him pointing to an empty table for two by the fireplace. While he did that she would place their order and return with two cups. Coffee for her and Hot chocolate for him.

A smiling fish shaped marshmallow bobbed in the dark liquid watching Aang as Azula took her seat.

"I hate the cold." She grumbled removing her expensive looking black leather gloves.

Edited 2014-12-31 00:05 (UTC)

"Oh. Hey, Mindy."

Aang barely looked up from his work. He was making a bracelet from strands of colored thread and shimmering wire. His hands shook a little, but whenever he noticed, he just paused and took a deep breath, and the shivering would stop.

Designs flowed out from the knots and braids he made. Flowers. Leaves. The wind.

"Sometimes you need to let yourself feel sad." He wasn't about to bring up the fact he had killed someone. He didn't know how to look at himself in the mirror. Zuko would have told him to knock it off, that it was either him or the other guy, but Zuko was gone now. "If you just ignore your bad feelings, they'll poison you. I'll be back to normal. Later."

He didn't know if that was true, but he didn't feel like opening up about his conflict over killing to someone who clearly had no idea where he was coming from, and he didn't feel like opening up about Zuko leaving and his feelings of crushing isolation.

She looked at the bracelet, and let that playful side of her settle a moment. Honestly, it would almost remind her of something she would have seen made on the street in New York for a couple of quarters. That he was doing it for himself was actually pretty intriguing. Of course, Aang was one of those types of people Mindy sensed was a little older than he looked: something about the way he even did this seemed intricate.

"Hey, I know all about that." It wasn't a lie: she had LET herself feel sad about Ellie for almost two weeks, and though she'd finally gotten out of that funk, thinking of Ellie again made her hurt throb. Time enough with her thoughts was enough punishment, especially if for someone like her that tended not to feel guilty about death too much. "Sure you will, but everyone needs to recoup every now and again. What's got you down? Games get a little too real?"

There wasn't mockery in her tone. Aang was a good kid: in some ways, too good for being here, but there you were. Mindy wanted, at least, to help him where she could.

"Aang, is that you?"

Clementine's wrapped up in a very pink coat with white furred trim with a matching pair of earmuffs clamped over her ears against the cold and snow. Good thing too, because wow, she's never seen so much snow before, not real snow. Never felt cold like this either. The Capitol must be somewhere in the north of what was the United States of America where she came from.

Moving closer, she holds to her shopping bags and keeps her voice low, since it seems Aang doesn't want to be noticed by the Capitolites (the same as she doesn't, which is why she's not wearing her trademark hat). "Are you okay?"

Kaito stumbled backward a step as Aang bumped into him. He didn't fall; he was too quick on his feet for that. He didn't feel much impact, either, since he was bundled up against the cold. But he did notice that the bump-er in this situation seemed a little spaced out.

"Hey there, sunshine. What's wrong? If you keep wandering around like that, you're going to get yourself run over."

Aang followed her without complaint. Her directions were a comfort. He nodded his thanks for the hot chocolate, but didn't immediately drink--he held it close to his chest, looking down at the gradually melting fish marshmallow. It reminded him of Tui when she still swam around with La, but there was no La for her to swim with in hot chocolate.

"You're a firebender where I come from. From the Fire Nation. You probably don't like cold there, either," he said absently, watching the marshmallow bob around his mug. He swirled it gently so the bobbing could go in a circular motion, like Tui (or maybe Yue) was actually in there.

Aang was indeed older than he looked, and not just chronologically or because he had a bunch of past lives. It was because he had suffered and been forced into a position of responsibility he wasn't ready for, and he had been forced to adapt. He was good at adapting. He would eventually adapt to this, too. But at the moment, he was struggling.

He kept knotting and threading and weaving. It felt good to have something to do with his hands. If Katara had been there, he would have given her something. Maybe a bracelet to match her mother's necklace. Katara wasn't there, though, and hadn't been there for months. He was getting more and more used to that as the days went on, and he was beginning to wonder if he would even know what to say to her anymore if she came and asked what had happened in her absence.

"Zuko didn't come back from the arena." He decided he would open up about that. Not about the murder. He didn't want to talk about the murder. But Zuko? It hurt, it deeply hurt, but he was starting to get used to losing the people he cared about.

So. That was where he wanted to start. There was more, she could tell that much, but as she'd met Aang and Zuko in her not so glamorous return to the Arena, she could see that was the start of Aang's troubles. Wherever he was now, he definitely seemed a little lost, and when she'd met Zuko, she could tell that he was something of a grounding point for him. Kept him geared to how awful the place was.

Now Aang had to find out the hard way.

"I'm sorry," Mindy said, and meant it. "They do that sometimes: they test you by bringing the people you'd care about most, and then you think you're going to at least have someone at your back during all this, and they pulled them away. Sometimes they even bring back someone who shouldn't be walking around, and you get your hopes up just to get it all dashed again. I liked Zuko. I could tell he was serious about looking after you."

Not even as a "I'm looking after this kid" way either, like how Mindy had been with Chibi Usa. With Zuko, she could tell it was more that he understood Aang had a bigger part to play and that his role was making sure Aang played it. That included, she bet, making sure the Games didn't pervert him.

Finally some answers! She had tried and failed with Zuko so she had thought a more long term questioning might be the trick with Aang. It seemed to be working in it's own way.

"And do you like the cold? I imagine it must be uncomfortable on your scalp. You'd have to bundle up more." The fad of people shaving their heads and getting arrow patterns of one sort or another had not gone unnoticed by the princess and while she thought it was silly she still kept an eye on it.

He flinches when someone says his name, but then relaxes when he sees who it is. Clementine. He's seeing his pool of friends shrinking faster and faster, and he's glad that there's someone there who he counts as a friend.

"Not really." He had intended to say he was fine, but the truth jumps out of him, like it had been just waiting for his guard to slip long enough to escape. He isn't okay. He doesn't know when he'll be okay again.

He shoves his hands in his hoody's pocket, ducking his head to hide the way his face flushes. "Happy Kris Mass." He still doesn't quite have the pronunciation right.

"Yeah." she agrees as soon as Aang admits that he's not fine. The sympathy in her face is genuine and understanding, maybe not of his particular situation of which she doesn't know the details but definitely of that feeling in general. With where they are and the things that happen to them it's disturbingly normal to feel that way.

Clementine scuffs one of her boots in the snow. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Then there's a smile on her face, small but completely pleased that Aang remembered and said to her. "Merry Christmas to you too."

"...Maybe." Maybe he does want to talk about it. He doesn't know. "But... not out here."

Maybe they could go somewhere else. Somewhere people weren't likely to recognize them and try to talk or show off their unearned tattoos to Aang. He keeps his eyes down, kicking at the snow for want of something to do with his limbs. "What about you? Are you okay?"

"I never used to be too cold. Or too warm. My airbending always took care of that kind of thing, even when I was in the north or south pole." That was why he never needed to wear a jacket when he traveled. It had its uses, especially when he traveled with people who couldn't regulate their temperatures the same way.

"Now, I guess I still don't mind it as much as other people."

"Fascinating." The idea that his powers were capable of that using only air? Or maybe there was more to it. Plenty of time for analysis later but she had to sooth him now if she wanted to win him over and learn more.

"Where was your favorite place to visit back home?" She pressed trying to imagine a world more open to travel then the one she currently lived in. After all she may be content to sit in the crown jewel of the civilized world but that didn't mean she wasn't curious.

"We could go to a cafe? Have hot drinks?" it's cold out here and hot chocolate would go down really well. Though maybe that's not what Aang meant... "Or we could walk round the park."

She shrugs a little, "Yeah, mostly." she doesn't want to bring up her current problems and distract from Aang's own. "I've just been trying to get people some Christmas gifts." then she looks a little shyer, "I got you one."

"Wherever you feel like going." He keeps shuffling his feet, staring at the ground. "Wherever you think no one will bother us. People keep shoving their tattoos in my face when they recognize me." He doesn't like it. He doesn't like people waving around pieces of culture in his face like they're just fashion statements.

"You did?" His face flushes. "Thanks. I... haven't gotten something for you yet, but I'm working on something." He had forgotten that there were supposed to be an exchange of gifts, but he'd been working on whittling things. He'd make her something nice.

"These people are jerks." she replies at that. Clementine doesn't need to know the true significance of his tattoo's and why it's so offensive that the Capitol citizens are wearing them to understand how much it sucks when people keep doing something you don't want them to do. "I think I know a good place."

Clementine turns and waits for Aang to start walking beside her. "It's okay, you don't have to." she smiles, "My mom always said it was the thought that counts most."

There's a cafe, small and tucked away in a side street. Clementine discovered it early on in her stay in the Capitol, when she'd gotten lost exploring the city.

Aang shrugged, staring down at his hot chocolate before finally taking a sip. "I don't think I could pick one." He put his cup down, but he still didn't make eye contact. He was staring at the dissolving fish. "It used to be better to travel around before the war, but now a lot of places are broken or dangerous. I still like the Air Temples, and I still like seeing all these new places, but I think I'd prefer it if the war was over."

He was tired of blood.

"Good."

Aang follows her faithfully, keeping his head down and his hood firmly over his bald head. "It's not that I have to. I'd like to." He has an idea, too. She'd seemed to like his stories about the air bison. Maybe he can make her a little wooden bison. He can make it nicely pretty quickly. Maybe paint it too.

When they get to the cafe, he looks around cautiously before pulling his gloves off and setting them down at a table shoved in a corner away from prying eyes. Now, those arrows are visible again.

"Well that's only natural isn't it?" She offered keeping her eyes on him and gently stirring her drink with a long thin cookie she had produced from a package at the end of the table next to the cream and sugar packets.

"The only people who long for war are warriors and profiteers. And you don't strike me as much of either. Preventing war and death is what the Capitol does after all by making sure all the other districts do their jobs."

A small lie but it would do for now. She knew the deeper truth to the Capitols intentions after having had her eyes opened to it by her tributes. There was no charity in mind though it was true they didn't want a war.

Well Clementine can't say no to that, her smile turns small and pleased as she leads the way. "Okay."

Inside the decor is what Clementine would call 'old fashioned' but the Capitol probably has another name for. A lot of wood and floral print, with flowers in vases and some dry smelly stuff that a server told her was called potpourri in bowls on the table (at first she thought they were some kind of weird chips).

"Here," she digs through her bag as they sit down, looking for her present for Aang. Because she didn't know a whole lot about him she'd tried to pick something safe as a gift for him, something that might not be exciting but she could feel certain he would like.

What emerges from her bag are two small plush animals, a lion and a turtle. "They don't have lion turtles, so I got you a lion and a turtle instead." Clementine explains.

Edited 2015-01-26 21:31 (UTC)

Aang finally looked up from his hot chocolate long enough to raise one skeptical eyebrow. Had he been taken to Panem right from his time in the iceberg, he would have had a furious outburst about how the Capitol was only good for death and fear so a few rich people could lounge on the breaking backs of the poor.

But instead, he looked back down at his hot chocolate and bit his tongue. He had no doubt she knew what he thought of the Capitol. He learned an appreciation for the times it's better to keep one's thoughts to oneself while in the Fire Nation. "The war's been going on for a hundred years. I don't know if a lot of people will know what to do with their lives after it's over."

The plushes make him brighten. He's still not quite as bubbly as he normally is, but he still smiles. "Thanks. They're perfect." Even if the fauna in this world is weird, they resemble the things from his world enough that it's comforting.

Impulsively, he leans over and gives Clementine a hug. It's tight and a little damp (due to the fact that his hoody still has melting snow on it), but it's affectionate. He still has friends, even if he's lost all the people who stuck by him since waking up in an iceberg.

It made sense after all. Azula knew for a fact if The Games ended tomorrow there would be hundreds if not thousands of Capitol citizens out of work, many of them with skills that did not translate easily into other more mundane fields. For example most mentors were only really capable of being tacticians or physical fitness instructors depending on how many specialties they had and how badly they had been scarred by their experience.

"That's the amazing thing about humans though." She reflected with a sort of smug optimism. "They adapt when pressured. Every human is born with the capacity to rise above their station in life and become something greater then themselves. Few do, but it's possible."

And then there were people like her who were born better from the start. And no amount of work could put some losers on her level.

"They are? Because I--" she starts to explain, inwardly a little nervous because she'd really wanted him to like them. It had been so long since she'd gotten presents or been able to give them (or presents her parents bought for her to give) that doing it right had become really important to her.

She didn't expect him to be so pleased as to hug her like this, but after getting over her moment of surprise Clementine reaches back and returns it. Smiling. "I'm glad you do, Aang."

You better believe there are people going 'awww' on the other side of the cafe right now.

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And so this is Christmas...

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