thecapitol | Collect your scars and wear 'em well

Who| Aang and YOU
What| Aang got a bat. He will nurse this bat to health and keep it as his companion, so help him.
Where|Training Center
When| Post-Arena, pre-Crowning
Warnings/Notes| A little bit of blood and a lonely child.

Aang is good with animals. He’s been taking care of them since he could walk, and he’s had an animal companion for every lifetime since the Avatar’s inception. (That animal companion, in fact, has been reincarnating with him for every lifetime to be his companion forever, not that he knows that.)

So maybe this is what he needs: an animals companion.

If only the bat weren’t so sick.

A; around the Tribute Center

A little monk boy with arrow tattoos is walking with a bat wrapped snugly in a towel. Her head is covered, which seems to keep her calm as he walks with her cradled in the crook of his arm. She should probably be asleep right now, but her wing seems to have been hurt, so he wants to find a proper splint for it before hanging her on a ledge he made in his room.

“Hey…” He stops in front of the next person he comes across in the hall. “You don’t know where I can find small metal rods and medical tape, do you?”

B; District 4 in the evening

The lights are dimmed. Aang is perched on the couch in front of one of the many aquariums (this one now equipped with little name plates he whittled himself with a surprising amount of skill). He’s created a little enclosure with a box on the table to give his softly squeaking bat a dark place to settle, and he has a little saucer and a tube of red liquid in his lap.

“It’s okay, I know you’re hungry…” he coos softly as he pops the cork on the vial and pours a little bit into the saucer before capping it again and pushing the saucer gently into the box. The animal squeaks before shifting in her box and lapping at the saucer.

C; the roof in the evening

“So. I bet you were grown in a lab, huh?”

The bat can’t climb as well as she should due to her hurt wing, but she makes a valiant effort. Aang has removed the bejeweled collar she came with—it seemed wrong to have another living creature carrying around his name instead of its own—and has temporarily replaced it with a blue ribbon around her neck. She squeaks as she clambers up his shirt, burying her head into the collar of his shirt, provoking a giggle.

“You’re not as angry as the bats in the arena, so I bet you were one of the experiments. Not that being an experiment is bad.” He scratches the bat’s furry back gently as it keeps hunting around his shirt for something interesting. “You remind me a little of Momo. He liked to climb on me too. He and Appa were all I had left of the Southern Air Temple.”

His voice loses some of its cheer. He’s lying down on the roof, staring at the sky. There aren’t any stars when there are lights this bright. “And I thought I felt homeless then. Sure showed me, huh?”

The bat just keeps squeaking and exploring, but he likes to think she’s snuggling a little more.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Felicity doesn't exactly have the run of the Tribute center, but she's a common enough fixture in the common areas. With an uncle that works there and a slowly-building reputation as a purveyor of fanworks, there are few other places that she'd rather be. It's a great opportunity for so many things! Like helping out kids with their troubles!

"Oh!" She's startled at first because it's Aang, adorable Aang, but the moment it clicks that he needs something, she is springing into action. "Maybe? Maybe! One second, one second!" And then she is swinging around the oversized and bulging messenger bag that she's got slung over one shoulder, and starting to root around in it. "I've totally got medical tape! Don't know about metal rods... pencils? I've got pencils..... but I've got medical tape!"

Aang knows a Capitolite when he sees one. Off-worlders and Districters hold themselves differently than Capitolites. Nonetheless, a person being a Capitolite isn't an immediate reason to dismiss them, especially if they have tape for your bat.

"Great!" He adjusts his hold on the bundle in his arms, and gently moves the cloth so he can reveal the bat's head. She squeaks softly in protest. "Hariti's wings are hurt. I could probably splint them with pencils until I find something better."

Felicity would be incredibly flattered to know that she is successfully passing as a Capitolite. Her classmates still haven't bought into it, and maybe that's why she's trying a little too hard to put on that carefree, overdone attitude. But if it works, it works, and that's what matters. Which is also immediately applicable to this situation, what with the poor little injured bat.

"Oh! Oh no..." She's immediately sadly sympathetic, and dropping into an easy crouch to better get on Aang's level and also take a look at the squeaking little thing. "What happened? Here, here..." And she has found that medical tape, and produces it and offers it. It's the thin sort, easy-tearing and self-adhesive. "Popsicle sticks might work too, if you cut them right. Or... or skewers? Wooden skewers? Easier to get than metal stuff! The kitchen might have them!" There's a lot of genuine empathy and helpfulness on display here. She really wants to help the poor little bat.

"Skewers would probably be best. They're thin enough for her wing."

Aang appreciates the concern. More and more, he finds himself falling into a trap of dismissing Capitolites as a whole offhand. He has to try to meditate and mentally remove himself from that, because he of all people understands that a person's people of birth doesn't decide what they will be, but it's hard to find many Capitolites that break the mold without being taken away by the powers that be.

"Do you mind coming with me to get them? I'm going to need someone to help hold her wing while I tape it."

"Yeah! She's so tiny, with such tiny wings...." She nods quickly, and springs up spryly from that crouch. "I don't mind! Not at all. I've got all the time in the world!" She does not need to be asked twice. If she can be of help and be of help to one of the nicest Tributes, she is so down for it. Without even waiting for Aang to set off on his own, she's taking steps back towards the kitchens.

"Do you take care of a lot of animals? I mean... when you get the chance?" When you're back in your own world? But the latter question is a little rude to ask, so she is not asking it.

He walks after her to the kitchen, keeping his pace swift but steady for the sake of the bat cradled in his arms. No need to jostle the poor girl because he's in a rush.

"Yeah. I used to take care of my buddy, Appa, who's a flying bison. Also Momo, the flying lemur." Air Nomads lived in harmony with nature. Looking out for the odd animal that needed it was part of that. They weren't encouraged to have pets; they were supposed to have one companion in a bison, and sometimes could have lemurs as pets, but otherwise, animals were supposed to be taken care of and released.

He ducks into the kitchen, and loudly grabs the attention of the nearest cook by saying, "Excuse me, but do you have any clean skewers?"

"A flying bison?" The lemur, maybe that was reasonable (what was a lemur, again?) But bison were... big, right? "How does a bison fly? Does it have wings?" This is some pretty cool stuff. She's genuinely interested in the answer.

As for the matter of the skewers, the nearest cook looks their way, grimaces uncertainly and suspiciously, and tilts his head. "What do you need those for?"

"First aid for a pet bat!" Felicity is happy to chime in and help. "Look at the poor little thing! You've gotta wanna help a poor little thing like that, right?"

"Well..."

"No, they use airbending." Aang's answered this question many times, so it rolls off his tongue by rote. "They manipulate the air currents around them so they can fly."

Aang gives the cook his best puppy eyes as he cradles the bat close. Usually, adults fold pretty quickly when he gives them the eyes. "Please? Her wing is hurt. I promise to clean it and give it back after she's better."

"Oooooh... so they're talented bison!" Which is a very interesting thing, and now she is also imagining bison that can do all kinds of stuff other than fly, but there's no time to voice these silly thoughts aloud. There is pleading to be done, and cute faces to be made. Look. Look at these cute faces.

"I don't know, they inventory everything..."

And that is when Felicity hauls out the pout. "Aw! C'mon! Just a few little skewers for one little bat!"

The combined assault is hard to resist. Also, these two kids in the kitchen are a distraction from work. The cook hushes them, looks around to be sure that no one else is watching too closely, and then pulls a handful of wooden skewers from a supply drawer and drops them into Felicity's hands. (Aang's are full of bat, after all.) "There! All yours! Now go on!"

Aang keeps his puppy eyes in the mix, and when the cook gives skewers to Felicity, he lets out a sigh of relief and a bright smile.

"Thank you. I'll put these on her right away." He keeps his voice quiet out of consideration for the cook (and consideration for their own desire to not get caught).

He turns around, still cradling the bat, and nods for Felicity to follow him. "Thank you so much for helping me get those. I bet her wing will get better in no time."

"Thanks! You're the best, seriously!" It's important to thank those that have done you a favor. And just as important to get out in a timely fashion, so she follows right on behind Aang.

"Hey, it's no problem! You've gotta help where you can." She's feeling quite proud of herself for having been helpful, doubly-so that she's been helpful to a famous Tribute like Aang. (It is hard to stop fangirling once you start.) "I've got... hey, I think I've got clippers in here too, if you want to trim them down neatly?"

She'll keep right on following him to wherever he's going to go settle down and do the work.

Collect your scars and wear 'em well

A

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