braavado | IC CONTACT (FOR HAVEN)

[Korra laughs in response.]

If I'm you ten thousand years later, how does that work? Would it be like stealing yourself in some way?

Maybe.... Maybe I'm the greatest thief in history. So skilled I even stole my own soul.

[She shoots him a mischievous look.]

It's not stealing if I beat you to the place first!

[With that, she pulls her hand out of his and darts ahead, smirking.]

[Wan just laughed and followed after. Perfectly fine with her leading the way. He didn't need to be in front until they were actually in Haven North. And he wasn't worried about the monsters in the tunnels, both of them were very good at keeping them away.

Once they eventually got to the other side, Wan hopped a cloud and started 'skating' through the streets in a lazy manner.]

Have you ever been to the sports center, Korra?

[Seeing that she'd be left behind in a hurry, Korra forms her own cloud and races after him until they're floating through the streets, side by side.]

A few times. [Though not more often than that, since she had no idea how to play any of the sports common in other worlds.] Why?

Because that's where your birthday present is.

[Wan teased in a sing-song, still gliding along in an unhurried manner.]

[The mystery deepens! Korra shakes her head, still grinning.]

Sounds like fun. You know, you didn't have to go through the trouble or anything.

[Wan drifted closer to Korra, circling her lazily for a couple seconds as they closed in on the Sports Complex.]

I know I didn't have to. I wanted to. Connor's birthday got a big to-do and yours didn't and I didn't think that was very fair. You're loved just as much as he is.

[Korra floats past him, raising her brows at him.]

I planned that big to-do, thanks. We never really made a big deal out of my birthday back home. I guess I'm just used to it.

I guess it runs in the family.

[Wan said back with a bit of wistful tone.]

We were always too poor to do much, but we always acknowledged it at the very least. When all you can really claim to own is the clothes on your back and your name, knowing your age is kind of important. It's something you can own. And it's also really easy to loose track of time when most of your days are spent just scrapping by - if you're lucky enough to find scraps. Having a reason to track time, using the birthdays of the people around you, gives you a bit of focus.

[He stopped his cloud and hopped off as he reached the doors of the sports center.]

Anyway, what I mean is that you deserve to have your birthday treated as important at least once.

[He reached out to open the door and gestured for her to enter.]

We're going to the pool.

[She's quiet as Wan talks about his life with Yao and Jaya.]

We didn't really celebrate it much because--well. You know Katara, right? My water bending teacher. She was married to Aang and--we didn't really want to make it a big deal in case it reminded her too much.

[Korra feels like she doesn't need to elaborate on that one. Wan knows that Aang was the Avatar just before her, after all, and he can put the clues together.

Instead she just focuses on the moment and drops to the ground after him. Before she enters the building, she looks at him again.]

No matter what it is--thanks.

It seems a shame that you had to hide your joy for fear of hurting another.

[He also wondered if they ever asked Katara if that's what she wanted them to do. Or even if it did hurt her as much as they assumed it would. From all that Korra had said, if Katara didn't want to be reminded of Aang's death, then it seemed unlikely she would offer to teach his reincarnation. And she definitely had. But Wan didn't know her that well, especially not her older self, the one that Korra knew.]

You don't have to do that here. Not with me, anyway.

[Wan led her through the complex to the swimming pool. At first glance, it looked completely normal. But if she took a good look at the bottom of the pool, there were a lot of stuffed animals encased in ice, protected from the rest of the water and their forms distorted by the ice crystals. At most Korra could get a sense of what color and general size it was.]

As you can see, there is ice trapping the toys under the water. You get to keep any of them you want so long as you don't use bending to retrieve them. They're all attached to the bottom by stems of ice, so you can just break those and let them float to the top if you want. But if the ice melts before you get them out of the water, you can't keep them.

[Because he figured if he couldn't give her something unique that would stick around, he could give her something fun.]

What are-- [Korra cuts off with a laugh when he explains. She doesn't know what she'll do with that many stuffed animals, if she gets them all out, but this is definitely a lot more interesting than just unwrapping a present.]

So it's a game. And no bending allowed. [Korra's grinning already. Challenge accepted.

Without further ado, she dives into the pool, making straight for the bottom.]

[With the pool being a full sized one for actual swim meets and the like, there was plenty of space in which Wan could anchor the two dozen or so stuffed animals he'd chosen for the game. They weren't done at any kind of regular interval and sometimes two or three were clustered within the same ten foot span while others were strung out with a good twelve feet between them both length-wise down the pool and width-wise across from one side or the other. It presented quite the challenge of quantity vs possible quality.

Particularly when the largest one - trapped in an ice crystal at least 6ft tall and a good four feet around - was dead center in the pool and the furthest away from any of the others.]

[Korra swims toward the one nearest to her, just to test things out first. Floating beside it for a moment, she studies it before snapping the ice stem and watching the toy float up to the surface.

She follows it, popping back up for some more air.]

You're going to have to get it out of the water if you don't want the ice to melt!

[Wan called out from where he was squatting next to the pool, watching to make sure she was okay.]

The pool's set to a nice, warm, 72 degrees and I stopped bending to keep them frozen the moment you dived in.

[She makes a face at him before paddling through the water and pushing the frozen toy out of the pool.]

Alright, alright, I'm going!

[Korra sinks back in, this time breaking a few of the ice things free of their tethers.]

[They floated up same as the first one had and when she surfaced again, Wan was sitting with his legs over the edge of the pool, feet in the water. Sandals still on. His pants were hiked up a bit, though, and the burn scar on his left leg was more visible than usual because of it. The one he'd gotten from the Dragon killing him. The one he'd been hiding for months. He didn't feel the need to do so anymore. Which was a good thing. He wasn't happy about the scar, but he was now comfortable with it being seen. Everyone in Haven had their share of scars.]

That's five! I'm might have to subtract points though, there's two at the other end of the pool that have already surfaced.

[Of course, they were also the two smallest and had the least amount of ice surrounding them.]

Edited 2015-02-17 11:44 (UTC)

[Korra splashes some water in his direction once she has the iced toys on dry ground.]

That's because you made the water so warm.

[Seriously, Wan, it's really warm. Korra dives back in, repeating the process over and over until she's collected most of the toys. A few others join their soggy brethren in floating around in the pool after their ice melts.

Korra hauls herself out of the pool and bends the water out of her clothes and hair.]

That should be all of them.

I had to make it a challenge.

[Not a single iota of guilt from over it.

But once she was out of the water, Wan lifted his arms to pull the un-rescued toys up and out of the pool on a small wave. Water was pulled out of them as well as out of the ones that had been properly rescued.]

Not bad. You got most of them.

[He leaned back on his hands to look over her haul. Every stuffed toy was a variation on dogs and bears. He'd grabbed all that he could find without having doubles. The biggest one, the one that had sat in the middle of the pool and stood as tall as Korra, was a giant white teddy bear. After giving her a few moments to realize the theme behind the toys, Wan said quitely:]

I wasn't sure which was a better match for Naga, bears or dogs. So I got as many as I could of each. I know it's not the same, and I'm not really trying to replace her. But... maybe having something around that reminds you of her wouldn't be so terrible. I even found one you could sleep with. I know I miss doing that with Mula.

It was fun. [Korra grins at him, picking up one of the smaller stuffed animals.] I haven't done anything like that before, and never on my birthday.

[Her eyes drift from toy to toy as he explains, expression softening.]

If you'd told me that, I would have tried to find something a little bigger when I gave you the deer toy. [She runs a finger through the soft, fake fur, on the toy she's holding.] I miss her a lot. She's been with me since she was a pup, and I was still in the compound...

I don't think we've ever been separated this long before. It's hard to believe I've almost gone a year without seeing her.

I like the one you got me. I don't mind that it's small. I could never hold Mula to my chest since I met her after she was already grown.

[Wan's voice drifted off into silence. A moment later he picked up a smaller toy and tossed it at Korra, trying to hit her in the face with it.]

We're going to make each other sad if we keep this up. And sadness isn't allowed today.

[Her reflexes save her in the end, her hand shooting up to snatch the small toy out of the air before it bounces off of her face. Korra looks down at it with a smile.]

It's not allowed, huh? So you're the one who calls the shots today?

Only if you're going to be mopey.

[He sticks his tongue out at her before rolling to get to his feet and bending the water off of him and out of his sandals. Then he set his hands on his hips and shook his head.]

Look at all of these. Do you know how hard it will be to carry them all back through the tunnels?

[He clicked his tongue in a mocking 'tsk tsk tsk'.]

[She gives his shoulder a light punch, grinning.]

Who's mopey? Anyway, maybe we should find something to put all these in. It'll beat trying to carry them like this.

IC CONTACT (FOR HAVEN)

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