haventlosthope | (no subject)

(no subject)

It's been raining all day – something that doesn't have to matter much when you're flying, but becomes more of an issue when your sky bison needs to rest for the night. Katara doesn't have much trouble keeping them dry as they descend, but if they sleep outdoors tonight, they're going to get soaked through. This area of the Earth Kingdom is entirely flat farmland, no mountains or even hills that might have caves to hide in, the only natural cover a forest still rather far in the distance. Their best bet is to try to settle in a field and leave before dawn, or to stow away in someone's barn house.

Sokka irritably points out that some rain isn't going to kill them, but Katara answers they could get sick again, which would just slow them down as they tried to find Aang another earthbending teacher. They bicker over it until Aang spots the lights of an inn not too far off, reasonably set apart from the closest farm village. Though still rather skeptical, Sokka agrees to help Appa hide out nearby, while Aang and Katara head for the inn's entrance.

When Katara opens the door, the first thing she's on the lookout for is any sign the place is occupied by Fire Nation soldiers. It's not what she sees, but –

"Um, Aang? This place is weird."

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Aang was standing with his back to the outer wall of the inn as Katara peered inside the opened door. He did this for three reasons: one, to keep an eye on the retreating teen and bison; two, to keep someone from sneaking up on him and Katara; and three, because there's just enough of an roof overhang that shelters this position from the rain.

So when Katara says place is weird, he doesn't really see why.
At least not until he cranes his neck around the doorframe and peers inside himself.

"Milliways!" he says with palpable excitement. "C'mon Katara, you're going to love this!" And with that he's pulling her through the door.

"Oh, wait -"

She's so caught off-guard by this that she doesn't regain her footing enough to slow him down until the door has already closed behind them.

"- Aang, I don't know about this -"

"Trust me, Katara. I've been here before. A couple of times in fact, it's great! And best of all? No Fire Nation."

There are times when his enthusiasm is more powerful than the Avatar State itself, and...sadly for Katara, this is one of those times.

Maybe no Fire Nation, but there are a lot of people who don't look like anyone she's ever seen before, and some thing she doesn't even know how to recognize.

"What do you mean you've been here before? You didn't say anything."

Thaaaaat brings him to a screeching halt.
Aang swallows hard and then turns to face his best friend.

"I...well...you see, I just..."

"We were looking for a place to stay..."

And this one seems pretty memorable, even if it had been a hundred years.

Glancing back around the bar, "Seriously, why does everyone here look so... weird?"

Katara doesn't even mind if it's a little rude. That is how weird they look.

Edited 2013-06-10 00:12 (UTC)

"I didn't really know this was here when I saw the lights from the Inn, and really chances are good that those lights weren't coming from here to begin with."

He seems to know what he's talking about, it's just a shame that what he's saying make absolutely no sense.

Aang gives the room a closer inspection. Yup, same conglomeration of strange and unusual looking people that made him believe he was in the Spirit World.

"They only look weird because we're not in the Earth Kingdom anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

They're far enough into the Earth Kingdom that she's pretty sure they couldn't have gotten that far off course.

"Katara, the moment we crossed the threshold we left the Earth Kingdom. We left the whole world. We're...we're somewhere else now. It's called Milliways."

"That - doesn't make any sense."

But that can sometimes happen when you're around the Avatar. So she tries, "I mean - is this the Spirit World?"

It doesn't look remotely like any Spirit World-related thing she's seen.

"I thought it was in the beginning, mostly because..." he leans in a bit closer and lowers his voice. "Because everyone here looks so different. But it's not. I think it might be connected to the Spirit World, but it's also connected to all sorts of other worlds."

"Connected to other worlds," she repeats. She doesn't exactly sound dubious, just... confused.

"What other worlds?"

He nods, but then has to think for a second for an appropriate way to answer her question.

"All of them," is the best he can come up with.

"... Aang, are you sure you're feeling all right?"

Are either of them feeling all right, for that matter?

She's been asking him that a lot these days, and really...he can't blame her. After everything that's happened with La, with General Fong, with the fall of Omashu, there's been a lot going on. Aang's face scrunches up and he quietly curses under his breath.

"I haven't been explaining this very well. Okay, lemme try again," he begins as he starts walking closer to the bar.

"There's a man here called Splinter, and he explained it to me like this. There are countless worlds in existence. They even outnumber the stars in the sky. In fact, every star in the sky is a sun to a different world. And this place is where they all cross each other.

It's like...what happens to the Spirit World on the solstice, only all the time, and in this one place."

Does...does that help?

"Um, okay -"

It still sounds completely impossible. But she does follow Aang toward the bar, before pausing to look back at the door.

"Wait, what about Sokka?"

"Oh he'll be fine. Time stops when the door is closed so he, Appa, and Momo won't even know we're gone."

Because...you know, that's a thing.

When Aang's close enough to Bar he airbends himself onto an empty stool that just so happens to have an empty one right next to it.

"Have a seat! The first drink is on the house."

Her trust that Aang at least wouldn't put Sokka into any danger is what gets Katara to take the seat next to his. Even if his explanation does seem too impossible to be comforting.

"What - you can eat here?"

Do they have food in the Spirit World? Have they covered this yet?

"Uh huh, and the food is really really good. And the best part is you can order anything and they'll have it. All you have to do is ask the Bar for it."

Aaaand here's the point where he just gestures towards Bar, who does her best to look, well...like a Bar.

"What do you mean... ask it?"

Even with all the... nothing that makes sense here, it wouldn't exactly be impossible for Aang to be pulling her leg here.

"Her," he corrects, as he holds up a hand as an indication that he's going to show her how.

"Hi Bar. It's me, Aang. Can I a cup of lychee juice and a small custard tart if you please."

It takes a moment or two, but soon enough exactly what he ordered appears on Bar's top. On a napkin appears the following message written in what appears to be flawless calligraphy:

Welcome back, Aang.
Who is your friend?

"OH! I'm sorry. Bar this is Katara. Katara this is Bar."

"Hey..."

Katara tilts her head, as though expecting to see a trip door on the Bar's surface somewhere. (At least she's not as bad as Sokka.)

"... how did you do that?"

Aang picks up the cup of lychee juice and offers it to Katara.
The tart? That's his, thank you very much.

"I didn't do anything. She did it. Bar's magic. Like...real actual magic."

She takes it, maybe just to test whether it's some kind of illusion.

"So... you're saying we left our world and came to a place with people from - other worlds where time doesn't move and food can just appear by magic?"

There's still a 'you know how insane that sounds, right?' tone to her voice.

"You have to admit, it's not the strangest thing we've seen."