Don't Be Afraid To Be Who You Are - Isle Side

[missrecalled_mods]

The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down

Just over a week after the Isle visit people would find themselves drawn outside. The weather was finally getting warmer, but that wasn't all of it. A strange foul smelling - and fairly toxic - mold had begun growing in some of the classrooms. Thankfully not the ones where people were sleeping but it was still enough to make it unpleasant to remain indoors. Some might blame the growth of the mold on a certain obsessive compulsive cleaner, though others might say that he just discovered it and accidentally gave it access to oxygen and such.

Whichever the reason, sleeping outside for a few days was sounding like a better and better plan with every passing minute. Even the drizzling weather couldn't make the indoors terribly appealing for anyone with a sense of smell.

And it was over night on one such night that the rain was... different. Warmer and a bit tingly. And some people would awaken quite a bit older than when they fell asleep, perhaps. Their memories might have caught up with their age, or might come to them slowly. However it happens, there might be some very confusing moments as those who seemed to be young just a moment before are now... less so.

Gift In Time Gift In Time Nary A Reason Nary A Rhyme Gift In Time!

Weirdly, there was something good to come not long after the rain. In addition to aging some folks up, it also seemed to wash away the worst of the mold, allowing people to return indoors once more. And each of them would find, soon after, in some place that they considered theirs... a small gift. It was rare that positive things happened on the Isle, but perhaps this was a sign of things to come.

Or perhaps even a broken clock is right once in a blue moon...

Comments

Zuko - OTA

[awkward_turtleduck]

The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down

Zuko was less than pleased to finally be forced out of the school. He'd put up with the foul smell until he'd started to feel ill, before finally packing up his meagre belongings and abandoning the classroom. He paced the area around the school looking for anywhere remotely sheltered to last out the night, his mood near fouler than the mold at this point. He wasn't the only one escaping the rancor of the school, and that only put him more on edge.

He'd decided to wait it out, leaned against the shadowed back side of the school, his pack tucked between him and the stone wall. He crossed his arms and glared out into the night, determined to outlast his own exhaustion. Especially when the first few drops of rain bloomed on the ground by his feet. He felt the frustration boiling higher under his skin, but even as his anger simmered his eyelids drooped heavier and heavier. His last thought was that the sleep claiming him seemed unnatural, then he was gone.

When he blinked back to awareness the first thing he took note of was the uncomfortable damp clinging to his clothes and weighing down his hair. The second was that said hair hanging in his eyes had not been there when he fell asleep. He pulled the bangs down to stare in confusion, before pushing them out of his eyes and checking over the rest of his person and belongings. His old travelling rags were gone, replaced by far more comfortable casual fire nation robes. Red, pants and short sleeves, covered by a darker red tunic trimmed in yellow gold. Tall dark boots with a comfortable soul and a strip of yellow gold running down the front.

"What in Agni's name?" It was familiar to him, the way a half remembered dream was. Those weird visions he'd had when he first arrived, of being on seemingly good terms with the Avatar and his friends, of Mai yelling at him, telling him they were over, of being trapped somewhere cold, of standing up to his father. It was fractured still, but it felt... truer, than it had to him before. He shook his head, something to worry about later, for now, he needed to find somewhere to dry off.


Gift In Time Gift In Time Nary A Reason Nary A Rhyme Gift In Time!

It didn't take him long to realize that the mold had magically disappeared seemingly overnight, the same way his hair had grown and his clothes had changed. Spirits, he really hated this Agni-scorned island. But at least access to a dry classroom was a small blessing.

He found it while he was checking through his bag, to make sure nothing had gone missing while he slept. He pulled out his sleeping roll, and from the bottom of his pack a familiar waft that made his stomach curdle as the smell hit his nose. He stepped back, eyes watering, and swore loudly, tried to, at least. How in Agni's name- He pulled his new tunic to cover his nose and reached in to retrieve, sure enough, his uncle's filthy old slipper.

He stared at it, utterly confused, and a little put out by it appearing in his bag of all places. He'd never get the smell out. He held it as far from himself as he could, pinched lightly between his thumb and his forefinger. He turned it slowly. Aside from the bottom of it being absolutely cacked in mud, or- he hoped it was mud, nothing seemed out of the ordinary about it. He sighed, going to drop it in a corner until he could decide if it was worth keeping, or if he should just go throw it into the ocean.

He paused as it his the floor, a tiny clink of sound pulling his attention. He kicked the slipper upside down, leaning in to look more closely at the muck, coughing even through his shirt. Sure enough, a tiny sliver of white tile was just distinguishable between gunky treads.

He huffed. Nothing was ever easy for him, was it? A few experimental pokes and prods proved whatever the object was, it would not easily be dislodged, and he stood with another frustrated shout, kicking the wall for good measure.

The likelihood someone had overheard his frustrations as they were reclaiming the school were probably pretty high. He hadn't considered this probability, so anyone poking their head in the door was sure to surprise the guy. Though they were just as likely to get a surprise in the smell department as soon as they opened the door.

Re: Zuko - OTA

[professorsong]

River poked her head in to see what the shouting was. Despite the smell she grinned. "That angry about your new hair cut, sweetie? I know some girls who would die to have their hair grow as fast as yours."

Re: Zuko - OTA

[awkward_turtleduck]

Zuko startled, whirling to face the doorway, and dropping into a defensive stance. Immediately, a scowl crossed his face, and he settled his weight a bit more neutrally, though his shoulders remained tense. "Why are you here?"

He ignored her comment about his hair, though his eyebrow twitched and his scowl deepened.

Re: Zuko - OTA

[professorsong]

"Small island? Not much else to do to entertain myself?" She shrugged. "Take your pick."

Absolutely not out and about because she can't handle emotionally the fact that she found what she found in her room with no sign of the husband it belonged to. Nope.

Re: Zuko - OTA

[awkward_turtleduck]

He scoffed. "You could entertain yourself in a different room of the small island that isn't mine." He muttered it under his breath, but small spaces with nothing to absorb sound did not favour a muttering remaining unheard.

He paced back over to the slipper and scowled down at it. A soak in a bucket of water maybe... He looked back to River. "I pick that you leave me alone. I'm busy."

Re: Zuko - OTA

[professorsong]

She chuckled. "Pacing is such hard work, is it?"