Open ♫ if you sneeze, a butterfly in a forest somewhere will dance

[fairysong]

Who: Sheryl Nome and anyone else! Including you. Especially you.
Where: All through the temple.
When: Arrival / sickness event
Rating PG13+, warning for mild nudity
What: Sheryl ain't down with the sickness.

[Week One:]

[It's silly to be worried about this. Sheryl knows that. She knows that her V-Type Infection had progressed to a stage where the symptoms were completely different from this; even if Ranka hadn't cured her, a resurgence would feel completely differently. And everyone else is sick, too. This can't be the disease that nearly killed her.

A part of her brain is completely ignoring all that logic and reason, though. These symptoms are like what she'd first felt, after all. And there's that tiny nagging voice that she can't banish, constantly asking her: What if? What if Ranka had just delayed her death? What if everyone else has one thing, but she has another?

It's a stupid, irrational thought, and she can't banish it. So Sheryl deals with the deep-seated panic the best way she knows how: She throws herself into her music.

The only trouble is that this lingering headache and stuffiness makes it so very hard to write lyrics. So you'll find a young woman sitting at a table in the kitchen with a pencil and a torn sheet of paper that's full of scribbled out words. Most of them are crossed out. Sheryl is looking very frustrated-- and then she turns, pointing the end of the pencil at you.] You!

...what rhymes with "forest"?

[Week Two:]

[It got worse. It got much worse.

The good news is that Sheryl is now fairly certain that this isn't her V-Type Infection coming back; the symptoms have progressed in a completely different way.

That's the only good news. Sheryl feels like shit. She hasn't experienced the hallucinations that she's heard other people dealing with, which she's thankful for, but a violent fever and everything else that comes with it isn't much better.

The worst is that she constantly feels like she's just burning up, across her entire body, and since the bathing area is communal here, she hasn't figured out how to take a cold shower or bath to try and counteract it. Still, she's a resourceful young woman.

In the hallways just outside of the bathing area, you'll come across Sheryl with a rolled-up wet towel draped around her neck and over her shoulders. Though the towel hangs down in front of her chest, it is very clear that she is not wearing a shirt. Still, any potential sexiness is blunted by the fact that Sheryl looks rough and completely exhausted.

She's just too drained to give a shit about this right now. She does glance in your direction, though, and speaks in a slow voice that sounds impossibly tired.]

Can't a girl get some privacy around here...?

[Week Three:]

[Again, there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that she feels much, much better than before. No fever, no chills, no cold sweats, no trembling.

The bad news is that she can't see.

In a place where she still doesn't know anybody that well, she's reluctant to ask someone for help like she might someone she trusts, like Alto or Ranka. Which means Sheryl is moving slowly around the temple, one hand on the walls at all time, dark glasses on even in the middle of the night.

At some point leaving the kitchen area, you might hear a girl's voice yelp in pain. If you investigate, you'll find Sheryl doubled over, rubbing at one of her shins and hissing obscenities through her teeth.

When she hears footsteps, she straightens up abruptly.] Ah... someone must've moved that chair, I don't think it was there before!

[It's an odd excuse, mainly because she'd just run into a bench, and you're pretty sure the bench has always been there that whole time. Also, she's not looking directly at you, but also a little off to the side.

A little suspicious.]

Comments

[resistivity]

Of course it makes sense. Humans will always be coming up with new things. I think the context of those things just depend on what their world already looks like or needs. I've heard people talk about guns, but... they'd be useless against metalbenders in my world, so I don't know if they'd ever really gain traction, even if I can see where the idea might happen.

( he shrugs a bit. then, )

What's 'Zentradi'?

[fairysong]

Zentradi? They're aliens-- giant warriors from space that attacked Earth about fifty years before my time. It's fine, though-- we made peace with them.

It'd be hard to have anything close to the same history and not have you recognize the name, that's all.

[She stirs the bowl of curry.] So you have metalbenders, too? How many different types of benders are there?

[resistivity]

( war is no small thing, but she says it all so casually he can't help but raise an eyebrow. giant warriors from space. to him, it's something outlandish, but. when you grow up with that as your normal, it really doesn't change much of anything, does it?

he rubs the edge of his bowl, swiping an errant bit of sauce with his thumb. )

Ah, there's only four. Air, earth, water, fire. Metalbending is a... mastery subset skill of earthbending. About one in a hundred or so have the potential. Like how firebenders can generate lightning, or waterbenders can heal.

[fairysong]

[It's hard to hold much of a grudge against the Zentradi when she lives and works aside them every day, and that war long predated her birth.

She takes a bite, chewing and swallowing as he speaks.] So you've got those four, then earthbending, lightning bending, and healing... bending? Do air benders get anything special, too?

[Probably shouldn't tell her about bloodbending because she's canonically learning it while talking to Korra in a later thread.]

[resistivity]

Well. I don't know many airbenders. They were mostly wiped out almost two hundred years ago, and right now there are only three living masters. One of them can do... a sort of spirit projection, but I don't know if that's actually a special mastery technique or just... her.

( jinora definitely seems to have a greater aptitude for the finer points of airbending than both tenzin and korra, but. there's no saying what else can be discovered as the airbender nation continues to grow. )

[fairysong]

[That is suddenly a much more serious explanation than she was expecting. Oops.] Oh. I see.

...it's understandable that they, ah, haven't had the time necessary to experiment with things like that, then. [She really wasn't expecting this conversation to lead to genocide or ethnic cleansing or... bendingcide? What do you call something like that?]

Why were they killed?

[resistivity]

( definitely a bit heavy for a first conversation. he almost doesn't answer her, but. give him a few moments to get up and get himself a new drink. then, )

It's complicated. I guess the easiest way to describe it... there was one person that lived there that posed a threat to the Fire Nation — it was under the rulership of a genocidal dictator at the time — and so the Fire Nation attacked and... had them all killed. Except the one person they wanted most to kill got away. Now they're in the process of rebuilding, but it's... it's going to take some time.

( he doesn't like thinking about the atrocities committed by a people he is obviously a part of. bolin can get away with only claiming earth nation blood, but mako never could. and honestly, he doesn't want to. even though they did terrible things, lord zuko changed everything for the better. the fire nation has learned from its mistakes, and its children can hold their heads high. but he's not going to sugarcoat what was done, or condone it in any way. fire lord sozin got better than he deserved, as far as mako's concerned. )

[fairysong]

[Huh.]

Killing a bunch of people just because you wanted one person dead seems a little bit excessive.

[Just a tad.]

[resistivity]

It was.

( he shakes his head. )

But it was a long time ago. And I think... as awful as that time in our history was, it's important we learn from it moving forward.

[fairysong]

Sure. What's that saying about not learning from history?

--but you said there are more of them, now. So they came back.

[resistivity]

'You're doomed to repeat it'? Funny, how that would be a common thing across worlds.

( seriously, why is the universe like this. it's going to give him an aneurysm. )

Anyway. Yeah. For the longest time it was just one man, the one who'd escaped initially, and his youngest son. Then his son, Tenzin — he's one of those masters I mentioned — had kids, and all of them have been airbenders so far. Then some crazy stuff happened with the spirits, and suddenly people all over the world just... suddenly got airbending.

( he still remembers that phone call. sleeping under his desk, whacking his head on it when the phone rang, and having someone tell him that his brother was suddenly airbending. it'll never not be weird. he was incredulous the whole way over to the shop, but having a door blown off its hinges into his face was kind of convincing, as far as these things go. )

Anyway. It's better than it used to be.

[fairysong]

I guess that's faster than repopulating them the old-fashioned way! Even if it maybe isn't as fun. [Sheryl, why are you like this.]

Isn't that a problem, though? Having a bunch of people all of a sudden get magic powers with no idea what to do with them? You couldn't take a stack of papers anywhere without having it blown all across the city.

[resistivity]

It would have taken centuries to get the population to a stable level. It was pretty lucky.

( right over his head, sheryl. he, of course, agrees with the practicality of her sentiment.

as to the airbending 'incidents'... spirits, don't remind him. )

It was chaos for a while. We're lucky it wasn't firebending. The worst an untrained airbender can do is maybe slam someone into a wall. ( personal experience, maybe? ) Or blow something over. Firebenders would've burned the whole country down.

[fairysong]

[Boo. A complete lack of reaction is way worse than a negative reaction.

Sheryl considers what he's just told her, though.] But there's waterbending too, right? You have to have a waterbending fire department or whatever.

Unless magical bendy fire beats magical bendy water.

[resistivity]

In a fight they're about evenly matched, as long as the waterbender has a water source nearby. The issue is that firebenders can create fire at will, waterbenders can only manipulate available water.

( he's not going to get into the nastiness of pulling it out of your environment. technically possible, but. nah. )

And a waterbender isn't fireproof, so if a building is burning badly enough they wouldn't be able to enter it, just shower it with water from afar. Fire departments are usually a mix of fire, earth and waterbenders for maximum effectiveness.

[fairysong]

I can't decide if that sounds easier or harder compared to just shooting water out of a hose like what they do where I come from.

[She thinks about it for a moment.] Why can't waterbenders create water? Your whole system sounds really imbalanced, to be honest.

[resistivity]

( he sighs. )

Earthbenders can't create earth, either. It's about the elements being present in the air or surrounding environment. Fire just needs oxygen and heat.

( and fuel, but the bender's chi substitutes as the fuel a normally made fire would otherwise require. )

Firebenders have a harder time bending in the extreme cold, and they wouldn't be able to bend in a vacuum. A skilled waterbender can pull moisture out of the air, but the drier the climate the harder it is.

( a bit of a shrug. he gets up to clear the dishes away, he'll take hers as well if she's done. )

[fairysong]

[She is, in fact, done. She lets him take her bowl; if he's going to do the dishes, she'll let him.] That sounds plausible to me, but I'm not exactly an expert on the subject, so I'll take your word for it~

At any rate, I've probably made you explain more at length than you want. So should I just thank you for the food, then?

[resistivity]

( he will absolutely do the dishes, there's no expectation on her to help. he's pretty independent like that, even if he only has one good hand to do them with. though her question catches him a bit off guard and he glances over his shoulder at her. )

Oh. Uh. Yeah, sure. You're welcome, I guess.

( who wasn't expecting thanks?? this guy. )

[fairysong]

"I guess"?

You should learn to take compliments, if you're going to be this helpful for all of us poor, stranded refugees~

[resistivity]

( where's korra when he needs her, honestly. mako just sort of gives sheryl a look like she's caught him in a spider's web, and then clears his throat. )

I'm a refugee too, so. Hard to say if I'll be any more help than this.

[fairysong]

[She chuckles.] Oh, please! Just because you're one of us doesn't mean you're not helping.

I'm a terrible cook. If I tried to make food for everybody you'd probably all be sick from food poisoning by the end of the day.