Video; UN: Korra

[avatar_state]

[The face that appears on video is not at all her usual self. If anything, she seems shell-shocked. In truth, an entire piece of her has been unceremoniously ripped out of herself, and frankly she's moving through the day, just carrying out necessary motions.]

[Like a ghost haunting her own life.]

...Asami's gone.

[There is a long silence after that. She wants to say things about her, say what she meant to Korra, say all the things she never said in this stupid, stupid hell she loathed with all her heart that trapped them all - but what would be the point? Those who knew Asami already knew, and those who didn't wouldn't care.]

If you had any projects with her, I'll keep her shop open long enough for you to collect them.

...That's all.

[And not once, in those words, did her eyes so much as move towards the camera, staring off into the far distance instead. Right now, she's holding herself together by a thread.]

Comments

[imaglyphwitch]

I'm sorry.

[Nothing but silence here. Luz knew how much Asami meant to Korra, and that was her girlfriend. Would she even want to talk]?


Korra, are you up for company?

[avatar_state]

[Everything. She'd meant everything.]

[Her hands are balled in fists, and she swipes at an eye with the bottom of her palm. Then, in a voice almost breaking:]

I'm...I'm, uh, not sure I'd be good company right now, Luz.

[imaglyphwitch]

Then don't look at it as me demanding company.

I just want to take care of you. This sucks and you shouldn't be left alone after something like that.

un: trienemybest; video

[droptheious]

[Oh no. Oh no. Varian's heart drops in his chest- this isn't fair. He thought this was supposed to be a final stop for everyone, where they could live and be happy- but so many people are vanishing back into the ocean and he hates seeing his friends being left with their broken pieces.]

...Korra, I'm so sorry. Is there anything you need?

[avatar_state]

[She's been certain from day one it's just a prison. Where obedience, giving in, is rewarded - and punishment comes at the will of capricious pthumerian tin-pot gods. This is certainly not slowing down her suspicions.]

No, Varian. There really isn't.

[droptheious]

[He could probably be swayed to that way of thinking at this point. There's too much suffering going on in this world to make it anything else. Even the dream gave them breathers.]

I figured. [HIs heart really does break for her.] Well. Is there anything I can do? At all?

audio; un: doublehedgedsword

[laminae]

Seriously? Aw man, I'm really sorry, Korra.

[He remembers how happy they had been at the party.]

This really sucks.

[avatar_state]

[There is a noise, like a dark, rueful chuckle at that. Understatement of the year, right there.]

Yeah. It really does.

[laminae]

Do you, um. Wanna go beat something up, or something? That usually makes me feel better, dunno if it'll help you out too or if it'll just make things worse.

video: un; dragonofthewest

[truehumili_tea]

It is always difficult to be separated from a loved one, for even a short period of time. But the two of you will be united again in time when your journey here is through.

[avatar_state]

[That has to be the first time that Iroh's words haven't given her some comfort. She knows full well that there is a world beyond - and Spirits only knew how long it might be. Though she doubted she'd live as long as Roku. But she'd hoped to live a long life, longer than Aang's, with Asami.]

And how many more will suffer here, between now and then, I wonder.

[Because she knows precisely who she blames: the Pthumerians.]

[truehumili_tea]

There will be a fair amount of suffering, and little that we can do to lighten the grief that weighs heavy on the hearts of others. You must focus on the good with the bad though, how many will find opportunities that otherwise might not exist here? What destinies may become crossed that otherwise would remain unjoined?

[onerthes]

Korra... I'm so sorry to hear that.

[And after their recent conversations, this kind of hit home. She was very sad for Korra, to see her like this. She remembered how lonely she'd been before.]

I can come over, if you don't mind. I don't know how much you feel like company right now.

[avatar_state]

[She says nothing, just...nods, after a moment, eyes rimmed and heavy.]

[onerthes]

I'll be over soon.

[She wasn't going to bother asking. She had a pretty decent idea where she was going to go, and if she had to, she could send a message Korra's way at that point. Either way, in due course, she was standing at the door, knocking firmly, a worried look on her face.

She'd never known Asami all that well, but she knew just how important she was to Korra, so she had a good idea what she was going through right now, and wanted to be there for her friend.]

video @wulala

[royalfling]

Korra...

[ That's so much to take in. Korra and Asami are just that-- Korra and Asami, a set, a couple, a package deal. They belong together, they thrive together, they changed the world together. It's painful to see Korra like this, painful to imagine losing the person who means the most in the world to him. ]

If she went back to the sea, hopefully it was her time! [ Oh, no, that's not it. That doesn't sound great, but he's started already, he can't stop himself ] Maybe we'll all go back eventually. We really don't know that much about it, if that's still us, swimming around out there in the ocean--

[ Spirits, Wu, slow down. He gives her a small smile that vanishes a moment later ]

I'm sure there's nothing that I could say right now that would help. But know that you're always welcome at our place, if you need some company. And, if you need a distraction, I have at least twenty I could think of! We could go to the spa, go on a shopping spree, scope out the competition-- the Red has a new show opening this week that I have to check out.

All that's to say, I'm terribly sorry. I can't even imagine what it would be like to lose Mako.

[avatar_state]

[Her face twitches, just a bit. Wu...Wu has a talent for saying the wrong things at the wrong times. But she hasn't the fight in her to make anything of it, to correct any of it. Swimming around as a squid? Spas? Shopping? Business competition? Shows? None of that brings any comfort to her. It's just hollow to her. All of it related to Wu's life, not hers. All things that would appeal to him.]

Um. Thanks, Wu.

[arclightning]

[ But he'd just seen Asami.

A few days ago, over tea, the two of them—

it takes Mako a while to respond. A long while. As much as this hurts, as sad as it is, it's way worse for Korra, who looks like a shell, who looks like a piece of her is gone. ]

Don't lock your door.

[ It's all he can say. A warning, because Mako remembers the last time Korra was isolated and alone. He couldn't be there for her then, trapped in Republic City while the world turned around him.

He isn't going to make the same mistake now. ]

[avatar_state]

[Because part of her had been. Anybody who had seen them fight together would have seen it - they moved as a team, without planning it, without creating it. She hadn't thought much of it, but Katara had once told her stories about how her and Aang danced, how they flowed together like two pieces of one person. It had been, in large part, how she had known what they were meant to be. It had been a telling thing for Korra, too, in the end. And oh, how she wished they'd gotten time to dance.]

Yeah. I won't.

[Because he's right. Because she'd lost three potential years with her, then. She couldn't betray her like that, even departed, by making the same mistake.]

--> action!

[arclightning]

Good.

[ And the feed cuts before Korra gets a chance to argue—Mako has no idea whether she will, he still can't predict her half the time, which is what he likes so much about her—because Mako is absolutely taking Zuko and as much tea as he can carry, some of the dried kelp noodles he's been working on, and heading to Korra's house-hideout.

That she'd built with and for Asami.

Spirits, this is bad. Mako shoves at the ache in his own chest—brilliant Asami, clever Asami, who could re-engineer anything, is gone—because it doesn't matter. What matters is getting to Korra and then.

And then what? What is Mako going to do? The last time Korra had needed someone so much he'd failed her harder than ever. Mako can't forget the hurt in her eyes. Three years, almost four, stand now between who they were then and who they are now.

He shares a look with Zuko as he heads out into the darkness, holding up a small (tiny, so tiny) flickering flame to light the way to the lamp. ]

This a bad idea?

[ Zuko just stares at him, her golden eyes liquid, full of just as much uncertainty. Fog creeps over the ground as he walks, curls around his fingers. The fire in his palm splutters and dies, and Mako murmurs a soft curse as he steps into the pool of lamplight and whisks away into nothing, reappearing in a small eddy of fog and darkness on a street near Korra's house.

His flame won't relight—he misses the sun, misses the heat and the light and the knowledge of its presence—so he walks in gloomy darkness, lit only by a few small moths, up the slick stone to Korra's door, pushes it open after a cursory knock, if indeed she left it open. ]

[spiritwalks]

I'm sorry.

[They haven't spoken much since the Dream. And though many of Vyng's memories from before Trench are hazy, he hasn't forgotten what Korra did for him when he'd lost himself in a sea of spirits.]

Did you...get a chance to say goodbye?

[avatar_state]

No.

[It takes her a while to say it, and she grits her teeth to get through it.]

[spiritwalks]

[Vyng gives a quiet "oof" at that. Some Sleepers get enough of a warning to at least tie up loose ends, give their farewells, and part on their own terms. But apparently others aren't so lucky. Gently, he says:]

That's rough...not getting any closure.

[Even if you aren't wrestling with self-blame or abandonment issues, simply imagining a world without loved ones can still be too much to bear.]

Somebody in my family squidded off into the ocean real suddenly too. But then...he came back a couple months later.

Maybe it'll be the same for Asami.

Text; UN: Bolin!

[pabugotmoves]

[Bolin has had to sit with this for a while, swinging through emotions and what if's and grief. It isn't the same as Korra, he knows that, it's totally different and it's unfair of him to even compare, but she was- is- one of his closest friends. It still hits like a hammer between the eyes.

He can't do video right now, he's a weepy mess, but he has to say something. Even if he's a little late to answer.

Korra said bad things were coming to warmbloods. He didn't think she meant them two specifically.]

There's a ritual Mako and I do for our parents every year to remember them.

I think we should do the same for Asami. If you'd be open to that.

Re: Text; UN: Bolin!

[avatar_state]

[Of course he has something for this, she thinks. Because he's Bolin. In the moments that counted, Bolin always did the right thing.]

That's a really good idea, Bolin. Yes, I'd be open to that. Asami would appreciate it, I know that much.