wipesfaith | 02 [action/voice]

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02 [action/voice]

[For all his trouble, Jean got a horse. Which is great, because he's curious to explore what lies far beyond the village and he ain't walking all that way. (What can he say? Some losers from back home have gotten into him a little bit.) First, though, he needs to find a saddle and bridle - apparently, he should have made out with a few more people if he wanted riding gear too. But his pride is worth more to him than that anyway, so he doesn't mind searching through the Item Shop for what he needs.

By the afternoon, he can be found at the stables on the east side of the village. He has spent the past few days visiting Benoit, letting the horse grow accustomed to him as he cares for him. Now that he has something more sophisticated than a rope lead, he's willing to take the horse out farther than the immediate vicinity of the stables. It was already obvious to him that Benoit lacked training. Before he can think about riding him anywhere, he'll have to muster up some serious patience and start from scratch. After fitting him with the sadle and bridle, so he can start getting used to the way it feels, Jean will lead him out to a decent-sized clearing in the forest to get down to business.

Toward the evening, after returning Benoit to the stables, he makes his way back to Flame Building. Residents may have noticed a recent addition outside the building, in the form of a small pen that now houses a little lamb. He'll stop by to check on it for Marco - make sure it's not dead, not that he'd be terribly broken up if it were, because he's never indulged in lambchops before - before finally heading in.

Later, he'll flip open his journal to voice a message.]

[Voice]

Hey. I guess I'm still pretty new here, so I'm just wondering...what's worth seeing beyond this village? I've seen a map, but a map can only tell you so much. There's an...ocean out there, right? [He gets the feeling that some might find his next question a little stupid, and he swears he's sane; he just comes from an insane world.] Is there seriously salt in it?

It's weird... This whole place could probably fit inside Wall Rose - that's what's left of human territory back home - but it still seems like so much...more.

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[Wait, wait...wait, dammit...!]

I don't know! I've only met one ninja before!

And of course there's a moon, I just didn't think there was any way to get to it... At least until just recently. Someone told me about ships that can sail through space, but it still sounds crazy to me, okay?

...How do you train with gates, anyway?

Oooh, which one? Was it Shikamaru? He's my favorite. Well, I also like Lee. They are my co-favorites!! And I dunno how we got to the moon, we just woke up there. The Malnosso do that sometimes. And as for the gates, you blast 'em with air and set them spinning and have to go through without getting knocked out.

[ DESCRIPTIVE, surely. ]

Wanna give it a try?

I didn't get his name, but he had a lame haircut and freaky eyebrows.

[He's already heard of the occasional tendency for people around here to suddenly show up in random places, so he'll drop that line of conversation.]

Oh, so you're talking about magic. Sorry kid, I don't know any kind of magic.

That's Lee!! So you met a nice one. And you don't need magic to do it! I mean, you need airbending to get them going, but getting through them is a matter of footwork and skill!

[Yeah..."nice". If by that you mean too enthusiastic and weirdly devoted to some creep named Santa, then sure. But the kid seems to be fond of this Lee guy, so he'll bite back his dose of honesty.]

Footwork and skill, huh... [If the object is to maneuver through the obstacles, that...could actually be pretty useful training to look into.] Where did you say these things are?

I didn't! They're near house fifty-three! You should be able to find it on the map. Or just look for the house with a water slide and a pool. And a trampoline.

[ Their house is sort of ridiculous and can be blamed on Sokka and mission points and a huge apology. ]

Just lemme know if you ever want to go through them! It's fun!

The house with the...what?

The water slide and pool and trampoline!

[ that clearly clarifies things ]

[He'll take a stab.]

So there's a...pond outside, and something you can slide on [????]...and, uh... [A quiet growl as he hits a wall, because he has no idea what the fuck a trampoline could be.]

You've never been on a trampoline????

You have to come to our house RIGHT AWAY. I will fix this!

[Obviously not, if he doesn't even know what it is.]

...Wait, you mean now?

Duh!!! No one should ever be allowed to not know what a trampoline is!

[ Says the girl who'd never been on one or heard of one until Masaomi found one somehow and gave it to her. ]

[.....Well. Why the hell not. He flips to the front of his journal, where he keeps a folded up map of the village wedged.]

What number house did you say? [Fifty-something?]

...Your name's Ikki, right? [He remembers her from school, but he's just making sure.]

Fifty-six!! And you're...Jean!

[ SHE'S NOT ATTEMPTING THE LAST NAME, although there was a heavy pause as she apparently tried to consider how to say it.

It's just not going to happen. ]

[Well that's alright. She got the first name right, didn't say John or something stupid like that. And look, here's a smile.]

That's right. I'll be there soon, then. [NOW HE'S REALLY CURIOUS...]

Sure!! I'll see you soon!

[ And she will just go wait near the trampoline, which is in fact set up in the back yard of House 56. The Avatar house can be a bit strange for more reasons than their ridiculous missions-points enhanced house additions, though; there may or may not be a few odd animals around, though Appa the sky bison is probably out with Aang, as is Momo the flying lemur.

Soren the Swellow is perched outside where he can keep an eye on Ikki, though, as she waits. ]

[When he finds the house, he's not sure where he's supposed to find her. But all the things she had described must be outside, so he'll venture around the house, boots crunching in the snow. The large hole in the ground filled with water - or ice, in this weather - and the chute leading to it catch his eye as he passes the work shed and rounds the corner.

He greets her with a wave as he approaches, realizing how intimidating a hooded figured appearing suddenly in the backyard must be to a kid. Sorry, it's cold.]

So that's a trampoline? [He gestures to the...thing beside her.]

[ Luckily for Jean, Ikki's been here for well over a year. She's used to extremely odd and occasionally shady people.

Also, it's winter, so a hood makes sense.

Also, Soren would help her out if she got in a jam. So she grins cheerfully. ]

Yeah!! Now you just have to hop on it so you can see why it's the best thing ever!

[ Really. The very best. ]

[He's not shady, he swears...!

He surveys the trampoline, noting how the seemingly thin black material is stretched taut by a whole lot of tightly coiled metal springs.]

You're supposed to jump on it...that's all?

Of course that's not all!! You're supposed to get up and jump on it and then it'll change your ENTIRE LIFE because you've been without it until now so it'll bring joy and happiness and magic to your world and everything will be super super super great and wonderful!

[ On the first super she spins in place, arms flung wide. On the third she takes off from the ground, propelled up by the spin, before floating gently back down. ]

Just wait and see!! It's the best thing ever! Go on, get on!

[ Ikki you could try to sell it a little less hard... ]

[...And there's that wind magic - "airbending", she had called it, right? He hasn't quite gotten used to that sort of thing in the few months he's been here. ~~It probably doesn't help that he skips out on magic class because it's "not his thing".~~

He holds his hands up in a placating gesture.]

Okay, okay, settle down...I'm going, alright?

[He'll hoist himself up onto the trampoline and carefully rise to his feet - the flexible give of the trampoline's surface is unfamiliar, but he quickly adjusts as he moves to the center.]

Here goes nothing. Without putting too much force behind his legs, he jumps up...and is surprised by how high he's launched into the air.]

--Woah!

See???? Isn't it the BEST?

[ This is her favorite birthday present ever and she is spreading the joy to anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of jumping on a trampoline.

Surely this will change Jean's life irrevocably, here. ]

[Yes, of all the life-changing events he's gone through, this surely has the greatest impact. He'll go for more height this time, tucking his legs up to his chest when he jumps, arms out a little for balance.]

Yeah, this is great!

[He keeps bouncing...and then, like every teenage boy to ever encounter a trampoline since the dawn of trampolines, he decides it would be rad if he did a flip. Except unlike most teenage boys whose minds this thought zips across, Jean actually has training in this sort of thing.]

Check this out...! [He forces his weight down as hard as he can to ensure maximum altitude; then, tucking his legs up and curving his arms, he twists his body sideways and lets his momentum take over. He lands on both feet, rebounding off the surface of trampoline.]

[ Ikki knew this would definitely be the most life-changing thing ever.

...

Someday she is going to figure out more about the AoT group's world, but today is not that day and for now she's just being typically eight and enjoying herself by bringing the joy of bouncing on trampolines to the trampolineless.

And like every little kid from the dawn of trampolines, Ikki watches with avid interest, bouncing in place and applauding with he flips. She's fairly acrobatic herself, in the sense that she's an airbender and they're ridiculous; her training is a lot different from that of someone trained to battle. ]

Oh, that was a good one!! Can you do two in a row?

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