What I Learned at SRU -96-

What I Learned at SRU
Chapter 96 - Counsel

- Saturday, May 14th, 2011 -

[From: Jane]
[i'll let you know. sounds like it's gona be in the next few days though. stay sharp.]
[Sent: 9:43pm]

[Reply]
[To: Jane]
[Got it. Take it easy.]
[Sent: 9:45pm]

Korra set her phone down beside her thigh on the steps of the front porch as Bolin came out from the door, two tall Sapporo cans in hand, and a tissue box wedged under his arm pit. She accepted one can from him, he sat down next to her, and the two cracked the cans open. They tapped the cans together in toast and let the bitter fluid pour down their hatches.

Bolin sniffed, rubbing his sleeve on his red-rimmed nostrils. Korra eyed his fatigued face, her brows tilting down with some concern.

"Doin' any better?" Korra asked quietly.

"Dot really," Bolin replied, his voice muffled by his clogged nasal passages.

"Sorry," Korra expressed her sympathy.

"Tanks..." Bolin sipped from his beer.

"So, uhh...Are they still...-?" Korra wondered, glancing back at the closed door briefly. Mako and Asami had been shut up in their new shared room to sort some things out. Korra figured this was an excuse for making out ASAP, given that they'd been having sex with their eyes the moment Asami's taxi had shown up.

"Mm." Bolin nodded. "Tink dey finished, but...-" He shrugged and sputtered out a wheezing cough.

It stung Korra to see the normally exuberant young man so lethargic and with so few words to say. He'd fallen ill the day prior, and it seemed he hadn't improved since. Asami had moved in, making the journey down from her home in New York. The woman had brought a surprising amount of baggage along with her, but...feh. That was Mako's problem, now: getting it to all fit in the bedroom. Due to Bolin's condition, Korra had ended up moving most of his things from one room to the other over the course of the afternoon. Now it was evening time, the house was mostly in order, and it was time to relax.

Ugh. 'Relax.' Now that the humdrum of getting the house ready for Asami was done with, all Korra's mind could focus on was Jane and this impending risky business with the Combustion Man. What if he brought friends? What if he didn't act the way they'd predicted? What if someone else - someone not involved - got hurt?

Korra's nerves were deteriorating as the weight of things fell back on her shoulders. She slurped a gulp of beer, set her can down, and pulled her cigarette box from her jacket's breast pocket. She tapped one out, stuck it between her lips, and went to get her lighter ready. Bolin's hand gently pressed down on her bicep when she went to raise the lighter to her face.

"Don't," Bolin managed out. He sniffled again. "Please," he added in response to Korra's wide eyes.

"Ehhh...A-all right," Korra fumbled, removing the tobacco stick from her mouth and awkwardly dropping it back into its box.

"My dose," Bolin explained, flopping his hand around his reddened nose. "Da smoke...gunks iddup more."

"Ah..." Korra was surprised, as he had never made any protest toward her smoking in the past.

"Cand stan da stuff," Bolin lamented, rubbing his forehead warily.

"What, the smoke?"

"Smokink...Da whole ting..." Bolin groaned, his eyes buried his hand.

"Just...smoking? In general?"

Bolin nodded slowly.

"Hade id."

"But...your brother does it all the time. So do I." She shrugged, baffled that he was bringing this up now. It wasn't all that surprising, really, when she looked back. Bolin didn't seem to stick around for long when she and Mako smoked, and the first time Korra had tried smoking indoors, Bolin had flipped a lid about it. "If it bothers ya so much, why don't you speak up about it?"

"Egh...Mako's ma bro, I'm dot gonna...-" Bolin trailed off, puffing out a tired breath. "And you're...-" He coughed into his arm. "Ugh...'S dot really dat...-" Now he was sneezing into his sleeve. His expression turned dire and he froze up.

"Are you OK, Bo?" Korra sighed, glaring at him.

"Headache," he muttered, his face contorted in pain as he pulled a tissue out from the box he'd brought out. Korra let him blow his nose, then waited as he required a second tissue.

"C'mere," Korra insisted, raising her hand up. Bolin blinked at her sleepily, letting his hands droop, and she pressed her palm against his forehead, staring at him with intent worry. "Agh, damn, Bolin, your forehead's a furnace, man," she grumbled, trying to suppress her concern with irritation. "What's wrong with you? Fever?"

"Dunno...Ah'll be fffine..."

"You're not sleeping on the couch again tonight," Korra sharply decided. After making a big fuss of it, Bolin had insisted that he didn't want to be getting his germs all over Korra at night and getting her sick, as well. She'd conceded to his doubts, but the couch probably wasn't cutting it for his sickness at this point.

"Doh, iss...fine, I just...-"
"Shut it. I will sleep on the fucking couch, if it helps you feel better."

"Uhkay," Bolin sighed out his concession. Korra acknowledged to herself that she really was not liking Bolin this way. She wasn't much of a caretaker, but if she could do some basic babysitting, Bolin deserved some kind of fucking attention, right?

"You want me to...get...something?" Korra muttered in an effort at tenderness. "To help?"

"Huh?"

"Uh...Erm, I-I dunno. You need...anything?"

"Mm...Mebbe some...painkiller...?"

"Right!" Duh. Stupid. "Yea, I'll...-" Korra drank another gulp of beer, wobbling up to his socked feet. "-...go get that for you. Sit tight, eh?"

"Uhh?" Bolin glanced up to her, his eyes dry, dull, and bloodshot. Seeing him like this and actually reflecting on it was getting more painful by the second.

Korra nearly kicked her beer over her phone in her stumbling back to the door. Her stomach was feeling light with worry and a desire to...take care of the guy.

After bolting in, she saw Mako and his lovely girlfriend, still powdered and prettied up, sitting together on the couch in a casual fashion, their hands linked over their laps. Mako was scrolling through his Netflix queue, but set down the game controller in his hands when she came in.

"Korra," he said with some surprise. "Where were you?"

"Just...-" Korra awkwardly gestured her hand behind her in what approximated to pointing. "Uh, Bolin and I were on the porch, we were giving you two - ahem - a little private time?"

"You were outside?" Mako sighed. "Kor, he's sick. The sun's down, and it's getting cold out there. Why would you let him...-?" Mako sighed with dismissal at Korra's apparent ignorance, getting up from his comfortable position. Asami watched with some confusion as Mako blew past Korra and burst out to the porch.

"Is everything all right?" Asami wondered. Korra shot her a wild shrug, shaking her head. She could hear the two of them fussing behind her in grumbles. Asami giggled sheepishly. "Sounds like Mako's in one of those moods."

"Eh?"

"He gets super worried and starts acting a little crazy," Asami explained with some amusement. "You've never seen him like this?"

Korra shrugged, perplexed as to how Asami would be so familiar with this.

"I guess," she conceded to Asami's curious expression.

"-some soup ready while you get a hot shower..." Mako was easing his brother into the house, clutching Bolin's half-drinken beer in one hand. He pushed it at Korra with irritation as he nudged Bolin up the stairs from the living room, leaving the two women of the house alone again.

"Mama Mako, hard at work," Korra grumbled, glaring up at the stairs. Mako sure loved to be in control of the house, didn't he? A real 'team captain.' And what was with the way he'd glared at her? Like this was somehow her fault? Korra sighed, instinctually lifting the can in her hand up to her face, but Asami stopped her.

"Korra?" Asami piped up, flinching out a hand.

"Eh?"

"Um, that's...Bolin's, isn't it?" Asami's face wrinkled with mild disgust. "You probably don't want to drink that..."

"...Oh. Yea..." Korra awkwardly nodded with a weak smile, fumbling her way to the kitchen to dump the beer and wash it down the sink. She went out to the porch, collecting the objects they'd left there, and dumped them onto the kitchen table. By the time she'd accomplished this, she could hear Asami and Mako whispering something to each other, then a faint kiss.

"Right." Asami's voice. "I'll be in the room unpacking." Her footsteps, trailing up to the second floor.

After this, Mako marched into the kitchen, his slippers silent on the tile floor as he stared at Korra with irritation.

"What?" Korra snapped through clenched teeth, keeping her voice down.

"Am I supposed to do your job for you?" Mako grunted, opening the cupboard where the dishes were stored.

"Excuse me?"

"Taking care of Bo," Mako clarified, retrieving a glass. He opened the fridge. "You're supposed to be doing that now, aren't you?"

"Uhh...Yea, I'll say it again - What?" Korra rested her chin in her palm, elbow on the table as she watched Mako pour water from their filter pitcher into the glass.

"Korra, you know how Bolin is. He needs somebody looking after him," Mako pointed out, closing the fridge door and directing his concerned eyes back at Korra. "If you're going to be his girlfriend, you have to step it u-"
"Wh-whoa, there, hey..." Korra thrust up her palm, shaking her head slightly. "Since when are Bolin and I...-?" She trailed off at Mako's deadpan look, and her upraised palm sagged back to the table. She rubbed her forehead against the hand her head had been leaning upon and sighed.

"You took him outside in the cold to drink beer when he should be warm, getting actual liquids in his body, taking medicine...not-...Grrffm!" Mako rustled his hand through his hair.

Korra rolled her eyes at Mako's flash of anger tonight. The guy had been in a good mood at seeing Asami. Why wasn't he just minding his own business and spending time with her?

"'Kay." Korra frowned up at Mako. "It's not cold out. It was his idea to have beer. And I'm not his fucking nanny. I babysit actual kids, Mako. Bolin is not a child."

Mako bit his lip, some sort of comeback on the tip of his tongue.

"What?" Korra snipped impatiently.

"If it's not cold, why'd you put your jacket on?" Mako observed her black leather coat, which was still wrapped around her torso.

"Pff. I dunno, maybe the same reason you wear that stupid scarf all the time..."

Their eyes struck each other like swords, sparks flying for a moment. Mako withdrew, scooping up Bolin's tissue box from the table.

"Take your boots off," Mako groaned, lingering around the archway leading to the living room. "I just cleaned the floor yesterday..."

Korra's glance wandered away from Mako, yet he still stood there in his stupid slippers.

"Listen, I'm sorry I snapped," he mumbled. "We're all tired - it's been a long day. Bolin's sick. He's my bro. I can't stand seeing him like this."

"You think I like this any more than you do?" Korra retorted, struggling to maintain a calm tone of voice.

"Then you should do something about it, like I am," Mako suggested, also attempting to tread lightly. "Isn't that what you're always on about? 'Doing' something?"

Korra's head rolled around her neck, but she confessed her agreement.

"Yea, I-...You're right. But it...-" She shrugged doubtfully. "What am I supposed to do? You're Mama Mako here. I babysit a couple kids, but...that's...different, they're-...They need someone older to look after them. Bolin, he...-"
"He does, too."
"He's an adult, Mako."
"He doesn't act like one."
"You don't let him."
"He doesn't want to."
"Have you asked him?"
"Have you?"
"Pff..."
"I just want what's best for my brother."
"So do I."
"He needs a woman who's going to take care of him."
"I can do that..."
"You can't even remember to take off your shoes when you come inside."
"That...-!"
"You can't even make your bed, or pick up after your own laundry, or-"
"OK, yea, great."
"How am I supposed to expect you and Bolin to look out for each other when you both have enough trouble taking care of your own business?"
"You think we're both fucking retards. I hear you. You made your point pretty clear."
"Korra..."
"Go...babysit your bro. You love doing it, so...whatever."

Korra's insides were swelling with guilt at Mako's accusation. She could feel tears creeping at her cheeks, and glaring down at the table and avoiding his gaze was her effort to mask this fact.

Mako set the glass of water he'd been holding all the time on the small side table in front of the microwave. He scratched at the scruff on his neck thoughtfully.

"I'm sorry if you don't like to hear it, Korra, but it's true. You've got to start thinking about things other than your own plans. You go out drinking all the time with that creepy college kid lately, and-"
"She's my friend."
"The way she stares at you, I'd think she was more than that."
"Oh, bite me...Like you weren't doing the same thing earlier."
"The point is, if Bolin's going to be your boyfriend, you have to make him your priority. He's like your family now. Family looks after its own. You put people in your family first, not second."

Korra nodded, her eyes squinted shut, her hair hanging over her face as she was hunched over the table. That was not what she had needed to hear in that moment. She could feel a tear spilling down her cheek, and hoped Mako couldn't see it. She got up from her chair, eager to put her back to Mako as she dug through the lower cabinet, tussling canned goods around.

"I'll...make Bo some soup," she offered, desperately leveling her voice. "N' I'll...go...take care of him for a while. 'Kay?"

Mako blinked at the cloud of solemnity that hung over his housemate. He swallowed hard, wondering if he'd perhaps pushed the issue a little too much. It seemed like he'd pressed some kind of button somewhere.

"Uh...Yea, that...would be nice," he muttered. "Bo's in the shower, so...I'll put this water up in your room. Make sure he takes some painkillers, and-..." Mako cleared his throat, unnerved by Korra's motionless stance. "Yea. All right. Thanks."

"Mm," Korra hummed out in reply, taking her sweet time deciding on which identical can of chicken noodle soup to retrieve. When she could sense his presence lifted from the room and heading upstairs, she let her self-inflicted tension huff out in a shaky, choking breath. She grabbed the soup can, set it upon the countertop, and clutched at her mouth, holding back the unexpected whimper that tried tumbling out.

Family looks after its own.
But you don't really know how to do that, do you, Korra?
You let your parents walk away. How often did you even visit them?
You stayed to 'look after' your Uncle. Your cousins.
Did a real shit job of that, too.
You partied, you enjoyed your fucking independence, like you always wanted.
And you're still doing it now. After all this time.

Korra's hand nearly slipped from the can opener during the un-canning process. She dumped the condensed goop into a bowl and ran the sink to fill up the can.

She stared at the flowing water, hypnotized for a brief moment.

Katara won't even talk to you. She probably hates how you've been avoiding her.
How you spend time with the girl who hurt her, while ignoring your own family.
And Sokka? He sees it. He sees his sister hurting. He stumbles around like the dickhead he is, unsure of what to do.
But he's trying. You're not trying.

Korra's fingers turned cold from the sensation of water overflowing the can's lid and trickling over her fingertips. She turned off the sink and dumped the extra water into the bowl. She set the soup in the microwave and started up the machine. The whirring hum of the device put her back into a trance of thought.

You talk about how you can't forget the past, like they choose to.
About how you do need to do things. Get shit done.
But you're so afraid of confronting the pain the past causes them that you don't know how to handle it.
So you just avoid it. And focus on doing things instead of just talking with them.
And the actual shit that needs doing is the people around you need you to be there for them.
All of them. You have to take care of all of them, instead of just the ones that are convenient.

Korra allowed two more tears to spill out and wiped her face with her sleeve. She zipped up her jacket and tucked her hands in its pockets. She bent her head over and sniffed at the leather, thinking on her father, and the kind of advice he'd give in a time like this.

Stop running from the social anxiety. From the awkwardness.
You don't run away from anything, remember?

[To: Uncle Hakoda]
[Hey. How are you holding up out there this week? You sounded a little off last time we talked.]
[Sent: 10:02pm]

[To: Sokka]
[Yo. What's up?]
[Sent: 10:03pm]

[To: Katara]
[You feeling any better today?]
[Sent: 10:03pm]

- Sunday, May 15th, 2011 -

Sokka, jaw dropped open, sighed out a deep breath, scratching at his goatee as he folded up the newspaper and set it down on the coffee table. A calloused hand slid across his stomach, lingering at the edges of his waist, ready to sneak under his shirt at a moment's notice. Soft, silky hair spilled across his neck and shoulders, Toph's head nestled snugly upon him. She smelled nice. It was a very foreign concept, and one Sokka knew wouldn't be the norm: Toph had washed and conditioned her hair with something that smelled vaguely of coconut. Now that he was thinking on it, Sokka realized that it was that smell his sister would have about her. Ha. So Toph had stolen some of Katara's conditioner, then? Like she was actually trying to be a little presentable now?

"What's up?" Toph mumbled sleepily. "Mm?"

"Nothin'," Sokka replied, scratching his scruffy neck. Toph smirked at the familiar 'skitch-skitch' sound. "Just the newspaper."

"I know, Meat-Head. Whatcha reading?"

"Just...stuff. Um, like...there was one about Aang."

"Ohhh, yea," Toph sighed out. And there it went - her hand slid under his shirt, enjoying the texture of the hairs around his belly button. "He said somethin' 'bout that before."

"Yea, they interviewed him about that whole...fire. Thing."

"With the fire."
"And the thing."
"The burning thing."
"Right."
"Yea. I remember."
"You were there."
"I was there. So were you."
"Yea."
"Mm-hm."
"It was still kinda depressing to read."
"I see."
"Actually, you don't, 'cuz-"
"Shut up."

They both giggled to themselves for a moment and fell back into a comfortable lull. A minute later, Sokka sucked in air through his nose, straightening himself up. He tilted his shoulders up, and Toph took the cue to sit upright. Toph could sense someone's footsteps approach and pause before them, and Sokka seemed to have frozen up.

"What...do you want?" Sokka grunted out with distaste, having needed a moment to gather his bearings.

"Uh...-"
Toph's heart skipped at the barely audible sound - it was Jane's voice.
"You two...-?" Jane grumbled out, confused about the cuddling she'd just seen. "You were just-...Are you...-?"

"What do you want?" Sokka repeated in a huff.

"Shit, calm down," Jane growled back, any semblance of calm she'd had immediately deteriorating. "Wanted to...tell you that I...-" Jane cleared her throat nervously. "Might be droppin' out soon. Transferring. I mean. Leavin' the school."

A tense moment of quiet passed, a cloud of confusion and anger swirling like a thundercloud over the three of them.

"Ohhhh...kay?" Toph irritably answered, a defensive wall quickly set up around her mind. "That it? All done?"

"Erm...Yea, uh...kinda thought it...might matter to you guys?"

"Nope," Toph immediately responded. She puffed out hot hair, pushing her bangs around. Jane wasn't getting Toph's sympathy here. Jane wanted to just cut off ties? Well, this was what she got for it, then. Katara's shitastic mood was probably triggered by Jane's...whatever-the-hell issue to begin with.

"Have fun," Sokka added to Toph's snide dismissal, wriggling his hand to shoo her away.

Jane snorted in frustration, shrugging her hands up in a half-hearted plea.

"Um, good-bye?" she snapped.

"Bye," Toph quipped back, her eyebrows set low with disgust above vacant white eyes. Sokka waved his hand at Jane with impatience, while Jane glared at them with baffled disappointment.

"Might never see me again," Jane specified, wrists upturned expectantly.

"I never have seen you, and I never will," Toph testily corrected with some snooty matter-of-factness.

"Don't be such a bitch, you know what I meant," Jane growled, her fingers tightening closer together. She sighed loudly, dropping her arms to her sides.

"And you know exactly why we're pissed at you," Sokka pointed out with a upraised index finger. He waggled it at her, biting his lip as his head shook lightly. He was going to refrain from foul language if he could manage it.

"You wanted out?" Toph grunted. "You got it. Katara doesn't need you to keep fucking her over and breaking her trust."

"Psh, oh, right." Jane rolled her olive eyes with disbelief. "'Cuz you've never done anything like that to anyone before."

"Whatever..."

"And you sure as fuck never, like...told everyone to piss off for a while. Nope."

Jane relished how sour Toph's face was getting.

"You're allowed to be the Queen of the Cunts, and cheat and yell and be a bitch to your friends every day of the week, and you-" She wrinkled her nose at Sokka. Sokka was avoiding Jane's glance, which she also savored - fuckin' smart-ass knew she was right. "You can go hittin' on whoever the hell you feel like, and crack retarded jokes you know I don't like, just to twist the damned knife in my stomach, and then you do shit like...grab my ass and...and...-"
"That was a man pat," Sokka whimpered out in meager protest.

"Fuck you," Jane hissed at him. "Both of you. Like you're so goddamn perfect. I thought you would understand, Toph." She glared at the grumpy blind girl who was hiding behind her own bangs. "At least you," Jane added with disappointment. "How many mistakes you've made? How much you need your fuckin' alone time? Thought you would get it." Jane shook her head slowly, still grasping the frustrating fact that this entire interaction hadn't gone as she'd hoped it would.

"Yea? Well...I never-"
"Shut up," Jane severed off Toph's attempt at excusing herself. "Whatever the hell you're about to say? I don't give a shit. Yea, you did make fuckin' mistakes. You hurt people - us." Jane shrugged, her gaze wandering off. "Me," she added under her breath. "But then you...-" She breathed out shakily, her insides swelling from emotion as she recalled Toph playing that music for her not so long ago - and also playing music for the whole group before that. "You made it better, though. I don't a chance to do that?"

"You...want to?" Sokka muttered, finally looking back at her. Jane could feel her face turning red just from the sheer emotional awkwardness. She jammed her hands into her pant pockets and shrugged, nodding slightly.

"Whhh-...Y-yea, I...-" She trailed off, swallowing a lump in her throat. Her cheeks were hot, and her eyes were stinging with impending tears.

"Why don't you make it better with Katara, if you care so fucking much?" Toph demanded. "She's the one you screwed up with."

Now Jane was the quiet one. She started rubbing the worry stone in her pocket.

"Yea, you told her you never wanted to speak with her again," Sokka pointed out.

"That was...-!" Jane caught herself and cut her sentence short, her dull eyes popped open wide. "I needed some space from her. What was I supposed to say?"

"Uhhh, that you needed some space from her?" Toph sarcastically quipped.

"No shit," Jane huffed. "The hell do you think I told her? She's as stubborn as you. Wouldn't listen to me..."

"You talk with Aang still," Sokka noted with suspicion. "And Korra? And now us. But not her. Doesn't really seem like you needed to be apart from everyone."

"I said I needed space from Katara," Jane irritably corrected with a flick of her bony wrist. "You know how she gets."

Sokka nodded half-heartedly in concession to this.

"Why single her out?" Toph demanded, persistent in defending the girl she normally was eager to pick apart. "The hell did Sugar-Queen ever do to you? All she did was help."

"I know that, but it's like I'm a charity case to her - a cleaning project, not...not a real...-"
"You know she doesn't think of it like that," Sokka coolly protested with a sharp look.

Jane's lips twisted in aggravation as she exchanged grouchy glares with Sokka.

"I needed to get over myself," Jane spat out.

"Uh, yea, OK, so...-" Toph was clearly doubtful of what Jane meant. "Once upon a time, so did I. But I didn't go...telling my best friend that I never wanted to talk with them ever again."

"You always get who you want," Jane snipped back.

"...What?" Toph was paralyzed with confusion.

"You want somebody? You just...take 'em," Jane accused, thrusting out a hand toward Sokka. "Seems like ya did with this idiot. But me? I don't get to be with whoever I want, whenever I want."

"Aaaand...what does this have to do with...-?"

"Ugh...Yea, sorry I'm not being blunt, Toph, I know it's hard to figure things out with your thick skull."

"Ya know, you two can stop being bitchy," Sokka sighed, leaning back into the couch.

"'You two'?" Toph squawked at him defensively. She shook him off and pursued the point, directing her face squarely toward Jane's waist. "Nuh-nuh-nuh, hold up. What're you gettin' at?"

"I really gotta spell it out?" Jane puffed, her face red, eyes damp from the thoughts buzzing around that she'd been keeping subdued all this time. "Me and Kat, we...-" Jane dug her hand through her hair, which was unkempt today. She turned her head to the side, embarrassed at the prospect of saying it plainly. "I had a thing for her."

Sokka tilted his head back over the couch's spine, his eyes dull with disinterest. He remembered the fuss that had occurred back during New Year's when this had seemed to come out.

"Uhh...Yea," Toph said slowly. "I-...Yea, I knew about that, but I...didn't really think it...-"
"Was real?" said Jane, her raspy voice cracking as rubbed her thumb over her eyes to try and clear them up. "It was fucking real. And I needed to get over it. Pff. Really, I...-"
Still do.

Jane shook her head, enraged with her own emotions swelling back up. She couldn't decide if she was embittered because she did still feel something - even after patching things back up with Johnny - or if she was just mentally fried from openly confronting the problem.

"So...So why don't you...-?" Toph picked her nose with a disgruntled expression. She flicked off nasal residue onto the ground. "I dunno," she grumbled in defeat. That was a tricky one.

"Talk to her about?" Jane theorized. "I did. Back in...January? Whenever? Shit did not fly with her so much...So I got my shit together, n'...me and Johnny worked things out, n'-...But I needed to be away from that."

"Away from her," Sokka sought clarification.

"Away from all of it," Jane further amended.

A few seconds of heavy, thoughtful quiet slipped by beneath the buzz of students heading up to dinner behind Jane. She suddenly remembered why she'd even spoken to them in the first place.

"Guess it doesn't even matter now," she shrugged. "Since I dunno if I'll even be here in a week." She wiped her sleeve across her forehead, lamenting the near future she both dreaded and eagerly anticipated.

"Mmph," was what Toph seemed capable of saying about all of this, frowning fairly deliberately, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Sooo...This might be good-bye, then," Jane muttered with a sigh. Toph didn't reply, and when Jane looked to Sokka for some kind of response - anything - he shook his head.

"Nah, you...let me know when it's not maybe good-bye, but it...actually is good-bye," he carefully advised. "I don't know what's going on with you these days, but...-" Sokka took in a deep breath, leaning forward in his seat, and stared Jane right in the eyes. "Listen, Freckles. You need to work things out with my Sis. No good-byes, no making up...none of that. Not until you make things right with Katara."

Jane's face, barely recovering from her maelstrom of confused emotions, was starting to heat back up again. Sokka's words struck her with a solemn sense of regret somehow. She didn't quite understand it, but at the same time, it sounded like his way of making pre-amends, perhaps.

"'Kay..." She nodded hurriedly after a drawn-out pause of deep consideration. "Uh, so...so that's, like-...Are we...good?"

Sokka's eyes shifted to the side doubtfully.

"We're...okay," he muttered. He looked back to her. "You ain't done anything wrong to me, so...just...clean up the mess you and Katara made, and...that's all."

"Mm-hm," Jane felt some kind of relief at this. She turned to Toph now. "Uhh...And you?" She watched Sokka nudge Toph with his arm.

"I know," Toph whispered crankily into Sokka's ear. "What about me?" Toph groaned.

"What do you want from me?" Jane wondered. "Like...when you fucked things up, you put it back together n' stuff. So what do I do here? Mm?"

Toph's jaw slid left and right, and she scratched her nails along her temple in a quick, rough motion before yawning.

"I don't...care," she grunted dismissively. "Do whatever...I'm sure Sugar-Queen will drag us all together when you do, and then...-" She sighed, leaning over onto her feet. "Well, what happens, happens. Not my problem. I'm still undecided about you, anyway." She stood up, groping her bare feet around toward her sandals and slipping them on.

Jane's shoulders popped up slightly in reaction and her eyes wandered for a moment of reflection.

"Fair enough," Jane grumbled, disheartened by Toph's lack of sympathy, but unsurprised. Knowing the stubborn Asian girl, Jane figured Toph did care, and was pissed off - if only for Katara's sake. She watched Sokka stand up, stretch, and slink his arm around Toph's waist, who reciprocated the motion. It was an odd sight, those two seemingly entwined.

"Time for food," Toph mumbled into Sokka's ear. He hummed an affirmative in reply, and they sauntered past Jane casually.

"Later," Sokka called back over his shoulder. Jane sent him a slight wave back, standing amidst the bustling campus center lounge as the two of them got swept up in the river of hungry students.

Jane stood still for a few minutes, soaking in the familiar atmosphere of the five-o'-clock rush hour of the ACC. She felt deadened by it today - by her lack of belonging inside of thee mess of faces and bodies. Especially after Easter Break and being back in Texas, she'd realized that such a place no longer felt like home. And now, SRU seemed to be losing its luster for her.

"How'd it go?"

"Mm?" Jane snapped from her stupor to see Korra, dressed in her uniform, looking at her with curiosity.

"Agh, it...-" Jane shook her head. "Don't know, honestly."

"Hm." Korra stood with her hands on her hips, studying Jane's sullen face.

"What?" said Jane, put off.

"You lived," Korra observed with a facetious smirk. "Looks like that didn't kill ya after all."

Jane rolled her eyes at her friend.

"Psh. Yea, let's...see how shit goes down first, then you let me know if I'm still alive..."

- Monday, May 16th, 2011 -

Katara paused in the stone stairwell, setting her hot, fresh cup of coffee down on one step. She groaned with frustration, leaning against the railing and clutching her throbbing skull. A few moments passed by as she leaned against the wall, eyes squinted in pain. The jingling of the bell hung upon the Jasmine Dragon's door behind her stirred her from her pain. A pair of students traversed the stairs, blowing past her, chattering away to each other in excited voices. Katara breathed out tiredly, knelt down to pick her coffee back up, and pushed loose, frizzy hair behind her shoulders.

She made her way up the stairs and to the bright campus. She had just finished her last class for the day, and it was probably time to go do some reading, or...writing, or...ugh. The very thought of pushing herself to focus on these things - things she felt wouldn't even matter in a year or two - was exhausting. Work, work, work. Reading, reading. Writing. More writing. There was always more to do.

"Ms. Kesuk."

Katara's steps screeched to a stop, and her grip around her cup tightened. She knew who that was, and she was not in the mood. Courtesy called upon her to be polite, however, so she turned around and spread her mouth open to form a crooked, fake smile.

"Professor," she grunted to the balding man in the suit that approached her, a coffee cup in hand himself. It was Pakku, that English teacher she had come to despise for the way he seemed to often single her out for the sake of ridicule - like the two went back and forth during his lectures with passive aggressive philosophical warfare with words. She had given up on even bothering lately, disinterested in interacting with the man. Earlier that day, he'd called her out to answer a question, and she'd bluntly confessed that she hadn't paid attention to the particular reading section that had been discussed. So he was going to pester her about that, was he?

"Come," Pakku gestured her, nodding his head to a wooden bench that rested alongside the sidewalk leading to the back entrance to the campus center. Katara turned, her back to him with a scowl, but obeyed, setting herself down on the bench. When he sat beside her, she inched herself away. The two sat in awkward silence for a moment, Katara's cup sitting on her denim skirt, supported by both hands. She swallowed hard, hands quivering. Anger? Anxiety? Maybe she was just feeling sick, or...-?

"Ms...-" Pakku cleared his throat and amended his statement. "Katara. You...-" He observed the way she was avoiding his gaze, her eyes bloodshot, dark bags hanging beneath them. "-...don't appear to be feeling very well today."

"I...I guess not," Katara shrugged, speaking in rushed mumbles. "Dunno...I...-" Another shrug.

"Are you all right?" Pakku sighed.

"Whh...What do you care?" Katara snorted out irritably, drumming her fingers along her cup. She took a sip, her stomach churning. She'd thought that, but hadn't meant to say it out loud - to a professor? God, she was...so fucking out of it today. A sting of pain hit her head and she frowned, trying to mask it with more coffee sipping. Agh, it was so hot, how did people drink it like that?

Pakku, startled by the student's rash reply, adjusted his tie thoughtfully.

"You're...my student," he explained slowly. "You've seemed...out of sorts during class recently."

"Y-yea," Katara agreed, brows still pushed down with impatience. "It's-...There's, like-...J-just a lot on my...on my mind."

Pakku grimaced at her fumbled attempts at speech, her body jittery and shaking. Pakku stroked his thin, white mustache and took a swig of his drink.

"Have you seen a...doctor? Or a psychiatrist?"

What the hell? Why was this jerk asking her stuff like this?

"Thhh...That doesn't-..." More shrugging, now with head shaking. "I don't need a...a doctor, it's...it's schoolwork, and...and social stuff, and I...-"

"I read that newspaper article," Pakku interjected. Katara flashed him a baffled expression before it clicked together in her addled brain that Aang had been interviewed for an article concerning the United Republic and its untimely end. "The one about the United Republic? It sounded like you went through a lot that night," Pakku observed. He carefully tapped his finger on his cup before sipping from it. Katara stared back off into space, her coffee in her lap. "Then again, it seems you've already been through a lot, haven't you?" Pakku sighed to himself, letting Katara consider what he was referring to.

"Huh?"

"Your mother," Pakku explained. "I...knew her. She was the one who referred me to teach at this school."

"She...-?" Katara's throat tightened, and she cleared it, seeking the warm relief of her coffee to ease things. "Hm. So, you already...know about that," Katara mumbled, confused.

"About how you lost her," Pakku clarified, joining Katara in staring off across campus with solemn vacancy. "Yes."

"How did you know her?"

"Through your grandmother. Kanna."

"My...Gran-Gran? On my father's side?"

"Ha. Is that what she has you calling her? 'Gran-Gran?'"

"She's...never mentioned you before."

"I'm sure she hasn't. Kanna and I...have had a very difficult history."

"Oh..."

"We were together when we were young, but...things didn't work out the way I had planned. Before we were wed, we...realized that there were still many problems that needed to be sorted out. And I...realized that-...Well, back then, she simply didn't feel quite the same way that I did."

Katara sniffed, letting her glance fall to Pakku's profile. She wiped her wrist against her nostril and drank some more as she listened.

"Hmph," she huffed out, suddenly embittered at the thought of her grandmother. Angry thoughts trickled in on top of an already jaded mood.

"That necklace you normally wear...-" Pakku gestured his finger toward her neck. "I gave that to Kanna when I asked her to marry me."

"You...-?" Katara's trembling fingers clasped at the blue ribbon tied around her neck, and the ovular gem that hung from it.

"But during our engagement, that was when things fell apart. Eventually, she found someone else. I moved out to Nova Scotia, following work. I had to move on," Pakku explained. "Given the fact that somehow that necklace ended up in your possession, I'd assume that Kanna had moved on, as well..."

"Yea..." Katara sighed knowingly, shaken by this revelation. "I'm...um...trying to do a bit of that myself these days."

"It doesn't look like you're succeeding," Pakku dryly noted, eliciting Katara's frown to grow.

"Yea, thanks," she grunted in sarcasm.

"Heh." Pakku smirked at Katara's flared nostrils and grumpy face. He'd seen that same expression on Kya's face more than a few times. "But over time, I found out that your grandmother had fallen out with her husband. After all those years, I...had still felt the same way about her. And she hadn't changed a bit. So I...started from square one."

"What do you mean?"

"I...started courting her. All over again."

"Whh...-?"

"This was back when you were still a child. We had never met."

"Oh."

"I got to know your mother and father a bit during that time. I'd been recently denied tenure at the university I'd been teaching at. Your mother insisted I'd be a good fit for this school." Pakku looked up to an old clock embedded into a lamp post, checking the time. "She was right."

"But...I'm confused. You and Gran-Gran...-"

"We managed to rekindle what we'd had in our youth. Well...As much as we could, at least. By then, we had both grown out of all of the problems we'd run into all that time ago."

"Are you telling me that...you two are still together?"

Pakku nodded casually, stroking his long mustache.

"It became difficult for us to see each other when we lived so far apart. She ended up moving into my house to care over it as I taught here."

Katara's stomach lurched with realization. The reason Gran-Gran had moved to Nova Scotia hadn't been to run away from her family at all, had it? It had been to find some happiness in her old age with...this man?

"Whenever I have enough time off of work here at school - breaks, summer - I go back north and we, well...We live it up a bit, you could say."

"I...I had no idea," Katara muttered, baffled at this knowledge. "Gran-Gran doesn't talk about you. It's like she...-"
"I think she's afraid, honestly. But then again, at our age, I suppose there's only so much to hold onto."

"I don't understand," said Katara tersely. "Why would she move so far away? Why not tell us about you? And...and why would you wait to tell me about this? And...why are you telling me now?" Her voice raised in pitch with each aggravated inquiry, and Pakku spewed out a long, slow sigh.

"I don't exactly get along with children," Pakku grumbled.

"Excuse m-...?" Katara's eyes flashed dangerously at his dismissal. "I am not a...-"
"And you're doing a commendable job at showing that," Pakku doled out dry sarcasm.

"You're...a professor. How could...-?"

"Teaching in a classroom helps form the foundation of the next generation. This...interpersonal nonsense, this doesn't accomplish-"
"Your children are your next generation! Shouldn't they be more important than-?"
"I don't have any children," Pakku cut her off sharply. "That was...one of the things that drove Kanna and I apart. She wanted children - I did not. Once she got all of her...family making out of the way, it...opened things up."

"You make it sound like so much trouble," Katara said with spite. Pakku gave her an incredulous look, appalled by her attitude.

"Need I remind you, Young Lady, that I am your professor, not-"
"Then why are we even having this discussion?" Katara popped up from the bench, fuming.

"You seem to have a serious temper problem, Kesuk."

"You seem to...have...-" Katara's comeback grinded to a halt, and she stopped herself, digging her fingers through her hair with frustration and drinking her coffee, her back to this confusing man.

"Have you looked into counseling?" Pakku wondered.

"Why? Because I disrupt your class full of children so much with my 'temper problem?'"

"Because you're-" Pakku spoke out with a slight sense of urgency, dialing himself back the way Katara just had. "-...Kanna's granddaughter. And she's come to expect me to keep an eye on you when you're here."

"Right. She couldn't be bothered to do that herself..."

"Kes-...Katara, your grandmother is...a strange woman. I don't fully understand myself why she can be so secretive. I didn't want to be just another person to complicate your family's life, but-"
"Good job."
"-but, as much as I'd prefer to go living a life where I only have to worry about young people within a classroom, I have to face the fact that if your grandmother and I are going to get married, it'll be-"
"Married?" Katara finally turned back around, wide-eyed. This man was going to be her step-grandfather? That thought didn't settle well at all on top of everything else going on.

Pakku's patience for the day had been expired halfway through this conversation. He didn't like this girl's stubborn ferocity, and he didn't approve of the way she was talking back to her elder. But for Kanna's sake, he'd endure it this once - the girl appeared wildly out of sorts, as it was, anyway.

"I'm-...You know?" Katara puffed out, clutching her throbbing temple. "I'm real glad our family's so good at...at communicating."

"Kanna's led a turbulent life, Katara."

"So have I, and I'm not even...-!"

"She and I are alike - we prefer seclusion. I'm...sorry if that upsets you."

"Pff...'Sorry?' Yea...You know who doesn't prefer seclusion? My dad, who's...who's stuck alone back in-...And my grandmother left him that way."

"Which is why I'm trying to be transparent with you about all of this - because Kanna thinks we should be trying to...make more of an effort to be involved in her son's life."

Katara scanned Pakku's tired face for clarity and could see the sincerity masked behind his hesitation.

"Then...go ahead and do it," Katara grumbled with a wild shrug. "Why act like you need my permission when you've been keeping it a secret all this time?"

"I wasn't asking for you permission. And you'd do well to calm yourself down."

Katara rustled her finger through her frizzled hair for a moment, containing her temper.

"You ought to see a counselor," Pakku reiterated his advice. "It would do you some good."

"I don't...need...-"
"Your brother agrees with me on this, I should point out."
"Sokka?"
"I explained all of this to him just yesterday."
"And he was...just fine with it?"
"A lot more fine than you seem to be, at least."
"Just because you want to suddenly act like we're family, that doesn't-"
"I never said I wanted to."
"You don't really have a right to try telling me what to do with my personal life."
"I'm suggesting this as your professor."
"Yea. Great. OK..."
"I'm rather serious. You're on edge every time I see you. If you aren't going to listen to me, listen to your brother."
"Fine," said Katara under her breath as a cluster of students passed them by. "Can I leave now?"

Katara's bloodshot, intense eyes met Pakku's dull, hardened stare.

"I should be getting to my next class," Pakku sighed, getting up from the bench. He was as exhausted from the conversation as she was. "Keep that attitude in check, young lady. Get some professional help. And if you speak to me like this again, we're going to have a problem."

Katara's stomach churned with anxiety at his remark, and she found herself holding her breath at his stern scowl. He shook his head slightly and headed off for the Gyatso building. She realized her heart was pounding in her chest from their interaction, and when another student brushed against her shoulder in passing, she was snapped from her nervous stupor. She'd just lost it in front a faculty member - one she had been on thin ice with as it was. And he was...what? Related to her? That sure explained a lot, anyway. He always seemed to have his sights set on pointing out her errors. Maybe being so critical of her was his way of...being 'family?' The thought that he was just...totally fine keeping his relationship a secret all this while was rather unsettling.

Who wasn't keeping a secret from her lately? It seemed like practically everyone was.

Katara let herself collapse onto the stone steps of the nearby entrance to the campus center. She drank the rest of her coffee in reflection, settling herself down before the anticipated waves of stressful academics crashed down upon her some more. Blowing up at a professor so carelessly like that...It was unacceptable. It was something Katara felt deep in her gut that she...didn't do. That wasn't a thing Katara Kesuk would do. Maybe she did need to accept that whatever was wrong right now, she couldn't just fix it on her own.