What I Learned at SRU -97-

What I Learned at SRU
Chapter 97 - Big Girls

- Monday, May 16th, 2011 -

"But...-" Aang paused for a moment, letting his pen drop onto his notebook's page. He folded his hands together in front of his lips, elbows propped on the table, and stared intently at his red-headed friend. "Dropping out? Are you...sure that's a good idea?"

Jane, eyes glued to her biology textbook, referenced a page and scribbled an answer on a worksheet.

"Just thinkin' maybe I don't belong here anymore..." Jane mumbled out, not looking up from her work. Aang studied her stoic face, putting the together some details he hadn't added up until just now. Jane looked healthy, well-rested, her hair was clean and brushed. She was wearing jeans and a plain white T-shirt. No boots, no belt, no hoodie, no...striped anything. No stripes anywhere at all. Curious.

"'Here?'" Aang pried.

"Fuckin' school," grunted Jane. "This place, this town, this...ugh..."

"But...where would you go?" Aang asked.

Jane shrugged, her attention on her sheet faltering.

"Um...Texas, I guess. Johnny."

"You had to...think about that for a second."

"So?" Jane spat, glaring up at Aang.

"If you had this all planned out, you'd sound a little more...I don't know...certain."

"It ain't certain," Jane grumbled.

"You wouldn't miss anything here...?" Aang awaited a response, and Jane took a gulp of her root beer before going back to her textbook. "Anyone?"

Jane rolled her eyes with impatience at Aang's questioning.

"Thought we were gonna leave that shit out today," she accused him of breaking their preset rule.

"Wh-...I-I'm not-...I wasn't...-" Aang fumbled nervously, a twinge of guilt in his voice. His posture rearranged, leaning back in the booth with his hands in his lap.

"It's a dumb-ass question," Jane huffed, remained hunched over her work. Aang twiddled his thumbs together, keeping silent. "'Cuz first off? Not everyone has a damned boner for this college like you do. Secondly? It occur to you I already miss people here?" Jane muttered with some disdain. "'Cuz hardly anyone will talk with me anymore?"

"...Right. Uh...-" Aang cleared his throat, then took a sip of water from his bottle. "Of course. We don't have to-...I mean, I didn't intend to bring up...-"
"Too fuckin' late."

Aang sighed with remorse, staring at the unfinished sketch on his pad. A collection of scratchy curves and lines. From Jane's perspective, it might as well have been just garbled slashes of graphite, but Aang could see the finished image in his mind: a self-portrait in an action stance, holding a wooden staff.

Maybe this whole situation was not unlike that sketch. From Jane's perspective, in her own mind, she could see the course of events, the overarcing path she was trying to follow, but the actual lines were still being drawn out, one at a time.

"Aang? Aang." The sound of Ty-Lee's chirping voice broke the tension, jarring Aang from his thoughts."Oh. My. GAWD." Her eyes were wide, practically sparkling with admiration. It was par for the course from Ty-Lee, but Aang was put-off nonetheless.

"Wh-what is it?" Aang asked, sheepishly looking up to the side of the booth where Ty-Lee hovered over him and Jane.

"OK-OK-OK," Ty-Lee excitedly thrust out her palms, nodding hastily to herself. "So, like, the new issue of the Jasmine Dragon came out yesterday, righ'? And, so, I normally don't, like-" She squinted with a slight frown, glancing upward. "-...read...it...and stuff..." She regained her enthusiasm, looking back down to Aang while Jane cross-referenced her book and worksheet in bitter silence. "But omigawd there was this article about...you...in it..."

Aang swallowed the lump in his throat, realizing where this was going. Ty-Lee was about the fifth person to bring this up since the issue had been published the day before. He'd been publicly abashed earlier that morning when a professor had called him out at the start of class as a shining example of "real bravery."

"Just, like...I already heard about that stuff - I mean, pff, chyeah - but...-" Ty-Lee's face went solemn as she leaned over the table, seemingly oblivious to the way her breasts were dangling over Jane's workspace from within their tanktop, her lengthy, braided ponytail landing right on the textbook. "What you said, about...like, how scary it was, n' about...-" She pouted out her lips. "-...how much it hurt. How it left a scar on your back, but how it, like...left an emotional scar on all of you. And-and-but...-" Her eyes twinkled with awe. "How you didn't even think about it, because...she was inside...-" Ty-Lee slapped the table, causing the already flustered Jane to flinch. "My GAWD, and when you said, like...how Katara was your 'Forever Girl?' And-and, like, how you weren't gonna let a fire cut that 'forever' short? I just...-" Ty-Lee gripped his shoulder with one hand and gave him a shake. "I totally lost it. That was...sooooo romantic."

Aang, shrugged quickly. His face - and elsewhere - were flushed from Ty-Lee's proximity and compliments. He caught Jane blinking with narrowed eyes at Ty-Lee's hips with a mixture of envy and lust - they were nice hips, and all, but-...Wait, what was he going to say, again?

Ty-Lee rustled Aang's hair with a giant grin about her, finally pushing herself back up from the table.

"I just wanted you to know that you're a totally sweet guy for doing what you did," Ty-Lee concluded with a thumbs-up. "I'm so happy you've got such a pretty, sweet, smart girl. You deserve each other. She's a lucky one to have somebody who cares so much about her, and we are a lucky school to have you here."

"Th-thanks, Ty..." Aang said with a nod. "Um, that-...Yea." An awkward laugh. "I don't...really know what to say."

"Hee." Ty-Lee squinted her eyes with a sly smirk that quickly faded. "See? Always so modest. Now...you keep takin' care of Katara, okies? She's...not been doin' so good these days..."

"I know..."

Ty-Lee's gaze wandered to Jane, at last, and with some disgust.

"Guess we can't expect everybody to be so nice," Ty-Lee sang out with her usual sweet tone, though her eyes burned a hole into Jane's temple. "But-" Back to Aang once more, light and cheerful. "Least we've got a good example like you that people are payin' attention to."

"Heh..." Aang rubbed the back of his neck with a weak smile. This 'attention' was not exactly what he'd asked for, and it was weird trying to swallow all of the praise being showered at him. On a deeper level, it was admittedly pretty awesome, but...he simply didn't know how to react.

Ty-Lee suddenly frowned to herself, looking over to the clock that hung up on the wall at the back of Appa's.

"What is taking them so lo-...Oh." Ty-Lee cut herself short when she noticed a furious Mai come storming up to her. Her amber eyes were deadly slits, damp at the corners, and her body was moving like a wisp of flame in a breeze. "Where's Zuko?" Ty-Lee asked with concern. Mai grabbed her roommate's arm and tugged her away in a swift, smooth motion, giving neither Aang nor Jane any heed.

While Mai had her piercing eyes set on the nearest exit, Ty-Lee warily looked over her shoulder and waved nervously to Aang, who waved back, sharing a similar expression.

"Christ, am I glad someone came to shut her up," Jane grunted, to which Aang frowned slightly. The two settled back into their silence amidst the midday clutter of student activity. Mere seconds later, Aang noticed a panicked Zuko come from the direction of the campus post office, a coffee in one hand and a small stack of mail in the other.

Aang pushed a confused expression his way, and he took note, arriving at their table.

"Hey, Zu-"
"Aang. Did you see where Mai...-?"

"She...-" Aang turned his head to the direction of Appa's front counter, and the hallway leading up and out beside it. "-...went off that way. What's-?"
"Have you gotten any strange mail today?"

Aang doubled back, aghast at Zuko's intense expression.

"Uh...Wait, what?"

"Mail. Messages. Phone calls...E-mail. Have you received anything...out of the ordinary?"

Aang and Jane exchanged baffled looks at Zuko's question.

"Erm...N-no, Zuko. Nothing like that. Why, did-?"
"And you?" Zuko pressed, staring at Jane, who simply shook her head. "What about Korra?" Zuko further inquired Jane.

"How the hell would I know?" Jane spat back.

"I'm just asking."

"You're makin' me nervous," Jane hissed, her eyes narrowing. She leaned over toward him and asked quietly, "Mind tellin' me the fuck's goin' on?"

"Yea, Zuko," Aang verbally wedged himself back in. "You look...not so good. What's wrong?"

"I'll...-" Zuko lifted a trembling finger at Aang, then shifted it to Jane. "-...give you a call later." Back to Aang. "Don't...worry about this. The less you know, the better. Trust me." With that, Zuko marched over to the front counter, waving irritably toward June, who was slurping at a milkshake. She yawned and lazily sauntered up.

"What's up, kid? You look pretty wired. Maybe lay off the coffee a bit, and-"
"Can I have a word?" Zuko sharply insisted, casting a sideways glance to the student worker to his right accepting an order.

June sighed, shaking her head at him.

"Like I've got a choice?" she mumbled tiredly.

Back at the booth, Aang was watching intently at Zuko storming down the hall, heading for Appa's back rooms.

"What was...that all about?" he questioned, rotating his head over to Jane again.

Jane looked up with cold, uncaring eyes.

"Looks like our plan is about to get us some results."

"What...?"

"Zuko told you: less you know, the better."

"This...-" Aang's mouth slowed, his lips forming an 'o' as he stared at Jane with realization. "That man. This is about that, isn't it?"

"Maybe," Jane replied dryly.

"Why is Zuko involved? He-...You'd better not be doing anything that puts him or Mai-"
"This was his idea," Jane interrupted. "We just...tweaked it a little..."

"He didn't look like things were going to the way he planned, whatever is happening."

"He's gonna be fine," said Jane. "Don't worry about it."

"Jane, I am doing my best here to be supportive of you. It is very difficult to not talk with anyone about this, and not even know what's going on. But I am going to worry."

Aang burned his eyes into Jane's with insistence.

"I'm your friend, and I love you, and I am going to worry, so if you're going to put me through this, at least give me that. And if you do leave, I'm...really going to miss you."

Jane's eyes flickered and glazed over, and she choked out a feeble laugh.

"Don't...-!" Aang crossed his arms. "Don't laugh at me, I'm serious."

"No, no," Jane shook her head, the edges of her eyes showing hints of oncoming tears. "It's-...nah, it's...funny. Ty-Lee, that...fuckin' bimbo, she...she's right."

"...Huh?"

"You are a...'totally sweet guy.'"

"...Um...I don't...-"

"You're worried about me. You said you'd miss me if I left."

"Well, yea! I...-!"

"That's...that's all I've fucking wanted from anyone all weekend," Jane whispered, digging her fingers through her hair as her eyes watered up. Aang's began to dampen by proxy. "Someone to...be worried about me. To say, 'I'll miss you.' That's it, that's...all I've wanted. Some kind of fucking recognition that my...existence...in this fucking town...means something to somebody. That...that I'm a human being, that I'm...not always gonna be here, and that when I'm not, that'll-...I dunno, that someone will care."

"J-Jane, I...didn't know you felt that way." Aang bit at his lip, trying to gain some sympathetic understanding. "Of course I care...I know I'm not the only one."

Jane gave another odd laugh, wiping her fingers through her eyes.

"But you're the only one that's said it. People don't-...urgh. They don't fucking get it. Either they're pissed at me, or scared of me, or...whatever. And you'd think, like, it's 'cuz they don't know what's up. Right? But no. Like...Korra? Or Zuko? They haven't said fuck all about what happens if I don't...-" Jane froze up, taking in a deep breath. She glanced up at Aang, trembling fingers on her head. She dropped her hand into her lap and stared at the biology textbook with vacant eyes.

"If you don't...what?"

Jane shook her head to herself and sighed with some despair.

"If I don't survive." She lowered her voice. "Aang, this is a serial killer we're talkin' 'bout. Maybe even more than one. Fucking dangerous. That's why all the damned secrecy n' shit, remember?"

"O-Oh, right, no, it...it makes sense, I just...-" Aang blinked, reflecting on this with wide eyes. "It makes me more worried to know that," he lamented.

"Like Zuko said: the less you know...-" Jane trailed off, flicking her wrist up dismissively. Aang thought on this concept and realized that Mai's foul mood toward Zuko lately seemed to be fairly understandable given the context. "Anyway, see, you're saying this. You're telling me that you care. That you're worried. Everyone else either wants nothing to do with me or just assumes it's all gonna be just dandy."

"You know, I'm...sure that if Katara...knew about this, she'd-"
"She can't know about this. Aang, that's...the whole fucking point. That girl, she-...See, at least you've got some self control. She doesn't. She'd push and pry and just fucking overreact and get involved, and...-" A huff. "With dangerous people like this? I...can't have that. I can't watch her get hurt over stuff that ain't her problem."

Aang nodded solemnly, conceding to Jane's reasoning. His thinking was to just...avoid getting involved with dangerous people in the first place, but...-

"And you need to face this problem yourself," Aang agreed. "I understand that. I do."

"And I gotta...get past...-" Her eyes shifted away from Aang. "-...some stuff. Personal stuff. On my own. I can't do that with...other people trying too hard to help."

"Mm..." Aang thoughtfully nodded his head some more, comprehending what she was referring to - some of it, anyway. "Maybe you should...confront her about it." He cleared his throat, leaning up in his seat. "I-I mean, Katara. About...you know...all of this."

"I can't," Jane groaned. "It's been hard enough trying to talk about this with people, and it blows up back in my face. Makes me just want...-" Jane took a deep breath, stilled by Aang's insisting stare. "I'll...try to talk with Kat. Try."

"That's what matters, isn't it?"

Jane sucked down a long gulp of sugary root beer and stared down at the current page of her biology book. The corner displayed a photograph of a moth's cocoon.

"I guess..." Jane sighed out with longing.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, Ma'am, least not while I was here." The elderly postal worker rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Not uncommon for campus mail to be missing a return address on it, after all..." He adjusted his blue cap. "Could've come from anywhere."

"Mm..." Lin contained her frown with a stiff nod, her suspicious eyes studying the kooky old man at the campus post office desk. He seemed innocent enough. "Thanks for your time, Mr. Hsu. You have our number. Don't hesitate to contact us if you run into anything unusual."

'Doc' nodded with vim and gave the police chief a salute.

"Yessiree, Ma'am."

Lin rolled her eyes at his toothy smile as she retreated from the post office portion of the campus center's basement. Right next door was the student administration office. The only person in the open workspace at the moment was the student in question: Zuko Kurosawa, feverishly inspecting a small stack of papers at his desk. His attention perked up at her entrance and he stared up at her with intent curiosity. She shook her head in reply, and his hopeful look withered back into tired concern.

"Quite strange, wouldn't you say?" Lin smoothly pondered.

"What's that?"

"A threat letter," Lin noted, crossing her arms. "Seems out of character for the Combustion Man. Everything I've discerned from his rituals doesn't lead to any evidence that he's been sending warning calls lately."

Zuko took a drink from his ceramic mug and nodded slowly.

"I don't think it was actually him that sent this," theorized Zuko.

"Right," Lin sighed, hands clasped behind her waist as she surveyed the office. "More trouble from the Phoenix Clan. No doubt about that. So why here, and now? And why you?"

"Well, I...am a Kurosawa," Zuko guessed with an exhausted shrug.

Lin noticed a water cooler in a corner of the office space and made way for a drink.

"True, but you're still a student," Lin pointed out. "I thought they only target graduates. People who are no longer within the safety of Wayward's fences."

"That's right. But, I mean, he already attacked people here in town, when he burned the United-"
"Exactly." Lin pulled up a small paper cup from the stack beside the cooler. "For some reason, the old Clan's separate groups seem to be stirring trouble back up, despite assumptions that they had broken apart." Lin chugged down her tiny portion of water, and as she did, the glass double doors of the office swung open again. Korra, dressed in her security uniform, entered with some hesitation.

"Hey, Zuko, I...-" She noticed Lin, who instantly sent a wide-eyed stare at her. "-...got your voicemail," Korra tried to brush off the cold woman's presence. "Everything OK?"

"I'm fine," Zuko replied. "Oh, uhh...-" He bobbed up his pen in the police chief's direction. "Chief Jia's here, trying to help me figure out what the best course of action is."

"Uh...huh," Korra mumbled in reply, clashing glares with the gray-haired woman of stone.

"And what are you doing here?" Lin probed with some disdain.

"My job," Korra replied calmly, restraining her desire to be snippy. What was this woman's problem with her, anyway?

"You put her on security?" Lin asked Zuko dubiously.

"She was more qualified than you'd think," Zuko defended. Korra's bottom lip propped out in defense at that remark.

"Mmph." Lin made her uncertainty clear with more narrowed eyes directed at Korra. "While you're here, perhaps you can confirm my suspicions."

"About what?" said Korra, digging her thumbs into the edges of her pockets, her hands dangling off.

"When you were attacked at the UR, you were left in the building."

Korra raised her eyebrow, popped one shoulder up curiously, and nodded once.

"Er...I guess. Place was sorta...ya know, on fire when he left, but...-"

"Exactly." Lin rubbed her thumb along her chin, discounting the bite in Korra's tone. "But you weren't fatally wounded. Neither was your cousin."

"He smashed a fucking bottle on her head...And he threw me into a table."

"He didn't kill you."

Korra's lip was agape a bit, her brows set down with disbelief.

"He left you," Lin clarified. "To the fire."

One of Korra's eyebrows slid upward as her brain wracked against itself to try and figure out what the Chief was getting at. Confronted with Korra's slow uptake, Lin let her eyes slip upward with impatience, and she huffed, shaking her head. Zuko picked up the slack.

"Chief Jia's come up with a theory that this man never directly kills his victims. That his intention is to burn them alive."

"Serial killers often live by ritual," Lin elaborated. "They have a system - a method - that they'll enact each time they go about their kills. This man is obviously unbalanced. In his mind, he probably thinks he's guilt-free because the fire is what kills the victims. From what we were able to gather about the Agni Kai group, it seemed they believed that fire would...-" She rolled her eyes and gestured her hands in tired exaggeration. "-'wipe clean the souls of sinners,' or some bullshit of the sort."

"That's...-" Korra tensed with disgust. "-...fucking looney."

"That's what I'm saying," Lin dryly advised. "He's a psychopath. But it's something we could perhaps use to our advantage." She went to fetch herself another teeny cup of water. "We should consider making this public - that this man could be coming back to our town."

"No," Korra blurted out decisively.

Lin's bitter eyes clashed with Korra's again, and she poured her water.

"'No?' Why not? The people of Wayward have a right to this knowledge. They're not safe."

"But...If we make it all public...people will panic. And besides, it'll just drive him off," Korra came up with her reasoning on the fly. 'I want to fuck him up myself' wasn't a response the police chief was going to accept, after all. "I mean...-" She looked to Zuko for approval. "Right? And...then we won't have him. He'll...just keep on hurting other people elsewhere."

Lin slurped her small cup in one large gulp, considering Korra's reply.

"Yea, that's...sort of what I've been thinking," Zuko reluctantly agreed.

"Mm..." Lin wiped her sleeve over her lips, crushed the paper cup, and dropped it into the recycling bin. Korra could see it in Lin's face, too: the police chief had something personal involved here, too. "As much as I hate to say it, she may be right," Lin grumbled to Zuko while approaching his desk and nodding her head to Korra. "As soon as everything went public before, the man fled town. If we keep this all low profile, maybe we can get our hands on him ourselves. Perhaps we can squeeze some information out of him before the bigwigs take him off. Figure out why the Clan seems to be on the move recently."

"Maybe. Besides...He's after me," Zuko pointed out. "Not anyone else, right?"

Korra shrugged, her lower lip propped out in contemplation as she meandered to a table that had an open donut box upon it.

"Hasn't sent me any death threats," she said with nonchalance. "Fucker probably knows I'll mean business if I ever see him again."

"Yes, I'm sure that's the reason," Lin muttered dully.

Korra wrinkled her nose at this remark, grabbing a plain donut from the meager pickings left over. She chomped into it, heading for the door out, and swallowed.

"Did you need me for anything else?" she wondered, keeping her antagonism toward the chief in check.

"No, you're...good to go," Zuko explained. "Just be discrete about this."

"Mm-hm." Korra hummed, her face packed with more donut as she left.

"I can't believe you trusted her to be on your security team," lamented Lin. "Iroh led me to believe you were smarter than that."

"It wasn't entirely my decision," said Zuko. "I've got influence, but I'm still just a student here."

"Right," said Lin with skepticism. "Regardless, the girl's a loose canon. With things as tense as they are, you're asking for trouble by keeping her around."

"With all due respect, Chief Jia, I understand that you caused some trouble in the past, yourself."

Lin's jaws ground together at the disrespect she interpreted from Zuko's cautious remark.

"I didn't ask to be here, kid. And it's from my own experience that I'm warning you about Kesuk."

"We'll see. I have faith in her. She's been doing her best."

"Your best doesn't always cut it, especially when people's safety is on the line."

"Then...-" Zuko upturned his wrist, fed up with the woman's advice. "-...take it up with my Uncle. With the people running this school, Ma'am. In the meantime, can we please discuss what we're going to do about this situation?"

"It was actually a little crazy today," Korra noted, walking along the sidewalk. "Normally, it's really freakin' boring. Stupid shit. But today, there were cops on campus."

"Cops?" Bolin murmured with surprise.

"Yea, right? Crazy. A student got a threat letter from the...-" Korra paused with a forced cough, realigning her statement. "Uh, a threat letter from someone who...seems to have some issue with him."

"Whoa. Maybe it's some kind of gang stuff? Like what your friend was involved in?"

"Yea, could be," Korra nodded slowly, doling out ignorance. "Cops were all...investigating campus, n' stuff. A little excitement for a change."

"Excitement, sure, but...sounds a bit hairy."

"Eh." Korra shrugged cockily. "Nothin' I wouldn't be able to handle. Anyway...What about you?"

"Fff...Day off," Bolin stated from her side, stretching his arms up with a grunting yawn. "Did stuff around the house, watched some UFC...took Naga out for a walk. Girl was restless."

"Agh." Korra batted her wrist against her forehead. "Forgot to do that again last night..."

"Hey, no prob," Bolin eased. "I like taking care of that pup. She's great."

"Thanks, Bo," Korra mumbled, her eyes dulled. "It's...kind of annoying that I forgot, though. I mean, Naga's my responsibility, you know?"

"Uh..." Bolin shrugged, jaw slightly agape. "I hear ya, Korra. I'm saying you...don't really need to worry about it, 'cuz it's not a big deal. It's fine."

"Yea, well...-!" Korra puffed air through her nose. "It's a big deal to me," she explained as a gust of cool air pushed at them.

"Soooo..." Bolin held his wind-beaten hair down. "Do you want me to not...take care of your dog, or...-?"

Korra sighed, flicking her ponytail back over her shoulder from the wind's force.

"It's OK, Bolin, I just-...I mean, if I'm around, then...let me know about it, and I'll take care of her myself."

Bolin nodded hastily, eager to settle Korra down. For such a minor issue, the topic of Naga had been progressively getting more and more touchy with the woman each time it was brought up over the past week. Bolin examined Korra's melancholic profile before letting his eyes slide to the side in consideration. He put his arm over her shoulder and let it hang there. They continued walking, Korra's body language unresponsive to this gesture.

"You all right?" Bolin wondered, trying to be casual as they weaved around a man carrying bags of groceries.

"Yea," Korra responded bluntly, her eyelids sinking slightly with irritation.

After a few moments of silence, Bolin grew uncomfortable with his arm held up high over Korra's wide shoulders. He let the arm drop back down with a tint of dejection.

"What?" Korra grunted.

"Huh?"

"Are you all right?"

"Oh, yea, I'm good. Yea."

"You didn't...have to stop," Korra grumbled.

"Huh?" Was she talking about the arm thing? If she was liking that, she was doing a poor job of showing it.

"I'm not some delicate flower, Bolin."

"Of course not. You're a big, prickly bush with those sticky velcro seed things. Right?"

"Ha. Oh, is that why you took your hand off?"

"Oh-ho, now you're starting to sound womanly. Be careful with that."

"I'm just sayin'. It's like you're afraid to touch me."

"I-...? Bahaha. Nnnno, I didn't say that. That is not true. At all." He gave her a bemused and suggestive glance.

"How come you keep acting so weird about it, then?" she coolly came back. Evidently she wasn't up for humor right now.

"I'm not acting weird. Who's acting weird here? Nobody."

"You're not sick anymore, but you slept on the couch last night."

"I was...watching TV," Bolin explained. "I just fell asleep there."

"Uh-huh. We're roommates, but we still haven't slept in the same room yet. Like you're scared."

"I'm...just...trying to be a gentleman. And stuff. Not give you my sick. Give you your space."

"I never asked for space. When I need space, I can find it myself."

"...Fair enough," Bolin quickly acknowledged with a baffled shrug.

"It's just sleeping, Bolin. Sleep? Where you lay down and don't do anything? Just because we're in the same bed doesn't mean we're going to involuntarily start humping each other."

"Right. 'Cuz that's not what either of us wants."

"Well...Yea."

"You might be OK with that sort of thing, but...it's odd to me."

"Odd." Korra seemed to take the word as an insult.

"Right. Odd. Um, but not you. You're not odd. It's the idea. Of sleeping with a woman. That I'm not committed to," Bolin hastily amended when he saw Korra smirk.

"Committed to...-?" Korra muttered, her expression draining back to a stoic forward glance as that concept sunk in.

"Yea," Bolin sighed out.

"Uh...Yea, I don't...really see how that matters..."

"It's, like, when you're...like, an item. A thing. A couple. It just changes stuff, I guess."

"And I'm not interested in...that kind of 'thing' right now."

"Yea! Oh, no, I know. I know. One step at a time and all that, right?"

"Right..."

"Which is...why it's strange to be doing...I dunno, some of the stuff that we've done."

"We haven't slept together," said Korra dully.

"No, but, like...there was...you know...the making out. On our first date?" Bolin wobbled his hand back and forth between the two of them.

"The dance thing?" mumbled Korra, her memories of that night a blur of booze and giggling.

"Right."

"So?"

"Agh, it...-" Bolin scratched his head sheepishly. "But now it's this big deal if we hold hands or not."

"No, it's not, you're just making it a big deal."

"'Cuz I don't want you to feel, like...-"
"I'm a big girl, Bo. If there's a problem, you'll know about it."

"Mm."

"So. Ya gonna take my hand, or not?"

Bolin swiftly latched his hand around Korra's, and they walked in awkward silence for a moment, their hands connected. Bolin readjusted his fingers so they wove together with Korra's.

"Ah, there we go. That's better. Yes, I like that better," Bolin said with an approving nod. Korra seemed unfazed, however. Hand in hand, they traversed the last couple of blocks to their destination - Misty Palms Pub, where they were meeting up with Mako and Asami. The smells of beer and sweat and peanuts flooded Korra's nose, and the cozy, overly decorated walls assaulted her eyes. This was the bar she'd taken Sokka and Jane to in the past, and it always made her think of her old work back in Toronto. She still couldn't decide if that was good or bad.

As Korra was taking it all in, Bolin scanned the bar for Mako and Asami, keeping his clutch on Korra's hand firm. He located his brother across the way, off at a table in the corner, and nudged Korra to follow. Mako was hunched over the counter, picking at a tray of french fries, wile Asami was sipping at a glass of wine. Asami noticed them and waved politely, eliciting Mako to look up from his food.

"Hi, guys," Asami chirped with a smile. As Mako nodded to the pair, Asami observed the linked hands before her. "Ah." Her grin widened. "So...You two are actually dating now?" Lifting her glass, she wiggled her finger at their hand holding.

Bolin tilted his head to Korra, who ignored him. Korra's dull face soured a bit as she dropped Bolin's grip, reached out, and snatched Asami's hand. Asami flinched with surprise at this gesture, taken aback by Korra's rough grasp. Korra, hand clamped around Asami's fingers, shot Asami a flustered glare and popped her eyebrows up with her shoulders.

"Are we dating now?" she retorted to Asami's inquiry.

"Uhh..." Asami's brows lowered with some confusion, but when Korra didn't let go, she shook her head in response. Korra let Asami's hand go and threw herself down into the chair across the table. Bolin, disheartened at Korra's defensive reaction, swapped puzzled looks with Mako as he took his seat next to Korra.

An irked Korra squatted over her menu, elbows up on the table. Her finger tapped against her opposing arm with impatience as she studied her options. Asami now delivered a perplexed look to Bolin, who sent back another silent 'I don't know' expression. Bolin sighed silently through his nose, unsure of how he should be feeling about Korra's attitude toward this matter. Korra was certainly an enigma when it came this sort of thing.

Relief swept over the table as an unshaven waiter in jeans and a logo-plastered T-shirt showed up with a notepad in hand.

"Everybody here?" he checked.

"All accounted for," Mako replied. "We're set to order," he signified, waggling a finger between himself and Asami.

...rrrrmmmm...

As Mako and Asami placed their order, Korra noticed her hip was vibrating. With some effort, she managed to pry her phone from the pocket of her cargo pants.

[Call From...]
[Zuko]

Korra's heart jumped with excited curiosity. If Zuko was calling, it was probably related to what had happened earlier.

"And you?" The waiter turned to the other side of the table.

"Uh..." Korra was staring at her phone. "I'll...-" She scrambled up from her chair. "-...have a Guinness. Gotta take this," she advised to the group, waving up her phone as she took her leave.

She answered the phone on her way to the front door.

"Hey...What's up?" she asked with some concern.

["Korra?"]

"Yea. Hey, Zuko." Korra pushed out through the door into the early evening. "What's happening?"

["So, you didn't...get any strange messages today, did you? Nothing odd happened after you left?"]

"Uhh...Nope," she replied as coolly as she could, rounding the corner of the building and pacing through the small, packed parking lot. "I am...threat free. Yup."

["Ah. That's...good. Seems like...I'm the only one who got one, then."]

"Mm..." Korra leaned up against the wall of the pub, scratching her neck. "You think that Chief Stick-Up-Her-Ass is gonna be able to handle it?"

["Huh?"]

"The...the police chief. What's-Her-Face."

["Jia? Chief Jia?"]

"Sure. Her. You sure seemed pretty damned buddy-buddy with her."

["Uh...Not exactly. She's pretty familiar with my Uncle, though."]

"Right. So...Anyway, can she deal with this stuff?"

["Definitely. Iroh's told me about some of the things she's been through. She used to handle organized crime back in New York. Real crazy stuff. For her, this is probably just a little excitement to break up the tedium..."] He sighed at that thought.

"Heh..." Korra smirked. Funny, that was exactly how Korra was thinking of the situation, as well. A serial killer was something that was a refresher from that stagnant boredom. Was that wrong, to feel that way? "So what's the game plan?" she asked, casting aside her self-probing.

["Same as it has been, I guess...We all keep our eyes peeled, and wait for this guy...or...or these people, potentially...to show up."]

"Yea. Stay in touch, eh?"

["You, too. Be careful."]

"Heh, yea, don't worry about me. I look after myself just fine."

Jane bit her fat upper lip, tapping her shoe against the floor in quick rhythm. Nervous rhythm. Frantic, panicking, stomach churning rhythm. She stared at her bee-striped, tall converse shoes, which she hadn't been wearing much lately. She fidgeted with her belt - and the bee-emblazoned buckle that held it together. She pushed back some of her recently washed, tamed hair, tucking it behind an ear to show the skull earring she was wearing. It was a deliberate decision, wearing all of these things together. It represented something that she hoped Katara would notice.

Jane swallowed cautiously, glancing out through her doorway to the closed door across the hall. She could hear the muffled strums of Toph's guitar coming from the room.

Inside, Toph was plinking away, aimlessly meandering around the soundverse to decide what direction to go in. Cross-legged on the floor, she paused.

"Anything you want me to play?" she asked Katara. "Specifically?"

"Uh...N-no, Toph, I'm fine."

"'Kay." Toph continued her aimless strumming, humming in harmony with each chord she played. She slowed to another stop. "Sooooo...You wanna, like...do somethin'?"

Katara, feverishly typing at her desk, was jarred to a halt by Toph's question.

"Wh...-? No, I...-" She caught herself being snippy and paused briefly, biting her lower lip with impatience. "I've got a lot of work to do right now," Katara gently explained.

"Ah..." Toph puffed air at her bangs, scratched at her scalp a bit, and listened to Katara's speedy keyboard skills go back to work. In turn, she continued her acoustic escapade, until Katara tensed up again.

"A-Actually, Toph, could you...maybe...not do that here? Right now? I'm...trying to concentrate."

"Oh..." Toph froze up, drumming her fingers along the wooden instrument in her hands. The -clickatiktiktikclak- of Katara's computer keys revved back up, and Toph slouched over her lap, pondering what to do with herself. With everyone else so busy with schoolwork, the logical way to spend her time was practicing, which she had been. Between that and trying to focus on her recently formed romance, she was hardly having any fun with Katara, despite Katara's obvious need to unwind.

Toph begrudgingly fumbled her hand to her guitar case below her bed and set her instrument inside. Before sliding it back beneath her bed, she considered taking it and going elsewhere. More practice could never hurt, after all. As she checked with her roommate, Toph was interrupted by the door.

"Do you want me to maybe head-"
-Knock, knock!-
"-out...somewhere else...?"

Toph awaited Katara to reply, either to herself or to the person knocking.

-Knock! Knock!-

"Youuu...gonna get that?" Toph muttered.

"I don't really care," Katara grumbled out.

"Uhhh...kay? Guess I'll do that, then." Toph's neutral expression twisted into mild irritation at Katara's mood, and she pulled herself up to her bare feet, pushing slowly to the door. The knocking happened a third time, and Toph growled at it. "Hold yer fuckin' horses, I'm coming!" She reached the edge of the room, groped for the handle, and callously twisted the knob to yank to the door wide open. "Yea, yea, who is it? Whatcha want?"

Jane blinked with wide eyes at Toph's slouching form. Toph was propping herself against the archway with her arms across her chest and a frown on her face.

"I...wanted to talk with Kat," Jane eked out. She saw Toph's face pop with surprise, then dissolve into disgust.

Toph immediately whirled back around with a "Fff!" and found her way back to her guitar case, grumbling out, "And there's my cue to leave..."

"Huh?" Katara pried her attention from her computer and met Jane's eyes, her shock swiftly giving way to anger. Jane endured her neighbor's icy glare and sighed. "What is it?" Katara sharply demanded.

"Just...wanna talk..."

"I thought you said you never want to talk with me ever again," Katara testily replied.

"Ugh, Kat...I told you I needed some time."
"Toph told me you're planning on dropping out. Good for you."
"Kat..."
"That'll give you all the time you need to keep...doing...whatever it is you're doing with those thugs."
"It's not like that, we-oof!" Jane was sideswiped by Toph blindly pushing her way out of the room, shoving Jane aside. "Christ! Watch where-...!" Jane rolled her eyes, letting her arms drop. "Ugh."

"Watch where I'm going? I'll just do that somehow," Toph dryly remarked, clacking her cane against the wall.

"Didn't have to push me..." Jane muttered.

"Don't get in my way, then," Toph countered haughtily, sauntering off down the hall.

"You did that on purpose," Jane pointed out.

"Yup!" Toph snarkily called back, heading through to the stairwell.

"Leave me alone," Katara commanded, pulling Jane's attention back. Katara got up from her chair.

"You won't just talk to me?" Jane pleaded with open arms. Katara shook her head, grasping the edge of her door and easing Jane out. "Hear me out?"

Their stared each other down in heavy moment of quiet, Katara's nostrils flared open wide.

"I'm busy," said Katara curtly.

"This is fucking important," Jane pushed.

"This has always been 'fucking important,'" Katara seethed back, keeping her voice down so as not to carry it down the hall. "Why do you think I'm so upset with you?"

"So let me explain," Jane requested. "I don't want you to be upset."

"You should've thought of that sooner. And this isn't just about you. OK? So...-" Katara lingered in her doorway, fingers tightened around the door's edge.

"Can I come in?" Jane asked with a sigh, scratching her ear.

Katara's head rolled back with frustration, and she ran her hand through her hair.

"Fine. A few minutes," she allowed. "Then I've seriously got work to do..."

"Sure..." Jane sulked shamefully into the dorm room, head shrunken into her shoulders. Katara slid her door closed quickly and quietly before throwing herself down on her bed. Jane pulled up Katara's chair and rotated it so it faced the bed. She dropped into it and took a deep breath. They both leered at each other for another couple of seconds. "Um...A few minutes? So...the short version?"

"I don't care."

"Fair enough." Jane sucked in air through her nose, then puffed it out through her mouth. She let her gaze wander away from Katara, toward the sketches that hung up on the back of her door. She looked back to Katara, who shrugged at her with raised eyebrows of expectation. Jane reciprocated the gesture.

"Sooo...I might not...be here next year," Jane worked out the words.

"I heard," Katara confirmed sharply.

"Was hopin' to kinda...leave on good terms."

Katara crossed her arms and nodded with a bitter scowl.

"So you're going to tell me the truth?"

"Ugh..." Jane's shoulders sagged in irritation. "No, Kat, it's...not your business. Let me handle it."

"Let you handle it...Mm-hm. And let you pull Aang into...wh-whatever it is you're caught up in? And my cousin, too?"

"Your cousin wants to help me. And Aang's not involved, Kat. OK? Stop freakin' the hell out."

"What do you expect me to do when you're so secretive like this?"

"I dunno, maybe trust me for a change?"

"You haven't exactly made good choices for yourself on your own, Jane. I'm sorry, but...-"

"Don't...-!" Jane poked up her index finger, eyes trembling with rage and regret. She dropped it, moving on. "We've got it covered. We're gonna take care of it."

"Take care of what?"

"My problem."

"Like h-how Nils was your problem," Katara bluntly reminded. "One you solved pretty...pretty efficiently...I'd say. Yea. Mm-hm. I mean, how could he be a...a problem for you when he's-"
"Stop."

Jane had no counter to this. No rebuttal, no means of making Katara understand that choice, and listening to her friend's confused judgment was picking at a deep scab.

"If...if this was your idea of...of, like...trying to r-reassure me? It's...It's not working." Katara's words were spilling out with some panic now, her head shaking all the while with disbelief. She was stuttering, which Jane recognized as a classic sign of stress for Katara.

"OK, just...-" Jane eased up her hand, her insides crawling with discomfort at seeing Katara like this. "It ain't your business. I told you."

"Sure. Sure..." Katara nodded with slow fury. "N-Not my business," she spitefully acknowledged. "As...as you've said. And here we...here we are, s-still arguing, anyway."

"Because I...care about you, Kat."

Katara's eyes bubbled over with swelling emotions from Jane's words and she clutched at her forehead to steady herself.

"And after all this time, you still don't know how to show it," Katara retorted. "Oh, wait, that's right. You shut me out. It all makes sense now," she snapped with sarcasm.

"I've been trying to keep you outta this. Don't you get that? That night at the UR messed you up. And don't even pretend like it's not bringing up shit from your mom, I know it is."

Katara's eyes bulged, her lips curved down with appalled pain.

"Yea, thanks, that's exactly what I...-"

"I know how that goes, Kat. I do." Jane went to extend her arm in sympathy, and Katara took a step back to avoid it. "And I know you're a different person from me," Jane went on, slipping her hand awkwardly into her pocket. "But you are not handling this well. I mean, fucking look at yourself. You're a wreck. Everybody can see that."

"Th-thanks to you. You, and-"
"Shut the hell up!" Jane gasped out in exasperation, flicking up her head. "Think for a fucking second. Christ. Ya know, you're usually good at that, Kat."

Katara was stunned in silence, her brain fizzing out as she attempted to decipher what Jane meant. Jane elaborated.

"I've heard you bitch about how hard high school was for you...About how much you try to make things work with people. Don't get me wrong, I...I mean, I can appreciate that, Kat. Seriously." Her eyes flashed with a pleading gratitude. "But you need to get a grip on this shit. You need to learn to drop things. Let it be. Like...forget me for a second. Forget all this. Everything." Jane shrugged and shook her head, glancing across the room just to avoid Katara's burning blend of potent expressions. She met Katara's gaze again with solemnity. "You seriously think this is the only time someone's gonna hurt you?"

A dense silence hung over them, Katara's lip hanging open.

"I didn't even want to hurt you," Jane growled out in frustration. "Some people are gonna take advantage of your kindness, Kat. I'm-...I'm trying to keep you outta my crap. Outta harm's way."

"If you weren't dealing with dangerous-"
"Stop. Listen to me. You are gonna hurt by people, Kat. No fucking question. And you can't pull this shit every time it happens. You ever think maybe this-" She extended her arms out to Katara. "-is the reason why you had so many problems in high school? Or now?"

"What...?"

"Your attitude. You care. I know that. But you just...fly off the damned handle as soon as things don't go your way. Or the 'right' way." Jane flicked up irate air quotes. "You don't accept this shithole world for what it is. You...you expect it to...get better? I don't fucking know. But it's retarded. Juvenile. Stupid. Get over yourself."

"But if I...if I did...n-nothing, that wouldn't help-"
"I'm not saying to do nothing," Jane sighed with impatience. "No, you...do what you do, Kat. That's...good, it's...-" Jane could feel her eyes stinging. "-...amazing." She took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm-...It's just-...Not everyone is gonna understand that. I do. Sure. Maybe now I do. When I met you? Hell no. I thought you were a weirdo. But I know you now. I know what a...kick-ass person you can be. But if you keep acting all controlling and clingy and shit, you're just gonna push people away. And then they don't get to see how awesome you are. And that sucks. Especially for you."

Katara was a bit bashful at what she perceived to be Jane's deep compliments to her character. In her frustration and stress, she'd been letting herself think that Jane really had dropped everything - that Jane didn't care. Hearing words like this proved that Katara's doubts were misplaced, and that Jane's hostile words from before had rung hollow; probably born from similar stress and anger.

"People are gonna be assholes to you, Kat. And...and people like me? Who really care about you n' stuff? We're gonna fuck up sometimes. And you're gonna fuck up sometimes. You've gotta deal with that. This...arguing and shit? Shouting matches? Nobody wins. I don't know what the answer is. Dead-Eyes, like...she locks herself in tight, right? Plays her music, bitches you out. That's how she deals. Then she has opposite problem - too much of the walls and stuff. But...You helped her. I saw it. And I...I do see it. Just, fucking...five minutes ago, I saw it. The way she was all pissy at me? That was for you, Kat. That was her being all protective n' shit, for you. When I met Toph, no way I could see her doing that for anybody but herself. You helped her figure that out. You've helped me figure stuff out. And...and that's cool, and-...But...-" Jane sighed, leaning herself against Katara's bed post. "Ugh...I don't...really know where I'm goin' here..."

"It's OK, I...-"

Katara nodded haphazardly, sitting herself down on her bed, her insides swirling with a rush of thankfulness and tension and every other thing going on.

"Kat. Shit's gonna happen. Always does. You can't always make it right. That's...what I'm gettin' at, I guess..."

"So I'm...I'm just supposed to do nothing...?"

"OK, OK...Yyyyea. Here and there. Yea. When it's not your business. Like this stuff. Right now. With me."

Katara puffed out hot air in protest.

"You shouldn't need to take this...whatever this is...by yourself..."

"And I'm not," Jane insisted. "I've got people helping me."

"So why not me?" Katara whimpered. "Why don't you trust me? H-haven't I...proven myself to you, or...-?"

"Katara, you have, but...I gotta trust different people with...with different things. Is all. Make sense?"

Katara's eyes squinted with some disbelief. Maybe it didn't make sense to Katara, then. Gragh.

"OK, so...-" Jane pushed out her hands in a gesture to reconfigure thoughts. "Like...This stuff with you n' me. Right? All sensitive social stuff? You talk about that with everyone?"

"Whhh...N-no, I...-"

"You talk about all this with, like...Sokka?"

"Um...Nnnnot...always..."

"But family things. Like with your dad. You do bring that up with Sokka."

"Mm-hm."

"Maybe not so much with me. Or...or other people. Whatever."

"Mm..." Katara nodded thoughtfully, comprehending Jane's point.

"There ya go, then. That's-...This is just that. Like, I went to you with things that...I knew you could help me with. But this is...my thing. This is a different kinda deal. And it's a thing you ain't good with."

"But you're going to trust Korra with it...?"

"'Cuz the sort of help I need right now is stuff Korra is good with."

"So...So you just...just go to whoever's most useful to you?"

"Nah, it's...I-I mean, you put it like that, makes it sound selfish, but...it's just practical. Makes sense."

Katara didn't react to this, her body stiff from consideration.

"I wouldn't be here, who I am, if it wasn't for you, Katara. No way. But right now, this is my problem. And I don't need - I don't want - you to try to...-" Jane fidgeted her hands around frantically. "-...fucking fix-fix-fix every single part of my life. Gotta let me do some things myself. I mean, christ, how ya gonna raise kids some day if ya can't learn to let stuff like this go?"

Katara nodded knowingly. That was a smart button to press on Jane's part. Of course Katara wanted kids some day. And of course this added up - if she got all messed up like this because of a child disobeying her, how would that help anything? What if Aang made a bad decision? Would she freak out on him like this, too? What if she flipped out on a future boss at the work place the way she had at Pakku just the other day?

"So...you...still aren't going to tell me what this is even about...are you?" Katara asked with dull defeat.

"Uh...No," Jane admitted plainly. "Not until I...finish what I started." Jane pushed herself off of Katara's bedpost. "And if you really care about me - actually respect me - you'll leave it be. You'll trust me on this. You'll let me take care of myself. Because I can. I don't need you telling me what to do with my life...but if you can figure this out, and settle the hell down...then I'll go back to wanting you to be a part of my life."

Their eyes met for the first time in a while, and Katara's lips trembled as she attempted to offer a weak smile at Jane's small smirk.

"But...Wh-what'll that matter if you leave?" Katara bemoaned quietly, the idea of Jane disappearing from her day-to-day life sinking in.

"If...things work out like...I want them to, I won't have a reason to leave," Jane muttered in conclusion.

"And we can...put this behind us? M-move on, like you said?"

"We'll see."

"And you'll be part of the group again?"

"We'll see, I...-" Jane sighed, her hands latched around her head as she lingered around the foot of Katara's bed.

"All right..." Jane shrugged, approaching the doorway. "Get back to that schoolwork n' crap. Do that up. I've got my own problems - you sure as hell got yours, too. So...I dunno. Take your pills, for chrissake. See a doctor. I don't know. It's your issue, not mine, so...do what ya gotta. And so will I."

Katara's nose tightened at this advice but she gave Jane a nod.

"Ssssooo...-" Katara scratched her head. "We're...still friends?"

"...Probably? We both need get back on our own tracks before we can...join back up. Or whatever. Some kinda metaphor n' crap."

"Hee," Katara laughed shakily as Jane opened the door to leave.

"I'll catch you on the flipside, Kat. Think about this stuff." Jane rattled her knuckles against her forehead. "I've...done enough thinking for you, am I right?"

"Yea."

"I'll get back to you when I'm good to go, and...we'll see how you're doing."

"OK...Jane, I-...Whatever it is you're looking for, I hope you...find it." Katara's conflicting expressions pooled together as she forced a quivering smile to her friend. "You deserve that much."

Jane shrugged, temporarily frozen by Katara's intense face.

"...Thanks," she replied, making her exit and closing the door behind her.

A/N: It's possible this may be the last update before Christmas, as I'll be on holiday break with friends and family. Hopefully I can wrap up this 'chapter's' arc before I have to leave, but I can't make any guarantees. So just in case, have a Merry Christmas, everyone.