hisdarkmark | Thirty-Seventh Hex

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Thirty-Seventh Hex - [Voice/Action]

[Hi Luceti. Today if you happen to be walking anywhere in the village, you might notice an overenthusiastic malamute attached to a leash. At the other end of said-leash is a rather disgruntled British wizard, more or less glaring at the dog as he's dragged along.

Stupid Arumat. Of course he had to disappear and shoulder him with the responsibility of yet another life. It was strange knowing that the man, the last original housemate, was officially gone. Not necessarily sad, though there was a hollow feeling he hadn't been able to shake off ever since he'd realized what had happened.

He didn't get much time to reflect on it though, seeing how the malamute has been working him. On their walk today, the dog's busy barking at pretty much everything, trying to pull Draco in all directions to sniff all the things.]

Gods, you're obnoxious, aren't you?

[He wraps the leash around his wrist to make it a tighter hold, using his free hand to make a grab for his journal while Edge is still pulling him along.]

I can't believe I'm asking this...

Dog training. What do any of you know of it? Time's a factor here, I'm half-tempted to toss him into the lake at this point.

[Later in the day, in fact, he will be at the lake. His lake. The South Lake. Edge the Malamute seems to have calmed down, but Draco's sitting up and a bit on edge. His wand's in front of him, and he seems to be concentrating.]

Expecto Patronum. [Nothing.] ...Expecto Patronum! [Still nothing. A frustrated sigh later and he's back to consulting Luceti as a whole. Though the journal's in his hands, he's hesitating for a moment. It'd be much easier if Hermione were still here, but she's not. That's a fact. She won't be returning anytime soon, so he'll have to make do with the resources he has.]

...second question for the lot of you. When do you reckon it's appropriate to give up on something?

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[Aang's caught up giggling at Edge for a moment before he picks up on what Malfoy said. He then rubs his chin in thought.]

Well, I've learned that in most worlds, what they have for an animal is only half of what our animal is. Like... we have goat-dogs and polar bear dogs and turtle ducks. The only pets I've had were a sky bison and a flying lemur.

[...the look on his face clearly just says "WTF."] Turtle ducks. And all of these things look exactly like they sound like?

Yeah, more or less. Turtle ducks are one of the cutest animals. They kind of look the ducks from other worlds, but with turtle shells.

The weirdest thing was when we met the Earth King one time, and he had his own bear. It was a completely normal bear, not a platypus bear or anything. That's one rare time that we saw an animal that wasn't two together. [There was also the owl-like Knowledge Spirit and his (literally) foxy servants, but Aang wasn't sure if spirits counted.]

[Aw...those do sound kind of cu--no, Draco, stop it.]

What made him the exception?

That he was just a bear. And not like a platypus bear or something. It was like an animal from one of the other worlds. Really unusual.

No not the bear. The Earth King. Why was he the only one with a normal animal?

Oh, sorry. I think it was because of his position that he was able to have people get one for him. I have no idea where he found it. But we were in town when we had a party to celebrate his getting the bear. [Pause] With what we found out later, I wouldn't be surprised if his corrupt servants had gotten him the bear to keep him distracted from politics.

Right...your system's flawed where you're from? [Because it's interesting to meet others who come from corrupt worlds sometimes, what of it.]

It's not really as simple as that. The place I'm talking about isn't actually my homeland, it's a city in the Earth Kingdom named Ba Sing Se. The Earth King's servants were the Dai Li, and they were always tricking him to get what they want, and they brainwashed innocent people. [And caused the death of someone not much older than he.] But me and my friends were able to put a stop to them, and since then the Earth King has been able to become more responsible.

There are other systems in my world with problems. [He thinks of how the Northern Water Tribe dismissed women, and how the Fire Nation was... the Fire Nation.] Luckily, I think we did fix some of those problems in our travels. It is kind of part of my duty as the Avatar, anyway.

[He opens his mouth to make comments about the brainwashing and the corrupt problems he can guess, but he suddenly stops and just blinks at him.]

Wait, you are the Avatar? [...you're a kid 8|]

Yeah! You've heard of me? [He's less of a kid than he used to be at least - around 14 at this point in time.]

[Hey now. Draco's nearly 20 by this point. You're still totally a kid, Aang.]

The firebender mentioned you a bit, yeah.

[Good point considering Movie Malfoy's looked 20 since he was like 16.]

Oh, you met Zuko? He's a good friend of mine!

I wouldn't exactly call it "meeting", but I saw his demonstration at the festival. He told me you can bend all of the elements.

Yep, that's what us Avatars do. If you stuck around our part of the festival long enough, you could have seen me going through all of them! [Oddly enough, Zuko's was the only one that Aang didn't partake in - although they did do the Dancing Dragon later on.] But it's good that you were able to catch one, at least.

I had other things to do, didn't want to stick around too long. I did see a show of waterbending the other day, however. I believe her name was Katara? [Uptight sort of girl.]

[He just gives an acknowledging nod at Malfoy's explanation while continuing to pet Edge and perks up at the mention of Katara. There would have been a very different tone if had known what actually happened in that encounter.]

Oh, you met Katara? She's my- also one of my best friends! That sounds great, she is a master Waterbender.

[Yeeah Draco wasn't exactly the best guy to deal with. Poor Katara.] She's considered a master? Really? Seems a bit...odd. But then again, what qualifies as a master?

It's just someone who's mastered all or almost of the forms of bending and is good enough to teach it to others. I guess you find it odd because of how young she is, but she put a lot of hard work into mastering all the different Waterbending moves during our travels, and teaching most of them to me. [The main exceptions for Aang being healing and that move which must must never be named.]

[But why must it never be named, Aang. Why? Draco's eyebrows are slowly drifting a little higher, if that's possible.]

I find it odd because she doesn't exactly seem very well put together, actually.

[Well it's not a dark wizard, but it's as bad as a move one could do. Aang's smile starts to fade.]

What do you mean?

She was very touchy about letting anyone watch her.

Were you watching her bend? She takes it very personally. It's not something she just likes to show anyone, especially when she wants to be alone. There's nothing wrong with her.

She was at my lake. [Which in his mind is true. Draco just assumes people should know he likes to inhabit the South Lake while he wallows.] Why wouldn't she want to show it off?

Can you even own lakes here? And Katara's just not that kind of person. Even though she's the best, she doesn't like to show it off like that. [He remembers how nervous she was when performing at the cultural fair.] She uses it to express herself, so it's a very private and personal thing for her. If you really want to see her Waterbend... you should try to be friends with her, and she might get comfortable enough with you to actually show you.

Thirty-Seventh Hex - [Voice/Action]

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