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[sub][color=2e2c2c]_______________________________[sub]......[/sub][/color][/sub]
[/cell][cell][color=white][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/vWXdBkm.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][sub][quote][color=2e2c2c]_______________________________________[/color] Wilds · [@KillamriX08][/quote][/sub][/color][quote][sup][color=2e2c2c]____________________________________________________________________________.[/color][/sup]


[hider=The Switch - ft. canaryrose]
[u][b]-Sometime before the "zombie" incident-[/b][/u]

Weiyuan was feeling a little aimless. He wasn’t the correct half. There was nothing to fight right now. He’d quietly tailed the others in the group for a bit, but felt out of place. Jin’s presence was sort’ve comforting in how decisive and reliable he seemed, but quite frankly Weiyuan barely knew him and after eavesdropping briefly and hearing something about secret modifications Sumire had made to the car, he’d shuffled off. Jin had been busy tinkering and Weiyuan knew nothing of vehicle mechanics.

He’d lost track of Reman almost immediately, which was fine because he was pretty sure they hadn’t had a single conversation since the group had formed. Meanwhile he was actively avoiding Vasra. Not because there was anything wrong with her, but because he feared that any conversation that started would inevitably lead to her trying to make him feel better about things he would never feel better about. Maybe that was a bad assumption to make, but… there was no shaking the feeling for the time being.

Lastly was Chu Hua, the person he felt he knew the “best” so far, but for all the worst reasons. He knew all about her career because Chae-Won had practically worshiped her. It had been woefully tiresome to hear about, and he wasn’t even the half that usually had to. He had interacted with her the most, but largely because they’d both suffered losses in the escape, so their familiarity was largely born out of the most unfortunate coincidence.

Part of him wanted nothing to do with her because even more than Vasra he was afraid being around her would force him to think about things he didn’t want to. Part of him was drawn to her as the most familiar presence he currently had, and one that, even if only superficially, was the most similar to Chae-Won. He hated that any part of him tried to draw that comparison.

He hated that he was still awake. He hated that despite that he was afraid to fall asleep because he’d gotten used to his extended period of autonomy. He felt guilty for depriving his other half of their time. That half was supposed to exist, while he was just an emergency tool.

Every day that passed, he was forced to write more notes to try and ease his other half into things once he inevitably woke back up. It was going to be hell. Writing some of those notes had been hell. For now he was just wandering around, taking note of the village animals, some of which he’d never even heard of.

Apparently lion goats were a thing. Fortunately an herbivore, but still with the terrifying claws of a lion if you made it mad. His other half would have loved it. He… was just annoyed that all he could think about was how his other half would feel about it.

Chu Hua wasn’t too sure what to do with herself. After the novelty of Tu Zin had worn off, after she had stopped marveling at the city that wasn’t meant to exist, all of the emotions she had been holding off for the past two weeks threatened to bubble up to the surface. There was no journey to focus on, no more new things to explore, no more meetings to have and things to plan. She was just… here. Here and alone. She felt Kanna’s absence, An’s absence, like a wound inside of her, but Chu found that the idea of confronting it, completely, here? She couldn’t. Not yet.

So she resorted to what she always had- exercise. Right now, it was walking, aimlessly, without a discernible purpose. She just couldn’t keep herself cooped up in her room, couldn’t, because when she stopped moving, she started thinking. She needed to be too tired to think. So she kept herself busy, volunteering around the village to do whatever menial tasks were needed. Chu carried water, she helped to build new buildings and care for animals and clean up around town. Anything to not think of Kanna’s bloody body on the cold metal of the truck floor, of what had befallen An, of what had happened to her family after she was gone. Had the RSF come for them, even though they hadn’t helped? Had either of her sisters transformed? Did they know her mother had protected her, had shielded her all those years?

[i]And what about An?[/i] That was her most frequent musing. Aiding and abetting was punishable by death. What had they done to her? Her dreams were filled with her, and Kanna, and all the other people she had hurt.

But those thoughts were deadly, so Chu did those menial tasks with a zeal reserved for things that were a bit more exciting. She was smiling, chatty. At the moment, she was tending to some of the village animals, carrying hay back and forth. She had absolutely no experience in agriculture, so it was… rather interesting, but the family who owned these animals were kind and appreciated the extra help- appreciated even more so that it came from such a novelty- a firebender from the city, one of the new arrivals. 

The lion goats kind of freaked her out, so she was giving them a bit of a wide berth. If she was being perfectly honest, [i]all[/i] of the farm animals freaked her out. 

While she was shoveling some of the hay into troughs, she spotted Weiyuan at the fence, admiring the lion goats. She grinned. [color=firebrick]“Yo!”[/color] she shouted, dropping the rake and walking to the fence. [color=firebrick]“Kid! What’s up?[/color] Out of all of their ragtag group, she liked Weiyuan the most- but that was saying quite little. They were the two who had lost the most… but he also didn’t talk too much, so he was easy to not get annoyed with. The others, Chu felt, tended to write her off. Maybe he did too. But this was all too hard to do without at least [i]some[/i] people to talk to. Maybe she just couldn’t be a chooser.

[color=firebrick]“The Luo’s needed some help today,”[/color] she explained, remembering that Wei couldn’t really do a call and response. [color=firebrick]“I’m not doing anything, so, figured I could. Where’re you off to?”[/color]


Weiyuan froze up for a second, perhaps just long enough for it to be noticed if Chu Hua was paying attention. This is exactly what he [i]hadn’t[/i] wanted. What, had he manifested it by thinking about it? It didn’t help that when she greeted him, his ears almost turned her voice into Chae-Won’s. It was the same way Chae-Won talked to him. He quickly swallowed all that and evened out his expression. Dealing with difficult things was why he existed.

If he got sad every time someone called him kid, he wasn’t gonna make it. As far as he knew he was the youngest one of the group after all.

He shrugged in response to her question. He hadn’t really thought about it that much. He just needed to not be sitting in a dark room doing nothing. Unfortunately, most of the time when this half of him was awake, he had a very clear goal to accomplish. Right now he was at a loss.

[color=06E8DE]’I.. worked with animals… before.’[/color] He mouthed the words, a weak whisper accompanying them, just loud enough to Chu to hear between the occasional bleating of the lion goats. He had been forced to pick up a shift of two from his other half, so not a total lie. [color=06E8DE]’These ones are… bigger…’[/color] It was difficult to move large animals around the lower ring, and livestock wasn’t really the main focus of his former employer anyway.

He couldn’t imagine the most famous stickball player in the world having similar experience. Especially not with the way he could see her nervously eyeing the animals every now and then. It wasn’t a bad idea to be aware of what the animals were doing while in their pen, but Chu seemed more anxious than cautious.

Sadly, she most likely was tunnel visioned on the big male of the herd. It had the biggest claws after all and four huge spiraling horns growing out of its head. Even Weiyuan had been staring at it at first. That also meant that another lion goat had been able to sneak over to them, its padded feet making its steps eerily silent.

Chu’s only warning it was there would have been Weiyuan’s eyes shifting over to it as he saw, moments before it nuzzled her… and then stood up on its hind feet, grabbing onto the woman with its front paws… and leaning in to eat some loose hay out of her hair.

Chu went white, side-eyeing the lion goat as it… chewed? On her hair? She didn’t shriek, terrified it would rip out her hair or claw her skin. She instead looked at Weiyuan, pleading. [color=firebrick][i]“Help,”[/i][/color] she whispered. [color=firebrick]“Get it off me. Please?”[/color] Her eyes darted around, searching for Mrs. Luo- she was almost like a lion goat whisperer, she could work magic with these things, but she was nowhere to be found. So, instead, Chu extended a hand to Weiyuan, silently begging him to hop over the fence and remove the goat from her hair. 

Once Weiyuan was sure the animal wasn’t trying to maul Chu, his lips twitched in amusement. He held his hands up, motioning for her to be very still whilst wearing a serious expression. The hay the lion goat was after had woven itself deeply enough into Chu’s hair that it wasn’t letting go any time soon.

Weiyuan meanwhile carefully climbed over the fence… and then walked past Chu and the goat, at first seeming to abandon her. However, fortunately for her, he soon returned with a big handful of hay to lure the goat off of her. Why it had been foraging for scraps in her hair one could only guess at, but it couldn’t ignore the mouthful Weiyuan was offering it.

With the lion goat chewing away, and not holding anyone hostage, Weiyuan risked running a hand through its fur. The lion fur was surprisingly soft, though a bit dusty from not having had a proper bath in who knew how long.

Weiyuan glanced back at Chu, [color=06E8DE]'You… OK?’[/color] he asked, trying not to let his amusement at how spooked she’d been show. He couldn’t judge her too harshly, though. Without her asking for his help, he’d likely have never braved approaching the animals himself.

Chu watched Weiyuan lure the goat away, standing stock still, afraid to move or disturb the lion goat until it wandered off. Her heart jumped to her throat when he seemingly [i]left her with this wild animal attached to her body[/i], but she calmed when he came back. It seemed… easy? Chu watched it suspiciously as it ate from Weiyuan’s hand, and then she colored a bit, embarrassed. All she had done in her life, and she was scared of a lion goat. 

[color=firebrick]“You seem experienced,”[/color] Chu observed, and then chuckled, a note of nervousness still running through her voice. [color=firebrick]“I’m good. Just got startled, thought it was gonna rip my hair right out. Not a lot of room for farm animals in the Middle Ring, y’know? Might be my first time seeing one of these guys.”[/color] Chu stepped closer, then, hesitant. [color=firebrick] “You think I can…?[/color] She reached her hand out, towards the goat. [color=firebrick]“He seems friendly, but maybe he just likes you. Seems like you’ve got a way with these things.”[/color] Chu’s eyes glanced down at Weiyuan with a bit of quiet mirth.

Weiyuan really didn’t know how to respond. He wasn’t ready to explain how “no he wasn’t all that experienced, but his split personality was and he’d picked up a few things. Fortunately, he had a good excuse that let him not have to get into it all. 

Instead, he just reached out, grabbed Chu’s wrist, and pulled her hand the rest of the way onto the animal. Its fur was smooth and deceptively thick. Its body had the soft fur of a mountain lion rather than the wiry fur of a goat. Preoccupied as it was with the hay, it really didn’t care about being patted or not and barely reacted to Chu’s touch.

[color=06E8DE]‘Shoulders are safe… I think,’[/color] he told her. Again, even for his other half, livestock wasn’t really his area of expertise. “What’s left?” he asked, glancing around. “Need help?” Maybe if he helped her with the chores she’d volunteered for she would be too busy to start prying. Even if he wasn’t trying to bottle himself up emotionally… Speaking was a pain in the ass for him.

Chu let out a squeak of surprise, but she let Weiyuan guide her hand onto the lion goat. Cautious and slow, she ran her hand along its back. It was surprising just how [i]soft[/i] it was- almost like a house cat, she thought. It didn’t react, but she lifted her hand up after a few moments all the same, careful not to disturb it. She stepped away and turned back to Weiyuan, sheepish. 

[color=firebrick]“I was just finishing shoveling the hay, but I was gonna clean out the shed in a minute.”[/color] Chu gestured to an area further into the paddock, where there was a small garden shed. It was dusty and looked little used. [color=firebrick]“It’s a mess in there, apparently. Dunno. Was gonna feed the goats dinner next and then probably go back to the inn.”[/color] She looked Weiyuan over, and shrugged. [color=firebrick]“I could use some help, but only if you want to. I’m only doing this because I want to, so you wouldn’t be getting paid or anything.”[/color]

Weiyuan didn’t answer right away. He honestly couldn’t say he wanted to do any of that. However, it would feel a little callous to say no. And shouldn’t he be making nice? What was the other option? Ignore them all? He didn’t have anyone else. He could separate from them, leave some of the bad memories behind, but then what? He didn’t know. Not the faintest clue. 

He was made to deal with crises. This was just… life now.

No, there wasn’t an option. He was made to deal with crises. Sooner or later his other half would take over again and someone needed to be around to take care of him. He needed to stick with the group he knew. At least for now they seemed to accept him.

He felt a little guilty overthinking it so much, as if reducing Chu Hua to some bitter pill he was forcing himself to swallow for his own good. He didn’t resent her, or dislike her, he just didn’t always enjoy what he thought about when she was around, but that wasn’t even her fault.

[color=06E8DE]‘Um…’[/color] He forced his lips to move, lest the silence grow any more deafening. [color=06E8DE]‘Sure. I’ll help.’[/color] With him helping, it would go faster. He at least already had a modicum of knowledge, though there wasn’t much to know when it came to cleaning up after animals, and he wasn’t as timid around the lion goats so he was able to keep them out of their way if they ever wandered too much.

When the work was over, he found a place to sit down. He wasn’t remotely out of shape, but he wasn’t on Chu Hua’s level either. Trying to keep pace with her was hell. Freaking athletes.

The exhaustion left him uneasy. He wanted to just shut his eyes for a moment, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to relax. He used to know what to expect when he closed his eyes, but not now. Now something as simple of a nap felt like a big unknown.

Though Chu was indeed bigger and stronger than Weiyuan, he was still a big help. Though she knew the lion goats were harmless, she couldn’t seem to get over her fear of them. Emptying and cleaning out the shed was easy enough for them both- Chu would pick up the heavier things and decide if they were worth anything, while she left Weiyuan with the junk- but feeding the lion goats was harder. They kept jumping on her legs, pulling at her pants with their fanged teeth. Weiyuan, luckily, kept them out of the way, and they managed to finish their self-appointed chores before the sun went down.

At the end of it, Chu plopped next to Weiyuan on the fence with a sigh- the wood audibly creaking with her weight. She made a face. 

[color=firebrick]“Thanks for helping me out. I appreciate it.”[/color] She stretched her legs out into the dirt beneath them, feeling her muscles lengthen and tighten. There was a long silence where Chu said nothing. She didn’t really know how to talk to this kid. [color=firebrick]“...Say. Wanna go back to the inn and I’ll buy you some beer or something? I mean, it won’t be [i]good[/i] beer, but it’s better than being sober. Yeah?”[/color]

Weiyuan raised an eyebrow at the thought of drinking. He never had before. He was fairly certain his other half hadn’t either. Would he look lame if he said he was too young? Did that even matter in this kind of situation? Still, as funny as it would be for his other half to wake up with a mysterious hangover, that seemed a little too mean and self-defeating.

[color=06E8DE]‘I don’t think he’d like it if I did that,’[/color] he said before he’d fully thought things through. He froze, realizing he’d just said something that made no sense. He could only do his best to make himself relax and hope she didn’t ask questions.

Chu was briefly confused. [color=firebrick]“Do you mean Jin?”[/color] she asked, flummoxed. [color=firebrick]“I don’t think he’d care. Hell, he’d probably get wasted with us.”[/color] She punched Wei in the arm, light and joking, before adding, [color=firebrick]“Don’t stress yourself out over what other people think, kid. It’s a… well, take it from me. It’s a road to fucking disaster.”[/color]

She stared off into the distance for a moment, her gaze darkening, before she returned her eyes to Weiyuan. [color=firebrick]“So. You up for it?”[/color]

He grimaced. She’d given him a way out, but it wasn’t a good one. Ideally he’d have to continue dealing with Jin, so lying and putting words in the man’s mouth wasn’t a good way to maintain that already tenuous relationship.

[color=06E8DE]‘No… not him…’[/color] Only one other person in the world knew about him, and he couldn’t really say he was in the mood for that to change. It had to, though, didn’t it? Sooner or later he’d stop waking up and then his other half would have to deal with all this, minus knowing who all these people he had to rely on even were. Someone needed to be in the know. Someone had to be ready to ease him into it.

It seemed Chu had just unwittingly volunteered. 

[color=06E8DE]‘It’s a really long story,’[/color] he told her. [color=06E8DE]‘If I tell you, you’re gonna be on the hook for a lot of drama.’[/color] He supposed it was only fair to give [i]her[/i] a way out. [color=06E8DE]‘But… I could use the help if you’ll listen.’[/color] He let out a small cough, his throat already beginning to complain about all the talking.

Chu stared at him for a moment, expecting him to fess up… before she realized he expected [i]her[/i] to say something. She shifted on the fence posts, and lifted a sweaty hand to brush her hair out of her sweaty face. Whatever he had to say couldn’t be bad, or shocking. After everything they’d been through… Chu struggled to think of what it could be. Unless…

[color=firebrick]“Whatever you’re about to say,”[/color] she started, cautious, and rested a hand on his arm, [color=firebrick]“it’s okay with me. Promise. Listen… I did this with my parents. Coming out is hard. But I’m here to listen if you need it.”[/color] Chu smiled, sure she was being helpful.

Weiyuan had to pause for a moment. On the bright side, taking the time to process what the fuck Chu had just said gave his throat a little break. On the other hand… 

[color=06E8DE]'That’s… not…'[/color] He stared dumbfounded at the woman. Of course he was well aware, against his will just like almost everything he knew about her, that Chu was married to a woman. Ah, no, that made sense. Of course she’d assume he would come to her with something like that. To think that was probably normal compared to what he was about to say. He actually chuckled a little, cracking an actual smile for the first time in… forever.

[color=06E8DE]‘Hold on.’[/color] He said, before reaching up and running his fingers through his hair, feeling around until he found something. He tilted his head a little, revealing a spot where the hair was a little thinner. Parting it revealed a nasty looking scar, with other smaller ones nearby if she looked carefully enough. [color=06E8DE]‘When I was younger, I got caught bending. Instead of reporting me, they decided to try and beat me to death on the spot. Lucky for me, I guess they didn’t have it in them to pull it off.’[/color] He dropped his arms back down before continuing.

[color=06E8DE]‘I survived, obviously… and [i]I[/i] was born.’[/color] He paused, nerves creeping in. Actually going through with explaining this was one thing. Being believed was another. [color=06E8DE]‘I, err, he?’[/color] He cleared his throat, feeling it start to ache. [color=06E8DE]‘Uhh… th-the point isI guess it was traumatic enough that I ended up with split personalities. I’m not the main one. Sooner or later the other me is gonna wake up and not know what’s going on.’[/color] 

[color=firebrick]“Oh.”[/color] Chu was wrong. It turned out some things [i]could[/i] still shock her. Chu sat there for a few moments, contemplating. She had heard of split personalities in movies and stuff… but she doubted that Weiyuan’s second self was a serial killer or a secret evil bender. Maybe instead, his was just a scared teenage boy. 

Chu, though, immediately believed him. It took her a moment to decide she understood, but she believed him. His “second self”, whoever that was, the main one, would wake up at some point… and be thrown back into all of this absolute fucking bullshit. She felt pity for him. Her reluctant smile turned down. She didn’t understand [i]why[/i] a parent would do that to their child. Her mother had protected her. Of course, she wouldn’t tell him that.

[color=firebrick]“So, you’re telling me that you have two selves. One’s you, and one’s… well… a different you? And that he’s going to come back, and not know why we’re in the desert, or who I am, or that your friend is gone?”[/color] Chu voiced her concerns out loud, and then nodded to herself. [color=firebrick]“... Okay.”[/color]

[color=06E8DE]‘Pretty much.’[/color]  She seemed to have a good enough understanding of his situation. [color=06E8DE]‘Usually I only show up when he’s in trouble.’[/color] He went quiet for a bit. [color=06E8DE]‘I lied a little. He’s the one into animals. I just had to cover for him a few times. I guess over time we ended up pretty different. He’s soft. Can’t fight worth a damn. Oh. The big one. He can’t talk at all. Don’t worry, he had good handwriting. Kinda weird mine is w-”[/color] He suddenly broke into a coughing fit, realizing how much [i]he[/i] had been talking. He slid off the fence, not wanting to fall if he lost his balance. [color=06E8DE]‘You know what,’[/color] he rasped. [color=06E8DE]‘He can tell you about himself if he wants.’[/color] He sat down at the base of the fence, a week’s worth of exhaustion seeming to crash down on him all at once.

He dug into his pocket, pulling out a battered notepad and writing something down. He then ripped off the page and held it  up to Chu. [color=06E8DE]‘Give him this. He’ll trust you easier if you have it.’[/color] If she opened it, it would just be a hastily scrawled record of the last day or so’s events, but at the bottom it read: [i]Yes, it’s really her, sorry. She’s not so bad.[/i]

Chu scrambled off the fence when Weiyuan started to fall. [color=firebrick] “Hey, kid, kid, don’t pass out on me now.”’[/color] She squatted down next to him… but he seemed to be just fine. Chu looked concerned, but she didn’t touch him, or try to pick him up. She took the piece of paper when offered, confused, turning it over. Was this him… telling her he was about to change? She couldn’t quite read it. 

[color=06E8DE]‘One thing… we do have in common… We both wish we knew less about you.’[/color] Perhaps it was just the fact that the burden had finally been shared, but he finally felt OK letting his eyes shut.

Despite her concern, Chu found herself laughing, out loud, as Weiyuan closed his eyes. [color=firebrick]“You and me both,”[/color] she whispered.

As time passed, it seemed he really had fallen asleep. However, before long the sun shifted in the sky to just the right angle to shine into his eyes. He squirmed, throwing an arm up before waking up again. It was immediately apparent that something wasn’t quite right. He looked confused. Then panicked.

He scrambled to his feet, looking around only to freeze when his gaze passed over Chu. She was the one familiar thing around, and yet that somehow made the least amount of sense. He could only point at her in utter bewilderment, thinking that it must just be someone who looked like her.

And yet the longer he looked, the more it confirmed he was for some reason standing next to his mentor’s number one idol.

[/hider]


[color=888888][sub][sub][u][b][color=f1c231]KillamriX08   [/color][/b][/u][/sub][/sub]

Weiyuan honestly had no idea what he was doing there. He had no idea why they were letting him tag along. It was plenty clear by now how useless he was in a fight.

Or at least this was a line of thought that kept repeating. Both had easy answers. He was staying with the only people he knew. They allowed it because they were aware his other half could pick up his slack if things got dangerous. If anything, he was under the impression that his other half might have actually been one of the most experienced benders in their group, though most of them had various other skills that tended to be far more useful minute to minute.

Once the coast was determined to be clear, he slowly trailed behind the rest of the group over to the wreck. Seeing the huge holes punched in it left him feeling uneasy, more so than was normal. Something must have happened with his other half. Occasionally this happened. If one of them experienced something that left a strong impact, the other might pick up on it if they came across the right trigger. Specific memories never came with these feelings, so he could only shudder and wonder why [i]this[/i] was causing the phenomenon. 

He had a feeling he didn't want to know the answer.

The woman from yesterday suddenly approached him, offering him water and asking his name. He didn't answer. He glanced at the others, but they were busy discussing something they'd seen. He'd only glimpsed her from a distance before, so why-?

Oh, right, he'd switched. His other half must have interacted with her, but... not enough to introduce themselves to each other?

He quickly fished around inside his coat and pulled out a notepad. Brand new, though still a little worse for wear, as part of the "reparations" the group had received. He furrowed his brow. It was annoying not having anyone he could communicate with normally, so he might as well prepare for the future while he was at it. He quickly wrote his name down directly onto the cover and held it up for her to see.

[i][center][h3]WEIYUAN[/h3][/center][/i]

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