A wizard did it.

[amonfire]

Even if its removal is far and away from a permanent arrangement, you will be disappointed in knowing that I have no intention of either mourning or celebrating the loss of my bloodbending.

There is nothing I look forward to more than learning how to be a little...creative.

Comments

[disfavored]

I bet you'd feel differently if it was permanent.

[amonfire]

Hard as it is to believe some of us manage just fine without it.

[disfavored]

And some of us put a lot of work into our bending and don't want to see that all lost - and would also be nearly defenseless without it as we worked on our bending instead of a different fighting technique.

[amonfire]

Of course fighting is all a supposed man of politics would put stock in.

[disfavored]

It's not about fighting.

It's about being able to defend myself. Specifically, about not needing to rely on anyone to defend me. I have trouble relying on other people, for some reason.

[amonfire]

I'm not some crutch you can just place all your blame for everything wrong in your life.

[disfavored]

Our father holds most of the blame for that one. But I still wish you would have thought of that before robbing me of my self-defense.

Or did you think of it, and just not care enough?

[amonfire]

Who are you, of all people, to speak of self-defense after what you've done as Councilman?

The sad irony is you're the one I regret hurting the most, but we're less deserving of what was given to us.

[abitofawildman]

Living without bending?

[Gasp.]

Perish the thought!

[amonfire]

While touched by your sentiment I should tell you that it was only my bloodbending.

Sorry to say.

[abitofawildman]

Can't walk the walk, huh? Well that's typical.

[amonfire]

You say that as if I use my bending as a crutch in the same way one would a disability...or a complex.

[abitofawildman]

No what you use as a crutch are non-benders. You don't give a toss about the actual discrimination we face, or the challenges we endure.

whoops tl;dr

[amonfire]

You, the son of the late Avatar; you, a commander in the United Forces with no concept of fear or hatred; you, the one with indecisive joke of a councilman for a brother content to idly fret on away from us on his island.

You have less right than I do to associate yourself with the misjudged and downcast. What sort of man born into that life and power hope to get out of using blanket words like we and us. Decry and hate me all you like, and at the end even I knew my methods were wrong but the heart of my cause wasn't.

Don't hold on to your father's coattails so tightly when you try to judge my beliefs with a straight face, you insipid prick.

Mwaahahahaha!

[abitofawildman]

Yes, yes, we all know how militaristic the Air Nomads were. Me cling to my father's coattails? Are you certain you're not just projecting there?

I will never deny that I grew up privileged. Never. But that privilege didn't come without struggle.

No one wanted me in the military. No one. Not the military, not my father. I had to work twice as hard to get to where I am, and three times as hard to keep them from promoting me further. Why?

Because I believe enlightenment can be found via superior firepower. Because I believe that balance must be maintained, and that blood is the currency that pays for it.

You say I don't know what fear and hatred are, but you didn't grow up the son of the Avatar. And you certainly didn't grow up the non-bending son of two of the most powerful benders in the world.

Spirits, what gets me is that your politics are in the right, but your methods...

But hey, perhaps reason is more than we can expect from someone who wouldn't protect his own baby brother.

[disfavored]

...Short of the bloodbending, I don't think my actions as Councilman were incorrect. I needed to be Republic City's savior more than any of them did. It was all I had.

We deserved better than we got. Both of us.

[amonfire]

You carried the burden of a privileged choice. Something your father robbed from everyone he betrayed in what was lauded as one of his greatest accomplishments after the Hundred Year War. You understand blood, and you know what he paid for in the blood of others when he couldn't be bothered to hunt down the one man responsible for all of this and call it an act of mercy.

[amonfire]

Tarrlok.


Grow up.

[disfavored]

You're one to talk. I'd say I grew up more than you ever did.

[amonfire]

For all my lies none of them were for myself. "Short of the bloodbending"? If that proved anything it was that you were on a razors edge well before that came into play.

[abitofawildman]

If you're expecting someone to say that Avatar Aang is blameless in all things, you're talking to the wrong brother.

[amonfire]

I was twenty-three when he died, and make no mistake I mourned his death. He just missed where it counted.

[disfavored]

You have no idea about all the sacrifices I've made. I don't think it was wrong of me to want to have my name attached to something positive for the city.

But now all we will ever be remembered as is "Yakone's sons", so I guess none of it mattered.

[abitofawildman]

My father thought the best of people, even when they clearly did not deserve it. I don't make that mistake. Especially since I'm all too well aware of what non-benders are capable of.

[amonfire]

The first non-bender I knew was the monster people thousands of miles away would still look over their shoulders for.

[amonfire]

A legacy self-orchestrated by your own obsession with becoming a martyr.

[abitofawildman]

That's rough buddy.

[There was no way that story didn't make it from Sokka to Bumi during one of their many excursions, and so now it's Bumi's catch phrase when insincerity is needed.]

[bindsthedead]

You seemed upset when you found what I'd done. But from everything you said earlier... I thought you didn't like that power.

[disfavored]

What else did you expect me to do? You know I had something to prove. Though I suppose you wouldn't understand what it's like to be deemed worthless.

[amonfire]

Waking up shackled like an animal if that's what you meant by 'upset.'

You are right and I won't pretend my choice to use it wasn't my own, but you grow...numb to something like that, after a time.

[amonfire]

Bumi totally drops the microphone and walks off. Only, not really.

[abitofawildman]

[He is, however, smug. Very smug. OH SO SMUG.]

[bindsthedead]

You were in a bedroom, not a cage- stop being dramatic.

Then hopefully this will teach you not to be so numb again.