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I'm glad you think I'm worth listening to and everything, okay. But couldn't I occasionally get to do something besides argue politics with benders who've already decided not to?

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[This isn't Asami but a former equalist from tumblr]

Who's arguing?

Just about everyone I ever get to talk to, these days.

Oh. I wouldn't let them bother you too much. They can't handle another's view point.

It's nice to talk to someone who gets it for a change.

Your welcome. Well, you need to find the right people.

Probably not, no. Once people find out that you have something in common, they'll latch on to that for all they're worth. And when I say in common I don't mean the Same view point, but rather A viewpoint on a given topic.

It's been my experience that people who have kids inevitably end up talking about children, and those who keep animals do the same.

Benders versus Non-Benders? Same deal.

My joy at this news knows no bounds.

You would have preferred a soothing lie?

I'm actually pretty sick of those, thanks. Doesn't mean I'm going to be happy about what the truth is.

Happiness is an illusion.

[He says with an equally unhelpful grin.]

And yet you seem very cheerful about it.

Maybe that's an illusion too.

I'd think you would know that much for sure.

Ahh, but it would hardly be a fish to discover the existence of water.

...what?

[Things Kyoko is not: A philosopher.]

[Bumi just...continues to grin. It lights up his whole face, in fact. Almost sharklike, if one squints.]

It's like this, we are less likely to notice the ubiquitous. Do you often make a habit of noticing the air? Not when the wind is blowing, or when you find yourself running short of it, just on an average day: how much do you notice the very air you breathe.

You don't. Because it's there. A constant, like the water is to a fish. Hence, it would hardly be a fish to discover the existence of water.

[And Tenzin thought he wasn't paying attention during lessons.]

Unless they run out of it. Or it's... blowing on them. [Hey, she's a city girl, okay? She doesn't know all your fancy nature metaphors.]

Exactly my point. If everything is an illusion, then...you'd hardly know it because you'd have no other frame of reference. Or so the Acolytes say.

...but then it wouldn't matter, because nothing isn't... [And now her head hurts.] This is Airbender philosophy, is it? [One more reason we don't need them, as far as she's concerned.]

[His chuckle is barely restrained, which makes it normal person loud.]

A bastardization of Air Acolyte philosophy at best, but yes.

[The distinction is very important to Bumi, for some reason. The Air Nomads are dead, and only time will tell if their resurrection will ever happen.]

Is the real version even more useless?

[He raises a bushy eyebrow.]

Not a fan of education for education's sake, I take it?

I wouldn't know, it's not a luxury I've ever been able to afford. [Was that defensiveness you just heard?] But if it doesn't mean anything, then I'm pretty sure I'm not.

What good's a hammer if you don't know how to use one? Or a phonograph? Or a radio?

Philosophy is really no different.

[Bumi knows your type, kiddo. Year after year the poor and disadvantaged enlist in the United Forces. Sometimes they even make it through Boot Camp with their shoulder chips still intact.

Sometimes.]

[Unfortunately, the ones that enlist in Equalist training get their shoulder chips carefully nurtured.]

Okay. I'll bite. What does deciding that what's real isn't real do, once you know how to use it?

[Yeah...that's what so frustrating to Bumi about the Equalist movement. They have legitimate concerns that get lost among the chips.]

That all depends on what kind of person you are. It's a your mileage may vary sort of scenario.

I have to admit that as a younger man I too rejected philosophy as a worthwhile pursuit. But then...it sort of grew on me. Not unlike a fungus.

...I'm not a big fan of those, either.

Really? Well then you're truly missing out. Not only are they delicious, but there's this particular variety that grows in the Foggy Swamp that puts Cactus Juice to shame.

Which brings us back around to things that aren't real, I suppose.

[She sounds kind of amused now, actually.]

You disbelieve my worldly experience and wisdom? I'm hurt. Truthfully. You cut me to the quick.

[He'd be a whole lot more believable if he weren't fighting a smirk through all of his pouting.]

If cactus juice was involved? Yes.

[No smirk, resisted or otherwise, is visible what with the mask and all. But her voice? Yeah, she's grinning.]

...

That's fair. Though under the right conditions Cactus Juice can elicit a powerful transcendental religious experience.

Or so I've been told. I just think the stuff is great for a laugh.

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