Take These Chains From My Heart [Closed]

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

Sofia didn't want to venture outside of her room. She'd stayed inside and cried on and off for days but she had more than just herself to worry about. Spot, the dog she and Laurie had adopted, needed exercise so Sofia brought him to Hydroponics. After wandering aimlessly for a bit she sat down under a tree and watched as the purple and green dog ran around.

You didn't have to be an expert to see that Sofia's normal cheer was gone.

[[OOC: This is closed to Aang but if you really want your character to run into a depressed Sofia you can poke me then comment.]]

Comments

bendytimed to after she talks to Aang!

[livestoannoy]

Marco had decided that it was about time he acquired something from hydroponics - who knows when he might need a morph that could blend in better with the 'native' animals? - but so far the only thing he'd managed to catch was a tiny Stilt Glider. Not exactly the most impressive of morphs, but it looks like it'd be good for stealth.

But not long after he'd acquired the glider and let it go, he ended up running into Sofia. Or more precisely, her dog, who had apparently decided that it needed to run around Marco's feet.

"Okay, you are one weird looking dog," Marco remarked, reaching down to try and get the dog to stop running around by scratching it behind the ears.

Re: bendytimed to after she talks to Aang!

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

Sofia stood and crossed her arms. She recognized that voice. "His name is Spot." Fitting given the green spots he had on his fur.

[livestoannoy]

"Creative," Marco snorted. 'Spot' had finally stopped his mad dash, though this was possibly only because of the ear-scratch he was getting. Marco crouched down, looking the dog in the face. "No common names for you, I can see."

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

Sofia could have said that her friend had named the dog, but that would be implying that Laurie wasn't creative.

"It's better than Woodstock."

[livestoannoy]

For a fraction of a second, Marco froze. What the hell?! How did she know that was him? He'd been careful - very careful - to demorph when she couldn't have seen him. Just slightly, his eyes narrowed.

"Woodstock?" he repeated, playing dumb for now. He needed to know more about what Sofia was thinking before he could start trying to get into damage control.

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

"Woodstock." Sofia smirked. "Is that your real name or were you just lying to me?"

[livestoannoy]

Dammit. How the hell had she seen him demorph?! He'd been inside a building, and he'd had freaking hawk eyes. How could he have missed her?

"And did you just decide to follow me for kicks?" he said coldly.

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

"I didn't follow you I overheard you." Her pleasant expression didn't change. "What you have is a gift. I do not understand why you would hide your power."

[livestoannoy]

Marco tried to think back - what conversation had she been listening to?! The only one he could think of that would clue her in was when he was talking to Ax...

...she'd been listening to him at Cassie's house?!

"Not all of us would like to announce our abilities to the entire ship," Marco snapped. He looked at her suspiciously. "And how the hell could you overhear me? You definitely weren't anywhere nearby."

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

Her brows furrowed and that response. After all they didn't have mutant death squads on the ship.

"I manipulate the wind, remember? It carries your words to me. And why do you not want anyone to know? There has not been any danger here to people with powers." Not more than everyone else anyway.

[livestoannoy]

"Right, and it's not like anyone would ever attack the rest of the crew," he said sarcastically. "Or that Stacy would pick up some nutjob. That never happens. We're just all one big happy family!"

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

Sofia crossed her arms again. "They have been a threat to everyone. If one of Stryker's men or some other anti mutant bigot were here then I would understand- I would not agree but I would understand- why you would hide your powers. But we all have a duty to protect each other. How can you offer the best of your abilities if your power is a secret?"

[livestoannoy]

For a moment, Marco paused - she's from Marvel? - before focusing back on the conversation. "Well guess what? Some abilities are less useful if everyone knows about them. And you don't seriously think that yours is the only world that people's enemies might show up from, do you?"

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

"No, but other than the yeerks there's no-" She blinked. "...You're from that world?"

[livestoannoy]

"Shut up!" Marco hissed, frantically trying to think back and figure out how the hell he'd managed to give so much away.

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

Sofia swept her hand in the air and the winds swirled around them so no one else could hear. "But they helped us when Shiva attacked, didn't they? If they our enemies they would have played their card by now."

[jesushasayak.livejournal.com]

There was the sound of rustling leaves and branches and then Aang suddenly flopped into view, dangling upside down from a branch, his robes nearly flopping over his face.

"Why are you so sad? I thought you were supposed to be cheering me up. Not that I can't cheer you up," he added quickly, "but I thought that meant you were feeling happy right now."

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

"I- I was." But not now. Not after...

Sofia pressed a hand to her face to hide the way her face contorted. "I don't know why I keep doing this to myself." Her voice broke.

[jesushasayak.livejournal.com]

Aang swung down off the branch and landed lightly on his feet, then took a seat next to her, holding out his hand to her puppy.

"What happened?" he asked with concern.

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

Spot licked Aang's hand and tried to curl up around him.

Sofia still hid her face. "I don't know how to explain." She took a few moments to collect her thoughts. "There- there is this boy I really liked- loved- before everything happened. Before Stacy took me. Before I lost my powers. Before my friends died. And it ended badly but on this ship we-" She sighed. "We got drunk and one thing led to another." And Aang could figure that out on his own. "After, I told him that I wanted a relationship or none at all. He said he loved me but he didn't want one. I was hurt but I moved on- at least I thought I did. Later on we ran into each other after my friend was repodded and he kissed me. I stopped but he asked me if I would hang out with him some time. I thought we could be friends." She took a deep breath and steadied herself. "But then Kara come back and he slept with her or- or made out or something. I don't know which. Probably slept with. And- Aang she broke my rib and it was because of him. And he knows. He knows what she did and he still..." She wiped the tears from her face.

[jesushasayak.livejournal.com]

"So it's not that he moved on to someone else, it's that it's someone else who hurt you," Aang discerned from that, listening carefully. "Someone that, even if he was just a friend and there weren't all those unresolved feelings there, that you thought your friend would be mad at for hurting you."

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

"Yes!" Sofia finally looked at Aang. Although she brushed the tears away her face was still wet and her eyes were red. "That's it. That's it exactly."

[jesushasayak.livejournal.com]

"I know this is hard to think about, but the reason he might still like her is because sometimes people who do bad things aren't always entirely bad people. When you're the person hurt, that's hard to accept sometimes," Aang said slowly.

"But you have a right to have those feelings, too, of anger and sadness. And it's okay to feel them--feeling them is the only way to eventually let them go and have peace. The thing you really need to think about is if it was really a betrayal. Even if your feelings are real, and okay to have, sometimes other people's feelings are real and okay to have, too, like the feelings of liking her that he has. It hurts to think about, but it's sometimes true."

[ayasofia.livejournal.com]

Sofia was seized by a sudden burst of energy. She sat up straighter and practically spat out her words. "Julian doesn't care! I told him he was to blame for this. That he was only leading both of us on. he refused to even consider it! He does not understand anything. All he does is to think about his own wants and needs. He doesn't care about Kara. He doesn't care about anyone but himself!"

[jesushasayak.livejournal.com]

Aang held up his hands placatingly.

"Or there is that. It could be that. Yep."