text; un: fireprince

[rediscovering]

1. what do you know about job interviews?
i didnt know you have to interview to get jobs. even if it's just at a restaurant!! regardless of whether the job itself involves talking to people at all!!? stupid

[ Guess who's been bombing interviews as a part-time busboy all over town. And who's only bothering to ask about proper employment beyond random quests, um, now, after several months of just getting by...? He must be getting tired of stealing hotchips from the cornerstore. ]

2. what do you know about going to school as a full-time student here?
i heard you can make a living like this
insight about going to school in other worlds could be useful too. i was homeschooled....

[ But at least he's thinking in terms of solutions. ]

Comments

[corpsewarblade]

Oh. Yeah that is a little different. It sounds like you were able to get by, though. Despite having to hide.

Thank you
I try my best and I know I disappoint her a lot but I want to do this right.

[At the very least that admission meant she was impersonating a woman, which might lend evidence to his theory.]

Actually yes. I understand.
When I fight and the battle gets intense enough, it's like that. I stop thinking and my body starts to move more efficiently. Faster. I can react to what's happening without having to consciously think. I can't really explain it well but it. It feels like that. A bit. Maybe?

[Her 'Battle Trance'...it didn't feel as affective in Avalon as it did back home, but it had been an important ability to hone on the battleground.]

Um. I'll give it a try.

...Thank you too. For helping me out. And listening.

[rediscovering]

yeah we got by
we worked in a little teashop at first
then my uncle's expertise was recognized by some high-standing officials who visited, and they offered to fund him opening his own business
so after that we moved to the upper ring and had a nicer apartment i guess..
he ran a successful teashop called the jasmine dragon
and i worked alongside him in the shops as a busboy and sometimes a waiter.. i wasnt great at being a waiter.... i preferred to clean..
but that was my whole life for many months.
no one knew who we really were
we were just normal people
i went by lee and he went by mushi....
and that was it.

living here.. it's been like that again. except i'm myself.
like i told you, there's one important thing i'm hiding from most people, but some people know. and that helps.
but even for the people who don't.... maybe especially with those people, because they don't know this thing about me..
i can just be myself. just a normal person.
not lee. not anyone in particular. no one important. just me. whoever that is.
so it's similar to my time ba sing se.. but better. more honest.

if you have someone you trust to be yourself around, i think that's important. if i didn't have uncle by my side who knew the truth, whom i could talk to plainly, i don't think i would've "got by" undercover in the earth kingdom.
i tried to be on my own once, still as a fugitive, still posing as a refugee, before we moved to the city. we had been beggars living in the forest. i couldn't stand it. so i left uncle. i thought there was nothing more i could learn from him, that it was time for me to set out on my own.... but in reality i was just wandering the countryside alone on an ostrich-horse with no food or money. it was hard. i thought being alone would be better for me, for my sense of self, for my strength. it wasn't.
you can't carry your own identity alone. you need people who know you around to be able to know yourself.
im sure youre doing your mission well, but.. that's my advice you didn't ask for. ha.

a couple truthkeepers and daily meditation.

[corpsewarblade]

It sounds like you two made a name for yourselves under your fake identities. Impressive.

'Whoever that is'. That's hard to figure out. But I'm glad you're finding it here and now. I wonder if I'm losing sight of whoever 'I' am and whether that's a bad thing.]

[She...kinda wanted to ask what on earth an ostrich-horse was, but now wasn't really the time for that.]

You were able to reconsile with your uncle in the end?

I have allies who know. There's one place in Avalon where I can be mostly myself. I might practice there.

I appreciate the advice...I don't know how much I can offer that's useful to you though.