mixingbowl | Can't close my eyes, I'm wide awake

Can't close my eyes, I'm wide awake

[When Korra walks into the Spirit Portal, her immediate thought is, it shouldn't feel like this. There's an intense sort of heat that almost feels like it's burning right through her, though she can see that her skin remains unmarked. Korra barely has time to wonder what's going on before there's an odd snap of pressure that knocks her out.

(Unknown to her, a burst of light had lit up the Briggs mountains around her when she arrived, alerting anyone in the area.)

The world is white around her when she comes to, the heat from before replaced by the familiar cold of a snow storm. Korra staggers to her feet, hugging her arms around herself as she examines her new surroundings. This...definitely isn't the Spirit World. Korra knows she's going to have to find out why the portal had acted so weirdly, but first: finding out where she is is the priority.]

Hello? Is anyone around here?

[Korra calls out, not really expecting a reply.]

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[The objections that Ed had to him going out alone are still ringing in Al's ears as he trudges through the high snow; but the fact remains, he is the only one for whom the cold holds no danger. He can keep walking for days without the need for food or sleep, he's the logical person to go for help.

He's pulled from his reverie all of a sudden by a light flaring in the sky. It looks almost akin to the light of an alchemical transmutation circle, but it's not quite right. Maybe it's one of the flares that the military use in emergency situations? Is someone trapped out here?

He changes his course at once. He needs to go and fetch help, that's true, but he can't ignore a possible person in distress. He crests the hill, a mountainous figure of metal and spikes amongst the falling snow, starting in shock when he sees the young woman huddled into herself.]

Hello? Are you hurt?!

[The reply sends a jolt of surprise through her, and her head snaps toward him. She stares. If she didn't know any better, she'd almost believe the portal had left her feeling dazed and confused--there's really no other way to explain the suit of armor coming toward her. Who the heck would wear that in this kind of weather?]

I'm... I'm not hurt, but I'm lost.

[Hoping she isn't just imagining him, Korra steps toward him hesitantly.]

Is there a town or something nearby?

[He's just as surprised to see her out here. She's not wearing a uniform, so she's not one of the military, which means it makes no sense for her to be out here alone.

Lost...?

There's clearly a mystery here. Maybe she's been knocked on the head and that's why she's confused? Either way, she can't stay out here in the snow.]

Yeah, Briggs. [He assumes she's heard of it.] But it's about two days walk from here, so we have a way to go.

[The way her brow furrows at the unfamiliar name gives away just how lost she is.]

I've...never heard of Briggs before. [Korra looks from side to side, taking in the harsh, cold weather and the mountains.] Is it somewhere in the Earth Kingdom?

[Normally, she'd assume anywhere that's snowing like this is in the North or South Pole, but she gets the feeling she isn't in the Water Tribe any longer.]

The... Earth Kingdom?

[He is incapable of looking as confused as she is, but his voice conveys it admirably even without facial movement. He raises a hand to rub at the back of his helmet, gaze pulled towards the great ice fortress that's hidden in the distance.]

Is that in Drachma?

[He has to admit that he knows less about his neighbouring countries than he would like, perhaps she is one of their citizens who has somehow become lost over the border.]

[Confusion and suspicion takes hold of her now, the longer they talk. Korra shakes her head, taking a step away from him. Who hasn't heard of the Earth Kingdom?]

It's one of the four nations. You know...Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, Air Nation, and Water Tribe? I was trying to get to the Spirit World from the southern portal, and I ended up here somehow.

[Part of him says that he should take her back to the military base, Major-General Armstrong would never forgive him for potentially harbouring a dangerous alien. But she looks so vulnerable and lost, Al can't bring himself to do it. Confusion fades to concern, gentle and soft, making his voice all the higher.]

I'm not sure where any of those places are, I'm really sorry. But I'm going to help you, okay? I'll take you with me down to Briggs, and someone there is bound to have maps that can help you find your way home.

[Korra exhales forcefully and she looks him up and down speculatively. Though he's been pleasant so far, a bit of wariness keeps her from agreeing right away. But what choice does she have? She has no idea where she is. Besides, if he attacks her, Korra's more than confident she can at least hold him at bay, armor or not.]

Alright. Some kind of map would be... a huge help. [There's a grudging tint to her agreement, though it's not really him she's frustrated at.] So what's your name? If you're going to be helping me, I should know who you are first.

Of course, my name is Alphonse, but you can just call me Al.

[He shifts a bit closer, the snow crunching loudly under the weight of his armour body. He holds a hand out towards her, offering support.]

What's your name? Will you tell me more about your home as we walk?

[The problems of Amestris are enormous enough to keep him occupied, but he won't pass up the opportunity to learn about somewhere new.]

My name's Korra. [She glances at him from the corner of her eyes, checking to see if he recognizes her name. Her name is fairly well known, after all.]

I was in the South Pole, checking on the spirit portal there before... I don't know. Something happened and I got knocked out for a second. When I woke up, I was here.

[And now she would know for sure--even if there is someone else named Korra around, linking herself to the spirits like this definitely gives her away as the Avatar.]

[Al hesitates for a moment, caught short by her mentioning the portal again. Could it be the same place as the Gate of Truth? Mentioning going through, and then ending up somewhere different...]

You went through it?

[His words are guarded, but tense.]

[It's not the reaction she's expecting, and now there's a puzzled quality to her look.]

...yeah, of course I did. I left those portals open for a reason. [Korra pauses.] Is it the spirits that bother you?

[Given the way the people of Republic City had reacted to the spirit vines...it would explain why Al's suddenly looking so tense.]

What do you mean, you left them open?!

[He's horrified. He feels sick to the stomach that he doesn't have. She said portals, plural... How could she talk so casually about opening that kind of atrocity even once, let alone multiple times?

He's trying not to fly off the handle. He's not Ed, the rational part of him can't judge her until he's 100% sure, but he's never heard anything else referred to as a portal like that.]

[I'll take that as a yes, she thinks. Korra crosses her arms over her chest, automatically defensive. This wouldn't be the first time someone's questioned her judgment when it came to the portals.]

Look, I know they've been closed for a long time, but maybe that's where the problem is! People forgetting how to deal with spirits just means we forget all the important stuff, like Vaatu and Raava's existence.

Being ignorant leaves a huge window for power-hungry jerks to take advantage. [Just like her uncle did. Korra stares at Al, willing him to understand--there have been many nights where she wondered if she'd ruined everything, but she's more certain of her decision now. She says finally: ] Keeping people in the dark isn't the answer.

[This is, quite literally, one of the worst things that he's heard since he and Ed first deciphered Doctor Marcoh's notes. He can only assume by spirits, she means the dead that she is trying to resurrect using these portals.]

No!

[His reply bursts out of him, passionate and strong.]

You're wrong, you're-- How can you have been through a portal and ever think that performing human transmutation again is a good idea?

[He's usually so much better at expressing himself than this, the words that he's saying seem pathetically inadequate, but he's in so much shock that his mind has frozen numb.]

[She reels back, taken aback by the force of his reply and the reply itself. Some of the confusion comes back as she watches him warily.]

What...are you even talking about? What the heck is human transmutation?

[Her being confused is so out of left field, that it stops him dead in his tracks. His anger freezes, not quite disappearing, but being overtaken by confusion of his own for the moment.]

...What do you mean? You can't open a portal without performing human transmutation.

[He's sceptical, but something is very off here.]

[Something's definitely off here.]

I don't know who told you that, but they're wrong. I opened the spirit portals by touching them--only the Avatar can do that.

[There, she'd said it, but now that Korra's putting some of the pieces together, she isn't liking the conclusion she's getting. Neither of them have heard of the locations they've named, and Al hadn't reacted to her name at all earlier... No, she isn't liking this at all.]

[One of them is crazy in this situation, and Al is fairly sure it isn't him. How can she have activated a portal just by touching it? And what are these spirits she keeps talking about?]

Um...

[No, really, what?]

What's an Avatar? What does it have to do with opening a portal?

[That seals it for her. All the anger drains out of her now, leaving her feeling simply worried and dismayed. This is way worse than she'd even thought possible.

Korra bites at her bottom lip, one hand rubbing at her cheek distractedly as she stares at him.]

I... don't think we're talking about the same thing. You really haven't heard of the Avatar?

No.

[He's not like Ed, always following his temper through to the end even when evidence says to curb it, so he feels his own anger fade too. Yet he can't quite make himself fully relax, he feels unsettled just by the mention of the portals. It's so strange that he can feel his heart beating so hard, even when it isn't there.]

You... you don't know what human transmutation is, do you?

Never heard of it. [Korra sighs now, shoulders slumping slightly as the reality of this starts setting in.] And you haven't heard of the Four Nations or the Avatar...

I think I'm... in a different world. I mean, I was supposed to be when I went through the portal, but this isn't where the portal usually takes me.

Another world...

[Al repeats just those two words in an awed kind of whisper. It's strange, but somehow he doesn't immediately dismiss this outright as the ramblings of someone who is ill, or confused. He's seen and read a lot of things that were supposed to be impossible, only to discover them entirely and horrifically possible. Why not other worlds too?

There were Gates of Truth in the portal, why should they only lead to and from Amestris? But if she was used to using them, it had to be a very different process. He raises a hand to his head and rubs at it in shock.]

[He simply stands in silence for seconds. The quiet elongates and stretches between them, but he can't bring himself to break it after those first whispered words.

The enormity of this is crushing. She's actually a traveller from another world... ANOTHER WORLD! No wonder she is lost, confused, and alone out here in the snow.

All of a sudden his awe and shock turn to sympathy. He has so many burning questions, but for now, he needs to get her somewhere safe and protect her.]

[He steps forwards and speaks without thinking, his voice breathy with excitement and the aftermath of this revelation... which might explain why what he says is so monumentally stupid.]

I guess a map won't be much use then, huh?

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