Drops in a Bucket

Addison Carter|20|Heathervale Hi, I'm Addison. Novice Waterbender looking for some guidance. A Swimmer and Dancer just moving with the current.

[waterdrops-and-dancingwaves]

A Year Changes So Much

Addison ran her fingers through her hair and looked over the letter. It wasn’t going to be sent to anyone so she didn’t know why she was taking the time, but it still felt right. So much had happened over the last year she needed to make sense of if. 

So hey, 

Another new year another new me. I know that sometimes people say that and it’s always a lie. I used to say that and it was a lie. But now I don’t know. It’s been a year since I left Clearbrook and came back home to deal with the mess I created. I didn’t really think about what my actions did and the consequences they would have back when I let the cat out of the bag. 

Blurting out you’re a waterbender than just up and leaving was not smart. 

I didn’t think that saying that would cause my mom and step-dad to separate for the first half of 2015. See after I dropped the fact I was a waterbender my mom felt the need to tell the truth too. For 6 moths my mom lost yet another person she loved and it was my fault. Paige and Isaac didn’t see their father and it was all my fault. I had to fix it.

Honestly it took me 6 month to get them talking again but things are back to normal now. Or as normal as things can be while the twins are learning to control and use their abilities. Because now that Warren knows, well things are better. Even mom thinks so. I still feel guilty for causing everyone pain but I’m happy at where things ended up. 

I didn’t go back to Clearbrook. 

Honestly maybe I should have but I just felt like my time there was over....It got me to where I needed to be. It showed me who I was and who I needed to be. I never did get to say a proper goodbye though.

But I can now say with confidence that I am a true waterbender. I still have a lot to learn but I don’t struggle anymore. Once I fixed things with Warren, and he knew it was like everything clicked. I found a teacher in London and joined a small group of benders and now I teach younger kids. It’s.....well it’s amazing. 

Another hiccup about last year was that I finally admitted I was Bi. Honestly I had worked it up so much in my head that when I actually told mom and Warren they took it fine. I guess after knowing about the supernatural a queer daughter is no so big.  

I’ve also finished my Literature degree but I don’t use it anymore. School was never really my thing, way too much energy. I’m still competing but I’m also teaching  full time and I know now that it’s what I want to do with my life. 

Thinking that she was just going to end it there Addison just couldn’t. Something was missing. Picking up her pen she wrote a few more line. 

I guess what last year showed me is that I’m happy. Something that I wasn’t really before. I do have some regrets, Lorelei may be the biggest one, But that’s life right? New Year and you gotta move on. 

I can’t wait to see what 2016 brings. 

~ Addi 

Addison put the pen down and smiled.

[costapandax]

[daddareo]

[sparklypolarbear]

Ying Yang | Avatar the last Airbender.

[lorelei-pearson]

Before even seeing Addison, she could identify her best friend based on smell. It was a skill Lorelei had been working on, and the still air made it a bit easier. There were no other smells interfering. A smile grew on her lips. “Very magical.” She invited the waterbender to sit beside her. “How was your holiday, Addi?” She excitedly wrapped her friend in a hug as soon as she was beside her. “I missed you!”

[waterdrops-and-dancingwaves]

Seeing her friend offer her a seat beside her Addison pulled her coat down as far as it would go and she sat down beside Lori. Retuning the hug with affection Addison smiled. "It was good, very restful and full of pleasure reading. How about yours? I missed you too! I'm glad your back." 

[waterdrops-and-dancingwaves]

"So you’re from Canada originally?" Jamie inquired, curiously. "Is it true that people in Canada are really nice? Because I’ve heard silly stereotypes like that before." Every country had its own stereotypes, which they found amusing if not taken seriously. But otherwise, they were obnoxious. "You’re a waterbender though, aren’t you? You could always surf across the lake or something," they shrugged, not exactly sure if waterbenders could bend ice. 

Addison nodded. "Yep, I'm Canadian. Nope not all of us are nice, just like any other country. However I don't do much to help brake that stereotype though seeing that I am in Heathervale which is the house known for their niceness." She had never really thought about it before but wow she really was a stereotype. "Oh I am. But surfing is only fun in the summer because if you fall in you won't catch hypothermia. I'm just not strong enough to freeze the whole lake. Living in Canada you learn that unless you know that a lake is really frozen you don't go out on it." 

[waterdrops-and-dancingwaves]

Ghosts and Mothers || Addison and Al

[alana-antonova]

Al had no idea what was going on. Her head was spinning. She was running down the hall and one bad thing after another was happening. Al hoped that if she kept running, if she found a way outside the castle, she would be able to outrun anymore trauma. It was as if, lurking behind each door, was a new horror waiting.

The fae nearly ran into another person who was staring up at a ghost. Al paled, truly in shock at the transparent figure floating in the air. And the things that he was saying, in a rattling voice, reached inside of Al and chilled her. And she did not even have any idea whom this being was. It was not her nightmare.

Al’s gaze followed the finger towards its intended target and the blonde felt as if the wind had been knocked from her chest. Her own mother was in a car seat, lying unconscious and bloodied, head limp against a steering wheel. Logic did not kick in once, not once did Al wonder why or even how a wrecked car could fit in the halls of a castle. The woman to her side yelled the exact word that was caught in her throat. Al spared a glance towards the girl, her head automatically turning towards the scream, only to see the stranger begin sprinting towards her mother.

Turning back towards the car, Al was shocked to find that it was not her mother any longer. The car was gone. But, it was another woman, one who bore a startling resemblance to the young lady running down the hall. Al ran after the girl, “I can help!” Al called out. 

[waterdrops-and-dancingwaves]

Addison tried to run to her mother, but no matter how fast she would run she couldn't get any closer to where her mother was tied just a few feet down that hall. She didn't even notice the person who had appeared beside her. 

What she did notice was the flash of silver as she continued running. Pausing she saw a car, one that looked like it had been in a terrible accident. The person in the front seat was slumped over the seat. 

She had no idea where the car had come from, and was momentarily confused because she knew that she had something to do. Just as she thought that, the rattling voice of her father filled the hallway again, "Your mother Addison. You're almost out of time." 

Terror filled her, both from the sound of the disembodied voice and from remembering her mother bound, just a few feat away. She took off again but had only made it a few steps when the person who was also in the hall called out. Stopping in her tracks Addison spun violently around. "What did you say?" 

[waterdrops-and-dancingwaves]

Addison was standing in a hall way which didn't seem to have an end, The dull grey walls and floor stretched on endlessly in either direction. She had been walking for, actually she didn't know how long she had been walking. Taking a deep breath she tried to slow her breathing and her heart. Something about the hall way had caused her adrenalin to spike. 

"Addison," she heard a voice whisper behind her. Turning around Addison had to hold back a scram when she saw who had called her. Floating agains the grey wall was her father. But it wasn't. He was pale, and transparent and floating a few inches above the ground...a ghost. 

"You didn't save me," the bone rattling voice said. Addison tired to open her mouth to reply but her tongue felt like lead. "Can you save your mother?" The apparition asked and pointed behind her. Whipping around Addison saw her mother down the other end of the hallway kneeling with her hands behind her back and a gag over her mouth. 

"MOM!" She screamed and took off down the hall. Her dad was right, she couldn't save him, but she needed to save her mom. She was all Addison had left.

[isaac-thayer]

Isaac slowly let the fire fade away as he looked down at Addison. “Really, beautiful?” he called down to her with a grin. “I don’t think it’d be that bad. Though we’d be highly susceptible to the Florence Nightingale effect, don’t you think? With those eyes, I don’t think I’d be able to resist.”

[waterdrops-and-dancingwaves]

"Ok two thing, one, Florence Nightingale syndrome is the care giving falling in love with the patient, not the other way around. So my eyes play no part. Two, wouldn't that have already happened when I saved you in the fire, Mr. Dragon." Addison was not the best at flirting, but the longer she new Isaac, and the longer she as around his naturally flirtatious attitude the more comfortable she felt. 

[histrigger]

"— Oh, no, don’t worry about it." Isadora is quick to dismiss the woman’s apology — Isadora doesn’t own the rights to the table, after all — but she hesitates, closing her book and watching the woman struggle for a few more seconds before speaking up again. The phone is still ringing from the depths of her purse, it would seem, so now is probably not the best time, but she feels like she ought to offer some sort of help, if only to be polite. She’s not sure what help she could give unless the woman’s okay with a stranger rooting through her purse, though. "Can I do anything to help?"

[waterdrops-and-dancingwaves]

Feeling relived when the other women didn't tell her to move away, Addison continued to frantically search for her phone. Just has her hand curled around her cell it stopped ringing and the girl at the table spoke. Pulling the now silent device out of her bag, Addison smiled at the other woman. "I don't think so, I appreciate the offer though." Looking down at her phone she wrinkled her nose. "Shoot they didn't leave a message. I guess if it's important they will call back." She was about to bid the woman goodbye but looked up and realized she couldn't catch a break. "And now all the tables are taken."

[jamie-cheung]

"I took English in elementary school, and continued all throughout. I have pretty clear grasp on it. But slang words, I think they are, usually confuse me." They explained, in a very straightforward manner. As was the nature of Ascendors. "That’s the spirit," Jamie smiled. "Have any big plans for celebrating the start of 2015?"

[waterdrops-and-dancingwaves]

"Well that answers that question then. Yeah slang is usually the most difficult to get. When I was younger I had a small grasp of French, because it's taught in Canadian schools. I can't speak or read it anymore though because I haven't practiced." Addison smiled and shrugged. "Nothing too exciting. I kinda want to go skating, but I don't think the lake is frozen enough." 

[isaac-thayer]

Isaac rolled his neck and his shoulders a bit as he looked around the roof of the Huntsman, where he was standing near the edge.. “Ladies and gents!”  he shouted to the people walking by. “Might want to take some cover! You see…someone called on…The Dragon!”

[waterdrops-and-dancingwaves]

Addison shook her head at Isaac's display, smiling slightly. She had to admit it was a pretty impressive sight and she wasn't exactly one to find fire all that appealing. "You may want to watch it there Isaac. I really don't feel like playing emergency fire fighter if something catches light." It was mostly said as a joke, because Addison was sure he knew how to control the flames he produced.  

[histrigger]

It’s a nice morning to drink a cup of a tea at The Brew and read a few pages into this week’s book — granted, it’s colder than Isadora would like, but she’s bundled up fairly warm, so she almost can’t even tell (apart from the way the cold air had bitten at her nose and cheeks on the way over from her tiny apartment). Isadora hasn’t been sitting down for very long when her order comes along, chamomile tea and a scone, and by then she’s already tugging her book out of her bag. She’s flipping through the pages, trying to remember where she last left off, when the chair across from her scrapes against the floor, signalling someone else’s presence.

[waterdrops-and-dancingwaves]

Standing in line at The Brew Addison took the cup of hot chocolate the barista offered her and swapped it for the correct change for the beverage. She stepped out of the line and turned to find an empty seat in the usually busy caffe. Hearing a ring from insider her bag Addison stuck her hand inside to try and find her phone. After a few seconds of blind groping she sighed and knew there was know way she would find it like this. Stopping at the nearest table she set her hot chocolate down on the table and her bag on the chair. "I'm sorry," she apologized to the person who was already at the table. "I can't seem to find my phone." 

[lorelei-pearson]

CLEARBROOK ACADEMY: HEATHERVALE MOODBOARD

"Heathervale is dedicated to those who are peaceful, tolerant, and hard working."

[waterdrops-and-dancingwaves]

jamie-cheung:

Jamie laughed at her enthusiasm. “It’s definitely interesting meeting people here for me too, especially since I spent the first sixteen years of my life completely surrounded by Buddhists. When I first moved, I experienced so much culture shock.” However, despite the big change, they were thankful. They were now so much more knowledgeable about people coming from every way of life and more driven to succeed. “That’s nice of you, thank you Addison. Happy New Year to you, one day in advance.”

"I bet you did. I can't even imagine how strange that would be. Just curious, did you know English when you moved for was that another thing you had to learn? Because it sounds like your pretty good at it." She smiled again. "No problem. And thank you right back Jaime. I'm positive that this year will come with changes too. Not sure if they will be all positive though, but I'll continue to be an optimist."

[jamie-cheung]

"Ah, yes, Christmas, another interesting holiday. I didn’t learn about that one until I was ten. I live in a community of Buddhists, so we don’t celebrate that holiday." But Jamie nodded at the information. Through the past few years, they slowly became more educated in Western Holidays such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St. Patricks’ Day, and so on. They all fascinated the airbender. "Yes, we’re celebrating it on the 19th of February."

[waterdrops-and-dancingwaves]

"Wow, Buddhists. I am meeting people from so many different places here, it's actually pretty amazing." It was true Clearbrook was not only opening her eyes to the different supernatural cultures, but it was showing her differences in human ones as well. "Good to know. I'm not really good with dates but I will try and remember so I can wish you a Happy New Year then," she said with a smile. 

[hadesaidoneus-god]

Theo hummed a tune as he grabbed the hand of the nearest female, spinning them toward him in a graceful dance. He’d clearly had a few to drink, but he was still standing which was a feat of its own. 

[waterdrops-and-dancingwaves]

Addison couldn't help but laugh when Theo grabbed her hand and spun her towards him. Luckily she wasn't as drunk as he seemed to be and prevented the both from loosing their balance. Moving with her new partner Addison smiled, "hello there."