three real life katara

☆

          A GREAT WAY TO WAKE UP ON A SATURDAY MORNING WAS NOT BY A WHISTLE RIGHT NEXT TO YOUR EAR, CAUSING YOU TO JUMP AND FALL OFF YOUR BED. Even though it was the greatest wake up call, it was the one Colleen so graciously gave Evanora, causing her to bang her head harshly on the wooden floor and curse loudly. She looked up to her whitelighter and glared. "What the fuck, Colleen?" she seethed.

Colleen looked unimpressed by her, the whistle she had disappearing into thin air. "It's already nine in the morning and I had to wake up. Slacking isn't a good look on any witch," she chastised the teenager.

"I was trying to sleep in," Evanora rolled her eyes, sitting up and holding her back, which was in pain because of her fall, "You know, since I had to wake up at the ass crack of dawn for school."

"Don't be so dramatic. You don't have to wake up that early," Colleen shook her head, "And it's a good habit to wake up early, especially since lessons begin after lunch."

Feeling as though she had nothing more to say, Colleen went to the leave the room but Evanora quickly muttered a spell to close the door, causing Colleen so sigh and turn around. "Yes?" she asked impatiently.

"What do you mean 'lessons'?" Evanora asked.

"I think the term lessons is very self-explanatory. It's like school, where I teach you something and you learn a lesson for it," Colleen explained as if she was an idiot.

Evanora rolled her eyes. God, Colleen was on her last nerve with how she was acting. "I know what lessons are, I just don't know what you mean that we're having lessons today."

"Well, it's important that you know how to protect yourself against demons – and that you know every spell that might come in handy one day," Colleen said, "And so it's my job to make sure you're prepared and protected when that day comes, which means lessons. I was thinking of starting around 12:30."

This time, Evanora didn't stop her as Colleen left the room. Once she was gone, she groaned dramatically collapsed back onto her bed. And here she thought she was going to have the day off.

But of course she doesn't because Evanora – with her amazing and spectacular luck – got herself the worst whitelighter in the world who doesn't care that she's just seventeen and might actually want to have a normal life outside of being a witch. That was only a slice of her personality, not the whole damn pie.

Still, she knew there would be a reckoning if she wasn't ready in time like Colleen wanted, and Evanora didn't want another simulation of trying and failing to save her mother from a black mist that was supposed to represent the demon that killed her, so Evanora got up and went to her bathroom.

She splashed her face with water and then got her face wash and once she had applied it all, turned the faucet on again and placed her hand out to the water, commanding it to rise up and cover her face before splattering into the sink again before repeating the process. And once all the face wash was gone and her face was just wet, she brought her hand to her face and brought all the water from her body and back into the sink.

She had to admit, being a water bender was fucking awesome sometimes. Well, she wasn't really a water bender, that wasn't the proper term and whenever she mentioned that to her mother, Juliana would give her a disapproving look before correcting her. "You have a gift for water manipulation – you're not a silly little water bender."

And yes, technically it was her special extra power that came with being witch. Her mother had a gift for alluring people. Didn't seem like much until you realized that she had charmed her way into getting a high position at any place she wanted and always got whatever she desired. No one could resist the allure, except for Evanora. She thinks it worked opposite for her, because everything Juliana did to be alluring and get her to see her mother's side of things, Evanora felt more disgust and a need to pull away from her mom.

But she loved being a water bender. Water was delicate and moved so swiftly, a free spirit in the winds, unlike Evanora's current state of being imprisoned. And it didn't hurt that drying her hair after a shower only took about three seconds and then it was all silky smooth and soft again.

Juliana also didn't like her calling herself Katara. But she was. She was a real life Katara; an actual water bender in the flesh, even if her mother always insisted on it being called by its proper title.

"Evanora, I made breakfast!" she could hear Colleen's voice from downstairs.

She huffed to herself, couldn't the woman just leave her alone? "Coming!' she yelled back, leaving the bathroom with a fresh, clean face and a growing headache. It was going to be a long day.

☆

THE COLD AIR PINCHED AT EVANORA'S SKIN, CAUSING HER TO SHIVER AND RUB HER HANDS AGAINST HER ARMS FOR WARMTH. Even though she was wearing two layers – which should be more than enough to keep her nice and cozy – she still found herself victim to the cold and did not like it at all. But Hilltown seemed to love the cold and welcome it with open arms, just another reason to hate the stupid town in her opinion, and the layers weren't enough.

And even though she was freezing her ass off, Tommy seemed just fine as he hunched over with his eye the lens of his camera, capturing the children playing the park. He seemed unaffected by this terrible weather, which made her blood boil because she wanted everyone to suffer if she had to.

"How the fuck are you not freezing?" Evanora asked him, "If I had balls, they'd be all shriveled up by now."

Tommy snorted, taking another picture before lowering the camera, leaning back on the bench, and looking at her. "I'm used to it," he shrugged, "And, I don't know, the cold's never really bothered me."

"You sound like Elsa," Evanora told him.

"If only I could shoot ice from my hands," Tommy sighed, looking down at his own palms in disappointment. Evanora giggled and leaned closer to him. "But that'd be cool, right? Shooting ice right from your hands?"

"I don't know," she said, "I've always wanted to read minds."

"Too cliché, and ruined by Twilight," he shook his head, "I think if I had to choose a superpower, I'd like to become invisible."

"Now who's cliché," she rolled her eyes at him.

Tommy sent a look but then nodded, conceding to her point, "Alright then. Uh...I don't know, super speed maybe? I could be a real life version of the Flash."

"How exciting," she teased him and he elbowed her lightly, "You really wanna be a superhero?"

The boy shook his head. "Nah, too much stress. The weight of anything makes me crumble, let alone saving a whole town or whatever. How about you? Wanna save the world?"

She shrugged, looking away from him and to the children shrieking at each other while chasing one another. "No," she confessed, thinking about how many times her mother tried to control her life, saying that becoming an Elder one day would be so rewarding. All the people she would help, all the lives she would save...that's the same as a superhero, right? "I think I'm too selfish to do that."

Because every time her mother mentioned becoming an Elder, it drove her further away from even considering it to be an option for her future. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do – she liked investigating, solving word searches and doing puzzles – but the thought of being in a leadership position or being an Elder...she couldn't do that. It wasn't her, especially since that's what her mother wanted for her.

"Felt that," Tommy agreed with a nod of his head, "Out of our whole friend group, I think only Maggie would be selfless enough to do that shit."

"Yeah?" Evanora asked, raising an eyebrow at him. She couldn't really pass any judgement since she hadn't known any of them long enough, but Tommy seemed to really believe that.

"Totally. Diana puts herself before anyone else. She's super ambitious and driven, and that's great – kinda wish I was like that – but she's too focused on herself. And Brian...well, he's Brian, the guy who thinks he's gonna marry his high school sweetheart and wants the whole white picket fence, picture perfect life. Too boring to be a superhero, you know? But then there's Maggie. She puts others before herself...I could see her saving the world," Tommy concluded.

Evanora pursed her lips, thinking about what he said. "Not yourself?"

"God, no," Tommy chuckled, "I'd be terrible at that stuff. And I'm too weak to fight anyone. I think I'll stick with being a photographer."

Evanora glanced down at his camera before looking back up at him, "Is that what you wanna do? Be a photographer?"

Tommy nodded, a light blush on his cheeks. "Yeah," he admitted, "My parents think I should just do it as a hobby since it's not really a good choice for an actual career, and I'm good at biology so they think I should become a biologist or something. What about you?"

"Hmm? Oh, I don't know," Evanora shrugged, "I never really thought about my future and what I want. My mom always seemed to have it planned for me."

Tommy gave her a sympathetic look, which she looked away from. She didn't need his pity – she didn't need anyone's pity. She was Evanora Hathaway, not some helpless girl. Yeah, she lost her mom, but it's not like they were ever close; certainly not Lorelai and Rory Gilmore level but more Emily and Lorelai.

But that was alright. Who needed their mother anyway, or an absentee father? She had herself and she used to have Jane, the same girl who had been ignoring her since she moved. And technically she guessed she had Colleen now, not that she would ever actually talk to the whitelighter, what with her overly apathetic attitude.

Still, there was herself. She wasn't going anywhere and that enough for now.

"Sorry, so not the time to get into all of that," Evanora joked, smiling and trying to lighten the mood again, "But a photographer, that's great. You're great at taking pictures and everything."

Tommy blushed and looked down, shying away from the compliment. "Thanks, but I don't know. I mean, it's not a very stable option, so who knows?"

"Oh, come on, don't give up on your dream just because it's not secure," Evanora rolled her eyes, "I mean, we're young and who cares about the future? All my mom thought about was my future and who I was gonna be instead of who I actually am."

"We're going to college next year, I think we have to think about the future," Tommy reminded her.

"You might be, but I'm not really sure anymore," Evanora confessed to him, "I mean, with everything that's changed, I don't really know anymore. Not that Colleen knows, she'd freak if I even mentioned taking a gap year."

"Colleen sounds like a bitch," Tommy noted.

Evanora laughed, "You have no idea. She's so controlling and thinks just because she's my guardian I have to do everything she wants. Like, I'm still my own person and I wanna do my own things, but she doesn't view me as that. It's more just like I'm her mission, like she has to take care of me or else she'll get fired."

"Damn," he commented, "That's brutal."

"Tell me about it," Evanora grumbled, "Like, I mean, she makes great food, which is awesome, but she also wanted me to focus on my lessons today instead of going out."

"Lessons?" Tommy asked, a disbelieving look on his face.

"School," Evanora corrected herself in a lie. Right, he didn't know everything, and he would never know anything. He wasn't supposed to so he wouldn't. She'd have to be more careful next time.

"Oh," Tommy said, a disapproving look on his face, "On a Saturday?"

"That's what I said!" Evanora exclaimed, "But nooooo, it's important and I have to and all that other shit. God, she's so annoying and it sucks!"

"I'm so sorry, Nora, I can't imagine living with that," Tommy said to her, "Thank God my parents don't give a shit what I do on the weekends. It's only if I go somewhere during the week that they make a huge scene about it."

"Ugh, that sucks. I mean, it's not like there's something to study for every night," Evanora rolled her eyes, "My mom never had too much of a problem with that kinda stuff, but there was one time when she was sleeping with my teacher and was up my ass about studying for a test I had the next day in his class when I wanted to hang out with my friends. God, that was a dark time."

"Wow, your mom dated one of your teachers?" Tommy asked.

Evanora nodded. "My history teacher last year. It was only for, like, four months and there was no bad blood between them after. At least, he never took any of it out on me which was cool. But she got so overbearing about me studying for his class when she dated him. We were at an all-time high record for fights."

"My dad hates yelling. He's more the calm and deadly type of mad person," Tommy said.

"Oh, that's way worse," Evanora said sympathetically, "My friend Jane's mom is the exact same way and it's terrifying. At least with yelling you know how someone feels about you, and it's all quick and then it's over."

Tommy nodded. He opened his mouth and continued on, telling her an example of his dad's nature as she turned away from him, staring past the children to see a woman – probably about her age – wearing all purple and staring at her. She only looked away when Tommy shook her hear shoulder and asked if she was alright, and when she looked back, the girl was gone.