markofthebrave | [ Action, Voice ] .028

[ Action, Voice ] .028

[So today? Katara cuts short her usual routine with a cheerful wave and ducks out on her housemates. Aang showing up pushed so many things out of her mind, and now they were all crowding back in, along with the strangeness of Zuko's return.

She misses the Straw Hats. Going camping right now sounds wonderful. And she really wants Aang to meet them! She thought about trying to contact them over the journals, but... didn't really want to interrupt. Besides, it was better... to get used to people being gone.

She can handle this by herself. Katara is not given to introspection, but at her favorite spot by the South bridge, Katara has gathered a fair amount of smooth stones, and is alternating between stone-skipping and staring at her conversation with Nephry. She only knows one way to deal with this, and that's facing it straight on and adapting.

Water is the element of change. Water adapts.

And so, to find some way to remind herself of this and gather up the courage and mental clarity to sort things out, Katara will eventually step off the bridge and walk a ways beside the river. Once there, she closes her eyes and very slowly begins to practice basic forms, the water streaming about her in constant change and accompaniment to her thoughts, until she can almost see it in her mind's eye, overwhelming the flames.

Much, much later, she takes a seat, and makes a filter. She only hopes that she truly means what she says.]

Nephry, it's Katara. If you'd like to meet sometime today, or later this week... I'm ready now.

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[She shakes her head a little and flicks her wrist, watching the stone skip five or six times.] Let's just say it hasn't exactly been the quietest of months here.

Yeah, it sounds like it. [ Semi-apologetic in tone. ] It sounded like everyone was really good about sticking together, too, though. So maybe it was kind of win-lose.

I guess I could be wrong, though, since I wasn't around.

[What's he- oh, the earthquakes and the monsters. Her smile warms a little.]

No, you're right. That was good to see.

[ Smiiiile, he wasn't shot down. ]

Doing stuff like this never really seems like enough to make up for everything else that happens around it. [ Village-destroying disasters he has seen. Hmm. Going ahead and skipping that stone now. It is not the most impressive of skips, but eh. It's plenty of fun to just watch the river go by. ] But I'm glad that the chances always turn up before and after.

[ fffff, he probably sounds dumb saying it like that. His dad would've figured out something really great. ]

Chances? What do you mean? Chances for what?

All the quiet parts. There could be a lot less of them.

That's true too.

[Sorry, Chouji. She's... not really in the mood to be cheered at the moment.

...give her five minutes or so.]

[ This place is just no good for optimists ;~;

He won't go around pushing his own opinion into your face any more than he has, Katara. So he's got nothing against needing a few minutes to be quiet. ]

[...and after a while, Katara starts to talk. Just... talk.]

I've been here since... the middle of winter. I've seen things and done things that I never thought could happen at home. My first month here, the experiments made me fall in love with my enemy. I've become friends with pirates. I've fought against Master of Darkness and flesh eating butterflies and had to use my powers for healing more times than I could count. There was an experiment that let us see into each other's minds. I've had mushi in my eyes, I've had friends die and come back to life... and that was all before summer really started.

...but it's true that this place isn't all bad. What you've said is right. For the most part, people come together and really try to help each other hold on.

Edited 2010-09-11 23:04 (UTC)

... That's a lot to go through in just a few months. You must be a pretty tough person, Katara-san. [ It's really admirable. ]

[She shakes her head.] That's nothing to what some other people have gone through here. [Nami, Ginko, Sanji, Zuko...]

But that doesn't make what you said any less true. We can all pull together and live here. There is a way to make it bearable. We just... [she trails off as she moves to skip one of her last few stones and quietly finish] ...shouldn't have to.

Yeah... I guess not. [ It could be a while, but he still figures at least it's not forever, himself. ~~He out-optimisms happy puppies idek~~ ]

[Sorry, Chouji, you are meeting Katara on a rare day - where she is feeling her hope fail her, where all she wants is - for once - for someone else to make it better. But no one else can.

She doesn't really turn to look at you when she extends her hand to the side to offer you another stone, but if you glance at her profile you can see that she's at least trying to smile right now.]

Thanks. [ Katara is bearing the semi-familiar expression of someone who thinks too much. Or at least he thinks that's what she looks like. It can be pretty hard to tell with girls. Particularly given that she's not from his world.

Maybe this Luceti thing is as troublesome as Shikamaru seems to think it is. ]

Have you been out here all day?

By the bridge? [She shakes her head.] No. I ran some errands earlier, and I'll probably... I don't know, practice in a bit.

Practice, huh? [ Curiosity, such as it gets with a Chouji.

Also, this is totally serious. 8|b ] Don't forget to eat. A good meal can affect the outcome of an entire day.

Heh. [One had drops down to her stomach. She'd had breakfast today, hadn't she?

Oh no, she can't fall into this again.] You're right. I'll try to remember to grab a late lunch.

That's good! Food's a really important part of life. [ He won't go around telling new acquaintances how to eat. He's nice like that. But food=good. ]

Hard to live without it. [A wry grin.]

Of course. [ This time, he just sets the stone to the side instead of tossing it. One more for you, how about that. Chouji pushes himself back to his feet so that he may shortly continue on his wandering way ~~like a boss~~. ]

I'll let you get back to thinking, Katara-san.

[There's someone else who's attaching something to her name, except that one's different. She is distracted enough by this to look up at him and - finally - ask.]

Chouji? What does 'san' mean?

[ Ah, Katara will never be able to escape suffixes, will she. Scratching at a spiral and grinning. He never gets asked to explain stuff. ]

Aah- it's an honorific. We add them onto names where I come from, to be polite or respectful. [ That's the best he's got :| ]

Oh. Like... Mr or Miss?

...what about 'chan' is that like that too? Or is that not in your world?

Yeah, like that. [ See how awesome he is at explanations. ]

Chan? [ He never uses that one, personally. ] People usually use it for...little kids. And girls, most of the time. If they're younger or really good friends. I guess how they use it kind of depends on the person.

...so, like... it's not something you'd call someone you just met?

[Ooooooooooh, Kida, you are in so much trouble.]

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