markofthebrave | [ 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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... 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.]

[ Headscratch. ] Well, I wouldn't, but I know a couple of people who probably would.

[ You know, that depends on the person thing. Manners are hard. ]

Oh. [/PONDER. She will have to ask the other '-chan' user in her life.] Well, thanks. But you don't have to call me '-san' if you don't want to. Katara's fine.

[ He'll consider it a matter of her own personal preference :|a ]

Okay. It was really nice to meet you, Katara.

[She smiles at him warmly.] It was nice to meet you too, Chouji.

[ ^__^ later, Kataraaaaa.

He thinks he shall go to the store for more chips :|a ]

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