[ Action, Voice ] .028

[markofthebrave]

[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.

Comments

[restoremyhonour.livejournal.com]

A while.

What's the theory?

[markofthebrave]

[She glances around, not entirely comfortable with sharing it.]

I was just wondering if closing my eyes would help me concentrate on the source of my bending better.

[You know... in grass... rivers... her hands... people.]

[restoremyhonour.livejournal.com]

[He sees that look Katara.]

So you can sense better without being able to see your source?

[He's trying to understand here, partly because maybe he could try something similar with firebending.]

[markofthebrave]

Something like that. When Toph trained Aang with earthbending, she made him do it blindfolded.

[A shrug, and she looks distinctly uncomfortable.]

And I just thought... it would be great to see if I could use my bending to increase my awareness of what's going on around me.

[So that people will stop sneaking up on her, and the like. -_-]

[restoremyhonour.livejournal.com]

Well that could be handy in this place. [He gestures around at Luceti.] Sometimes it's hard to tell who's a friend and who's not.

[markofthebrave]

[A faint wince. Yeah, she doesn't have the best track record with that.]

I don't know if bending could help with that. It's not like I'd be able to listen to their heartbeats like Toph.

[...at least, not on a regular day.]

[restoremyhonour.livejournal.com]

But you might be more aware when someone walks up to you. Means you'll be harder to surprise.

[markofthebrave]

[She nods] Probably only if I'm already concentrating on bending, though. Water is in a lot of things.

[restoremyhonour.livejournal.com]

Maybe you just need to work on it. Like being able to tell the difference between plants moving and a person moving.

[markofthebrave]

[She nods.] Yeah. I think it's worth a shot. Even if my bending isn't as strong here... who knows, it could be a good thing. And We've got all this time to practice here.

[restoremyhonour.livejournal.com]

Yeah. [All the time in the world.]

I could try something similar with firebending... [...except that it could be bad if he lost control.]