markofthebrave | [ Action, Voice ] .031

[If you are passing by the Southmost bridge at just the right time, you will find it hard not to notice the girl in an unusual dress and boots facedown on the ground. One shoulder is strangely disjointed, and there are bruises up and down her arms, particularly violent ones around her wrists. She looks like nothing more than a broken and discarded doll.

As the sun continues to set, the coolness in the ground will cause her to start to stir. When she sits up, she grimaces, moving as if there might be something wrong with her ribs. If you happen to be looking at her as she does, you'll notice the sickening blue and yellow bruise spread across her right collarbone, the lovely shiner on her eye.

The wonderful thing about Luceti? Sometimes there's a journal right where you need it. She barely has enough presence of mind to make sure the picture points away from her face, but her voice is very tired.]

Sokka, Aang - I'm back. [Sorry Suki, Zuko.] I'm okay.

[10 100 (thank you, Shikamaru) percent filter to Chopper, Raine]
Hey guys, if you're there - I could use a little help.

[She doesn't want her brother and Aang to see her like this.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He pulls his finger back.]

Wow. That's definitely a new one. I bet you could walk through walls.

[She shakes her head.] If I move, I sink.

[Blink. Blink.]

Wow. That... ripping off doors doesn't seem like a big deal anymore, huh?

Yes, you were very lucky. [And she's not even resentful about it - she's just done talking about it. She's tired and she wants to lay down. She looks passed him to the scattered flower petals.]

Did Zuko and Aang agree to give you two the night in or something?

[Where are they? D:]

[... oh dammit. He doesn't even know how to put this. He can't even ask her to sit down because of her current state.]

Actually... [A deep breath and he glances at his feet.] Zuko was recently kidnapped. And Aang...

[He looks back up at her.] He's back home. Again.

[Yeah, this going to end so well. But he couldn't think of any way to soften the blow. Neither one of them are strangers to having their friends come and go.]

What?

[And something inside her - breaks - just a little.

She feels it shatter.]

[Deep breath. Breathe through the pain.

You can do this, Katara.]

[Her free hand moves up to clutch loosely at her heart.

She can't even cry, she's just - numb.]

Oh. Good.

[And suddenly she's solid again, and she turns from Sokka to slowly move towards her room.]

Wait, Katara. [Suki has been gone for awhile and he knows why. This was something that needed to be handled between the two of them. Even so... he steps ahead of Katara, so he can retrieve her things.]

[Sorry, Sokka. She's not waiting. But she is moving slowly. Every limb feels as if it's been dipped in lead. Everything feels - funny. Like she's had her ears stuffed with cotton.]

[Suki will probably meet her by the door, her choker in hand. From their expressions, she knows the message has been passed on. Somehow missing it doesn't make her feel any better.]

Here, Katara...

[Man, why did they have to toy with them like this? It wasn't fair. Coming up with something he could say to make this all better? It wasn't happening. And it sucked.]

[Katara looks at her mother's necklace, the one physical reminder of the first person she loved who was taken away from her, and it stabs her through her numbness. She wants to take it and throw it hard against the wall, watch it shatter and break and scream-

IT'S NOT ENOUGH!

It's not good enough! Just a memory, just a cold piece of stone - it's not enough, it's even close to enough, it's not fair--

What she wouldn't give right now to be able to run into her mother's arms and be comforted.

She knows what she needs to do. She needs to walk over, take the necklace from Suki, and smile at her. She needs to take what comfort she can from the memory of her mother, she needs to remember to be strong.]

...Keep it. I don't want it right now.

[And then she moves to enter her room, going to shut the door firmly behind her.]

[Suki's eyes widen at that, as she watches Katara go. She didn't want it? Wasn't this necklace incredibly important to Katara? When the door closes, she glances a bit helplessly at Sokka. Where did that come from?]

[He's a little startled by all of this too. He knows he could have handled that better. How, he doesn't exactly know, but he knows what it's like when he blew it. He ends up taking the necklace from her himself.]

I think she... just needs some time. [How much? He doesn't know.] We should uh... get things cleaned up. [The time it takes to do that is probably the approximate amount of time Katara will need alone.]

...Yeah. [She hesitates, then reaches out and pulls him into a hug.] I'm sorry it turned out like this...

[He's dead weight there for a moment, before he eventually hugs back, but is the one to pull away.]

Yeah, me too.

[Suki lets him go without argument, instead just turning away and heading back out into the main area to get a broom and start sweeping. She's worried about him - about them both - but she'd rather respect their privacy than get nosey about it.]

[He does the same as well. After an hour or so, once things are no longer quite as romantic as before and Sokka is no longer exposing his ~~super manly~~ chest, he goes to Katara's room. He doesn't knock. He turns the knob on her door and pushes it open a crack, enough so that if she just happened to be randomly changing at that exact moment, she could spot that and yell at him. After giving that a few seconds, he pushes it open.]

... Katara?

[Katara is curled up on her good side on her bed. She doesn't say anything in response.]

[He waits for her to respond, before moving in and sitting on the edge of the bed. He's not even sure at this point if she's awake.]

I'm sorry Aang is gone. And that it had to happen like this, while they had you and... [So obviously torturing her, but he can't bring himself to say it.] I wish I could have been there to stop it from happening.

[...and he's blaming himself.

He needs her to be okay.

She's not okay. She should be allowed to be not okay.

...but he needs her to be okay.

She's not her mother. She doesn't have her mother's strength. Kya could do it. And so she has to do it too - she has to because she's the only one left to do it.

She's so, so tired. All she manages to do is reach out with her good hand and loosely clasp Sokka's.]

It's not your fault. None of it.

[Action]

markofthewise - 2010-11-11 05:24 (UTC) - Expand

markofthebrave - 2010-11-12 04:54 (UTC) - Expand

markofthewise - 2010-11-12 05:10 (UTC) - Expand

[ Action, Voice ] .031

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action] 1/2

[Action]

[Action] 1/?

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action] DONE

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]