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 reaches out quietly and touches her shoulder, but doesn't say anything.]

[She just curls up a little more, into that touch. She's crying now, silent, choking tears, and it doesn't make the pain any better. It doesn't help her feel any less angry, any less hurt, any less empty.]

[he just shifts his hand a little, in comfort, and won't interrupt the flow of tears until it seems like they're beginning to slow.]

[Katara cries for a very long time - each time she tries to stop, it starts again. The grief of every loss she's ever felt has somehow attached itself with the timing of this one - on top of her already exhausted and pushed to the limit physical and emotional state.

Nothing she says will be good, so she won't let herself say anything at all.

"It's not fair" - heh. She's learned not to expect fairness from life. It's not worth saying.

But oh - it hurts.]

[His voice won't break the sound of sobbing, and his hand won't leave her shoulder.

But when the sobbing does start to slow, he'll only quietly ask--]

Are you thirsty?

[She nods, unable to speak.]

[he gets up, quietly, and is only gone a moment before returning with a glass of water. He sits down again and holds it out to her.]

[This requires sitting up. She's momentarily unsure if she can manage it, but props herself up using her good hand. This gives Ginko his first unobstructed view of Katara's arm in a sling.

She's too bone-weary to be ashamed of her tears and reaches out numbly for the glass.]

[he can't help the quiet surprise, reaching to support her] ...your arm.

[...oh. Right. Voice choked, she still manages a reassurance.]

I'm all right.

[...that seems somewhat ridiculous to say in the light of the amount of time that she's spent crying. But she thinks that Ginko will realize she's just talking about her body.]

Right. [quietly] ... Chopper knows what he's doing.

[then he falls silent again, his unspoken implications just as clear as hers.]

[...if that implication is 'talk to me,' it settles around Katara's shoulders like a blanket.]

...it was just... pulled out of its socket. That's all. Chopper said that it needed to rest once he put it back, so that's why he gave me the sling.

[just a nod-- and a tightly level] I'm glad it wasn't broken.

[She nods a little glumly. Broken would have been easier to fix once they got back here - but harder while she was there. And people probably would have worried more...

She becomes further aware of the weight of his nonjudgmental concern.]

...yeah.

[She takes a sip of her water.]

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