[ Action, Accidental Voice ] .032

[markofthebrave]

[For the past almost two weeks, Katara has been struggling to regain her balance - even struggling to want to regain her balance. Aang's second return home hit her hard, on top of Zuko's mallynapping and Toph's return... Toph who doesn't remember. It's good to see her, but it's terrible as well. Now more of them are trapped in this horrible place. And she still hasn't been able get back to wearing her regular clothes because the 'phasing' keeps happening, as randomly and as annoyingly as ever.

It's been almost two weeks since she's returned and her shoulder hasn't been in any pain in days. The experience of having her bending completely taken away in the Malnosso facility was one that's almost beyond words, and now that she's back where she can feel even just half herself again, the desire, the need to bend has been growing under her skin like an itch.

She can't take it anymore. So Katara goes out just after dinner to one of her favorite practicing spots between her house and the barracks, and begins by doing very simple forms that don't require a lot of movement. She pauses when Momo finds her and sits down to take a break.

It's not long before she begins talking to the lemur about their adventures. It feels good - to talk to someone about home, to talk about all the things that happened, to remember who she really was, despite what this place wanted to make her. She doesn't notice when Momo knocks the journal opened when he moves to chase after what could be a fallen nut. He might not be the best listener ever.]

--Sokka sent Aang in to steal the book. Remember riding on top of Appa's back so Aang and I could shape the clouds? It was too bad that we had to go through all that just to get them to listen to us. So after we made the skull in the sky, we dragged out Aunt Wu to see it - the sign for volcanic doom. Then the villagers listened. All the earthbenders worked to dig trenches and everyone else grabbed shovels to help out as best as we could.

And then when volcano exploded, we got back as far as we could, but it flowed right through--

[There's some excited chatter by the book, and suddenly the picture is filled with this face. It flickers from voice to video and back again.]

Momo, what are you doing? Get away from that!

[The video shows Katara shooing Momo away from her journal and then automatically shutting it. She gets back to her practicing, but will open up the journal later and see that it accidentally recorded. Way to go, Momo.]

Comments

[voice]

[temperedtempest.livejournal.com]

[Ah, well, that explains things.]

Weren't there any other telling signs? An impending volcanic eruption is not easy to ignore.

[voice]

[markofthebrave]

Well, there wasn't any ash in the sky or anything - but my friend Aang had just been to the top and he'd seen that the level was rising. If we'd waited for the natural signs, it would have been too late to do anything to save the village.

But they wouldn't listen to us because Aunt Wu had just given her yearly predictions, and she'd said that the village would not be destroyed by the volcano that year.

[voice]

[temperedtempest.livejournal.com]

I can understand that. It's difficult for people to be told to believe otherwise, when they've known such a ritual to be dependable.

It's fortunate that you and your friends were there to help.

[voice]

[markofthebrave]

[She smiles.] It was! And like one of the villager's said, Aunt Wu's prediction did come true. We might have had to work for it, but the village was not destroyed by a volcano that year.

[voice]

[temperedtempest.livejournal.com]

Because of you and your friend's efforts. It's good to hear that you used your powers like that.

[voice]

[markofthebrave]

Well, really, the one who made the most difference was Aang. The lava overflowed even passed all trenched we'd built. If he wasn't such a powerful airbender, there wouldn't have been anything else we could have done.

[voice]

[temperedtempest.livejournal.com]

[There's that word, again. Airbending?]

You... speak of shaping clouds, and bending air. Are these things normal, where you come from?

[voice]

[markofthebrave]

[...this sort of question sounds familiar.]

Well, airbending isn't as normal as it was once. But bending itself is an important part of my world's culture.

[voice]

[temperedtempest.livejournal.com]

You mentioned bending earth, as well. Your people have control of the elements? [She's genuinely curious! Especially since it seems that it's common and more importantly, accepted in their world.]

[voice]

[markofthebrave]

Some of us do - water, earth, air, and fire. One for each of the four nations.

...is there something like this in your world?

[voice]

[temperedtempest.livejournal.com]

Something like that, yes. Our gifts are more... varied.

[voice]

[markofthebrave]

What do you mean?

[voice]

[temperedtempest.livejournal.com]

We aren't limited to control over the elements. Some of us have other abilities, as well. Teleporting, psychic gifts...

As for me, let's just say I can shape the clouds and bend air just as you do.

[voice]

[markofthebrave]

[...teleporting? Psychic gifts? Huh.

Before she has a chance to ask - she's distracted by what Ororo says next.]

Who me? No, Aang's the airbender. I'm a waterbender.

[voice]

[temperedtempest.livejournal.com]

You manipulate water, then?

[voice]

[markofthebrave]

That's right. I'm Katara.

[voice]

[temperedtempest.livejournal.com]

Ororo. A pleasure to meet you. I didn't think I'd meet someone with gifts so similar to my own.

[voice]

[markofthebrave]

You work with water too?

[voice]

[temperedtempest.livejournal.com]

With rain, actually. Or snow. I'm rather attuned to the weather, you could say.

[voice] fffffff - that icon up there was so supposed to be this one.

[markofthebrave]

[Rain and snow, huh?] ...the weather itself? I don't know exactly what you mean... like predicting it?

[In her world, the only benders that can make an element out of nothing are the firebenders.]

[voice] oh good, I thought 'Ro scared Kat for a second there |D

[temperedtempest.livejournal.com]

Summoning rain, snow and other sorts of precipitation, would be the easiest term, I think. [Not to mention command over winds and calling forth lightning.]

[voice] No, just the perils of tagging late at night ^^;

[markofthebrave]

Oh, wow.

[There's a pause here as Katara just... considers the implications of that.]

[voice]

[temperedtempest.livejournal.com]

[Storm's even got the Avatar State look down pat, Katara. Glowing eyes and everything. Wait til you see it.]

[Right now, though, she just chuckles a little bit.]

It's a rather useful gift.

[voice]

[markofthebrave]

I'll bet. Do you come from a part of the world where there's a lot of growing things?

[She is thinking this is clearly the best gift ever for farming, and betting Ororo's not from a desert planet like Vash, but hey - you never know.]

[voice]

[temperedtempest.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid New York doesn't have as much nature as I'd like... I do keep a garden and a greenhouse, however. [And, well, Africa is sort of like a desert. And they did kind of make Ororo a worshiped deity because of her powers.]