markofthebrave | [ Action, Accidental Voice ] .032

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[ Action, Accidental Voice ] .032

[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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Another nod. They haven't had this conversation already? Huh.] Yeah. I'm a waterbender.

[He takes another look at the branch, where the leaves have been picked clean.]

Where I'm from, it would take an impressive amount of chakra control to do something like that. [And while he's not sure if it's exactly chakra that she used to do it, he imagines it's probably the same case where she comes from.] You must be pretty good at it.

[Is Katara still susceptible to appreciation of her bending after all this time? Yes, yes she is. It's also one thing she's confident in - she knows she's good. So it's with a strange mixture of pride and humility that Katara straightens up a little and smiles.]

I had a really good teacher.

[And a lot of motivation.] And there's been a lot of time to practice in Luceti.

[And yes. I am pretty good at it.]

Guess that's one thing it's good for. [And she's been here for how long did she say? Several months if he remembers right. Outside of the barrier, her skills would only double too...

Yeah, he's picking up on that fact, Katara. Why does every girl he know have to be more of a badass fighter than he is?] Heh. For a place meant to contain a bunch of powered-up people, it's not very smart of the Malnosso to give us so much time on our hands.

[Just talking about them makes the itch grow - she's tempted to whirl around, snap out a whip, take off a branch... but Katara just tenses takes a deep breath.] It doesn't matter to them how strong we get in here as long as we don't get out to them. They have technology that takes away 'special abilities' completely, so even if you get outside and you're able to use it--

[Unpleasant memories of her time in the Malnosso facility flash across her face, and she finishes in a more subdued tone.]

--it doesn't make any difference.

[Just a hum. He's not stupid enough to think that he can succeed where others have repeatedly failed, but it doesn't mean that someone can't do it.]

Not yet, sure. Give someone power and they'll get comfortable with it, and that's when they'll start making mistakes.

[She knows that's true. But she is at a dangerously low optimism threshold for Katara.]

I just hope we're able to take advantage of it when they do.

[Instead of it being a mistake that will horribly kill them all.]

That's why you're training, right? You're off to a good start.

Heh. [She looks up at him with a quick smile.] That's part of it.

[Luceti is plenty dangerous on its own, but... even that, that's also only part of it.]

But I love it too. There's something really relaxing and beautiful about it. It makes me feel... connected.

Heh. It... looked pretty cool. [Relaxing he can kinda get - the movements she used when she was bending reminded him of tai chi. But beautiful?

Meh. He was never the type to stop and smell the roses.]

[She smiles at that before moving into Girl with a Thousand Questions Mode.]

Is it anything like the elemental jutsus in your world?

[Because, no, she hasn't forgotten their last conversation.]

[He shakes his head.] Nothing like what I've seen. You manipulate the water; someone using a water jutsu borrows its power for a particular move.

[That makes no sense with her frame of reference.]

What do you mean, 'a particular move?'

Think of it like your water whip. That's one move. In a jutsu, the elemental chakra would only be used for that technique. If you wanted to do something else with it, you'd have to use another jutsu.

I see...

[She's trying to picture it, but she can't quite see it.] It sounds like it's something that would take a long time in combat. Unless the move is really powerful and it incapacitates the other person...

Keep in mind those aren't the only techniques out there - just some of the stronger ones.

[She nods.] Right. Taijutsu and genjutsu too, right?

Right. [And anything else in between.]

[She shakes her head.] It's just hard to picture.

I'm not much of an artist, sorry. It's easier to process if you see it, I'm sure, but it's not something I'm skilled at. [Or have any talent for in the first place.]

Well... [And then she smiles a little, friendly and challenging.] how are you at doing them?

Elemental jutsus? Not really my thing. [Casual acceptance. She knows he's a ninja, but she's given him no reason to worry about that. And lying would just be troublesome.]

Oh. [She frowns a little. She hadn't meant just elemental jutsus, and she figures he knew that, since they'd been talking about taijutsu and genjutsu, he just... doesn't want to talk about himself in that way. It stings a little, but she can understand wanting to keep that advantage.

Katara gives a shrug, and a small smile.] Then I guess a spar wouldn't really be fair, huh.

[...and it's at this point where Katara becomes transparent again. The waterskin and anything not on that ridiculous dress falls right off. She holds her breath so as to not create any more weight on the ground and then adds with a wry smile.] After I get better, I mean.

[He bends down to pick her items up with a chuckle.] That's not really the point of a spar, is it?

[She can't really move, but she does at least solidify shortly and hold out her hand for her coat and waterskin - yes, yes she's still wearing that stupid dress.] Thanks. And no, I guess not. The point of a spar is to learn your weak points and get stronger.

So if you want to... the invitation's opened.

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