markofthebrave | [Action, Accidental to Purposeful Voice] .033

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[Action, Accidental to Purposeful Voice] .033

[Well, Sokka was his Avatar alternate again. That alone is enough to call for some alone time, but with the news he brought... she definitely needed some time to clear her head. Fortunately, there is a public service she can easily perform. If your house is still snowed in? There is a waterbender digging you out. For about half the day, she is her normal self.

...sometime around two, though, she starts feeling lightheaded. Realizing she'd unintentionally skipped lunch, she heads back towards the center of town. As she walks, she starts feeling heavier and heavier. Something's wrong. Katara reaches for her journal to call for help, but it's too little, too late. She falls face first into a snowbank, the journal falling opened beside her.

When she opens her eyes, her hair is blocking her vision. Longer and unbound... her clothes feel almost painfully tight across the chest and she gasps a little.]

What? Where am I? [A deep breath, and slightly louder, as if she's expecting a response:] Aang?

[Sitting up, she shakes her head, one hand going to her waterskin... and that's when she notices the wings. Her eyes go wide.]

Is this... I had dreams like this...

[Standing up, the picture shows her body at an angle. She's certainly grown. After glancing around a bit, she reaches down to pick up the journal.] I remember... this... feels too strange not to be real...

Hello? I'm not sure if I'm doing this right, but... I'm Katara. I think I remember this place... and a girl with reddish hair and... what were they called? Not oranges... something else. And there was someone - a man - with white hair and he went "Oooh?" a lot... and I remember... cigarettes and cooking and... [So many, many more. Fragments of a dream - a man who stretched his face, a skeleton playing music, a reindeer that danced... an ice dragon... green hair and white hair in front of a classroom and... shadows, dreams, fragments of things... flying people and conversations over tea and a wolfgirl and so, so much that only made sense in dreams...] And -- I don't know. Does this make any sense?

[But even as she's talking she's starting to walk. These clothes are too small - it looks like she's on a path. Let's see where it takes her.]

((OOC: Katara is now in her early twenties and from a happy canon projection. Tags post-transformation from

notatearbender. If you want to grab her before then, just indicate it in the tagline! XD))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Not surprised, especially since it looks like time passed at home for you. You've been pulled out of your reality, pretty much. The good news is that time at 'home' will stand still while you're here.

Will warn you though, bunch of years have passed for you. But...they haven't for us here. So don't be surprised if other folks are surprised you're older. Not all of them will be able to keep it to themselves.

[That is an awful lot of information to take in at once, so excuse her as she suddenly becomes very, very calm.]

This place... we're all trapped here, aren't we.

[Aang. Tenzin.]

Yeah, we are. But some of us go home. Like you did. So at some point, you'll probably go home again, and it'll be like you were never here from your point of view.

...or like it's a dream.

[Her memories are starting to clear the longer she's there, the more she talks through this strange thing.]

...were there... people from my world here too?

Still are. They might be as confused as you, though. Do you remember the experiments? We're going through one right now. Lasting longer than usual. More chaotic than usual, too.

I don't remember it well...

[But there was a vague churning in her stomach which indicated... these experiments were often unpleasant.]

Can you tell me who is here for my world? And more about what these experiments do?

Sokka...I think Toph has returned. Two others I never met, one young lady of which seems to hang around your brother quite a bit from what I've seen at a distance.

...As for the experiments. Ages altered. Abilities given or taken away. People coming from alternate time lines from the norm. People suddenly being something they aren't. Gender switching. Random teleportation...randomly breaking into song.

[Sokka. Toph. At least two others. That's far from being dropped in a strange place alone.

And he said that other people would not remember her as older - so is it possible that they were younger? That would be...

...wait.]

You said that ages were altered. So is it possible that my being here this way is just part of their experiment?

You caught on. Knew you'd grew up to be something else, in a lot of good ways.

[He sounds both bemused and thoughtful]

Yeah. I have a feeling whatever it is they do when they mess with time and stuff got you 'reset' to sometime in the future from where most of us know you. Last I saw you, about a week ago, you were...around sixteen or so, I think.

[She smiles a bit at the compliment, although she's still somewhat disoriented.] Thank you.

[That means I won't be here long, I think. I'd better make the most of it.]

...sixteen, huh? Bet I'm a handful. Are you always this much help?

[Stalling for time until she actually remembers him? Why would you think that?]

Not always, but I try to be when I can.

As for being a handful...your brother probably knows more about that than me. Mostly you and just talked, compared our homes, that sort of thing.

I see. [Smart man. This whole place is very strange. And there is nothing distinctly tying her memories to this voice.

...but she does feel like she should know him.] Will you tell me a little bit about your world now? Refresh my memory?

[She can probably hear the smile in his voice]

My job took me to the desert to work, but I originally came from a coastal town. One that was a lot warmer than your own village. One of my favorite past times as a kid was to surf. When I got turned into a kid a while ago, you made waves in the river for me so I could ride them.

You were turned into a kid? [So he's used to these age-adjustments.

...and there's something familiar about all of that.] And do you remember what that was like even now?

Yeah. One with a different past than the one I have now. I remember it, but a lot of people don't remember much, or anything, that happens when the experiments mess around with them once it's over. So you might dream about this when you go home, but there's a possibility that the 'you' that's usually here won't remember this.

[She wonders if there's any way she can tell. She wonder's if Derek knows enough about her past for her to ask. And she wonders just how public this form of communication is.

...she already misses home, where she knew all the rules, with her husband and son. Some of that definitely carries through in her tone.]

So there's no way of knowing until we get to the other side. [Like everything else.]

'Fraid so.

The good news is that the experiments never seem to be permanent. This one is running longer than usual, but eventually it'll even out again.

[Quietly.]

...You'll be home soon.

[She smiles at the book.] You're a very kind person, Derek. Thank you for that.

[Derek offers a slight smile of his own]

If you need anything else...I'll keep my ears open for you.

How about directions to the clothing store? I'm coming into the plaza now...

[Older Katara does not feel that she has to prove her independence, and is rather reluctant to let a friendly resource go.]

I can do that...or if you like, I can come show you around. Up to you.

[There is a barely discernible pause here as Katara sorts through her options.] If you're not busy, I think I'd really appreciate that.

No problem. Give me a few minutes.

[As good as his word, Derek shows up. It takes him a few seconds to spot and then recognize Katara (for once, his over-blown sense of smell is useful from his point of view), but once he does, he nods at her and smiles, coming over to her.

She might notice that he's still wearing his usual leather jacket, which is a little light weight for the season. He doesn't seem affected by it, though.]

Katara.

[She smiles in greeting. She's not gotten much taller, but the clothes that easily fit her 14-year-old self definitely need to be changed.]

Are you Derek?

[Actually seeing him in person... helps quite a bit, actually. The memories don't return quite yet, but... then it has been some time.]

One and only.

[A quick glance, and he promptly shrugs off his jacket, offering it to her. Better too big than too small, right?]

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