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

[She glances down. ...nope, everything still looks the same to her.] I'm a bit more concerned about the wings, to be honest.

[Say something else. You're - important somehow. Say something else.]

-- but you remember being here?

[She glances around.] I don't know about that - how well do you remember dreams?

[And how bizarre is it when dreams are actually of someplace real?]

...it feels real enough, though.

Depends on the dream. [he smiles, still-- but doesn't say much more]

And what kind of dream is this?

[She's stopped walking now and is giving the picture in the book all of her considerable attention.]

Maybe the kind that was once reality-- just one very far removed from the reality you're used to.

[It takes a moment for her to process that before the her tone becomes a shade wry.]

And I've stepped back into the dream, is that it?

That's probably the best way to think about it, yes. [he's watching her very carefully]

[At this point, the younger Katara would probably just say: Why do I know you?

The older has learned to be a bit more sparing with her directness. She is still looking straight at the picture.

Such white hair. Such a young face. And that eye...]

...and I've shared this dream with you before, haven't I.

That's right. [a warm smile.] You were much younger, then. [even if then is now, he doesn't bother making certain distinctions that will only confuse the conversation]

Was I? [She glances up at a sudden gust of wind an shivers, breaking her staring contest with a picture in a book. She shivers a little.

This place...

And when she speaks again, her voice is warm, but neutral - as if she's been distracted from her present concern and her focus has shifted back several notches as a result.] I'm sorry [the younger Katara is never as free with those words] I feel that I should remember you better, but...

It's alright. It sounds like it's been a long time. My name is Ginko. The you I know was fifteen years old.

Ginko...

[The sound of that name. The sound of it...

...suddenly, she wants very much to see him. And she doesn't know why.] Are you in the village?

[Somehow, this is a very important question.]

I am. I stick close by, when it's snowing like this.

[he doesn't want to be the first to prompt, but he'd like to see her very much]

I'd like to see you.

[It's stated very simply - although there is nothing simple about her desire to do so. She feels almost - pulled forward to it. And there's something about her voice that indicates... she's made up her mind that this should happen, and she's used to accomplishing what she makes up her mind to do, although her tone is nothing but pleasant and hopefully expectant.]

I'd like to see you too. [a slight smile] Are you at home?

[Home?] No I'm--

[Here, of course I'm not-- but then there's a sudden flash of a house - a house - with running water inside. And a room painted blue, and red, and laughter...]

--wandering around town, actually.

Hmm. How about the library?

I think I can find that. [The tone's warm and so is the smile, though it carries a certain distraction that keeps it from being truly personal.]

See you soon.

[...that, on the other hand, carries just enough edge of raw emotional urgency to be completely so.]

[Ginko makes his way towards it, at an even pace-- reminding himself to look for a girl of this new and surprising age, rather than the face he's used to meeting.]

[Katara pops into pretty much every storefront on her way to the library - if even ever so briefly. She's fortifying herself with familiar memories, trying to chip away at the ice block that holds them back, as much as she's looking for their meeting place.

It's a lot easier for her to recognize him than vice-versa - she doesn't know that many people with white hair and a green, green eye.

...but when she does see him, she just stops short. There's a ringing, a pressure in her ears, as if something is about to break loose.

Something...]

Hey, Katara. [He wonders, for a moment, if that's recognition-- voice quite and smiling as always.]

...Ginko!

[And she doesn't remember specifics - maybe not at all. But those feelings don't lie. She knows who he is.

And she runs over to him stopping just short of embracing him to smile at him brilliantly before throwing her arms around him.]

Really? It's really you? I know you!

Katara-- [it's half a chuckle, half muffled by being suddenly hugged. But he hugs right back, before stepping back to grin] You're taller.

You're not. You're - [she takes a step away, very obviously looking him up and down, eyes wide and glowing before she shrugs and laughs a little, shaking her head in wonder.] - real.

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[ action ] oh I was hoping you'd say that

[ action ] IT JUST FELT RIGHT

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