[Written/Action] .002

[markofthebrave]

So, we can use these things to contact everyone? That's pretty neat if really really weird. I think I'll start of writing, though, because talking to a book still seems like something Dock would do.

That's got to be annoying, for so many people to look at something if you just want to talk to one or two people. The guide said something about being able to filter these things? But I don't really see how that could work...

Tormod, you can have your cape back whenever you want. Have you found a place to stay yet?

And hey, if there's a Hugo or a Derek out there, I'd like to talk to you for a few minutes.

[So not one to stay copped up in the house, Katara is going to pack up her journal and her waterskin and bundle up. They're in the middle of a cold snap, but now that she has shoes the freezing doesn't really bother her so much. She's going to head on over to the grocery store to get some soup ingredients and check out the other buildings. She's friendly! Feel free to say hello!]

ETA [Voice]
Hey Toph! I'm at the grocery store, do you want anything?

Comments

[written]

[latkje]

I take it you don't have any sisters.

[written]

[markofthebrave]

[Does Toph count?] No, no sisters.

And where are you from, Nash? I'm sure Sokka probably told you all about home..

[written]

[latkje]

I usually say I'm from all over. I travel a lot. But I was born in a place called Crystal Valley.

[written]

[markofthebrave]

That sounds like a really beautiful place. Was it?

[written]

[latkje]

I think most things can be beautiful if you know how to look at them. But Crystal Valley is one of the biggest cities in the world, though. It isn't actually a valley of crystals.

[written]

[markofthebrave]

I think that's a beautiful thought.

Oh? What was your world like, then?

[written]

[latkje]

Complicated. But I think most worlds probably are. I'm not sure how to describe it, other than that, it's really the only world I know. Except this one. It's bigger than this one.

[written]

[markofthebrave]

Bigger than the village, you mean?

[written]

[latkje]

Bigger than the village. Crystal Valley takes several days to traverse, even on horseback.

[written]

[markofthebrave]

Is a horse like an ostrich horse? That sounds... huge. Ba Sing Se was the biggest city I've ever seen, but even that you didn't need day to cross it. Though you didn't need to use ostrich horses either...

[written]

[latkje]

It's just a horse. But yes, it's the capital of the world's largest country. A pretty big place! And therefore hard to leave.

[written]

[markofthebrave]

[A horse without the ostrich... She tries to imagine what that would be like and... fails.]

It seems like a lot of big cities are hard to get out of. Walls can keep people in as well as out. [Except if you have a flying bison. Escaping Ba Sing Se without Appa would have been rough.]

[written]

[latkje]

I meant— since it's so big, it takes a long time to leave. Not that you aren't free to leave or stay. Is the place where you're from like that? Sokka hasn't said.

[written]

[markofthebrave]

Oh. Well, not every place. And Sokka says it's a lot better now. I don't know if he told you about the Fire Nation, or the war?

[written]

[latkje]

He mentioned their existence, but not their reason for warring.

[written]

[markofthebrave]

Reason? I wonder if they even had one. I can guess what Azula's reasons were, but the war started long before any of us were born. Except Aang, but he didn't say anything about knowing their reasons.

[written]

[latkje]

War is too expensive to be waged casually. I'm sure they have a reason, even if it's difficult to see from where you stand.

[written]

[markofthebrave]

Do 'crazy' and 'evil' count as reasons? [She might be channeling a bit of her older brother there, but she's thinking specifically of Azula.]

[written]

[latkje]

Some people do enjoy carnage and destruction for the sake of it. Though, I think "people" is a pretty strong word, in those cases. And I also think that their armies would fall apart pretty easily, if everyone from the Fire Nation were like that.

[written]

[markofthebrave]

Oh no! Not everyone in the Fire Nation is like that at all. Some of the villagers we met were really nice, if a little bit... odd.

[She pauses for a moment. She can't help thinking about how what she's about to say affects how Zuko might have grown up.] There were soldiers that were terrible, though. We saw a whole fishing village with their water made foul by a factory, and the soldiers took their medicine and the people got sick and starved. I don't think everyone in the Fire Nation is evil and crazy... but the ones who started the war... they killed all the Air Nomads. They captured all of the waterbenders in my tribe. They murdered my mother.

I don't see any reason for anything they did.

[written]

[latkje]

But it wasn't the soldiers who started the war, was it? It almost never is. Soldiers are trained to follow orders, and orders that would make most sane people sick to their stomachs. Killing another man is not an easy thing. So armies try tricks to make it seem more palpable. Sometimes they spread rumors that the other army isn't made of humans at all, that the people they face are not truly people, and so it isn't such an awful thing to kill them.

[written]

[markofthebrave]

[This reply will be a while in coming]

That doesn't explain what they did to their own people. You were the one who wanted to know their reasons. I don't know why they did what they did. I only know what I saw.

[written]

[latkje]

Don't mistake me: reasons aren't excuses. I think war is a terrible thing. I've been a soldier in my time, and a son to murdered parents. But, people are complicated. And if you want to trap a rabbit, it's good to know what the rabbit likes to eat.

[written]

[markofthebrave]

What are rabbits? I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Why does it matter why someone is doing something if what they are doing is wrong?

[written]

[latkje]

Why do we study history if not to learn where people went wrong? If you know what it is that turns a man's heart black, you can better tell when your own heart is starting to err. Additionally, if you know your enemy, it's much easier to defeat them. But personally, I think the first part is a bit more important, in the long run.