markofthebrave | [Written/Action] .002

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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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?

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

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.

Edited 2010-02-12 20:13 (UTC)

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.

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.]

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.

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.

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.

[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.

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.

~~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?

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.

[Again, the response will be a while in coming. He's making her think about Hama, how she used bloodbending to escape -- a good reason if a horrible action -- and then how she kept using bloobending for revenge on innocent people. And he's making her think about Zuko, and how he said he did everything that he did for his father's approval. They both thought they had good reasons, but what they did... And somewhere in the back of her mind she's examining her own actions in this light as well. If it's visible through the journals, he'll see a few false starts before she actually responds.]

I know that sometimes people can do bad things for what they think are good reasons. And in that case -- what does it matter? All you can do is stop them.

Or try, yes. That's all anybody can do. I just find— in my long and exhaustive years of life– that if you don't give your conscience a regular work out, it might not come through when you need it. But I'm sorry for getting all philosophical! Pretty rude of me, considering we've barely met.

Don't worry about it. You've given me a lot to think about that isn't -- wings or cows or talking animals.

[Enter Katara's horrible habit of trusting people very quickly] I'm from a different time from everyone I know here so it's been... really weird. And this might help with something.

[Might, as in 'sure, you get that once in a million shot every blue moon on Tuesdays,' but you never know.]

[Hey, it's Luceti. Weird things happen.]

Yes, the people I've known from my world seem to be scattered about the timeline as well. It's a bit unsettling.

[True enough!]

Do you have a lot of people here from your world?

A handful. They seem to be disappearing, lately.

Disappearing? Not kidnapped?

It's hard to say where people go, here. Probably back to their own worlds.

Well in that case, it's a good thing, right? I met someone here who claimed she'd known me before... that I had been here and then disappeared. So people have to be going somewhere..

But it must be hard being the one left behind.

Yeah, it's just strange. I'm used to managing by myself, though.

[And this response is immediate, instinctive.]

Just because you're used to it doesn't mean you should have to do it.

In my case it sort of does. I have to travel a lot for my job. And without my job, how can I support the missus?

Oh? What kind of job is that?

[written]

latkje - 2010-02-14 00:33 (UTC) - Expand

markofthebrave - 2010-02-14 00:48 (UTC) - Expand

latkje - 2010-02-14 00:57 (UTC) - Expand