markofthebrave | [ Action, Voice ] .037

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[ Action, Voice ] .037

['sup, Luceti. Hope you're not the curious type of person, because if you are the filter on this is so thin you could sneeze and break it. Someone is singing, this early afternoon, singing a lullaby softly and into their journal. The feed will cut off before the crying starts.]

Little child, be not afraid...

[Later in the afternoon, there is an unfamiliar woman with a familiar set of blue-toned wings and waterskin at the south-most bridge. There's only so much hiding in one's room that can be done when the memories are thick and the silence is very, very loud.]

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Oh. [Um. Yes. Awkward. Katara can't help wonder who she is - she looks around Masaomi's age, but she's not that girl who was here with him before and she thought they were...

Huh.

A small smile.]

Hi.

['Hi' in the 'There is nothing horrible here at all and I can totally see you and respond to you' sort of way.]

Mmm~ You're out late for someone your age, Katara?

[This is a joke. One in poor taste, perhaps, but a joke]

[Her smile momentarily falls before Katara forces it back up again.]

If that's so, then you're definitely missing curfew.

Eeeeh~? [And then a bright smile. Forced, but he does this a lot. Like. All the time] Are you going to scold me~?!

[Especially in that body, Katara can't tell that smile for forced or not. But the too-flirty tone gives her a hint, even if she doesn't understand all the connotations, and Katara turns her attention back to the water.]

Not right now, Masaomi, okay?

[But if he doesn't do that, all he's left with his misery. His face drops instantly, and while at first he maintains a brief and fading smile, that quickly subdues too. He considers just... walking away, but then. Well, where else is there to go? It's too late for anyone else to be out]

[And he can't even jump on the rail or anything either. With a short but very depressed little sigh, he turns to look at the water himself]

Mm... Okay.

[And assuming he doesn't walk off in the ensuing silence, after a pause of growing comfortable sharing this space with him, Katara starts searching around for something to say. Somehow 'Hi, I'm in my dead mother's skin - do you know she gave up her life to keep me from being captured or killed by the Fire Nation, just because I'm a waterbender? I just found out a few months ago.' doesn't seem to cut it.]

...did you know that waterbenders are stronger at night? [Note: this is not information she's shared with anyone in Luceti so far.] We get our power from the moon.

[Which... makes her think about Yue. Huh. Maybe that's something she can talk about...]

[He only put a little space. Saki's body gets colder than his faster (probably how thin she is) but hey, not like he has much more nice to say. When she does talk though his - well, her - head perks up. ...That's unexpected]

Eeeh? So that's why you practice late.

[Katara nods.]

Well, that - and because there's not enough time to practice during the day.

[There's a small internal debate before she decides - yes, she can tell this story if she doesn't use names. It's better than silence and loneliness and... memories.]

Hey - you want to hear a story?

Eeeh... if you're willing to tell it, I'll hear any story you want~?

[Because something feels weird here]

[As she speaks, one hand moves up to her necklace to toy with it almost idly, before eventually just barely touching the stone with one finger.]

Not so very long ago, there was a beautiful princess. She lived far in the North in a beautiful city of ice and snow, untouched by war. She was the only child of her parents, and when she had been born she was born very sick. All the best healers were called, skilled waterbenders all, but they could do nothing for her. When all hope was lost, her parents took her to the most sacred place in all the North and placed her in the Spirit Oasis itself, where it is said that the moon and the ocean spirit reside. To this day, no one is sure exactly why it happened, but the Moon Spirit had compassion on the Chief and his daughter, the princess. The Moon Spirit gave the princess some of her own life, saving hers. But this didn't leave the princess unchanged - since the moon spirit had touched her she received a mark.

[Katara closes her eyes for a moment, opens them, and tilts her face up towards the moon.]

Her hair, which was dark as all the Water Tribe hair is dark, changed color. Now it reflected the white of the full moon, shining in all its glory. And the princess grew up, always knowing that she owed her life to the moon spirit, and to her tribe. She loved her people, and her people loved her, because she was kind and beautiful.

[...but that's not where the story ends.]

[As he listens, he idly wonders... how much of this is true and how much isn't is up in the air. Nothing's obvious here after all. But this story does not feel finished. Or if it is it's not a very good one. so. Curious look over at Katara]

[A moment and then she sighs.] But when the entire world is at war, no place is isolated enough to be safe. A group of travelers came, needing their help and there was among them a young warrior about the princess's age. One look at her beauty and he was completely smitten, and the princess, stirred by stories of his adventures, fell for him as well. But there was a problem - her father had already arranged her marriage with a powerful family in their tribe. And as the princess, she felt it was her duty to honor the engagement. But nothing stopped the way they felt about each other.

As the group of travelers trained and grew stronger, they were not the only ones preparing for battle. Their enemy followed them to the Northern Walls, led by a evil man who believed it was his destiny to wipe the Water Tribes from the face of the earth. He had a plan, a horrible, evil plan, born out of stolen knowledge, that if successful, would change the balance of the world forever. This man planned to take away the source of all waterbending, he planned to kill the spirit of the moon.

[...What. Kill the moon? That's a complete alien idea to him and it shows on his face but he is spellbound now. The romance is interesting and this story has a feeling like... a fairy tale meets and urban legend, maybe? Whoa man. Whoa]

But before he could do that, first the Admiral had to get passed the great snow walls of the Northern Water Tribe. He had prepared well, knowing the strengths of the waterbenders and the skill of their warriors, and had come not a few ships, but with an entire fleet. The ships of the Fire Nation stretched out as far as the eye could see, the smoke from their engines staining the sky and turning the pure white snow to soot. They fought bravely, but... on the second day, the enemy made it through the wall.

The admiral fought his way to the Spirit Oasis along with a contingent of elite fighters. Everyone was fighting in the town - no one knew the admiral's plan. But the warrior had been assigned by the chief to protect the princess and she was in the Spirit Oasis. They were taken by surprise and overpowered - and the admiral approached the koi pond, the very place where all those years ago the young princess had received back her life.

There were two koi inside the pond, constantly circling each other. One of them was dark, the color of the deepest part of the ocean, and the other one gleamed white with the shining of the moon. These were the moon and ocean spirits, having chosen long ago to enter the mortal world, a secret which even the Northern Watertribe had forgotten. But the admiral knew.

[Her hands tighten on the rail of the bridge and she looks down as she remembers.]

[Masaomi, believe it or not, is observant. He notices that her hands clench a little. He can't help but wonder if this story somehow relates to her form... or something else. Something related to her. But he keeps eye contact, keeps focused... doesn't reply. He's absorbing all this]

The admiral didn't hesitate. He reached into the koi pond and swept up the gleaming white fish, placing it in a bag with some water. Immediately, the moon went dark, red sweeping over the face of it like a shade. All of the waterbenders lost their power, the water falling from their hands as if they'd never felt it push and pull against their senses.

The admiral cried out, "It is my destiny to destroy the moon and the watertribe. I will be a legend!"

The Avatar tried to reason with him, though he held the fate of the moon spirit in his hand, threatening it with the power of his firebending. But it was not until one of the admiral's own men turned on him, threatening to unleash on him tenfold whatever he did to that spirit, that the admiral released the koi back into the pond. But that wasn't the end of his treachery. As he watched the moon spirit join with the ocean spirit once more in their eternal dance, the admiral was filled with rage. He unleashed a blast of fire into the koi pond, so strong that it [a breath] killed the moon spirit instantly.

And the moon disappeared from the sky.

"There's no hope now," said the princess, as the world fell horribly out of balance, as she heard the cry of her people dying around her. But the spirit of the ocean was enraged at the death of its consort, and joined with the Avatar, sweeping over the Fire Nation army and fleet with a mighty wave and leaving the travelers to mourn.

Then the general who had turned against the admiral noticed the princess's white, white hair. "You have been touched by the moon spirit."

And the princess' face filled with hope and determination. "That's right. The moon spirit gave me life. Maybe I can give it back."

The warrior who loved her begged her not to go. "I won't let you! I said I'd protect you," he said.

But she would not listen. She saw a way to protect her people and save the world, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him as she waded into the pool, placing her hands on the dead koi.

[There is a light gasp here because, sensing a conclusion... well without names it's hard to care about anyone except the princess and admiral and maybe the warrior but even so. He nods, his eyes wide at this point because there are people who can do that? there are girls. Why can't he...]

As soon as she touched the body of the moon spirit, all the life went out of her. She fell backwards into the arms of the warrior who followed her, who would have always caught her if he could - but she had gone beyond his protection. And while the warrior held the body of the princess close... the moon spirit... the moon spirit began to swim again. The sky, however, remained dark.

The warrior lifted his eyes from the girl in his arms to stare at the glowing koi fish, the result of her sacrifice, and as soon as he did the body of the princess faded from their sight, disappearing forever. Confused and enraged, the warrior cried out - and that is when the moon spirit appeared in the form of the princess, glowing, ethereal, and more beautiful than ever.

Once again the moon spirit had shared its life with the princess, and after giving the warrior one last kiss she ascended into the sky, and the moon shown brightly once again. The spirit of the ocean felt the return of the moon spirit and returned to the Spirit Oasis, leaving behind it a wreckage of broken ships and the mangled bodies of the enemy. The moon and the ocean spirit resumed their eternal dance, the push and pull, forever circling each other.

And so the battle was won, but at a terrible cost. [A long pause here and - oh right, she's telling this as a story, not as a memory. How would she end this if it was story? Her hands flex on the rail once again before she looks up to Masaomi with the smallest of smiles.] But - it is said that the moon spirit never forgot who she was, and that she watches over her people and the warrior who won her heart to this very day.

[As Katara had told that story, she was struck once again by what made her tell it in the first place - the similarities between Yue and her mother. They were both so brave. They'd given everything they were to protect what they loved... and they'd succeeded. It humbles her and really makes her want to curl around herself for a good cry.]

Eeeh... [He's not sure how to respond to this. Once or twice, he blinks. Because that means that...]

[He hangs his - or rather Saki's - head a little, looking down at the water]

The princess was an amazing person, wasn't she?

[Katara ducks her head as well, not really thinking only about Yue at all.]

She was very brave.

Mm, I think so too. [Because he couldn't... Really, his own feelings here are that of self-failure more than thinking back on other brave people he knows]

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[ Action, Voice ] .037

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wow wrong icon

LOL - Good, that icon was very o_O

yeeeah

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