[ Action, Voice ] .038

[markofthebrave]

[If you're passing by the Seventh Heaven after school today, you will see that once Katara has obtained her hot chocolate and window seat, she's busy flipping through her journal. At a certain point, she'll flip back and forth repeatedly with a poleaxed expression that finally fades into something pensive.

February 7th... and February 7th... it's been a year.

Huh.

At home, while making dinner, Katara will make a voice post.]

...does anyone else ever get the feeling here that time is really, really weird? I mean, we have the experiments every month and the seasons change, but - it's like things can just sneak up on you. Maybe it's because we know that time stands still at home?

[Later, Katara will leave dinner early. She's glad that Sokka and Suki have made up, but she really didn't need to see that. Or that. Or that. The light snowfall makes for a surreal Luceti landscape and a perfect night to practice. If you're passing by, you might notice that Katara's practice routine is different than normal. For one thing - she keeps stopping after doing a move instead of flowing seamlessly into the next. For another, there's a scroll she has propped up on a rock with a portable lantern.

Feel free to run into her at any time!]

Comments

[action]

[winged_moon]

[Yukito was just heading back toward the kitchen at Seventh Heaven, going in to work before people started to show up for dinner, but pauses when he notices the girl staring at her journal like that. After half a second's pause he moves over toward where she's sitting, with a grin both very friendly and a touch shy.]

I beg your pardon, but... is something wrong?

[Voice]

[coffeeking]

It wouldn't surprise me at all if time works...differently in Luceti. Don't ask me how, but I'm sure it's possible.

[action]

[markofthebrave]

[Katara blinks and looks up. Oh - an unfamiliar face. She smiles a little.]

Oh - no. I just - realized I'd forgotten something. Thanks for asking.

[Voice]

[markofthebrave]

[Someone taking her literally? Unexpected. Still.]

You think so? I mean, I can kind of understand how things stay still at home while we're here... or not understand it, but believe it. But it's not like time can really be different... right?

[action]

[winged_moon]

[Yukito nods; he can understand that, and since nothing seems to be wrong he won't pry. He does, however, grin and gesture toward the hot chocolate.]

Well, if you needed anything else, let me know? I'm working in the kitchen tonight.

[bamfing]

[BAMF! Katara, you have your first stalker of the day on the roof. He watches her for just a bit. Usually her forms are so much smoother, but for some reason she keeps stopping. What's up with that?]

[action] gah, so many edits, sorry

[markofthebrave]

[Well, isn't today just full of surprises. She didn't know Sanji had 'hired' other cooks!]

Oh, you're working here? Wow - I didn't know that. I'm Katara, I'm friends with Sanji.

[Voice]

[coffeeking]

[Ianto has some experience with taking time shenanigans literally. Not as much as some other people he could name, but he's more suspicious of such things than the average person.]

Of course it can. If I've learned anything about time, it's that time is both subjective and not necessarily linear. Not always. Time can be rewritten, or undone entirely, if you're not careful.

You say that things "stay still" at home while we're here, but they don't, not really. Time doesn't stop. What the Malnosso are doing is taking a person from one moment in time, and then returning that person to the moment directly after, so their absence goes unnoticed. A person's individual timeline can veer off so they spend years here, and then they can be inserted seamlessly back into the time stream they were stolen from. Like a loop in a thread.

The Malnosso have plainly demonstrated that their technology is capable of manipulating time, so what's to say they aren't manipulating it here, within their own territory?

[action] s'all good ^^

[winged_moon]

I started a couple weeks ago, just before the, er, experiment. But it's nice to meet you, Katara-san. I'm Yukito.

[markofthebrave]

[BAMFs make a distinct noise, and it is not forest-like. So Katara glances over to the sound. Sadly, you blend in pretty well with the general darkness thing winter has going, Kurt, and since she's been looking in the lamplight, she doesn't see much.]

Hello? Is someone there?

[bamfing]

[Oh. So much for being sneaky. He bounds off the roof and lands in a crouch.]

Just me, Katara. How's it hanging?

[markofthebrave]

[DUDE! You do not jump towards a waterbender from the dark - Katara immediately returns to a familiar form and LAUNCHES ICE AT YOUR FACE.

...not to worry, if for some reason he doesn't BAMF, she'll catch it in time.]

[action]

[markofthebrave]

[Oh, another one with the -san.]

It's nice to meet you too, Yukito. Please - just Katara's fine.

[bamfing]

[Okay, no. The moment he sees ice coming towards him, he panics. Just as suddenly he BAMFs again and teleports behind her. His own defense mechanism in play there.]

[markofthebrave]

[Oh, good. Kurt. Heh heh heh >>

She'll just be stopping those ice spikes WAY before they reach you and dissolving them in mid air, letting the water fall to the ground.]

Oh - sorry Kurt --

[Wait, where did he go?]

[Voice] 1/2

[markofthebrave]

[Uh...

Please hold.]

[bamfing]

[He considers the risk of revealing his location. Eheh.]

Ahh... Over here.

[Hanging alongside that lamp post from before, up at the very top and well off the ground.]

Maybe next time I should honk.

[Voice]

[markofthebrave]

I don't know if I understood all of that, but... they claim that they can't control the Shifting that takes us from our worlds. And if their experiments really had anything to do with time, don't you think we would have heard about it by now?

[markofthebrave]

[Honk?]

Yeah, maybe. Sorry about that - you caught me off guard.

[bamfing]

Yeah... we totally don't want this to become our thing.

[He slides down to the ground again.]

[action]

[winged_moon]

Oh? All right then.

[He inclines his head slightly with a friendly smile.]

I should probably get to work, but if you need anything, let me know?

[markofthebrave]

Do you guys have a system to warn people when you're practicing at home?

[AKA: Quit sneaking up on me, and it won't be a problem, man!]

[bamfing]

I think they're all kind of used to it.

[At the Xavier Mansion, no one really bats an eye at Kitty walking through the walls, Kurt appearing out of nowhere, or any of the other antics.]

[action]

[markofthebrave]

All right. Thank you for stopping by. It was very kind of you.

[That's one of the best things about this place, the people. And her gaze flickers to her journal again.

February 7th...]

[markofthebrave]

Wow, that sounds... [dangerous] crazy.