markofthebrave | [ Action, Voice ] .042

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[ Action, Voice ] .042

[Even Katara can only deny the effects of the dreams so long. It wasn't so bad at first when they were just vivid and of a different Luceti... but this other world, with these strange people she feels connected to, and the strange consistency of them, as if they were actually telling a story...

...and she knows the dreams have been effecting her dad too. And that it hasn't been good. So... she's going to take today to do maybe what she should have done from the start.]

[Filtered to Sokka]

Hey, I need to talk to you. What time can I come by?

[Filtered to Zuko]

...can we meet later?

[Filtered to Chouji]
I know this is weird, but have you been dreaming that we--

[Filtered to Shikamaru]
Did we ever--

[Filtered to Masaomi]
Don't take this the wrong way, but I had a dream about us, and we were fighting. You broke my rib, but it wasn't a bad thing and I can't stop thinking about--

[Filtered to Nami]
...have you been having dreams that we were friends, once?

[Filtered to Ginko]
Ginko... have you ever heard of parasites that... live in the dark and steal sight from people's eyes, and can be drawn out by moonlight?

[Filtered to San]
I dreamed you had come into my house for food, that you drew a knife and nearly attacked Sokka, and I had to knock you down.

[Filtered to Sanji]
Sanji, did we ever...

[Filtered to Jet]
I - you - there was a dam that -

[Katara abruptly shoves away from her journal, scribbling through her filters madly. Checking with Sokka and Zuko would be enough. She didn't want to go and get people upset or excited about something that may or may not be true. She hesitates for a long moment at the doorway to her father's room, contemplating knocking and asking him-

What have you been dreaming about, Dad? They haven't stopped. Do you think they mean something?

-but eventually she just writes a note that she's going to spend some time practicing, picks up her yari, and heads into the forest. She's almost hoping to see one of the beasties everyone's been talking about. She could do with a good fight against something she can actually touch.]

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[Hey, he jumped in the tree, okay. 8|]

Maybe they thought I was carrying around some dog kibble - I dunno.

[Maybe they're what drag people off into the woods.]

[This is a sigh that says 'she knows that you can guess better than that' but that 'dragging it out of you right now would be too much of a pain' so she is just going to frown and keep walking as she thinks it over.]

[He has nothing else to add for a while, though he turns back to look behind them once or twice. It's not like he's overly fond of Raph or anything, but he's still not a bad guy. He feels guilty walking away.

But he doesn't want to turn back.]

Thanks for helping, by the way.

You're welcome. [It's said with a smile, but now that the adrenaline is fading, Katara is just... tired.

And she's sure he would have been fine anyway, stinkbombs and all, but it's not like she knew who was up in the tree.]

[Exactly, which makes him wonder:]

What were you doing out there, anyways?

I was taking a walk. [This in a determinedly cheerful 'you want to make something of it' tone.

If he's smart enough not to take immediate issue, she'll continue.]

[In the forest everyone's been saying 'STAY AWAY FROM, BIG NASTY BEASTIES'?

Yeah, not saying anything, but she does get this look.]

[Yes, in that forest. And you can't talk, you were out there too. But the silence is rewarded with a further explanation.]

I needed to clear my head.

[...and may have been spoiling for a fight. She hasn't liked her dreams. At all.]

[For a different reason!]

Aa. So you thought that doing something dangerous was the best way to do it.

[Said blandly. He knows Katara can handle herself. Picking fights with things he'd be content to avoid is just something his friends consider a good idea for stress-relief.

His friends are so troublesome.]

[Don't you take take that done with her. 8|]

I thought a walk would be a good way of doing it. If I happened to bump into something dangerous, well... [stress relief. And she shrugs.] ...at least that way I'd be fighting something real.

[A questioning look. Because that's an interesting statement.]

...as opposed to something fake?

Edited 2011-05-06 20:11 (UTC)

As opposed to things that couldn't be real.

[Her dreams hadn't been consecutive. But they'd covered... some fairly interesting territory.

She glances sharply at the underbrush when there appears to be a noise - but it's just a rabbit, running away from them.

A regular, normal, rabbit. Not like any of those things she'd seen.]

[The dreams, then. He nods after a moment, looking back to the path again.]

Yeah, I think I know what you mean.

[The general sense of it anyways.]

[Assessing glance.]

You do?

[Another nod, and then he tries to elaborate.]

Sorta. I mean, they feel real enough. More detailed than any other dream I've had.

[There's less trees here, so he turns his head up to look at the sky. Almost as an afterthought he continues quietly.]
But at the same time, it doesn't feel like a dream at all - like watching something that's already happened. Which is stupid, because we know it hasn't.

Yeah, it feels like that. [It's a bit of a relief to hear someone else say it - someone that she trusts.] I see now why everyone kept making such a big deal about it...

[And she thinks about asking him about his dreams - asking him if they've ever fought in moonlight (which they haven't, she's a yari user primarily, still working out her gifts from Nala and Sona). Asking him if he's dreamed about someplace which is not here. And she thinks about the lists she has in her pocket...]

Yeah.

[He can see she's thinking about it. A part of him almost wants to say something else to change the subject, so they won't have to talk about it, even if he is curious.

But he knows that's just him being a coward. So he waits quietly, adjusting the backpack slung over one shoulder. Either she'll say something or she won't. He'll leave it up to her.]

In my dreams... I'm fighting with my water. Only with my water. And I'm using moves I've never seen before. I'm fighting people I've never seen before - well. [At least - that was the way it was until she had this last dream. The one that drove her into the forest.]

At least until last night.

Who'd you dream you were fighting last night?

[Said offhandedly, though there's actual curiosity here. It's ridiculous though, he knows. Dreams don't match up like that.

Maybe they're not dreams.]

[She hesitates a moment because - just because.]

...the one I recognized was Zuko. And it wasn't a spar. We were fighting with fire and water like... more than our lives depended on it.

[She's never fought like that here. Never.]

...and it was him you were fighting?

[Just wanting to make sure he has that right. He doesn't know Zuko as well as some of Katara's other friends, but he does know that she's... well. Interested in him. So a dream like that...

He just wants to make sure he's understanding it right.]

[She lifts her free hand and touches her face - where Zuko's scar would be.]

He's hard to mistake. [And she drops her hand.] And even though I've never seen moves quite like that... I still know his style.

Aa, I guess you'd know.

If it's just a dream, it probably doesn't matter. And that was the only one you had of him, right?

[Or maybe just the most unnerving one? Even if it's not real, he knows it could still cause problems.]

...not exactly. And the thing is... a lot of the stuff Sokka dreamed about was the same.

[She digs into her pocket and takes out their lists and hands them to him.] Take a look?

[And realize too, that this is for you to see, not for you to talk about with anyone else... especially-]

I just found out. And I haven't told Dad yet.

[He hasn't even discussed what he saw yet with his dad, or Noel, or even Chouji. He knows not to talk about someone else's dreams.

He takes the lists from her and looks them over, starting with Sokka's before moving onto Katara's, then holding the lists side by side to compare the two, even though they were short enough to be memorized.]

That's really, really troublesome.

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