markofthebrave | [ Action, Written ] .052

[Filtered 100 percent AWAY from: Sokka, Toph, Zuko, Yue, Suki, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Shino, Naruto, Sasuke, Itachi, Trafalgar, Nami, Sanji, Luffy, Chopper, and anyone else she thinks might recognize her handwriting, despite the pains she's going to in order to disguise it, or show the journal to people she really doesn't want to see this - Raine and Temari and Iroh.

All replies will be written unless stated otherwise. The camera is obscured by a wrapped around piece of brown cloth.]

Do you think that there's such a thing as a power that is wrong, not because of how it's used, but just because of what it does?

[After staying holed up in her room with the door shut - quite an unusual break of habit for her - Katara decides to head into town. She wants to check out that night club that she'd heard about - she heard there would be music!

From there it's the usual errands, like the grocery store and the Item Shop. Dinner tonight will be Something Spicy, but she hasn't figured out what yet. Maybe it'll help get Sokka out of his funk.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Think of the worst possible power that your imagination can conjure.

Somewhere, in the limitless possibilities of the infinite sea, someone has that power and is likely using it. Even now.

[Yes, these are the sort of things Bern thinks about commonly.]

I can imagine a lot of things, but all the different types of horrible power out there isn't what I'm asking. What I'd like to know is if there is a kind of power which you think crosses a line from something like combat to something that is... more than life or death. Wrong.

Ah, so you mean something that should not exist at all. I do. But, do you think that?

That's what I'm trying to figure out. I know what my answers would have been. But now that I'm learning more about different types of powers in different types of worlds... I'm not sure.

Do not overwork yourself. An every day human like yourself should not have to deal with the stresses of understanding a world outside your own.

[Well, that's insulting. And besides the point. And frankly, she really wishes it was an option, so she doesn't even get angry.]

But I'm in a world outside my own.

Which is why your dilemma is very pitiable. Enough so that I wish to help.

What sort of power do you even have in mind when you think of something that is wrong?

[Hesitation. How to phrase this...]

The kind of power that goes inside someone else.

[There, she'll try something a little more specific, but hopefully vague enough.]

I see. [Bern has a few ideas on what that means, but she won't push on yet.] A power like that would be useful in certain situations, but for someone not comfortable with manipulation I can see why there would be doubts.

[Katara resists the urge to explain further. It's hard to do. She likes being helpful. But one of the benefits about writing instead of speaking is that she has time in-between to think. And keeping these abilities a secret is a top priority.]

But just because something is 'useful' doesn't make it right.

Whether it is "right" or not is subjective. You may think of it as wrong, but another person may see it as right. There is no real answer.

It would be easier if things were like that, if you could say it was all a matter of perspective, but I don't think that's true. I think that whenever one person treats another person as less than themselves, it's wrong - no matter what form it takes, whether it's murder or slavery or rape, or even just making them feel bad. And if there's one standard for wrong, then there have to be others too.

If you feel that you cannot put that burden on yourself, then whatever "power" you may be dealing with or even talking about is one you should not use. No one can force you to use a power that you are ultimately uncomfortable with. If you are talking of erasing that power entirely from existence, that is another thing entirely.

I wouldn't want the kind of power to erase a part of a person either. That seems just as wrong.

All I'm trying to figure out is if it's... something to be avoided when I see it, even if it seems as though the people who are using it aren't bad.

How righteous of you.

If you don't enjoy the sort of effects a power may have, you do not need to use it. However, if someone else sees use in that power you don't have the right to say anything about it. Blind yourself to the things you do not find appreciation in.

Being 'righteous' doesn't have anything to do with wanting to understand what's going on around you, and being 'blind' never helped anyone. Things aren't as simple as you make them out to be. The 'right' to say something isn't a right at all - it's a responsibility.

[Even so, even believing that truly, she doesn't want to interfere... not unless they were going and throwing those powers around indiscriminately and hurting people.]

Is that so? I think it's rather simple. If you believe this power is wrong, then do not associate yourself with it. Or is seeing other people using a power like that just as bad?

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