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

[Well, fortunately, his writing will be covered under her filter, so he's only out of luck if he wanted this to be a private discussion.]

That doesn't make any sense. For some power to be used, it has to be used on other people. Otherwise, it can't exist.

The simple use of a power does not make it evil, nor is a refusal to use it necessarily good. Similarly, what some may consider right, others consider wrong. The question is: do you believe the power in question to be wrong? If you do, then do not use it. But if you believe that by the use of that power, you might save another, regardless of the opinions of others, then use it.

[OK, she stares at this for a while. And in the end she has to take it sentence by sentence.

The simple use of a power does not make it evil, nor is a refusal to use it necessarily good. - right, OK, she can see that.

Similarly, what some may consider right, others consider wrong. ...yeees, but only one of them can be right, can't they? Something can't be both right and wrong.

The next bit she takes in a chunk: The question is: do you believe the power in question to be wrong? If you do, then do not use it. But if you believe that by the use of that power, you might save another, regardless of the opinions of others, then use it.

Hmm.]

So you think that it doesn't matter whether you think the power is wrong or not, as long as it's being used to save people? The end justifies the means?

[Of course something can be both right and wrong! It's a matter of perspective, is all. Leto's perspective. Because Leto is always right.]

If you knew that by your actions, you could save the whole of humanity at the expense of the free will of a few, would you not do so?

[This is a hard question, and one that she takes very seriously. In the end, her answer is completely honest.]

I don't know. I think that depends on the extent of how their free will would be limited. And who they were. What happened to them after I was done with them.

Then I believe you have your answer. The power is wrong; do not use it.

[Wait - what?]

That's not what I said - I said 'it depends.' Not that it's something that never should be done.

In theory, that's very good. In practice, you are unlikely to have the luxury of time to consider those questions. Better to decide now that you absolutely will or will not use your power, and save others the trouble of cleaning up the mess of your indecisiveness.

[His superior tone is starting to tick her off.]

You're making a lot of assumptions. I never said this had anything to do with a power I have. You asked me a hypothetical question, I gave you an answer. That doesn't reflect on reality - unless you're saying that because I would hesitate to use an undefined power that means it was wrong, and the kinds of power I was thinking about are also wrong.

If the power is not your own, then you have no reason to ask after it. Do you often spend your time chasing after the wind like this?

[Yup. Definitely annoyed. She makes this a private filter for this next part, because she is too irritated not to explain herself further.]

You're wrong.

[And that's underlined twice.]

There is also the question of how to relate to other people with this kind of power. And if you think that's so unimportant, then you don't know anything about how living in a community works.

I would think you would relate to them the same as you might related to anyone with their relative status, regardless of particular or unusual abilities.

[Leto's at the top of his food chain, literally and metaphorically. Sorry, Katara, relating to people's a low priority for him.]

Status has nothing to do with personality or character - or even general usefulness. And it's not at all what I'm concerned about.

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