[ Action, Voice ] .056

[markofthebrave]

[Okay, so waking up today was weird. She thought it was Saturday, but by the state of the house and where things were... it was actually Monday. Sokka was back - woke up in his own bed, and all, but when Katara went to check on Toph to see if she remembered what happened...

Her room was bare. There was nothing left. Toph was gone.

After stumbling to the wall and leaning on it a long moment to get herself together - is it going to hurt like this every time? - it was time to tell the household.

That accomplished, one of them had to let the town know... and Katara volunteered. She opened up her journal to find a mission summons from the Malnosso. She stared at it a long moment - now? When her housemates need her most they're calling for her now? She shut the journal. She needed a moment to process.

Eventually, she'll open up the journal again. Her voice is a little strained, but steady.]

I'm sorry I don't know any other way to say this but... Manliness Classes are going to have to be canceled again. Toph's gone home.

And... [hhhng, announcing this to the village is so weird, but...] Sokka's back. [There, that's better. Starting with him gives her someplace to stand on.] But I'll be leaving on a mission tomorrow, so... I'll see you all in a week or so.

[So after making this post mid-morning, Katara sets about doing what she needs to do. Sirry Crags, huh? She knows how to handle high altitudes and fighting in snow. She'll just... pop into the Item Shop to double check for a few things, and then hopefully bump into someone willing to help her carry groceries home. It looks like she's going to need to do a week's worth of cooking today.]

Comments

[markofthebrave]

[Blink. Okay, that's news to her. Because she's pretty sure she remembers somewhat painfully turning you down on that particular offer.]

I am?

[generalflirt]

[He folds his hands together here, focusing on her with a serious gaze]

You wouldn't take my pledge. Neither would Shikamaru precisely, honestly but that's sensible. He has his obligations and you have your reservations. However... I never recalled my offer to you. It's not quite how I would usually operate, but I did say everything... [He pauses here. He shifts. Maybe that was a bad way to put it]

The point is, I will trust you.

1/?

[markofthebrave]

[Oh that's - everything - oh.

...she's really not sure anyone's ever had the audacity to ask for everything from her before. Not even Aang. And that's twice now that he's done it. Huh.

And: "Not quite how I would usually operate" which just reminds her that there's this whole other side to him, that this means something to him, that he once had responsibilities and people he cared for all his own.]

Oh.

2/3

[markofthebrave]

[And why does she get the feeling that his trust isn't like hers, not the way he's saying it right now, that his trust is without reservation - like what it was he had asked her for and she'd refused to give.]

Masaomi, I--

[She bites her lip.

How can she say: I don't want this. It's too much to carry. How can she tell him that to take it back when it's obvious... he's finding himself in these actions. He's coming into who it is that he is, more than just a mask or that strange blank face, it's a meld of the two and... she doesn't want to take that chance from him, doesn't want to be just one more person saying 'no' in a way that would make it seem 'you're not good enough, you didn't do enough.']

[markofthebrave]

[...and she looks down.]

...the Sirry Crags. That's where I'm going.

[generalflirt]

[His expression... doesn't change much. It's subtle, what happens now, but hopefully she is experienced enough that she can pick it up if she happens to look up. To begin with, he needs to think. Sirry Crags? He runs over the mission list in his head for a moment. No, most of those were desk jobs, and then there was on on the farmlands and-

Mountain Combat. Oh. That's the only one that fits. And then after that moment of recognition his face also comes up with fear. Terror is actually gripping his heart, that she's going somewhere way, way out of his reach - somewhere dangerous, somewhere she could be hurt. Die. But then that fear shifts into surprise. It's odd that fear is before surprise, but it's a belated recognition that she wouldn't pick that. Katara is strong. Katara is impossibly strong, much more than he could ever be. But she's not like him either - she might be able to kill him, but she wouldn't want to - she doesn't fall into a parade of Violence the way he does, so why-...

But no. The whys are for her to worry about. She didn't accept the pledge, so he has no right to demand that information. Or does he? No, the confusion rights itself into a sort of fearful resignation. He focuses his eyes right on her. There's a lot of things he could ask, a lot of things he could tell her and demand. But in the end, he just ends up asking a simple question]

Will you die?

[markofthebrave]

[She looks up at him at that, and there's a light in her eyes - something fierce and dangerous and implacably determined.]

No. I won't die. I'll be back and I'll be fine.

[generalflirt]

Ah, in that case, I'll trust you for that. [Simply. He looks down at the tea cup now, and goes to spin it a bit with his pinky] There's no point beating things out for some dramatic ceremony of a goodbye... [He trails off here, as if he thought of a few different things all at once. In the end, he decides to trail back in] considering a gift would limit my masculinity, and a goodbye kiss just wouldn't be appropriate no matter how you cut it.

[...He just said that. Oh well, he says it seriously enough he hopes that doesn't come off as too demanding or anything]

But. I will be waiting.

[markofthebrave]

[...okay, none of that made any sense and he looks every bit as upset as she thought he'd be and... trust, right? Man. Why had she even...

"I will be waiting."

Hmm.]

And I'll be back.

[But he still looks... she sighs a little and then looks at him with consideration.]

Masaomi. Have you ever seen me bend snow at night?

[generalflirt]

Ah... No. [He looks up now, it's a more neutral expression] I've seen it during the day and I've seen water at night, but not snow.

[markofthebrave]

[She slides off her stool.]

Come on. I want to show you something.

[generalflirt]

[He slides off as well, but he smiles, a little, to himself once he does]

If this has to do with power, I already know you're far more scary with bending than I could imagine.

1/2

[markofthebrave]

[She looks a little shocked at that. Scary? Really?]

[markofthebrave]

[...and then a little sheepish at being caught out, at her plan for hoping to make him feel better being something he'd... already taken into account.]

Well, maybe it has a little to do with power. But it has to do with something else too.

[generalflirt]

Aaah? In that case, I'd be glad to see it.

[markofthebrave]

Okay.

[So she leads him to the door and - scary, huh?]

You can wait here, if you want.

[But she'll continue on outside, briefly, her hair unbound and catching in the moonlight, slippered feet padding softly on the cold ground.]

[generalflirt]

[He follows her, and at the door he even kicks on his shoes once more. But at the door, he shakes his head] And miss seeing you in action up close? No chance.

[markofthebrave]

Ah - all right. [And when she walks a few feet away from the house on the neatly bended path she stops and looks up to the moon for a moment. And then she looks at him.]

I think I told you once, how much I loved being surrounded by snow. That it reminded me of home. But there's another reason.

[generalflirt]

[He nods. He doesn't want to interrupt her, so he's just following behind her, a sort of serious sort of not expression on his face.]

1/2

[markofthebrave]

[She stops walking and turns to look at him.]

I won't run out. Every other bender has ready access to their elements - firebenders make their fire, airbenders are surrounded by air, and you rarely fight far from the earth. But waterbenders... I just have what I can carry, or what I can find.

[It's one of the reasons why their style is so adaptable - they have to rely on turning the opponent's force against them since their own force could end up being substantially less, not by power or skill, but by necessity.]

[markofthebrave]

But I'll be surrounded by snow in the mountains. And I can call on all of it.

[And, very simply, she raises her hands while at the same time broadening her stance. The snow from either side of the walkway rises at her command and then as her arms rotate above her head it slowly turns around them once in a broad circle.]

I can use it to fight or I can use it to hide... there's no safer place for me to fight.

[And then she slowly starts to lower her arms and return the snow where it belongs, gauging his reaction.]

[generalflirt]

[Bending... will never cease to amaze him. Awe him, really. She speaks so casually about it all - firebending, airbending, earthbending - but she (and Toph and he supposes om other people she knows) can perform these monstrously superhuman feats as natural as breathing... and she raises a point. Surrounded by her element, she's in the best possible position for her to be in. It... does make him feel better. His face is relaxed, focused on her with a complicated sort of expression]

Ah... I have no doubt.

[markofthebrave]

[...she can't read him. She can't decide if it helped or hurt or... what.

But that was all the reassurance she had to offer, so... she wraps her arms around herself in sudden awareness of the cold.]

So try not to worry too much, okay?

[generalflirt]

You're making me sound like a delicate maiden waiting for her prince to return, Kataraa!

[With mock indignation. He even throws on a smile for it]

1/2

[markofthebrave]

[Pff.] Now there's a horrifying thought.

[She starts walking back towards the house. Follow? It's freezing out here.]