markofthebrave | [ Action, Voice ] .056

[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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah. I love my home, but I'm glad I had a chance to experience the seasons.

...There's a lot of things here I'm glad I had the chance to experience. Like...a lot of things.

Yeah? Like what?

[Honestly, please tell her. She could use some good news right now.]

Like--well, school, for one thing. On Berk, we only have one book. The island's pretty small and there's just...a lot of limit on learning. But it's something I love to do, so...yeah. That's definitely a perk of being here.

The school is pretty amazing. I'm still not the world's biggest fan of math, but it's a wonderful chance to learn things that I wouldn't otherwise. We didn't have much reading material in the South Pole either. Just enough to get literate, really.

...Indoor heating. I can't complain about that, either. Or refrigerators.

Or bathrooms. [No more running out of the igloo the middle of the night, that was awesome.] And indoor plumbing.

...Yeah. That's definitely something I'll miss when I go home. Plumbing.

[And...a lot of other things.]

Hot water.

[Oh, she loves it so.]

And frozen fish, any time I want. Toothless has gotten pretty spoiled.

Not having to skin all my own meat. Or make my own clothes. Fresh vegetables.

Not to mention all the new food--chocolate. Popcorn. Soda. We didn't have anything like that.

Soda. Now that would be hard to give up.

[Mild addiction: Katara has it.]

I wouldn't be able to cook, either. I guess that's kind of a hobby I've picked up while I've been here.

Really? Why couldn't you cook at home?

Well, I guess I could, but...vikings are supposed to be warriors. Especially viking men. The older women in the village do most of the cooking.

[Ugh. This again.]

And what do the warriors do when they're not out fighting?

[Maybe they do useful things! Most of the men back home did. There were always hunts to be had or nets to be repaired... except for when they weren't and they just lay around. But that was rare. Life was hard in the South Pole.]

[Do you really want to know, Katara.]

They build things. Repair things. Hunt, and eat, and...drink lots of ale, fish, uh...start brawls, compare scars...all that sort of stuff.

[Is it any wonder Hiccup didn't fit in?]

[Sigh.]

Everyone has an important part to play in keeping a community running. There needs to be up time and down time, but it's best when we all chip in. Things like cooking can get overlooked... until a bunch of warriors are out on a hunt and trapped in the snow and they left without taking the emergency food that had been made for them.

[Hiccup doesn't even want to think about what a viking would eat in that situation.]

They'd probably consider it a trial of strength. But...you've got a point. Not that--I'll be able to put my skills to use. With the whole...forgetting things part.

[...ouch.]

At least we won't actually miss indoor plumbing.

...Yeah. I think I'd prefer it if we could, though.

[Katara looks down.]

Until we can find a way to get out of here and figure out how things work when people return home, there's not much point in thinking about it.

...Yeah. I--yeah. I'm pretty bad at worrying about things, though. I try to not let it get to me, but...yeah.

[...Yeah.]

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