markofthebrave | [ Action, Voice ] .058

[ Action, Voice ] .058

[Somewhere in all the excitement of the past month, it... sort of didn't occur to her that she's now been in Luceti for two years. That's had some time to sink in now, along with the new announcement and - home. Actually getting to go home. Even if it's just for a day...

...but then it means that the Malnosso were lying to them, doesn't it. They do have the power to send them home. And all this time, they'd said it was random...]

[Filter to those who had been here when she arrived: Two years back or more.]

Hey. I think that I just... wanted to apologize. I know that when I got here two years ago, I wasn't very respectful about all the things everyone had tried to do in order to get out of here. It must have been so hard to hear that then, and to keep hearing it from every New Feather that we get when we know that we've tried everything we could.

But we have to keep trying. What they're doing, no matter what they say, no matter what they promise us, is wrong. We can't give up hope that we'll find a way out - we have to keep looking. There's a difference between waiting and giving up, and I know it's hard, but so many of you are still doing that, still trying to find a way out while making things as comfortable as you can for all the new people who are stuck here as we are, and I admire that so much.

So, thank you.

[/filter]

[And then, taking a deep breath, she'll continue:]

And hey, if anyone was using the sled tracks I made, I haven't had a chance to check on them since the ice storm. I'll probably be decommissioning them tomorrow and just turning it all into a giant snow hill, so if you go out there, please be careful, all right?

[Thursday is one of the days Katara goes to spar with Nami, so after making this announcement after school, she and Nami will meet up by the river to do battle with their staffs. Feel free to stop by and watch these two sexy ladies practicing, if you like.

If not, after dinner, Katara heads off someplace she very rarely is. The remembrance garden. This place has always made her uncomfortable... she's not sure it's right, but it's... something. Better than those things that reminded her of gravestones. And the perfect place to pour over her journal, flipping back until she finds an entry of Aang. It's been so long since she's seen him... she's all but forgotten what he sounds like. She feels almost bad about it, but... she misses him so much and yet... it's easier not to miss him.

And eventually, when her time in the remembrance garden is done, Katara will return to her house for an hour or two of bending practice in the back yard.]

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Two years, though. [ a low whistle. ] That's a weird one. I remember that being a weird one. As milestones go...

Yeah... it's pretty weird. [Not even going to lie about that one.] And it's what - four for you? Five?

Oh, God. Do I come across as that much of an old-timer? The first of May'll mark my third year here. But it...

[ .. ] Sometimes, it feel like longer. And then others I wonder if I've been here any time at all.

...yeah, I guess I could see that. Time is weird here.

Weirder than weird. And that doesn't even account for the people who go and come back. The ones who go, come back, and remember.

I don't even know how to count their years.

It doesn't really matter, does it? [Not only because no one remembers anything when they go home, but also because really, the only important thing is getting home.]

You're here or you're not.

...I used to think that. Before -- before someone very imp--

[ hmm. ] Before someone went and came back.

Oh. I see.

...did they remember?

[Because that's always the worst part.]

Edited 2012-03-03 21:05 (UTC)

Mmhm...[ so complicated. ] But lived two years back home prior to...remembering.

Oh. [Two years seems to be a popular number...]

Then I guess I'd just go with them being here the whole time, but really... it comes down to how they look at it.

And I don't know how he...[ ... ]

Hey. Got plans? Later? [ she doesn't want to talk about this on the journals -- the possible conversation topics and the likelihood of this touching upon a recent announcement concerning home? probably best kept to in-person encounters. ]

Um - no, not really. I was just going to practice after dinner.

[After visiting the remembrance garden, but that's... not something she'd talk about over the journals, herself.]

Right. The bending. Do you mind an audience?

[ an one that doesn't accidentally come across you in a strange and implausible way? ]

[Actually, people just standing by and watching makes her uncomfortable when she becomes aware of it, but...]

I wouldn't mind taking a break?

[Just means she'll have to practice longer later! Because she doesn't just do it to get better - she does it because she loves it.]

And I wouldn't mind taking a break from patrolling. It's just a case of lining our breaks up.

Where will I be able to hide-and-seek you out?

Are you going to be down by our house?

[She wasn't planning on going anywhere special tonight.]

If not I could meet you by the river.

I can do. I mean -- there aren't many graveyards here to stake out. I kinda make my own path. [ she's kinda always made her own path. in one way or another. ]

['Stake out,' ha ha.]

Maybe after eight, then?

[ there are reasons why she and sokka are good friends; awful puns might be one of them. ]

I'll be there. See you later, Katara.

Edited 2012-03-03 21:55 (UTC)

Right - see you later!

[And so, sometime before Masaomi comes along to do what he does, Katara is out in the generous back yard of House 56, running through some forms. It's just simple repetition tonight - they're long since engraved in her muscle memory, and she's working on enhancing it by... working with her eyes closed, concentrating on her breathing and the minutia of her movements.]

A low whistle. A careful call: "Anybody home...?"

Buffy tracked the perimeter of the house. She'd had her own concentration broken on many an occasion and the interruption was often jarring. She wanted to give the other woman a fair shot at not being taken unawares.

And so -- soon after her voice -- a well-wrapped Slayer materialized out of the blue-dark. Her red-bladed scythe weapon resting on her shoulder.

The warning is greatly appreciated. She'd lost count of how many times she'd gotten startled and had to pull back at the last minute when someone interrupted her practice. So as it is, it's a Katara with her water well away that turned to greet Buffy, the habit of returning water she's not using to her waterskin far too ingrained to break, despite the abundance of snow along the ground.

"Hey, Buffy! Over here."

There are Chinese Lanterns hanging from the back of the house in order to better illuminate Katara's practice ground, which is otherwise just a simple patch of ground no too far away from the treeline.

"Pretty little set up you have out here. Do you cater?"

A dry half-smile. The Slayer drove her weapon into the earth -- stake-side down. She made breaking the chilled ground seem effortless.

"Also? Wow -- dedication. Coming out here and practicing in the cold. But I guess cold's kinda your thing."

Said the woman who patrols regardless of its efficaciousness.

Wow, compliments are always awkward.

"It's not that cold," she said with a shrug. "You're out here too."

So, yes, passionately dedicated. "Although we could go inside if you like. I make a mean hot cocoa."

Edited 2012-03-03 22:23 (UTC)

"I feel like a popsicle," she quipped. "And I miss Californian winters. So I think I'll take you up on that offer."

Edited 2012-03-03 22:24 (UTC)

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/does that prose thing

surprose!

the best surprise.

always \o/

Re: always \o/