[ Action, Voice ] .058

[markofthebrave]

[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.]

Comments

[markofthebrave]

[Katara winces inwardly, knowing how this sounds towards him... and towards her, really, that she's taking him seriously despite his behavior.]

No, he's still flirting. I told him he didn't have to stop - it's not like I like him too. [Sigh.] I told him the only time I'd ask him to do something like that would be if we were dating. I'd rather he find someone else who can like him in return.

[Of course, he responded to that by promising not to date anyone else, but. There you have it.]

[mikangirl]

[That's a good answer, and really it makes sense insofar as Nami can see. There's nothing wrong with flirting with other girls. She closes her eyes.]

Pity. He's kind of charming. [Hard to tell if she's being serious.]

[markofthebrave]

You think so?

[Sudden sidelong and somewhat skeptical glance.

Also. This reaction was not as expected.]

[mikangirl]

Yeah. He took me on a grand tour of a city when I was sixteen. We beat up muggers.

[THIS IS A LIE. Masaomi beat them all up and Nami threw a wallet. But shh.] He knows how to show a girl a good time.

1/2

[markofthebrave]

[Sounds like a date to her! She'll have to bring this up with him if he ever throws that not!dating thing at her.]

[markofthebrave]

Beating up muggers? Where did you go, the Battle Dome?

[mikangirl]

[Nami would think Katara was being unfair to Masaomi in that particular case, but not being privy to those brackets she merely smiles.]

Yep. Also makes me realise I've come a long way in six years.

[markofthebrave]

Six years is a long time.

[...]

I'm glad you two had fun.

[It makes it easier that one other of her friends doesn't think he's a complete horror and that she's either an idiot or a horrible person for trying to give him a chance.]

[mikangirl]

Me too.

[...>8Da]

So how many boys are interested in you, again?

[markofthebrave]

[Katara vaguely remembers the conversation Nami is alluding to and thus winces and speaks a little wryly:] Masaomi. Just Masaomi.

[And frankly, she's not sure how that even HAPPENED.]

[mikangirl]

You could do worse.

[And she leaves that just long enough, stretched out next to Katara, that she might be getting a strange look by the time she adds:] Of course, I'm sure you could do better.

[markofthebrave]

[She is getting a strange look.]

I'm not trying to do anything at all!

whoops, meant to make sure that you saw it was gonna be 2/3

[markofthebrave]

I don't... like him like that. And I know he wants to change it, but... at the most, I'm finally getting used to the fact that he does. It just makes me feel... like I owe him something I can't give him, it hasn't changed the way I feel about him.

[Or so she's pretty sure.]

done

[markofthebrave]

[And besides, I still miss Chouji.]

...but I guess it's good to hear that you're not going to try and drive him off with a stick. Sokka and Zuko both don't like him very much, and even with all this... he's still my friend.

[mikangirl]

It's not my place to drive him off with a stick. [Stretch.] It's only my job to kick his ass if he hurts you. You're a big girl. Make your own choices.

[markofthebrave]

I am.

[I just hope I'm making the right ones.]

...what about you? I know a lot of stuff has been happening recently...

[Zoro. Ragna. Zoro.]

How's that going?

[mikangirl]

[Erk.]

A lot of stuff is always happening in Luceti.

...It's going.

[markofthebrave]

[...let's start with what she hopes is the easier one.]

So... Ragna, huh? At least he's kind of cute. [She can't say much about the personality, though.] Even if he seems like kind of a jerk.

[PLEASE TELL HER THAT THE EXPERIMENT DIDN'T MAKE YOU SLEEP WITH SOMEONE AGAIN, NAMI.]

[mikangirl]

[No, this time she got lucky. ...poor choice of words. Still, Katara can probably be reassured by the small snort Nami gives at that, shaking her head easily.]

Ragna needs people skills. But he's okay.

...we're holding the Malnosso to blame.

[Not each other.]

[markofthebrave]

Well, that's fair.

[More than fair, really. It's the only thing they can do.]

So it went... okay?

[mikangirl]

Define 'okay'.

We're all still living. We don't hate each other. That's good enough.

[It was still yet another violation she's not willing to forgive.]

[markofthebrave]

...yeah. If anything can be good enough, I guess that is.