markofthebrave | [Action, Voice] .006

[After a good cry, some good advice, and throwing down with the whole of Luceti against Aku the other day, Katara is feeling much more like herself. And she is on a mission. She can be found mid-afternoon heading towards whatever store in Luceti sells paint.

Fire Nation Red in her living room? Not anymore!]

Let's see... I guess I could go blue with green accents... or maybe something even more neutral? Maybe find a cream... No, no orange, it's too close to red...

[Katara has never had a chance to play with paints and colors before! She's a little lost with all the options. She just knows that she wants to make their shared space an open, welcoming one, one that represents all of them ~~and even the one that they're missing~~ and one which won't remind her of that stupid experiment's 'misplaced decimal.' But she has come far enough that she doesn't want it to just chase out Zuko either, although she is perfectly happy never seeing him again. Clearly, the girl is expecting too much out of paint. Someone help?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Huh. [At this point she's only curious. She's not going to push to find out who it is.] Did it feel like... you'd always been in love with them?

[Sadly for Caesar's sake, Katara hasn't actually had a chance to talk to anyone else about this.]

Yeah. It was strange. I couldn't understand why it took me so long to act on those feelings, even though I'm sure I've never felt like that before.

[Considering Caesar knows absolutely nothing about this kind of stuff, he can't even understand how he acted on those feelings. What was he doing?]

[Katara's hands clench into fists.] I just don't understand how anyone could do something like this. Isn't it enough that we're stuck here against our will? Now they have to go and make it so we can't even choose what to do with our own hearts?

An experiment like that is rare, but it's not unusual for them. Considering the kind of place this is, though, it's a surprise that everyday isn't an experiment. Not of that sort, anyway.

[He makes a valid point, and it catches her interest enough to stop her temper.]

That's interesting. I'm told that they only have new arrivals at certain times during the month as well. Do you think their power over Shifting is more limited than they'd like us to believe?

It's possible, but it might also be that having New Feathers arrive more often just doesn't suit their interests. Even with the experiments themselves, they might need time to prepare and collect data, which could explain why they only happen at certain times. We don't know much about the Malnosso themselves, particularly how large the organization actually is, so there could be a variety of reasons for it.

[Her shoulders slump.] ...that's true too. [Unspoken: I hate this. She's silent for a long moment, turning over what he's said... he's managed to impress her.]

You said you were a strategist. I'm beginning to see why. [Have a small smile. Absently, she shifts and dips her hand into the fountain, deriving some comfort from the touch of her element.]

So what do you think about their claims that they need our help? They said... that the Third Party was preying on innocent people.

[Caesar rubs at his neck. He's not used to people saying such nice things.] Well, I... I do try, I guess.

The Third Party is a strange bunch. When we were attacked by them before, they said they wanted to free us from this place. It sounds promising, only their idea of freedom for us was death—a permanent one. The fact is that we are important to the Malnosso, however. They might have asked for our help, but it's not just their battle we'd be fighting. They want our assistance because they can't protect us themselves, and if we don't fight, we're only putting ourselves at risk. We're kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place. [...] Although, despite them actually having come out and asking us directly, I wonder how much of a choice we actually have in the matter.

[Katara looks at her hand and swirls the water around in the fountain a little.] A war doesn't give you much choice about fighting anyway. You have to defend what you love and anyone who can't defend themselves. If the Third Party is trying to kill us too, then it's our war as well.

...although you have to wonder... [She glances up at Caesar.] if there is some way to play them against each other. They want us in the middle -- there should be some way to turn that around. To get home.

[He nods.] I agree. It isn't unfair that we'll be forced into this battle, but it's not very different from any other war that's ever been fought.

Good question. There's still a lot we'd need to know before we can do something like that, though. Knowledge about the Malnosso's technology and their ability to produce Shifts, especially. We don't know where this place is or what's outside of that barrier, so even if we could distract them long enough, we wouldn't know what to do once we got out there.

[She's starting to see that he has the habit of thinking a few steps ahead, even with assuming their success. It reminds her a little bit of Sokka and their dad. This sets her into a slightly more stubborn mode.]

That's true too. But we're not going to find much out from behind the barrier. There are people who have been here for years. We need to start doing something different if anything is going to change.

The only problem is that we're very limited in what we can do, and there are too many uncertainties involved. Still, even those who have been here for a while have come quite a long way. Progress has been made, even if it's taking much longer than anyone would like.

[She chews that over for a moment.] I guess that's why we have to take every opportunity that they give us for getting out of here and finding out more. Even if it is to fight for them.

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