(no subject)

[markofthebrave]

[Action: Locked to Nephry]
[It makes no sense for a known and proud waterbender to step out of the fountain in the middle of winter and remain soaking wet. But yet, that is exactly what she is doing: getting out of the fountain, her arms wrapped around herself, shivering, and looking both confused and frightened... and younger. About three years younger, to be exact.]

[Open action.]

Katara, properly attired to face the winter thanks to your friendly neighborhood Clothing Shop, can be seen:

a) Stopping and staring at the snow, as if she hasn't seen any in a very, very long time
b) Entering the Welcome Center to get the maps/layout of the place
c) Stalking House 56. She will not enter. She will likely not be seen, as she is administering a frightening amount of skill at sticking to the shadows, but you might catch her as she starts to walk away...
d) Checking out a Community Building for a spare room.

((Katara, returned from her mallynap, is experiencing this AU. Feel free to bump into her anywhere, but don't be too surprised if she doesn't respond to her name. It's been a long time since she's called herself anything Water Tribe.))

Comments

[bloodbending]

Great! So are you always this helpful to strangers, or am I just lucky?

[Action]

[markofthebrave]

What are you talking about?

[bloodbending]

[She sees him, but she doesn't acknowledge him more than with a slight nod of her head.]

[bloodbending]

Angry with you? Why would I be angry with you? I don't even know you! I don't know any of you! Just go away!

action;

[bloodbending]

[That does not make Katara feel particularly good as a testimony to the reflection of her skills. But more importantly, she can't help but notice the joy that she's being greeted with by total strangers. It hurts. It all hurts so much.]

Who are you?

[savedtheworld]

I-

[His words fail him. His world's spinning around inside him. Sometimes she had been changed, mostly in small ways, but this was too much. He couldn't stand to this hostility. And he couldn't defy something Katara said so harshly. So Aang halted as she moved on and looked down at the ground, trying to contemplate what had just happened.

She'll be back, right? She'll always be. He remembered those words, from so long ago. "Aang, you're never without me. I'll always be your friend, even if Luceti finds a way to separate us. No matter where I am, or what they do to us, I will always, always care about you." He tried not to remember that even when she had that, she had been a different "her" in some way.

What happened to her? What could make Katara... this way?]

I'm sorry.

[He stayed still there for some time, thinking it over, trying to process it. Remembering those words over and over again, when it was filled with kindness and acceptance. And trying to decide whether those words comforted it more than it made him so, so afraid of her current state.]

[markofthewise]

Maybe it was a mistake. But he needed to know. he needed to be able to help her. So when she moved past him, he reached for a hand. Part of her clothes. Anything to slow her down.

"Katara! Please! Just let me talk to you!" His voice rung with an uncommon desperation.

[markofthebrave]

He caught hold of her arm. "Let go, let go of me!"

Her desperation matched his voice.

[ex_tessen852]

Don't know me? It's me Suki.

[Kinda freaking out.]

Let's go inside and talk.

[markofthewise]

"I will. Just. Let me talk to you. For one minute. That's all I ask."

He let go. Even if she pulled away or ran again, he didn't move to go after her.

[markofthebrave]

She pulled her arm free and backed away. When he didn't follow, she turned and walked away. Three steps. And then she paused, her eyes shut, her back to him, her fists clenched at her sides. "Talk."

[markofthewise]

That. That was something. He folded his arms together and watched the back of her.

"I don't know what's happened to you. Maybe you're not who I think you are. This place has a way of... it likes to hurt us. But even if that is true, if you're not Katara, I want to help you. I have to help you. For her sake. I'll call you whatever you want me to call you. Just don't run away."

[markofthebrave]

There was one thing she had to ask. Had to. She should have long before now, she shouldn't have run, she should have asked first - "You said Kya was your mother. She's dead, then?"

She really died? I didn't save her... all this and I didn't save her...

[markofthewise]

Her one question gives him dozens instead. Now he knows they have the same parents. That's more than can be said about that time she was a ninja. It just left the lingering question of why she'd need to ask.

He only nodded. Even after all this time, it wasn't something easy to admit. Of course, she wasn't looking at him. So he answered with a single word. "Yeah."

[bloodbending]

Her throat was tight, but Katara had learned a long time ago not to cry. "I'm sorry for your loss."

It was all for nothing. Hama was right.

[markofthewise]

"She gave her life up for us. Me and my sister." Mostly his sister. It was all for her. But time tempered what may have once turned to resentment. It didn't matter who she died for. She would have done it for either of them.

[markofthebrave]

This conversation hurt.

"The sister that you think I am. I guess I'm not surprised you chased after me after all." She slowly turned to glance at him guardedly over her shoulder. "Is this the part where you try to kill me?"

[markofthewise]

"What? No! Never. You-- my sister-- I could never do that. I'm not your enemy. I'd never be your enemy."

[Action]

[flameoroku]

That you were here before? [He's pulling at his collar awkwardly at this.]

If you don't remember, than you don't remember, but you might run into a few people who do remember you being here.

[bloodbending]

She didn't believe him. "You lost your mother because of her."

Because of me.

[markofthewise]

He shook his head. "I lost my mother because of the Fire Nation."

[markofthebrave]

Something ugly flashed in Katara's eyes. "Maybe. But that never would have happened if it wasn't for her. Admit it."

[markofthewise]

It was uncomfortable seeing something so nasty and so self-loathing in his sister's eyes. He wondered if it had been there before, just less noticeable. Less raw.

"Why? It won't prove anything. It won't change anything."

[bloodbending]

"It will prove that you can tell the truth."

She wanted to hear it. She'd dreaded hearing it for years, and now - here he was. Her brother. Alive and he'd somehow recognized her and... their mother was dead. And it was all her fault.

And he stood there and told her that he didn't hate her?

[markofthewise]

"Here's the truth. If they had taken my sister, maybe my mother would have lived. But they would have taken that girl and done horrible things. Hurt her. Burned her. Tried to... I don't know. Terrible stuff."

He stopped himself. It was too real. Too emotional. Even though they weren't his own memories, he recalled it so clearly. The little girl, all the burns, the fear in her eyes, the betrayal. She'd vanished, like she never even existed. But he'd never been able to convince himself that she was fake. He could never make himself believe the Malnosso had just tricked him.

Even though he really, really wanted to be able to.

"I wouldn't want that. My dad wouldn't want that. And I know my mom would never want that." Maybe as a kid, Sokka would never be able to make that sacrifice of himself. But he would now. He knew Hakoda would. But it was Kya who did it.