markofthebrave | [Action] .009

[Action] .009

[Due to Sokka's unexpected bout of sheer win, Katara has been given the gift of free time and she plans on making the most of it... after she was shooed back to bed due to threats from Sokka that made no sense at all.

First, she wants to check in on Sanji at the Strawhat's House. Then she wants to stop by the school and see if she can register to go once things are back to 'normal.' And... she has an idea that is going to lead her to the weapons shop. Finally, she'll go grocery shopping because they're running low on easy-to-cook things. Maybe she'll even get a chance to stand by the bridge and practice with real waterbending! ...although saving her strength to keep healing Zuko is probably a better idea. She'll probably just stare at the water wistfully and talk to Sona.

If you're around any of these places today, feel free to say 'Hey!' or give her hand, since she's not exactly sure how to do what she wants to do at the smithy or the school.]

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[Sadly? No such luck.] I've been at home for the past couple of days... I haven't had a chance to get the stuff that we need.

[...although.] Actually, yesterday I went with a bunch of girls to the hot springs. I met a friend of yours there. Lilly?

Need any help?

Yeah, she's a friend of mine. I hope you guys got along.

Actually, we got along pretty well. We talked about democracy. It was pretty interesting.

And, sure, if you want. [She's just not used to people offering to help out like this.] It's just groceries.

I've nothing better to do right now.

What else were you looking for?

[Ah. Boredom. That explained it.] I was just running some errands and checking a few things out. I need to get some things that will be easy to make, because I won't have much time to be cooking the next couple of [weeks] days.

Are you the one who cooks in your house?

Pretty much! Although Sokka is going to take care of it tonight. Which reminds me that I need to bring a back-up..

He cooks too? A back-up?

...let's just say... he didn't used to cook. [She shakes her head a little.] He's just supposed to be making soup, though. It will probably be fine.

Oh. [That could potentially end in disaster huh?]

He's gotten a lot better since he's been in Luceti. [Katara does not sound entirely convinced. She shakes her head as if to clear it.] This seems like the kind of place that forces you to learn all kinds of things that you wouldn't have considered otherwise.

[Like learning how to fight with a knife.]

It is, isn't it? I... can't really say I dislike some of the things I learned, at least.

Oh? Like what?

New worlds, new people... There's a lot of things I wouldn't have known if I didn't come here.

That's true! That's definitely one of my favorite things about this place.

[She gives him a sidelong glance.] What's it like where you're from?

What do you mean?

[Shrug.] At home in the Southern Watertribe, there's always snow on the ground. We have weeks without sun and weeks without night. When you're a kid, you feed fish to the penguins and use them as sleds and ride down snow hills and into caverns to go penguin-sledding. The men are fierce hunters and the seal-turtles are a highly valued prize, not only for the meat but because of everything you can make with their shell and tusks. We make our weapons out of tooth and bone, because metal is hard to come by - we live on the ocean, and turn to it for life...

Your turn.

[He was about to ask about the penguins, but she did ask first so...]

Karaya is always warm, though we do have rainy seasons too. Since we live on the plains, we're surrounded mostly by grass, though there is a nearby forest where we go to swim or to fish. Our clan is made up of warriors, and my mom is the clan chief. [For now, though she has been hinting that he would succeed her soon.] We go hunting for our food even at an early age, though I prefer fishing since it's a lot easier. Our pottery is pretty well-known too, and so are some delicacies.

Wow - that's very different. But... it's got some similarities too. Your mom is the chief, huh? That's pretty cool. [She takes a moment to imagine Sokka's reaction to that.. and then shakes her head.]

Fishing was about the only thing I was allowed to do when it came to hunting. There were a bunch of ways we would fish, from string fishing to spear - and of course there were the whale hunts. One of those could feed the village for a few weeks, and all the supplies we'd get from it...

She is. You'd probably like her if you meet her. [At least, he feels she would.]

Whale hunts?

[Katara nods] When the winter ice breaks up, the men get together and go on a hunt. They can be gone for weeks... [not that this has happened for a while... two years, in fact.] And the whales are butchered on the shore - everyone helps carting the blubber and skin to be used for supplies while the meat is taken to underground storage.

...[She trails off, vaguely aware that this isn't the kind of conversation that makes people comfortable. Then she shrugs.] It's a big event - men get to prove themselves on it, and supply the whole village with a lot of what it needs for the upcoming year. We can be working off of what we harvest from the whales to make supplies for months, and there's a special ceremony both before and after thanking the Ocean Spirit for its bounty.

[Good thing he's not easily disgusted by that, though he does look at her curiously.] Is a whale a big fish then? And what's blubber?

Heh. Yeah. It's a really big fish - big enough that we can use the teeth for swords and the bone for tent supports.

And blubber is the whale fat - we use it for all kinds of things, from candles to cooking.

That sounds really big! It's not anywhere as big as a ship, is it? [Because how else would it have teeth like that?]

That's helpful. It sounds like it'll be hard to bring it down though.

It is. That's why it would take a whole hunting party - and why you go just when the ice starts to break. It helps to trap them.

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flamesofkaraya.livejournal.com - 2010-03-23 06:57 (UTC) - Expand

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