markofthebrave | [Voice, Action... of a sort] .010

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[Voice, Action... of a sort] .010

Aang didn't come out for breakfast today. When I went in his room to check on him, all his stuff was gone. ...I guess this means he went home, right?

And all the stuff in the kitchen is different - does anyone know how they're supposed to work? ~~Or how they got in here without waking us up, because -- seriously, creepy.~~

[Filtered to Longshot 60%]
Hey - haven't seen you around in a while. How are you doing?

[Filtered to Erza 62%, OPEN to Gaang members]
Hi, Erza! I've got a few questions about magic, and you're the only one I know here who does it. Do you mind?

[Filtered to the Green Lantern 62%]
John Stewart, the Green Lantern. I spoke about it with my brother, and we decided that we were more comfortable if you didn't bring us up.

[As for action? Katara is not going very far today. In fact, she is stuck inside, doing healing sessions with the invalid and making sure he stays in bed, and trying to figure out how all this crazy new stuff works. If you think she'd open the door for you and let you in, feel free to stop by and give the girl ~~something else do~~ a helping hand!]

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Oh. That's... good. [Talking to Longshot through a book is even weirder than talking to a book in the first place. She sighs and glances back at Zuko's room.]

Look, I want to ask you something else, but it feels really weird to talk about like this. [Since you're... you know... talking.] Do you want to meet somewhere really quick? I can't go too far from the house, though.

[He's not a fan of it either. The only reason he didn't just go to look for you in person is because he knew where he'd find you]

[If Katara watches the little window in the journal, she'll see Longshot nod. Katara can pick the place]

...Barracks all right? [They're practically the only public building by the house, after all.]

That's fine. [And he'll just start heading over there now.]

[So she grabs her waterskin and her journal and heads over to the barracks.]

Hey.

[He's there, as promised. He nods in greeting.]

[A silent nod. Well, this promises to be a nice, easy conversation. She crosses her arms defensively.]

You knew Zuko by a different name. [She watches his reaction carefully.]

[He expected this. And now that he's had time to process it? Not even a flinch from him, though his fingers have tensed the slightest bit.]

Lee.

['Next time try Lee. There are a hundred Lees.' But... just knowing him didn't explain Longshot's attitude.]

Did he.. do something to you?

[Looking away.]

He's half the reason why Jet was arrested.

[Jet. The name hurts. She doesn't try to meet Longshot's eyes.]

What happened?

[That's a long story, and he doesn't feel like telling it all.]

Jet thought he was Fire Nation. [...and turned out to be right.] He couldn't let it go. Even when we asked him to. [So yes, he does realize that it's Jet's fault too.]

Edited 2010-03-25 05:31 (UTC)

[...She can't avoid it any more. Katara takes one step closer to Longshot.]

...Longshot. What happened to Jet?

[If this look doesn't explain it? You might need to give him a moment.]

[Honestly? She is going to give him that moment. Because she doesn't want to believe that look. It's been... unclear for so long... she needs to know. Her arms wrap a little tighter around herself and Katara feels the beginning of tears come to her eyes.

Please... no.]

[It's time to stop feeling so sad about it. This happened months ago, after all. Longshot's had friends die before.]

[Katara's still waiting for that answer, he realizes, and now he'll meet her eyes.] He died.

[She gasps a little when he says it. It's not the first time she's had someone she knew die... they weren't even friends and the end, they weren't even...

Jet.

She lets herself cry for him. He deserves those tears. At the end... at the end, he stood with Aang. That's what mattered.]

I'm sorry. I would have helped him if I could.

[That movement is so small it might not even count as a nod. He knows. He also knows it wouldn't have helped]

[She cries for what seems like a very long time, but in reality is only a couple of moments. She's cried a lot today. It feels like there's not much left. Her hands clench into fists at her sides and then one fist comes up to wipe at her tears.]

He said he'd be okay. He said he'd be fine.

You wouldn't have left if he'd told the truth. [And it was more important for the Avatar to leave. He knew that then, and it hasn't changed now.]

You're probably right. [She wouldn't have left. She would have stayed and tried to help him, even if it didn't work. She would have gotten to apologize for not believing him. She would have...

But Aang was there, and so were the Dai Li, and they had to leave. What would she have chosen? It would have been a terrible choice... and he'd spared her from it. And that made his death hurt even more.]

But he should have let me make that choice.

[Longshot's back to being quiet now. Katara needs to vent, he realizes, but he can tell she knows why they couldn't do that.]

[Eventually she turns to him, her tears all wiped away. Katara takes a deep breath and locks the grief away. It will be a while before this doesn't hurt. She knows that, and she knows it's just something she'll have to carry. It's the only thing that you can do. That, and deal with what's in front of you.]

Is Zuko going to be a problem for you?

[Because she hasn't spent nearly two weeks fixing him for him to get an arrow through the eye.]

Edited 2010-03-25 22:43 (UTC)

[He'd try to make it match the other one.]

[...But he promised. There's a sigh - as much as he would like to, he won't be killing Zuko. Just don't be expecting him to step foot near him.]

[Katara is not quite as good at interpreting Longshot-ese as his companions were, but that sounded more like resignation than like a determination to harm. She offers him a wan smile.]

Thanks, Longshot.

[...she can't believe she's actually protecting Zuko. A few weeks ago, that was the furthest thing from her mind. It's amazing what pouring your life into healing someone can do. Besides, for her the fact that he was Fire Nation was never as important as who he was and what he'd done... and that held true for anyone, though there would probably always be that cringe before she was able to look a Fire Nation soldier in the eye and acknowledge them as a person. Some of this hesitancy shows on her face... then she reaches out and touches Longshot's shoulder for a moment.]

Don't think that just because he's here it means you're not welcome. I understand if you don't want to be around him, but he's... surprising. He's so weak right now you could sneeze at him and knock him down, but he still got up to help Sokka when he heard him yell out the other day. I understand if you don't want to be around him, but...

[She looks to the ground for a long moment before looking back up at Longshot.] ...he's not evil anymore.

[Action]

nowordsrequired.livejournal.com - 2010-03-26 15:56 (UTC) - Expand

[Action]

markofthebrave - 2010-03-27 06:43 (UTC) - Expand

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[Voice, Action... of a sort] .010

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