markofthebrave | [Action, Voice] .012

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[Action, Voice] .012

[Painstakingly filtered to the Straw Hats, Toph, Zuko, Sokka, Ginko, Allen Walker, Nash, Smithy Workers, and Caesar Silverberg, even though she's still a bit mad at him. 72 percent.]

If anyone knows how to make the filter higher, I'd really appreciate it.

Someone arrived from my world today who it would be a good idea to be cautious around. Her name is Azula, and she is a very powerful firebender who can also bend lighting. I don't know what she'll do without a Fire Nation here, but I can bet that it won't be anything good.

Don't trust her.

[And so after stalking Azula's entrance into Luceti and conversation with Roku, Katara decides that about now is a good time to interrupt them. So she will gingerly make her way over to where Roku is.]

Hey, Roku? Can I get your help with something?

ETA: And after about 2 minutes, that filter will have been bumped up to 100 via Ginko.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The smile he receives is completely genuine.] Pretty good. You guys are back safely, and everyone's mostly okay... it was a good day.

[She moves back so he can come in and shuts the door behind him.] Would you like anything to drink?

[He nods. Mostly okay is a good day in his books.]

If it's not to much trouble. [he waits for the door to close and follows her into the house. After a moment he comments, wryly]

If what I've been picking up from the journals is right-- it seems your world has sprung a leak in Luceti.

No, it's fine. I'm really just sore now. The more I move, the better it is for me. [So she goes into the kitchen.] Tea? Soda? ...Or milk.

[And a siiiiiiigh. No telling who might be around the house but...] Yeah. Azula makes three this cycle. Including someone we thought was dead.

Tea would be great.

[and a raised eyebrow] Someone you thought was dead? [a pause. Because he did his homework first.] Are you talking about Roku-- the one who was the Avatar before Aang?

Uh... yeah. Him too. [Oh, way to be taken off guard and say more than you probably should, Katara. She glances around to make sure that Roku's not anywhere around where he could overhear, but they seem to be alone for the moment.]

And... he seems like a nice enough guy. But... meeting your friend's past life is kinda... a bit much.

Him too? Oi. [blink. Damn, Luceti.] Who's the other one?

Your..friend's past life-- do you mean reincarnation? [curiosity creeps into his voice despite himself] Huhh. So the role of Avatar isn't simply something someone is born into?

[Let's just... ignore that first question, shall we? Instead she nods at the second while getting out the tea. Jasmine, if she marked him right.]

Or it's something someone's born into a whole bunch of times. It goes in a cycle. Air, water, earth, fire. There have been thousands of Avatars... and they are all reincarnated. And apparently the Avatar from the life previous can talk to the current Avatar, and helps them learn what it means to actually... be one. I'm not sure how far back that goes.

Hehhh? [a rising note of interest.] A cycle in accordance with the elements. Well that's certainly poetic.

[he'll sit down somewhere and pull out a cigarette.

......oh, and Katara]

--so is the other one an Avatar, too?

[...can't leave anything alone, huh? She doesn't really want to talk about Jet.] No. He's not a bender.

[Oh look, the water is boiling. That had nothing to do with bending, no nothing at all. She'll just turn away from you to take care of that. And try to think of how to better explain... Talking about it to Nami when she thought she'd never see Jet again was one thing, but now that he was very much alive...] ...he's just someone we met on our travels.

[Yup. Just.] And I think that the reason why the Avatars are reincarnated in a cycle was to help preserve balance. The Avatar is extremely powerful, so knowing that he or she could remain neutral would be really important.

[a slow smirk] So, this other fellow has a little trouble staying neutral, ehh?

[He knows that isn't what you meant, but you're avoiding something...and he can't help poking.]

[Neutral? That makes her laugh as she's pouring the hot water into the other teapot so the leaves can seep. The laughter causes a brief twinge in her side, but it passes immediately.] No, Jet's about the farthest thing from neutral.

[And so she'll carry over the tray with the tea pot and cups over to where he's sitting in the living room. It's a little unnatural for Katara to not talk about something... but with Jet here she doesn't really want to spoil his chances to change, and if she just tells everyone... So she'll just be mentally floundering for a change of topic as she sits down, her thoughts still pretty much occupied with Jet.]

Mmm.

[Ginko watches her cross the room to sit down, and smiles through the hand curved over his mouth] Sounds complicated. [You don't have to talk about it.]

It's a long story. He's not... he's... [...she's not even sure why she's protecting him now, he was such a jerk the last time they talked.] Changed. Hopefully.

[Katara glances down.] I really, really do hope so. It's not often anyone gets this much of a second chance.

[More like a temporary pause of the inevitable, that could be reversed at any moment. But that's only one way to think about it, in the end. "Second chance" is as fair as any other description.]

I see. So it really is complicated.

Does he-- have anything to do with Azula?

[And that makes her laugh again.] Jet? No - no, they don't know each other.

[The tea should be seeped by now, so she reaches to pour it, still smiling.] Jet's from the Earth Kingdom. He... liked to call himself a Freedom Fighter. He hates the Fire Nation.

[She picks up her tea cup and leans back.] And I... can't really imagine Azula apart from it.

Ahhhh. I see. [what a recipe for disaster. He takes a cup as well, cigarette held in the other hand]

What is Azula's relationship to the fire nation, precisely? Was the fire nation always at war with the other nations-- or did someone start the war for a reason?

Azula and Zuko are both the children of Fire Lord Ozai. Since the war ended, Zuko is the new fire lord... but they were both in line for the thrown before that. ...they were both always trained to fight for the Fire Nation.

[A pause, and Katara glances down into her cup, trying to gather her thoughts. There's a lot there that isn't her story to tell, but it's hard to give the full story without... crossing some boundaries. And there's so much that she needs to figure out how to tell Roku, that having Ginko as a sounding board would be... really good.] We learned a lot more about the beginning of the war because we were traveling with Aang. One hundred years ago when Roku was the Avatar, he and Fire Lord Sozin were best friends. They even shared a birthday. When Roku was sixteen, it was revealed that he was the next Avatar, and Roku left to start his training... and Sozin stayed in the Fire Nation to become the Fire Lord.

[It's... so hard to imagine these figures of legend and hatred as... people. But the fact that Roku is here now is proof enough of that.] Years later, when Roku returned to the Fire Nation, he and Sozin reunited. And Sozin confided in his best friend his ambition.

[She takes a sip of her tea. She's not quite looking at Ginko, but neither is she looking down anymore.] All of the nations were living in peace, but the Fire Nation had been enjoying an 'unprecedented amount of prosperity.' And with the Avatar at his side, Sozin wanted to... share that. At least, that's what he said. Roku put him off, telling him to get the thought out of his head. But Sozin never did.

"Share it", huh?

[Ginko listens to the whole story carefully. He has never experienced war first hand-- but strife is another story.]

These nations, in your world-- Earth, Air, Fire, and Water-- they are independent from one another? With their own rulers? [He can already see how this story ends.]

[She nods.] That's right. And I don't see what he ever shared... besides suffering.

[Katara leans forward and places her tea cup on the table. Suddenly, she doesn't have much of an appetite.] Eventually, Sozin found a way around Roku, and Roku died. [That part of the story is horrible and private and she doesn't want to share it with anyone, just in case. Her voice lowers.] Twelve years past as Sozin built his army and made his plans. And on the day of the comet, when the firebenders' power was doubled... he attacked and slaughtered every Air Nomad in the four temples. Any other remaining airbender was hunted down. Before we found Aang, it had been a hundred years since anyone had seen an airbender.

And that was just the beginning.

["found away around?" The meaning of that seems pretty clear. Bluntly,] So Sozin found a way to get Roku killed. [Ginko begins to form an idea of just how complicated this situation is. Followed by a sharp prickle of disgust for the Malnosso once again-- Shifting. What a thing to toy with... bringing all of these histories and human emotions clashing unnaturally together.

When Katara describes the extinction of the airbenders, the single green eye widens a little. So this is the kind of war these children were born into. And that child, who'd he'd only seen through the journals-- that was the Avatar? Huh.....fate is pretty strange. He muses--] So... this Sozin killed off the airbenders in an attempt to keep the Avatar from reincarnating? Since he was throwing off the balance of your world-- and the Avatar in any incarnation would have sought to stop him?

Hnn. [a pause, and he waits for her to continue]

[Ah, so he'd figured it out. Katara doesn't think Ginko would say anything, but just in case...] Please don't mention anything about that to Roku. I'd even keep the war from him if I could, but there's just... no way to avoid that. But he doesn't need to know how it happened. [Her brow furrows.] At least, I hope not.

Mm. Of course. [he raises an eyebrow, and thinks of the girl with the eyes that could see the futures of others.] Especially if the pieces of fate are already set. [but who knows?] It's a truth he will have to confront at one point in time, or another.

I guess so... [She sighs a little and shifts back in her seat to better address him.]

And you were right. That's exactly why Sozin went after the Air Nomads. After that he just... continued to spread eastwards. The Earth Kingdom is our largest nation... wait, here.

[And so, up comes the tea between them, and she bends it into a semblence of a map of their world.] See, the Fire Nation is here. And the Earth Kingdom spreads across like this...

And here's home, at the South Pole. [The word 'home' hits her heart oddly for a second, and she pauses.] So you can see how the Fire Nation swept across the world. They hit us next, along with the Earth Kingdom...

[you'll have to permit him a moment of distraction, Katara. Because you just made a map in the air out of tea. And that's just fascinating.

After blinking and a widening smile, his attention focuses to the landmasses you're gesturing to-- getting a feel for the way your world is divided.]

Yeah-- I could see how the smaller nations would be more vulnerable to attack. [thoughtfully] The Earth Kingdom is certainly very large. And Sozin intended to rule your entire world, this way?

What made the firebenders so unstoppable? Is their bending more powerful-- or do they perhaps focus on its violent use more than the other nations?

[And in goes the tea, back to the teacup. She's still smiling a little wryly from the way he stared at the map. It's nice for her bending to be appreciated.]

I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that the world was so surprised. There had never been a war like this before. The Avatar had always stepped in and stopped it before things got too far. The Fire Nation had prepared for years... they didn't just have benders, they had warships and armor and all kinds of machines for attacking on land.

And fire is a destructive element by its nature. It's hungry... it's alive... in order for it to be used for anything that's not harmful, it takes a lot of control. [She shakes her head.] And it's not as if firebenders have to take their fire with them. It comes from the breath. They can fight anywhere and - it doesn't matter. Though they do have a hard time with the cold...

...that might have been why they went after us first.

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