markofthebrave | [Action, Voice] .012

Entry tags:

[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

[Her brows furrow, and she looks away.] I think... Zuko... saw things. On his journey through the Earth Kingdom after us. After we defeated the Fire Nation at the North Pole, Zuko's own father turned against him. He sent Azula to bring Zuko and his uncle Iroh back to the Fire Nation... so he had to wander through enemy territory, alone and with no one between him and the people there. He had to see what the Fire Nation was doing to people... and that didn't fit in with what he'd heard his whole life.

[She pauses, clearly not done, and remembers. A cave, lit by glowing crystals. Having no other recourse but to vent her fury at him - and then he apologized. He told her about his mother. And she... believed him. With all of her heart. And she remembers the words that she'd never been able to forget, for all that came after them. "I used to think this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever... but lately? I've realized I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark." And she remembers the feel of his scar beneath her hand, and what she'd almost given up... and because of that, who she would have lost. Her brow furrows, and she is clearly distressed.]

I don't know what made him change his mind for the last time. I'm from before that happened. But I do know... that he really did change.

Hnn. [he nods. Capable of some compassion, then-- even after being raised a certain way his whole life.

Ginko can't read her mind, but all he derives from the silence is that the situation must have been complicated. Especially if he began as their enemy. He has some idea that Katara might not have been very swift to forgive, in the beginning.]

People do, sometimes.

[a pause, as a thought occurs to him] The time you were taken from-- was it after he joined you?

[She shakes her head.] No. It wasn't.

Ahh. [slight smile] So this is something you've had to learn.

[She blinks.] What? I mean - what is it I had to learn?

That he changed. Sincerely.

I imagine that wouldn't be an easy thing to just accept.

[She makes the closest she can to a 'che' sound and her smile isn't really amused at all.]

Not really. Sokka and Toph both told me, but... after what he had done...

I went to talk to him myself. And he knew things that... he couldn't have known otherwise.

...and it turned out that he'd helped me with something in my future. Me, personally. [Her hand goes up to her necklace. Sokka hadn't told her about that. Zuko had, and he'd done a terrible job explaining, but... she knew enough about herself to realize that it was true. That's the way it would have happened.

Because even with all that he'd done, she'd still drop everything to face the man who murdered her mother.]

For the most part, we agreed just to stay out of each other's way. [Read: I left him no choice.]

And then... Luceti happened. [Hey, Ginko - remember that love experiment?] And he was kidnapped and I had to spend all that time healing him... we were stuck in the house together for a month.

And you really get to know someone when you're with them every day, while they're... like that. [It had been scary. Zuko had always been strong, always been a fighter. Seeing him like that...] And it turned out that... [That his first instinct when there was trouble, even though he was in pain, was to rush out and try to help Sokka.] that everything they'd told me held up to be true. He knows that he was on the wrong side. And he worked to change it. He really has earned it.

Hmm. [a wry smile at the description of that time spent together. He knows what that's like-- as often as he tries to avoid it. It's human nature.

And he makes a quiet guess at the love experiment, actually-- but has no desire to know whether he's right or not. He smiles a little.]

I'm glad to hear it.

The difference must be real indeed if he managed to earn your trust. [...because it seems a hard thing to earn, even if for good reasons]

[And that feels unexpectedly like a slap.] What do you mean by that?

[raises an eyebrow] He belongs to the people who destroyed your village; disrupted your world. He's their leader's son. Your last memories would have been of him as your enemy.

[he tilts his head a little to the side, thoughtfully] And it seems to me that when you feel strongly about a person-- good or bad-- it's a feeling you hold onto very tightly.

...

I haven't really thought about it. [Pause.] I know everything that Zuko did - what his family did. And for a long time, whenever I thought of the face of the enemy... he would be the one I'd see. And after Ba Sing Se...

[Her heart is heavy with the weight of her memories, and all the things she wouldn't say. Then, abruptly:] You're right. I didn't forgive him easily. It was personal, what he did. And I can never forgive - not the Fire Nation, but the people who hurt us most, who would continue to hurt us, and who don't care. But Zuko proved himself. One of the wounds on his body is for me. Heh - or will be.

But it's true - there are some things that an apology just won't fix. You have to prove it, or your words don't mean anything. And Zuko did. Here in Luceti - I couldn't have gone just by what they said. [She shakes her head.] I just couldn't.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Action, Voice] .012

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action] 1/3

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]