markofthebrave | [Action, Chickening Out Written, and Voice] .015

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[Action, Chickening Out Written, and Voice] .015

[What with Zuko's unexpected and somewhat... well, dubious bout of hopefully-it-will-be-win and please don't burn their house again, Katara has an unexpected bout of free time. This is both a good thing, and a bad thing, since with the craziness of her first few months dying down, Katara has started to feel homesickness pressing down on her. Couple that with Sokka's keeping secrets, his friendship with Ty Lee, and learning chi blocking, the extra time to think is not... exactly... happy.

So here she is, at the bridge by her house, standing at the arch and staring out over the water.]

[Filtered to Ginko 70 percent]

Ginko, have you ever-

Is there a time where

I need

[No. It wasn't fair to bring anyone into this. She'd figure it out the same way she always did.]

[Voice: Filtered away from Zuko, 70%]

~~So... has anyone else noticed anything strange going on tonight? There isn't a new experiment going on, is there?~~

[And pretty much immediately after this comment Katara is going to find a way to erase this voice post if it kills her. She didn't mean to upset anyone! It was just - so weird.]

[...And sometime after dinner, she'll be returning to her practicing routine outside of the house, in case she's due for a talking to ~~you know who you are~~.]

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And what should we be on the lookout for?

People being really, really nice.

[Yes, she knows she's being silly. But it's Zuko. Cooking. Her brain can't handle this, man.]

[...Hmm. Haruki actually seriously considers this for a moment-] Not really. If there is something like that it might be useful.

[Sigh. Really, she let herself in for this - she shouldn't have said anything at all.]

Useful how?

Edited 2010-05-08 05:39 (UTC)

Obviously it would mean that people who would otherwise be opposed to you could then be won over.

...[And now he's done it.] No, it wouldn't mean that at all. It would mean that because of some strange interference in our minds, our choice was temporarily taken away from us and for a limited time people would be acting differently. That's not the way to win anyone over at all.

Bullshit. Maybe your mind is that flimsy so as to have no choice if there's something like an effect, but no everyone is like that. Just because there's a behavior modification doesn't mean that people don't have a choice in the matter. What's more, if someone is being nice you can learn more about them and they'll probably contend to learn more about you which forms and understanding. Or are you too blind to see that?

[...give her a second to process that pile of crap.]

[This... was really not a good thing to challenge her on, since it's part of what's been bothering her so much.]

Are you kidding me? Or are you seriously telling me that you weren't effected by the thought bubbles, or the love experiment?

Or are you really that much of a creep that you think it's all right to take advantage of people when they're not really themselves? People aren't going to feel 'understanding' if someone who's 'mind is not effected' tries to find out more about more about them when they're not really in control of themselves, they're going to feel upset, and violated.

If you want to find out who someone really is, you give them a choice in the matter! Will is part of who a person is too!

[Initially, he intends to explode on her. But then she mentions the love experiment. He falters. His retort dies down in his throat and then there's a distinct pause before-]

Shut up. What the hell do you know? [That isn't as combative as before. If anything, it's actually cold and flat]

[The change in tone is unexpected, and Katara remembers - he's been here two years. Her voice is even, quietly intense:]

I know about choice. And I know that what they do here isn't fair, to any of us. It's no one's fault but theirs, what happens when they mess with us.

...and that's why we should be even more careful to respect each other's choices while we're ourselves. Because we're not like them.

[There's another lengthy pause here before he sighs and then-] ...Whatever. You're going to made your head explode like that though.

[...well, that's a change in tone. But she's used to getting into fights and then getting over it just that quickly - still. Weird. Her tone is wry and a little wary:] Make my head explode how?

By worrying too much, obviously. There's going to be a lot of bad things happening, if you get this worked about about all of them your blood pressure will get through the roof.

[And so now the question is - does she brush him off because she's decided that his opinions are completely irrelevant, because he has no idea what life is actually like, or does she try to give him some respect for his time here and treat him as a person...

...Haruki, it's your lucky day.]

I'm used to bad things happening. Not... like this, but... I think there are some things worth getting upset about, no matter how many times they happen. Just because they're still wrong.

[...snort] Well duh, but this isn't one of them. This is just people being influenced. This isn't people dying, this isn't people completely outside their will. It doesn't make people worthless. There's plenty of worse things that can happen. Getting self-righteous about this sort of thing is pointless.

[Stung. Well, clearly that was a mistake.] You sure make an awful lot of assumptions. I never said anything about it making people worthless. You don't know my reasons, you're just throwing words around.

Will is a part of someone, right? If you're proposing that this takes away will then you're taking away a part of someone. How isn't that flawed, at the least?

[...Grunt]

Well, whatever. [He wanted to see if he could use this as a chance to try to talk to Paru without her getting all angry again, but perhaps that was in vain. He sighs after that and just...trails of] Forget it.

If you think someone being flawed is the same thing as their being worthless, you've got more problems than I thought. And that wasn't what I was saying at all-

[She cuts herself off and pauses. She doesn't know him well, but the retreat... doesn't seem like him. So she sighs.] Look, Haruki, we're arguing about this and I don't even think we're talking about the same thing anymore. I'm sorry if- [I upset you? No - got your hopes up, maybe? ...not really either. And why is she sorry at all? He's a jerk.] -well, I gave you the wrong impression. I was just really surprised about something.

[He doesn't believe much of what he's saying at this point. He's just upset, really, and barking out at people because he is. This argument is stupid anyway]

What the hell are you apologizing for? Jeez.

[Whereas she only says something if she means it with all her heart - and has no way of knowing about this habit of his. Still - now she's a bit wry about a wasted apology and... feels like she might have an insight on what he seemed to want this so badly.]

Heh. Nothing, I guess.

[Pause. Pause. Sigh.] Hey, Haruki?

[...] What?

[You don't have to wait for an experiment to try being nice. Sigh. Scratch that.]

...it might be harder to learn more about people and try to form an understanding when we're not being forced to be nice... but I think it's still worth it.

[So - good luck.]

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