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

[markofthebrave]

[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.]

Comments

[markofthebrave]

...[Sigh. Talk with Sokka about bloodbending or face a hundred firebenders during the comet. Where does she buy the sunblock?]

Technically?

[markofthewise]

Yeah. Technically. [Maybe if he tries really, really, really hard they can keep this light and chuckle their way through it.]

So, your room or mine? Or maybe we can just kick Roku off the couch.

[markofthebrave]

...I don't want to talk about this where anyone could hear.

[markofthewise]

[He gives a nod.]

Alright. Behind the barracks, then.

[markofthebrave]

Okay. [Sigh. So long, cool, refreshing drink of water. Goodbye, evening shower of peacefulness and bliss. She'll just start trudging towards the barracks now, trying to get her thoughts in order. They need to have this talk. She just... doesn't want to.]

[markofthewise]

[Heeeey, it's not his fault we didn't get to do this earlier. It's Zuko's fault. Obviously.

But once they're behind the barracks...] Before we get to the other stuff, there's something I want you to know, okay?

[markofthebrave]

Sure, but - just a minute. There's something I want to try first.

[And Katara closes her eyes... and concentrates. She has no idea if this will work or not, but people keep sneaking up on her while she's practicing. She's not very happy about this. But if she can sense water in large bodies... maybe she can sense water in bodies too - if she tries hard enough, maybe she can learn to tell where people are, just like that.

...trying.

...trying.

...and maybe it needs to be a full moon for that to happen. Because all she can sense is herself, and maybe a little bit of Sokka. Unless - it worked, and they really are alone? Maybe. Hopefully.

She opens her eyes and sits down.]

Okay.

[markofthewise]

[Looooong pause.

...

...

...]


... look, if you need to go to the bathroom first, I can wait.

[markofthebrave]

[Katara stares Sokka for a long moment. And then bursts out laughing.]

Yeah, I wasn't doing that kind of waterbending, you dork.

[markofthewise]

[Well he has no idea what kind of waterbending you're doing without actually having water, but okay. He just frowns at her joke. That's gross Katara.]

Alright, alright. I'm just saying, that's all.

[markofthebrave]

[She rolls her eyes.] Thanks.

[Pause. Well, if they're going to be talking about this anyway...] I just wanted to see... if I could use it to tell if we were really alone.

[Connect the dots, Sokka. She doesn't want to have to say it.]

[markofthewise]

Oh. [Give him a second.... there is is.]

... oh. [He decides to try and brush off what she was doing as nothing major.] Well, if there was someone watching, my hunter's instincts would have kicked in already.

[markofthebrave]

Right.

[...She hates that awkward pause there. Hates it, hates it. She'll just be looking down now.] What did you want to tell me?

[markofthewise]

[Oh, how to put this delicately. Or bluntly? He scratches at the back of his neck nervously.]

It's just... about that friend, that's all. The Malnosso did something to her and when she was back to normal, she just panicked. She took my sword, but she didn't know how to use it. I probably should have left it alone, but I really wanted to get it back, because it's my space sword. I already lost it once, you know. I didn't want her to throw it in the river as soon as I left.

But anyway, she apologized for it and explained why she did it. It was because something... really bad happened to her in the past and she made me promise not to tell anyone about it, because I was the only person she ever told. I would have told you everything, otherwise.

[markofthebrave]

[Katara blinks. That was... not what she was expecting. But some of the tension leaves her shoulders anyway.]

You didn't have to tell me that. It was okay that you had to keep a secret for a friend. [Pause.] But I'm glad you did tell me - it makes it seem less like it will happen again.

[markofthewise]

[He gives a nod.]

I'm pretty sure it's not something that will ever happen again. [For one, he agreed never to visit said person while armed again, so that was something.]

[markofthebrave]

[...yeah, going unarmed into the house of someone who attacked you before would really make your sister feel better, Sokka.]

Well. Good.

[markofthewise]

Right. Well... good. [And one awkward pause later.]

So... you had something to explain.

[markofthebrave]

Right. [...how to explain this.] You don't understand my problem with chi blocking, right?

[markofthewise]

I kind of do. [But only in the same sense she'd have a problem with any kind of attack used against her.] ... but probably not as much as I should.

[markofthebrave]

[...so let's start out with something basic.] You know how my healing works, right?

[markofthewise]

Mostly, yeah. [He's never really asked too much, but...] You're kind of just using a person's chi to kind of speed up the natural healing process, right?

[markofthebrave]

[She nods.] Yeah, that's mostly it. I work with the chi to restore and encourage life. Chi blocking... does the opposite of that. It's like... interfering with who a person really is.

[markofthewise]

Well... [Hm. She does have a point. But in his mind, a lot of things interfere with who a person is. Like being burned. Or having a sword put through them.]

That's true. But it's not permanent, right? I've had it done to me twice and I'm fine now.

[markofthebrave]

No, it's not permanent... but... it takes people down from the inside-out. It turns someone's own body against them, makes it so that what you thought you could rely on...