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

Entry tags:

[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~~.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He nods, trying to wipe that look off of his face now that the water has been put away. There's the smallest hint of a grin now.]

[She sees that grin and... has no idea what it means.] What? Is something on my face?

[He shakes his head and the grin retreats - nevermind.]

[On a whim, he walks a little closer, glancing at the containers. Just plain old water. It's not like he wasn't expecting it to be - he's from the same world, after all, so someone waterbending isn't that surprising. Katara was just the only waterbender he actually got to meet, so there's still some mild curiosity there.]

[So... Katara just shakes that off. And follows him over.] Yeah - I refill them every night to practice. [She holds her hand over the water and draws a little bit up in a small stream.]

[Refill, huh? Where does she get the water from, he wonders. The lake? He looks in that direction briefly. Or maybe she takes it from her house, he thinks as he glances back to it - Longshot remembers the running water they had in there.]

It's a pain, but it's not that bad. I can just turn the water on inside and stream it out the window. [Katara looks back into the house and... falters. This was just all so... weird.]

[Sadly, Longshot fails at small talk. He'd apologize, but yeah. That would mean talking.]

[That does answer his question though, and he nods as if that makes sense. He's getting the hint that this conversation is growing awkward for her though. He should probably go.]

[She... probably shouldn't talk about this. It would only reinforce his problems with the Fire Nation. But... who can she talk to about this?]

Hey... Longshot? You're from after the war ended, right? Were things... I mean... with the Fire Nation. Was everyone like... okay with them?

[He nods to her first question, then pauses at the second with a deep frown. That's... a harder one to answer, but judging from the darker look it's not all good between the nations left just yet.]

...Right.

[That... doesn't make her feel any better.]

[This is probably something that should be clarified, he realizes.]

...If it happens, it's going to take a while. The war being over doesn't fix everything.

[Katara sighs.] Sokka thinks I should give Ty Lee a chance. That she's not a bad person. And he might be right, but - it's not so easy to forget what she's done. Especially since... she doesn't even seem to care about it.

I know that she's alone here, and I'm trying to be supportive, but - he had her stay in our house. And I just - [She turns to look at Longshot before looking away again-] it's not so easy.

[He has to chew on that for a minute, Katara. Because the default reaction would be 'B| Fire Nation sucks.' and this isn't helped when Ty Lee not seeming to care about all of the things she and her people have done is mentioned.]

[...But he's trying not to let that cloud his judgement.]

[Nevertheless, he can relate on this uneasiness, as his expression might openly reflect for once. He shakes his head after a moment, as if to confirm it.]

[She takes his nod as confirmation, and his silence as encouragement to continue. Sorry, Longshot. The girl just really needs to vent.] I don't understand why it's so easy for him! Is it just because of things that happened that I haven't experienced yet?

Am I just - a bad person? But, no, they were wrong, and what they did hurt so many people... and could have destroyed the world - I don't see any reason why I should trust her. And it's not like she's going out of her way to be nice to me!

It's not as if she didn't have a choice. Sure, Azula threatened her, but - threats are just that. If someone threatened you, would you just give up everything and go follow them to hunt down the world's only hope for peace?

[That much becomes obvious to him. And actually? He doesn't really mind it. He did this for Smellerbee a lot, and some of the other Freedom Fighters. Jet too, every once in a while. Longshot makes a good sound board.]

[As testament to this, he sits down before Katara gets too far in her rant, listening closely.]

[He frowns at the bad person part, but nods slightly when Katara corrects that herself in the next sentence. When she actually questions him, he shakes his head in answer.]

Right. Of course you wouldn't. [And she sits down too, folding her legs underneath her and props her chin on her hand.]

Who would do something like that - unless they just didn't care.

[And Katara shakes her head as if to clear it.] I'm not being fair. I know that the people from Fire Nation didn't know the same things about the rest of the world that we did - they were all told that they were superior to us since they were born. But...

Still.

[...Were they really? That explains some things, he thinks, though he doesn't wonder at it for long.]

[There's a bit of a conflicted look when she says she's not being fair. He has little sympathy for the Fire Nation, after all - even when he's trying to ignore that. So he thinks Katara's being plenty fair.]

There's a difference in what you're raised to be and what you choose to be for yourself. [Longshot for: If Ty Lee needs an excuse for not caring about what her people have done, it has to be a better one than that.]

That's true. [She sighs and runs her hands through her hair in an uncharacteristically restless move.] Things were a lot simpler back home. When we knew what were supposed to be doing.

[Longshot nods, raising one knee and resting an arm over it, and looks away. He bets it would be, and he didn't even have as much to accomplish in their world as Katara did. Luceti kind of destroys the way they're expected to conduct themselves in certain situations though. If they were back at home, and everyone was on the same page, time would just flow and it would happen naturally.]

[Katara sighs again and looks over at Longshot a little sheepishly.] Sorry for unloading on you like that.

[She spreads her hands a little helplessly.] I just don't get it.

[He openly grins at her for a second - don't worry about it.]

[In the next, he scratches the back of his neck, contemplating. He thinks this might be one of those things that doesn't have an easy answer, and thus has even less to offer in his silence than he usually does.]

[If Katara was looking to someone to share her frustration with, Longshot makes a good candidate. If she's looking for some reasoning though, they might have reached the limit of his usefulness.]

Edited 2010-05-10 02:53 (UTC)

[This time, the meaning of that grin is unmistakable. So she smiles back, quick and sweet and grateful.]

[And then she pauses because - something about the way Sokka and Ty Lee had been standing out there the other night reminded her too much of... other things. And she didn't want to think it, because it made her feel a little sick, but... Ty Lee was pretty, from their world, a warrior... and incredibly flexible. Katara had been delivering babies since she was ten. She knew how this worked.

She bites her lip and hesitates before:] Do you think part of it is just because she's pretty?

[Thought processes suddenly de-railed. ...Whut? Uh. Give him a second.]

[Action] Just tell Nami and she'll do it for her 8|b

[Action] But would Nami give Katara a cut of the profits? =/

[Action] Possibly ten percent, since she likes you

[Action] So generous ^^

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action] 1/2

[Action]

[Action] 1/2

[Action]

[Action] 1/?