[ Action, Voice ] .021

[markofthebrave]

Hey, Caesar! Do you mind if I stop by this afternoon? [Because mind or not, she is coming. But before she gets there, if you asked after her while she had eye-mushi and she hasn't spoken to you yet, she's looking for you. She will be all about town, since she doesn't know where some of you live. She also plans on checking in with Sokka and the rest of the Gaang at some point today.]

[And later in the evening, after dinner and far past when she is usually fast asleep, you can find Katara practicing not far from her house. Since Ginko died she's been robbed of her rest - combine that with the draft list being posted and she's decided to cope the only way she knows how - by using the time to find some peace. For that purpose, she is doing a special form. She runs through the first without doing any bending at all. When she repeats it, she bends thin tendrils of water up and around and over, following the movements of her hands - and when one catches her eye she freezes it in place, creating a small practice area of frozen arches and swirls.

They won't last long, especially not in the heat of a summer night. That's not the point. That's not the point at all.]

Comments

[action]

[markofthebrave]

[...pffffft.] Did you just call yourself beautiful?

[action] 1/??

[likeafirework.livejournal.com]

[... What?]

[action]

[likeafirework.livejournal.com]

[Why in the hell would she think he said that?]

[action] 3/ALMOST DONE

[likeafirework.livejournal.com]

[HE DIDN'T SAY THAT!]

[action] 4/5

[likeafirework.livejournal.com]

[Where in all that was calling himself pretty the point? ARE YOU NOT THINKING, GIRL?]

action] DONE!

[likeafirework.livejournal.com]

Not really the point I was making.

[action]

[markofthebrave]

[...trying not to laugh at that pause. Trying so hard. She meets partial success.]

Right. You were saying he was like - an extension of yourself.

[action]

[likeafirework.livejournal.com]

[Muttering:] I'm not the one who called him pretty. [Why are you laughing?]

[And now, he's going to take this seriously, because that's just awkward. He nods.] Yeah. Like that. His power is mine.

[action] 1/2

[markofthebrave]

[...and suddenly the reality that she is talking to a god sinks in.]

Oh.

[That is... an evaluating look she is sending your way, Hitsugaya. Katara talks to people who could be seen as out of her league all the time, with the same easy familiarity she addresses the Avatar of her world... but give her a minute to process this.

[action]

[markofthebrave]

Is it like... symbiosis? [Yay, science class!]

[action]

[likeafirework.livejournal.com]

[He's not sure what he did to deserve that sort of look, but he'll return her gaze with an easy confidence and a bit of impatience. People give him critical, evaluating looks all the time. Comes with being the youngest captain in Seireitei.

He's never going to be able to explain this in any way that it'll make sense to her. So he just rolls with it. And, actually, that isn't a bad way to put it, really. He nods slowly.]

That describes it well enough. [He shrugs.]

[action]

[markofthebrave]

Huh. That's very... different. I've never heard of anything like that before.

[action]

[likeafirework.livejournal.com]

There's quite a variety of abilities here. [He shrugs again.] Haven't had much call to put them to use. [Both a blessing and a curse, he supposes. He feels pretty damned useless, but needing to use Hyourinmaru would suggest things were getting difficult.]

[action]

[markofthebrave]

...Are you going to sign up for the draft?

[action]

[likeafirework.livejournal.com]

[Yeah, he's seen that list. He knows full well who's going. Sorry, Katara; he'd actually watch your back, if he were there.] I'm not going this time, but I did sign up.

[action]

[markofthebrave]

[She shrugs a little.] They say the list isn't complete yet. Maybe then you'll have a chance to get out and do something.

[action]

[likeafirework.livejournal.com]

Maybe so. [Though he's not sure if going out to war -- not even a war that's his -- is really worth it. That might be evident in his voice.]

[action]

[markofthebrave]

There are people out there too... just people. Not the Malnosso or the Third Party - just people who are caught in the middle, dying. So, if we can stop that, while getting out and taking a look around...

[action]

[likeafirework.livejournal.com]

Then it's worth it. [He sighs.] You're going, aren't you? Tell me what you see out there when you come back.

[action]

[markofthebrave]

I can do that.

Hey, Hitsugaya?

[action]

[likeafirework.livejournal.com]

[He blinks at her, then raises a brow. He's already here. No sense in hailing him again.] ... Go on.

[action]

[markofthebrave]

Thanks for asking after me. With the whole eye-mushi thing. That was nice of you.

[action]

[likeafirework.livejournal.com]

[Oh. He blinks at her. Sokka must have actually gone through with it and said he'd asked then. That wasn't... But it wasn't... Well. It was just. Him. Asking... Oh.

He sighs and crosses his arms. It's not defensive. It's just... comfortable.]

Saw how it affected other people. [Like himself, for instance. Yes, okay. Fine, Katara. He saw how it affected himself and he was just a little, vaguely concerned about some of the other people he knew in this place. There's your answer. Except in not so many words.]

[action]

[markofthebrave]

[She is not bothered by your not!defensiveness. In fact, she continues on as if she doesn't notice. That may or may not actually be the case.]

I heard you were infected too. Was - [she falters for a second before saying his name] Ginko able to help?

[action]

[likeafirework.livejournal.com]

[He catches that pause, but attributes it to Ginko being kidnapped, and thinks nothing more of it.]

He was. [He shrugs.] It was something that could be taken care of without his direct attention. Freed him up for other things. [And, yes, it still makes him cringe a little, feeling that out of control with what should have been his own element.]