markofthebrave | [ Action, Voice ] .024

[ Action, Voice ] .024

[Tomorrow. Tomorrow is tomorrow. Today, she has plans.]

Hey, Winry - do you still want to go get pizza today? I can make it for lunch, but... I can't hang out the whole day.

[She will also be making a point to visit her friends today, specifically the Straw Hat House. She wants to check in on Sanji, now that she knows what's happened to him, say goodbye to Nami... and she has a feeling Ginko will be there as well. If not, she'll try to contact him over the journal.

She also needs to stop in the item's shop. Being given a gift from the water of the river of light... Katara wants to find something similar to the container she used for the spirit oasis water so that if they get out there and she needs it, she'll have it.

The chances are good that she is also going to make a token effort to track down Buffy. She's heard enough about the last fight that she knows what happened there, and she wants to ask a few questions before heading out there - and she wants to hear about how this same mysterious Third Party General had died. It was the mystery that was bothering her - not knowing what they were really going up against or why they were really doing this. If she could talk to someone who'd fought them before, then maybe, maybe... the feeling of being used wouldn't be as strong and she'd be able to focus on what was really important.

She thinks about going over Caesar's house as well, but decides that a journal message will be good enough. He's probably busy preparing - or sleeping. And she had a feeling he wouldn't be able to do as much of that as he'd like, once they got out there.]

[Filtered Voice 90%]

Hey, Caesar. Ready for this?

[After her various conversations, she goes back home to make dinner and she, Sokka, and Toph have a surprisingly normal meal before slipping out a little earlier than normal for her accustomed practice time. She's not sure why they're going out to fight or why the 'why' bothers her so much - and she's a little scared, strung tense with nervous energy. The forms are soothing and precise and tonight there is just that extra edge, just that smallest bit of ruthless passion that gives away just how strongly the drums of her fathers beat within her - this is about war. And war is something Katara knows very well.

But when the sun starts to set she takes a break and takes a seat, watching it go down not thinking about very much at all. It's beautiful.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Usopp! [You get a wave! And she comes over towards him.] I'm so glad you're open today.

Of course it's open. It usually is even when I'm not here; don't want to keep people from getting their stuff, right?

[Heh heh... riiiiight. She glances aside a bit uncomfortably.]

Right. Wouldn't want anyone to have to break in or anything...

[Um - anyway.]

Did you get anything new recently?

Yeah. [ One day, he'll learn to just get rid of the door entirely. ]

New stuff turns up all the time. If you can find it, anyway.

I'm looking for something from home, or something like it...

[She trails off, and her glance almost turns shy.] It was like a bottle that could hang around your neck. It didn't hold a lot of water, and you couldn't tell I was wearing it when I slipped it under my clothes.

I think we have a couple of things like that, actually. [ Away from the counter he goes to dig around for that designated jewelry box. ]

Thanks. [She follows him along, a hand going up to her necklace.]

I saw Sanji earlier today. He's going to be fine with some rest.

[ Brief pause in getting that box down here. ] Good.

[ Right. Back to business then. ] Not that I expected to hear anything different, of course. He's always fine, so it's not like I had to worry. [ He's also not a liar and isn't prone to worrying, while he's at it >>. Here is your box to sort through, good lady~ ]

Right. [So she'll just... skip the part over what she 'saw' in his chi paths. Better that way anyway, better that he just believes her. Because it's true, he will be fine.]

Thanks. [She opens the box and starts sorting through it for something that would work. A lot of this jewelry is really beautiful, but unlike most girls she doesn't stop twice to look at the necklaces or the earrings...]

You're going with us too, right? Tomorrow?

No problem. [ The jewelry picking actually is a bit unusual, considering Robin tends not to show interest in any kind at all and Nami inhales it. Sane people really are something else. ]

That's right. There are a lot of people this time around, aren't there? [ He's been keeping his big-boy face on so far. ]

Just about twice the amount as last time. [She shrugs, still intent on finding something that will suit her purpose.]

But the terrain is different too. Before they were sending them into a town, cleaning it out bit by bit. This time it's a whole mountain range. So I think the concentration will be about the same. Combatant to combatant, I mean.

[Yes, she's given it a lot of thought. Yes, there's a reason why Sokka felt like he could leave the planning of the invasion with the generals at Ba Sing Se with her.]

You think so? [ Usopp's general strategical knowledge tends to kick in after he's been running for his life for a few minutes. ] Aa, that's going to be pretty bad for cover, isn't it.

[ We're all going to die DX ]

[She glances at him over her shoulder.]

No, why would it be? There will be trees, and rocks... and we're going to be by the river, so I'll be able to do a lot. And Toph will be there too, so she can build shelter in a few minutes.

[ He says it because he's a pessimist at heart and always will be. ]

This might not be so bad after all, then.

[And she's an optimist - but this is war.]

It's going to be fine. It'll be a fight, but we'll all come out all right. It's not like you guys haven't been through worse, right?

[It's a shot in the dark, but - she remembers him telling a story about giants. The way they fight... they have to have been through worse.]

Edited 2010-07-25 17:14 (UTC)

[ Grins. ]

Compared to a Buster Call, it'll probably be a piece of cake. [ Change is just frightening :|b ]

[You sir, have engaged her interest!]

Buster Call?

[ Score. ]

Yeah. Someone calls in a fleet of Marine ships to attack a place. An island, or something like that. There are a lot of Marines on those ships. [ Serious face is on. ] Their job is to get rid of everyone and everything there. They even burn down the buildings.

What? That's terrible! Why would they do that? I thought the Marine's job was to protect people!

[ If Usopp were a more mature person, he'd probably say something like "there are two sides to every story." But he's not that mature right now, happens to be a pirate, and once upon a time nearly fell to his death thanks to that Buster Call. Biased? Not at all >> ]

Not all of them like to remember that.

[DNW. Grrr.]

And you were caught in the middle of that?

Yeah, it was pretty crazy. [ And a little softer: ] But we all got out of there, so it could have ended a lot worse.

But it didn't. [...She knows enough about him to know that his stories are usually a bit more enthusiastic than that.]

How many of them were you up against, do you think?

Of course not; we're the Strawhat pirates. [ He wasn't a fan of that arc, so much. ]

There had to be over a thousand of them- everyone was surrounded, they even blew up the escape ship.

[ action ] Ffff, who's counting ^^

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