it's a harmony, a miracle, being able to breathe and live at all

[Somewhere in all the excitement of the past month, it... sort of didn't occur to her that she's now been in Luceti for two years. That's had some time to sink in now, along with the new announcement and - home. Actually getting to go home. Even if it's just for a day...

...but then it means that the Malnosso were lying to them, doesn't it. They do have the power to send them home. And all this time, they'd said it was random...]

[Filter to those who had been here when she arrived: Two years back or more.]

Hey. I think that I just... wanted to apologize. I know that when I got here two years ago, I wasn't very respectful about all the things everyone had tried to do in order to get out of here. It must have been so hard to hear that then, and to keep hearing it from every New Feather that we get when we know that we've tried everything we could.

But we have to keep trying. What they're doing, no matter what they say, no matter what they promise us, is wrong. We can't give up hope that we'll find a way out - we have to keep looking. There's a difference between waiting and giving up, and I know it's hard, but so many of you are still doing that, still trying to find a way out while making things as comfortable as you can for all the new people who are stuck here as we are, and I admire that so much.

So, thank you.

[/filter]

[And then, taking a deep breath, she'll continue:]

And hey, if anyone was using the sled tracks I made, I haven't had a chance to check on them since the ice storm. I'll probably be decommissioning them tomorrow and just turning it all into a giant snow hill, so if you go out there, please be careful, all right?

[Thursday is one of the days Katara goes to spar with Nami, so after making this announcement after school, she and Nami will meet up by the river to do battle with their staffs. Feel free to stop by and watch these two sexy ladies practicing, if you like.

If not, after dinner, Katara heads off someplace she very rarely is. The remembrance garden. This place has always made her uncomfortable... she's not sure it's right, but it's... something. Better than those things that reminded her of gravestones. And the perfect place to pour over her journal, flipping back until she finds an entry of Aang. It's been so long since she's seen him... she's all but forgotten what he sounds like. She feels almost bad about it, but... she misses him so much and yet... it's easier not to miss him.

And eventually, when her time in the remembrance garden is done, Katara will return to her house for an hour or two of bending practice in the back yard.]

[Toph's taken. Masaomi's gone. Shikamaru and Nami and Chopper are all still gone. Suddenly using the rest of her free time at the beach as Katara has been seems to have lost its appeal completely. She needs to be doing something. She's had this on her mind for a while, but... this just brings everything to a front.

She makes this post shortly before her regularly scheduled practice time - just about seven o'clock.]

Hey, everyone. My name is Katara. I'd like your attention for something serious for a minute. I've been here for about a year and a half now, and there are some things about Luceti that are really great which are easy to take for granted - like the grocery store. But a few weeks ago you all saw how easily things in Luceti can change. [And they did change, once. Last August. But she's not trying to scare people here.] And the drafts have changed as well, so that those who go out might have to either carry or catch their food supplies. So I thought I would offer to see if anyone was interested in lessons on how to live off the land.

I know plenty of people who could teach hunting, and back in my village at home I learned all about how to prepare game and use every part of the animal so that nothing was wasted. If anyone's interested I could teach that, along with different ways of cooking outside, and give some basic lessons what kind of plants are and aren't good to eat.

[She tries - and succeeds - in attaining a more cheerful tone now.] And I thought that maybe at the end of the month before school starts we could go on a camping trip with everyone who wanted to learn! This way we could all test out what we've learned and have some fun too. If you're interested in learning or teaching, or if you have any questions, just let me know.

[And Katara will keep her journal opened for the next two or three hours as she alternates between answering it and going through her bending forms. She'll remain mostly off-camera here, but since it's opened it won't be hard to see the outline of the barracks or occasional glimpse of a girl waterbending.]

[There's a somewhat familiar voice over the journals this afternoon. The setting is clearly the forest, as there are small woodland creatures scampering about. The voice itself seems to have an almost musical lilt to it.]

Hi, everyone! I'm back. I'm sorry if I worried you. Everything seems to be in one piece, and I'm making my way back to town now! Of course, my powers are missing, but they'll be back soon enough!

[Does it seem a little odd for Katara to be casually mentioning such an obvious weakness over an open network, or to be referring to her bending as 'powers?' It gets weirder. Because eventually she'll make her way out of the forest, and you may bump into her as she'll head towards the fountain and all around town. Is she... are those sparkles? And weren't her eyes blue? Why is her hair lighter? What is going on here?]

((OOC: Katara's mallynap effect: She has been turned into a Mary Sue. Click on the link for further details! ...or run for your life. >> You can catch her in the plaza today or walking along the river on the 1st! She'll also spend sometime in the Battle Dome ogling observing through the windows. Pretty much name a place and time if it's not 'today' and I'll work with it!))

[Raine was right. A draft had come, this one worse than before - and in a place where she could be more useful than any other location. And she wasn't going.

She took a good long look at that list. And there are some people that she has to visit.

...okay, there are a lot of people she has to visit.

First stop - Shikamaru and Chouji's place. If she can't go herself, then she has to do what she can to help the people who are going out out, and that means talking with the strategist going out there who she trusts.

Next stop - Casa de Freedom Fighter. She may have put it off if her talk with Shikamaru hadn't made her realize how absolutely necessary this was.

From there... spirits, so many people... Katara takes out her journal and stares at it a bit before making a general voice post and then crafting some filters.]

If anyone - needs me for anything, or if there's anything I can do to help out before you go, I'm around. I've fought in swamps before, and although I don't know anything more about this one, I'll try to answer what I can.

[And now it's time for filters. She doesn't have anything specific to say to these people, not over the journals anyway, so the message is the same.]

[Filtered to Ginko, Masaomi, Raine, Kurt, and Sanji]

Hey. If you have time, I'd like to see you before you go.

[If you are passing by the Southmost bridge at just the right time, you will find it hard not to notice the girl in an unusual dress and boots facedown on the ground. One shoulder is strangely disjointed, and there are bruises up and down her arms, particularly violent ones around her wrists. She looks like nothing more than a broken and discarded doll.

As the sun continues to set, the coolness in the ground will cause her to start to stir. When she sits up, she grimaces, moving as if there might be something wrong with her ribs. If you happen to be looking at her as she does, you'll notice the sickening blue and yellow bruise spread across her right collarbone, the lovely shiner on her eye.

The wonderful thing about Luceti? Sometimes there's a journal right where you need it. She barely has enough presence of mind to make sure the picture points away from her face, but her voice is very tired.]

Sokka, Aang - I'm back. [Sorry Suki, Zuko.] I'm okay.

[10 100 (thank you, Shikamaru) percent filter to Chopper, Raine]
Hey guys, if you're there - I could use a little help.

[She doesn't want her brother and Aang to see her like this.]

Aang didn't come out for breakfast today. When I went in his room to check on him, all his stuff was gone. ...I guess this means he went home, right?

And all the stuff in the kitchen is different - does anyone know how they're supposed to work? Or how they got in here without waking us up, because -- seriously, creepy.

( Various filters to Longshot, Erza, and The Green Lantern )

[As for action? Katara is not going very far today. In fact, she is stuck inside, doing healing sessions with the invalid and making sure he stays in bed, and trying to figure out how all this crazy new stuff works. If you think she'd open the door for you and let you in, feel free to stop by and give the girl something else do a helping hand!]

[After a romantic evening where they innocently fell asleep together, Katara wakes up first. It takes her a moment to place why she's outside. They always fell asleep fully clothed when they were traveling, so that was nothing new, but why was someone's arm is wrapped around her waist? And when she does remember, Katara absolutely freezes.

She feels sick and deeply violated, and she's not sure she's ever been more humiliated in her life. She can't turn around and look at Zuko -- she's just going to move as quietly and stealthily as possible, out of the tent and as far away as she can.

Regardless of whether or not she succeeds in escaping without waking him, as soon as she can she is going to find a quiet place on the outskirts of the village, hole up against something, and lose it.]


Worst. Town. Ever.

[After she's done crying and has tried to pull herself together? ...she knows she really should find Toph. And she'll get up to do that, eventually. Feel free to stumble across her as she's finishing up crying or as she starts looking for Toph in the late afternoon.]

[After having to push herself to heal and volunteering to help build the barrier with her bending, Katara is tired of not knowing for sure just how strong her bending is in this place. So sometime after the sun has gone down and the moon has risen high, she is going to quietly leave the Avatar house and travel to one of the closer lakes. She's not being overly sneaky about it, just quiet enough to be 'considerate,' if one of her housemates catches her in the act.

She'll be bringing her journal with her in case someone needs her or she needs to get a hold of someone quickly. She's still not exactly sure how this journal system works, so the chances are good that it will open on its own, and if it does all that will be heard is the sound of water moving and falling ice.

While she's there, she'll also be trying to contact the water spirit that she read about in the guide.

Pausing for a second, she stares at the half-moon] I wonder...

[Shaking herself, Katara resumes her forms.]

[Stirring awake, the first thing she notices is that it's cold -- and it's not cold in the fire nation. Glancing up and around there are snowflakes all around her... and no one in her group.] Aang? Sokka? Toph?

Where are my clothes? [Shuddering, she rubs her arms together.]

[Time to get a little louder now, stomping around, and where is the fire and why is she in a forest?] Toph? Aang? Sokka!? This isn't funny!

Ow! What? What is this? [The sound of turning pages. She'll close it and start looking around in a minute for some shelter and her friends, not necessarily in that order. This Southern Watertribe girl is not about to get frostbite in some strange forest just because she woke up in weird clothes with no shoes.]