"And through the rise and falling apart"

[markofthebrave]

Who: Aang and Katara
What: A much needed conversation
When: April 16th
Where: House 56 -> THE OCEAN
Summary: ...soooo there are some things they need to straighten out
Rating: G for 'this should be good?'

[Time is the sweetest balm. It's been... nearly a week now, and Katara's starting to feel much more like herself. And as such... she really wants to not have to talk to Aang about That Night, or about what he called her when he first arrived, or about any sort of heart-manipulating experiments and their results, or about Masaomi...

She really doesn't want to have to talk to him about that. She just wants things to stay as they are, while he's here - happy and content, as best as possible. But... he remembers things differently. Or - he remembers things that haven't happened yet. And if she doesn't share of some things that have happened to her, and if she attempts to brush over the things he's told her, and what she's learned, then... then they're living a lie just as foul as one of the experiments. And she refuses to do that.

So after dinner, and after an abbreviated time of practice, Katara knocks on Aang's bedroom door.]

Aang?

Comments

[savedtheworld]

[Aang was laying casually on his bed, spinning some marbles around out of boredom, when he heard Katara's call. He quickly hopped to his feet and went to open the door.]

Hey Katara!

[markofthebrave]

[Oh, those marbles.]

Hey. [She smiled in greeting and... continued with her quest.] Have you used the teleporters yet?

[savedtheworld]

Nope! Why do you ask?

[markofthebrave]

[Score.]

They're really cool - and it's a nice clear night. We could go try them out and take a walk by the ocean?

[savedtheworld]

[His heart maintained a steady beat. He had no idea what was happening except that he wanted it to start.]

Sure!

[markofthebrave]

Great! [She steps back from his door in order to let him exit.] The teleporter to the ocean is right by the barracks. Sokka and Leon built it.

[savedtheworld]

[Aang steps out through the door.]

Great! Sokka's really stepped up a lot with his creativity.

[markofthebrave]

Well, I wouldn't give him full credit for the teleporters - Leon had made some to the hot springs a while before that.

[And moving to the front door...]

[savedtheworld]

[He walked alongside her to the front door and opened it for them.]

Still pretty neat, all the new things you can learn here. And you're learning how to use cool machines too!

[markofthebrave]

[And out they go, into the darkening evening.]

Yeah, there's all kinds of things that you can learn here, from all different worlds. [She gives him an almost shy look.] I've even taken up learning to fight with a weapon and found ways to incorporate it into bending.

[And she holds her breath because... preserving her cultural heritage by learning to bend had been the most important thing to her for a long time. And waterbenders don't use weapons in their bending. But. They can take your bending away here with the snap of their fingers. And she won't be defenseless, a dead weight, ever again.

It's not the worst thing she's done with her bending. But she's still a little nervous to see what he'd think about it.]

[savedtheworld]

[He was caught off-guard by this information. At the same time, he remembered a time that this Katara hadn't experienced yet - when she went down the path of revenge, but ultimately spared her mother's killer. He knew she could be trusted. So he inquired calmly.]

A weapon? What, uh, kind?

[markofthebrave]

A bo staff, actually.

[She said on a shrug.]

It's... a little like you fighting with your glider. At least, that's what Sokka said when he helped me pick it out.

[savedtheworld]

Really? That sounds pretty nice. And it's in responsible hands. We should compare them sometime.

[markofthebrave]

[Some of the tension leaves her shoulders.]

I don't usually practice it with bending. It's more of a... fallback.

[savedtheworld]

Yeah, I would have noticed you using it. [Realizing he was indirectly referring to the Waterbending sessions, he speeds into the next sentence.] With all the weird threats around here, it makes sense.

[markofthebrave]

Well, that, and... you have to have noticed how our bending starts out a lot weaker here.

[savedtheworld]

Yeah. I haven't really tried anything really big since I got here, but still enough to notice.

[markofthebrave]

[She nods as they approach the teleporter.]

I've gotten a lot stronger since I've been here, but just knowing that they do that made me want to make sure I'd be able to handle it if they took my bending away completely.

[savedtheworld]

[Take away bending? Cue flashes of energy bending Ozai.]

That's a good idea, Katara. I should try to think of something for myself.

[markofthebrave]

Well, you've already got a good start with your glider, right? It's better to work with your strengths.

[She, on the other hand, is having a flashback to that armor he put on before Sokka went to learn from Piandao.]

[savedtheworld]

Maybe I could learn to use it like that bo staff. I can kinda wield it as a weapon already, I just mostly know moves that enhance my airbending.

[Dat armor.]

[markofthebrave]

You could always come join Nami and me for a practice session if you wanted to see what it was like. Although there are plenty of other teachers and weapons if you want to try something new.

[savedtheworld]

I'd be glad to! It should at least be nice to watch and see how much you've learned. The staff sounds like the best bet so far, but I could check out other things too. As long as they don't have blades or... shooty things.

[markofthebrave]

[Actually, blades would work better - if I'd known about the drafts when I picked my weapon, I would have used a spear.

But. She really doesn't want to get into talking about the drafts with Aang. This would be enough for the night.]

I'm sure Sokka would be happy to help you out with that.

[And they approach the teleporter...]

[savedtheworld]

Right. Good old Smithy!

[He grins and looks towards the teleporter.]

Is that it?