"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]

[He would definitely shy away from this if reminded of that play.]

Yeah, that's something to watch out for. Maybe keep the focus on Sokka for now.

[markofthebrave]

To be fair... [she picked up a handful of sand and let it stream through her fingers.] He had a good reason last time.

[savedtheworld]

[Aang leaned forward, pressing his hands in the sand.]

Are you saying that... Zuko burned the house down?

[markofthebrave]

Well, not down completely. It was just - singed.

[She glanced at Aang, scooping up another handful of sand.]

I'm pretty sure our house has caught on fire about four times now.

[savedtheworld]

Whoa. Must be a handy time to be a Waterbender. [He flashed a grin towards Katara before playing around with some sand himself, trying to shape it.] Sokka did say something about the house catching on fire, now that I think about it.

[markofthebrave]

[A shadow flickers across her face and she remembers -

Falling ceiling, trapped, being surrounded by flames and helpless--

And then she pushes past that memory.]

Sometimes more than others, yeah.

[savedtheworld]

[Unaware of the horrific memory, Aang has been building up sand into a small mound.]

No one was hurt in any of these fires, were they?

[markofthebrave]

No, thankfully not.

[Aang doesn't need to hear about what happened to an eight-year-old girl. He doesn't need to learn about Yuber. Not now that he's gone.]

There was usually a waterbender nearby, after all.

[Even if one time, it was Sokka.]

[savedtheworld]

That's great. I shouldn't doubt the skills of Sifu Katara. [He smiled proudly as he began six legs on the sides of the mound.]

[markofthebrave]

Well, Sokka helped too.

[She watches him sculpt an Appa-esque figure.]

Eferin isn't as good as firebending, but he still has some good control with the spirits.

[savedtheworld]

Neat! He's the first spirit?

[He feels through the sand to find just the right twiggish things to use as horns.]

[markofthebrave]

Yeah. If you walk through the forest, you won't be able to miss him.

[She thinks he's kind of a jerk.]

[savedtheworld]

[Aang should really think about his thoughts before he says them, so that he doesn't accidentally say "first" instead of "fire".]

Really? That's another thing I have to do... meet all those spirits! Especially the wind spirit. It's probably the closest I'll get to a Spirit World around here... plus there could be more I could learn about elements.

[markofthebrave]

Well, there's always magic class in school. Or if you want, I could see if I could call Kippin now.

[savedtheworld]

[He is sparked with interest and turns away from his sand bison sculpture to face her.]

You could?

[markofthebrave]

Sure! The ocean isn't one of his favorite haunts, but... you never know. We might get lucky.

[savedtheworld]

Thanks, Katara... let's try!

[markofthebrave]

Well... here it goes.

[And she uses her connection with the spirit in order to stir up the wind by them and calls his name.]

Kippin?

[...no spirit yet.]

[savedtheworld]

[Aang has a goofy look of excitement frozen on his face, and it remains even with the silence that follows.]

...Hello?

[markofthebrave]

...no, he's not here yet. [She frowned a little.] Maybe you could try attracting his attention with some airbending?

[savedtheworld]

[He nods]

Good idea!

[Aang springs to his feet, careful not to step on his sand sculpture, and he begins making spiral movements, whipping up some winds around himself.]

Hey! Check this out, wind spirit!

[markofthebrave]

[Now Kippin is one of the friendlier and most easily contacted spirits. It shouldn't be too long before there's wind coming from a different direction. After all, Katara called him before too, and there is always plenty of wind by the ocean.]

Aang? I think... he's here?

[savedtheworld]

Really?

[Aang brought his bending to a case, and sure enough, there was a new wind blowing. It was accompanied by what sounded like laughter.]

"Hello!"

[And Aang was beaming again, briefly flashing his grin at Katara to share his excitement.]

[markofthebrave]

[Katara grinned back.

It was good to see him like this, good to forget, for a few minutes, what he had said was between them.]

Looks like he came!

[savedtheworld]

[As Katara spoke, he only nodded.]

Mr. Kipinn! I'm Aang, an Airbender! This... magic stuff is kinda knew to me, but I wanna see what I can learn from you!

[Aang shouted this aloud, even though he should have learned by now that verbal communication isn't the spirit's thing. He could feel the wind playfully going by his face, and he took a deep breath that felt fresh and welcoming.]