(no subject)

[markofthebrave]

Who: Korra, Asami, Jinora, Ikki, Aang, Roku, Sokka, Zuko, Toph, and Katara
What: There's a new Avatar in town!
When: July 9th
Where: House Avatar
Summary: Just your average worlds colliding.
Rating: G for "greet?"

So... meanwhile, back at the ranch, there were opportunities for those who have caught their journals to know who's coming, and those who have not caught their journals to be taken by surprise at the new Water Tribe member in the house.

Comments

[markofthebrave]

[Well, good on Lin. And she'd have been disappointed in Tenzin - this son she supposedly has - if he hadn't been on his way to do the same thing.]

I see.

[powdersup]

In the end though- [And she smiles... somewhat strained, given her own personal memories from that night] Korra rescued herself, we just found her when she used all her energy doing that.

[markofthebrave]

[Katara nods, thoughtful, noticing the strain in Asami's smile but... again, leaving it alone, for now. Hopefully going in a different direction will be sufficient.]

I'm not sure I understand something. You said that Korra and someone else discovered that Amon was closing off bending with bloodbending. But how did that happen?

[If Tarrlok was the only other bloodbender and Amon had taken his bending away...]

Did that have something to do with Tarrlok as well?

[powdersup]

[..Oh, right, Katara wouldn't know that. Asami ended up assuming.] Tarrlok told them - Amon had him locked up and they found him. So Tarrlok told them about his childhood with his father and... his brother. [A beat] Amon's his brother.

1/2

[markofthebrave]

[markofthebrave]

[Her voice is low only due to the most strenuous application of self-control:]

A whole family of bloodbenders?

[What did they do, make it illegal as an advertisement or something? As far as she knew, Hama was the one who had invented the technique. How could anyone have learned of it otherwise?]

[powdersup]

Their father was a man named Yakone. Forty years ago, he was Republic City's most notorious criminal until Avatar Aang and Chief Bei Fong brought him to trial. [She's... saying this all in a distant tone, apart from the younger versions of them she's met here] There were dozens of witnesses who saw him bloodbending in broad daylight, and often on many people at once - naturally, to most people it was unbelievable, but the then Chairman of the council, Sokka, convinced the rest of them that things thought impossible with bending have been proved wrong all the time. [...And then he escaped and then Aang tracked him down and took his bending. But. Let's just get this out of the way first]

[markofthebrave]

[...Sokka was the chairman of the council.

That should make him happy.

Bloodbending in broad daylight. There were few things more terrifying than that.

She finds her focus.]

Go on.

[powdersup]

When he was convicted, he resisted. He overpowered the whole courtroom and almost escaped the city before Avatar Aang caught up with him. Aang took his bending away. [Which... probably is a bigger state secret for the most part. But after the story Korra had and then the one she learned later from Korra about his origins, there's that] He was taken to prison after that, but a few years later his gang helped him break out. [...]

Just so you know, everything I'm telling you after the trial I know secondhand. But apparently he disguised himself and started a new life up at the North Pole under a different identity. He found a wife, had children - two sons. And he secretly trained them both to be bloodbenders. One of them was Tarrlok and one of them grew up to become Amon.

[markofthebrave]

[Really, every time Asami mentions bloodbending, it's a strike against Katara's heart. She'd never experienced Aang taking someone's bending away, but knowing that it was Aang doesn't even make her blink when that part of the story comes around. He'd only do it as a last resort.

But... in doing it... he'd still failed to keep Republic City safe from the influence of that man, that Yakone. Of course, if he'd stayed in prison, that would be one thing...

But Katara knew better than most people that you didn't have to have bending to be dangerous.]

Tarrlok told them all this?

[powdersup]

That's right. [...Which she interprets as being as suspect source. A pause] But... most of it isn't a lie, at least. Amon really was a waterbender and a bloodbender.

[markofthebrave]

I see.

[Pain and extreme loss can change a person. And if the Tarrlok here was without his bending, as she'd heard...]

I'm going to want to talk to him.

[That's said absently, almost to herself.]

[powdersup]

...Is there anything else you want to know?

[About Amon? The Equalists? Korra? ...Her?]

[markofthebrave]

I want to know a lot of things.

[She smiles a little wryly.]

But I'm not sure how much more I can take today. Why don't you just tell me if there's anything else you think is important to know that could be a threat - we'll focus on that for now.

[powdersup]

[She bites her lip. Her father... her father would definitely constitute a threat if he were to show up here, probaby a far greater one than Tarrlok and possibly on par with Amon. But that's dependent entirely on him getting his technology working and by himself . . . She really, truly, does not want to tell people about her father. It's selfish of her and possibly endangering, but that's still too raw. There's a very distinct pause here before she admits something between silence and the truth-]

A lot of the power the Equalists had in Republic City was from their technology. Specialized motorcycles, armored vans, gloves like the one I had on earlier, combat suits with specialized helmets, mecha-tanks which can't be metalbent, and recently a new type of single-manned airship called an airplane. [...] But I don't think most of those are things you could find here anyway.

[markofthebrave]

[If Katara can tell Asami's holding back, she doesn't let on.]

That sounds both amazing... and terrifying.

[To think of their world with that kind of technology...

Why must these developments always come as weapons first?]

It's sounds like something to talk with Sokka about - and any kind of drawings of the weapons would be helpful too. Just give him a description - weapons usually show up in the Smithy, he can always hold them until we know that the person they belong to can be trusted.

[Like they did with you, showing up and caring for Jinora and all.]

...you say your glove is a weapon?

1/2

[powdersup]

I'll be sure to talk to him about it. [...And she can probably do more than drawings, she could do whole blueprints. A bit of pride comes into her smile as he shoulders relax a bit. She isn't asking her to clarify.]

[powdersup]

But that's right, it is. [Not quite sure where to put it, she's obviously not wearing it now, but she still had it close at hand. I didn't note it, maybe in a pocket or on the counter or something] If you noticed, it has a metal frame and two green circular plates on it- I can show you later. The back plate is the battery which powers the glove, and the front of it delivers and electric current when the person wearing it wants. It's used mostly by the Equalists to knock opponents who it would be difficult to chi-block out. I took mine off one of them.

[markofthebrave]

[That's a lot of information in those few sentences.

First of all, it speaks well of Asami that she was able to disarm - and then had enough presence of mine to arm herself with the weapon of - a chi-blocker. Katara's only fought Ty Lee, but she knows the other girl is fast and precise and exactly how careful you have to be in order to keep her from landing a hit.

Secondly - the weapon wasn't designed to be deadly. That, however, was irrelevant to the third point which was:

Electric weapons. It didn't matter if it wasn't designed to be deadly, hold that long enough on someone and serious damage would be done.

...she's going to need to talk to someone about this.]

I see.

[powdersup]

...I'm probably overwhelming you with the technology stuff, aren't I? [It's a little joke. She knows that she probably isn't given the stuff here in Luceti (gosh, in this kitchen) is more advanced than some of the things back home]

[markofthebrave]

It is a lot to take in.

[Katara doesn't feel overwhelmed, but she does feel... sobered. And a bit lost. The world Asami is describing isn't her home.]

Why don't you tell me a little about yourself instead? Or - we could just focus on dinner.

[It's getting towards That Time, after all.]

[powdersup]

...You'll have to show me hoe to help if we're focusing on dinner. [Because wow she is lost already just in what you were doing while we were talking] And I'm not really sure what to say about me. I'm eighteen, I like to drive pretty much anything with wheels, and I'm a huge fan of probending?

[markofthebrave]

[...Katara just removes the peppers from Asami's cutting board and sets down the washed celery.]

Here, must cut this crossways like this.

[She demonstrates and then sets the knife down.]

What's probending?

[powdersup]

[... Okay so like that? She takes the knife and she... hesitates a bit because she doesn't want to cut herself and experimentally gives the first cut. Okay, then the second. Okay]

It's a sport that's pretty popular in Republic City. Teams of benders compete against each other.

[markofthebrave]

[Oh, this sounds... like Earth Rumble City.

Great.]

Really? Competing for what?