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Who: Katara and everyone!
Broadcast: Fleetwide.
Action: On the SS Blue Fish.
When: Shortly after Sokka's post.

[ it probably won't be hard to recognize the look of a long-suffering sibling on katara's face when the video feed starts. to most, it will probably read as about 80% exasperated, 15% apologetic, and maybe 5% amused. ]

I figured this was easier than messaging every single person who was suckered into responding to my brother's broadcast: Sokka's being dramatic, the Blue Fish doesn't need a pity cook, and we are going to miss Kairi, not the food she made.

[ it's only very mild grumping. finally, she'll also concede: ] Thank you to everyone who offered food or help, though. Everyone has each others' backs here... it's a pretty wonderful thing.

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[ zuko (wisely) decides to let the food thing go and casually arranges... what the hell are in these containers? probably best not to look, and he absently hands one to katara to do whatever with. she's not exactly measuring, so. ]

No. ... well, sort of.

[ -- wait. ]

... you remember a cat and Jet.

[ REALLY KATARA ]

Well, excuse me, Zuko, if I don't remember everything right away. I'm kind of having a bad day.

[ nope. no measuring here. she's just dumping the entire container in. ]

[ oh my god zuko is just taking the containers AND ALL CONTAINERS away, yanking away the heat from the pot with a roll of his wrist so her damn soup concoction stops bubbling ]

Stop doing that.

[ in irritation ]

It's fine if you had a bad day, but I didn't do anything to you.

[ there's a slight pause before zuko sighs and relaxes, allowing the heat to return to her... whatever the hell she's creating ]

-- and unless you know what you're putting into this thing, you're wasting food.

No, but you're here to talk to me because I fought with Allen, and I don't want to talk about it. [ and she proves how much she doesn't want to talk about it by immediately following up with - ] I wasn't trying to say he was a bad friend to Kairi! If anything, I'm the one who never made an effort to get to know her.

[ katara sighs, stirring the pot with her bending. ]

... I just thought they were being childish. And I'm not wasting anything, it's all stuff that the ship restocks. I wouldn't do this with anything fresh.

[ it's not defensive. if anything, she's deflating. ]

[ ah, yes, the great katara word vomit. and zuko listens for a few moments before crossing his arms. ]

People deal with grief differently.

[ some people avoid it. some people mask it with humor. zuko just bottles it up and explodes later because he's healthy.

zuko pauses before continuing, though he has the decency to have his tone be a little dry. ]

And you don't think before you speak.

[ she points at him with a long, wooden spoon. ]

You said no lectures.

It's not a lecture, it's the truth.

[ you don't scare him with a fucking wooden spoon who are you katara

-- but fine and only because you threatened him with a spoon ]

Do you need help with this?

[ he's not dignifying it with calling it food, but he gestures vaguely at the goop. ]

I don't think so.

[ it's... mostly going to need to be thrown out. or it's entirely going to need to be thrown out. whatever. she can deal with that in a few minutes. ]

We were in Adstring for a long time, weren't we?

[ sigh ]

Years.

[ how long, exactly, zuko doesn't know. he left at some point. ]

We lived in a house.

And Jet was there.

[ she's fixating on this, but she can't remember why. it's better than fixating on allen right now, at least. ]

[ omg why does jet matter so much katara ]

A lot of people from our universe were there.

[ including azula. and... his father showed up once. and iroh.

if iroh were here, this stupid fucking fight would've never happened. ]

[ why do you think jet matters so much to her, zuko. she gives zuko a long, puzzled look, like she's desperately trying to grab onto a though that keeps just barely managing to escape. ]

... huh.

[ at least most of the fight seems to have boiled off of her. instead, she's just growing quiet, thoughtfully withdrawn. finally, she just gives up and removes the soup(?) from the heat entirely, tasting it, wincing hard, and unceremoniously dumping the entire pot. fewer potato flakes next time, maybe. ]

Sorry that I forgot.

You don't have to be sorry.

[ as zuko watches her toss the soup, and zuko at least does her the courtesy of collecting up the empty containers of the ... whatever she dumped into that thing to dispose of

pause ]

About losing your memories, anyway.

[ YOU ARE NOT OFF THE HOOK ]

Allen and I are adults, Zuko. If we're gonna work it out, we can work it out on our own.

[ which is her stubborn way of saying 'I don't want to talk about it.' she waits until he's finished collecting the empty containers to sort of just flank him, however, because he's being awfully dodgy about some of these questions and she doesn't want to let him weasel his way out of any answers. ]

Why don't you want to talk about Jet? He and I were close, weren't we?

[ aaaaugh personal space and zuko frowns at her for a moment before groaning, turning away to busy himself with

something

anyTHING ]

I guess. I didn't talk to Jet a lot.

[ pause ]

You did.

[ pause ]

Maybe you bonded over something.

[ like zuko being a total waste of oxygen IDK PROBABLY ]

[ okay. she is getting the weirdest fucking flood of memories here and she is pretty convinced that a majority of them can't be right because - ]

Zuko.

[ no DON'T TURN AWAY YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT HER SHE IS SO CONFUSED RIGHT NOW?? ]

Was I - with Jet??

[ oh my goddd and zuko huffs to himself before turning to look back at her at the exaCT WRONG TIME because why ]

-- I never said Adstringendum you was smart.

[ this is 100% why zuko doesn't have a girlfriend ]

[ zuko you are going to be single forever. ]

Hey, I wouldn't have done it without reason!

I'm sure you had reason.

[ 100% single forever yup ]

I didn't ask about those reasons.

[ for... reasons of his own mostly 'oh god why jet' ]

It wasn't any of my business.

[ she reaches up to scrub her fingers through her loose hair, wrinkling her nose and making a face that seems to suggest the room smells really bad all of a sudden. ]

This is giving me a headache. How do I forget something like that?

[ he shrugs slightly, not looking all that bothered. ]

People always forget when they leave Adstringendum.

[ it's nothing new or unusual, though from what nami told him, he had left too. so he's just lucky to retain it all. or unlucky. who knows. ]

It's the Animus -- or maybe it's this place. Who knows.

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