[ open ] .002 though I am empty, I still warn the sailors on their way

[watermarks]

Who: Katara
Broadcast: Written, Video
Action: Yes! Blue Fish and Planet
When: Message sent Monday, midmorning. Some backdated shuffle action.

[After giving it some thought, Katara decided to make an open network post. She wanted to write it out, but as part of her habit from living with Toph, she decided to both transcribe and say it aloud:]

I want to thank the person who put the memorial into place. If you get in touch with me, I can help you get the number to fill in.

I know that a lot of us have been pretty impacted by what we found here. I don’t know how long we’re usually on a planet, but I was thinking… it might be good to have some kind of remembering ceremony by the memorial? It feels important to find a way to show honor to the lives that were lost here. I don’t know what kind of funeral rites they would have preferred, and there’s no way to respectfully move them, so… maybe some fire and some music? Does anyone have any ideas?

I know that this might not be for them as much as it is for us, but… I think that’s important too.

(OOC: Please feel free to threadjack all up in this conversation; Katara would like to make this a community effort, because it feels like it’s something that’s needed to her.)



[The confetti is still as annoying as the last time it happened, but Katara is happy to be on her brother’s ship. She’ll want to wander around and meet everyone, though no doubt Sokka will soon join her to give her an Official Tour. (Did she really need to know every single detail about the ship and all its history? Probably not, but now she does, unless someone saves her.) She’ll spend some time in the kitchen and try to figure out what she needs to bring up from the planet, and then do the same thing in her new room.

Before she heads back down to the planet, she’s going to try to linger long enough to meet everyone.]


[Since the Blue Fish will likely be her permanent home as long as she’s on the fleet, that means that Katara will be doing what she can to take advantage of the free… everything. Her first stop is a hardware store where she picks up a wheelbarrow and several cans of water-based paint. The color - some shade of blue, though she wants something a little lighter too. She’ll be there pondering over choices for a bit.

She also has no qualms about stealing a good idea from the Vanquish when she sees it, and will pick up a chalkboard for the kitchen there as well. She spends a long time staring at a small electrically powered fountain for noise, trying to decide whether or not to get it. For now, she walks away.]

Hmm… maybe I should get different chair too?

[So feel free to find her, either at the hardware store or wheelbarrowing her way back to the shuttles! After dropping the paint off in the cargo hold, she’ll return once more to the planet for a bunch of canned fruits and vegetables and rice… and maybe go back for that fountain.]

Comments

[hollystrike]

Who on earth would make a memorial?

[Carefully said.]

[watermarks]

[Okay, so this could mean that it was her, although she wasn't entirely sure, because it could also mean that she was curious.] Someone who wanted the dead to be remembered. I think that sort of thing is very important.

Action

[alwayscomeback]

[Sokka's never, ever going to pass up the chance to go shopping. Besides, it's something of a Blue Fish tradition to make your mark on the ship, Katara aught to, too. So he'll be following her, probably encouraging her to make impulse purchases, because that's how the Blue Fish has so much tat already. ]

You should absolutely hey a different chair. Chair it up!

Action

[watermarks]

[It's a good a good thing one of the watersibs enjoys shopping. Katara is here Strictly for Necessities. Normally, she doesn't need much, but... she doesn't like the cramped space of the ship and wants to avoid it cramping further.

For once, though, she's not going to be fighting his enabling... especially since, if he's here, he can carry it.]

It's almost like the one there is designed to be uncomfortable. [She starts heading toward the chair section.]

Voice

[actually112]

[Aang doesn't like the idea of broadcasting his location on the network, so he chooses instead to use the voice function.

Despite all the death he's seen, he hasn't actually attended a single funeral in his time in the Capitol.]

The Air Nomads used to do this thing we called a Sky Burial. We'd do a ceremonial blessing over the bodies and then leave them out for the birds. Then once there were only bones, we'd grind them up with grain and give it to wild sky bison to eat.

Maybe we could do something like that, if we don't know how they would've liked to be buried.

[Aang always saw it as a very touching process to allow the Air Nomad to be brought back into the sky. It broke his heart a little bit that there weren't any wild bison to consume the bones of the dead from a hundred years ago.]

Voice

[watermarks]

[...Katara is slightly horrified at this description of the Air Nomad's Sky Burial. Leaving the body for the scavengers seemed... so disrespectful. And she's shocked, because weren't all the Air Nomads vegetarians? It probably had some deep spiritual significance that she wasn't getting, but as it was, the thought just made her queasy. And then they'd grind up the bones with the grain and feed them to the sky bison so they could become... sky bison scat?

That was... why would anyone...

Fortunately, since this was a voice message left here, she has time to walk away and think it through. The best thing that she can come up with is that it reminds her of the swamp... it was probably some way to demonstrate... connectedness? But she can't respond with a: that's wonderful, Aang, because... wow, does that ever go against Water Tribe priorities in burial.

As for these bodies... she definitely does not want to disturb the bones. Some of them would likely turn to dust just by touching them.]

...I don't know, Aang. I don't think it would be possible to move and preserve the bodies at this point. And they're all together there. I wonder if there's a way to seal up the bunker like a tomb instead. [...] But I do think a ceremonial blessing sounds nice. What kind of blessing was it?

video

[monolike]

Oh, that's a wonderful idea.

I did a memorial service once before, a few months ago; a meteor crashed into a planet we were at, and... Well, occasion called for it. [It was a pretty somber thing.] If you'd like some help, I'd be happy to lend a hand.

Video 1/2

[watermarks]

[Please hold.

"A meteor crashed into a planet we were at."

A meteor.

Crashed.

Into a planet.

And the fleet had to witness it. And... if a memorial service was called for then...]

video 2/2

[watermarks]

Oh, I'm... really sorry to hear that happened. That sounds terrible. I hope not too many people were hurt.

[She can just imagine the type of devastation something like that could cause to a planet...] And I hope that the damage to the planet was something that could be healed.

[She... hasn't forgotten that this is not what they are talking about 'now', but... she is momentarily caught on this.]

[ voice ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Softly. ]

It can be arranged. A boat to take them to the sky.

[ voice ]

[watermarks]

[Oh. This was not someone she expected to hear from, except perhaps to dissuade her from the idea.

And yet, now that she hears him, she's finds she's not really at all surprised.

Her returning inquiry is also soft.] A boat to take them to the sky? What do you mean by that?

blue fish.

[rebuildyourruins]

[If there's one thing Thor picked up in his time on Earth, it's that coffee is a fine beverage. It's worked its way into his daily routine at this point. He considers it a stroke of good fortune that there's plenty of actual coffee he can take from the planet, and he's already stashed a bunch of it into the kitchen.

He's on his way in there to make himself a cup when he comes across Katara poking through the cupboards.]

-- good morning! Here for a visit?

blue fish.

[watermarks]

[Oh! Thor! In Sokka's explanation about everything, he had mentioned that Thor was on the Blue Fish, hadn't he? Maybe? Probably.

She turns from the cabinet, balance ever-so-slightly off, and smiles at him. It feels a little strange - maybe she should have stayed on the Vanquish? But she didn't want to. So...] Actually, I transferred in today. I wanted to be on Sokka's ship.

[I hope that's not a problem. I hope that it's okay. I hope...

Ugh, this felt awkward.]

video »

[mucked]

It's a lovely idea.

[ not her sort of idea, really, but a lovely one all the same. peggy has always done her best to dodge funerals and memorials and -- and the whole thing grows worse and worse when you've managed to witness your own funeral through someone else's eyes, memories, heartache. ]

We come and go from these planets. The whole Fleet bears witness to so much destruction and ruin -- it might be a good opportunity for some among us to process those experiences.

[ just not her. ]

video »

[watermarks]

[Everyone deals with loss and death in their own way; however, Katara has learned one thing the hard way: It is important to deal with it. This is easier, because the wound isn't personal, it makes it easier to acknowledge the cut.]

Oh. I was under the impression that this sort of thing wasn't -- normal -- for the people here to see. [Do they really see so much destruction and ruin? That's...] I'm... really sorry to hear that's not the case.

video;

[universal_charm]

I think it's a good idea, if only to settle our own souls. We don't have much in the way of religious leaders here, but I think setting a time and place for people to gather and pay their respects if they wish wouldn't do harm.

video;

[watermarks]

[Thanks to world sharing classes, Katara is familiar with the concept of religion, it's just... hmm. Not a word that she really thinks of, at all, and certainly not in this context, although after a moment she can see the connection.]

Do you have any idea how much longer we'll be on the planet? If it's something you think people would be interested in, I'd hate for them to miss it.

[poisontippedcure]

[Even if Rose isn't indifferent to the suffering of others, she rarely goes far out of her way to help strangers.]

[The dead are the exception. As a Conjurer, she's seen what happens when the dead aren't properly buried, and aren't properly cared for. It's a sad state, both for those who have passed on, and the life around them. She doesn't want to see it happen here.]

The dead cannot care for themselves, so we must care for them.

A funeral would be an excellent idea. This place has stripped me of many of my powers, but I should still be able to perform a purification rite for the departed.

[watermarks]

[...so many questions - why were her powers stripped when Katara's are intact? - so few of them appropriate to the topic. Katara pauses for a moment to try to focus on what is best to ask.]

Some kind of purification ritual sounds like it's exactly what this place needs. [After all, they had died from poisoning...] What does it entail?

video |

[uprightness]

That's the best idea I've heard all week.

[ it's been on his mind, too. people have been debating what to take, what to stock up on, what they could use later. steve gets the logic of it all but the more emotional side of him wants to leave this planet and take nothing.

it all feels too heavy, too wrong, after what they've found out. ]

if you need any help - my name's Steve Rogers, I'll gladly give you a hand.

video |

[watermarks]

[She's sure that other people must have been thinking of something similar, so the praise doesn't really impact her one way or another, though his strong agreement was encouraging to hear.]

Thank you, Steve. My name is Katara. We're trying to work out what the best thing to do for them would be - leaving them there or preserving them and moving them out. And then there are people who know different ceremonies who are trying to figure out how to make one joined one, so... Any ideas?

[theladyofwinterfell]

( Sansa makes a point of being respectful of the dead, having seen so much death in her life, and Katara's suggestion falls well upon her. )

Where I hail from, we often use fire to burn our bodies. We could have a fire to honor these dead, too, I think that might be appropriate.

[watermarks]

[That's the first time she's heard someone offer fire... and in this place of scorching heat, even though it's not her natural inclination, something of it seems appropriate to Katara, like a key in a lock.]

You mean... to burn one in memorial?

video (this is so late I'm sorry)

[lord_wizard]

There may be some record of what faith the people here held in esteem. There seems to be a common one among the planets we visit, but I'm not sure of their funeral rites. But it isn't strictly necessary.

[He pauses, uncomfortable mentioning this particular ability of his, curse that it so often is]...there isn't anything left of their spirits beyond impressions at this point. There aren't any ghosts that require guidance.

video (no worries at all!)

[watermarks]

[She frowns a little in thought.]

There's a way you can tell that for sure? [Because that... was better news than not. It all had happened a long time ago, after all.]