[ 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.

[hollystrike]

Is it? I would never make such a thing.

[But her voice is very soft.]

1/2

[watermarks]

[Katara's expression softens and she smiles slightly at Katie for a moment.] Oh, I see. If you say so, then it has to be true.

[watermarks]

[Then she glances down.] I... went in there. I counted the first room, but I didn't get to the back. Ben took pictures, though, so I probably could count from there.

[She doesn't really want to, but it feels Important to get a number. And it's not like there is anything urgent happening.]

[hollystrike]

[She appreciates the effort, but lord she'd rather Katara didn't have to stare at those bodies any more than necessary. Or Sam, for that matter, but Sam is a lot more of a hardened hunter type, and she figured he'd be better off.]

There's a man on the fleet that specialises in taking head counts. I can at least spare you that particular heartache. You must have seen the carving a while ago, yes?

[watermarks]

[She tries to hide her relief and doesn't particularly succeed. She didn't really want to count through those pictures. It was enough for her to witness them, to remember while she would remember, the people of this planet.]

Oh, you found how many? That's good. I'm glad to hear that.

[hollystrike]

[She did. Far, far too many people forgotten by the universe.]

Are you all right?

[watermarks]

[There's a pause before she answers. 'All right' has come to mean something different to Katara than it used to, thanks to a draft, a death, and a conversation with a friend. So her voice is hesitant when she speaks, a lifetime of habit is difficult to change, and a little soft.] I'm... a little sad, I think. What happened here was horrible and foreign, and I can't help but be sad for them, and I can't help but remember things that are horrible and familiar. But I didn't know any of these people, and so while I'll be sad for them for a little while, and be sad for them when I think of them after we leave, I think I'll be okay.

[hollystrike]

Terrible answer. Zero points.

[Healthy.]

[watermarks]

[Heh.]

If I knew we were competing for points, then I'd have to ask how you were doing.

[hollystrike]

Oh, I'd get negative points. I never answer things seriously. I lose by default.

[watermarks]

[A small, wry smile.]

Then I guess it's a good thing the points aren't real.

[But seriously, how are you?]

[hollystrike]

They aren't? My whole life is a lie.

[Lightly.]

I suppose it's just as well I bounce back from these things easily.

[watermarks]

[Hmmm... one of these things are not entirely true, she thinks.

Or, both of them.]

What kinds of things do you usually do to bounce back?

[So, you know, she can offer to go and do the opposite of one of them.]

[hollystrike]

[It's not quite opposites with Katie, but she can guess what inference Katara took. So she smiles.]

Did Luceti ever have an arcade?

[watermarks]

I don't know what that is. [But that doesn't mean they didn't have it, she spent maybe like... five hours in the rec center in four years.] So... maybe not?

[hollystrike]

It's a distraction. And a competition. All things in between. Look it up on the Iskaulit sometime.

[watermarks]

...is it like surfing?

[Because. She would love to go surfing right now.]

[hollystrike]

It is absolutely like surfing. Only with a lot more button mashing.

[...there's probably a surfing game in the arcade.]

[watermarks]

[...so it's nothing like surfing.

Darn.]

Button mashing doesn't really sound like a lot of fun to me.

[hollystrike]

It's not for everyone. Though I suppose if someone had skill it'd be less button mashing and more Button mashing...

[Katie ur not making any sense]

You like surfing, then?

[watermarks]

[...what... does that mean.

Oh well, it doesn't sound important or like it needs sorting out, so Katara's just going to let it go because -]

I love it. I learned how while we were traveling as a way to practice bending, but I used to go in Luceti all the time once it got warmer. It's a good way to practice and have fun at the same time, and... it's hard to think of anything else while you're doing it.

[Which is a large part of the appeal, at times, frankly.]

[hollystrike]

Hmm.

Would you like to go surfing now?

[watermarks]

[Heh.

Katara ducks her head and smiles a little.]

If I could, then maybe not right at this moment, but... yeah. But there's no water on this planet.