[ 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

[watermarks]

...I've never heard of anything like that before. [Simple. True.] It sounds beautiful, to be able to join the stars in such a way.

[Which is... strange. Because loss is anything but beautiful.] That must be very comforting to see.

[dothelokimotion]

I imagine so.

[ His tone is polite and bland, devoid of bitterness. ]

It can be easily arranged.

[watermarks]

[Her brow furrows.] What would it involve?

[And... would it even work, so far away from Loki's home?]

[dothelokimotion]

All you need is a boat. The bodies are placed inside and decorated with flowers. Then as it is sent off into the sky, the boat is lit.

And so we return. As stardust.

[watermarks]

[She frowns a little, thinking of this. She wonders if Aang would be comfortable with something like that, but... her main objection remains the same - it feels wrong to move the remains.]

...I don't think it's safe to move many of [what was the right word?] - them. I doubt they'd survive the journey.

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki looks baffled. ]

Why wouldn't they? A little magic would keep them intact.

Should they really be left in a place where they died miserably? A room that housed them at their worst instead of freed?

[watermarks]

Would it? [Said a little quietly.] I don't know very much about magic.

[And there are so many of them. Katara's not one to back down from hard work when it's necessary, but the thought of bringing out thousands of skeletons to simply... rebury them... it seems disrespectful.] And... I don't know about 'should'. To me, it seemed like they'd been laid to rest by the people who loved them, surrounded by everyone they held dear... I don't know if it would be best to move them or to leave them...

[Aang had seemed horrified at the idea of leaving them there as well, and it was true that the bunker cut them off from even returning to the ground...]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Ah. At times, Loki does forget that. ]

It did not seem that way to me. And I do not think you truly believe that, if you are pursuing this. There is no neat solution.

[watermarks]

No there isn't. [She agrees. She doesn't know why she doesn't feel right about not bringing the bones out of the bunker. Maybe Loki is right - leaving them in the site of pain and misery and death is worse for them. She's not sure. Especially since Aang didn't like the idea either...]

...can you tell me a little bit more about how your idea would work, the practical steps of it? There are a few people who are interested in doing something for these people... I think the best thing to do will be to speak with everyone and come up with a compromise of cultures, since we don't know what theirs was. That way... Maybe we'll get part of it right.

[dothelokimotion]

[ He frowns. ]

I cannot share Asgard's rites so easily. And if they lack magic, they cannot imitate the steps.

[watermarks]

[Katara also frowns, confused.] I'm sorry - did I misunderstand? I thought - you were offering to help? Or is it just that... you don't feel comfortable making Asgard's rites public like this?

[dothelokimotion]

I am willing to assist and lay the groundwork. But I will not pass on that information to others. Not that it means much to those without magic, as I said earlier. It is necessary to have that.

[ Loki is still oddly protective. They were his by right. He's willing to divulge a little. Not so much that others can scavenge their bones of Asgard's culture. Loki isn't ready to share that much. ]

It already coincides with my work currently so it is not much trouble.

[watermarks]

[She considers that for a moment and then decides to focus on a practical concern.]

And if we all decided that bringing the bones out of the bunker was the best thing to do for everyone, then would you be willing to use your magic to preserve them?

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki pauses before nodding. ]

Yes. That would be acceptable.

[watermarks]

[A brief, brilliant flicker of a smile of pure gratitude.]

Thank you, Loki. I don't know how we'd be able to do that respectfully without your help. It - gives us the option, anyway.

[She will deal with her concerns about what he said regarding Asgardian rituals and rites later, but this was important, all on its own.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ He inclines his head politely. ]

Think nothing of it.

[watermarks]

[Nope, she's not gonna think nothing of it. She's going to think on it a great deal, and also continue to be grateful to him for offering.]

I'll contact you again about it once I talk with Aang, okay? I just want... to give everyone who wants to do something an opportunity.

[And she really doesn't want to move the bodies out of the bunker. It was bad enough counting that one room... but if it's what people feel is best, she won't stand in their way. She's just... not sure she can do it, she's not sure if it would be good for anyone to do it.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ He's not surprised people have such concerns. Sentimental concerns. Loki really doesn't care. Obviously. ]

Why?

[watermarks]

Why, what?

[Why did she want to speak with Aang or why did she want to contact him again (though she thought he knew that) or why did she want to give everyone an opportunity? She honestly wasn't sure what he was asking.]

[dothelokimotion]

Why is it necessary for everyone to have an opportunity?

[watermarks]

[It's a question with an answer that is so instinctive to her, that Katara has to pause for a moment to try to put it into words.]

It's not "necessary," but it's something I'd prefer. This is something that impacted the whole community, and so the whole community should have an opportunity to address it. I want to do this for the people who died, but I want to do this for myself too - to show honor and... not leave things undone. So I want everyone else to have that chance, too.

[Because she thinks it will be good for them.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ His lips curls in slight derision. A community. Is that what they are? All Loki can see are people accepting of their circumstances, sheep-like. No wonder Thor continues to chafe here. ]

I see. A noble reason.

[watermarks]

[The word 'noble' sounds like an insult, and Katara frowns, though not entirely due to feeling insulted as much as she felt the word didn't fit. Growing up in the south pole, community was everything, community was survival - the worst crimes were punished by being cast out of the community; the harsh climate would take care of the rest.

And so, like most things, she just can't let it go.]

I'm not sure that's the right word. I just know from experience that it's better to address something like this than to bury it.

[...if you have that option. Sometimes you don't. Sometimes you have to close in on yourself and move beyond the wound and do what needs to be done, but if you survive that, then the wound festers. She knows that from experience too.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ If only Loki subscribed to anything that vaguely helped emotional health. As it stands, he finds it easier to mock because he has little to no experience in it. Asgard was many things, but Loki is hardly going to call it a community. ]

It is a foregone conclusion though. Especially for these people. What is it you wish to address? Does it come from them or yourself?

her thought process here was fascinating to me, thank you for asking this question

[watermarks]

[Katara's expression turns inward, more thoughtful. Though the questions are provoking and she's tempted to just tell him it's none of his business, she also remembers the way Loki was in the bunker. She remembers her as yet unfinished conversation with Thor. So she tries to give him an honest answer; she's not... introspective by nature, so explaining her instinctive responses to things takes thought.]

What I wish to address isn't mutually exclusive to me or to the dead - or to the community. It's - not such a simple thing. I want to do something that will honor the dead, because I think that it's appropriate, that remembering and giving honor where life was lost is just -- [gah, words, how to say this other than 'good'] -- important. But I also want to do it for myself, because seeing this was upsetting, and I've learned ignoring things like this can hurt more than the pain of dealing with them. And I want to give everyone a chance to heal whose been hurt because... [why not? it's the right thing to do? we all need to be as healthy as possible to survive what's coming?] ...I feel that's important too.

It's all [as if coming to the realization herself while she's speaking, and she very much is:] part of the same thing. Healing through grieving is honoring life just like giving honor to the lost and remembering is part of honoring life.