tushanshu | VIDEO 001 -- Incredulity

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VIDEO 001 -- Incredulity

[The video turns on, and Sokka looks at it with a moment's hesitation before actually speaking. He picked this up at the Visitor Center quickly, but that things like this could even exist still just were unthinkable. There's a bit of amusement playing at the corners of his lips and he stares on without speaking, followed by an eventual shake of the head. Disbelief is plastered all across his face.]

Okay, so let's set the record straight. I've been magically transported to some other world? That's... actually weirdly possible, even if that whole time-stopping thing doesn't sound right. I'll give them that one. Turtles that are the size of an entire city... I think I can wrap my head around. This emperor guy and that—

[There's a moment's hesitation, as if he were just about to actually voice Malicant's name aloud, but he thinks twice at the last minute.]

—other guy; I suppose that's fine too. Big metal city? I'm not sure the style fits me, but I know people who can bend metal, so okay. Weird spirit soul lantern things? [He pauses now, holding a finger to his chin.] I don't claim to be an expert at that spiritual stuff, but that's more than a little creepy if you ask me. But fine, I'll let that one go.

[But Sokka starts chuckling a little ruefully. Sure, all of these strange things are possible, but the probability is... well, he hasn't calculated it, but it can't be large. All of this story just sounds ridiculous to him.]

But a magical communication device that instantly conveys my thoughts across the entire city? That's where I draw the line. How can that possibly work? How can my picture get sent everywhere all at once? C'mon, that just violates every notion of common sense ever! It's ridiculous!

I mean, I guess if this thing were actually real, I should say something like [as he puts on a false air of sophistication for the introduction], "Hey everyone, I'm Sokka. Good to meet you!" But that's not going to happen, and I'm going to feel silly talking to myself. Yeah, this is going to be a dream, and I'm going to wake up any second. [Pause.] Aaaaaany second now. [Beat.] Juuuust wait for it. Right now... now... please, karma?

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[Of course the questions were going to have to wait. Sokka admittedly is a little huffy over the fact that those are going to be put off, but it's his sister who's in pain, so he's going to deal with that for now. After all, there is a limitation on how serious a situation can get before Sokka's sense of humor falls away.

[As Katara hugs him, Sokka returns the embrace in kind. Knowing she's hurt, but not necessarily how badly, his hold is light and delicate, almost cradling her in his arms while at the same time feeling like the protector of her that he more or less used to be before she became Miss Super Awesome Waterbending Sifu.]

Hey, have I ever not come after you?

[Perhaps he still has a little dose of humor still in him, though he's admittedly also serious about that. He pulls her a little bit closer, one hand moving to the back of her head so that he allows her to sob on his shoulder.]

[She eagerly buries her face in his shoulder, reeling in that fact that it is her brother--that he really is there.]

How...? When did you get here?

Edited 2014-10-03 05:07 (UTC)

When did I get here? [Sokka looks a little confused.] Just now. I came up to see you the moment I got here.

[He pauses a moment before he replies again.]

Oooooooh, you mean when did I get here on the turtle thing? Today, I suppose? Though depending upon how long they kept me in that watery thing before I woke up, it could've been yesterday. [He says that with a particular skepticism in his voice; he still hasn't made peace with this world quite yet... or decided if he likes it yet, though he's betting on "no."]

Okay, my turn to ask a question. [He's going to get his question asked, thanks.] How bad off are you?

[So he's just gotten here. She wonders if anyone has filled him in, and knows that if he's asking her all these questions, someone must have told him something. She nods tiredly against his shoulder as she calms and he talks.

After a few minutes of shaky crying, she pulls back, and lets him go, settling her hands in her lap again once she's shifted the blanket. One hands holds it closed over her chest, and though they're not terribly obvious, her fingers have a strange assortment of shades across them. At least the blisters are gone.]

I'm fine, Sokka... Just...tired. I-I mean, I've been better, but...I'll be fine, [she stutters a little and shifts uncomfortably. She not exactly lying to him...but it's obvious her assurance is a decent distance from the full truth. Unless he persists...that's about all he's going to get from her.]

[He won't force her to leave his shoulder until she's good and ready. The two siblings may not always get along at all times, but he does know (usually) how to be a good elder brother and take care of her (big) emotional needs.

[Sokka lets her go only when she pulls away, and he places one of his hands on the bed to prop himself up as he leans back slightly. The room isn't brlightly lit, so he can't see Katara super well, but he notices things nonetheless. He sees that her hand doesn't look fantastic, and there's some burns on her face that are still in the process of healing.

[Nuh uh. Katara, please. Sokka knows you're truthbending here, and he's not going to have it.]

You may be "fine," but I'd rather be my own judge of that. I did hear what happened. [Certainly not the full story, but he knows enough to make that claim in good consciousness.] Let me see how bad it is.

...

[She avoids his gaze directly, stubborn will rearing its head.]

Sokka, it's fine...It-- I'm sure it sounded a lot worse than it is.

[Probably not, but she's not about to admit it. However, putting up such a show, even if it does come naturally between her and her brother, is draining her quickly.]

Well it's kind of hard to know that when I don't actually know how it is. [Yes, he's using sarcasm on his sick sister. Sokka is the best brother in the world; give him a prize for this.] I mean, look at this.

[He takes Katara's hand into his own and raises it up to her face.]

There are like... three different colors here! That's at least two more than there should be!

[Sokka's passion gets the better of him for a moment before he realizes that he's already raising his voice, and he feels a little guilty for it. He just wants to protect her right now. He turns away a little bit, not looking at her any more, though for some reason he hasn't let go of her hand.]

Look, I'm sorry I wasn't here and all for this, but... [Does he actually have to say aloud that he loves his sister? That would be embarrassing.] please? I want to know what this place did to you.

[She narrows her eyes in annoyance at him before averting her gaze guiltily. She does gasp (and winces a little), though, when he draws her hand up.]

I got burned, okay? [ she snaps before she can stop herself. When he doesn't let go of her hand, she doesn't pull away, but instead tightens her fingers around his own as her eyes close. She knows he's just being her protective big brother, and while its annoying as always... it's way more than she could ask for right now. Uncertain, she hangs her head, relaxing her hold on the blanket just a little.]

It's not what this place has done to me that's the problem, [she starts, throat tightening again.] Zuko was poisoned...he didn't know what he was doing; he never would have gone this far. Not even when he was our enemy.

[Sokka reacts to Katara's snap by tensing up as he leans slightly further away from her, albeit mild, fury. For a moment, he's bracing for more where that came from; once Katara gets going, sometimes there's no end to her rants and lectures, especially when Sokka really deserves it.

[But it doesn't come. Katara's intensity backs away, and Sokka peers out of one eye to see if the coast is clear. But funnily enough, though Sokka is oft the king of inappropriate comments, he had actually chosen his last words to her very carefully.]

I know that. There's a reason why I didn't ask you what Zuko did to you. [Yes, if there's ever a confirmation of him knowing that detail, there it is.] I want to know what this world [he says, with pronounced punctuation,] has done to you... and him.

Look, I promise I won't make a big deal out of it after I see it. Let me be your big brother today. It'll be the last serious thing I say all day, if you want.

[She listens to his reasoning and assurance quietly, still unable to stop herself from second guessing everything. She doesn't want to show him. The more people that see, the more real it is, and the more real it is, the more she has to admit that it actually happened, though deep down she can't bring herself to deny it anyway.

With a sigh, once he's promised not to make a big deal of it--which most of her is sure he's going to break anyway-- she relents, risking a look at him before closing her eyes and letting the blanket down off of her shoulders.

Though she's bound and much better off than she had been before, it's still very obvious that she's hurt. Though more of her torso is wrapped than normal, burns peek out here and there from under her new wrappings and up her arms and across her legs. They're not life threatening now, thanks to Akito and Korra's skills, but they cover most of her front and still look terribly painful. Her healing sessions focus more below the surface for now, and she's really not sure she wants to explain how much more intensive her treatments had been at first. In fact, she doesn't want to think about it at all. The only solace she can take in any of it is that she won't scar permanently... or at least not much if she does.

Given the fact he's known her all her life, he'll likely notice she's gotten thinner as well, though she might not be aware of it. The past few weeks, even before she had been attacked, hadn't done her any good at all, and while she's still strong, her lack of sleep and appetite had started to take its toll.]

[Well, Katara is, for better or worse, about one thing. Sokka is almost certainly going to break that vow. As she finally gives in to his eternal protests, Sokka's eyes bug out just a bit after seeing just how bad it is. Because when Aang and Wan had told him that Zuko had burned her, he had imagined it much more minor, like when Aang had burnt her when he was first trying to learn firebending.

[He let's that wash over him for more than a moment, seeing the blistered skin and so many bandages; she looked practically like she was all banaged up for teaching waterbending with Aang... but worse. And yes, he can tell that physical exhaustion on her face, the fact that there's less meat on her than before. It's somewhat shocking.]

Just fine? Sounded worse than it looks?!

[His incredulity is high, and he's more than a little distraught. But, Sokka's mood doesn't stay there; instead, it shifts in a particularly violent way. He reaches out to her and gives her a hug—perhaps slightly tighter than he ought given her condition.]

I'm just so thankful you're alive! [he says, rather melodramatically.]

[She cringes at his outburst, but when she's suddenly swept into another, much tighter, hug, she tenses and gasps, then does her best to weakly shove him off of her.]

Ow, ow... OW! S-Sokka!

[Thankfully for Katara, Sokka is going to recognize his mistake quite quickly. He lets her go and retracts backwards extremely awkwardly. Yeah, she's not healed completely yet. Whoops.]

Uh... sorry?

[He truly does mean it. But certainly it's going to sound more like he's saying, "Please don't hit me with a snowball or encase me with ice, I'm sorry?"]

[She'll only settle onto the bed properly again and draw her blanket back up over her. She's...not quite in the mood for bending, and though, yeah, she thinks he's sometimes really dumb, she can't be too mad at him... not when he's just gotten here. Instead, she just sighs wearily.]

And here I thought it was a miracle you'd show up now...

Edited 2014-10-03 07:36 (UTC)

[Okay, so now Sokka feels guilty for multiple things. He'll... get over most of it, thankfully—Sokka has a pretty bad memory about feeling sorry for himself, really—but it still doesn't help in the short term. He messes up one little thing... and then the house of Pai Sho tiles comes crumbling down.

[But her retort doesn't make sense... or at least it belies some other thought deep within. But the true meaning of that completely escapes him, really. Outside of Zuko burning Katara, he really is pretty clueless.]

Wait juuuuust a minute. Miracle? Me? [Okay, which Spirit possessed Katara and is speaking gibberish now? Sokka may think of himself as all big and bad sometimes, but his sister would rarely come out and admit he's right about it to his face... unless something else was going on.]

[His surprise makes her withdraw just the slightest bit as she realizes she's spoken more than she meant to. She backtracks just a little, grasping for anything to sum it all up at once.]

Well, things aren't exactly good here, Sokka... and I'm kind of short on ideas...

[She hesitates for a long moment, then continues, her head bowed.]

I'm not entirely sure what all is happening here, since I haven't been around all that long, but none of it feels right... I mean... [Her shoulders curl in a little.] I was there when Zuko was stabbed in a battle for a cause I'm still not sure about, and I've been trying to heal him since... I've watched the poison consume him completely, and he's not the only one infected...

[Her brow furrows as something more personal strikes, and she shudders a little. She's seen what it can do to people... She's been forced to act herself because of it...

But just as she had been ashamed to admit it to Korra and to explain to Aang, she's not sure she should even bring it up.]

[Sokka waits for Katara's explanation as he realizes he's breached some line of defenses that she hadn't expected him to pass through. Nevertheless, he listens (mostly) without interruption, though he will take a brief moment of pause to inject,] Ah, the burden of being the idea guy, [though those words are more to himself than to Katara.

[But at least, we're finally to the story of how Zuko was poisoned. And so now Sokka straightens himself and focuses upon his sister recalling the story as best she can. Granted, it's nto a long story, but it still gets Sokka thinking.]

A poisoned weapon? [Sokka asks. That's what she seems to be describing.] Though it is curious. I'm not exactly an expert at poison, but I've always assumed poison was more about killing someone than making them act all goofy. [Because, yes, that's how Zuko was acting: goofy.] How many are infected?

[Still, his sister's mind is troubled, though he can't say if it's that or something more. He doesn't know which is the case, but Sokka has noticed that she's been acting funny the entire time here. She's usually not so reserved; of course, she has been through quite a lot, physically and mentally it seems, but she's usually not so closed off into herself. Sokka puts a gentle hand on her blanket-covered arm, being much more careful not to hurt her this time, and he looks deep into her eyes, trying to show his support.]

[She nodded.] He was stabbed in the shoulder with a knife. [Guilt sinks even deeper.]

I don't know how many others, but there were a lot of people hurt in that fight, [she admits sadly, curling the blanket back up around her with a small shudder.] "I haven't really been paying attention to anyone else, aside from hearing stuff here and there from that...thing. [She motions over to the console.] I've just been taking care of Zuko this whole time. Nightmares, frustration, pain...so much pain...

[Okay, that fills in more than a few details, though it opens up just as many questions.]

Fight? You mean like the ongoing fight between us and Mmmmm—mongoose lizard? [He's heard vague stories about that, but nothing entirely specific.] So then I'm guessing Zuko's not the only one poisoned, huh?

As for Zuko...

[Well, that said something. Katara was pretty good at that healing stuff; she certainly nursed Aang back to health after nearly losing him the Avatar State at Ba Sing Se, so whatever concoction was in that poison has to be something serious.]

I take it that you've already ruled out licking frozen wood frogs. [He knows that's going to get a glare from his sister, so he's going to hold up his hands in advance, as if to say "Just a suggestion!" But really, he's just stalling for time as he tries to think of some real solution. Though coming up with one with what little information he currently knows is going to be dicey work.]

[Another exhausted nod. Though she didn't know much about the war herself, she at least knew that the battle they had been caught up in wasn't the beginning, and it obviously wasn't the end. When his question changed, she shook her head with a sigh before lifting her head, hoping he wouldn't catch on too well to the hopeless look in her eyes.

Just as he predicted, though, her eyes narrowed at his tease and she huffed, crossing her arms in frustration.]

This isn't funny, Sokka. [she bit. Her quick frustration slowly dissipated, however; too tiring.] And besides, I don't even think they have those here...

[She took a deep breath, then turned her eyes up at the wall across from her as if trying to sift through every remedy she had tried.]

I've done everything I can think to do, and none of it is working [--because, of course, she was far from giving up]. He hasn't slept properly since it happened, and he just keeps getting angrier...I can't get it out of him, and it just keeps clouding his head more and more... I've tried pulling out of him, but it slips through my bending so easily...

[She clenched her hands in her lap tightly, as if they were the cause of her failure. Her bending, however, had proven to be working just fine a few days ago. The reminder flashed across her face, and her expression turned guilty and more pained than frustrated. Her voice grew quieter, much more hushed as she continued. Sokka was her brother... Whether or not he liked her confession, he would listen. Surely he wouldn't turn his back on her, though admittedly, Aang hadn't either. Hopefully Sokka wouldn't be as afraid.]

Sokka....After Zuko attacked me, and he realized what he had done--he tried to kill himself...

and I stopped him with bloodbending.

Edited 2014-10-05 18:16 (UTC)

I was actually being somewhat serious! [will be Sokka's natural retort to Katara as he shrugs. Believe it or not, he's treating the situation with every ounce of sincerity that he has in his bones given what he knows, but of course he doesn't know the half of what has happened, just how bad things have gotten.

[He listens intently as she continues onward. Because of course the story wasn't bad enough, and of course it's always one thing after another. Sokka doesn't know anything about this poison nor how to heal it, yet for a moment it almost sounds as if the healer was asking for advice on how to heal Zuko. And in fact she may very well be. Still, that's a difficult road for Sokka to even fathom.

[Nonetheless, Sokka's face actually grows quite dark when Katara reveals Zuko's attempt at suicide. No wonder she chided him about his earlier joke; that was serious, and that meant that Zuko's life—or for that matter any of theirs—could be in jeopardy here, and that definitely would trigger that protector's mentality.

[However, if Katara was worried about Sokka being offended, scared, or worried about Sokka's reaction to her bloodbending Zuko... really, her fears were incredibly misplaced.

[Upon her confession, Sokka shifts his position so that he's sitting next to her instead of in front of her, and he puts an arm around her gently, offering her his unconditional support. The spirits only knew exactly how much she regretted being capable of bloodbending, but Sokka probably knows a good bit of it. He's not put off by it, and if he were, he'd have left her after their encounter with Hama.]

Look, I know that's not your favorite... aspect of waterbending. And I remember quite well how much you said you weren't ever using it again. But, had I been in Zuko's place...

[He pauses, not really certain how to display his pride of Katara's decision making; they didn't have that sort of relationship... or did they? He leans over and plants a kiss on her head.]

You're my brave little sister. [He gives her a wan smile, as if saying not only that he doesn't think ill of her decision, but he thinks it was a good call.

[However, back to the more pertinent matter at hand.]

But this poison, has anyone else been cured of it?

She could never, ever, imagine Sokka in Zuko's place like that, and even as he said it, she tenses and buries her face in his shoulder, fighting--and losing to-- tears as he kisses her head. She can't believe Sokka is here, and she's reeling over how much she needed him there.

Brave...she's not brave.... she's terrified. She just can't let it show as much, because she's determined to be strong for her friends. Yes, she had saved Zuko's life... but she had been so scared of watching him die...

Had it been what he had wanted...? In his state at the time, not at all, and what was worse... she understood. She wouldn't want to fight what he was fighting... she wasn't sure she would have even made it this far. Had it been selfish of her?

No... She couldn't believe that; she wouldn't for a second believe that.

After a long moment of silent trembling and sorting her thoughts, she finally answers him. "I don't think so...There's not a cure that we know of... at all. Not even a hint"

Sokka isn't privy to Katara's internal battle, but he also hasn't seen Zuko and the extent of the horror that the poison has done to him. He doesn't know Katara's difficulty over her inability to help Zuko and her being forced to resort to the last method to help him that she had, namely forcing him to not kill himself. But he will stand by every word he said because, even if Katara was feeling scared and defeated and forced into a corner, it was being able to act upon those higher instincts in spite of fear and terror that defined a warrior.

After all, she did have the Mark of the Brave. That symbol was well deserved.

"Then we'll just have to keep looking. I don't know what this poison or this Spooky Spooky Witch Person can do, but there's got to be something. I really need to catch up on that and see what's out there."

He gently pulls Katara closer. He can feel her sobs and her jerky breathing. He knows she's in a dark place... and hurt both physically and mentally. He wraps his other arm around her front, letting her lean upon him and hopefully pulling some of her negativity into him.

After all, he was the pessimist around here, dang it, and the rightful relationship between the siblings had to be maintained.

Edited 2014-10-12 05:10 (UTC)

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VIDEO 001 -- Incredulity

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best tag followed by the WORST TAG EVER I'M SO SORRY

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