01 ≋ a frozen ocean joins our hearts ≋

[waterwhip]

Who: Katara and you!
What: Exploring the area and not getting into trouble at all ever.
When: Within the first couple of days of arrival.
Where: The fountain and the greenhouse.
Warnings: None! Maybe later.

--∿≈≋🌘≋≈∽--

It isn't lost on Katara that the assembled band of 'heroes' brought from every corner are fortunate to have an abundant supply of fresh water. She is fortunate, more than most--some people drink what they need to survive without thinking much about it, but for a daughter of the Water Tribe, and a waterbender to boot, water is essential to Katara. It has informed every aspect of her life.

She bends in the square when she has time and it's not too crowded. Pakku would never let her hear the end of it if she let her skills get rusty, and frankly, she's worked too hard just to be allowed to learn to let it go to waste.

The water she's gathered up now will go to the greenhouse later, but there's nothing saying she can't play with it a little first. It coils through the air, forming loops and spirals. Refracted light dances on the ground and the walls of the buildings around her. Another movement catches her eye, and she turns, first with a guarded look and then a smile.

"Oh, hey! I didn't see you there."

--∿≈≋🌕≋≈∽--

Since discovering that her skills as a waterbender are invaluable in streamlining the process of cultivating food, Katara has made daily visits to the greenhouse to water and weed the plants. There are a few she's become particularly fond of--one is a little maroon and pink fruit she's dubbed the 'glueberry' for how sticky the juice becomes if it gets mashed; it's sweet and tart, and she knows they're packed with nutrients.

Her favorite is a much larger fruit that she discovered after a few days of tending the greenhouse. The husk of the fruit requires a bit of effort to crack, but the inside is filled with fleshy seed pods that taste like something between the mangoes that grow on Ember Island and the moon peaches Momo loves so much. The seeds are a glossy, almost iridescent black; Katara has begun to save them to replant, and to make beads for jewelry.

She wasn't expecting company today, but she doesn't seem disappointed for it. "Here, help me break this open?" she asks, the football-sized fruit in her extended hand. "You really have to try this. It's so good!"

--∿≈≋🌒≋≈∽--

Wildcard!

Comments

Greenhouse

[brooklyn_boy]

A supersoldier has to keep his calorie intake at a ridiculously high level. Because of this, Steve is at the greenhouse quite a bit and is pleased to see Katara there, working away as she does. At the request, Steve smiles and bounds over to take the fruit. With his strength he can crack it open with the effort it would take to knock on a door. He hands it back over but not before taking a pod for himself as payment. She's right, it is good.

"The food here is a whole heck of a lot better than what we had in the Atroma's ships," he says with a small sigh. Steve grabs another fruit and cracks it open to eat himself. He'd come for the cumatoes and banana-like things Tommy made but this was somewhat new and Steve, after eating so much, relished anything new he could get.

"Got a name for it yet?"

[waterwhip]

Katara's eyes go a little wide when Steve cracks the fruit open like it was a possum-chicken egg. "You're so strong!" she exclaims, inviting him to sit with her under the low boughs of the tree. It's warm and bright inside the greenhouse, and she holds the golden yellow pod carefully to keep the juice from dribbling down her hand and face as she nibbles around the smooth seed.

"I like the fruits and vegetables just fine, and I have a friend who would love it because he's a vegetarian, but my brother loves meat. He's the one who would usually go hunting when we would land for the night to make camp." She misses her friends so bitterly, and for a moment she looks down at the fruit in her lap. "I miss the smoked seal jerky my Gran-gran makes."

Not letting herself dwell too long on her absent family, Katara shakes her head and smiles at Steve.

"I haven't named it anything yet. The flavor makes reminds me of the mangoes we had on Ember Island, but it tastes a little like moon peaches too."

[brooklyn_boy]

"Moon peaches..." Steve smiles at the name and hopes that he's not looking too confused as he does so. "How about moon mangoes? Combine the two?" Also it's an alliteration and those are always fun. He doesn't say that though. Instead he finishes up his own fruit quickly and processes both what Katara said and the look on her face as she talked about her friends. He knows that look; he's made friends with it in the mirror more than once. Gently, he reaches out and grips the girl's shoulder.

"As for your friends... You never know who is gonna show up here. I lost...everyone I knew, once. Including the best friend I'd ever had. But here, I have him back.

"Places like this are strange like that. But the good thing about them is that they can give you people you never thought you'd see again. There's always hope..."

[waterwhip]

"Moon mangoes!" she says, grinning at the way it rolls off her tongue. "I like it."

Seeing Steve polish off the entire fruit so quickly, she passes him half of hers. It's more than she needs at the moment, and it means he won't have to crack open another one just yet. His hand on her shoulder is warm and encouraging, and she nods once, though her smile does turn sad.

"I appreciate that, but it's probably for the best that they stay where they are if they're going to put an end to the war." She grimaces a little just thinking about it, knowing he couldn't possibly understand. "It's a long story."

[brooklyn_boy]

He wants to wave off the offer but he's also practical and this fruit is satisfying his hunger in a good way. He thanks her and goes in to finish it off while listening intently to what she has to say. Luckily, Katara has likely chosen one of the people here who knows exactly what she's going through. Steve nudges her with his shoulder and offers a sympathetic nod.

"My friends are in the middle of trying to make sure half the galaxy isn't wiped out. Trust me, I get that."

He sighs and leans back a little. Katara is young. Very young to have friends who are in the center of a war. It brings to Steve the same outrage he gets listening to Tommy and Billy talking about their lives. Still, nothing he can do will stop it and Katara seems capable enough.

"Wanna talk about it?"

[waterwhip]

She isn't joking when she says it's a lot. She's lived this war her entire life. "The war's been going for a hundred years," she says, starting slowly. "The Fire Nation wiped out all the Air Nomads first, and then they came after the Water Tribe. Our culture has been devastated. I was the first waterbender born in the South in sixty... seventy years."

Her head bows slightly, brows furrowing as her hands curl into fists in the fabric over her knees. Her expression shifts, however, and she sits straighter, not ramrod with discomfort but with her shoulders square and proud.

"My brother and I found the Avatar. He'd been frozen in an iceberg under the water near our village since before the war began. Since then, we've been traveling the world to help him master all the elements so he can fight the Fire Lord."

[brooklyn_boy]

Steve can't help it: a surprised laugh is punched out of him. Immediately he cuts it off and holds his hands up in apology. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I just. I have a lot in common with your...Avatar. I wasn't expecting that."

Still, he feels awful and lets the coincidence go entirely. Steve's expression goes instantly grieved for the poor girl next to him.

"I'm so sorry to hear about what you've been through. Honestly. I fought against men in my time who had similar goals of genocide. It's awful that they seem to have gotten so close where you came from.

"But I'm sure, with your support, you're doing all you can to right these wrongs. If I were the Fire Lord, I'd be nervous." And Steve means that, too. Katara doesn't seem like the kind of girl to cross nor does she seem the type to give up.

[waterwhip]

The laugh has Katara's shoulders bunching up, arms crossing over her chest defensively. What about anything she'd just said was even remotely funny?

"Oh, and I suppose you were also frozen in an iceberg for a hundred years?" she snips, feeling tetchy until he apologizes. He seems so sincere that she can't stay mad.

Her hands fold in her lap and she sighs. "I couldn't beat the Fire Lord on my own--not with Sozin's Comet overhead. That's something only Aang can do. I just hope he's okay. He's only twelve, you know?"

[brooklyn_boy]

"Ah, no. Seventy years. Your friend got me beat by twenty." He says it as explanation more than anything else. Yes, he was frozen for decades. Him and this friend could compare notes.

"I can't imagine being twelve and going through that. Or being responsible for bearing a...Fire Lord with a....comet?"

He frowns.

"What does the comet do?"