What dreams may come [Open, bendytimed to before GTFO plot]

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

In her sealed, silent, sensory-deprived meditation room, Roxie is sleeping. It's a special sleep: for all dreams are connected, she knows, and by spinning her mind out along the web of thought, she might step into others...

[Roxie is dream-hopping, getting a look at the subconsciousnesses of the other people on the ship. So, how it works - if you're interested, go ahead and post with a dream your character is having, and Roxie will slip into it, subtle at first but more obvious as she tries to satisfy her curiosity. Just her being around will make the dreamer more lucid and more likely to remember the whole thing when they wake up.

Also, feel free to ask any OOC questions in a thread here, or poke me on AIM at 'anagramarye'.]

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[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara somehow felt a little better confessing that. That wasn't to say she didn't still feel horrible for having that feeling, like she was a jaded person who couldn't believe enough in the goodness of people. When it came to having these feelings in jail, it wasn't too hard to have nightmares about what she thought was happening to her.

Here the scenery changed again, and there were the people that had caused her to rethink her decision about trust. First there was Jet, someone she had admired. She saw him as vividly as she had the first time they'd met: charming, an inspiration to his group, a rebel who'd been hurt by the Fire Nation. The next scene he became different, willing to sacrifice a village for killing off some Fire Nation soldiers and using her and Aang to do it. She remembered clearly how she'd felt that day: shocked, betrayed, almost dirty. It would follow her when she saw Jet again, only he would be a shadow of that boy, now forced by the Dai Le to obey their silence on the war. Jet would break free, but it would cost him his life doing so.

She could see Hamma now, a kindly old woman who was just getting by. Katara went with her shopping in the market place, and then she found out Hamma was actually a waterbender like her, also from the Southern water village. She would learn that all the waterbenders were imprisoned by the Fire Nation, forcing Katara to become the last one. Katara would also witness how capture had twisted Hamma too: the woman would learn a very powerful technique, bloodbending, to control human beings once the moon was full. She would force people under the mountain, imprisoning innocent people and justifying their capture with her own many years ago. Katara would fight Hamma, break free of her bloodbending on her, then fight Aang and Sokka when she made them fight her and each other, and finally Katara would bloodbend Hamma herself to prevent her from causing any true damage to her friends. In the end, Hamma would triumph anyway, forcing Katara to use the taboo bending no one else knew of.

And Katara, now, saw the double of her again, in the Fire Nation uniform, a grim smile on her face. She stood between her and Roxie, her hands blood stained and dirty.

"Maybe you are strong enough after all. I didn't expect you to after that Yeerk. One more push, and maybe you can get there. Wanna test it out?"

The doppleganger made a slashing movement and landed a high kick toward Roxie, producing a flame midair that would burn the girl.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie doesn't move but to bring up an arm to shield her eyes, letting the flame wash over her. There's the stink of burning flesh as the sudden burst of heat scalds her.

She looks between Katara and her double, apparently less concerned by her own injuries than by the sudden, odd dichotomy.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

A moment later Katara was at her friend's side, her hands out in a threatening gesture. She looked deadly serious now as she stared down her "alternate." She was sick of this: that version of her was making far too many appearances in her dreams. She rooted herself in stance.

"If you lift a finger to hurt her, I'll make sure you regret it," Katara said, her voice quiet but very, very serious. "I will do that to anyone that tried to hurt people I care about. But don't think for a minute that I'm going to lose control and be like you. I know why you're here, why you make appearances in my dream now. A part of me is still scared that I'll become like her, and as long as I'm scared of that, you exist."

And like that, the other Katara disappeared. Katara knew it wasn't permanent: as long as she was scared of becoming like Azula, or scared of what would happen when she was forced to kill, that Katara would exist. She understood that now, just like why these dreams had been bothering her more lately.

She was fairly certain Roxie had helped with that.

"I'm sorry you got hurt," Katara said, her eyes downcast. "I guess I don't control that part of myself as well as I think I do."

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"It's all right," Roxie says, her voice dry and small and cracking. The pain, though, if there is any, doesn't show through to her (seared, half-melted) face. She turns slightly, half-consciously, moving the burned side of her away from Katara. "Everyone has inner demons."