It's nice to get a chance to relax together

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

Meluly had gone along cooperatively with Katara, following the girl to her room. Getting along so well has left a little skip in her step, and she slides the door behind them shut before momentarily claiming Toph's bed to perch on the edge of, watching Katara with a vague, pleasant expression. Her body language is halfway tense, halfway languid in odd increments, not quite sure of what she wants, but happy enough with anything that comes along.

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"Thanks," Meluly says, and lets out a pleasant bit of a sigh, relaxing back again and loosening up her grip on Katara. "I made most've'm myself, actually. I guess I've got kind of an eye for it." She bites her lip half-consciously. "Why don't we go to the Sensoriums later? I could try some patterns on you. If you want to try it."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"I agree," Katara said, grinning. "I think it'd be a good idea. If I were to get one, I think I might want to have it on my back, or maybe my arm. I want to make sure that its something meaningful, like what you have."

Though she did wonder is the ones on Meluly's thighs hurt a lot.

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"Your back..." Meluly thinks, and rolls over a little, tugging the sheet with her to cover up her feet. The one point of her that can't quite manage to be comfortably warm enough even in this temperature, apparently. "It should have something to do with what drives you."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara was quiet a moment. There were definitely a lot of things that made her feel driven, from Aang to her own waterbending. She was quiet for a moment, then looked over at Meluly.

"I think I'd want something to do with waterbending," she said. "Do you think you could do that?"

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"I'll have to know more of what waterbending's like," Meluly says, and her fingers fidget together. "Lie down. Let me see your back." She stretches a little in place, smiling brightly.

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"I can definitely tell you about that," Katara said, "Although it will definitely take awhile to explain. I'll lie on my back first, and then I'll tell you all about it."

She took off her shirt and lay down on her stomach.

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Meluly pinches Katara's back in a few places—not to be mean, but to test her skin, see the elastcity and texture of it. She rubs her fingers across the middle of the girl's back. "Okay. Tell me." Her voice sounds half-distracted, but she's listening, even while she keeps tracing her fingers in lightly tickly, tentative pattern-ideas on Katara's back.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

If Katara is hurt by the pinching and prodding, she doesn't show it. She lays on her stomach, thinking about the easiest way to break down what waterbending was all about.

"The earliest waterbenders learned about bending from the moon: the push and pull and the way the tide was dependent on it. There are two water tribes: The Northern Water Tribe, that are mostly comprised of male waterbending fights and warriors and women waterbenders who only heal. There's also the Swamp Benders, who are the only benders not situated in a place of ice: its all trees and water. The Southern water Tribe, where I'm from, was comprised of female and male waterbenders until the Fire Nation invaded our tribe and imprisoned all of the benders there except for one. Me."

And this is the part Katara had to take a breath, because its harder to think about, let alone talk about.

"But the Firebenders heard there was one more bender in the South Pole, so they raided one last time. We thought they were there to fight, but in actuality it was a distraction. One of the men went into our home, and mom sent me to find dad. The man wanted the last waterbender, and mom told him it was her, but they weren't taking prisoners that day, so he..."

Katara didn't say anything more, but Meluly knew what happened.

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Meluly leans down and hugs her, her body brushing against Katara's back. She squeezes the girl's shoulders with her hands. "War is nice very nice," she says. "You can skip that part. I know what it's like to lose somebody close to you." She straightens up again, taking in a slow breath and then letting it out. "Tell me what waterbending is like. What it feels like."

Her hands rub across Katara's back, half-automatically settling into a gentle massage.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara didn't quite get why war was nice, but figured that she was talking about the actual tattoo, not saying that war was a good thing. "It's not to get depressing," Katara said. "It's because I'm proud of what I've been able to accomplish with waterbending. Becoming a master at it is as much a testament to my mom as it was something I wanted to accomplish for myself."

"What it feels like?" Katara said, and she thought a moment. "Well, part of it is movement: the push and pull is something you remember when you're working with water, the basics of waterbending. But the other part of it is like dancing too: waterbending is martial arts that flows, that depends on both quickness and fluidity. Its a graceful art that depends on using your environment and using defensive movements to defeat an opponent. The movements are slower than the other bending arts, but the capability of water more than makes up for it."

Katara half sighed at Meluly's touch. "I hope that helped?"

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

[Oops, meant to put 'war is not very nice' there. XD]

"Fluidity," Meluly murmurs, and sinks down against Katara, halfway laying on top of her. "Yeah, that helps. I'll have to experiment about it... would you mind getting painted on a few times?" she asks, resting a little more of her weight on Katara. Not enough to squish—but she's heavy for her size, full of compact muscle. "If I can ever get out of bed. You're too comfortable." She tucks one hand in a little under Katara's belly, her other arm supporting enough of her weight to keep her from position from entirely uncomfortable for Katara instead of only a little.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"I won't mind," Katara said. "I've had my face painted before anyway, its no big deal."

The weight on Katara didn't really bother her considering she'd had to get fairly toned in order to be a master waterbender anyway. She did flush a little at being called comfortable, and by now Meluly's body squished on hers was something she was getting accustomed to.

Well, almost anyway.

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

"I'll want to do most of you at once," Meluly adds, letting a little more of her weight onto Katara when it looks the girl isn't having unbearable trouble with what she's already supporting. "For the test patterns. It's no good if you don't plan ahead... even if you don't want the full sets now, you might someday." She leans over enough so that Katara can see her grinning.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"The painting will be fine," Katara said, "But I don't think I'll ever want to go full on, to be honest. It wouldn't suit me. But I do want one, one that will remind me of my bending...and my mother. Those are things that I never want to forget. But if you do want to paint to see how it will look, I'm yours."

And she returned the grin.

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

Meluly finally slides off Katara and onto her back on the bed, one leg and most of a shoulder hanging off it. "That would be good. I haven't had any chance to work on my designs properly in a long time."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara grinned. "Good! I haven't had a chance to do something creative in awhile! This could actually be really fun! I can start looking up some of the symbols in the media library and everything!"

As if to show how excited she was, she gave Meluly a complretely non-awkward hug despite Meluly being competely naked and Katara mostly. "You're the best, Meluly!"

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

Meluly hugs back tightly, locking her arms together behind Katara's back to keep her in a snug hold. "I might have to copy some of it over from my own stuff... I kind've invented 'bout a tenth of what Nazzadi nowadays use," she admits, embarrassed. "There's a couple of us who are really into it who figure out the edge stuff nobody else has yet."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"So you're saying that there are some of you that are a bit more cutting edge than the others. Well, I guess I can see that. You are pretty out there somehow. I'd be surprised if all of your race was like you, to be honest."

Katara paused. "But there is one more thing, Meluly. If we could, I'd like to alos have a symbol about Aang there too. I can show you the airbender sign, if you like. Hold on a minute."

Katara rummaged through some of her belongings until she found some chalk, then drew this symbol on the ground:
(http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v102/elpedrososama/?action=view&current=Air.jpg)

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

Meluly peers over at the symbol, and also reaches to snag her dress-thing off the floor. "It's elegant," she murmurs, hugging the red cloth against her. "I don't know if I'd use something exactly the same, if you want me to put the meanings I know into it, but I think I could get close enough to recognize."

And then, something in her face twists a little, almost a twitch. She lets out a little hiss through her nose, half-stiffening, but relaxes quickly enough that it might even be missed. But— "Katara, do you know the time?" she asks, and there's a little odd note in her voice.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"Thank you," Katara sais, smiling gently. "I just want to make sure I get something that reminds me of the things that I missed. A lot of these things may look small, but the truth is-"

Katara stopped now, and her blood felt like it was running cold. "Meluly?" She sad, alarmed. "No, I don't know what time it-Meluly, what's wrong?! Are you okay?"

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

Meluly draws herself into a lotus position. She takes in and lets out a few deep breaths, the weird edge to her body language and voice finally calming. "I'll be fine," she says. "It's a little warning conditioning. I need to get to my medication."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara reacts immediately. "Okay, okay," she saus nervously, a little more than bothered now. What was wrong with Meluly?

"Tell me where I can find your medicine, okay?"

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

"I can get to it alright. It's in my room." And she's already wiggling into her dress-thing, making slightly funny faces as it sticks to her a little here and there from the faint dampness of the night's sleep-sweat. "I—I hate to run, but would you mind if I give you a ring later today?"

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"No, its no problem," Katara said, but her heart is starting to hurt now, Why did people she care about have to deal with such pain? Why?

She hugged her again, scared. "Get to it as soon as you can...and when you're okay, please call me."

Katara turned from the scene and walked to the hallways before kneeling,m sobbing.

Did everyone she care about have to grow through horrible things?

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

Meluly exits quickly. She'll send Katara an omnicom message later to confirm that she's okay—but the very fact that she'll do it in text-only might raise some suspicions.