trans_9 | Basics

There was a time to get sick. There was a time to bemoan the things that seemed like empty spots in her head. and there was time to sleep and dream of times that were better (or have nightmares of worse times too). But when these times passed, and eventually that was the case, there was nothing left to do but go back to what you were best at, and refine it to make it your own. Going to the podpop had been a start, and Katara capitalized on it the next day. A visit to the Sensorium and the scenery changed: she was at the desert lands they'd been left to brave after the library sunk and Appa had been captured. There was no gang here though, just miles and miles of sand and heat bearing down on her. To Toph and Aang, she was sure these circumstances were unpleasant, but to her and Sokka specifically, it had been alien and frustrating (it had helped Sokka that he was strung out on Cactus juice and she was fixated on keeping the group together at the time). She had also made sure there would be no water nearby, and so her pouch was also gone.

The morning was spent in quiet meditation on the sands. Her mind was full of questions and brimming with thoughts, but she momentarily displaced them from her mind. She was uncomfortable, sweaty and hot, but stayed in deep meditation, moving from time to time so she wouldn't cramp up. Once she'd seen the sun position itself to indicate noontime, Katara rose, and her attire was that of her firebending disguise: she would need it.

The exercising in the Weirding way, however, required targets, so the desert was now strewn with several dummies. Here Katara incorporated her Bene Gesserit martial art with that of the training she'd practiced in Will's gym: she catapulted herself upward, struck with deadly precision and then rolled into a new defensive stance, ready for the next attack. It had been awhile since Katara incorporated her waterbending flexibility with the Weirding way, and truthfully it was seldom Katara practiced the art, fully aware (thanks to deadly robots) how damaging it could be. She bent her legs a bit and brought her arms up again, using her force against the dummy and knocking it backward with what looked like minimal effort. She knew it would be awhile before she was an expert in the Weirding Way, but that was more than reason to practice, with all they had encountered.

When she had worked up a definite sweat, she went back to the flexibility part: she flipped, jumped, turned several times in the air and, on her back, curled her legs upward and leapt back to position. She was stinky and definitely perspiring, but that was easily taken care of if she decided to turn the Sensorium into a spa, not that she was in a big hurry to do so.

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"H-hey, you don't have to be so forceful!" Katara said, batting her hands away and smoothing Negi's cheek. Despite Negi being taller and Katara not knowing how they interacted, she still was playing motherly girl, and that included fussing a little over Negi.

"Oh the brat can take it," said Asuna, still completely red even though she had her hands batted away.

"Awww you don't have to say it like that," whined Negi as he was fussed over.

"Whatever." But you knew Asuna cared the way she looked at Negi who was being fussed over.

Katara tried to see, okay with this, even though she definitely didn't like the idea of abusing Negi. He seemed way to delicate for it somehow...and also way too used to it.

And how could she call him a brat? He seemed like anything but!

She could see that she liked him though. Even Katara wasn't that blind.

Negi rubbed his head. "She's always like this," he said in a low sotto voice. "Always roughing me around..."

"It's not like you don't deserve it," said Asuna, leaning in and ruffling his hair. "You're such a kid when you're like this!" She sniffed the air. "Have you been taking baths too?"

"ERK!"

"So I see," Katara whispered, looking at Asuna warily. "I hope they don't do this to you all the time in your world! It seems so mean!"

"Baths?" Katara said. "What about baths?"

"Asuna's special," admitted Negi with a rub of his head.

And then he blushed again. "Well um..." Blush, fidget. "I don't like to take baths..."

"Clearly," Katara said, shaking her head. "I have to get used to other people's strange customs."

But here, Katara gave him a strange look. "Um Negi, those are kind of important. They make it so you're...less stinky."

Negi flushed. And Asuna rolled her eyes, mooshing her hand into his head. "If you don't toss him into the bath, he'll just splash around and only get wet. You gotta do it for him cause he's such a kid."

"A-su-naaaaa~!" moaned Negi.

"Oh REALLY?" Katara said, looking at Negi suspiciously. Mother mode was back in full effect now, especially when she heard something like that. So Negi was mature in some ways, but woefully immature in others. She should have anticipated that.

"So maybe I was doing this all wrong," she said, and now the ball disappeared except for Asuna and Negi, and the three of them were all at the shores of Kyoshi island minus the Unagi. She gave Asuna a knowing grin.

"Transform back please, Negi," Katara said. "Time for you bath."

Cue maniacal laughter.

"Meep! But I'm okay really I...!"

"Nothing doing Negi!" exclaimed Asuna, now clad in her school swimsuit as she grabbed him, forced him back to normal and started to strip the kid. "You're stinky and you're so helpless when you're taking a bath!"

"AWAWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAUGH!" exclaimed Negi, flailing about as he was pitched headlong into the ocean.

Katara couldn't help but laugh very little, even if she didn't approve completely with what was going on. After all, hurting Negi was never really what she set out to do, just making sure he got clean. She had striped down to her white underclothes, and just to make sure he didn't the water too hard, she brought up her hands and had the water practically caress the little boy into itself before lightly launching him back towards her, floating him on the waves as if it were the red sea and the water was completely made of salt.

When he reached her, Katara playfully hugged Negi and then she turned him to wash his back, looking up at Asuna. "You get his body, I'll get his hair, okay?"

Luckily for him, Katara would be nowhere near as rough as Asuna.

"Alright," said Asuna, splashing into range and taking the soap. "Geez Negi, you're a lucky little kid you know that? Two girls fussing over you."

"Awww but I...!" protested Negi despite the hug and position.

"Shhh, girls working here." She started to scrub his arms and he blushed red.

Katara nodded. She may not have liked how rough Asuna could be, but she knew when someone was being doting, and Asuna was at the moment, so she started to scrub Negi's hair with care, bringing the water up from the sea and applying it when necessary.

It was strange, but so was being on the ship, really. These types of things were bound to happen.

She smiled. "What's so wrong with bathing anyway, Negi? I'm sure all magicians have to get clean so they can do their duties, right?"

"It um... well I forget and all the time people are throwing me into the water..." muttered Negi sheepishly as he was lathered up. Between Asuna's not-so-gentle scrubs and Katara's gentle work on his hair, he was starting to relax. "And well um..."

"Oh geez, he's ten. What ten year old likes to take a bath?" said Asuna with a smirk as she worked on his chest. "C'mon Negi, admit it. You're still a little kid."

"Yes, yes I am," sighed Negi.

"Well I won't throw you in the water Negi," she said, ruffling his hair. "But it is something that everyone ought to do, just so they can deal with being on this ship. Don't worry though, I'll be gentle on you, okay? You'll want to act older than ten about bathing."

"Alright," relented Negi as he was washed up by the two women. He still felt incredibly embarrassed having it happen to him like this, but it was more than just a little funny to the outside looking in.

Katara giggled, and when she was done, she gave him a polite bow, and produced a nice, fluffy towel. "You know, if you do this yourself, no one else will have to do it for you."

Asuna faded and disappeared, and now Katara looked the other way out of politeness. "You...really like that girl, don't you?"

"I guess so," said Negi, toweling off and rubbing himself dry.

Watching Asuna fade into nothing, he nodded absently. "She's always looking out for me when she can. Always making me worry, and vice versa..."

Katara kept her eyes averted. "That's nothing to do with guessing. If you want to be a good mage, and you probably are already, you'll want to wash up, okay?"

Katara nodded. "I know someone like that back home too. I can see that you care for her very much, even though she seemed...pretty forceful. I could tell that she cares about you. I really hope you see her soon, Negi."

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