Pieces

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

It was barely living right now, and for Katara, that was never a choice she made willingly. That had alwasy been something that was thrust upon her, and in this case it was reliving Sokka being taken away again, only now it was like old wounds were reopening and new ones were appearing.

The moment she felt Renne leave it had been like a part of her had been ripped. She'd stayed in the Outsiders hotel, locked up her door and cried the whole day. She couldn't be around people then: it would have been too heart wrenching, even attempting to act as if things would get better, and she would have just burst into tears. More and more, family just seemed to be taken away from her. She didn't even have the heart to get angry, blame Stacy, rage like she had when Sokka was taken. It hurt too much, it felt like it happened too soon.

And the day after that she'd left the hotel to wander. That was all she was doing now, just sort of walking, not taking in anything anymore. Life on the ship seemed like it was a curse, and far as Katara could tell, acting like it wasn't would only make her break. So she just walked, her eyes bloodshot and her hair a mess. Her face was unreadable: it was somewhere between completely uncaring and defeated.

There was nothing to smile about, nothing to put on an act for. Family was gone, extended family was gone...was she just grasping for small, barely fulfilling pieces of happiness, until that was finallly taken away?

What then?

Comments

[saint-sami.livejournal.com]

Sasami, on the other hand, seemed to feel a lot more at ease. She was finally putting her own life back on track (though she needed to figure out a way to make her and Hay Lin official adopted sisters) and thus decided to wander across the ship.

However, her own wandering ended up crossing paths with Katara - someone she hadn't seen since Zokez II. Her heart sank seeing how miserable she looked and she decided to approach her.

"Katara!" Sasami called out. "A-Are you okay?!"

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara stopped at the voice, turned and saw it was the little girl that she'd met on Zokez II. She only barely recognized her in her own quiet grief: it was hard to even manage a smile and a conversation. Honestly, she was tired, and she just wanted to curl up and cry somewhere.

"Sasami," she said, at least a little glad to see the compassionate girl. "Am I ok? No, not really. I had a frie..."

No, not a friend. That sounded casual, like they were just a random circumstance.

"I had a family member repodded. I'm not taking it well."

[saint-sami.livejournal.com]

First Alessa with Shadow and now this. Sasami's heart sank hearing that.

Walking over to her, Sasami's arms wrapped around Katara in a hug. "I'm sorry..."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"This person was a family for me when I lost mine," she said softly. "They repodded my brother, then my friend Zuko and his girlfriend. When I was sad about this, he and Billy comforted me, and we had this bond. It was special, and...and I..."

She burst into tears and hugged the smaller girl.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

Eva doesn't know Renne's gone. For her, it's a normal day on Stacy, or as normal as Stacy ever gets - spend a bit too much time in the Media Library, wander around the Sensoriums, and consider pounding the pavement for a job. Or pounding the flesh, but that just sounds deeply unfortunate.

"At the very least I could use my now encyclopedic knowledge of Neruda to win Jeopardy...it's so easy to fall in love," she mutters and sings to herself as she walks, snapping her fingers habitually.

The last decade of her life has done an excellent job honing her observation skills, so even when thinking out loud she's very aware of her surroundings. And of the unkempt hair and bloodshot eyes of the young-ish girl she's passing in the hallways. That maternal instinct to comfort takes over. "Miss? Are you alright?"

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara hadn't really been expecting to run into anyone, certainly not when she had her head down and was trying to mind her own business. She had an idea she might attract a lot of attention if she were crying her eyes out and was making a big deal about it, so she chose to at least attempt to keep it to herself...so much for that.

She stopped and turned to the speaker. It was a pretty woman, someone who reminded her a little of the people that trained her in the Bene Gesserit arts with the look.

"I..." How did she answer that question? She felt horrible, but she was trying not to make herself look like some kind of attention seeking child. "I lost a friend on the ship. We had a special bond, so I'm just trying to calm myself."

There. Straight to the point and not at all drawing attention (she hoped). "It's not working like I hoped, I guess."

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Oh. I'm sorry. Lost as in...?" That word's got a lot of connotations, ranging from dead to distanced, and even 'dead' can be a variable. Eva's face, usually tense and slightly harsh with vigilance, softens a bit. "Things rarely do. Life's a pill like that."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"Repodded," she said, thinking of the blue imp. "Someone precious to me that had only started to trust us after seeing much betrayal. We were making wonderful memories, but now that;s changed. I miss Renne."

She sighed, sniffing. "Yeah, I'm starting to see that."

I will start this now even though I am going to sleep I suck bwaaaah

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Hey."

Overlord Zetta. The best person Katara could meet at the moment, or the worst? With the demon lord, there's rarely a middle ground.

"Come with me," the book said from its secure spot in its minion's arms. "I wanna show you something."

Re: I will start this now even though I am going to sleep I suck bwaaaah

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Well that was pretty sudden: so much so that Katara didn't think about refusing him. He WAS older than her, she might as well go along with whatever he was going to show her. Even in her misery, her curiosity wasn't dead.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Off to the Sensoriums, then. Zetta led the way (or rather, his minion did, while the book kept an eye on Katara to make sure she's still with him). Said minion even opened the door for her, as Zetta considered which viewpoint he intended to show her.

But he thought he had an idea.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara had no idea what Zetta had in store for her, or why he would have brought her to the Sensoriums in the first place. To be honest though, him doing that was at least a break from having someone stop her and try to talk to her directly. In a way, stopping to talk was a lot harder than just following someone and waiting to see what it was they had to show her.

She wanted to know where this was going, though.

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

Dean had been finding himself busier these days. Between plans for the Strike Team now that the Major was gone, and more to do in Security. Plus the stepping up with training, it left him with little free time. Which was good since it was distracting him from darker thoughts, and things were slowly getting easier again.

Still as he was finishing a patrol, his path crossed that of Katara who he hadn't a chance to speak with in a while. And she looked in a bad shape.

"Katara? Hey hey, what's wrong?"

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara stopped at a voice she hadn't heard in well over a month. Oh sure, she knew that Dean would be busy, he WAS in security, and even she had been busy with her own team and her training. Under normal circumstances, Katara would be more than happy to see Dean, but at the moment she was feeling just rubbed raw.

"Hi," she said, raising her head a little. She knew she didn't look her best and didn't care: what was the point anymore. "You caught me at a pretty bad time Dean. I've lost someone that was really important to me."

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

Dean nodded at that. "Been there, done that, wish I could burn the freaking t-shirt." He had lost too many he had cared about over the years. To the point he was afraid of getting too close for fear of losing them.

He beckoned to her, "Come on, walk with me."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

If he'd said that, Katara would have known exactly what he meant: it had been almost two years on the meatship and she still felt like she'd lost too many people to count. Putting on a brave front was just too much effort, and it would have seemed like an insult to Renne.

She walked with him compliantly: she was to run down to do much else.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex almost didn't recognize Katara at first, the way she looked so dishevelled and unkempt. At first all he saw was the shadow that surrounded her, however when he realized it was his dear friend walking towards him without even seeing him, it was like he was eating her shadow without even having touched it.

Katara was always the happy one, the stable pillar. But it looked like right now she was the one in need of a pillar. "K-K-Katara?"

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Alex. She definitely hadn't seen him in awhile, and had she been happier, would have probably asked how he and Luna were doing, or what he was up to these days. Right now, decidedly NOT being the happy one right now and certainly unaware of any shadows eating away at her, she looked up at Alex, a weary look on her face.

"It's just me Alex," she said, managing a fake smile, at least. "I'm a bit tired, I guess. I'm not much for looks right now, sorry. I've had some bad news, it put me in a snag."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Fake smile or not, a tier two shadow wasn't exactly something that was easy to hide. His brow was knitted with concern and dismay.

It was a tier two, which meant that he couldn't get much closer to her without risking the shadow attacking him. "K-Katara... Y-you c-can talk to me."

He wanted nothing more but to give her a hug, but doing so would just get him hurt and her more upset. Just another reason for him to get rid of this stupid 'gift'.

[seeing-eye-cat.livejournal.com]

Arhu sat before Grand Central Station, a little black-and-white cat (still almost a kitten in body, but well beyond it in mind) taking in the destruction with solemn eyes. He could see where a whole lot of reconstruction had taken place, but there was still so much damaged. It reminded him of when the saurians had first invaded, and distantly he wondered if the T-Rex skeleton was still in place inside.

Before he could make the decision on whether or not to go in and look, he heard the sound of footsteps coming his way, and turned to look at who was approaching.

He was not, in any way, an expert on ehhif body language, and he knew it. Still, he knew far too much about pain and loss to not see it in the young ehhif-queen's body, and so he felt himself pulled to her side regardless. Wizards did their best to fight pain and suffering, wherever it was.

Leaping up to a half-broken wall that would put him close to chest-height on her, he turned and began pacing her, silent for now but obviously there. He wished his Eye was working properly. It might even come in handy right now (of course, it might also have been frustratingly silent).

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara still walked on, and stared at the remains of the place that was Grand Central Station. how its destruction came about was a distant memory, one that if she remembered could have shut her down forever. Still, she knew this place was important to quite a few people on the ship, so she meandered here a moment, wondering if it was possible to clean this place up as she had with the hotel.

She paused when she heard the footsteps, and turned to see a cat, smaller than Rhiow, keeping a respectful distance. Looking at the cat a moment, she figured he had to talk: the cat looked far too intelligent not to.

"Hello," she said to it. "Are you a friend of Rhiows'?"

[seeing-eye-cat.livejournal.com]

"She's my team leader," he said, flicking his tail 'yes.' "My name's Arhu. Hunt's Luck," he offered, because she certainly looked like she needed it.

With anyone else, Arhu would probably have been showing off by walking on the air next to them instead of the wall. This ehhif didn't really look like she'd appreciate it, though. Still, standing around trying to ease his way into the conversation wasn't going to get him anywhere fast, so he might as well find out why she did look like that.

"What went wrong?"

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

When Matt felt Katara's emotions bottom out again, he knew he was needed, but at the same time she needed her space. As such, he had waited for her to recover slightly before making his way to where she was.

It was one of the hardest things about being empathic and slightly telepathic. You could pick up emotions from everyone if they were strong enough be damn shields. His was strong enough to feel cries of anguish from across WORLDS.

Hands in his pockets, his posture was quiet, subdued as he walked up next to Katara and rest his hand on her shoulder. "Hey."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Of all of the people to see her this way, Katara had hoped Matt would not...mostly. She knew she was a mess and knew all too well that she was not at her best right now. What was the truth, upon seeing him, was that she had wanted HIM right now, more than anything, and it was clear once she finally saw him.

She could see the man in him, so far from the boys she knew on her world. Matt knew enough to give her space, to not jump after her the moment he felt her pain: she knew enough about Matt that eh would have seen that, and had let her have her time. That he had waited,and come now, made her love him all the more.

But she would try to keep that contained...for maybe a minute more.

"Hey," she said softly. "I told you about Renne, right? Well...he's gone. Stacy took him."

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

"So he's been repodded. I see." Matt had encountered Renne before, and it was a curious little thing to say the least. "I know it hurts, but now we know why people are returned to the pods. I won't lie and say I don't believe in souls, I do, but at the same time, you need to remember that it's for their own good."

"Without a soul, someone becomes... less than themselves. They lose everything about them, everything that was, everything that has been. Without a soul, you're a nobody, because you lost your heart. That's what a soul is: the heart and soul of your being. I wouldn't want to think Renne would like you to grieve if he lost it for real."