trans_9 | Pieces

Entry tags:

Pieces

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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Katara laughed. "Ok, ok, I believe you! I was just wondering aloud, that's all! Although I've never heard of death as being a person either. In my world, death is just...well, death. You die and then whatever happens to you is up to whatever your beliefs say happens to you."

"Oh yeah, sometimes you run into a reaper down in the Netherworld. Quiet guys mostly, but good drinking buddies. You should've seen me bounce around the one that came for me, though."

Katara snickered. "Are you serious? You can actually drink and 'bounce around' the person that's supposed to take your soul? You live in a pretty strange world, Overlord."

"Hey, how do you think I've lived for 35000 years? If I was human, I'd be..."

Um... carry the one... ?

"Three hundred and fifty years old! That's how all the strongest demons survive. Death can't take us unless we get our ass kicked so badly by someone else that we can't kick HIS ass!"

Katara shook her head. "Well, in that case I guess I can't doubt how strong you are if you can go off and beat death. So that's how demons have a prolonged life? How did you beat death? Are you telling me you couldn't be beaten at all?"

"Demons naturally live and age much slower than humans. 'Bout a hundred to one," Zetta said. "That still means ten thousand is like a hundred years old. That's a long time for a normal demon to live."

The Overlord squinted at Katara, as if uncertain he'd heard her right. "What part of 'most badass freakin' Overlord' didn't you get?" he demanded. "There's nothing stronger than I am! Demon, god, or natural force, I'm BETTER than it, whatever it is!"

"I would think so," Katara said. "No wonder you go around trying to conquer everything. Living all that time, I'm sure you'd start to get bored, right? There's only so much one can do in all that time."

She laughed. "Well you build yourself up enough, every once and awhile someone likes proof!"

Not that she really doubted him but it was always fun to see him get worked up about it.

"Bored? What the hell's to get bored about? It's not enough to have become the most badass freakin' Overlord in the cosmos -- I have to STAY that way! And find people worth proving my strength on! That's not easy!"

He certainly does take his position, and power, much too seriously.

"Never mind," Katara said, laughing to herself. "I shouldn't have even said the word bored. I forgot who I was talking to. I'm sure you had to deal with many different challenges to be where you are."

And this she knew.

"Damn straight," Zetta said proudly.

He chortled about his awesomeness for a moment, then looked down -- then back to Katara, quite seriously. "Every second was worth it. Because the moment I became the strongest Overlord... was amazing."

This actually did pique her interest. He always talked about how awesome he was, but never its origin.

"How did it happen?"

"Constant training. Constant challenges. Living a life of seeking out new ways to get stronger! Taking down the people who were supposed to be badass! And natural talent, of course," he added as a deliberate, smug afterthought. "My mana power just grew, and grew, and grew!"

He paused as a sudden realization hit him, hard. "...not that it's grown at all since I came on the ship. I guess it stopped when I wasn't in my body any more. But that doesn't matter. I'm still number one! And I can still grind mana if I have to!"

"You keep talking about this mana," Katara said, although she knew that all of the things that the Overlord had mentioned were probably true, "but I still don't really get what that is. Is it inner energy, or some kind of magic power you get after you defeat an enemy?"

She nodded. "For what you want to accomplish, I hope you're right. When I arrived here, I was a waterbending master and I still am. But I also knew that if I were going to stand a chance against the Ohm, I had to adapt to situations where there wasn't any water. To do that, it took nearly two years, but I still think the more I learn, the better I get."

"Best way to describe it, I guess, is strength of soul." He'd tried to convert it into sensible words for Ruffnut and Hit Girl, but translating the concept from simple inherent knowledge -- the sort all demons grew up with -- to a useful explanation was beyond the Overlord's, well, limited capacity.

"Don't most water powers usually involve creating water? Like, making it appear out of the air or something? How much water do you even need to be useful anyway?"

Strength of soul? Well, she supposed that she could understand that. In a way, there were a lot of different ways that a person could interpret that. "I think I could try and get it that way. Inner chi, I think, might work."

She shook her head. "Only Firebenders can really bring their element out of nothing: the airbenders usually always have air, water and earth benders NEED their element to do something amazing. As far as I go, I'm a waterbending master: I can use a little bit of water to do something impressive, but more water means more amazing feats as far as what I can do. Any bender has to make do with what they have. I mean, I remember I was able to get me and Toph out of a prison with just my sweat!"

It had helped they were wooden prisons though.

"Just don't confuse it for spell points," he said. "So why don't you just carry around like a gourd or a bottle or something? Or get water vapor out of the air?"

Katara shook her head. "Are you kidding? Of course I do. Look."

And she adjusted her clothing and showed him the water gourd that she always kept with her. "I can do that, but I bring this with me just in case. You never know what will happen."

"Oh, okay. Good!" Zetta said. "I would've been embarrassed to have thought of that for you!" He grinned broadly.

She shook her head. "Something like this is pretty standard, especially if you have to travel around like I do, fighting the fire nation soldiers. I have it with me all the time."

"Okay, but what about the out-of-the-air thing? If you can make ice out of water, isn't that the same thing?"

Katara was a little confused. "What do you mean? I think I'm missing your meaning."

Edited 2011-01-16 03:07 (UTC)

"There's water in the air. Vapor. Can't you condense it out?"

"Well yes, I could, but there isn't always water in the air, and certainly not enough to do what I want. I can sometimes bend the water in Stacy since she's a living ship, but I don't out of politeness. I mean, she is good enough to house us all, right?:"

"Really? I wouldn't think she'd be able to feel the water in the air in here. Isn't that kinda like feeling the water in your intestines or something?"

She shrugged. "Don't ask me. I'm as unsure about how Stacy works as you are."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Pieces

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject