trans_9 | Bending Water at Faron Spring (Open)

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Bending Water at Faron Spring (Open)

In the short time that Katara had been on the meatship, she'd found herself getting rather used to the environs. Sure, it was nothing like what home had been, but if Katara had clung on to that, she never would have adjusted to the meatship, and that would have been all kinds of bad. Besides, the people had been nothing but warm and friendly to her, with an obvious exception or two, and she had plenty of familiar faces around to keep her from feeling, well, lost and alone.

She was on her own today, though, exploring the ship, letting herself learn where everything was so that she didn't really have to rely on anyone else. It wouldn't be fair to them, nor would it be fair to her. Besides, if something crazy did happen on board, she'd only end up being a hindrance if she wasn't able to get from point A to point B on her own.

Katara had already discovered the freaky Art Hall, and the Tapestry room up on the fifth level. She'd also had her breath taken away by the spacewalk before she'd decided to descend into the city and get to know that place better as well.

Currently, she was down on the city level, at a place which the omnicomm called Faron Spring. She was kneeling by the water's edge, enjoying the relative peace and quiet that the area had to offer. She felt a sense of serenity as she waved her hands over the water, sending it rippling back and forth in little waves. No heavy waterbending here, just some nice, calm relaxation, which was how she liked it for now, given the serene feeling that she was getting from this area of the city.

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Katara wasn't sure what to make of the disappearing bird and the reappearing young woman (this was the first time she was meeting anyone from Cassie's world,) though that didn't stop her from taking Cassie's hand and shaking it. "Hi," she smiled at her. "I'm Katara."

If Katara wasn't going to ask, then Cassie probably wasn't going to explain. "I'm Cassie," she greeted Katara pleasantly. "It's nice to meet you."

Still, she was curious, even if asking the question that she had in mind would probably give away more then she really wanted. "May I ask what you were doing with the water? I assume that was you moving it."

"So, you were the bird then?" Katara asked. It was quite an illogical conclusion to jump to, she knew, but she'd seen enough in her short time there to to acknowledge that things weren't always necessarily what they seemed. It wasn't generally a bad thing, of course, though perhaps she should have been disturbed that she was getting desensitized to the unfamiliar so quickly. "I was just playing with it," she answered then. "It's something that some of my people can do. Bend the water to our wills."

The lie was on Cassie's lips before she could even really think about it, but she overruled it. It was no longer necessary to lie about this particular aspect if what she'd been told was correct and she had no reason to doubt what she'd been told given that the source had been her own friends. So, instead she nodded. "I can go back and forth between the two forms." The truth and yet not the whole truth. It left out all the other forms that she could take. She may have hated to lie, but after so long the instinct for secrecy was deeply embedded in her. Cassie let her gaze rise to the sky for a moment as she struggled to chase away the guilt.

Her eyes widened at hearing what Katara could do. Well, that was interesting. She'd never known or heard of anyone who could manipulate water. "Just water? And to what degree?" she asked eagerly. No one could ever accuse Cassie of not having a healthy degree of curiosity. "How do you do that? Is it some type of technology?" After all, her own abilities had come from Andalite technology, so why couldn't another civilization have figured out how to create technology to allow for the easy manipulation of water? That such a development could be useful was an understatement. "Magic?" And there was a time that she'd have scoffed at that notion, but not here.

Edited 2011-08-02 01:19 (UTC)

"Wow," Katara said. First there was Sakura with her cards, and now there was this. She had to admit that that was pretty interesting. "I can't even imagine what it would be like to do that," she said. Katara loved the feeling of flight, even if it had never been the self-powered sort. Flying on Appa's back had always felt so relaxing, so freeing.

Katara hesitated when Cassie asked her the first question, remembering Hama and the whole blood-bending thing. But that's only because of the water in the blood, she reminded herself. "Only water. Or anything that is water based," she said, "like snow. Very well trained waterbenders - that's what people with my ability are called - can pull the moisture out of thin air. I haven't really mastered that technique yet. Also, some people can bend plants, using the water in them. I just work with water myself," she said. "I'll show you." She turned back to the spring and went through a familiar routine of hers, in which she raised a couple of water whips and had them circle around her. She whipped one to the side, avoiding Cassie and any of the flora around her. "It's not magic or technology or anything," she added. "Just an inborn ability that some of my people have."

"It's pretty incredible," Cassie told Katara with a rather dreamy smile. Incredible didn't even begin to describe the experience, but how did you explain being able to soar high in the sky, feeling the wind beneath your wings and just feeling so completely... free? "It's been one of the best experiences of my life." And it was extremely sad that the entire experience of morphing had been tainted by war, but she tried not to remember that when she flew. At least in the sky, she could sometimes forget her worries.

Cassie watched with wide eyes as Katara put on her show with the water. She'd been impressed with the idea of being able to just move it as little as Katara had been doing before, but this was something else entirely. "I... wow! It's an inborn ability, you said?" An amazing one. "Are there people who can... you called them something-benders, right? I mean, are there people who can do stuff like that with other elements?"

"I have a friend who can kind of use the air to fly," Katara replied. "Aang. He can...well, to answer your later question, he can bend the air. Some people, called earthbenders, can do that to the very ground. A friend of mine named Toph could bend earth and metal...though she's the only one who could do that last bit," she added. "People can do that to fire, too. Some of the firebenders can also call upon lightning. There are some of my friends on this very ship who can do all of that," she smiled. "What about you? Do all the people from your world have the ability to turn into birds?"

"He flies on air?" she asked, confused. "Like with wings?" Birds could only fly through the air because they were built for it. Humans, on the other hand, were not. Even when she kept her bird wings until the end, she still couldn't fly. "So, different people can use different types of bending then?" This was a fascinating conversation. "I assume that it would be impossible to learn if not from your world?"

"No, definitely not," she laughed. "It's a long story and not a terribly interesting one." Translation- She'd rather not go into it right now.

"No, he just...he can control the air so that he can float on it. Sometimes, he sits atop this ball of whirling air and...you really need to see him do it. It's amazing." From the way she was speaking of him, it was clear that Aang was more than just a mere friend. "Yes, depending on where they're from. I'm from the Southern Water Tribe, so waterbending is what came most naturally to me. Aang is an Air Nomad; Zuko and Azula are from the Fire Nation, so they can control fire; and Toph - who isn't here as far as I know - is from the Earth Kingdom so, you know, she's an earthbender." She paused and thought about Cassie's question. "I'm not sure, to be honest. The only person from our world who can master all kinds of bending is an Avatar, who, currently, is Aang. But...maybe it can be done?" She honestly wasn't sure though.

As Katara returned the water to the spring behind her, she said, "Well, if you ever feel like sharing - or even just talking about it - my ears are always open."

Wind was powerful. There was no doubt about that, but could it really be made solid enough to support a person's weight? Given what Katara had told her, Cassie assumed that it must be, but it was still hard to imagine. But then again, she hadn't expected to see Katara throwing around water like she had so who knew. Hard to imagine didn't mean impossible. She knew that from experience.

And that other elements could be controlled in same fashion was fascinating and rather frightening if she really considered it, although it was hard to feel frightened of Katara when she was being so welcoming and kind.

Katara's tone when speaking of the airbender hadn't bypassed her. In fact, it actually drew a smile from her, but she didn't comment on it. Katara hadn't brought it up and there was no reason for Cassie to do so.

She nodded and smiled at Katara's offer, but held her silence. She'd already trusted one person who had betrayed that trust and she wasn't prepared to trust so easily again this soon.

Cassie followed as Katara moved back to the water, remembering what the waterbender had said a few moments before about not knowing if someone from another world might be able to learn to do this bending stuff. "Could you show me how you do it? It can't hurt to try, right?" she asked hopefully.

(OOC: I promise that Cassie will not be able to waterbend at all. I just thought a mini-lesson could be a fun idea, but I can rework this post if you'd rather take it another direction.)

Edited 2011-08-03 02:10 (UTC)

Katara looked back at Cassie and smiled at her. "I would love to," she said, nodding her head. "I'm interested in seeing if it can be taught to someone who isn't from my home world." She stood at the edge of the water and indicated that Cassie should do the same. "When I think of the water, I feel it's pull in my core. Usually, it feels stronger when there is a full moon in the sky, but even without it, I can still feel the tide." She raised her arms over the water and then looked at Cassie. "Can you feel it?"

(OOC: Pfft. I love this idea, are you kidding me? I'm all for this. :D)

"Thank you," Cassie grinned as she moved up to stand next to Katara beside the water and gazed down into it. She closed her eyes, trying to focus on the water in front of her, hoping to feel what Katara described, but... she felt nothing. Probably not a positive sign, but maybe she just wasn't thinking about the water in the right way or something. It wasn't as though she had ever done anything like this before after all.

Still, she had to shake her head as she responded with a frown. "No, I don't feel anything. Does that mean that I won't be able to do this? Is there some special way of thinking about the water?" Focus itself shouldn't be a problem for Cassie. Morphing required focus after all and she could do that without too much difficulty. But, maybe there was some other factor that she hadn't considered which was causing the problem. Or maybe she was rationalizing. Probably the latter.

(OOC: Yay! Thank you! :) )

"I'm not sure," Katara replied. "I mean, for me, it's always been instinctual. But there was a time, before, when there were no benders. We were taught by forces of nature. Taking that into account..." she trailed off. "Well. Maybe if we stepped into the water?"

Cassie nodded, taking a step into the water. The feel of the cool liquid against legs was surprising at first, but it didn't take long for her to become used to it. It wasn't a bad sensation at all actually. Enjoyable even, but she did notice that she didn't seem to sense anything extra as Katara seemed to be implying that she should.

"So, I just focus on the water then?" she asked hesitantly a few moments later, biting her lip.

Katara gave Cassie an encouraging smile. "Yes," she nodded. She reached in front of her and gently flicked her wrist. Directly below her hand, the water gently rippled, undisturbed by anything but Katara's own power. "This should be the simplest thing to start with, I think," she said.

Cassie watched Katara's actions carefully. That Katara could make the water move without ever having to touch it still impressed her.

She reached down and held her hand above the water, moving it as Katara had done, but nothing happened for her. Cassie frowned and tried to focus all her thoughts on making the water move as she repeated the action several more times. Still nothing.

She sighed and shook her head, disappointed. "It doesn't seem to be working."

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Bending Water at Faron Spring (Open)

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