InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "i see stars! lots of them!"

Katara of the Southern Water Tribe (k_waterbender) wrote in mirage_rpg,
@ 2008-06-06 23:51:00

Entry tags:

arrival, complete, day 2, katara, max evans

Day Two
Who: Katara and Max Evans
What: The Rape of ~~Persephone~~ Katara
When: Morning. Around 9:00am
Where: The lake
Status: Complete
Rating: PG

Katara walked along the water’s edge for a moment as the sun made a slow descent toward the horizon. It was so serene and beautiful here. Six years ago she would have been convinced that the Fire Nation could never be such a beautiful place, that it would have been filled with nothing other than flames and misery that threatened to overflow into the other three nations. Everywhere she had gone with Aang and her brother that the Fire Nation had desecrated in their hunt to take over every land had only reinforced that idea.

Here she was, though, admiring its beauty in a land that had been peaceful for almost five years. After Aang had defeated Fire Lord Ozai and the war ended they had helped families all over, in every nation, recover. Even now not everything had been healed of the devastation. The people would never fully heal from it. A war that lasted over one hundred years couldn’t exactly be undone in five, though.

They- Katara, Aang, Sokka, Suki, and Toph- had been in the Earth Kingdom helping many of the refugees still left in Ba Sing Se. Fire Lord Zuko had summoned them to the Fire Nation in order to gain a new list of supplies refugees might need to set up their recovering lives. Now that so many had already been working on their lives for half a decade the list was smaller than before and slightly different. Toph and Suki had stayed behind with Sokka while Aang and Katara rode on Appa to speak with Zuko.

Now she walked along a man-made lake made to look like the Fire Nation emblem, pondering the things they had all been through together. Casting her attention back from the past she looked out over the water, rippling beautifully as a small, cool breeze touched the surface. Unable to resist, Katara positioned herself, lifting her arms. The water immediately rose up in a stream, and, with the gentle swooping of her hands, swirled in a circular motion around itself until it formed an orb. She held it there for a moment, watching how it distorted and enlarged everything she viewed through it.

With a small sigh she formed it into a stream once more and, opening the water skin at her waist, moved her arms to allow the stream to slip inside. She would need that water at some point. Even if she could pull water from things around her, it was nice to have it readily available in a good amount should she need to act fast.

Having done this she turned her back on the water to make her way back.

Suddenly the world seemed to spin around her and she felt herself falling. She closed her eyes for a moment to get her bearings, but opened them as soon as her feet touched and slipped in soft, damp sand, so she collapsed to her knees. The air had changed drastically. It was suddenly a bit warmer with a warm wind tugging at her dark hair. The air felt drier, too.

Opening her large, blue eyes Katara’s breath caught in her throat. A small panic filled her, too. What was this place? Her gaze took in the dock and boats. The lake was a bit larger than the one she had just been at and was definitely not man-made. The water lapped gently at her knees and hands. Standing and wiping the sand from her hands and clothing, she then proceeded to bend the water out of her clothing and return it to the lake. Her eyes scanned the area to find something quite unlike the view where she had just been standing. Fields of grass and some buildings that looked nothing like the architecture from any place she had ever been.

Katara closed her eyes and shook her head, but when she reopened them everything was still the same. “Am I dreaming?” She asked aloud.

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alien_max
2008-06-08 12:44 am UTC (link)

Max awoke in a room that looked exactly like his room at home and, in a dazed half-sleep, stumbled to his door hoping to find his house outside, but it was the hallway of A-Building...not his home. With a deep sigh, Max closed the door and sat back down on his bed...part of him wanted to crawl back in and cover up and just hide there, but that wasn't the real Max...no,he was made of tougher stuff than that. He ran his hands through his mussed hair and thought for a moment. He wasn't going anywhere for the moment. This, for better or worse, was his home right now....so he may a well make the best of it.

He stood up and looked in the dresser mirror, "Step one: Make sure you can stand yourself, so others can stand you". He removed his boxers,dumped them in the hamper and started the shower running. While the shower warmed up, he brushed his teeth and found all the toiletries to shave. Smiling at himself in the partially steamed mirror, he chuckled, "Nice hair, Max, but don't worry! The planet just happens to have your favorite shampoo and conditioner!". Finishing with his shower, he dried and dressed in comfortable jeans, boots and a tee shirt and headed into the main building to grab a bite to eat and maybe meet a few people.

He decided to go into the Cafe to grab some chocolate donuts and maybe a cafe latte. As he stepped in,a tallman with a gun was leaving...he wondered if others carried weapons or if this man was some sort of police officer...Max gave him a wide berth. In the cafe, most of the workers were golems, like everywhere else around her, but there was one, human worker...at least Max thought he was human...he had green hair. Max decided to order from him,"Good Morning! May I have a cafe latte and two chocolate donuts with choclate icing?".

Jun smiled at the new arrival and bowed his head, "Of course sir. Welcome. My name is Jun. What may I call you?"

"Max. Max Evans. I arrived yesterday",he informed the green-haired young man, adding with a whisper,"Could I ask you for one more thing...ummm...do you have any Tabasco sauce?"

Jun paused for a moment. No one ever asked for Tabasco sauce in the cafe, but, "We will get you some Tabasco sauce right away, Mr.Max!"

Being 16, Max felt silly being called Mr, by someone who was probably the same age as he was, "Please, just call me 'Max'.

Adding a healthy portion of Tabasco sauce to his donuts and milk, Max had a nice breakfast and then headed out into the lobby. There, he saw something he was told about...the blinking key...he looked around...no golem. Did he dare? He didn't see any other guests going for it either. YES! He was going to do it...he was going to help someone the way Giselle helped him.

Hurrying over to the desk, Max pulled the key down and looked at it...E104...nowhere near his building, but they were all kind of like a big family, weren't they? He smiled. Now, where to look? Hmmm...well, he appeared in the stables, so he would look there first and if no one was there, he'd look elsewhere.

Well, there was no one new in the stables, ditto for the corral and the mineral springs...then he came to the lake...

As he approached, he heard a beautiful young woman say "Am I dreaming?".

With a welcoming smile, Max commented, "Believe me, I know how you feel".

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k_waterbender
2008-06-08 01:33 am UTC (link)

Katara had turned back to the lake just before speaking aloud to herself. It was beautiful, but no matter how aesthetically pleasing it might be she couldn’t shake the horrible feeling from her mind and body. This had to be a dream. Where else would something like this come into play? Buildings like those she’d seen didn’t exist. There was no way she could make it to the spirit world, either. She wasn’t the Avatar- Aang was. Only he could do that. The waterbender found herself wondering if the spirit world was anything like this, though?

Am I dreaming?

Suddenly a voice interrupted her thoughts. She was so startled that she immediately moved into a defensive stance and proceeded to bend water out of the lake to aid her against anyone. Katara hadn’t heard him approach, nor had she seen any movement prior to hearing his voice. Her arms rose and wooshed forward- bringing the water with them- toward the area the sound had emitted from as her face contorted into something fierce. However, the instant she saw his face with it’s welcoming smile, the words he’d said registered in her brain and she pulled the water back and replaced it into the lake.

An instant expression of apology and embarrassment rushed over her face. “I am so sorry! I didn’t realize… Well, I didn’t know… I thought you were…” She couldn’t complete any thought. What had she thought? What didn’t she realize or know? Nothing made sense right now. “I’m just really sorry. I reacted badly.” Her hand moved to rub the back of her neck as her sapphire eyes moved over the speaker. He was younger than her, maybe around Aang and Toph’s age. He almost looked like he could be of Earth Kingdom descent with his dark hair and hazel eyes.

“Were you brought here, too? Are you from the Earth Kingdom?” She asked before another, less comforting thought flitted through her mind. “Did you bring me here?” Her fingers twitched slightly. She would definitely be prepared to freeze him in ice if he made any offensive gesture toward her, or if she found out he had brought her here. Katara would need answers and she knew ways of getting them.

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alien_max
2008-06-09 11:46 am UTC (link)

Max was stunned when, no sooner than words of greeting had left his mouth, the young woman spun and, with a look of aggressive intent on her lovely face, went on the attack. Her method of attack was even more stunning; the very waters of the lake surged forward at her command when she raised her arms. Instinctively, Max threw up his arms and projected a protective force field between himself and the attacker. He braced himself for a savage attack…luckily, an attack that was not to come.

As quickly as she pulled the water from the lake, she sent it back and the expression on her face changed from one of anger to one of regret. Max let the unseen force field slip away. The newly arrived young woman was apologizing, but Max could understand why she was so jumpy. Now that he had a chance to move even closer, he could feel his cheeks getting a little warm…he hoped it wasn’t showing…she was probably a little older than him and really hot. Max dropped his head and looked at the ground before speaking, trying to collect himself.

The young alien smiled again when he raised his head to look at the woman, holding his arms up in mock surrender. “No, I’m not the one who brought you here”, he dropped his arms and folded them across his broad chest, “I was taken, just like you, yesterday”, he cleared his throat, “…and I have to admit, you are handling it much better than I did!”. Wow she’s so pretty Max ran a hand through his dark hair, “This is going to sound crazy, I know, but this is all I’ve been told…this planet is like a living being and it wants people to live here and to be happy…so it takes us”. Max wondered if this young woman could possibly be an alien herself with powers like that. She had asked him if he were from the Earth Kingdom. “There is a tablet mounted in the center of the resort here”, he explained, “…all new arrivals are supposed to read it. It’s a message from the planet”.

Wanting to be closer to the attractive woman, if just for a moment, Max stepped in and offered his hand, “My name is Max, by the way, and I am from the Earth Kingdom. Where are you from?”.

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k_waterbender
2008-06-09 01:09 pm UTC (link)

Katara wasn’t sure what to make of his shock at her near-attack. On one hand, anyone would be utterly surprised if they gave a friendly greeting and was almost harmed- with water no less. Then again, if she had judged correctly, for a split second she could have sworn a look passed over his face like awe. The waterbending move she’d done wasn’t exactly a rare one. Had he never seen a waterbender? She supposed it could be possible, especially if he were from the Earth Kingdom, but how could one have heard of bending and not heard of all four types? It wasn’t important. Not right now. It was only important to figure out what was going on.

The waterbender noticed a slight tint to the boy’s cheeks, but attributed to the heat- remaining oblivious to any other signs that might have revealed the truth. A surge of relief wafted through her when he told her he hadn’t brought her here. Perhaps she was too trusting, but she liked to think she was a decent judge of character. He didn’t exactly look like he could harm much more than an insect. Dark brows cinched together as he explained what he thought he knew. “Of course the planet is alive. Aren’t all planets?” Katara asked. At least she had been under the impression that everything was alive and connected. She’d learned such things from extremely wise people all over. She didn‘t know, however, that all planets could sustain life, but she‘d never given it careful thought. “Then again… What do you mean it ‘takes’ us? I mean, obviously I’m here and you’re here, but takes us from where? All over the world? Will you take me to the ‘Tablet’? I’m interested in what the Planet has to say.”

A smile lit her lips when he introduced himself. Yes, she was still tense from this ordeal and likely wouldn’t relax for a while, but it was always a relief to find a welcome face who could disclose more than she knew and who might even be from a similar area. Katara took his hand in both of hers and gave it a small shake and a gentle squeeze. “It’s nice to meet you, Max. I’m Katara and I’m from the Southern Water Tribe. Were a refugee from the war before you were brought here, or had your village already recovered from the war for the most part?” Max seemed like such a nice person to her. She couldn’t help but try and make some small talk while he took her to see the “Tablet.”

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alien_max
2008-06-10 06:38 pm UTC (link)

Max was somewhat in awe of this beautiful woman; she seemed so wise and so powerful. He imagined what a magical civilization she must have come from. Her clothing seemed so exotic and he wondered if all people from her world or 'kingdom' had her powers.

"All planets are alive", Max tried to explain, "...but not like this one", he bit his lip and tilted his head to the side, "This planet is alive like a person is alive...it's like one of those ancient gods or something. It thinks and feels and does things. It took me from Roswell, New Mexico...that's in the Earth Kingdom, as you call it. Where did it take you from? Where is your kingdom?" Max wanted to ask her so many more questions as he looked into her silvery-blue eyes; he almost felt as if he were being pulled to her. Closing his eyes and running his hands through his thick, dark hair he recovered himself and, after taking a deep breath, promised, "Of course I will take you to the tablet. I was told that all new arrivals must read what is writtn on the tablet".

When Katara took his hand in both of hers, Max could feel his entire body come alive. He wondered if she felt it too. When Max's people were...intimate...kissing...and more, they felt not only what they felt but what the other felt. They also shared memories, thoughts and feelings. Max had not been intimate with anyone excpt Liz...an Earth girl...and then only kissing. They had exchanged memories and feelings and it was an indescribable feeling. It left Liz 'woozy' she said. This woman...Katara...must have some...kind of power that somehow activated Max's feelings or something. With just her hands wrapped around his, he was getting feelings and images and his heart was racing...and he was feeling warm all over...

"Ohhhhhh...Ahhhhh...", Max stuttered in embarrassment as he gently removed his hand and tried to smile, with his face flaming red, "It's a pleasure to meet you Katara!", he pointed back towards the main complex, "The ummm, Tablet is this way...sooo...let's just go this way, okay?"

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k_waterbender
2008-06-11 11:09 pm UTC (link)

Alive like a person? Like a living human person? Katara had never heard of any planet doing such a thing and it made her wonder if maybe she really were in the Spirit World. What other place would have the power to take people from their home? That instilled an even less comforting thought than when she thought Max might have taken her. Was she dead, or maybe lost in this world and merely passed out in her home world? What was he saying about ancient gods? That must be it. Not the planet, but the spirits within the world brought them here. She had heard they could be tricksters of sorts.

“My Kingdom? I don’t live in the Earth Kingdom. The Earth Kingdom is just a name. The kingdom in the Earth Kingdom is actually Ba Sing Se, but you already know that if that’s where you’re from. I go there quite often to help the refugees, though.

“I’m from one of the Water Tribes. You know, the continents of ice in the north and south? But I was taken from the Fire Nation while I was visiting Fire Lord Zuko with Aang, the Avatar.

“I’ve never heard of a village called Roswell New Mexico. It must be tiny. I’ve been all over the Earth Kingdom and never once even heard it mentioned.” She smiled to think of Aang, but also felt sad that she wasn’t with him, and didn’t seem to be able to for while. Katara wondered if the boy might be slightly dense, however. He seemed to know nothing of what she spoke. Perhaps he had just lived a sheltered life. He didn’t even acknowledge her question inquiring if he was a refugee. There’s no way someone couldn’t have heard of the war. The only person she was aware of who missed information on the war was Aang, but that was because he’d accidentally gotten himself frozen in ice for a hundred years.

Having touched him she felt her palms tingling and a small warmth passed up her arms. Katara released his hand before she could feel more. She wasn’t sure she enjoyed the sensation. Was he a firebender? She doubted it. Why would a firebender live in the Earth Kingdom when so many people would be hateful toward him? Then again, that could be why he was so sheltered. Maybe his parents kept his knowledge of the world low so he wouldn’t have to face it. Yet, his clothing was so strange. He didn’t wear anything like clothing she’d seen in any of the four nations. Was he lying about where he was from just so he might appeal more to her?

When they reached the tablet Katara looked it over. It was a slab of stone with words carved into it. Though the writing was like nothing she’d ever seen before she realized she understood the words perfectly. So this place was called “Mirage”- how interesting. It was like a dream. Silver-grey optics scanned over the rest of the words and dread filled her to the core. She couldn’t leave? Tears welled in her eyes. How could this be possible? What had she done to deserve such a prison? The waterbender bit her lower lip as a single tear fell from her eye. “There has to be a way out of here.” She spoke at last.

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alien_max
2008-06-12 11:13 am UTC (link)

Max listened to Katara talk of Ba Sing Se, refugees, the Water Tribes, the Fire Nation, Fire Lord Zuko and Aang the Avatar and the whole time his brow furrowed into deeper and deeper creases, “Katara, I have never heard of any of these places you speak of…your Earth Kingdom…Ba Sing Se…must be a different Earth than the one I came from”, Max explained. She said she was from a water tribe…Max mimicked the action she made when she called the water from the lake, “You are from a Water Tribe! Can all of your people control water like you did?”, he asked curiously.

Knowing that Katara was of another world, Max felt compelled to share his secret, “I’m not actually a native of Earth. My Sister and our friend Michael were left there as babies by our people. We were raised there”, he shrugged, “I don’t know where I’m really from”. It felt good to just tell someone that without fear of being carted away by the government and locked away for national security and for scientific experimentation. Max did know that he had miraculous powers that humans did not…these he kept hidden.

He could tell that Katara felt something from their touch, but her features didn’t appear to indicate pleasure. Max felt like a fool. Why would this woman want him? He may be taller than her at 6 ft and even be muscular…but at 16, he was a boy to her, not a man. A woman like her, so beautiful and with such power would need a powerful man to look up to, not a silly alien boy who didn’t even know where he was from or where he was going. Show her the tablet, Maxwell and then her room and then stop bothering her…you look like a goof!, he thought to himself as he led the way to the center of the resort.

As Katara read the tablet, a single tear fell from her eye. Max took her hand, “Please don’t cry. We can ask around. See what others have found out, okay?”.

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k_waterbender
2008-06-13 12:41 am UTC (link)

Katara’s brows furrowed as he told her he had never heard of any of the places she had told him about, but he was from a place called Earth. Of course, that must be the reason he mistakenly thought she meant his home when she asked about the Earth Kingdom, and it must also be why her Waterbending had seemed like such a shock. She felt a bit foolish to have carried on, thinking only he was a bit strange when she should have guessed the truth from the beginning. There really was no such village as Roswell New Mexico, and probably no war from where he came.

“Yes, I’m from the Southern Water Tribe. It’s a lot smaller than the Northern Water Tribe, but it’s more like a close community, too. No, not all people can Waterbend. When I was fourteen I was the only waterbender left in the Southern Tribe. Now there are a lot more and quite a few in the North. In fact, I think the majority of people can’t bend, but the numbers are growing. There are also people that can Earthbend and Firebend. Airbenders are almost extinct.” She explained, thinking sadly about Aang and the pain he must carry with him, knowing he was the only Airbender left for so long.

As they walked and he shared that he wasn’t really from Earth Katara turned her head and smiled at him. “So, you’ve been from a couple of different planets. You were babies, but do you remember anything from before your parents left? Maybe they didn’t really leave you. Maybe something happened and they couldn’t get back to you?”

At the tablet the powerful sadness she felt was almost overwhelming, but some other emotion lurked around the edges of her being: anger. There had to be a way of escape, somehow, a way home. Who cared if every need would be provided for, as well as entertainment? She wanted to be back in her own home world, with her friends and family, helping people recuperate rather than spending her days carefree.

Another tear fell, but she tried to suck back the rest when Max took her hand in his. “There are others?” She asked. Of course there would be others. Why shouldn’t there be? Maybe she could formulate a plan of escape with them. Surely she wouldn’t be the only one who wished to leave? A few inklings of hope began to push through her pain and anger a bit, and a small- though sad- smile passed over her lips. Katara gave his hand a light squeeze. “Thank you, Max. That would be very helpful.”

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