insertmeathere | OPEN RP POST

Katara had been by herself for a little while, a little annoyed that her time with Aang had been interrupted by Sokka getting all paranoid and annoying. She decided now she would fine a place for herself to be alone and she would meditate and calm herself, preparing for whatever else might come upon them on the ship.

And here she came to a place far from most people, and there was Aang, frolicking naked with dolphin...'s? Huh. She'd have to get used to that. But it was totally typical of Aang to get naked on his own terms.

Still, she was a good sport, and got rid of her clothes and surfed toward Aang, giggling, moving swiftly and slowly. "Whoo!" She cheered. "Go Aang!"

He's not all the way naked! (Not after the whole kerfluffle earlier, because he knows people aren't comfortable with it unless Luly is doing it, apparently). This is apparent after he dives around some more.

When she calls out to him, he looks towards the beach, and a huge beaming smile appears on his face, and he waves a big dorky wave at her.

"Hi Katara!"

He dives under the water and swims around a bit more, and as she gets closer, he notices...

"...Okay, Katara? I just have a question," he says, swimming on his back, and getting bumped playfully by a dolphin, as he goes a little pink.

"What is with the no clothes lately?"

A pause. "Not that I mind it. At all. But I think everyone else doesn't get it's not a big deal, and somehow they see a difference between wearing no clothes and hardly any clothes, but I don't understand why, because for some of the girls it's two strings and a piece of cloth, so they might as well not even wear anything, but then I do get it, because some of the boys seem like all they'd do is stare, and--"

Like a chattering hog-monkey, as always.

Katara couldn't help it, but she laughed. This was typical Aang: here she was, not wearing clothes, and instead of staring he was striking conversation, trying to know what she was thinking. Why did Sokka think Aang would reduce Katara to only body parts?

Katara smiled. "I wanted to do something different Aang. To be honest, I feel a little lonely, with only Sokka and Zuko. I care about them, but I used to be with you guys all the time. And then things happen that cause me to feel all alone sometimes. Things like this....they make me remember that I used to feel really free and happy with you guys."

Katara giggled. "I really missed you Aang."

"I always did like when we went swimming."

So many places, they did that at. Little watering holes and pools.

That really is what it reminds him off. They probably would've skinny-dipped back then, but Sokka would've flipped, and they always had to have at least something on if they got caught by enemies and needed to completely book it.

"I missed you too, Katara."

He swims in close enough to give her a soggy kiss on the cheek, and then swims away, still smiling, with the dolphins.

"Don't splash too much or they get spooked."

Katara blushed. Jeez, at his current age his touch was somehow worse in the way of leaving her speechless. She swallowed a little and swam toward him, as quiet as she could be.

"I'll follow your lead," she said, smiling back. "I'll be quiet, I promise."

They've always been good at...dancing together. Waterbending together. Swimming around like this, well, it's no different. The dolphins frolic in the ways around them and while they're initially cautious of Katara, it's as if they sense she's no less gentle than their other new friend, so before long, she's just as welcome among the pod.

Aang is as oblivious to...everything but what he's doing, as he always is, caught completely in the moment, laughing occasionally at the dolphins' antics and when they try to imitate his behavior, playing little games with them as he imitates theirs, occasionally turning to smile at her.

But all good times must come to an end, and the pod starts to move back out to seas.

Aang treads water, swimming up and over a breaking wave, and waves as they swim off, as if saying goodbye to new friends he just made (which is exactly what he sees the situation as in his head).

"Bye, guys! I hope the water stays nice and you find lots of fishes to eat!"

Edited 2009-10-29 06:29 (UTC)

Katara laughed and watches Aang get lost in doing what he does best, which is being completeley himserlf. If there was any guys she would have expected to be out here playing with dolphins and generally having a good time it was him, and didn;t mind tossing them a wave or two before they were on their way. She waved along with him, and watched as they sailed off to do whatever it was dolphins did.

"You've hardly changed Aang," Katara noted, smilng at him. "It surprises me. I thought that after being stuck on the ship for so long, being without us, you might have changed, gotten darker somehow. But somehow you're still the same Aang I know and lo-care about."

Which she didn't think said much for her, thinking about the Yeerk, for instance. "What was it like?"

"It was--"

The expression on his face goes a little dark, lips taut, a furrow of his eyebrow that had never been there before, but he has to duck through another wave and when he floats to the surface again, on his back, that expression isn't quite so dark anymore. Maybe a little sad instead.

"It wasn't...very nice."

He really doesn't want to talk about any of it, about waking up in the MedBay and what happened after, finding out his memory had been wiped and several years of his life were gone, the Ohm, then fighting him all that time, almost giving into despair again and again, and managing to...well, keep his head above the water each time.

"I had to remember things. They took away some of my memories, but not the important ones. I made myself remember all the things that were worth saving. All the good things I couldn't feel or see or hear anymore." He closes his eyes, basking in the sunshine and the cool water. "Like the sun on my face."

He opens his eyes again, gaze cast out at a blue sky. "I have a good memory, though."

Whole lives stored away, with the wisdom of millenia of living waiting to be unlocked.

"I knew you were in the Pod Caverns. I knew Sokka and Toph probably were too. And then even aside from you guys, that there were lots of people that needed saving. So I thought about them a lot."

About how he couldn't meet and make friends of any of them if he let them die, about how they just deserved a chance to live.

"But there was...one thing I thought about more than anything else, one thing that I thought about to try to feel...comforted, when I needed it. That made me realize I had to keep fighting and I had to stay myself and not let myself be changed, and how I had to protect everyone."

Katara knew that it wasn't something that Aang was very comfortable talking about. In fact, if she knew better she probably wouldn't have asked, considering Aang must have tried really hard to not let those memories weigh too heavily on him. But she also wanted him to know that she had no intention of taking his suffering for granted.

"I didn't think it was," Katara said, lowering her head. "But once I knew that you were here, it took everything in me not to lose sight of trying to protect everyone as well as you. I couldn't help it...the lest memory I had was us after the war was over, and there was so much that wasn't said."

She WAS happy to know that he had been watching over them. It was just like Aang to try and protect everyone, and to keep his mind focused on things to keep him sane. She couldn't imagine the things he had seen.

"What was that thing you thought about?"

His lips tremble just slightly, and he still looks up at the sky, his ears going a little pink. He knows how corny it is.

He doesn't care.

"I kept thinking about how much I wanted to see you again."

Katara turned to him, and he could see, without a word, that she had wanted to see him too. Her eyes were bluer than usual, and the look she gave him was nothing short of adoration. She couldn't help it.

"I've been wanting to see you too. After all this time, its become my driving force, my rock. And more than anything, I wanted to know that you were alright. And now that you're here..."

She took his hands now.

"...I can let you know I was always thinking of you. Even when I was unsure that day of the play, I was sure. I was just really scared that if I cared about you as much as I wanted and you died..."

There were no words. Katara just looked down her hands trembling.

He lets her grab his hands and drag him upright in the water to face her, but he's having trouble looking at her.

This isn't because of any sort of emotional thing or hesitance, this is because he loves her very much and thinks she's the most beautiful woman in the world and because right now, the only thing giving her any sort of modesty at the moment is her long hair.

A wave shoves him against her some, and he doesn't pull any closer, but also doesn't draw away.

"Katara..." he says, quietly, and his hand gently touches the small of her back, as he presses a kiss to the line of her jaw, before he draws away again. "...It'd be a really, really good idea for you to get clothes on."

Edited 2009-10-30 02:15 (UTC)

Katara understood, laughing gently. She just wanted to see how long Aang would go before he said that. She knew that the feelings between the two of them were far too strong for her to be in this fashion. She knew how deeply he cared: getting older hadn't changed that. But he WAS older, and she still needed to think about that. Even taking advantage of this shore leave by doing something she never did was nothing compared to being with him.

The clothes were on quickly, but Katara let her hair loose, hanging down to her shoulder blades. She looked over at him, a warm smile on her face. No, Sokka had never had anything to worry about when it came to the two of them. Theirs was a connection that had started the moment she had laid eyes on him in the iceberg."

But once she was dressed, she closed the distance between them. Her hand went to his face, noting how different it felt now: she had only been holding a softer face a few months ago. "Sorry Aang," she said softly. "I was just taking advantage of the shore leave. But now, that's only one thing that matters."

And she leaned over and kissed him.

He is older, a little wiser. In some ways, he feels older than his age, after all he's seen. In other ways, like in dealing with this, with this...thing between the two of them that's so different now, and dizzying, he has no idea what he's doing.

But he is not and has never been the type to forget how to live in the moment, and live in the moment he does, pulling her in close, as they stand in waist-deep water. And he kisses her back with all the fervent affection of a being that has lived and loved a thousand times over and yet still finds her to be the most beautiful thing in an already precious world.

Now she's just the most beautiful thing in the worlds.

There weren't any words, and as usual Katara was content with that when it came to the two of them. She wouldn't bother thinking about how brief it would be, same as the last time. All that mattered was that she could be with him. It was what she'd wanted the moment she set foot on the ship.

And the kiss was enough to send a wave of heat across her body, and now she was really glad she had gotten clothed after all. Leaning into him, she felt a release she hadn't before, a bliss she'd never had until now. She felt right here, comfortable, and time seemed to stop with him all over again.

It had always been him, and always would be, now. She wouldn't let him get away again.

OPEN RP POST

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