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It's not been as long as you think, honestly!

Toph's been crouching at the edge of Lake Michigan, apparently pensive and not doing much, excpet suddenly, in the middle of the morning:

"I got it!"

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Suki is on guard duty. She can see and hear Toph from where she's posted though, and she gives the Earthbender an enthusiastic wave.

"I knew you would!" she yells.

"I'll run the ridges and then I'll be down."

Other than the sabre-toothed mooselions (http://community.livejournal.com/shatterverse/240623.html?thread=15006447#t15006447) in the next valley, there hasn't been any danger since they made camp here. If she sees nothing on her scout, there'll be no harm in relaxing the guard for a little while.

Mel stands. It would an instant action, but she's been pretty sluggish over the last few days (nothing to do with not having eaten much, at all). But there's a smile on her lips and she strolls down with Loo on a hip, Hana hurrying quickly in front of her.

The waters churn locally as the ground beneath them erupts, a steady stream of movement that increases in intensity as the block Toph made moves closer to the shore of the lake.

As all of them draw near, the large stone coffin pops out and drops at Toph's feet. As unsmiling as everyone - because she can already see what's inside - she slices the lid off and lets it crash to the side.

The first thing is the smell.

The coffin was airtight and very cold, sitting at the bottom of the lake. This, although protecting Katara's body against insects, did nothing to stop the bacteria inside doing what bacteria do, ultimately liquifying most internal organs. The smell is like something alive, crawling out of the stone and launching itself at their noses like a physical attack, inescapably foul.

Katara can't smell it, of course, and is the only one to leap forward to peer into the coffin eagerly. she exclaims, delighted.

The small blue vial of spirit water is indeed still there, as are most of the corpse's clothing and skin and eighty-five percent or so of its flesh. The hair has begun to detach and fragment, and the face - the only exposed body part - is bloated, blue, and patched with a build-up of fatty tissue, especially on the cheeks. The jaw is hanging open, slack, and the top of the skull is still missing utterly, an empty cavity where the brain should have been.

None of this seems to dismay Katara, who moves through the wall and crouches over her corpse to put intangible hands around the little blue vial and lift it carefully - the water inside is what she's actually lifting, technically, but the bottle comes with it.

Steph chokes.

She's seen corpses before, but none this old - and none this smelly. Urgh. Even the zombies she fought with Rachel weren't this ... decomposed.

She does not step forward to look in the coffin, though; she steps forward so that she's a little bit in front of Sokka, and holds his hand tightly.

Mel's hand darts forward to stop Hana getting too close, and covers Loo's mouth and nose when that one makes a face. She's also drawn closer to Sokka.

"You need it out, 'Tara?"

Katara looks up at them all standing around, grinning happily.

"Whatever you think, 'Tara," Steph says, one hand over her nose and both eyes on Sokka. He hasn't said anything yet, which is not surprising but worrying anyway. "We're here to help, but you're in charge."

Other than lifting a rag from his belt to hold against his nose and mouth, and shaking free of Steph's hold, Sokka hasn't moved much either. It's nothing specific to Steph either - but he has to let her go if he's going to get ahead of her.

The idea of blocking him from the coffin is unacceptable.

He's trying to look more at the ghost of his sister than the corpse, especially her smile. At least she's hopeful.

Katara moves aside to let him see, if he wants. It's just her body, it's not really a big deal. She's ignoring the desperately worried expression of Steph because, Spirits, it's just a body. It's going to be her again soon. It's a little bit yuck but so are people, on the inside, anyway.
she says, beaming at everyone, and abruptly flings ghostly arms around Sokka for an intangible hug.

"Hey, no problem," says Toph. "I'm here for all your Earthbending needs."

"Thanks, Toph," Steph adds quietly. From her and Sokka too. "We definitely owe you about twenty trillion dinners."

'Startled' doesn't really cover Sokka's reaction to being hugged by his ghostly sister, and not just because he doesn't expect it. Because while he's staring at her corpse, he's suddenly enveloped by cold.

Which means his first reaction is to jerk back and flail a bit, not sure how to react. His second is to pay attention to what people are saying and respond.

"You're welcome, nukka.

"Thanks, Toph."

Katara declares, beaming at them all,

It's going to be the biggest Waterbending of her life. She'll really be the master they call her if she can pull this off.

It's going to be SO COOL!

Of course, everyone shortly abandons her anyway, Mel first and the others chasing, but that's OK. Katara's already settling to her knees half-in and half-out of the coffin, running ghostly hands through the air above the corpse. She'll be there a while.

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