markofthebrave | [ Action, Accidental Voice ] .032

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[ Action, Accidental Voice ] .032

[For the past almost two weeks, Katara has been struggling to regain her balance - even struggling to want to regain her balance. Aang's second return home hit her hard, on top of Zuko's mallynapping and Toph's return... Toph who doesn't remember. It's good to see her, but it's terrible as well. Now more of them are trapped in this horrible place. And she still hasn't been able get back to wearing her regular clothes because the 'phasing' keeps happening, as randomly and as annoyingly as ever.

It's been almost two weeks since she's returned and her shoulder hasn't been in any pain in days. The experience of having her bending completely taken away in the Malnosso facility was one that's almost beyond words, and now that she's back where she can feel even just half herself again, the desire, the need to bend has been growing under her skin like an itch.

She can't take it anymore. So Katara goes out just after dinner to one of her favorite practicing spots between her house and the barracks, and begins by doing very simple forms that don't require a lot of movement. She pauses when Momo finds her and sits down to take a break.

It's not long before she begins talking to the lemur about their adventures. It feels good - to talk to someone about home, to talk about all the things that happened, to remember who she really was, despite what this place wanted to make her. She doesn't notice when Momo knocks the journal opened when he moves to chase after what could be a fallen nut. ~~He might not be the best listener ever.~~]

--Sokka sent Aang in to steal the book. Remember riding on top of Appa's back so Aang and I could shape the clouds? It was too bad that we had to go through all that just to get them to listen to us. So after we made the skull in the sky, we dragged out Aunt Wu to see it - the sign for volcanic doom. Then the villagers listened. All the earthbenders worked to dig trenches and everyone else grabbed shovels to help out as best as we could.

And then when volcano exploded, we got back as far as we could, but it flowed right through--

[There's some excited chatter by the book, and suddenly the picture is filled with this face. It flickers from voice to video and back again.]

Momo, what are you doing? Get away from that!

[The video shows Katara shooing Momo away from her journal and then automatically shutting it. She gets back to her practicing, but will open up the journal later and see that it accidentally recorded. Way to go, Momo.]

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[He shrugs here as he walks, oh well~] Of course, Katara~

[Once they're obviously there though he's going to slurp on up to a seat]

[Well, there's not much there. It's just a clear little spot somewhat off the path where there's a tiny stream. Probably a comfortable tree there to lean up against if he wants, though.]

This is kind of weird. I've never had anyone come specifically to watch before. Usually if people do, they just end up stumbling across me.

[Oh he will, and lean against it too. And then slide into a sitting position]

Eeeh... is it awkward for you?

A little. [She shrugs.] I guess I'll just run through some basic forms?

I am a fly on the wall! [And here he freezes up. And pretends that he's not here!]

[Pfff.] Very convincing.

[She does feel a little bit better, though. Even if it still feels just... a little weird.]

[He's too busy fake not moving to answer her. FREEZED]

[Her tone is wry.]

You can move, Masaomi. [She turns a little to her side and closes her eyes, exhaling and trying to find her place of balance so that this can be a useful practice session as well as just - a demonstration? She's still not sure why he even wanted to see... not that it really matters.

After a moment or two of standing quietly, she moves into a ready stance.]

[And he grins, relaxing his pose a bit once she starts to get into it. Good man]

[She starts simply, streaming some water out of her waterskin, the movement practiced and graceful. Then she begins a basic form which, if Kida is paying very close attention, should look familiar to him. The movements are strongly based off of Tai Chi, the water following the motions of her hands as she moves through what must be a familiar sight.]

[A little familiar. He's not one for styles but that's interesting. Hie face gets more intent as he watches. This style doesn't seem nearly offensive enough for his liking, but...]

[She's keeping it simple, but as he watches the flow of water begins to speed up, all without breaking those smooth, back-and-forth movements. This continues for a space of five minutes or so, just long enough for Katara to relegate Kida's presence as unimportant.

That's about when the flow of water following her hands abruptly alters, as she streams it out in a sudden waterwhip, neatly clipping a leaf off of a branch on a tree about twenty feet away.]

[Oh now that was surprising. He was mesmerized at first, but then the whip and he blinked, taken aback. He doesn't do much more than flinch but he's so much more interested now]

[Retracting the whip, it arches backward in a graceful curve before it separates into a dozen spikes of ice about the size of a hand. There's no pause before she drives them deeply into a semi-circle around the tree; the transition to ice is seamless and apparently effortless.]

[... Ridiculous. Katara can really do something like this?]

[Unaware of the effect this could be having on Kida, Katara draws more water from her waterskin, and whips it out towards the two inches of visible ice left. She then proceeds to pick them off with the waterwhip, not just absorbing them into the water, but using the water to actually pull them out... she gets about halfway through before she becomes uncomfortably aware of her audience again, and glances at him.]

[For a brief, very brief moment she might catch how seriously he is looking at this. These are the eyes of someone very used to fighting who is considering how he might be forced to deal with it...]

[But then he notices that look he smiles and holds up his hands in mock-surrender]

[She does, in fact, catch the sense that he's trying to figure out the style's strengths and weaknesses, but she doesn't think too much of it. It's what she would be doing, if their positions were reversed. Then he's holding up his hands in mock-surrender and she... doesn't forget what she saw, but it becomes little more than a niggling observation.

Smiling a little at him, she turns to finish plucking off the ice spikes. It appears that she does not need to be so entirely concentrating on this as it would seem.] I like to use ice when I practice because it makes for good targets afterwards. I don't tend to use it as much when I'm fighting, though.

Edited 2010-11-23 06:48 (UTC)

Eeeeh? Why not use it then? [He's genuinely curious. It seems like a good weapon. An obvious one]

Mmm.. [She thinks about it as - now that she's gathered the remaining ice spikes and the waterwhip has doubled in size, she begins to twine it around that far off tree trunk. The game seems to be to keep the water moving as fast as she can without actually touching the tree. She is succeeding perfectly.] Maybe it's because most of the time when I fought, I was trying to get through more than I was trying to really hurt someone. Using water is a better way to immobilize someone without causing a lot of damage. And for the ones that I did need to stop, ice doesn't work very well against fire.

[She was in a war, after all, Kida.] Also, it used to be a lot more difficult to make.

[He whistles here, watching this show with very not fabricated awe. He can't imagine what this is probably capable of if she was more serious but... Damn. His only chance against something like that would be to punch her out before-

No, no.]

So you've gotten that much better, huh...?

I had a really good teacher. [And then suddenly, Katara halts the back and forth motions that she was doing and the water holds there, twined around the tree like a giant knot still not touching the trunk, perfectly still - before she breathes out, and the entire thing turns to ice. She holds it there and turns her head to smile at him, very much just a girl showing off something she loves.]

Before I left the North Pole, Master Pakku told me I'd become a master waterbender. [It's a title that she rarely claims in Luceti, rarely mentions, but one that is very precious to her.] I've had almost a year of practice since then.

Edited 2010-11-23 07:35 (UTC)

[Blink... blink. He's honestly amazed now]

So you're a master now, Ka~tara? [This is a jovial tone... but. Yeah, he's testing]

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