markofthebrave | [ Action, Voice ] .058

[ Action, Voice ] .058

[Somewhere in all the excitement of the past month, it... sort of didn't occur to her that she's now been in Luceti for two years. That's had some time to sink in now, along with the new announcement and - home. Actually getting to go home. Even if it's just for a day...

...but then it means that the Malnosso were lying to them, doesn't it. They do have the power to send them home. And all this time, they'd said it was random...]

[Filter to those who had been here when she arrived: Two years back or more.]

Hey. I think that I just... wanted to apologize. I know that when I got here two years ago, I wasn't very respectful about all the things everyone had tried to do in order to get out of here. It must have been so hard to hear that then, and to keep hearing it from every New Feather that we get when we know that we've tried everything we could.

But we have to keep trying. What they're doing, no matter what they say, no matter what they promise us, is wrong. We can't give up hope that we'll find a way out - we have to keep looking. There's a difference between waiting and giving up, and I know it's hard, but so many of you are still doing that, still trying to find a way out while making things as comfortable as you can for all the new people who are stuck here as we are, and I admire that so much.

So, thank you.

[/filter]

[And then, taking a deep breath, she'll continue:]

And hey, if anyone was using the sled tracks I made, I haven't had a chance to check on them since the ice storm. I'll probably be decommissioning them tomorrow and just turning it all into a giant snow hill, so if you go out there, please be careful, all right?

[Thursday is one of the days Katara goes to spar with Nami, so after making this announcement after school, she and Nami will meet up by the river to do battle with their staffs. Feel free to stop by and watch these two sexy ladies practicing, if you like.

If not, after dinner, Katara heads off someplace she very rarely is. The remembrance garden. This place has always made her uncomfortable... she's not sure it's right, but it's... something. Better than those things that reminded her of gravestones. And the perfect place to pour over her journal, flipping back until she finds an entry of Aang. It's been so long since she's seen him... she's all but forgotten what he sounds like. She feels almost bad about it, but... she misses him so much and yet... it's easier not to miss him.

And eventually, when her time in the remembrance garden is done, Katara will return to her house for an hour or two of bending practice in the back yard.]

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[And... he's off. He starts off with what'll look like a straight charge at her, holding the baton as a club. He knows the water is going to come, but he can't know which way yet. He'll be ready to try to evade but...

Linda, meanwhile, isn't sure what to do. So she just runs with him]

[And Katara simply takes the most expedient way of stopping both of them - she hadn't been aware that Linda was joining this fight two.

Moving both her arms UP, the snow directly under Masaomi's feet moves UP, and then moving her arms in a circular motion, the snow will pile up on either side to trap both their legs in a hard, compact mound.

Unless, of course, they manage to evade the move.]

[Masaomi, by a habit he picks up in the drafts, leaps off to get in the air. Ground-based shift-using TPs, you know. It might not be the best, but the timing makes him not get stuck. Linda, however, is far from that lucky. Masaomi's airborne thing only buys him a little time though, and while he's leaping forward, being the air makes you a target in and of itself]

[It does leave him vulnerable, and Katara takes immediate advantage of that, flowing smoothly and with instinctive speed into a waterwhip which should coil around his legs.]

[...Shit. he can't do much more than try to kick out of it or perha[s wack the upper part with his baton to try to cut it off, but]

[No, that won't work. By continuing to rotate her arm, Katara keeps the whip coiling around him with the force and strength of a fire hydrant's sudden release.

Once he's down, she'll start counting.]

1... 2... 3...

[He's still struggling. How does he get free, how does...?

...and idea hits him, but this is totally going to hurt. He turns to Linda in the midst of his squirming-]

Linda-! Try a thundershock?!

[...But that'll hit you? Plus she's stuck.]

...A light one?!

[...Well, okay. She gives off a shout and then is going to send electrical discharge flying in his and Katara's general direction]

7... 8...

[...okay, he's really going to do that. Fortunately, or not fortunately, Katara. Can't. She can't stand by and let him get hit by this, even if she could escape to the side, even if it's a spar - it's electricity, and she just can't.

But she's got another hand that she could use. It will protect her, the way she's moving to intercept the thundershock, but will she be in time to protect him too. There's still plenty of water in her waterskin, so she shoots it out in a straight beam to intercept the electricity early on, but then, if she has time, it will spread out to form a watershield.

Meanwhile, she drops the count.]

Edited 2012-03-08 07:20 (UTC)

[And he's still struggling, waiting, disappointed, and he... doesn't get shocked It's diverted well and he's completely helpless here. Dammit this is annoyin-

...He could throw the baton at her. Or kunai. He actually has several in this jacket and his arms are more or less free.

...But he can't bring himself to.

He lost the first round, clearly]

Ten. I think. [She'll wait for his confirmation even as she streams the water meant to divert Linda's charge back into her waterskin.

Her voice is... tense and distant. She hated that. Why had she agreed to this?]

Closer to twenty, I'd say.

[he even offers her a smile]

[...yeah, no comment. She just releases him, streaming that water back into the waterskin and... debates leaving Linda in the snow, to be honest. But she doesn't, slowly lowering the snow pile so that what is still essentially a baby won't be suddenly dropped.

She can stay in control of her emotions. It's not Linda's fault that her main weapon is one of the things Katara hates most.]

I didn't realize you and Linda were going to be fighting together. I thought it was about your training.

[She is not, however, complaining about it. But you know, it would have been nice to know these things before starting a spar.]

I need to work with her too, right?

[Somehow in being released, he ended up on his ass, but he gets up quick enough. Linda races over to get next to him, and he rolls his shoulders]

...She's my partner, so we've gotta fight together. Or that scary cat thing'll probably eat my brain.

I'm sure that Mewtwo wouldn't eat your brain.

[Her stance subtly deepens. They're a lot closer now. She'll have to be faster.]

Round two.

He might shove a spoon in it.

[but okay, he twirls his baton and takes up a stance again. Linda, beside him, does the same... Actually, first move. If he announces it that might be bad but he looks at Linda and then claps his baton on his palm. Linda nods and-

to start it off she's going to try to get closer to Katara and clap her own tail on her hands and make an supernaturally loud boom. Fake Out]

Edited 2012-03-09 05:41 (UTC)

[Well, Katara has no intention of allowing Linda to get closer to her. As soon as the Pokemon begins to rush towards her, Katara streams a waterwhip out in her direction.

It's doubtful that this will stop the Pokemon from executing her move, however, and for a moment the loud noise stuns Katara.]

[Excellent. That's all he needed, and he's sorry you get to get hit for it, Linda, because this allows him to break the distance between him and Katara. Should he try to hit her with the baton? he could probably dislocate or break something...

...He doesn't like that idea. Instead, he's going to go in for a lame move. He drops the baton mid-breaking the distance and instead tackles her]

[She turns to face him just before he crashes into her. Despite the steadiness of her stance, he rushes her and succeeds in tackling her to the ground.]

Oomph!

[But she doesn't stay down without resistance long, Katara immediately tries to roll them to the side.]

[It worked? What no. He's stronger, he braces his impact, pulling one of her arms far aside and putting some weight on her abdomen. He resists the roll.

...He should count]

[She responds to the weight on her abdomen with a small:] Mmph.

[And with her free hand, she seeks to create some leverage, attempting to draw her legs up between them and shove him off.]

[No, no- crap, he was under-doing it. He tries to shift his arm to get that arm too, but with the rest of this going on...

Actually-]

One, two, three..

[That's fine, he can go for her arm, she's already succeeded in levering it up so he'll have to grab it down, but now with that lever she thrusts her torso up and to the side, hoping to buck him off.

Frankly, she considers headbutting him too, but. That might be taking it too far.]

[ > bucking

Fortunately he's quite focused now... and wondering why on Earth a torrent of water or ice or something isn't getting him. He shifts his weight to put more pressure on her (possibly restricting her breathing a bit for winding purposes), keeping firm here.]

five, six... seven.

[Her only options, at this point, were to try to seriously hurt him. She let out a small noise of pain when he put more pressure on her, and thus loses most of her air. That leaves trying to ice his face with her breath right out, she can't grab enough to concentrate on it.

Still, Katara strains upwards, not willing to give up.

Not without it costing them. The knowledge of the first time she'd been kidnapped by the Malnosso, when she'd been restrained and beaten flashes through her eyes. She'd thought the same thing, then. He had her now, but that was all, if he moved a hand, shifted his weight in the slightest to do more than hold her, she'd find her moment and use it to attack or escape.

This does, of course, bring her chest into constant contact with his, because she's not backing down. She doesn't look away from his gaze either.]

[Really, he's not thinking about anything like that. He's just thinking-

Why aren't I being killed?

Not that she would kill him, he knows that. But he has the power. He should be coated in ice. He should be having this blood turned cold. He should be thrown off in a tidal wave]

Eight...

[He's confused. It shows on his face, but-]

Nine...

[He keeps rock solid in place. And after this, a grin sprouts up]

Ten!

[And after ten, he rolls off of her]

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