markofthebrave | [ Action, Voice ] .021

[ Action, Voice ] .021

Hey, Caesar! Do you mind if I stop by this afternoon? [Because mind or not, she is coming. But before she gets there, if you asked after her while she had eye-mushi and she hasn't spoken to you yet, she's looking for you. She will be all about town, since she doesn't know where some of you live. She also plans on checking in with Sokka and the rest of the Gaang at some point today.]

[And later in the evening, after dinner and far past when she is usually fast asleep, you can find Katara practicing not far from her house. Since Ginko died she's been robbed of her rest - combine that with the draft list being posted and she's decided to cope the only way she knows how - by using the time to find some peace. For that purpose, she is doing a special form. She runs through the first without doing any bending at all. When she repeats it, she bends thin tendrils of water up and around and over, following the movements of her hands - and when one catches her eye she freezes it in place, creating a small practice area of frozen arches and swirls.

They won't last long, especially not in the heat of a summer night. That's not the point. That's not the point at all.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Be more specific. Strategy-wise?

So that's what you plan on doing when you get out there - do you know if they'll let you stay behind, or if they'll expect you to be out fighting as well?

I'm not the only noncombatant going along for the ride. I doubt any of us will have the opportunity to "stay behind." We might be able to use those 'rest areas' that were pointed out on the map, and if that's so, we can use them as bases of sorts. If we can't, we'll simply have to find somewhere else to organize ourselves. That will be as close to "staying behind" as anyone's going to get.

It isn't customary for a strategist to be on the battlefield himself. If it's necessary for me to do my work, I'll have no choice. However, I shouldn't need to be that close to the action at all.

...I see. [Throwing those who can't fight in the middle of a battlefield - it's a danger to everyone. Did the Malnosso have no sense at all?]

Someone will need to guard those 'rest stops' if that's where all the noncombatants are going to hold up.

Of course. Those areas will stand out in a place like this. Though the Third Party has already wiped out most of the people who were there, once they know we're around, there's a chance they may try attacking those places again. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that those would be incredibly useful, especially for an army of our size. Of course, that assumes that these guys are intelligent. Or that we use these places at all.

...I guess we'll just have to see who else ends up out there. It might be possible for some of the magic users here to just make a shield. That way, we wouldn't have to worry.

But I don't even know how this works - I remember last time, people were staying in some sort of... inn. But how were they transported to the battle? Did they even get to choose who they'd be dropped off with?

That's right. Something like that would be pretty useful. But that's exactly why we can't make any definite plans until we know everyone who'll be going with us.

It's up to the Malnosso to get us there, I guess. Initially, everyone was transported to the battlefield at the same time, and at the same place. I don't think they return us to those rooms whenever they feel like it, though - I remember them saying that if we needed assistance, we'd have to call for it via the journals ourselves. Once we're recovered, I'll bet they'll send us back to the battlefield as soon as they can, too.

...so first we're dropped off in the middle of a battlefield, then we're expected to find a way to fall back and make some sort of defensible area so that people can rest? We can't just fight straight for days.

[She sighs and shakes her head, more convinced than ever that the Malnosso don't know what they're doing.] That's a good way to get a lot of people hurt.

You make it sound like that's entirely unheard of. [He tilts his head a little.] That's what war is sometimes.

Anyway, it's our choice whether or not we want to take advantage of what the Malnosso have to offer. We have the option to ask for their help when we need it or stick it out and try to recover on our own. I feel it would be best to ask for the Malnosso's help if someone does need the assistance, however. The truth is, they're doing quite a bit to accommodate us. They're willing to provide for us almost anything that we ask for, and they're even willing to tend to those who become wounded or fatigued. Considering there aren't going to be many of us out there in the first place, it would be foolish to ignore what the Malnosso are offering.

[Her tone is not quite sharp, but it is intense.] I know what war is.

[Then she sighs.] I guess there's not much use in talking about much else until we know who's going.

...but I need you to tell me something.

[He leans back in his chair again. Not to stretch this time, though - he does it just because he can.]

What is it?

You honestly believe you can do this - that you can take what you know and plan out the best path to victory?

[What kind of answer she's looking for - she's not sure. She's heard a lot from him about what it is that he is... but it takes more than words for her to trust her and her brother's life to someone else's hands. She trusts Caesar, she doesn't believe he'll lie to her. But she's also never seen him under this kind of pressure before. She just.. needs to know.]

Of course I do. I don't just believe it, I know it. I have a lot of things now that I didn't have the last time I did this. The situation is different, of course, but all things considered? I think the odds are more in my favor here than they were back home. [He shrugs.] Regardless, I know what I'm capable of. I can do this.

[Heh. Not what she expected, exactly, but hearing him evaluate himself in the same even, neutral tone that he does everything else backs up her estimation of him, and his methods.]

All right, then. I'll back you. [And she wonders if he knows just what that means.] Just tell me what you need to do. Although I think you should talk to Sokka too, when it comes time to actually make plans.

...and you've seen how I fight, right?

Edited 2010-06-27 18:17 (UTC)

I'd really appreciate it. [He smiles a little.] It's pretty likely that everyone's going to be dispatched in groups. The fact that Sokka can be out on the battlefield while he gives direction will be pretty helpful. He might not make a bad general, of sorts.

I've seen what you can do. Actually... [He pauses briefly, remembering something.] The terrain is a little messy, but we might be able to make good use of that river there. Considering your power, though, we might be able to do a little more than just "make good use of it."

Edited 2010-06-28 02:05 (UTC)

[She nods.] I saw that. It could be very useful. I'll have my full power back outside too. So... take what you've seen, and double it.

For the actual fight, I've thought of a few things that could work already...

Good to hear. If these guys are anything like the last ones we fought, they don't have any particular weaknesses. However, their ability to fly will be a disadvantage for a lot of us. Not to mention there's going to be a lot more of them this time around, too...

When they're in the air... did they fire things from above? Or try to sweep down and pick people up?

I believe their weapons varied, so they can fire things, all right. If they sweep down, I'd figure they'd just attack, though, and not try to pick anyone up or anything unless they were ordered to. But this also assumes we fight soldiers similar to those we fought before. Those last ones were pretty average. We won't know if that'll be the case again until the Malnosso officially announce the draft.

[She shrugs a single shoulder, a hard light entering her eyes for a moment.] Wings freeze very easily. They might not find the air as safe as they thought.

[He nods. That sounds like a pretty darn useful trick.] Not only that, but if we can get them out of the air and into the river, we'd really have an advantage over them.

Hmm... Well, I can't make it rain, although if Aang was here - [A pang at that, she moves past it] - if we had height on them I could still make it hard on them to fly, but I don't know anyone who's coming who can fly...

...though if I stay by the river, I could probably just grab them out of the sky. It depends on how high up they are. And I don't know how long I could keep that up - not more than a few hours.

There's a point at which the river branches off and eventually comes back together. That right there would be a good place for a trap. [It's pretty obvious what he's thinking. And, heck, someone pulling them down was even better than any regular trap they could have used.]

[She nods again - she doesn't really see what difference it will make, but if he thinks that's a good spot... she wonders if she can freeze them as she pulls them down. That would probably be tricky.]

If you had a few people there with me [she pales a little because - still when she fights, she moves first to disable] to take care of them when they're down, that would be.. better..

[Starting to feel a little sick now, as she imagines crushing their wings and throwing them out of the sky... and she still doesn't even know why.]

Of course. You wouldn't be there alone. You'd probably have your hands full with just taking them down, so we can leave the rest to the others. It's a good spot because enemies were sighted on both sides of the river. Here, you'd be surrounded by it, so you'd be able to take down enemies that attack from either side. On the other hand, if enemies were to catch our men on the wrong side of the river, we could be in trouble. Make sense?

Edited 2010-06-28 05:00 (UTC)

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Action, Voice ] .021

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[action] ...holy crap, how did that crying icon get up there? o_O

[action] We can just pretend it's not there! xD

[action] I don't even know what it was supposed to be! This is what I get for tagging stupid!tired.

[action] Aww. It'll forever be a mystery!

[action] Oh well. At least now we know he didn't randomly make her cry. >>

[action] Good! I think he would have reacted to it more than he did, so. xD

[action] He'd have darn well better!!

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