Twister!

[lucetimods]

Who: You!
What: WHOOSH
When: The 18th, at 5:23 PM.
Where: Through the village (seen on this map)
Summary: A tornado blows through Luceti! It's loud, windy, and dangerous. React?
Rating: B for Blustery

It had been an unusually warm day for October. Dark clouds loomed in the day and had been accompanied by strong winds. A strange green aura tinted the clouds in the west before it finally happened. It was loud. Deafeningly loud for those near it, like a freight train hurling itself through the sky. Dust and debris whipped up inside it and anything not securely fastened was pulled towards it, sometimes right off the ground. A tornado had formed in Luceti and it was moving fast. Faster than a person could run or follow.

The smart people would be staying inside. The not so smart? Hopefully they could handle it.

((I'd suggest checking this comment out to get an idea for how tornadoes work! A plotting thread exists here as well.)

Comments

[markofthebrave]

[Safe inside her house, Katara is making tea while her Avatar is out there riding the tornado like it's a giant koi. She might be a little worried. But she's trying hard not to show it, especially since her granddaughter is in the house with her.]

...you know, I think this might call for hot chocolate instead of tea. What do you think, Ikki?

[breezing]

I agree!!

[ Although, really, the chances of Ikki disagreeing with anything that allowed her chocolate in any form were slim to none. She might be a little worried, too, but for now she's inside the house where it's safe, and so is most of the family, with a notable exception or two. ]

And snacks? I fed Petunia and Soren already, though.

[markofthebrave]

Well, maybe. [Katara abandons the water to retrieve a saucer and milk.] Are you hungry?

[breezing]

Yeah! ...Although I guess dinner isn't toooooooooo far away.

[ If. The tornado doesn't throw off that schedule, anyway. ]

[markofthebrave]

Well... [Katara totters on the edge here and then... gives in.] I think big storms can be an exception. What about popcorn? We can add peanuts and dried fruit?

[breezing]

[ Her guardians are the best guardians. This is a rare enough exception to common-sense snack rules that Ikki lights up, despite the edge of worry. ]

Dried apples, too??

[markofthebrave]

Absolutely! Why don't you get them out of the cupbard?

[It's on the HIGH cupboard, but Katara knows that's no problem for Ikki.]

[breezing]

[ There's a little squeal of excitement, and Ikki hops to it. Literally hops when she gets to the cupboard, bending to reach the highest one to retrieve what Katara asked for. ]

Are there storms like this a lot here?

[markofthebrave]

No, not a lot. We actually got a more like this during the autumn in the South Pole, by the coast. Or when we were traveling, on the ocean.

[breezing]

We got storms sometimes at home, but not too often. Ummm. I think this is probably the worst storm I've ever seen!

[markofthebrave]

Well, it is pretty big.

[Katara stops preparing their snack for a moment and glances back softly at Ikki. She doesn't know if it's the same thing with airbenders, but...]

Come over to the window with me for a second.

[breezing]

[ Curious, Ikki obeys, going over to the window. Should she be looking for something...? ]

[markofthebrave]

[Katara comes to stand by Ikki and puts her own hand on the glass. Yes, putting her hand on the glass, despite how that's normally frowned upon.]

Put your hand on the glass.

[breezing]

[ Well, since Katara is the one telling her to do it, Ikki does so, although she's pretty certain it'll be frowned upon again later. ]

Like this?

[markofthebrave]

Mmhmm!

[Katara says in the affirmative, smiling.]

Now close your eyes.

[As the wind and rain press up against the window, Katara does the same.]

What do you feel?

[breezing]

[ Ikki shuts her eyes, and she's quiet for a moment. The window is cold against her palm, while the room is warm, and there's the shiver of the glass as it's battered with wind and rain, and the steady presence of Katara beside her. ]

The glass is rattling a lot? [ Ikki speaks with her eyes still shut, curious. ]

[markofthebrave]

Mmm, that's right.

[She doesn't know if it works this way for airbenders. She's never talked with Aang about it. It might not be part of their philosophy, to catch and hold on to the experience of their element.

But... Ikki is a part of her too. And Katara found that she wanted her to at least see if she could experience this.]

Now push out your senses past the window, to the storm. Don't try to bend it, but listen. See if you can sense what you're not bending, but what you could bend.

[Like that first time she tried bending water she couldn't see.]

[breezing]

[ She's never actively tried this sort of thing before, although throughout the day Ikki's been agitated by the ever-growing wind and the dark clouds.

Katara's voice is calm, and Ikki listens to it, trying to do what is asked of her. Don't try to bend it, but listen. Wind is hard to hear except where it brushes against something. Your ears, the glass, the trees outside. It's so loud right now, though.

Ikki presses her other hand to the glass, lips parting in concentration. She knows the wind is there, so - not just listening, but reaching out and trying to feel the wind on her fingertips instead of the glass. There's a storm just outside the window, and there's wind slamming into the glass and crashing through the trees. ]

[markofthebrave]

Do you feel it?

[She paused and decided to offer some clarification via example. Her voice was low and soothing, almost contemplative.]

I can feel the raindrops. They tingle along my senses like... the first brush of cold when you step outside. I can feel them each, separately, and when they land. I can feel them in a rush, caught up by the wind. I don't need to see it to know that water is out there, that it's moving, filling up the sky and watering the earth. I can feel how fast it's going. I can feel it caught up and strong, together with the wind. It's not angry, but it's powerful.

What do you feel?

[breezing]

[ In the silence after Katara's question, Ikki feels herself breathing in and out. In through your nose, out through your mouth. She'd fallen into meditation-style breath without thinking about it.

When she starts to talk, it's in the same low, quiet tone Katara used, dreamy compared to Ikki's usual fast-talking ways. ]

It's everywhere. [ There's always air all around her, but there isn't always wind, and not like this. ] It's free - in the grass and the trees and on our house and it just wants to be everywhere except it doesn't want anything I guess because it's not alive except it is but it isn't! [ and now she's talking like herself again, fast and whipping like a breeze herself, a grin on her face, even though her eyes are still shut. She's never done this before, and Ikki's excited and nervous and elated to her bones. ]

[markofthebrave]

[Katara smiles at that, slow and warm and brilliant.]

Good - that's very good. Even though you're not bending it, you can feel it because air is a special part of you, just like water is a special part of me. And because you can feel it, because it's a part of you, you're a part of the storm.

[She opened her eyes and smiled at Ikki.]

Because you're a part of it, it's familiar - somewhere deep inside you, you carry the storm. It's powerful, it's wild, and it's free. And it's strong. It's something to be respected. But it's a part of you. And that's something to remember, if it makes you scared - you're a part of it too.

[breezing]

[ And the tension that had been there ever since the storm had started eased. Because Ikki had been scared. Especially since Aang had left the house to go tornado-riding.

Thinking of the storm as part of her rather than this huge, scary thing - that made it easier.

When she opens her eyes, Ikki smiles back at her grandmother, warm and relaxed, for the first time that day. ]

It's a part of us!

[markofthebrave]

[Katara beamed back at Ikki.]

That's right - water and air. Definitely a strong combination.

[Strong, but when it's a part of you - there's comfort in that.]

[breezing]

[ A strong combination, huh? Well, Ikki couldn't think of anything her family combined couldn't do - even though there was much more than water and air in this household, she'd come from both of those things.

Ikki took her hands off the glass, absently wiping at it with the edge of her sleeve. ]

Did you learn to listen like that at home?

[markofthebrave]

[Katara nodded, still smiling a little.]

It started the first time I had to bend something I couldn't see.