lucetilogs | Make my wish come true

Entry tags:

Make my wish come true

Who:

markofthebrave
What: As promised here.
When: Thursday night (thus future-dated sorta)
Where: Wherever Katara is practicing :|a
Summary: Well we know it is not a date...
Rating: 45.3 on Rotten Tomatoes

[So. He called her out, so he's a coming to her practice. That's the long and the short of it, really. Dressed the same as ever, looking the same as ever, the only real difference is how hard his eyes seem right now. He's going to be fighting soon, and the many emotions that accompany that knowledge has loomed over his head since the announcement. That's probably... part of why he's going to see Katara. Another part, lurking in the back of his head, is that he needs to know if he can fight someone - something - which can use magical abilities as potent as her's. That said, he's also afraid and he can sense she's concernedm so he's also there to dispel those concerns. Or something.

~~LOCATION OF PRACTICE NEGLECTED BECAUSE SHIRA THAT'S FOR YOU TO TELL ME~~ But suffice to say, this evening he is there. Or getting there, anyway]

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[Having this kind of conversation is not weird. Having this kind of conversation with Masaomi is. She blinks a little as he comes nearer, and she's not entirely sure she's fond of the way that he's looking at her, but all she does is stand there - loose and reflexively ready - and answer his question.]

Their pain tolerance is very good. I've never fought anyone like them before - they're so determined to kill us, you can almost taste it, and it doesn't matter how badly you hurt them, if they can move they'll still attack you. They use normal weapons - swords and throwing knives and spears. And their biggest advantage is that they have air. Their wings are much larger than ours, so they can come at us from above. Most of the regular soldiers aren't too fast, though. [Not like facing Shikamaru.] So if you're careful you should be able to dodge.

I've only run into a few who can actually do magic, and it's a lot like the kind of powers you learn from the filial spirits here. One of them tried to use water against me once. [A quick quirk upwards on the corner of her mouth.] It didn't work.

Eeeeh... not to fast, huh? [He trails off here, thinking. He then nods]

Mm~ I'm not used to spears and swords. Aaaah~ Oh well. [He now is re-entering seeming flippant mode]

Edited 2011-02-24 05:31 (UTC)

[What's to be used to? Just don't get hit.]

What are you used to?

Fists, sometimes knives. Pipes... whatever could get our hands on, I guess. It was a city, after all.

[He shrugs again... considering. Well. Shouldn't be that different.]

[She tilts her head, considering.] I'm only passable with a knife. [Hugo had taught her. Months ago. In the mornings. And she hadn't kept it up.] And I don't fight with swords.

But staff fighting isn't too different than spear fighting. We could spar if you like.

[...this is partially out of curiosity. He'd turned into someone so... different than the Masaomi she thought she knew. She wants to see what that really means. She knows she's more truly herself when she's bending - fighting - then she is at practically any other time. She wonders if it's the same thing for him.]

Eeeeh... I'm not sure about that. [He cocks his head to the side. Man, he really doesn't want to fight a girl. Not that he wants to voice this because he knows with bending she's probably stronger than him]

You think we should?

[A shrug.] It's up to you.

[No, she's... not entirely sure. Because you scared her, a little, with the way that you went flat. She does trust you, Masaomi, but... she's been wrong before.] But I can always use the practice. And it'd be better than just watching me, right?

Aaah~ That's true. [He laughs.] After all, it's been a long time since I had a fight for real!

[He chuckles one more time here, taking one more step closer]

Will you use your bending?

[Definitely upping up the 'creepy' factor with the way you're handling this, Masaomi. Katara bends her knees a little in anticipation - and frankly, the way you're approaching makes her want to reach for her waterskin.

But this was your idea, Katara.

It was. She just didn't expect him to suddenly seem so... predatory.]

No, I wasn't planning on it. [Because nothing you described came close to it, and that would hardly be fair.] Going up against those Shifters, I have to get used to fighting without it.

Mmm. That's fair. [He sighs here, and then considers sucker-punching her. If she has said she was using bending, he actually would have. But as she said she wasn't... raising his hands, he takes two or three stops back and nods at her]

So let's go.

[And now he... hap-hazards a guard. to call this a "stance" would be a misnomer, but there also isn't any clear break in it. He's clearly never learned a "style" so much as just... fought. A lot. He considers just charging in, but he's giving her all of a few seconds to get ready herself]

[OK. That's more like it. She's gotten more used to this form of combat, even though it still is far from her first choice, and her stance is fluid and ready.

...but the fact that he's unarmed really bothers her.]

You're not going to grab anything?

[There should be some practice weapons lining the wall.]

I've never used any of those... I wouldn't be used to them.

[Because, he already saw them. He's a street fighter. The minute he walks into a room he does a quick mental check of what he can use for a weapon in it. Those are on his list. But to start? Well, he'll start with just his fists. He shrugs...]

[And then immediately lunges forward with a punch aimed for her face. He's a risky opener, but he he gets in fast enough, he might just hit her jaw and end the fight instantly. He's also doing a bit of a sucker-punch, but the killing intent he can't help but give off probably flared up as he shrugged.

Oh, and he's fast. Might want to mount a defense quickly. And assuming this one fails, he's got a second blow armed for her gut with his second fist as a followup unless, you know, other things get in the way first.

He did say they started already]

Edited 2011-02-24 06:34 (UTC)

[Fortunately, Katara's been training with a shounen heroine, and her reflexes were honed long before that. She doesn't have to think to defend herself from his attack - doesn't think to cry foul either, because, yes, they started - and the staff whirls in front of her and connects with the fist headed towards her face.

He's fast enough, though, that with that initial block engaging her bo, she almost doesn't see the punch headed towards her stomach with his other hand. Fortunately, you don't win a fight by standing still and Katara's already moving to the side to disengage from the lock when she catches that fist out of the corner of her eye and abruptly twists, jumping back.

It still grazes her side, and she lets out an 'oomph.'

Just a graze? Shouldn't have hurt that much. He's strong. Katara is no slouch herself, but her physical strength stays well within the range of a normal human, and all it takes is this one connection for her to know that she can't beat him in a match of power.

Instinct has her reacting with a fast sideways swipe with her bo when she lands in a crouch.]

[Sideways swipe? Well, he could take the yet, but reflex causes him to catch it with both both hands. That hurt his wrists and more so his palms, but his intent here is to try to jerk the staff out of his grasp. However, if she resists, he's not about to keep it up either, because a grapple - though he probably could overpower her - would get them nowhere.

Instead, after (hopefully) throwing her somewhat off-balance, he shifts in the opposite direction the staff should came from and makes a new swing for her head again.

He doesn't honestly expect this to connect, it's a bit out of his way and his footing is awkward, but it allows him to reposition]

[Katara knows better than to get into a contest of strength with someone who can so easily overpower her - but waterbending is all about using someone else's strength against them. So instead of leaning back and resisting Katara surges forward.

But just then is when he releases it and leaps to the side, leaving her to quickly reverse here position so that she can face him.]

[But that delay (or rather, that short moment of awkward positioning on her part) allows him to reach and arm himself. He grabs the first thing he can. It's... a wooden sword? He quickly concludes it's made of wood and too long to be anything he's used to. Thus, in one movement as he pulls it off the wall he positions it over his knee and beings both the knee up and the sword down at the same time, snapping it almost in half. He takes the "blade" part, allowing the part with the handle to fall to the ground and, now armed, focuses attention back on her.

He did intend to use that delay to arm himself, yes, but a delay such as he took to break the sword might still give her an opening to at least try to strike back. Even if he does get his footing and everything back in order pretty quick like, he did take a while]

[Yeah, Katara sees what what your doing and see no reason to wait quietly. This isn't a fight, but you'd be hard enough to beat with your fists and you set those terms and ow, that looks painful and certainly not scary at all--

--but she's already started moving towards him, bo striking up in a quick, clean offensive move, aimed towards his face.

...she'll reverse it, though, before it has a chance to connect and strike the bottom end of the bo towards his left side.]

[The bo at his face alarms him such that he reflexively jerks his head to the side... without any time to think to guard for the secondary, lower strike. It connects, and while it does hurt, Masaomi is in no way to give pause. In fact, because the satisfying impact and that he took a step or two in the same direction that the strike was pushing, trying to lessen the blow. But he's taken blows many times worse than that and barely flinched- this is no exception

Either way though, seeing his opening, he makes a strong and quick strike towards her side with his newfound club. Hope you don't mind him probably breaking a rib there, Katara]

[Of course she minds, freakin' ow. The blow connects solidly and she feels the bone crack even though she's already adjusted to move with the impact. She winces and exhales sharply in pain, but doesn't stop moving, stepping quickly away from him in order to gain distance.

Her instinct, horrible as it is, is to keep going. Katara really, really hates to lose. But that's a broken rib, and she has to go out to war in a few days, and she knows better than to push this. If this is his definition of a spar...

Also, her side hurts like a bitch.

She plants one edge of the bo firmly on the ground - not as defenseless as that move makes her seem because if he keeps coming towards her after she speaks she'll know that this isn't a spar anymore and that whatever shadow she saw in his eyes and his tone has come out to play and will treat it accordingly - and throws up her other hand in a gesture of surrender.]

All right, that's it for me.

[Masaomi doesn't stop immediately. How can he? It's a fight, a fight and he needs to make sure the opponent can no longer get up and hurt him. His eyes, still filled with an instinctual hatred, focus on her wound, cocking the arm back to hit her again.

The voice comes through about the same time he goes to start the second swing. It's dull but-]

[Mid-swing, he stops, and then drops the plank. He looks up from the vital point - where he knows he can hurt her - up to her face. The look is flat, slightly uncomprehending for a half-second... And then he gasps. His eyes "normalize" (that is to say, he puts his act back on) and he goes out of a battle position, into a more relaxed, neutral thing. Not to say there's no guard, but it's clear the killing intent vanished]

[And then he hams it up, his eyes going wide and he moves closer to her-]

Waaaaah?! Katara, sorry, sorry!! Did I hit too hard?!

[You are very, very lucky that you dropped that weapon when you did, because Katara was about to drop you where you stand. Her stance had shifted in preparation and dread because she still wanted to look at this as a spar and the wound as a training accident, par for the course, but if he kept going she was going to have to look at is as an attack and - she really, really didn't want to do that.

She even latches on to the overenthusiastic apology with a sense of relief.

He's back to normal.]

I think you broke a rib.

[But there's this niggling - feeling. She still doesn't want you getting closer, and even takes a few steps back, her hand pressing to her side, to instinctively accommodate that desire.

And there's this - whisper. Is that apology sincere? Is anything about him sincere, except for that flat look and the way his gaze had zeroed in on where he'd hurt her, like he was about to do it again?

What's your real face, Masaomi?

Can I trust you?]

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