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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[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?]

WAAAH?! WAAAAAH?! I broke it?! [His eyes go wide here, and little frantically, he tries to break the distance between them again, completely ignoring (or perhaps not noticing) her discomfort. If anything, he seems apologetic and more so alarmed]

I didn't mean to do that! Sorry! I don't usually have fights except with bad guys!

[AAAAAH no he hurt a girl? Sob]

Edited 2011-02-25 01:28 (UTC)

[Pfff. OK - no - laughing with a broken rib is just painful. And with her adrenaline fading, the pain shows up in the corners of her eyes and the tightness of her smile.]

It's okay, it's okay. I can fix it. I just need to lay down so I can make sure it's set right.

[In fact, she's going to start to do that now, leaning on her bo like a staff. No one here wants anyone else to know that this happened (all of Katara's friends would lineface forever) so here is your cue to help her lay down flat as she painfully starts lowering herself to the ground, Masaomi. Because that, at least, sounded real to her, so if you want to help she'll let you.]

[Okay no that's to cool. He breaks the distance and - he's known a lot of people to have to deal with broken ribs in his time, trust him - he puts on a somewhat less frantic face and settles in to trying to help her to the ground. He's gentle this time. Caring like]

[Oh, hello there. Katara, for some crazy reason, wasn't expecting this, but she accepts his help easily enough, and she appreciates how gently he's lowering her to the ground. It's awkward with the wings and waterskin at all, but eventually she's as close to flat on the ground as she can be.]

Thanks.

[And she starts prodding at her ribcage with her hands to make sure the bones are lines up properly. It hurts, but even worse than that is imagining what Chopper would do to her if he ever found out. Oh man, and she doesn't even want to think about Trafalgar's reaction. Or Raine's...

Ow. Ow. Ow.]

There - I think I've got it. Does that feel right to you?

[...she's not even thinking that she's asking him for help when he may not know what he's doing either, or that she's asking him to touch her, she's just kind of holding her bones together through her skin... so is understandably preoccupied.]

[He does though. Oh, he can touch her? ...He arches and eyebrow here and really, it takes all of his willpower (more even than it took ti not hit her a second time) to resist making some obscene comment]

[But then with no more pause than the brief moment of confusion he puts his hands there. Okay, feeling that, applying a bit of pressure here and there... actually. That looks pretty good. He pauses a bit around where the busted area is, carefully measuring how much little wincing she might be making as he touches there, but retracts his hand shortly thereafter and nods]

Mm. I think that's good.

[Katara's eyes are shut tightly to avoid crying, better control her breathing, and concentrate on the feeling of her ribs. So other indications of pain will be a quick inhalation of breath and the tightening of her eyes.]

Okay.

[...even Nala seems a bit annoyed as Katara summons her to begin the work patching her broken rib.

Yes, yes, she should have gotten help. Yes, yes, she shouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Katara pictures the bone fitting back together, pictures wholeness and warmth and... in a matter of minutes it's so.]

[For his part, crouching next to her (not standing over, that would be weird) Masaomi just watches her work, feeling like a putz and as such watching all this with a distinct unblinking frown. It's like... other times. Hitagi. It's not nearly as bad and freezing up and doing nothing, but.]

[A deep breath to test the pain and - it's still a little sore, but... good enough. Her healing will take care of the rest in her shower tonight. So she gets up, all on her own, and smiles at him.]

Your turn.

My turn?

[He blinks. He's only... just started to feel the blow he took from the bo (which no doubt is going to bruise up, though mercifully does not seem to have broken a rib or anything) and the stress in his writes/palms from the other strike. Like. Just now.]

[She nods.]

Yeah, unless you've got superhealing to go with that strength, I know I got in a pretty good hit. Let me see your side.

[...He blinks once more, but then nods and obliges. He's got on, as ever, just that white hoodie and a little shirt under it, so he just lifts both up to reveal where the bo connected on his side. He talks as he goes, going back to a jovial tone]

Super? Aaah~ come on now Katara, I'm no Shizuo Heiwajima.

[It's reddened, going to bruise, probably a little tender but. Well yeah it's just that. This is normally the sort of wound he wouldn't even do anything to, because it didn't impact around his kidneys, just sort of... the side of his abdomen in a non-vital area. Have at

EDIT: Actually. It is worth noting while he's not exposing much, under the hoodie he's probably got a fair few scars on his chest, abdomen, other places like that. Not a lot will be visible but... little things. Clear remnants of combat]

Edited 2011-02-25 04:26 (UTC)

Who?

[Katara steps close before he answers to inspect the hit and nods.]

That doesn't look too bad.

[With this kind of bruising Katara's found that her own healing is more effective, so instead of reaching for Nala she streams a little water out of her waterskin, coats her hand, and lays it on top of the bruise.

She can't help but note the evidence of violence on his body, and while one part of her takes it as more confirmation of his story - not that she needs it - the rest is inexplicably saddened.]

[Water...? Well she is a water-bender, but... He blinks and then in a more blase tone, but still not the flat and cold one from earlier-]

Eeeh... him and Celty-san are under constant debate about who is the strongest in Ikebukuro. He's a monster.

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