lucetilogs | "I'm still the same, pursuing pain./Is it worth all that I've gained?"

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"I'm still the same, pursuing pain./Is it worth all that I've gained?"

Who:

markofthebrave
What: Just a friendly match
When: Thursday, after dinner
Where: A friendly forest clearing by a friendly stream
Summary: It's the middle of a heat wave and tensions at home are rising. What better way to blow off steam?
Rating: PG for violence

Zuko helping Katara prepare dinner wasn't exactly uncommon, odd as it was for a prince to be getting his hands dirty in such a way. Zuko was, surprisingly enough, one of the better cooks in the house and she welcomed his help. His suggestion that they spar afterwards was equally welcome. Katara didn't like the heat, and the atmosphere in the house had become increasingly - awkward - in the evenings. She doesn't blame him for wanting to get out and she takes the fact that he actually asked for this as a positive step to renewing their friendship.

"This looks like a good spot."

It is a good spot, actually. They'd sparred here before, not that Zuko remembers. But it's far enough away from the trees that they won't accidentally get scorched, the grass is low and flat, and the stream bubbling to the left is a good source of water for her without being an overwhelming advantage.

"What do you think?"

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Suggesting a spar did have something of an ulterior motive: Zuko wants out of the house badly and pent up energy needs some place to go. Pacing hadn't done him any good earlier and he absolutely needs to stay sharp. He'll have to practice anyway; why not ask Katara for a spar? Besides, she -- at any given moment lately -- looks like she could use it herself.

He looks over the area, arms crossed over his chest, and nods. Level and far enough away from trees that neither of them can really use them for cover. She'll have a nice source of water, which will present him with a challenge. "Works for me."

He gestures vaguely with one hand. "Assuming you and the me I don't remember had a few ground rules." That's assuming they had ever sparred, of course, but Katara had accepted so readily that he would have trouble believing otherwise.

"Not really. We'd just go until one of us said 'stop.'"

...so most of their spars hadn't always been at the most emotionally even times.

Katara's aware now that there are other ways to do this. But the same rules that she held with Shikamaru weren't exactly effective going up against firebending.

"All right then." It is something of a comfort to know that she can't drown him: he does need breath to be able to tell her to stop.

... Unless hand gestures count. Still has to be conscious.

"I'm not doing this all night," he says as he puts a little distance between them. "So you're gonna have to say it sooner or later."

Katara raises an eyebrow. Just who does he think he's talking to here? "You're kidding me, right? If you don't have what it takes to last through a spar, you should just quit now."

And she moves into a ready position.

"Quit?" He snorts and falls into his own ready stance. Apparently, she doesn't know who she's talking to, if she thinks he might quit now.

"Anytime." It was arrogant and cocky, but also a simple cue: he's ready when she is.

Katara streams some water out of her waterskin and nods at him. "Then after you."

She doesn't mind giving him the first move here - it's been so long since they've fought she doesn't want to go in too hard, too fast.

Zuko doesn't argue her giving him first strike; it would be pointless. Should there be a next time, he'd give her the first move. Give and take, that's all it was.

He started off simple, two fire-punches in quick succession as he darts to the side. Just a warm-up, nothing more.

And Katara recognizes that motion and springs to the side, narrowly dodging that second fire ball and streaming out a waterwhip that bridges the distance between them, aiming for his shoulder.

They were off to a quick start. It works for Zuko, though. No sense standing around when they're meant to be sparring. He darts forward, angling away from the whip and narrowly dodging it. When he's fairly certain he's kept himself free of her attack, he brings his fists together and sends a large fireball roaring across the clearing toward her.

And you know what? She could block that. But it feels good to send a steady stream of water at it from her waterskin instead and meet him, power for power. She matches it with a long stream of water and their elements hiss as they come into contact, releasing steam and stalling the attack midway for both of them.

Now that is unexpected. Zuko blinks and almost loses it in the moment she doesn't dodge -- as he'd been expecting -- and instead meets him head-on. Honestly, it would be easy to pull back, dodge, and try again from a different angle but this is a challenge he'll not turn away from. He pours more of himself into the fire, letting it burn hotter and simply revels in the chance to meet power for power, if only for a few moments.

She watches as his fire eats away at more of her water - the supply from her waterskin is limited, after all - but she's not ready to just move on to the next step yet. The steam from the encounter is bent back down, reinforcing her water as she continues to meet him, hit for hit and stroke for stroke.

...they fought like this once before, but this time she has no angry words to fling at him across the distance. There's no betrayal to address. It's just an honest outpouring of power and frustration, a meeting of equals, and it feels good.

He wonders how long she'll do this. It's a good feeling -- no doubt about that -- and he enjoys the raw power, but this isn't really a spar. Zuko holds there for a moment, centering himself before pushing forward.

There's no question in her mind that she can hold this - and she does, for a stubborn moment, even as he pushes, giving every appearance of continuing to hold as she pours everything she's got into driving back his flame.

And then she withdraws it, standing her ground and lifting the water as his fire comes barreling towards her. She doesn't move, instead turning what had been a long stream of water to a flat slice and moving to interrupt his flow mid blow in a move that will only cut the element off from his control if he's surprised.

He almost expects her to give at some point; Katara is stubborn but she's also resourceful. He's expecting something. He's just not sure what.

She's quick with her water, but he's almost as quick with his fire. As soon as he sees that wall of water coming down between him and his element, he lets go with a final shove in Katara's direction. His dodge is a short series of quick steps backward and he sends a wave of fire in Katara's direction. It might get past her wall, but it might be enough to occupy her while he regroups.

The fire not cut off by her wall of water disburses before it reaches her. Which was a risk, but an informative one. As Zuko moves backwards, shooting that wave in her direction, Katara keeps the wall of water between them while she takes several steps to her left. She hopes to continue to maneuver him back towards the river, and to that end sends out what's left of her watershield in an scythelike wave about shoulder height.

She doesn't anticipate that catching him, though, and decides to start closing the distance between them, stepping forward in the wake of that wave.

Getting out of this one is going to take some serious maneuvering. She's trying to herd him back toward the river -- and, damn it all, but it's actually working, thanks to his stupid missteps. He should have dodged in the other direction.

He doesn't dodge the wave, because doing so would land him in more trouble than he'd care to admit. Fire is, for the most part, offensive and most of his training reinforced this: dodge if you must but fire is to be used to attack. Overwhelm your opponent with fire and there will never be a need for defense.

He's learned a few tricks though. He stands his ground as a wall of fire erupts between himself and the wave. Katara will have to work harder if she wants to push him into the river.

"Impressive."

And it is impressive - it's a giant wall of flame. She doesn't want to even think about the kind of concentration it takes to sustain that and not let it spread along the grass.

But if he thinks that's going to block off her only route of attack, he's sadly unaccustomed to fighting a waterbender who's had to adapt to traveling to the Fire Nation. Katara raises her hands in a wave-like motion, but no water streams forth from her waterskin. Instead the attack comes from behind him, as a stream of water whips out from the river with only the whistle of motion as its warning to wrap around the foot closest to the river. If it connects, Katara can use it much as anyone who's coiled a whip around someone's limb - and she will use it to tug him back hard in hopes that he'll fall.

Edited 2011-05-27 20:55 (UTC)

"Yes." It is. He'll take that acknowledgement to heart, thanks.

It does take concentration to hold that wall of fire, but not so much that he doesn't realize that the water is rising from the river. It's with a deft motion that the wall of flame splits and the smaller section becomes a stream of flame that shoots out to meet the thin whip of water.

Had Jeong-Jeong held the wall of fire this long? As the seconds build into a half of a minute, a minute, Katara doesn't let him countering her first offensive stall her - it was just the first offensive. Again, she keeps her attack subtle - and instead of drawing out one massive wave starts with a fast rush of water, just skimming along the ground, heading towards him.

But that water doesn't get halfway towards him before she brings her arms straight up - and now there are two waves rushing to meet you, Zuko. The smaller one along the ground and the much, much larger one that's cresting just above head-level.

He's got to get away from the river if he has any hope of making a showing for himself in this spar. Hopefully, he can do just that while her attention is on attacking. He brings his fists together and shoves that wall of fire toward the wave even as he ran forward -- and away from the river.

That wall of fire runs into a bit of difficulty when it meets the forerunner wave along the ground, and Katara works fast. She brings up the other wave and converts it quickly into fist-sized globs of water - globs of water with a thin layer of ice, as she's learned that ice moves faster through the air than water, and brings them down hard in Zuko's direction.

...from behind. But then, he's the one who's running straight at her with the water at his back. He should be expecting something.

He's expecting something all right, but when he reaches a point where he thinks he can turn and look without immediately being pummeled, he has to acknowledge the sheer resourcefulness behind what she just did.

"Nice." And he means it, but that doesn't mean he's going to let those things catch up to him. He could use a little target practice; fist-sized fireballs shoot through the air to meet her fist-sized globules of water.

... At least, the first few. The rest get a sweeping wave of fire aimed at them.

And while she bends them towards him from behind, Katara rushes forward - ice in that quantity is not a good weapon against a firebender, so she doesn't waste much time or effort directing them towards him - they've already launched, so she lets gravity dictate their fall.

Meanwhile, she bends out some of her remaining water from her waterskin and closes in on him, shooting it towards his chest in a hard fast pulse.

When Zuko realizes that those ice balloons aren't his greatest worry -- he's been running pretty much toward Katara; that's where the biggest threat was -- he turns the wave of fire almost back on itself and sweeps it through the air in front of him. The globules of water fall behind him and he grimaces a bit when some very cold water splashes the back of his calf.

... That's really cold water she's throwing at him.

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