The beach, Thursday morning, early
Dinah was waiting for Azula near the rocks, and practicing her funnels. They weren't very impressive, but they did come up out of the water now, instead of collapsing every time. It was getting chillier, and she was half-hoping they could train inside at the gym today.
Azula "Feeling cold?" Azula smirked. Did she love being a Firebender? Yes. Yes, she did.
Dinah Dinah jittered slightly in place, and gave her a sour look. "No, I love January winds. Brrrrr." She took a breath, watching it frost in the air, and said, "What's today's lesson?"
Azula "Uh-huh." Azula looked around, then faced Dinah with the smuggest expression on her face. "Today? Practical exams."
Dinah Aaaaaack, Dinah thought. Which was hopefully only given away in the widening of her eyes. She took a breath and faced Azula. "Right. So. Earth or water first?"
Azula "Both." Can Azula get any smugger? Yes, she can. "Scared yet?"
Dinah Why yes. Why do you ask? "No worries." Riiight. "So. You want me to... what, form a water-whip and slice the sand at the same time?" Ahahahaha. Crap.
Azula "At the same time." She tipped her head to the side, practically smelling fear. "Did I mention you need to hit me too?"
Dinah "What?" Oh, this is going to be humiliating. Greeeat. How can she do this how can she manage this how how how how?
Wait. Ohhh. Heh. She didn't say what she'd be hit with....
Azula "Let's start," Azula dropped into a stance.
Dinah Dinah took a breath, and dropped into ready stance, not even sure she could do what she was thinking. Not without getting her ass handed to her.
Behind Azula, a water whip formed; slower than usual, without the focusing gestures, but still rising higher and higher. She concentrated, holding it in place with effort, then took a breath, focusing on the sand just up the slope from Azula.
"Ready." And there was no way this was going to work....
Azula Azula noticed the sand, "Taking a bit long with the sand, aren't you?"
She smiled attempting to look benevolent.
Dinah "...yes." Dinah grimaced, and took a step forward, aiming a punch at Azula, slamming the telekinesis into the sand-- the angle was all wrong--
and whipping the water-spiral at both of them, willing to take a hit as long as Azula got wet and stopped smirking for two minutes.
Azula Azula dodges the punch and then notices Dinah's move a little late and-- she's wet.
She expected that but still elicits a frown, she flows down and with an open palm attempts to push Dinah's arms away.
Dinah That gave Dinah a pang of satisfaction-- at least she got that much right-- and as her arms were pushed away, she turned with Azula-learned speed to kick out at her kneecap. And what the heck, tried to cut the ground out from under her again, forcing the TK down the line of her kick past Azula, so the ground was uneven behind her.
Azula Azula notes the kick, manages to barely move her leg away before shifting to another stance.
"Excellent speed, keep that up." If Azula was going to add anything disparging it was cut down by the ground shifting from under her, she leaps back but uses her legs to kick out at Dinah hoping/planning to unbalance Dinah.
Dinah Azula managed it, getting Dinah in the stomach and sending her tumbling backward on her butt. Gah. Out of breath for a second, Dinah rolled over as fast as she could, and summoned another water whip. No, a sheaf. Like she'd done for Jak (weeks ago now) to make a water fall: the first part easy, picking it up--
She circled so Azula would face away from the water, panting for breath, but harder than she really had to, eyes on Azula, careful careful, and threw another one-two punch combination as she let the water go.
Splash!
Azula Azula was wet again and the frown turned into a scowl. On one hand, Azula liked Dinah was improving under her tutelage, on the other. She was getting wet.
In real combat with a waterbender that could have been a critical hit. This isn't just practice for Dinah, she reminded herself, it was also a practice for her.
With that in mind Azula stepped forward and proceeded to deliver a powerful kick aimed at Dinah's head.
Dinah Dinah saw it coming, and whipped her head sideways, Ghanima's admonitions about being elsewhere in her head, and the practice with the water balloons getting her the heck out of the way. Crap. Time to step it up! Don't think, react (thank you, Arthur), and she saw another opening to cut just a tiny bit of ground from under Azula's feet when she stomped down again.
And maybe a slap in the face with water would be pushing it, but Azula had to be expecting it by now, and maybe she could get a real punch in, if she was distracted-- so a small spiral was forming, slower - take a breath, dodge - slower - punch! Hold the water ready, in reserve....
Azula Dinah's evasion was impressive, her training was bearing fruit. Azula felt an unaccountable feeling of pride marred by an uneasy confusion building in her. She predicted Dinah would improve but she didn't realize it would be to this degree.
Azula's eyes narrowed and her focus on Dinah tightened. Dinah was going to do another waterbending move; Not going to happen this time. She struck out at Dinah's right wrist, attempting to pull Dinah's concentration from the task and launched a roundhouse kick at Dinah's side.
She wasn't going to get wet again.
Dinah The water bubble fell apart, about ten feet from them, and Dinah had to abandon waterbending moves to concentrate on cartwheeling away, feeling the sting as the kick connected with her leg - ow - then coming up to use a blast of telekinesis to send sand upward in a cone, hopefully right into Azula's path.
Azula Too late to avoid the sand, Azula committed to her lunge forward and closed her eyes but not before some grains of sand stung her eyes. Azula growled, there was a build up of pressure in her chest but she expelled it with a breath, her left arm, leading with her elbow swung around. It would surprise her if she hit something but at least it would keep Dinah at a distance.
"Using your surroundings to your extra advantage," Azula grinned but it was sharp and a tad too feral. "Point."
Dinah "Thank you," Dinah said breathlessly, ducking out of the way of the elbow, and scrambling again so Azula would have to keep moving, facing away from the water, and less finesse now, she was getting tired, but yes, higher and higher and long and punch out and use the TK in concert and God it was too cold for this but
SPLASH! and laugh, and laugh, because it was fun.
Azula The water hit Azula and the instant it did, it began to sizzle.
Be calm. The voice sounded like Li. (Or Lo, Azula could never tell the twins apart.) You must be calm and cold as lightning.
Oh, she was calm. She didn't need to be reminded of that. She was calm. She was the very definition of calm. "Dinah." Azula clenched her fist, "Let's make things more interesting." With that said Azula launched a flurry of attacks giving Dinah neither the time nor the concentration to do anything. It was wearying to go at the speed she was going but she was fully committed to this test. She was doing this calmly. Really.
Dinah Dinah dodged some of it. Some of it. And managed to deflect a couple blows. The rest landed, stung, and were going to bruise. Dinah gritted her teeth, tiring, knowing she was almost defeated, and thinking, One last splash before I give up, because her ears were already ringing, and her arms and legs were already throbbing from repeated blows, places for bruises later. She was soaking wet, she was tired, and she was kind of proud at how well she'd done, but she was ready for this to be over.
No finesse at all. Just a water-whip that for once, was only aimed at Azula. One. Two. Three!
Azula The drawback of melee fighting was most of the time it was too late to move away and this was the case here: Dinah's water whip might be without finesse but this close, her aim was true.
Azula turned her head away but the whip 'tickled' her cheek, stinging it with a red welt. The stinging pain was on the same side as Zuko's scar. She laughed. How ironic. How coincidental. Her teeth clicked together and for a few brief seconds her expression was distorted with a terrible look of rage and it vanished as she let out another bark of uneven laughter. A few tendrils of hair escaped her hair bindings and her golden eyes glittered dangerously.
"Good, good!" Azula leapt back and her hands followed a familiar pattern, "Now let me show you how you really play with your surroundings." Their earlier deal stipulated that she refrain from using for fire and knives, there was nothing about lightning. "Move fast, Dinah."
There was a crackle of lightning and the now familiar pain that accompanied summoning it. The aim was the boulder next to Dinah, the goal was to show Dinah something spectacular. But her emotions were too engaged and the brittle control she had over lightning was laughable.
Her mother's voice rang through her head: "Azula, no!"
Once summoned the unpredictable and powerful element had to go somewhere, keeping it contained could only, literally, blow up in her face. Azula extended her arm and it was only then she realized with widening eyes she miscalculated, the created electricity was too powerful for the move she had planned but it was too late, the lightning crashed into the boulder in an ear splitting crash.
Debris flew everywhere and Azula could only shout: "Move!"
Dinah Dinah was moving when Azula said Move fast, Dinah, when she saw the look on her face. Ten feet, fifteen feet away from where she'd been standing-- but not fast enough. She saw Azula's eyes widen in panic, heard her shout Move! again, and had time to duck her head, get her arms up to protect her face--
BOOM!
The explosion of the rock knocked Dinah off her feet, her head hitting the sand with a jarring thud. For a second she couldn't breathe, everything frozen. Her side throbbed-- something had hit there-- and her arms stung. She took a breath and gulped. "Ow."
Azula Azula saw Dinah hit the sand hard, she ran to Dinah's side and knelt beside her, knowing enough of combat medicine not to move her.
"Any injuries?"
Dinah "My arms." Dinah took another breath, felt it catch on the pain in her side. "Right side, too." She swallowed, blinked, focused harder on Azula. "Vision's blurry. Head hurts." Do not. Pass. Out. "Ughh..."
Azula "You sound blurry," Azula remarked then ordered: "Don't lose consciousness."
Dinah "Don't wanna pass out," Dinah agreed woozily. She gave Azula a bleary, half-angry, half-frightened look, and muttered, "Don't want to be sick either. Think... need a doctor."
Azula "I concur," she stood and tried to gauge how far the clinic would be. "You need a medic and we need to bring you to the clinic."
It would take a while to get to the clinic and there would be no telling if Dinah would disobey her orders and lose consciousness. Azula looked down at Dinah, taking in her fearful expression. "Don't panic. Your injuries aren't that bad, I've seen worse," then she added, to console Dinah,"At least your intestines are still inside you."
Griff Training on the beach was usually a wonderfully solitary time. Up until there were explosions to distract Griff from his katas. Having spotted people in the area of the crazy lightning, Griff jumped closer and ran toward them.
"Alright there?" His eyes widened when he got a look at his friend in the sand. "Oh hell, Dinah!"
Dinah "Griff," Dinah coughed, then nearly doubled over at how that hurt. Azula was maybe right, maybe she wasn't very severely hurt, but the dizziness and the soreness in her side didn't help any. "Azula. This is Griff. Griff, Azula. She had a little... accident." Lost her temper. Dinah was starting to feel pissed about that, through the haziness. She tried to sit up, and then clutched her side, sucking in a breath.
Azula "Can you help her?" Azula demanded, dispensing with the niceties because... she never had much use for it especially now. Then glared at Dinah, "Stop moving or you'll aggravate your meager injuries."
Griff This situation completely fell into the category of necessary exposure. "I'm no doctor, but I can get her to one fast," he told Azula before biting his lip and crouching by Dinah. "Think you can suffer a jump right now?"
Dinah "Yes," Dinah said, reaching for his arm, then muttered, "Right side feels like banged ribs. And, uh. I may yak on you when we get there. So stand clear."
Azula "Yak?" Azula repeated, unfamiliar with the term. Then to Griff, "Then get her to the clinic, fast."
Griff Griff would prefer not to be yakked on, but it was a hazard he'd accept even as he reached to close his hand around Dinah's arm and sort of scoot his other beneath her legs. "I'd take you, too but it's already complicated. Meet us there?"
Azula "Of course," Azula said, with a tone of disdain. She looked around for Griff's transportation, "How will you take Dinah to the clinic?"
Griff "It's the thing I can do. I jump. Teleport. Whatever you want to call it," he said, a wry grin twisting over his lips. Both a blessing and a curse.
He got a picture in his mind of the clinic, bringing to mind the sounds and smells of the memory. "Ready, Dinah?"
Dinah "Yeah. Thanks, Griff. Really, really... great of you." Dinah gave Azula one last wary look, torn between wanting to yell at her, and wanting to forgive her, and settled for, "See you there." Then hung on tight to Griff, closing her eyes.
Azula Azula's frown deepened, "What do you mean by telep--"
Griff As soon as he had Dinah's blessing, Griff focused and jumped himself and Dinah straight to the clinic. Nothing but sand swirling in their wake and a tiny electric blue tear in the center of it that closed up as quickly as it had opened.
Azula "--port." Azula's eyes widened in surprise and watched the sand swirl around where Griff and Dinah were, until a few moments ago, standing.
She looked around to find she was alone with only the sea and the broken chunks of rock for company. Slowly the look of surprise melted away. "I see." When she looked up again, she was smiling and her eyes glittered. "Teleport."
[Pre-played with the lovely azuldragon and youcantfollow. NFI, but okay for broadcast and OOC.
And of course the beach is open after, as beaches are.]
Azula "Feeling cold?" Azula smirked. Did she love being a Firebender? Yes. Yes, she did.
Dinah Dinah jittered slightly in place, and gave her a sour look. "No, I love January winds. Brrrrr." She took a breath, watching it frost in the air, and said, "What's today's lesson?"
Azula "Uh-huh." Azula looked around, then faced Dinah with the smuggest expression on her face. "Today? Practical exams."
Dinah Aaaaaack, Dinah thought. Which was hopefully only given away in the widening of her eyes. She took a breath and faced Azula. "Right. So. Earth or water first?"
Azula "Both." Can Azula get any smugger? Yes, she can. "Scared yet?"
Dinah Why yes. Why do you ask? "No worries." Riiight. "So. You want me to... what, form a water-whip and slice the sand at the same time?" Ahahahaha. Crap.
Azula "At the same time." She tipped her head to the side, practically smelling fear. "Did I mention you need to hit me too?"
Dinah "What?" Oh, this is going to be humiliating. Greeeat. How can she do this how can she manage this how how how how?
Wait. Ohhh. Heh. She didn't say what she'd be hit with....
Azula "Let's start," Azula dropped into a stance.
Dinah Dinah took a breath, and dropped into ready stance, not even sure she could do what she was thinking. Not without getting her ass handed to her.
Behind Azula, a water whip formed; slower than usual, without the focusing gestures, but still rising higher and higher. She concentrated, holding it in place with effort, then took a breath, focusing on the sand just up the slope from Azula.
"Ready." And there was no way this was going to work....
Azula Azula noticed the sand, "Taking a bit long with the sand, aren't you?"
She smiled attempting to look benevolent.
Dinah "...yes." Dinah grimaced, and took a step forward, aiming a punch at Azula, slamming the telekinesis into the sand-- the angle was all wrong--
and whipping the water-spiral at both of them, willing to take a hit as long as Azula got wet and stopped smirking for two minutes.
Azula Azula dodges the punch and then notices Dinah's move a little late and-- she's wet.
She expected that but still elicits a frown, she flows down and with an open palm attempts to push Dinah's arms away.
Dinah That gave Dinah a pang of satisfaction-- at least she got that much right-- and as her arms were pushed away, she turned with Azula-learned speed to kick out at her kneecap. And what the heck, tried to cut the ground out from under her again, forcing the TK down the line of her kick past Azula, so the ground was uneven behind her.
Azula Azula notes the kick, manages to barely move her leg away before shifting to another stance.
"Excellent speed, keep that up." If Azula was going to add anything disparging it was cut down by the ground shifting from under her, she leaps back but uses her legs to kick out at Dinah hoping/planning to unbalance Dinah.
Dinah Azula managed it, getting Dinah in the stomach and sending her tumbling backward on her butt. Gah. Out of breath for a second, Dinah rolled over as fast as she could, and summoned another water whip. No, a sheaf. Like she'd done for Jak (weeks ago now) to make a water fall: the first part easy, picking it up--
She circled so Azula would face away from the water, panting for breath, but harder than she really had to, eyes on Azula, careful careful, and threw another one-two punch combination as she let the water go.
Splash!
Azula Azula was wet again and the frown turned into a scowl. On one hand, Azula liked Dinah was improving under her tutelage, on the other. She was getting wet.
In real combat with a waterbender that could have been a critical hit. This isn't just practice for Dinah, she reminded herself, it was also a practice for her.
With that in mind Azula stepped forward and proceeded to deliver a powerful kick aimed at Dinah's head.
Dinah Dinah saw it coming, and whipped her head sideways, Ghanima's admonitions about being elsewhere in her head, and the practice with the water balloons getting her the heck out of the way. Crap. Time to step it up! Don't think, react (thank you, Arthur), and she saw another opening to cut just a tiny bit of ground from under Azula's feet when she stomped down again.
And maybe a slap in the face with water would be pushing it, but Azula had to be expecting it by now, and maybe she could get a real punch in, if she was distracted-- so a small spiral was forming, slower - take a breath, dodge - slower - punch! Hold the water ready, in reserve....
Azula Dinah's evasion was impressive, her training was bearing fruit. Azula felt an unaccountable feeling of pride marred by an uneasy confusion building in her. She predicted Dinah would improve but she didn't realize it would be to this degree.
Azula's eyes narrowed and her focus on Dinah tightened. Dinah was going to do another waterbending move; Not going to happen this time. She struck out at Dinah's right wrist, attempting to pull Dinah's concentration from the task and launched a roundhouse kick at Dinah's side.
She wasn't going to get wet again.
Dinah The water bubble fell apart, about ten feet from them, and Dinah had to abandon waterbending moves to concentrate on cartwheeling away, feeling the sting as the kick connected with her leg - ow - then coming up to use a blast of telekinesis to send sand upward in a cone, hopefully right into Azula's path.
Azula Too late to avoid the sand, Azula committed to her lunge forward and closed her eyes but not before some grains of sand stung her eyes. Azula growled, there was a build up of pressure in her chest but she expelled it with a breath, her left arm, leading with her elbow swung around. It would surprise her if she hit something but at least it would keep Dinah at a distance.
"Using your surroundings to your extra advantage," Azula grinned but it was sharp and a tad too feral. "Point."
Dinah "Thank you," Dinah said breathlessly, ducking out of the way of the elbow, and scrambling again so Azula would have to keep moving, facing away from the water, and less finesse now, she was getting tired, but yes, higher and higher and long and punch out and use the TK in concert and God it was too cold for this but
SPLASH! and laugh, and laugh, because it was fun.
Azula The water hit Azula and the instant it did, it began to sizzle.
Be calm. The voice sounded like Li. (Or Lo, Azula could never tell the twins apart.) You must be calm and cold as lightning.
Oh, she was calm. She didn't need to be reminded of that. She was calm. She was the very definition of calm. "Dinah." Azula clenched her fist, "Let's make things more interesting." With that said Azula launched a flurry of attacks giving Dinah neither the time nor the concentration to do anything. It was wearying to go at the speed she was going but she was fully committed to this test. She was doing this calmly. Really.
Dinah Dinah dodged some of it. Some of it. And managed to deflect a couple blows. The rest landed, stung, and were going to bruise. Dinah gritted her teeth, tiring, knowing she was almost defeated, and thinking, One last splash before I give up, because her ears were already ringing, and her arms and legs were already throbbing from repeated blows, places for bruises later. She was soaking wet, she was tired, and she was kind of proud at how well she'd done, but she was ready for this to be over.
No finesse at all. Just a water-whip that for once, was only aimed at Azula. One. Two. Three!
Azula The drawback of melee fighting was most of the time it was too late to move away and this was the case here: Dinah's water whip might be without finesse but this close, her aim was true.
Azula turned her head away but the whip 'tickled' her cheek, stinging it with a red welt. The stinging pain was on the same side as Zuko's scar. She laughed. How ironic. How coincidental. Her teeth clicked together and for a few brief seconds her expression was distorted with a terrible look of rage and it vanished as she let out another bark of uneven laughter. A few tendrils of hair escaped her hair bindings and her golden eyes glittered dangerously.
"Good, good!" Azula leapt back and her hands followed a familiar pattern, "Now let me show you how you really play with your surroundings." Their earlier deal stipulated that she refrain from using for fire and knives, there was nothing about lightning. "Move fast, Dinah."
There was a crackle of lightning and the now familiar pain that accompanied summoning it. The aim was the boulder next to Dinah, the goal was to show Dinah something spectacular. But her emotions were too engaged and the brittle control she had over lightning was laughable.
Her mother's voice rang through her head: "Azula, no!"
Once summoned the unpredictable and powerful element had to go somewhere, keeping it contained could only, literally, blow up in her face. Azula extended her arm and it was only then she realized with widening eyes she miscalculated, the created electricity was too powerful for the move she had planned but it was too late, the lightning crashed into the boulder in an ear splitting crash.
Debris flew everywhere and Azula could only shout: "Move!"
Dinah Dinah was moving when Azula said Move fast, Dinah, when she saw the look on her face. Ten feet, fifteen feet away from where she'd been standing-- but not fast enough. She saw Azula's eyes widen in panic, heard her shout Move! again, and had time to duck her head, get her arms up to protect her face--
BOOM!
The explosion of the rock knocked Dinah off her feet, her head hitting the sand with a jarring thud. For a second she couldn't breathe, everything frozen. Her side throbbed-- something had hit there-- and her arms stung. She took a breath and gulped. "Ow."
Azula Azula saw Dinah hit the sand hard, she ran to Dinah's side and knelt beside her, knowing enough of combat medicine not to move her.
"Any injuries?"
Dinah "My arms." Dinah took another breath, felt it catch on the pain in her side. "Right side, too." She swallowed, blinked, focused harder on Azula. "Vision's blurry. Head hurts." Do not. Pass. Out. "Ughh..."
Azula "You sound blurry," Azula remarked then ordered: "Don't lose consciousness."
Dinah "Don't wanna pass out," Dinah agreed woozily. She gave Azula a bleary, half-angry, half-frightened look, and muttered, "Don't want to be sick either. Think... need a doctor."
Azula "I concur," she stood and tried to gauge how far the clinic would be. "You need a medic and we need to bring you to the clinic."
It would take a while to get to the clinic and there would be no telling if Dinah would disobey her orders and lose consciousness. Azula looked down at Dinah, taking in her fearful expression. "Don't panic. Your injuries aren't that bad, I've seen worse," then she added, to console Dinah,"At least your intestines are still inside you."
Griff Training on the beach was usually a wonderfully solitary time. Up until there were explosions to distract Griff from his katas. Having spotted people in the area of the crazy lightning, Griff jumped closer and ran toward them.
"Alright there?" His eyes widened when he got a look at his friend in the sand. "Oh hell, Dinah!"
Dinah "Griff," Dinah coughed, then nearly doubled over at how that hurt. Azula was maybe right, maybe she wasn't very severely hurt, but the dizziness and the soreness in her side didn't help any. "Azula. This is Griff. Griff, Azula. She had a little... accident." Lost her temper. Dinah was starting to feel pissed about that, through the haziness. She tried to sit up, and then clutched her side, sucking in a breath.
Azula "Can you help her?" Azula demanded, dispensing with the niceties because... she never had much use for it especially now. Then glared at Dinah, "Stop moving or you'll aggravate your meager injuries."
Griff This situation completely fell into the category of necessary exposure. "I'm no doctor, but I can get her to one fast," he told Azula before biting his lip and crouching by Dinah. "Think you can suffer a jump right now?"
Dinah "Yes," Dinah said, reaching for his arm, then muttered, "Right side feels like banged ribs. And, uh. I may yak on you when we get there. So stand clear."
Azula "Yak?" Azula repeated, unfamiliar with the term. Then to Griff, "Then get her to the clinic, fast."
Griff Griff would prefer not to be yakked on, but it was a hazard he'd accept even as he reached to close his hand around Dinah's arm and sort of scoot his other beneath her legs. "I'd take you, too but it's already complicated. Meet us there?"
Azula "Of course," Azula said, with a tone of disdain. She looked around for Griff's transportation, "How will you take Dinah to the clinic?"
Griff "It's the thing I can do. I jump. Teleport. Whatever you want to call it," he said, a wry grin twisting over his lips. Both a blessing and a curse.
He got a picture in his mind of the clinic, bringing to mind the sounds and smells of the memory. "Ready, Dinah?"
Dinah "Yeah. Thanks, Griff. Really, really... great of you." Dinah gave Azula one last wary look, torn between wanting to yell at her, and wanting to forgive her, and settled for, "See you there." Then hung on tight to Griff, closing her eyes.
Azula Azula's frown deepened, "What do you mean by telep--"
Griff As soon as he had Dinah's blessing, Griff focused and jumped himself and Dinah straight to the clinic. Nothing but sand swirling in their wake and a tiny electric blue tear in the center of it that closed up as quickly as it had opened.
Azula "--port." Azula's eyes widened in surprise and watched the sand swirl around where Griff and Dinah were, until a few moments ago, standing.
She looked around to find she was alone with only the sea and the broken chunks of rock for company. Slowly the look of surprise melted away. "I see." When she looked up again, she was smiling and her eyes glittered. "Teleport."
[Pre-played with the lovely azuldragon and youcantfollow. NFI, but okay for broadcast and OOC.
And of course the beach is open after, as beaches are.]