Draft Log #1: Before

[lucetimods]

Who: Everyone!
What: Everything!
When: Whenever!
Where: Everywhere!
Summary: The draft has been announced, and the players have their parts. Time to get ready.
Rating: It'll probably vary

Comments

[markofthebrave]

[The day before the draft means there's a lot to do. She wakes early up after a light sleep and spends about an hour or so on her floor just stretching and mentally preparing herself.

Right. There are people to visit. Supplies to gather. Possibly more strategy talks to be had... and she still needs to cast her vote for this captaincy thing. So this morning-to-afternoon Katara will be all over the village, up North by the Straw Hats, popping in to at least say goodbye to Certain Ninja Friends, dropping by the Freedom Fighters, possibly visiting the Heart Pirates... and stopping and saying hello to everyone she sees if they pass by.

Also, she's on a mission. She doesn't like Yue being in the house with just Momo and Hawky. She hasn't decided just who she is going to ask yet, but she knows she's going to ask some people to drop in on her, maybe even invite her over.

The afternoon, she is at home, packing. Chopper and Ginko have been teaching her how to make her own medicines, so she'll be working on those at the kitchen table for a while, just making sure she has everything she needs.

Dinner? Dinner is going to be as much of a feast as she can make it.

And then after everything's said and done, Katara will slip out to the river and practice for anywhere between one-two hours. She'll return in time to get a good night's sleep, but she won't be hard to find if you know what her favorite practice spots are. The moon is waning, but it still looks very close.]

[slaying]

[ the slayer has been awfully troubled of late. and when she's troubled, she likes to patrol. clear her mind. centre herself.

so it is by complete coincidence that she comes across katara in one of her practice spots. at first she stares with that same sort of wonderment she always manages to find for the girl's waterbending -- the few times she's seen it.

eventually, she clears her throat. ]

S-sorry. Y'know, intruding.

[markofthebrave]

[Katara has gotten better at sensing other people when she's practicing - especially if she's practicing not in her own back yard. There's a certain place of focus and awareness that she feels she's beginning to achieve in her bending which is a level even beyond what she'd had when she first came to Luceti. As it is, though she hadn't known Buffy was there, she's not particularly surprise at that sound, however quickly she turns her head. Recognizing Buffy, she smiles.]

That's all right. [She finishes the form in a graceful movement and then streams the water back to her waterskin as she turns to face Buffy.]

I've got a few more private places to do this, but I didn't want to go too far away from the house tonight.

[So intrusion is a risk she's taking!] It's nice to see you, Buffy.

[...she heard about Dawn, you know.]

[slaying]

You're getting ready. That's smart. I ran some training routines in the barracks but...[ but her mind and heart weren't in it. buffy trains often but still -- for a slayer -- it's the heat of the moment that brings out the best. she can only hit dummies so long before she starts feeling like a dummy herself. ]

I'm glad you'll be with us. [ she waves a demonstrative hand at that waterskin. ]

[markofthebrave]

I practice every night around this time anyway. I'm really just running through the basic moves. Once we get out there... [it's different. It's improv, pure and simple. It's trusting that you'll remember and do all those things you've practiced, over and over again, completely perfectly and exactly right when it counts.] ...there won't be any time for things like this.

[Her smile turns wry. She just hopes people aren't counting on her too much once the Shifters show up.] Thanks. I think it's a lot easier to go than it is to be left behind. Hopefully I'll be able to do some good.

[She hated not being able to go in the swamps. The water is her element. If her friends are fighting in it, she should be there.]

[slaying]

[ shifters. those'll put the heebeejeebees in the slayer's spine. ]

Don't hope it, know it. We'll be all out there on the wide, wide sea. Water water everywhere and not a drop you couldn't make dance. That? That's an asset.

[markofthebrave]

It makes it easier than fighting in the desert, that's for sure. [But just because there's an abundance of her resource... yeah, it makes Katara feel powerful. And yeah, she knows she's stronger now than she ever has been before. But she also has seen the way she measures up in the various wacky power scale of Luceti. She knows she's good. She knows she'll do her best. But she's not sure how this whole 'command' thing will work out either.]

[slaying]

...And the both of you'll be out there together. That's -- that's gotta be heartening.

[ siblings, she means. she understands the comfort of having one close. ]

[markofthebrave]

[...

Katara's smile softens if turns a bit wry.]

Actually it looks like just about everyone in my house is going. And this other we know from back home. I'm just not sure we'll all be on the same ship together, if there aren't enough people with experience fighting on ships.

[slaying]

...Us landlubbers are a little too plentiful, huh?

[markofthebrave]

[Shrug] It makes sense that more people are used to fighting on land than water, and where people's homes are. That's usually where half the conflict takes place. Not every world has the kind of wars I'm used to.

[She gives Buffy an assessing look.] Ever fought on a ship before?

[slaying]

[ her posture stiffens and she answers the question in a rather guarded, roundabout way: ] Just recently started learning how to sail at all.

[markofthebrave]

[Impossible not to notice that, really. Katara ignores it.]

How's your balance?

[slaying]

I was a cheerleader even before I was a Slayer -- so pretty damn good, if you don't mind me tooting my own horn. [ she licks her lips. ] It'll be new. I'm not denying that. But I'm very adaptable.

[markofthebrave]

[She has no idea what a cheerleader is. But. Grin.] Good!

Think fast!

[And she whips out a water whip to Buffy's front-facing leg. It is quite fast, but certainly not unavoidable. If for some reason it connects, it will simply wind around her ankle and tug. Katara's hoping Buffy will just jump and avoid it.]

[slaying]

[ a slayer has her own set of superhuman senses. there are the senses to track vampires and the senses that tell her when something hinky is simply up. but then there is the agility and the speed and the ability to extrapolate a hit from the movements of her enemy -- or, in this case, her ally.

buffy's body reacts nigh instantaneously -- snapping backward as the slayer executes a rather spartan sort of back-flip. hands planted in the ground and pushing off until she's a further few feet away.

she lands in a low, customary stance. defensive but smiling. ] Peachy.