fandomtownies | The beach, Thursday afternoon

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The beach, Thursday afternoon

Weird day after a weird day. Fandom to the core. Waking up with Priestly had been unnerving, even more so with Azula snarking; then there'd been her conversation with the angel at the church.

Dinah was ready for some mindless training now, thanks. Although guaranteed Azula wouldn't leave it at that. Until then, she was stretching and warming up, and doing one of her meditation exercises. Dinah. Not-Dinah. Mana, alaya...

[for the Fire Nation warlord, but open before and after her arrival.]

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Azula, on the other hand, was in an exceptional good mood. She was back in her own gender, there were no sightings of her mother and she got to mock Dinah relentlessly this morning and it seemed the trend was going to continue.

"Hello, Dinah," she said, announcing her arrival. "Had a good sleep?"

Dinah sent her a dirty look, then carefully tried to breathe out any excessive aggression. "It was fine." She reached down to touch her toes, then side to side, and straightened. "Happy to be a girl again?" Guessing the answer would be Oh God Yes.

"Does the sun rise in the East?" She returned actually smiling and not one of her sharp predatory smiles.

"Last time I checked!" Dinah laughed, and grinned back at Azula. "It was interesting, but I really, really wouldn't want to be stuck as a guy. Too weird."

"I wouldn't want to turn into a guy, period. The balance's all wrong and I hate looking like my brother that much." Azula had a package with her, "Speaking of balance," she tossed the brown package at Dinah. "Here."

It was shoes (http://www.goodorient.com/Chinese_Traditional_Kung_Fu_Shoes_P23102) and socks (http://superiormartialarts.com/images6/80200.jpg). The material and design was close enough to her own training shoes back home. Azula was giving them but they were not free.

"It was fun for one day." She grinned, remembering flirting with Tony, then turned red, remembering the morning. Dinah caught the package and gave Azula a curious look before unwrapping it. Surprised at the contents, she looked up. "Thank you? These are the ones you were talking about, right?" She sat down on the sand, and kicked off her own shoes.

"Yes," she said, turning on the Sifu mode. "It'll give you more balance. Sand will not stick to the soles, it'll free your movement and improve your speed. It also has better traction if you find yourself leaping over boulders at top speed."

There was something about Azula's tone that hinted Dinah would be, in the near future. With red balloons.

Oh yay. Well, if it helped her do stuff, Dinah was all for it.

"Awesome," Dinah said, slipping her socks on, then the shoes. "Where do we start?"

"I think I mentioned I would start teaching the philosophies of bending," she said.

"You did," Dinah said, getting to her feet, and bouncing on her toes. Her feet felt lighte; the shoes were really comfortable, at least. "Ready to learn."

Azula picked up a branch and began drawing on the sand.

"There are four elements benders utilize: Fire, Earth, Air and Water." She started drawing a circle and said, as if reciting a lecture, "Earth is the element of substance. The people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse and strong. They are persistent and enduring. And stupidly hard to kill," Azula added with a scowl. She moved on to a second symbol, a circle with a swirl pattern, "Air is the element of freedom. Supposedly Air Nomads detached themselves from worldly concerns and found peace and freedom, which, if you ask me only made it easier for them to get killed."

She drew the third symbol, a circle with waves.

"Water," she fairly spat out the word, "is the element of change. of the Water Tribe peasants are supposedly capable of adapting. And somehow their sense of community is important. I don't know why, maybe it makes them feel tough when they're being hunted down like boar lions."

The fourth symbol, a flame, she drew as if she were accustomed to it, "Fire is the element of power. Fire Nation citizens have desire and will and the energy and drive to achieve what we want. It is unstoppable and implacable."

It was obvious where her bias lies.

"Knowing the philosophies behind each bending art will help you understand the elements you're trying to manipulate."

Okaaay, political attitude much?

Dinah put that aside for the moment, and studied the symbols, and said, "And with my telekinesis the way that it is, you think I could manage earth bending and water bending." Dryly she added, "Even if I'm way behind the five-year-olds." Stubborn and hard to kill, adaptable and connected to other people-- well, she didn't have a problem with that. There were cool things about the air philosophy and the fire philosophy too, but go with your strengths.

No surprise about Azula being fire, though.

"I think if you do it right you could manage to at least go toe-to-toe with a six year old," she said with a smirk. "Maybe even trounce a Water Tribe peasant."

"Well, I'm probably a 'peasant'," Dinah said, beetling her eyebrows at her, "by your standards, anyway. And just got my power a year ago. So bring on the six-year-olds." She took a breath, knowing Azula was trying to get under her skin, still finding it irritating. "You think air, maybe? Or is that a lot harder?"

Azula didn't comment about Dinah's peasant remark but her slight smirk was answer enough.

"You want to learn a bit of airbending?" Azula pondered it. "I fought an airbender and he's amazingly dexterous and nimble. He utilizes the air around him to both buoy his fighting and as a weapon. His motions are more circular than firebending."

She proceeded to do a few circle walking movements, just as she'd seen the Avatar during their frequent fights. "He gets around his opponents and strikes."

Annoying, but Dinah would seriously rather be a peasant than as insane as Azula or Arthur.

"I can already air-walk," she said, then admitted, "A little." She took a breath, slowing herself down, falling into the meditation for it, and took a step upward, and then another, apparently a half a foot above the ground. "I'm getting better at it. I walked above the water in the pool last week, the whole length."

She imitated one of Azula's moves, staying above the ground with all of her concentration. "I don't know. It feels a little weird."

Now, see this was the reason why she was sticking close to Dinah. She had such delicious potential.

"Impressive," she said. It was like a cold reptilian curiosity reared from her hind brain to take over then she blinked it away, deliberately shelving it. "Can you also run up walls with it? The airbender I fought can. He can also ride an air ball he created. It helps him increase his speed. Because if you're going to use air walking in combat you have to remember the key thing: Speed."

Azula watched Dinah's stilted movements and refrained wincing. She was a sifu, Dinah was a beginner. One can't expect miracles.

"It will feel more natural the more you do it the important thing to remember is he uses the air around him and uses it to 'blast' people."

Azula was being creepy again. Dinah's first response was always a combination of fight-and-flight, and she clamped down on it to watch her carefully, mongoose to cobra, ready to hit back if she crossed a line.

"I've never tried that," she answered. "Or to make anything with it; although I guess I can see if it works. It's getting stronger, I can lift more than I used to with it. And my fine control for objects is a lot better." Dinah paused, repeated the motions more slowly, more carefully. "Like this?" And yay, she was keeping her stance on the air, it was just one more mental piece of concentration to juggle.

Well, its Dinah's fault for being so interesting.

Azula clasped her arms behind her back. "Impressive as that seems, Dinah, I think it's more practical if you practice on the ground first? Fundamentals should never be forgotten over the shiny."

Oh, sure. Blame the stalked.

Dinah rolled her eyes, and hopped back down to ground level, repeating it. It did work better from there, though. "So, this is how he fights, or this is how he controls air, or both?"

"Both, I believe. He displayed impressive agility during the fights and didn't let terrain restrict his movements." Azula flowed into the Avatar's forms, from what she'd seen of it, "He let the environment work for him. And then he summoned the air around him to blast it to people."

At the word 'blast' Azula snapped out a punch but what came out was not air, but blue fire.

"But in his case, it's air not fire."

Dinah nodded, thinking, did the form again, and tried to push air at Azula in a punch. Not really sure what she was imagining, or trying to do; hesitant about how much force to use, too, her accident with Daisy coming to mind.

A little puff of air might have made it to Azula's face, the same as blowing on a dandelion.

Azula felt the air but it seemed more like air induced by force than by any ability.

"Well," she said after a while, "I suppose you can't be talented at everything. Let's just focus on Earth and the Water."

Dinah turned a little red, but it wasn't like she was wrong so she blew out a breath, and said, "Earth. I pulled that trick with exploding the ground on Karla yesterday. That worked pretty well, really."

"Show me," Azula ordered grandly.

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