The Beach / Friday Afternoon

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

It's been a while since she's seen the beach, she chose the area she frequently used for practice and settled there. After the prerequisite stretching Azula placed her hands behind her back, almost at parade rest and watched the ocean.

It wasn't bothering her as it used to Azula considered this a victory. Perhaps she should test herself later on.

(For Dinah! Open beach is open!)

Comments

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah headed down to the beach, not at the buzzed rush that she'd had with Jak yesterday. No, she was going to need every jot of energy to keep up with Azula.

"Long time no see," she greeted the other girl. "How was your trip back home?"

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"Tiresome," she replied. "All I did was stay indoors, I have energy to burn."

Training today would be a lot more exuberant than usual.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah smiled, and stretched out her arms, bending them behind her back. "I'm up for it. I've been running even more. And there were vegetables to slaughter on Tuesday, were you here for that?"

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"Vegetation became sentient and attacked?" Azula questioned. "Why do I miss all the fun? I would have dearly liked to burn some vegetation."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I'd stop short of sentient, but hissing, mobile, ferocious, and oversized? Yes." Dinah shrugged, loosening out the kinks in her limbs, then stood straight. "It was fun. For once, carnage without questions. Cutting loose instead of having to think about the implications." She grinned, then asked, "So, what's the agenda for today?"

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"How did you fare in the battle?" Azula questioned as a commander to a subordinate. "Then we will go from there. Address where you think you were weak."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Frowning, Dinah thought back, and said, "Possibly in not being very organized, and working alone for too long? It all went a lot quicker when I had Karla or Kennedy to watch my back or my ankles-- there were so many different sizes and directions, it was easy to get surprised. They weren't much of a real threat, they were comparatively slow even if they were hostile, and they mostly just had teeth, no limbs to work with, which meant no distance attacks. But if there had been, uh. Reinforcements?" She had to grin at that idea, then sobered. "Then we would've been tired, and we would have had to retreat to the inside of the dorms. That could've gotten more problematic."

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"There's nothing I can do for your inability to work in a group." Azula began, "I could, if you were under my command but you are not but I find it appalling even with all our time training you find difficulty fighting alone. Seems I will add another thing to our training aside from improving your speed, reflexes and ability to better control your TK."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I can work in a group just fine," Dinah said, irritated. It wasn't like anyone else had been thinking anything besides veggie smash! either. "And I did fine alone. I took out a lot of them!" She huffed. "You asked for weaknesses, I told you weaknesses. You didn't ask for strengths. Which included using TK and different weapons to take them out. And not getting hurt beyond a few nibbles. Sheeesssh."

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"Touchy, aren't you?" Azula smirked. "But you did concede it was a weakness to be addressed, yes?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Possibly," Dinah allowed. "Although it's kind of a big, mutual thing. With a lot of people. But sure, why not. I just don't feel comfortable ordering people around or assigning them places. That's Arthur's thing." And he could have it, yes.

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"And the working alone thing?" Azula asked, choosing not to comment on leadership being 'Arthur's thing'.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah bit her tongue about three times, and settled for, "If you can work out how I can be aware of everything around me, 360 degrees, and how to take out an army, I won't turn it down," without any sarcasm, even.

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"Done." Azula said, taking up the challenge without blinking.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Wait, I was--" Yeah, of course Azula would hear that as a challenge, not a limitation. "Hoookay. Uh." Set that aside for now... "Where are we starting on that today?"

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"I want to see how your TK's improved. You had better not have slacked off," she added, warningly. "Then we'll do a mock battle to see if your speed and reflex has improved."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"No slacking." Not with vegetable invasions, and especially not with Karla's thing a week or so ago, and all the time with Jak. Maybe not as military-focused, but still sharp and ready. And yay, battle!

"Right." Dinah looked out at the water, and held out her hand, remembering the movements Azula had taught her. Maybe it was just the way she focused through her body, but they really did help. She drew a silvery stream of water upward, and feeling it shape into a C, steadier then before, and more contained, unable not to smile at that. She whipped it sideways with a twist of her wrist, sending it arcing toward the beach.

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"Good," Azula said, approving. "Do you have the feel of it now? It seems your movements are more fluid."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I think I do. It's like learning a new martial art. You have to learn it through experiencing it, how to adjust it, before you can can do anything new or fast with it," Dinah said, struggling to explain it aloud. Then she gave up, and aimed another slice of TK at the water, precisely, in a thin powerful line, and water jetted upward in a thin sheet, at least ten feet high. "You you need the repetition before you can improvise with it. And the gestures, the motions-- my mind follows my body, or maybe I just get used to making the adjustments. Either way, it works."

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"The movements make things easier, yes. Have you attempted to use the bending for target practice?" She moved to the boulder where she usually kept the water balloons.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Cocking her head, Dinah said, "No. But ooo, cool idea." She gave the boulder a speculative look. "Ready when you are for this."

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

She took out the waterballoons, "The goal is to keep the balloons from hitting you."

Then without any word of warning Azula launched the first balloon.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah took a step back, and called water to her, in a shimmery arc. The first one she had to just duck, but she was ready for the next, with a whip of water poised to take it out.

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

Azula increased the speed, throwing one after another, aiming for the shoulder, for the chest, for the knees and her head.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah got the first one with one whip, twisted it and zapped another, then started doing everything she could think of-- knocking them into each other, grabbing two at once to smash into the ground, sending a wall of sand up to block them, dodging the ones that got through all the time. So far, no hits! Woo!

Although she was getting tired....

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

Good. Dinah was doing well.

"Let's speed things up a little more," Azula said and let loose a barrage of balloon attacks. "Try moving as well, see if you can bend while moving."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Hoooo boy. Okay. Stepping it up. Think!

Sand bursting upward first, and Dinah dodged down to the water to give her more material to work with, her back to the surf as she raised her arms to summon one whip, then a second, sending them spirally forward at the next wall of paint balloons. Dodge. Duck!

Rush to the right, focus focus slam the balloons into each other, miss one and get hit on the arm, red paint coating her clothes. Ahhh, splatter. How she didn't miss you.

Dinah didn't stop though, but hit the ground, and sliced at the send to send it before her again, still working on staying un-hit any longer.

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"Faster," Azula barked. "Use those legs of yours, Dinah! Use the earth!"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Run run run and slam TK into the ground hard enough to send just a column up as fast as she could, cannoning into the air to take out another barrage. Dive-roll forward, and cut at the ground to send something closer to an earthquake across it, rolling forward to completely obliterate and burst several balloons at once. "Woo!"

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"You're Earthbending's a little shaky," Azula noted. "You have to be more firm. Water and Earth are opposites too, Water is about softness while Earth is about being strong and firm."