Clarissa's First Fight

Yurusu watched closely, as he walked his circle, counting along with her. As he did so, he closed his eyes, getting a feel for the earth around her. After a ten-second eternity, the box dropped, Clarissa fluidly launching a chunk of earth at him. His reflexes were faster, this time, raising a sharp triangle of earth, to distribute the force of the blow to two sides, lessening the impact that one surface had to deal with.

Hey, maybe Yurusu could take something away from this, too?

“Your movements are closely akin to that of a Waterbender- fluid and methodical, a lot less rigid than your average Earthbender. That means you could do a lot more in less time, but you aren’t gonna have as much punch to your attacks.

Your rock was heading toward my back- toward my sword. Instead of listening for my footfalls, or waiting for the vibrations of my footfalls to come to you, reach out into the ground with your chi. Look for places the ground bends, just a little, under the weight of a person.

For our next exercise, I’m gonna launch myself in the air. I want you to cover your ears, and try to find where I land using only the chi-searching method. I’ll be raising you up, a little bit, to dampen horizontal vibration, and then, on the count of three, we’ll begin.”

After a pause, to allow his words to register, he slowly raised a flat circle of rock, underneath Clarissa, wide enough to stand on comfortably, but the composition too thick to easily recognize vibration.

“Three…..two………one…..go.”

Having said that, he launched himself not too high in the air, launching three other rocks up from various sides of clarissa, to add an element of confusion, throwing his sword behind him, to where he had stood previously. Landing on one of the rocks, he bounced, landing relatively softly, 70 degrees left of Clarissa’s current facing. He made no noise, and held his breath, waiting for a response….

Clarissa couldn't tell exactly what happened with her attack. She felt the wall strike up and slice it, but her focus was more on Yurusu than where the strike landed. It felt a bit too easy to her, until he started to speak.

Use her chi to find him? At first she shook her head for a bit, working the process out in her mind before listening to him again. Something about him raising her? Did she hear him right? What!

Next thing Clarissa knew, the ground under her feet was moving higher, making what seemed like a pedal stool like formation under her. As if the Chi wasn't hard enough for her to wrap her head around, her fear of heights started to kick in a bit. Gradually, almost creeping out of the pitch black corners of her darkened mind, her fears started to reach out to her. She almost didn't hear when he started to count.

Shoot! She wasn't paying attention, letting her interior attacks block out her mind from her lesson and any exterior attacks that could have come her way. By the time Yurusu said 'Go', she was already behind the ball. Trying to simply focus on her Chi and ignore the height, she started to reach out slowly, looking for the dip in the ground from his weight.

Reaching out, her chi ran under the pressure of four little marks in the ground right by her feet. With a small smile, she recognized it as Ranger's paws and almost laughed realizing the actually weight of the small fox. As if he noticed her, Ranger started to nuzzle his muzzle against her thigh. Moving further out, she noticed something that was too small, too light, but just far enough away to be close to Yurusu. Studying the shape, Clarissa made it out to possibly be Yurusu's sword stuck in the ground again. She kept moving until she felt she was under Yurusu's weight before taking a stance.

With a small coy smile, Clarissa laughed as she closed her eyes and slammed her fist into the ground. Pushing the force along the trail of her chi until she found him again and thrusting straight up from under his feet. Her intent was to simply pull the ground up from under him, like he did her, but instead she ended up sending a pillar up with a small circumference that only covered the inside edges of his feet.

"How was that? How did I do that time?" Clarissa asked with an excited yet quivering voice as she waited almost impatiently for feedback. Training wasn't easy, but she loved learning something she hadn't quite understood before. Her thirst for learning was overcoming the fear of heights for once, as long as she stayed focused she could forget about where she stood.

((Still good?))

sadly, archive.