Avatar: Scorching Earth // Not Accepting!

Seijin's eyes fluttered open as she woke up. She yawned, stretched her arms, but then winced at a jabbing pain her her back. Curse you rocky ground, she grumbled in her head. She thought after almost a year of running around she'd ever get used to sleeping on hard ground, but this ground was harder than most. I'm just going to blame that Kyori girl. Seijin scooted closer to the cell's bars. It was still fairly dark, though she knew the sky would bleed with color soon. Sunrises and sunsets were always peaceful to look at. She sighed. It was often what she and her mother and brother would do before and after training. It was a good way to start and end the day.

Seijin quickly looked away from the sky and down to her surroundings on the ground. Everything was quiet, minus the few animal's that made noise. She couldn't tell if Kohaku was awake or not, though honestly even if he was awake she probably couldn't tell either since he's a quiet one. She tried to make out where Yotem was but couldn't quite tell from her angle. She knew, though, that he was probably close by and wondered if he would ask her more questions about Azron. Things will be quiet for a while though I guess, she thought to herself. Seijin glanced behind her at a book in her bag, debating whether or not to read for a little bit. Reading would require her to firebend some light in order to see though, and that would not be a wise decision, even if no one was awake yet. Her getting caught by these jumpy people would be awful, even if she tried to explain herself. Seijin cursed under her breath, pulled her legs into her chest, and then wrapped her arms around herself. She couldn't wait to get out of here.

Zasi nodded her head at Kesuk's comment, rolling her eyes lightheartedly. 'You better have to hang of it.' Please, like I ever know what I ma doing. She thought to herself and let out a silent chuckle. She focused back on the stance and the katas, feeling each motion. She tried to memorize the feel of the motion and the way her stance and center of gravity sat. As she finished her last kata, she stood slowly into an upright position. She held her staff beside her. She remained light on her feet. She was excited to see how he fought, but as also nervous. She had never really fought before. At the temple they mostly focused on avoiding and only basic strikes. "Ok so for the record, I am terrible at fighting. I don't think this will be much of a fight. I also have a question. We aren't using bending are we?" She also murmured under her breath. "Not that you know much bending. No offense of course." She finished the thought with a small smile, as if he could hear her.

Kesuk watched Zasi finish up her katas and turn to him. She stayed on her toes, knees slightly bent, which was good. Although perhaps as an airbender she was already used to staying light on her feet and ready to move. Zasi told him that she would be terrible at fighting, and Kesuk snorted. "Don't worry, I already figured you would be. Dodging is fine, just don't rely on it too heavily or I'll use it against you. And no, no bending. We can add that in later when you actually know what you're doing with your staff." Kesuk heard Zasi's muttered comment under her breath about him not being able to bend, but from what he knew of Zasi, she probably really didn't mean it like most people would take it. The small smile she was giving him proved his guess, so he chose not to take offense to her comment- it was true after all, anyway. Even so, he couldn't help remarking, "At least I'm skilled at using the weapon I carry." Spinning his staff once in his hand, he settled into his own stance, holding his staff at the ready. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you. I'll even give you the first move. Come at me when you're ready."

Zasi scoffed at the waterbender's comment about her skills. He wasn't wrong, but he didn't have to be so blatant about it. She gave a small chuckle at his retort. "You do have a point there, but just throwing it out there that my staff is much cooler." She smiled and lifted her staff while getting lower to the ground, but not settling into her stance quite yet. Kesuk said she was being given the first advance, and she gave a small nod of her head. She kept herself light on her toes as she got into a lower position. By now she was in the stance, but felt more mobile instead of grounded. Don't rely too much on your blocking, Zasi. She remembered Kesuk's words. She gave herself a slight nod and went for a forward thrust, hoping to make contact with at least something.


(UUGGGHHH it's so short. Writer's block is such a struggle)

Kesuk nearly smiled as Zasi stepped strongly into a forward thrust; she hadn't needed as much time to mentally prepare herself as he'd thought she might. Perhaps it wouldn't be so hard teaching this airbender to attack. Her movements were still slow, though, most likely because she was getting used to the new, deeper stance. "Your staff is 'cooler'?" he repeated, slightly sarcastic. "You need more practice with taunting your opponent. Also, move faster. Have more confidence in yourself and your stance." As he talked, he shifted his weight back into a deeper stance and, with his staff in a normal two-handed grip, knocked her blow aside to the right with the front of his staff. Keeping his momentum, he brought the staff up over his head, swinging it around and down into a quick overhead rib strike. He held back on speed, giving Zasi plenty of time to recover from having her own staff knocked into an awkward position, and on the power of his strike as well, in case it did hit her side. He didn't want to break her ribs, after all; he merely wanted to see if he could make her so exhausted that she stopped talking for any length of time.

Kyori's sleepy eyes slowly opened, blinking against the bright light outside her little stone tent. There was quite a bit more light shining into her tent than what she was use to most mornings. Rolling over, eyes closed, and snuggling deeper into her blankets, Kyori went over yesterday's happenings and today's to-do list in her head. She wasn't the type to wake up and jump straight out of bed -- she needed time to piece herself together before taking on the day ahead. Captured two firebenders, possible refugees, Yotem was left guarding them over night... We need to figure out what to do with them today, before other refugees in the camp find them. And oh, shit! Kyori's eyes shot open upon remembering that Li wanted to meet with her by the cells early this morning. Judging by the sunlight, she was probably very late. Kyori sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes with a deep sigh. Letting her arms fall into her lap, she stared at her earthbending clothes and armor pieces as they dared her to get up.

Kohaku blinked open his eyes, squinting at the ceiling above him. It took a moment for him to recognize that he was still in the cell from the night before and another moment to remember exactly what had happened the night before. He let out a small sigh, pushing himself up onto his elbows and wincing as a twinge shot up his back from the literally stone-hard ground and the awkward position he had fallen asleep in. But he couldn't complain. He had woken up in worse places before, like the time he had stowed away on a ship and woke up to a storm tossing them about and what felt like half the sea filling the belly of the ship where he was hidden.

He sat up with a small groan, stretching out his back and blinking blearily at the small portion of the world he could see between the cell bars. Kohaku yawned, most of his bearings still eluding him. Eating late before he had fallen asleep made him lethargic and groggy in the morning, but it didn't matter much anyways--he probably wasn't going anywhere but between questioning and this cell for a long time.

Zasi felt her staff get jarred off course and into a different position. she took a step beck from Kesuk, hoping to be out of the danger zone. She adjusted her staff back into a position she was comfortable with. Never really leaving her stance, she made her way back into the range of fire. As she raised her staff, preparing to go for a side swing, she heard a noise. Stopping in her tracks she glanced at Kesuk. "Did you hear that?" Zasi glanced towards where she thought she heard the noise. As she took a step towards the noise she heard yelling. Who else would be walking around making so much noise? She glances at the sky as she heard the flap of birds wings. Zasi let out a gasp as she saw a billow of smoke. "Kesuk is that..." She suddenly realized what she was seeing. "We need to get back to camp. Quickly! The Fire Nation is coming!" Zasi felt panic rising in her stomach as she heard the yelling get closer. She could tell there were multiple voices by now. The Fire Nation soldiers were close, and Kesuk and Zasi were running out of time to get back to camp. Zasi glanced at Kesuk, her mind being clouded by fear. She grabbed his hand on impulse.

Kesuk stopped at the same time Zasi did, listening carefully as all thoughts of the sparring match left his mind. Zasi was right. There were sounds of yelling, people barking orders, and....stomping? Several large animals were stomping through the woods. Zasi gasped and Kesuk turned to look at her. She was staring at the sky. He followed her gaze and felt his stomach turn. Smoke. The last time he had seen clouds of smoke that large, they had been accompanied by falling snow stained black with soot. There was no black snow this time, but the heavy, dark clouds were unmistakable. The Fire Nation had sent a fleet of ships, and there were squadrons of men marching through the forest close by. They needed to run and warn the refugees back at camp, but they also needed to be careful, or they would be spotted and undoubtedly killed. Panic would do them no good here.

Kesuk looked over at Zasi when he felt her grab his hand. It was probably instinctive for her. He squeezed her hand a bit, his silent way of telling her that they'd be fine. "Let's go!" he said. He sprinted for the treeline, keeping hold of Zasi's hand to make sure they didn't get separated. They ran away from the nearing voices and back towards camp. When they hit a game trail clear of underbrush, Kesuk pushed them to a faster pace, the trees blurring by. In no time at all, they could see the white tents through the trees.