4 ✦ voice ✦ unseelie locked ✦ 1/7

[erythristic]

By now, I'm sure nearly all of us have heard the news. This is a war, despite the slight amount of peace we were afforded.

To this, I've set up preparations to have space at the Ward cleared out, for use in conducting a series of training sessions this month for those who wish to learn the arts of hand to hand and swordplay, or wish to refine their technique. The beginner's class will be in the morning, the more advanced class in the afternoon.

I am also looking for those who'd wish to instruct beside me. Our ranks have quite the accomplished sort among them, and if you have the time, the desire, and the patience to impart your knowledge, I ask that you please do.

We begin tomorrow morning at half past eight.

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audio » locked.

[atoned]

[ does zuko have patience? nah, son. ]

Hey, Grell. [ his own tone is very conversational, as though she's like sokka or katara or someone from the fire nation. he knows her, even if he doesn't — she'd lost something just as he had. it sort of puts them on more-than-acquaintances terms. ] I was taught how to fight with dual dao swords when I was younger. I taught the Av — my friend how to use his firebending.

I've got it back now — my firebending. [ and that means his confidence has returned, as well as the screws that had been loosened and lost in his head. it's all implied, him not being quite up to stuff without his bending. but his tone remains to be conversational, almost implying he's the good cop around here. ] So, I can help you train anyone interested in swords if you want. And anyone with an ability, too — even if it's not fire, I imagine it's the same thing in some sense.

permalock

[erythristic]

Truthfully, if I wasn't an instructor, I'd come to you for fire training. As it is, I'd be delighted to have you teaching with me.

[and her tone is sincere! because honestly, she cannot run all the classes alone, she'll run herself ragged between that and her personal work.]

Would you prefer to work with the beginners, or the ones who already have some skill?

[atoned]

[ if only she could see him — well, his expression isn't really telling. but if she's to ask, he'd only say yes — he'll never admit he actually kind of liked teaching aang how to use his firebending. it felt kind of … nice. ]

[ but as for which group he prefers … either way, someone's going to end up being burned by his bad temper. ] I'll try the beginners. [ he really has no preference, but considering aang was basically a beginner and that wasn't too bad … ] And whenever you want to learn anything about fire, I'd be happy to help. What did you want to learn, anyway?

[erythristic]

[there's the brief sound of a pen on paper -- noting down what he preferred -- before she responds.]

I suppose the best way to summarize it is that I want to learn how to use it better. With more grace than I do now -- it still feels strange even though I've been working with it for months.

[she knows that's vague, but she wants to leave it open to see what he might think up.]

[atoned]

[ even though he had been born with it, it'd taken him a lot longer than ozai had liked to become one with his bending. whenever he had moved, he had been afraid of it burning him as it emerged from his own energy as he channelled it through his hands or feet. but now, it was such an integral part of him he had become flustered and fractured without it. ]

[ he pauses for a moment, thinking it over. ] It might be in your technique. [ the militaristic style he had been taught had felt too aggravating to his muscles, always moving so robotically and unnaturally. after he had learned the dance of the dragon, he had felt as though he was properly connected to his bending. ] Or breath. My cousin taught me how to breathe better when I was younger — it was all in the lungs. Air fuels fires. It's the same with bending it.

[erythristic]

[she considers this. both might be true, as she'd been trying to adapt the magic to the motions she knew innately, and she had no idea how her breathing might be.]

Then, if you're certainly serious about it, I'll have to take you up on your offer when your time allows.

[she can make space. she can always make space to learn things like this.]

[atoned]

[ if zuko was asked if learning how to bend fire was important, he'd give a very biased answer. learning, itself, was important. he'd learned that the hard way. ]

[ he nods, despite her not seeing it. ] You can even show me what you can do at training. [ while he may not be like katara, requiring time to think on how to approach a lesson, he thinks uncle would tell him to sit and stew within good company, as a young man like zuko doesn't possess the expanse of knowledge an old man like iroh does. ] Is it an ability given to you from this world? [ for months makes it sound new to zuko — either grell came into the drabwurld with a new ability given to her within her home, or she had been gifted it by an imp. regardless, fire is still fire. ]

[erythristic]

It is. They gave me books initially, but I prefer to put it into practice rather than simply reading a theory, so most of it has been trial and error.

[along with assistance as she progressed. pride didn't mean she couldn't look to someone more knowledgeable to advance herself -- all it meant was that she was determined to not embarrass herself in front of them. which, she's beginning to suspect, she's going to end up doing with Zuko.]

[atoned]

You can't learn how to bend fire from a book. [ it might come across a bit sharply, but, you can't learn bending from a book. like one can't learn how to use a sword from the written word, it's always actions — that's how zuko has learned. he could read every scroll in the palace, but he still would find himself clueless. even if he happened to be an avatar, he knows they travel the entire world to learn their craft. isn't that what his great-grandfather had done? instead of staying within the fire nation with his other great-grandfather, he had seen the world and learned it. if it could be easily gleaned from a book, he thinks the hundred year war never would've happened at all. (or, he likes to think roku would've been able to somehow talk sense into sozin). ] The writer probably doesn't even know how to light a candle.

My sister didn't learn how to bend lightning from a book. [ no, she was simply born with it. ] I tried to learn from a scroll. I couldn't even get it to clap in front of me. [ instead, it'd been with uncle that he had continued to be thrown off his feet and slammed into the earth. a scroll had taught him the truth of his heritage, confusing him even more, but it had been his actions and the tutelage of not only uncle but those he had come into contact with that had helped him discern the art of self-forgiveness. ]

[erythristic]

The fire itself wasn't mentioned -- that was always ever something more hands-on. [thank you, Ganondorf, for that much.] It was general, smaller things. How to tap into magic, let yourself become accustomed to it.

[and really, it had been so much simpler than she'd thought. if she could summon her scythe, she could summon a flame. one was a part of her soul, the other woven into her body, the finest glittering threads that no one could see but that one could feel. so much she would rely on, had accepted into this new way of life, called on magic as a base. myths were real, so was she. it was what it was.]

[atoned]

[ magic. that word seemed to float around him a lot here — he still didn't understand what it was. ] Do you have magic?

[erythristic]

I do. It's what allows me to, as you call it, bend fire.

[atoned]

If I teach you how to bend fire, will you teach me more about magic? [ it's embarrassing to even ask it, but he does so with a straight face — and almost immediately. without wasting any time mulling it over, he offers her a deal to either rip apart or sign her name to. ] I don't know what it is. It just continues to confuse me!

[erythristic]

Yes.

[there's no hesitation in her voice at all. even if she's no sorceress, it's a fair trade.]

I'll give you what knowledge I have of it.

[atoned]

[ whenever he wants to make a deal with toph, she usually insists he call her melon lord or … something. he's not used to people simply giving to him. it's always been earned — honour, tea, sokka's last piece of meat — that he's slightly taken aback for a moment at her quick affirmative. ]

Thanks.

I'll see you out there.