eachdraidh | video; afternoon of the 5th

[ the feed starts with an angry chitter of fairies, the locket dropping down to its usual-not-usual spot for practice, strung through one of mako’s belt loops, hanging at his side like a set of keys. mako doesn't trust most of the world not to walk off with his possessions most of the time, and the convenience of the lockets is not lost on him. so y'all are lucky most of his height’s in his legs, or this whole video would be a whole lot of footage of knees. ]

—aybe if you didn't get in the way that wouldn't be a problem. We’re doing this out here for a reason.

[ mako be nice to the fairies. they'll spit in your food.

THE CAMERA PANS, swaying haphazardly as mako turns, showing off a great view of a meadow edged in a thin line of trees, some ways north of caer glaem near the station, a gigantic, six legged bison resting underneath a tree a short ways away. more panning, and then! hey there, everybody, it’s korra, standing a few dozen feet away on the rise of a hill in the meadow, so she’s little more than doll-sized on screen. and yet, her voice still carries... ]

Come on, Mako! We're gonna lose the sunlight if we don't hurry up.

[ korra you need to learn to be more patient. ]

I'm coming, I'm coming.

[ you can almost hear the eye rolling in his voice — and you can definitely hear the sigh, as the locket bounces while he jogs up the rest of the hill to korra's side. it’s a beautiful summer day, not a cloud in sight, and the wind ripples through the high grasses. ]

Has anyone tried to teach you lightningbending before?

[ he'd like to know how much theory he's gonna need to explain... since... he doesn’t really know the theory that well himself. ]

No. The firebenders that taught me said that it was the purest expression of firebending and... not everyone could do it. Even if I mastered the element, I'd probably never get a handle on it.

[ a shrug, like she's not that bothered by it. because… she’s not. at the time she was too jazzed to learn how to airbend to let it get to her, so! that’s good.

mako hums thoughtfully for a moment, then starts speaking, his tone somewhere between serious and bemused. ]

That’s a load of komodo rhino shit — Zolt sure wasn't a master firebender when I learned... but I guess they're kinda right about the pure part. You can't be wrapped up in why you're doing it, like you can with fire. Lightning just... is, you know? You have to just focus on the bending, and only the bending.

[ another little pause, and the sound of mako scuffing one toe against the ground, trying to find the right words, the locket swaying gently in time with his movement. ]

The way I think of it when I do it is... Imagine your chi is a spring, okay? And you grab each end and pull it apart, but it doesn’t wanna stay that way, so when you let go, it smacks back together. That's what makes the lightning. So...

[ his pointed fingers pass in front of the locket, trailing white blue sparks, painfully bright as he traces arcs through the air, maintaining a careful balance in his rhythm, each hand countering the movement of the other. at the last second, his left hand whips out to the side, and the sound of the lightning roars as he lets it rip into the sky.

lightningbending is awesome. ]

Pull it apart on the circles, and keep it even, then let it slam back together as you aim. Try it.

[ lightningbending is indeed awesome, and korra follows mako's movements without letting her energy flow, wanting to make sure she's got the actions and forms down before releasing herself to the turn of the world. taking in a slow, deep breath that fills her lungs, korra puts a large few steps in between herself and mako and pulls at her energy and—

KORRASPLODE!

a bright flash of fire and the sound of combustion cut through the air, and when the smoke clears korra's laying on the ground a dozen yards away, a long drag trail at her feet, indicating she'd slid across the dirt. on her shoulders. spirits, she's going to feel that in the morning.

the feed ends as mako (apparently unsurprised) hurries over to her side. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ until korra finds out clarisse put a lot of people in harm's way, definitely. ]

Yeah? What sort of special power do you have?

[ because she's not thinking of ways to challenge this girl already, no, not at all, what makes you think that... ]

[ shhhhhhhhhhhh... everything will turn out fine, it's fine. ]

Let's just say my special power is kicking ass and taking names. [ she doesn't have elemental powers, but ... ] Strength, speed, agility... and I can use any weapon you throw at me. My father is war, I was born to be a fighter.

[ oh no. no, look at that grin on korra's face. ]

You any good at hand-to-hand?

[ korra no. no. KORRA... ]

[ oh she sees that grin on korra's face and she'll match it with a smirk of her own. ]

The best.

[ yeah, she knows how to use every weapon imaginable, but it's the raw hand-to-hand fighting she's really good at. ]

[ "ever since you were a little girl you've excelled at the physical side of bending—" yeah well, she can't help it. there's something about a good fight that korra just loves. ]

When I get back from the station? You and me. Courtyard of Caer Glaem.

[ clarisse knows exactly what she loves about a good fight: it's the rush of adrenaline, the way it gets her blood pumping, makes her feel alive. there's nothing quite like it. ]

Oh, it's on. [ like donkey kong. ] It's been a while since I've had a good fight.

[ the adrenaline is nice, and korra will never deny the fact that her blood sings whenever she's in the thick of it, but there's something else, something more to it. korra is never quite as sure of herself as she is when she's going through forms to face an enemy, using her own energy to bend up the area around her, to create molten fires from her body's core — everything about bending keeps her connected. she's learned she's more than her art form, more than the burden she carries for the world, but she'll still feel the most confident in herself when she gets to connect her fist to the face of the universe and break through with the elements that make up the world. ]

With me you'll have one of the best. That's guaranteed.

[ if korra weren't actually some kind of embodiment of peace and light, clarisse might peg her as an ares kid. she's got the attitude and enough pride to be one, anyway, and it's not often that clarisse meets people like that who are girls. she doesn't have a lot of sisters — at least, none at camp, and the only others she has live on olympus or the island of the amazons — so it's nice to feel like she can connect with korra like this, to feel like she might have kind of a sister in her. ]

I guess I'll just have to wait and see for myself.