kozu (kozu) wrote in avatarnation, @ 2009-10-25 04:04:00 |
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Entry tags: | basim, kozu |
Narrative, for now
Who: Kozu, Basim, NPC's
When: Saturday afternoon
Where: Grassy area
What: Ko is teaching a group of children, and it is not going well.
It was a beautiful day, the sun was out, birds were singing and Prince Kozu was still filled with the butterflies and excitements of a secret young love. It should have been a perfect day, should have delighted him and filled his usually heavy heart with joy. Today, however, Prince Kozu was Master Ko, in charge of the training of something more than a dozen fighting students, not one over the age of ten. Ko was not the most patient of people, he was serious and driven and focused, and the very nature of the children was more than enough to make him pull what little hair he had out. Kozu knew he had annoyed Master Sato, but he thought the punishment was a bit extreme for the crime, to his mind no one deserved this group of rambunctious children.
In an attempt to distract the children and drain some of their energy, Ko had made them all line up and hike from the Sword and Fan to a grassy area near the outskirts of the city, then line up and stretch for practice. It had all gone pretty well, until the "line up and stretch" part. It had resulted in several children playing in the grass or dirt, several more playing some sort of hand-slapping-while-singing game, and a set of rambunctious boys breaking into an impromptu and unauthorized sparing match. Ko tried to regain control using that serious tone he used when Zuma was misbehaving, and the hand-slapping stopped. He used an even more stern and controlling tone and the grass playing and dirt eating stopped, but nothing short of physically grabbing and separating the boys stopped the fight
Ko was already huffing slightly by this point, irritation climbing his spine like a reptile. Sato must really be angry with him. He lined them up and got the children stretching, pacing slowly back and forth up the line to ensure that every child was inspected so they would not return to their old ways. A few parents and passers by noticed the outdoor session and moved to the outskirts to watch, wanting to coo at the children and size up the decrowned prince. Basim was one of the spectators, though he appeared with a small pushcart of fresh tea and flaky pastries, never the one to pass up making a buck. Unfortunately for Kozu, the sight of the pastries resulted in several distracted and whiny children. This day just kept getting better.
The students were soon paired up and practicing their patterns for the rank test, Ko attempting to encourage their focus by reminding them that those who performed well next session would get to break boards at the end of class. Board breaking was always an exciting thing among the youngsters, and this did encourage the focus and good behavior of most. Most was, of course, the key word. Two of the older students once again decided that the patterns were of less interest than sparring, and as Kozu's back was turned, the two broke into another fight, this one did not go as smoothly as before. One boy threw a punch which caused the other's lip to split and bleed profusely, winning a series of shrieking sounds from the injured boy.
The onlookers gasped as Ko spun to see the damage and felt the humiliation rise. Not only had he lost control of his class in front of a group of people, one of his students had been injured. None of it was truly within his control, but Kozu well knew how the public could talk. He reacted quickly, producing a cloth to wipe up and stop the bleeding of the one boy's face. He ordered the class to continue practicing their patterns, the boy who threw the punch was going to do push ups until his friend stopped bleeding, the bleeding boy would match that number later for encouraging it all. Injured or not, he deserved the same punishment as his conspirator.
"Do you realize the consequences of your actions now?" Kozu demanded of the two boys as the one at last stopped his blubbering. He turned those dark eyes to the class, forcing on a mask of one calm and in control, despite the humiliation he was feeling. He crossed his arms over his chest, attempting to show power, though he deeply wanted nothing more than to fade away. "Do you all see what happens when you do not follow instructions?" His lecture continued, he soon setting the children, all but the two trouble makers, to work practicing their board breaking punches. The humiliating start to the session was quickly forgotten by most of the onlookers. Most, but not all.
Basim stood frozen in the grass, brown eyes locked intently on the prince. He had to be seeing things, did he not? This was Kozu, the former crown prince of the Fire Nation, he was not a Bender of any kind. His old eyes had to be playing tricks on him. The prince's form seemed to darken with every motion as he scolded the children, it was not dramatic, but it he thought it was there. He was most of the way convinced that this was indeed a trick of the mind when Kozu folded his arms and addressed the class as a whole. By that point, Bass was looking for it. Darkness simply moved to him, clung to his figure, the shadows on his body a distinct shade or two darker than any other shadows in the area.
The old man thought his heart was going to stop cold. A Shadowbender, right here, all this time, in the royal family. It couldn't be, could it? He sucked in a slow breath as his mind raced. First thing was first, he had to confirm it, no point in starting a certain group whispering on a mere suspicion.
Remembering himself, Bass flashed his customers a warm smile and ambled his cart around. With one last glance back to the prince who was at last maintaining control of his class, he started toward the Dragon with hurried steps. He needed to confirm, and Sato would be the one to do that with. He had it on very good authority that the prince was closer to his teacher than he was to any family member, and Sato had the right connections, any way. Sato was scary enough, he did not want to risk angering the boy's father on what could be his faltering eyesight. So, fist thing, he needed to make sure he had her favorite brew of tea in stock and ready for her arrival. That woman was going to be irritated enough with the request to come, and downright angry with what Basim was going to confront her with. The last thing he needed was for her mood to move into pissed off simply becuase he did not have the right tea in stock, that woman was scary enough when simply irritated.