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warriorsbard 2008-08-22 01:55 pm UTC (link)

Gabrielle didn’t even stir when Xena moved. The bard having not been getting the best nights of sleep for some reason, her mind having been on Hope a lot. She wondered what that was about but it was pushed away hearing Xena’s voice in her ear, telling her to get up. She groaned, shifting. “Alright… alright.” She mumbled pushing her self up, her blonde hair scattered everywhere. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she heard they were going out into the sunshine and looked towards the window. Seeing the sunshine was enough to wake her completely. “It must have stopped raining while we were sleeping. Good.” She said, crawling out of bed, going into the bathroom to get herself cleaned up and into her red skort and bra top. She back out into the room, pulling her boots on, placing her sai’s in their holders figuring they might come in handy with the training today. She never knew. Eating a bit of breakfast, she thought about mentioning her dreams to Xena but figured it was best to wait until they were going to have some alone time. She knew the warrior would help her make sense of them. Grabbing her own staff she had gotten from the Amazon’s just days before she arrived on The Planet, she nodded at her lover’s question. “Yeah, let’s go.” She replied, following her out of the room, a quiet mood setting over the bard for once. As they all walked outside, she looked around the area, taking in the warmth of the sunshine, it feeling rather nice, especially after all the rain that had poured down on them. Getting a look at the weapons, she walked over and picked up another staff, making sure it was steady before turning to Katara, whom she had met at the party. “I’m ready, if you are.” She said, tossing it over to her. (Reply to this)

k_waterbender 2008-08-23 07:56 pm UTC (link)

Katara had tossed and turned when she first tried to sleep that night, as strange, confusing dreams filtered through her mind- dreams of Aang and of Vincent. The latter’s reaction to her the previous evening had filled her head, twisting her belly into uncomfortable knots. After she’d woken up from a particularly stressful dream, she’d sat there for half an hour assessing it without coming to any definitive conclusions. Thankfully, when she went back to sleep after that occurred, her sleep was deep and empty of dreams. Finally, when she’d opened her eyes just after dawn, she was greeted by silence. Once she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she remembered what silence meant, and her eyes lit up. Katara rushed to the glass doors that led out to the patio and threw them open, her eyes dazzled by the bright sunshine. She sucked in a burst of fresh air, amazed that the ground wasn’t soggy from the days of storming it had produced. Of course the ground wouldn’t be wet with an all powerful Planet controlling the environment. She left those doors open when she returned to her room to get ready for the day, pleased with the freshness the warm air offered. Katara was happy again, the previous night’s calamities having been pushed to the back of her mind as she savored the sunlight and clean, clear air. She loved rain as much as the next waterbender, but not when it was constant, unending. When she entered the bathing room, she opened the window in there. She took a nice soak in the tub before dressing herself. As was usual for her, she donned her Water Tribe attire and braided her hair back with two hair loopies beaded into the bun that served as the start of the plait. While she readied herself, she decided she would visit Toph today. It had been a few days since she’d seen her earthbender friend, and she thought the younger teen would be good company. A knock sounded on her door as she was eating a peach that had been materialized via room service; she’d already finished her tea. Xena must have been a mind reader. Training would be an excellent opportunity for Toph and Katara to see one another. She bounded energetically toward the door, and her smile broadened when she saw Gabrielle. This day was bound to definitely be a good one. “Hi.” She said amiably. “Toph’s room is right across the hall.” Katara informed them as she removed herself from her room, only to end up in front of her friend’s door where she knocked loudly. “Toph! Xena and Gabrielle are here to train us!” She called through the wood. It wouldn’t have been a surprise if she happened to still be sleeping. Katara was infinitely pleased when she was led outside to train. The grass was soft and mildly springy the way it would have been on any normal day. It was devoid of any signs of a three day downpour. “Wow. That’s convenient.” The waterbender said as Gabrielle removed a staff from the rack that was waiting for them. She caught the weapon easily, and moved into a defensive stance Xena had taught her. “I’m ready now.” (Reply to this)

rocksolid 2008-08-23 09:13 pm UTC (link)

Toph had slept wonderfully on her plush grass floor, dry and unaffected by the rain outside, curled around a large full body sized pillow. She'd noticed the rain had stopped vaguely at some point in the night, but hadn't cared long enough to stay awake and really consider any further then that. "I'm Coming!" She called at the sound of Katara's voice and the pounding on her door, rolling over on to her back, and stretching slightly -- back arched, toes and fingers splayed and reaching out ward, her hair an awful mess. She could afford to lay there for a second as it didn't take her long to get dressed. All that preening in front of a mirror that most girls might do was never part of her morning routine. As for baths -- she'd had one the night before, which made little difference as thanks to her choice in room she slept on the ground anyways, but she did always appreciate a 'healthy coating of earth.' A little sand never killed anyone. The earth bender rose, shaking some leaves out of her hair, and making her way over to the shelves where fresh clothes waited. She recognized the thin material of fire nation clothes, pulling on the dark red pants and top quickly. Toph pushed open the door, offering the three a slight nod in greeting as she pulled her hair up into a pony tale as opposed to her usual bun. As for breakfast, she snacked casually on an apple while they made their way outside, just as pleased as Katara if not more so at the feel of the ground beneath them. It wasn't all soggy and loose, it would make training easier, and let her feel where everyone was better...Even if it was kind of random. Couple days of crazy storms, and now it was just gone without a trace? She moved towards Xena expectantly when her friend fell into stance near the other woman. "So. Where to we start?" Toph asked, trying not to give away that she was actually excited to be learning to use a sword properly. She hoped they didn't have to do any of the crap Sokka had told them Piando made him do -- drawing pictures and rock gardening and the like. Talk about a waste of time. She let her hands run over the rack, lifting one of the swords with a grin, and falling into her own stance. It had to be said that she naturally had a rather strong stance, even when she wasn't fighting. It was habit among earth benders, and her especially as she needed to assure that not only would she not be knocked off her feet, but so she could 'see' better. (Reply to this)

dark_slayer 2008-08-23 09:28 pm UTC (link)

No one had come to get her, no one had informed her about any sort of training session. And why would they? They only one of them she knew was Gabrielle, and talking to the other woman once hardly made them friends for life or anything. Of course, it was odd that she was awake. And she wouldn't be up this early, either, if it wasn't for the very simple fact that she had yet to sleep. Every so often, she pulled an all nighter, and last night had been one of those. The dark-haired girl had yet to go to her room. She'd wandered the resort all night, and part of her expected to be attacked by a vampire or demon any second. Of course, that didn't happen. But old habits definately die hard. Finally, as the sun rose, she stepped outside. The storm had stopped, and she hadn't even noticed, somehow. The bright sun on her face filled the girl with energy like she hadn't had for days, and she immediately felt better. Some lush, beautiful gardens were nearby, and whimsically, Faith decided to head that way. She was stopped in her tracks by a strange sight, one that she definately didn't see everyday. She stopped and watched as the four women faced each other. Dark eyes narrowed as she saw the weapons rack. She might have moved on, left them to whatever they were doing, but for one thing. She recognized the blonde woman as Gabrielle, the one she'd trained with before. So instead of walking away, she walked towards them. "Hey! Is this a private party, or can anyone join?" Sure, it was really rude in most cultures to just invite yourself to something like this, but Faith had never been overly worried about that sort of thing. It looked like fun, and she knew Gabrielle at least, so why not see if they wanted her around? (Reply to this)

bravely 2008-08-23 10:39 pm UTC (link)

Xena was glad that it hadn't taken any effort to get any of the girls out into the sunshine. Everyone seemed excited to be able to go out of doors without worrying about being blown away or drowned. She introduced herself to Toph, and then Gabrielle to Toph and Katara. She'd talked about Gabrielle to Katara, and knew she was probably aware of who she was, but it was the polite thing to do. Not that Xena was ever accused of being the most polite person in the world, but she was the eldest, and she felt obligated. Once they were outside, she watched Gabrielle take up a staff and throw it to Katara who dropped into a defensive stance. Xena smirked appreciatively and turned to her own student. She wasn't used to teaching anyone how to use a sword, much less someone who couldn't see with their eyes. However, Xena herself had been blinded once and had to rely on someone else and her other senses in order to get to Gabrielle before she was put in an incinerator. It was an experience she wouldn't want to repeat, but she could appreciate Toph's position. It was going to make Xena think of another way to teach sword fighting. She loved a challenge. She could tell that Toph was excited to be learning a new skill, and Xena was semi-excited to be teaching it. But, before she could answer Toph's question, she heard someone call out to them. It was rather annoying to be interrupted, and Xena turned with a look of irritation on her face. She raised a brow and settled her sword hand on her hip. She recognized Faith as the girl that had been pointed out by Gabrielle at the party. She slid her gaze to Gabrielle as if blaming her for the fact that she knew her and she was interrupting their training session. She crossed her arms over her chest and cocked a hip. She remembered that Gabrielle had said that Faith was good with a sword. She was tempted to find out just how good she was. And maybe, just maybe, she would have an idea of how to teach a blind girl how to sword fight, too. "Sure. C'mon over." It was spoken less than enthusiastically, but that was just the way she was. (Reply to this) (Thread)

warriorsbard 2008-08-23 11:16 pm UTC (link)

Gabrielle flashed Katara a morning greeting, eager to get on with the training. It had felt good to spar with Faith so she had a feeling this would feel just as good. Feeling the sun on her skin, made her smile a bit more, the haunting dreams of the previous night seeming to just fade away. She watched as Katara caught the staff with ease and moved into a defensive stance, figuring it was a stance Xena had taught her though she wasn’t sure how much the warrior princess had taught the woman. She had a feeling she would find out. The bard nodded, stretching out her arm muscles a moment before readying her own staff. However, her train of thought was interrupted when she heard another voice, the blondes eyes lifting up to see Faith walking towards them. “Hey!” She called out to Faith, shifting her gaze to Xena at the question, seeing her lover’s expression, which made her frown. Biting down on her lip, she smirked, stepping towards Xena, touching her shoulder as if to tell her to relax, that she would really enjoy sparring against Faith. “Xena, this is Faith and Faith, this is Xena; I told you about her yesterday.” She said, smiling, able to notice that her warrior princess wasn’t exactly thrilled. “Have fun.” She added as she remembered she was supposed to train Katara with the staff, or at least, improve her skills. Turning back to the woman, she looked over once more before moving into a stance. “Ready?” She questioned, waiting for her to respond before making the first move, swinging the staff out towards the other woman, watching the way Katara moved. She had to get a feel of what she already knew before actually training her more. (Reply to this) (Parent)

k_waterbender 2008-08-24 04:50 am UTC (link)

Katara smiled, ready for Gabrielle, hoping Xena had taught her well. The waterbender was quite pumped for this, and she had been ever since she and Toph had talked about it. Then again when she’d brought it up to Xena. She was happy it hadn’t taken long to get the group together and outside where they could train. She was equally pleased to see that Toph didn’t even hesitate to pick up a sword. She hoped swordplay would be fairly easy for Toph. Before Gabrielle and Katara could begin, though, they were interrupted. She thought the voiced sounded familiar before she even looked, though she knew she’d never officially met the woman behind the voice. Silver optics moved from Gabrielle to the newcomer and recognition was confirmed. She’d seen that person with Clark at the party, flirting like mad. A smile moved over her lips, a warm welcoming smile. Gabrielle seemed to know her. Katara noted the gentle way Gabrielle touched Xena, seemingly calming the other warrior. The waterbender had never seen two women react that way to one another before. It reminded her of the way lovers might interact. She thought it was odd that two women might… It wasn’t a big deal to her, though. Unless she was in a mindset to be dead set against something, she was quite accepting of everything. A blush crept into her cheeks as she remembered Vincent, but she quickly abolished the thought in favor of approaching the woman Gabrielle had called Faith. That was a pretty name. “Hello.” Katara interjected once she’d been introduced to Xena. “I’m Katara, and this is Toph.” She introduced, indicating the blind teenager in tones of red holding the sword. It was short lived, though, as Gabrielle returned her attention to the waterbender. “Yes.” Katara stated once she’d resumed her stance. Soon, the blond’s staff was swinging at her, and, in a fluid, somewhat easy movement, she blocked it with her own. She was quite glad that Xena had trained with her at least a little bit the other day before this day popped up. Having this day so soon after that was a wise choice on Xena’s part, and the waterbender couldn’t have planned it better herself. The first day of sunshine with the first day of group training. Wonderful. (Reply to this)

rocksolid 2008-08-24 08:05 am UTC (link)

While it was nice that Xena could understand what it was like to be blind, Toph really wasn't the sort to appreciate that sort of thing. She didn't like people thinking she couldn't do things because of her sight, or that she needed to be treated special, and if it was mentioned it often made the teen more determined to prove that fact. Her vision was different, but more often then not she thought her way of seeing was better, especially as she could more easily anticipate what others would do. Toph made no attempt to seem excited at the arrival of a fifth person, swinging the sword absently as the others said hello, made introductions, and agreed to let her join in. Seeing as the water bender introduced her, she gave a nod in Faith's direction, then returned to swinging the blade, getting used to the feel of it. She didn't have any real experience using swords, as her earth bending was easily more then enough. "Right. So how we going to do this?" She asked. "Teach me a few moves, and I can practice takin' you both on?" Toph grinned, her lack of experience obviously not a problem in her mind. She was a quick learner, right, and how hard could it be? (Reply to this)

dark_slayer 2008-08-24 10:40 am UTC (link)

She might seem like she didn't notice how people reacted to her, but of course, she did. She just did her best not to care about it. For example, Xena's response was hardly the warmest she'd ever gotten. And dark eyes narrowed just the tiniest bit as she got the very distinct feeling that the warrior woman would rather have her elsewhere. Well, that was fine. Buffy had regularly had that reaction to Faith. Perhaps, just like the blonde Slayer from Sunnydale, Xena was afraid that Faith coming here would challenge her position. Or, maybe not. Either way, she eyed the woman appraisingly. Suddenly, she decided she really, really wanted to see what she could do with the sword. Gabrielle had seemed to think Xena was exceptionally skilled. "Geez, don't sound so excited. My ego will be impossible after this." It was said almost absently as she eyed the warrior woman up and down. Slowly, almost lazily, she walked over to the weapons rack and started picking over the swords there, trying to find the perfect one. When she had it, she turned around and looked at the four women. Gabrielle, of course, she already knew and she tossed a lazy smile and wink her way. Katara was, quite possibly, one of the most beautiful women she'd ever seen. As always with two good looking girls, there could have been tension. But the other woman smiled and approached her, the only one to do so, and she found herself smiling back, and nodding at her. Pretty, and nice. Weird. Those two things didn't usually go together. "Yeah, I'm Faith. Xena, Gabrielle, Katara, and Toph, right?" She looked at the four member, the teenager, and raised an eyebrow at her obvious lack of experience. And though she wasn't usually the type to enjoy being leader, she was really more of a wild card in any group, she spoke up. "If you wanna see how it's done with the sword, me and Muscles over here could probably show you, give you some idea what you're getting into." (Reply to this)

bravely 2008-08-24 01:27 pm UTC (link)

The snarky comment from Faith was met with a silent roll of blue eyes. The other sword wielder was much younger, and Xena had a little experience dealing with overconfident youth. Tara had been one of them, but it had been Gabrielle who'd beaten her down, not Xena. Perhaps she needed to treat this Faith like she had treated Tara. Like she was worth something. Usually those who were less than confident acted like they were overly confident. Xena looked down at the hand on her shoulder and while a little perturbed about the meaning of the touch, she relaxed nevertheless. She inclined her head to Faith, though she didn't take her icy gaze off of her for a moment. And then Gabrielle had the audacity to abandon her to face the woman alone. Have fun. Have fun!? That was all she had to say? She threw her a sneer and a shake of the head before turning back to Faith. Her frown returned as she watched Katara and Toph cheerily introduce themselves. And Faith responded just as kindly to them. She didn't have time for this crap. "Take it easy, Short Stuff." She spoke to Toph who was overeager to learn the sword. "You're not going to be able to take us both on for a while yet." Fast learner or not, it took a lot of practice to be good with a sword. Xena was more than tempted to put the pinch on Faith and leave it, but she held herself in check and turned to her. Disregarding the comment about her phsyique, Xena pulled the sword from the scabbard on her back. She motioned with her head for Faith to stand in front of her. Gabrielle had said she was good, but Xena wanted to measure just how good. But, no matter what, she never made the first move unless she felt her life or someone else's was in danger. (Reply to this) (Thread)

warriorsbard 2008-08-24 04:30 pm UTC (link)

Gabrielle smiled at Katara as she blocked her attack. “Nice block.” She complimented, glancing over to see what was going on with Xena, Toph and Faith. She could sense the warrior’s attitude at this moment and it was distracting her. Part of her was interested to see how Xena would teach Toph but she knew she couldn’t neglect Katara’s staff training. Part of her wanted to get this over with fast; she didn’t feel like herself right now and didn’t want her fighting skills to be affected. Hearing Faith’s comment, the bard paused in her training, glancing over at her, seeing Xena’s look. She had forgotten to warn Faith of the warrior princess short temper then again, she didn’t think it was going to matter if she had or not. The bard lowered her staff seeing her warrior remove her sword. She turned her gaze back to Katara, not wanting to keep her waiting though if Faith and Xena were to fight, she knew Xena would win. Rarely did anyone ever beat the warrior princess. “Let’s continue. Let them do their own thing.” She said, fixating her gaze on the woman holding the staff, readying her own staff. The warrior bard phased out what was going on with Faith and Xena, advancing with another attack. She kept her attacks easy, at least until she was sure of what Katara had worked on with Xena. “I want to get a feel for what Xena’s shown you before teaching you.” She told her, not really one to talk while fighting but she had to put herself in a teacher position. She could remember the first time she picked up the staff. Her training had not gone so well but most of her technique and skill she had learned on her own or from watching Xena fight, though the warrior princess rarely ever used the staff. (Reply to this) (Parent)

k_waterbender 2008-08-24 09:42 pm UTC (link)

“Thanks.” Katara smiled when Gabrielle complimented her block. Xena was a good teacher, and waterbending training had helped quite a bit. She was glad Toph was an earthbender, too. Just as curious as Gabrielle might be to watch the other three women while they interacted and taught Toph swordplay, Katara felt the same. She wanted to make sure things would be okay. Toph’s comment put a smile on the waterbender’s face. It was just like Toph to assume she would automatically master something after a couple of tips were given. Why shouldn’t she, though? She’d mastered earthbending by the time she was twelve, and she’d discovered metalbending at that age as well. To this day, Toph Bei Fong continued to be the only metalbender in their world. She may not have eyes allowed for vision, but her form of sight often held an advantaged over working optics. The young woman hadn’t seen the Blind Bandit take out the Boulder in seconds after he’d beaten every other opponent in an Earth Rumble with luck, after all. Katara’s ears perked up at Faith’s comment about Xena. That had been extremely rude of the smaller woman to say about another person she hardly even knew. The young woman’s eyes moved to Xena almost at the same time Gabrielle’s did. The dark haired warrior woman definitely didn’t look pleased with the fifth addition to the group. The waterbender nodded and returned her attention to her own training when Gabrielle mentioned they should just let the sword fighters do their own thing. It was probably best. At this rate, she would never get any decent training if she didn’t keep her focus on what she was doing. Katara was determined to keep concentration no matter what. She would think only of the task at hand. It shouldn’t be too difficult. She’d done it on numerous occasions in the past. Katara knew Gabrielle was going easy on her, but she didn’t mind. It was always best to assess the other fighter, especially from a teaching point of view, before one decided where to go with it. The waterbender blocked each attack as Xena had taught her. “Well, she taught me the proper defensive stances and blocking techniques.” She stated, just to help Gabrielle get a better idea. “I haven’t learned any attacks yet, but I don’t know that I’ve completely learned all defensive maneuvers, either.” (Reply to this) (Thread)

rocksolid 2008-08-25 11:56 pm UTC (link)

Where everyone else was focused on Faith and her comment, apparently finding it rude or something, though as far as Toph was concerned Muscles was hardly a bad nickname even if a little uncreative -- no, her lips were drawn firmly into a scowl at being called short, stabbing the sword into the ground with a little huff. Not only that, but now the woman was going to go and fight this Faith chick. What the hell was she supposed to do, sit and 'watch'? Because that was not exactly what she'd had in mind when she agreed to this training thing. Hell, even the sugar queen was getting some practical training. Whatever. She could learn on her own. She'd taught herself earth bending and metal bending, she could damn well learn how to use a stupid sword. Snatching the weapon up, she gave a stomp of her foot, a sort of rock training dummy rising up in front of her. She supposed she could still learn from Xena. Maybe not the way she'd intended, but it was sort of like the watch and learn concept. She took a similar stance to the other woman, waiting patiently for Xena to move so she could mimic any attacks made, using the dummy in place of Faith as her opponent. At the same time, trying to get a feel for how Gabrielle moved and attacked as well. A sword was obviously going to be handled differently, but that wasn't to say Toph couldn't find some way to learn from it or incorporate that into whatever she learned from how Xena fought. (Reply to this) (Parent)

dark_slayer 2008-08-26 01:00 am UTC (link)

People were constantly being irritated by her nicknames for them. It hadn't bothered her before, and wasn't going to start now. She could see Gabrielle was faintly horrified by it, so she gave her another wink to tell her to calm down. Then, she turned her attention back to the warrior, ignoring the girl who was pretty much throwing a temper tantrum about not being able to fight right off the bat. "Chill, girlie, it's not like you'd know what to do with either of us. Watch, and then tall, dark and scary can carve you to pieces." With that out of the way, she gave the warrior woman a once over, taking in her muscles, which would seem to give her a strength advantage as well as a height one. She, of course, was the Slayer. She was quite used to people underestimating her, because she was short and slender. It worked for her, actually. She pretty much always got the element of surprise in any fight, because no one expected her to be able to do the things she could do. "Ready? I'll try not to hurt you too badly..." With nothing more than that as a warning, Faith switched the grip on her sword to a firmer one. Her relaxed hand became taut, and she smiled. A sort of dangerous, nearly manic gleam showed in her dark eyes. She charged. Her first few attacks were mostly just asking exactly what Xena could do, trying to find out how strong she was. (Reply to this)

bravely 2008-08-26 10:13 am UTC (link)

Her attention was no longer focused on Gabrielle or Katara. Faith and Toph were in her line of sight. She frowned slightly when it seemed Toph was going to throw a tantrum. She'd seen Katara waterbend, and though she hadn't seen Toph earthbend, she imagined that's what she'd done to conjur up the rock training dummy that loomed before her. Xena had to smirk. The girl was impossible. Maybe she ought to have met her before agreeing to train her. She reminded her of a younger Gabrielle, a more naive one who wanted everything to go her way. She knew that Tophs blindness was going to make it difficult for her to 'watch' Faith and herself spar, but Katara said that she could see with vibrations and her hearing. If she could determine the moves Xena made in order to mimic them against the dummy, then she should be able to determine the moves of both women. "Listen, Toph, I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Katara when I began her training with the staff. You need to learn defense before you can learn offense. It will do you no good to go up against someone without being able to defend yourself, no matter how good your offensive attacks are. If you are going to be too impatient to learn the way I teach, then perhaps you need to find a different teacher." Xena didn't need to teach anyone. She was perfectly fine keeping herself in shape and sparring with Gabrielle on ocassion. The main reason she wanted to get the spar with Faith out of the way was so that she could get the measure of her skill so she would know if she would be a help or hinder to the training of the teenager. But Faith was already giving her another nickname. Fine. That was just fine. The thing about Xena was that she never underestimated an opponent. Just because this girl looked young and slight, didn't mean she wasn't very good with a sword. Gabrielle had attested to that skill, afterall. Xena looked slightly amused at the comment given just before Faith's first attacks came. She parried and doged the attacks easily, sweeping the other's sword to the side. She hadn't begun her own attacks yet, she wanted to find out what the girl was made of before she did that. Gabrielle was right. The girl was good. But Xena still managed to block every single attack thrown at her, and she smiled lazily, almost like she was bored. She wasn't rude enough to put a hand to her mouth and yawn, though. She nodded her head as she continued to block the attacks. "Good." (Reply to this) (Thread)

warriorsbard 2008-08-26 10:24 am UTC (link)

Gabrielle watched as the waterbender moved to block each of her on coming attacks. She was impressed that she could block them and that Xena had taut her so well. She remembered asking Xena to teach her some fighting technique once before. Xena as a teacher didn’t exactly go over so well so much of the skills she learned, she picked up from the Amazon’s or just watching her warrior fight. She paused in sparring, listening as Katara told her what exactly Xena had taught her, slowly nodding. “You’re defensive stances are good and blocking is something you’ll always need to improve on and learn. Every person is different in the way they fight. You’ve got a basic idea of the blocking maneuvers though.” She said, flashing her a small smile. The bard’s attention shifted as she heard Faith’s comments, her brow rising, not really understanding why the brunette was thrusting her ego around the place but she wasn’t going to question. She knew Xena could wipe the floor with her. She had watched the warrior take on some of the most ruthless warlords and they pretty much crumpled to the ground after a beating. She noticed the dummy that Toph had conjured up from the ground and looked on in amazement, seeing herself in the young girl. Walking over to stand besides Katara, she brought her staff in close to her chest; she leaned against it, watching as Faith moved to attack Xena, her eyes on her lover, waiting anxiously to see what she would do. She watched Xena block the attacks and smiled a bit, watching her warrior fight. Right away she could tell Xena was bored and smirked, turning her attention back to Katara. “I’ll show you some basic attacks then you can use them on me while I block. We’ll take it slow.” She said, taking her staff in hand, slowly walking her through ways to attack an opponent, making sure she understood them before allowing the girl to use the attacks on her, blocking them. (Reply to this) (Parent)

k_waterbender 2008-08-26 08:11 pm UTC (link)

Katara could see the approval on Gabrielle’s face as she tested the waterbender’s defensive abilities. A smile crossed her lips when the shorter, blonde woman. “Well, when I learned waterbending, I was taught how to anticipate attacks and turn defense into offense in one smooth motion. Defense is the biggest part of waterbending.” She wasn’t sure if Xena had told her warrior companion that the Water Tribe femme could waterbend, but it wasn’t overly important. What was important was the fact that she already had experience in battles and defensive and offensive moves, even if the weapon was different. It seemed both women who held staffs had their attention easily drawn toward the skirmish between the larger brunette and the one with the slight frame. It was Katara’s very nature to be protective of everyone. If things got out of hand, she would do her best to calm things down. She only shook her head when Toph produced a rock dummy to beat up with the sword because the two that might have taught her were duking it out. It pleased the waterbender that Xena touched on the importance of defense. It was soon apparent that no help would be needed. Xena held her own incredibly well, blocking every attack Faith threw at her. The corners of her lips turned up slightly. Defense was the most important thing in a battle, as far as the Water Tribe girl was concerned. Even so, knowing attacks was helpful, and she was happy when Gabrielle told her she would learn a few basic attack moves. They were quite simple, and Katara got the hang of them pretty quickly. She wasn’t a professional by any means, but she was okay with them. The waterbender wasn’t really aiming to hurt the shorter warrior when she brought her staff down upon her, and she was quite glad the shorter female could easily block them. Later on, once she’d received enough training, this would become easier to her, and she would aim for attacks that couldn’t be blocked, but as it was at the moment, she simply wanted to learn the movements. She decided she would practice them more than she’d actually practiced when Xena had taught her. It would help a lot in the long run if something ever happened on the Planet, or if she ever left the Planet. (Reply to this) (Thread)

rocksolid 2008-08-26 10:27 pm UTC (link)

"That's fine." She said with a slight shrug. "I'm cool with however you teach, I'm just not going to stand around waiting for you to finish fighting her." Toph wasn't big on the whole defensive thing, as earth bending was all offense so it became habit, but if that's what it took to learn the sword from Xena she'd deal with it. That didn't mean she couldn't pick up on a few things on her own, rather then just waiting to be taught. She preferred to think of herself as determined, not impatient. Sightless or not, her movements were almost spot on with every block that Xena made. Granted, she was just as bored, if not more so then the other woman as she didn't actually have an opponent attacking her. Still, it gave her a feel for a few defensive moves, and eventually hearing Gabrielle talk of attacking caught her attention. She grinned, and with another stomp the rock dummy crumbled and shifted in places until what she had was a figure holding a staff out as if to protect itself. A figure that had the same sort of height and shape of Katara, just for Toph's own amusement. The fact that she was currently just playing around on her own instead of actually training like she'd wanted had initially irritated her, but it never took long for the teen to find ways to keep herself busy and entertained. So she had fun with it while she waited for her 'teacher' to finish showing Faith how things were done. She mimicked Xena's movements, parts of the attacks that Gabby had shown her friend, even trying to remember bits of what Sokka had done back home, taking all this out on her dummy. All of which looked less that perfect, and some completely made up on the spot, but a grin played across her lips anyways. (Reply to this) (Parent)

dark_slayer 2008-08-27 12:04 am UTC (link)

She nodded almost imperceptibly as Xena easily blocked all of her opening attacks. She was glad, really, that the Warrior woman wasn't just good reputation, all style and no substance. She would have been disappointed if her basic, simple attacks had done the trick. Dark eyes narrowed, and she stepped up her game. She suspected that, despite the other woman's obvious muscles, that Faith herself was stronger. The Slayer thing made her way stronger than she should be for her size. As she went, she put more of that strength into the attack. At first, her style seemed to lack any order, and be a mess of chaos. But everything she did, while fighting at least, had a purpose and she threw her entire being into it as she did little else. Even when she was fighting with more of her skill, and more passion now, she still had time to glance over at Toph. She laughed a little, but unlike how she normally was, she wasn't trying to be mean. Truth was, she rather liked the spunky teenager. Reminded her of herself, in a way. "Not bad, kid, but remember you don't have to scare the dude you're fighting with your face, it's not really needed. Nice cross stroke, though... but you left your whole side open there." Once she was really challenged with the fight, then she'd stop calling out directions. Until then, though, she had no problems holding her own in the fight, as well as instructing the girl. (Reply to this)

bravely 2008-08-27 12:30 pm UTC (link)

As Xena continued to deflect the attacks Faith was throwing at her, she could hear Gabrielle teaching Katara some offensive moves. She could also see, out of the corner of her eye, that Toph had changed dummies and was trying to translate the offensive moves Gabrielle was teaching with the staff into attacks with the sword. Still, she didn't pause, and her attention on Faith did not waver. The girl was strong, much stronger than she ought to be considering her look. "Who's Muscles now?" Xena wondered if she were a little supernatural. But as strong as the girl was, she was no Hercules. Xena had fought and beaten Hercules, the God of War Ares, and countless others. She had singlehandedly killed half of the Olympic Gods. A mortal girl, with superhuman strength or not, was not going to get the best of her. It was rumored that Xena was half God anyway. Perhaps the offspring of Ares himself. She'd been concieved when her father was away at war and her mother reported that he just appeared one night. It was a habit of the War God to sleep with his warrior's wives while they were away at battle, taking on their visage. It had never been proven, and Ares still denied it to this day, but it was a possibility. She listened to the directions Faith was calling out to Toph and had to smirk. This girl wasn't even putting in all of her effort. Well, that was about to change. Xena changed from the defense to the offense and began to attack. She jabbed, slashed and twisted her sword in the unprotected places that Faith left open. She really was good, one of the better fighters she'd gone up against, and she challenged Xena. She liked that. She also began to incorporate some of her acrobatics. She twisted from left to right, switched her sword from hand to hand, flipped over Faith and pressed the point of her blade to her spine in between her shoulderblades as she landed. Breathing somewhat heavily from the exertion. "Good. You're good. I'm impressed." She dropped the sword so Faith could turn around, but she didn't drop her defenses. Sometimes after you let someone go, they tried to fight you again. She would be prepared for that, though. Her gaze slid sideways to Toph. "By the time I'm through with you, you're going to be able to do just what we've done here, if not more. But we are going to start with defense, whether you like it or not." She turned to Katara and unhooked the chakram from her belt. "I told you I'd show you how this works. Do you want a demonstration now?" (Reply to this) (Thread)

warriorsbard 2008-08-31 10:06 pm UTC (link)

Gabrielle listened to Katara’s words, slowly nodding though she had no idea what waterbending was. She imagined it was just like what Toph had done with the rock when she made it appear as a dummy the only change is Katara used water. “Defense is big in any form of fighting, no matter the style.” She told her, continuing to instruct her on moves of attacking though her own attention span was growing thin as she heard the fighting to her side grow more intense. She paused and looked over at Xena and Faith, watching the two a moment, seeing Xena step up her skills a bit. She smiled a bit; always loving to watch her warrior in action, even if all the two were really doing was showing off egos. She let her gaze drift to Toph, watching as she tried to mimic the moves the warrior and slayer did in their fight. She smirked, turning her attention back to Katara, focusing her attention back on the training that was supposed to be taking place. She halted her movements when Xena questioned Katara about the chakram, her green eyes focusing on the yin-yang shaped object, remembering the first and only time she had threw it. She knew the Chakram was Xena’s favorite weapon. Lowering her staff, she moved to stand off to the side, letting the warrior demonstrate the weapon. (Reply to this) (Parent)

k_waterbender 2008-08-31 10:34 pm UTC (link)

Katara only nodded when Gabrielle told her the importance of defense. She was well aware, but it never hurt to hear it again. The waterbender didn’t grudge the blond warrior her fickle attentions. She, too, was curious about what was going on between the two women as they sparred, and she wanted to make sure Toph was all right with what she was doing. Her concern was unnecessary, it seemed, as everyone involved seemed to be doing well- despite the somewhat annoyed look upon the earthbender’s face. Xena was blocking and avoiding every blow Faith threw at her, but it was obvious the smaller woman wasn’t putting forth all her effort. Maybe she was just getting a feel for the larger woman’s style. Toph was mimicking their movements quite well as she attacked the stone dummy that was… quite tall in comparison. It suddenly struck Katara that the dummy was approximately the same height and width of her own person. Her brows creased in irritation, but she said nothing. Now was not the time to get into it with the other teenager. Suddenly the movements of the warrior woman changed, and she began to attack. She was quite showy about it, and if there had been earthbending instead of sword fighting, it would have almost reminded Katara of an Earth Rumble. They’d been all about showing off their skills, but they were mostly talk. Toph had beaten one of the best in a quick two moves despite all the talk the Boulder had put out there. A smirk lit her lips when she remembered how Aang had commented that he needed a teacher who needed to listen to the earth, as opposed to one who listened to his muscles. It had been years ago, but the waterbender had a fantastic memory. Suddenly, Gabrielle had turned back to her, teaching her more, and half-sparring with her. It was entertaining and interesting. It wasn’t filled with anything overly intense, but it was a bit of a workout. However, it stopped again when Xena reminded the waterbender that she’d promised to show how a chakram worked. Katara remembered that it was supposed to work something like a boomerang, though she really didn’t see how. It looked more like it would just curve a little to the side instead of coming right back. “Yes, please!” She said enthusiastically, infinitely curious about this weapon. Maybe she could tell Sokka about it when she returned home- if that would ever happen. Clutching the staff vertically and leaning on it slightly, Katara waited patiently for the display. (Reply to this) (Thread)

rocksolid 2008-09-01 12:06 am UTC (link)

Toph rolled her eyes as Faith started commenting on her movements, and how she'd left her left side open. "I'll worry about leaving myself open when my opponent isn't a pile of dirt." She commented. "Besides, you're the one about to be attacked..." Toph didn't need to see to tell that Xena had shifted her stance, and was not about to stand around blocking any more. She didn't stop mimicking their moves either, not when Xena was finally getting to the good ones, or at least she didn't stop until the woman started doing back flips. At that point the earth bender figured the show was over with. "Yeah yeah. I got it. Defense first. Fine by me." She replied as the importance of it was stressed again once the fight was finished. She'd always been one to believe that the best defense is a good offense, but she was very clearly out numbered on that front. So she grinned and lowered the sword, reducing her dummy to a pile of rubble, waiting for the teaching to actually start. Which -- didn't happen. Instead they started talking about some kind of demonstration. Normally it wouldn't have bothered her, but she had no idea what they were talking about, and the way the chakram worked she wouldn't have a clue what was being done. At this rate it be ages before she learned anything. Toph wasn't known for being especially patient, and certainly not when she couldn't see what was going on around her. It wasn't likely that she'd be all too pleased if there were any more of these 'demonstrations' either. Faith and Xena had gotten in a decent fight, Katara was already learning attacks and kept on her toes...She had been attacking a rock, and had to listen while the others 'oohed' and 'awwed' at whatever it was that Xena was about to do. Katara, rather, as she seemed the only one particularly enthusiastic about it. The earth bender leaned forward on the sword, deciding that if they didn't start soon she'd go back and find someone else to teach her. There had to be at least one other person in this place that could teach her how to use a sword, maybe one who wasn't so dead set on defense, and if worse came to worse she could figure it out herself. It's not like she needed to know how to use a sword, having no doubt that she could easily beat any of this lot with just her bending, it was just something to do while they were stuck here. (Reply to this) (Parent)

dark_slayer 2008-09-01 01:12 am UTC (link)

She was in motion, spinning around, even as Xena landed behind her. The woman was good at bouncing around, Faith would give her that. Of course, Buffy had been, too. Still, she could admit to herself that if she'd been on the ball, if she'd been putting her whole effort into it, she never would have been taken even as off-guard as she had been. She nodded at Xena, having barely broken a sweat. "Not bad. You don't suck. Pretty strong too, for someone who's not a Slayer." It might not sound like much, but coming from Faith, it was a glowing recommendation. Some respect had been gained. Xena was actually one of the rare people that Faith thought she might have anything to learn from. She even smiled a little, before turning to look at Toph with a raised eyebrow. "So... learn anything, girlie? Wanna take me on now?" She could tell the girl was bored, mostly because she would have been bored senseless if she was in the same position. Anyway, she did want to learn if Toph had learned anything from what she and Xena had been demonstrating. She spun her sword idly as she wandered over to the teenager, ignoring the rest for now. Toph had been bored long enough, she decided. (Reply to this)

bravely 2008-09-02 06:32 pm UTC (link)

Xena had to smirk. "You don't suck, either." She shifted her eyes to Gabrielle and lifted a dark brow before turning back to Faith. "What's a Slayer?" She had the chakram in hand and was going to demonstrate for Katara. She knew Toph wasn't appreciating the delay, and was glad when Faith stepped up to talk to her. Toph was a little too impatient for her tastes. She sighed a little, exasperated with the whole thing, and turned her focus on Katara. "Alright, ready?" She sized up the layout of the land for a moment before she let the discus shaped object fly out of her hand, thrown like one would throw a frisbee. If a frisbee had a handle in the middle of it. The chakram sliced through the air and clanged against the side of the building, ricocheted through the garden and cut a few flowers from their stems, then into a tree where it sliced a small limb and sent it crashing to the ground. It found another rock to ricochet off of before it headed straight for them. Xena lifted her hand and plucked it from the air before hooking it back onto her waist. She turned back to Katara. "A little like a boomerang, but different too." The curvature of the chakram made it slice through the air in a circular arc that always returned it even if it hit nothing, but the ricochets made it return more quickly. "What do you think?" Xena was the only one she knew with a chakram and the only one who could wield it. Except for the one time Gabrielle had done it. She winced thinking about it and then turned back to Faith and Toph to watch them. Maybe she could teach while they sparred. She'd never tried it before, but it couldn't hurt. "Alright, first things first. Defense. Faith, you attack, not too rough, and Toph... you defend yourself without attacking. I want to see where you're at." She pulled some wooden practice swords from the rack and handed one to each girl. "Use these. I don't need anyone losing an eye." (Reply to this) (Thread)

warriorsbard 2008-09-03 08:34 pm UTC (link)

Gabrielle was pretty surprised at how well Katara was picking up the fighting technique with the staff. She remembered struggling the first time she held the wooden stick in her hand, how difficult it was to maneuver. She figured training some with Xena had helped her a great deal. She stood beside Katara, watching as Xena demonstrated the Chakram, her gaze following the weapon as it moved about before returning to the warrior’s hands. She had seen it move in action so many times and only had the chance to use it once. Though, honestly, she didn’t ever want to use it again. It was Xena’s weapon and it was going to the warrior’s. That’s how she wanted it. As Xena turned her attention back to Toph and Faith, she turned her own back to Katara. “It’s a pretty neat weapon, the chakram.” She said, shifting her staff from hand to hand, focusing her gaze on the other woman, wondering what else she could teach her. She was a bit clueless on what to show her since she had learned most of her skill by herself. “Is there anything else you’d like to learn?” She asked, curiously, figuring she could give Katara the opportunity to ask questions or whatever she wanted. “We can meet up any time you’d like, if you want to practice.” She told her, offering her a warm smile, knowing practice just about always helped though she wasn’t sure what the training was going to be used for on the planet. (Reply to this) (Parent)

k_waterbender 2008-09-03 09:27 pm UTC (link)

Despite how enthusiastic Katara was about all of this, she felt bad because Toph was quite irritated. The waterbender didn’t really blame the earthbender, but she wasn’t exactly displaying the most patience, either. How she had ever been patient enough to learn earthbending was beyond the Water Tribe femme. Perhaps it didn’t require patience, though. Maybe the daughter of the Bei Fongs had simply gotten it effortlessly from the badgermoles. Waterbending had taken patience, but once she’d convinced Master Pakku to train her it was incredibly simple, and she caught on faster than students he’d been training for far longer. It pleased her when Faith stepped up to the plate, and began to teach the blind teenager. That would help a great deal. It also earned Katara’s respect for the slight woman who had sparred with Xena. It was obvious that the warrior woman was incredibly skilled with the chakram. The way she threw it with such confidence, exerting the right amount of force, with a perfect stance only influenced the idea that she was very familiar with the weapon. It was fascinating to watch the way it projected around in a circle, bouncing off other things while retaining its spin. “That’s amazing! I wish I could Sokka could see this. He would love it.” If she ever returned home, she would definitely make a point to tell him about it. Maybe he could invent it with their father or something. Hakoda was good and creating weapons. Bato would more than likely help, too. A pang of homesickness tugged at her belly. She wished she could see her family. When Gabrielle spoke to Katara, she stuffed her loneliness down. It wouldn’t do to think about something like that while training. “Yeah. It is. It’s like a circular boomerang, but it’s sharp, too. I like it.” The waterbender thought about the blond woman’s question. It did feel like she’d been taught all she could with the staff. Unlike waterbending, there wasn’t an almost infinite amount of ways to use the weapon. “Not that I can think of right now.” A smile lit her features. “I’ll definitely have to take you up on that offer.” She moved the staff in her hands so she was holding it properly. “Would you like to practice now, though?” If Gabrielle didn’t want to do that, Katara wouldn’t worry about it. She just wondered if maybe they should since both of their attentions had wavered quite a bit during the training while Faith and Xena had been sparring. (Reply to this) (Thread)

rocksolid 2008-09-07 11:49 am UTC (link)

She couldn't see the chakram demonstration, but hearing Katara talk about Sokka struck a nerve with her as well. Not that she let it show, but part of her did miss their friends back home. Toph and Sokka had hung out a lot since Aang and Katara had always seem more interested in each other -- back home she didn't feel so out of place either. There was so much here that they didn't have back home, a lot of which she couldn't even use. "Yeah!" Toph grinned at Faith's offer and lifted the sword. Then came the conditions. Not to rough, defensive moves, and wooden swords...The teen didn't complain though as she swapped out the swords, glad to at least be doing something finally. The wood sword was weird -- she swung it lightly -- it weighed different from the metal sword, and the metal she could bend and felt more natural holding. Ah well... She fell into a stance similar to the one Xena had first taken, and waited for Faith to attack. Bending always came in handy when it came to defense. She could feel tiny vibrations her opponent made with each movement, and using that could anticipate how the other person was going to attack. Granted, anticipating how the other would attack, and actually blocking -- It was hard to resist the urge to bend like usual, making her a little slower with the wooden sword. For the most part though she was able to mimic the moves Xena had used to block though, using a little of what she'd picked up from Katara and Gabrielle's training as well. Inexperienced or not, Toph had always been a fast learner. (Reply to this) (Parent)

dark_slayer 2008-09-07 12:28 pm UTC (link)

She might have protested being given a wooden sword, but then, she remembered the damage she could do with just a simple stake. A man, on a dumpster, dead... she decided that maybe it was better this way. Sometimes, when she fought, she had a hard time controlling her bloodylust. Better not to tempt fate. "Right, let's do this thing." She lifted her wooden sword, which felt like some uncomfortable hybred between the stake she was most used to, and the sword she was also trained in. It was a challenge to get used to it, but hey, she liked challenges. The small, dark-haired girl stepped towards the earthbender. She didn't know the other girl was blind. No one had told her. It probably wouldn't have changed much, even if she had known. "Alright, Muscles, don't worry, she'll still be in one piece when you get her back." Encouragingly, she grinned at the girl she was to spar with, and suddenly, she lunged forward. Her attack was sudden, but not overly strong. From there, she did a really admirable job of keeping the attacks just frequent enough and irregular enough to keep the teenaged girl on her toes, without putting too much stress on a beginner. She never would have thought she'd be any good at this. (Reply to this)

(Deleted post)

warriorsbard 2008-09-09 10:42 pm UTC (link)

[ooc: this is Gabrielle’s last post for this thread. I feel bad for holding everyone up.] The bard smiled at Katara’s interest of the Chakram, knowing the weapon was amazing and the way Xena wielded it so easily made it even more so. “Well, not many people Xena uses it against like the Chakram.” She said, smirking, hearing a response to her question that she couldn’t think of anything. She slowly nodded, searching her mind, wondering if there were any tricks or moves she could teach her. “We’ll get together some other time, I actually think I’m going to head inside now. Just practice on the moves I showed you and when you feel confident and ready, we’ll meet up later on and spar.” She told her with a smile, feeling the need to just be by herself and think through these sudden feelings and thoughts that were going on. “You’re doing really well with this staff.” She added, going over to set her staff back on the rack. Gabrielle turned to look at Faith, Toph and Xena, watching what they were doing for a moment before walking up behind her warrior, lightly touching her shoulder. “I’m going to head inside and lay down or something. Find me when you’re done.” She whispered to her lover, not really wanting to worry her right now but she knew there was no way to get around that. “Don’t worry. I’m okay.” She said, knowing that wouldn’t help but she shrugged it off. She was tempted to give her a kiss but refrained, saying good bye to everyone before heading back to the room, she shared with Xena, deciding to just rest and work on her scrolls. (Reply to this) (Parent)

bravely 2008-09-08 10:01 am UTC (link)

Xena smiled at Katara's obvious enthusiasm over the weapon as she hooked it back on her waistband. She and Gabrielle were sparring effectively and she knew that Katara was picking up the offensive moves Gabrielle was teaching with relative ease, just as she had with the defensive moves. Now all she would need is a lot of practice. Her attention returned to the two girls, for really both of them were girls in Xena's eyes, and she crossed her arms over her chest to watch. A few times while they sparred, Xena stepped in to raise Toph's arm, or twist her wrist so that the sword was angled differently to deflect the blow aimed at it. But the girl was doing a good job of mimicing Xena's own moves. It was a miracle to Xena that she could do it just because she knew she was blind, but she also knew that she had help from her hearing and the vibrations of the earth. No one had said anything to Faith about Toph being blind, and it didn't even cross Xena's mind to do so. She wasn't going to treat Toph like an invalid because she couldn't see. Clearly she was holding her own. She took a moment to shift Toph's stance via her shoulders and nodded as they continued to spar. "Good, Toph." She walked around the duo, watching Faith's moves and the defense that Toph put on. "Change it up a little more, Faith." Her comments were not meant to aggrivate, she was just calling it as she saw it, continuing to make rotations around the girls, looking for ways to improve both of them. "Bend your elbow Toph, unless you want a broken bone." She slid her gaze to the two staff fighting women and saw that they were both watching Toph's training. She smiled slightly and looked back to Faith and Toph. (Reply to this)

k_waterbender 2008-09-10 12:01 am UTC (link)

Katara chuckled softly at the blond woman’s jest. Sokka would love to use the chakram, but she had no doubts he wouldn’t want it used against him. Truth be told, she really didn’t want to think about what a weapon like that could do to someone. She knew all too well what boomerangs and sharp blades could cause, but having them conjoined… That was another story completely. The waterbender wasn’t overly disappointed when Gabrielle announced she would go inside. They’d had a good training session that day already. It would be fine to simply sit outside and watch Xena and Faith train Toph. She returned the staff to the rack when Gabrielle left and resigned herself to sit upon the soft grass. Silvery eyes watched intently, ears listening closely, as each movement was made, each tip addressed. It was pretty interesting, watching how Toph handled herself. Just because the earthbender couldn’t see in detail, didn’t mean she didn’t catch things people with sight would no doubt miss. (Reply to this) (Thread)

rocksolid 2008-09-10 11:43 pm UTC (link)

Toph wasn't sure how much she liked having Xena pop in and turn her wrist, hand, shoulders, or whatever else, but the teen knew better then to argue. She had, after all, agreed to go along with however it was that the woman taught, and obviously Xena was a damn good swordsman so it probably wouldn't be all that smart to argue anyways. So Toph kept her mouth shut and took the suggestions as they came, though on certain things -- like her stance -- she fell quickly right back into the way she'd been. It was more about her sight and habits from years of earthbending a particular way then anything. At the instruction for Faith to change it up, Toph gave a pleased little smile. She still managed to block most of the strikes, and the longer they did it the easier it became. Especially since it didn't take long for her to pick up on the weight shifts, the common vibrations however slight before a certain attack, that made it easier to anticipate how the older woman would move. The better reaction time to these movements helped to make up for her hesitation with the wooden sword as she was still getting used to it. Of course, she could only do defensive moves for so long, and once she'd gotten to the point where she only missed once or twice Toph turned her attention to Xena again. Of course, only partially, still focusing mostly on Faith. "So, attacks next time, right?" She asked, figuring they probably wouldn't get to it today. That and her stomach was giving an upset growl, apparently not satisfied with a simple apple for breakfast before all this activity. (Reply to this) (Parent)

dark_slayer 2008-09-11 09:47 am UTC (link)

It had been a decent work out, though she wasn't used to attacking someone who didn't attack back. But, all in all, this training thing wasn't so bad. Sort of like having a lot of Slayers training together at once. She could dig it. She even kept her hits from being overly hard, which had to be the biggest challenge of this all for her. She just really wasn't used to attacking and not following through. When Toph turned back to Xena, Faith tossed the wooden training sword, appearing almost careless. But it landed neatly in the rack it had been taken from, and she gave a small little smile at that. She'd only been about 90% sure that would work. "Yeah, I'm game, I'd like to see what Toph could do attacking me. Anyway, I'm outta here. I'm starving." With a little wave to Katara, a sort of small, half-ironic nod to Xena, and a smile she hoped was encouraging to Toph, she stretched, flicked her long brown hair over her shoulders, and headed off toward the main building. [OOC Faith checking out! Thanks for the thread, guys, it was fun!] (Reply to this)

bravely 2008-09-11 11:31 am UTC (link)

While she was watching Toph and Faith fight, she felt a touch on her shoulder and looked down to find Gabrielle there. Xena was instantly on guard. The expression on her face said more than the inflection in her words did. "Alright." Even being told not to worry and that she was alright, Xena worried. The knotted sensation in her stomach hadn't abated even with the training they were doing, and she had a feeling it was worse for Gabrielle. She watched the bard go and turned back to Katara, giving her a smile. She didn't want Katara to think that she'd left because of her. She turned back to watch the rest of Faith and Toph's spar. She could tell that she was annoying the earthbender with her tips and adjustments to her technique, but that made Xena want to correct her even more. And she did. But Toph was doing well for a first timer, and even though Faith was holding back, she was able to block the majority of her attacks. When they finished, Xena nodded. It had been a good training session, and if Toph wanted to keep learning, she would find her for another one. But, she would also understand if she never wanted to learn from her again. She wasn't an easy teacher, especially on impatient students. Faith announced her intent to get something to eat, and considering Gabrielle had already left, Xena felt it was probably time to end the session. Xena lifted a brow to Faith's nod. She had a sort of respect for the overconfident Slayer, but she wasn't about to let her know it. When she was gone, she turned to the two benders. "Well, being mostly disbanded, I think we can call it a good day's training and end it here." She checked her hips for her whip and chakram and knew from the weight that her sword was in the scabbard on her back. She knew the weapons rack would be taken care of by the golems or.. whatever it was that took care of things like that. She gave them both a half smile and waved once. "See ya." (Reply to this)