ʙᴇᴇᴘ ʙᴇᴇᴘ, ʀɪᴄʜɪᴇ (trashing) wrote in valloic, @ 2021-05-18 20:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, ₴ inactive: richie tozier (2), ₴ inactive: zuko (2) |
WHO: Zuko & Richie
WHAT: FIRE BENDING PRACTICE, with the totem
WHERE: A clearing in the woods
WHEN: Idk recently?
WARNINGS: RIP weeds
STATUS: Complete
Fire was a tricky thing to work with. And it was tricky when your adopted teenager also went ahead and set your penthouse aflame with one of her mad science experiments - granted, that had been more smoke and fumes but still. Things turned out okay, and now they were in Skyhold and Enola had plenty of lab safety knowledge tucked under her belt - plus she had a newer lab space that was more out in the open, so like, less chance for fumes that smelled like putrid moldy socks to sink into everything. Point was, Richie didn’t want to set a bad example and set fire to their home again while he was in the midst of practicing with the totem that had somehow made its way to him. They’d bonded. He was fond of this rock that glowed red like lava bubbling along the inside of a mountain - he was endlessly fascinated with it, and definitely held a respect for it too which was maybe why the totem liked him in turn. Whatever it was, they got along. He wore it around his neck frequently, as shit tended to go sideways often in Vallo and it was good to be prepared. And good to practice. Zuko may be sour as a salad made entirely of lemon and limes, but he knew his fire shit. Plus, they were friends. Probably reluctantly on Zuko’s end - and Richie couldn’t help but dad him a little. Someone had to, considering he lived with actual children and probably hadn’t blown the place up yet only because they all could bend the elements to their will. Anyway, the forest clearing was a decent spot to do some practicing - he spent a lot of time in the forest anyway now that he lived at Skyhold, and had grown used to the natural earthy plant smells (sometimes sweet to attract pollinators, or bitter to get them to fuck off) and the sounds of fluttering wings and fluttering leaves. “So what are we learning today, wise one?” he asked, hands in the pockets of his jeans. If they were anywhere else he’d be fishing for a cigarette but he left the pack at home since he’d cut back a lot - even if it was pretty easy to light up while wearing the totem anyway. Dressed in jeans and a hoodie himself, someone from home likely wouldn't even recognize Zuko. He'd grown kind of fond of modern clothing, though he'd still wear standard outfits around his uncle's shop (largely for the theme of the tea shop, not because his uncle had expectations). His tendency to look towards the ground since his banishment had largely faded, so he just turned to look at Richie from where he'd previously just been surveying the clearing. Despite himself, he liked Richie. Somewhat. He didn't understand why this guy had such a thing for hanging out with people like a third his age or whatever, but since his Uncle Iroh spent most of his time around Zuko and the others, he couldn't judge too harshly. Besides, he wasn't a pain in the ass, which was a credit. "When you summon a flame, what are you thinking about?" Richie hummed thoughtfully, considering the question. It was different, when he did something like try to look into the future - that required more zen, relaxation and mindfulness almost. Everything he’d learned from Prigany told him that he needed to just let go and let things happen and that always proved to be more difficult to someone whose brain was always going at a million miles an hour, pinging off in all directions. He was built like that and changing it, to try to be decent at grabbing hold of a power that rooted itself in him after looking into primeval hatred and omniscience, was also hard. Seers had the tendency to talk ‘round and ‘round in circles until the anticipation was knotted so tightly it was just of no use. He wanted to be better than that. It was a work in progress. Fire, different story though. “I think about - strong feelings,” he said. “I mean - how much I care about the people that are important. Like how I’d do anything for them.” Or some shit like that. Was that the right answer? Or was there not a right answer? Zuko merely raised an eyebrow and frowned. "This isn't a fantasy story, what does any of that have to do with fire?" He shook his head and adopted a martial stance, then performed a few punches. No fire, just technical performance. Punching downward as if towards an invisible abdomen, he noted, "This is gyaku tsuki." Punching straight as if he was hitting a face or sternum, he added, "This is yun tsuki." Punching with two fists together with force, he finished with, "And this is morote tsuki.." Returning to a more relaxed stance, he shrugged. "We'll stick with punches for now, I'm not sure you're ready for kicks. You probably don't even need to know the stances, or maybe not particularly care, but they're good for focus and focus is important when dealing with the destructive power of fire. Then from there, channeling real fire… it's about intent. You could be thinking of needing to go to the bathroom, but if your intent is there. That's what counts. Want the fire. Visualize the fire. Direct the fire." “I can summon fire from nowhere while wearing a magic rock, and we’re on a magical island that likes to fuck with us and occasionally wants us dead - this is prime setup for a fantasy story, dude,” Richie pointed out - because all of that sounded pretty damn fantastical to him. And, you know, whatever - everyone was different. He had to tap into a well within him, someplace that wasn’t so technical (he had never been a technical person anyway - he was comprised of repressed emotions, anxiety, muscle, and long wiry limbs) to be able to actually summon fire and get the totem to work with him, not against him. So far it seemed to be going okay, but if Zuko wanted him to find the perfect punching form in order to help his fire game then he’d give it a try. He had a decent memory, at least (when he actually buckled down) so he went along with those punch stances - the two fists together was his favorite, he decided. “Okay, so - does it matter what I think about then, as long as I really want it? Should I try and summon it while focusing on intent?” And having vague thoughts about how much he needed to pee (he didn’t, but anyway). Zuko sighed, but largely because Richie was right. This was a place ripe for fantasy to happen at any given moment. "First, I meant what we're doing, not the world around us. Happy thoughts aren't going to power you through a fight with a monster. Your forms look good for a beginner, though, so I guess there's some promise." He turned to Richie again and generated a ball of flame in the palm of his hand. "Fire is life. It can create as easily as destroy. You don't have to cross your legs and clear your mind or any of that mystic nonsense. But you do need to respect it. Know what you're capable of. Don't let yourself get careless. Act with intent." Well, what, was he supposed to think of taking a piss instead of actual motivating thoughts? Or, you know, fine - he got the point. Zuko was saying it was all about intent, and he could get behind that train of thought (a lot of his own thought trains were runaways but that was a whole other thing). “Oh, thank fuck,” he exhaled, relieved that mystic nonsense wasn’t going to be a factor here either. He dealt with enough of that when trying to scry, to peek into the future - which was a headache in its own right. “Okay, respect the fire. Know what I’m capable of - got you.” He focused and tried to think of how much he wanted the fire to appear - the totem responded to him, as it always did; Richie wasn’t sure if it could read his thoughts, or his intent, but it pulsed and glowed (always kind of reminded him of the inside of a toaster, all those red coils) - heat beneath his skin and behind his eyes, and then poof. The flame was there, he held it in his hands. Both hands. The first few times this had happened he’d nearly shat himself because he was afraid he’d burn his skin down to the bone but he’d definitely gotten better at it. “I never thought about using forms to punch while holding fire before,” he mused. Usually it was just tossing them like baseballs. “Can you show me those - and the kicks? Just so I see what it looks like.” "A normal punch is most effective if you tighten it just before impact. Likewise, summoning the fire at the apex of your punch is what gives it the striking power. Same with kicks," answered Zuko, immediately dropping into a sample leg sweep before continuing the motion into a standing roundhouse and finishing the spin with an overhead axe kick - launching little bursts of flame with each arc. He stood up straight again and shrugged. "You could do the same thing with standard brawling if you wanted." "The real thing I wanted to show you, though," he continued, dropping down his hands and extending a gout of whirling flame that went out a few feet, then ten feet, then nearly twenty feet before he had what was essentially whips of flame that he began to spin around himself and continue demonstrating fighting forms, accurate enough to lash out and burn the heads of weeds. Holy shit, that was just so cool - and Richie wasn’t under any sort of delusion that he’d look as cool doing that, but it was still damn amazing to watch. You could honestly tell that Zuko was born to do this - he moved like smoke over water anyway, kind of like it was a dance. He was that connected to the fire. Richie wasn’t as much of a graceful gazelle, but he’d try. “Fire at the apex of the punch,” he repeated, giving that a shot - to see what it’d feel like. He assumed the position, the various forms before that he was shown, and he attempted to make a whip the way Zuko did but he couldn’t quite get the shape right. He had the fire in his hands yet was still kind of concerned that these clothes would go up in flames too and he’d end up singed and naked (it wouldn’t happen, but his brain kept insisting on it) - so his whips looked more like skinny twigs that puttered out quickly. And then there was one longer burst of fire that didn’t just take the heads off of weeds, but incinerated them completely and left the ash behind. Shit. “I mean - I’m not sure I can move like that, but the whip was really awesome,” he added, turning his hands over and clenching his fingers to extinguish the flame for now. Maybe he just had to try again. "It's a start," answered Zuko, impressed he actually managed to get the fire to even go beyond his immediate reach. He wasn't going to lean into cliches like 'practice makes perfect' or similar, so he just nodded at the effort and slouched into a casual pose. He'd gotten tired of always standing at some kind of noble attention, representing the Fire Nation and all that. It was nice to just be Zuko. "So, just keep all that in mind, I guess," he added, letting his hair fall back in front of his scar. "Maybe when you're better, we'll see if I can teach you lightning." “Lightning?” Richie grinned. He was eager, way eager, and he wished that he could be super amaaaaazing at all of this right away - but even with his ADHD he knew that wasn’t realistic so he’d take ‘it’s a start.’ It seemed like high praise, anyway. “Yeah, that’d be awesome - I’ll keep working on it and show off when I think I’ve got a handle on that part.” They came out here regularly, he and Zuko - he didn’t really have anyone else to teach him how to control fire, or to use the totem at all; there were others with the totems too (he could sense them around whenever he was wearing the thing - it was like the rocks called out to each other) but he just assumed they were practicing and learning on their own as well. Plus the air totem had changed hands a couple times already. He still missed Calamity - her disappearance was one of the more sad ones, at least to him. Anywaaaaaaay. “Thanks again, for like - helping me,” he added. “You’re pretty cool, Zuko.” Well, actually, he was fiery - oh, ho, ho. Zuko started to smile and squashed it quickly. "No problem. Better you don't burn more things down, at least." The way Richie reacted to most things, Zuko was convinced he'd gotten aged up in some Vallo event and then got stuck that way. Stranger things had happened, right? His excitement about things tended to be a bit infectious, just like Aang. "You can thank me by helping me come up with some good nicknames for Toph. I keep defaulting to Yak Face and could use some new material. Nothing too demeaning, though. It's not like we're out to actually hurt each other." He raised an eyebrow at Richie, as if he figured a Psychic Comedian Firebender might have a few ideas. "Or we'll just tell her you're the one who farts fire." Richie’s grin broadened, and he let out a huff of a laugh. “I own that fire farting thing, dude.” Hey, if you couldn’t use your newfound fire powers to do stupid shit like that then what was even the point? Like, don’t get him wrong - he totally respected the element and all. But it wasn’t always about charging into battle (unless he was on a date with Max - they did that a lot, actually). But right, nicknames. “Yak Face is good but let’s see...” He stroked his chin contemplatively. “Butt Nugget. Fart Breath. Sheep Teats. Noodle Loaf. Toe Cheese.” Oh, trust him - he could go on and on and...and on... So, yeah, he’d keep brainstorming. It was something to do on his downtime - the five minutes they all had before crap usually hit the fan again, anyway. |