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Post by desna on Sept 8, 2008 21:01:38 GMT -5
Desna blinked looking behind her seeing the snowball careen towards the scroll guy, she winced expecting the snowball to pelt him and for a string of curses to utter forth from his direction but to her chagrin it seemed he bended the ball to a stop, still as some of the scrolls spilled to the ground she put a hand over her mouth holding back a jolt of giggles. The look on the man's face forced her to silence but the cheeky grin was still there.
A few more chuckles came from her throat as she turned away and looked over the newest snow mound towards Aden's strong hold. A snowball pulled from her pocke was lobbed in his general direction and she let loose a small " HA!" before she ducked back down to the safety of the snow. She was giggling again now, today was becoming increasingly interesting.
" Seven! I thought I had more than that!" She chimed in smirking to herself, she brushed hair from her face with the thumb of her mittens, honestly she might have two lives left. Perhaps less. In her opinion she was on borrowed time solely, she should have been scattered to the sea long ago.
If life were fair she would have been, but she wasn't it was more to life for in a way, a burden to carry in the least. She peeked up once more before bolting over her shield and sprinting to the fore-side of Aden's own retaining wall. She skittered to a stop before turning around it with a snowball in hand poised to toss in his face, regardless of the snowballs she most likely took in her maneuver.
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Post by aden on Sept 9, 2008 21:17:34 GMT -5
Aden was completely unaware of his wild throw nearly plattering the archivist, for his attention was solely on beating Desna at the moment. His hands worked to form a few more snowballs as she shouted back at him from her latest position of cover. The young warrior smirked at the exchange, but stood up quickly when he heard her staqrting to charge his way.
She was certainly wreckless, or at least Aden thought. As she crossed the wide open space between them, he stopped making more snowballs and began throwing the ones he had. He unleashed three in rapid succession, two finding their mark around her midsection and shoulder, respectively, while the third slipped off to her left. And yet, she still kept coming. It seemed like she was determined to score a hit at point blank range, even if she took 10 square shots in the process.
Aden, however, didn't feel like letting her gain such an opportunity through simple disregard for safety. He started to take a step back as she dove for cover on the opposite side of his own protective wall. But instead of just running to a new location to pelt her from, the young warrior had a clever idea.
Taking a deep breath, Aden lifted his hands flat to the ground and then pulls his arms in tight to his chest. A laayer of snow all around him suddenly jumped at his call and accumulated itself all around his body. His control was such that it even formed itself into the 3-sectioned body of a snowman, complete with two little depressions for eyes and a slight grin.
From inside the snowman Aden could not see Desna, but with any luck she would think the snowman was just a distraction and not a coat of armor. When a few moments had passed, he would peak out and try to catch her off-guard.
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Post by desna on Sept 9, 2008 21:47:54 GMT -5
Desna was poised to throw her snowball and simple momentum wouldn't lend her any affordance to stop so the snowball flew and smacked into... a snow man. Her heart raced and her breath came out in excited puffs as she saw the ball collide innocently with the snow and then fall to the ground leaving little more than a small indent where it collided. She quickly let out a yelp og a huzzah before she noticed.
She didn't hit Aden... Her eyebrows quirked and she blinked a couple times at the snowman, the boy was there, she was very sure of it. Stumbling forward a step then stumbling back one she turned her head this way and that trying to find him. Her miscut hair splayed out her shoulders in ill-trimmed locks as she tried to see where he could have gone. There were no tracks in the snow but he could have used bending to cover them. That cheater. Desna was confused to say the least, he couldn't have ran away without her noticing.
Her eyebrows knitt themselves together in frustration. Had she taken two shots for nothing? That would have been most displeasing but she wouldn't be able to recover the score until she found him again. Her pink lips pursed together and a huff came out through her nose, her milk chocolate cheeks taking on a rosy glow from the cold. With the strands of rich brown hair in her eyes she was surely a sight with her pensiveness almost emanating from the annoyed look on her face.
Desna took a few steps toward the snowman, blaming him for the lack of someone to accuse. It was like he vanished into thin air. How irriating would that be. In her frustration she aimed a kick at the largest orb of snow on the snowman with her hands planted on her hips
She wouldn't loose to him!
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Post by aden on Sept 10, 2008 19:46:29 GMT -5
From inside his snowman shell, Aden felt the pressure of a snowball against his chest, though it didn't affect him much. For a moment he thought that Desna had seen through his ruse, and was going to attack him in earnest. But as the moments passed by and she didn't start yelling at him for cheating, nor continue striking him, the young warrior thought his plan had worked.
With a very exaggerated wink, Aden managed to dissolve away the snow in front of his eye and he peaked out through the face of the snowman. He could barely see Desna's head through the narrow peep-hole, but she seemed to be looking around in confusion.
Aden smiled under the mask of snow, and almost immediately after Desna kicked her foot at the base of the snowman he extended his arms out to the sides and broke through the snow.
"RAH!" he growled loudly, raising his hands up to the sides like a looming predator and leaned forward to tilt the snowman closer to Desna. Aden only wished his view of her face wasn't so obscured, because he would have loved to see her reaction.
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Post by desna on Sept 10, 2008 20:21:32 GMT -5
Desna pouted, muttering softly about benders and their pension for breaking promises and rules. Honestly it was like they were broken without bending, it made her wonder how people managed to get by without it. Surely they could compare it to the person being crippled. Suddenly that brought up various thoughts about how Aden saw her. First it was simple, how would he see her as a non-bender.
Then it became more complicated, how did he see her as a person? It didn't seem like he was turned off by how she looked, perhaps a little by how she acted... Her eyes remained locked onto the dent her kick left in the snowman. A better question came to mind. Why did she even CARE what Aden thought....
The sound hit her before the moving snowman caught her attention. All the same her eyes widened considerably when it started moving. She stared blankly, a little shocked, at the mass of snow before there was a shriek.
Both of her hands went in front of her body pushing the snow violently, some part of her mind rationalized it was the annoying cheater behind this but the other part was screaming. 'big freak'n snowman is moving!!' surely if she had some sort of blunt object the thing would get one of it's many parts knocked off. Too bad she was unarmed.
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Post by aden on Sept 10, 2008 20:31:33 GMT -5
Desna's alarmed scream brought a satisfying grin to Aden's hidden face. He didn't even need to see her expression to know it would have made him smile, and he began to lower his arms as he started to laugh a bit harder. Honestly, it must have been years since he'd gotten such a laugh out of a cheap scare... but oh how satisfying that was.
Aden suddenly felt a shove on his chest, presumably in retaliation from his opponent, and as amused as he was by her scream he couldn't bring himself to do much in defense. His upper body leaned back from the shove, but his feet were held stationary by the big sphere of snow. He didn't have enough presence of mind to use his bending to free himself, and so he simply resigned to tumbling backwards.
The snow around him broke apart on impact, revealing his body and face amidst the rubble. He was still laughing quite a bit as he lay there, and he brought his hands to his face to brush off the remaining snow.
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Post by desna on Sept 10, 2008 22:36:27 GMT -5
Her body moved onto it's toes and she continued to shove the snowman forward, quickly she found herself loosing her balance and her body moving forward as Aden moved back. Her eyes widened more than previously if it was possible at all. She tumbled forward onto his chest as he fell back, the momentum kept her going forward until she was onto of his chest flushed and sprawled out on top of the broken snowman.
By proxy she was on top of Aden. She groaned and hefted herself onto her forearms, her leg fell at an odd angle, it felt painful. She was actually somewhat surprised to see the boy inside the snowman, she'd assumed he made a bee-line for another area and simply controlled it. Her face pulled into a slight frown of annoyance as she looked at the laughing boy. She pulled herself up over him with her legs straddling his waist and her hair falling around her face as she held herself over him.
" You jerk." She grabbed some snow and dropped it on his face letting a small smile cross her face. But soon she found herself watching him, her face uncomfortably close to his.
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Post by aden on Sept 10, 2008 23:11:26 GMT -5
Aden was a little surprised when Desna followed his topple, though he couldn't quite stop his laughter completely. He was still chuckling even as he tucked one arm up between them to keep Desna from crushing his ribs. He also did his best to ignore just how close they were and kept his gaze turned politely skyward as he finally managed to gain control over his laughter.
"Hey," he protested half-heartedly, when Desna dropped a handful of snow on his face, "You must admit that was funny..." Aden brought up his hand to brush the snow out of his eyes, but even after the snow was clear Desna's hair was still dangling in his face. The young warrior brushed it aside for a moment before letting his hand rest against his chest.
At that point, Aden came to realize that Desna was still sitting on him, and had not made any obvious move to extract herself from that position. It was just a little awkward to say the least, but he didn't feel like compounding that awkwardness by pointing it out. Instead he settled for clearing his throat as he turned his gaze away from her eyes for a moment... no easy task considering her face took up the majority of his field of vision.
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Post by taartoq on Sept 11, 2008 0:47:07 GMT -5
Taartoq smirked, but not out of his usual prideful, sardonic feeling. He was watching the two the entire time, from the random arrival of the boy's snowman shield, to the girl's counterattack that crumbled his mini-fortress to the ground, and honestly felt the need to assume they were involved some way or another. Either the boy was paralyzed with fear, as a faraway glimpse at his facial features disputed, or he had genuine feelings for her. Of course, he had assumed something in that vein much earlier.
So, slowing his careful restoration of each scroll to a stop, he was watching the two. If he had seen someone else doing the same, he would no doubt have informed them of their rude habit, but something about ithe pair struck him on a deeper level. Sentiment, maybe, even though Taartoq didn't allow much to effect him like that.
And yet, his slight smirk faded. Would he one day be watching his own child, or worse yet, children, share in games like this? It was something to consider. There was no way to stop what had already happened, his wife bound to birth their firstborn in a matter of months. Time was bearing down quicker than he took the time to realize. What would be the look on his face at that fateful moment? Taartoq, bottom line, was not ready for that.
Like a signal was given, the relaxed muscles of his thigh and hips caused the precariously balanced scroll to roll off his lap and onto the ground again. Quite frankly, he was getting sick of it, yet still felt determined to stay put. He couldn't just pack up and leave, lest a principal of 'out of sight, out of mind' started to apply. If they all crammed into his bag and he look upon them at a later date, pages wrinkled in disrepair...well, it wasn't about to happen. Taartoq wouldn't allow it.
So, picking the scroll up again and placing it in the bag, still wrapped poorly and loosely, he stood and moved to a farther mound of snow. Things may have died down a bit, but he wasn't taking his chances. From what he noted, the girl's aim was awful, so precautions were needed. So, dropping his bag to his side, lowering his body slightly, knees buckling at will, he quickly swung his arms and raised his palms upward. A slight tug at the ground below him rose a wall of packed snow in a tight arc, Taartoq and his belongings in the middle.
To stress matters further, a quick consideration brought him to extend his hand to the wall. Each swift stroke of his hand, mimicking brushstrokes on a larger scale, indented his script in the snowy surface. Written backwards, though without the same finesse as his normal writing, it bore the words 'DO NOT DISTURB', making his intention clear. It was rather ironic and somewhat hypocritical that he wandered into their battleground, but he had a few choice things to say if they claimed the area was theirs. Either that, or he would leave.
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Post by desna on Sept 11, 2008 8:26:11 GMT -5
His eyes were so odd, they looked like ice, she was starring at them mindlessly for a few seconds before she realized she was. Should she say something? Her lips parted gently but she couldn't find words. They'd lapsed into an awkward silence by this point, were they here minutes or seconds, longer? Her cheeks were tinted rose, from the cold most likely, if it was anything else she wouldn't care to acknowledge it.
Why was she being so stupid? They were friends, nothing else, she was on top, surely that meant she won, Aden forfeited himself. Yeah, that made sense, a cheeky grin came to her face and she leaned forward resting her forehead to his. In a hushed whispered tone she murmured" I win" After that she sat up on his chest and rolled off of him all but springing into a standing position. Hopping up and down like an excited child.
" I won! I won~ I W-" Then she was back on the ground, yeah, she had managed to sprain that foot it seemed, at least it felt like it. She hissed in pain grabbing at the abused ankle nursing it tenderly with her hands, like the odd girl she was there was no shriek of pain, just a huff of frustration at the jolting pain through her leg. Desna shook her hair out of her face and tugged a glove off, her fingers feeling the leather on her boots to figure out what happened, it didn't hurt when she did this but when she pressed there, she hissed through her teeth at the pain. " Hey....Aden...? Know any healy bending?" She asked meekly
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Post by aden on Sept 11, 2008 10:03:38 GMT -5
'Awkward' was definitely the right word for the situation. Aden stole a few glances directly at Desna, and she seemed to have a wierd look on her; as though she was thinking about doing something.
Now, Aden had definitely not been social as a teenager, but he managed to pick up a few things nonetheless. And it crossed his mind that Desna might have been intending to kiss him. After all, she'd stolen quick pecks on several occasions, but he wasn't sure he wanted anything more formal than that... especially on a field in public!
The young warrior gulped noticeably, somehow feeling more anxious right now than he had before his first actual battle. And when Desna leaned her head in closer to touch forheads, Aden instinctively tucked his chin to his chest and hunched up his shoulders to try and keep their lips seperate.
How relieved he was, though, to hear her simply say "I win" and then start to get up. Aden still held that position, scrunched up in defense for a few moments before heaving a sigh and sitting up a bit from the pile of snow.
"You won?" he asked incredulously, reaching up a hand to fidget with one of his side-braids (and simultaneously covering a sudden flsuh in his face). Desna continued to with her victory dance, but within seconds she was back on the ground. Aden offered a token movement to try and catch her fall, but she toppled too far away for him to make a difference. Her hiss of pain was somewhat forboding, but he couldn't imagine such a fall being anything more than a bruise or sprain.
"I can only mend small cuts," Aden replied to her question of his healing abilities, "Anything under the surface is out of my hands." The waterbender pushed himself up and moved over to crouch beside Desna. Unfortunate as it was that she got hurt, at the very least it provided something to take his mind off that awkward moment.
"Do you need to go to the healing huts?" he asked, offering a possible solution.
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Post by desna on Sept 11, 2008 22:50:16 GMT -5
Under her breath a few words too colorful for a girl her age could be heard. Some of which could have made a sailor blush but she was just silently irritated. There was no strong anger or rage behind her words leaving them hollow. It didn't feel like a break, she'd done that before but this didn't seem like it. Nothing a little glowy water couldn't fix. As long as she could walk home on it little mattered. Life seemed to have it out for her sometimes but she didn't let it get her down.
As the pain began to fade away she slumped her shoulders trying to figure out if she could move with her leg in the state it was in. If she had the misfortune of finding a boy who cheated with his water bending she could have at least found one who could heal.
Well, perhaps if she got on Pikatti's sled he could pull her, that seemed like too much of a strain for the poor animal, even if she ignored that the daily load he had to carry was roughly the same as her own weight. Aden could carry her but that might make too much of a scene. He didn't seem the type to make a fuss. If he helped her hobble along, that seemed like the most logical way to go. As much as she wanted to figure this out on her own she knew it would just be stupid to hurt herself further.
" Healing huts." She agreed looking up at him and holding out her hand for him to take. The people there knew her at least, she made deliveries regularly making sure the huts were stocked with the herbal medicines that helped things bending couldn't. She braced herself on the snow with the other hand so she wouldn't be putting pressure on the ankle. There was a lopsided smile on her face, sometimes she could be so clumsy, but at least she won, even if it was in her own mind.
From the sidelines of the field Pikatti came, lopping over in something of a rush. He seemed worried, perhaps curious as to why his owner had a fall less gracefull than her usual spills.
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Post by aden on Sept 12, 2008 20:31:22 GMT -5
Aden was swift to step forward and accept Desna's offered hand. He helped her stand and even went so far as to hook his arm under hers to keep her propped up on the side of her injured ankle. It was a slight step in the opposite direction from his attempts to avoid physical contact, but it would be dishonorable not to help her.
"All right, nice and easy," Aden said as he helped the girl regain her footing. Pikatti approached them in short order, and Aden hoped the animal wouldn't resume its over-protective tendencies and start snapping at him. "It's okay," he assured the bear-dog, "Just go grab the sled or something."
The young warrior glanced around them, and it seemed like no one else was around except for that archivist. And it now appeared that the man had erected an ice barrier to potect his work, complete with a 'do not disturb' sign. Aden almost huffed a small bit of laughter as he considered the strangeness of telling others to leave him alone when this was public domain.
Regardless, he figured that the man wouldn't want to be bothered with their minor troubles, and so he just abandoned the option of asking for help.
"Okay, ready to go?" he asked her.
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Post by taartoq on Sept 12, 2008 21:56:03 GMT -5
Fortunately, he was able to make quick work of the remainder of his job. For times' sake, he was able to examine each scroll visually for any unwanted creases and repair them quickly, tightening, binding in mere seconds. If there was a problem, he would deal with it later. None of them appeared to be torn, but even so, they were only to be copied several times before they were returned to a safe place. Their subject? Chiefly, accounts of the very siege the tribe was fortunate enough to win. One scroll pertained to a different matter he personally found more interesting, but it would surely be unimportant to most others who inquired.
When it was all over, Taartoq crumbled the wall to the ground with a wave of his hand, fingers closing tightly, palm flipping downward. Footsteps crunched in the loose snow of that area as he walked out from the wreckage, except he happened to notice the two teenagers had taken to a lull in activity. The girl was being helped to stand, but her body language told Taartoq that she was suffering a bit. The matter of sincerity was up in the air, though. He knew sometimes, people would feign injury simply to gain attention.
Drifting his gaze beyond the two, Taartoq stopped in his tracks straight where they could see him. To be as considerate as Taartoq-ly possible, he would at least wait for a second or two in case they needed his help. That, he concluded, was not likely.
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Post by Nanuk on Sept 13, 2008 1:11:58 GMT -5
Boots crunching the soft snow as he walked, and hands at his sides, Hebirei walked along the city streets. Somehow, he had found enough guts to pass his house, but never again would he feel comfortable in there. He had just kept on walking, as he always did, until he was lost again. With a small sigh he was almost glad he was lost, it was a nice blissful ignorance kind of feeling, like it didn’t matter where he was, since he had nowhere to go. Eventually, his eyes drifted from their fixed position on the ground upward, toward a pair of people who were enjoying the nostalgia that is the simple snowball fight.
He seemed content with staying back for now, not like he would do anything of any worth anyway. It wasn’t until a small amount of time had passed that he noticed Taartoq on the sidelines as well, and normally, he probably would’ve engaged the man in conversation, but not today. He couldn’t help but grin a bit at the two people, apparently the man was a bender, although, watching the two did remind him of Haukea, causing his grin to quickly disappear.
Hebirei was still just watching until he saw the girl collapse on the boy, and grinned a bit at this as well. That was, until he saw the struggle she was going through to stand. She had hurt her leg somehow in the fall, and sure enough, once he listened, it seemed that they were going to the healing huts. He knew that it would be much better for her to keep off of that leg, so, to save her the pain of the trip, Hebirei approached the two, whom he didn’t quite know. To him, of course, it didn’t matter, as long as he could help them. That part of his personality hadn’t disappeared yet, it seemed.
“Excuse me… I’m Hebirei, if you’d like, I can take a look at that leg. It would probably do you good to keep off of it, and I can reduce some of the pain.” At this, Hebirei drew some water from his waterskin at his waist, and held it in his palm, glowing it to demonstrate that he was indeed a healer.
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