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Post by dandan on May 8, 2008 19:20:08 GMT -5
"Glad to hear it," Dan-dan said smiling genuinely at his wife who seemed to be coming to better terms with the prospect of motherhood. Whatever she'd done in the short while he'd been gone, Dan-dan was grateful for it. There was always the possibility, of course, that she could just be saying it so that he didn't worry. However, the fisherman pushed that thought away in favor of the much more likeable explanation that Kulap was truly happy.
"And yeah," he added after a moment, "I told Ma an' Pa the news. They were jumpin' fer joy." Dan-dan grinned widely. "Mah Pa was sayin' it was about time they had some grandkids 'fore they got too old to watch 'em grow."
His attention wandered for a moment, and he glanced over at both Yun and Hok in succession. They both seemed pretty set on whatever tasks Kulap had given them. Yun was smiling his way, and he waved back pleasantly. "So how'd ya round up these kids?" he asked out of curiousity.
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Post by choji on May 8, 2008 20:24:14 GMT -5
Kulap took the hot water down for Yun to brew her tea, Kulap began binding wands of sage to smug. She heard Dan-dan response "So how'd ya round up these kids?"
Kulap stretched and rolled her eyes, "I dunno, it's like gods decided I am now a babysitter now." She scratched her head as she climb upstairs to leave Yun to work.
"So yer ma is beside herself, well it figures. I'mma kinda wonder when she's gonna hound me fer grandbabies." She began looking for more herbs and her mortar and pestal.
Kulap walked back down and handed the mortar and pestal to Yun. "Blend the blackhaw and rosehips this is gonna be a stress tea" She took the wand of sage and slapped it on the stump.
"Yer gonna smuge the tree house later." Walking over to Hok she watched him with a raised eye.
"Hmmmm lookin' good buuut." She look at Dan-dan "I wantcha to spar with Dan-dan."
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Post by yun on May 10, 2008 7:33:14 GMT -5
The teen scowled at Yun as she smacked the plants on the stump, what did she thing she was doing? Crazy old woman, hopefully she would miscarriage and have to be sent back to the earth. That was only a fond dream though, it would take months before the damn demon spawn would be born, as Kulap was hardly showing. Once she starts to blow up Hok won't have the smallest bit of interest in her, Yun didn't want to wait that long, he needed to get over the woman now. Glowering Yun took the mortar and pedestal moving it closer to her and setting it down a little roughly as a resounding noise of her displeasure. Why did Hok have to come?! He had a teacher, he needed to get out of here, she looked up noticing Dan-dan had looked at her, even if it was for a small second, she blinked a bit coming back to her previous plan.
Yun pulled her face from a glare to a coy smile with her eyes downward as she worked, she could be cute and sexy if she wanted to, it seemed Dan-dan had already looked her way, plan A was a success. She smirked slightly keeping her hands busy with the work of grinding herbs and then brewing the tea. She was still peeved that the woman was giving her nonsense jobs but they were so far below her skill level she could do them in her sleep. If there was one person in the world that couldn't brew tea they must be brain dead and underground with the spade worms. Yun shifted her weight from one leg to the other effectively swaying her hips from side to side in what she imagined to be a cute and alluring manner.
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Post by hok on May 13, 2008 15:21:23 GMT -5
Hok noticed Yun from the corner of his eye, but overlooked her when Kulap approached him yet again. It seemed unreasonable for her to suggest a duel with Dan-Dan, who was probably five years or so his elder and definitely much more skilled a waterbender. Without eye contact of any sort, he managed to gather the boldness required to reply to the woman he so admired. He could always go easy on the teen, but pride drove people to do crazy things sometimes. He wasn't sure if Dan-Dan would ever let a youngster hold his own in a duel. "B-but..."
And that was it. Hok couldn't manage to say anything more. He wasn't keen on causing disagreements or carrying on with them, but one to let things happen and accept them. He would oblige both adults while simultaneously ignoring Yun, just to make them happy at the moment. Then later, he could do what he wanted. Mulling over that thought, Hok wasn't inclined to do anything more than nod, look at his bare feet, and mutter, "Okay, Miss Kulap..."
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Post by dandan on May 13, 2008 22:04:21 GMT -5
Dan-dan hung around the base of the tree, doing his best to avoid looking over either teens shoulder to see what they were doing. They each had their chores or agendas, and he didn't want to disrupt them with his presence. Instead he took to looking around at the canopy, finding interest in the weather. Dan-dan eventually started for the ramp that led up to the treehouse itself to see what his wife was doing, but right about then he spotted her coming back down and decided to remain outside.
His eyes swpt over Yun for just a moment, but it was for no other reason than to see how she was fairing tith the tasks Kulap gave her. When his wife arrived and dished out further commands for the pair, the fisherman couldn't help but notice he was included as well.
"Wait, huh?" Dan-dan asked in response. Even though Hok seemed to oblige Kulap's orders, he was still a little taken aback. "Hold up now," he said, "I can give 'im a few pointers ut I ain't up fer sparrin'." He smiled slightly and addressed Hok more directly. "Why don'tcha show me the toughest move ya know and we'll go from there?"
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Post by hok on May 15, 2008 15:23:07 GMT -5
Toughest move...? Hok was confused. He wasn't quite sure what to do, but that was obvious since he was scratching his head. Although, since there was enough water around to effectively form an octopus stance, he supposed anything he dreamed up would work. However, as he looked around, he realized the water was now a rather large puddle around his feet. Quickly was it absorbing into the ground, but it was a simple matter to raise it back to his hands.
The cloudy mass, where silt swirled and swam about lazily, began to float up from the ground into his control. Moving it slowly, he seperated it slowly into a globe at each hand. Quickening the pace of his bending, he brought his hands forward in chopping motions. Lunging ahead slightly, he sent them in a criss-crossed formation, although the right tendril flew out a bit further than the left so the two didn't tangle together.
Loosening his control over the two, the flying waves of water collided with the moist ground and sent mud flying everywhere. If Hok were aiming at anything particular, he would have sent it higher, but the lack of tangible targets drove him to keep it at a low height. He wasn't sure if that was his toughest move, but he knew that he tried. He also knew that he wouldn't want that to fly at his face.
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Post by dandan on May 18, 2008 21:22:07 GMT -5
Dan-dan took a few steps back as the younger waterbender began pulling drawing on the moisture from the puddles around him in preparation for some maneuver. Hok formed the water into two prbs and then lashed out with each, slapping a pair of tentacles across his body and into the dirt. It seemed like a fairly straight-forward, but otherwise well executed attack. Dan-dan nodded slightly at the boy and said, "Looked fine to me."
The fisherman took a few steps closer. "Can't really say yer doin' anythin' wrong, but here's a little trick ya might have fun with." Dan-dan motioned briefly for Hok to give him a bit of room before he dropped his stance and picked up a small stick off the ground. He tucked it hastily into the waistband of his loincloth to hold it in place and then lowered his hands toward the ground. Dan-dan spread his fingers wide and started lifting his hands up slowly, letting the backs of his wrists lead the climb.
Slowly but surely, the ground seemed to ooze out two streams of water from the saturated dirt. He brought his hands toward each other and combined the streams into one mass that he then set into a quick circuit around his lower body. As the water came around his back onto the other side, it trailed a little bit of water in its path, leaving a sort of tail that grew the more it moved.
Dan-dan brought the water up in front of him, bending one elobw up at a right angle with fingers together and pointed down like a snake poised to strike. The other forearm was positioned horizontally with the fingers under the elbow of his other arm. The water seemed to mimic the posture of his hands and reared up in front of him like a serpent with a slightly bulbous head.
"Now watch this," he said, using his left hand to grab the stick and then toss it high into the air. Dan-dan waited a moment as the stick got some distance from him, and then shot his right hand out at the falling target. Just like a serpent, the watersnake shot forward like an arrow. However, Dan-dan 's aim wasn't perfect, and it only clipped the stick as it fell. It spun off and landed over by Kulap and Yun.
"Dang," Dan-dan muttered, taking a step back and returning his hand to its previous position, which recoiled the extended water back into its original position. "That was s'posed to snap it in half." He grinned at Hok. "But I think ya get the idea... I call that the Watersnake."
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Post by choji on May 19, 2008 12:29:59 GMT -5
Kulap sat on a stump and watched with mild interest at Dan-dan and Hok. Hok was very hesitent and nervous around Dan-dan. However Dan-dan seem eager to teach him.
Kulap noticed the watersnake and smirked as she stept aside to avoid the twig. She couldn't help but laugh. Snickering she looked over at the bundles of Cedar and sage she made. It was time for the next lesson.
"Keep teachin' him Dan-dan yer doing good." Kulap took some lavender and rosemary and bound them with the sage and motioned to Yun. "Yew can finished that later we're gonna try something else while Hok and Dan-dan are distracted." She walked to the base of the oak gave a bundle to Yun.
"We're gonna smudge the tree with smoke. Now smudgin is blessin' objects with speical herbs and purfying the energy around it. Yew should smudge yer house at least once a month." Kulap took a pair of spark rocks and lit her bundle.
"Now follow me we need to walk three circles. North, east, south and west." Kulap began to do these circles
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Post by yun on May 19, 2008 13:42:15 GMT -5
The teen was not thrilled to be distracted from the educational lesson, it seemed more interesting then playing with herbs, she could best Hok in a fight, she wasn't one for control and precision when bending, the sheer force and speed of her water was enough. She could also move more water at once then many of her year mates. Her father mentioned it was because she put passion into it while others did it for the sake of being able to bend. It was odd, the way it worked.
Reluctantly Yun turned her head to look at Kulap a little sourly as she began to go about doing spirits know what. Blessing objects, pft, like that made any sense at all. If things were holy they were holy if they were cursed then they were cursed, but to think that you could change the things in the middle ground. That simply wasn't the place of mortals. She set down the herbs and put a hand on her hip looking at the woman with nothing but sheer disdain for being in her presence. She wanted to learn to fight and learn hexes, not cleansing rituals. It was boring, dull and all together a waste of her time.
She took the bundle and looked at it. Her eyes rolled and she simply followed Kulaps example and lit her bundle on fire watching the small plants catch and begin to sizzle only thinking about how she'd rather set her 'teacher' on fire, it would be more amusing as well she imagined.
" An wut if'n them herbs burn down and wind up catch'n us on fier?"
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Post by choji on May 22, 2008 13:51:22 GMT -5
Kulap closed her eyes and continued to smuge the tree feeling the warm smoke embrace her and console her. It was very soothing to watch the smoke and unfurl and streach it's tendrils, reaching to heaven. It was very comforting thing to see. Kulap sighed as she walked until she heard Yun.
An wut if'n them herbs burn down and wind up catch'n us on fier?" Kulap blissful meditation was rudely unterrupted.
"It won't it burns slow real slow, so yew don't have to worry 'bout that." Kulap sad as she reached the base of the tree and laid the bundle at the roots. She bow low, giving the herbs as an offering, after blessing and purfiying the tree.
Kulap was finished with the smuging and prepared for the next lesson. "Once yer done smudgin' well discuss bout makin' herb bundles as offer'in's to tha spirits. Understand as shaman yer the spirits tool if it wants yew to do sumthin' yew do it. It takes spiritual fori-ta-tude, also it takes knowledge. That tea yer made is also clenser, now that we smudge the area and drink that tea we can being to metitate to build that kind of fori-ta-tude. Understand?"
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Post by yun on May 22, 2008 16:24:07 GMT -5
Was there really a point to all of this? Her cloudy dusty blue eyes followed the swamp witch walk with the burning herbs, to her it seemed like a good waste of plant life, how could this truly be anything other than a waste of her time. She rolled her eyes when Kulap laid out the 'plans' for her today. It continually irked the teen to no end, she should be doing something much more meaningful today. Not like she already had plans or anything that the arrogant woman cared about.
" ah k'n drank tea at home" Yun muttered to herself waving the bundle back and forth lazily, she kept sneaking peeks at the boys more interested in their activities then her own.
SO badly she wanted to run over and wrestle, get herself dirty, feel the thrill she always got from succeding and pushing others into the muck below her. Where they belonged. But oh no, she had to smudge things, like that made any sense, and drink tea, cause all shamen's need to know how to drink tea. Spirits forbid.
Her attention returned to the burning herbs in front of her, she lost herself in the way a leaf sparked fire and was slowly consumed releasing a stream of thread thin smoke up into the air. Shaking her head she tossed her bundle next to Kulap's looking down at the two clumps lost in her mind putting her growing rage on hold for a moment. Did this have anything to do with the spirits? Snapping up she shot Kulap a glare and tightly crossed her arms. "whatever"
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Post by hok on May 29, 2008 13:59:34 GMT -5
"Hey, that was purdy cool!" Hok exclaimed, idly wondering if he could do the same himself. Scratching the back of his head, he recalled that it didn't seem terribly hard to pull off, but definitely wasn't suited for beginners. Of course, if Hok could bend vines, he could probably mirror Dan-Dan's technique. It was still a pretty neat move, though, and probably much more practical than bending the water in plants. Still, that made Hok want to test out that ability once again.
For a second, since everyone was showing off anyway, Hok looked around for a few vines to bend. It was always a neat trick around people, even though Kulap's presence was repeatedly making him nervous. As with most of the swamp, the surrounding area seemed to have a few vines hanging from tree branches. Absently did he wander over to one tree in particular, looking around the floor below for loose vines and plants scattered on the earth. Walking with his eyes to the ground, he knew something bendable had to be around there.
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Post by dandan on Jun 5, 2008 20:13:53 GMT -5
Still standing in his slightly hunched stance with the coil of water looped around him, Dan-dan smiled at the younger Hok who seemed to find the display interesting. The fisherman looked around briefly, thinking about aiming for something else while they were showing off bending abilities, but no obvious target presented itself. The teenager had already started moving away on his own, apparently looking for something around the swamp floor. Dan-dan figured the boy had something planned in response and so he stood up straight and allowed the water under his control to drop down to the ground.
While he waited for Hok, his ears caught hold of Kulap and Yun's dialogue about the Shaman's teachings. Apparently the younger girl found issue with his wife's methods. Now, Dan-dan had never fully understood everything Kulap did as it related to the spirits, but at the same time he never really bothered to question it. He figured whatever she did had some reason to it, and if he knew it all then they wouldn't really need a shaman, now would they?
Still... he wasn't quite happy to hear Yun speak to Kulap that way. If he wasn't sure Kulap could handle herself, he might have thought to intervene and tell the girl to be more respectful.
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Post by choji on Jun 14, 2008 15:28:12 GMT -5
The shaman was getting frustrated with Yun, of all the people she had to be stuck with it had to be with the most incouragible brat in the whole swamp. What was her mother drinking when she birth the little demon...Hemlock? Kulap had to deal with a lot of idiots, she normally let karma kick them in the gonads and have them suffer the result. She was verrry close about doing the same with Yun. Maybe she should drag her over to the Spirit World and have her soul stranded there...
Nothing like five year coma.
But Kulap looked deep within (very deep) and found the patient Earth Mother within her and spoke calmly.
"Yun it may seem like nonsense now but yew'll understand once yew get the hand of this. It wus confused too when I started shamanism though I was a lot younger. But I trusted my grandad...yew need to trust me."
Thinking about her grandfather she closed her eyes and concentrated on his memory. The smell of warm wet pine and smoke. His small gentle blue eyes. His smile, his tattoo that worn a path through his skin. His rumblely voice, feeling sense of peace Kulap concentrated on that and mediated on his memory walking through her own past and try to find her caregiver and mentor's face. Yun would be out of her hair for just a little bit he needed a reprive
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Post by yun on Jun 16, 2008 12:27:14 GMT -5
Yun rolled her eyes keeping her stubborn expression as she turned to look at the boys, Hok seemed distracted, she wanted to go help him, but that would be embarrassing so making fun of him seemed like the proper option. She was tired of shaman training when there was fun to be had, Kulap was an attention hog, if she could walk about one day without all the immature boys ogling her then things wold be a lot better. Letting out a small sigh she thought about the beating she'd get if her mother found out she was being belligerent.
As much as she loved being stubborn getting her backside tanned didn't sound like too much fun. She looked off to the side growing quiet. Maybe she should try, she didn't want to but it would be profitable in the long run hopefully.A small glance went to Kulap as she attempted to figure out the older woman, she seemed to be relaxed for the moment.
Her foggy blue eyes turned on Kulap with her glare moving into a pout, she didn't respect the woman, what could she do? If she was a real shaman Yun would be learning magic and special bending techniques, not something stupid and not worth her time." Caun't ah do somth'n worth whaile? Tea 'n herbs isn't nu'thin mah lil' cousins couldn't do" Her hands came out of their crossed position moving to her hips, it nothing else it showed she was willing to listen instead of completely closing herself off.
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