Always More to Learn [Ji Taro]

[\Mai-Dee/ *Erity* ~Kenzi~]

The morning had started off in a pretty usual way, at least as far as the Bulwark went- loud noises and people either yelling about something, groaning in pain from wounds and hangovers or just the clumsy fools who dropped things always seemed to wake up first. I've got to move to a quieter area or start using earplugs, Mai thought to herself as she slid off of her cot and quickly dressed. At least she was used to getting up at near-dawn anyway, so she could leave before even more people woke up and started in on whatever they were doing. The sad thing was, even though she wouldn't admit it, this was one of the more peaceful sections of the camp and had some of the most experienced soldiers; unfortunately the other half of the population was stupid. Just get up, get dressed and get going, she told herself, then followed her own advice. She had an appointment to keep.

There wasn't any reason for Mai to be worrying about her skills at this point; she'd been making a lot of good effort and the variety of people with their own styles of bending and fighting meant that sparring was never boring and taught her more than one new trick and way of thinking. The only problem was the secrets that people still kept to themselves, their own personal tips and nuances that would have been so handy but couldn't figure out the method of on her own. Her Earthbending training had been a bit limited by where she'd been raised. There were stronger Benders, even Masters, who would visit sometimes but they were on vacation and never stayed for long, and no one attuned to the Earth really understood the environment long enough to stick around on an island. Luckily she'd finally found a teacher and her mind was ready to absorb as much of his tutoring as she could.

After grabbing a quick bowl of something that was supposed to be gruel and some strong tea she was finally beginning to come out of her slump and walked to the practice area where she was supposed to meet General Ji Taro. He was old enough to be her father and considering his origins may even have known her parents when they were all young, but that was besides the point. He was a great fighter and probably knew more about Bending than she did- and best of all he was willing to invest some time to show her a few things. Rumors said that he was some womanizing slacker but the Warrior didn't believe them, at least not about this situation. Whatever he did in him private life he was still from Kyoshi and a leader besides, and no one stayed a reliable leader very long if they couldn't do their job. Besides, she hadn't gotten that vibe from him at all.

Shoulders back and walking steadily she entered into the training ground and looked around, glad to be mostly unrecognized, at least for the moment. Her training uniform was a more simplified version of the typical Kyoshi garb, green tunic and pants with the light armor over top and her hair back in the same braid, but without the identifiable Warrior makeup she could be taken for any Earth Nation fighter out to practice. The bladed fans hung at her side and her katana was strapped across her back with her small gauntlet-shield on her wrist; with a practiced mood she slipped it off and set it to the side as she looked around for the General. At least there wasn't too much heckling for the time being. Hopefully she could keep it that way. Idiots could screw up almost anything.

Almost on cue some people came to the edge of the area and started talking amongst themselves- quietly at first, which wasn't a bother. A Kyoshi Warrior was used to some attention what with the tourists that were always around. Then came the whistle and the laughs. Screw that. Stiffening from the routine she'd been doing Mai abandoned it completely and let her irritation show. "Alright, who the hell was that?!" she called out to the mass of people, arms crossed in front of her. "Shouldn't you be doing anything else- like working on not needing other people to save your ass?"

[The Jackal || Ji Taro]

Ji Taro rolled out off of his sleeping mat with about as much enthusiasm as man with a bad migraine in the morning could. He hadn't even drank anything last night, but the flasks of liquor he imbibed before sun down probably attributed to the head ache. He cracked open an egg and swallowed it, holding his nose at the taste. Several ladle fulls of water and a few big bites of bread latter and he was on his feet, still a little worse for the ware but at least he wasn't nauseous. He groaned and stood in his tent looking around for a bit and blinking hard as if that would help the blood-rush induced blackout he was suffering. He grabbed Nightmare and stuck a licorice bud in his mouth to help with the nasty taste and bad breath. He yawned, stretched and stepped outside into the sunlight. "Ew, sunglight" he groaned walking over to one of the breakfast fires to grab a cup of tea. He approached the circle of young men and women- mostly men- to the sound of salutes and happy greetings. They talked for a bit on women weapons and what they were gonna do when they got back home, typical soldier stuff. Ji cracked a few jokes that most of the men and few of the women laughed at, but Ji was glad of that; at least he knew no one here was a brown nosing. He hated the idea of being feared because of his position. He wanted to be approachable, he wanted people to call him out if they thought he was wrong (no matter how right he was) and wanted people to be honest around him. He was more a friend or a father -maybe a crotchety uncle in some cases- to his men, and he liked it like that.

This morning however he couldn't shake the feeling that he was supposed to be doing something important. He racked his brain for a moment and tried to figure out what it was. "Damn" he remembered stetting down his tea "no rest for the wicked, or the weary." He said waving goodbye to the crew around the campfire and then paused "Hey you lazy bastards get to work, we're in the middle of a god damned warzone and you sit around on your asses shooting the breeze? Jeesh!" A few new recruits scurried to work, those that knew the general better chuckled and started to their jobs at a much more leisurely pace. They knew he meant what he said, they also knew he meant the Demons weren't going anywhere anytime soon. He walked to the training grounds with some pep in his step, though still in his laid back manner. He arrived to a crowd of younger men gawking at something. "Mmm, a fresh meat?" he thought, doubtless, with the purest intentions. He pushed he way to the front and rested his hand on a soldier who was leaning over the fence and spitting out pitiful pick up lines. "Kid, you really need to work on your technique" he said with a belly laugh and then looked at the girl standing in the ring trying obviously not to be bothered by the cat calls. It was Mai. "OKAY, shows over boys, back to your tents." he said forcing a few away with his hands, slapping a few others roughly with the broadside of his dadao Nightmare. The crowd was breaking up but then the boy he had had his hand on whistled. Ji pulled his face close to the boy's and shook his head, while wearing a grimace most people had only seen on demons. Mai turned their direction flustered and annoyed just in time to see Ji kick the boy in his rump as he trotted off scarred for life by the general's threats of what he would do to him if he found him even looking sideways at Mai again. "Don't worry about them, time to start training" he said hoping over the fence to the training area that he'd be leaning against till just then.

"Brought your sword I hope, we're going to be incorporating that into the our routine," Ji said brandishing Nightmare at his side " and Nightmare hasn't had a play mate in long time." He breathed and stretched a bit and then looked around the training area, noticing that after the scene with the gawkers none but the more mature recruits and the veterans remained. "SO! Where d'you wanna start?" Ji bellowed "Rockslides, crags, spikes, vortexes..... Rockslide crag/vortexes filled with spikes?" Ji scratched his chin, they were all so promising, he didn't know where to start. He snapped he rough, leatherhard fingers together as it hit him. "Y'know what? How about a Ji Taro original!? The moose-apple turnover tomb. You'll see where it gets it's name in a few seconds" He said stepping back and taking a deep breath. He dropped into a "horse-stance" low, with his feet shoulder width apart and his hands in fist palm up at his waist. he jutted out his right foot sticking it deep into the ground (mind you, this was all with Mai to his back). His right foot slide counter clockwise until it was in front of his left, and then he dug his heel into the ground "Remember to breath, you'll feel it in your leg off course" he said steadying his breaths "but also in your core." His abdominal flexed as he raised his right foot to chest height, all while keeping his leg fully extended and angled to point to his left. Along with his leg came a wall of Earth, rigid and straight. "This first part is like any other wall raising technique, just instead of two hands, you're gonna be using one foot." He raised the foot higher, and the wall -which was the width of his foot- came with him. His foot was flat against the narrow side of the wall, the wall it's self was about twenty yards long and now was the height of Ji Taro's leg span, who was in a full split, standing on one leg. "Now here's the hard part, you have to let the Earth flow like water, and twist with your left heel." He said this, kicking out his left heel and dragging his right leg back down to the Earth, the wall of rock following. The left heel was kicked out to create a vacuum in front of the wall. "The finished technique in motion looks like a wave crashing down on your enemies, and it should envelop them. But when your done!" He grunted as his right leg finally smacked into the ground, the wall crashing down along with it "It should look like a moose-apple turnover, trapping anyway who was in front of it inside." The dome he had created was elliptical in shape, almost like a giant almond. or or, as Ji had said, a moos-apple turnover. He brought his feet together at the point of the dome (which had been where his right foot hit the ground) and stomped. Immediately the tomb flattened, and if there had been anything inside it would've been dead. Ji breathed and then ran the move once more at full speed, which just looked like a crescent kick. "Now, you try"

[\Mai-Dee/ *Erity* ~Kenzi~]

Somehow she should have expected that her teacher would have been hiding in the crowd, waiting to see how she'd react to this entire situation. Candid moments could never be truly tested and had to develop on their own, and it was a tactic that was completely commonplace on Kyoshi Island, where everyone knew the system and watched out for all of the children, Warriors-in-training or not. You never knew when one of the senior trainers would pop out, ready to correct you in their preferred method, and while never exactly cruel you didn't want to do their extra work details either. It didn't surprise Mai-dee at all to see General Ji Tong finally breaking up the group of rabble-rousers and the fact that he'd just arrived hadn't occured to her at all. What else was she to expect?

"Good morning, General" she replied in a respectful tone and with a small bow as she watched him hop over the fence, staying at a respectful distance and not sparing a single glance for the retreating figures. There were still some who hung around, but they were quieter and more mature, and as the General wasn't bothered by them she saw no reason to worry about them either. She was secretly relieved that he'd decided to get rid of the other ogglers but she kept her expression neutral and her eyes where they should have been, on her trainer. There was something familiar about him, both in his Kyoshi accent and style, and though older he was still spry and didn't seem to have slowed down whatsoever. This was the most relaxed she'd been since she'd left home.

When Ji Taro mentioned swords she smiled and pulled her katana from the sheath that hung on her back and watched for a moment as he spoke, almost directing his questions at the onlookers as much as herself. Evidently he had a flair for putting on a show- no problem there. Of course getting the right effect was important, but if you could look really good doing it, why not? It wasn't like the Kyoshi Warriors weren't above using some mental warfare from time to time with the uniforms and facepaint. The difference between them and other actors was that it wasn't an act. They backed up every bit of trash they might sometimes talk with what they did best and if that had become a trademark so much the better.

Once he'd actually started on a technique the game and the amusement stopped for her, and she watched his every motion with a practiced eye. She may not have learned much variety on her island or had much outside exposure to other Bending styles but she'd been ceaseless about what she could pick up with the limited resources at her disposal- the basics. While he slowly moved through the positioning and explained the finer details she'd dedicated half of her mind to listening and the other to watching. There were a few relatable motions, and the stance wasn't so unusual that she couldn't place it, but the rest she had to focus on completely. At least she'd get some of it right.

The effect was a good one, useful for holding an opponent for a few minutes or killing them if necessary. Non-lethal moves could be useful too, especially when sparring or facing enemies you needed alive for information or just to beat the crap out of by hand. When Ji Taro moved through the motions at a higher speed her intense brown eyes followed the movement again, using the time to learn exactly how his weight was shifted through the motions and how his energy spilled into the earth, twisting it to his will. Even once the move was finished she spent another minute replaying it in her head, her eyes down and sideways a bit as she processed the information. This was the time to go all-out and take a chance on making a mistake rather than playing it safe and disappointing her sensei; he seemed like the kind who would appreciate the well-placed effort rather than timid half-heartedness.

"Yes Sensei," she replied obediently as she smiled, then took a deep breath and centered herself, feeling how the earth around her was arranged. It was never the clearest picture but at least she could sense a bit of the area's energy and how tough it would be to move. Good, neutral earth. With her concentration completely on the move she was about to do- speed and effortlessness came with practice- Mai went into the proper stance, then moved through the motions for the technique. The kick was a bit easier for her to manage, since her fighting style already had some of the basis for such an attack, but the key was integrating the bending movement into it. It was a pretty simple equation though; if the energy was moved with the right focus and attacks it would work.

And it did just that- not as effortlessly or gracefully as his did, but she managed. True, her turnover had been a bit more almond shaped and still left a lump of earth in the ground on the larger side when she'd tried to crush it back onto itself, but there were worse things. She knew she'd wanted to get it perfect on the first go- she did have her pride, after all- but she wasn't going to get angry at herself either. That only means you're not going to listen to your teacher's criticism well. Instead she kept herself calm and squared her shoulders, waiting for he assessment with her eyes on him- and even glinting a bit at their core. That had been fun! It would be even more fun after she got it perfect though.

[The Jackal || Ji Taro]

Ji Taro looked at Mai preform the technique. It was obvious she tried her best, but her form still needed work. It was alright, Ji hadn't expected her to get it right the first time, but he doubted she did either. He circled her to analyze the stance she was in for any missteps our awkward foot placements. He then looked at the mound of earth she had created. He scratched his beard "Not bad..." he hummed a little to himself and the went on "and call me Ji, sensei or sifu make me fell like an old man." He laughed and then took a swig from his canteen. "It looks to me as if you need some work on tying your bending to your movements. You've got the kicks themselves down, and you've got the chi control too, it's just combing them at once." Ji Taro rubbed his chin and then scratched his head. He paced about about and then snapped. "I've got an idea that'll work on that problem. With any luck, and some skill you'll be crushing demons next time you're on the battlefield. Draw your sword."

Ji Taro slung Nightmare over his shoulder and walked nearly a hundred yards away from his student, shouting over his other shoulder as he went "Now what I want you to do is, not step foot outside the circle!" On his next step the experienced earth bender raised an inch high ring around his new pupil as his heel dug into the earth and continued walking. It was about five feet in diameter. Enough room not to trip over one's self but not enough to avoid any major attacks. " You're going to stop my attacks, obviously you're not strong enough to disintegrate a boulder on your own, so when you strike one you'll have to channel your earth bending through your blade to break it." Ji Taro smiled the wicked smile of an old fox " The point is not to get hit of course. If you can learn how to match your bending with the motions of your blade, then matching them with the motions of your legs." He took his position directly across from her and stomped the ground and raised a pillar about half his height and smacked it with the broadside of his blade Nightmare. It flew towards his student at a breakneck rate and several more followed.

[\Mai-Dee/ *Erity* ~Kenzi~]

Her teacher didn't seem too terribly displeased with her efforts- always a good starting point. Remember, it's Ji. Don't even THINK sensei or sifu, she reminded herself sternly, not wanting to offend him. Even if he wasn't the kind to praise Mai was more used to that then most students seemed to be, and it suited her. His eyes were calm and precise while he walked around her and checked her stance, much as they had been when she'd been moving through the technique, and there was a quiet competence in that. She didn't have to question whether or not he really knew what he was doing, or would be able to translate that to directions she'd be able to follow- she just knew that he was capable. It was the same confidence that made him a good leader.

The problems that he noticed were the same ones she'd felt in herself as she'd been training. She knew the basics of Earthbending, and no Kyoshi warrior was allowed to move on without at least a basic level of proficiency, but there were very few who'd ever tried to do both of those things, especially at the same time. Of course he was right, and Mai accepted his words without even a moment of shame or irritation. She hadn't been wrong in guessing her faults at least. Small victories were important too. "Thank you, Ji. I understand," she replied in a clear, respectful tone, though her eyes flashed a bit in excitement. He was, in a sense, agreeing to help her further; with improved skills she'd be better able to serve her duty, bring honor to the Kyoshi Warriors as a whole and gain respect for herself. At his words she easily drew her katana, letting it rest comfortably in her hand and become an extension of her arm.

As he walked away a circle of stone, low to the ground but clearly defined and maybe two steps wide, sprang up around her, and she understood that too. This wasn't meant to be an exercise in footwork any more than practicing strikes against the island's wooden dummies was- instead she'd stand her ground and merely defend herself. In most fights it was a pretty stupid idea to run very far anyway and they were trained to defend their home as much as attacking oncoming hordes. Long habit pushed her into her usual stance, feet braced evenly in the center of the circle and knees slightly bent to allow for quick steps as necessary. Ji called out a few more commands and she smiled intently, watching his movements while she waited for the first 'attack'.

The pillars of stone started to come toward her and remembering her teacher's words she drew all of her inner chi into her sword as she swung, willing it to part the stone- and it did. Not neatly, and it was almost more like a crumbling impact than a real slice, but she managed to make it fall away. Shards of rock rained outwardly as the pillar parted and she was grateful for the thick clothing she wore; if Mai had decided on one of those skimpier outfits that exposed more skin who knew how many scrapes she'd already have. Even so she'd done it- not perfectly, or even necessarily prettily, but effectively. And here came more of them, to help her improve! With a few steps she took on the next, the power moving a bit more easily and her actions more connected. Every one she met a bit more cleanly, releasing less dust in the air and no longer feeling flakes of stone landing on her clothing and hair.

[The Jackal || Ji Taro]

Ji Taro rubbed his chin and analyzed the form of his pupil with the critical eye of someone who had repeated the action himself an enumerate amount of times. As he walked towards the circle she was in he watched her foot work, paying attention to weight distribution and placement. She seemed to already have grasped the concepts of using your whole body to hit, and didn't just swing her arm with the blade in it like some unnatural flail, but instead twisted her whole body into each hit. Her form was good, but she still had trouble tying her motions to her bending. It wasn't tight enough. Ji plucked a gray hair from his beard and looked at the silver silky strand. He was getting old. He couldn't help it. Everybody did but, he just really didn't expect it to happen to him. In that gray hair he saw a whole life devoted to fighting. A life full of running away. He saw his wife, his unborn child, his father, his brothers and sister. He realized that he had never really done much for anyone else. Yeah, being the General of the Bulwark was a job devoted to protecting other people, but he had accepted the position on wholly selfish terms. He wanted a job where he could wake up every morning and go kill something. That's what he had lived for. The ability to rush into battle with whiskey in his hand and Nightmare in the other, and just forget all the wrong he'd done. Every mistake he'd made, and every bad decision. All those decisions that finally led him to a place where he could forget them, as if this was his reward for being plagued by them all his life.

Now, now was his chance to do something for someone else. To leave a mark that wasn't made in dirt or blood. To maybe leave someone better off than he found them for no other reason than that he could. He felt a responsibility for Mai and her training similar to that of each of his soldiers only several times stronger. He wanted her to get better. "Hmm, I still see a lack of smoothness in your bending movements.... lets forget the turnover and the boulder smashing for now, I have an exercise I want you to try..." He raised a stone pillar about his height from the ground and then stepped a few yards away from it, longer than his reach with Nightmare, and took up a stance "Your motions with your blade should tie to your body, and your motions with your body should tie directly into the earth. So eventually, your blade should become one with the earth. It should be indescribable where your blade, your body, or the earth itself begins and ends, all should come together flawlessly as if they were all components of the same entity, linked together through the chi flowing through them." Ji slashed Nightmare throught the air with the hissing sound of cloven air. A few chips of stone and dust flew off the stone column, and then the upper half slid slowly off as a diagonal cut became apparent in the stone. "I didn't even touch it with my blade but my bending is so tied to me, and me to me blade that its as if I did. My bending carried the edge of the blade through it. Now you're not gonna start trying to do that just yet," he grunted and lifted another pillar, this one just in front of him. He struck the stone column with Nightmare but the blade wedged into the side. However, a long straight fracture pushed through the rock as if the weapon had continued on its path. "That's what you're going to work on, forcing your chi through your bending from your blade. Neither of us would be physically strong enough to force these swords through a pillar that thick, and I've never heard of a blade sharp enough to do it. Work on this motion, and you'll have the precision you need to cleave mountains in two from a distance." Ji raised a pillar in front of her and nodded his head. Repetition, repetition, repetition.

[\Mai-Dee/ *Erity* ~Kenzi~]

She could feel her teacher's eyes on her, assessing her motions with what seemed to be a fair eye- or at least she guessed so from his previous statements. His style of teaching was comfortable for her, but even if it hadn't been she'd have worked just as hard to follow his directions, simply because she could feel how much he wanted her to improve and succeed. If he was willing to put that much effort and care into being her teacher she couldn't dishonor him or his lessons by being a bad student. So stop letting your mind wander, stupid Mai-dee! Pay closer attention!

That nagging inner voice was getting annoying- but it was still right. As the last of the boulders fell away she brought her sword into one hand and used the other to brush some of the larger pieces of rock from her shoulders and hair, though she kept her attention on Ji as she waited. Something sad seemed to have come to mind for him, his expression and eyes were just a bit darker, but after a moment it faded and Mai was glad. He didn't seem like the kind of man who could easily admit anything was wrong and if she offended him she might lose a very good teacher and someone she respected almost as another father. That wasn't worth her putting her nose where it probably didn't belong.

With an attentive look she watched Ji's next demonstration, then looked at the pillar as he sliced into it without his blade even really touching the rough stone, then listened carefully to his words. The blade had to be part of the Earth along with the rest of her, which made sense, but somehow the resonance of the metal and the raw element weren't an exact match. After all, metal was the marriage of fire and stone. If he could do it and had confidence that she could as well she'd just have to figure it out. There was no way she was going to let anyone down..

Taking a deep breath she swung her finely-edged katana at the stone and heard the dull TINK of metal on rock; this wasn't good for the blade at all. For a moment Mai was genuinely irritated at the turn of events and considered turning the flat of the blade to strike the stone instead. No. This is what her teacher wanted her to do, and she'd just have to take the consequences of needing to work on this skill so deeply. She knew that Saizo had at least built some of the Kyoshi training weapons and did excellent work- hopefully she could make some sort of deal with him to fix the sword after the sparring session. The two seemed to get along and he had a sort of older-brother aura that reminded her a bit of home and gave her the feeling that she could trust him.

Without another hesitation she struck the pillar with her blade, reaching for that sensation that Ji had described, fighting to connect the two nearly-similar systems together into one seamless whole. The next strike started a crack, not deep or long, but at least it was something. With all of her concentration on her actions and her breathing she continued, repeating the process. Every time she hit the stone she ignored the sharp sound of the metal and stone falling into conflict with each other, willing the stone not to damage the heirloom katana.

Finally, after who knows how long swinging, it worked. Just when Mai thought she might have to spend another day on the task the chi surged along her blade, and she just barely tapped it against the rock before the surface of it parted in a deep, smooth crack. For a moment she simply stopped and caught her breath, then raised the sword again and repeated the process with the same smooth motion until the top of the stone slab was filled with crossed ridges. The sword was part of her body, and therefore part of the Earthbending even if it wasn't exactly Earth any longer. Holding her sword ready in front of her she paused for a moment to look at Ji as to whether or not she should continue this exercise.