Practice Makes.. Worse? [Mei-dee/open]

[Boomerang]

The saying goes "practice makes perfect" but that didn't seem to be the case with Kazumei-Kanu. Ever since he started with his relatively new obsession of trying to wield dual daggers it just ended up with him getting them stuck in the wooden target-dummy used for training or slipping and dropping one of the daggers. It was a bit worse this time around. He had been practicing all morning, even through his normal lunch hour down at the beach. He didn't notice the tide was coming in as he got both daggers stuck in the dummy. Frustrated he grabbed one of the daggers with both hands and put his foot against the wooden target before pulling back as hard as he could as it came loose he fell back, knocking himself in the forehead with the hilt of the dagger. Not only that but due to the waves coming closer he had stumbled back into the water.

Muttering obscene words he rubbed his forehead to make sure he wasn't bleeding. As he got up he noticed that he was no longer holding the dagger, slightly panicked he searched the shallow waters, stirring up sand so he had to search with his hands. Bad idea, he should have found a magnet. As he pulled the dagger up he felt a sharp pain in his palm, on closer inspection he had grabbed the blade part of the dagger. Smart move you idiot! He could just imagine his sister laughing at him about it. He sighed and tucked the dagger back in it's case before trudging back to the dummy to pull the other one out. this time he made sure to hold onto it tightly. It took him a few tries to pull the second one out but he did succeed. Instead of heading back to town he hopped up onto a rock and began to wrap his hand. Mom was going to kill him for this one.

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

There wasn't any training going on for the moment, but that didn't give a person a reason to slack off either- her clothing was the basic green tunic and pants that went under her usual armor but her hair was loose and her sword was slung loosely against her back. It was a nice enough day to be outside, not too rainy or too hot. Her brother wasn't exactly the outdoor type all of the time though- which led her to wonder exactly what he was up to. There were those new daggers he was so intent on trying, and as it wasn't a skill anyone else on the island was that familiar with he'd decided to try learning on his own. He was still a stubborn kid in some ways, completely insufferable.

But he was still her younger brother and that meant making sure his clumsiness didn't lose him a finger or hand- after all, she'd feel bad teasing him about it if that was the case. The breeze from the coast blew through her dark hair as she reached the shore and she scanned for Kan's figure against the blue of the ocean; nearby was one of the many wooden dummies that the warriors and others used for practice, but while it bore some fresh cuts and there was some blood on the sand. So, he had hurt himself. Sighing, she turned and looked toward the rocks, then spotted him and started to walk over. "How many fingers did you lose today, little brother?"

[Boomerang]

Now his hand was bandaged, it still hurt though. Why did pain have to hurt so much? You think at what he wanted his profession to be he would be a bit more resistant to pain. He looked over the cloth, it was starting to turn red across his palm, hopefully he didn't grab too hard onto the blade. He looked over the ocean only to hear his sister asking him how many fingers he lost. Giving a startled sound -along with nearly falling off the rock he pointed at his sister and waved his arm "Don't sneak up on me like that!" he scolded, blatantly ignoring the question for the moment.

She was always doing that and it was really bothersome that he jumped every time she did it. The Warriors taught him to be calm and observant... in battle. When zoning out while watching the waves he didn't normally pay attention to his surroundings. It probably would be helpful if he did pay attention, than Mai-Dee woudln't be able to sneak up on him as much. "What are you doing here any way? Don't you have earth bending to practice?" he asked a slightly bitter tone to his voice as he tried his best to hide his bandaged hand from her view.It was starting to throb which wasn't a good sign for him. It meant that tonight it would get worse, but the salt water would keep infection away right? He didn't know that kind of things, Mai might know but for sure their mother would know about that stuff, though he wasn't all that eager to show her that he sliced his hand open.

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

And now he was sulking. It was pretty typical; he hated pain, but when he got hurt he refused to simply admit it and let someone help him diminish the pain. It was almost masochistic of him, though it wasn't very likely he saw it that way. His pride was too delicate for him to admit mistakes. "Maybe I was coming down here to practice bending, did you ever think about that?" she taunted, her expression a bit snarky and her hands on her hips. "Sand is earth too, after all. But no, instead I was sent off to look for my runaway younger brother who slipped with something pointy and dangerous." They were the bickering sort of siblings, and since he'd starting with snapping at her she was obliged to snap back or look like she was losing her touch. Not a chance.

When he was in a sulking kind of mood there wasn't much he was going to listen to- even Mom and Dad had a problem breaking him out of his moods. Luckily, he could be easily distracted by an unexpected event. Pushing a couple loose strands of hair behind her ears she straightend and considered the boulder Kan had chosen for a perch, then went into her stance and struck the stone, causing the portion he was sitting on to turn into a slide intended to drop him into the sand. "Come on, don't be such a brat. I saw the blood- you hurt yourself again, I know it. Why not just put an end to the misery and let me take a look?" Whether or not he'd take her advice was completely up to chance, but hopefully he'd have some sense- and if not she was walking closer, focused on looking him over for splashes of blood.

[Boomerang]

The teen huffed before turning his back on his sister, he knew she was being concerned in her own way but he was too mad to listen. "I didn't "slip" with something in my hand." he said disdainfully while crossing his arms. His hand was now throbbing, he hoped he didn't get any sand in it. And his forehead was starting to hurt too that would end up in a bump by the end of the day. She became quiet for the moment so he glanced over his shoulder to see what she was up to just in time to feel the rock start to go all slanty. That didn't seem right. The next thing he knew he was on his back in the sand looking at the sky, she made the rock into some kind of slide. Sneaky. He was being a brat? She's the one that dumped him into the sand!

He huffed before taking the bandage off his hand and holding it up, still on his back in the sand. "Happy?" he huffed. It was still bleeding and badly too. "Dropped my dagger in the water and had already kicked up sand so I couldn't see it." he muttered looking to the side to avoid looking at his older sister. He expected a whack on the head for 'being stupid'. There wasn't much to do now though but wait for what she had to say about the wound. Hopefully she didn't poke at it.

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

There he went- she'd triggered his petulant temper, but at least he showed her his hand and the sizable gash across it. It didn't even look terribly clean, but at least it wasn't crusted completely with sand and whatever else he'd climbed through to get onto the boulder. Small comfort. Reaching out she lightly smacked him on the back of the head while the other hand grabbed his wrist and applied pressure to the blood vessels there firmly. "At least it's been in the water a little- hopefully the blood will wash the rest of the gunk out," she told him as she looked it over. "And the Unagi didn't smell the blood, which is a bonus. Mom and Dad wouldn't be happy if you'd gotten eaten."

Looking around she spotted a nearby bush and, with her grip still on his wrist, dragged him toward it, then used her free hand to pull off a bright-green leaf. With a quick motion she crushed the leaf in her hand and spread the gel from within it over the wound. "Oh, stop being such a big baby," she told him crossly, then waited for his whining and struggling about the stinging to stop. It was worthwhile to chance it- that plant's leaves had a cleansing agent that also helped stop the blood flow. Going home and getting an infection would have been bad and curing it about ten times as painful as that simple little leaf. She knew Kan was sensitive to pain; not that anyone liked it, but his main motivation for most things seemed to be how much the consequences could pain him. Hopefully being trained by her fellow Warriors would help toughen him up.

[Boomerang]

He made a fuss about being whacked on the head and nearly took his hand away but she grabbed his wrist making him stop moving it. Looking at her sideways he watched his older sister examined it. "how is the blood suppose to wash it out if you are stopping it from washing?" Kan questioned her method. "And I'm too scrawny for the Unagi to want to eat, I wouldn't even be an appetizer." His tone started to turn into "as a matter of fact" type but it didn't last long. She began to drag him. A tad confused, he looked up-side-down at the bush she was headed for, giving a bit of a whine he started to flail. "I don't want medicine it'll make it hurt more!" he half-shouted and attempted to pull his hand away from her, but sand was getting into his pants and being very uncomfortable.

He flinched as she put the jelly-like plant juice on his hand "OWWW!" he complained and sat up, trying more to tug his hand away. It didn't work well, with how she was holding his hand it was starting to make it more painful to pull away. After a good five minutes he stopped struggling and looked away. "you got sand in my pants." he mumbled. The plant was starting to numb his hand, that was good for him, but did that mean it was doing more damage? He knew his sister would never use a poisonous plant on him, despite how much he bet she wanted to. Due to that fact he figured that it wasn't bad and that it was doing the opposite and was just a natural pain-killer.

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

"You got sand in your own pants," she told him bluntly, releasing his wrist as he stopped struggling and the bleeding had ebbed a bit. There was a deep tone of whining to his voice, but at least he hadn't managed to go into 'know-it-all' mode and seriously irritated her. When he was in that sort of a mood the idea of leaving him behind to bleed and whimper gained a lot of merit. Unfortunately their parents would only send her back out after him, and she did have practicing to do. "So don't yell at me. I was helping you and you're being really rude about it."

With a sigh she picked a couple more leaves off of the bush and tossed them onto the ground near Kan, then took a couple steps past him and faced the ocean. A few of the Monster Koi jumped and played, then quickly disappeared into the depths as the fin of the Unagi came into view. "Why were you practicing out here anyway? You know that you should have your trainer around in case something happens- like usual. Instead you have to come out here and take a chance on losing a hand. Are you in trouble again or something?" Her tone was a bit harsh but Mai did care for her younger brother, even though his whining and lack of fortitude against pain drove her up a wall. The only way she knew to to help him though was to push him further and wait for him to adjust.

The sky was getting a bit darker- if she waited any longer to practice it would be full night and she'd have a bigger problem than Kan trying to distract her. "Go home or sit there and wait, it's up to you," she finally said with a note of exasperation, then took a pose and drew up a chunk of sand, then hardened it by closing her fist. She knew that Kan was probably jealous of her- but there wasn't anything she could do to change it. If you can't change something, why worry about it? Dropping the sandstone out of the air she looked back to see if he'd run off or not.

[zin]

It was a long trip but it seemed worth the time so far. Saizo's first week on the island and he had been busy at work. He was surprised that most of his customers were young women though, even though he did not care as long as they paid for his services. Even into the night he was hard at work, fulfilling his "contracts" with the local warriors. Hammering througout the day, Saizo started to get a bit stir crazy. Out of concern for his employers, Sai set his forgery up on the shore of the island. This way he was able to work without disturbing the sleep of the islanders.

Finishing his work for the evening, Saizo grabbed a bag with a shoulder strap attatched to it and loaded the weapons into it. With his own covered polearm, he walked out onto the shore, making his way to the village to deliver the blades and knives. On his way to the village, Sai saw two children talking to each other, one seemed to be scolding the other. Continuing his path, he got a bit closer to the two and saw that the girl playing with the sand a bit. He chuckled for a second under his breath before getting a glance at her face.

Recognizing her from the Kyoshi dojo, Saizo walked up to the two and addressed the girl. "Excuse me, You are a one of the female warriors right?" His eyes were cold and his face was the same. His voice was a rumbling bass that was often felt more than it was heard and he stood taller than most of the men and women he encountered, making him have to lower his head to see the people he spoke to most of the time. "I was paid to forge a few weapons for that group of warriors and I was wondering where I would drop them off."

[.:|FiresFury|:.]

Kazuma was now on Kyoshi Island. But the reason why is something he still had yet to figure out. Apparently the Military at the Bulwark decided that it was time for him to take some R&R from the battle front. Although he didn't really see a need for it but since they insisted he decided that he would comply.

He opened his eyes on a partially cloudy mid-afternoon. He was laying on a small grassy overlook that, if walked to far towards the edge, you would come right to the beach. He loved the smell of the sea air, as he spent alot of time near the sea as a child. As his eyes awoke his body was still a bit behind. By the time his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight and his ears were attuned to the nature and sounds of the crashing waves, he heard the sound of grunts of effort and even some sounds of strenuous activity.

He rolled his way to the edge of the small overlook and let his arm dangle off to the side as he looked to some kid attempting to practice with what seemed as dual knives on a wooden dummy. The biggest thing wrong with this picture is that he really shouldn't be using a dummy that is nothing but wood. If he isn't careful the knife will sti......and there it went. Right before his eyes the kids dagger embedded itself into the wood and he watched as he tried to pull it out, eventually falling into the water around his ankles and loosing his dagger.

As he rushed around trying to find it, Kazuma couldn't help but chuckle to himself a little watching the kid trying to do all this. There was indeed humor in the little show and he closed his eyes once again ready to fall asleep when he heard it. A girls voice, and a pretty sounding one at that.

As he picked his head up to even out his sight he saw a girl that looked to be around his age walk up to the young man and begin speaking to him. From what he could tell on first impressions he would guess that the two of them were related. But then again a guy can be wrong all the dam time so he didn't hedge his bets on it.

He sat up and began to walk towards the two of them as he stopped suddenly seeing her begin to bend the Earth. "So....an Earth Bender eh?" he thought to himself. He shook his head and started walking towards them again when yet another person came into the the two's company.

He was asking the two of them about some sort of weapon drop off or something and he raised an eyebrow. One would think if your going to be paid to do some work you would collect all the information necessary for the job....but apparently all people don't think so quickly.

As he came up to the girl and the boy it seemed as though the Female warrior would answer the mans question so he instead decided to talk to the younger man. He walked up and leaned on the wooden dummy and spoke to him, "You know.....its better if you wrap this thing in a thick layer of straw or something of the sort. That way you can get the feel of the cut but you wont dig into the wood. Sure you'll have to replace it every so often but its better then letting your daggers dull by getting them stuck in the dam thing." he said pointing a thumb at the wooden dummy.

For some reason he spoke alot more then he intended. He initially wanted to say a few words giving advice then leaving but something stopped him from doing so. Maybe it was the fact that he could see himself doing this same kind of training when he was young trying to master the Katana instead. Well, no harm in continuing talking to him now, he already sparked a conversation.

[Boomerang]

Kan pouted a bit as his sister spoke annoyed at him "I wasn't trying to be rude." he muttered as he picked up the leaves and played with them a bit. He heard some frantic splashing and looked up to see the sea serpent rose from the water with a giant koy in it's mouth. She than asked him what he was doing out on the beach instead of with his trainer. Ooohh that would be tough to answer. Thinking for a moment to try to make his reason actually reasonable, the boy finally spoke "Well I broke one of the windows while trying to throw my fan into one of the targets and when I tried to clean it up I some how lit the wall on fire so I put it out but I used some kind of "ancient" cloth or what ever to put it out and it ended up charred and when my trainer found out she got really mad." he explained it all in one breath before sighing "so I'm trying to avoid going back there until she calms down but I'm sure she's told mom and dad about it already." He was a bit ashamed about his mistake. But that was all it was, an accident. It seemed to him that no mater how hard he tried to prove himself it always backfired.

He looked back at the leaves as she began to earth bend the sand. He didn't want to go home. He sat quietly as his sister practiced but glanced up at a man who approached. He didn't look familiar but seemed to know the Kyoshi Warriors. "We aren't all female." he muttered under his breath at the man who assumed all of the Warriors were girls. He was just as good as they were right? As the tall man asked his sister about the delivery another approached and started talking to him about his training method. Who where these people and why were they talking to them?! He rubbed his hand along side of the gouge, "The senior Warriors are suppose to keep those in the right condition." he told the guy as he got up. He attempted to shake the sand out of his pants so being around people woudln't be so uncomfortable.

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

How the hell did her little brother end up in all of these situations?! There was a great war within her mind over whether she should be amused, irritated or simply resigned; she decided on some combination of all three. "At least the dojo didn't burn down- did it?" she asked as she turned toward him again, a look of amazement crossing her face for a moment before she relaxed. "The tutors will probably get over it soon, they're used to trainees ruining things every now and then.." Her last statement was intended to be hopeful and a bit reassuring, but with his mood he'd likely take even more offense to it.

Just as she'd been about to offer help with his training there was the sound of footsteps on the sand coming toward the pair, and with a half-turn she looked down the beach toward the very tall man, a bit older than herself as well. Another tourist? Usually they occupied themselves with the village and historical landmarks, but it wasn't as though the beach was off-limits. The odd thing was that he seemed to be looking for her, or at least someone like her. Immediately she began a silent prayer to Avatar Kyoshi that he wasn't some idiot who thought she was a tour guide. At least he had the clothing of a person from the Earth Kingdom, there was a chance he wasn't a completely idiotic Mainlander.

His question puzzled her a bit- hadn't he run into any of the other Warriors on the way here, or at least met them before at the dojo? Then again maybe Kan had been gilding the lily and really HAD burned it down. Oh joy. Her brother's muttered response to the man's assumption did bring her a bit of amusement though and the corners of her lips turned up with a wry grin. "Yes, I'm one of the Kyoshi Warriors, and that would depend on which weapons you were going to be dropping off. Most of them go to the Kyoshi dojo, it's pretty hard to miss."

A glance back at Kan told her that he'd gotten into a conversation of his own, this time with a Water Tribe boy about he age, at least within a couple years. She couldn't be rude and listen in while ignoring the blacksmith in front of her, but the breeze carried a bit of conversation about blades and the practice dummies. Well, maybe HE could talk some sense into her little brother. Pushing a loose tendril of hair back she looked back at the man she'd been speaking with. "Which of the weapons were you going to be dropping off?"

[zin]

Looking back and forth from the boy and the girl, he could see no relation between the two, and assumed that they were interrupted by his appearance. He looked up, seeing another figure approaching. It was a male, one that did not seem like the friendly type.. of course.. not many seemed like the friendly type to Saizo. Either way his eyes traveled to the boy who was sitting near the girl as he spoke up. Sai blinked at his comment, having only seen female warriors.. apparently, there were some males on the island that stepped up to fight any possible threats.

He looked back to the girl as she inquired which weapons he forged. He could feel the vibe of being criticized from the area, not sure whom it was from, he just shrugged the feeling off. He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, remembering what he forged and finally began to speak, letting his bass rumble through the air again, "Well... there are a few knives, swords, and a couple of fans here that they wanted me to make from steel..."[/b] He didn't understand the want for an all steel, foldable fan or who ever came up with the idea, but he didn't care as long as he earned his payment.

[.:|FiresFury|:.]

Kazuma looked over at the two that were speaking of weapons and such. There seemed to be a little misunderstanding about where he was supposed to take the order of weapons. He hadn't even been her for more then a couple of days and he knew exactly the place that she was talking about. It literally was hard to miss.

But then he reverted his eyes to you younger man as he looked down towards him as he answered the fact that the senior members were supposed to keep them in the right condition. "Sure they are, but if your the one who's going to choose to train with it you should be the one to take the responsibility. Just a thought." he said as he spoke to him. He watched as the teenager rubbed his fingers along the gouge in the target then shook sand from his pants.

The kid kinda reminded him of himself when he was around his age. Slightly confused about life and just learning about the power of weapons and the drive to want to use them. "Another thing, you may not care or listen to my advice but try not to cut so hard, daggers are used to be quick, and quick slashes are faster then one hard powerful one. The only time you should try to power a dagger is if your going to be stabbing," he said as he began to gather up a bunch of grass and straw. "This thin part of wood right here at about the neck part, you stick a really thick layer of covering around it, that way you can practice your throat slices and also stabbing into the side of the jugular." He continued as he strapped on all the straw and grass looking over at the guy every now and again to see if he was even listening. If he wasn't it wasn't really that much of a big deal, he was just talking without thinking right now and the kid could completely not listen and continue on how he was going for all he cared. he just thought his small words could help him out.

"There, now have a go at it." he said as he finished up the rest of the covering then crossed his arms and looked over the to kid taking a couple steps back, watching to see if it worked any better.

[Boomerang]

The teen glanced at his sister "No I didn't burn down the dojo." he told her in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone before glancing back at the water tribe guy. "I would be training at the dojo but I can't go back there at the moment." he said to the guy's first comment. For the next comment he only half way listened. He didn't care about how hard he needed to cut with the daggers "I don't plan on killing anyone, thanks" his words came out with a a touch of disdain as he looked to the side and crossed his arms. He didn't want to kill anyone or even practice any killing tactics. He only joined the Kyoshi Warriors to better his self-defense and protect the village, not to exact revenge or kill people. In fact that was furthest from his mind.

There was no way he was going to target someone's neck, he would rather go for a limb to incapacitate them before running. "I'm not attacking a dummy's neck area." he pouted while avoiding looking at the water bender. Instead he looked to his sister and the guy who didn't know where the dojo was. How hard was it to find a group of Kyoshi Warriors trying to repair a slightly smoldering wall? Besides it was one of the hottest tourists spots on the island, it was nearly impossible to miss it. He bet his sister would be annoyed at the guy who didn't know his way around such a small island. He glanced at the water bender, not sure what he was going to do about his rejection to the idea of slashing at someone's neck.