[Totomi] Practice Makes Perfect-Ish

[Daiyu Luó]

Daiyu was never sure how she felt about practicing bending in the park. It was too... exposed. She wasn't shy about her abilities, nor the time when her bending was less impressive than what she would like it to be, but an audience still wasn't always appreciated. Good bending required concentration. It required a lot of open space and, preferably, nothing flammable. Parks tended to be perfect for one, and not so great for the other, given how trees and other plants were often prone to catching fire. Daiyu was no longer at the level where she needed to be overly concerned with setting fire to her surroundings, but the paranoia was still there.

Fortunately, there was the lake nearby and most often there was a water bender or two hanging out in the park, so Daiyu knew that she was generally free to bend as she pleased and not have to wonder if that tree over there was going to burst into flames. Still, when one was sparring it was a little tricky sometimes to pay attention to her surroundings. It was easy to get caught up in the match. At the moment, though, Daiyu was perfectly present and aware of what was happening around her. A young couple was having a picnic nearby. One of the city's metalbender officers was chasing down someone who, from the corner of her eye, Daiyu suspected was naked. A few curious onlookers were gathered nearby, citizens of the Southern Water Tribe from their clothing and from the way they were watching her with the look of someone with little experience being around a firebender. Most likely tourists.

Daiyu drew in a deep breath, then unleashed four successive blasts: two straight punches, then a roundhouse, followed by a low, sweeping kick that sent a great flame in a circle around her. Immediately following, she straightened, her feet planted firmly in the grass and her stance strong. Totomi ought to be there soon, and she knew better than to exert all of her energy before they sparred, but it was always nice to warm up on her own beforehand. It gave her a chance to run over everything she knew, remind herself of the basics, and mentally as well as physically prep herself. Firebending wasn't all angry fists flying everywhere, a fact which many benders seemed to be ignorant to.

[Totomi Hojo]

Totomi was worried that he was running late. He didn't always worry about it but when it came to sparring he didn't like to keep people waiting. After all he didn't like to be kept waiting and he assumed the feeling was universal. He finally made it to the park and found a crowd of people watching. He also glanced over and saw what appeared to be a streaker. He frowned abit trying to find out if he was really there or if he was just seeing things. Shortly after he stopped looking and wandered over to the crowd.

And just as he suspected they were watching Daiyu. Totomi made his way through the crowd and finally made it to the front. He stood there and crossed his arms and watched his friend practice a few of her moves. He smiled as he watched her. Fire Bending always impressed him, no matter how many times he had seen it. It was so fast and quick... And it was amazing how controlled it was.

Once he was sure Daiyu had finished he jogged over to her. "Hi there." He said as he got close. "Sorry if I'm late." He said.

He smiled and looked at the crowd. "I see we have abit of a crowd here." He commented. He looked back to Daiyu. "Think I oughta bend up a ring to keep them back?" He asked raising his left eyebrow. He enjoyed they're sparring sessions. Not only were they fun and a good work out, but they also helped them get better. And possibly one step closer to pro-bending. But this was now.. So he didn't need to worry about that now. He looked at some people who he noticed appeared to be from one of the Water Tribes... He couldn't quite tell which. But he thought it was the Southern one.

[Daiyu Luó]

The crowd was growing, and while Daiyu couldn't help but feel a bit self-conscious, she reminded herself that this was probably something she ought to start getting used to. There was a point to these sparring sessions, after all, though of course she just enjoyed the practice. Her bending was something that mattered greatly to her and the thought of getting rusty was shameful. Besides, there were always new techniques she could work on. One person among the crowd caught Daiyu's attention as he pushed to the front, and she flashed her friend a grin. "Not at all," said Daiyu. "I just finished warming up."

Totomi's timing was excellent; she felt ready to go, but not as though she had already used up too much energy. That was good, considering the moves she was interested in trying out today. The perfectionist in her made Daiyu wish that the crowd wasn't there while she was simply practicing new techniques, but that couldn't be helped. At least Totomi's suggestion would keep them at a safe distance, not to mention far away enough that Daiyu could focus solely on her bending. "Good idea," she nodded, brushing a few strands of dark hair back from her face. "Can't forget to put it back after, though. I don't feel like having a metalbender chasing after us once they finish with the streaker." She would imagine that any officer wouldn't be in too great of a mood after dealing with such a thing, and drawing their attention wouldn't likely go over well.

Of course, bending battles (even friendly ones) were sometimes frowned upon in the park, but having a ring put up would at least show that they were trying to keep it contained. Despite the curious onlookers, Daiyu did like sparring in the park in that it at least got them a little better known. If she and Totomi were going to form a pro-bending team at any point in the future, they were going to need both a waterbender and sponsors. What better way to accomplish both than to publicly advertise their abilities?

[Totomi Hojo]

Totomi nodded and took a deep breath. He got down into a strong horse stance and threw his fists down towards his knees. Then he slowly brought his hands up. In a circle around him a wall of earth rose. It was low enough that they could still be seen, but high enough that no one would get closer or run the risk of getting hurt.

He then straightened back up and grinned at Daiyu. "That work?" He asked cheerfully. He was looking forward to their sparring match. He figured she was too. After all it was bringing them one step closer to forming a pro bending team. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and thought that he would have to find out how to fix those when that day came. But this was now. And right now he was hanging out with a friend.

He looked at Daiyu and smiled. "Oh you noticed him too?" He asked jokingly pointing in the direction of where he saw the streaker "Oh and how are you doing?" He asked. After all even though they were about to spar didn't mean he couldn't be friendly.

He figured that she wanted to get started. After all he knew her well enough to know she was a perfectionist. So he jogged over to one end of the ring. So they could get started.

[Daiyu Luó]

She had to admire earthbending. Daiyu had always loved firebending, of course, but the one drawback she had found to it was that it could rarely be used to create something. Fire was destructive. It had helped push industry further and further along, of course, but in a normal, day-to-day setting? There wasn't a lot of ways that it could be used to build something up. Earthbending was different. Earthbending could create a ring to spar in just like the one Totomi had just made, or it could build a shelter, or a wall, or anything the bender could think of. It was impressive, to say the least. If Daiyu had had any say in what sort of bending she would be able to do, earthbending would have easily been her second choice.

With her hands resting easily on her hips, Daiyu turned her head to survey Totomi's handiwork and gave an approving nod. "Perfect." The last thing she would ever want to do was harm someone or something while sparring, so she was grateful for her friend's ability to keep their unexpected audience back a ways. Neither she nor a waterbender would have been able to do so, unless that waterbender decided to make one out of ice. Even then, it wouldn't have held up for long, not with Daiyu firebending right next to it. Still, the thought of their lack of a waterbender made her inwardly cringe. There would be no pro-bending in their future without one.

Daiyu let out a short laugh as Totomi gestured toward where the streaker had been, and she jokingly shielded half of her face so she wouldn't risk looking in that direction. "How could I not?" she chuckled. "It's not every day you see a naked guy running around the park." Although, she acknowledged, it probably happened more frequently than she thought. The young firebender shrugged nonchalantly as she moved to take her place on one end of the arena. "Busy," she answered. "Work's been keeping me plenty occupied lately." The restaurant specializing in Fire Nation cuisine where she worked was small, but it seemed to be growing in popularity lately, which meant she and the head chef were spending more and more time in the kitchen. "What about you?" asked Daiyu as she struck up a low tiger stance, her body crouched toward the ground with one leg extended in front of her, one arm curled in front of her torso, and the other bent and raised above her head.

[Totomi Hojo]

Totomi smiled at Daiyu's comment. He liked hearing a comment about his work.. Well good ones at least. But it wasn't something that he would gloat about. Instead he simply nodded and cheerfully said. "Thanks."

Then he grinned. "True I guess that isn't something that happens everyday." He said. "Or at least not where I'm from." He added. He looked around abit and tried to see if he could still find the streaker. He didn't know why he looked... But he did. He was grateful that he didn't see him again. So now he turned back to Daiyu "I've been pretty busy as well." He said. "Its funny how many people will hire me to do an odd job then turn me down when I ask for a permanent job" He commented. "But at lest I'm getting paid... Though I'm starting to have trouble with paying my rent."

He then turned to the crowd. "Alright everyone We're not going to charge you to watch. But we would prefer that you stay on the other side of the ring, and that you don't get to close." He said. "After all we are going to be sparring with earth and fire bending. And its not fun to get hit by fire or a rock." He finished with a slight grin.

He then turned to Daiyu. "Not the greatest speech but still." He playfully commented. "You think we're ever gonna find a water bender?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

He saw her get into the tiger stance and took a deep breath to prepare himself. He got down into a low horse stance with his left side facing her. He brought his arms in close and held his fists next to his waist. He then grew still.... He released his breath then started to draw in breaths slowly and rhythmically. He then waited, after all he wasn't the type to strike first.

[Daiyu Luó]

Daiyu rolled her eyes and gave a "what can you do?" shrug. People would be people. They always wanted someone around to fix things when they needed immediate fixing, but heaven forbid they actually hire someone on to make sure that something was always working. Too expensive, she supposed, but that hurt Totomi in the long run, as he said. "I'll keep a look out for anyone hiring for something more permanent," Daiyu promised. "There might be something at the restaurant, too. I'll ask Bohai and let you know." The broad-shouldered head chef was gruff, but she was around him enough on a day-to-day basis to know that it was mostly an act. Bohai was always happy to lend a hand wherever possible, even if he usually made a big fuss about it.

With the crowd a safe distance away now, they could finally focus fully on bending. At the mention of their absence of a waterbender, Daiyu grimaced. Totomi always seemed to know what she was thinking. Not that their search for a waterbender was exactly a private thought, but it could serve as a distraction if she wasn't careful. "Considering there's about a million of them in this city?" she asked, tilting her chin from side to side to pop her neck. "Probably. We could always hold try-outs or something once we're a little more organized." By organized, she mostly meant less poor. Pro-bending wasn't going to be cheap, and Totomi wasn't the only one in a sad financial state. They were going to need money for uniforms, training gear, a coach if they wanted to make it into the big leagues, and then of course the entrance fees that came with the higher-ranking matches.

Needless to say, they were going to have to figure something out. Maybe they would get lucky and an obscenely rich waterbender would decide to join up with them. It was a long shot, but anything was possible, right? Daiyu shoved the thought away as Totomi struck up his own stance and waited for her. She was always the first to strike; earthbending was massively defensive, while firebending was ninety percent offense. Just the way she liked it. Move more, move faster, get hit less. She drew in a deep breath, and then it began. Her arms moved in a swift circle in front of her, unleashing a ring of fire that roared toward Totomi. She pushed herself forward and up, then balanced on her previously extended leg so she could twist and bring the other around in a sharp kick that shot off another blast of fire at her opponent.