[video] Show Me Your Moves

[whyarewehere]

[The camera bobs and judders as someone sets it up, catching flashes of a scruffy, unkempt face and pale arms and the sky for a moment.]

Okay so I've been thinking, we've got super powers here, right?

[The picture steadies pointing out at what appears to be a beach, but is more likely to just be a simulated section of beach on the Legion World. It falls over, and Grif swears as he rights it again.]

...Anyway. By super powers I mean amazing things you couldn't do before, because otherwise you're just from some world where you can do cool stuff most of us can't and that's not superpowers, that's just life being unfair to the rest of us.

[Satisfied that the comm is stable, Grif steps out in front of it as he continues.]

So, I want to see what you guys can do. And because I am all about being fair, I'm going first.

[He swings his arms a little, takes a couple breaths, then bolts to the waterline. He's nothing but a speed blur followed by a trail of thrashed sand. He stops at the surf and charges back just as quickly. At the end he's doubled over in front of the camera, hands on his knees, huffing and wheezing.]

Whoo!

[He laughs as he catches his breath, which makes it somewhat harder, and is grinning despite how much that tiny display of super speed seems to have taken out of him. In good shape, this guy is not.]

It's like... it feels like everything's normal speed to me when I do it and everything's all slowed down. It's crazy shit, man.

[Grif plunks down heavily in the sand and picks up the comm again, still visibly panting.]

So. That's me. Show me what you got.

((OOC: Feel free to threadhop each other and talk about powers if you like! Grif is encouraging sharing.))

Comments

[failbender]

[Zuko isn't really a show off by nature. Once upon a time, when he was a child, he sometimes showed off his Firebending to try to outdo his sister or gain his father's approval, but enough failures in that particular area, enough rebukes by his father telling him how terrible he was, made him stop trying -- at least where his Firebending was concerned. After he'd given up on that, he tried other ways to get his father's attention, like being in his war room.]

[That hadn't exactly worked out well, either.]

[He wants respect here, though. Just like he has from his friends back home. So he quietly messes with his -- what was it called? Omnicom? And after the picture cuts in and out and turns upside down and right side up again, after he finally figures out how to get it to record properly, he props it against a tree.]

[At his request, they designed his part of the Habitat level to look like the Palace Gardens and there's open space here, enough to firebend, just like there was when he and his sister had played when they were younger.]

[He's silent as he walks away and takes a firebending stance. Then he goes through several firebending forms. Some are simple and ferocious. Others are more acrobatic and visually impressive. the flames that erupt as he does them are huge, bigger than what Zuko's used to but he still manages to keep them in control.]

[When he finally stops, he walks back over and picks up the device, clearly prepared to tell them that he has a brand new--]

Nothing's changed. The only difference is I can get a stronger flame with less effort.

[He's been wondering how it will feel to firebend when Sozin's comet comes and he thinks maybe that this is the closest thing.]

[whyarewehere]

[Grif claps. He can see why Zuko volunteered to help that other guy with the fire powers.]

So that's normal? Can everybody do that where you come from, or just you?

[failbender]

[The clapping is...weird. He's not that good. Kind of good. Maybe. Good enough to teach Aang, but still. He's not used to people being impressed by his Bending. In fact, he looks a little disturbed by Grif's praise, as if it makes him uncomfortable.]

Not everyone can Firebend where I come from but there are lots of Firebenders. And Earthbenders and Waterbenders.

[A pause.]

There used to be lots of Airbenders but there's only one now. He's the last of his people.

[His tone suggests that he doesn't really want to talk about why that is. It's a pretty dark subject to spring on a first conversation.]

[whyarewehere]

[Luckily, Grif doesn't jump onto the topic of the last of the airbenders. At least not for now.]

Nobody can do that where I come from. Or the speedy thing. Or... any of this stuff people are talking about.

I guess we're at least better off than people who don't have cars and stuff?

[failbender]

You don't have Benders? That's...weird.

[He considers the rest.]

What's a car?

[whyarewehere]

No, you guys are the weird ones.

[Wait really, another person doesn't know what a car is?]

...Do you guys get super powers instead of cars? How do you get anywhere?

[failbender]

[Zuko's eyes narrow.]

Our entire world has Benders and probably has for as long as there have been people. How are we the strange ones when we have something and you don't have it? That means you're missing something.

[It makes more sense that the people missing something would be the weird ones.]

And we walk. Or go by ship or airship. Or use trains or carts. Or ride on animals, like mongoose lizards or ostrich horses.

[whyarewehere]

[Grif doesn't budge.]

I'm not the only one here from a world that doesn't have... what'd you call it, Bending? So you're the odd one out, buddy. Sorry.

[...Something about this transportation sistuation isn't making sense.]

Wait, wait, hold up. I think only one of those four animals is big enough to hold a person. Do you have giant lizards and stuff too?

[failbender]

[He's about to argue more about how lacking Bending makes them all weird but then Grif confuses him.]

Those are two animals, not four. Ostrich horses are one type of animal and mongoose lizards are another type of animal.

If they were four separate animals, that'd just be weird. What kind of animal is a just-mongoose? What would that even look like?

[whyarewehere]

Those are definitely four different animals! A mongoose is like...

[Grif thinks about it.]

Some kind of weasel... thing.

[He gestures with his free hand, trying to indicate a small, long-bodied animal with vague motions. He does not manage to convey any of that at all.]

[failbender]

You mean like a weasel snake?

[There's no such thing as a just-weasel.]

[whyarewehere]

No, just a weasel!

Does a weasel snake have like... scales and a forked tongue?

[failbender]

There's no such thing as a just-weasel!

And yes, a weasel snake has scales and a forked tongue.

[But that's not all.]

And also fur and it has a head like a fire ferret.

[enthraller]

[That was certainly a more impressive show than the bit of speedy running. Saralegui watches with a delighted, intense focus, and when Zuko finally finishes he responds with just some polite, fairly enthusiastic applause.]

[failbender]

[He looks surprised by the applause and maybe even a little unnerved, like he suspects it's not sincere, like he's used to having his Firebending mocked.]

Why are you clapping?

Those were just some basic Firebending forms.

[Seriously, are these people just that easily impressed?]

[enthraller]

[Eyebrows arch slightly, like that wasn't exactly the expected response to his response.]

It was lovely. I knew people back home who could use fire magic, but none of them ever made such a show out of it.

[And he certainly does sound sincere.]

[failbender]

It's not a show. With Bending, you have to learn the right forms to be able to Bend and control your Bending.

You can't just throw fireballs at people or it'll go out of control. Or you can't do it at all.

[enthraller]

That's how my uncle does it. Not out of control, of course, but whenever I've seen him fighting with it, it's just sort of thrown out.

[Flicked out? Hard to describe it, the man never fights without his swords in hand.]

Your method is much more interesting to watch, though.

[failbender]

Then your uncle's doing it wrong.

Firebending is what it is because having actual forms means you can attack and defend in ways you can't if you're just...chucking fire at people like snow balls.

[Not that Firebending is a very defensive form of Bending but having actual forms means you can counterattack effectively, cutting through attacks with attacks of your own.]

You can redirect and cut through someone else's attacks.

[enthraller]

[woah shut the fuck up the uncle is sacred bro]

That's what the non-magical fighting is for. And it's hardly fair to says he's doing anything wrong when what you do presumably doesn't exist where I come from at all.

[His tone remains cool and polite as ever, but he can't help the hint of a frown that slips onto his face.]

[failbender]

[He catches the frown and thinks about how he'd feel if someone said that about his uncle and wonders if they maybe have something in common there. Maybe. Even though he isn't habitually that polite, he still knows his Uncle would be frowning at how he's been...less than genteel with some of these people and tries to nudge things into more civil territory.]

Maybe your bending is just different then, if it's still effective that way.

[That's a compromise, right?]

The reason Bending is the way it is in my world is because it is how we fight. It's a combination of controlling our elements and unarmed combat.

[Most Benders had no difficulty combining physical attacks with their Bending or with translating the fighting forms of bending to purely physical unarmed combat, and this was a fact that served him well when he and Uncle were hiding their Bending in the Earth Kingdom.]

But it sounds like your people develop their nonbending skills more to compensate for not doing the same. That's something I understand. Not all Firebenders train with weapons but I've trained with dao -- dual swords.

[enthraller]

It's not bending. It's magic.

[He says this with a perfectly straight face, like that's completely normal. Because it is.]

But yes, most people can't do that sort of thing back home. Humans, anyway. Most need additional tools to work with esoteric magic. The rest just train themselves with ordinary weapons if they want to be any use in a fight.

[And he frowns again, casting an odd look at the screen.]

...My uncle uses those as well. The dual swords.

[failbender]

[He has trouble wrapping his head around the concept of someone flinging fire being magical. The idea that people would consider Bending to be magic is strange to him. It's considered a natural ability back home and magic is...magic. It's strange things that happen that have no rational explanation. But Bending is Bending. For Benders it's a natural ability, something that extends from their breath, a way they can exert the energy of their own body on the world.]

[He figures that if it's magic elsewhere, maybe instead of it coming from the people themselves, they're invoking it from the spirits or something.]

I've found that it pays to have something other than Firebending to fall back on.

[He says it in a tone that suggests hardship. That he needed to have those alternate skills to survive.]

[enthraller]

[Well, you're right on the money as far as demon magic goes, at least.

Saralegui looks thoughtful for a moment, and his gaze is piercing even with the tinted lenses to soften it. But then he shrugs, glancing away.]

That's true of any skill. Relying on it entirely will only leave you floundering when you find yourself in a situation where it can't help. I can only hope that those with newly discovered powers here don't focus on them to the exclusion of all else.

[failbender]

They've said that Karate Kid [Such a weird name, what was with the weird names?] will be teaching hand to hand combat and that the annoying blue girl will be teaching people how to control their powers and strategy, so it looks like anyone that doesn't know what they're doing will learn quickly enough.

Karate Kid is good. [A pause.] Very good.

[Of course, that begs the question of how he knows that...]