[Open]

[alphatar]

Characters: Korra, Finnick, Po, Bean, Dinah, Tony Stark (616), Amon, Sabriel, Jim Kirk, Damian, Toph, Lin, Jack Frost, Raimei, Enjolras, Kyle Rayner, Bruce Banner, Asbel, Aisha, Katniss, Iskierka, Richard, and OPEN (That means YOU.)
Date: Various dates throughout July when not conflicting with Korra’s time during the clueventure.
Location: Korra’s suite, Various locations
Situation: Fish, Training, Flying, and whatever else happens!
Warnings/Rating: Physical violence, PTSD, NPC death, blood, FEELS, maybe even some swearing.

(If you want a thread starter, let me know. If you want to jump in and post your own, go ahead! Actionspam and prose welcome and interchangeable~)






(Seriously. Let me know if you want a thread starter.)

Comments

[amonfire]

[ Though her maneuvering over the ice blocks and initial execution of her requital had been inelegant and in danger of falling to easily exploited blows made in anger the subsequent display was wholesale violence, and master firebending. Amon was more than a little impressed; he never did fall into the damning habit of underestimating an enemy.

However, it was also profoundly stupid to stand and appreciate whips of fire with the express purpose of offending your person.

He acted with haste without sacrificing finesse and began threading the water from the lake in long, sweeping movements. Though not a shield each methodic sway of his arms intercepted the oncoming flames with just the right amount of water. Hot steam started to crowd in again with each succession of attacks and parries. Unfortunately for the both of them they would start to feel the hot, choking vapor that boiled and enclosed around them.

Amon decided now would be the best window of opportunity and feinted to the left in to the cover of the boiling cloud. He reappeared almost instantaneously at Korra's right with hands at the ready before he moved in, surgical throws aimed at her arms and sides with the the intent to block her chi. ]

[alphatar]

[Keeping a bead on Amon, Korra landed, the heat from the clash of water with fire was abundant and she dashed forward to engage him hand-to-hand when he went into the center of the steam. His mask would protect him from the worst of it, and she hesitated for a brief instant, and that cost her.

Only catching him with the corner of her eye, Korra knew she would be unable to avoid the oncoming strikes. They had always been too quick for her to block or avoid, she grunted through her teeth in pain on the strikes. Feeling the knot they left behind in her muscles. Instead of trying to defend, Korra went on the offensive and bore down a hammer strike towards Amon’s collar bone from her left to try and take advantage of Amon’s focus on blocking her chi on her right side.]

[amonfire]

[ Amon had misjudged when he expected her to pull away instead of coming back in that instant with a straight counter; an aberration he paid for when the flat side of Korra's fist bore down with its full weight into his shoulder. The blow was taken in his usual, infuriating silence - though with no small measure of difficult as he felt the groan of pain catch in the back of his throat.

With the muscles on her left side coiled and their chi blocked, Amon exploited her need to rely on her right side. Once her fist dug dig into his shoulder, Amon countered and grabbed her wrist tight and pulled. The space between them closed in and he delivered several strikes to her right.

Amon slackened his hold on her before he pushed back to create distance between them.

Knees bent with legs squared off it was evident Amon was preparing himself to come back in full with closed-quarters in mind. That the water around them stilled a hint that he intended the fight to continue on an equal ground. ]

You're a thug a heart - [ They both were. His voice was markedly more hoarse with building exhaustion. ] Now is your chance to cut loose.

[alphatar]

[Paying for a her brutishness, Korra felt the same stinging strikes on her right side now, knots blocking the chi flow on both her side now. Her fingers convulsed from the lingering sensation of pain, the last bits of chi fading. As soon as he released her wrist, Korra forced herself to bring her arms back up; fatigue was trying to weigh down her arms. Catching her breath from having her bending blocked off, Korra was about to wait to see what he would do. When he made no motions with Water, she was able to focus on what he was saying.

When he called her a thug, the muscle between her nose and cheek twitched, strongly tugging upwards, and she dug the balls of her feet down.]

You want me to cut loose? [She asked menacingly, her lips taut with rage at his audacity.]

YOU GOT IT! [She roared back as she dashed towards, adrenaline forcing it’s way where chi could not. Not even trying to feint or mislead Amon, Korra rushed in with the full intent of striking with her fists, following them up immediately with elbows. Soft on hard and vice versa. Focusing on using Earth and Fire in close-quarters combat as she had learned while studying under Dinah and what she had passed on to Bean while she was without her bending.

Molten rock. An Avatar specialty in martial form.]

[amonfire]

[The water around had stayed still over the course of their trade blows; Amon had kept his word and not relied once on his waterbending. In reality, both he and Korra had turned this fight into so far removed from their native element it was as two completely different people traded blows now.

The Avatar had not been the only one to take in lessons from the other nations in spite of being the only master of each bending in its more physical incarnations. Amon had wandered long and could break down the pattern of her forms to a science; her reliance keeping grounded in the northern Earth Kingdom tradition before striking with all the fury of a firebender was something he was intimately familiar with.

Amon had responded in kind as he married the complementing maneuvers of both long and southern fist styles. Despite the long-standing animosity between the two nations there was something about both Earth and Fire that dealt exquisite and equally deadly damage when brought together. Stable, low stances served as prelude to fast and exact strikes when one could goad the other into coming into striking distance.

The longer their fight dragged on the more it became less about blocking shots than it did actively making the attempt to cause as much harm as possible. Amon had taken a knee to his abdomen and returned with an elbow aimed to the ribs. Blood pooled around his chin where it seeped from his cracked mask from a split lip, and possibly broken nose. Their blows became heavier and their footing less precise. Their finesse began to suffer for it and, somewhere in the back of Amon's mind, he registered why. As it progressed into power strikes and full-bodied contact did it fully dawn on him - the broke the one, absolute rule of any discipline: Do not bring emotion into it.

It simmered just under the surface as their skill waned into absolute savagery was he able to put a name to it. Amon and Korra had let this devolve into a release of every overwhelming feeling of hate and rage neither of them were in short supply of. And Amon lost himself in as he came back at Korra with a deep-chested bellow before he forwent concentration in favour of a swinging kick to catch her stomach with the full force of his heel. ]

[alphatar]

[Shifting between styles had only lasted so long for Korra, and she didn't even notice or care that they had reduced themselves into a bitter brawl. Keeping little to no distance between them, Korra fiercely delivered blows that were unguarded. Sacrificing all defense just to ensure each attack contained as much rancorous animosity as possible.

A knee she jabbed into his abdomen repeatedly was answered with an elbow that dug into her ribs, and she felt it crack. Running off of nothing aside from vehement rage, Korra felt the retributive need to break something in return. After sending a vicious straight armed punch at Amon's solar plexus, Korra's eyes flew open when she looked at his mask, the blood that was seeping out from underneath it incensed a berserk hatred. After she took a full swinging kick into her stomach that almost knocked the wind out of her, Korra delivered a blow to his side where his kidney was. Taking the moment to close the minimal distance between them, Korra grabbed fistfuls of his clothes.

She reared her head back and then whipped it forward with a frenzied yell, headbutting the mask. For a split second their eyes met and a small trickle of blood formed on her head from where she collided with the mask. Again she reared her head back and she ruthlessly slammed it again in the same spot. Feeling it crack as she kept her face there, she managed to snarl out:]

Do you even know what you did to me? How it felt?

[Eye blazing with enmity she stared at him as the mask began to fall apart from the split down the middle. The trickle of blood was a small stream and had reached her cheek directly under her eye.]

[amonfire]

[ They had become animals that fell prey to their own, all-consuming baser instincts and anger that kept them going through even the worst of injuries but robbed them of humanity in the process. Now on equal ground with no mind for honed skill or forbearance they had begun to tear each other apart in savage frenzy.

There was no long term goal or outstanding motivation other than the destruction of the other. Korra would deliver a bombardment of strikes and kicks and Amon would react similarly - most blocked not with defensive maneuvers but simply because their own wild throws would collide with each other. Their knuckles were the first to draw out of the most blood until the front of Amon's jacket and Korra's anorak were soaked with sweat and bright red. A mixture of their own blood and whatever they could tear from each other like feral dogs.

When Korra had found purchase on his jacket and Amon failed to rip away from her grip, he started to throw everything into punching her stomach and shoulders in a bid to get her off. It cost him when he never took into considering she would start headbutting. For a moment all Amon saw was a piercing white as he shook his head; his peripheral clouded with a sharp painful glare and his sense of hearing gone save but for an deafening ringing sensation. Buffeted against the pain that covered his face, he struggled just to look straight. The first thing he saw was Korra's eyes - they were the same as his own and not just superficially but when they eyes locked it mirrored his own anger and viciousness in full.

A few more and much less guided walloping blows to Korra with a jab in her neck was he able to wrench free. He didn't even register the white lacquered wood that crunched under his feet in pieces until he felt a cold breeze assault his bloodied face. Amon felt his knees buckled as he stumbled back; his lungs fought for air in short and sharp gasps that stung. ]

Helpless? [ Choked out in a voice made harsh by the flecks of blood between his teeth and the exhaustion finally setting in. He lunged forward and grabbed a fist of Korra's hair and wrenched it from the loose ponytail she typically fashioned it up in. It, for a split second, was as if he was looking at himself. For some reason that had him hitting harder. ] Weak. Lost - abonanded? [ Amon stuck her once in the face before he punctuated every bitter, effacing word with a blow to her stomach, and shoulder area. ] More than you know.

[alphatar]

[The repeated blows to her stomach did finally knock the wind out of her and she was about bury her foot into his chest when she saw him buckle when that word gave her pause. Long enough of one for him to get a hold of her hair. The blow to the face caused a fresh stream of blood to come out of her nose and go over the dried blood that managed to come that far down from her forehead. The corners of her lips were red from the internal injuries from similar blows made earlier. Each strike to her stomach caused a deep gasp for air.]

You're just trying your mind games and lies! [With her hair keep her back, all Korra did was deliver an uppercut to his chin and jabbed his throat repeatedly with a guttural, hoarse bellow.]

YOU TOOK MY PRIDE AND YOU TOOK MY STRENGTH. YOU TOOK A LEGACY AWAY FROM ME!

[amonfire]

[ Any verbal counter was physically torn from his mouth when Korra's fist connected with his throat. It was simple and brutal, but damned effective; he was distantly impressed with how much force Korra still carried behind each throw as he stumbled back, gasping and choking. ]

It was never [ Every strangled word caused more blood to splutter in the back of his assailed throat; spat out of his mouth and down his chin. Both of them were on their last leg with every ounce of energy expended to stop from falling over at any moment.

With more anger and adrenaline than actual strength, Amon set upon Korra. A final assault so formless poorly executed they both weakly fell against the riverbank where mud and grass stained red with the blood that continued to run in rivulets down their broken bodies. ]

IT WAS NEVER YOU [ Amon cried, voice hoarse but louder than it had ever been. He pressed a knee into Korra's stomach only to roll off and fall against his side; chest burning and chest heaving to catch any precious air his bruising lungs could hold. ] Never....never you - it could have been anyone it was what. It was what you were and what...and what you weren't - I finally find the Avatar and it was a self-absorbed child who was stranger to the world she thought she was entitled to.

[ His shoulder made a queer popping noise when he grabbed Korra by the arm, dragged their bruised and bloodied corpses back up the riverbank only but for a few feet before he collapsed again. Amon could only numbly roll onto his side to prevent his injuries from worsening. ]

I waited- I waited [ His voice petered out into short, shallow breathes. ]

[alphatar]

[A grim satisfaction came to Korra when she heard his words get gargled and choked on. Exhausted and tired, she had nothing to block the knee with even though she saw it coming. A loud groan came out of her and she fell onto her knees, coughing some blood onto the mud. With how many blows she had taken to the stomach, she was sure that pulsing pain was from internal injuries. Once she had cleared her throat of the spittle and blood, she barely managed to lift herself to one knee.]

It’s always been me. [She spat as she tried to put her weight into her leg so she could hoist herself up, failing horribly to do so.] Everything you planned was about me. I was training to be the Avatar the world needed! The one that would protect people from YOU. [When he grabbed her arm, it was the support she needed to get back onto both her feet, even then she was wobbling, the strength had been drained from her, sapped away by each blow she had received from him.]

You waited to kill me. [She said disgustedly, her voice cracking as she managed to barely croak out the words. All she could do was kick him in the side, which caused her to lose her balance and fall onto her side in a heap. If she wasn’t breathing she might have seemed dead to anyone watching either of them. Breathing heavily, she barely muttered out the words.]

Just so you…could pretend to…be the Avatar…

[amonfire]

[ Silence soon fell between them when Amon offered no immediate reply; after their shared peals of angered censure thundered over the riverbank when all they could physically do now was shout. Though their bodies had been haphazardly strewn on the glade with no rhyme or reason then where sheer exhaustion dropped them, Amon could help but to take not of the fact they were laid side by side. Forced to look their own bitter enemy in the eye and only a hair's breadth away all without being able to do a damned thing about it.

Either one of them could exploit the situation and snap the others neck right now if they chose. Of course, he had a suspicion that was far removed from the realms possibility now. ]

No [ It came in weak at first and could have been confused for more choking on his own blood and spittle. His cadence and voice rose with clarity out of pure determination as he went on, ] Don't take this as any gesture of goodwill or sentiment but I never wanted you dead; destroyed, yes...but your death would have only jump started the entire Cycle. My methods were nothing if not nonlethal; I can't say the same for most - not even you. People like me? People like you so wrapped up in what they've been spoon fed all their lives they refuse to think for themselves and try to lead before they learn how to follow.

[ His laugh was as harsh as the pain his shot through his chest. ]

No...I didn't want to be you. I wanted nothing more than to eradicate the need of you; the blind hope the world clung to that that we could be raised on the shoulders of singular child we throw on a pedestal every generation. And the pitfalls of harsh disappoint that also pave their so-called destiny.

[ Soon his voice fell into a heavy timbre of jarring, distant despondence - as if there was nothing holding him back from speaking his mind as he grappled with blinding pain and cradled broken ribs in torn, bloody arms. Every other word carried with it the hint of Amon biting back a howl of anguish ]

I was twenty-three you died...[ There was something about defeat and being left in consuming pain that stripped one of inhibition. ] I had truly begun to appreciate the word 'abandoned' then. And disappointment later on when I saw you again.

[alphatar]

[Listening was all Korra could do, fatigue and exhaustion were pinning her to the riverbank. Forced to glare at him as she tried to catch her breath. The sun had long since set when they fought and now the only light was from the stars and a thin crescent moon. Scowling at his description of her being spoon-fed and not thinking on her own, Korra desperately wanted the strength to get back up a punch his face again.

When he mentioned that she died at twenty three, Korra squinted at him and didn't fully understand what he had started going on about. Then, after a long silence that followed his words it clicked. Whether or not he had encountered Avatar Aang, Korra didn't know, but she did know that's who he was referring to. Her throat was raw, her voice hoarse and low. Any other pitch was impossible.]

I don't remember any of that. The Avatar doesn't have any memories of their past life.

[A beat.]

Not unless I can connect with their spirit. That's how I learned about Yakone. Aang showed me that memory while I was being kept in Tarrlok's cabin.

[amonfire]

[ Had there been no blood to run in rivulets down the riverbank or destruction of their duel that burned though glade surrounding them, they would have looked absolutely serene. Two figures sprawled out on what was left of the grass with the sliver of a moon encircled by a crown of burnished stars staring back at them. The thin moon that appeared almost at a frown at this angle distantly reminded Amon that, while here, he had the brief yet undeniable honour of seeing the venerable Yue. She would be frowning, he thought; brother and sister by Tribe tearing each other apart like baser animals. ]

I had a wonder why Tarrlok even had a cabin like that out in the woods. How did you even get a metal box in the basement? [ Amon said aloud with exhausted impassion what they were all really thinking. Flecks of blood peppered his lips when he barked once in morbid laughter. ]

Of course - [ Though barely able to move save to only roll on his back and grip a gash that ran along his right thigh he still had energy to spare into sounding as bitterly disappointed yet wholly unsurprised as possible. ] The Avatar spirit is always so capricious as it is unknowable even to itself. A shame though you no doubt only saw what happened only through his eyes.

I wanted - I always wanted Avatar Aang to see...

[ He drifted off again and for a moment there were only the sounds of his hollowed breathing. ]

When he took my f- Yakone's bending he sent a message that it made him harmless - made him safe. Ripping the fangs out of the beast. [ Amon's breath hitched as he shot up and forced himself upright to prop himself up against a moss covered rock that jutted out of the riverside. ] Joke was on us, I suppose.

[alphatar]

Yeah, I saw it all the way Aang did. He wanted me to see it. [It hurt to talk, but Korra couldn't stand to just let him be the one to do so since she was incapacitated. Whatever the pain was that had been stabbing her, probably some broken ribs, had made it nearly impossible to change position. She envied his being able to get up.]

It's not his way to kill anyone, Aang never could. [Korra remembered clearly how Katara had made that a point. How Aang had never taken a single life while he was the Avatar.] I wouldn't either.

[For some reason, it was important to make sure she heard him right earlier. Something that made her wonder if there was more to Namorita's statement about how the mask affected him.]

...You weren't going to kill me?

[amonfire]

While Avatar Aang never took a life I won't deny that when he took Yakone's bending it spoke loud and clear: It made them 'powerless.' I can bore you with the unpleasant details of how I spent several years feeling anything but 'safe' with that monster, but I suspect you wouldn't wish to hear it.

Aang's so-called clemency saved no one when he failed to bring Yakone to any real justice. Human ingenuity and any true definition of fairness fell by the wayside when we put all our faith or fear in who can start the biggest fire.

[ There was wet, popping noise as Amon pushed himself an inch higher upwards followed by dull grunt. Through this exchange, Amon had been trying to move his good arm towards the riverbank; it only succeeded to aggravate his dislocated shoulder but he showed no signs of relenting. ]

Have you ever seen or so much as heard of me killing anyone after I had taken their bending? [ This was not a debate of the ethics of taking away someone's bending; he was deliberately challenging her to see his motives from a perspective other than the one she built over the few months they fought as clearly defined enemies in Republic City. ]

I can't [ He swore under his breath and his eyes started to go out of focus ] reach the water...

[alphatar]

[All that Korra knew of how he had felt about the vicious training regimens under his father had been given to her by Tarrlok’s own personal assessment. From which she gathered that even though he was favored more by Yakone, the treatment wasn’t anything worth being envious of.

About to snap out a ‘Yes.’ instinctively, Korra actually paused to consider the question and to give her more time to let her breathing go back to normal. Thinking back when Amon had taken the bending away from Zolt’s gang members and almost doing so to Bolin, there weren’t any deaths. Back at the pro-bending arena when he took Tahno’s bending, Korra came by him later at the police station. Lin, Korra had restored Lin’s bending after she had confronted Amon.]

That doesn’t excuse severing someone’s bending. That’s for the Avatar to decide.

[She avoided agreeing with him directly, truth or not. Still, she clung to the rights she had along with her title that she had learned from her masters and the White Lotus.

Feeling the biting pain from her injuries now that her adrenaline had left, all the senses that were ignored were now coming back in waves. Pain included. With a sharp intake of breath from the stabbing pain, Korra tried to bring the water to her so she could heal. But nothing happened. She was still under the lasting effect of his chi-blocking from earlier. Still, she tried again and again, relentlessly hoping to catch her bending the instant it returned. Giving an audible groan of pain the third time, Korra squinted one eye and clenched her red stained teeth.]

[amonfire]

[ There was a wet sound behind Amon's sudden and short bark of acerbic laughter when blood seeped out of his nose and mouth. Only for him to double over in pain again, his reply barely a whisper with his forehead pressed into the grass as he tried to speak through his pain. ]

Deflate some of that pride; you pushed me out of a window. That hardly elevates you or forgives your spectacular ignorance of the world you feel so entitled to. The latter hardly my fault.

[ After some grunting and groaning Amon managed to heave himself back onto his knees and slowly drag himself closer to the riverbank and consequently, Korra. Amon stopped where he knelt just by Korra's side where he towered over he somewhat as he leaned closer to the waters edge. Finally after some strain he managed to pull a stream of water into his hands where it became an amorphous shape in his hands and started to glow a dull blue.

There was silent deliberation with no short amount of inner turmoil before Amon said, ]

Show me the worst of it.

[alphatar]

The White Lotus educated me about the world, I’m not stupid. I just had to stay there because Aang ordered it.

[Her voice was gone, throat ripped away from shouting and the ruthless fight they had both just suffered. She had finally given up on trying to bend, it would take more time for her chi paths to open. When Amon approached, her arm was so heavy just from trying to waterbend that all she could do was make a weak fist. The whole time her eyes were on the water he held.

This was it. He had won.

Then the muted blue light had her confused. With an guttural groan, Korra forced her tired muscles into service and rolled off her side and that was as far she could push them From there, she let gravity do the rest and her back fell onto the ground. A sharp gasp of pain was sucked in through her teeth.

She placed that weak fist on her stomach, wincing when she touched it. That had been the part of her body that had received the brunt of his physical rage. Honestly, she was in pain all over, but it all felt connected at that one spot.]

There.

[amonfire]

Oh? And how well do you understand your fellow man around you: How much can you empathise with how they feel, what they think, or understand where they've come from? I don't suppose the White Lotus taught you any of that deep into South.

[ It was difficult to get a read on Amon's face in both the dying light and because of the grievous wounds that covered his face. His ear was sliced open and still bleeding, and his forehead was peppered in large cuts where Korra smashed his mask across his face with her own. Needless to say, they were both a bloodied mess from head to toe.

Having pressing need of the use of both of his arms, Amon first brought the catalyzed water up towards his other shoulder where he pressed into it until there was a sickly loud pop follow by Amon choking down a howl of pain. He dropped the first batch of water beside them as he doubled over and gasped in pain.

Once he collected himself, he slid one hand under the nape of Korra's neck where he lifted her with a surprising amount of care. With Korra elevated enough to relieve some of the pressure, Amon collected water from the river again where he worked it in his free hand until it started to glow. He worked the water over her stomach where he could feel bruised and cracked ribs steadily started to mend with the flow of her chi accelerating. ]

Perhaps we've both paid for Avatar Aang's mistakes - in a way.

[alphatar]

[Not having an answer, Korra stiffened her upper lip and looked away. Any satisfaction she had from seeing him in pain and after breaking his mask was reduced to lingering state at his question. While the White Lotus had sometimes felt too overbearing to her, Korra trusted them with her life.

When she was suddenly being lifted up, the pain from being moved shot through her body and then eased away once she was mostly upright. The pain that had made its presence known each time her heart completed its rhythmical pulsation was lessened from the healing. Not having needed to be healed by others since she mastered the art from Katara, Korra could actually feel the limitation of his waterbending. A sign of mastery was an anesthetic sensation, and though the pain was lessened, it was still there. A far off drumbeat that could be heard if she listened for it.]

The Avatar has to protect others and Aang did it his way.

[The way the Air Nomads always did, by avoidance.]

[amonfire]

I taught myself...if you were wondering.

[ Bloodbending was an inversion of healing; it worked on the same basic principles and know-how of the human body but the similarities ended there. Raw talent might had given him the makings for a master healer in addition to his unequalled power as a bloodbender, but by the time he had taught himself the basics he was already too immersed in his hatred for his own powers.

Amon was gentle when he laid Korra recumbent on a dry patch of grass after their touch and go healing session carried well into the small hours of the morning. That she was still talking was a good sign, even if they disagreed. In the back of his mind Amon registered that Korra not answering his cutting remark was answer enough that left ample room for criticism, but by the time whatever caustic remarks he thought died in his throat. He was far too exhausted to fight they both were even if was with words. Instead, he sighed and very quietly said- ]

I suppose we all did.

[alphatar]

[Picturing Amon learning to heal under another bender did seem unlikely, but it did make sense. Practice for healing only came when others were hurt, and keeping a non-bender profile must have hampered that. A lot.

With the severe injuries handled, Korra didn’t feel like her insides were cutting on each other. Instead, they were the shore that each heartbeat washed upon with waves of dull pain. Aches that would linger, even after getting the rest her body was demanding.]

It’s not easy when people expect you to do everything perfectly just because someone else did it before you.