tushanshu_logs

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Characters: Dinah Lance and OPEN
Date: July, all after Clueventure
Location: Wood Sector, and wherever you need her.
Situation: There are ideas and commitments that Dinah started before being distracted by detective work. Now she intends to follow up on them.
Warnings/Rating: Blood, wounds in the Arthur thread.
I started with prose, but will switch to action if you'd like.

General Starter: She found it in the wood sector, a courtyard formed by four trees growing from each corner, growing and intertwining together above, walled by hedges that have been growing out since the last master left. As soon as she had a spare morning and the presence of mind to do so, it is here Dinah returns.

She keeps the name and cleans first the sign painted so neatly in Chinese: “The Jade School of Kung Fu, overseen by Grand Master Shifu.” She doesn't know what happened to the Grand Master, but a dojo cannot be left unused, and she plans to honor this Master she never met by returning his space to the use it was intended.

She sent messages to the people she knew were interested in training with her, to let them know where they could be found, then she set about trimming the hedges, sweeping the building and the courtyard, and transforming it into a usable dojo again.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I don't remember signing an amnesty contract when I arrived here," Dinah says after a moment. "What he has or hasn't done here doesn't really affect what he may have done elsewhere."

She's thinking of Max, and how everyone got to together to agree to keep a very sharp eye on him, just in case. And how with Korra's history with Amon, they appear to have just turned on her and told her to shut the hell up. Or at least, that's how it seems to Korra, and Dinah remembers everything seeming like that when she was a teenager.

She eats that last cracker, thoughtfully.

"But when it comes down to your word against his, the only thing we can do about the fact he's done nothing is to hope he continues to do nothing while keeping an eye on him."

Dinah hesitates now, struggling with whether to tell Korra about her own ties with Amon. Then she makes a decision.

"Cards on the table, Korra. I've been involved with Amon's chi-blocking lessons. I had no idea he had any of this history."

Kidnapping. Bodily control. She'll have to have words with him.

At Dinah’s mention of the word hope she blew hair through her lips similar to the way a horse might have. Not that she knew what a horse-horse was. Either way she found that to be horrible way to handle the situation.

When Dinah laid everything before her, Korra looked as if Dinah had just splashed tea in her face.

“First Toph, and now YOU!?” She couldn’t stop herself from blurting it out and subsequently slamming her hand into her face, welcoming the fresh, stinging pain it brought.

After a long, long pause of Korra just breathing through her nose and out her mouth, she finally said “At least you didn’t know. That means they’re letting him teach there without even telling anyone that he’s been known to be dangerous.” She scratched her hairline, looking up at the ceiling and she let out a huff of unamused laughter. “This is stupid. How could they be this stupi- You know what, I’ll just shut up. It doesn’t matter.”

Korra snagged her jacket from the chair and pulled it over her head, obviously frustrated from the way she had trouble putting it on. Something she normally did easily.

“Thanks for listening to me. Thanks for the tea and crackers” She didn’t sound thankful at all, it was practically spat out. No time was wasted as she made quick, broad strides to leave.

“Hope those lessons work out for you.”

Watching Korra hit herself causes Dinah to reel back as if she had been hit herself. Hearing about it was one thing, but she really doesn't have any control, does she?

And now she's fighting to stay still as Korra stands, moving to leave. Chasing after wouldn't have worked on Mia, and it sure wouldn't have worked on teenage Dinah.

"I can teach you to defend against chi-blocking," she says steadily, just as Korra's leaving.

Just as Korra cleared the doorway was a few steps into the training area, she stopped. Her head moved to the side, but she hadn’t turned around yet.

“What do you mean defend against it?” It was asked with suspicion. Korra had developed an intense dislike for chi-blocking and anything related to it. After having it used on her before, that painful feeling of having her bending blocked off from her, made her loathe it.

All the same, she had stopped walking.

"If you understand a style you can predict its attacks," she says, and her chair scrapes out as she gathers up the tea set to clean them. "If you can predict its attacks you can defend against it. If you can defend against it, it can't be used against you."

And, she deliberately doesn't say out loud, you don't have to be afraid of it, or the people who use it.

"And I understand a dozen styles that utilize chi and pressure points."

Finally Korra turned around to look at Dinah, looking at her with apprehension. “That means you’d have to use it on me first, doesn’t it?” The question was almost accusatory, but had an underlying curiosity in it. Convincing herself that nothing good could come from the art, especially that she was learning from him in particular, left Korra with conflict.

It was illegal back home, and for good reason, but being to practice against it and learn how to anticipate, maybe even counter, the style had its allure. The fact that it would be Dinah, whom she had placed trust in, and all the skills she had, Korra deliberation was over.

“…Fine. When and where do we start?” Still coming down from her fuming, Korra folded her arms and looked at Dinah expectantly. This wasn’t easy for her to accept, but she knew now that Dinah was just a student of martial arts. Of course she would have wanted to learn something new, it was simple enough to see with the other styles she had.

"Not until you're ready for that."

There's always going to be an element of pushing out of your comfort zone in this kind of training. But Dinah will never be a teacher like Shiva was a teacher, or like that woman who made her call her Mother. She's not going to use a move against Korra that terrifies her until Korra has at least some idea how to defend against it.

"We'll start with the theory, which you'll probably already know from bending,and if you don't, I think this will be good practice. We'll add it to the rest of the styles we've been practising."

Finishing with cleaning, she approaches Korra and the exit to the courtyard.

"And maybe some calming techniques if you think they'll be helpful?"

Not fully comfortable with the idea of being without her bending due to that kind of training didn’t stop Korra from outright saying “I’m always ready.” Breaking a hard limit for her was definitely going to take her out of her comfort zone, but the benefit would be worth it.

“I don’t think they would.” She said with a sigh. There had been quite a few calming methods she had been forced to approach during her training, and they usually ended up with her getting frustrated and leaving in a huff, or worse, a yelling contest. Currently, she held the title of those for people from her world.

“But I’m working on it.”

"Okay, but we're still going to lay some foundations first."

Because they just are, okay?

She walks out into the courtyard, where the pool of water is still sitting in the middle, and starts on a t'ai chi form, movements strong and deliberate.

"What are you doing, to work on it?"

“If you really think so.” As always, Korra just wanted to dive in head first. Her logic was to do it soon and get it over with as soon as possible.

Leaning on the doorway, Korra watched Dinah go through the forms of Water, or T’ai Chi. Normally she would have joined in, but she was still cooling off from her flare up.

“I’m getting some pointers from someone I met. They really know a lot about it, more than anyone I’ve ever known.” And that was quite a list since Korra had been taught by various masters that were brought to the South Pole by the White Lotus, specifically to train her on control. Which had been a waste of time from her point of view.

“It’s different from everything I’ve been told. But it makes sense to me, and I’ve been doing a better job of keeping myself in check.” Earlier, Korra normally would have just stuck around for a yelling match and thrown herself hoarse just trying to hammer her feelings and point of view into Dinah. Instead, she had simply opted for leaving without discussing the subject. A little bit got out, well it was little for Korra, and she managed to stem the flow.

"Alright."

Well, if Korra's convinced this new technique will work, Dinah's going to let her try it out.

"If you need more ideas, that's what I'm here for. But that doesn't mean the rest of your training gets to take a break."

She jerks her head, beckoning. "Get over here."

Korra blinked a few times at Dinah’s response. A line of questions about who was helping her, how, and why had been what Korra was expecting. With the full intent of avoiding them of course, she knew Bruce was a private person and she didn’t want to bring him to anyone’s attention if she could help it. And yet, she got nothing but acceptance.

Standing there for a moment in stunned silence, Korra was unsure of what to do or say. That kind of thing never happened with her.

Finally she nodded and at Dinah’s request she made her way into the courtyard. Assuming the stance Dinah was in, she fell into step near her.

“…Why are you helping me?”

Korra knew the whole thing with Damian, which was obviously one of the factors, and that led Korra to believe that there was some other reason than the original one Dinah gave when they first started, before the clinic, back at the hydroponics garden. There was the paranoia she had developed after her mission for Evandau, or the conversation she had with an anonymous man over the network in regards to the Green Lanterns, or simply because Amon was at large and she felt she was the only one that cared. But really, the biggest thing that had affected her was last night, on her way home from the pizza party with the turtles. The dark figure wearing the black mask and cape that had chi-blocked her left Korra with a feeling that Keeliai wasn’t nearly as safe as she had assumed it was.

All of this because one of her triggered flare ups over Amon caused more damage than she had intended.

Dinah looks over at her, not losing her rhythm, but honestly questioning. Why on Earth shouldn't she help her? She hangs out with Bats and former Bats and Helena, who has Battish tendencies despite professing not wanting to join that stupid club, but she's not used to people questioning her motives.

"Didn't you ask me to be your teacher?"

That's a powerful word, in Dinah's vocabulary.

“Sort of, yeah.” Korra answered sheepishly. That wasn’t the answer she was expecting. “It’s just that I’ve always had people watching me and making sure that I was doing the best I could at, well, everything. And that was back at home.” She didn’t fall out of her cadence with Dinah.

“I just, I don’t know. It just feels weird when I think about it being the same here even though I’ve never been here before.” A pause before she realized that was an inadvertent lie. “Or rather I don’t remember being her before. All the people that were watching me back home, I knew them since I was a kid. But here, I haven’t met any of them except Lin.”

Dinah isn't really sure what to make about the idea Korra's been here before, but she lets it go: she's heard similar things before.

"Do you want it, here?"

"Is it that bad?" Needing an appropriate location sounded bad. Giving a second to wonder whether she'd like it or not wasn't enough time, Korra needed more than that to come to a logical conclusion.

Which is why just suddenly said "Yeah, I should know this stuff." If there was stuff. There had to be stuff, or else Korra wouldn't have felt so weird about it.

Dinah doesn't think that things need to be bad to want a teacher. She'd never turn down a teacher, even here in Keeliai. Especially here in Keeliai, really, with the range of other world styles available to her. It gives her pause, that Korra needs to think she's bad at something to benefit from a teacher.

But when she says yes, the frown disappears.

"Then I'll be your teacher."

And all that means, from helping her improve her existing bending skills, to taking responsibility for her use of those skills, to helping her face her fears and being able to hold her own against chi-blocking.

And as far as Dinah's concerned, that's that.

"Hey, I can live with that." Korra said, a small smile trying to fight its way through her mood. "Just out of curiosity, what are the calming techniques you were thinking of?" Korra doubted they would be any different from ones she had tried back home, but maybe on the off chance that they coincided with what Banner had taught her, then she could openly work on the techniques he discussed with her.

"There's a technique I use in some of my styles called Seishin Toitsu," Dinah explains. "Pure concentration from the gathered mind. It's the nearest thing to an actual meditation practice I've ever been able to do regularly."

Korra nodded her head slowly while thoughtfully sticking out her lower lip.

"Nope." she said in answer to herself now that she compared the method to Banner's. Maybe one day she could do that, after doing the smaller steps he outlined for her. "Let's give that a shot later on. Much later."

When Korra finished the one kata and began the next, she looked over at Dinah.

"Did you want to yell at me?" Korra knew Dinah didn't, but she was now wondering if that was because Korra had already gotten her fair share or if Dinah just didn't see it as anything worth yelling over.

"Ha, no."

Dinah grins, shaking her head. "If I want to yell at someone, they know. The whole block would know, actually. My yelling tends to come with structural damage. When I want to yell at you, your first clue would be meeting me in an open space.

"I just wanted to hear your side and figure out what we can do about keeping people safe in the future."

"I'm the one that keeps people safe." Korra muttered as she went through the kata, her moves having more of a whipping motion to them than required.

"So who's side are you taking?" she asked flatly.

Dinah's pretty sure Korra doesn't need to be reminded that burning down clinics isn't compatible with keeping people safe.

Dinah glances over at her, her smile fading as she keeps moving.

"What does that mean?"

She's teaching Korra. She's breaking off all contact with Amon. How obvious does she need to be?

Korra raised her eyebrow, not sure if Dinah was actually asking that as an honest question or was being offended.

"It means just that. Whose side are you taking: Mine or the Lantern?" Amon's side wasn't even a factor to Korra. Taking his side instead of hers would have been a disaster in and of itself.

"I didn't know I had to take a side," Dinah says. "Kyle's a colleague. He's my step-son's best friend and he's been a good friend to me since I arrived. Are you planning to draw battle lines?"

Kyle was in his rights to defend his clinic, but Korra was clearly triggered. Dinah's not planning to raise her fists against either of them.

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