tushanshu_logs | I try to understand you girl

Current Location: Fire Sector; Undisclosed
Current Music: Get Your Body Beat

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I try to understand you girl

Characters: Korra, OPEN
Date: Randomly throughout March.
Location: Fire Sector, one of the abandoned warehouses used in the underground fighting ring.
Situation: Blowing off steam and earning money in her equalist uniform.
Warnings/Rating: Violence, Blood, Broken Bones, etc.

The cage rattled before the raucous crowd surrounding the arena, the clanging metal was lost in their yelling. Inside was a bald, large, shirtless kedan with tattoos covering half his body and he had just thrown a much shorter female wearing a brown uniform mixed with maroon and a mask that had green goggles over her eyes. Both gloved hands gripped into the openings of the cage and she began to climb up, scaling with incredible ease.

The kedan didn’t even try to reach up for her even though he was almost tall enough to simply reach out and grab her. "There’s no getting out unless they unlock the door. And that ain’t happening until I knock you out." A curled sneer came across his face. "Or worse."

It would be near impossible to tell if she was listening, the mask with the large red circle on her forehead hid her expression, but she did stop when he was talking and looked over her shoulder at him. Pushing off the cage with her legs, she turned in the air to build momentum and thrust the heel of her boot into the back of his head. The kedan whirled around and went to push some distance in between her. But he was off from the blow, stunned and she had a window to work with now.

Dashing in under his arms, the female in the equalist uniform dug her knuckles into his side for a kidney shot and followed through with a strike from her elbow in the same spot. Thick muscles she could work through, it was something she knew rather well. The retaliation was coming and she was ready for it. When his punch came down towards her, she reached under his arm to grab the outside of his wrist and she twisted it so his elbow was exposed to her. Hoisting up her folded arm next to her head, she struck it with her own elbow forcing his arm to bend inwards.

Ignoring his howl of pain, she lashed out a kick straight to his knee to do the same and it brought him down to her level. Putting her hand on the side of his head, she slammed her knee directly onto his ear and only retracted her leg to do it again. And again. Blood was getting on her suit, but she didn’t stop until he went limp and she dropped the unconscious brawler to the floor; trickles of red coming out of his ear.

There was an explosion of sound from the crowd and the spot lights danced around the walls at the victory. Cheers from those that bet on her and jeers from the ones that bet against her.

"Nobody blink! The Green Eyed Monster is on a winning streak!" As the announcer spoke, she gave an expertly executed saifa kata. "Hey, can somebody stop this fighting machine? Anyone who thinks they’re up to the challenge, step in the arena and go for broke!"

This was the first time Korra had a chance to flex her martial arts prowess since learning from some of the greatest Keeliai had to offer, and a great way to blow off steam with the adrenaline that was pumping through her. All anonymously and without any bending.

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Seeing that blood is a solid reminder of what she agreed to when she decided to participate. Her other opponents could go to the clinic if they got too hurt, but she knew the turtles didn’t really take that option. That was her job, she volunteered for it and later on she’d be mopping the mess they’d become.

But that could be thought about later.

The only thing that she could do after his snarl was make it worse, and since she’s not saying anything, she quickly waved her fingers toward herself. Right then, all that mattered to the audience was who would win the fight; all that mattered to Korra was that she took full advantage of the outlet for her aggression that the fighting ring provided. Even more so now that Raphael was locked in for an actual fight.

Korra batted the first right hand while she leaned away from it, too far though and the left hook catches the right side of her face. Square in the jaw causing to pain burst across her face, the taste of blood flooded her mouth and she was ready to counter his third one-

She was sure he’d return the three that she dealt him.

But it wasn’t another hook, instead a grapple. His arms are thick and rougher than a human’s, and his bicep pressed right into where she was struck making her wince. Asphyxiation wasn’t an option for her, not after being suffocated by Kyle, and she slowed down her breathing. A shoulder choke would be how she would normally counter that hold, but for a turtle; she would need her other arm.

Instead, she moved her leg behind him just under the lowest point of his shell. Planting her feet onto the ground, Korra focused on her hip so that she could flip him over. What the equalist uniform didn’t show was Korra’s physique and she was stronger than she looked

Fighting things without shells always has its advantages. It's part of the reason he freakin' loves having someone to fight that isn't his brother. As she's shifting her footing, Raphael delivers a vicious barrage of punches to her exposed back, tightening his hold on her neck.

Seconds later he can feel her going for a throw, feel the shift in her weight as she finds her leverage. But he's already sworn that he's done playing nice. He has her in his sights, and he's not letting go.

So he pushes back with a terrifying growl, pressing his shell into her. Then in one swift and powerful movement he takes a sliding step backward with his outside foot, bending at the knees and twisting his body down and forward in an attempt to slam her into the ground.

Edited 2014-03-14 22:56 (UTC)

Those punches are brutal and she snarled out what she could after feeling her throat being constricted further. Escaping was becoming more urgent and the possibility of being found out while unconscious had her feeling around to fully understand just how Raphael’s posture is.

When she feels him press into her, Korra hooks her hands onto his elbow and pulls down. Not to escape, but to gain leverage. As soon as he was twisting his body down, Korra lifted her legs off the ground, folding them up and pulling her weight downwards; the small niche of breathing room she gave herself helped with the choke. She was using her own height disadvantage against him and yanking down with both weight and force to slam the crown of his head into the ring.

The way she's grabbed onto his arm, he can't neatly follow through with the throw like he wanted to. Instead he finds himself ducked forward and eating platform with still her clinging to his arm like some kind of monkey.

That's two moves he was sure would end it, only to blow up in his face. Two moves that would've destroyed any of these other lowlife schmucks they've been fighting around here.

Whoever this girl is, she ain't no schmuck. She's giving him one of the best fights of his life, and he's loving it.

But now, as his beak crunches hard into the platform, static sparkling across his vision, a familiar feeling smacks him out of nowhere like a tidal wave. He's starting to get desperate, and he's starting to get angry.

Stamina's never been his strong point. When you're built like a tank, you move like a tank, and after almost ten minutes of fighting, you start getting slower. You start to wear out. And right now, covered in blood and sweat, his chest heaving for air, Raphael's just about reached his endpoint.

He has to end this now or he's going to lose. He can't lose!

So he heaves himself back up to something of a sturdy position, whether he has to take her with him or not, and starts kicking savagely at whatever vulnerable places he can reach.

The instant Korra was free, she rolled away and spun onto her feet; instantly locking back into her fighting stance. The inside of her mask was sticking to her face where the blood on her lips were and she was feeling the throbbing pain pounding into her brain.

Korra was taking just as much of a breather as Raphael was, literally due to the choke hold she was in. But when got up, her gloved hands curled into fists. Now that she was back on her feet, payback was the only thing on her mind. That this was Raphael wasn’t a thing anymore. This was a fight and exactly the one she had been wanting so that way her mind would be distracted from all the insanity that was Kithika and the displacement of her world onto Tu Vishan in Konryu.

All that mattered now was her winning this fight and she waited for the right moment. As much as it hurts, she takes the first kick in her side and a growling groan came from the back of her throat, the only time anything vocal came from her. All so she could set herself up for the next one coming.

Rearing back, her muscles tensed up and she twisted her hip to slam down a hammer fist above the knee she had stomped on earlier just before he could fully bring his leg up for the next kick.

Her other hand reached out to grab his shell and she brought her head back only so she could ram it into his while she yanked him towards him for a barbarous headbutt. Capitalizing on the blow he sustained from her unorthodox escape.

Working on beaten paths made earlier instead of making new ones. Korra was a bruiser and a brute when she had to be, and in her opinion; she never got to be nearly as much as she wanted to.

The blood runs freely now, pouring down the side of his face after her headbutt makes his vision go dark in places. But the heady mix of anger and adrenaline pounding through his veins numbs it to a dull droning in the back of his head. At this point in the fight he's battered, beaten, and almost out of steam, but it's the closest thing to ecstasy he's ever felt. Where all his troubles are crushed out of existence by blood, pain, and the need to win. The need to survive.

This is the reason why he picks fights, why he runs through the rooftop jungles at night looking for trouble. Why he comes to this freakin' den of sin and everything he hates to bust heads until he can't see straight. Because times like these, he's never felt more alive.

He's tired and beaten to hell, but it only pushes him on. And when Korra draws back from the headbutt, even before his eyes clear, he smiles. Just a humorless, blood-smeared and feral bare of the teeth. Then he ducks down, grabs her roughly by the hips, plants his feet, and shoves every ounce of his superior weight and strength into an attempt to push her backward, tackling her with his shoulder in hopes of pinning her against the wall of the cage.

This's his second wind. His last hail Mary pass. It's a sloppy move, but he never did put much value in style.

That headbutt had her vision blurred and her vision went to white before going back to the green tint from her goggles. None of which stopped her from rearing back to deliver another one, that kind of animosity she had only had the chance to throw upon once before and she was eager to let it out again.

But that wasn't what Raphael had in mind.

Feeling herself being dragged backward from his bull rush, unsteady as it was, Korra had a small amount of time to react and her first instinct was to root herself to the ring with her weight, but that wouldn't buy her much time. Taking advantage of the position she was in, Korra raised her fist over her head and she elbowed straight down at the base of Raphael's skull and continued to follow through with that same elbow for a hammer strike on the same spot. The blow rattled through the ulna bone, but she didn't let that stop her from trying hook it under his shoulder. Either to help stop him further, or catch him from hitting the floor.

Pain explodes through the base of his skull like getting hit by a semi. Though something in his brain instantly detaches himself from his body, making everything dull around the edges.

He manages to wrench loose just as he drives her into the cage wall, but he doesn't remember how he did it. It's like someone turned down the volume of the roaring crowd and dimmed the lights. Each one of his senses, one by one, are shutting down. It doesn't even hurt.

When he tries to swing another punch, he throws himself off balance. But his whole body is going numb, and when he goes to correct the mistake, he takes a few stumbling steps backward, blinking rapidly without managing to clear the darkness encroaching on his vision.

The next moment he's flat on his shell, staring up at the warehouse rafters. He doesn't even remember falling.

Stabling herself as best she can once she felt Raphael free himself from her, Korra blinked out both sweat and blood from entering her eye; keeping the other eye opened to be trained on Raphael.

He was a heavy hitter, so she moved back from the wild punch and she had to stop from reaching out to steady him. Pure reflex at the sight of seeing a turtle, the few that had thought of her as family, falling.

While the crowd was dying away for Raphael, it was as if someone yanked out earplugs for Korra and the crushing sound of the crowd, the announcer shouting "What a slobber knocker! That one will go down in fighting history."

The mask was clinging to her face were her blood had dried, she didn’t even know how bad it looked; but seeing Raphael- she could haphazard a guess. When they opened the gate to the cage, Korra walked over in between to stop Raphael from getting dragged off. She didn’t want him to simply be hefted outside after that. Bending down, she put his arm around his shoulder and lifted up with her legs.

It was painful, her body didn’t want to exert itself anymore, but Korra muscled through it anyway. The way she did most things and slowly made her way out, only to be stopped just long enough to have her winnings handed to her.

Something that seemed completely foreign and out of place after what just happened.

Once she was outside, Korra bore the heavy turtle over to an abandoned shed she had been using for the fights. Perfect hiding spot for healing. With a groan, Korra half lowered, half dropped Raphael onto a bare old mattress.

Taking advantage of his unconscious state, she changed from her Equalist uniform into her normal clothes and hid them in a hidden floor trap. She then started running the water from the old water spout. Healing herself first was key in keeping her identity a secret.

Which bugged her because she hated superheroes’ secret identities.

Leaving her covered bruises alone, Korra held the water between her hands and got into seiza to start on Raphael next. All the while, trying to think of an excuse to give him for what he might wake up to.

Flashes of light and color pierce through the knockout haze. First, lying on the floor, looking at the rafters. Then the girl, the one they call the Green Eyed Monster, bending down to help him up. People, blurring together in a whirlwind of faces and hollow noise, ushering them out. Then they're out of the wearhouse, into the cold night. He doesn't remember how he got there, but he must've walked.

There's a moment before they enter the shed, where a sudden burst of panic hits him electric, and he tries to pull away. But nausea churning in his stomach and the drunken dizziness and the raw pounding headache thrumming in his skull has him staggering back for her support.

The next time he tunes in, like adjusting a radio dial, he's in a place he doesn't recognize, laid out on a dirty mattress. Another light of panic rushes through him, sitting up like waking from a nightmare. It's a bad idea. His head gives a murderous sharp throb that almost makes him see stars, that oily sick feeling rising in his stomach.

"Ugh, ow!" He grabs his head on reflex, propping himself up with his other elbow and squinting muzzily as his eyes fail to completely focus. It takes him a second to recognize the person sitting beside him. "...Korra?"

The water stopped glowing the instant Raphael half up and Korra leaned back on instinct, but caught herself so it was only slightly. It seemed like he was actually awake this time and she looked over the little spot she healed.

"Hey. Don't move too quickly, I haven't healed you up that much yet." The old, lit lantern in the corner provided the only light aside from the occasional glow from her healing.

"You always end up in alleyways at the Fire Sector?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and looked from the water to the bruise on his leg. Where she had tried to blow his knee out. Fighting the guilt in order to keep the facade up was one of the hardest things she's ever done.

Awake, but the pounding in his head is making it hard to see or think or do anything but just be.

"Mm... no," he slurs, his own voice ringing painfully in his head enough to make him wince. "Usually I win the fight."

He doesn't care if she knows about the ring or not. At this point he doesn't even care if she tells Leo. And even though he knows it's off and weird that Korra's here now, he doesn't care much about that either. Not even enough to put up a fuss about the whole healing thing.

So he just flops back down with a groan, keeping his hand pressed on his forehead. The pressure helps somehow.

The opportunity to heal Raphael with little hassle was right there for the taking, and Korra did just that. She concentrated on his legs first and the water seeped away the pain so it could work without bothering him, the same method she had become accustomed to using. More so since arriving in Keeliai and working at the clinic, and as the turtles' personal medic.

"I'd hate to see what they look like then." Which was true. She had a chance to look in the dirty mirror to see just how swollen and bruised her cheeks were getting, the blood that mixed in with sweat didn't help anything either.

But that was before she managed to clean herself up to look presentable.

"Just relax and I can get you up and fighting again in no time." Telling Leo was something that she was considering, but all of the can be worked out later. For now, she really wanted to rectify what she had done.

And fight back the urge to compliment him on just how badly he'd let her have it.

"Yeah...," he huffs, pinching his eyes closed. It's a nice feeling where she's working on his knee, but his head. It practically cancels out everything else. "Not like I saw her face."

It was a good fight. It really was, and it left him feeling mostly tired and satisfied despite being beaten the fuck up. But he's still pretty sore about losing. Somehow, he has to find that girl and get a rematch. Next time he has to beat her.

"You seen a girl in some kind of weird costume anywhere? It had green eyes. Goggles, I guess. Called her..." He makes a vague motion with his free hand. "'The Green Eyed Monster'."

He can tell he's slurring, but he's only half-aware of how dumb he sounds. Sometimes good hits to the head can do that, and he had his bell rung pretty damn hard. Though at least that means he's not acting all closed-off and cagey around her. That's probably a first. It's the most he's ever talked to her ever, that's for sure. Up until this moment, he's probably made it seem like he completely hates her.

But Raph knows how much Leo and Mike trust her. He remembers her helping him warm up when he showed back up again. And she healed Mike after he pounded his face in. Without his inhibitions, he knows he can trust her, too.

Korra pursed her lips at the term 'her', but stayed silent as she worked her way to his ankle. His head would come next, she didn't want to bring him back to the full on grouch she met at Mike's just yet.

"Green goggles." She repeated as she mended his ankle, peering at the damage through the water as the light let her use redirect his chi to accelerate the healing process. Mako had told her about the equalist uniforms that were worn at Amon's clinic and she furrowed her brow as she healed. "The only ones who had anything like that back home were Amon's chi blockers. Their Equalist getup had green goggles and they could stop a bender from using the elements."

When she was done with his ankle, she was ready to move on to where he took the most damage.

"Amon was teaching chi blocking last year and had a lot students." She brought the water with her and held it between her hands. "You don't have to close your eyes if you don't want to." But she left it up to him before starting.

She wasn't directly lying, but even telling herself that didn't make her hate what she was telling him.

He only grunts as she moves to his head, talking about things from her home that don't really connect in his badly rattled brain. Some person named Amon who taught chi blocking. Someone from her home. People who used to wear that uniform.

"They here?" He mumbles, cracking one eye open to try to focus on her face. It still hurts more than it should.

"Amon isn’t, not anymore." There’s relief in her tone as she begins healing his head. "I don’t know who all he trained out of the kedan and foreigners." The fact that he was teaching the art at all had made a brasher, younger Korra set a clinic on fire.

Now his actions are nothing more than an annoying memory and her own actions have been exactly why she had been working on controlling her temper.

But there would always be times when she’d want to let it all out.

"If Equalists are attacking people, then I’ll look into it. I’ve handled my share back home."

"No," he growls with a surprising amount of force, pushing himself up to sitting whether it disrupts her healing or not. The movement makes his head throb so hard he wants to puke, but he only cringes, hunching forward and holding his head in his hands. "It's my business," he rumbles quietly, "and I'll be the one who handles things. Got it?"

It's weird, but he feels like he needs to protect this woman. This Green Eyed Monster. She gave him one of the best fights of his life, then she dragged him out of there when she was done. And in his eyes, even dumping him in an alley was like she knew him. Like she knew he didn't want those people touching him.

Now, she's his to fight, and he's not gonna let anyone get to her first if he can help it.

Even if things did play out the way Korra's thinking, he can still take care of himself. He doesn't need her help. It's bad enough she's seen him vulnerable twice now. Now he feels like he's got something to prove.

"Don't-!" Too late. He was already up, and she folded her arms as she watched him hold his head. Standing up from her seiza, Korra brought the water along with her and attempted to continue her healing.

The eye roll wasn't obvious, but her sigh was and Korra slowly moved the water around his head to pick up where her healing left off.

"Let me just finish healing you up so you can actually walk back home. Just so you know, I'm the one who's going to be fixing what comes out of your business and that kind of makes it my business too." Her gentle and flowing movements didn't match her tone, perfectly typical of Korra.

Jeez, she's just like April. Totally unafraid to speak her mind when he's being a jerk. But it still rubs him the wrong way because she isn't April. Le and Mike might consider her family, but far as he's concerned, she's just some girl who imposed herself into his life without his invitation.

"I never asked you," he mutters, not bothering, or daring to lift his head.

"Do you ever stop complaining?" It was hardly a question and she took the opportunity to move the healing water down to the base of his skull. The final hits, where she put everything she had to take him down before he could pin her against the cage.

Both her hands gently massaged the soothing water into it, alleviating the pain so she could see what kind repairs she'd have to work with.

"Your brother wouldn't want you coming home looking like this." And even worse, find out it was Korra who did this.

He sighs, both at the pain lifting from the sorest part of his skull, and because of the level-headed way she dealt with his jab. Even as he said it, he felt bad. She's the one who healed Mike up when he snapped and pounded his face to a bloody pulp. And now this.

It stuns him how these people are so willing to help him when he screws up. And Mike... he might be a little obligated to put up with his crap, but Korra isn't. Korra hardly even knows him.

When she mentions Leo, a sharp jab of panic blossoms in his chest, but he refuses to let it show.

"You gonna tell him?"

Almost a year on Keeliai had forced Korra to mature much more so than her home world environment did and she was still growing in maturity, just not as fast as others. The pressures of it are easier to deal with when she was in the company of her friends, like the turtles.

There's a long pause as she continued healing the spot, the swelling going down while she worked. Raphael actually asking her wasn't what she expected. Shrugging it off, yes; but not questioning it.

"No." Her voice was level as she neared the end of circling the glowing water. "He'd rather hear it from you, not me."

"Ha," he snorts dryly. "You really think I'm gonna tell him? He wouldn't get it."

The healing feels good, almost like Splinter's shiatsu techniques on steroids. He can hardly stifle a groan as his muscles relax and the nauseating pounding in his head turns into a dull ache.

Much as he hates relying on magic for anything, especially elemental magic like Korra's, he can see why his brothers are so into it.

Rubbing at his still-battered face, he tries to keep his train of thought.

"There ain't no honor in fightin' people for money," he says, not really caring if she knows. She's already made it clear she's not gonna tell Leo. Maybe he can trust her with this, too.

"I doubt you're fighting them for money." she said flatly as she gave the healed area more attention than needed. Just in case there was more damage than she could make from it, head injuries could be tricky.

Honestly, the money was the last thing she needed either. That she fully understood. "He'd probably try to tell you to meditate instead." That was Korra experience, and while she had finally gotten mediation down thanks to Spock; it wasn't always the way to get out the aggression.

"They never get it."

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