tushanshu | video;

[ There is a blast of static before the video feed clicks on. The only elaborate thing he owned that stood out against all the drab issued-on-arrival furniture that dotted his bare as bones suite was a cherry wood desk. Laid out on its surface was a gutted and dissected glove that looks to be made of metal and snaking cords of copper. Even behind that white wood mask he looked displeased with whatever project lay the electric glove in pieces. ]

While experimenting with finding alternate power sources for these devices in the wake of yet another series of tragedies and misfortunes, I decided to turn my attention elsewhere. Not to arsenal but to my fellow foreigners.

The divide between those who possess preternatural and even god-like abilities and those who do not is wide, and I find this distressing. While we are all unequal in the eyes of the Emperor I believe she does wish us to be capable of standing on our own two feet whenever the next cataclysmic event occurs, or whenever the supposed apocalypse fires start.

Taking time away from my free clinic in the Earth sector I will start offering to teach those with little to no formal training in the basics of martial arts: specifically, chi-blocking and hand to hand, closed quarters combat. Without demonstration I can best describe chi-blocking to the uninformed as a school of martial arts that places emphasis on temporarily rendering muscle function useless and even dampening chi or energy based powers. If nothing else, those who feel defenceless can take some initiative.

Kyle Rayner has agreed to supply rooms at EA-3B for training a small number of students at a time so I won't be far from my clinic. In the meantime I hope to attract a small student body and cooperate with anyone here who has experience in close-quarters combat and/or martial arts. It would be best to introduce something so demanding and exact as chi-blocking slowly. A sort of teacher-student arrangement.

I will be taking names of interested foreigners and answering any questions through my personal console, or in person at my clinic.

Standard encryption: private to M. Pontmercy

It's entirely up to you, but I must insist you take up these lessons.

[ ooc information here ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Noatak let her slip out of his arms without making mention of his tear stained sleeve as not to embarrass her. For his part he stifled any show of loss of composure over the closeness they just shared; he still wasn't entirely sure what to make of what just transpired between them.

A voice in the back of mind repeated her eighteen years over and over as he again noticed that even tear-streaked and red in the face she was not terribly pretty but undeniably striking. ]

Sabriel [ Once collected of himself again and when he locked eyes with her it was all seriousness again. ] Listen to me.

[ Noatak reached for her wrist and guided her hand to his forehead where to rested her slender white fingers to his nut-brown forehead where his charter mark glowed dimly at the touch. ]

Look at this: This is your responsibility now, and it isn't a question of when because you opened that door and you are needed here now. Your duty is to those you marked now for whatever they do will fall back on you. If you want to protect others than first you'll have to finish what you started here.

[Sabriel could feel the power in the mark, although it did not feel as strong as before, and strangely distant.]

I don't intend to abandon my students, no matter what happens. All of them deserve better than that.

[Sabriel withdrew her hand.]

I intend to teach them everything they'll need to know about Charter Magic to protect themselves and others, but- my magic has weakened, over the past few days, and it seems to be getting worse.

[ For whatever reason, although he suspected it was a combination of his status as a bender and being leashed, the baptism had rejected him. The Charter was there was was its mark but there was not power behind it. A cold fire or a light with nobody home- it was empty although it glowed and reacted to its ilk as it was supposed. ]

That was meant more to be taken as consolatory than as condemnation. Although I could see where I could used the practice.

[ Remember that, Sabriel. It was the closest Amon would ever get to self-depreciation. ]

Yes, I've heard...discontent among the others that their powers are flickering or have noticeably begun to fade. [ His brows knitted together and he frowned. ] For both our sakes lets hope it is indiscriminate and I no one goes slipping their leash.

[For an instant, Sabriel's mouth twitched into a ghost of a smile.]

Well, I'm sure you'll improve.

[Her gaze fell to the binding. It was still intact, but how much longer before the spells become nothing more than scratches on leather, and the bell little more than a decoration.]

Hopefully not- have you been affected? [Sabriel didn't know what she wanted the answer to be- the thought of Amon regaining his bloodbending wasn't appealing, but she had no desire to see him completely stripped of his powers.]

Hmf. I suppose I will. [ Being in danger of indulging a smile was mutual. ]

No, I- [ He thumbed the supple, dark blue leather that leashed him by the wrist. ] I don't know. Unlike most I've chosen to live without relying on my abilities or even using them much at all. Though I can spot a pattern and would imagine they've waned.

Just as everyone else.

Edited 2013-06-22 06:34 (UTC)

You don't- not even to heal? [To Sabriel, magic wasn't simply a tool- it came almost as naturally as breathing, and tied her to her (now deceased father). And if what she had learned was true, it was inside of her blood as well.]

I can't imagine living like that- having a skill and never using it.

Healing isn't a fix-all in medicine, and I find myself having to explain that far too often.

[ Though he found Sabriel to have more gumption than others her age he found her predictably dense when it came to arguing that one, could in fact, live without powers. It was intolerably comparable to how benders treated losing their abilities as a fate worse than death. ]

You know in my world I always found such comments to be a slap in the face to non-benders.

That isn't what I meant! I could understand- moving to a place where magic doesn't work, like Ancelsierre- I was thinking about going to University there, though that- isn't exactly an option anymore. But not using it when you could... That's what I don't understand.

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