Scene #4827: A cold meeting.

Owner	Pose
Sokka	Sokka was sitting on his defense wall, keeping an eye out for trouble. It was easy enough these days ,to be honest. Frankly, he wasn't even really needed here. He was just waiting out the days until he was heading back to the union. He was starting to drift off, actually leaning back in his icy chair and giving a soft snore, head loling to the side and drooling just a little bit. Well, it's not like anything ever happens here since the war ented...
Xiang Qi	It seemed unlikely that anything was going to break the monotony of Sokka's watch as snow flurries blew around in the distance, and a glacier floated by in the distance... Truly, it seemed as if nothing ever happened in this place... Nothing except maybe the sudden, inexplicable appearance of some foreigner who just happened to sneak up behind you. Much like how Qi had just wandered up behind Sokka while he was dozing off. "...Whatcha watching for way out here?" The dark haired woman asked as she leaned in, trying to get an idea of what Sokka could see from his vantage point -- clearly, she didn't see very much of note.
Sokka	Sokka let out a shriek, flailing about and falling out of his chair, scattering snow everywhere. He grabbed his spear and aimed it at her. "WHO ARE YOU?! Identify yourself? are you an enemy? Fire nation?" Paused. "Well, enemy fire nation? I'll never talk! And I wasn't asleep!" he lied. Horribly. his chair of snow was wrecked.
Xiang Qi	Qi leaned back, and away from Sokka as he suddenly shrieked, covering her ears with a wince before looking back at him with a small frown, "Geez, don't gotta be so loud!" She huffed, then finally let her hands fall from her ears once again. "I'm Xiang Qi!" Her frown disappears, replaced all of a sudden by a cheery smile, as if she had just forgotten that she was upset at all, "And... no. I don't think I'm an enemy." She pauses, seeming to contemplate the question further, then shrugs. Finally, she appears to notice the spear, "...Are you some sort of soldier?"
Sokka	Sokka blinked and looked down at the spear. Used it to get to his feet and nodded. He then put on what he thought was a suave grin. "Why yes, I am. My name is Sokka, the southern water tribes greatest soldier," he said with a nod. "I'm sure you've heard of me. Personal friend of the avatar? Master of the boomerang? The meat guy?"
Xiang Qi	Qi kept her pleasant smile plastered on her face as she listened to Sokka's verbal resume... When he was finished she looked thoughtful for a second, then... "Nope! Never heard of you!" A grin of her own suddenly spread over her lips, "Greatest Warrior huh? Have to beat up a bunch of guys for that title? Gotta be plenty of strong people 'round here I bet. I'm not to shabby in a fight myself, actually. Not much of a soldier... No good at taking orders, but I can fight with the best of 'em~"
Sokka	Sokka blinked a few times then chuckled. "Errrr... well... eh... heh heh..." He rubbed the back of his head. "I uhhh... trained them all myself!" he said proudly. "If you want, I can show you the village," he said, holding out his hand to her. The village wasn't that far away, after all. And she'd soon see why it wasn't very... there were mostly just kids and old women here. Only a few men and most of them pretty old. He was probably one of the few, maybe only, men of fighting age here. At least he looked tough.
Xiang Qi	Qi gave a quick nod, "Sure~ That'd be nice. I haven't had a chance to really explore yet. Just got here." She followed Sokka toward the village, glancing around at the somewhat... sorry state of their defenses, "Sooo... That's it? You don't have a few thousand soldiers stationed off away from the village?" She looks around again, "How do you protect yourself if someone comes to conquer you?"
Sokka	Sokka glanced back. "yeah, our village was already almost wiped out a few years back. So me, Katarang, Aang and toph went out and wiped out the fire nation. No biggie, really. Now that they're back in their place they don't come around here no more." He really kind of over exagerates things a bit. "But most the warriors are out helping with relief. Honestly, even I'm not going to be here much longer and--" And then gets hit in the face with a snowball."WHY YOU!" he yelled, before chasing the kids around, snow balls flying through the air wildly as he tried to get vengeance for his face!
Xiang Qi	Qi listens patiently, arms behind her back as she glances at the village. It was small. And cold. She had, of course, noticed the cold before but... it wasn't such a big deal for her. Spirits weren't as sensitive to temperature as humans were. -- And then the sudden outbreak of a snowball fight broke out, "Oh! Are we under attack?" She turns to try and find the source of the attack... children. "Oh, wait no. It's a game... I think." Her eyes narrow a little, "Unless children are a common threat here?" Luckily for Sokka, Qi was also fairly gullible, so believing that he and three other people destroyed an entire nation wasn't a huge stretch for her! Qi watched Sokka chase kids around for a while, shifting slightly to avoid snowballs that came too close. She made it look easy, really. "Oh!" Qi finally perks up, "I get it! It's a training excersise! Right?"
Sokka	Sokka blinked and turned. "Hmmm? Oh, yes. A training exercise." And the kids take this opportunity of his distraction to launch a snowman at him. Down he goes! The kids giggle, watching him. He lifts a hand up, swirls for eyes. "That... that'll do... kids. That'll do," he said, wobbling a bit. "Training... over. Go... go do something else." "Awwwwww..." they whined, but walked off. He slowly got up, dusting himself off and wobbling. "So. This is the village! One of the last southern water bender tribes! We're uhhh... still repairing."
Xiang Qi	Qi gives a small nod in approval, "You've clearly trained them well if they can get the drop on the greatest warrior of your tribe." She beams and then looks at the village again, "It's small, but it doesn't look too bad for the location I guess." She gives a little shrug, "I'd offer to help rebuild... but I'm better at breaking things." She grins, "So! You and your friends defeated an entire country huh? That must've been a blast. Maybe one of these days you can show me just how strong you really are~"
Sokka	Sokka nodded. "Yup ,they're my pride and joy. Eh heh." He held out his hand, leading her towards one of the huts. A LOT warmer in there. "Oh? Yeah. Took down the fire nation. Practically..." He paused. "well, it was a group effort. I'll admit, my... battle capabilities might not be up to par with the rest of the team, but my plans were second to none in securing us victory." ... Oh my gosh, an actual HONEST comment. "So, what brings you down here, miss? Come here searching for a rugged, exotic water triber?"
Xiang Qi	"Nope! Actually I'm exploring. I've never been outside of my homeland, so I'm sort of wandering... Until they need me that is. I think they sort of got ahead of themselves when they summoned me to protect them. Human paranoia in the face of an uncertain situation." She shrugs, "But hey, at least I get to go see new, interesting things. Never been to a place like this. It's a lot warmer where I'm from." She follows Sokka toward the hut, "And don't worry about it being a group effort~ Even I teamed up with my sisters to protect people back home~"
Sokka	Sokka nodded. "Yeah, exactly. It's the whole, not the one, right? Eh heh." He sat down across from her. "Gotta admit, we don't get a lot of pretty girls popping in around these parts. Maybe they'll throw a festival in your honor." ... They wouldn't. "So, what's your home like?"
Xiang Qi	Qi grins, "Oh well that'd be nice~ Never had a festival happen just 'cause I showed up." She didn't really blush though... Not susceptible to flattery, perhaps? "Well! Back in the day it was full of adventure and mystery and stuff! Nowadays it's more... what's the word...? Urban." She nods, "Basically the entire country is packed with people, and they've had to start building UP instead of outward to accomodate everyone." She sighs, "Nobody there has been alive long enough to remember the good old days though. They're too busy with their stocks and... other things that I don't care about. Food's better now than it was then though, so that's a plus."
Sokka	Sokka nodded, frowning. That sounded... odd. Then he cocked his head to the side. "Wait... how old are you?" he finally asked, sounding confused. Then blinked. "Ah... you aren't one of those spirit thingsare you?" Oh, crud. THIS was getting into Avatar territory. He didn't want avatar stuff! He was just a guy with a boomerang! Not an avatar person thing!
Xiang Qi	"Ummm... Don't know! We don't really have a reliable way to keep track of years. I'd guess a few thousand years old? I mean, theoretically. At LEAST a couple hundred, but given the advancement of technology, I'm going to assume it's longer." She nods, "And yeah~ I am!" Qi smiles again, "Guardian Spirit, speicifically. My job to protect people."
Sokka	Sokka urks, recoils a bit. "N-not... not of the m-moon, right?" he asked weakly, staring at her. Okay, now he was SCARED she'd fall in love with him. He smiled nervously to her. "A-ah. I... I see. So, ummm, do you go to other worlds... often? Or are you from this world? Come to meet the avatar?"
Xiang Qi	"The Moon? Nah, I don't know any spirits of the Moon. I'm a Spirit of Martial Arts." Qi tilts her head, "Why? Do you know a moon Spirit? Do they live around here?" She pauses once again... and then says, "You've mentioned that Avatar thing twice know. What's an Avatar?" Clearly, she wasn't here to see any Avatars.
Sokka	Sokka blinked. "A spirit of martial arts? Wait, then you... the avatar is... a guy with a lot of spirit power mumbo jumbo. But forget that. Does that mean you're a master of... even an originator of martial arts? could... you teach me?" he asked, eying her. "Well... help me train?"
Xiang Qi	Qi gives a short laugh, "You could say that~ I mean, Martial Arts is just a fancy word for fighting. That's been around since forever. But you could call me a master, sure." She tilts her head and looks Sokka over, considering for a moment, "I could try to teach you, if you really wanted. Help you train, give you pointers, all that. I don't know if humans can really do exactly what I can, and from what I understand not all humans are created equal as far as this multiverse thing is concerned. Like, I use chi when I fight. Sort of a mystical spirit energy, I guess. Most martial artists from my world can use it too -- though not to the same extent as spirits like me."
Sokka	Sokka blinked and then lowered his eyes. "Y-yeah. Some kind of... mystic... magic... chi thing... I'm not going to be able to use," he muttered softly, his eyes lowered and gazing off to the side. "A-anyway. I uhhh... If you'll teach me, I'll do my very best to learn what I can. Whatever you'd be willing to show me!" he said firmly, bowing politely.
Xiang Qi	Qi nods, "Well sure then." A grin crosses her lips, "Of course, you'll have to show me what you can already do before I can really know where to start teaching you from." She nods, "I can prooobably go without any fancy chi abilities. No energy blasts or shockwaves or earthquake punches... Just straight up normal-person fighting."
Sokka	Sokka blinked, chuckling and scratching his chin. "Well... i uhhh... Eh heh heh. I have a bit of sword practice. and a bit of kiyoshi warrior training. That pretty much sums up my experience. Doubt you'd know about the kiyoshi warriors, though. Huh... Eh heh... sorry... I'm not too good at this part... Last teacher I had teach me this I ended up dating, too, so we never got too far past a few days of training."
Xiang Qi	"Well no worries there!" Qi says without missing a beat, "I don't date students~ Actually, I've never really dated at all. Not really a thing for spirits where I'm from." She shrugs, "I don't really deal with swords. Real fighters fight with their fists, not with pointy metal sticks. Don't get me wrong, if you need to use a sword, I wont stop you, but I'd be better at teaching you how to punch things effectively." She trails off for a moment, "So what IS a Kiyoshi Warrior? What sort of fighting is that?"
Sokka	Sokka got to his feet and took his stance, a defensive stance. "It's a very noble, honorable warrior from the kiyoshi warriors. They were trained by kiyoshi, a past avatar. They didn't normally train men, but they made an exception for me." He said proudly with a nod. "The style is based around reflecting and redirecting an opponent's energy, making them use their force to trip and fall on their face."
Xiang Qi	Qi makes a little 'ooh' sound and nods excitedly, "That sounds pretty solid. Works especially well for people who aren't physically imposing or particularly strong themselves. Doesn't work on everything though. I'm better at the offensive sort of martial arts. The defensive side is okay, but most people I tend to fight don't have enough energy behind their attacks to make redirecting them as effective as just punching them through a wall."
Sokka	Sokka nodded. "True enough. But when I fight someone like that I... have boomerang!" he pulled out his boomerang and gave it a cheek rub. "Boomerang is the absolute BEST! trust me. no one tops boomerang." He gave her a big grin. "cool, right? Does your universe have these, too?"
Xiang Qi	Qi tilts her head, eying the strange curved weapon, "Mmn... Maybe? Mostly people who use weapons where I'm from usually used spears... swords... pikes... Occasionally axes... Bows... Farm tools. that sort of thing." She gestures at the boomerang, "I've never seen one of those, but it might have just not been in use around where I was."
Sokka	Sokka nodded, then flung it. It spun around the room. "Yeah, it's my signature. Best weapon I--" The tent flapped open. One of the kids ran in. "Sokka! Aput was playing near the fire nation ship a-and he slipped and--" Sokka sheathed the boomerang and headed towards the door. "It was nice meeting you, Xiang! Look around, take in the sights, I've got work to do!" he said before taking off.