Crosswinds

" Fine, do as you wish." He said, letting her air dry his clothes. There was no point in turning it down if she was insisting. " i will take my time for you. I'm no hurry, anyways, right?" He would enjoy sleeping in a large, comfy bed finally. He went to work on washing his clothes one by one. To wash the tunic, he emptied the sand from it onto the floor and washed it as well. He could bend the sand back into it, and he did need to up the amount a bit again.

" Companion..." The phrase sounded perfect, something he needed through his travels, a companion he could travel with. Something about her calmed him, made him feel at ease. Were all air nomads this hospitable, or was she just that much of a 1 of a kind. His heart tugged at the thought of allowing someone close, a friend even, but it was opening up to her, and in doing so it opened a few old wounds as doubt rushed into his head.

Once he was done with washing his clothes, he came from the bathroom again. He would love to switch back to his pants, the towel was getting untrustworthy. It was too small to wrap fully around and kept coming close to pulling loose. He was resorting to using 2 at the moment to make ends meet. " I'm all set in the bathroom." He set his clothes down ready for her to come and get them. He had the sand neatly in the bathroom so he could put it back into place after. He got his backpack out now, pulling out the extra salamander scales so he could work on increasing the bandages' capacity.

He would nod, taking his pants and heading back into the bathroom. Trading the towels for the pants was a plus for him, he stopped worrying now. With all that sand, he moved it all onto the towels and carried them out of the bathroom to set them out in the open. " Do you know where I can find some sand around here?" He asked her while he dried off his chain.

Waiting for his other clothes to dry, he moved himself onto the ground. He wasn't one for slacking, starting to get in some push ups and sit ups before stretching his body out some. Having those weights off of him made him feel so free, he stood and walked outside to feel how free he felt. Once outside, he would get a nice feel for the wind around him, it felt amazing as the cool breeze blew against him.

He met her outside, astonished by the sight of the moonlight hitting through her long hair as it came undone before him. " You have beautiful hair." He said, feeling the wind pass. " Yeah, the wind is something else here. Such a nice breeze." Clay would stay where he was, finding himself watching her now. He couldn't help but stare for a moment. " This is the first time I've met any air bender. You are pretty amazing."

his laughed a bit as her hair tickled him, then looked down at her. " You know, the way we move, the way we carry ourselves, sandbenders are much like air benders. Maybe, under different circumstances, we'd be exactly the same, you and I." Being this relaxed around anybody was rare for him, it felt so relieving to let things just not Bother him. He was already so paranoid.

" It seems lonely, when there's so few of you, huh? Then I will be here to keep you from feeling lonely. Is that alright with you?" He would smile to her before turning to stare up at the sky above. " Where should we go next? I'm your bodyguard now."

" Hone your skills..." He thought a bit to himself. Her hair was making it hard, but he liked the distraction. " Hey, how about I help you hone your skills? I just need a place with sand I can use. " he brushed his fingers through her hair that was touching against him softly.

" Usually I carry my own sand and I've been weight training by living. 10 pounds on each arm and leg, 40 pounds in the shirt, but now I think I should increase it. The weight's become common place, I don't even feel it's difference. But that means..." He would demonstrate, tapping her shoulder for her attention. stepping back, he would leap higher than a normal person could, jumping much further over his own height before landing lighter than he usually would. " It's made a difference taking them off. But I have to double that weight now."

Up on the north side would be a good enough start. Clay offered his hand to her. " Come on then. We have to head there now, and I have no idea how long it takes until we get there." He said, rather on impulse. He rarely got a chance to relax unrestrained, this was a chance for the moment. " When we get there, we'll hone your skills the old fashioned way. With a little sparing. " He would laugh as he would pull her hand to bring her along. He seemed so excited, rather.

The night was the best time to do some 1 on 1 practicing, Clay knew. Mostly because they'd work up a sweat during the cool night and the night would cool them. It wasn't that far, he'd come to notice as he came to a stop before all the sand there. " So, this is the place?" He looked down, his feet sinking into the sand. Such a wonderful feeling he had missed. " Alright, what are we waiting for?"

[OOC--sorry it's short]

Xilingshi Nailah Zoraki	"hey! wait up! I'm not that big!" but it was no use. before she knew it, they were there anyways, so it hardly mattered by that point. "yeah... this is the place." she replied. "now what?"
Mood: Charitable Condition: Perfect	Link:

" Well, to hone your skills, it takes effort, round the clock, right?" Letting her go, he would spread his legs and close his eyes. " Hang tight. I'll set up the obstacle course for us." He took his moment, gathering deep breaths and letting out nice and slow. It took a moment as he got a feel for the sand under his feet. Soon, ripples wound spread from him through the sand, visible in the moonlight. He was focusing for the moment, his hands slowly raising.

Finally getting a feel, his hands were over his head, his palms faced the earth and his eyes stayign closed. Taking a deep breath, this time his hands swayed to the ground, the movement pacing with his breath. With a sudden flicker of his eyes opening, his hands rushed downward as the course was made, though it was carved into the sand. His foot moved forward and his hands rose slowly, the course slowly expanding as the sand rushes upward to fill out the course that was imprinted into it. Finally, his hands faced the course and they would slowly grip into a fist, hardening the sand for it to keep it's shape, the course was set. " There. Not bad, huh? I started with mapping out small scale versions of towns when I was young."

" Sleep? Oh yeah, you need that, don't you." He joked as he would turn to her. " Well, how about this. Think of this as fun. I mean, I feel like obstacle courses are fun. But to make some of the things move, I will need lots of concentration. " Yes, he did in fact make moving parts. Part of training was to go with the flow, or at least for his training.

" Shall I give you the walk through first on what to to?" He walked around to where it was supposed to start, tracing his foot in the sand to mark the start location. He marked it with the word 'START' even. " This is the start. The first stop is the series of pillars with holes and the many pillar pegs. You have to hop along the pillars and through the holes in the 5 huge pillars. That's area 1, and I will be dropping some of the pillars as you do this, so be careful. The best part about sand obstacle courses is, it's sand, so falling doesn't hurt as much because it's like a cushion."

She'd notice as she jumped for the pillar that Clay started to move, some of the pillars shooting high up while others dropped, the pillars moving in a pattern, but it was hard to see what pattern while they were rising and dropping so sporatically. Likewise, while she would go through, a large sand wave was kicking up and rushing from behind to knock her off. " Hurry, part two is the winding maze." He taunted in a playful banter as she would continue.

She would see soon enough as she ended the first obstacle, the large walls of thick sand. Once she cleared the first part, it would calm and the walls of the next part would begin to spin. " You have to make it through there without touching the walls, is all."

Clay made the walls spin at a moderate pace. There were also spinning poles with extended edges for her to avoid besides the wall. " And no jumping over it." Clay had to say to make sure she didn't just fly over.