Ask Piandao

"So you believe that you are the greatest swordsman in the world?" ( Independent Piandao RP blog from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Will RP with any fandom. ) ( Tracking Tag: AskMasterPiandao )

[askmasterpiandao]

[askmasterpiandao]

"It seems that fewer and fewer people come to visit me these days... I wonder why that is." 

[siswinchester]

Send me a ♠ for my muse's reaction to walking in on yours masturbating.

[damnthecretaceous-archive-blog]

[askmasterpiandao]

The Swordmaster Speaks|| askmasterpiandao & simplyasami

[simplyasami]

Natural athletic ability combined with years of other training had honed her reflexes and reaction time. The sword slowed it, changed it. She’d have to adapt to it. She set out to win.  That way she had a better mindset, better chance. Even if she lost, she had to give it her all. Protecting her body short term wasn’t smart. Because without a weapon if someone else had one, the other person was in an awkward position. Of course she’d fought against people with weapons while she was without before, but still.

Asami stepped to the side, preparing to fight, holding onto the blade tightly. He was going to do something, now, or later. She wouldn’t know until it happened but he kept hitting her at every turn so she had to try. She had to fight. This wasn’t something she could just give up on.

[askmasterpiandao]

As soon as she stepped to the side, Piandao had to admit that it was the smarter decision. But it was not one that afforded her much as he was pressing the attack. He felt the blade connect against hers, but instead of pressing again, he dropped back. 

"Now, attack." It was time to see how she thought to fight, considering she was not throwing anything towards him. It was time to see if she was intuitive offensively as she was defensively. 

[rumblechamp-deactivated20131227]

Toph shrugged. "I guess. I'm pretty useless with anything but rocks in my hands though." She said. "And yeah... he chucked it to save us from firebenders when we brought down the Fire Nation air fleet." She scratched her head. "It's probably buried somewhere on the west coast of the Earth Kingdom. I've walked up and down it looking for it, but I can't find it."

[askmasterpiandao]

"Allow me to explain myself. I offer not to train you because it suits my purposes; but it is clear that you wish to make my pupil happy, or perhaps even repay him. But knowing my pupil, I know that he would rather you be able to get stronger, rather than reclaim his blade. I shall aid you in creating the blade, but I shall also forge you, so that you need not depend solely on having the earth beneath your feet." 

[fallenfirebender-blog]

She took it, and though she was clearly awkward with the unfamiliar weapon, she did immediately the best thing she could think of—she mimicked a stance she’d seen Sokka take.  It wasn’t great, but she did know a lot about fighting in general, and she had seen how Sokka fought with that sword.  She looked to Piandao for his instructions, while she tried to imagine the length of the ‘blade’ as part of herself.  If it was an extension of her arm, then she could bend through it, same as she’d seen Zuko do with his dao swords.

[askmasterpiandao]

She could bend through it, eventually. But for now, doing so with a wooden blade would be rather foolish, unless she wanted to try and light herself on fire. 

"First I shall teach you to the art of Ni To Ichi. To fight as fire, you must learn what it means to understand the meaning of life and death, to fight not simply from the place of superiority, but for your own survival. To become a master of strategy, to understand an opponent's strategy, his strength, his resources... in doing this you will learn to defeat a thousand enemies by yourself." 

This was not merely posturing by Piandao; he had won his freedom from the military by defeating a hundred of their troops on his own. He had gone undefeated in every battle he had fought. He was not simply someone who spoke of things he did not know; he practiced what he preached. 

"First, we must think about something simple, something beyond the blade itself. When you fight outside, where should you position yourself in relation to the sun? In buildings, where should you stand? At night, where should a fire be in relation to your body?" 

[askmasterpiandao]

( Sorry for not getting to my threads guys. I promise that I'll get to them tomorrow. I'm just too exhausted from taking my summer classes and commuting today to get into the right mood. Again, I thank you for bearing with me, and I will take care of them tomorrow when I am not as tired. )

[formerprincessursa]

"I want to provide whatever help is best." She wanted to hold her little boy and cry over how long it had been. She wanted to keep him close and protect him. But she knew those days were gone. He was grown, a teenager, but still a child in her eyes. Yet the Fire Lord. Her son, her little turtleduck, was the Fire Lord. On one hand she was proud. On the other? She was nervous. This put him in the spotlight, meant people would come after him. She was worried. “I’m not sure what I should do quite frankly. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time…" Before the war had been over, she’d wondered if she could sneak back in and rescue her children. She’d wondered when she heard of his banishment if she should find him, aid him. Now she wondered yet again if she should return and see her family once more.

[askmasterpiandao]

"If I may give some advice, I think that you have your priorities backwards. Your son is a man, and you must learn to treat him as one. Treat him as a ruler, as someone who has not only left the home, but created his own. Do not treat him as the boy you were parted from. That said, you have a daughter who seems to need you more than your son. She might be harder to reach, as from what I have heard she is rather mentally and spiritually broken, but if a woman ever needed her mother, even on that she hates, it was her. That is my advice to you, although you do not have to take it if you believe me to be wrong." 

[rumblechamp-deactivated20131227]

She shivered. "Usually, I rely on others in those instances." The image of the airship rushed unbidden to her mind. That helpless dangle.... /I'm sorry Toph... It's looking like this is the end.../ her breath caught in her throat and she instinctively reached for the space-earth around her arm. She calmed down after bending it into various shapes. "The thing that I want you to make..." she said slowly. "It's not for me."

[askmasterpiandao]

"You wish for me to make a blade? Judging by the earth around your arm, I can guess that my pupil has lost his blade. But there is more than just that I can do for you, if that is your request. Your reaction just now, showed that you suffer from a fear of helplessness. You are strong, but that does not mean that you do not have more to learn. Tell me, if I could teach you to fight without relying on the earth, would you accept?" 

[fallenfirebender-blog]

Really, it wasn’t that she wasn’t happy about it, it was just that it felt overwhelming at the moment.  She perked up when he took charge, picking a place to start.  She nodded her head, moving to follow after him.  "That’s going to be harder than you might realise," she murmured.  "I’ve always had to prove something, and I still do.  I’ll never stop having to prove things to people.  But I do have a strong will.  I get everything I set my mind to."  Except the throne, but…they weren’t touching that topic.

[askmasterpiandao]

"That is an illusion. You have nothing to prove to anyone. In reality, I do not think you care about proving things to them either. Rather, you are more concerned about showing them, so that those that doubt you are wrong, and then they will tell you that you are in fact as good as you are. You seek their approval, rather than actually caring about the words of some commoner." 

It did not make sense, that she would care what some random stranger would think. If he was right, and he was not certain that he was, he figured that there were exactly four people she wanted to prove herself to. Her father, her mother, her brother, and Sokka. 

"Regardless, the sooner you dispel the illusion that you need to care about what others think, the sooner you will free yourself from the chains that bind your mind, body, and soul. To do this, we shall work with the blade. Actions often follow thoughts, just as thoughts follow actions." He offered her a practice sword, waiting to see what her reaction would be to having some form of weapon that was not her bending at her disposal. 

[mako-rp]

He nodded yet again, it feels like it’s all he’s been doing since he he ended up in Master Piandao’s place. “I understand, it seems like a lot of people have difficulty grasping that concept" he shrugs knowing that it didn’t sunk in for him until a few moments ago. He was beginning to gain interest, having some knowledge on life and it’s mysterious ways was something he didn’t mind, after all, at some point life had screwed him over, knowing you can’t control many things was something he needed to hear.

"What else..do I need to know?" he asked his eyebrows raised in question and he crossed his arms looking at the swords master. 

[askmasterpiandao]

"You say that as though there are things that you do not need to know. People like to place value on knowledge, judging for themselves if things are worth learning or not. They forget that enlightenment can come even from the most unlikely of places." 

Piandao motioned to the scene before them, of his gardens that overlooked the village below. "Given infinite time, we could likely find infinite ways to describe a single scene, for every time we looked upon it we could find something else to think about. Obviously, you are not here to become a monk, or a sage, so I will not bore you with philosophy. But suffice it to say that there is never a point where you cannot learn something new from the most mundane of things." 

[aanglikeseggcustard-deactivated]

"Maybe you can witness from the Spirit World?" Aang suggested, thinking there’s a possibility for the spirits to see what was happening in the current physical world. “Anything is possible right?" He smiled as Fat poured more tea into his cup. “You can’t blame yourself, Master Piandao, it’s not entirely your fault." The airbender raised his cup of tea to him.

Aang thought about Piandao’s request, to converse with his past life. “I think I can make them happen. Anything is possible right?" He remembered what he told him earlier. “If I meditate and call out for them, I think it can happen." He muttered to himself.

[askmasterpiandao]

"Perhaps, but I would rather learn while I am alive, so that I might take down any lessons that I can gain from them. Knowledge is important to preserve, lest it be lost to history. In this, I believe we understand each other. But, do not feel as though you must do something like that. I merely wished to know if it was possible, for I do not think it would be altogether right of me to impose a request upon your past selves without their consent first." 

[rumblechamp-deactivated20131227]

She scratched her head. “I’d have to find it first in any case." she said. “And you’re right. I earth-bend, pretty exclusively. I don’t have much use for swords." 

[askmasterpiandao]

"Perhaps not now. But I am certain that you have found yourself in places that are not connected to the earth; such times leave you vulnerable. But I need not say that; if I were to train you in anything, I would be training you in how to fight without needing to feel an opponent in the earth. You will recall that I defeated Sokka with a blade, even while I was blinded." He was not boasting, that was clear. Rather, he was merely offering her an opportunity. Piandao respected her prowess, and understood that although she talked tough, she also knew how to effectively back it up. She was well on her way to becoming a master, even if she was not one yet. 

[fallenfirebender-blog]

She nodded her head quietly.  "Then we’ll do that.  It’ll take more time, but…maybe that’s what I need—time, time to be something other than my father’s little weapon."  She sighed, pressing her eyes shut.  "So…where do we start?" she asked awkwardly, opening them up again to fix on his face.

[askmasterpiandao]

He certainly did not expect her to be ecstatic, but he did not expect her to act like she was on her way to the executioner's block either. This was going to be harder than he thought. 

"First, we must establish that you are doing this for yourself, not because of your father. He is currently rotting away in a prison cell, at least until they find something to do with him I suspect. You however, are still young, and you are for the first time your own person. When you wield a blade, it is not simply a weapon, but an extension of yourself. If your will is weak, your technique will be as well. This will, of course, happen in time. But I do not wish you to start by believing that you are trying to prove something to him or yourself; that is a self-defeating path." 

A path he had tread himself, when he had tried to master the blade to prove to himself that he was just as good if not better than his parents despite being a non-bender. It was a path that ended in pain and disappointment. 

"If you are ready, we will begin by teaching you the various strikes. I believe for simplicity's sake, that I have a style that might mesh will with your previous training and muscle memory." 

[askmasterpiandao]

rumblechamp replied to your post: rumblechamp replied to your post: I dunno....

Toph grinned. “I get plenty of action while I wander." she blew a lock of hair out of her face. “I’m looking around to see if there’s anymore space-earth… And if I found any, would you be willing to help me make something?"

"That depends entirely on what that something is. I am a swordsmith, you hardly seem like a swordsman to me. Not to draw unfair conclusions, but you do not appear to be the sort to desire to learn the blade." 

[fallenfirebender-blog]

She frowned deeply, but grudgingly nodded her head.  "I see.  Then…."  She sighed, shaking her head.  "Then I’ll just have to trust your judgement.  I don’t know much about sword styles.  I just want…him to see me as a rival, the same as I see him."  A vivid flush stained her cheeks at the admission, but she didn’t think things would be much improved by hiding things from him.

[askmasterpiandao]

"It is good to have a goal, someone to rival. I myself first sought to train myself outside of the military once I found that I had no equal. But, I can train you to be strong, and to be skilled. Sokka's main strength was not in form, but in flexibility. However, both your background and temperament is closer to that of a traditional swordsman. Sokka's previous weapon was a boomerang, a very strange weapon for most to use in combat. But, it provided him with many differ possibilities. Your power seems to come from your dedication, your willingness to work hard and improve no matter how hard. I can train you in many styles and many weapons, you either find the one that you like the most, or you master them all. I had to do the same for your brother, until he learned how to wield the dual dao blades." 

[askmasterpiandao]

rumblechamp replied to your post: I dunno. Wandering around. Felt you, thought “why not?"

"I’m exploring!" she exclaimed happily. “I didn’t get a good enough look last time I was here, so I’m having a nice long walk-about at my own pace."

"I see. What exactly do you hope to gain from exploring? I was unaware that the land around here would hold any interest for you; I thought you the type who preferred action to peaceful wandering."