Within the Fury

[Ejiki]

You're mad.
Shut up.

Ejiki scowled behind his goggles, shaking his head as if to dislodge the nagging voice in his mind. It was pointless for the voice of a dead sister to tell you you're mad, in Ejiki's view most people were some amount of mad anyway. He ignored the voice and kept concentrating on his training, holding the snowstorm around him at bay.

By focusing his chakra around his body, Ejiki was able to force an area of wind that turned the snows and flurries away from reaching his body, creating a tiny area of calm around himself. At first he had only been able to extend this area a few inches around himself but now he was up to five or ten feet, depending on how hard he was able to focus his energy.

At the moment he was trying to focus on how he might use this energy rather than just on extending its range. He made small patterns in the wind, creating swirls and lines, drawing random letters and symbols and then trying to harden the winds into something more effective.

The unique trait of Fuuton chakra was its affinity for sharpness, he knew. If he could focus this dome of energy into a dome of swirling blades he would have a formidable weapon, but for the moment he was just making shapes and practicing his control over the energy. Every now and then one part would flicker, slightly cutting through the snow rather than merely directing it away, but only ever for a moment or in one place. This continued in fits and bursts for some time as he experimented, trying to find the best way to test himself.

It won't work.
Shut up.

[Ejiki]

Ejiki stood up from his hunched posture, narrowing his eyes behind his goggles. He ran a hand under his thick coat hood and through his dirty-grey hair. He scratched idly at an itch and then withdrew the hand. The back of his thick glove had a small nick in it, and he grimaced. Another few centimetres and that would've been his hand. Damn.

Go on, screw it up.
That was your job, thanks. And shut up.

Concentrating, Ejiki thrust his chakra into his hands and wove it with his fingers, lacing it round and around and spinning out a stream of energy, hurling it forward into the winds like a sailor throwing an anchor on its chain. The energy whisked into the wind and sliced through, a thick gash appearing in the snowy gale and then slicing through it in all directions, a spinning pattern of energy claiming control over the wind.

The winds span wildly, whipping in a tight spiral like a vicious grinder in mid-air, dragging snow into itself and chewing it up, barely visible particles flying out of the back as the snow was shredded.

Useless.
Don't be right. Hate that.

Ejiki grimaced. This wasn't what he was after. He drew the wind back and tried again, focusing his energy as best he could. This time it just tore straight through, ripping a thick tear through the ice sheet he was stood on, and making the whole ice flow shake violently. Still wrong, but useful.

[Ejiki]

Nothing Ejiki had tried so far had really gotten him what he was searching for. The snowstorm railed around him, louder and angrier every minute, and within that mess he sought calm. He walked onwards a few steps but progress was simpossinle, his boots biting too deep into the thick snow. Looking down, he concentrated chakra into his feet and legs, and sprang forwards suddenly. This did not go well for him. 

Clever. 
Shut. Up. 

Slumped on his back side, Ejiki wiped the thick snow from his face and hood, shook himself, and resolved that moving rapidly through such a heavy snowstorm was impossible without doing something about the storm first. He waved a hand through the air in front of him, feeling the strong resistance of the wind and the biting chill trying to eat through his thick gloves to reach him within. That resistance was the key though. How to dart quickly when every step felt like trying to charge through treacle, and when he was being constantly torn at and buffeted. 

Concentrating chakra into his hand, he focused on the wind element, controlling individual flurries to push themaway as he moved through, leaving momentary gaps of clean air for his hand to swish through without facing that resistance. 

Better. 
I don't need your approval. Didn't ask for it either. 
And yet you have it. If you can't be grateful at least be gracious. 

Ejiki spent a long time on his hands. As they were his key to funneling and weaving his chakra it was easiest to start with them but soon he hoped to cover his whole body. For now though, he pushed air around himself and made small swooshing movements with his hands, practicing. Build from the basics, was the rule.start somewhere and then keep going. 

[Ejiki]

Today the day?
No. Practice more.

Ejiki returned to the ice fields where he had been training. The snowstorm here were always thick and wild, cold biting and winds tearing at anyone who ventured near. Calming his nerve as he approached the storm covered area, he fed chakra out into the air around him, using it to turn the air, buffering it back and turning it aside. The wind were forced back and away from him, as he formed a dome of calm around himself.

Vital to be calm. If he couldn't think he couldn't fight, and he couldn't think straight while he was anything other than calm. His sombre face barely noticed the cold in the air now as his eyes blinked slowly behind his heavy goggles. He did everything slowly, deliberately, slowing his heart rate as he'd been raised to do since birth.

Marshall yourself and be prepared for anything.
I remember the lesson.

Slowly, carefully, he narrowed the area he controlled around himself, bringing it in one step at a time, until he could reach out and touch the snowstorm's fury. He stretched his hand out and placed his palm gently against the limit of his control, holding it firm with his palm. He needed to be able to do this at a moments notice. Control the battlefield, control the battle. If his foe were constantly moving between pockets of calm and storm they would be unable to adapt and would be hopelessly hampered. Aside from which, the greater his control here the better he would be able to venture beyond the Great Ice Flows. He might find things no one had ever seen before, or search treasures long since lost. But he had to start with control.

Breathing deeply, he brought in his control some more, and formed it around himself. This was hard, any imperfection set him buffered by the storm, and sweat broke on his brow despite the cold. It took many minutes but finally he had the calm exactly right around himself, barely enough to keep himself unharmed and do nothing more.

Got there eventually.
You never managed this task.

Now it would be time to push further with his practice.

[akemi]

Action Points: 107
Unquie Trait Warm Body in effect. 

---

From beneath the hood of a bear skin coat, a pair of heterochromia eye watched as the male once again found himself training with his chakra nature.  He was known to most people in the village as the boy who had a screw lose, Ejiki.  But, the way the girl saw it, everyone in this icey hell had more screws lose than he did.  This included her.  But, as her mother, Lian, taught her, those were the best kind of people.  Akemi did not really pay attention to him before, or anybody really, she only knew his name and the rumors that he often carried on conversations with himself.  So, when she came upon him repeatedly while wandering around her homeland, it became her own routine to see how he was progressing from a distance for a bit before moving on.

After observing him for a few days, Akemi noticed that he seemed to be training with his chakra nature, which seemed to be wind, Akemi couldn't noticed that he seemed to having some difficulty with it.  Sure, it was easy to push back snow, and throw wind at it.  But, how would he do with something a bit more unpredictable. Today, she figured she would attempt to put this to the test.  

Creating five snowballs on the ground before her, she carefully infused them with her chakra so that would keep their shape as she moved around as she placed them in her coat pocket.  Staying low to the ground, Akemi kept two of the snow balls in her hands, launching one towards the male among with the furies of snow that were already attacking him.  Slowly moving as she sustained her distance from the Ejiki, Akemi watch to see if he how he would react, wither he would get hit with the snowball, dodge, use his chakra, or even come towards her.  Nevertheless, Akemi readied herself as she threw another snowball towards his direction, grabbing in her pockets as she ready her ammunition.

---

Out Of Character
Hope you don't mind me joining in. 

[Ejiki]

Incoming!
Saw it.

Today Ejiki had been focusing on narrowing his control more quickly, but as he caught a strange movement in the snowstorm he suddenly leapt up from his crouching position to a standing pose, arm flying forwards in front of him as he hurled the wind's strength in the direction of the snowball. A fierce wall of power slammed full-force, crushing the storm's power and flattening the snowball. His would-be assistant would be hit by a sudden avalanche of snow propelled at speed by Ejiki's chakra, and just as quickly find herself exposed in the open, as he maintained a tunnel of calm between himself and the girl. The storm continued outside, kept eerily quiet by the wall of his chakra.

"Identify yourself," he demanded in a quiet but stern voice, tone suggesting that she would do as he commanded on pain of violence. His expression was neutral, but Ejiki did not like having his mental exercises interrupted. He knew that certain individuals in the village regarded him as a curious figure but this was the first time in a long time that one had dared to attack him.