Monkey See

[Demi Smith]

Demi rolled her body forward, pulling on her natural flow to gather up some of the scattered dirt particles. They yanked from the earth below her, flying up, called forth by her powers and her movements. The particles were slightly bigger than the normal flecks of dust that Demi usually controlled. She felt like pushing herself though, and this did seem like a great time and place to do so. Her posture radiated that confidence as she kept going, rolling from one form into the other, her motions almost too fluid. Just as she extended a hand, palm up and outstretched to start collecting dust motes, Demi felt something. Her brow furrowed as she felt the slight shifting, almost like the wind had altered. That was... weird, as Demi had been paying at least some attention to to that since she'd gotten started.

Curious, she looked to the side, and all the dirt and dust dropped as she gaped. Was that... Flow? Was someone else using... it really, really looked like it, and the wind had just sort of came Demi's way. The dirt thumper tilted her head to the side, watching. No, not quite, this was different than what she'd been taught... though not by a whole lot.

Still, Demi supposed she should at least try to get the girl to notice, and if she really was that good, well, what better way to get someone to notice you than flinging a pile of dirt at their face? Demi certainly thought it was a classic, and she had remarkably good aim, as the flying pile heading straight for that pretty face would attest.

[Xiao Mei Ying]

Xiao realized she was being watched by a girl. She didn't know who she was, all she knew was she didn't so much like being watched by people she didn't know. The girl was...well Xiao would call it playing with dirt, however that was beside the point. Xiao had been unaware that she had been pressing the wind in the direction of the other girl, seeing as when Xiao trained, she simply just did, much without thought process. This was due mostly to it becoming habit to just let her body flow with the needed movements.

The girl was gaping at her, and Xiao was more than temped to start speaking at her, along the lines of pictures last longer. However, it was only at that moment that she noticed there was a flying pile of dirt flying directly towards her face. Screwing up her face in concentration she moved her right hand up, bringing forth with it a large wave of air. However, she had only managed to stop some of the dirt, and rather generous amount still managed to hit her square in the face. This was followed almost instantly by a string of sentences in her mother tongue. Xiao turned to look the other girl directly in the face, her face still screwed up in concentration, but now as well as annoyance.

[Demi Smith]

Huh, that was weird. Demi jogged up tot he girl, who now had some dirt and mud on her face. The smaller girl raised a hand and made a wiping motion, swiping away any and all dirt that the older girl wasn't actively trying to keep on her face or had under hand or something. Their eyes met as Demi did so, and she smirked.

"You totally should've been able to block that," she said, sounding almost cocky as she took a few more steps forward, letting her feet fall lightly, feeling the earth springing up underneath her. She gathered up some more dirt and dust as she walked, the slow crawl of it nearly looking like ants crawling up her body. "So, like, you're an aerokinetic, right?" Demi smirked: a good one, she wanted to add, but not as good as me.

[Xiao Mei Ying]

Xiao made a face that was somewhere between curiosity and downright disgust, though the disgust stemming more from the dirt that was now patched across her facial features. Nothing broke her concentration more than people staring. Plus, where she came from, staring was rather rude. Placing one hand on her hip and using the other hand to make a small tornado of air next to her.

"Perhaps, next time, you will do well not to break my concentration." Xiao said, smirking all the same back at the girl. Her accent could slightly be heard as she said the word 'concentration'.

Point her hand downward she pushed the air against the earth, kicking up the dust and causing it to disperse outward around the two of them. "Yes I am." Xiao said, watching the girl closely as she spoke. "Why does it matter to you what I am or am not?" she spoke with conviction, using her free hand to again play with the air around them. Xiao had not yet decided what she though to the girl before, though the feeling she got from her wasn't bad at least, so there was that.

[Demi Smith]

Some sort of accent there, not that Demi really cared. Sometimes people seemed to think she had one too: she just thought other people sounded strange period. More interesting to her was the gathering winds around the girl. Break her concentration? Demi snorted.

"You so could've kept your concentration if you, like, tried harder," she said. Demi's eyes followed the other girl's movements, looking not with outright wonder or admiration, but with a calculating look, one that recognized the motions and watched. Demi saw Flow there, actual Flow, and in someone that didn't outright act like one of her people.

"Uh, because it looked like what you do is kinda like what I do," she said. Demi extended a hand, grabbing the loose dust that had been blown about and pulling it closer to her. She didn't want to add that most aerokinetics could wipe the floor with her in a fight either. "Your Flow's a little off though," Demi rolled, controlling the dust to match her movement, letting it move around her in a steady stream, even against the wind. It took focus to fight against it, but focusing on her power just happened to be one of Demi's specialties. "It's kinda like you got half-trained or something," she watched the other girl, curious, but also searching, looking for openings, wanting to see if the girl had the right reflexes too.

[Xiao Mei Ying]

Xiao screwed up her face at the other, making a face that was half between disgust and curiosity. She had never been told that her flow was off. Of all the training she'd done, she spent her life working to this point. In her home country she was considered a master of her arts. She slightly narrowed her eyes, before addressing the girl again. The winds were still gathering around her hand. 

"I can concentrate hard enough thank you." she smirked slightly at the girl. "I'm not used to others being around my training area. Back home I would train in our family courtyard." Xiao explained simply, tilting her head slightly to the side. She wasn't sure what she thought of this girl yet. Xiao would need more time to think about it before she could say for sure. All she knew was there as an interesting air about her. That was all she knew at this point. However, she planned to find out the girl's true intentions, as well as nature. 

"I'm not half trained. I'm trained in Tai Chi. I've been training every day since I was a young child." she said, narrowing her eyes slightly at the girl. She knew the dust was flowing against the wind that she was creating. Xiao wasn't sure if she was showing off, or messing with her head, either way, she wasn't sure how she felt about the matter. All she knew was that this girl was here in front of her, using her power to go against hers, though only in a subtle way. "I'm also trained in Kung-Fu. Where I come from, I'm almost considered a master of our arts."

[Demi Smith]

Demi met the smirk for smirk. That was the attitude that so many at this dippy school kept missing. She also understood the whole training thing, though Demi had always trained around people. Those had been pretty much the same people she'd grown up with though, which was a lot different than this.

The argument about being half-trained had Demi raising her brows. they dropped as the girl mentioned Tai Chi. "Tai... Chi?" Demi repeated, scrunching her face up. Why did that sound familiar...? Really familiar... She motioned again, carefully keeping her attention on the other girl.

"Uh, I trained in the Flow, like a real mutant," Demi argued. She kept her attention on Xiao, noting that, well, they were moving really similarly... like, Xiao's motions were just ever so slightly off. "And if you're some kinda master, how come you let yourself get hit in the face by my dirt?" she asked, quirking a brow and smirking confidently, all while gathering a little more dirt. Now she definitely wanted to spar with this one... actually, part of her really wanted to just outright practice with her. the motions just looked so much like what Demi had learned her entire life that it nearly made her heartsick.

[Xiao Mei Ying]

The girl returned her smirk with one of her own, causing Xaio to smirk only slightly more. This place was different. She hadn't been here long, and in turn was not that used to it. In her home country, she would have had her own place to practice in solitude, then on weekends, or in her free time she could go and practice in a group if she wished it. However most of the time she simply chose not to do that. She wasn't used to having people in her training area. She trained under one person as their trainee for many years before going off to the local mutant school in her home country. 

"Tai Chi." Xiao repeated, still watching the girl rather closely. "It's a Chinese form of martial arts." she explained lightly. She didn't like having her status questioned as she was good at what she did, however she, just like everyone else was prone to not only mistakes, but also losing concentration. She assumed it was the most human part of her, the mistakes she sometimes made. Though she was still slightly annoyed about all of the questioning the other was doing of her. "I can loose concentration like other people. I have to train for hours a day." Xiao raised her eyebrow slightly at the girl. "I'm almost a master." she corrected the other girl, smirking again at her. "It's okay, I cannot be a master for at least five more years at least anyway. I need to work more before I can be considered a master."

[Demi Smith]

Tai chi. Demi kept her attention on the other girl, still letting her powers flow around her. Yes, that definitely sounded familiar and, well, there was something in the way the other girl spoke about it that certainly sounded very familiar as well. It... it almost sounded like the same sort of thing they said about Flow. You never truly master it; you only achieve greater awareness and understanding as you progress. There was just something in the way the girl stood too, and insisted that she could handle things.

"Well, you learned this Tai Chi stuff, and I learned something that's actually useful for mutants," Demi proclaimed. She rolled her body slightly, using the motion to guide her dirt. "This is called Flow, or, well, the Flow, and it's a special art that my people have been passing down for, like, ever," she looked up at Xiao. Then Demi rolled again, moving her body through forms that looked eerily similar to some that Xiao had just been doing. In fact, they were quite obviously Tai Chi forms, only slightly altered, altered so that Demi could control the flow of her power with them.

She paused, looking up at Xiao, her gaze searching and challenging at the same time.

[Xiao Mei Ying]

Xiao scrunched her face up, staring at the other girl. She felt her mother back home would have a field day with this girl. She was sure her brother would as well. A suggestion of her Tai Chi not being useful only made her scrunch up her face more. Xiao knew her culture well, and she tried to honor every thread of it. Every fiber of her being, as well as her life has been dedicated to her powers, as well as Tai Chi. Xiao was watching the girl, narrowing her eyes only slightly. Her Flow seemed much like it was stolen from her people, then changed. However, if that were the case, now was not the time to dwell on things that were already done. Though she was slightly irked by it.

"Your Flow looks almost the same as the moves I do." she smirked again at the girl. "Are you sure your people didn't take it from someone else?" she asked, only ever so slightly caring about the answer. Though she could tell the girl was looking for a challenge. Xiao was now in a mood. It was a mood she would put herself in when would spar in competitions back home when she was young. Xiao leaned back slightly, putting her legs an equal distance from each other. She then put her left arm up, palm facing forward, followed by her right arm out to the side, hand curved in, pointing towards herself.

[Demi Smith]

Demi shrugged. "I dunno: maybe we made it better," like she was going to know where the creators of Flow had gotten the moves. It wasn't as if they wrote it down somewhere... or if they did, it wasn't like Demi had really paid all that much attention to the literature. She did seem to remember something about Tai Chi and some other martial art being combined to create a sort of special mutant art or something.

Oh well, didn't matter: the girl was already moving into position. Demi grinned, and then moved into a stance of her own, her feet shifting. This one wouldn't look nearly as familiar to Xiao, as it happened to be adapted from the other component of Flow: Krav Maga.

"It's gonna be awesome when I kick your butt," Demi said, grinning. She watched the other girl's movements closely, though she knew that if it came down to a matter of waiting and patience, it was not gonna be Xiao who moved first. Demi also wasn't certain that this was a fight she'd win: the girl had to be at least a little older than her, and air manipulators could really mess with Demi.

Didn't mean the fight wouldn't be fun though, and that was what Demi was really looking for.

[Xiao Mei Ying]

Xiao scrunched up her nose at Demi, turning her right hand around slowly, in small circles. She wasn't sure which she wanted to comment on first. Demi saying she was going to lose, or that Tai Chi was made better by her people. Xiao knew as well as anyone in her family, in her country, that Tai Chi cannot be made better. It is a sacred art. With new determination, Xiao vowed to win. She needed to show this girl the power of her art, as well as well as her mind. Xiao moved her hand faster, though only slightly. So slightly in fact, that really the only one who would notice the difference would have Xiao herself.

"Tai Chi was not meant to be made better. It is the sacred art of my people." Xiao said, perhaps a little more firmly than she had meant to. Though she felt strongly about the possible stealing of a sacred form of martial arts, practiced for hundreds of years in China. "And you'll find I will be the one winning. Tai Chi is more powerful than you realize." Xiao stepped forward, pushing her arms out and together, one hand resting palm forward, the other resting on the back of her hand. This pushed a wall of wind at Demi, not enough to knock her over, but enough for the other girl to see that she meant business about the spare they were about to engage in.

"I'm ready when you are." Xiao smirked at Demi.

[Demi Smith]

"Sacred art, huh?" Demi smirked at that. They said something really similar about Flow, talking about how it was all about focusing yourself and channeling your inner energies and your mutant abilities and natural gifts and other stuff that Demi only sorta paid attention to. She focused a lot more on the butt-kicking part, though she certainly knew enough about the other stuff.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll see," she said. She felt the wind though, and was again reminded that wind manipulators had that reoccurring tendency of making her look like an idiot. Well, Demi had already gotten the first strike in with that, so she wasn't too worried. She grinned as she saw the smirk, grinned and nodded. Then Demi twisted, moving through a few stances, firing off little sprays of dust with each movement, matching her power almost perfectly into the moves. She could already feel herself sliding into Flow and, though she would never admit it, she was really hoping that the girl's "Tai Chi" would be close enough that they could really Flow around and against each other.

That would be so awesome. And totally worth it, even if she did somehow beat Demi.

[Xiao Mei Ying]

Xiao was still not sure what was going to become of this fight. If this girls Flow was really an adaptation of her Tai Chi, this could be a more difficult battle than she had realized. However, she still believed in the same outcome, her ultimate victory over the other. Bringing her hands back against her chest, Xiao shifted her feet, moving backwards, smoothly, almost as if gliding across the earth. She then pushed her hands out, spreading them apart again, pushing a gust of wind towards the girl again. It had occurred to Xiao suddenly that they had not introduced themselves yet, which had Xiao been back home, would have been almost unheard of.

With a slow twist of her hand, she turned the wind into a vortex, pulling it and pushing it between her two hands, a smirk playing the corners of her lips. She was suddenly finding that she was more amused by this battle than she thought she would be. Xiao's eyes carefully followed the girls movements, tracking them in an attempt to try to predicted somewhat what the next move would be. Air had the power to move earth when the opportunity was right, she was sure the girl knew this as well. However, dust could cloud the eyes, making it difficult to see anything at all. Both played against each other, and this would be one hell of a fight.

[Demi Smith]

It took all Demi had not to crow with delight as she watched the other girl move. It wasn't just the movements, but what happened, that shifting air. She looked just like someone from back home, someone who had aerokinesis or something. The form was a little off, not quite as perfected toward the task, but it definitely looked familiar enough for Demi.

Not that the little earth wielder held still to watch. She kept moving even while her attention was focused on Xiao. The Flow required near constant movement, each gesture moving into the next. All the while Demi gathered dirt and debris from around. She purposefully dragged her feet a time or two, kicking up little clouds that could be sucked into the streaming rivers of stuff floating around Demi.

But Demi could see that vortex. She knew she'd have to do something soon if she wanted to actually land a hit. So she jerked forward, thrusting a hand out, palm up, sending a spray of dirt at Xiao. Demi didn't wait to really look or see, already moving a leg to kick another spray of the stuff right toward the girl's legs. Hey, if she was good, she should totally see it coming.