Re: Flow Like Water [Yuri]

Sat Dec 25, 2021 6:42 pm

"Give up being a sword..."

It was, admittedly a really big thing to ask of her. Letting out a soft breathe as she sinks deeper into the water. That sense of self was both a form of comfort and a source of stress for Yuri, as well as nostalgia, culture, and so many other things. In a way letting it go as she was now would be letting go of herself. She could say she wanted to but did she really? She could try, but would she mean it. Saying you'd change is easy, but doing it was harder, and harder than even that middle step was answering the principle question that would come up if she decided to just go along with it.

Change into what?

Her nose sinks below the water as she lets out an exhale, the little bubbling noises accompanying her exhale giving her something to focus on. A work of art, a legacy, something to pass down, a sword. She couldn't stay the same, nothing did, but she couldn't just change flippantly either. Honestly she was kind of stubborn, she was even being stubborn right now. She was relaxed, and wasn't exactly energetic but like metal when there was pressure she could easily become rigid, and it took a lot of time, heat, and pressure before she could shift comfortably. That was why, surprisingly, she could rise just a little bit out of the water, look at Kikuko with a gaze like iron and a smile like a friend, and say.

"No."

The solid look relaxes, as she does, before Yuri explains.

"It's really not that easy, and I still kind of like it, I'm still attached to it ya know. I need to change, everyone always does, but I don't think getting rid of it entirely would help me. I guess it feels like I'd be better suited figuring out who I want to be in a way that isn't just letting go of a big part of myself. Change shouldn't be rushed or forced and ultimately? I think I can find a good direction. Though thanks, it's always nice to have someone looking out for you. Oh, moving on to lighter topics. Can you teach me something Kikuko? I've been kind of waffling on other things I want to learn. I've been looking at the idea of summoning contracts and I think I wanna study space time. Do you know anyone familiar with those kinds of subjects? All the indecision has been kind of hurting my studies and it's starting to get to be a slog."

The feeling Yuri gave off shifted pretty quickly, going from resolute to casual. Naturally moving the conversation off of such a heavy topic. There was slight crackle as Yuri widens her smile and stretches, that pleasant popping feeling one gets from the experience helping her relax. She had to remind herself to unclench her jaw too. It was a weird thing about fighting, clenching one's jaw became the norm because it helped keep you tense so you can apply your full force, but it was keeping her tense, which defeated the purpose of relaxing now didn't it?

WC: 4175

Mon Jan 03, 2022 11:47 pm

The aches in her body were slowly fading, melting into the water like snow under sunlight. It felt good, to have those pains drift into nothing until nothing was left but languid relaxation. To draw in breath, to let it go, and have little care for what happens after. Now was a moment for introspection. Now was a moment for healing. For speaking. For silence.

The answer she received didn’t shock her. What she had asked, suggested, was an audacious request- one which, if responded to with anger, she wouldn’t have blamed the Genin. And yet, she was met by thoughtful repose and response. That meant something. Hopefully, that something was good.

Eventually, she would answer. “Well then, Yuri. Sword or not, ninja or samurai, it’s good to see that you know your path. Don’t let me be the one to sway you from it. I do admire that sort of stubborn quality.”

And yet, quick a flash, Yuri’s request would momentarily stun her. She was looking to study the space time arts? Truth be told, she hadn’t pegged her for the type. Then again, what was ‘the type’? Here she was, a fisherman’s daughter- and yet she could bend reality itself, when she felt like it. To discriminate in such a manner was foolish.

In lieu of a response, Kikuko would merely hold an open palm out to Yuri, before closing it into a fist. What she was about to do was a parlor trick, but hopefully it would get the point across. Squeezing it tight, she would pulse her chakra ever so slightly- connecting that point to those summons who she trusted so dearly.

Upon opening her fist, a singular butterfly would be found sitting within her palm. Sitting still for a few seconds, it would flutter in her hand before flying off into the distance. It would dispel when it was good and ready, she decided. With that brief demonstration out of the way, she would return her gaze to Yuri.

“What would you like to ask?”

Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:44 pm

Yuri watches the butterfly take off. It was very aesthetic, it wasn't meant to be shallow but in a sense aesthetics were important. A reflection of the spiritual, and aesthetics, meaningful ones, came down to more than just shallow appearance. Aesthetic was conduct, appearance, and the reflection of one's nature. Aesthetic could cast the beautiful as ugly and the hideous as noble simply by correct and upright conduct. So in a way saying the butterflies had a wonderful aesthetic was just as much a compliment to their character as it was to their appearance. This butterfly at least embodying that kind of elegance she held close to her heart as samurai, refined simplicity.

"I want to relearn the fundamentals of it, really. It may seem a bit odd for a samurai to learn something like this but being a samurai is more of a spiritual quality than a physical one, I think. Practicality is an important trait to have and I'm just being practical, I think."

She was, Space Time seemed to have good potential for mobility, and since she was such the type to keep mobile and move around a lot, not just in battle but also in general, it may ease her load a little bit. It had taken Yuri some time to properly start building in her head what she wanted her aesthetic to be, but overtime it was becoming stronger in her head. She'd partially gotten herself distracted by that Koutashi silly business, and let herself be led astray, but slowly she was starting to find her path once again.

"Besides I'm a martial artist and a warrior, but flexibility is an important part of martial arts and it's not like I'm learning that for the sake of fighting better. It's more about just the utility of it ya know? So I guess all I'm really asking for is if you could give me some basics and teach me how to use things like this. The nature of it, so and so. I studied it once upon a time but I dropped it for misguided reasons."

WC: 4525

Thu Jan 06, 2022 11:10 pm

Mulling over exactly it was that she could impart upon Yuri, Kikuko would momentarily sink deeper into the water. The gentle scalding of its temperature, scalding its chin, made her giggle quietly- sending a few bubbles to the surface. Simple pleasures like these were few and far between, a joy to have in all respects.

“The fundamentals, you say? Well, that’s a tricky question. You see, there are many schools of thought on what the ‘origin’ of Space-Time manipulating ninjutsu is. I, for example, am mostly self taught, and therefore don’t prescribe to the usually agreed upon basics.”

Closing her eyes, she would lazily weave through hand seals while quietly humming to herself. Gently pressing her hand to the bottom of the hot spring, she would lean back against the wall as a small geyser would erupt, gently spraying spring water back into the waters below.

“In my opinion, Space-time is about two fundamental understandings. How to bring things together, and how to bring things apart. Just, now, I connected water from one of the other springs to here. See how it flows? By forming a ‘bridge’, you make it want to travel over. The opposite can be achieved as well- adjusting space itself so that reaching a destination becomes treacherous. As for summons…”

For a brief moment, the water roils with something inky and unfathomable, before vanishing just as quickly.

“They’re a complicated lot.” She admits awkwardly. “...Be careful with these techniques. Promise me. If you go too far, too reckless, you’ll…start seeing things. Things that people weren’t meant to see, I figure.”

[3912]

Fri Jan 07, 2022 5:32 pm

"Ah I get it. Together and apart, union and division. Both across space and time."

It was starting to come back to her, so ultimately it was an esoteric form of controlling the fundamental concept of motion. which was ultimately just things moving across space over the course of time. The change of states as time passes, an inevitability of being alive. All one had to do was grasp on to that to get to one of the most fundamental parts of space time. Once she remembered that regaining a grasp of the fundamentals became alot easier.

"It'd be nice if we could continue all this at the training center, especially since I was considering trying to find a summon contract as well, but we can do that later. I was also curious about learning a new element if that's fine. I'll stop asking about stuff like this after but do you know anyone who's learned how to properly harness lightning? I already know water and I've been studying wind, all of that. It'd help."

WC: 4700

Sun Jan 16, 2022 6:04 pm

Despite herself, Kikuko would let out a chuckle at the suggestion. How had the conversation turned the way it had? Ironically, despite the fact that they had in fact moved away from the training center, somehow she was teaching and training the young Genin far more than she could have otherwise within its confines. Clearly, fate had a strange way of working its strings- yet still there was always a moment with which she could harness. What was it that she could convey right now? Pause. Think. Breathe.

“There’s a trend here in Island Country, you know.” Kikuko would begin. “Among most shinobi, there is a relatively understood limit to the amount of base elements a given person can learn- namely, three. While there are genetic dispositions per each land to a given element based off of data, there are also cultural connections to certain elements. Things that people strive to learn, to master, to understand.”

The gentle rumbling of chakra within her. Roiling, expanding, crackling ever so quietly. For both of their safety, she would raise her hands out of the water. Feeling the chakra slowly condense, like a living heartbeat. “Here, while the primary ‘genetic element’ is Water, there are cultural connections to Wind and Lightning. I myself happen to be a user of all three, but I don’t dare call myself a master. That takes years of practice and understanding.”

Slowly, she taps her fingers together. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Faster, faster, faster. Like a drum, raising in intensity until eventually the smallest of currents forms between them- crackling, whispering as potential given fleeting form. Energy, power, barely bridled and ever bristling.

“If you attempt to harness lightning- it will kill you. Do not.” She states immediately. “While there are the greatest of ninjutsu masters who claims that they have in fact managed that, the truth is far more complicated. Lightning will always follow the path of least resistance. It wants to- that is its nature. From point to point it travels, racing until it crashes upon its destination.”

Flicking her fingers, she would dismiss the weak current dancing about her hands. “To give purpose and power to a naturally volatile force of nature while fulfilling its ‘desire’. That is the way of Lightning, as I have been given to understand it. Did that help?”

[4301]