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Post by Raikotsu Sudeki on Jan 10, 2013 1:09:19 GMT -8
Raikotsu had come to Crow territory hoping to find Delilah. He didn't really know where to look but maybe just being here would draw some kind of attention. If not he would look around for a bit and catch any random individual and ask if they have heard of Delilah Black and knew where she might be or how he might get in contact with her. Rai was tired of being a weak link and figured that to expand his knowledge he should go talk to someone outside of the Dragons and get another point of view. Finally he would just go and find a random little hole in the wall restaurant/bar and decided to grab a drink.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jan 10, 2013 1:36:35 GMT -8
The otherwise unimportant looking civilian Rai had spoken to would look at him with frank astonishment.
"Of COURSE I've heard of her, she's the First Crow! Gaw!"
And then he would stalk off, annoyed at having been spoken to as if he were a child.
But word would get around quickly that there was a strange looking young man looking for the Head Engineer. After obtaining some intel on where such a young man might be, Delilah decided to mosey on down to find him.
It didn't take long. With someone who stood out as much as he did, it was easy to find out where he had been and was going. In no time, Delilah was walking into the little bar here, nodding at Crows and normal people she knew by name and worked with closely.
She came over to his seat at the bar, and stood with her back leaning against the counter, facing away from him. "Wellll, if it isn't a Sudeki. Irashaimasu, <Welcome>."
Blue eyes scanned him up and down for a moment, as if trying to discern why he was there. Unable, she looked down at him with a raised eyebrow and a little smirk. "I hear you were looking for me?"
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Post by Raikotsu Sudeki on Jan 10, 2013 1:51:39 GMT -8
Rai stood up and bowed his head in respect to the woman before speaking.
"Yes I have, and I'm sorry if I am putting you through any hassle by taking away your time, but I had a favor to ask of you, if you are ok with it."
Rai shifted uncomfortable and hesitated before speaking again.
"After our last encounter you saw first hand how useless I was against Barker and his goons in trying to save Asiv... I want to become stronger, more helpful to be able to protect the people care about and save the innocents that are dying everyday in this godforsaken land. Both physically and mentally I am lacking what I need in order to become the man that I want to be someone that can compare to even my uncle... So, I came to you. You are wise and strong a very inspirational person and I was hoping to see if you knew of anyway I could improve myself to be as important as you, or my uncle..."
Rai shifted his gaze downward as he spoke. He wasn't overly prideful but it would cause anyone to be embarrassed about themselves the way he was speaking. He was one of the Sudeki known for there strength and he was downing himself completely. He wasn't use to asking so much from anyone person and was fully prepared for what ever she would say... or so he hoped...
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jan 10, 2013 2:32:14 GMT -8
Delilah's eyebrows bolted up as he spoke, surprise plain on her pale features. For a moment, she would be silent, turning his words over in her mind when a song lyric speared through her mind.
What makes a man--
--pray, when he's about to die?
I think I know.
I think I might know.
After a moment, she pushed herself up off the bar, motioning for him to follow. She wouldn't speak as she walked, almost meditatively silent as she took him West, towards the beach. As much as she hated water, she always did her best thinking on beaches. She wondered if that would go for him as well.
Once they hit the sand, Delilah would take off her boots, tie the laces together and sling them over her shoulder. She would walk them to a spot that was directly in the center of the line between the boardwalk and the waterline. Slowly, meticulously almost, she sat down with her legs folded underneath her. She would motion for Raikotsu to sit across from her.
After a moment, she spoke, "What you ask of me, Raikotsu, is how to become a 'budoka', one who follows the way of the warrior. This is not an easy path. Many are led astray by it's knowledge, and that knowledge is a very dangerous weapon to those who are not trained in it properly.
"Before we begin, I must ask you if you truly want this knowledge, even knowing that it might well be your undoing." She would stare at him intently, waiting.
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Post by Raikotsu Sudeki on Jan 10, 2013 3:00:20 GMT -8
Rai followed her staying as silent as she was. When they got to the beach he waited and watched what she was doing and then when motioned to do the same he did and sat in front of her. Listening to what she said he thought a decent amount of time listening to the waves enjoying soothingness of the beach. But once he made up his mind he look directly into Delilah's eyes with his miss matched eyes.
"I understand what you are saying and that it is dangerous.... But if I go on the path that I am going then I will do nothing more than be a thorn in the side of those I care about and get more innocent killed. It is to avoid that outcome that I accept the risk of this knowledge."
Rai said this with a firm voice no hesitation. He was ready to take the risk and if he died trying then at least he died knowing that it was to better him as a person.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jan 10, 2013 18:11:41 GMT -8
"Alright. Another question then."
She leaned her upper half forward slightly, not breaking her gaze from his. It was good that her warning did not daunt him. And he seemed humbled, which was also good. But she had to know more, to get a better judge of who he was as a person. She would not fall into the trap that so many bore witness to over the years and let someone tarry down the wrong path. She would not allow him to have this information, not if it would create a monster.
And for that, she had to test him.
"Would you give me your loyalty if I tell you these things?" she asked, her voice smooth with interest. "Would you abandon the Dragons and your master --to whom you have made oaths to-- and swear fealty instead to me?"
Again, she would wait patiently for his reply.
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Post by Raikotsu Sudeki on Jan 10, 2013 20:44:18 GMT -8
Rai thought for a moment the implications that this posed, it was either he left the people that he trusted and was loyal too, turned the back on the life he knew and the people that trusted him. Or he turned away Delilah and most likely one of the best paths that would ever present itself to him to grow stronger physically and mentally. Still looking back into her eyes he began to speak his decision.
"I can not do that. My life is with the Dragon's I made a promise to my master that my life is his until he saw otherwise. I keep to my word, I will not betray my friends and family just to gain strength. If you're lesson ends here then I apologize for wasting your time, but I am open minded for anything else you might have to offer in teaching."
Rai's decision was firm, if he turned his back on the ones he was closest too, then he was no better than the people that made this world a living hell.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jan 10, 2013 22:06:36 GMT -8
Her eyes crinkled at the corners as smiled when he finished speaking. Delilah shook her head. "Nonsense. I only ask to test your mettle.
"With the promise of power comes great temptation. The saying that power corrupts is very, very true. In the face of it, it changes people, makes them greedy. Selfish. Makes them think they can do anything, save any person, beat any foe, save the world...take over the world." She raised her eyebrows as her lips formed a thin grim line, thinking of Barker.
"In order to survive in such a world, even with the power you have the potential to wield, you must hold true to your beliefs. They will keep you grounded, keep your head from inflating.
"What are those things, Raikotsu?" She asked again, curious, still testing. "What beliefs drive you to do the things you do?'
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Post by Raikotsu Sudeki on Jan 10, 2013 22:55:32 GMT -8
Rai didn't need much thought on this one he held them close to his heart.
"I believe in my family and friends. Family is the strongest bond anyone will ever experience the are always there for you no matter what happens to you, and they will strive to seek your best interest. Friends are the backbone of who you are and who you will become, a man is defined by the company he keeps so if you hold your friends with like minds close to you then you will only build each other up to become better people. I also heard Marcus mention something once that I believe I can live by. 'Where I come from, your closest friends are your family.' he said this in reference to my Uncle, and it's something that I've come to agree with my friends are my family. So they are my belief. My wish is to protect them even at the cost of my life."
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jan 10, 2013 23:33:21 GMT -8
Delilah nodded slowly as he spoke, a hollow little feeling forming in her chest. How should she say it? How could she tell him?
You must. He will break otherwise.
She was silent for a time, listening to the crashing of the waves as she chose her words carefully. "You can't save them all, Rai," she said softly, hating the awful truth of it. "One of the hardest things about this path is knowing that, no matter how hard you try, all men must die. The ones you love most, value above all others, will make you weak, because when they die, it will be you who failed to protect them. And that it will bring you ruin.
"The very hardest part of that will be continuing to live in spite of that ruin. If you cannot protect yourself, you cannot protect others. If you can't protect family, who can you protect?
"They must all become your family. The ordinary people. The ones you haven't yet met. The ones that haven't been born. The ones who have met a tragic end. You must fight for them all. You cannot simply choose who to die for and why. Everyone is equal in death.
"And because they all must die and are doomed in the end, you must love them all. Can you hazard a guess as to why?"
No wrong answers here. Just a question.
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Post by Raikotsu Sudeki on Jan 10, 2013 23:51:32 GMT -8
Rai sat there, he turned his gaze back to the waves as she told him the inevitable truth. The thing was he knew that pain all to well...
"If I value a single individual more than I value a group of strangers, then I am liable to make a decision that will only end up in saving no one..."
Rai would pause for a minute before continuing to speak.
"I have already learned that lesson... as a matter of fact most every still living Sudeki does. When I was gone on my trials to enter adulthood of the Sudeki my family was attacked at one of our sacred locations and most of our family was slaughtered... I came home to a place that was more dark and with a lot less familiar faces than there should have been. I often wonder what would have happened if I were there, maybe I could have done something... Why did I live and they didn't... It is because of that loss that I want to become stronger... I know I can't save everyone but if I can be strong enough to save even one person and change their fate then that is more than enough."
Rai would return his gaze his eyes were still moist even despite his best attempts to hide them.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jan 11, 2013 0:09:16 GMT -8
"As long as you know."
She would incline her head solemnly to him in recognition of his loss. It left her with a heaviness in her chest that she recognized all to well, something she carried with her as she did the scars on her arms. She beheld the sight of her dead father. Her own murder attempted by her mother in a roundabout sort of way. The injustices she faced in prison, resulting in her first kill. Meeting her mother again and nearly killing her two. Remembering. Oh, the remembering.
Having Oliver. Rebuilding herself. Training, learning, becoming better. Then the bombs fell, and she could do nothing.
It was unfortunate, but they had much in common.
She got to her feet, beckoning for him to do the same. "Then attack me. Show me how you would fight someone stronger than yourself."
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Post by Raikotsu Sudeki on Jan 11, 2013 1:36:18 GMT -8
Rai stood up as instructed, and listened to what she said. Show her how I would attack someone stronger... usually I wait for them to attack and react... Guess I'll have to improvise.
"Ok then."
Rai reached down and unclasped Leon's training greave's. For one he would need the extra speed, and for two he didn't want to know what Leon would do to him if he got them broken. He looked at Delilah and nodded his ready.
Then he ran towards her his right fist raised for a strike to her stomach but at the last second he would pull his fist back and turn to put more momentum into his left side but instead of swing his left fist he went for a kick right behind he knee hoping to throw her off balance.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jan 11, 2013 21:17:32 GMT -8
Delilah's eyes relaxed as Raikotsu came at her, expanding her vision ten fold. Though his feint confused her a little. What it would wind up doing was taking himself incredibly off balance as the momentum rapidly changed direction and put all his weight back on one leg.
But she wasn't here to knock him around like he was her student or one of her Tengu. It was not for her to teach another how to fight; he was the Earth Dragon's apprentice and that was whom he was learning from. She was here to teach him about Budo and how it changed you at your core.
His attack gave her an opening and she went for it: Impeccably timed, just as he put all his weight back on the leg that he stood on while he kicked with the other. All she did was step slightly to the inside of the kick and...walk straight towards him.
Coming in on his center of balance like that was apt to simply make him fall back (given the weird momentum shift kicky thingy) as she walked forward as if Raikotsu didn't even exist.
How he recovered or whether or not this actually made him fall, Delilah would drop back to her knees and into the sand.
"That is your first lesson," she would say softly. "A lot of instructors might tell you that it is to 'go with the flow', 'ten thousand rivers collect in the sea', and whatever zen stuff I can't think of. But it is much simpler...and more complex than that.
When you encounter strong, become weak. When you encounter hard, become soft."
In the sand, she drew a circle with an 's' shape dividing the two halves, looking like this.
"What do you see when you look at this stymbol?"
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Post by Raikotsu Sudeki on Jan 11, 2013 22:01:52 GMT -8
Rai was surprised by her simple walking forward that he didn't even think to stop his kick landing him in the sand. As Delilah began to speak he stood up and looked at her drawing of the symbol in the dirt.
"The Chinese Yin and Yang, eternal balance."
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