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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jan 11, 2013 22:23:12 GMT -8
She nodded. "Yes, that's what it is. In Japanese, it is known as In and Yo. Harmony. Balance. Day and night. Man and woman.
"Each of the halves make up a part of the whole and each side has a set of traits associated with it. Yin, the dark side, is the feminine persona. It symbolizes deficiency, cold, intuition and the moon. Yang is the masculine, symbolizing excess, warmth, logic and the sun.
"Good cannot exist without bad and bad cannot exist without good. Yin creates Yang, and Yang activates Yin. They constantly change into each other, thus creating harmony. Your internal body processes operate on this principle, as does the universe, the laws of reproduction and combat."
Delilah erased the 'line' separating In and Yo, leaving the circle.
"What does it look like to you now?"
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Post by Raikotsu Sudeki on Jan 11, 2013 23:07:28 GMT -8
Rai looked at it and multiple ideas came into his head it could mean many different things but only one idea seemed to stick in his head.
"A perfect balance. No good, no evil. No extremes in any way shape or form."
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jan 12, 2013 0:41:15 GMT -8
Slowly nodding, Delilah agreed. It was incomplete, of course, but it certainly wasn't wrong. There was no 'wrong' answer.
"Yes. It is the absence of everything, called by Miyamoto Musashi --a sword-saint of Japan-- as Thing-no-thing. It is the void, also called 'ku' in Japanese.
"But the void also contains many things," she said as she gestured to the circle. "The cup is never half-empty, but always full, as air fills the remainder. All things reside in the void, just as all colour resides in the shade of 'black'," Her lips twisted at the irony behind her own last name. "Say the circle is you, a person. A combination of all things in the world to make one. Now expand that," she erased the circle with one fluid motion and picked up a grain of sand. She would hold it before them on the tip of one finger. "This is now you, according to the universe. A speck, a part of the whole. The universe makes you the one. You help make the universe.
"One is all. All is one. Even though you're not touching, even though you've never met these people, the universe still connects you.
"As a leader, you must realize that all people are created equal. Not all thoughts are equal, nor are all actions. The energy of the universe, the very stuff that created you (whether you believe in a God or not), is the energy you connect to when YOU create something. Art, literature, dance, music...all these come from the connection we have to the universe that allows us to create.
"This is the same in combat. The intuitiveness in which we fight, how we adapt to new situations to get out alive is this same creativity."
Now that she had explained the mysteries of the universe as she had decided that they were, she moved on to the next bit.
"Tell me, Rai, have you ever come within inches of death? Have you ever given up on life?"
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Post by Raikotsu Sudeki on Jan 12, 2013 1:53:48 GMT -8
Rai thought back on the times he had gotten into fights and how many times he came close to death. But only one time in particular came to mind.
"There was once... When I was in the amazon for my trails on the second day I came close to death..."
At that moment Rai had flash backs of a dark scene.
The continuous rain in the dark forest, noises near and far, most of them things that would like nothing better than to kill him. He had just left the poachers campsite with some provisions that he needed but having them sacrificed his movement. The dying screams of the men still echoed in his head as he trudged through the forest, he had never killed before but in that moment something had come over him and he killed every single one of those poachers now their blood was on his hands.
"I was leaving the campsite that I had liberated from a bunch of poachers the day before. I needed to start heading towards the rendezvous point. But on my way something happened..."
One noise in particular was getting louder, he didn't know what the sound was but he knew it was heading straight for him and it was getting louder, and louder. Whatever it was it was fast and most certainly hungry.
"Something was stalking me through the forest, something big, something hungry. I was lost in the forest and didn't know what was happening around me. I was truly scared."
As the noise got louder he realized it was coming off to his side, it was coming from somewhere in the water. Rai looked into the murky waters but couldn't see anything he turned away from the water hoping that maybe if he could get away from the source of the sound then the pursuit would end. But he had made a terrible mistake. As soon as he turned there was a large splashing sound and something large came out of the water and bit his leg trying to pull him in. When Rai reacted to the bite he saw it was an abnormally large crocodile that had him in its maw. He was panicked.
"A large crocodile and grabbed my leg and started to pull me into the water, I fought it but I seemed like it wasn't going to be enough."
Rai reached for his make-shift spear and stabbed at it, but the stick broke and it only seemed to bug the croc. Rai was panicked now, they had made it to the water where the croc would submerge with Rai still in it's mouth, it was going to drown him. Rai fought hard even with his leg in as much pain as it was in but the fact of the matter was, with the supplies and weapons he had collected back on the bank where they had fallen off, he was helpless. The air in his lungs was running out, he was downing.
"The croc dragged me under and I began to drown. I had no hope, nothing I had would work. I thought I was dead for sure."
With his lungs running out of air and the water pressure closing up on him, as well as the crocs trying to rip his leg off, Rai had succumbed to the fact that he was dead, this was his end. He stopped trying to fight he knew that nothing he could do now would save his life and he would die... as his eyes began to fade to black he felt another large splash. this time from somewhere above him. It jolted his eyes open and he saw something swimming down wards towards them. It wrapped its body around the crocs beginning to squeeze the life out of it. While the anaconda tightened its grip on the croc, the croc and let go of Rai to begin fighting the snake. Rai didn't wait to see who one. He swam up to the surface and off to the bank as fast as he could. He gather his things and ran as fast as he could away from the water, even with his injured leg...
"Right when I thought my life was over and I had prepared myself for death timely help from an unsuspecting ally came. An anaconda had dropped from the branches above and began to fight the croc. I thought for sure I was a gonner. But something show'd me that day that it wasn't yet my time..."
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jan 12, 2013 2:22:07 GMT -8
Delilah listened to Rai attentively, a little impressed with the story. A trek in the Amazon...well. Leave it to a Sudeki.
She definitely had the information she wanted, but now she had a new question that needed answering.
"Backing up a bit...back with the poachers. You 'liberated' supplies from them? I can't imagine they were too keen on that."
She would wait a beat before speaking again, softly.
"Was that your first kill?"
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Post by Raikotsu Sudeki on Jan 12, 2013 2:36:34 GMT -8
Rai turned his head and shifted his gaze. He wasn't proud of himself for that.
"Yes... I don't like to condone violence but when I saw them and saw what they were doing I got so mad and... Now I look back and wonder if there was some way I could have gone about it differently..."
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jan 13, 2013 0:16:23 GMT -8
"That's neither here nor there now," she said gently. "How many of them were there? What set you off? What did that feel like? Have you felt it since?"
So many questions, but oh so necessary.
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Post by Raikotsu Sudeki on Jan 13, 2013 1:35:52 GMT -8
Rai thought about it, he didn't count how many there had been...
"A camp of them anywhere from 10 to 20. What set me off was the gruesome dead carcasses that were rotting outside the camp, there was no reason for them to die. I was extremely angry, and I hunted them down like they had the animals in there camp, the lucky ones where the first few I had killed that were on the perimeter of the camp, the died quickly and quietly, I felt powerful, as if nothing they did would stop their punishment... and no, I haven't immediately after the situation I saw what I did I regretted it, and I stray away from that feeling as much as I can..."
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jan 13, 2013 23:52:15 GMT -8
Delilah considered for a moment his words, comparing them to the ones that occasionally cropped up in her own mind. When she was in the dark. Alone.
Yes. Yes, she thought he could know. She was in no place to tell him what to feel. Maybe he could gather something from her experience?
"A few years back, I was in prison," she started with an almost casual tone, as though it didn't matter. "I was doing some gang stuff back in San Francisco, got busted for something that was relatively innocent...but I couldn't explain it without outing the rest of my gang and exposing them to the justice system, so I took one for the team.
"I wasn't there long, though. A few weeks after my incarceration, after I beat up a rather...forward cell-mate, I was attacked in my sleep and knocked unconscious. When I woke, I was beaten, and...violated by these three women I shared a cell with. I snapped. I killed one with severe head trauma, broke the sternum of the second and I ripped out the third's vocal chords. The latter two lived. But the first woman...that was my first kill.
"They transferred me to a mental institution immediately after. I didn't remember any of the attack, and they wanted to keep an eye on me. Everything was starting to go well until I saw my mother in the same group therapy that I was in. A woman who was supposed to be dead, who admitted to killing my father and trying to kill me to settle a debt. I nearly killed her, too. Then I remembered everything.
"It took a long time for me to get over it, to come to terms with the knowledge that I had a dark, horrible part of me that was okay with taking the life of another human. Close your eyes, Rai."
Once he had done so, she would begin speaking in a calm, soothing voice. "Do you see them? Do you see the men and women you have killed in the eye of your mind?"
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Post by Raikotsu Sudeki on Jan 14, 2013 0:29:26 GMT -8
Rai had closed his eyes as Delilah had asked, that was some back story... He had no idea that someone he saw as being a calm and collected person had ever done something like he had. That gave him hope. But then she asked if he could see there faces and hesitated. He had seen them, more often than he had liked.
"Yes... every time I sleep I see them in a dream all of them asking me why them, why was it me that took their lives, what makes me any better than them..."
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jan 14, 2013 23:41:05 GMT -8
"The reason you feel this way is because that act took away what was left of your innocence. A part of you that you absolutely cannot get back. Your heart is trying to make up for it by repairing that broken piece of yourself with those men. If you aren't careful, these people will become a poison for your soul and they'll eat every last shred of you until there's nothing left but a husk.
"You might think you owe them that, owe them your life since you took theirs. You don't. You dishonor their memory by looking into the past.
"If you want to honour the dead, live for them. Live the lives they should have led and let them go."
She reached over and lightly laid a hand on the top of Rai's head.
"In ancient Japan, samurai and other warriors were not all about combat. No. They were also master calligraphers, poets, musicians, painters. Some perfected the art of making tea. Others became scholars. They did this by observing in the world what they thought was beautiful. By balancing the ugly act of killing with an act of beauty, you create balance in your soul and repair the damage of killing with the wonder of creation.
"This concept is known as the 'life-giving sword' and the 'life-taking sword'."
Delilah would pull her hand back, waiting to see if he had any questions before she continued.
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Post by Raikotsu Sudeki on Jan 15, 2013 0:50:00 GMT -8
Rai nodded his head, he had heard of these samurai but he never knew of the meaning behind it. This was something that would take a lot thought, how he would achieve this he didn't know but he would try his best. Feeling that the only questions he had he would have to answer to himself later he just relaxed his mind and nodded his head to let her know his thoughts were clear.
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jan 15, 2013 22:04:43 GMT -8
With no questions from Raikotsu, Delilah would continue.
"When fighting, it's important to see the beauty in what you do. You are about to take a life, and life is the most beautiful thing in the world. Occasionally, you must kill to sustain your own life...because what would happen to the people you know if you died?
"I know for me...my son would be left without a mother and his father without a partner. The Crows would be shy an experienced fighter, which they cannot afford to lose. I am relied upon because I give freely of myself. I value my life and the ones I protect so much that I give them every last ounce of what I can. Because I hold the lives of those I've killed as well. It's my responsibility to honour the end to a life, whether or not they were worthy of death. Because they were relied upon too.
"This is where the void comes in. Remember earlier where I got you to attack me and I walked right through you? What did you think about that?"
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Post by Raikotsu Sudeki on Jan 15, 2013 23:53:53 GMT -8
Rai thought back to the moment of his attack, he tried to do something that he hoped she wouldn't notice till the last second but still she just made the simplest of movements to completely disregard his entire attack.
"It was sudden... more so than my attack, but it was simple almost graceful. I was caught off guard, and had it been a real fight it would have meant that I made a huge mistake on my part and would have paid for it severely. I would normally say it was due to your experience in fighting though it seemed to be more than that. But what exactly I am unsure of."
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Jan 17, 2013 1:27:37 GMT -8
Delilah laughed quietly, her shoulders bobbing silently with her mirth. It wasn't quite praise, but she certainly took it as a compliment and it was flattering to say the least.
"That's because I was operating out of the principle of the 'Void'. All good techniques are based on that, if you can even call them 'techniques'. In reality, all that winds up translating into is simple body movements. Go where there is the least resistance and create balance between yourself and the opponent --again, when confronted with strength, deal with it with weak-- you neutralize the effect of the attack. Which is exactly what I did. This also means fighting dirty, if you must.
"It's also the main principle of dodging and stealth. It's simply not being there. Here, let me show you,"
Delilah got to her feet, putting her hands behind her back as she faced Rai. "Try to hit me."
The operative word here being try.
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