Match of the Millennium

Description: Chevy's hit a few roadbumps in her fights as of late; Rei Hazuki decides to check up and see how she's handling them. And maybe give her a pop quiz on what she's learned.

[FREI]
Text messages really are handy, aren't they? Though there's probably a couple people on Team Thunder who may be a little annoyed that they gave out the competitor's phone numbers to Rei Hazuki in his capacity as sponsor. This certainly explains why, a day or so after her fight with Hawksley, Chevelle Beaumont got the following:

See you here @ 1pm tomorrow if you're free
[ Google map pin of a location in Metro Park ]
- RH

And that's it. No other explanation. Just a day, a time, and a place. Whether or not Chevy shows up, well... that's for her to decide.

Whatever that choice ends up being, however, the day and time have arrived. It's fall in the northeast United States, to the sky is a sheet of marbled silver overhead, the air cool enough to be comfortable but not yet having the aggressive bite of northern winters. Metro Park's treeline is a mix of rich emerald green and the slowly burgeoning colors of autumn: leaves beginning to turn gold and scarlet, sometimes leaving the same tree a mosaic of spring green and autumn russet, At this hour of the day, Metro Park has more tourists than locals, but the weather is pleasant enough that there's everything walking by from curious visitors to surrounding officeworkers getting in a short jog on their lunch break.

Rei Hazuki himself -- the 'RH' of the text -- is sitting on the south side of the Metro Park reservoir, the largest body of water among those dotting Metro Park in its upper third. Nearby, visitors gather around a short stone building covered in plaques with historical information; Rei himself is seated on an otherwise empty and spacious park bench, with two brown paper lunch bags sitting next to him. He seems, if anything, perfectly placid, though people are starting to give him looks; apparently he's been meditating by just... looking out over the water for a while now, well before the 1pm time he quoted Chevy.

If and when she shows up, the waterbending Thunderite is greeted with a faint smile, before the red-haired xian hands her one of the bags and a bottle of (surprisingly still cold) bottled water. "Thanks for coming, Miss Beaumont," he adds. "Here. Take."

Should she open the bag after sitting down, there's only two things inside: a spork, and a shallow plastic dish with three round, maroon-ish objects in an equally shallow clear syrup: gulab jamun, an Indian sweet.

[CHEVY]
Texts -are- handy, if she knows who writes them. In this specific case, the text would have launched a few -more- texts, specifically to and from Ichika, inquiring who this random 'RH' person is.

It's so handy that there's almost no mysteries in this world any more. Kids these days just know how to find the answers to things that would have remained mysteries for days or weeks on end.

She'd then sought to send a reply text to him right away, because she likes to have things sorted as quickly as she can. She... didn't get -many- answers, but her question of 'Should I bring my pole and buckets?' was answered with something to the extent of, 'Only if you want to.'

And that means she was bringing her pole and buckets. Empty, of course, because who wants to lug two full buckets through half of Metro City?

It wouldn't be long before the redhead's pole would be seen poking up from the stairwell of the nearest subway station. And not long after that, her auburn hair, her vapidly-smiling cheeks, and the collar of her blue-and-white windbreaker. By the time she makes it to the appointed place, she's about three minutes early -- it's never a bad thing to plan around Metro City's inconsistent transit times.

And then -- well. She finds a red-haired xian handing her a paper bag.

"Oh... sure thing! Thanks!" she chirps back with a contagious smile, gingerly accepting the paper bag and water. "It--"

She catches herself in mid-blurt. And steps back to give the man a properly Japanese bow.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hazuki-sensei."

She'd only rise once addressed. And then, -then- she'd sit down and take a look in the bag.

It's clear from the time she spends blinking at the confection that she... doesn't quite know what she's looking at. The spork's a hint. But she looks back up to Rei for guidance.

"Thanks...!" she echoes. The cool grey reflects in her eyes. "What is it?"

[FREI]
"Oh god," was probably not the response Chevy would be expecting to the bow and being called 'Hazuki-sensei', but it's exactly what Rei is utterly unable to keep from leaving his mouth. At least he realizes that, puts a hand briefly over his mouth, then makes a two-handed, palms out 'okay hold on' kind of gesture. "Alright, somehow it sounds even scarier coming from you than it did from Ichika. How about you call me Rei, and if it's fine I'll call you Chevy, and that'll be that. Deal?"

If anyone had at any point told Chevy that the team's new sponsor was a (relatively newly minted) sagacious immortal, they PROBABLY left out the part where he's a complete freakin' dork. On the other hand, when it comes to dolers-out of cosmic wisdom, he's probably by far more approachable than the typical mental image.

Most don't have snacks ready, for example.

Chevy asks what the snacks actually ARE, and Rei reaches down, opens the other bag, and produces a more or less equivalent container to the one he handed to her, which the xian pops open and sets briefly aside so he can unwrap the spork. "Gulab jamun," he answers. "Indian food. One thing I love about your cities in the US: you can usually find excellent authentic food if you know where to look." Picking up the plastic dish, he spears one of the maroon-colored orbs before popping it in his mouth, taking a huge bite, and savoring it for a moment as he chews before swallowing.

Looking sidelong at Chevy, he grins. "Basically fried dough served in rosewater... which is just a fancy way of saying sugar syrup," Rei explains, taking and chewing another bite before continuing. "You really can't go wrong with fried dough in sugar regardless of the originating culture, I think. Go on, try it." Clearly he isn't going to start doing anything training-related until she's tried some, or given a good reason why that's not feasible.

[CHEVY]
Chevy's Southern upbringing was such that saying 'sir' and 'ma'am' were as natural as breathing air. Finding out that Japanese has made respect for one another into a critical component of the language was... kind of a relief, honestly. It wasn't much of a stretch to add -san or -sensei to a name -- it's really not all that different from saying Mister or Miss.

And yet, she feels -very- put off by being called 'Beaumont-san.' So it doesn't take long for the freckle-faced teen to answer with a smile and a nod, rising back to her full height -- and laughing softly. "Haha. Deal."

She's appreciative of the fact that Rei just digs right in. It'd be super awkward to eat if she were the only one doing so -- especially since she wasn't -really- hungry, and didn't know to expect a snack. She sets her pole and buckets down beside her, following Rei's lead in sampling the treat. She offers a nod in approval of the sweet treat. "Heh, that's probably true. Back home, you can get darn near everything fried up. Back at Mumsfest there's this place you could get deep fried Snickers bars."

She looks back at the treat, grinning. "It's pretty good, yeah! Thanks."

She smiles cheerily. Sugary stuff is a guilty pleasure she indulges in from time to time, and nearly always puts her in a better mood. But, she doesn't want to rush through it.

"I... warn't too sure of who 'RH' was when I first got the mail. But I'm glad to meet you in person..."

She laughs -- though, her expression darkens slightly. "I been gettin' lots of people sendin' me messages lately, so... if I sound a wee bit defensive, that's why..."

[FREI]
A 'hmmm' audible from the back of Rei's throat as he spears another orb of fried dough and has a bite, before setting the container down -- good thing he picked a wide bench! -- and picking up his own bottle of water, uncapping it and having a sip. "Well," he says, slowly, as if trying to sound something out in his head first, "feel free to ignore messages from me if they reach you at a bad time." He has to turn his head a little bit to speak to someone sitting right next to him, but he has an easy smile for the young American fighter. "Though I am glad you came."

Of course, he led with snacks, and he doesn't appear to be any more prepared for a fight of some kind than he would be to do anything else; the xian's typical jeans and changshan wear IS what he wears to fights but also what he wears to the supermarket, so it offers no clue to his purposes. Another sip of water before he continues.

"I saw your fight against Hawksley," he says, after a brief pause. "I thought you did really well. I'm sure the commentators will make some sort of pithy comment about how you had the advantage, as someone who fights with water, but, well." Sip. "It's never quite as easy as all that, which I'm sure you know already." The relationships between the elements never quite play out how people imagine them, in his experience.

Another pause, and then he turns away to stare out over the lake. Was meeting Chevy near a source of water a deliberate choice? Hard to say, since Metro Park is certainly dotted with them all over the place, never mind the fact that Metro City is a 12 mile long island surrounded by water on all sides. "But, that isn't why I called you. I've been meaning to for a while, but didn't have the opportunity."

He reaches down to pick up the container again and pops the very last gulab jamun in his mouth, chewing it thoughtfully before re-sealing the container and putting it back in the paper bag. When Rei speaks, he doesn't turn to Chevy; instead, he keeps his gaze on the lake. "So, your fight with Zerine." A pause. "How are you feeling?"

[CHEVY]
Chevy looks... a bit taken aback. Which isn't unusual -- her unfortunate habit of blurting out thoughts as they come to mind tends to mean this happens to her alot. "... Oh, no, no, I just mean everyone got my email address, so that things ringin' off the hook. My agent says I oughta just let him manage it for me but he works his butt off for me in so many other ways, so I feel -bad- for him, y'know..."

She looks back at Rei, and realizes -- she's probably just talking too much. Laughing self-consciously, she adds, "I mean, yeah. Thanks for meetin' up with me. It's been a minute since I had the time to just set a spell an' just breathe."

She takes a moment to spork out another one of those bits of fried dough, and glances over to look back at her sponsor. "... Oh, by the way: *really* like your shirt. It looks real nice on you." Some things you just don't notice about people until you're right there sharing snacks together.

Of course ... now she's got the opportunity to munch on that morsel as Rei discusses her fight with Hawksley. "... Yeah, it warn't really all that -easy-. Hawksley did jus' what he'd promised to do, pop me right in the face.... so he did." She snickers, at that last little addendum. The hayseed seems to enjoy the Irishman's speech patterns, to say the least.

"Mm..." comments Chevy, either not noticing the deliberate choice of venue, or having the good graces not to mention the connection. Similarly, as she chews, she pops off the top of the water bottle and takes a sip without comment, nodding slowly. It's... been a busy few weeks, as he notes.

The hayseed finds herself watching the lake as well, following her sponsor's example. It's... a few seconds after he asks his question that she turns to glance over at him with a quizzical look.

"... Er... I'm fine...?"

She frowns, looking down for a moment -- and wondering why the question was phrased in such a way.

A moment afterwards, she turns back to her water bottle, fidgeting with the cap.

"Oh. I mean, she scared the mess outta me, sure. But I'm fine now."

Each time she says 'fine,' she sounds less and less sure of herself. Which is probably why she stops saying that, and takes another sip of her water.

[FREI]
Silence can be more healing than people think it is; sometimes, a little bit of not saying anything is exactly what the situation calls for. Never mind that... well. Chevy's words say one thing, but her demeanor, her voice, say another. And given what the right thing to say in response is, Rei does indeed opt for a moment or two of silence, continuing to look at the lake, before he turns at last back to Chevy to reply.

"Forgive me for saying this, Chevy, but... I don't think you're fine." It would be easy to sound smug and self-assured saying this, as if it were shouting 'gotcha!' or catching her in a lie; Rei is careful to modulate his tone to counter that, speaking softly, keeping his expression as neutral as self-control allows.

"I think you're definitely more fine than you were in the moment of the fight," he adds, lowering his eyes but raising his eyebrows a bit, to emphasize that this is equal parts assertion and question. "In fact I think you recovered very well in the moment. It speaks to a very resilient nature on your part."

There is a brief moment where images flash before his own eyes: strapped in a chair in an NOL basement. Trapped in a sphere of blood. The xian swallows, briefly, before continuing.

"Fighters older and more experienced than you have bounced back less quickly from equally upsetting stuff," he says at last, and NOW he allows himself a small smile. "I imagine the NFG folks, or the press, or the people blowing up your phone," Rei adds, inclining his head at the device if it's vaguely visible, "wanted to know how the fight went, but I suspect nobody asked if you were okay, after."

Again, a moment of silence seems reasonable; he uses it to uncap the bottle of water and take a final sip of the remainder, before that too goes in the bag to be discarded.

"Do you want to talk about it?" A beat. "A genuine question, by the way. If the answer is no, I'm not going to pressure you about it."

[CHEVY]
Chevy doesn't know anything about the horrors Rei's seen. As far as fears, she's... fought against someone -way- above her skill level, and an ancient 600-year-old vampire in Zarine, and... she's witnessed the blazing fury of her own teammate Junko.

Zarine was probably the most life-threatening of all though. At first.

It doesn't take much convincing for her to accept that her statements of fine-ness were not very convincing. She laughs, rubbing the back of her head with a grin.

"It's that obvious, huh?"

She grins back, sipping at her water as Rei shows his detective work. "... Mmm... well, maybe one or two did." She allows a very tight grin. But it would stand to reason that the xian knows a thing or two about the trials of professional fighters.

"Okay, yeah. It..."

She pulls back her sleeve, taking a better look at the scar that remains. As scary as the experience was, it's a testament to Zarine's skill that the scar is healing back so quickly.

"I mean, it was one thing to know that my blood was being leeched outta me. That's scary."

She looks back up, to the lake. Not necessarily avoiding Rei's eye, but remembering how she felt at the time.

"But what spooked me the most was... I could feel it. I warn't just, like, watching some teenager in a scream flick gettin' cut up by some random butcher. It wasn't just -blood-. It was -my- blood."

She glances down for a moment. At her water bottle.

"I warn't just seeing it. Or feelin' the blood dribble out of me. It's that, unlike any other fighter... I was along for the whole journey."

She holds the water bottle out before her. She doesn't need to perform any trick of wizardry to show what she's talking about -- she quite literally moves the water bottle away from her.

"It was somethin' I could feel. Her energy, -her- chi... just stealin' mine."

A shudder runs down her spine.

And then she drinks a sip of her water, breathing a silent prayer in gratitude for it not escaping from her.

She looks to Rei.

"I mean, is that weird? I could feel it -- blood is -part- water, right? -- but I couldn't stop it..."

[FREI]
It's a lot to take in. And in truth, Rei has no idea what's really 'wrong,' per se; he was functioning entirely on Chevy's non-verbal cues (well, and a 'GUOOOH'), in the moment, to know that something was wrong. He had some hints, though, knowing what's publicly known of Zarine, what Chevy's abilities are, and how she reacted. As the young American lays it out for him, he listens patiently until it's clear she has no more to say on the matter.

"So, first: no, that's not weird. I will definitely explain why in a second, but we'll start there," the xian adds with a slight smile. "I think that would freak anyone out. But just as an aside, if it was weird... so what? The IDEA of vampires is kinda weird. I think having a weird reaction feels... well, normal."

A pause, before he stretches both arms over his head, linking his fingers and pushing the arch upward. "Thank you for the compliment on the shirt, by the way," Rei adds with a grin. "I'm Japanese, but I trained for a long time in China and India," he explains. "I guess the fashion got its hooks in before I knew it."

Shaking out his hands, the xian brings them back to his sides and his expression gets more serious. "Right. I promised you explanations. Let's start with the easy one: the science. Well... 'science'," he amends, making little airquotes. "Insofar as chi can be called a science and not an art, but it DOES work in predictable ways."

He holds out a hand, palm up, and a little cerulean swirl of water flows into existence hovering over it; it's a demonstration device Rei uses routinely, but it finds repeat use because it's effective. "So. This is something both of us can do, though I assure you, you are much better at this specific thing than I am. And because of that fact, I know that YOU know, the energy that gave this little guy form didn't come from inside me. It came from AROUND us." He turns his head somewhat and lowers his eyes; another 'with me so far?' questioning sort of gesture.

A hand movement, and the little water wisp disappears, unless Chevy impishly does something with it first. "Chi comes from two sources: inside us, and around us. Kind of like how there's external and internal kung fu," Rei adds, searching for a proper metaphor. "Fighters USUALLY are using the chi around them -- shaping it, directing it, and so forth."

"But sometimes we use our internal chi, too. Have you ever met a fighter who's seemed nutso strong without being bulked up, or who can heal extremely fast? That's usually someone directing their internal chi to reinforce their body. Actually, every pro fighter does that on a subconscious level, which is why we're so tough compared to an average schmoe, but that's a discussion for a different day," he adds, rapidly, with an apologetic smile. "Anyhow."

Taking his hand, Rei presses it palm down against his own chest. "Your internal chi is literally your life force. It's part of what keeps you going. Getting at someone else's internal chi is usually very hard, because you have -- everybody has -- a strong, subconscious barrier to keep people from doing that. Tinkering with someone's internal chi can really mess them up, as you might understand."

A pause, and Rei brings his hand down, putting it palm down on his hip instead. "This is just a theory, but I suspect your circulatory system -- the thing that moves blood through your body -- has a strong connection to your internal chi. After all, a key chakra point in your body is your heart."

There's a second or two of silence to make sure Chevy's following, since this has been A Lot, before he wraps it up with a bow. "You in particular are attuned to water, and the plasma in your blood is mostly water. So if Zarine was taking, for example, bits of your internal chi through your blood, then you would be *particularly* aware of it, just like you described. So of course it bothered you more than you might have anticipated."

Another pause, longer this time, before Rei gives a sheepish smile. "Sorry for the lecture. Believe it or not, of the two explanations, that's the boring one. But I thought you might find it interesting."

[CHEVY]
Chevy is relieved to know it's not any more weird than all the weird things taking place. She really does have to smile at the way Rei conveys the message.

"... Oh. Well, you're rockin' it," Chevy admits. "I hate I didn't get to walk around much in Southtown, sadly... They kept us kinda busy!"

She starts to sip her water again... only for her eyes to grow wide as she sees water just spring into existence in Rei's palm. That's clearly not what happens, of course -- water vapor just condenses rapidly on command -- but that's what it -looks- like.

"... So wait, you're sayin' I'm better'n you at it? I ain't the one who can just make it spring outta midair like that..."

Though... as Rei may find out, the hayseed has a tendency to speak before she thinks. She seems to be giving the matter some further thought, as she starts to digest the words he's providing her.

"... Around us, huh..."

The concept of chi existing everywhere is, of course, one she's been introduced to before. Hearing it from someone new, though, has a way of bridging connections that had been lost over time. Miss Beaumont doesn't really *think* about her abilities so much; if she's done it before, she finds a way to just *do* it again.

"Oh, dang... that's interesting. Folks... previous teachers had told me that the energy is all around us, but... I felt that just meant... water was everywhere I looked. Just a matter of goin' out and findin' it..."

The notion of -internal- chi, though. That's... again, not new, but Rei's spin on the topic is opening more doors for the freckle-faced fighter.

Tinkering with internal chi can wreak havoc on a person? "... Oh yeah, I think Miyama-sensei did that, to Ichika. It... came back, but until it did she was not a happy camper."

Further, though... the discussion of internal chi and how it might come to relate to what Zarine did seems to flip a light switch for the waterbending acolyte. "... Huh. Yeah, that... that sounds like it fits what happened, yeah. ... It makes sense for why I don't feel water in other people's bodies when they fight, either."

She hums softly, taking her spork back to the sweet treat. Scooping one up from the bowl, she notes: "... Once I kinda worked past the blood part, it... just seemed like I warn't havin' as many problems fightin' her. Thankfully."

[FREI]
"Well," Rei says, catching something in the harmonic of Chevy's demurring of the compliment and the comment that follows, "just like chi, there's water all around us too. I guarantee you if you spend some time thinking about how, you could do exactly what I just did," he adds, pulling another water wisp into and out of existence. "It'll be a little harder in extreme conditions, but there's always water in the air around you. It's just how Earth is made." For a spiritually-oriented person, Rei seems to have a decent science grounding under his belt, apparently.

Shaking his hands a bit, he continues onward. "Lesson for another day. Anyhow. Yeah: there's a good, solid, empirical reason why it bothered you, and why you would be more sensitive to it than other people might be," the xian reiterates, re-emphasizing his argument from before. "That's another part of why I said your reaction wasn't weird. Honestly I think it would be weirder if you hadn't been bothered."

He files away the name 'Miyama' for future consideration. It sounds vaguely familiar, but bigger fish are here to be fried today.

Chevy mentions that once she got past the 'blood thing' that the fight seemed easier (either emotionally or literally; Rei doesn't ask, because in truth, either is fine). That gets a nod from him, and he takes a breath before diving in after that. "Well, that's... the SECOND thing I was going to say. This whole fighting thing... did anyone prepare you ahead of time for the list of insane things that you have the potential to encounter out there?"

For a moment, Rei is transported back years, YEARS, in his memory, when 'fighting' meant duking it out with other newbies in gameshow-like settings like SNF, or forming friendships with others through a shared interest in martial arts (and martial arts-adjacent philosophical things). However... it didn't take long for that to become something else. For 'fighting' to become intertwined with 'international crime syndicates' and 'world-ending calamities' and monsters and villains and violence. Things the NFG has been blissfully short of, so far.

And in THIS world, 'monsters' that were largely metaphor in Rei's world of origin are NOT metaphors, here; they're LITERAL. This is a world where you can call someone a vampire and be 100% correct. So how much worse could it be HERE?

This reverie happens behind closed mental doors, obviously, but it gives the xian pause, enough of one that a perceptive kid like Chevy will assuredly notice. "Sorry," he suddenly says, into the silence. "Got a little in my own head about what I was going to say."

Drawing himself up on the bench a little, Rei lowers his head a little; if he had glasses, he'd be looking at Chevy over the rims. "I just... hmm. I guess my second piece of advice is this: fear is normal. Healthy, even; it teaches us what our limits are. Sometimes it's worth it to test those limits. But... I don't know. Maybe I wish when I'd been your a--" He stops, and smoothly pivots. "When I'd been where you are now, I wish someone had told me that finding something scary wasn't a sign of weakness or anything like that."

[CHEVY]
It's a guarantee, he says. Skepticism flits across Chevy's face for a moment.

At least he didn't say the words she dreaded most. Chevy can pick up some things easier than other people. But she also has a -really- hard time learning other tasks. And, inevitably, when it comes time to ask for help, there's almost nothing more frustrating to her than to hear, 'Oh, that's easy!'

But then, sometimes things just... happen to spring to mind. "... So, like, how I think about making water move -really- slow, I get ice?"

She wrinkles her nose a bit. "I mean, I believe you, I just ain't been able to make water just squirt up outta nothin'. Yet."

But if that's a lesson for another day, as Rei says, the hayseed is happy to set it aside for later. It'd be incredibly useful for her to make more water as she needs it, instead of shuttling it around and getting everyone muddy.

"... Uhm... well. When we were in Sunshine City, we... helped out at a soup kitchen. We kind of... felt like it was something we could do to help out. And yeah, there -were- some guys who came out to start wrecking the place..."

Chevy hums for a moment, looking out upon the rippling water. "... I don't really know if that's what you mean though. I don't -think- anyone's really talked to us about... anything -big-, really. Up until the Rumble the most I'd had to worry about was gettin' shanked by a metal straw or blown up by, like, magic an' junk."

She finds herself drifting off, captivated by the tranquility of the water -- not wanting to impose upon the moments of deep thought Rei was experiencing. Idly, she pops the last of the confections into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully as she seals the container up for disposal.

"Mm?" she asks, glancing back over once Rei offers up his advice.

"... Oh. Well... -thanks-, 'old-timer!'" She turns to grin at Rei -- happy to poke fun at the guy who couldn't be a day over 25. "I'm glad to have someone like you to show me the ropes."

She sips some more of her water. "... Fear helped me find my focus, I guess. It was somethin' Ichika pointed out. That, like... until I was -scared-, I was just kinda playin' around. Not really... -challenging- myself. So... I learned a lot about that part of myself." She laughs. "Maybe I got me some of that inner chi toughness you were talkin' about."

[FREI]
He knows exactly how it looks and how it sounds, which gives Rei's response to Chevy's little jab an easy and practiced quality. "I'm older than I look," he says, more or less automatically. "You'll have to take my word for it."

When he sees her gaze fall on the reservoir, the xian turns and watches with her, for a while. As Chevy starts speaking again, though, he keeps his eyes on the water, rather than turning back to her. The story about fear and focus gets a vague nod from Rei, in the end. "That's good. That's the ideal thing to do with your fear, really, because making yourself not afraid isn't an option. Life would probably be a lot easier if it were," he adds, leaning back against the bench and turning to Chevy again at last. "Though something tells me Ichika probably takes the concept of 'challenging onesself' a little too seriously sometimes." It's not as if he knows this about her for sure, but... well, he's met a lot of people LIKE her. You can kind of see the signs, as it were. "Not a bad thing, but don't get too upset if you find yourself choosing a slightly less rigorous standard for yourself."

Another long pause goes by, one filled with the sounds of the autumn wind, the park-going pedestrians, and the lapping of the reservoir against the stones on its shore. It PROBABLY goes on long enough for Chevy to perhaps feel as if she's supposed to break the silence, when the red-haired xian does so all on his own with what might be called creepy timing.

"Well. I've said my piece," Rei says simply. "Thanks for an indulging an old man," he adds, with a knowing smile. "Sorry if I seemed like a busybody. I just thought, well..." He shrugs, lacing his arms behind his head as he sits back against the bench. "I kinda wish someone had checked on me now and then when I was first starting out. Being part of this whole fighting world is about more than just being able to take a punch."

Another pause, thankfully shorter, before he turns his head and speaks again. "I'm guessing Ayame taught you a few moves, judging by your recent fights." This isn't a difficult guess; after all, there's only one sponsor of Thunder who seems to know a lot about staff combat, and, well... it's a very distinctive style in some ways. "I'm not sure I have anything like that to teach you, but... if you have any OTHER kinds of questions you think I can answer, then ask away, if you like. We've got the time, after all."

[CHEVY]
Chevy grins. "The vampire lady claimed to be six hundred years old. I think I can trust you a bit."

The idea of fear giving her focus -- that's an idea she likes, clearly. But when Ichika is brought up, along with the focus -she- brings to the table, Chevy barks out a little laugh.

"Yeah, I love 'er, but she does get a mite intense sometimes. She scares me, she does." Chevy raises a hand, brushing through her auburn locks as she stares out across the water. "I don't think I wanna be that intense about anythin'. She can do some amazing things in the zone like that..."

Her eyes glance down, to the water's edge. She remembers the conversation that took place elsewhere in the park.

Her voice grows soft, and a bit distant. "A lot of good can come of it."

The air around her starts to grow a little colder.

She remains silent for a while -- yes. Expecting Rei to break the silence. Each sensei has been a little different -- each teammate too. They're a far cry from the folks she knows -- kids and parents who grew up together, sharing their experiences, sharing the same sense of time and order. An unhurried bunch -- who prefers to give matters a little extra time for reflection. Adapting to the beat of people raised with a different beat can be... a challenge.

When Rei speaks, Chevy startles slightly, turning to face him. "... Huh? Oh, no. I just..." She laughs. "I'll be honest, when you said you wanted a little chat, I thought you were gonna bawl me out for the Coco business, t'be honest." She scratches the back of her neck, shyly.

"... Mm. But yeah. Ayame taught me a couple moves -- inspired some more. I still need to workshop through a few -- the big one was that flipping throw I did against Hawksley. Ichika helped me with that one."

She looks down for a moment, one hand reaching back for the pole she'd leaned against the bench.

"The one where I make the buckets and swing 'em like a big sledgehammer... I worked so hard on that one, but folks keep scootin' out of the way. Guess it's a bit easy to read."

She looks back to Rei. And, for a moment, a lopsided smile crosses her face.

"Mm, I do have a question: do you think my style's 'wasteful?'"

[FREI]
"Intensity has its purposes. Moves that seem easy to read have their purposes, too," Rei says, addressing multiple statements simultaneously, if a tad sententiously. "I'm a firm believer that everything that exists has a purpose of some kind. Every tool, every bit of knowledge, every feeling, every experience... even mortal terror, like we just discussed." By now, Chevy will probably have noticed that Rei's manner of speaking involves a lot of small hand gestures and movements, as if he's a juggler and the ideas are balls he's keeping in the air while he works.

This isn't that far from the truth, as metaphors go.

After the silence, however, the question that Chevy sends the xian's way throws him for a very visible loop, considering Rei does not have much in the way of a poker face. He actually looks genuinely *confused* at what she asked, so much so that he ends up repeating it aloud. "Is your style... wasteful?"

Brows furrow, and one can almost hear the gears clicking along as he tries to think of a response, and the *ping!* as his expression changes when he finds one. "My mother," he begins, a pretty serious non-sequitur given the question, "is... WAS... a swordswoman. Specifically battoujutsu. It's the ancestor of what became iaido, which you've probably seen Ichika use a few times. Focused on the art of drawing and then re-sheathing your blade for very fast, high impact strikes."

Dusting his hands off on his jeans, Rei gets to his feet and adopts... what is honestly a much better battou stance than someone who's never been recorded doing it should be able to accomplish. "You'll have to just imagine a sword," he says to Chevy, with a faint grin, before continuing. "Battoujutsu values economy of movement. You want to move as little as possible, give as little as possible away. It's, ah... like... you're an American. You've seen a western, right?" the xian suddenly asks, eyeing Chevy curiously. "A shootout? Two guys with pistols and it's all decided in an instant of someone firing their gun? Battou is the same way. So any extra movement might be considered 'wasteful', from that POV."

He drops out of stance and starts shifting a bit from foot to foot; definitely no known stance. More like someone who's warming up to do wind sprints. "Now, a capoeira fighter, that's a different situation," Rei continues. "They're moving all the time, even when they don't have to. In that style, rhythm is hugely important. Like... African girl, I think. Can't remember the name. Very tall. A lot of capoeira fighters," the xian continues, stopping the foot-to-foot hop, "fight to music; that's how important it is to their style. So by THEIR reckoning, none of that extra movement that my mom would say is unneeded, would be 'wasteful'."

A pause, and then he flumps back down on the bench, looking at Chevy expectantly. "So I guess it comes down to: what do you mean by 'wasteful'?"

[CHEVY]
Everything has a purpose. The moves with rough edges could still have use in her repertoire, but might need to be shuffled around. Used... differently, maybe.

"Huh, that... that makes sense, yeah. I would just need to build up to it, I guess..."

She hears the question repeated back at her. And shrinks, ever so slightly. "It's a dumb question, yeah, I just..."

But she won't get off that easily. If it were an idle thought, it wouldn't have stuck like a splinter in her mind for so long. So... she is glad Rei is giving the matter his full attention.

"Mm.. right, yai-do... " All the Japanese words she's picking up this week are going to need some book learning to straighten out.

She watches the battou demonstration with some amusement. It's... certainly tougher to mime the sword than to actually -have- a sword.

"Yeah, I get the picture," she reassures him.

But then she raises an eyebrow when she's lumped in with 'Americans' as 'people who watch Westerns.' She nods, tentatively stating, "I mighta watched one or two..." Only to see that, well, the concept of a shootout is no longer wholly linked to westerns. "... Oh, well, yeah. Han shot first an' all that, but you cain't ever see it 'cause he's movin' under the table."

... Maybe she missed the point of that little aside.

Similarly... she's confused by the motions associated with capoeira. She can see him ... shifting, and weaving about. Her face shows a bewildered smile.

"... Well, -that-." She shrugs her shoulders. "I mean, I get music. If you're movin' on the beat that's one thing, but... wouldn't -that- be wasteful? You spend all your time tryin' to follow a beat instead of kickin' people. Where do you get the energy for that?"

She's not opposed to the -idea- behind capoeira so much as not really understanding the fundamental concept. Just like with westerns and shootouts.

"For me, like... 'specially in the Rumble... I spent a lot of time channeling the larger amount of water I had. Because I wanted to build momentum. It ain't as big an 'ask' of the water if I build it up gradually rather than slammin' it all at once."

She sips at her water bottle, thinking about a better... explanation of where she's coming from.

"... So, I mentioned Miyama-sensei. Noboru, I think his name is. We met him way up on Mt Shasta, there was like this frozen lake there, see? And Ichika wanted to fight him."

She laughs through bared teeth. "So you can guess how *that* went, haha."

Capping her water bottle, she continues. "Anyway... Buck and I were in for a penny, in for a pound -- we just wanted to make sure we gave it our best shot. Focused. Workin' together. And I was still new to my water powers and all -- and I'd made this giant 'river' to surf around on. It was easier to keep all the water together -- surface tension and all that, just... works nicer."

She wrinkles her brow. "I was just tryin' to protect Ichika and Buck. Showing that... well, I could move Miyama-sensei whenever I wanted to. He called it 'wasteful.' And I ain't never forgot that."

[FREI]
"No dumb questions!" Rei says, perhaps a little more sharply than he intended, which might be why his expression softens into a vague smile afterwards. "Chevy. Miss Beaumont. You faced down a vampire with what amounts to a stick, two buckets, and whatever water you had on hand. Approach learning the same way," he adds, bringing up a crooked finger and scratching his cheek idly.

A pause, and then... well. Rei laughs, the sharp and sudden laughter of someone just realizing a joke, which may be a relatively accurate description of what just happened. "Let me extend the metaphor," he says, holding out both hands, palm up. "I've seen you use reversals out on the field. Very simple fighting principle to it: use the opponent's force against them. Well, consider me turning the question back on you as a sort of conversational reversal," the xian explains, taking his hands and clasping them behind his back. "It's my way of using your curiosity to get you to think. Plus it's a thing we mysterious mystical mentor types do." Here, a faint, knowing smile. "Union rules."

There's a beat to let that joke either get a laugh or sink, lead balloon-like, into the reservoir, before the conversation moves on, the American describing her training with Magical Mister Miyama out in California with her teammates. "Hmm," Rei murmurs, giving that some thought. "Well. It's bad form to contradict someone else's teachings without knowing their meaning. I will say, though, that him saying so means *he* thinks it's wasteful, and that it might be wasteful *to him*. But I think I have an inkling of what he might have meant. Maybe. We'll look at this as a learning opportunity."

There's a weighty pause while the red-haired sage brings a hand to his mouth, brow furrowed, clearly thinking. "What's... ah. Yes, okay. Please forgive me taking some liberties, young miss," he says to Chevy, before holding his hands apart at chest height, eyes closed, concentrating. The result is another swirl of cerulean blue, larger than before, hovering between those palms. Eyes opening, Rei nods in satisfaction before making flowing gestures with both hands -- vaguely reminiscent of tai chi forms, if Chevy knows any -- that shape the orb of water he's coalesced, growing it until it meets some mysterious internal standard.

He then uses it to fill the outer of Chevy's two stacked buckets with the appropriate, or approximation of appropriate, amount of water.

Nodding in satisfaction, he then turns to the Thunderite and drops into a ready stance. "Leave the other one empty, if you can. And then, well... take a swing at me."

There's a faint smile on Rei's face. Some part of him is enjoying this whole one-on-one mentoring thing, maybe. "Would it surprise you to know I have vague theories, at best, about how you operate? Best way for me to find out is to see it first hand. I promise I can handle whatever you got."

COMBATSYS: Frei has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Frei             0/-------/-------|

[CHEVY]
Chevy shudders at the admonishment, but relaxes as soon as she sees the smile that follows. "I s'pose! I get where you're comin' from, yeah. Sorry to interrupt..."

Chevy listens as Rei explains the metaphor. Reversals, using the opponent's strength against them -- one of the true pillars of her personal style. To act like water, slowly encouraging someone to undo themselves, rather than directly opposing their force in a contest of might. "... Mm... I s'pose, yeah...?"

Chevy looks a little distracted, with that; like she'd momentarily wandered into another conversation. For she understands how her reversals work -- but not so much how they apply to wastefulness. Ichika helped her come to grips with the fact that she doesn't tend to think deeply about... well, -anything-.

But when Rei talks about the ronin shinobi she met atop Mt Shasta, she starts to understand.

And then her attention is drawn to the buckets propped up on her bench -- which are suddenly joined by a blue orb of water. Which then, *sploosh*, fills her bucket.

She looks to the bucket. And then back to Rei.

"Like... a swing at you. Like I'm gonna hit you with it."

Her tone is hesitant. As if he'd just asked a vegan to take a bite out of a juicy hamburger.

"Mm, no," she amends, as she gets a clearer picture in her head of how she can proceed. "I... I understand."

She stands up, picking up her pole. She spends a moment, peeling the unfilled bucket away from the filled one, and then sliding it onto the opposite end of her pole. There's a moment where she lifts the pole from its center, twisting her wrist just so -- and levelling the staff out. She doesn't funnel water around for this -- it's just a small acclimation to the weight. And a coming-to-terms with the idea that the water doesn't have to 'weigh' anything at all when the waterbender is concerned.

Turning her attention back to Rei, she draws in her breath. "Well, here goes nothin'?"

For lack of a prelude -- she lunges forward, swinging the pole around in a wide arc. She aims to hook her bucket around Rei's wrist -- and if she manages to snare him, she'd wrench him forward, off-balance, and possibly pull him to the ground. To an outsider, it looks like it'd be 100% leverage -- and that'd be true if it were just dead weight. The xian would likely be able to sense, though, how she subtly manipulates the water in the bucket to help her in this aim. To make the shot a bit less predictable -- and a lot more likely to succeed.

COMBATSYS: Chevy has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Frei             0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Chevy

COMBATSYS: Frei blocks Chevy's Quick Throw.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Frei             0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0            Chevy

[FREI]
For all his friendly goofball demeanor, when the actual 'sparring' starts and Chevy is attacking in earnest, Rei regards her with a surprisingly intense gaze, watching her as if she's a particularly thorny puzzle he's trying to figure out... which is almost certainly what is actually happening. That green-eyed gaze tracks her physical movements, for sure, but there's also a... there's a tiny element in his expression that suggests the xian is looking somewhere else AT something else. Which, again, is more or less what is happening.

The swing and the hook come, and Rei's eyes narrow briefly as he watches this attack intently. He doesn't actually resist getting his wrist hooked; instead, as Chevy herself will probably notice, he attempts the exact OPPOSITE of what the waterbender herself is doing: subtly adjusting the weight and position of the water in the bucket in *his* favor rather than hers.

The attempt at yanking him to the ground doesn't necessarily succeed, but there is a hiss of breath from Rei anyhow as he disengages from the bucket; one's wrist is a vulnerable spot, and that whole exchange sure did cause a flash of pain up his entire arm. Getting back into stance, though, the xian looks... pleased? Sort of? His brows remain faintly furrowed, but the corner of his mouth twists upwards in the ghost -- or maybe the promise? -- of a smile.

"Interesting. Okay. Now: hit me with something where you're actually using the water itself to attack, if you can." A brief moment as he cracks his neck slightly before getting back into stance.

[CHEVY]
As she swings, the furrow across Chevy's brow shows her acute awareness of what's occurring.

On one level, she knows that she's been using her affinity with water to balance her pole and bucket system. The technique wouldn't -work- any other way without a much larger contribution of force from her part. But on another level, it's part and parcel with how the hayseed -fights- nowadays. It's so wholly integrated into her style that she doesn't give it conscious thought any more.

Until some clever xian decides to exert his own will upon the system. Chevy -feels- the tug-of-war taking place, steering 'her' water -- the water distilled from thin air by Rei -- out of position.

"Hey..." she starts.
Before realizing that this is part of the lesson.
"... mm-n-mmm. Never mind, I got it..."

The bucket and the staff are drawn back. It looks like a performance as she swings the bucket around, when it's really just conserving the momentum of the action. She continues to twirl the bucket around as Rei speaks, not wanting the energy to go to waste. That's part of the lesson too, right?

"Hm," answers Chevy -- not one for deep thoughts at the moment. "Okay."

Her hands part, shoulder-width apart, as she stops the spinning pole. The water is, seemingly carelessly, flung onto the ground before her in the process.

But, as Chevy steps sideways, it becomes clear that the move was intentional: she starts to spin the galvanized steel pipe, like hand-pedaling a bicycle. As she does so, small spheres of water, roughly one pint each, are drawn up towards the pole. Once they reach the axis, they are -rapidly- hurled towards Frei -- a five-shot volley, if she's allowed to proceed.

COMBATSYS: Frei blocks Chevy's Rinse Cycle.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Frei             0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0            Chevy

[FREI]
AHA.

If facial expressions had names, that's what Rei would be called, right now, though ironically enough, it's not as if he has a full understanding of Chevy's abilities now, after having seen only a couple attacks. But he has enough to make a start with, and that's what matters.

There's a vague, soft sound not unlike a splash as all five of Chevy's water bullets leap toward Rei, who breathes out slowly, hands in front of him, before those hands become a series of five deflections, timed rhythmically so that it's as if the xian is dissolving each blow by exerting counterforce on it at exactly the right moment. But this time, Chevy will note, there is no push-pull, no tug of war, on 'her' water.

Whether or not she can sense what Rei actually does -- adjusting the energy around his hands, invisibly but firmly, so that the incoming water hits something akin to a force field with every palm strike or turning-away gesture, is dependent on her own abilities.

When the attack is finished, Frei shuts his eyes again and breathes out, pushing his palms forward slightly, one hand pressed against the back of the other. When his eyes open again, he's smiling like a maniac, the pleasure of a puzzle... well, 'solved' is a big word, but 'major progress made' sounds right.

"Now I get it, I think," he says, cryptically. "*You're* the water." What?

And then, inexplicably, Rei steps forward, putting his foot down firmly onto ground wet with the remnants of Chevy's attack. Three tiny spheres of water -- thanks, entropy -- suddenly rise up from the ground and, with a shoving gesture of the hands from Rei, fly back across the distance at their 'former master'. "Defend yourself against this," the xian says calmly, "and then I'll start making sense, I promise."

COMBATSYS: Frei successfully hits Chevy with Gensoudama.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Frei             0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0            Chevy

[CHEVY]
At some point in her fighting career, there's a good chance that Chevy might find herself on the other side of the exchange, helping a new fighter to discover their latent gifts. But right now, Rei's method of asking for a demonstration is... a bit different than what she's used to. It took Chevy a while to really understand what each mentor was suggesting to her -- but in each case, she was pleasantly surprised at the insights shared.

She's got a good feeling about Rei, as well. It's just ... different than a real 'fight,' as she's simply answering the xian's requests. Or, as Ichika might say -- she's not truly 'focused' on the fight.

In other words, what Chevy considers the respect of responding literally to the requests might come across as, well, lacking in enthusiasm. There's hardly any expression at all on her face as the bursts of water splash against the xian's expert guard. She blinks back, again showing some mild confusion as she can tell the defense is... different. More like fighting any -other- fighter.

"Mm," she notes, not really knowing what to say.

And then she's told: she's the water.

"... Huh?" she asks, momentarily offset by the statement. There's not much time to linger on it, though, as Rei suddenly pulls three spheres of water out of the puddle. And it looks like it might be another demonstration.

But then he tells her to defend. And the orbs suddenly fly -at- her.

There's a moment where Chevy gulps for air. She knows they -can- be used for attack. But she wasn't really ready for that. She raises her pole, and starts to defend -- but then she misjudges the speed of the projectiles.

*SPLASH*

*SPLASH*

*SPLASH*

A second later, Chevy staggers backward, collapsing into a seated position on the grass, thoroughly soaked. Her windbreaker clings to her arms; her t-shirt and blue jeans are soaked through but it's not -quite- as obvious.

"... I warn't r--" she starts, frustration peaking in her voice. But in that moment, she chokes off her blurted exclamation, closing her eyes and drawing in her breath.

"... Sorry. I thought you were showin' me somethin'."

She leans on her pole for support as she pushes herself back to her feet. "I warn't really ready. I'm sorry."

COMBATSYS: Chevy lets the tide wash out.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Frei             0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0            Chevy

[FREI]
"Huh," Rei mutters to himself, transfixed for a moment at how all this went down. "And I thought Japanese culture messed kids up, politeness-wise."

Part of being a teacher means making mistakes yourself sometimes. This feels a bit like one of those times, to the red-haired sage, as he carefully steps across the distance toward the young American on the grass. Maybe focus a little more on the PERSON next time, Rei admonishes himself internally, and a little less on the 'problem'.

Whenever Chevy's ready to get standing again, Rei is there, offering an outstretched hand to help, and looking properly contrite. "It's fine. YOU'RE fine. My apologies for some slightly selfish behavior on my part," he adds, perhaps a little cryptically.

Once Chevy is standing, Rei ducks his head a bit, providing another one of those moments where, if he were wearing glasses, he'd be looking at her over the top of the rims. "I didn't mean to sucker punch you. I did want to see what your first impulse might be when someone came at you with your own element, though," the xian explains, as carefully as he can. "One sec."

Stepping back to the bench, Rei ducks down and pulls a gym bag out from under it where it had been out of sight, before unzipping it, rummaging around a bit, and producing a towel. Did he expect to fight Chevy here? No. Did he watch video of someone who fights with water and who might want to spar anyway? Yes. Come prepared.

Walking over, he offers the towel and as much of an explanation as he can give at the same time. "You asked earlier how you could be 'better' at this than I am. Well, now I can explain why, sort of. Bear in mind this is all largely still theory based on observation, but I feel pretty confident in it."

While Chevy is potentially drying herself off, Rei clears his throat. "I guess you must have heard me before, saying 'you're the water'. What I mean is that to me, it feels like you're... I dunno how to put this in words, properly. But it's based on what *I* felt from your techniques, plus a few things you've said. Any usage of external chi depends on the user's will: we extend ourselves into the world... mentally, emotionally, spiritually. It's like taking a bunch of clay in your hands and shaping it. Your hands are how you manipulate the clay," he adds, making vague sculpt-y gestures with his hands as he does so. "That's how I do it, anyway."

A beat before Rei continues. "You, on the other hand, I think are doing something rather different. I think you are actually extending your awareness *into* the energy in the water. So to use that analogy, you aren't sculpting the clay with your hands. You're BECOMING the clay, and because the clay is you, you can do what you like with it."

A deep breath, and honestly, the xian looks... worried. That's a lot for someone to take in and understand all at once, and he's legitimately anxious that it sounds insane to Chevy. "It's... about how you described your fight with Zarine. About that feeling of *violation* I heard in your words, among other things I've seen on your face in your fights that I've watched. Plus, everything I saw just now."

[CHEVY]
Chevy reaches up to take Rei's hand, an embarassed stain crossing her cheeks in the process. "... selfish?" She blinks quizzically, shaking her head slowly. "I warn't gonna say anythin' like that."

She shakes her hands off; she's not terribly -upset- or anything. She's still getting new to the waterbender 'deal', but even still, she's not the type to carry an umbrella for herself. "I ain't gonna melt or nothin," she adds with a dash of good humor as Frei walks to fetch a towel.

Even if she won't melt, she does nonetheless towel herself off. It's like, if someone hands you a breath mint, you accept. It's just the natural order of things -- don't make the other person even -more- uncomfortable by refusing the accomodation.

"Yeah, I didn't really... get that," she admits. But as she gets enough of the water up as she's reasonably able to, she starts to wring the towel out to the side -- not wanting to carry a sopping wet towel around.

"... Huh. Yeah, I mean, that makes -sense- and all..." She had, on one level, noticed that Rei always combines his attacks with hand motions. And in a sense, she still feels like she -can- use her hands to help, and in many cases, it -does-.

"... What does that mean, though?"

She drapes the towel along the park bench, in hopes of helping it to dry faster.

"Like, I'm... is it somethin' folks can use -against- me?"

[FREI]
At the admission that she didn't 'get' it, Rei gives a wan but genuine smile. "That's alright. Even I have a hard time understanding me sometimes when I get like this," he admits, stretching with his arms over his head once again. It's a displacement activity; he kinda doesn't want to stare at Chevy while she's drying off. One of those things people are socialized to do, perhaps.

Still, she has questions, and they're reasonable ones. 'Can this be used against me?' feels very relevant, all things considered, given the fight that made Rei invite her out here to begin with. "Well... maybe. One sec." Rummaging in a pocket, the xian unlocks his phone, and there's a few moments of tap-tap-tapping, which quickly becomes the furrowed-brow finger swiping that's a sure sign of someone scrubbing through a video timeline. "Ah, here we go." Turning his phone around to the FightTube app, Rei reaches up with a thumb to tap the 'play' button.

The video is the NFG Rumble, and the moment in question is Chevy pounding Iris of Team Blaze with a series of waves, and Iris on the counterattack freezing the water Chevy had gathered around her to help a counteroffensively land. "So," Rei says, speaking guardedly. "I imagine this moment didn't feel great. But it was... your facial expression, right here," he says, as gently as he can. "I'm willing to bet that moment was probably more upsetting than you might think. Speaking from experience, if you're fighting with a weapon, and someone traps or deflects the weapon... it's annoying, but you have options. You can let it go, throw it, twist it, do SOMETHING. But little miss rainbow hair froze the water, and if the water is YOU... it's a bit like someone grappling your arm, right? Wanting desperately for it to move but you can't."

The red-haired immortal re-pockets his phone and lets that sink in for a silent second or two before he continues, again modulating his tone of voice to radiate the sort of... well, understanding, that this topic requires. "But that doesn't mean you were doing anything wrong. Sometimes that happens in a fight; you can do everything 'right' from a tactical POV, and it'll all go south anyway. If I'm right about your abilities, though, it does suggest some things you can work on, though... a few different paths for your development to consider."

[CHEVY]
Chevy is a pretty optimistic person, in general. She avoids grudges whenever she can, and it takes a lot to -really- wear her down. To date there's really only one person who rises to the hayseed's 'Would Rather Not Talk To' list -- and that person seems to be doing everything in her power to remain on said list.

In short -- the Rumble feels like a really long time ago. It was across the continent, and she feels like she's learned a -ton- since then.

So it isn't until Rei starts rummaging around on his phone that the freckle-faced waterbender even considers the past, there.

And then it dawns on her, the moment before he locates the clip. It's then that she realizes -- he's got receipts for this.

And she covers her eyes. Well, mostly. It'd be rude to -refuse- to watch the video clip that was pulled up for her benefit, but she still makes a show of being super cringed out over it.

Sucking in her breath, she gives the xian a meek nod. That's as much as she -wants- to acknowledge, at the moment.

"... It... -did- feel like that..." she comments, lowering her hands back to her sides. She doesn't state it, but, in all fairness to herself, she -had- reasserted her control over the water after that fateful attack. So she did feel like she'd learned -something-.

Chevy coughs out a small laugh. "Well, I mean... I think I see where you're going with it. If it was like a toy truck I was playin' with, an' someone else grabbed it, then yeah, the tendency is to try an' wrestle it away from 'em." She pauses. "It's *my* truck," she insists with a gentle amount of melodrama.

She scratches her cheek, considering the thought for a moment.

"But that ain't sayin' I cain't just... forget about the truck and pop 'em in the nose, right?"

[FREI]
"Nose popping is kind of optional," Rei says, grinning. "But in our line of work it wouldn't necessarily be inappropriate."

It wasn't the ideal way to break this to her, and Chevy's reaction proves that completely. But at the same time... there's no growth without facing mistakes, without considering the bad things, the pain and the unfortunate moments. One of those ineluctible and annoying truths about life.

"That is the gist, though, yes. It's a strength, but it's also a vulnerability at the same time. Most strengths are, mind," he adds, to perhaps take the sting out of how that sounds. "Think about... action movies. Surely you've seen a martial arts movie once or twice. You ever see someone drop a weapon in a fight, then duck low and catch it before it hits the ground, so they can attack with it at an unexpected angle?"

Bringing his phone out of his pocket, Rei thrusts his arm forward, holding the phone sidelong as if it were the hilt of a sword... before suddenly opening his hand and letting it fall, then ducking low and snatching it a foot or so above the ground, making another stabbing motion with it as he does so. "Like so," he says, standing up and tucking the phone away into a pocket once more.

"You could do that with water, for example. In truth, I've seen you do something like it a little bit a few times in your matches. Practice not just bending the water to your will, but quickly taking yourself out of it, too. Let it be something you can pick up or abandon in the blink of an eye, so that if a situation like that happens again, you're not left flat-footed... and when your opponent least expects it, let it be a weapon they don't know is coming."

There's a pause, before the xian continues. "I'm sure you know already that kung fu styles are often named after animals. And sometimes it's because the forms actually LOOK like the animal's actions, but more often, it's the *spirit* of the animal, the *concept*, that the name comes from. Elements are the same way."

With a sweep of the hand, he encompasses the reservoir, off to the north. "Water is like, the literal substance, yes. But the... the SOUL of water is fluidity. Water can be soft, healing, flowing... but a firehose hits like a jackhammer. Water feeds plants and nourishes soil, but too much of it will destroy a field of crops in the blink of an eye. If you really want to master this power of yours, think about what it means to 'be' water, spiritually as much as literally."

A brief moment, and then a smile. "Also points to me for not bringing out that played-out Bruce Lee quote."

[CHEVY]
Chevy laughs. She wouldn't actually bop people in the nose any more -- she just doesn't find it to be all that fun. But it's the thought that counts, and she smiles in appreciation of that.

It was a tough lesson for her to learn -- but yes, she does in fact get angry, much to her dismay. She's been working on it though! Frustration is a very normal thing to deal with in fights.

Phones -are- weapons in this modern age of information. They're just not very useful for striking with. Chevy snickers at the demonstration, figuring it's nice to see something with a -little- more visual weight than the earlier battou demo.

"Yeah... that's -one- thing I love about water, people tend to forget about it once it hits the deck."

And, on that note, she remembers her water. She takes the opportunity to grab her water bottle, finishing it off while she listens to Rei expound on the virtues of disconnecting -- not from social media, but her connection.

"Oh... yeah! That's somethin' I can try out, yeah! Though..." She rubs the back of her neck. "... But it'd be hard to check without someone who could, y'know, see if I'm still releasing when I should be, an' all..." She thinks for a moment. "... Though. Ichika -did- help me master that one move I pulled off on Hawksley, with the ice. Maybe she'd be willin' to help me with this too!"

Chevy seems to be in a -better- mood, at any rate, as she listens to the topic of animal styles and fluidity.

"... Man, I *love* that quote though. I'd have given you points for it any which way."

Chevy grins cheerily.

"Well, you done gave me lots to think about, sensei." She pauses, then adds with a grin, "Rei."

"I mean... I'd been thinkin' a lot about the nature of water, ever since Ariastra-sensei brought me to that waterfall. But ... learning how to shut it -off-, an' let the water embrace its natural state... I think that's where I need to be ready."

She adds, with a lopsided grin: "... People're startin' to get wise to my tricks, so I gotta stay ahead of the game."

[FREI]
"It's an interesting quote, but there's a whole Ship of Theseus situation if you really th--"

He truly just says it without really thinking about it, but then Rei considers very carefully if Chevelle Beaumont as presented in the past half hour or so is going to follow a metaphysical argument about what happens to water when poured in a cup, and -- no slight on young Ms. Beaumont -- decides against it. Bringing up his hands, palm out, fingers spread, Rei turns his head a bit before responding. "Discussion for a different day, maybe."

Reaching over, the xian takes the wrung-out towel before walking back to the bench and putting said towel back in his gym bag, the rustle of plastic the only giveaway that he knew he might be putting a WET towel back in said bag and prepared for THAT, too. Then he shoves the bag aside and a bit and sits back down, leaning forward to look at the reservoir, elbows on his knees and chin in his hands.

She'd said he gave her a lot to think about, but. "Well... I hope some of it was of some use to you," the red-haired sage says idly. "And if it isn't, well... that's okay," he adds with a faint shrug. "Truth be told, I don't know that I'm doing the best job at this 'being a helpful mentor' thing."

Ichika and Chevy's looks of confusion as he tried to explain complicated concepts in simpler terms that seemed to fall apart anyway. A terrified Junko, finally free for a moment of the dark voice in her head, seemingly unable and unwilling to accept what he had to tell her. "Teaching kids proper form for throwing a punch, or how to hold a sword, that's not that hard. But the rest of this metaphysical stuff..."

As he continues to stare out over the water, he can't help but think: was it like this for you, Isis? Is this why my brothers turned out the way they did?

But when he turns back to Chevy, it's with a pleasant smile on his face. "Well. With or without me, you'll get there. You're smart and motivated and you have multiple people in your proverbial corner. You'll work it out."

[CHEVY]
Chevy's wide-eyed look does, in fact, show that she does not have any recollection of the 'Ship of Theseus' concept. Maybe if she'd paid attention more in tenth-grade literature class. Or maybe if she hadn't immediately excised the memory out to make room for more fun factoids like the optimal air/fuel ratio for a four-barrel carburetor or the best places to score deals on cheap tires. Indeed -- she'd need time to prepare for that discussion, and her relieved smile shows that Rei was right on the money with that course correction.

She... doesn't pick up on the different sound of a rustling plastic bag. The fact that he'd even thought to bring a towel is, honestly, lost upon her -- since she'd been thinking about one topic in particular ever since Rei planted it in her mind. It isn't that Chevy's got a one-track mind, so much as... she really -envies- people who do.

But... she also hasn't been cognizant of the fact that she may have been acting like something of a space case, all the same.

"Huh?" she asks, with Rei's response coming as something of a shock to her.

"... What're you talkin' about? No, it's... it's been great! I've just been thinkin' a lot." She claps her hands together, bowing in apology, showing she's watched -entirely- too many movies headlined by Asian stars.

"I... Honestly? I'd been thinkin' 'bout that whole thing you said, about pullin' water from thin air. I mean, you clearly just -did- it, twice."

She rests her hands on her hips, showing off that lopsided grin again.

"And if you think it's somethin' I oughta be able to do, then -- well... I've been itchin' to try it!"

She starts to walk out to the water -- no longer content to be standing -apart- from him, as she prefers to stand beside him, closer to the water's edge.

"You're pretty cool, Rei. Y'know, for an 'old man...'" Here, she pauses to give the xian a wink to show she's -really- kidding about that. "... I'm really glad you took the time with me today. Thanks!"

Here, though -- she stares out across the surface of the water. She smiles cheerfully, taking a breath. And settles into something resembling a tai chi stance -- for someone who's only ever watched it in old kung-fu movies.

"I done made it a long way from where I started on this trip. An' thanks to folks like you... it's gettin' a bit easier every day."

She might not pick up the trick today. But she will -- just give her time.

[FREI]
"You didn't have to reassure me," Rei says carefully, as Chevy stands next to him, raising one eyebrow. Briefly afterward, however, his expression breaks into a grateful smile. "But thank you all the same."

Learning takes time, a thing he's said to a lot of people in the mentor/mentee situation. Anything worth knowing takes him to know. Maybe learning to teach does too.

The clapped apology reminds him of Junko in dogeza, and he can't help but give a nervous little laugh at that. But the rest of it... yeah. This, he can do.

"Both of us," he mutters. "One step at a time."

Standing beside Chevy, Rei closes both eyes and pushes his hands out. What was the other famous Bruce Lee quote?

Don't think; feel.

"Well, then, why not give it a go?" he says, without opening his eyes. "I'll skip the lecture. Just... reach out with your feelings. Let what comes naturally happen."

Will Chevy close her eyes and feel nothing? Will the water all around her suddenly be like a infinite crystalline chandelier? Somewhere in between? Hard to say, but:

"All things in their due time."

She'll get there someday. That, he believes.

Log created on 15:33:55 10/12/2023 by Chevy, and last modified on 10:02:04 10/15/2023.