Description: The SHOCKING Conclusion to the Youth League Commencement Ceremony. I think we all learned a good lesson here.
Oh. Hey, yeah... thanks for pointing out the thrower what throws bottles at... around 8pm or so. Frei beams pleasantly at Cai, since it's obvious he wouldn't have just dove across some guy's body just to be next to Frei. Well... maybe, I dunno. SUCH BIG WEINER after all (only 8 uses of this joke remaining). "Oh, no problem," he says pleasantly, finishing off the last hot dog and hurling the disposable carrying bag in the nearest proper trash bin like a responsibile guy. Oh yeah, then he oh-ho-HOS and points a finger at Edge. "What he said! Don't go chuckin' stuff at random just because you can't hold your liquor! Haha!" Okay, so maybe the unobservant moron thing is just an act. Pretty good act, but an act nonetheless.
Mostly people Hotaru doesn't know; she does spot Frei, however, and so slips into the dojo though she remains quiet, handbag dangling from her hands in front of her. Hmm. What to do, what to do... well, she can at least greet Frei.
"Frei-san!" she calls, cheerfully enough, attempting to get the big weiner's attention. Whether she has it or not, she continues, "I didn't expect to see you here..."
Shingo looks up startled when Dan approaches from behind and places a hand on the boy's shoulder. A glass of water in hand. "Oh! Mister Hibiki! Sorry again about being late." The blue-clad youth quiets down and lets Dan speak and listens on what the schedule for the rest of the night would be. Nodding when appropriate. He takes the book of names and nods again when he's told to start the music when he sees fit and to let the two fighters go at it if they do decide to start something. "Sure thing, Mister Hibiki! No problem!" Shingo gives a reassuring grin and nods to Rock again, "Yo."
Edge's attempts at saving face fall completely flat courtesy of Cai's next action, the tall-haired blonde paling a shade as he's given a nice waft of the drink he's barely recovered from - memory of that hot searing inside coming back to haunt him along with a renewed bubbling of the gunk he just barely kept in his stomach last time around. Eyes bugging out over the top of the bottle, malice and anger lurks behind the alarm in his gaze, but it's not something he acts on - instead hastily making for the exit, all but sprinting past Cai to get the hell out of Dodge. En route he just happens to stampede over the back of Skinny, knocking the boy flat into a puddle of sake before he can set it ablaze.
The other two members of the Gedo set? Chunky's long ago been abandoned by his feminine saviour, the girl storming off after he tried to take her distraction a little too seriously. He's sitting on the floor with a healthy bruise on his skull, and completely fails to notice the departure of his leader as a result... it's a great day for delinquency. Honest.
Rock nods back to Shingo, respectfully. "Hey," he says, one young fighter to another. "Looks like this thing of yours is a smash, huh? I'm glad to see it. Dan's got a lot of heart, and this dojo's got more going for it than alot of people give it credit for. I'm glad to see that the place is finally taking of." Rock pushes his jacket out of the way, eyeballing, for a moment, the refreshments with a hungry eye. Food. Free food.
Cai Xuan blinks twice as Edge suddenly breaks for the door, looking puzzled. "I wonder why he took off so fast." He shrugs, replacing the stopper on the bottle and slipping it back into his coat. Beaming like the Buddha himself, Cai looks around the room for someone else interesting to talk to. And...hey, who's the blue-haired cutie? Cai grins in that dumb boy way at her before he notices who she's calling to, and glances over at the target of her attention. "Hey, so your name's Frei, huh?" He tosses off a salute to the black-shirted young man, conveniently giving himself a reason to stick around when Hotaru gets there.
Talk about expeditious retreats. Frei barely has time to process Edge's hasty exit before the blonde delinquent is out of sight, leaving the monk only to turn and watch him go, then shake a fist and make a mock-angry face. "S'right, punk! You're no match for my weiner!" (7 to go!). And then he realizes not one, but two people have actually said his name, and so he turns back to Cai with a friendly smile. "Yes it is! Nice to meet you!" And then he turns to see Hotaru bearing down and also gives her a wave, still smiling like a fool. "Hello, squirrel-taming lady who kept chucking my attack back in my face and whose name I can't recall!"
Xiangfei adjusts her gi a bit, and she just helps herself with just.... A single plate of food. It takes a lot of willpower to do it too, believe her, it brings tears to her eyes that she can't allow herself to toally pig out right now. Hmnn, but there isn't really any reason why she should leave so soon, there may be further amusement for her to indulge in, and that's never a bad thing, right? Well that, and Rock is looking pretty hot in those jeans of his. Mmn mn mn.
Sq---squi---Hotaru immediately gets that crosseyed angry face, you know. The one represented on the intarweb with >_<. But it's only for a moment. Then she protests, loudly, (to get around the loudness of the dojo), "Itokatsu is -not- a squirrel! He's a ferret!" And ... he doesn't know her name? Sadness. But she'll recover... somehow... maybe by cutting herself.
"I'm Hotaru. Hotaru Futaba," she says, dropping a decent bow on Frei.
"Yeah! This turned out really great! I knew it was a good idea to get Mister Hibiki to help out with this." Shingo grins and nodnods to Rock. "He even lets us use his dojo. So cool!" The book is held firmly in hand unless there's anyone else who wants to sign up for participation in the youth league. He does notice that Rock has his eye on the refreshements though, "Hey, go ahead, help yourself. That's what it's there for." Grin. "Thanks for coming by the way." Edge is leaving. Oh, so guess that means there is no fight going to happen again. Does that mean he can go ahead and start up the music? Sure, why not. "If you'll excuse me," Shingo says to Rock and makes his way over to get this party started.
"And I'm very pleased to meet you, Miss Futaba!" Cai takes a step forward, nearly interjecting himself between Frei and Hotaru, and offers a return bowing. "I am Zhou Cai Xuan and I am overjoyed to meet a beautiful, charming girl like yourself, here of all places!" He straightens up, beaming widely at her, Frei all but forgotten for the moment. It's not out of any sense of competition; Cai just wants to give Hotaru his complete and full attention. Yow.
Hmmm. Food. Can't complain about food. Rock nods to Shingo while the fighting and celebrating is being prepared, turning to walk fast towards the refreshment table. Now, the question is -- As Rock looks over the spoils of war -- how much of this stuff can he cart home?
"Okay!" Frei says patiently, still smiling. "I don't know who Itokatsu is, but should we ever meet I will be 100% certain not to mistake him for a sq--" And then Cai is making with the mack. Blinking, the monk then shrugs, leaving them to it. Hotaru was nice and all, but his thoughts of a hormonal nature have been taking a different bent of late. "Okay then! Like a third wheel, I'll just sit here staring at your back for a while."
Blink. Blink blink. Cai is all of a sudden up in Hotaru's grill, as it were... she umms, past the Cai Xuan, at Frei. "He's my ferret! My best friend." Frown. "I'm sure you saw him during our match." How can he have forgotten? Hotaru is heartbroken. But um, back to the Cai. Hotaru just looks puzzled, even if she's still smiling pleasantly.
"Umm... thanks?" Mack doesn't work on Hotaru; she's too innocent for it. "You're weird, aren't you?" And is that -alcohol- she smells...?
Xiangfei is sort of just minding her own business, don't mind her. Though while the girl does catch sight of Hotaru, frowning a bit, there isn't much she can do about the situation- Come to think about it though, as interesting as things were, it was about time she headed on home to get changed before work; primo idea there, yes!
And so adieu, great chinese kung-fu warrior, we knew ye well! Though she'll have to stuff a few more snacks into her handbag first though, before she retreats. Splahdow!
Cai Xuan laughs, scratching the back of his head. "Well, I suppose. Some say I am, anyway." He pulls out a bottle of hard lemonade - lowest proof he's got on him - and also produces a shallow bowl from another pocket. "Care for a drink?" He pours a bit of the lemonade into the bowl, proffering it to Hotaru. "It's a party, live it up."
Hotaru's still smiling--until the guy offers Hotaru alcohol. Her smile fades and she suddenly looks pretty serious, party aside. "I--I don't drink." Bad memories, maybe, or just a dislike of the stuff... it's not that she thinks -less- of Cai, really... just... Ah, the perils of actually being polite and un-Xiangfei-like.
Cai Xuan merely shrugs and smiles. "Your call, beautiful." He tips the bowl back, drinking that stuff down in one gulp. Slipping the drinkware back into his coat (and now swaying slightly), Cai gives a bright smile to Hotaru - and this time includes Frei in it. "Well, this looks like a really fun party, but I gotta be on my way. Let me know if I win the cruise trip, okay?" He waves to the two, walking backward (stumbling just enough that he ends up stepping around a puddle of liquid on the floor) toward the door. As he leaves, he starts humming a tune under his breath, but too low to really make out.
His task of getting the music started taken care of, Shingo once more gets back to doing the mingling thing in the place of the retired-for-the-night Dan Hibiki. It's all grins and waves for the boy to all the other guests of the commencement party. Might as well get himself out there and be seen so that it could possibly generate more interest for the group. It's then he spots a blue-haired girl that he recognized from previous fight videos. As well as Mister Renard. Shingo remembers him from their Neo League fight. "Good evening, Mister Renard!" He looks over to Hotaru, "You're a fighter, right? I've seen you in some videos before."
Hotaru blinks out of her confusion and nods to Shingo, not really recognizing him. "Yes, I am.. at least sometimes," she corrects, probably confusingly. Renard... oh, right, the monk guy. Frei. She looks around.
"So... um... what was this all about? I saw one of the advertisements but didn't really have a chance to investigate until now..."
Oh woe is he. He would've thought that by now that word of his reputation of being a fighter using the incredible ancient martial arts of Kusanagi-ryuu in a professional fighting circuit would've reached the ears of all, much less fellow fighters. It doesn't seem to be the case though. Guess he's not as well-known as originally thought. Not that it's really that big of a deal. One day it will be where no one would dare mistake him for someone else or not recognize him at all. Yes, when he truly masters the eternal flames of the Kusanagi bloodline it will be a major turning point in the world of street fighting!
In the meantime...
"Glad you asked!" Shingo beams and holds out the book for her to see and hopefully sign. Because of course he knows that she would want to sign up, right? Right. "Basically we're starting up a sort of youth group. The Yabuki Hibiki Youth League. It's so that fighters in our age group have some place where we can get together and learn from each other in a safe environement as well as build friendships, watch out for each other, and help out any other young, aspiring fighters. A friend of mine gave me the idea. Pretty cool, huh? And we could always use more members." Shingo motions the book slightly in Hotaru's direction; a pen already produced for her to take and sign with.
Whoa. Drunk guy? Gone. Shingo? Talking to him. The change of pace is too much for Frei, who explodes, leaving behind a giant space watermelon worth a whopping 5000 bonus points. "Ah, well, she beat the living heck out of me, so I guess that qualifies her as a fighter," Frei says good-naturedly in response to Shingo's question, which Hotaru has already answered. Take that, Futaba! He listens to Shingo's spiel carefully, then tilts his head. "Hibiki Yabuki? It sort of sounds like a tongue-twister. I mean, not to knock what I presume are your last names or anything. But why not try something more dramatic?" He spreads his hands wide, knocking over an innocent bystander to his right. "SHINGO AND DAN'S ASSWHUPPIN' ACADEMY!" Beat. "Yeah, I like that. Plus you need to have your sign repainted so it's already worth the effort."
Hotaru is saved by her natural fighter's reflexes and ducks under Frei's swinging arm. Yipe! "Hey," she says, good-naturedly, "Be careful there!" She then eyes the book and eh-hehs, "I--I only came to see what was going on... I haven't decided if I'll join yet or not... I'm sorry." She looks around.
"Oh! I haven't had anything to eat since lunch, I'll be right back..."
Shingo blinksblinks at Frei's suggestion and watches as someone gets knocked over. Instinctively he reaches out to help them up and looks back to Frei as he does, "I...uh...will make a note of it, mister. See what Mister Hibiki thinks." Nod. Yes, he'll do that instead of outright saying that he'll think he'll pass on that name. Then again, maybe Dan would like to alter the name. "Oh? Heh, well this is Mister Hibiki's dojo so I'll let him know about the sign too." His attention goes back to Hotaru.
A brief crestfallen look is expressed by the Taiyo student, "Oh." An instant later he's back to his usual grinning doofus self. "That's fine. We plan on being around for a while so whenever you do make up your mind..." The book is closed and the pen is put away. Looks like Dan is better at this than he is.
Frei's not stupid. But he'll still like his name even if Shingo doesn't. Crossing his arms behind his head, he regards the Taiyo student carefully, then glances around at the crowd before turning back to Shingo, leisurely curious. "So... what do you plan on teaching them, exactly?" he asks, tilting his head a little. "I mean, is it going to be all form, or are they just going to beat the hell out of each other while you call out directions? Are you gonna teach 'em about chi at all?"
Aww, look at that heartbroken expression. Hotaru is quick to reassure, "D-don't worry! I'm sure I'll have time, it's just, Seijyun is very strict about what its students do so I'll have to get permission first..." She has a feeling that she may get railroaded, here... but the idea of teaching, that's kind of neat.
"What will be taught, exactly?" she asks, echoing Frei's question.
Now that is a very good question. A very good question indeed. He'll get back to you on that one. "Well uh that is to say...since it is a youth martial arts group most of our members would already know enough about fighting that they really don't need to be taught. Unless it is that they want to learn Saikyo-ryuu. In which case that'd be Mister Hibiki. I'm not really qualified for teaching groups." He grins sheepishly. Can't really say that he's not qualified for teaching period since he does have one student. "It's better to think of this place like a community centre for young fighters, really. Or a big club." He motions over to the decorated punching bag in the far corner, "So like others can come here to train, improve their skills, pick up tips and tricks from others. Stuff like that."
"In other words... you're not teaching them anything," Frei says simply, still smiling in a friendly-enough way. He shifts his weight a little to his left foot, arms still crossed behind his head. "Although I suppose people coming to a safe space to beat each other bloody is better than doing it in the streets." The monk's tone is so thoughtful-sounding it's hard to tell if he's being sarcastic or not. "And I've been meaning to ask: what's 'Saikyo style' all about? I mean, if it's going to call itself the ultimate style, it better be dang good. To me it's an unsupportable claim. Like, uh... Best Western." He grins, stupidly. "I mean, how can you TELL they're the best western hotel? I'm sure I've been to better."
Hotaru sideglances at Frei, but nods to Shingo. A club... where fights would be more instructional than doing league fights... more controlled, maybe. It's an interesting idea; so many fighters fight and learn the 'hard way' that doing it an easier way never really comes up--dojo training is for beginners, after all; once you've begun perfecting a martial art you're past the basic learning and a dojo is just a place to fight, at least for some.
"It sounds like something that might have some merit..."
The way Frei puts it makes it sound so much less beneficial to society. Hotaru, however, has a grasp of how it's truly meant to be. A safe haven, so to speak, for young fighters to get together and do their thing instead of duking it out on the cold streets. Shingo sweatdrops at Frei and nodnods at Hotaru, "That's it exactly!" He then looks back to Frei, "Well, Mister Renard, I'm not saying that they won't be learning anything. But the youth group isn't a class. And people have so many different fighting styles that it'd be hard to teach a class that wasn't just general information that everyone else already knows anyways. And again, you'll have to talk to Mister Hibiki. I don't study Saikyo-ryuu myself. I am proud student of Kusanagi-ryuu kobojutsu!" He rubs the back of his head, "But you already knew that."
Breathing out a little more sharply than he'd intended, the monk swings his arms down behind his back and wobbles back and forth on the balls of his feet. "Frei is fine," he adds gently, and in a surprisingly quiet tone (for him). "I haven't been a Tsukitomi nor a Renard for a very long time." Bringing up a hand to clear his throat, the auburn-haired fighter continues to sway on his feet back and forth, thinking it over. "Well, I mean, I obviously can't really have anything to do with it, but hey. If it's what you want to do, then good luck all the same. I never had a reason to fight in hi..." A pause, and the monk's features suddenly cloud over for a moment, before he shrugs. "I didn't learn the martial arts until well after I'd learned about other things."
Hotaru suddenly pauses, and glances over at Frei. "Aren't you kind of old for this thing anyways? I mean..." And clearly she's teasing, with a slight grin on her face, "It is supposed to be a -Youth- League..." That said, she turns to Shingo and bows again. "I should be getting back soon, but if I -can- join this Youth League then I will, alright?"
First he scratches his head at the adult and his request to be addressed by his first name. Shingo decides that he'll settle for a compromise. "Uh, okay, Mister Frei." Got to show respect for one's elders and all, right? Then looking down to Hotaru, because like most girls she's shorter than him, he gives her a warm grin and nods, "Sounds good to me!"
Someone walks over, presumeably someone who is one of those official types, and asks for Shingo's attention. Looking to his fellow fighters the boy bows, "It was good talking to you two, but if you'll excuse me." And off he goes to go mingle some more.
Frei seems about to raise his finger to have 'mister' striken from the record too, but decides it's probably not worth the effort and instead just waves. "To be honest, I'd better be going too. I have, uh... important, uh... communing with nature to, uh, do." Good lie! Honestly, for someone with nothing but free time he couldn't think of something better? "Good luck with your dojo... gym... haven... thing. ANd hey..." He starts to walk away, then grins at Hotaru from a slight distance. "If you need a squirrel tamer, you've got one on hand." And then, gone!
Hotaru shakes a fist at Frei. But not really. She does look in his direction irritatedly... then, as Shingo turns away, she does too. She has to get back to the dorms; there's a lot of homework to be done tonight, and Itokatsu to feed. So ends her participation in this night's Youth League meeting...
Log created by Shingo, and last modified on 14:51:09 01/10/2006.