Description: Interested in refining her chi control, Eva comes to the tail end of Frei's first YFCC class on harnessing chi. The two fighters talk about the nature of such and the monk gives Eva a little advice in the process. Winning the award for "longest time ever to finish one scene" at 34 days plus (and hence the resulting identity confusion on Mizuki as well...)
It took a while to get this set up. First of all, some of the YFCC staff were not exactly convinced this class would be worth offering in the first place. Fighting was already a 'power' that not all teenage fighters used responsibly. Secondly, it seemed as if Frei's opinion of human potential was maybe a little inflated. And thirdly, it just seemed... too weird. Who the hell would ever sign up for it?
But the monk wheedled, and convinced, and in at least one case bribed (with baked goods), until he got his wish. If it was going to fail, after all, whose time was wasted but Frei's?
And so began "Using Your Inner Power (For Beginners)", Frei's long-promised class on harnessing your chi. The very first thing he did, with the small handful of people gathered around him on a mat in the YFCC training area, was tell them a chunk of his life story: when he was a kid he didn't even know what chi was, and it took him a long time of study before he got to be as good as he is now. "But the important thing," he finished with, encouraging everyone to stand up and do some stretches, "is that if I can do it, anybody can... it's all about having the right frame of mind." If only he knew how wrong he was on that front.
Fast-forward through a solid hour of visualization exercises, sparring, deep breathing, and other focusing techniques. Cue the Gedo freshman who wants to know "when I can shoot fire, dude?", and Frei's patient response that it's not as simple as showing up and learning how to do it in an afternoon. As the class -- none of whom managed to do anything more than perhaps reduce their own stress level a bit through meditation -- files out, some encouraged, some dejected, Frei watches them go with a frown, knowing that not many will be back the following week.
Chi for beginners. Eva is not exactly *new* to chi-handling, persay, but it's not as if her family has some extensive centuries-old training. No, the situation was more like the guy who reads the manual on how to install his own toliet and going to it with successful results. A pro could do it so much better, but there is at least something that works and works suitably well. Still, why not improve your control by strengthening the base of your knowledge? Eva could get behind that. Especially when she needs to do her best to keep up with a certain acquaintance of hers.
It's only after the class has ended, however, that Eva pokes her head in in curiosity, bright blue eyes blinking. "..." Unfortunately, she couldn't attend the first lecture; getting into her workout earlier that day, she had managed to pull something in her back that forced her to do a little 'meditating' of her own, mostly over heat strips and lying down. "... You don't seem to be too happy with your result, I see. I would have attended, but.... I pulled a muscle in my back earlier today while doing a workout here."
There's a pause as Frei stares ahead, blinking in confusion, as he's addressed. However, in short order he turns and tilts his head a little bit at Eva, not having noticed the girl before... not that it's hard to miss someone in this place, cavernous space that it is. He looks perplexed for a moment, but the monk rallies and rubs the back of his head in embarassment, fingers tangling for a moment in his dark red hair, then trailing down his long-tailed headband for a moment. He certainly LOOKS for the part for a crazy Asian chi master, if said master looked like he was 19 and from Ireland.
"Hehe, you noticed?" He inclines his head toward the door. "I think they signed up because it's a curiosity... wanted to see what it is that the fighters on Saturday Night Fights are tossing around at each other like characters on Power Rangers, you know?" Shrugging, Frei's expression becomes more neutral; he doesn't seem overly concerned about it. "The truth is, the people who really can harness their chi probably already know how..."
"... Oh! Sorry, I should have announced my presense," the girl says, seeming genuinely embarrassed as she nears Frei, having visibly confirmed that he doesn't seem to be in any hurry to go anywhere. At five feet and ten inches, Eva may seem to almost tower over the new teacher, but for all her quiet and subdued mannerisms, it may not even be all that noticable.
A curiosity? "... Well, it *is* a curiosity. It's very visible, and very mysterious, even to those who use it. Well... I suppose it's still mysterious to me." Pausing to think over Frei's next comment, the girl remarks, "Whether or not this is true, I think it would be a useful class. I can use chi, but... My control of it is average at best. And it sounded like you were using meditation techniques and the like. This may introduce people to those techniques, which would be useful even if they fail to display any abilities to control chi... OH. Ah, sorry; I'm Eva. Eva Manzetti." She holds out her hand in introduction to Frei, though it doesn't seem to be with any pretense of him recongizing her name at all.
Is he a hand-shaker? Well, sort of. Frei doesn't seem bothered by Eva's intrusion at all; in fact, he gives her a big dorky XD face as he shakes her hand. He doesn't have much of a grip, comparatively speaking... maybe that's why he studies chi after all. "Italian lass, eh? My name's Frei Renard... well, Frei Tsukitomi-Renard if you want the full version, but usually 'Frei' is fine." Depending on how jaded Eva is or not, Frei may seem very fake... or *amazingly guileless*. As some have said, he really is made of pure, unalloyed :)ium. "A pleasure."
The girl's statement causes the monk to nod in agreement, once he's got the preliminaries out of the way. "That's a pretty astute read of the situation," he agrees, putting a finger to his lips in a slightly dramatic gesture of 'thinking it over'. "Meditation is handy, if you can do it right. A lot of people seem to think you need, like... incense and an Enya CD or something, that's just stupid. And I wouldn't be too down on your abilities. After all, you can't be older than..." Knitting his brow, Frei leans forward and squints at the exceptionally tall girl for a moment, before pronouncing: "...18? Yeah. I dunno what they feed the schoolkids in Southtown, but there's a disproportionate number of kids here who can harness their chi, you know? And at a young age that's a bigger feat than people think."
Character. The man has it in ready supply, it seems, and Eva seems to be already won over by the happy-go-lucky Frei. It makes that quiet demeanor melt away to something a lot more cheerful and approachable, but she does not lose any of her original politeness in the transition. "... Italian-American, actually..." Jaded, Eva isn't.
"...Seventeen, actually," Eva corrects softly. "However, I had the help of my father. Many don't have such teachers to guide them. And... I'm actually from Chicago, though, I believe the atmosphere here around the schools helps promote friendly competition and the need for young people to take care of their bodies."
Eva's response seems to surprise Frei a little bit, his eyes widening. "Compared to the US, you mean? I've never actually lived there... I hope you won't be offended if I say it's a nicer place to visit than to live." He grins sheepishly. "I've never been to Chicago, though. But you might be on to something. I know a lot of people who go to Taiyo... and they seem big on what you said there." Visions of more than a few people he knows -- Mimiru, Sakura, Roberto, Yuri -- flit through his mind as he reflects on their alma mater.
Locking his fingers together, the monk pushes his arms up and out over his head, stretching hard, his eyes squinted shut for a moment as he "nnnngh!"s with the effort. "I've been wondering if maybe it's better if people learn on their own, though... well, at least once they have the basics down. You want something that's uniquely your own, right? Not what somebody else taught y--" He realizes Eva JUST SAID her dad helped her, and he has the good grace to look embarassed about it. "Well, I mean... I had a master for a long time too. Nothing wrong with learning from someone. But you need to put your own spin on, too."
Simply shaking her head, Eva smiles. "... No, no, it's fine. Most say that about Chicago; it's very beautiful there in certain spots, but very busy. I'm not sure if many would like being in such an environment." She runs a hand through her dark curls as she ponders Frei's next comment about the schools; specifically Taiyo. "... Yes, Taiyo seems especially competitive. I'm from Pacific High, myself.... Some see my school as possibly snobbish, but it's been a wonderful experience for me."
"... There's something to be said for tradition," Eva says with a hint of nostaglia to her voice, those eyes closing as she reflects. "I am not a copy of my father; my base is the same, but my style is different. Some of us learn better when others teach us, rather than when we teach ourselves. It also can provide the neccessary push needed to make someone train and improve themselves. But yes. No one should have to learn the same way. What worked for me...." A small frown comes to her face.. "... will not work for everyone."
Although he's never been there, Frei's lived in Southtown long enough to recognize that name. "Pacific... that's the school for international students, right? It's got a pretty campus, I've walked by it a few times." There's a pause as he tries to recall having met anyone from Pacific, then shrugs when he realizes he can't think of any off the top of his head. "Do a lot of fighters go there as well? I always thought Taiyo was pretty unique, but there's always Gedo... so I guess not so much after all."
Eva's comment about tradition, however, gets more of a reaction; the red-haired monk gets a blank expression for a moment, before nodding with a pensive look on his face. "Yeah... it can. I know another girl your age, Mizuki... she comes from a REALLY long line of martial artists. She'd probably say the same thing. But I know from firsthand experience that tradition... can sometimes weigh you down instead of being a touchstone, you know? More shackle than anything else." His green eyes dull for a moment, as he briefly reflects on his parting on bad terms with his mother and his rejection of their family sword style. But then, mercurial as always, he is all smiles again. "I'm sure it depends on the tradition, after all. The only maxim is that there are no maxims, or whatever."
"I would imagine so. I think I've heard of a few fighters that have specifically come from Pacific, but no one I know personally..." Eva ponders this, sweeping a finger to push a lock of short hair behind her ear. "Ah, yes. There's one who fights with an oar, I think. I had to fight him in a SNL fight. He was very skilled, for having such an unorthodox weapon. Witness in amazement as the pot calls the kettle black; doesn't *she* use a jacket for some of her attacks?
Not that Frei would know; he's just met her. And, for all that Eva knows, Frei may have an unorthodox weapon of his own. "... I met Mizuki as well... She has reddish hair, correct?" Long line of martial artists? Eva didn't know; all she knows is.... well, that Mizuki properly beat her silly.
But enough of that. Cool eyes narrow slightly in observation, and the girl makes an assumption, even as that smile appears on Frei's face. "... You didn't have a choice, did you?" A pause, and she adds, quite bashfully, "Of course, I don't mean to pry; assumptions hardly do justice to truths, especially when they're completely wrong."
With a shrug, Frei puts his arms out to the side, hands extended and palms up. "Everything's an assumption until it's proven, right? Besides, if I wasn't interested in discussing it I coulda kept my big trap shut." He grins at Eva, almost conspiratorily, before reaching down toward his feet and snapping up a bottled water he'd been drinking from before and taking a sip. After all, he DID just get done doing a 'workout' of his own, even if said workout was more mental than physical. "Besides, you happen to be right, which sort justifies the statement to begin with, right?"
The monk takes another sip, with a thoughtful look, before re-capping the nearly-empty bottle and putting it back on the ground at his feet. "You're right, I didn't have a choice. From the time I was strong enough to hold a shinai, I was trained... and then on a bokken, and then on a real sword. I'd handled a katana before I'd ever touched a teddy bear, you know? But I don't have any regrets about it," he says, perhaps a little too hastily. "I just wish I'd been given a choice. So when I meet people who are tied to tradition, I... guess I just make a point of telling them they DO have a choice. There's a difference between following a tradition because it resonates, and just going along because it's the way things are."
Eva nods quickly, stepping away as if to give the young man some physical space as he rests with a bottle of water. "... But you didn't," she argues gently with a small smile. "But, I suppose you're still right, in a way. You still can say otherwise or sidestep the question entirely, and I would have not known any better.
Frei's words are listened to with gentle empathy from Eva; she slowly nods as he finishes, allowing the pause to sit there before speaking herself. "I suppose many would disagree with me, but.... I think that's horrible. Some traditions shouldn't be forced like that at such a young age. Though, I suppose," she considers briefly, "that you seem to be at peace with your current path in life. As for me... When I was young, my father became swept up in the idea that he would be carrying on a tradition to a third generation, and started training me and my brother while we were still very young. He didn't realize his mistake, however, until I started crying one day. I remember my brother stepping in front of me as if to protect me. My father quickly relented then, realizing his mistake, and from then on out, we were allowed to mold our own destinies. My brother continued being my father's pupil; I did not resume fighting until two years or so ago." Her smile turns lopsided. "I don't remember what caused me to cry; I think I was just throwing a tantrum. I was a very spoiled child."
If Frei is bothered by thinking about the subject, it doesn't show. "I am!" he agrees, at least in terms of him being at peace. Perfectly at peace? Probably not, but who is? At peace enough, certainly. "It took a long time to get that way, but I did eventually find something that fit me." He pushes his hands together, palms in, and then outward... if she's familiar enough with the forms, Eva might recognize it as one of the basics of tai chi, a simple stretching and flexibility exercise. "Which is more important than anything, I think. In the end you're the one who has to live with the result."
Halfway through the form, Frei stops and turns to Eva, giving her an appraising look. Insight, apparently, was motivated by her own past experiences. "Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" he says, though it's a mere formality; he goes on to ask and presumes that if it's too much, Eva will say so; she seems like the forthright type. "Why did you choose to start again?"
Eva smiles at Frei's positive reply. Really, he must be happy, or else be a *very* good actor. "I'm glad that you did; that feat is something as rare as visible chi." Meanwhile, she quiets to watch the young man's fluid moves, marveling as he speaks further on the subject. "Indeed. That's all we have, sometimes, to make us satisfied in life."
Dark eyebrows raise slightly as Frei changes subjects and prepares to breach into a possibly more sensitive one. "... No, I don't mind at all; go ahead." She listens, her expression never giving the impression of difficulty with the possible subject at hand. "In retrospect, it may sound strange, but... my twin brother died in a car accident. I decided to take things from there." Much like Frei recalling his childhood, Eva doesn't make much of the potential tragedy of this particular event in her past. It happened, she dealt with it. ".... Much like you, I found my happiness in life. I have my own goals now, rather than adopted ones."
The monk's face contorts in an expression of sadness, and as Eva noted... he's either very emotive by nature or a fantastic actor. "I'm sorry for that," he says quietly, keeping eye contact with Eva rather than looking away. "My father died when I was a kid, so I sort of know how you feel... though I think it changed my mother and my brothers more than it did me." He pauses a second, and then adds, almost as an afterthought, "He was a musician... played the cello. Sometimes I wonder if I'd have grown up to be a musician too." He pauses again, then turns and grins too widely at Eva, pointing a finger at his fiery red hair. "My mother's Japanese, see? Not that you could tell because I almost 100% take after my dad." He gives an exaggerated 'hoom-paaaah' breath, before saying in a Darth Vader-y voice, "The British is strong with this one..."
Frei lets that sink in for a second before snapping up the bottled water and downing the rest, then turning and bank shot-ing it into a recycling container. The bottle bounces around the rim unpredictably before toppling in eventually, and the monk pumps his arm in victory before turning back to Eva and tightening the long tails of his headband. "Would you mind showing me some of your moves? I'm... a scholar of chi, I guess you could say. I'm always interested in seeing what people's unique ways of using it are."
"It's alright." Eva slowly shakes her head. "It is in the past; my brother's in a better place now." It is all said with an air of graceful resignation, rather than a forced cheerfulness. It transitions well into that of sad empathy for Frei's loss, those thin eyebrows furrowing in a creased worry line as she listens to Frei. "I don't know how I'd be able to handle my father dying. That is a great loss at such an age."
Blue eyes follow that pointing finger to Frei's red hair, and eyelids blink. "I was wondering, actually, about that, when you introduced yourself. But yes, you're correct; I didn't realize at all your heritage just by looking at you." Watching Frei ceremoniously pitching the bottle away with proper celebration, her gaze rockets back to his face as he asks her a question. "A spar? Or just a demonstration? If it's the later, I cannot promise much, but I would be honored to do either."
A look of confused contemplation crosses Frei's face for a moment. A good question! And one which, in his own imicable fashion, the monk answers in a very circuitous fashion. "Well... would you be shocked if I said I learned how to manipulate yin and yang before I ever knew how to throw a punch?" He grins sheepishly at that, as if embarassed to admit it. "True story. My master..." And here, a pause, something clouding his features for just a moment, but like a flash of summer lightning, it's gone in an instant, "...said that learning to fight would help me master chi. He was probably right. I think when you're fighting your mind is forced to focus differently than if you're just meditating, you know? It helps you react faster to shifting patterns of force..."
Clearing his throat after a pose, Frei sketches a faint bow to Eva and then gets into a fighting stance... it's very lose, vaguely kung fu/kempo-y in execution... though it looks more like Slack-Fu than Kung-Fu. Frei simply has... an aura of rumpled-ness about him, casual and relaxed. "Gimmie your best shot. We don't have to beat each other silly, but I could use the exercise... and I'd like to see how you use what you know!"
COMBATSYS: Frei has started a fight here.
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Frei 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Eva has joined the fight here.
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Frei 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Eva
The answer makes Eva balk openly for a moment. There's your answer, Frei. Eva is thoroughly shocked. "..." What sort of childhood did this young man have? Is that happy-go-lucky attitude really his true view on the world, or is it a mask? "Chi control was one of the very last things I was able to master," she says, her voice still somewhat dazed from disbelief. "And my control's quite stunted as a result."
A master? Despite them having only just met, the girl is already worried as Frei's expression seems to darken, if just for a moment. ... She will not ask; it's not her place to, just yet. Such questions are best left for friendships much older. "Alright." No coat on her right now, but she's able to handle that. "I'm not certain if I could handle such a fight anyways right now, but I believe my back will benefit from such exercise." She shifts into a pose of her own, resembling that of a boxer's, if more loose to allow for more than standard punches. Nary a nanosecond passes that Eva launches her first attack, arms becoming laced with blue chi as she crosses them over her head and rushes at Frei in an attempt to barrel into him in one quick dart.
Well, he wanted the best she could do at the moment, right?
COMBATSYS: Frei blocks Eva's Cerulean Bullet.
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Frei 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Eva
He's just testing her out right now -- and coincidentally giving Eva a chance to put her skills into use -- so Frei doesn't try any fancy defensive maneuvers or anything like that. As the blue-hued charge comes at him, he takes a deep breath and crosses his arms, pushing back at the incoming charge to lessen the impact. The cerulean chi licks at his aura, doing a bit of damage but nothing too awful. Of course, it's likely Eva was just testing the waters as-is.
Stepping back and uncrossing his arms, Frei smiles at Eva. "I don't think that's true at all. You've got the basics down, it looks like... you focus on adding force, and unconsciously respond by providing it. At least, that's my armchair analysis." Balling his right hand into a fist, Frei ducks back in and decides to test Eva's defenses a bit, snapping out a quick stiff-armed punch, Bruce Lee-style, a flare of gold-yellow light bursting around his forearm as he does so. "Most people can't even do that much. Don't be so hard on yourself!"
COMBATSYS: Eva blocks Frei's Quick Punch.
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Frei 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Eva
The soft-spoken girl's demeanor has changed here, becoming more serious as her eyes narrow in concentration. When the attack is met with a defensive push at the right moment, the girl's expression fails to change. She instead reacts with her body, forcing it back as soon as momentum allows her to do so. Her voice, however, is still much the polite and quiet tone as it ever was as she responds to Frei's observation. "It would make sense." Most of her arsenal is much like that when it comes to chi, save one attack. .... And that one... requires a lot of pain and a coat to get to, neither of which she neccessarily wants to deal with right now.
When Frei counterattacks, Eva is quick to block it with the arm facing the young man, taking the initiative to launch her long leg upwards to attempt to roughly plant a foot into his midsection while he's pulling back from his quick snap of a punch.
COMBATSYS: Eva successfully hits Frei with Light Kick.
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Frei 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Eva
It had been Frei's intention to duck out of the way of that kick, but sadly as he's been training to toughen himself up, he's had to neglect keeping up with his footwork... and it's not up to the task of evading Eva's blow, which catches him and sends him tumbling back across the matted floors, Frei skidding to a step and getting back in stance with a smile. "But see, think about that for a second. You're doing most of the work subconsciously! Right? It's like... moving your arm," he says, waving his own arm around, "or walking. You don't know which muscles are doing what at any given second but you can move. That's important! You shouldn't feel bad about it."
Deciding not to attack, he hangs back and hops on the balls of his feet a little bit, getting himself psyched up for the exertion. After all, he just came off meditating, not a workout. "Of course, every word I've said may only be so much garbage, but I might be right, too." He offers Eva a somewhat wry smile. "A risk I'm willing to take!"
COMBATSYS: Frei focuses on his next action.
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Frei 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Eva
While her control in chi is average, it's her short-term pain tolerance and speed that proves to be her true strength. As long as whatever chi hits her isn't that strange violet type she encountered in Thailand, it's just another form of pain she needs to deal with if and when it hits. Keeping her distance as Frei speaks, Eva grants him a small smile. "It does make sense, however. I will have to ponder over that." But later. If she focusing on how she does it now, it'll throw her control off until she can remove her attention away from it.
Like moving an arm. Or a foot, perhaps. Only, Eva seems to be saving her chi for another day for now, sweeping to Frei with her knee raised towards her face, launching it forward towards the young man in a single sharp piston kick to his legs.
COMBATSYS: Frei interrupts Medium Kick from Eva with Hizashi.
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Frei 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Eva
Eva seems to be a practical person... and for all his flights of wasteful fantasy and random philosophical ramblings, Frei appreciates practicality. You can think about Outer Space all you want, but if you can't do something with it here and now, that's pretty pointless. "Right. Okay. Now, the next step..."
Eva moves quick and her moves are not exactly telegraphed; rather, in this instance it's simply that Frei already had in mind what he planned to do, his right hand glowing with a nimbus of that same golden energy from before, like a miniature sunburst surrounding his hand. "The next step isn't conscious effort, and a lot of people think it is. It's..." And here he is interruped by Eva's proverbial boot landing in his stomach, a gasp of pain escaping from Frei's mouth. However, before the girl can retract her leg, the monk throws his hand forward, the golden chi nimbus around his hand exploding like a small, spherical firework; the chi is warm to the touch, the same feeling as being out on a hot summer day. "...it's training your subconscious to act with variety. Sorta."
In battle? Absolutely. However, outside of of matches, Eva is the sort to engage in what those of a more practical mind would call 'lesser pursuits'. It is the reason she and Ryuujin spent an outing at the amusement park at the beach chatting about questions best left to philosophers, rather than about rides and cotton candy. .... Well, cotton candy always is welcome, but that's besides the point.
Eva is quick, but not quick enough to dodge that golden circlet that explodes around Frei's hand. Since she is, you know, temporarily bound to Frei's stomach by her own momentum. "... Ngh!" The girl is pushed back by the explosion, feet shifting against the floor as she quick recovers from the sudden change in tactics. ".... Isn't that what a fight truly is, at its core?" she finally says, straightening.
Now, for another one of her staple chi moves, if only to grant Frei his wish to see what techniques Eva has. Dashing in, she leans in and swings her foot, glowing fine blue chi, in an attempt to hook around Frei's ankle. If it connects, she'll pull it forward, attempting to trip the redhead in a swift motion.
COMBATSYS: Frei endures Eva's Pale Brush.
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Frei 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Eva
The monk is actually halfway through the word "Probably" when he notices that Eva wasn't asking a rhetorical question and then going and having a sit down to think it over, she asked it and then she tried to knock him on his backside with a chi-powered sweeping kick. He would love to say he walked right into it so that he can judge Eva's chi powers firsthand, but in truth he just wasn't paying attention, and backwards he goes...
...but backside over teakettle, not so much, surprisingly! In fact, as he heads toward the ground he suddenly inverts, landing on his hands in a very very impromptu handstand... and then he sort of falls forward onto Eva. It is the stupidest, least elegant attack in the universe, probably because it's 9/10 mistake. Still, Eva made clean contact with her hit and Frei is *guaranteed* to land badly, so the ledger may end up in her favor on this one after all.
COMBATSYS: Frei successfully hits Eva with Random Weapon.
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Frei 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Eva
In truth, Eva didn't intend for that question to make her next attack catch Frei off guard. Really, she didn't. However, in the sequence of events that follow, it does.
Thankfully for Frei, his resulting mistake of a move manages to catch Eva off-guard even while she attempts to move aside. "Oof!" Down goes Frei onto Eva in an awkward attack that snowballs into an even more awkward moment as the two lie in a pile on the floor mat. ".... Errr...." Quickly attempting to untangle herself, she moves out from underneath Frei. ".... Are you alright? Sorry; it seems that in fights, I'm either speaking too much or not at all." Offering her hand to the downed Frei with a small smile, she adds, "You're very good."
COMBATSYS: Eva takes no action.
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Frei 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Eva
*Fwump*. That's the sound that the human cannonball act makes, tumbling down onto the practice mats. In typical fashion, Frei landed face down... but if Eva's not hurt, he doesn't seem to be. Well, other than laying on the mat face-down with his arms and legs splayed out. The effect is rather like Wil E. Coyote having been pushed off a cliff. "Mmf fai, fan..." he says, into the mat, before yanking his arms back in and flipping himself over.
With a grin, he accepts Eva's help and gets back up, rubbing a crick out of the back of his neck. "You too! You're too modest, I think. You're very skilled." He doesn't seem too interested in doing any more fighting, either. He saw her power at work, after all. Plus the girl hits harder than she thinks, too. "Thank you for showing me. Plus I think I can give you some tips, *if* you want them. I know how important finding your own path is in this business. I will insist on offering you a bottled water back upstairs, though."
COMBATSYS: Frei takes no action.
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Frei 0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0 Eva
With the comical manner Frei possesses, it's hard for Eva to strifle back that bubble of a chuckle that wells up from within her. He certainly is very approachable; perhaps students were wishing for someone less so for their teacher. Someone.... more stereotypical for someone who talks about chi and shooting fireballs and so on. But chi's not as simple as that, not unless you already have the core ideas in your very nature. "... I try my best," Eva replies modestly. "Chi is something only my father was able to master, and he had to spend hours upon hours with a sparring buddy of his in order to develop any sort of technique. It took me just as long."
When she finally accomplished it, it took at least another week until it happened again, just because she was so focused on replicating that *exact* procedure. "I would gladly accept any advice you may have to offer. But.... yes, some water would be great." She lets out an awkward 'heh'. ".... I've been practicing for quite a while before this, so..."
Nobody is more willing to laugh at Frei than Frei himself, so he doesn't seem bothered when Eva starts chuckling; in fact, he joins in before beckoning her back upstairs after him, heading toward the mini-fridge in the office and talking as he goes. "Well... sometimes not even hard work will do it. The potential to actually use your chi for things like fighters do is actually pretty rare; very few people can do it. Your father is fortunate, though I'm sure his hard work paid off."
Reaching the fridge, Frei reaches in and withdraws two generic-brand bottled waters, one for himself and one for Eva, which he hands off to her. The other he keeps for himself, but rather than drinking it, he presses the bottle against his forehead for a moment, breathing out. "I felt... a really balanced chi. You had the forcefulness of yang -- the aggressive part, the 'warm' part -- but it was controlled and shaped, which is more of a yin thing. I'm betting you have a hard-working and diligent personality. You might even be a perfectionist." There's a pause while Frei grins. "Sometimes chi is better than tarot cards. Although by my own standards I'd have to predict a lunatic with MPD, so..."
The stifled giggle is encouraged by Frei's own laughter, allowing the girl some reprive from her usual politeness to laugh along with Frei at that final defining move as they go upstairs. When the water bottle is offered, Eva gladly takes it and uncaps it with a twist of her wrist. "... I didn't realize you could actually see that much through a person's chi.... though, I suppose...." She thinks about it a while, sipping gladly from her water bottle. "I suppose it's nothing too hard to determine just by being around me, however. I... really don't have any secrets. Someone else who keeps things in... would it be that easy?"
"I cannot tell things from your chi," Eva continues, "... but you seem very light-hearted and approachable. Very friendly. I am not good at judging what's underneath the way a person acts, but, that is how you feel to me. I don't see a lunatic at all. Just a happy, jovial spirit."
Frei's normally pale, barely-freckled face actually colors a little at that, and he waves a hand in the air dismissively with a smile. "I try to be upbeat. It's a good defense against not being upbeat." He leans back and, clearing some desk space, sits down on the edge of it, twisting the cap off his own water and taking a long swig. "And it's not necessarily that I could see that 'through your chi'... well, maybe. How about I give you the actual advice I was going to by way of explanation..."
Pausing, Frei clears his throat, looking into the water bottle, and his mien becomes a little more serious for a moment. "The way I was taught, your control over your chi comes from your emotions... that's why people who instinctively use their chi tend to have energy that relates to their emotions. Does that make sense? Aggressive, upbeat people tend to have fire, or light, or that sort of thing. Calm and collected types, or maybe arrogant types with strong self-confidence, lightning and electricity are more common... and sometimes it's just 'force', without any sort of elemental tie. Like yours... a core of power and activity shaped by discipline and logic. That's how I got my conclusions."
Looking up again, Frei smiles once more, and has another sip of water. "So my advice is not to try and change yourself. Just be who you are... but spend some time trying to summon your energy *outside* of a fight. Just... try to make it flow through you, while you're doing something you enjoy. The things that make us happy are the parts of us that are easiest to access, right?"
"I noticed that... Yours was yellowish, for example, but.... I'm not sure if I'd categorize it as 'electric'." Logical. If Eva had to describe the core of her chi, it's that, despite it being different for the core of her own self. This step must be done for this to happen. Chi is used for this, and this. It must be used in moderation. It must not be depended upon. The core of Eva's being.... it's that voice that encourages her to keeping going until she's down for the count for good. It's almost stereotypical; everyone has this in some form or another, but for Eva... the reasons for it are not for pride, admiration, or fame. "I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the impressive array of force people can wield. The strangest would have to be this one chi I saw in Thailand. Violet, with black undertones. It seemed alien. I've never really seen anyone with that sort of power since." Except for maybe one or two times on TV, but that's sometimes hard to gauge on a small screen.
".... Summon my energy outside of a fight?" Eva's gaze falls upon Frei in surprise. ".... But how? If it's pure energy... how could I use it for purposes that are non-offensive?"
Weirdly, at that question the monk's face breaks into a wide grin. "Surprised? I learned everything in reverse. I was using chi outside of a fight well before I ever knew to throw a punch. But the two go hand in hand, so usually someone who can do one eventually learns the other." He pauses, however, at the description of the energy Eva heard of. He's never heard of violet-black chi... nor chi with a 'mind of its own'. But that doesn't mean he necessarily has even the slightest idea what it is. "That is sort of odd. That attack I used on you... it was just 'yang chi'. Most chi has two elements; yin and yang. You know, the Chinese system? Life and death, light and dark. Neither is good nor evil, but they make a harmonious whole. I've never heard of violet-black, though. And in Thailand, huh..." He browknits, filing that info away for later.
And then, with another swig of water, abruptly shifts the topic again. "Well, you know basic physics, right? First law of thermodynamics. The energy is a system remains constant. So just because you're not shooting lightning out of your eyeballs doesn't mean your chi isn't inside you. You'd just be... well, calling it to the surface, instead of letting it stay latent. It's like working a muscle. You divert some of your body's energy to a certain group of tendons and ligaments and whatever a few times and voila! Improvement."
"Yes. It was used by that terrorist group that had taken over Thailand. The strongest of its fighters had it." Including Sakura, strangely enough, though Eva doesn't recall seeing any trace of it since she's 'reverted' back to the self Eva knew from TV. Which reminds her.... she really needs to meet this Sakura again, sometime. Maybe make her some brownies as a peace offering! Chocolate does make everything go more smoothly, after all. That is, unless the reciever is not a fan of chocolate. Ah well.
Pondering over Frei's words with a thoughtful frown, Eva nods slowly. "... So, if I am understanding this right... using chi to improve your body, or to hold it together when you hit a low point, perhaps? Not a bad idea... Though, wouldn't messing with the flow of a body's chi, even temporarily, bring harm to the body itself?"
Eva's statement gets a series of nods from Frei. "Think of chi like... well, like a second circulatory system. Er, veins and arteries and whatever. Just like you have vital points for those, you have vital points for your chi, too. And disrupting it in the right way can harm the body like... I guess I'd say like feedback from having a mic up too loud. You know the Buddhist concept of chakras? Points on the body related to the aura? Chakras are vital points for chi, though they're not the only ones."
Finishing off his bottled water, Frei hops off the desk and shakes out his hands in midair, as if getting ready for some physical work, and then holds his hands in front of him, palms in, summoning a swirling ball of ice around the size of a baseball between them. "*This* used to make me lightheaded. See? Because I was messing with the flow too much. Now it's just second nature. I could probably do this all day if I wanted... well, maybe that's an exaggeration." He lets it disappear and then smiles at Eva. "But chi can help the body too. Do you know a girl name Mizuki? She comes here often... she can use chi to close wounds and speed up healing. For herself and for other people. I can too, sometimes... I don't know as much about it as Mizuki does, not by a long shot. But it can be done."
"Yes, I've read some things on the idea of chakras." Eva's not altogether sure if she believes in it and everything else *completely*, but, perhaps, it does make sense in some way. Especially in the way Frei puts it. "So, the applying of chi to disrupt the chi of another?" Interesting. She's not sure if she would attempt to develop such a technique if it were possible, but it does make for an interesting theory.
Theories are one thing; seeing ice balls form in front of you is something else entirely. Eva nearly drops the water bottle in surprise at the dimenstration. "... Wh.... That's amazing! You just formed ice from... How is that even possible?!" Calming down a bit as the topic shifts to one side, Eva manages to gather her thoughts. Mizuki, Mizuki...
"Yes. I've met Mizuki." Eva blinks, that vivid blue gaze trailing down to the half-empty water bottle in reflection. "Mizuki and I sparred here, actually. If I remember correctly.... she did have some sort of strange ability like that..." To have the ability to pass chi from one person to another, for healing purposes... If she could do that, that would certainly help in spars, and in situations where she pushes her body a little too far.
If anything, Frei looks a little embarassed by Eva's sudden surprise at the demonstration, but he is also quick to wave both hands in the air in front of him, declaiming any special power. "Training! That's all the separates me from you. You have that power too! I saw you use it. The only thing different between us is training. Ice is just... I mentioned the yin/yang balance, right? Well, 'water' and 'yin' and 'cold' are all related concepts. So if you know how to... I guess you'd say 'spin' the chi around you just so, you get ice by bringing out the yin and shearing off the yang. I know it sounds complicated, and it is a little, but it's just... a skill I learned. There's nothing special about me." He pauses, after saying that, and then adds slightly more firmly, "Yeah."
Shaking his head, Frei suddenly goes from looking pensive to looking bright again, his moods surprisingly mercurial that way. "But yeah. Some entire fighting styles are based on knowledge of chi flow points, or so I'm told. They usually coincide with, like, pressure points and stuff, so some people do it without knowing." He hops off the desk he was sitting on and stretches his arms over his head in an arch, fingers locked. "Mizuki is very skilled with water chi. I still don't know how she does that trick with healing others. I can sometimes give my healing process a nudge, but I can't do it to others. And while I can use ice attacks, Mizuki is an *expert* at them. If you want to learn about that, I suggest asking her. I'm sure she'd be happy to tell you anything you want to know."
"Yes, yes, I know, but..." A grin spreads wide on Eva's face. "I'm still amazed by what other people can accomplish. To be honest... when I started to fight... I thought that what I had experienced was all there was to fighting, but... It's so much more complex than that." Rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly, she quickly adds, "I only started to devote all my attention to fighting a couple of years ago. So... everything still looks new to me."
Flow points.... "I know of someone who seems to base his style of fighting around that. He can precisely guide his body's performance like a conductor guides an orchestra. He does not use any chi attacks, so, it all may be devoted to just that purpose. His name is Ryuujin- if you saw him in action, you'd understand what I mean. I've sparred with him many times." Looking down at her watch just then, Eva frowns. ".... I'm afraid that I better get going soon. The advice you've given me is very appreciated; I'll see if I can put it into practice like you have." Writing her name and number on a piece of paper, she hands it over to the merry young man. ".... If you need a person to spar with, or anything else."
With a smile, Frei takes the proffered paper and tucks it into his front shirt pocket. "I don't have a business card or anything, but you can usually track me down here," he replies, waving an arm to encompass the YFCC in general. "We'll see how that class goes. I bet it won't last long... people are going to get disappointed. But, I might help someone who was like your father before he made that breakthrough. So if I can help that one person, so much the better."
Stepping out of the office, Frei waits until Eva has presumably followed him out, then gives her a goodbye wave. "I haven't heard of Ryuujin. But if I do, I'll be careful of him. A fighter who impressed you is probably pretty impressive." And amazingly, words that might sound trite from most leave Frei's lips with a note of sincerity behind them. Of course, not everybody finds the monk's fresh-faced cheerfulness believable. Tran, for instance... as the monk has bruises to prove. "Good luck. Remember, it's just like working a muscle. Relax, eat a big bowl of something you like, and just focus. It's not going to turn you into an eyelaser-firing demon in a week, but I bet it will help you in the long run."
And with that, he's off into some corner of the center, someone having yelled his name.
Log created on 00:35:50 08/02/2007 by Frei, and last modified on 14:40:36 09/08/2007.