Description: *Season Three, Episode Fourteen Part 2* Next time on "Shamanic Princess Todoh" though our heroine was able to discover the magic behind the clapper before the vile witch, she fails to protect a vital picture about her past and as the witch discovers it how will she put it to use against our beloved hero? The conclusion to this two part special.
It's mid-day in the old Karuta district of Southtown. This implies a lot of things... such as, oh, sunlight. Maybe some happy birds chirping. Maybe some young children enjoying their play in the nearby park to that little building that, at one point in the recent past, was a place of pride and some infamy. Now it's just infamy, and a tinge of obscurity. The kind of mix you might find on a cooking show, if such shows were into cooking similes and metaphors into tasty little sayings. Mmm, mmm. Tasty quotes.
It's a somewhat cloudy day out here, which is likely indicative or foreshadowing of nothing entirely other than perhaps a light rain this evening. But, though the Todoh dojo doubles as his personal residence, he hasn't quite been seen (which is normal) nor heard (which is slightly less normal) over the last couple of days. It is said that he often /finds/ people rather than being found himself, and this may continue to hold true.
This is, generally, the only place any one person would have hopes of finding him rather than any other way around. Maybe with luck there won't be another Clapper incident like last time.
Since visiting here last, it occured to one certain witch in particular, a 'Naerose' as her nametag specified, in red crayon on her chest, that she should be doing something. She didn't know what though, being as she had never really been a student before. So, arriving at the bright and early time of 11:59AM, she starts to work. Then there is the problem that she doesn't actually know what work she needs to do, or should do, or what work even is. She thusly turns her broom around and uses it to sweep. That's right, she sweeps the floor. Do you have a problem with that?
She doesn't do the best of jobs, she's just sort of acting like she's sweeping, going back and fourth and shifting dust around. It's terribly ineffective, but would make for a decent comic strip.
Well, there's not a lot of things one can do with a broom, now is there? The sweeping commences, and half-hearted a job it may be, it is much more work than Ryuhaku Todoh ever seems to give to the actual upkeep of the place. How the hell is he supposed to attract students this way?! It is one of many mysteries surrounding the man.
"Eh? Dear? Is that you?" That voice. The voice of the one, the only... which is quickly drowned out by a door flying open somewhere in Naerose's general vicinity as he storms right out about as quickly as he was quiet up until now. It's never been out of the question for him to go from one extreme of activity to the other within mere seconds.
"I'm so not venison," replies the witch defensively, as if she had just been caught red handed actually being tasty tender deer meat. She adjusts her shades and look
"Oh wait, right, master umm. Todo. Hey, have you ever heard of the wizard of oz?" She asks off handedly as if to change the subject from the terrible subject of venison, which she isn't. Truly, not venison. Believe her.
"Hmm?!" The masterful(?) eyes of Todoh scan every which way at the voice. It's not his wife. Whew. She'd /kill/ him if she came back and saw he's been napping the entire afternoon. And Kasumi! But if she were skipping class, she wouldn't hear the end of it from /him/ given how much tuition to Seijyun costs!
But, it is neither as his head turns oh-so slowly in Naerose's question while he mulls over what could have been the end of him, either by angry wife or high blood pressure. "Oh! Oh." He puts on a not terribly convincingly warm smile as one of his "students" return. "It is you! Welcome, welcooome!" He looks every which way again, as if to make sure that his wife just isn't about to creep up on him.
"Wizard of Oz? Eh... er..." He's not quite the definitive authority on foreign films (by Japan standards, as the case would be).
Naerose just stands there a moment and seems to decide this would be a good time to forget all about sweeping and thus, does, or at least stops . She looks at the ground, the sky, all around then back at Todoh.
"So teach, got any lesson sss? Like I dunno, you have something.. Training.. ..
The witch looks uncomfortable. It's evident she's not sure she wants to do more work, but she asked and now has to go along with it, right right? She tries to make it easier on herself.
"If you think that's necessary." Yaeh, smooooth save. She even gives a little confident smile and would probably pat herself on the back
"Any lessons? Hmm, why..." Ryuhaku Todoh's little gears in his head start to grind. Metaphorically. As metaphorical as whatever the cloudy sky may be a metaphor for what may occur. Metaphor is starting to not look like a word any more.
He eyes the broom. He can tell she's been doing some sweeping. He's even heard it! He rubs his hands together. "Yes! Lots of training. For my student that will pave the way to the future of martial arts as we can only dream! Yes, yes."
Is there any real conflict going on in his heads about training in earnest and convenience? Well... he seems to have made up his mind as of a good seven seconds ago. "Today we will train your... your chakra alignment against the dust of the earth! And..." He wonders how far he can take this as he heads inside, "your upper body arm strength! And, of course, I'll deliver unto you the secrets of the Todoh way of..." he pauses here. "Bah! You'll know it when you feel it! C'mon in!"
Inside, the tatami mats have been moved away because... well, if Naerose is attentive to these kinds of details, it looks like he should have been in the middle of some indoor sweeping and cleaning himself!
And inside she goes, the funhouse of mystery and mayhem. It sounded cool anyway. Inside where it is a little darker it is also harder for her to see, since she never removes her shades. This is a problem which is not rectified in anyway, simply letting you know in case you cared. Naerose understands handicapped. People who are so brave, to go into places without proper lighting with a pair of shades on. So heroic. You really ought to try to do like she does.
And once inside she fails to notice the 'work' he's done. If work is a good enough term, perhaps not, anyway moving on. She adjusts her shades so they look optimally cool, cause if you're gonna be blind, you might as well look good doing it.
Ryuhaku Todoh never gets lost in dark places. He always simply appears when he feels like it, wherever he may. In fact, it has gotten so out of hand at Howard Arena that they hired Eiji to figure out how the heck he does it. He seems to have failed, despite the ninja's win in the match (foul play or not!).
Since it's mid-day, it shouldn't be hard for Naerose to see where she's going. The light switch, if any, still appears to be missing. Maybe he has yet to get rid of that Clapper. Stupid Clapper.
Ryuhaku Todoh stands at the center of the room, claps his hands together, and bows his head as a master greeting his student traditionally would. "Now, student and initiate to the Todoh way! Today's lesson..." He spreads out his arms nice and wide. Almost in overdramatic fashion. The tone immediately changes. "See all this dirt and grime?! Let's see how fast you can get rid of it!"
He thinks he's so clever.
She looks this way, <_<. That way, >
She looks this way, <_<. That way, >_>. Downways, 6_6. Upways, 9_9.
"I don't see anyy dirt! " She states, because while it is midday and likely she is not blind as a bat, right now, she still does have shades on! Also deniablility goes for a world of good.
"But I mean.. I suppose.." she seems to consider and then brings out a hand and tries to summon her power.
Nothing happens.
She looks at her hand.
"Mmmm." the witch intones and scratches her head.
"Waht do you do if your umm chakra, or whatever you said, can't decide how it wants to come out?" She scratches her head, adjusts her hat for style points and then leans on her broom, the not so easy but far more effective and less lazy way of cleaning up a messy room.
Todoh's eyes narrow at this lack of Tricking-Someone-To-Do-Housework-For-You success that Takuma seems to occasionally enjoy based on his careful(?) surveillance of the Sakazaki household. Clearly, he must master this if he is to one day overcome the Kyokugen style with his own wave of eager, talented students that currently remain imaginary!
"When you don't know how to do it..." He draws a paper fan out from his chest and raises it above his head, opening it dramatically in the gleam of the mid-day sun when a cloud is not covering its cancer-giving rays and world-heating ways.
"YOU FOCUS HARDER!" He waves it around menacingly. Doing what he says may prove the better part of not getting whacked upside the head by a fan.
Focus..? Does he realize who he is talking to? I mean sure it sounded cool but the blank stare he gets from the witch is evidence enough that focusing had never ever occurred to her for any reason, what so ever. After a moment though she goes ahead and tries. She focuses. Focuses some more. There is the sun, very mid day. There are her shades, they arn't corrective lenses but her attention wanders. It wanders over to the corner of the room and starts playing with stuff. However no one can see the witch's attention.
She focuses so hard now that it looks almost as though she could set something on fire. And just then, her broom starts to smolder, probably from the rays of the sun magnified, or maybe from something she was doing. Who knows! The witch flips out though.
"Woah crap!" she intones and starts waving her broom around wildly, trying to put out the smoldering. She brandishes it high, she brandishes low, she brandishes it all over the land. She brandishes it for justice, for danger, she brandishes it for love between the brothers and the sisters all over this land. She also seems about ready to knock a bunch of stuff over.
Todoh folds his arms as he watches his student... focus? Not quite in the way he was envisioning, because, well, she has a broom! She should be sweeping this stuff up before his wife comes home from the market! (Or rather, /he/ should, but if he hadn't had his heart in it from earlier in the day, he almost definitely doesn't have it now with an easier alternative present... or what he /thinks/ is easy.)
Then, all of a sudden, the broom smolders. His eyes widen! That's totally not what he was thinking of, even if it is not of any particular danger to himself. The rest of the building, however...
"GAAAH!" He arcs his back, er, backwards when she brandishes it all over the place, it narrowly missing a direct hit to the chin. In that critical moment, he tries to clap the smoldering end between his hands tightly to try and put it out. It's not like he doesn't get into minor escapades with the use and abuse of chi, given he is Todoh!
Of course getting the smoldering section would cause Todoh to clap her broom! This causes her to flip out more, the witch I mean. What is a witch without a broom. She starts to tug,
"Hey, leggo!" she cries, trying to keep her broom to herself. Her mother always said not to hit other children with her broom. Somehow that thought didn't seem as relevant as it did initially. . Oh well. She tugs and the bit of stray comes out, leaving Todoh with apparentely one end and her stumbling back toward the wall which she hits hard. Rice paper screen anyone?
Smoke rises from Todoh's hands as he tries to focus the fire out. If this was brought on by a particularly powerful focus of chi on Naerose's behalf, it might take him more than a few seconds to put it out. As fighting and chi have become much more popular in recent years, there has been a great focus on the use of chi. (He has attempted to market his style based on that alone, though historically the family focus remained more on the use of defensive techniques.)
He wouldn't get that, when Naerose pulls hard enough that he's left with some burning straw in his hands as she stumbles into - and maybe even through - the rice paper screens. He winces inwardly. Is it at the fire in his hands, or that there'll be yet another thing he'll have to explain to his better half (and Kasumi)?
"Eh... yeh hah..." He clears his throat. "That was... good focus! Good focus." Eventually he brushes the straws in his hands, well, out of his hands. That's a few more strands to clean up.
Naerose picks herself up in a heap, helps up the screen and apologizes to it before sort of leaning it against another screen in the general ah.. vicinity of where it used to be. Once that was settled she turned to look around the mess that someone (her) created. Still, she wasn't about to take any credit for that, she was much much more into the whole denial thing.
"Wow.. " she says, taking in all the dust, "Did I do that?"
Deniability is replaced by a sense of awe at her own accomplishment. The sort of sense of awe that lacks the foresight to realize what the implications are of sort of taking the blame on herself.
"Yes! Yes you did!" Todoh says. Simply says. Pride? Annoyance? Disappointment? Or any combination of the above? You decide. He rubs his hands together briefly once more, post-fire smothering.
"Now... your next lesson!" He grimaces. Hm, how to do this right. The mess is already even bigger! But, maybe he should say it straight. "Try and..." Hmm, he has to make this sound actually productive, he realizes. But somewhere out there, there probably is some wacky fighter who has mastered the art of cleaning as a fighting style. (If they exist, he should hire them out!)
He starts to speak up again. "Try?! Yeh hah hah! What am I saying?! Do it! Take that broom of yours and show all this dirt what you just did!" There's no way this request could go wrong. Nope. None whatsoever.
"Ummm. Yes Master!" Exclaims the witch, her look going from a dull one to a bright and ready one just like that! She has interpreted his words and is now ready to take care of the dirt! Actually she has a move for this, it's called clean sweep. It's where she.. Well you'll see.
The witch winds up, eager, ready to prove, ready to train, serious winds up, baseball style swing is clearly what will come next, and then without warning it does. But the part about all of this that really sucks, at least for her Master and host is that it is followed by another, and another and another. She quite literally does it as many times as she can, yes kicking up a cloud of dust, yes kicking up anything else on the ground, yes kicking up anything that she hits and maybe even a floorboard or two.
"I'm doing it! I'm really really doing it!" she exclaims.
Ryuhaku Todoh watches with arms crossed. Yes, this is exactly what he wants! The dust comes up and obscures him into the mists of dirt and grime. As Todoh is pretty much the epitome of obscurity when he wants to be, it is not very difficult for him to suddenly disappear into the dust and dirt that obscures the entire household in the witch's handy sweeping.
In fact, dust starts to escape the windows as though there was a fire. If dust has ever had a reason to Simply Be(tm), this is clearly it. The one reason it ever needs to manifest in such qualities.
When it clears, Ryuhaku Todoh is miraculously standing in the same place, with the exact same pose, except now there's some jar over his head and some dirt and flowers decorating his shoulders.
This is to say nothing of uprooted floorboards, tatami mats tossed all over the room, and, interestingly, an old photo of a younger man with long black hair and another with much shorter hair in a place that looks much like this one.
She's proud of her work. She looks around. She beams brightly. The witch notices the photograph and then up at the dust bunny. No, Todoh is not Sylvester all grown up. It would be funny if he were.
"Hey, is that Takuma Sakazaki?" she asks, being a sports reporter, she tends to recognize some of the big faces. Some of them have even thrown their attacks her way during the middle of fights while she did her commentary. It was like an autograph, really, you know, a signature move, tossed her way?
If Naerose were to hazard a guess, the figures in those pictures are probably in their early twenties. Todoh might have been a particularly good-looking guy in his youth, were he not to have that blinker on his left eye... and that moustache. Yes, it appears he had it even when he was at least thirty years younger.
Finally, Todoh deigns to yank the pot off his head, revealing a dirtied head with a little reddish flower on top of his head. He does not appear quite as disturbed about the continued ruin and further condemning into the dog house as much as the one particular thing Naerose lays her eyes on.
"WHAT?!" A hand snaps out to yank the photo out of her hands. "Er... I mean! This is... this has nothing to do with our training! Yeh hah hah!" He tries to laugh it off as he tosses the photo over his shoulder towards obscurity. The laughter trails off nervously.
This is not quite going as planned.
"Right! The training!" Exclaimms the witch. But the thing about it that is weirdest is she is probably getting more out o fit than would make any sense at all. Why was she like that? Well conventional training, focus and actually trying to learn and do things right is not how she really learns. Her mind is absolutely not wired straight. She sort of stands there in what appears to be a moment of absolute inability to survive this uncomfortable silence.
"So what is next..?"
Some would say... that Ryuhaku Todoh, himself, is not particularly wired correctly either! But others would say, that's how all the old men are in the world of fighting.
His home collapses ever further into dirtiness and ruin with just about every little instruction given to his, ahem, "student." But hey, at least the dust is off the floor and now all over the formerly cleaner air of the Karuta district.
"Yes! The training." He echoes as he mulls over his mind what to do next. The student has the enthusiasm! There is no doubting this, and enthusiasm he seems to hold in the highest regard of just about anything else. Now if he could find a way to snap his fingers and just get it all fixed up...
That, or this is Elle's creative way of intimidation. But that would be a funny way to do that, wouldn't it.
"Your next lesson!" His voice raises again. "Now watch!" He raises up his hands and conjures the sight of sights, the technique of techniques, the mastery of masteries! Bright, blocky chunks of chi, three altogether, segmented and linked together as he draws them downward onto the floor with a downward swing of his arms as they dissipate into the aether in which they came with a fierce kiai.
"Now do this! Do this a hundred times!" ...A hundred times? That's pretty tame.
Her shades totally drop. They slip down her nose, her hat sort of gets off to one side. It's awful it's like.. One moment she's just fine, the next.
"You want me to do what..?" She asks, claerly not feeling it, so to speak. She then tries, and manages to make no totally useless chi chains. Who ever actually plays Todoh in those games? Or Kasumi for that matter? Not Naerose! But then again the KOF arcade games probably don't exist.. Or perhaps they do, as reflections of the REAL THING! Dun dun dun.
Find out on the next thrilling installment.
Log created on 14:57:53 08/13/2007 by Naerose, and last modified on 10:27:58 08/19/2007.