Description: Zach meets yet another wielder of the Psycho Power while visiting the Suiryuu's library. This one is a twelve year old girl.
For some reason, spectators are allowed aboard the Suiryuu. It's a fun experience, but an altogether =creepy= one. Momoko would've liked to have been invited to participate in the Jinchuu festivities, but she doesn't check the mail -- her guardian does. And even if he did get an invitation of some sort, it's likely he would have destroyed it. The whole premise sounds funny to him.
That guardian, Riki Tanaka, keeps a hand on the young girl's shoulder as the pair walks throughout the ship. Most of the really interesting stuff was on the lower decks -- it's actually relatively quiet up here on the promenade level, in comparison. Sure, there's a wet bar, and a piano... but what seems to be drawing young Momoko's attention now would be the fencing rapiers. She's never been up close to them before, so the first thing she does is try and pick one up.
The operative word here is 'try'. Rapiers don't look to be all that heavy, and compared to most swords, they =aren't=. But they're still solid metal, and Momoko finds herself using both hands the lift the sword that's almost as long as she is tall. "Ooooh... this is heavy! People fight with these?" She steps out from Riki's care, hefting the sword for a moment, and taking two tentative slashes. ... And finds herself stumbling. "Whoa..."
Momoko and Riki may be surpised when a black and red sleeved arm appears from almost out of nowhere (more like from behind the book-shelf) to catch the young girl. Momoko might be surprised to note that the young man catching her is only slightly taller than she is.
"Easy there. You okay?" Zach grins slightly as the replaces the book he was finished with on the shelf. The young man glances at the sword in Momoko's hand. "You shouldn't be playing with that. It's a quick way to get hurt."
The one time Riki lets Momoko out of his reach, and she falls into some guy's arms. This is enough to make the capoeira instructor's face grow stern, though instead of acting out his aggression, he instead tucks his hands into his pockets, staying around the piano. The girl's strong-willed enough to look after herself, after all.
Probably.
Momoko struggles to keep the sword from dragging along the carpet as she's caught, barely managing to do so. She looks back at Zach with a hesitant smile -- she can sense he means well, unlike Riki who simply assumes the opposite. "W... I... I just wanted to see how heavy it was!" And the answer is -- it's pretty heavy. So Momoko walks right back over to the stand and sets the blade upon it, turning her infectious smile to Zach afterward. "I am fine! Thank you for catching me!" She looks around for a moment, before canting her head to the side. "Are you in this event? It sounds like it'd be really fun..."
Zach lifts up the brim of his cap, glancing at Riki with a slight trace of apology. He really has nothing to fear from Zach in that regard; she's a bit too young for him. He was just worried that she might get herself hurt swinging that rapier around. If Momoko is at all sensitive, like /most/ psions and psycho-powered folk tend to be, she would notice that despite the calm appearance he has, there is a lot of background noise around the young man; like loud music being played behind a closed door.
He nods once, "I am in this tournament, actually. It's been pretty interesting actually. I'm getting to meet a lot of new people." He grins lopsidedly, "Though the coordinators seem to like giving me rematches, for some reason."
Riki acknowledges the young man with a brief nod. He's not about to be rude about it, though he is a bit anxious being on this boat -- understandably so considering the kind of trouble Momoko can get into on her own. And considering the awesome power of the mystic writings and drawings scrawled all along the ship.
Momoko can usually sense people's emotions, to a very limited extent -- it's just that she doesn't often make =use= of this sense. It's not any different from reading people's faces, or listening to their voices, for the most part. She just isn't able to make sense of the subtle nuances that might indicate Zach is someone not to be messed with -- he looks fine, and he =acts= fine, so she sees no problem at all!
"Wow... that must be exciting, anyway! Maybe they want to see if you handle the fight differently under different conditions? It's like... every part of this ship is totally different from every other part, as far as I can see! They all feel different..." She smiles happily, even bobbing upon the balls of her feet -- she's wearing sneakers, unfortunately for her. "I wish I was invited..."
If there is something off about the boat, Glen does a good job of not showing it. Zach is only really dangerous in two situations. This does not appear to be either of them; Zach is slowly learning to level of energy he can manage safely before he needs to let some of it loose.
He chuckles slightly at Momoko's assessment of the situation. "I can understand that a little bit. There are some fighters who simply enjoy new and different challenges, from what I have seen." He smiles slightly at her enthusiasm, before glancing at the bookshelf again. There was another title he wanted to read; something about control internal energy flows. His first glance at the book mentioned something called 'chi,' and while he was not certain that was what he had, maybe there could be some parallels. "Why?" he asks suddenly.
"... I don't know many fighters that are comfortable with the same-old same-old! Unless they're old." Pause. "Or they're already the best, I guess! But not many our age!" She smiles cheerily, sway from side to side upon her toes. Always gotta stay in motion, really!
Riki grunts lightly at Momoko's words, with a slight smirk. The girl talks too much at times, but she means well.
Bookshelf, bookshelf... Momoko's eyes follow Zach's as he glances over there. She hadn't even noticed the bookshelf before, figuring that the area was marked off-limits.
"Well, because it looks like fun! Isn't it fun?"
Zach raises an eyebrow at Momoko for a moment before giving a snort of his own. "Our age? Just how old do you think I am?' he asks as he pulls the book off of the shelf before tucking it under his arm. He looks only slightly chagrinned at the young girl's comment about age.
Maybe it's something of a sore spot for him; five foot three is a very stupid height for an adult to be stuck at, after all.
"Well, you're not as old as Riki!" Who's Riki? ... Well, he waves his hand, but that's about all the sign you'll get from the two. "So... I don't know! Eighteen or so?" Not a clue in the world, here.
"Umm... why? How old are you? I'm twelve!"
Zach lets loose another chuckle, "I'm twenty-one years old, actually." He scratches the back of his head while he sticks the other one in his pocket. He raises an eyebrow, "But you know, isn't twelve just a bit young for this kind of thing?"
"What kind of thing? Coming to a boat and playing with swords?" Pausing, she taps her cheek... "Oh, wait, you mean about the tournament? I... Everyone tells me that! But then I end up doing really well in fighting! I'm not sure why..."
Unlike a lot of fighters on or off the circuit, Zach's an American. This may explain some things. He glances at Riki uncertainly as he shrugs at Momoko.
"Who knows? Maybe the underestimate you. They say that like dynamite, strong things can come in small packages, after all."
Momoko smiles cheerily. Zach's a sweet talker! "Ah, maybe that's it! Thank you!" She swings her arms from side to side now -- it's not meant to be distracting, she just feels she should always be in motion. "Mmm... I just like to fight! I only do the safe stuff though, like on Saturday Night Fights and Neo League... I don't think people should get in fights when they're angry! It gets people so mad and such..."
"That may be a good idea," Zach replies as he throws a quick glance Riki's way, before pointing to the young man. "Is he with you?"
"Mm-hmm!" Momoko didn't realize she'd totally forgotten to introduce herself or Riki, so she takes a moment to do that. "Oh... my name is Momoko! This is my sensei, Riki Tanaka! It's so good to meet you!" She bows properly, taking a step back. "We use capoeira! It's mostly kicking, but we try and make it interesting for the people watching... so it's kind of sad when people -aren't- watching, and all... What style do you use?"
Zach bows along with Momoko as best he can. "My name is Zach Glen, and I don't really have anything like a formal style." He chuckles a bit, "I mostly jump around a lot and blasts things with this."
To explain 'this,' Zach raises a hand, palm up, and wills a small sphere of psycho power into existance. It is about the size of a volleyball, and a bright royal purple that seems to match his hair. It sparkles occassionally as it rotates in his palm for a moment.
Riki raises an eyebrow at this. He doesn't need to say anything -- his charge will do that for him.
"Wow! That's so cool! I... I can kinda do that, but it takes a lot of concentration!" She raises her fingers to her temples, narrowing her eyes in intense focus for a moment... and manages to summon up a smaller ball of energy, hovering it just about two feet in front of her nose. It's only the size of a grapefruit or so: as she explains, "It... I'm not as good with it though!" She smiles briefly, and wills the sphere out of existence. No need to show off weapons she's not going to use, after all!
Zach chuckles, and the sphere brightens a little in seeming response to its master's positive emotions. He clenches his fist, snuffing the ball out completely as he does so.
"I wouldn't say I am very good at it either. I'm just told I have a /lot/ of it, so it's easier for me to bring it out when I want to." He shakes his hand loosely, "But I have to be careful, or else it comes out even when I don't want it to. It takes a lot of practice." Zach nods, "Though I am told that it is possible to heal people with this power as well. I think I would like to learn how to do that."
"Oh... well, good luck in your practice! I am practicing a lot too!" Momoko bobs cheerfully upon her feet, listening intently. "I don't know too many people who can heal with it, but Athena-nee-chan can... I don't think I've been able to just yet, myself! But really, if you have a strong will and a good heart, you can accomplish anything you set your mind to!"
Right about then, a small digital watch alarm goes off. Riki silences it, nodding back to Momoko who had just turned to the sound.
"Oh, is it time already? I was just getting to..." She smiles briefly, after a moment, not wanting to whine -too- much. Turning back to Zach, she bows once more, cheerily adding, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Zach Glen! We have to be at the airport in just a few minutes to pick up my mom and dad!"
Zach blinks, he had taken Riki to be her father. He smiles and returns the bow, "Please, you can call me Zach," he says with a wave, "Perhaps we'll meet again somewhere, and you can introduce me to your sister." Silly American. He nods in Riki's direction, "Though you shouldn't keep your folks waiting either."
"... I don't have a sister!" The Japanese girl from the sticks doesn't really get the joke there, and for once, actually has an expression other than a smile on. ... For a moment, anyway. Momoko's smile returns afterwards, nodding back to Riki, "Right! We'll see you again!" Grinning cheerily, the girl and her guardian amble on to the lower decks...
... never to be seen again. Or are they?
Zach raises an eyebrow, not getting a chance to ask the obvious question that Momoko's response would all but require. He waves again, watching the pair leave before pulling the book free and finding his usual comfy reading chair.
Log created on 13:37:08 09/03/2007 by Zach, and last modified on 15:46:22 09/03/2007.