Description: After Aranha's recent fights, Aranha seeks out Frei in an attempt to make sense of the strange things that took place in matches since he learned how utilize his Web Shot. Aranha also takes advantage of this time to test other things out.
Not everyone at the Young Fighters' Community Center is all that fond of Frei; in general people of very serious mien, the dedicated and stolid types, find his typical over the top exuberance a little much. Even the more cheerful types sometimes find his somewhat off the wall way of doing things a little off-putting. But he's been gone for a few days, with only the senior staff knowing where he was at all and them sworn to not tell anybody. There were... things to do in Kyoto. Important things. He didn't bother to say when he might be back, because a tiny part of him wasn't sure he WOULD be back.
Thus it takes everyone by surprise when he walks in the door this morning. The shock is actually cinematic, people on the upper floors actually turning toward the door and blinking, everything coming to a momentary stop. It doesn't last long, though; the door shuts, and Frei smiles at the people gathered, and gives a little wave. He doesn't say anything because he doesn't have to, and the routine starts anew, Frei plunking himself down at the reception desk, a place he typically occupies.
It's a good feeling.
And thus there he remains, shrugging off his jacket and trying to find something to do. The books are a good place to start, and in short order he's leaning over them, chewing on the end of a pencil and absently punching numbers into a calculator. "Man... do these things only get done when I'm manic and crazy?"
About 15 minutes pass by before the door opens once again revealing a teen wearing denim from the shoulders down as he walks through the door. Most of the staff wouldn't recognize him as one of the kids who frequents the center. The amount of times he's made his presence known in the YFCC can be counted on one hand with a few fingers left over.
The Dancing Spider finds himself moving towards the first staff member he sees. "Excuse me. Could you tell me where..." There's a pause as he looks over to the reception desk to see Frei tapping away at the calculator.
He makes a b-line right for Frei's desk with a giant smile. "Hey Frei. I was hoping I could catch you here. Mind if we can talk for a moment?"
Math is hard! Let's go shopping. When Aranha steps up, the monk is face-down at the ledger, brow furrowed in concentration, and doesn't look up right away. He does, at least, bring up his free hand and give a little wave to acknowledge he heard someone speak his name; the other is curled around, much like a determined college student taking an exam, scribbling furiously away inches from his nose. It's an interestingly serious and determined-looking scene for someone like Frei.
He ruins it by stopping what he was doing, and sitting up. The pencil is balanced precariously under his nose, and what he was 'working' on was drawing shapes, poorly, in the margins of the books. Apparently some things never change. "Hi!"
There's a pause as the green eyes squint a bit, trying to remember who this individual is, and the pencil falls off his nose and clatters to the desk as he suddenly 'oh's and nods. "You're that guy from the docks, the one that was on the ninja boat." He shuts the book and nods, leaning back in his chair, arms behind his head. "What's up, sir?"
And the last minute replacement in one of the SNFs that Frei was in, not that Aranha would remind him since that was not one of his finer moments. But when he looks at the shapes in the margins, Aranha starts snickering in spite of himself.
"Ninja boat? Yeah. That would be me." He says as a confirmation of Frei's recognition. "Well I wanted to speak with you and get an idea of where I stand as far my ability use chi goes." He takes a deep breath as he glances at doodles barely containing his urge to snicker again.
When Aranha gets himself together again he continues, "While I know I'm getting better, I find my chi doing inconsistent things when I use it in fights and I'd like to figure out why."
There's a moment of uncertainty as Frei both nods, in recognition of finding his memory correct, and confusion as he tries to remember the details of what they discussed out on the pier that day. The images are distant and it takes a bit -- he has a sudden craving for gummi worms, for example -- but eventually the monk seems to come to some sort of recollection, at the very least, of the bottom line. He opens his mouth to respond, raising both eyebrows, and a few words get out: "Well, I'll do my be--"
He suddenly stops, hand up, mouth open, and then shuts his mouth and pinches the bridge of his nose. After his talk with his mother, that self-conscious humility suddenly strikes him as odd. Why should he doubt? Hasn't he done this before? Isn't Kentou his great success story?
The moment fades, and Frei gives Aranha a genuine, if tired, smile. "Sorry. It's been a busy few days for me. I'll be happy to help you puzzle it out. But... what do you mean by 'inconsistent'?"
"Well..." He stops because it's hard to explain. There's a big difference between knowing what your problem is and being able to explain it. It takes awhile before the words come out. "It took some time and some work, but I finally managed to find a way to get my chi to operate independently of my body."
He then looks Frei in the eyes as continues a though a thoughtful expression comes across his face. "Problem is each time I use it, something different happens."
Aranha's hand glows blue for a moment lashing out his hand towards a padded wall in the sparring and back handing a blue spider web of chi right at it. The web letting out a sound of impact on the wall before fading away.
Aranha then continues,"That web has either impacted on people's bodies, sliced through a tray of food flying at me, it's even been sticky making it harder for an opponent to move, and it's even caught giant crates in the air stopping them dead. I've never been able to control the effect it has at a given time but the effect that has always been beneficial."
An eyebrow goes up at both the demonstration and the description. Interesting indeed. And a thorny problem, particularly the description of the web 'catching' something. After all, chi is energy, and thus doesn't have mass... but it's clear the monk is puzzling that out already, head turning toward where the web disappeared, thinking it over. No, it doesn't have mass, but it does have 'force', kinetic force. "What an interesting idea," he murmurs, scratching the side of his head. "If you can apply enough counterforce, then the fact that it has no 'weight' doesn't really mean anything..." The words are mumbled, clearly just for himself to hear, and he blinks when he realizes he said them aloud.
Turning back to Aranha with a smile, Frei gives him a thumbs up. "Congratulations, by the way. I'm glad you came to the conclusion you wanted from your training." He refrains from turning pedantic about chi theory for the moment, and instead focuses on the practical... for Aranha strikes him as the practical type. He only needs to know enough to make it work.
Getting up from behind the desk, Frei stretches, arms forming an arch over his head as he links his fingers together and pushes upward, then sets himself a few yards from Aranha and nods. "I think I can answer your question. But I want to know for sure before I do, so..." And then he adopts a defensive posture, the air around him humming with energy. Practical, right? So focus on the practical. "Hit me with it. Like you mean it. I can take it, don't worry."
COMBATSYS: Frei has started a fight here.
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Frei 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Frei gathers his will.
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Frei 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Aranha has joined the fight here.
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Frei 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Aranha
Aranha listens as Frei puzzles out how that chi web catch happened. Understanding the whys are quite important to him because once you understand the why you can work on how to duplicate the results. Getting results like he did against Rylee in that fight is something he doesn't mind.
Aranha nods when Frei congratulates him but he waits for him to say something to illuminate the situation for him or atleast give him some food for thought. Aranha is a fighter who not only thrives on precision and ability to gather information, he's a fighter who thrives on creativity. Theory is what allows for creativity to flourish.
When chi theory doesn't come he's not disappointed though. Frei may not think he's ready for something that deep and plus he did ask for the practical when he came in so he only has himself to blame.
When Frei asks him to hit him with the web he raises an eyebrow at first but then he begins to dance swaying to the beat that's in his head befoer leaning back in a spin and whiping his arm out once more sending a similar chi web right for the monk.
COMBATSYS: Frei blocks Aranha's Web Shot.
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Frei 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Aranha
The swaying doesn't escape Frei's notice, and though he blinks at it a few times in seeming incomprehension, there's a flash of recall, of Aranha mentioning that fighting involved, for him, getting into the rhythm in his head, finding a mindset and going with the flow. That he needs to spend some time doing that before he can do what the monk has asked doesn't surprise him overmuch, especially given the types of suggestions he's given others for accomplishing the same results.
Prepared as he is for the attack -- he asked for it, after all -- Frei is in perfect position to defend against it... an advantage he needs, since this is less fight than a sort of science experiment, pushing the boundaries of what's known about Aranha's technique, giving him the answers... or at least, moving him towards them. "If I'm right..." Frei starts, eyeing the projectile as it streaks toward him, but he never finishes the sentence. Whipping his hand around, palm glowing silver, he effectively thrusts his hand into the 'web'. In a crackle of blue and silver, most of the incoming energy is dissipated; the rest splashes off around the side, making Frei wince a bit at the impact, but he doesn't look too much the worse for wear.
Nodding again, the monk seems satisfied with the results. "Alright... that worked about how I expected. Now..." Bringing his palms in toward his chest, Frei's hands flicker white-blue, and it seems as if he's gathering the frosty energy that is his signature attack... but rather than the projectile he normally uses, what he does instead is create a chunk of clear ice, which drops into his hand. "This isn't gonna last long, so... try to stop this with your web. And then I think I'll have seen everything I need to!"
Hefting the ice chunk with one hand, Frei tests the weight and then, with an underhand toss, chucks it right at Aranha. Nice and easy, of course, to give him a clear shot.
COMBATSYS: Aranha negates Large Thrown Object from Frei with Web Shot.
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Frei 0/-------/---====|-------\-------\0 Aranha
Aranha keeps moving, as he goes into ginga. He's careful to watch as Frei goes to work disrupting the energy web. Attempting to figure out what the monk has in mind. His eyes analyze the energy Frei uses to dissipate the majority of the energy and he finds himself letting out a, "Hmmm."
As Frei hands flicker blue and white, Aranha finds himself staring at the chunk of ice as it drops into his hand and before Frei even says it he already knows what Frei is going to ask him to do and when the ice chunk is launched, he rocks back once more spinning before whipping out another web of blue chi.
Oddly enough, the web has a combined effect of two of the situations he had mentioned earlier. The web of chi takes on a bit of edge as it meets the ice chunk in mid air, digging into the ice for just a moment before the momentum of the ice chunk is stopped dead causing it to drop to the ground before the web fades away.
Green eyes watching the trail of the ice ball, Frei nods in satisfaction a second time as Aranha anticipates his request, and then the results are about what he had expected. Dusting off his hands, he walks over and picks up the ice before it melts too much, leaving a few drops of water on the floor, and then walks to the center's front door, opens it, and unceremoniously hurls the ice out onto the street to melt in the spring sun.
Turning back, he smiles at Aranha. "You'll be happy to know," he says brightly, "that I don't think it's as inconsistent as you think. It might take a little bit to explain, but... hmmm. The executive summary is that what you're shooting off is 'force' with a particular shape, not an actual *object* with weight and mass. So depending on what you put in its path, it reacts differently."
Getting to the desk, he clears off some space and sits on the edge of his, letting his feet dangle for a bit. He's clearly alright with explaining more, but waits for Aranha's reaction before launching into it.
That's a lot of food for thought for him. The fact that it's not so inconsistent is a relief but on the other hand it doesn't quite add up. While the explanation may be good for explaining web cutting through vs web impact/catching objects. It doesn't go far enough to explain why in that one instance he was able to make it cling to someone.
As Aranha plays the question in his head a few times comparing the fights he's been in since he's started using the web before he breaks his silence. "It works for the most part, but it doesn't explain why the energy web clung onto one fighter and why it impacted on to other fighters when they ended up getting hit with it."
In his mind Aranha's trying to work that out for himself but there's another thing he wants to work out as well. He doesn't voice it, preferring to work on one problem at a time.
"It depends," Frei begins, "on the person's aura." The Dancing Spider stayed for it, and showed interest... and so the monk obliges by going into the whys of the situation rather than just an executive summary of the whats. Taking one hand, he slaps himself on the upper arm a few times, with a resulting series of *whap* noises. "The thing that's keeping my hand from moving through under my other arm is that my arm is in the way, right? Just like... if someone hugs you from behind, it's hard to move your arms because you can't move through their body. Basic physics that matter can't just pass through other matter, blah blah blah boring science. Right?"
Bringing his arms up, Frei sweeps them through the air, a gesture encompassing the two fighters' surroundings, and perhaps beyond. "Chi is a bit different. It's energy, so it doesn't have weight or mass." He brings his arm up and waves it through the air, like swatting something away. "I'm moving my arm through chi in the air right now, for example. It doesn't stop or slow me down because it doesn't have any *force* to it, no momentum. What you're doing when you use that attack isn't throwing out 'your' chi, but you're giving the chi in the air momentum and shape through your focus and will."
"Their aura?" He raises an eyebrow at that choice of words but considering that Frei is the expert in the subject matter. The examples are taken in but he doesn't quite understand the relation to the instance of clinging chi.
That is at least until the second part of the explanation. "So focus and will are what bring about that attack. So whether or not it clings is based on their own focus and will pushes against the energy itself?"
Even still the look on his face seems to be one of someone who is nowehere near getting it right.
Frei shrugs at that, because the truth is he doesn't 100% know the answer. He has credible theories, but that's all they are, and he's quick to point this out. "That's my theory. Everyone has an aura; it's a personal field of energy, and it's generated by your internal chi... the energy that helps power your body, your 'personal' energy. But because the aura is energy, how it reacts to other energy isn't always predictable. Just like how your blue energy web is a reflection of your will, a person's aura is to some extent a reflection of their will too." With a shrug, Frei puts a hand to his chin, thinking it over. "It might be that your attack, and the aura of the person you were attacking, just... clicked somehow, and so you got an unpredictable effect. It could be that over time, as you use it more, you'll find you can *always* get that response."
A pause, and then Frei smiles cheerfully. "If you do, let me know. I'd be interested in hearing how you trained yourself to do it."
Aranha finds himself listening to this and while it is theoretical in nature it makes sense to him. The interactions with personal energies clicking at that right moment. It's something interesting to him that he lets marinate for awhile. At this point, that's as far as he's going on that topic without more practical experience.
However there's still that second topic he wants to approach before he leaves. "Frei, could you do me a favor? When you prepared yourself earlier on. Could you repeat that for me? I have my theories on another topic in relation to chi and I need your help in testing it out."
That earns a blink or two of confusion from the monk, who had felt the matter settled, but he seems amenable enough. After all, studying chi is technically what he does, the way of being that he went out of his way to defend to his mother not two days past. If Aranha has a theory he wants to test, then Frei is up for it. "Sure..." he says, admittedly a little in the dark as to what the second issue is, but content to let it be until Aranha's ready to explain.
Sliding off the desk, he takes a few steps away again, as before, and takes a deep breath. "Not the first person to ask me this question, did you know that?" Frei says conversationally, recalling another fighter who took an interest in this little trick... a weapons-using, bad attitude-having young woman Aranha is actually quite familiar with, though Frei doesn't know that. Instead, he assumes a careful stance with deliberate slowness, and takes a deep breath, letting himself get in tune with the flow of energy around him.
COMBATSYS: Frei gathers his will.
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Frei 1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Aranha
And as Aranha watches Frei get in tune with the flow of chi, something clicks with him and he begins to go back into ginga, dancing as he takes it in and then he begins to sing, his voice ringing clearly throughout the center and a sound of joy as he does the same task of getting in tune with the chi around him, "Capoeira é luta é dança. Capoeira é arte é magia."
He continues to sing in Portuguese as he draws in the energy allowing it to revive him. Then the song stops. And the energy flow along with it.
Aranha becomes stationary again as he looks at Frei. "It's as I thought."
It's at this point that Aranha has to explain things and he can't do that without bringing up that fight. "In a few of my fights I'd find myself doing things I'm normally not capable of. Spontaneous inspiration as it were. When I took part in that SNF with you and Aislinn as a last minute replacement, I found myself knowing how to do that even though I didn't use that in the fight."
The Capoeirista shrugs for a moment as he continues. "But just as quickly as that knowledge came to me it just as suddenly disappears. Fleeting."
COMBATSYS: Aranha gathers his will.
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Frei 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Aranha
He's fought enough people in his time in Southtown that have developed new skills and abilities -- sometimes right before his very eyes -- that Frei isn't exactly shocked when Aranha duplicates the stance he was just using. After all, didn't it take Ayame a matter of days, if that, to do the same? Still, in her case it was different... something she had 'learned', and Aranha himself has admitted this is fleeting, lasting only a little while. A different story entirely.
Deciding that standing there like a fool isn't going to help him think, the monk walks back over to the desk and has a seat in the chair again, leaning back and studying the ceiling. "Is this the *only* thing you've ever... I guess the word is 'copied'?" He sits back down and fixes his gaze on Aranha, giving in to his natural curiosity. "Or have there been other things?"
"Not quite the only thing." Aranha himself admits. He doesn't say much more until he leans against one of the walls making himself quite comfortable before he continues. "Though copying wouldn't be quite accurate since I find myself drawing upon those capabilities in different ways then my opponents do."
He then waves the statement off as he realizes that he's starting to digress. "Sometimes I find myself hitting things harder or attacking faster than I'm normally capable of doing. Just something clicks inside and then it happens."
At that Frei waves a hand dismissively himself. "I didn't mean 'copy' like it's a bad thing. But to me that makes all the difference, what you just said. You're doing it a different way, a momentary flash of insight rather than the rote knowledge of training to do one thing, specifically, over and over..." He shrugs. "We're all capable of pushing ourselves past our limits now and then, especially in the middle of a fight where who knows what's on the line. It could be that seeing your opponent do something inspires you to try it yourself, and some subconscious level kicks in. It's happened to me before."
There's a pause, then Frei shrugs and shakes his head a little. "If you're asking if chi is somehow involved, I would say no. I mean, it may *become* involved when you do... whatever. It could be that you're bolstering your body by subconsciously directing chi flow, for example... to hit harder, to get that extra burst of speed. But if you're not consciously aware of the principle, you're just... doing it. Kind of like what soldiers describe as a combat high... the burst of adrenaline that makes you push your limits, but afterwards it's all sort of hazy."
"I see." He stares for awhile even after Frei has finished talking. His mind is too busy trying to wrap his mind around those things. It's interesting to him to hear another perspective on his abilities. All of his questions have been answered.
"It wasn't so much whether if my ability to draw upon inspiration was related to chi. That I knew wasn't connected. It felt too physically oriented. It was trying to figure out if inspiration was the only way I could get myself in tune with chi. And that would be a yes."
Aranha reaches out to offer a handshake. "I think I've taken up enough of your time. It's greatly appreciated. Thank you." And after that, Aranha begins to walk to the door. "Take it easy, man."
"Don't be so sure," Frei says, taking the handshake with a smile. For the first time in a very long while, being able to share what he knows has made him feel useful rather than unsure, excited rather than worried. "Think about it. When we're born almost everything we do is instinct, subconscious, not in our control. But as we get older and have more experiences we learn new things and expand our ability to act... This is the same principle. For now, it's instinct. But consider it an opportunity to reflect on things you haven't learned how to do yet. It may be that eventually you'll find a way to do them whenever you want."
He gets up, as Aranha heads to the door, somehow feeling he should be standing rather than sitting for that. "And let me know the things you find out. I like dealing with problems like this, because they help me see things I might overlook... come back any time."
Log created on 11:03:38 04/18/2008 by Aranha, and last modified on 23:12:29 04/21/2008.