Description: Having not seen him in quite some time, Jiro comes to the Center to pay Frei a visit. The discussion turns to recent events, the same diverging directions conversation Frei had with Alma... and then the former Stray Dog asks to test his newfound strength against Frei's own developed skills.
Nobody ever asks what goes down after the credits have rolled. The denouement brings everything to a nice wrap up, everyone's given credit for their participation, and the curtain falls. The music fades, and everything we just saw moves out of the realm of 'experience' and into the realm of 'memory.' But there's always an after; the lights in the theatre always come up and there's always someone sweeping up, watching a white screen dull with lack of motion while the people who sat enthralled with it so recently wander into the streets and back into their lives.
For Frei, the past few weeks have had this sort of quality. The predations of his brother, the sudden change in Hotaru's behavior, the success of Kentou's training, and more... all events that despite their closeness in real time, seem very distant. All that remains are memories and markers of the events' passing; Hotaru's search for redemption and understanding, Frei's decision to embrace a past -- and a part of himself -- that he had long denied. Of course, those two aren't alone, either.
It's been a time of reunions. The monk, absent for a while to settle things, slid back into the YFCC's everyday routines as if he had never left. Cookies began to reappear, the tai chi class found itself being taught again. And there's other things... including Frei's first bout with Alma Towazu in some time, on the roof of this very building. All the things that went missing while other matters demanded peoples' attention suddenly swim to the surface.
And where does this time of reunions find Frei now? Down on the Center's practice floor, enjoying the late hour and most of the students being elsewhere. He's barefoot, in dark blue exercise pants with a white stripe on the sides and a loose grey tanktop. Interestingly enough, he's performing plain old everyday katas, over and over... without his usual addition of energy to each strike.
There are some cases that even when everything has its aftermath, there is yet something new to the course. There is another sort of reunion that is to be made. It had been too long since old faces have yet to see each other. It was perhaps time that the old faces got renewed with one another. With the renewal made, it draws for yet another figure to bring such an event.
While Frei is practicing within the practice floor by himself, there is someone who had been in for a short moment. His arrival wasn't until a few minutes ago, yet the figure had made his presence very silent. This is a first, considering who it is.
Interrupting the flow, the voice speaks.
"Well, it's been a long time since old friends seen each other. How about a brotherly hug?"
Leaning at the very entrance of the door is none other than Jiro Kasagi, leaning against the door while wearing his usual attire since his change. He waves a hand out towards Frei, then he pushes himself off from the door and into the practice floor.
As is the standard for this sort of scenario, just as Jiro speaks, Frei is finishing a single kata, twisting at the waist and delivering an open-palmed punch to midair, turned away from the Stray Dog. There's a paused moment where he doesn't move at all, but then he drops out of the frozen pose and turns toward the voice, not needing to see who it is to know; Jiro's voice is well known to the monk, let alone his 'presence.' With a laugh, the auburn-haired fighter shakes his head, wiping an arm across his forehead afterward. Working out is sweaty work. "I'll pass, thanks," he adds with a lazy smile.
It takes a moment to drink in the 'new' Jiro, and Frei is suddenly struck by the fact that he hasn't seen this young man in quite some time. There IS something different about him, a little bit; perhaps a more 'adult' Jiro than Frei had met before? The monk brings one hand up, running it down the back of his neck and around to the side of his face and down. "I guess I should have figured once Alma dropped out of the woodwork to say hello, you wouldn't be far behind."
A chuckle is given towards Frei, then Jiro tsks slightly at his younger friend. Needless to say, the young man looks quite amused to see Frei when he finally finishes the kata. Mostly, Jiro is amused because Frei is still able to recognize him.
But, as Alma is mentioned, Jiro's eyes shut and he gives off a grunt. "Figures. That fool owes me a fight." Then, he approaches Frei at a closer interval with his hands in his pocket. His back is straighten up, however. The hand quickly comes out of his pocket, waving the hand along.
"...Sorry about Saturday Night Fight. Just an idea I had at the time." In regards to Freidouken. "Also, yeah, I feel bad for not getting together with the Glory Hounds, especially since that we first made the team." He smiles at Frei, "Interpol business had gotten me for a while. Now, I'm babysitting a criminal by the name of Choi." He snorts.
About... SNF? One green eye shuts in a combination of confusion and concentration for a moment, before Frei suddenly blinks it open again, mouth an 'O' of realization. With a resigned sigh, he shakes his head and holds out his arms in a 'what can you do?' sort of pose. "What's done is done, but you should think about *telling* people before doing that sort of thing." If he holds a grudge, he's being very careful about letting it not show.
Another pause, and then Frei hmms in thought, crossing his arms over his chest. "Was that REALLY the last time we saw each other? Seems like forever ago..." It really was some time ago, now that his brain goes back through the fog of recent events to pick it out. Months upon months. "A lot has happened since... well, for you and for me, sounds like. You work for... Interpol now?" His voice trails up on the end of that last statement, clearly a question rather than a statement. After all, for people who knew Jiro 'back when', policework does not seem like a probable top of the list for vocation. "And why does that name Choi sound familiar...?"
Cough. "Well, it was a good idea at the time." Jiro laughs slightly, then he sighs, "Yeah, I'll keep the communication channel up better." He rubs the back of his head sheepishly. THen, he grins at Frei once more. A sigh is exhaled, then he looks away slightly.
"...Yeah, that was the last time we seen each other. I've been busy and you have likely been busy as of late." He rubs his shoulders. "...But, Hotaru did mention you once before we fought." He grunts, "But... she is overcoming her situation now." He smiles a little more, then he looks at Frei again, "Yeah, I am working at Interpol. I am an officer now." He chuckles, "Yeah, ironic, no?"
An exasperated sigh escapes his lips, "Choi Bounge, part of Team Korea. The perverted midget who has a large criminal record even -now-." He grunts, "Only reason I am babysitting him is because the Kim family are nowhere to be found."
The somewhat exaggerated pose of contemplation Frei's been holding comes to an end when Jiro describes Choi, and mentions the Kim family; one a name he recalls from his more distant past, and the description from a more recent event. "Oh!" he says, snapping his fingers at the sudden recollection. "That's where. I don't think 'perverted midget' could refer to anyone else, now that I think about it." Except Tran, maybe? "I had a fight with him, either SNF or the League... he was, uh... a little strange." Pausing, Frei digs deep, then recalls the bizarre battle in which he and Choi crossed swords. "Actually, EVERYTHING in that battle was a little strange, come to think of it..."
Mention of Hotaru makes Frei's face briefly freeze with a slightly sombre cast, but then he shakes his head a few times and breathes out slowly. "I tried to tell her to think of it as an opportunity instead of... something. I don't know. I think she can make something good come of it, though." There's a pregnant pause, and then a faint grimace from Frei as he thinks this through to its logical conclusion. "Look... apparently Kataki did *something* to her. I don't know what. So I guess I'm as responsible as anything for what happened to her."
Grunt.
"Yeah, the little bastard had my vehicle crashed twice. I made him pay for it the second time." Jiro's eyes shut, displaying a calm, yet annoyed expression as he considers Choi. Then, Jiro re-opens his eyes, grumbling to himself until that passes away.
As for Frei, Jiro smiles a little, "She can make the good come of it. After all, I somehow managed to make good of my situation." He lets that thought fade away, then he looks over towards the back. At the mention of Kataki, Jiro grunts, "I beat the hell out of him when I saw him. He cut me up real good, but I made sure I beat the hell out of him." Yep. Same Jiro. Violence solves everything.
He then quirks, "What do you mean that you're responsible for what happened to her?"
"Not exactly what I said," Frei adds, tone of voice carefully measured. Especially... in light of the fact that his brother had a run-in with the Stray Dog. Unexpected, especially considering they hadn't been in close contact at the time. A tiny part of Frei is impressed that Kataki did his homework so well. "Whatever was going on in her head had been on the boil with Hotaru for a long time," the monk adds. This much, he can tell, is true; Mizuki's description of Kataki's discussion with her, even Tran's response to him... it doesn't seem like he ever really made things out of thin air. There was always something.
"I don't know if you noticed, but he has the same type of power Alma has. Just... a little less scrupulous with it, maybe." There's a sigh, almost of... disappointment? It's an almost parental sound, as if Kataki were a child who were acting just a LITTLE bit like Frei wished he wouldn't. "I think all he did was... shove her over the edge. And there's that technique she was using, which he definitely didn't teach her." A pause, a breath. Well, might as well say it. "But he clearly targetted her because she knows me."
"...Yeah, I did, actually." Jiro mentions about Kataki's power. "It was funny. He was trying to -drive- me to do something." Jiro grimaces, rubbing his forehead a bit. "I don't know what the hell he was doing, but I was struggling. All what I could think of was punching the hell out of him." AKA: Jiro went dumb Hulk and was 'ARRGHH SMASH!'.
Jiro looks towards Frei for a moment, then he blinks. "Yeah, Hotaru's origins were somewhere." He shuts his eyes in consideration, "SHe never told me how she learned it in the first place. It was a mystery." He smiles faintly, then he shakes his head. "Eh, don't worry about it too much. We will give it to Hotaru as a learning experience. Let's not dwell on that anymore, okay? Time to move on from that point, as she is working on doing."
Pause.
"Say." Jiro looks towards Frei, "How about a match, for old time's sake? We haven't had a match in a while. We should try to get reacquainted." He grins.
Truth be told, the monk was ready to defend himself after saying that bit of news; he didn't think Jiro would actually try to do anything drastic, but his memory of the Interpol agent's behavior didn't suggest he would take a potential threat to his love interest's well-being with... well, ease. But perhaps the new Jiro is calmer and more reflective than the old, for he seems to take it in stride well enough. "She'll mention it when she's ready to, probably." And then he says little else; 'let's move on from that' has been Frei's way of thinking about it for the past few weeks and it's a philosophy he's fine with embracing. "It wasn't just her that learned a lot, at least."
And then comes the million dollar question, quirking the edge of Frei's lips into a smile. "I was wondering when you'd get around to that," the monk says in a breezy tone. That was his reunion with Alma, after all; a test of the strength they had both developed in the interim. It's obvious that Jiro has similarly grown in the time these two have been apart... but Frei's also had time to hone his skills too. "I'm not sure I'll ever 100% understand that drive like you and Alma do, but I think I'm getting the gist, lately."
Stepping back a little, testing the footing of his bare feet on the practice mat he was walking on, Frei drops into stance and gives Jiro a nod. "Hmm. Should I say 'do your best'? I don't know I want to be Alma right now. How about just 'good luck'?"
COMBATSYS: Frei has started a fight here.
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Frei 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Jiro has joined the fight here.
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Frei 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Jiro
That offers a grin. "...It's taken me some time to grow, I know." Jiro muses thoughtfully, then he shakes his head with a musing look on his face. For the moment, Jiro glances back at Frei, then he cracks his knuckles once. He tilts his head to the side a bit, working the kinks out of his neck. His attention is focused on Frei for a few moments, then he frowns.
Jiro Kasagi, for the most part, is ready to fight off against Frei. His left leg takes a step forward. Then, Jiro holds his guard up and he tightens his fists. The aura of the fury manifests before him in the form of scarlet flames. Then, the flames are snuffed out as Jiro takes the moment to sprint towards Frei.
"Figured a nice conversation before the fight was deemed!" Then, Jiro leaps off of the ground, then he winds his left leg out to snap across Frei's right cheek.
COMBATSYS: Frei endures Jiro's Light Kick.
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Frei 0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0 Jiro
It's a quick kick, and Frei's not exactly terribly nimble. Dexterous, maybe, but not nimble. So he does what anybody might do in that situation: he braces his foot and tries his damndest not to move, knowing he can't get away from the kick. Impressively, he actually manages it; Jiro's kick hits home, but rather than sending the surprisingly sturdy monk spinning off to the side, his foot slams into Frei's cheek *and stays there*. Voice slightly muffled by his jaw being hampered, he grins. "Conversation? Boy, you HAVE changed."
Then, of course, it's his turn to respond in kind; flexing his fingers, he snaps one hand up and attempts to grip Jiro's leg before he can retract it; if he can get that grip, he heaves upward with as much force as he can get on such a light grip, a sudden burst of wind underneath the Interpol agent's feet helping to send him airborne while Frei's throw sends him ass over teakettle.
COMBATSYS: Jiro blocks Frei's Medium Throw.
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Frei 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Jiro
When the leg is grabbed by Frei, Jiro grunts and inwardly braces himself, knowing that he would find himself at the point of being thrown at a discomfortable level. But rather than try to avoid it, he decides to allow the man to manipulate the wind to have Jiro flung across the air.
Instead of landing on his butt, Jiro plants both of his hands against the ground, then he pushes himself back onto his feet. "Tsch." The young man grins at Frei, then he twists around and glances towards the man, "I see that you have gained something." He sprints at Frei once more, then he lunges forward to thrust his right leg to the solar plex, then he steps forward and launches an elbow strike against Frei's chin.
COMBATSYS: Frei blocks Jiro's Medium Punch.
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Frei 0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0 Jiro
Well, that didn't go over 100% as planned, but it could have been much worse. At the idea that he's 'gained something', Frei gives a little smile even as he ducks backwards out of the way of knee strike, guessing it to be a feint or a lead-in... and he's proven right once Jiro's sudden elbow thrust slams into his outstretched palm, deflected though not totally avoided. "If I did gain anything recently," he says simply, "it's that I'm trying to be more aware of myself as a fighter, and not just someone who knows how to manipulate chi."
Deciding he wants to put a little distance between himself and Jiro, the monk skips back a step, slicing a hand through the air in front of him, surrounded by a brief blue-white flash. The air around Jiro suddenly freezes solid, a horizontal line of ice shards flickering in and out of existence along the line that Frei's hand described with the motion.
COMBATSYS: Frei successfully hits Jiro with Hatsuyuki.
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Frei 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Jiro
Now then, this is something that is quite painful for Jiro. Although Frei managed to use the palm to stop Jiro from proceeding any further, Jiro grunts slightly before he twists back from the man. As the distance is briefly made, Frei manages to make further distance by releasing the blue white flash of chi. The air freezes cold about him and the ice shards pierce against his frame.
Jiro winces as he takes a step back, then he grins at Frei. "Heh... Very well." Jiro starts to sprint towards Frei, manipulating the chi along his form through the fury inside of him. As the fury channels forth the scarlet flames, Jiro is driving the fist towards the ground, having it drive itself against the floor. The flames illuminate before the fist launches upward across Frei's chin with a devastating chi imbued uppercut.
"Burning Hell!"
COMBATSYS: Jiro successfully hits Frei with Burning Hell.
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Frei 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Jiro
...not expected. Especially not the yelling of the attack name! The sudden change of direction is more than enough to make Frei's attempt to deflect this attack less than successful. Intending to defend himself against a sweep of some kind, or possibly an explosive chi attack considering the building of energy he can sense in Jiro's strike, he's unprepared for the sudden rising attack and gets quite literally lifted off his feet by the blow, only catching himself at the last minute to land in a crouch a short distance away.
Standing, Frei grins, wiping a hand across his mouth. That stung, a little bit. "'Burning Hell', huh. Is this supposed to be some Dante's inferno thing now that you're a law enforcer?" Even as he speaks, Frei's hand drops to his side, glittering with a hazy, silver-gold glow. "I suppose that's appropriate." Suddenly, the monk drives forward at a reasonably fast clip, sweeping his hand up -- fingers extended, like a knife hand strike -- in a parabolic arc from ground to shoulder, as if to 'cut' through Jiro in a wide slash. The strike is accompanied by a sudden, slicing aura of silver-gold chi with a metallic sheen in the path of the strike, and a sound like a tuning fork being struck. "Ei!"
COMBATSYS: Frei successfully hits Jiro with Houken EX.
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Frei 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Jiro
After the manifestation of the devastating chi induced uppercut, Jiro rewards Frei with a grin. "Yeah, quite a bit changed in me as well." He chuckles slightly, "A bit, it goes with the motif of the scarlet flames as opposed to the white flames." He cracks his neck, then he smiles once more as he looks at Frei.
But then, Jiro's eyes widen when he witnesses Frei coming forth with his stance of jabbing out towards him. Jiro attempts to bring his handsup to guard against it in time, but he is struck by the slicing aura.
It pierces against the young man, his eyes widen as he can literally feel it cut deep into him. Then, there is the feeling of resonation vibrating in him. Staggering back, agaped, Jiro clutches his chest as he takes a nice step away.
He extends his right hand out, using the left hand to hold against the arm. "Here is something new."
There is a whine of energy echoing from the hand as a ball of scarlet chi manifests. Channeling his fury into place, Jiro's eyes illuminate with the crimson flames. Gritting his teeth, the ground before him emits a red aura, burning and soaring along the air as red fireflies flutter around.
They join with the growing sphere, then they form into a large ball.
"ARRGGHH!!!" Jiro launches the ball out, as it is the size of Jiro himself. That massive ball flings through the air, cutting through everything in front of its path as the swirling spheres orbit about it.
COMBATSYS: Frei blocks Jiro's Meteor Buster.
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Frei 1/----===/=======|=======\-------\0 Jiro
Well, that IS new. But while Frei may not have mastered the subtler forms of physical combat, when it comes to dealing with energy attacks, there's few that can match him at his level of experience. Fire, from his point of view, is easy to understand; it's chaotic, angry, seeking to overwhelm and consume what it comes in contact with. The trick, of course, is to give it something other than yourself to consume. As the sphere of fire blazes through the air at him, Frei takes a centering breath, then flicks a hand forward, again flashing blue white. The air in front of him is suddenly alive with ice crystals, the meteor blast impacting on them in a spectacular clash of blue and red. It's not the same as going on the offensive to match, but it's enough; a few of the flames spill around the impromptu shield, but Frei is left for the most part unharmed.
Taking a deep breath, Frei doesn't press the attack; instead, he takes a deep, centering breath and stands his ground, watching Jiro carefully. "I was never really sure about the 'white' flame," he admits, trying to put an amused spin on it. "I personally like things to be colorful rather than colorless."
COMBATSYS: Frei focuses on his next action.
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Frei 1/----===/=======|=======\-------\0 Jiro
Now, when Frei starts to utilize the chi to form what is a wall of ice crystals, Jiro's eyes widen when he sees the meteor blast impact against it. The clash of azure and crimson hue roars through the air. But when the energy fades away, the flames reveal Frei looking unharmed through majority of the blast point. A grunt is given by Jiro, then he shakes his head and decides to press on with the attack.
Jumping into view, Jiro instead launches himself towards Frei, drawing his body forward as he attempts to dash at the scholar's direction.
He twists his wrist and he winds the fist out to launch at Frei's face with a right hook.
COMBATSYS: Frei endures Jiro's Jab Punch.
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Frei 1/--=====/=======|=======\-------\0 Jiro
Perhaps sadly for Jiro, once again his attack finds its mark, but not its intended effect. Or, perhaps better to say, it finds a target much more prepared for it than he might have thought. Even as Jiro is rushing him, Frei's hands are at his sides. His right suddenly blazes with a white, radiant aura... while the left hums with a cool, purple-black energy. The air practically hums with both, as the monk takes a deep breath and prepares himself for what's to come.
The right hook arcs toward Frei's face, but even as it does, those white and black glows are spreading up and outward from Frei's hands, enveloping his entire body with a swirling aura of white and black, mixing with each other in coruscant patterns. When the blow connects, it does so on someone who is actually *taller* than when it was thrown. Why?
Because the energy aura is keeping Frei suspended, just slightly, off the floor.
As the punch hits home, and Jiro might be looking to retract his hand, Frei grins at him... and the aura turns into a blaze of energy, the purest of yang life force and the purest of yin's death energy combined in one harmonious whole. Above the din of the swirling power, the monk simply says: "I learned a few things myself... a little symbolic death, and rebirth, maybe."
He extends his hands, palm out; the aura of power suddenly rushes forward in a point-blank blast of swirling energy, light and dark, life and death... looking to consume Jiro utterly with its power. "SAMSARA!"
COMBATSYS: Jiro endures Frei's Samsara.
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Frei 0/-------/-------|=======\====---\1 Jiro
Frei had managed to take the fist that hooks at his way, which is as Jiro intended. But, then there is the surprise as Jiro finds Frei's body mixed in with the white and black color as they start mixing in. But, Jiro's eyes widen when he notices Frei floating off of the floor.
"...." Then, the aura is washing over the entire form of Jiro Kasagi as the Yin-Yang symbol finally over takes Jiro. The young man dives into it, releasing a thunderous, powerful scream in agonizing pain. His eyes widen and he roars in fury as he is driving himself to tear through the burst of energy.
"Arrrggghhhh!!!" Soon, the scarlet chi manifests about his body, peering forth as a set of flames that seek to tear Jiro asunder. But Jiro presses on, dashing further into the blow as he finally drives his right fist out in a devastating uppercut. That fist is launching up towards Frei's chin.
"Try this on for size!"
COMBATSYS: Jiro successfully hits Frei with Scarlet Slaughter.
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Frei 0/-------/=======|===----\-------\0 Jiro
After the initial uppercut, Jiro is winding the left fist back. He can feel the traces of the explosive energy roar to life as the surge echoes. "Arrgghh.....!" When the energy condenses, Jiro launches his right fist out, slamming it towards Frei.
Upon impact is an explosion of violent, scarlet chi that resounds in the air. A boom is noted as it breaks through the sound.
Well, damn.
The truth is that even for someone with Frei's considerable defensive abilities, Jiro hits ridiculously hard. Thus when his own strongest attack has been delivered, he's in very poor shape for dealing with what Jiro dishes out in response. The result is one deep-fried monk landing on the opposite side of the room with a heavy *THUD* sound. It takes him a good long while to get up, but get up he does... and surprisingly, his body is surrouded by a gold and green glow, little motes of light dancing off his skin as he focuses, trying to pull himself together. "Not bad... looks like all three of us have been improving. But... I'm pretty resilient, Jiro. It's gonna take... a little more, yet."
Holding out his hand, palm-up, Frei gathers dancing motes of pure white light, like tiny stars, that swim around his hand in a chaotic pattern. With one movement of the wrist, the spheres suddenly streak through the air, looking to pelt Jiro one after another in quick succession with tiny bursts of pure light energy. He may be slowed, and bruised and beaten, but he ain't done yet.
COMBATSYS: Jiro fails to interrupt Seiya from Frei with Heaven's Diminisher.
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Frei 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Jiro
COMBATSYS: Jiro can no longer fight.
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Frei 0/-------/----===|
And it is then.... that as Frei is gathering the energy like stars, Jiro is seeing the energy balls pelting at his direction like tiny bursts of light energy. Jiro is sprinting into the trajectory of the attack, trying to burst through it in order to break through Frei.
Yet.... Jiro finds himself caught into the blow and he is sent sprawling against the ground. He grunts, then he laughs. "... I never could beat you."
Despite Jiro's statement, in the wake of his own attack, Frei is hunched forward, both hands on his knees, taking big gulps of air. Was that a victory? If it was, it was just barely so; Frei's own grip on consciousness is tenuous at best, bolstered only by his sudden infusing of restorative energy into his own body. If nothing else, he's a very hardy individual. "You know..." he starts, before fatigue sets in and he just lets himself slump over on his backside on one of the mats, taking deep breaths and trying to get his vision to stop doubling up.
Eventually, he sits up, directing his attention at Jiro lying on the floor across the room. "Is that important?" he asks carefully. "I might just be lucky. Lord knows I've only beaten Alma once, but I know you've done it many times... so I'm not sure what to say. It could be anything."
"Nah, but it's more of a pride thing. I haven't been able to beat you but once so many years ago." He laughs, "But hell, it gives me a reason to fight you again." He winks at Frei. But then, Jiro shuts his eyes as he considers.
"Perhaps. But it was a good fight. It is good to know that you're still as strong as ever." He laughs, "...It is good to see one of the members of the Glory Hounds again."
The redhead's hands drop back behind him, palms down on the floor, supporting him as he leans back and looks up at the ceiling. "What a weird team, when you think about it. A professional model, an Interpol officer, a shrine maiden, a kenpo heiress, a chi sage..." He pauses, then adds, as solemnly as possible, "...a Tran..." Yeah. Can you describe him any other way? I sure can't. Chuckling, he shakes his head. "It was luck. Next time things will go different for you, I'm sure. But you're right. We haven't really connected as a team. Everyone's got so much of their own thing to do..."
Log created on 23:01:36 06/25/2008 by Frei, and last modified on 15:02:35 06/26/2008.