Description: Who even pays the electrical bill any more, anyway?
"Remember to write the check out to Kasumi Todoh. Not Master Ryuhaku. Kasumi."
Daniel Jack sent off the last of the handful of Todoh-Ryu Kobojutsu neophytes. The detective has found, like always, that whenever revenues were down, he could always find secure work training the students of his master, Todoh. However, experience has taught him one important thing: Make sure Master Todoh never gets the money directly. Between Kasumi and Todoh's always enduring wife, yes. But directly to Master Todoh?
No.
The detective begins to draw out a broom from the side corner of the dojo floor, along with the small, metal dustpan. With quiet reflection, the detective began to sweep the floor quietly. It was a quiet, serene moment, part of a quiet, serene fall evening. Daniel Jack takes a deep breath in, and lets it out slowly. It was a good day.
Perfect for meditation.
This is sound advice for writing cheques, because Ryuhaku Todoh and banks in general tend not to be on very good speaking terms. Especially the ones with lollipops for the kids. He's banned from those. Not that it's ever stopped him from taking naps inside a booth when there's a fight going on, but, general principle remains.
It was a serene fall evening. Let's put an emphasis on the past tense here. It really was a serene fall evening. That sort of thing is common in a calmer Southtown nowadays. but it really was a serene fall evening, until it happened.
What happened?
Him.
Especially when Ryuhaku Todoh's head suddenly pops up from the dirt just outside his own dojo, a makeshift mining light and pickaxe handy as he grits his teeth with a growl.
"Whoever said there was diamond under here is going to pay!" He grouses as he pulls himself up. "I paid good money for a map of land I already own and what'd I find?!" He flippantly tosses away what seems like a really neat fossil of a tennis ball.
...What?
"Dagnabbit those dweebs! Grr! Make me pay for something already mine, will they, oh why I'll show them, I'll show them all! That Lucy with diamonds in the sky better watch herself, the witch!!"
And that's why you don't give Master Ryuhaku the money.
Daniel Jack freezes. The broom stops cold. A small cloud of dust is tossed in the air, and lingers around the billowy leggings of Daniel's aikido uniform. It hangs for too long, before slowly settling on the wooden ground. The detective stares, the infinity of his master's mind simply consuming him.
What did he USE for that helmet.
Daniel Jack works up the courage and bravado to say words at his sensai. "Master Todoh! I... Erm..." The detective thinks for a moment. He was going to mention to him about dishonor against the dojo, and means of avenging the sensai. But giving his teacher ideas of revenge and adventure was dangerous. Very dangerous. Not just for Master Todoh, but for Daniel. And if he gave Master Todoh ideas, Kasumi might be cross. The detective looks around. He needed a distraction. Something. Anything to get Ryuhaku's mind off this unclever ruse.
His eyes land on the mail.
"Master Todoh! The mail has arrived! Maybe there are some important letters for you. I know we have bills that need paid...." The detective stops short. Don't mention money. Why did you mention money.
The detective grips the broom, bracing himself for the outburst.
One can already expect the missus will be very cross when she learns the reason that some of her flower arrangements disappeared under a bizarre fancy for mining as Ryuhaku thoughlessly brushes some dirt off onto his own dojo. The only clean thing about that dojo is the 'NO SMOKING' thing plastered on one of the pillars.
"Mail?! Pah!" The master(?) lowers down a hand with dismissal. "I never saw 'em!" At which point he snatches the mail out of the box post-haste. The electricity bill is the first one that goes down the hole he just came out of. Whether he knows he's tossing away the electric bill or is just simply throwing letters away /on principle/ is up for debate.
"Oooh, trying to fool me with childrens' scrawl, are you? ARE YOU?!" A letter from a rare adoring young child whom enjoys their after school activities here gets pitched in next. "Hah! You can't fool me, you printing press poseurs! I'm on to you! I'M ON TO YOU!" He declares.
This repeats a couple of times until he tosses one that goes past the hole and towards Daniel's feet. "Hah, if you could pay for a fancy sticker like that you could afford to give us free water!"
He sneers. "They always want more, more, and more from me!"
Daniel Jack rues that sign.
RUES IT.
Daniel Jack tries hard to pretend that his master is not pouring dirt into his own dojo. The detective gets a vague glimmer of how Ryuhaku's family functions, once again, but he suppresses this soul-destroying feeling. Yes, self-denial will make you survive the next day.
Pretending that Master Todoh was not wearing flowers on his head, he lets him throw his mail into the pit. That might be junk mail. Yeah. Junk mail. Electric bills are the most common form of fraud utilized against the dojo. In fact, Daniel wasn't sure HOW electricity was getting to the Dojo. Or if it even was. Daniel Jack prays that Todoh wasn't stealing D batteries to power the dojo. Another piece of Todoh fanmails falls into the abyss. And more mail follows...
Until the piece falls by Daniel's feet.
The detective eyes the envelope. The first thing that stands out is the wax. Nothing gets sealed in wax these days, unless it was something VERY official or from someone very archaic. Either have a good chance of being trouble to the master. Breaking ranks, he dips down, still holding the broom. Lifting up the envelope with one hand, he holds it up to the light. Clutching the broom in the crook of his elbow, he begins to open the letter. Quietly he reads the contents of the letter....
And Daniel's eyes go very wide.
"Oh hello SWEEPSTAKES," Todoh greets another piece of mail with the ironic enthusiasm of an angry activist. This statement makes no sense. Ryuhaku Todoh generally appears to make a concentrated effort not to make any sort of sense to anyone but himself, and woe betide those who beg to differ.
Especially this piece of mail, something about him winning an all-expenses paid lesson to the Kyokugen Dojo. This one he doesn't toss away. He rips it into tiny, tiny, tiny confetti with such fine grain that by the time he tosses it all over his shoulder, it could be seen as a celebration from the powers that be above over Daniel as he reads the one piece of mail that may very well change his life.
Or at least make it just a bit more awesome.
Daniel Jack looks at the message hidden in the envelope. An invitation for Master Todoh to the world famous King of Fighters tournament. This was it. This was the chance for the Todoh Dojo to make it on the map. As the confetti scatters around him, the detective weighed it out in his mind. His old rival Roland. His favorite sensai, Kasumi. Himself, rounding it out. And of course, Master Todoh leading the front. The dream team. A team to challenge Kyokugen Dojo....
Todoh Team.
The detective looks up, a glowing look on his face.
The detective decides to approach this in the most practical manner. He knew leadership with Todoh was.... unpredictable. And by unpredictable, he actually was entering more self-denial about being a student of Todoh. Self-denial was a very strong aspect of Todoh-Ryuu Kobojutsu. Focusing on his sensai, the detective speaks very carefully, as if he was speaking with a psychopath on the edge of chewing through his straps.
"Master Todoh, have you ever thought of... putting the dojo in a fighting tournament?"
Chewing up the straps, spitting them out, making them into delicious spaghetti with a sauce of mania full of chunks of meaty idiocy. That's really only scratching the surface when you are a crazy, driven old man for some clearly defined purpose often approached through uncanny, petty, and sometimes outright embarrassing means.
"What?! You think I haven't tried? Yeh hah hah! They're all afraid. 'Oh, we'll call you.' 'Oh, it's in the mail.' All lies! LIES, LIES, LIES!! But they can just wait and see for themselves!!" He shakes a fist as he preaches to the heavens, head turned away from Daniel.
"The only things that show up in the mail are bills and things with dotted lines you sign in these crazy criss-cross patterns and do they think I'm stupid?!" Those are 'coupons,' by the way. "They think I can't sign my name sideways!"
The detective stops for a moment.
Quietly, Daniel Jack slips the message inside the back of his pants. Where he always keeps a secret pocket. Please don't ask. It is also where he keeps his guns. Please also don't ask about that either. Daniel Jack had a feeling that maybe, just maybe, his success in the KOF tournament lied with NOT surrounding himself with Todoh AND Roland.
"Yes, Sensai. But you know how people will say anything. Like those people who sold you that map."
"Yes, yes they will. Hell, I'll say anything!" Ryuhaku grudgingly agrees as he takes off the mining helmet and decides to sit in the muddy lawn, resting his arms on his knees and his head even lower. "Harrumph! Kooky little cookies."
Oh great, he's throwing away coupons for booze! Daniel should probably save them in case he needs to drown away another Ryuhaku-induced headache.
"I swear! It's not easy being me! Surrounded by dirt! And exclamation marks! And... more dirt with exclamation marks! I'd ask you if you knew what I meant but you WOULDN'T, would you?!"
He harrumphs again. "What about those money hobbyists? Did you bury 'em yet?!"
At the moment, Daniel couldn't even notice a monkey on his back. A drunk monkey. Who was also violet and had a gun. A feeling of... Todoh spirit was burning in his heart. He felt that he could lead a ragtag team of misfits into the tournament. But who? Who would be his men? It did not matter, for Daniel knew...
He knew that the Todoh Dojo would end up with HONOR.
Moving towards his sensei, the detective placed a brotherly hand of comradeship on his master's shoulder. "Don't worry, Master, I know what you mean. If I didn't, then you would teach me! And as for those hobbyists.... I wouldn't worry about them." The detective grins. "I have a feeling... things will be looking up for the Todoh Dojo. Very, very soon."
In reality, without Daniel around to do light maintenance, it would probably go to crap.
But at least Daniel had the spirit!
"How do they consider that a hobby, collecting money anyway?! 'Tax collecting,' they call it. Feh! Back then people were more into... stamps. And lamps! I'd know!" Ryuhaku grunts as Daniel makes the move towards companionship - a gesture for equals - as opposed to a healthy student-teacher relationship.
But it can be safely said that almost nothing involving Ryuhaku Todoh is ever healthy, sane, or even fun. Funny, perhaps... if you're looking completely from the outside. The fossilized tennis ball rolls along out towards the park beyond.
"Well of course they will be going up, they always will be!" He rises up with a pumped fist and a quickly deployed fan, all but shoving Daniel's hand off of him as he turns around to face him. "Because this is the greatest fighting style the world's ever known and don't you forget it!"
His expression grows flatter. "In case you do. You didn't, right? I hate being reminded! If you're my student you hate being reminded too!"
Daniel Jack makes sure the note is well and hidden. Yes, he has learned to break down the teacher-student relationship, and replace it with something a whole lot more casual. Has that affected Daniel's training? Probably. But did Daniel mind? Of course not.
As Ryuhaku grows flatter, Daniel pats him on the back. "How can anyone forget the ultimate hand chops? The overwhelming flexibility of Kasane Ate? The endless chains of strikes? And of course, the invincible, impossible to predict throws? Master Todoh, no one will ever forget the greatest fighting style in the world. And when someone says otherwise? Why..."
The detective tightens his hand into a fist, and holds in front of himself threateningly. "I call them liars, and IGNORE THEM!"
"While punching them!"
"Gooooooood." It's an almost spiteful compliment. "Very good. Very, very good. So. About this whole... calling them liars and ignoring them thing, ah, I just realized if you're gonna do THAT you need their addresses, yes, show them why they should go back to collecting LAMPS and admiring STAMPS."
At which point Ryuhaku Todoh jumps right back down into the hole he dug out of. "Where'd I throw them now?! Hey! Hey! Stupid discarded mail! Don't be discarded when I want to undiscard you! Get back here! Grr!"
...Of course, Daniel could go and get started while the dear old master is in the middle of an equally important journey.
Daniel Jack waits until his master is in the hole. Well, he was always in the hole. He never actually left it, in the metaphorical sense. The detective, in his own student-induced delusion. Daniel looks to the left. He looks to the right. And slowly, ever so slowly, he drops the broom. And then, he uses the secret, ultimate art of Todoh-Ryuu. The technique so powerful, nobody even knows it.
The detective fades into the background, to begin his own adventure.
Log created on 21:28:04 10/13/2010 by Todoh, and last modified on 17:08:00 10/14/2010.