Cross Effects > Areas
Great Dojo
YOLF:
Zhang Liu
He rolled his eyes, as if evading the sight of his old master could banish the thought that was about to ensue. "Please, leave it for another time," he said, voice choked.
Panda:
Nanako
Nanako perked up when Sethrol made the offer, tail swishing faster and ears perking up as her curiosity was piqued. And so, where Zhang knew to dread what was to come, Nanako instead welcomed it in blissful ignorance.
"Oh? Sure, let's hear it," she piped up, unleashing their doom with bright eyes and an eager question.
yinsukin:
Sethrol
"I shall start our story with a simple question. What does it mean to pursue a shadow?"
Sethrol removed his arms from his chest and waved his arm at the two, motioning the two of them to keep digging. Yes, he was completely committed to this obnoxious old man role, even if Zhang became infuriated with him. In fact, a still lingering inner child within him wanted to see that reaction. That is probably why he smiled as he talked.
"While not all who reside in this district grew up in it, those who have must endure a rigid culture. A person's fighting ability means everything in this district and so a girl born with a disease that cripples her physically was destined to wither away. Still, the girl clawed at death and found a foothold that allowed her to cling to life. Now you may think that such an action would earn praise from the community, a success story to match the greatest, but human nature is not so simple. Indeed, when she lived, there was universal praise from the community, the girl fighting death itself and coming out on top. However, the weak girl didn't settle for simply living. She wanted to thrive, to stand next to the greatest in the dojo and become as strong as she could be."
Sethrol walked over to Jonathan and gave the body a little glare. "Nanako you may not know this but in this dojo, the great houses of the district hold ideas of what it takes to be a great fighter. Talent, effort, knowledge, spirituality, focus: all of these have held spots as the great dojos of our district. There was one dojo in particular the one held by Seras the hero of talent who struck down the master of effort and created the dojo of talent in its ashes whom could not stand Mira. To her and her students, the girl was admirable when she was granted life, but a pathetic roach when she rose beyond that. It turned out the sympathy given to her was one passed down from a pedestal and when the girl rose to join her breathern on that stage, they knocked her off. For you see, her ambition, her desire, her happiness was never really what they cared about, merely protecting their own worldview."
Sethrol took Jonathan from Zhang's hands and placed it in the hole, motioning for the two to start shoveling his body. "Unlike the girl, Jonathan was gifted with a physique that would make a greek god jealous and strength that would inspire Hercules. He was also born with an affinity for magic, making him one of the "talented" ones in the district. What do you think happens when overwhelming but untrained talent meets the natural drive to live? You get an ill prepared hunter cornering a rat. In the end the stronger opponent was defeated by the desperation and determination of the small animal simply trying to live. It turned out the rat had the potential to grow larger and stronger than the hunter the entire time."
Sethrol turned away from the body looking the two in the eye before raising a hand, pointing his finger towards the heavens. "I started this with a question. What does it mean to pursue a shadow? After that fight, Jonathan trained under many masters and honed the talent he was born with, yet he never even came close to catching up to Mira. A shadow is something tangible yet in tangible, a black outline of the more complicated aspects of a persons body. You cannot be harmed by a shadow directly, but often times that shadow is more imposing than the human it is attached to. I don't know if you can ever truly catch a shadow, especially since you cannot touch it. However, as I stare at this young man's body, I cannot help but wonder what would have happned if Jonathan had chased Mira herself?"
Sethrol sighed and said, "Yes that is the greatest shame of this young man's life, the great bond lost to envy."
YOLF:
Zhang Liu
An outpouring of complaints washed over the man's thoughts, but they stopped at the bottleneck of his throat. He grumbled through the tale, but he made no motion to stop it, and dutifully aided in the burial. Sethrol often spoke without purpose, with the purpose itself to provoke harmony and thoughtfulness, but rarely, he had a point to make. Zhang Liu could recognize one here, though he was not an audience that could benefit from it.
He had seen this story with his own eyes - or at least part of it. All in the Great Dojo followed their own preconceptions. The choosing of their path to martial achievement and self-perfection was always based on egoism, in the end; and if left unchecked, such an ego could consume their common principles, their mutual respect, and even the foundations of their collective identification and universal virtues. It was inevitable that, even among those who recalled honor, some would be cast aside.
And that when they proved that such rejection was borne on false premises, then those who had built their life on them would find themselves chasing phantoms, seeking to validate their doubts against questions that had no true answers to begin with.
Panda:
Nanako
Nanako cocked an eyebrow as Zhang grumbled, the squirrel girl moving without thinking about it to aid in the burial as she listened to Sethrol's story with eager curiosity. The struggle for survival that the older man laid out struck a familiar chord with her. Familiar, but not quite the same. The scorn of those who'd once pitied you, for trying to claw your way up to where they stood, that was something she understood easily enough. The reasons, however...
"Kinda sounds like they're focusing too hard on just one thing," Nanako noted, "And it sounds like Jonathan met someone hungrier than him, that first time."
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