The Way of Sensei Wu

(expecting)

Eight silent paws pad deeper into the cavern along the river's edge, until there's four paws and two less-silent feet. Both pause here and there in these dim spaces. Anyone coming along behind would find odd bits left along the water's edge and colorful origami shoved into cracks in the stone.

There's a longer pause as the fluffy, four-footed shadow pauses at the chill water's edge, seeing or hearing some movement and perhaps hoping for fish.

A chuckle can be heard, before turning into a full heartfelt laugh. The source of the sound is a masked monk casually sitting on a nearby rock. No hint of where they could have been coming from. Their smell is a confusing mixed bag of different odors, likely on purpose.



They wave at Naoko's, and Sensei Wu's voice comes out of the mouth hidden by hay:

"Oh, goody two-shoes is going to be so mad about it! Might even frown! A spectacle you don't get to see everyday!"

The Soshi freezes, nose wrinkling as she slowly moves the hand holding a little star of goldenrod paper behind her back. "Ah, um...just giving the air kami a challenge to find some of these. They'll be fond of the trick once they do, I'm sure." It was frankly a tossup if they'd be annoyed at having to search under the weight of all this stone, or welcome the chance to swirl up a little chaos down here.

The cat looks up from the dim flickers of light on the water, reflective eyes glinting in what light there was here.

Naoko takes a step closer, stiff-limbed and senses straining. "Does he really never frown?"

"Never managed to make him show the slightest trace of anger or distress in years, and trust me I've tried! It's like that tale with the monkey that pisses on a monk, and the monk just pats the monkey's head. So unnerving."

They jumped down their rock and moved toward the Soshi, contemplating the hiding places she had chosen for the offerings.

"Oh yes, the spirits will be quite amused. All these stories about how they're feisty, and tricky, and always changing, and yet humans keep thinking they need to repeat endlessly the same exact boring ritual to please them."

The masked monk then looks intensely at Hanasuko, which remains chill incarnated.

"Quite the strange animal we have here. And the cat is unusual too."

Somewhat reassured, she nods. "Idon't think even the earth wants to be still forever...though they seem to want it more'n most." At least, that was about as much as she could usually get from them, all grumbly and not so willing to chat.

She freezes a moment, stalling as response options run through her head by agreeing, "Hanakuso's a very special cat, and a great hunter." Angry denial, haughty denouncement...she ends up with purposeful misunderstanding. "I'm not sure that one was meant to be an animal at all, just..um decorative." She points to the golden star. It could be an animal if one was familiar with starfish, but the mountains were not a place one ran across the strange ocean creatures.

"A bird with proportions screwed up to the max maybe? Nah, Sen's too perfect for that. If it looks for a star, then it was meant to look like a star. Unless you folded that one yourself?"

Another starring contest between the mask and Hanasuko.

"Curious about what gave you the idea to upgrade his little daily ritual though? Trying to get into the spirits of the mountain's good graces? That's a nice start, but only a start. This is an old place, with old spirits, and swaying old things take time."

She shakes her head. "Never learned paper folding like that. Might manage a crane since I've been taught that a time or two." She looks on at the staring contest, Hanakuso serene and inscrutable as any cat, the shadowed eyes behind the basket at least as inscrutable. There's no blinking, but the white-tufted tip of his tail flicks once, pauses, and then once more.

"Ahh, well the air was jealous of all the gifts to other elements, even though they were happy with their own. Seemed kind of petty...but air spirits sure can be...so I wanted to make them work a bit." Slight shoulders shrug, lifting the thick-quilted coat. "Didn't know about the mountain spirit...well not directly. I'd've assumed there was a mountain spirit if anyone'd asked." Her eyes narrow a bit in thought, head tilting as she asks, "why would shaking that sort of thing up please the mountain? And...just how many old spirits're around here? Can't say any of the shrines in my territory seem nearly this busy."

"Ah, the air spirits. Spoiled children are they not? In the mountains, people fear the wind more than they do any other element. A blast of wind at the wrong time, and you can be knocked down by snow, even sent flying down a cliff. Wind gives birth to snowstorms and sculpts the snow into avalanches in the making. The mountain might be earth and water, but what people fear and thus revere is the wind.

But still don't make them any less jealous of all that mass of earth they're dancing around all day. Petty, petty air."

The monk cups a bit of water from the river, and shows it to Naoko.

"All things have a spirit. You, me, the river as a whole, that small portion of water on its own, that piece of paper, everything. Mountains are no exception.

How awakened and powerful these spirits are is a different issue however. A lot of earth kami are as old as the world, but since they do not desire change, they haven't got any stronger or active in all that time.

All rules have exception however. And like there air kami that are wise, there are spirits tied to the earth that are adventurous. This mountain, taken in its entirety, is one of them."

She does try focusing on all of that, knowing she'll only retain pieces, like skipping a rock across water and holding onto the ripples. "I...mostly get along with the air spirits better than the rest. Even when they're angry and harsh, it stirs up the wildness and heart to fight it in ways that a wall of floodwater or a forest fire don't. Like, they give you a sporting chance at least?" Her hands offer visuals to with her words, including the crashing of waves.

"But a mountain? Adventerous?" A small stone is in one hand, smooth and striated, being absently worried at by small, clever fingers. "How does a mountain have adventures when it really can't go anywhe..."

"Oh...is that why we're all here?

"I don't know why you are here. Only you know that.

As for Sensei Wu, he's genuinely looking for students. He's a lot of things but not a deceiver.

However, he's also a man who loves to kill several birds with a single stone thrown. Or, in his own words, knocking four – or is it five? – targets with one swing of a stick.

And pleasing an old friend is definitely on his bucket list."

Her lips quirk in a wry smile at 'not a deceiver,' but she isn't about to comment on it, already a bit nervous on that subject. I heard the monks telling a story about a shrine spirit that stepped out as a woman for a bit, batted down someone who thought they'd make this sacred space a fortress. Starting to wonder if it decided it liked walking around like that."

Hanakuso serenely begins cleaning his paws.

The light here is dim, but the bit reflecting from Naoko's eyes, combines with a widening grin as she says, all faux casually, "That'd make sense for an adventurous spirit I guess. Protective too if the stories of wolves chasing off bandits and so on are true. But Sensei Wu? For all the stories of sweeping targets away like grass, all the other stories I've heard here so far have him...or someone with his name...getting their ass kicked. I mean...Hiro and Haruhi learned to be that good someplace, so I guess he learned better somewhere along the way..or at least learned to teach better."

"Oh, the stories Wu tells about himself are indeed full of shit. But they were never meant to be true, and I don't think anyone has ever believed them. There are just the grown up version of the stories parents read to their children: Everyone knows there are nothing more than a story, but they serve a purpose.

As for his actual skills..."

The individual ponders the question for one instant while playing with a pebble.

"Let's say he had a good teacher of his own, who knocked some sense into the imbecile young man he used to be. Likely not nearly enough, but the task was arduous.

After thirty years of practice, he's okay for a human. Still a far stretch from someone like the little man who could casually smack his stick into a god's face, but good enough against mortal men."

"good enough against mortals, hmm? Who trained him then? Were they mortal?" She slips her mask up to the top of her head, revealing dark brows over eyes that seemed a good deal wider when not covered by the mask."There's stories about people whisked away to train with Kenku, and the like, but that's all swords."

She pauses a moment, "not sure what purpose outrageous stories serve though. Make folks believe they could be that impossibly good if they worked harder at it?"

"I think this has to do with politics, getting people to hear of you even if they don't hear of you in good. But that's sadly a world I only know of from hearsay, so you'll have to ask someone more court experienced if you want a more accurate answer.

As for your first question... Were you to keep your eyes locked to the ground in autumn, and suddenly walk upon hundred of orange leaves forming a rough circle, how many trees would you deduce are above you?"

Her head tilts in thought for a moment, one finger to her sharp chin. "Wrong color, but sounds like the way ginko look..one tree and the ground a blanket of gold all around. So one seems pretty likely."

"Indeed. And thus you have your answer. Each strange phenomenon around here, each thing that can only be explained by the presence of a powerful spiritual entity, is a leaf of the same tree."

Hooking her fingers through the eyeholes, she tugs the mask back in place. "Huh." She nods once. "Interesting." Glancing to the cat she adds, "we'll chat later, Mr. too cool."

She sets the stone she'd been worrying at the edge of the water, before pushing it in to tumble a bit as it fell through the water. "Well, I suppose so long as I'm not getting smacked with the tree branches, it's interesting to learn of the tree from the leaves."

"Hard to get better at smacking people with tree branches without first taking a few smacks yourself. But I guess it's not really the reason you came here."

They once again observe the cat:

"You'll need to grow a few more tails before you can observe the tree in its entirety Hanakuso-san. So does your charge.

In the meantime, you'll have to guess its shape from the shadows and leaves on the ground."

Her eyes narrow a bit at the reference to tails, but she takes a breath and lets is go. Nothing to do once the fox's out of that bag.

'Hmm, no, I don't really need to be your student to fulfill duties in any direction. Might be more interesting to see what the tree'd teach." There's a slight grin as she stands. "Maybe she'll show me some bark with the shadows. We're both good with trees, after all."

She offers a bow before beginning on her way again, a paper lily in hand to hide next.

/scene? (and thank you. XD)

When Naoko will stand from her bow, she'll be alone with Hanakuso. Where her interlocutor was standing an instant ago only lies a kometsuga's leaf.

/scene (thanks as well)