Session Start: Sat Feb 12 16:20:00 2005 Previously, on Hunters: After a few weeks of relative peace, the team has been propelled back into the fight. Between the return of Hardhat, protecting Princess Oak, and bugging Universal Shipbuilding... ...it's been a long, long weekend. Well, week, really. And even if they can't put a name to their immediate fears, there's the sense that something big is about to come to a head. ...but it's Tuesday morning, everyone is at school, and things are, for the moment, blissfully normal. Or are they? [Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 740 local time] [Takeuchi Memorial High School] [session start] It's a bright, sunny day in Tokyo, and the last traces of snow have melted off the campus. A couple hundred girls in tan uniforms are making their way into the main building for their morning classes. The campus is generally recovering from the trauma of the news about Junko, and most of them seem to be in relatively good spirits. * Leena is heralded by a bright flash of light about a black away, before she arrives in view of campus- at a run. * Athena steps in front of Leena as she reaches the front gates. Hold on, there. * Leena skids to a halt, and looks flatly at Athena. "Outta my way, I'm gonna be late." We can walk in. I don't have time to play with you now, you can wait until lunch. * Leena grins a little. It's not a good grin. I thought this would be better addressed now. Look, Leena, why haven't the rest of your team joined Tea Club? * Athena trots along with Leena towards the front entrance. * Leena tilts her head, and says, slowly, "Maybe they don't want to?" I fought for them to have the choice. By the same token, I'm not going to force them to choose it. We need to show some solidarity, Leena. We're not the largest club any more, and our funding is diminishing. Hell, a few of your friends aren't even in two clubs. ... is that a threat? Does it need to be? You know a threat will bring a fight. You can't afford a fight if you're worried about your position already. ...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come on that strong. But if we can't be at least the second-largest club, there are going to be... repercussions from across the bay, and the current set up is too good to throw away. Oh no! Miss Prissy Queen is going to be disappointed that her chosen are no longer the number one popular group at her personal little school. Whatever shall we do? I'm not the person that's driving this, Leena. ... all the stuff about secrecy and hiding our identities, you really think we should be one of the larger groups here? * Athena opens the front door for Leena. They proceed through the entranceway, and are assaulted by a sign on the opposite wall with "JOIN ANIME CLUB" spelled out in high-intensity green LED's. * Leena stops for a moment. "Tell you what. I'm feeling nice and charitable. I'll pass it on to them, free of charge and fre-" *she stops mid-sentence as she sees the sign. ... I'll bring it up. Can you tell me anything more solid than 'repercussions'? Just... pass the suggestion along, please? Things are getting tense. ... yeah. Have a nice day. I'll be sure to see you at lunch. ^__^ * Athena stalks off to her home room, which inconveniently lies in the opposite direction from Leena's. * Leena grins extraordinarily widely at Athena, waves, and breaks into a run again. * Maya steps lively into the classroom, looking like new money, in a way. Perhaps the short time off has done enough to recharge her batteries. That, or maybe she's just being upbeat to be upbeat. * Leena skids into homeroom, grabbing the doorknob as she passes it to stop faster. She stops, pants, and looks around. "I'm not late! Wai!" * Taki dashes onto the school grounds, making her way into her desk just before the final bell rings. Like she always does. No she doesn't look winded. It's not like anyone has been working her harder than usual or anything... * Leena takes a more sedate pace to her seat. * Taki mumbles a "Hey Leena" as she squeezes past the other girl. * Haruko has been sitting at her desk, talking on the phone, noticing that the bell is about to ring, she signs off and hangs up. Hey Taki. * Leena flips her black hair to get it out of her face as she seats herself. * Maya plops into her seat and waves. "Heya, heya..." is all she manages to the group in general before sitting down. * Taki goes immediately into ignoring everything. * Leena digs out a binder, and immediately starts on doing homework she didn't do last night. * Leena peeks up, as if remembering something. "Hey, Taki, don't run off for lunch today, 'kay? Meet us all in the lunchroom?" * Sakamura-sensei walks in and closes the door behind her. You notice the "Equestrian Club Rides On!" bumper sticker stuck crookedly to the back of her jacket. ... Why? * Leena looks up at the teacher, especially the bumper sticker, than back to Taki. "... it's about the Club Wars. I'll explain more, and hopefully have a supporting speaker during lunch." Girls, we seem to have suddenly entered some sort of recruiting competition for the clubs... ... Blah. * Maya cocks her head in Leena's direction for a second... then looks Sakamura's way. "... eh?" Now, club politics have gotten somewhat out of control here in the past, and I would be awfully disappointed if we were to have to call in the police again. * Taki just shakes her head and goes back to looking out the window. ... police? * Maya quickly covers her mouth with an 'eep'. So... I'm going to allow one round of recruitment speeches this morning, but after that I will not tolerate any discussion of it during class. * Leena grins, and raises a hand. "Sakamura, you have a sticker on your back. One of the sucky clubs that's not acro is on there." * Sakamura-sensei blinks, and slaps at the back of her coat. "..." ...right. *drapes coat over chair and sits down* * Sanako jumps to her feet. "Me first me first!" * Sakamura-sensei shakes her head and waves for the girl to go ahead. * Leena readies a crumpled up paper-ball, and waits for the appropriate moment. Everyone should join riding club! Because we have horses! Real horses! And with eight more members, we can start financing the stable expansion and get even more horses next year! Yay!" * Maya does her best to not look like she's vaguely amused... and slightly uneasy about all this. * Taki slouches in her chair and crosses her fingers. Mentally, she repeats "Please don't mention me..." * Chika rises threateningly as Sanako runs out of air. * Haruko looks interested at the idea of horses. ...you're all going to join anime club. * Leena throws the paper ball at Chika. Over your F! It's just a matter of time. *dodges* * Maya makes a point of looking at Chika intently. Her "F", Leena? * Sakamura-sensei looks askance at both girls. * Leena blinks at the dodge. "There's lots more fun things to do that enrich both the mind and body besides anime. You're all just lazy." Besides... Whatever. Our collection is growing by leaps and bounds, and if we meet our recruiting goals we're going to replace our current 70cm CRT's with 140cm DLP sets. Widescreen. You know you want to watch. * Leena jumps on her desk and powerposes valiantly, finger outstretched at Chika. "ALL BIG GROUPS ARE EVIL!" Says the girl whose club used to be the biggest. LOSER. * Chika sits down. ... It won't last, dear. It simply won't last. * Leena jumps down. Leena, calm down. -_-; Um, there's nothing wrong with Book Club... much better for your mind than anime or horses... ... * Leena blinks at the passivity of it. * Maya pays attention to the Book Club girl, too... although she occasionally looks Chika's way, too. From the back of the room, you can hear an escalating argument. "Judo." "Kendo." "Judo!" "Kendo!" "Judo!!" "KENDO." "JUDO!" * Taki idly mumbles, "Ninjitsu..." * Haruko waits until everyone else has spoken. That might be a while... * Leena gets out of her seat, gauging the distance to the front of the room for a moment. She vaults into a somersault over the front row of desks, but misjudges and lands flat on her back on the teacher's desk. * Taki suppresses a heavy snerk. * Maya winces and shakes her head. "KEEEEEEENDO!" "JUDO!!!! IPPON!!" * Leena oofs, and rolls off of it, waving at the teacher for a moment. She stands in front of the room, imposing in all of her four feet. Leeena, are you ok? Acrobatics club will allows you to do things like that, only better! It's good for your body, spatial sense, balance, and most importantly, every guy loves a girl who can stretch their legs to their head! ... * Sakamura-sensei buries her face in her hands. * Maya blinks, rolls that around in her head, then claps her hands to her cheeks in a hurry. * Taki blushes heavily and hides her face. In my short tenure here, I will be a master at that before I leave Takeuchi. And I can get a lot better! You, too, can achieve physical perfection! The room goes silent for about two beats, then erupts into complete shouting chaos. * Leena grins slyly. "We even have a professional masseuse." Nobody hears her. Nobody can hear anything. ... * Maya groans and moves her fingers to plug her ears. I hate this school so much... * Haruko is blushing. ...in any case, it's a long morning. All the teachers look positively frazzled, and there's a general air of barely-restrained violence. Lunch, though is quieter than usual. All the clubs are meeting and forming plans of attack... * Chiako grabs Haruko out of the cafeteria line and drags her over to a shadowed niche. * Taki follows Leena. "So what's going on? I'm missing a club meeting." Uh, hi, where are we going? * Leena flags Taki down as soon as she sees her- as well as the others. "Well, it's about the Clubs. Kinda." I'm in a club. *quietly, but with aggression* Lady Make-Believe, I presume? * Maya is quickly flagged down, in the middle of heading in the direction of the Performance club. "Yes, Leena... nice jump, by the way." ^_^ * Leena grins, hand behind her back. "Uh, yeah. Thanks. ^_^; Anyway, to the lunchroom." ...Yes... I understand that you haven't joined Tea Club. This is going to change. * Haruko is slightly flattered and slightly confused I'm flattered that you're asking me, but I'm not that important... Well, it's about the Tea Club. Athena told me to tell you to get your to join and she's worried that you're not, now that you're able to... What's worrying me is the reasons behind it. The High and Mighty Queen has some vested interest in Tea Club being #1 or #2. Oh, yes you are, Lady. We can't let just anyone into Tea Club, and that makes it even more important that everyone that can participate does. Is there really that much about Tea that we need to have a whole club about it? ... just how much does this mean to her, aside from funding? If it's this hot, there's gotta be more to it. I could care less about Athena's worries. I'm worried about the 'repercussions'. But, that aside, I'm just reminding you all that it's there. Especially now that the rabble *waves a dismissive hand out towards the rest of the caf* has gotten uppity. And it might be a good idea to have that extra level of communication and interaction. But I'd have to leave Kyouko all by herself in the Swimming Club... You don't have to - you can drop performance club instead. Athena wanted me to pound it in your heads to join now, but I'm not gonna do that. I'm rooting for Acro, personally. So I don't have to join? No. You do have the choice to do so if you want, and that's all I'm gonna do. Remind you of it. But.... I want to present my stories... Well, I'll decide what I want to decide. The worse Athena can do is kill me. Well, it's one of the other. Don't me make this an order. Okay good. Can I go then? I hate the cafeteria. * Maya smirks slightly. "Seriously, this is all just a mess. Let's just hope it blows over..." * Haruko is becoming visibly distraught. I don't want to let anyone down though! * Taki looks rather uncomfortable at all the crowds and noise. * Leena nods at Taki. "Yeah. And join Acro!" * Leena grins. You're letting the most important people down if you resist joining Tea Club. I have other things I like to do after school. Like go home. * Maya is already on her way into the cafeteria. She's hungry, dammit. * Leena waves at Taki, and jets towards Food. "Seeya!" At least let me talk to Kyouko first... * Taki shrugs. "Whatever..." ... h-hey! Wait up! * Taki heads towards the stairs to make her way up to the rooftop. * Chiako makes a note. "I'll be talking to her, too. You have a week to change." * Maya tries to catch up with Leena. * Chiako trots back to the Tea Club table. * Haruko nervously walks over to get her lunch, then over to the table with everyone else, looking worried and sad. * Leena beats Maya to the cafeteria, busting through the doors and beelining for Food. She waves at Haruko as she passes, calling out, "Save a spot for me!" * Haruko pushes her bento over a chair, reserving a place for Leena. * Maya hmphs, quickly has something to eat, dodging the recruiters, and quickly makes her way to Haruko. "Heya, Haruko... you alright?" * Leena grabs Food, and only walks quickly back to Haruko, plopping down next to her. Not really. Heyas. I got something to pass on to you real quick, so might as well say it and get it over with. Let me guess. Recruiters? Chiako wants me to quit one of my clubs and join the Tea Club. ...? * Leena opens and shuts her mouth, cutting off what she was about to say. ... you don't say. ... and she was pretty nice when I'd first met her. I wonder what got into her. And I don't want to leave Kyouko by herself in Swimming Club, and I was just getting some of the Performance Club to look at my scripts. And they were out of Melon-Bread. Well, that's what I was gonna say. Tea Club's there, and the Queen, for some reason, wants it to be the number one or two group in school. But I wasn't gonna flat out say join tea club... ... hm. Chiako told me I have a week. Well, if you don't want to, you don't want to. and said she was going to Order me. ... ... just a second. * Maya hurriedly works on lunch. "I'm going to talk with her. And she couldn't order you, anyway." but she's a... *looks around* Princess. * Leena lifts her legs, and swivels out of her seat, standing up and grabbing a bite of something before lifting the lunch up. ... I think, anyway. Unless Sakura forgot, only she and I can. * Maya reaches out to grab the back of Leena's clothing. * Leena pulls against Maya's grip. "Let go of me! I'm gonna kick her ass!" No you are not. Yes I am! * Maya doesn't let go. * Leena doesn't stop pulling. Stop fighting you two, its not worth it. Yeah, let's save it for Chiako! I'm not fighting. I'm stopping a fight. You're going to interfere with Divine Justice? * Maya simply doesn't let go. "Leena, we're going to handle this like civilized people." Oh, like forcing someone to make up their mind against their will isn't civilized? If I let you go, and you get your behind kicked... or even if you win, I won't shield you from what happens. At all. I don't care. I'm picking this fight, and if I'm justified in it, I will win. You know I could just order you down, but I won't... and it doesn't work like that. Was fighting Athena justified? Leena, please don't. If I wanted help, I'd ask for it. Yes. For the same reasons, if not the same exact ones. Leena, I don't want you to do this. * Maya looks Highly Unamused. "... Leena. Listen up. Let me talk to her first. If she doesn't back off... then I've done what I could do. Alright?" * Leena relaxes. A little. An Order is not something to be used for petty matters. ... you can try first. For her sake, I hope you succeed. * Leena crosses her arms. "Because I'm not going to allow her to get away with that." There are ways aside from violence, Leena. * Maya lets go, stands, and walks towards the Tea Club area slowly. ... I remember when you used to say that. * Haruko notices that no one is listening to her and goes back to staring at her lunch. * Leena blinks several times at Maya. "... I was naive." * Leena hrmphs, and sits back down and eats. * Maya arrives at the table in short order and remains standing. "Excuse me..." Oh, hey Maya. So you're going to sign on, right? I'm going to ask why veiled threats are being used. * Chiako is studying membership charts of several clubs. * Leena takes Haruko's hand, and squeezes it. "Haruko... if you need anything, anything at all, don't be afraid to ask me. Okay?" ... as an aside, Leena was about to come over here and beat on Chiako, but I talked her into letting me talk first. Threats...? I'm not quite sure what you mean, though I will confess to doing some mild bullying. What's her beef? She's already with us. It's me just making sure that my group's not unduly pressured into something they don't want. Look, Maya, this school was put here for *us*. Not *waves* them. Us. And now they're challenging our superiority here. We need everyone on board. No exceptions. * Maya purses her lips. "You could ask us about this in a less hamfisted manner." I understand your position, Maya. You left a club slot open for Tea Club when Athena was being an asshole. And now you're taken up the slack for her. Look, I'll join... I can't really find any other club that fits me anyway. But don't pressure my team. A bunch of you did. But a couple of you didn't make that consideration, and just shut out the possibility. * Maya gives Chiako a momentary, hard glare. "I'm serious. It's hard enough reining Leena in." ...if you can deliver your team, I'll back off. They decide for themselves. * Maya sighs. "If they join, they join. If not... what can I or you do to change that?" You can tell them to. You're the team leader, they should respect your wishes. I would have to order most of them. That would cost me every bit of trust I've built up. So I'm sorry, but I can't. ...Maya, Squeegee is pushing the Queen to act on this. She's always thought this school is a drain, and if big budget chunks are getting diverted to those thugs in anime club, you know Her Majesty is going to reconsider. ... Athena, you're not listening. Most of them won't want to change. That will require either some severe pressuring or an Order. That might solve that, but then I have to answer to them when we meet after school or during a mission. *sigh* I keep forgetting how loose a ship you run. Being what we are, that's how things have to run. They're pretty ad-hoc, Athena. They didn't grow organically like most of ours. * Chiako eyes Maya balefully. "Okay. You covered me a few days ago, so I'll cut you some slack." Really try, Maya. Please. And if things get too out of hand, I may just go to the principal and order a rearrangement. Just doing my job, Chiako. And... I'll tell them what's going on, but that's about the best I can do without damaging my credibility. We really can't let ourselves get too far behind. * Maya turns to Chiako. "... you wouldn't." If Anime Club pushes too hard...? It might come to that. But by then we'd have bigger concerns anyway, like rioting in the hallways. I swear, I wish the Queen wouldn't have set the endowment up this way. * Maya grits her teeth. "So do I. I hope this is enough to get Leena to not do anything violent." She starts to turn away. * Chiako stands. "Excuse me, I need to go persuade Lady Bubble to quit Equestrian Club." * Chiako stalks away. ...what a mess. * Maya keeps walking, stops at the table, and sighs angrily as she flumps down. * Leena waves at Maya, much calmer. "Any luck?" Or are you going to hold her down while I beat her up? Somewhat. The heat's not off... she's asking me in very unflinching terms to get you all to join. * Maya rubs her temples. "There's an 'or else' there no one's willing to say." ... so it'll be bad for you if I get pissed off enough to leave them. * Leena sighs, and takes a deep breath. "I guess... I'll say this as simply as I can." Rather bad. I don't plan to, but they want everyone else in. We'll talk about it later... I don't wanna think about it... ... hey. Haruko? I don't like being Ordered or my minds or choices forced. I've always been like that. And... it kinda extends to this group. If anyone tries the same thing for any of us, I'll take it personally. yes? *I* take it personally. And... Haruko. Sorry about kinda missing you before... I've got a lot on my mind all of a sudden. ... I did used to say there were other ways besides fighting, but... none of them have worked for me. * Maya sighs again, softer this time. It's ok. I told you not to worry about me. I'm gonna worry anyway. Same here. You're my friend, and my teammate. So... * Maya shrugs and smiles. * Haruko looks at little better at that. Thanks, its good to hear. ...so lunch winds down, without any beatings. Well none involving Tea Club or magical girls at least, though there was some commotion down the hall. Finding a moment to herself, Taki decides to phone Sakura... * Taki pulls out her cellphone after finding her corner of the roof and dials up Sakura. Go. Hey Sakura, it's Taki. Oh, hi. Was about to call Maya - we're meeting tonight. Oh really? About yesterday? About yesterday... and things that are coming up. Ah, okay. Coming up... Friday? This is *really* don't talk on the cell stuff, Taki. Ah, I understand. I don't think you'll be busy Friday, but you'll want to be rested for the weekend. I was uh... just wondering if you still wanted to go see a movie together... Friday. Friday is bad. Thursday? Uh... *pulls the newspaper she brought out of her bag.* Yeah, they have shows on Thursday it looks like... What movie? Um... I was thinking The Last Samurai. With Tom Cruise. It's supposed to be pretty good from what I've read. Oh. I'd heard mixed things about that movie, but he's cute enough to bother checking it out. Yeah. *nervous laugh* He's... cute. Sure, then. I can pick you up. Okay! That'd be great. And pass the message on that we need to get together after school. Alrighty. I'll talk to the girls after lunch. * Taki smiles almost audibly over the phone. * Sakura doesn't hear it. Fine. *click* * Taki closes her phone and hugs it to her chest happily. ...still later in the day, in between the last and next-to-last periods, Haruko finds herself running a few seconds late for Physical Education. * Haruko runs through the halls She turns the corner and is stopped dead in her tracks by a bokken slammed into her gut. She doesn't collapse, but some girls take use her momentary disorientation to hustle her into the nearby boiler room. * Haruko gasps "Whaaa?" * Hoodlum gets behind Haruko and gets a good arm lock on the girl. * HoodlumWithBokken begins to say something, then is distracted by some motion further into the room. There's another couple of girls at the back of the room. One has a domino mask on, and has just finished roughing up the other. * Norcliff takes advantage of the distraction to run off and look for help. Leena seemed inclined enough to violence earlier... I'm sorry, was this room taken? No, I'm done. *walks out* Right. Well then. *waves the wooden stick threateningly in Haruko's face* You are going to be joining the Fashion Club. Um... what does your club do other than kidnapping? It's not my club, idiot. I'm just recruiting for them. She's in Kendo Club and- Don't TELL her! Like she wouldn't figure it out with you holding that thing? * HoodlumWithBokken facepalms. I did think you were in Kendo club first. * HoodlumWithBokken reaches out and grabs Haruko's tie. "YOU. Are going to join FASHION CLUB. Do you understand?" It's a good club for you. You'd look a lot nicer with some help from experts. * Haruko tries to stall for time without looking like it "Is this designing or wearing? Because I thought we had to wear uniforms but I'm not very good with colors but Dani always says I need to accessorize more (rambles)" * HoodlumWithBokken bops Haruko on the head with the bokken, hard enough to really sting. Ow! You're JOINING THE FASHION CLUB. Tell me that you are. It's really both - and it's after school so you don't have to stay in uni. But I already belong to two clubs, isn't there a rule against belonging to three? * Norcliff is still searching! Well, obviously *gets right in the Haruko's face* YOU'LL HAVE TO DROP ONE! * HoodlumWithBokken gestures and her partner lets go of Haruko. Is there a form for that? Also, do I need to put down who recruited me so you all get points or something? Is it like Mary Kay? * Hoodlum shoulders Haruko back into the wall with enough force to knock the breath out of her. You have a week. You really don't want us to have to ask you again. Both girls scurry out of the boiler room. As Haruko recovers, Taki and Norcliff burst onto the scene. * Haruko slumps down on the wall * Taki looks around for the attackers as she moves over to Haruko. Did you see a pair of girls running off? I came as fast as I could, are you ok? No, I didn't see anyone. Are you alright? Mostly. What was that about? People don't like our work? The Tea club isn't the only one trying to strong arm new members. The Tea Club is what? * Girl is struggling to her feet. * Norcliff starts checking Haruko to make sure she's all right. No shit. Who's that? I'm just another mugging victim. Oh geez, I didn't even notice you. Goddamn clubs. Are you all right? This is about that stupid club thing this morning? Are you? It looked like you got hit harder than me. Someone really ought to get this stopped, talk to the principal or something. It's been tried. The money is just too big for it to ever go away. * Girl sniffs. But this is criminal! What money? Club money. They took your money? * Girl pays no attention to the talking sugar glider. * Norcliff realizes he's been talking in front of a normal and clams up, hoping she'll pass it off as a consequence of the blow to the head. No, they're trying to make me join the fucking Anime Club. So they get money? That's how the club thing works apparently. Members equal funding. The bigger the club, the more money they get. And it's non-linear, and the funds are huge. Geez, how did you not know this? I uh... stay under the radar? * Girl smiles faintly at Taki. I'm not big on the whole club thing. You're also pretty intimidating. The aggressive clubs target girls who don't have powerful clubs to protect them, and who seem... meek enough to intimidate. * Girl extends a hand to Haruko to help her up. * Haruko accepts it. Thanks. * Haruko dusts herself off and takes inventory. Seems they didn't hurt me much. Ah... *looks down at herself* Well uh, I don't think that's fair... Fashion Club, huh? They've never had a reputation for doing this before... I guess I should keep more of an eye out for girls getting picked on like this. You are pretty intimidating Taki. I'm sorry... Apparently at least one of them was from Kendo Club. I'm not sure if they were in both, or if they were helping a friend or what. I thought you said Fashion club? Oh, those guys are hired by the clubs. They make good money doing this, I hear... -eep! The bell rings. What? Oh. Crap. * Girl tears out of the room. "Laaaaaaaate!" Can you make it to your class okay, or should I take you to the nurse? Um... I don't think I'm up to Gym. I'll take you to the nurse then. Maybe she'll write me a pass... Thanks. * Haruko lets Taki escort her to the Nurse. * Taki offers Haruko an arm and takes her to the Nurse's office. ...mercifully, no one else importunes Haruko that afternoon, allowing everyone to make it to Sakura's little klatch in good time. Well, almost everyone... Lord Darkmoon gets off his train, and makes his way around the block to the Blossom Agency. He turns the corner into the late afternoon shadows on the correct street... and then senses a shadow of a rather different sort drop to the sidewalk behind him. * Lord_Darkmoon whirls about, and pulls out his Tessen, holding it defensively as he looks to see who it is. Hello, there. * Mitsuko leans, almost poses, against the building she just leapt off of. She's wearing her sword, and a lot of black. * Lord_Darkmoon lowers the Tessen, and relaxes. A bit. "Hello, Mitsuko-san." You know, I don't even know your name. * Lord_Darkmoon smiles faintly. "I don't believe we were ever formally introduced, no." He bows politely. "I am Rinada." An nice name, for a good-looking young man. A shame your skills with your weapon are not so fair. * Lord_Darkmoon 's smile vanishes as he stiffens a bit. "...whereas yours are as sharp as your tongue. Tell me, Mitsuko-san, are all the lovely flowers of your garden so swift to strike with their thorns?" * Mitsuko holds up her left hand, keeping her right by the hilt of her sword. Whoa, there. You seem a skilled amateur, and for someone in your circumstance that is far more than could be expected. ...the question, though, is if you, in your... you know... *nods towards the Agency entrance* ...circumstances are good enough. * Lord_Darkmoon looks away. "No. I am not." Yes, and I fear that Taki, in hers, is neither. * Lord_Darkmoon actually looks surprised before hiding it. "She has always seemed quite skilled, and more than risen to all challenges we've faced. But I understand that improving her skills is what you are now here for." She has no skill with a blade. None. And while she may not need it in your context, she will need it in mine. ...what do you mean? Transformed, she is powerful... but has no means of sure, silent strike. If nothing else, a blade is a tool, and a ninja needs tools. And she must learn to be among the best ninja. A leader should always be at least skilled enough to know how best to utilize their people's strengths. In your...circumstances...it must be even more demanding. In our circumstances, a leader is supposed to at least be able to lead from the front. * Lord_Darkmoon nods, once. And then waits in silence for Mitsuko to continue. She could use a sparring partner. Is that not why you are here? *calmly, merely questioning* Yes... but she could use a partner who is closer to her level. I see. I would be honored, if she wishes to spar with me. *pauses, chuckles a bit* I admit, I had hoped for a chance to challenge you once more. You were...impressive in our last encounter. I would not expect to receive something of such value for nothing. I can teach you, as well. It is in the clan's interest that her close associates and compatriots can defend her effectively, especially when she follows such a dangerous path. ...I am flattered. If Taki is amenable, I will accept gladly. I need the practice, anyway - I haven't been able to attend Kendo club regularly since...well. This is not up to Taki. And I will defend her, and all of my Team mates. I will not allow them to come to harm. * Lord_Darkmoon chuckles. "As her teacher, I suppose it would be up to you and not her. Thank you for the opportunity, Mitsuko-sensei. I will endeavor to be...a willing student." Very well. Two days a week, I should think. You and she can work out the details. * Lord_Darkmoon bows. "Excellent. For now, I must be going. Thank you, and farewell." * Mitsuko nods, then steps around the corner and out of sight. * Lord_Darkmoon turns, and continues on to the Agency, expression vaguely amused. [end session]