its_dad_sanzo: (dilf)
πŸŒ™ Toua Koumyou Sanzō Hoshi-sama the 30th γ€ε…‰ζ˜ŽδΈ‰θ”΅γ€‘ ([personal profile] its_dad_sanzo) wrote in [community profile] voidtreckerexpress2021-01-06 01:21 pm

there's more than meets the eye, there's more than meets the price [OPEN]

Who: Koumyou Sanzo, OPEN
Where: Carriage J: Music Carriage - upstairs, in silence
When: Forward-dated to Jelly 4!
What: Sneaky solo martial arts practice a couple days before the next mission. Folks are welcome to catch him doing his thing, despite his effort to be secretive. If you ask for lessons (in anything, ever), he will almost certainly say no... but folks are totally welcome to try to convince him. (Also if anyone wants to just ATTACK, he'll adapt accordingly.)
Warnings: Otoha thread has some sensitive topics (warned in the comment titles). Devero thread same and same, but also some kinda graphic self harm injury shit from Koumyou etc.

xxxxxif you can't see the sky there's too much artificial light

Muscle memory requires rote practice. Patterns mastered, then broken, to keep one's actions independent in a real fight. Even at his level, Koumyou needs to sharpen the blade once in a while, lest he lose his edge when he needs it most.

Koumyou Sanzo has picked a time when most of the train seems otherwise occupied. Maybe it's the middle of the 'night' and they're sleeping, or perhaps this is a typical meal time in the dining car. One way or another, he's gone out of his way to have as few witnesses as he can, tucked upstairs in the silent music car.

He stands still in the middle of the stage, and checks one last time that the room is truly empty, at least here at the start. Satisfied, Koumyou drops his center of gravity, bare feet sliding into position. One hand tucks against his shoulder, the other out before him, fists loose.

Breathing carefully, in through the nose, and out through the mouth... slowly, he lets his eyes slip shut.

And then he begins to move.

A block, a duck, a shift to one side. Another block; flowing, diverting an imagined attack away with the edge of an open hand. A step back, one kick at the level of a stomach. Spinning to the right, his braid and the long ends of his clothing flutter behind him. Fluid, each graceful movement morphing into the next without hesitation or pause.

There is nothing rigid here. Not until it's needed. A fist tightens at the instant of impact, not a moment before. The snap of force in the air, even without a real target, is audible in the quiet room.

If one watches him for more than a second, one can almost see the invisible opponents rushing him. They come from all directions; some are even armed. With a knife he side-steps, with a sword that he ducks beneath to rise again with the arc of an uppercut palm-strike. To a chin? A nose? ...A throat?

He flips as though it's easy, as though up and over someone who had been rushing to tackle him from behind. Landing, the heels of both palms snap out in a strike to their back, his whole body behind the movement. And then he's gone, rolling backwards, momentum changing directions as fast as a stray gust of wind. Up with another kick; that foot comes down, and he spirals out and up into a spin-kick aimed even higher than his own head.

Sometimes, he gets quite close to the drop off the stage. But he never actually touches the edges, and he certainly never falls.

Koumyou's braid whips behind him as he moves. His long sleeves flutter behind each sweeping attack or diversion of his arms. The hem of his robe skims against his bare ankles with every wide movement of his legs. Light though it is, the bamboo breastplate on his chest barely shifts on his thin frame. The sutra certainly doesn't go anywhere, though the ends and the back both flutter as if it were real paper.

It would be easy to turn this into a dance, and it would be equally easy to turn this into death. There is not a single second in which he isn't moving, flowing, striking, diverting.

If left alone, this will go on for a while longer.

His eyes do not yet open; his movements do not yet slow.

He will not lose his edge.
bakegarasu: (heroes rise again)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-01-08 09:34 am (UTC)(link)
He just raises an eyebrow. Huh.

"... There's a difference between the two. I know I have a soul now, but what sort of thing that soul belongs to is a different story. ... I might not have to wonder about it for a while, anyway. The previous Karas was there for over four hundred years. A lot can happen in that time."
bakegarasu: (who's that rapping at my chamber door?)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-01-08 09:41 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't -" Ngh. "No, I don't like myself much. I'm a tool, it's just a matter of whose hands I'm in and how much freedom I have. I want to be the city's guardian, but I'm still her weapon to wield."

Can you really hate yourself if you barely consider yourself to have a self?
bakegarasu: (brooding like a demon)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-01-08 10:01 am (UTC)(link)
"... No one's ever treated me like I do. Other than..."

Well. He doesn't have to say it.
bakegarasu: (quietly listening)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-01-08 10:05 am (UTC)(link)
"... Why?" It really makes no sense to him. Why would they care? They're not from his world. What happens to him doesn't matter to their worlds.
bakegarasu: (heroes rise again)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-01-08 10:10 am (UTC)(link)
"... They can say what they want. It's action that matters." And he'll see just how that part turns out.
bakegarasu: (Default)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-01-08 10:15 am (UTC)(link)
"Mm." Great. Now he's nursing bruised pride and feelings and he's conflicted as hell. "Guess I should let you get back to it."