Saaya
Junior Member
Posts: 80
Power Level: 1062
Effort Points: 2026
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Post by Saaya on Oct 9, 2019 23:39:54 GMT -8
The fan had broken. Wait, that statement was misleading. Saaya had to correct herself. The fan had probably never worked; she even questioned whether it could in fact be decorative. It seemed more like a cruel joke now as she bumped along in the junker of a van that she had hitched a ride aboard to get to Central City. The plastic encasing the thing she had earlier mistaken for a fan cracked as it slapped around, hanging by a wire from the ceiling of the van.
Is this a circus? She closed her eyes. That was a strange thought. They had to be only a few minutes from civilization, she knew it.
In that moment, a loud metallic bang bursted from beneath the van. The vehicle shook violently, and a pop boomed from the right side of the vehicle. Concerned that she was under attack, Saaya mentally prepared herself for a fight. She looked out the right side of the vehicle, expecting to see raiders or bandits. Instead, the tire, or what was left of it, bounced off into the distance. The corner of the vehicle hit the cement and dragged to a stop while the driver began cursing.
This is definitely a circus.
The short, balding man who pretended to be a competent driver hobbled out of the side of the orange and white striped death trap and circled the van to survey the damage. Saaya watched his stunted fingers mull over his dome, deep in thought. Saaya wasn't going to wait for him to come to some conclusion, by then she'd have died of dehydration, or cooked alive as the heat pierced through the stale air and wrapped its way around into the shade of her seat.
She slid the door open and hopped out, stretching her arms and looking out through the wobbling air for what was left of the tire. "I'll get the tire," she said without an ounce of enthusiasm before erupting into a well paced jog off into the sand and dead shrubs.
She looked for a few minutes, expecting to find the scrap easier, and frowned over the not unexpected downturn in her luck. She stood there, in the middle of the desert, and let out an exasperated sigh, putting her fists on her waist. There was not a refreshing breeze to rustle her hair or cool the sweat on her skin. She felt like she was cooking.
"Hey!" the man shouted. Before Saaya's eyes turned to him, she heard it. The rumble of engines in the distance. She turned on her heels and looked out into the distance. Bikers.
"Raiders?!" she shouted the question at him, but the man either didn't hear her or had chosen to ignore her as he ran around to get back in the driver seat. "You can't leave without a tire!" Was he really going to just leave after calling out to her? Was he that stupid?
The engine choked twice before coughing to life, and the stout man must have slammed on the pedal because, before her eyes, he dragged the corner of his vehicle along the road. Damnit! Saaya, unable to hide in the desert in her white bolero and red skirt, hurried to chase after the van. They'd never escape in time and Saaya turned her head, the bikes close enough to count. At least six. She'd only trained to fight, she'd never been in a real scrap, and she knew in this part of the world those bikers were as likely to be out to get her as they were to be on their own business. Either way, they'd never help her deal with the idiot she was currently chasing.
(WC=618)
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Caffey
Junior Member
The Cobra Prodigy
Posts: 99
Power Level: 1,329
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Post by Caffey on Oct 10, 2019 15:43:12 GMT -8
A true, proper city. One with skyscrapers, heavy traffic, and loud people. Caffey’s determination to explore all the she could had finally led her to Central City. Well, the outskirts of it, anyways, if she took her time walking as she’d been doing so far, it would likely take her another few hours to get to the city itself. But right now, looking at the city from afar, it was already incredible. Nothing in the desert she’d grew up in could ever compare to the distant sight of a city of this size, and she eagerly awaited arriving in the city proper.
The small girl continued on her path to the city, keeping herself alert, both in vision and in her senses; The desert had grown increasingly more dangerous of late, especially this far from the Cobra School’s protective influence, and bandits were sadly becoming a more and more common sight. While her journey had been mostly peaceful thus far, and she knew she could take care of herself, there was always the chance that bandits may be attacking those who couldn’t defend themselves. The third tenant of the Cobra School was ‘Treat the weak as though they are a garden in the desert’ and this was a practice Caffey had been taking to heart in her journeys through the desert so far. It wasn’t always an easy task, but it had been extremely rewarding thus far.
Her cautious vigilance was proven right, she could hear the sound of bikes and people shouting in the distance. More often than not, out here, that meant bandits trying to raid some travelling group. She’d dealt with a few such groups in the past, none of them were particularly challenging. Mostly, they had been regular people with guns who thought that made them better than anyone else, and who’d decided to express their perceived dominance through force. Always the same, isn’t it? She thought, as her slow travel pace suddenly became a superhuman sprint in the direction of the motorcycles.
Sure enough, it was a group of raiders on bikes, just as she’d expected. No matter where in the desert she was, she kept finding these groups. It was starting to get frustrating, and she increasingly found herself wishing that someone could stop them at their source. As it was, though, Caffey was the closest thing anyone had to a hero who could stop these bandits. As she drew nearer, it became clear they were rapidly gaining on a girl who didn’t appear dressed for the desert at all, and the girl was at least trying to fight them. Caffey supposed that was better than nothing, though the girl appeared severely overmatched and it seemed certain they’d manage to overwhelm her before much longer.
It quickly became apparent that even with Caffey’s superhuman speed, she wasn’t fast enough to keep up with bikers on foot. She slowed down considerably, coming nearly to a stop, and raised her hand, palm facing the bikers. She wasn’t very good at this, but she thought she’d finally figured it out. She focused, and focused, and… Finally, she fired an energy blast out of her palm, into one of the bikes. While the rider himself seemed to be uninjured, Caffey had successfully taken out the bike. More importantly, she’d managed to get the attention of the other bikers, who turned towards her, preparing to charge. Caffey had anticipated this, and indeed she had hoped it would go this way. She prepared to jump, and once the bikes were close enough, she did exactly that. She’d done this maneuver before, when she had helped Kiryu take down another gang of bikers, and seemed to know exactly where her foot would land before it did, and sure enough it landed right on the face of one of the remaining bandits. She pushed off his face, using his momentum to bring a kick down onto another biker, then relaxed as she saw the remaining members of the group start to move off. She didn’t pursue them, that wasn’t necessary, this show of force should be enough to convince them not to come back around here.
The Cobra Master reached behind her, quietly untying her ponytail and letting her hair down, then wiped the sweat off her brow. She looked up and realized that the brightly dressed girl she’d seen chasing the van earlier was still here, looking at her. Caffey made her way over to the girl, and gave her a broad smile. “Hey there! I uh, noticed you seemed to be in some kind of trouble, so… I figured I’d come give you some help. You okay?”
[WC=777] [/i][/i]
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Saaya
Junior Member
Posts: 80
Power Level: 1062
Effort Points: 2026
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Post by Saaya on Oct 10, 2019 17:18:02 GMT -8
The motorcycles had almost had her, or so she had thought. She was still untested, the adrenaline of the moment kicking in, a fight or flight response kicking in. How tough would they be? Just as she gathered the conviction to turn around and face the question, a girl in a bright yellow uniform with black stripes burst into appearance and, a moment later, pumped a volley of ki energy into one of the motorcycles. They turned around, hoping to take on the attacker, but the girl - about the same stature as Saaya herself - jumped and kicked one of the larger gang members off his motorcycle. The vehicle careened off the side of the road and into the same miserable shrubs the tire had flown off into. The resulting smash was accompanied by a satisfying crack of shattering glass.
She'd been hustling to where the girl skirmished with them, but had not arrived in time to lend aid. She wasn't even sure where to begin. The girl in yellow untied her hair and approached while the men who she'd defeated scrambled to extract themselves from any further confrontation. Their comrades were barely specks in the dust. "I, well, hm," she looked back behind her, watching the now distant van scrape its way towards Central City. She hadn't quite sized up her goal, the huge skyscrapers stabbing at the sky even visible from here. Certainly, it was much larger than Orange Star City, where she'd come from.
"Thanks for the assist," she smiled. "My name's Saaya, I'm trying to get to Central City. I seem to have lost my ride, though." She jabbed a thumb to the direction behind her, where the van had disappeared over a hill. "I've only seen a few people as fast as you, you seem strong. I'm hoping to find someone to train me to fight in Central City, do you know anyone?"
(WC=317 | 935)
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Caffey
Junior Member
The Cobra Prodigy
Posts: 99
Power Level: 1,329
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Post by Caffey on Oct 11, 2019 20:29:54 GMT -8
The other girl was heading to the city just as Caffey was, that was a pleasant coincidence. Unlike Caffey however, this girl – who she noted was similar in stature to herself, which stuck out as rare to her – seemed to be raw and untrained. She reminded Caffey of the youths who entered the Cobra Dojo, the 5 year olds and 10 year olds all ready to fight but not yet having any idea on what proper form was. That was the impression Caffey was struck with, anyways. Even with her limited social filter, however, she knew better than to voice that thought to Saaya herself.
More importantly, this girl had come to help Caffey fight, even if she hadn’t made it in time to actually do so, she seemed like she had truly planned to do so, a quality that Caffey considered to be incredibly admirable. Moreover, from what the Cobra Master could sense, the other girl was strong enough that, had the two met a few weeks prior, Caffey may well have been the weaker of the duo. With all of these factors considered together, Caffey couldn’t resist helping her find a teacher. Unfortunately, she’d never visited Central City either. She supposed that, if nothing else, Caffey herself could instruct Saaya in martial arts. She’d never trained anyone before, but she was technically a master.
She finally opened her mouth to articulate her thoughts, and as usual the words that came out were much faster and less organized than her thoughts had been. Her overwhelming energetic personality poured out with each word she spoke. “My name’s Caffey! I’m actually a martial arts Master myself! From the Cobra School out in the desert! Have you trained anywhere before? How do you fight? Or have you not fought yet? Tell me all about your fighting style! I always want to learn! Oh, I haven’t been to Central City before, but I’m sure I can help you find a teacher, if that’s where you wanna learn!” With each word she spoke, she spoke faster and faster, though she managed to restrain herself enough that she was still easy to understand, and while Caffey had long since resigned herself to people skipping many questions she asked, she still looked eagerly at Saaya, awaiting answers to at least some of her questions.
[WC=388] [TWC=1165]
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Saaya
Junior Member
Posts: 80
Power Level: 1062
Effort Points: 2026
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Post by Saaya on Oct 11, 2019 22:12:02 GMT -8
"Martial arts master?" Saaya mumbled to no one in particular as the girl exploded across questions. Saaya couldn't help try to cover her smile as the enthusiasm from the girl dressed in yellow swelled over her. She shook and nodded her head in turn as the exuberant Caffey pelted questions at her like automatic gunfire, until finally the girl ran out of breath and gave Saaya room to respond.
"Hnn hnn," she grinned, "watch this!" She had someone to show off to, finally! She'd spent years learning the channel her ki, and yet she'd only ever been able to in spars with her sensei or the quiet solitude of the forest. Now she was beside someone who could understand! She planted her feet in a slightly staggered position, squared her shoulders to her target in the distance - that blasted tire - and extended her hands in front of her, wrists together and fingers fanned out as if to form a dish. With practiced ease, a singularity of light erupted into existence inches from her flesh and flickered for a moment before erupting into a grapefruit sized orb. Saaya sucked in a breath of air, feeling the ki flood through her body and into the globe. With the release of her breath she furrowed her brow and willed the ki to fly forth, channeling it into a a brilliant blue-white beam that cascaded into the tires location, kicking up a cloud of dust.
A moment later the chunk of what was left of the rim penetrated the dust cloud like a comet. Saaya drew back her head, simultaneously forming a second smaller orb within her palm, and threw it at her target, the light of ki erupting and consuming her hands as it blasted into the sky, and no sooner had she released it than she had fired a second blast from her other hand in similar fashion. The one-two punch obliterated the rim, leaving two puffs of smoke in the air.
Satisfied, Saaya sucked in a large breath, placed her hands on her hips proudly, and beamed a grin back to Caffey. "I was training in Orange Star City for a while, but my sensei said he couldn't teach me anymore. I convinced my dad to let me go train in the West but, really, I don't know where. I was hoping to find someone. You seem like you know what you're doing - at least you can run fast. Can you teach me how?"
WC = 413 | 1348
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Caffey
Junior Member
The Cobra Prodigy
Posts: 99
Power Level: 1,329
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Post by Caffey on Oct 12, 2019 16:17:40 GMT -8
As usual, Caffey’s enthusiasm appeared to be contagious. She’d found that she had that effect on people, especially here in the wider world where she was continually meeting people that she had yet to encounter, people who didn’t expect her personality or level of energy. She noted that Saaya was no different, her features softening and a small smile reaching her face in response to Caffey’s energy. That made Caffey respond in kind, with her own smile.
Perhaps shockingly, Saaya showed better control over ki blasts than Caffey herself possessed. Caffey had just barely learned to consistently summon a basic orb of ki and fire it at her opponents, and had just now fired multiple shots for the first time ever. Meanwhile, Saaya, who had apparently yet to train in any formal school, displayed control that Caffey had only seen in the hands of Kiryu. While mildly jealous, she found it impressive more than anything. Despite her best effort to hide her shock and awe as Saaya fired the brilliant blue-white beam. While it wasn’t something Caffey had never seen before, in the hands of a girl as young as Saaya, who had such limited formal training, it was beyond impressive. “Oh, wow! That’s… So cool! I wish I could do that! Man, I’m so bad at ki blasts!” Despite her mild jealousy, Caffey’s enthusiasm was as active as ever.
She nodded as Saaya requested to learn Caffey’s secret to her superhuman speed. Techincally, She thought this is a Cobra School technique that I’m not supposed to be teaching just anyone but… She considered it for a moment, in silence, then nodded with energy. “I’ll show you! With the way you can control your ki, it should be no problem!”
Before long, Caffey had relayed the basics of using ki to enhance your physical abilities, though that was still just shy of the actual secret to the Cobra speed technique. “So! With all of that learned, then you apply it to your legs, but not too much. If you do too much, you might… Like… Sink into the sand, or something, or hurt yourself, and that’s not what we want here! So you gotta just find the balance of ki that lets you really run like you want to!” She nodded to herself, feeling satisfied in her explanation.
[WC=389] [TWC=1554]
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Saaya
Junior Member
Posts: 80
Power Level: 1062
Effort Points: 2026
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Post by Saaya on Oct 12, 2019 20:42:38 GMT -8
"Hwaaah!" Saaya let out an exclamation of surprise as Caffey finished, looking down at her legs as though she were questioning if it was even possible to perform such a feet. She glanced back up at Caffey for reassurance before spreading her legs and assuming a stance she assumed might best let her concentrate, though without a doubt it would look a little awkward from Caffey's perspective. A breeze crossed the stale air of the desert and rustled the two girls hair, but Saaya wouldn't let the refreshing breeze distract her. She brought her focus back down to her legs and concentrated hard, trying to implement the technique Caffey had instructed her on.
The ki flowed through her legs, channeling into the muscles and increasing her vigor and strength several times over. Maybe this would work! "Here I go!" she sucked in a breath and let go, leaning into her momentum. Fast! So fast, she couldn't believe it! She'd never moved so... oh, no. Her right foot reached too far, she tried to compensate but forgot about her other foot. It seemed to float over the ground, like it never wanted to land, and carried her forwards for many feet. Fearing like she might fly off into space, Saaya twisted her body, watched the ground flying beneath her, and reached out to grab it. It wasn't entirely necessary, the entire motion occurring almost simultaneously with her landing on her chest and kicking up a dust cloud as she skid across the desert.
Almost a minute later, the dust began to disappear, and Saaya picked herself up off the ground with a cough as she caught her breath and slapped the sand off her red pleated skirt and black spats. "Heh, I know what I did wrong," she stated without any confidence. "Probably." She proceeded forward to Caffey, still slapping sand off her white bolero, before nodding to Central City in the distance, indicating that they should begin what would probably be a long walk. "My dad says I have my mom's stubbornness. He says my family never gives up, I guess my mom and I frustrate him." She pondered about her father, remembering how proud he was of her continuously, and yet how much trouble she had consistently caused for him by refusing to attend school and focusing on her martial arts.
"I hope I can make my mom and dad proud, they say I have the strength of Vegeta in me." She frowned a bit as she started walking towards Central City. She wanted to express doubt in herself, but somehow she didn't want to give voice to it. Instead, what should have come across as a statement of confidence simply trailed off. Saaya, anticipating a flurry of remarks from Caffey, was sure to remind herself to ask the strong, tiny girl in yellow: "What is the Cobra School?"
WC = 480 | 1828
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Caffey
Junior Member
The Cobra Prodigy
Posts: 99
Power Level: 1,329
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Post by Caffey on Oct 14, 2019 22:23:58 GMT -8
Saaya took to the teaching quickly, even with her mistakes. Much like Caffey herself had, she thought, as the other girl prepared to make a run trying the new technique. Unlike many within the Cobra School that Caffey had instructed in this technique, Saaya managed to get a fair distance before she fell. The Cobra Master’s face broke into a smile, she’d expected the girl to fall at least once, everyone did. This was one of the more unorthodox uses of ki taught at the Cobra School, and no one ever got it on their first try. She was sure Saaya did not, in fact, have any idea what she’d done wrong, but she wasn’t going to push it, instead giving her a beaming smile as encouragement when she got back up.
At Saaya’s indication, she began to walk towards the city again, this time with the other girl accompanying her. “You did great, just so you know, no one gets it right the first time. Uh, except me, of course.” Caffey lied, she had fallen on her first attempt too, right on her face, except that she’d just gotten back up and tried again and again, until she stopped falling. Not that Saaya’s way of doing things was wrong, she tried to remind herself, they were just different people, and Caffey was more perfectionist about her art, such that she would never give up without being successful.
The Cobra Master listened to the girl talk about her family, she seemed to think hard about them before continuing her sentence, though Caffey found herself hanging onto a single word that she’d spoken. “Whoa, what, Vegeta? Like, the legendary Vegeta?[/font]” She was so taken aback it took her a moment to process Saaya’s question, though she did eventually answer it. “Oh, uh… The Cobra School is where I’m from! I trained there and grew up there! They mostly take in students from all the villages that surround the school! We join young, like, I’ve been training since I was five years old. That’s not the norm, though, most are closer to 10 by the time they’re sent to train there. I’m technically a master, but no one ever believes that because I’m so young.” She turned her back to Saaya for a minute, brushing her hair away from the Cobra emblem emblazoned on the back of her jacket, a pair of heavily stylized cobras in the shape of the kanji character for snake. “But this is the emblem! It’s how you know I trained there and that I’m a master! It’s a great place, I’m mostly out in the world so that more people hear about it!”
[WC=446] [TWC=2000]
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Saaya
Junior Member
Posts: 80
Power Level: 1062
Effort Points: 2026
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Post by Saaya on Oct 15, 2019 15:50:58 GMT -8
"Mmm," she mumbled from behind a frown. She didn't want to say more, in part because she didn't want to lie. She would never admit that she had dutifully studied her family scroll and had memorized her lineage, and that it was the driving force behind why she wanted to become stronger. That every night before closing her eyes to sleep, she wondered if her ancestors might be a little prouder of her for her accomplishments that day. So instead, normally she'd lie, and say it wasn't a big deal and that she wasn't even sure how in touch with her Saiyan heritage she was. In truth, given how many generations it had been, there were so many like her as to be unremarkable. And so, Saaya allowed the comment to pass without further redress.
Instead, Caffey progressed through her rapid chain of thoughts quickly enough to kick the conversation back into gear. Saaya nodded and followed along with the rapid fire sentences, smiling when Caffey finished. "It must be cool being a Master! I started training when I was... eight I think. We didn't have any ranks, I just did it to get away from people." A lie, but less significant; Saaya had been training in part to avoid the bullies who tauned her, because it wasn't acceptable to correct their behaviour with her fists as she'd been inclined to do. Ultimately, though, she'd trained to pursue her ancestry. Again, not something she wanted to talk about.
"Do the snakes represent anything? What does being a master mean? What kind of people train at your dojo?"
WC = 267 | 2095
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Caffey
Junior Member
The Cobra Prodigy
Posts: 99
Power Level: 1,329
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Post by Caffey on Oct 15, 2019 22:36:24 GMT -8
“ Hmmm, so still formal training then, just not with like… A formal school, right? That’s still cool! I’ve found a lot of new schools and new styles since leaving the dojo, and I have to say that they’re all valid, they’re all really cool too! I’ll always stick with the Cobra Style but uh… I have to figure out ki blasts. I didn’t really know those were a thing before I left, y’know?” Caffey seemed to be deep in thought with her words, but that didn’t impact the speed at which she spoke, instead only showing through the thoughtful expression upon her face. “ That’s kind of like, what I’m supposed to do as a Master, I think? Further the school, both with students and new techniques. Being a master is fun, but it’s definitely a lot more work than I thought it would be. But it meant I got to leave! Which has been awesome!” Her face twisted through a few emotions throughout this sentence, but eventually settled upon happiness and excitement, as was her default mood. At Saaya’s line of questioning, Caffey nodded enthusiastically, looking like she had anticipated these questions and was more than happy to answer them. “Being a master means I’ve learned everything the Cobra School has! And that I’m technically qualified enough to teach others the same! You don’t usually see masters this young, all the ones back at the dojo are uh… Quite old. I’m also not technically allowed to teach in the Dojo yet, they only want one master per village, but once he moves on, I get to take his place as teacher. Which is part of the other question! Most of us who train there are from the nearby villages, since that’s what founded the Cobra School! We’re supposed to be the defense force for the villages as a whole, but also supposed to keep peace between them. We’re kind of like heroes, really. Or at least, uh, that’s how I think of it. We keep the peace, beat back the evil, stuff like that. Sometimes we get travelers or students from outside the Dojo but uh… Almost no one knows about us, so that’s been getting more rare. I’ve heard we used to be more popular, but I don’t know what happened.”
As for the question about the Cobra emblem, Caffey seemed unsure, and briefly glanced at the emblem herself, looking thoughtful for a moment. “Well… You’re supposed to take what you can out of it. Some people interpret it differently. I’ve always kind of had a problem with that. There’s a few teachings we have that really need to be… Clear, and explicit, or they’ll get abused. Personally, I take the white cobra,” She pointed at the cobra forming the left side of the character, in a docile position, “to represent the ideal, a peaceful existence, while the yellow cobra,” Again, pointing to the emblem, indicating the cobra forming the right half of the character, in a more aggressive position, “that one I think represents being ready to defend those who need it. That’s… I think, that’s one of our core teachings, though that’s another one with some disagreement.”
[WC=531] [TWC=2531]
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Saaya
Junior Member
Posts: 80
Power Level: 1062
Effort Points: 2026
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Post by Saaya on Oct 16, 2019 22:52:58 GMT -8
"Heroes?" Saaya mumbled idly to herself as Caffey continued, considering the meaning of the word in this context. Did Caffey really consider herself a hero? What did that even mean? Saaya knew what a hero was; it's not like she wasn't educated. But 'heroes' sounds like someone from a comic book. Or a movie. Or maybe a fire fighter who saves lives. Did that mean Caffey saved lives? Saaya couldn't rule it out, certainly the girl had some incredible abilities. Maybe she helped protect her village from bandits. That actually seemed pretty likely. Satisfied with her train of thought, she realized she hadn't paid much attention to the rest. "What sort of disagreement could there--" her voice trailed off as her eyes glanced over to an unassuming, lonely structure at the side of the road that they were passing. An unremarkable yellow and orange, blurred by phantom waves of heat, held within them glory. A donut shop. Saaya's stomach audibly gurgled; not some minor disruption to conversation, but as though the organ itself had grown vocal cords and demanded to be satisfied. For her part, Saaya's eyes themselves seemed to drool tears of joy. How... how did it know she was hungry? How did the donut shop know to be here? What sort of miracle was this. Saaya started to walk to the door. "Heh...," the only word she was capable of mustering. The shop was empty, save for a lone employee with an unknown method of arrival. Perhaps he lived here. She hadn't seen any cars outside. There were empty tables flanking the doorway and a heavenly case of glass containing some of the worlds tastiest treasures. "Heh heh..." She wanted to ask if Caffey was hungry. She wanted to feel refreshed by the air conditioning. She wanted to take a moment to relax, relieve the pressure on her feet. But her sole purpose in life lay before her. Her stomach summoned the worker to the counter, a look of excited anticipation abbreviating whatever boredom he had felt. He had a face, she was sure of it, but she could only see donuts. Round circles of delicious goodness. Heroes. Caffey was a hero. Saaya stood before the glass, a pink circle capturing her. Did she want strawberry? The lumpy halo of a mochi doughnut called to her. Did she want that? A fat doughnut stared at her, coated in sugar, a kiss of custard waving hello. A honey doughnut glowed beside it. Everything called to her. She took her eyes away from the glass for a moment. The man looked at her with a smile. She looked back at him longingly. This man. This was what a hero was.
WC = 450 / 2545
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Caffey
Junior Member
The Cobra Prodigy
Posts: 99
Power Level: 1,329
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Post by Caffey on Oct 19, 2019 13:44:51 GMT -8
While Caffey had been so happy to describe herself as a hero, Saaya seemed to think it was a weird choice of words. Caffey supposed it was, probably inspired by that magical girl show she’d watched a half dozen times due it being the only thing the dojo had that was stimulating to a young mind like herself. Still, she’d continue to call herself a hero, she did good things, she helped people in need. That was what she had done to meet Saaya herself, after all. Besides, bandits and raiders were common back home, and what else would you call someone who fought them off? She was certainly a hero, she convinced herself, despite Saaya’s seemingly odd reaction to it. For Saaya’s part, that reaction went unvoiced, at least to Caffey, and thus the Cobra Master didn’t bring it up.
Saaya had started to ask the question Caffey had been prepared to answer, and the yellow-clad girl had her answer waiting, only… The question never came. It started, then stopped half finished. Caffey hadn’t been paying attention to the path they were walking, but apparently Saaya had, and the building they were passing had caught her attention. Caffey looked the building over, it was a donut shop. Donuts were rare in Caffey’s life, being uncommon and infrequent in the dojo. Saaya, apparently, was quite hungry, so Caffey followed her inside.
The other girl seemed enamored with the donuts on display, to the point of slight awkwardness. For his part, the man at the counter didn’t seem to be phased by it, maybe this was normal. This was a strange place for a donut shop, though, it was the only road into the city, but even so the surrounding area was empty. Caffey almost said as much, then looked again to Saaya’s excitement, and shrugged. “Alright, get whatever you want, I’ll pay.” She said with a smile. Maybe that would get Saaya’s attention.
[WC=324] [TCW=2855]
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Saaya
Junior Member
Posts: 80
Power Level: 1062
Effort Points: 2026
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Post by Saaya on Oct 20, 2019 21:50:35 GMT -8
Saaya beamed at Caffey, as though the girl truly was a hero the likes of any first responder or life saver. She struggled with herself and her desire to order the entire case of donuts and settled for a selection of four. The man, whose face at no point Saaya appreciated for what it looked like, handed her a donuts with nothing more or less than a generic smile. She snatched the bag from him and moved to a seat, removed a golden chocolate from the box, and swallowed it in three bites. She seemed the most in her element when she was eating. Every bite seemed to bring a smile to the corners of her mouth. When she was done with the first one, she looked at Caffey, donut box in hand, and offered her new friend one of them. The mochi donut, which looked more like a ring made of balls, would be the one Saaya would recommend if asked. It would no doubt taste something like sweet matcha and come with a far chewier texture than a standard donut. "What sort of disagreement could there be?" Saaya started renewing the earlier conversation. "Between the members of your dojo, I mean." She continued to snack on the donuts, realizing how happy she was now to be inside the air conditioned room. Around them, the building was entirely empty - the clerk had disappeared and no one else sat at any of the tables. The donut shop itself was located in perhaps one of the most peculiar places, but off in the distance one could easily see the city spires rising up to touch the clouds. Saaya wondered briefly whether or not Caffey had been there before, or if her life in the desert villages had never really taken her to such places. She couldn't imagine Caffey to be the sheltered sort, but at the same time, it wasn't likely that she could call herself a city girl in the same way Saaya did. Saaya had attended, for what little it was worth, a municipal high school and had often found herself lazing around in cafes rather than return home, when she wasn't in the dojo practicing. She's been a solid failure as an academic student, but it was not for her failings as a thinker. Simply put, she was more than smart enough, she just didn't want to succeed. She wondered if Caffey had even had the luxury to choose to fail in the same way.
WC = 417 / 2962 Caffey
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Caffey
Junior Member
The Cobra Prodigy
Posts: 99
Power Level: 1,329
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Post by Caffey on Oct 22, 2019 22:24:56 GMT -8
Saaya certainly had an appetite, if the sidetracked journey into the donut shop itself hadn’t shown that, the speed at which she devoured the donuts she eventually obtained made it abundantly clear. The girl seemed so incredibly focused on the sweets in a way Caffey had scarcely seen, as though the donuts were all that mattered until they were gone. Part of Caffey’s mind wanted to call it cute, the way Saaya’s face lit up as she ate, but that would go unvoiced. Instead, Caffey took the offered donut with a smile, though she savored hers, rather than the ravenous devouring her companion had shown.
Finally, the question Caffey had been awaiting earlier came. The question of misunderstanding points of philosophy within the Cobra Dojo was one that was… Difficult, in a lot of ways, but as a master of the style and its tenets, the girl felt confident she could provide some answer to Saaya, even if it wasn’t as clear as the ones she had been given during her own schooling.
“Well…” Caffey began, unsure where to start, pausing for a moment before continuing. “Well, a lot of teachings can be misunderstood. Sometimes that’s harmless, or unintentional, but other times… Well, it can be dangerous or outright malicious in some circumstances.” Caffey took a breath before continuing. The more philosophical side of martial arts had never been her strong suit, even as she was quick to learn the basic tenets the actual debate and deep understanding had escaped her for most of her life. While that was to be expected of a teen, Caffey demanded better of herself as a master. “For example, one of our core tenets, ‘treat the wider community as though they are a garden within the desert.’ Now, I think that means that you should treat them as something rare, and wonderful, and something to be protected, even if they can’t protect themselves. Others… Disagree. Others think that that means that, if someone can’t defend themselves, they don’t belong, just as a garden does not belong within a desert. Others still believe that means that people should be treated as a resource, something to be gained from, just as one might gain from a garden within the desert. It hasn’t caused problems in my lifetime, and it hopefully never will, but I’ve heard countless stories of issues it’s caused in previous Cobra generations.”
Her explanation given, Caffey looked into Saaya’s eyes, trying to perceive her reaction, before giving up on that and instead letting her eyes wander around the donut shop. She wondered if there were others in the desert she’d never seen, if perhaps there had been one closer to home that she could have visited in her youth. Only, she couldn’t have, even if there was, she’d never been given that kind of option. Her youth, and her life, had been dedicated towards the martial arts as long as she could remember. That didn’t bother her at all, though, as she’d chosen it for herself, and she wouldn’t trade it even if given the choice.
[WC=513] [TWC=3368]
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Saaya
Junior Member
Posts: 80
Power Level: 1062
Effort Points: 2026
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Post by Saaya on Oct 23, 2019 2:12:04 GMT -8
Saaya could only raise her eyebrows an nod at Caffey's explanation, her face otherwise being entirely occupied with its obligations. Caffey seemed to be quite intelligent, even if she didn't seem like a deep thinker. There was a high capacity for self-recognition, and that definitely told Saaya that Caffey was a capable martial artist. One could easily be deceived into believing one was strong by defeating an opponent, but in reality, the only proof gained through such a method was that one's opponent was weaker. It took a level of self-recognition, which Saaya had to admit she had not gained yet, to be able to recognize one's own mistakes outside of a comparative performance. Still, there was something to be learned through competition, she knew. Certainly, Caffey knew it as well. Competition established a spirit of improvement and discouraged laziness. What you chose to compete with, that was your choice. Saaya chose to compete with people, though she hadn't found enough to do so with yet. Maybe, at some point, she'd challenge Caffey. As it was now, she wasn't sure she'd be able to win. But maybe that didn't matter. Saaya took a bit more time to think about Caffey's words as she chewed, wondering which type of person she was and how she'd view a garden in the desert. Why should a garden in the desert be any more special than the desert? she wondered. Isn't everything amazing? Maybe she was just being pedantic. She kept the thought to herself. "What kind of people are you looking for? I mean, for joining your dojo?" The question was innocent enough, Saaya did not intend to invite herself in, but she recalled that Caffey had regaled her with a story of her quest to find people worthy of joining. Saaya wasn't sure what that entailed, did they have to be competent? Did they need potential? Or was there some sort of moral fiber Caffey was trying to find in people? Saaya began to finish her last donut. Where Caffey was a girl of many words, Saaya tended to speak her thoughts with caution. Usually. Not always. Okay, maybe she was bad at it. But she tried!
WC = 365 / 3327 Caffey
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