003; text; l.morningstar

[dealwiththe]

All right, it's share time. Here's some "get to know you" questions. Feel free to answer any or all. Then ask each other new ones you come up with.

1. Who is one person you admire from your world? Historical figure, celebrity, friend or relative - anyone. And why?

2. What's a fond childhood memory you have?

3. What's your hidden talent? The thing you're good at that others might not be aware of.

4. What animal would you be, and why?

Have fun!

Warden filter

Movie night, tomorrow night, 8 pm. The Weaponizer. It's a classic.

Comments

text | travistouchdowncrownlessking

[rank1]

1. My late master. He taught me a lot about swordsmanship and fighting. He taught me how to push my body to the limit. He was such a hardass sometimes, but I don't regret a single minute of it.

[He does start to type something for the second question, but he deletes it promptly. Moving along:]

3. I'm a bullet hell pro.

4. A tiger. The apex of the food chain and a lone hunter with a real flashy coat. It'd also be pretty cool to have piss that smells like popcorn.

[helenite]

y r u smelling tiger piss

[rank1]

I read about it on the internet. That doesn’t make you curious, hearing something like that?

[helenite]

life is richer 4 the abundance of mystery

[rank1]

Sure, but a little trivia never hurt nobody.

[helenite]

i guess i just dont get how it adds 2 the exp ? like wouldnt that ruin popcorn 4 u if it always smelled like ur pee

[rank1]

Tigers don’t eat popcorn. This is totally just a novelty for everyone else. My gift to the animal kingdom, baby.

[helenite]

ok well if u cant eat popcorn being a tiger sounds totally overrated

[rank1]

Popcorn is a small price to pay for being a giant cat with rippling muscles! You get more steak instead.

[helenite]

dont u hav rippling muscles already

[rank1]

[Oh :’) That feels nice on his ego.]

Yeah, so it’s the perfect animal for me.

[dealwiththe]

1. Is that all your master taught you? How to fight?

3. I know what bullets are, and Hell, of course, but you might need to elaborate on what “bullet hell” is.

[rank1]

1. If I just wanted to fight, I'd join the military or something. Nobody gets a master just to learn forms. That's not what it's about.

3. Danmaku games. They're scrolling shooters where nearly the whole screen fills up with bullets, so you need superfine motor control, concentration and quick thinking so your ship doesn't get blown out of the sky.

[dealwiththe]

What's it about, then?

[rank1]

It's commitment. Most instructors are with you for a twelve-week course, maybe three hours a week. A school teacher's with you for a year, maybe another if the place is small. Hell, even parents have a point where their kids are on the hook for their own lives, right? "Figure it out on your own."

But you and your master are together until one of you dies. He teaches you and you teach him what he needs to continue teaching you. Even if a dojo closes or an injury takes someone out, you're always gonna check back in. You're always gonna commit yourself to being the kind of person he'd admire.

It's never over.

[dealwiththe]

So this person isn't just a fighter. You might, theoretically, choose to model your life after them. Someone you admire enough to calibrate your moral compass to, perhaps.

Is it like that?

[rank1]

Pretty close. It's intense.

[dealwiththe]

What sort of man was this master of yours? Apart from "badass fighter", I mean. Was there anything else about him you admired?

[rank1]

He had a way with words. Didn't talk much, but you knew what he meant. When I started out, he accepted it. Said there'd be no reward to anything I didn't perfect. Takes a big man to commit to a philosophy like that, you know? Who's perfect? But he went hard.

[dealwiththe]

He seems like a harsh man, and a harsh life.

Was he right?

[rank1]

[A pause.]

You know how God answers prayers with "yes", "no" or "wait", but every "no" could just be a "wait"? It's like that. I'm waiting for my reward.

[dealwiththe]

That requires a great deal of faith.

Was your master so perfectly fulfilled and happy? Or was his reward something different?

[rank1]

Yeah.

[Does he have faith? His fingers linger on the keys for a moment, but then eh, fuck it. Move on.]

He knew what he was + what he wanted, and usually got it. I've seen him walk into rooms and every head would turn to see what he wanted to say. He was a pretty respected guy. Feared, even. I'd like to think he was happy that way.

[dealwiththe]

And is that what you want? To be respected and feared?

[rank1]

Nah. I've been there. It's a pain in the ass to keep up, and it's just not my style. My master and I were in the same arena, fighting different battles.