3727/A Primer On Friendships

A Primer On Friendships
Date of Scene:	25 January 2016
Location:	Kawakami City
Synopsis:	Yang questions Momoyo on why she made a show of sadistically brutalizing Sanary. Momoyo defends herself by explaining Yari put her closest friends in the line of fire, after Momoyo had effectively given her a warning early on in their friendship. Yang comes away conflicted, understanding the reasoning but baffled on the scale of the sadistic theater and the purpose of The Big Four titles...
Cast of Characters:	Yang Xiao Long, 928

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Momoyo Kawakami (928) has posed:
     "Again."

    Momoyo had a large stack of Dust next to Yang. The exercise of course was to punch Momoyo and have her block. Momoyo, however, was not using padded gloves for blocking like training a boxer. Yang could use kicks if she wanted, but punches and Ember Celica were the entire point.

    Momoyo was, after all, using restoration in small increments. This was still aura perception training, both for perception and mental stamina. She set her stance for the next punch, but because Momoyo was not attacking back it meant Yang could go at her own pace as long as she used Dust to cause damage. Momoyo's pain tolerance was extremely high, after all.

    "You still look bothered after reading my reports..."

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    CHA-CHUNK. BLAM!

    Yang shifts and brings her right fist around in a hook punch, ending the strike with the shotgun blast of Energy Dust in a kinetic burst. "That's because I am..." she replies, shifting again and comboing into a three-punch rush, each one firing another shell of Energy Dust.

    Hey eyes flicker Red for a moment, but she reigns it back in, and steps a half measure back, wiping her brow with the back of her glove after retracting the gauntlet on that arm.

    "What the hell were you thinking?"

Momoyo Kawakami (928) has posed:
    "Restoration."

    The shredded skin on her crossed wrists and open palms, depending on what made more sense to block the steady attacks regenerated quickly in between punches. "Yari tried to assassinate Nagato. Sanary mouthed off to me. If I wanted to get Yari's attention to stay away from my friends, making a show of beating up Sanary was a good way to do it. Again."

    Her eyes met Yang's, but since she was already blocking it didn't much matter if Yang threw something she didn't expect. She could see Yang's Aura which was strictly defensive, but Dust was a touch restrictive even if it was a fantastic equalizer. Kuki Corp. was already trying to get their hands on it through various trade deals. "I seriously didn't hurt Sanary any worse than anyone else who was below my level. I only made it look like I did, but they overreacted. That meant my plan worked without hurting them really bad. Though I can't say what would have happened if I shattered that magitek Eye of hers."

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Redeploying the gauntlet, Yang tchs and frowns at the red-eyed fighter. "My Dad always told me that fighting for the sake of fighting is a fools errand." once again she steps back in, punching steadily. "Power without purpose has no meaning."

    "I'm also worried about you..." she adds, after purging the spent shells in her gauntlets and reloading. Lilac eyes focus on Red for a moment. "That kind of sadism... I've only read about it in history documents from the Great War eighty years ago on my world."

Momoyo Kawakami (928) has posed:
     "Hmhmhm~." she chuckles softly, before her eyes turn serious again. Restoring more wounds, she readies for the next strike. "Yang..."

    "...she was rooting around in my personal life after having assassinated a woman I only just came to respect. Do you know how /much/ restraint it took to take Yari to the Feds? I should have shattered every bone in her body and handed her to the Union for execution but I didn't know Nagato was wounded from assassination before I found Yari in my personal space not even concealing her aura." she asks, tossing her hair lightly.

    "Do you know... exactly where the hell she was sneaking around to find information on my friends to hurt me? ...Did I ever tell you how I joined the Kazama Family?" The family name was different than her family name, so she must have meant her group of friends. Hanging around Kawakami City meant one picked up the names of various bands of friends who considered one another small scale samurai families like the Warring States era.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    "Still doesn't make it right to pound someone flat like that." Yang replies. She might just sound like a petulant child trying to explain something to an adult.

    At the revelation of Yari's actions, Yang's face only hardens that little bit more. "Then why didn't you on principle? You seem to enjoy it." she grouses, taking a step back again. "Kazama Family? I thought you were part of the Kawakami family, or am I misunderstanding the meaning?" She seems a bit glad for the mild change of topic, but for the moment, doesn't attack again.

Momoyo Kawakami (928) has posed:
     "When I was in fifth grade, a bunch of sixth graders were picking on a bunch of fourth graders in a field." she huffs, her stance relaxing, but only barely. "Those fourth graders came to me for help. I accepted on the condition that Naoe Yamato be my junior. Indefinitely. I had no juniors in the dojo so I was getting told what to do all the time."

     Her hand sets on her hip as she sighs. "I kicked the shit out of the sixth graders, of course. But when I wanted leadership of the Kazama family, Capt... er, Shouichi Kazama... he refused. So I broke his arm. He still refused. I didn't want to hurt him more than that, so I finally admitted defeat and let him go." she shakes her head, chuckling ruefully.

    "My grandpa beat my /ass/ for that stunt. But it was at that point I accepted Capt. as a man. We started raising an agave root plant together, and that plant sits outside our secret base... it's our hangout filled with shelves of manga, games, food... you name it, we drag it into that abandoned building and have hung out there for years."

    She finally whirls in and seizes Yang's collar. "Do you understand what you would do to ANYONE who you caught sneaking around trying to collect information on your sister Ruby in case they wanted to hurt you later...? It's my duty to protect my friends. I'm the /strongest/ of them. Do you understand what she did to me? What kind of trust she violated? Do you not understand how much I had to hurt her friends, for her get it through her dense skull what she dragged my /family/ into!? They didn't have a choice in this war, Yang! I did!"

    She shoves Yang back lightly. It was suddenly obvious that, at least in this instance, her giant sadistic act had a very passionate reason behind it. "Hit me again. NOW."

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    It isn't surprising when Momoyo moves that fast to grab at her collar. What is surprising is the vehemence behind the words spoken. Yang frowns again at Momoyo though, and retracts her gauntlets. "I wouldn't break them like you broke Sanary. That's the difference between you and me."

    The blonde then turns her back on Momoyo and walks away. "I'm done for now... you have your reasons, I respect that... We just live in two different worlds."

Momoyo Kawakami (928) has posed:
     "Tch." She didn't really have any words to that, but it was true, compared to Yang she was a total wild, vicious animal. Less a martial artist and more a natural disaster. Even the Cookie droids categorized her as such.

    "You can't leave yet." she quips, rolling her head side to side. "You wanted to be on my level someday, right? The fastest way for you to do that is to claim the title of the West from that Fed archer." she folds her arms. "You'll understand me better if you try to take my title, Yang." she says, flatly.

    "Who knows... maybe you'll even make your point. Because that wasn't the first time I'd caught Yari sniffing around my private life. But it /was/ the first time I realized she'd put a target on the heads of people I consider siblings. I love them as much as you love Ruby... and Yari doesn't understand conversation. You didn't think I didn't corner Yari once before already for sniffing around me like a bloodhound? Please... she was shaking before I was done with her but I didn't lay a finger on her."

     "She has a crush on me, duh. But that didn't teach her, and Sanary challenged me. What was I supposed to do, Yang, turn her down and tell her she wasn't gonna land a scratch on me...? I didn't just ambush her, you know that. She challenged me like an idiot on two hours of sleep and then her damned pride marched her through that arch to face me down. Yari had it coming trying to willfully throw a bunch of high school kids into an entire damned war. Only half of them could even defend themselves, Yang. HALF!!!"

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    "Talk to Ozpin." Yang replies as she stops, looking over her shoulder. "He's specifically stated that Beacon Academy supports the Union, but the Kingdom of Vale is neutral. Do you think that'll stop the Feds from attacking the City if they had a reason to? Not even half of the citizens can defend themselves from Grimm, let alone Elites."

    "I need some time to think..." she huffs. "People can be really stupid sometimes..."