3468/How To Start A Fire

How To Start A Fire
Date of Scene:	01 December 2015
Location:	Tokyo-52605 <NXC>
Synopsis:	Kenji gives August lessons on not burning himself to death.
Cast of Characters:	715, August Kohler

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Kenji Kawasaki (715) has posed:
     JAPAN

     KAWASAKI RESIDENCE

     Calling it the Kawasaki residence is generous. It's really not. Kenji's "place" is a run-down apartment complex in one of the less pleasant parts of his district, one of the old-style ones you see in anime all the time, the ones that look like a shitty two-level motel with stairs and a fence. The odd thing is, it doesn't look like anyone else is living there. With the housing crisis what it is in Japan...well, that's sort of bizarre.

     Kenji is waiting out front. His arms are crossed, and he's tapping his feet, waiting as he glances around the street. He gave pretty good directions, and this place should be private enough...

August Kohler has posed:
This is actually August's first trip to any sort of Japan, so he would not know anything about the housing situation, but he's not here for tourism. He's here to STUDY. It's going to be a pretty mind-burning, heated study session, for sure.

Still dressed in his school clothes, due to not having changed, the red-headed German arrives only a few minutes late, a silver, half-burned, reflective spoon twirling in his fingers. "Guten tag. Sorry for being late, Kawasaki. Is...this where we're practicing? Looks a bit...unsafe, seeing /what/ we're practicing."

Kenji Kawasaki (715) has posed:
     Kenji holds up a hand and pushes open the door to the 'yard.' "Not out here. Come on."

     He leads Kohler around back, then fumbles with a key. It opens on a creaky concrete stairwell. Kenji holds up a hand at Kohler. "Stay here. It's dangerous."

     He goes downstairs. He does not turn on a light. The sounds of him walking downstairs end, and there's a noise of his shoes scuffing on the floor.

     "OK. We're clear. Hitomi must've fucked off for the day or something, I dunno."

     "So. First test. You're gonna get down here without turning on a light. Small, controlled flame. Don't worry, absolutely fuckin' /nothing/ down here that's gonna catch."

August Kohler has posed:
Kenji's behavior seems rather odd to August. Why would his own house be dangerous? Who the hell is Hitomi? "Are there usually problems for you here?" August asks into the darkness, peering, trying to see through it. When he realizes it truly is pitch black, he tosses the spoon into the air, as blue light explodes from it.

"Persona."

The Tin Soldier soars above August's head, the burned soldier peering into the darkness, before pointing its gun leg forest. Stepping back to give it some room, August takes a breath, before waving his hand slowly. Instead of whatever he was /trying/ to do, there's a huge flamethrower burst downward, as he jumps back. "Ah, shit! Are you alright?"

Kenji Kawasaki (715) has posed:
     "A fox-girl moved in at Halloween," Kenji sighs, "She's, uh, basically harmless, but she roams around the building and she likes the basement. I dunno how she'd feel about meeting somebody new, so..." There's the sound of him rustling in the darkness. Presumably he's shrugging.

     There's a burst of flame. It briefly illuminates that Kenji is not standing anywhere near the stairs, nor the fire, presumbly because he's not a total idiot, before the darkness goes out. The brief burst also shows lots of stone and concrete, as well as *lots* of scorch marks.

     "I'm fine, 'cause I'm not a goddamned idiot. I've got like six fire exintguishers down here. Don't walk down these stairs until you can make a small fire and sustain it. In fact, you can't."

     Kenji pauses.

     "I mean I'm sure you *could*, but you'd probably break your dumbass neck, so don't."

August Kohler has posed:
Realizing Kenji is fine is a bit of a relief for August, who sighs, as he moves the Tin Soldier closer to the stairs. "I bet I could. Move the Tin Soldier ahead of me, since it doesn't have to risk tripping, and then follow after it." Despite saying this, August isn't the most sure. He's never made a /small/ fire for more than a second.

"What do you recommend, if you don't think I can sustain it, then?"

Kenji Kawasaki (715) has posed:
     There's the noise of a shrug.

     "Find something you can light on fire safely, and then light that. A little stick or some shit. There's none here, this is purely a training exercise, but if you're in a high-pressure situation, have backups. Hell, have nonmagical backups. Get some road flares, they're available to the public market. It's never bad to have an easy source of fire."

August Kohler has posed:
"Good to know. So, for right now...let's see." August opens up his bag, fumbling through it. For right now, he'll want something that can burn, is replacable, and could be safely held as he moves. He pulls out a wad of scrap paper, folding it into a tube, before thinking and asking outloud. "Any bottles up here, by any chance? I could probably make a makeshift torch, which is definitely much more safer than trying to walk down there and maintain the gunfire myself."

Kenji Kawasaki (715) has posed:
     "Nope. You gotta walk down all by yourself. Use your shirt if you're totally desperate, but..."

     "I don't recommend it." He sounds like he's speaking from experience.

     "The trick is basically in concentration and respect. Here." Something comes flying out of the darkness, landing next to Kohler's feet. It's a book of matches.

     "If you feel like you can't do it, light one of these - /normally/, like, strike the damn thing - and then hold it till it burns you. You'll drop it, but that's fine, the doorway's fire-proofed, too. Once it burns you, focus on the pain, and try and sort of...wrap the fire around it, I guess?"

     "Basically, it's about respect for fire as a tool, not just as what burns shit. Right now you're expecting fire to hurt you, and people expect you to hurt yourself with it. You're basically a kid playing with matches, except you're fuckin' dumb and keep setting the house on fire. So it's time to go back to basics and remember why that's bad."

August Kohler has posed:
As the matches fly to his feet, August bends down to pick them up, as he nods towards the darkness, not actually knowing if Kenji can see him. He holds the matches before slowly removing a match. Kenji's comments, which are incredibly true, still make August a bit irritated. It's a mixture of pride and the fact that he really is putting not only himself, but everyone around him in danger, but as he thinks on it, he strikes the match, holding it still in his hand, as he moves towards the stairs. But he doesn't walk down them.

As the fire burns down the match and towards August's palm, he can feel the heat, and he groans. And then it burns down, and actually hits him. For most people, it would sting pretty bad, but for August, it hurts even worse due to how his Persona works. He grips tightly onto the match, as the Tin Soldier pantomimes in pain, beginning to spiral fire out of the gun.

But it stops. The fire starts coming out less and less, shooting out in rapidly fluctuating sizes that constantly get smaller. August focuses on the pain. He tries to visualize it as a ball, a torch, as he has the Tin Soldier take its first steps down the stairs, the fire of the gun certainly not steady, and not quite in control, but much more contained than before. With every step the Tin Soldier takes, August slowly follows, watching his feet as they illuminate below him.

When he finally reaches the bottom, August moves to drop the now extinguished match from his hand, before putting his hand on the nearest wall for a second. He does not extinguish the flame, just keeping it, and the Tin Soldier, completely still, and facing away from him and Kenji. Not entirely confident, yet, even if he's succeeded. But, baby steps.

Kenji Kawasaki (715) has posed:
     "You could've dropped the match a while ago," Kenji observes, "But that's good. You're getting there. It's not easy and it's not something you can just d instantly. It's gonna take a shitload of practice, practice, practice. You should learn to treat burns, like, ASAP, because it hurts like a bitch and it's hard to explain to people who aren't in the know, and you don't wanna rely on hospitals and charity and excuses all the goddamn time."

     Kenji flicks on a light.

     The basement is entirely concrete. There are scorch marks all over it, presumably from Kenji's own attempts, as Kohler saw earlier. Kenji's not kidding about it being a difficult thing to learn, apparently.

     Kenji turns on a faucet in a very heavy-looking sink. After a few minutes, he throws a sopping-wet cloth at August. "Take this, wrap it around your hand, and sit down on the stairs."

     Kenji leans on one of the support pillars - again, concrete. That must be a recent thing. "So. Good start. You're gonna do this walk once a week, until you can do it without the matches."

     "Then we'll get into the serious shit."

     "We're gonna get you to the point where your weird magic ghost can cook a fuckin' meal. Get Amakasu off your back. Hey, speaking of - don't feel shitty about them making fun of you, okay? They have no idea. This is fuckin' hard and it's really easy to treat you like a dumbass if you don't know what fire's really like. Fire's rough, hard to control. It's alive and you gotta treat it like a living thing. It's a tool and you gotta treat it like that, too. Be good to your tools or they break or fuck you over."

August Kohler has posed:
"Easier to focus on the pain if it's still coming." August lifts up his burned hand, wincing as he looks at it. "I'll do that, yeah. It'll help the rest of the team, too, so. Better than nothing." As the light is turned on, August dematerializes his Persona, giving him finally a moment to rest.

As Kenji hands him the cloth, August takes it quickly, wrapping it around his hand and sitting on the stairs as requested. "Got it. Though, cooking using my actual soul sounds...entertaining, atleast." He grins at this, as he adjusts the wrap. "I'll do it, no matter how hard it is. I have a job to do, and I can't let them down. Thank you, Kawasaki."