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Reiji Arisu     Deep beneath bustling Roppongi Hills is a facility that exists on no maps or public records. Officially a collection of drainage ducts, storm sewers and a massive flood vault, this facility technically does not exist.

And yet, here it is.

    The headquarters of the Shinra Organization sprawls underground like the roots of a great tree, encompassing dozens of vaults, office spaces and facilities both magical and technological. There, hundreds of Japan's staunchest defenders continue their work of making the country just a little safer to live in.

And in one chamber, the very model of a stereotypical dojo, one agent in particular is about to embark on a brand new journey.

TEACHING A FOREIGNER HOW TO USE A KATANA.

IS HE UP FOR THE CHALLENGE!?

    Well, he's sitting in seiza with a pair of wooden swords next to him, which is always a good sign that he's appropriately masterful in the martial arts. His hair is divided in two, one a natural, jet black, the other a great shock of pure white. This can only be ONE MAN.

REIJI ARISU, EXORCIST.

He now waits for his student (and her magical sword) to arrive.
Mel Brock     In all fairness, it's not so much a katana as a nodachi; longer, weightier, requiring a slightly different style than the more typical blade. Part of the reason why Marshal Mel Brock couldn't just find anyone to teach her, really. Even if she does find someone running some common dojo somewhere, there's no guarantee the style they offer is anywhere approaching useful to her. No, she needs someone who /knows/ how to use a blade like Hrafn, and moreover, has combat experience.

    Which is why a space cop with a magical talking sword finds herself walking through a high-tech hidden headquarters for a supernatural hunting agency to learn swordsmanship from an exorcist.

    She's at least dressed comfortably. Baggy black cotton pants with white stripes down the side, a black tank top, snugly-fitted gym shoes, a duffel with a change of clothes, and of course her heavenly armament strapped to her back. "This kinda nuts," she muses idly. "Hiding something like this under a city... you'd never pull it off back home." With someone to guide her (which is likely), it doesn't take long for the psychic to stand before the door to Reiji's 'dojo'; she pauses for a moment or two before opening it and stepping in. "Uh, hey, is this the place for... I mean, I'm here for some training? I think."
Heaven's Armory     Supposedly, there should be little fear of any danger here, en route to an ally of her wielder, for a training session within friendly territory. And yet, Hravn does not materialize herself on the way over, opting to remain solely in her true form, and speak only to Mel through their link, when at all. This doesn't prevent her from looking around, even without eyes. This is yet another locale quite different from those she's previously traveled, perhaps even more so than Anor Londo. Still, the human form from which she's refraining would be better for sight-seeing. There's another reason for the avoidance, past the usual wariness of danger to the part of her that isn't nigh-unbreakable.
    "It's an impressively large secret." The feeling of her words is on the amused side, before they arrive.
    It's only when they do arrive, and when their guide is dismissed, that the woman in the yellow dancer's dress takes visible form, incandescent energy forming in a blink into that false form, just to Mel's side and half a step behind. She smiles, hands together and posture ramrod straight, and says, "Hello."
Xiaomu Go figure, thinks Xiaomu. Her partner FINALLY gets done with an extended assignment ... and he doesn't even take half a day off before he goes right back to work, albeit in this case, it's teaching rather than any of the dozens of other tasks to which Reiji seems drawn as iron filings to a magnet.

Welp, she can at least be around as a show of support. Xiaomu's actually more or less up to date with *her* paperwork and other chores, but instead of catching up on more anime (much as she wants to) or playing a video game (she's got a couple that she hasn't had a chance to start yet) or lounging somewhere and munching on snacks (fried tofu, by preference, but there are other choices) ... she's sitting next to one wall of the dojo, her monk staff leaning against the wall next to her, and her legs arranged in as passable a semblance of seiza position as you can get.

When Mel Brock and her magical talking sword arrive, Xiaomu's first sign of recognition is that an ear literally perks up at the sound of Mel's arrival, plus the sword's greeting. Or the sword's spirit's greeting, anyway ... actually, by the time Hraven speaks up, Xiaomu is *looking* at Mel and Hravn, not just visibly listening. "Well, most of our world isn't ready to find out that yes, demons and ghosts and spirits and monsters and all manner of things that go bump in the night are actually *real*, so yeah, Shinra keeps its existence secret except to a select handful of bureaucrats and hereditary secret-keepers. Welcome! I'm Xiaomu, think I've said hi to one or both of you on the radio ..."

She glances at Reiji. You can only meditate for so long, right?
Reiji Arisu     The only thing to fear in Shinra headquarters is getting lost. The place seemed to have been built almost like a maze, with plenty of space all throughout the facility for defending forces to muster in the case of a breach. If you didn't know your way around- or have a guide to help- you'd probably end up somewhere you didn't want to be! Like Xiaomu's Special Media Closet.

And then you might risk seeing what must never be seen.

Or just, you know, becoming new material for an easily-bored fox's literary machinations.

    "This is the place you've been looking for," Reiji says as he rises steadily from seiza. His legs don't hurt THAT much, just yet- but it'd be impolite to stay seated when someone else is standing. Also he can totally meditate forever. Probably. He might get hungry at some point though, that'd be a problem. "Welcome to Shinra Headquarters," he says, inclining his head slightly as if bowing, "I hope everything's met your approval thus far."

    "My partner's already introduced herself. I am Reiji Arisu, exorcist, onmyoji and special agent. I think I'm familiar with... one of you." The other is... Not exactly human, is she? "And the other, not so much. It's good to meet you. Please, take off your shoes and we'll get started."

Gotta keep a clean floor, after all.
Mel Brock     At Reiji's bidding, Mel slides out of her shoes, a pair of well-fit white socks underneath. "It's still a little weird to me, thinking about worlds that somehow manage to join up with the Multiverse and not notice something's amiss. But I guess I come from somewhere equipped to notice pretty easy." But hey, if it works for these people (or rather, if the other way WOULDN'T work), they might as well. "Mel Brock, STA Marshals, PsiMarshal division. Good to properly meet both of you. This is my sword, Hrafn," she adds, with a quirk of her head to indicate the now-materialized sword spirit." She steps out onto the dojo floor properly, and falls into a parade rest, arms behind her back (just over Hrafn's sheath).
Heaven's Armory     In echo, "I am Hravn, of Heaven's Armory." She nods, slightly, a far cry from a elegant bow but not too different than the gesture it returns. She gives a curious look at the mention of shoes, looking down at hers... which disappear as she steps forward, though this does not leave her barefoot, her leg coverings proving to go down to her toes. She complied, anyway, even if she's not familiar with the custom. Neither item touched the street outside.
Xiaomu Now let's be fair for a moment. Xiaomu's 'special media closet' at Shinra HQ only contains two categories of media: those things which are potentially of tactical use (training new recruits on how to deal with certain types of monsters, for instance), or those things which Reiji would flay her alive if he found, partner or not, and therefore she doesn't DARE risk keeping them at home. And she doesn't write about her coworkers ... usually. (Although by that logic, visitors are arguably fair game?)

"Good to meet both of you," Xiaomu says with a lazy grin as Mel and Hravn introduce themselves. "So this is the beginner course, I think Reiji mentioned? You already know which end to hold a sword by, right, Mel?"

Gods help all of them if Mel doesn't at least know THAT much.
Reiji Arisu Reiji knows allll about the darkness within Xiaomu's foxy heart. He doesn't, however, know just how deep the foxhole goes. What CRAVEN DEPRAVITY she keeps clutched so close to her very soul--!

Well, maybe that's for the best.

    "Oh, well, it's no fault of the people. We do our best to keep this place hidden as well. There are spells for that sort of thing," Reiji explains. "Anyone who can find it on their own either deserves to be part of the organization, or are one of our enemies."

Like a CERTAIN WEREFOX whose name shall go unmentioned.

    "Anyway, let's start with the basics, shall we? I'm not certain how durable of a blade Hravn is, but most katanas don't exactly enjoy rough shocks. It takes skill and practice to slice properly with one, even a nodachi." Reiji lifts the pair of wooden swords, and... chucks them both at the student and her sword. "But this is not merely about wielding a sword. This is about learning how to fight in tandem with your partner, of synchronicity and hammering the fundamental underpinnings of your bond so deep that it becomes instinct."

"To this end," he says, resting his hand on another wooden blade, slipped into a sash at his waist. "I'd like to train you both, if that's no problem."
Mel Brock     "Yeah, I hold it by the shiny part and beat people with that round section at the end, right?" Mel replies to Xiaomu, a bit of easy humor slipping into her voice. She's obligingly silent for Reiji, though, a very good and attentive student. And without skipping a beat, when her new sensei tosses a practice blade her way, she brings her hands out from behind her back and holds the right out; rather than simply catching the bokken, her hand waits while the wooden sword goes from 'ballistic trajectory' to 'floating into her grip'. She's careful about how she takes it in hand, taking a second to find a decent grip for it that has the right balance. "Well, I wasn't expecting Hrafn to do the training too, except maybe as a sword, but alright. The basic grip, it's not that different from a bat, right? Right hand above for applying force, left hand below for fine control?"
Heaven's Armory     Hravn catches the training weapon. She now has a false body wielding a false blade. She gives Reiji a further, quizzical look, glancing between him and Mel. "Well. That's... not entirely wrong... except for suggesting that there's anything that can damage me. If it exists, I've yet to encounter it." She holds the bokken out, then hefts and spins it in one hand, before letting the 'blade' fall in her relaxed grip.
    Looking again toward Mel, particularly her grip, she gives a nod.
Xiaomu Well, there ARE swords which are designed around being able to hit people with the hilt or the pommel just as readily as slicing or stabbing with the blade, so Xiaomu can't ENTIRELY say that Mel is wrong ... but still, anyone who grasps a sword by the sharp part with an unprotected hand is going to lose fingers, and pretty much deserves to. Either way, Xiaomu doesn't rise to the bait immediately, instead waiting to see how Mel grasps the bokken. "Telekinesis, huh?" the sage fox remarks. "That could be a handy thing to work into your swordsmanship, but focus on the basics for now.

Her attention shifts to the sword-spirit, and Xiaomu comments with a lazy smile, "Pretty sure you'll find something in the Multiverse that can hurt you, Hravn, if you spend long enough fighting outside whatever world you're from. Hopefully we won't have to find out what it takes to repair you or one of your siblings ..."

And with those remarks delivered, Xiaomu gets back to her feet, leaning lightly against the wall, arms folded loosely under her breasts. If the sparring session gets especially lively, she doesn't want to be caught sitting down when she needs to move!
Heaven's Armory     Hravn turns her relaxed smile Xiaomu's way. "I certainly hope not. As far as I'm aware, that is also impossible. Some caution is certainly warranted." Agreeing enough.
Reiji Arisu Psychic power? That's... hmn. "For now," Reiji nods, "I'd like to keep this as physical as possible. Try not to enhance your maneuvers with your mind just yet-- that's for the advanced class." Telekinesis isn't exactly an unknown quantity here, apparently! Though considering all the ghosts they've got running around, there's bound to be at least one poltergeist swordsman somewhere, right?

More importantly, instruction time.

    "The grip is... Not really that of a baseball bat," Reiji says with a patient frown on his lips. "The nodachi is a long, delicate blade. Like its smaller cousins, it's used for slicing, not smashing. The grip must take that into account," he enters a ready stance, hands sliding into a familiar position. "The upper hand and lower hands actually have a relatively similar grip. Grasp the hilt primarily with the lower two fingers, keep the weapon at an angle. Also, keeping a two-hand difference between your gripping points helps you control your strike more effectively." He demonstrates, holding the weapon with practiced skill.

    "If you use power when you strike, put it into speed instead of just force. You want your wrists to remain flexible so that you can lever the blade and actually cut with it, rather than trying to power through like it were an axe." Reiji glances over at his students, "Try to form the proper grip, first, then take a few swings." So that he can analyze and dissect any errors. Not so he can TAUNT THEM FOR THEIR FAILUUUUURE
Mel Brock     "If anything, it's the other way around," Mel replies to Xiaomu. "I'm never gonna be a super-badass swordswoman or anything. But I want to learn the basics, so I can use it to supplement my TK and Hrafn's abilities. Have a sword, might as well learn to use it, know what I mean?" She looks surprisingly frowny over the prospect of Hrafn being damaged, at least for a second or two. But it's not worth worrying about in the middle of a training exercise, really. They'll cross that bridge when they come to it, and if need be she can lift that bridge and drop it on someone's head.

    That metaphor has kind of fallen apart in Mel's mind.

    "Right, physical as possible," Mel replies, nodding. "I actually get you perfectly. Back at the psi academy, they had a big emphasis on training your body alongside your mind. Knowing your limits, making sure they're /generous/ limits, just in case you meet some crazy with a suppressor." Granted, Mel herself would blow out ordinary suppressors, but that's another story.

    Right now, Reiji is teaching grip. Primarily with the lower two fingers, weapon at an angle. Wider spread between hands. The marshal takes Reiji's instructions to heart, as best she's able, and then tries a simple practice swing. Diagonal, from upper left to lower right. "...huh. I can kinda feel the difference in control." She might not have any sword training, but she's at least done /some/ form of extensive self-defense. She's got good control of her body, not a lot of waste movement aside from what's natural when you're swinging a sword 'right' for the first time.
Heaven's Armory     The sword-spirit nods approvingly as Reiji recites his instructions in detail. Coming here may prove to be more beneficial than expected, though in the first place, she's aware that she's far from a perfect teacher. Her capacities lay primarily elsewhere: for instance, 'remembering how another has fought,' and hers is a long memory. Present experiences only add to it, as she watches Mel's first swing with her improved grip.
    Assuming her form is also under some scrutiny, and thinking to move along the lesson, Hravn takes a stance. Blade held high, hands apart, her form has the precision of having been taught, though likely not by anyone Reiji's studied. The blade swings down, body turning around it, then the stance is reset--
    --hands in front, blade-tip at eye-level. Again it falls, twisting into a reverse strike faster than the descent, carving a pair of diagonals ending at the upper-right.
    The final pose is held for half a moment, then relaxed, blade dropping nearly to the ground, held in one hand, reverse-grip and nearest the non-existent guard. Legs nearly straight, without apparent readiness. Hravn turns her vision away from an arbitrary focal point, and toward Reiji. Has he seen anyone fight from /this/ stance? She's curious, but has no way to test it for certain, at the moment.
Xiaomu "Just remember,," Xiaomu suggests (helpfully?) from where she stands on the sidelines. "A katana is made to *cut*, so it's not like you're trying to punch your way through your enemy's body by dint of blunt force trauma as if you were swinging a sharpened girder around. Plus, most Japanese swords are made to cut in only one direction, so precision and finesse are at even more of a premium than they would be with your standard double-edged blade."

This is really Reiji's lesson to teach, though, so she doesn't want to chime in TOO much.
Reiji Arisu     Reiji's eyes are keen- they possess the kind of sharpness that you can only acquire from decades on the battlefield... Despite the fact that he appears to be only in his twenties. The teacher watches carefully, observing both psychic and sword-spirit alike as they move through their motions. One is definitely more practiced at this than the other, but...

There's something... not quite right.

Hm.

    "Mel," he starts with the easier of the two. "You've got talent for a beginner. But you do need to use your hips a little more, and your wrists are a bit stiff. Like my partner says, a Japanese blade can only cut in very specific ways- it's the swordsman's job to ensure that they can always find an opening to slice as they should. A nodachi is somewhat different in that its length gives it impressive range, it's almost more of a polearm than a sword. But still, practice will solve most of that."

And then the... Sword-spirit.

    "Your skills are impressive, if... unorthodox." This coming from MISTER IAIJUTSU WITH A SHOTGUN. "And I can't complain much about your grip. However." Suddenly, there's a GIANT PAPER FAN in Reiji's hands. He swings the Harisen from hip up with nearly blinding speed and-- gently taps the sword-spirit on the head. "This is a class for the basics. As impressive as that was, I'd like the two of you to practice those for now. After all, it was no less than a dragon who once said--"

    Reiji extends his harisen as if he were some ANCIENT CHINESE GENERAL giving orders to a great legion of troops. "Fear not the man who practiced ten-thousand kicks once. Fear the man who has practiced one kick ten-thousand times."

    "Incidentally," he inclines his head, "I will demonstrate a few basic strikes. I want you two to practice each of them ten-thousand times. Only simultaneous strikes from the both of you will be counted."

Welp.

Xiaomu probably saw this coming.
Mel Brock     Talent for a beginner? Heh. "Well, I mean, I've been through special forces training. Part of that involved some baton techniques." Mel looks a little proud of herself. And tries not to giggle when Hrafn is subject to SENSEI'S DISCIPLINE. But the amusement doesn't last very much longer.

    "..."

    Ten thousand times each. Only counting in unison.

    Is he serious?

    He's serious.

    The look Mel shoots Hrafn probably says it all. It's a bit complex, but the gist of it can be boiled down to, 'this is going to suck'. She understands the reasoning for it, she knows muscle memory will be important, but... well, how the hell long does he expect them to be here?

    Sigh.

    "Alright. Basic strikes. Let's see 'em." She needs to use her hips more, and leave her wrists loose. Slicing, not cleaving open. Okay. So Mel sets her feet apart. Finds a good, stable stance that will let her use her hips. Side-glances at her blade's 'body' briefly. And then settles in to watch Reiji carefully.
Heaven's Armory     Hravn is ready for many things, but a giant paper fan was not among them. Her skills are as honed as any, but her actual speed is not all that different from the unaugmented human range for most worlds, which puts what she showed a few leagues below Reiji's harisen. Her head is tapped, and she blinks.
    "Hm? Ten thousand strikes? Times several, that would be..." She looks over toward Mel. "Are you up for eight hours of continuous srikes?" She only sounds a little dubious. Human capability does vary from era to era, and wielder to wielder.
    Since it seems that Mel /is/ going for it, her attention returns to Reiji, locking an intense focus onto his hands, spreading to his arms, shoulders, hips, and feet.
Xiaomu Whether or not Xiaomu actually saw it coming, she grins all the same when Reiji assigns the pair's first training exercise *as* a pair. "'The sword is the soul of the samurai,' right Reiji?" the sage fox asks her partner, the look on her face in stark counterpoint to the calm discipline in her voice. "Although there's probably something more to the tone of 'the knight and his sword are one' in this case ..."

Yes, she probably just mixed up Japanese and European medieval warrior culture. Ask how much she cares.

"Should I give them a big hint about how to pass this one, Reiji, or should we watch them flail for a bit trying to get the hang of it?"
Reiji Arisu REIJI IS ALWAYS SERIOUS except when he's not, but this is not one of those times. "We'll just start with eight today. But I want the two of you to get these down right, so--" Reiji reaches for his collar and tugs as he... begins removing everything he was wearing above the waist. "I want you to see the proper form as clearly as you can. Watch carefully, now. Make sure you get this down; flawed strikes won't be counted either."

    With that, Reiji begins. The first is a basic overhead swing. Lifting his blade from a rest position, Reiji steps forward and cuts as if striking through an opponent's skull- and through most of his chest. The next is a temple-cut, striking from the flanks of the skull. Then a shoulder-cut, a belly-slice, a reverse-shoulder cut, and then finally a thrust. All but the first and last are mirrored, performed from both the left and the right sides.

And each one is punctuated by a sharp Kiai, because of course they are.

    "This isn't just about muscle memory," Reiji explains, returning to a neutral stance. "This is about becoming one with your blade. About learning how to use it like an extension of yourself, and of being of one mind and one soul. Ken - Kon - Itteki. Blade and Soul Strike as One."

    His eyes flicker towards Xiaomu for a moment... then he shrugs. "I'm not sure if this is the hint you mean, but I'll only say that the kiai can serve more purpose than merely to signal a strike. Other than that, the only help I'll be is to correct errors in your stance, your grip, or your strikes. Don't worry," he levers his own bokken slightly, "I'll keep striking until you finish. Each will be ten sets of one thousand. After one set, we move on to the next strike. Understood?"

This... Is going to be a long day.