Alex loves to eat (nanwu) wrote in st_margarets, @ 2016-02-12 23:12:00 |
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Entry tags: | character: alex jiang, location: kitsune dorm |
Narrative: Healing
WHO: Alex Jiang
WHEN: Friday night
WHERE: The Spirit World
NPC: Jiang Chen
The days following that first one of the Lunar New Year involved some interesting visits. He spent a majority of the first day with his grandfather, talking about everything in life. He spoke about what his friends were up to and kept out the things about planning pranks or avoiding his homework. His grandfather probably knew about those things but trusted Alex would figure those out soon enough. When the visit ended, Alex was reluctant to say good-bye because he didn't know if he'd see his grandfather again anytime soon. They parted ways and then the next day Alex went into the spirit world. He met another relative there and this one taught him more techniques on how to protect his body and lock it from possible possession by others. It would take time for Alex to really get the hang of it all, because it involved Chinese he wasn't familiar with. It was a very old dialect and he had a hard time getting the intonation right. The next day involved an old woman who began teaching him how to restore the balance in himself. It took Alex a bit to figure out she was trying to help him get rid of the black smudge on his spirit. The following day was a young boy. Apparently he died young but he had the gift so early that he was doing the sort of thing Alex's grandfather could do by the time he was learning to walk. Alex suddenly didn't feel so special, especially since some kid was teaching him about how to properly communicate with spirits rather than just talking at them like Alex had been doing. There was something humbling about learning from some bald kid. Even if Alex knew he didn't really know all that much. The day before, Alex's grandfather checked in on him. He worked with Alex on practicing what the other ancestors taught him, and Alex did decently but it was clear he would have to spend a lot of time in the spirit world to start improving his skills. He would have to spend the rest of his life doing this. It seemed almost silly that they were all going to teach him this and by the time he died he still wouldn't have mastered it all. But then again, his own culture preserved and held onto things that went back for centuries because it was who they were. They almost lost their traditions when the socialist government took over and it required this tradition to be practiced in secret and hidden in the mountains. Alex started to realize how much of a disappointment his father must be to his grandfather. But today, today he met a relative he had not anticipated. A fist slammed into his chest and his body flung across the room. It hurt like hell and the worst part was he didn't even see it coming. One second Chen stood there, staring at him with a smirk on his face half-hidden by his beard, and then suddenly Alex was airborne. Alex landed and muttered a few curses in Chinese. "Get up," Chen ordered and walked over to Alex, offering a hand. Alex stared at it, not trusting the older man at all. The last time he took the guy's hand, he flipped Alex over and pulled his arm behind his back. "Yeah, I'll do that on my own," Alex said and picked himself up, dusting himself off, "So, you do realize I make the kids at the McDojos look like Bruce Lee, right? I can't learn this that fast." "McDojo?" Chen asked and Alex rolled his eyes, "Forget I said it. So yeah, I need to work on my defense. And my offense. And my falling." "Yes, you do," Chen agreed without hesitation, "You are rather terrible." Alex frowned. the guy couldn't give him even a slight compliment? Chen was in his fifties, by Alex's guess, but sometimes it was hard to pinpoint age when it came to some Asian people. Chen was there to teach Alex how to defend himself. Not defend himself in the real world but apparently kung fu was a staple of every shaman in the spirit world. Sometimes you didn't just chant an incantation to deal with the bad here, sometimes you actually kicked its ass. Chen looked like a character from a Jet Li movie. Older, yes, but with impeccable posture and most of his hair shaved off save for what made up a long braid. He reminded Alex a bit of his grandfather in some ways, like the ageless wisdom in his eyes, but otherwise he was like a cool uncle that also had fund showing off to his nephews and nieces by making them look like idiots. "So, I know the Lunar New Year is only a couple of weeks, and there's no way I'm gonna get as good as you in that time . . . unless there's a super secret you're going to tell me?" Alex asked, rubbing his chest that still hurt from the blow given to him by Chen. Chen laughed, "No, you will need a lot of practice. There is no secret other than to practice, little one." Alex's eye twitched at the name 'little one.' But the spirit continued, "Now that we have formally met, I will come back once every other full moon for as long as it takes for you to learn. But you, little one, need to practice. If you take too long and act lazy, I will stop teaching you. I do not teach good-for-nothings.</i>" The idea of work sounded so revolting to Alex. He didn't need Davian's influence to make him feel that way either. Alex must have made a face because Chen was laughing at him again. "Come, Guowei," Chen beckoned, "We only have so much time before I must go, and perhaps, if you're lucky, you may actually land a hit on me." Despite how honest Chen was, Alex knew that was just teasing. There was no way Alex was going to land a blow on the spirit. It might take years. alex wasn't sure if he wanted that. But for now he would prefer not to get hit again. So instead of trying to be able to hit Chen, Alex would just try not to end up getting punched into a wall again. |