天道 あかね (asanequal) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-08-01 09:17:00 |
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Even though there were currently no classes and no one around, Akane was at the Anything Goes Dojo, training. With everything that kept happening in the dreams, she was getting frustrated with herself and her apparent lack of skill. (Logic said that it made sense because different lifestyles, but Akane was insecure in both the dreams and here, and those insecurities kept getting poked at. Repeatedly.) It didn’t matter that she had more focus and training here. It didn’t matter that the constant threats and rivals weren’t even here. All Akane knew was that she needed to be better.
Especially after the depression realisation that Ryoga was just like all the other guys in her dreams. A creep. She could understand up to a point why he said nothing, but that didn’t excuse his actions. It didn’t make it okay. It was a betrayal that stung deeper than it should and the one way Akane knew how to deal with her pain and frustration was through training. Which was exactly what she’d been doing for the better part of an hour.
Wiping the sweat from her brow, the teen looked to the clock. Well, she should probably get something from next door. A rest before classes started up. So locking up, Akane went to the coffee shop and got herself something to eat and drink before finding a table to sit at, drumming her fingers on the table absently.
Asami hadn't slept the night before. Her dreams had taken a dark turn, and she wasn't ready to face what might come next. She was pretty sure her heart would break. Even though everyone told her not to take her dreams to heart, she couldn't help it. Those people were her family.
So she'd hit up a few coffee shops. This was her third, and the coffee this morning was actually the best of the three. She finally felt awake enough to take on the day. Even if careful use of make-up and her usual perfect hair didn't quite hide the exhaustion in her eyes.
She looked up when someone entered, and smiled at them. She had a small pile of napkins spread out on the table in front of her, with diagrams spread out across all of them. A girl had to have a hobby, right?
The amount of times Akane told herself not to take the dreams so seriously was bordering on excessive. Because the dreams meant confronting emotions and who wanted to do that? She might be better at it than Ranma, but she wasn’t actually good at it. Add in betrayal and constant insecurity? Well. It was frustrating. And led to more running, more training, more.. anything that wasn’t thinking about the dreams. Not wondering who had known and kept it from her, wondering how many of them laughed about it behind her back.
Still, she did smile in return to the woman who had smiled at her and once she had gotten her order, ended up at the table next to her. Maybe it was just because she seemed nice, who knew. Either way Akane tilted her head to the side as she noticed all the sketches.
“What are those for?” And then immediately flushed some because wow, that was rude. Maybe American behaviours were rubbing off on her more than she realised.
Asami didn't mind. Talking took her mind off of things. "Schematics. I've been working on a few things in my spare time." She turned one of the napkins towards the woman. "This is for a new type of personal flying machine. Two person, can hover." The schematic looked a little bit like a hummingbird.
Akane still felt awkward. They hadn’t even been in America for a year and she did want to hold onto her heritage. It was a part of her. And while she could make comparisons to things back in Japan, they were never the same. It was just about placing things really. Still, at least it seemed that the woman wasn’t bothered and so Akane nodded some.
“Oh.. Interesting.” And it was, even if Akane herself wasn’t exactly sure what it was. It almost looked like something one might see in manga or on television. The premise at any rate.
Though she herself was half-Japanese, Asami hadn’t been to Japan in years. “Thanks. It’s something I … dreamed up. I don’t know if it will go anywhere. Not like some of my other designs.” She was half-finished with building her airship, and looked forward to unveiling it publically.
Perhaps it was the network that caused Akane to perk up slightly at the mention of dreaming something up. Or maybe not perk up, but definitely a sign of recognition, that it could mean a lot more than most people would. It was a turn of phrase, yes, but talk of dreams seemed to take on a whole new meaning once someone started them.
“Sometimes things work out here, sometimes not.” Or so thought the 17 year old. Because she was still trying to make sense of some of the martial arts styles from her dreams. (Tea ceremony would always just cause her to wonder what was going on in the dreams. Because martial arts tea ceremony.)
“I’m noticing that,” Asami said. She was a little cautious and a little sad. Perhaps this girl was a dreamer. She was only a few years younger than her - Asami couldn’t imagine dreaming some of this stuff when she was actually eighteen like she’d been in the dreams at the beginning. “Still, it’s a little fun to play with it.”
In public, it probably was safer to keep words vague. Not that Akane had ever actually met someone from the network at random in public. Though no, she had met Mr. Fitz, but there had been no mention of dreams, just college advice. So that didn’t count.
“I can understand that.” As ridiculous as some things were, Akane was actually interested in figuring out things like Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics or Martial Arts Figure Skating. “It’s always fun to try new things, even if they might be impossible. It’s a challenge.”
And while Akane wasn’t as bored as Ranma, always looking for a challenge, she did enjoy them herself as well.
Asami flashed a knowing smile. "I'm always up for a challenge. Converting technology from one world to another, adapting martial arts styles, that sort of thing."
And her glove, which was basically a form of taser. She'd tweaked it using some modern technology, and then adapted it to create something she could throw to shock someone. After one of her experiences earlier this year, she'd wanted more range.
“Challenges keep life interesting. There are some martial arts styles I’m interested in exploring more that I haven’t had much chance to yet.” Not that she really spoke about the dreams. Not often. Unless they were really startling. Or she was commenting on stupid trends, like how she kept getting kidnapped to get to Ranma. That was annoying.
“What kind of fighting style do you prefer?” While Asami wasn’t a fighter (not a general like Sokka, or skilled like Suki or Ty Lee), she’d had a lot of training in both worlds and could hold her own most of the time.
“Anything Goes.” Which… wouldn’t make sense to most people as it was her family’s school of martial arts. Well, it was shared between Tendo and Saotome, but as far as she was aware, they were the only ones who really knew it or taught it. “I also am comfortable in kendo, though really whatever I can learn. My family owns the dojo next door where we teach.”
“Anything Goes?” It sounded a bit like something some people she knew would have come up with. Asami thought that maybe it would be useful against some of the enemies they’d faced. “That’s pretty cool, though!”
“Mhmm. It’s been taught through my family as well as my fiance’s.” Which.. okay, that was a first. Akane tended to not refer to Ranma as her fiance given they fought it all the time and she just wanted her friend back. But it made more sense in the conversation and she wasn’t on the network where she could delete it. “It is. I enjoy it. I teach the beginning classes as well as female only techniques.”
“I dream of a… friend who’s a pretty good martial artist.” Whatever she and Korra were. More than friends, moving around each other in a wordless dance that really felt as if they survived the war they’d come out as...well the thing that Asami had pined for for years. “And there are actually quite a few on the network. You enjoy teaching?”
The pause between words meant either more than friend, or enemy and Asami was just trying to be diplomatic. Probably the former, so Akane didn’t push it. She often had that issue when it came to talking about Ranma thanks to the convoluted mess of both their fathers, as well as the dreams. “I’ve noticed. It’s nice to see.”
“I figure most of them could kick my ass,” Asami admitted. “My courses were mostly in self-defense, anything past that is self-taught. I can handle myself against most people but there are….the last time I went up against…” She trailed off, darting her eyes and looking down at her napkins.
“You were overpowered.” It was something Akane well understood. Well. In a way. There was the vampire attack at the dojo back in May. That had been terrifying. And then there was the aggravating trend within her dreams and everyone being faster, stronger, better than her and all for perfectly reasonable reasons, but it still stung and struck at Akane’s pride. Which was why she’d been training alone. Because she didn’t want to feel that weak even when she knew logically she wasn’t.
“...yeah.” How could she explain a big green guy that threw energy? He hadn’t been a bender, but something else entirely, and she’d nearly gotten pretty badly hurt in the fight. It had been humbling, a reminder of why she generally stayed out of some of the battles, at least when she didn’t have Korra or Mako to watch her back.
Akane gave a knowing nod. She could tell how humbling it could be. Even if it wasn’t here, if it was just the dreams. The same feeling existed. The fact that more should have been done. It was aggravating. Maybe it was ridiculous. Maybe she shouldn’t care so much about things that happened in them, shouldn’t let them upset her as much… but that was easier said than done.
The scary part was that had been in Orange County. Asami calmly gathered up her napkins for safe stowing, and then rested her hands on the table. “It’s the worse feeling, knowing you’re capable but you’re not capable enough. But there are other ways. Those hummingbird fliers. Ways to…” Asami chuckled at the irony. “Equalize the playing field.”
“It’s always the capable enough.” Did she worry about the other fiances showing up? Or the Nerima wrecking crew in general? Probably more than she let on. Because they were a head in the dreams, add in Orange County and who knew what would happen. Still, at least Asami had a way of equalizing matters. Akane? Not so much. She could keep training, but it wouldn’t do much good if they did show up. Or if other things happened that were too much for Akane to handle. Demons and vampires and who knew what else.
“I have this glove, packs a huge wallop, like a taser. It helps a lot of the time but I probably rely on it too much.” Well, she had to build a new one after she’d blown hers up (and that still hadn’t been enough). “When I can’t keep up with my body, I have my mind.”
Akane nodded slowly. She could follow along, and despite how rash she could be thanks to her insecurities and always trying to keep up with the others, she did manage to learn things quickly, as well as see what was going on. She just usually was on the sidelines where it didn’t matter.
“That’s always important.”
“I’m sure everything will be okay,” Asami said. She gathered up her bag, and stood. “I should probably get back to work. I was trying to avoid sleeping and I think I have enough caffiene in me to make it through the day.”
“Yeah.” Smiling some, Akane nodded, “I should eat before my students show up. It was nice talking to you.”
“Nice talking to you too!” Asami was halfway back before she realized she’d never gotten the woman’s name.