2026-11-01: Falling With Grace
- Log: Falling with Grace
- Cast: Kurou Ryouhara, Umie Akabane
- Where: Meiji Shrine
- OOC Date: November 01, 2026
- IC Date: February 02, 2013
- Summary: Sparring can be medium for conversations usually left untouched. How does someone learn to fall? How does someone learn what it means to relate to someone else? Two hearts marred by the insincere efforts of outside forces learn from each other how to fall and rise with grace and fire.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Perhaps, one day, Kurou and Umie will face each other genuinely on opposite sides of the battlefield. Kurou is not concerned about this. Such an event would only be to strengthen on another's skills for their respective convictions, and the current state of their convictions would determine the victor. There is nothing to be afraid of or sad in that.
In fact, it is such an advantageous event that it would be foolish not to invent an opportunity. Most normal people just call that training or sparring instead of all that, though.
The foresting surrounding Meiji shrine provide the perfect solace for such activity, both for the spirit, and in avoiding questions and collateral damage. Kurou breathes in winter's crisp air through his lungs, the chill of it shocking him to constant awareness. The trees are naked except for crystaline layers of frost. Dormant, not dead, but evoking lifelessness all the same.
Kurou likes winter best, he thinks, and not just because the cold quiets his bones.
He brought his ninkou, but he has also brought wooden weapons which, as he put it, 'allow more repetition of fundamentals before medical aid is necessary'. His backpack rests on a tree stump, with said medical aid -- a small, bundled first aid kit -- at the ready.
"... More important than knowing how to strike... is knowing how to hit the ground, and how to return to your feet."
He idly rolls his wrist to spin a bokken.
"If I were to knock you off balance, or a Persona's spell were to throw you through the air, how would you land, Akabane-san?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
It's a day Umie has accepted as a real possibility, given the trajectory of the Ryouhara clan, their connection to the Order, and their opposition and attacks on factions and people she cares about. However, the Ryouharas she's concerned with also number among those people, and they, in turn, care about her, enough that they've likewise made their feelings clear.
On a similar note, Umie would be a fool to not take up Kurou's offer for sparring; his dedication and care make him perfect, where doing similar with Shiryuu may end in disaster (or fortune, depending on how one looks at it).
He's chosen some perfect grounds for it, as well. Frost sparkles in the sparse light, and the air draws her senses to a sharp edge. The noise of the shrine lies in the back of her mind. However, the expansive grounds around the shrine proper ring as neutral in her mind. It's an excellent way to maintain the 'bite' of the situation, and heighten her senses beyond simply being focused with how cold the air is.
(Yeah, Umie is definitely freezing her bun(s) off here.)
Holding a rough approximation of her weapon of choice, Umie swings the flattened wood hoop experimentally in the air on a length of rope, getting a sense for how it feels.
On Kurou's question, Umie thinks on it, instead of barging ahead. While it may be a means to draw her attention away, that, too, is a learning oppurtunity. "I'd try to land on my feet, if possible. Hunched down, maybe, so I can spring back up. Not too different from when I'm doing parkour."
She frowns, replaying her 'greatest hits' in her mind. She's been terrible at that when in combat, despite certainly being agile enough. Too much placed into getting a hit in at all costs, rather than thinking about *after*. "Sensei," she says, with am upward crook playing on one edge of her lips, "how does that answer 'land' with you?" IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO TEACH A SHINOBI TO APPRECIATE WRECKLESS PUNNERY
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Kurou watches the way Umie handles her weapon's copy, intent and curious. He is studying something, but not in that same, predatory way he studies combat for advantages. It is more like the way he watches passing insects, or observes her cooking.
"Yours is a natural inclination, but more difficult and dangerous against aggressive forces." Parkour is, ideally, not trying to kill her. "Maximizing surface area and using momentum to roll to your feet... This will prove a critical skill for --"
...
... ... processing ... ...
Kurou goes still and suddenly quiet, the winter wind tugging gently at his long hair, and its howl the only sound in the stillness of the moment. He blinks back at Umie, eyes blank and round briefly before they sharpened with the intensity of a hunter.
"Akabane-san," he says, quietly -- conspiratorially -- "You asked how it... lands. This is... the figurative meaning of the same verb. Yes?"
No, it is never too late, and, in fact, Kurou has been instructed to be on the look out for the elusive and powerful pun.
But for all his training as a shinobi, his subtly in their identification is that of a draft horse at a show for teacup dogs.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
As Kurou watches, Umie doesn't seem to mind. If anything, she seems to use it as an excuse to show off a little as she gets used to the heft and pull of the wood ring and the rope, switching hands. ... So much of her tricks are reactionary, however; she'll have to wait for a battle proper before she can show them off.
"Landing on your feet, you mean?" She nods. "Yeah. Saying it is one thing, but..." As she trails off, in thought, Kurou continues on his own thought process. "I see... yes, that would be the better answer. Putting too much force on landing on your feet could put you," she says, with a general 'you', "at a disadvantage. Better to distribute the force of impact and let the momentum carry you to the proper stance to spring from..." She nods, still circling that hoop now vertically, though with a massive reduction in diameter.
In parkour, gravity can kill you, but it is a predator that does not pursue, unless you have something precious close to a cat's awaiting paw.... or.... a Kurou, catching that pun that falls right in front of him with a seriousness that causes Umie to briefly become concerned.
... well, at least, until she realizes what he was reacting to.
"Yeah," Umie says, a warm plush of pride in her voice, if not a mischievous spark. "You caught it in one."
The hoop, now, expands its trajectory suddenly, intent on knocking on that bokken, or, if Umie can time it just so, slip the hoop over the wooden blade itself like a ring toy.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Kurou's gaze follows after Umie's machinations. The way she handles her weapon, how confident, and in what style. Something lights in his eyes, soft with realization, but shiny with his interest in the world around him. Combat is comfortable, and knowing an enemy is instinct. But there is something in this that is play.
As Umie follows his logic about breakfalls, Kurou is already enthralled and caught in trying to understand puns. Words have many meanings. This was something that had always caused him a great deal of social grief and confusion. Sometimes, words do not even mean what people say they mean, and then they will mean new things in poetry, and they will mean different things by their nature.
But what if that, too, were... play? Wordplay.
The gears in his head turn dangerously as he folds his arms and breathes out a waft of winter air.
And in his distraction, Umie's hoop lands around Kurou's bokken. His gaze is drawn back down to it, watching it spin.
"... The start of your own death knell..."
Kurou fails to grasp that 'knell' and 'ring' and 'hoop' may be a few steps too many for that to land.
But he suddenly extends his arm in a slash, tugging Umie's rope taut.
"Rip my balance from me, and throw me to the ground."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
There is a joy that comes in running in in the ineffable hour alone, with nothing to present to, act for, or be. There is also a terrible loneliness, knowing how the stage could swallow you up so completely that you might as well have been swallowed up whole by the dark sky above.
Match that with the spark of interest coming from someone you consider an equal in all but age, a person who has every reason to see you as someone worthy of study, as well as to learn from, as you towards them.
.... for example, what it means to lead a 'quiet life', even if it was something you abhorred out of principal, because it meant being around people who didn't understand a massive part of you.
But maybe, that was because you never gave anyone a chance, Persona User or no.
But life *is* about taking risks, even if it means....
.... your own death knell. The pun doen't quite land, but Umie is amused by it nonethless, because it was Kurou that made it. "Oho," Umie encourages, with a blackbird grin. "That's it..."
Embrace the chaos of life, Kurou Ryouhara.
When Kurou tightens that rope, Umie knows *exactly* what to try.
She'll do exactly what Kurou instructs.
She'll do it and more, even, displaying a showmanship she usually doesn't in straight combat.
As Kurou's slashing motion brings his bokken downwards, Umie extends the hand clasped around the rope in a throwing motion, throwing a length of rope forward, like a wave, closing around the blade and, possibly, Kurou's wrist.
It's a lesson for herself, as well: she's tried the more direct way, and she estimates Kurou's arm strength to be at least equal hers, if not more.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Joy. That is something Kurou sees in Umie Akabane, despite everything that has been, and might be. It is even in the way she wields her weapon, to move it like a trick or a performance. Yes. That is joy, isn't it? Something that is not far from warmth...
At first it was something unfamiliar and strange, and then Kurou began to understand: it was unfamiliar because there is only one Umie Akabane to be Umie Akabane.
Even against his gravity, and the instruction bidding her to hurl him onto the ground, Umie moves with flourish and flare. It is not like his own precise and methodical manner, and though he was sent to protect her, and to ensure her readiness, there is a deluge of information for him in her approach.
How he is about to be thrown is for him, and how he lands from it is for her.
There is no intention to 'throw' the fight (ah, if only he caught that thought as a pun) when Umie's rope finds its way around Kurou's wrist with her motion. Strength against strength might threaten to knock them both over in a tug of war, but here, Kurou's motion twists, and he does fall.
He swings with it, more than he should, all of him falling to his side at once to spread his weight across the ground. Because of that tether, the getting up is not so simple. This is also a lesson.
Kurou has the opportunity to repay it thanks to landing without being stunned, rolling to wrap his wrist further, shorten the length of rope, and try and drag Umie down with him.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Now that they're moving, the chilly air is refreshing. Umie's coat is at least one layer between herself and the cold, but the leggings, while much thicker than the ones she wore in warmer temps, still don't do that much if she's not moving around.
However, it's a sacrifice one must pay to fight as Umie Akabane, where flexability and speed are two weapons to use in your arsenal.
That, and joy-- at least, for tonight. Kurou may be acting as 'sensei', but it's in Umie's nature to see an instruction as something to subvert or change, in order to turn the problem on its head.
It's not to 'one-up' Kurou, thankfully; Kurou may see how Umie pays attention to him in a way she never did in a 'true' battle. She's learning from him as much as he her, and paying attention to his movements.
What does it mean, to fight as a Kurou Ryouhara? Beyond the bones of the past, of restless dirt and forgotten impulses, like nerves freshly cut, half-remembered, what is it in Kurou that gives him that spark she sees now?
It's too easy to forget when old anger and guilt cloud your way.
She sees what Kurou's doing, and begins to guess at it--
-- which is likely why she lets it happen, in order to see the full picture of Kurou Ryouhara's strategy.
She guessed he'd use the rope as a way to exploit her weakness, but he fluidly turns *into* it, avoiding being stunned by Umie's turn around. In avoiding that trick, he's able to deal her own, and Umie falls into it with only a moment of compulsory resistance.
That leaves them on the ground, one tangled but unstunned, the other, fighting to keep hold of her weapon.
She lets out a cackle, so happy to be so surprised.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
With Persona, a battle is a much different beast. But that is why Kurou chooses now, without them. Because it is important to know without Persona, he thinks. Because there are times their Persona cannot be summoned, and these times are not free of violence, either.
Or maybe because he is afraid there will be a time a Persona should come, but doesn't. Yet in such fears, Umie Akabane shows none. Even if she has them under the surface, that itself is a power beyond measure.
But power, more literally, is what is throwing them both to the ground right now. Just as Umie is not sure the heart of his own, Kurou does not know where her convictions grow from.
Maybe the same as him, he considers, in those moments between actions, even as his heart thrums hard into his chest to give his body the strength it needs to pull and roll. The same, simple desire: for things to not be like what they themselves knew.
As Umie hits the ground, Kurou gets enough space to roll up, and then uses that to try and yank Umie up, even as she cackles joyously.
Umie Akabane is a very strong person, indeed...
"Did you see it?" he asks, his breath not betraying his own exertion. "The way I hit the ground."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
There's been far too many times Umie has found herself relying on Badb's magic than her own physical abilities and weaponry. Some of that is flair: it's harder to make a definitive stand when you're jumping on the back of your opponent and tying them up.
... It's also harder when they have a Persona as well to do the same thing back.
But unlike Kurou, Umie not having her Persona at her beck and call is like not being able to hear her own heartbeat. She's never had a time where she wandered the Dark Hour like the living dead, not knowing what a Persona was. The closest she's ever been was when her own Persona was hit, and even then, she was in such pain that it seemed natural.
It'd be a terrible day to learn that it could be taken from you. But that could never happen, right?
You'll always know the boundary where your Persona goes silent, as Umie Akabane. Therefore, nothing can come up and take something else from you. You will always have that blackbird in your heart.
It is with that false confidence that she cackles, as the young man, only inches taller than she and younger, is able to yank her onto her feet.
"On your side," she says, without pause. "It allowed you to gather up my rope and force me to act."
Deftly, she slips out as she speaks; in the wan green light Kurou can see the braid on one side of her head, leading to the kanzashi ornament and the bun.
".... And you saw how I did that, right?" She mimes the looping motion. "You reacted well; most people are too stunned to react."
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
A Persona is 'you'. It's an absurd thought, isn't it? That 'you' could be lost, that 'you' could be taken. Yet Kurou remains unconvinced. That is the shape his fear takes.
So he trains still without it. And he trains Umie, too.
But Umie Akabane laughs, and Kurou tries to find a way to wrap his heart around such a sound, not for the first time, as if the essence of it could be captured and bottled and studied and learned.
Thus, the blank way he looks at her is the blankness of curiosity. A head, emptied so it can be filled, though it may be having trouble catching even droplets.
"Not just my side," he says, past his own foggy struggles to understand. "You may not get to choose -- side, or back, or front. But as much of whichever side as you can. Spread out. Diffuse. Accept you are falling, and fall decisively."
He looks down to his wrist. How she did that, looping...
Kurou nods slowly. His own weapon is one with a chain as well, but his focus is usually upon the clawed end, with any use of the chain more brutal and concussive.
"... At glance, your motions seem needlessly excessive. But that, too, is momentum. And it is difficult to follow." His head cants to one side as a thought slowly snowballs. "I... like battle, Akabane-san. But you have a different levity... one that shows you new options..."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
It's an absurd thought, but a true one.
It's one Umie thinks about, when seeing the Phantom Thieves, but never about herself.
A cackle is like a crow's raucous call: loud, unsubtle, declarative. Joyful, in this case, delighted and mercilessly in tune with the moment, as she tries to get on Kurou's level.
Part of her is already there.
"I see... So much like in parkour, but defensively..." It makes sense; she's seen Kurow move like that. "Relaxing my body... that may take some effort." For someone who felt that he was dead, Umie thinks, it must feel natural to let go of that urge to be in control.
Accept the ground and roll, rather than remain rigid.
As Kurou looks at his own wrist, Umie nods. He gets it. "A chain may not carry the motion as smoothly, but it still may work if it can carry the motion. I've used it to tie my weapon tight enough to support my weight, a few times."
'At glance, your motions seem needlessly excessive.' If Shiryuu had said it, it would have started the beginning of a pointless squabble between the two of them, if he said it carelessly. If someone like Joker said it, she'd wince but take it as a truth and proof that he (they'd??) openly say what they feel.
Kurou says it, but the following words open a new way of looking at it.
To have it be admirable... but isn't that also why Shiryuu liked? That she always got back up, had something to say, leapt, right back in?
What a frustrating thing for the shihaisha to see.
".... It's a forward motion," she says, with a small grin. "Survival is not exactly graceful. To let yourself have a moment of pride can be the moment before it gets thrown at you."
She can't think of Kurou as someone who expresses *pride*, however.
Getting into a ready stance, she says, "alright... let's practice falling with grace, shall we~? Give me your best shot, sensei."
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
To someone like Kurou, laughter should be merciless. Joy should be without remorse. He strives for a conviction that does not hesitate, and when he sees it in others, he cannot help but want to reach for it.
"Relaxing... is difficult," he concedes, considering the thought further. "... You can... try to think of tea, or of ice froggy..."
Is that what he does...?! There is surely more to it, but that does not mean it isn't a part of where his thoughts might go. (To name the strike of a sword after a harvest of tea, knowing it can be savored after survival... Or is that giving him too much credit?)
He would never think to insult her, even in correction. But Kurou learned he had to make every movement count. Umie's all count too, though. The math is different. There's so many formulas he does not know...
"Survival is not graceful," Kurou repeats, in his way, when he's trying a new thought on. "Maybe that is why... if something is too graceful, it feels off..."
Kurou, for real, leave Pixie alone.
But Umie is ready to practice meeting the earth. With her request, Kurou gives no more warning that he is about to begin. Without use of his weapon, he drops to the ground with the simple motion of a low kick to sweep hers out from under her.
Survival is not graceful, and sometimes an attack isn't, either.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
A conviction that does not hesitate.... if Umie realized that Kurou saw that in her, she'd be of two minds about it, just like if she ever found out that Shiryuu thought of her as 'cool'. (That is, if she doesn't get sidetracked into teasing him over it.)
To accept that you're falling... there have been moments where she could be in the right mindspace for it.
".... I'll try."
She allows a secret smile in the shadow of those words, realizing how that frog-shaped ice pack must mean to him to be mentioned in the next breath after tea.
Maybe, it's just because he's trying to appeal to her, but that would speak to him being thoughtful.
Someone like that... would capture someone like a member of Strega, wouldn't it? Regardless of what kind of relationship it is, or becomes.
'... if something is too graceful, it feels off...' "W-well..." Umie itches the side of her cheek. ".... I've just..."
There *was* a time when she embraced that freedom, stylishly flowing through the night. Or, at least, *thinking* she was. It wasn't like there was anyone who'd see it.
She looks up at the night.
"...." It's hard to put it into words that Kurou would understand. 'Guilt' is an emotion he'd understand, and likely feels, but guilt over killing someone.... No, he may understand that as well. But the rest, beyond that...? ..... What is it, beyond that?
Kurou's ability to drop into combat mode is something to behold, meanwhile.
Maybe, if Umie wasn't half stuck in her thoughts, she would have been more prepared.
The leg sweep lands neatly, throwing Umie in the air for barely a second's worth of time, before gravity kindly calls her crashing down.
In her mind during this moment in time:
.... Ice fr o g g y??? ?? ?
... T........ ea
FLUMP
".... Gh...." She gets back up, naturally, but with the 'grace' of someone frustrated she didn't perform as perfectly as she would like. ".... Again."
It happens again like that, if Kurou obliges, with the aftermath much the same.
"Again," she'd say, determined, if not blind to her lack of progress.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
She'll try. Kurou nods, once and firm. That is all that can be asked of any of them. They try. Training exists to make sure you get as many tries as possible. There, the failure is not permanent.
But falling does not have to be the end, either.
It may also be giving Kurou too much credit to suspect he would know how to navigate a conversation in a way that appeals to anyone, unless he were being told about it directly. A froggy ice pack that chases pain away. A froggy green umbrella that shields him from rain. Little things. Precious things.
"You've just...?" Kurou echoes, head tilting again like a dog trying to hear a strange sound. As Umie looks to the sky, Kurou follows her gaze, then lowers his back to her. "... I apologize if I said something strange, Akabane-san."
He does not apologize for trying to immediately trip her.
FLUMP.
Kurou observes how she hits the ground, and how she rises from it. Again. He acquiesces. Again, and again, and sometimes again before she even asks. But one of the many agains, Kurou pauses, and it is not merely to break the repetition so he can catch her off guard -- he has stopped.
"It does not seem to be fear..." he notes idly, looking from her to the ground, and playing it in his minds eye. Some people tense up, afraid it will hurt. Umie's made herself familiar with the pain. Relaxing is difficult. Trying to envision it.
Kurou half folds his arms, with his hand tracing over a crack in his bottom lip. Something that Umie Akabane can visualize well...
"... Maybe... how you would tackle the shirogarasu... to annoy him the most..."
By letting gravity do the work for her, with the 'laziness' of limpness, yet still more than ready to act.
... Does this count as betrayal?
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Kurou feeling he needs to apologize for anything is tantamount to sin, in Umie's mind.
"No, no." Umie shakes her head, tucking a strand of hair behind one ear. "Mmn. It's hard to explain, is all. When I put my finger down on it, I'd say... I feel like..."
She taps her chin. "When I'm able to convince myself that I'm doing the right thing, it comes more naturally-- that is, being 'graceful'. Like, the times when I fool myself into thinking, for a moment, that I have the right to show off." But where did 'grace' become 'showing off'?
"Like with the demons in that Noh play. The best strategy would have been to use my abilities to sneak up. However..." She holds up a gloved finger. "The ogres there... I know from experience that they'd respond better if I made a performance of it."
The finger lags there in the cool air, as her gaze drifts down. "Yet I would also know, that whatever option I chose... something would go wrong. Because that is what happens, when you're me. And the more I feel like I deserve to be a part of the stage, the more likely something bad will happen. But...." She frowns. "Am I the one setting that expectation? Like one of those people who believe that, because they got a bad Wang Long fortune, that everyone is going to be bad? Or... do I just feel like... I don't deserve it."
Certainly, Kurou would deserve seeing his efforts bear fruit. "So the only way forward... is to break this idea in two!"
That is also Umie Akabane, as much as Kurou Ryouhara's self invites such introspection.... to a point.
In the end, there is only the two of them, the cold air, and the ground, which Umie finds herself landing on time after time.
It is *definitely* not fear, no.
But Kurou presents a reframing that Umie cannot resist. "....!"
Of course she'd flop down, tease him into thinking he got the best of her, only to spring back up, as smooth as a the arc of a weeping willow branch shedding snow. That would be the best way to annoy him, and ensure she won!
.... Complete with the wooden blade held in front of her, but not moving forward.
"Something like that," she says, an exhale of breath drawing a cloud against the air.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Kurou rights himself to listen. Umie wasn't wrong about Kurou's lack of doing things pridefully, and his blank eyes do not reveal whether or not he follows the thread of showing off and its relation to 'graceful'. Only the mentions of the Noh play makes his eyes move, glancing down.
A performance... Dance is a kind of performance, too, technically, though he's never thought of it like that. Umie thinks... about a lot of things. About deserving. About bad things.
"... 'Deserving' and 'undeserving'... The world doesn't work like that." He's not quite looking at her when he says it, but his gaze wanders his way back to her as these thoughts finally solidify. "That is why you wear a mask and go to change it... isn't it? So... Akabane-san... should definitely break it in two."
Yes. This is the only true wisdom.
"And... Akabane-san works best chasing after good things... instead of running from bad things. That is what I think."
Most people might, if Kurou really thought of it. But Kurou's time with Umie has shown him how focusing on good in a dark situation transforms it.
Kurou also thinks much stranger thoughts unique to Umie Akabane, as she is one powerful enough to rival the shirogarasu. And she demonstrates. A flop. A fall. Like... play. The Akabane way.
He claps his gloved hands quietly together, wide eyed with distant ice sparkling in them. "Oh." From anyone else, it might be teasing. From Kurou, it is genuinely being impressed how quickly she turned that around.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
There could be talk of what Umie sees as her 'sins', but what use is that against someone whose 'job' it is to do the 'sins' of someone else? Wouldn't that imply that Kurou is somehow 'sinful' himself?
Because, absolutely not, no way, Kurou is a sweet young man who also is very good at killing things very violently.
The world doesn't work like that, besides. ".... I know. At least, that's what I try to tell myself." She tilts her chin towards the young man, as he ponders over this, warm brown focusing on the dyed strand in his hair.
Does Kurou think low of those grey strands of hair, like Shirou does?
"I suppose that's a part of it," Umie says, nodding. Notably, she's not wearing one now, but she's beginning to wish she had. "The fear of being percieved by something out there, and have something taken from me..." She nods in the direction of the shrine. "But maybe guilt plays in it too."
'So... Akabane-san... should definitely break it in two.' It feels absurd, when Umie removes the context of Kurou being the one to say it. It's an NWO agent that is telling her this, after all...
But it is also Kurou Ryouhara that says this, and means it.
"Aughhgh." She winces, a knuckle pressed to her mouth. "You are too adorable sometimes, Ryouhara-kun!"
Again, no wonder he managed to charm(?) that Niko girl.
He even claps for her performance....
And she bows graciously, for it, because it's from Kurou.
"I should ask, since we're out and about..." She straightens. "Niko Kirisaki-san.... right? We've talked about her before, but I want to know... how do you feel about her?"
It's asked with no caution; such hesitation has been dealt with a while ago. Now, it's Umie herself, wanting to know how Kurou sees Niko, and what he feels capable of.
"Have you two had to fight, yet?" She stretches, trying to keep the chill from entering her legs. "You don't have to answer, of course, but... it's like with me and Shiryuu. There's going to be a point where we'll have to fight."
Of course, Umie doesn't know that Kurou and Niko already have.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Though it is a horrific occurrence, one does not typically accuse the restless dead of sin, but the result of it. How accurate this is, however, is something beyond Kurou's current understanding of philosophy.
He does not quite notice her looking at his hair streak, dyed in a common blue today. Living with Umie, it wouldn't necessarily have been impossible to hide the true grey-white nature of his roots with meticulous dying, but like a stray cat sleeps next to someone who is safe, Kurou did not stress to do so.
His feelings on the matter, on the other hand, have been silent.
"It is the world that should feel guilty for threatening to take anything from Akabane-san," Kurou says like it's a simple, obvious truth. He cannot fathom what Umie should feel guilty for... what she should have to run or hide from, for all that she does.
To feel guilty in its place... it is a thing that must really be broken in two.
Kurou blinks back for Umie's wince. "I'm... sorry...?" It comes out a question, for he's not terribly certain he's actually being scolded.
Mentioning Niko has Kurou straightening back to attention. "Niko-chan?" He blinks once, then pulls out his phone, letting the skeleton keychain that dangles from it rest against his wrist. He is quiet a long time, because it is difficult to put a person into words.
"Niko-chan is... a very kind person," he decides, first. "She smiles and she laughs easily, but... I think she is trying to scream. I want her to be allowed to scream, so her smiles do not exist to cover anything up. ... That is how I feel."
Though he is still, the bite of the cold does not spurn him into action.
"Oh." Though Umie says he does not have to answer, Kurou's comes achingly simple and honest. "Yes." ... "I think it upset her."
You think.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Indeed, Umie never commented on it, nor thought it anything beyond something that tied Kurou to Shiryuu-- proof of their relation.
It seemed as natural as the way the two's mein were similarly attuned, like two instruments to the same chord.
It is the world that should feel guilty.
Umie's expression briefly flashes her disbelief. She wants to throw out a quippy answer and wave it away, as if she was unaffected by such things, but Kurou's honesty is as merciless as it is clean, cutting through the viscera of distraction before she could think of putting it down.
Kurou Ryouhara is the strong one here....
.... as befitting a sensei, of course.
Of course, that honesty can cut him as well, as he takes Umie's attack of cute aggression. She chuckles, waving a hand. "Don't worry about it. You're really something, Ryouhara-kun. You know that?"
After all, it takes someone special to make someone like Niko notice. The look in Umie's eyes grows gentle as Kurou explains. And... is there not some happiness, too, in seeing Kurou branch out? How is someone in Strega that different from her falling in love with someone from the NWO? Strega, at the very least, is simply a small unit of mercenaries now that they no longer have Tatsuya Sudou to help them.
Yes, this... this is the thing Kurou feels at home with, as someone who was deprived of that right. "My, my..." she teases, despite knowing that it doesn't work the same way on Kurou (or maybe *because* of that), "you're not too different from Shiryuu, in the end, are you? Befriending someone that challenges your world view..." She smirks, merry mischief shining in the warm red-brown of her eyes. "Be careful you're not swept up like him~"
'Oh.' 'Yes.' '.... I think it upset her.'
"........ Ah." She rubs the back of her head, balancing on one foot. "... Was this before or after the fight with the Noh demons? She seemed pretty happy to fight with you then."
......... she should shift things back to sparring, but it feels so tempting just to ask more about this relationship, be it friendship or something romantic.
(.......... it's not like her relationship to Shiryuu followed a traditional pattern....)
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
His is such a simple worldview, but that is its own kind of purity.
Does he know that he is something?
"... Yes," he says, with unusual uncertainty. "... I think." Kurou squeezes his palm between his thumb and index finger. He does have substance, like a something does.
She also said not to worry about it, so Kurou obediently puts the thought away, and promptly ends up forgetting about it. Especially with the next topic asking so much inner reflection from him.
The idea that it might not be 'Umie's business' does not strike him remotely. It isn't as if these are secrets, and Umie has always asked him important questions that allow his thoughts room to breathe and take shape. ... And so, predictably, the idea of teasing him does not land either. Instead, Kurou's eyes light with realization.
"Yes, it is like that. She shows me new things, and is patient with how much I do not know."
Some might thing that Kurou is being generous to call Niko patient. Others would understand that Niko is practically a saint given what she puts up with. Umie gets a taste of it when Kurou nods slowly. "Mm... her chain is a weapon adept at sweeping. I will be careful."
That, and the fighting that Kurou does not seem remotely bothered by himself.
"Before." Kurou wilts just slightly. "... That's why she was angry." Cheerful and teasing, but to Kurou, unmistakably upset. "But... after we fought together, I think she understood, and said it was okay when I apologized later."
Unfortunately, this is reinforcing his behavior.
"The way someone fights tells you who they are. Like Akabane-san's playful movements, and Niko-chan's unbridled strength."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Yes. Kurou is something.
He thinks so, anyway.
In fact, he's making sure of it, by squeezing his palm.
_oh lord umie can't handle this level of Kurou_ *AHEM* FOCUS, UMIE.
In the act of teasing does Umie discover one of Kurou's 'truths', even if it was accidental. "... Huh..."
It answers one of the many worries Umie had with Niko, in fact-- that she would somehow put Kurou in danger. That in itself is a strange idea once Umie looks at it more closely, seeing as Kurou is *literally a trained shinobi*.
...... but maybe, it's not that simple, is it? As Kurou wished for a world that felt guilty for threatening to take anything from Umie... Umie would wish for a world where Kurou was given a choice of learning what was taken from him, and what sort of person he wanted to become.
"That's an experience too, though, right? What it means, to have to choose, and make someone else understand that decision." She sits down on the ground, crossing her legs. "It's something she'll need to navigate her way around to. Not everything will be easy; you're someone who does not compromise on what he believes in."
She glances up towards the dark green sky. "That sort of stability is something that likely attracts her, as well, as someone adrift in the supernatural world. She probably felt better knowing that you accepted her afterwards--"
Wait. WAIT. Did Kurou mean 'Niko was mad at him' during the fight? Umie was taking Kurou at his word!
".... If you meant during the fight," she says, stifling a chuckle, "I *think* that's her teasing you, Ryouhara-kun. Sort of like how I tease Shiryuu, though.... likely different, since I doubt she and Shiryuu would do well in the same room."
Umie's not sure how *she* feels, even, knowing how closely her own personality and habits are tracking with Niko's. But, if Kurou sees a gentleness with her...
Someone like Kurou, who is trained to be attentive and listen, would see the things others wouldn't.
"She *is* strong, isn't she?" Umie comments, idly, as she plants the palms of her hands on the cold ground. Brrr.
......
".... Is she fast, though?"
Like a snake, Umie strikes, using her arms to push herself upward in a smooth motion, attempting to slip her own foot around in a sweeping motion, straight for Kurou's ankles.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
It is important, occasionally, to check that one is still something. Kurou had failed to do that for a long time. Though, these days, a hot bath or shower is a better check of being something than squeezing a palm. But it'll do, in a pinch. (Is that a pun...? Hmm. Hmmmmm.)
Danger to the flesh is familiar. Danger to the heart... Kurou would claim he has even greater experience with that, but that glosses over a great number of social unknowns. There are many in this world who consider having friends to be a vulnerability. Kurou doesn't know anything about that, because he's only just started making friends.
At least, as far as he remembers.
"Mm..." Kurou muses audibly, and his brow knits again as he considers his time with Niko. "She worries I do not 'want' things... Maybe that... I go along with her because I go along with anything." He shakes his head. "But going along with Niko-chan is... fun."
Kurou nods with this decisive truth, then nods to Umie. "... She would not have come to me to help if Strega were able to help her."
What Niko may not know is that this has immediately tanked Kurou's opinion on Strega's potential convictions and strength. His confidence in himself when it comes to his tasks is fierce: he will prove Niko correct in coming to him, and this can only stand to highlight their failure to her.
"Ah. Yes. The shihaisha told me it was all right if I made friends that might fight with him one day. Because he is strong, and will not be threatened."
Kurou isn't worried.
But his intensity pops into a blink. "Teasing? Like you and the shihaisha?" Kurou squints. And squints. And squiiiiinnnttts...
... as his ankles are knocked right from under him.
Kurou falls on his back, but as he smacks the ground sprawled, rolls back into it, back on his feet in a crouch and springs upward to try and rest his wooden practice sword against Umie's throat.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Hmmmmmmm. <3 You're learning, Kurou.
It *is* something that Umie considered, however-- what sort of person was Kurou, before he gained a Persona? If a younger Umie had met him (or rather, allowed herself to meet him), what would she have encountered? Seeing someone without a Persona during the Dark Hour would have scared her, most likely. She would have been afraid that she would let someone else die on her watch. 'Bad luck' isn't so innocent when it means someone else might die, does it?
"Hm. I bet she doesn't realize that going along with her *is* what you want." She finds her thoughts drifting towards her and Shiryuu as an example, but that... feels like sending the wrong message. While Niko may see something in this relationship, and Umie herself may be eager to turn it *into* a 'ship', it may be better to let Kurou be the one who defines what he feels... before anyone else outside of this sinks this 'ship'. (har har)
But it *is* a useful example... "There's been times," Umie begins, looking above with a fond smile, "that Shiryuu gets confused why there's days when I just want to be with him. For me, it's the smaller things that I never allowed myself to experience, before." She shrugs. "It's hard to explain to someone who's holding your hand why your palms are rougher than his, despite always sitting on the bench in gym class. Or why there's a fresh bruise, when you studied with him for exams just last night."
But what Shiryuu definitely is, is consistent. "He probably sees it as a test of how worthy they are," Umie teases, with a wry smile. "'Can a member of Strega take me on in one on one combat? Ah, but they're a thousand years too early to match my prowess....'"
(yes, that was Umie trying to imitate Shiryuu. Please clap.)
Also, dodge.
Umie takes a moment to study Kurou's movement; yes, with the way he's favoring that side, he must be...!
Umie's wooden blade whips around in an automatic motion, attempting to use that second edge to lift and twist around-- .... Ah, right. This is just a normal ass (wooden) blade, rather than the one with the hook on it, so it simply ends with her blunting the edge of her weapon against Kurou's, pointed next to her throat. ".... Bah, almost had it..."
She dodges backwards, a lopsided, sharp little grin on her lips. "Shall we continue, sensei?"
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
A boy with lightless eyes, silent as death. The irony is that Strega knows him as the zombie errand boy... But not Niko herself, who joined after Kurou had awakened and become someone unrecognizable. He wonders, too, sometimes, what those with Persona with high resonance would have seen. A soul?
He doesn't think so.
"Oh," Kurou says with realization. "But... I do not understand what other reason there could be..." It's so difficult to know what is and is not obvious to other people. Kurou performs an action, so he wanted to versus all other alternatives and their consequences as a given. Right?
Umie, mercifully, explains. And with Shiryuu no less, a man Kurou knows to be of iron clad conviction. Yet... it is easier to understand why Shiryuu might doubt, too. This only adds to the intensity of Kurou's thoughtful squinting.
Though Kurou probably would clap if he was not presently failing to dodge.
Accept the fall. Move with it. Rise and strike again.
Umie moves out of range, and he settles back into his own stance.
"I understand," he says suddenly, his thoughts cleared by the skirmish. "Others have provided evidence against us through a history of insincerity." Kurou's gaze fixates on Umie, sharp and curious. Umie who thinks she does not deserve the more that she wants...
...
Who provided that false evidence...?
Kurou's eyes clear as he nods to her.
"Mm."
For as long as their endurance holds out... or until someone's nose turns so red it hurts.