Minako Arisato | 有里 皆子 (
xxii_thefool) wrote in
capeandcowllogs2013-06-12 02:02 pm
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every time goodbye to yesterday
WHO: Minako Arisato (
xxii_thefool) and YOU!
WHERE: A park, a library, a cafe, and other spots around the city.
WHEN: Wednesday, June 12.
WARNINGS: None.
SUMMARY: Minako has a day off, and she spends it puttering around the City doing various things.
FORMAT: Prose to start; I'll match your preference!
A: Morning
It's a nice morning, still early enough that summer's heat hasn't yet had a chance to set in and the air is pleasantly fresh. Elsewhere in the City, people are going about their routines and morning traffic is moving briskly along, but very little of it goes through this small park located not too inconveniently far from the area of the MAC. It's a quiet that Minako is taking advantage of to get in a little training.
There are probably better places she could do this, she suspects - certainly there are dojos and gyms in the City, but she doesn't really know if any of those are places that would let her bring in a real weapon and train on her own like this, and it's simpler just to do things her own way. Besides, it's nice to do this outdoors, at least on a nice day like today.
So anyone who should happen into the park will find her there, wielding her peacock-plumed spear in a simple, repetitive exercise better suited to the naginatas that she started out with: strike, extending to bring the blade end slashing down. Withdraw, lifting it back up as she steps back to her starting point. Strike. Withdraw. Strike. Withdraw. There's no finesse of any actual training in it; a practiced eye will be able to see in her stance the rough make-do of the self-taught. But there's no clumsiness or hesitation, either. She handles the overly colorful polearm with the certainty of experience as she repeats that one simple maneuver over and over again, drilling the movements into muscle memory.
As usual, her headphones hang around her neck - not the red ones that Fuuka made for her, but the suspiciously more durable pink headband-style ones from Christmas, music turned up enough that she can hear it without actually putting the earphones on her ears:
help me, help me help me--
let it go let it out let it go let it out
take a deep breath deep breath deep breath deep breath
One. Two. One. Two. With each downward slash her breath chuffs out of her; with each step back she draws a new breath in. Strike. Withdraw. One. Two.
---
B: Midday
By the time the June heat is in full swing, Minako has left the park behind for the cooler air-conditioned atmosphere of a public library. She's actually been meaning to do some research for quite a while - since February, to be exact - but between working and the general chaos of City life it's only now that she's finally getting around to it, and she feels a certain need to make up for the delay with enthusiasm.
The result is that she's accumulated a pile of books, mostly on mythology and folklore - a couple of books on Greek myths here, a couple more on Arthurian legend there, several books on Tarot and a printout regarding messiah figures in the lore and religions of various different parts of the world.
It's a good selection to start with, she thinks, but before she starts to settle down to do some reading one more thing that she wanted to look into occurs to her, and rather than sitting down just yet she deposits her stack of materials next to one of the library's computers and bends over it to poke at the electronic catalog index.
What was it that Professor Solus had mentioned again, back in February? Some kind of psychology... Frowning in concentration, Minako tries to bring the confused memories of the confrontation with her Shadow into clarity.
"Yungian psychology... Youngian...?"
This would be easier if she had any earthly idea how it's supposed to be spelled.
---
C: Afternoon
Missing lunch thanks to getting wrapped up in things at the library was, let's face it, not the best idea Minako has ever had. Much later in the afternoon, after a stop in at a nearby bookstore, she's settled in at a seat at a small cafe, very much in need of something sweet for a pick-me-up, because eating healthy is for people who plan to live past twenty.
The product of that brief stop lies just off to the side on the table: a copy of C.M. Guarde's Arrested Restraint. She hasn't opened it yet, though. Instead she's folded her arms on the tabletop and slumped down to rest her head on them, feeling far more tired than the day's activities can really justify.
"...guess I overdid it a little..." she murmurs to herself, eyes heavy-lidded with fatigue.
It's not that she's intending to do anything but rest for a minute while she waits for her order - or at least that's what she told herself when she put her head down - but at this rate she's running a very real risk of falling asleep right there at the table before the waiter comes back.
---
D: Tagger's choice
These aren't the only places it's possible to run into Minako, of course. Through the day it's entirely possible to cross paths with her in any number of places between one and the other - maybe on her way back to the MAC to stash the Vel Vel Muruga before she goes out anywhere else, or making that stop in the bookstore, or just on a sidewalk somewhere with her mp3 player on, rocking out to the music as she makes her way to wherever she's headed.
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WHERE: A park, a library, a cafe, and other spots around the city.
WHEN: Wednesday, June 12.
WARNINGS: None.
SUMMARY: Minako has a day off, and she spends it puttering around the City doing various things.
FORMAT: Prose to start; I'll match your preference!
A: Morning
It's a nice morning, still early enough that summer's heat hasn't yet had a chance to set in and the air is pleasantly fresh. Elsewhere in the City, people are going about their routines and morning traffic is moving briskly along, but very little of it goes through this small park located not too inconveniently far from the area of the MAC. It's a quiet that Minako is taking advantage of to get in a little training.
There are probably better places she could do this, she suspects - certainly there are dojos and gyms in the City, but she doesn't really know if any of those are places that would let her bring in a real weapon and train on her own like this, and it's simpler just to do things her own way. Besides, it's nice to do this outdoors, at least on a nice day like today.
So anyone who should happen into the park will find her there, wielding her peacock-plumed spear in a simple, repetitive exercise better suited to the naginatas that she started out with: strike, extending to bring the blade end slashing down. Withdraw, lifting it back up as she steps back to her starting point. Strike. Withdraw. Strike. Withdraw. There's no finesse of any actual training in it; a practiced eye will be able to see in her stance the rough make-do of the self-taught. But there's no clumsiness or hesitation, either. She handles the overly colorful polearm with the certainty of experience as she repeats that one simple maneuver over and over again, drilling the movements into muscle memory.
As usual, her headphones hang around her neck - not the red ones that Fuuka made for her, but the suspiciously more durable pink headband-style ones from Christmas, music turned up enough that she can hear it without actually putting the earphones on her ears:
help me, help me help me--
let it go let it out let it go let it out
take a deep breath deep breath deep breath deep breath
One. Two. One. Two. With each downward slash her breath chuffs out of her; with each step back she draws a new breath in. Strike. Withdraw. One. Two.
---
B: Midday
By the time the June heat is in full swing, Minako has left the park behind for the cooler air-conditioned atmosphere of a public library. She's actually been meaning to do some research for quite a while - since February, to be exact - but between working and the general chaos of City life it's only now that she's finally getting around to it, and she feels a certain need to make up for the delay with enthusiasm.
The result is that she's accumulated a pile of books, mostly on mythology and folklore - a couple of books on Greek myths here, a couple more on Arthurian legend there, several books on Tarot and a printout regarding messiah figures in the lore and religions of various different parts of the world.
It's a good selection to start with, she thinks, but before she starts to settle down to do some reading one more thing that she wanted to look into occurs to her, and rather than sitting down just yet she deposits her stack of materials next to one of the library's computers and bends over it to poke at the electronic catalog index.
What was it that Professor Solus had mentioned again, back in February? Some kind of psychology... Frowning in concentration, Minako tries to bring the confused memories of the confrontation with her Shadow into clarity.
"Yungian psychology... Youngian...?"
This would be easier if she had any earthly idea how it's supposed to be spelled.
---
C: Afternoon
Missing lunch thanks to getting wrapped up in things at the library was, let's face it, not the best idea Minako has ever had. Much later in the afternoon, after a stop in at a nearby bookstore, she's settled in at a seat at a small cafe, very much in need of something sweet for a pick-me-up, because eating healthy is for people who plan to live past twenty.
The product of that brief stop lies just off to the side on the table: a copy of C.M. Guarde's Arrested Restraint. She hasn't opened it yet, though. Instead she's folded her arms on the tabletop and slumped down to rest her head on them, feeling far more tired than the day's activities can really justify.
"...guess I overdid it a little..." she murmurs to herself, eyes heavy-lidded with fatigue.
It's not that she's intending to do anything but rest for a minute while she waits for her order - or at least that's what she told herself when she put her head down - but at this rate she's running a very real risk of falling asleep right there at the table before the waiter comes back.
---
D: Tagger's choice
These aren't the only places it's possible to run into Minako, of course. Through the day it's entirely possible to cross paths with her in any number of places between one and the other - maybe on her way back to the MAC to stash the Vel Vel Muruga before she goes out anywhere else, or making that stop in the bookstore, or just on a sidewalk somewhere with her mp3 player on, rocking out to the music as she makes her way to wherever she's headed.
no subject
"I think I get it," she says slowly, eyes still on the spear with its extravagant rainbow-colored plume. "Someone who doesn't know any better might think so, but it's really not about strength at all, is it?"
Frowning in concentration, she takes a moment to bring back to mind the way that he moved, and with a mental reminder to herself not to tense up she does her best to follow the example, focused more on the movements than on trying to execute them quickly. Turn - with the lower body, turn and slide, scooting out of the way and putting herself to his side where she can reach for his wrist and the inside bend of his elbow. "--like this?"
no subject
Kirei stays pliant as she moves around him with careful slowness. He doesn't immediately yield nor resist, simply remaining steady so she can feel how much energy to exert. Her motions are a little stilted by her obvious focus on doing each gesture step-by-step, but that is expected; otherwise she is quite fluid. "Yes, that's correct," he assures her.
"If you wanted, you could continue to bend my arm toward my shoulder," he adds, "with the right leverage, you could throw me to the ground completely."
His tone is flat enough that it's clear he wouldn't mind it if she did.
no subject
When he says it so matter-of-factly, it seems like the most reasonable thing in the world to try it out. Once she begins to put more pressure on his arm in the way that he'd suggested, it's not hard to see what he meant, and Minako's whole face brightens up in the immediate delight of understanding.
"Then, like this..." Without really thinking, she shifts her stance slightly in order to brace herself a little more securely, the better to follow the movement and the change of balance through the rest of the way.
no subject
His free hand taps gently against his thigh: a gesture of surrender.
"Really," he affirms belatedly. "It's remarkably simple, when you know how to take balance."
no subject
"Ah! I'm so sorry!"
Suddenly wide-eyed, she lets go of his arm and puts space between them with a series of quick back-steps, until she's far enough away that she can bow deeply in apology. "That was really rude of me," she says, not looking up, "when you were doing me a favor showing me these things. I'm very sorry, I wasn't thinking."