Shen - A Guide on how Not to Understand Women

[08:23] <~Deedles> It's the evening after the trio arrived at the Crimson Steel smithy and weapon shop, and there's a knock on the door to Shen's room.
[08:30] <Shen> He was sat with his back to the door, his fists touching in front of him as he sat in a lazy position, Shens method of meditation. He was in a state of half-consciousness, tuned into the surge of electricty pulsing through his body like a biological circuit that his fists completed. The surge dispersed as he opened his eyes. "I told you Yoshi, I don't feel like drinking tonight." he gruffed in annoyance.
[08:35] <~Deedles> There's the faint sound of a chuckle, a female chuckle. "Drinking is not what I had in mind." Shiina replies, a hint of amusement to her tone.
[08:46] <Shen> A moments of silence passed as the door opened halfway with Shen standing in the gap. "What is it you did have in mind?" Shen returned suspiciously before openeing the door fully with a sigh. "You'd give a guy the wrong idea with words like that."
[08:47] <~Deedles> Shiina raised an eyebrow "Just what kind of ideas?" she asks, the amused look not fully gone yet as she enters his room.
[08:50] <Shen> "By all means, come in." he says after she had already entered, shutting the door behind her. "What can I do for you, Shiina?" he asks more seriously as he turns around to her.
[09:00] <~Deedles> "You didn't answer the question, Shen." She replied, smiling faintly, but then shook her head, hesitating before she answers his question. "Mostly to check if there was anything else you needed, and to ask how things are back in the village. Jian mentioned it being attacked by corruption."
[09:05] <Shen> He gave her suspicious smile. "Some questions are better left unanswered." he replied as he took a sip of tea from an old jug that was placed next to his satchel. His face went from playful to a more harrowed expression as he replaced the stopper. "Things are well as they can be, the masters should be more than enough to handle things for now, but there's no saying if the attacks have escalated since we left."
[09:10] <~Deedles> "We can hope that they haven't." Shiina said as she folded her arms, her expression turning more somber.
[09:14] <Shen> "How is it that you know so much about the village?" Shen asks, his curious eyes focusing more on hers than the thought the village he left behind. "At first I thought your knowlege of my people was related to the White Peony, but I'm getting the impression that it's more that that."
[09:16] <~Deedles> She rubs the back of her head, her fingers sliding through her green hair. "My mother was a Storm Dragon, I say was because she died when I was born." she tells him honestly.
[09:21] <Shen> He narrowed his eyes very slightly before taking a step closer to her. "Give me your hand." he says simply and directly, his eyes staring right into hers without blinking.
[09:21] <~Deedles> Shiina seemed a bit taken-a-back at his reaction, but did as he asked, holding her hand forward to him.
[09:28] <Shen> He wrapped his fingers swiftly around her wrist and held it there in a firm but not rough grip, as his skin met hers it released a strong static charge, more than you would ever get usually. He remained silent for a few moments before his eyes shot back up to meet hers. "Were you born in the village?" he asked her as his eyes became softer and released her wrist.
[09:30] <~Deedles> She shook her head, looking down at her wrist even after he released it. She'd never felt anything like it before, not from any other Storm dragon. "No, my mother met my father while out here on a mission. When she became pregnant she decided to stay, at least until I was born."
[09:38] <Shen> He nods as she speaks. "What is her name?" he asked her, his choice of tense deliberate.
[09:43] <~Deedles> "Asami Lau." Shiina answers, averting her eyes as she looks thoughtful "Dad told me she had white hair and soft brown eyes, I also got to know that she apparently had a brother back at the village."
[09:52] <Shen> "Huan Lau." he said with a smile as his eyes lost their focus, again thinking of his village, then he laughed. "Neice of Huan Lau, I never would of thought." he sat back on the end of a table behind him and looked back up at her. "The Lau family are good people. Huan used to get me out of doing chores when I misbehaved." he reminisced fondly.
[09:54] <~Deedles> She studied him for a moment and, despite her trying to hide it, she looked curious. "Oh?" she took a slight step forward, obviously wishing to know more as she inquired, more specifically "You misbehaved?" she seemed surprised at that.
[10:08] <Shen> "Just a little... Maybe sometimes." he squinted one of his eyes as he swayed his head from side to side. "Probably more." he rubbed the back of his head as he could almost feel the endless knocks to the head. "'Where Shen goes, trouble follows.' my brother used to say."
[10:10] <~Deedles> Shiina holds back a faint laugh "Considering what you guys said earlier about trouble always seeming to find you I guess he might be right." she said, tilting her head to the side.
[10:15] <Shen> "I have a bad reaction to injustice." he said with a faint smile. "When its directed at me, it tends to bring out a more... passionate response." he scratches the thin layer of stubble on his jaw. "Yoshi is of the same calibre, though Jian..." he paused for a moment as he weighed up his thoguhts. "It's not like Jian, which worries me."
[10:16] <~Deedles> "What isn't like him?" She wondered, but only after the briefest moment of thought she adds "You mean him getting angry about the things I told you three?"
[10:21] <Shen> Shen shook his head. "I expected him to get angry and seek retribution, I share similar feelings. I just hope that his hunt for justice does not consume him and cloud our mission." he says this reluctantly, it was the subject he had been thinking about before she arrived. "Though I'm really not one to say such things." he let out a brief sigh.
[10:26] <~Deedles> Shiina pondered on that for a moment "I think he won't. Speaking to him earlier he seems like a very focused person." she told him, taking a couple of steps back to lean her rear against the edge of a table. "Then what kind of things are you one to say?" she wondered with an inquisitive look.
[10:34] <Shen> Shen nods in reply. "Yeah, you're right." though he would continue to worry and ponder as he always did. He snorted at her question. "A crane calling a duck, a bird." he said simply with a fatigued smile. "I'm not exactly a spokesperson for holding back myself. I almost got myself minced taking on Chiyokos master."
[10:37] <~Deedles> That actually made her smile "And yet you took him on." Shiina pushes back some of her hair "Some would call that foolish, wreckless and brash, and while I don't disagree, I would also call it brave, and say that it's needed. Too few show bravery in the face of adversity now a days."
[10:51] <Shen> "The only way for evil to triumph, is if good people do nothing." Shen recited an old saying he had heard once while studying. "Have you recieved any training?" he asked her out of nowhere after a brief pause. "I can see that you can hold your own, but to what degree?"
[10:57] <~Deedles> Shiina's smile faded as she looked to the side briefly. "I've gotten some training from Storm Dragons passing through, which has been enough for me." She raised a hand a, lightning snaking around it as she peered down at it. "As to what degree... It's difficult because I don't have a lot to compare to. I can't compete with the Storm Dragons that have been here, since they've all been way older than me,
[10:57] <~Deedles> but I'm more powerful than anyone I've met here in Jinlong." she paused for a moment "I do well enough that I can usually hold back Black Lotus attacks long enough to let innocent people escape, not without gaining some injuries myself, but it's been enough to make my masked persona their most wanted."
[11:04] <Shen> He watches the energetic display, studying her as she speaks. "There's no such thing as 'good enough' when it comes to Kung Fu." he said a little plainly, but his words were not harsh. "You may be powerful now, but after a time you will find yourself losing ground to those who truly devote themselves. The scales are ever changing."
[11:06] <~Deedles> "I do devote myself, I train every day to get better, faster and stronger. Right now there isn't much more that I can do." She replied as she closed her her hand, the lightning seizing at once.
[11:13] <Shen> "Your body, yes. What about the power within you?" he asks her, closing his eyes a little in frustration. "There is only one place you can go that will give you what you need." he opens his eyes, looking back at her.
[11:15] <~Deedles> Shiina went quiet as she looked straight at him "You're referring to the village." she stated and actually started to frown. "Yes, it would be nice if I could just pick up and leave and go there for a while, but like you might of noticed, I have responsibilities here."
[11:22] <Shen> "Do you not think because of those responsibilities, you owe it to these people and to yourself to learn." he folds his arms as he looked straight back at her. "Lietenant of the White Peony, or Daughter of the Storm Dragons. You can't avoid who you are, the burdens that you hold."
[11:27] <~Deedles> "I have been learning!" She planted her feet firmly on the ground as she stood straight "While my father was alive he wished for me to remain here, and since the whole resistance started I've not been able to leave." she waved a hand at him "I have duties, I have burdens and they are here. I don't have the time to go and train in the village." she told him plainly.
[11:34] <Shen> "Duties and burdens others can manage." he said as he too stood up to face her his voice raised an octave. "You cannot hold such weight on your shoulders alone, no person can." he responded to her, as his voice quietened again slightly, out of respect. "Your father was not a Storm Dragon, he was a good man for caring so much about you, but in your blood runs the blood of our people. The potential few in this world possess."
[11:38] <~Deedles> Shiina twitched before she ran a hand through her hair "Don't you think I know that?" she asked him bluntly "But how many could die while I'm off getting trained? How many people that could of been saved if I'd been here won't be because I'm off somewhere? Too many! That's the... That's the answer." she told him, her voice raising increasingly as she spoke, nearly shouting at him until right at the end,
[11:38] <~Deedles> the smith speaking the last three words quietly as she looked away from him.
[11:53] <Shen> "Chiyoko had mentioned that it was a good plan not to get on your bad side." he huffed quietly in silence for a few moments. "The day we saved her I realised something important. It's a thought that haunts me, but one I have come to acknowledge." he takes a step closer to Shiina, his eyes were no longer those of frustration, but of understanding.
[11:53] <Shen> "If I was not where I was, right at that moment, following a suspicion I may not of had..." he trailed off as his eyes diverted from hers. "Nobody can be everywhere at once, nobody can defeat death. We can try and take on the world all we want, but as long as that evil remains at its root to take those lives, people will keep dying."
[11:58] <~Deedles> Shiina returned her gaze to him as he took a step closer, her brown eyes meeting his grey ones. They narrowed, not angrily, she looked sad and frustrated, but also, hiding behind those emotions and a hard front, was fear. She obviously struggled to hold his gaze as she replied. "I... I know, but that doesn't stop me from trying." her hands clenched. "It would be nice, to go somewhere where
[11:58] <~Deedles> I don't have to keep looking over my shoulder, be in a place where I know I can trust all the people around me, somewhere where I can become stronger, but I..." she turned away from him partially, her right side facing him as her left hand rested on the table, her fingers rubbing against her palm.
[12:07] <Shen> "Chiyoko doesn't have such burdens as you do, nor a city as big, but she believed that in order to protect her home and those she cared about, she had to get stronger. She will worry no less about her town as she searches the mountain though." he rested the palm of his hand on her shoulder, again a small spark, but not as abrupt this time. "I can not tell you what you should do, but by blood you are as good as family. As is Chiyoko. Think about
[12:07] <Shen> it."
[12:12] <~Deedles> She stiffened at his touch at first, but she looked at him as he spoke. She bit her lower lip, her expression conflicted as her eyes closed half-way and her shoulders twitched slightly. "I..." she trailed off as she turned back to him, her eyes glistening faintly before she leaned in against him, her head resting on his shoulder. "I'm just scared... okay?"
[12:12] <~Deedles> she confessed, her voice just a hushed whisper and yet he could easily hear that she was trying not to cry. "Everyone look to me for assurance and security... What if it all falls apart while I'm gone?" she bit back a sniffle as she went quiet.
[12:19] <Shen> He was suprised at first, but he did not flinch, awkwardly putting a hand around her. She was family, but he had only just met her after all. "If the stem of a flower is not strong enough to survive rainfall, it would never survive winter. Trust your people as they do you, Shiina."
[12:28] <~Deedles> Shiina smiled, weakly, though he couldn't see at the time. "Most poetic thing anyone's ever said to me." she confessed as she pulled away, her guard up once more as she wiped away the few stray tears that had managed to fall. "... You're right too." she added, her eyes cast towards the floor. "I should trust that they'll be fine."
[12:43] <Shen> "We three will still be around also. I can imagine we'll be returning soon once we visit Haizhou and Yumu." he mentioned as he took his jug to sip at some tea. "I have a plan for the store house before we leave, which could cause some confusion within the Black Lotus' ranks. It should take some heat off of you for now."
[12:44] <~Deedles> His words seemed to relax her a bit, though she blinked at the last part, peering at him searchingly. "Oh? What did you have in mind?" she wondered
[12:51] <Shen> "A vice like greed tends to build paranoia." he says simply as he sighs, the tea quenching his thirst. "Back on the mountain, we would drive away any of those that weren't meant to be there such as explorers and bandits." he spoke in a hazy, amused tone. "The mists usually protect the village, but as Storm Dragons we sometimes get to them before the mists." he smiled, a somewhat sly smile.
[12:51] <Shen> "The best way to confuse an enemy is to put it into dissaray and create conflict, usually paranoia, within its ranks. I hope to make it look like the guards ran off with the goods."
[12:56] <~Deedles> Shiina looked at him for a moment before a smile mirroring his own appeared on her face "Clever. I like it." she praised him, rubbing her chin in thought. "That should definetly make it easier for us for a while as they go on a wild goose-chase. Could be a good time to..." she trailed off, her eyes flickering to the ceiling. "To go too, but I..." she grimaced slightly.
[13:01] <Shen> "I've said all I can say." he looks at her with firm but understanding eyes. "Think on it and remember what I've said, take the time to ask yourself. Just remember that not making decision is worse than any decision you could possibly make."
[13:02] <~Deedles> She sighed, pushing a hand partway through her hair before gripping onto it slightly. "I just feel it's wrong to leave while our leader is still imprisoned." she told him quietly.
[13:04] <Shen> "Then I'll make you a deal, Shiina." he says as he rubs the stubble of his chin. "If we free him, would you go then?"
[13:06] <~Deedles> "I..." Shiina hesitated before she nodded, turning to face him fully "Yes! If he was back then I could trust him to hold things together."
[13:07] <Shen> "Alright." he said simply with a faint grin. "And if you back out of it, I'll tell Chiyoko you're a complete wuss."
[13:11] <~Deedles> She punched his arm, as she smiled faintly "You wouldn't dare!" she said "If you did then I might have to do something equally as embarrassing ... Like force you to answer that question you dodged earlier, wuss." she threatened in return, but the hint of amusement to her expression revealed as nothing serious.
[13:13] <Shen> Shen feigned pain at the playful hit. "No idea what you're talking about, Lieutenant."
[13:15] <~Deedles> "Something about giving a guy the wrong idea, I think it was." Shiina replied while faux-recalling what it was he said.
[13:18] <Shen> "You're awfully hung up about that, aren't you?" he said as he shrugged in exaggeration.
[13:25] <~Deedles> "I didn't start it." She retorted while waving a hand "Don't start something if you ain't got the guts to finish it." she taunted him, her lips quirking slightly.
[13:28] <Shen> "You knocked on my door, last I remember." he folded his arms. "A simple 'Hello, it's me Shiina. Hi, how are you?'" he jested back trying to sound like her, with an emphasis on the more than silly.
[13:30] <~Deedles> "You accused me of being Yoshi coming for a drinking buddy, I was simply being honest; It wasn't what I had in mind." Shiina replied nonchalantly "You were the one who commented on how it could give the wrong idea. That was entirely you, not me." she smiled slyly as she said that.
[13:34] <Shen> "You and Yoshi can both be pretty annoying, you have that in common at least." he lets out an overly troublesome sigh.
[13:35] <~Deedles> "You're not the first guy to call me that." She shrugged while grinning faintly "Wuss."
[13:39] <Shen> "Pretty sure I won't be the last either." he chuckled as he sat back onto the table end. "I'm regretting meeting you already."
[13:40] <~Deedles> She punched his arm again "I can fix that, with one good knock to your head." she told him as she tried not to smile.
[13:48] <Shen> "You'd be suprised how a person can build up a resistance to such a thing over the years." he chuckles sheepishly.
[13:49] <~Deedles> "Wow, you met that many girls you've wanted to forget? Now I'm not sure if I wanna go to the village..." Shiina joked with a raised brow.
[13:53] <Shen> "You've really got a one track mind, don't you." he verbally poked back. "Can't be helped if your jealous though." he shrugged.
[13:56] <~Deedles> Shiina placed a hand on her chest as she stared at him in faux-shock "Me? Jealous?" She pushed off the table, her hands came to rest on her hips before glancing back at him, her lips quirking into a faint smile. "Maybe a little." she confessed as she began heading for the door.
[14:00] <Shen> Shen watched her walk away as he sipped from his jug, shaking his head then almost spitting it out again. He really didn't understand women.
[14:01] <~Deedles> ------------------------------------------