[Flashback] The way of the Katana (Solo)

[Revy Hiroe]

Timestamp: 25th spring 501 AV A lone teenager, clad in leather armor, carrying a large shield on her back and a longsword at her side, walked over the planes just outside of Riverfall. Her destination was the Vantath Ralo Sasaran to train there in the way of the Katana. It was a rare sight to behold, someone so young but with a serious face, as if she had seen many gruesome scenes already. What had brought her there were the rumours of a real master in the Katana she had picked up in Syliras. It was a long travel and not to mention dangerous one, for a young teenager like her. But with sheer willpower, that girl had made it through the dangers without getting as much as a scratch. Perhaps she was just lucky, or skilled with the weapon she carried, one couldn't tell just from looking at her. As the girl arrived at the dojo, she collapsed near the entrance. The journey had taken it's toll on her. But she was in luck, as Lokroil just wanted to go to the city to play with some of the kids there. As he saw the girl lying on the floor, seemingly unconscious, he immediately went into action, picking her up gently and carrying her inside. He noticed that the girl had only fallen asleep. He had a gentle smile on his face as he carried her to the, at the moment empty, meditation room. There he lay her down on the floor, her head on a cussion. Torth came into the room just then. He had noticed Lokroil carrying in a girl through the door. ”Who's that?”, he asked Lokroil as he glanced over the sleeping girl. She looked like she had been through quite a bit of an ordeal, even though she didn't have any visible wounds as far as he could see. ”I don't know, I just found her collapsed outside of the dojo. And I can't leave a kid like that lying around.”, he simply replied. ”She's asleep right now and I don't want to wake her up.” Just then, the girl groaned a bit as she slowly started waking up. Her body slow and heavy from the only short sleep, her eyes still a bit glassy from the lack of sleep during her travel. ”Uh... where am I?”, she asked still a bit dazed as she didn't recognize the surroundings. ”I was outside right? Lokroil and Torth both looked at the girl. It was Lokroil who replied then: ”You're in the Vantath Ralo Sasaran. I'm Lokroil and this is Torth.”, he introduced the both of them. ”I found you unconscious outside and couldn't leave you there, so I carried you inside. What were you doing out there alone, if I may ask?” Revy pushed herself up into a sitting position, he legs folded together as she scratched herself behind her head. ”Guess I made it then.”, she just said then. ”Where can I find Isa of the Silent Death?” Torth and Lokroil looked at eachother for a second. That girl had made it? Did she come on foot from a neighboring city? But that would take weeks to do. Not to mention that is was extremely dangerous for someone so young to do this. ”Where did you come from?”, Torth asked the girl then, ”And can we have your name perhaps? Revy now looked completely awake again and looked at Torth who asked her a couple questions. ”The name's Revy Hiroe and I just came from Syliras. I've come here to get taught in the ways of the Katana by Isa. Anything wrong with that?”, she replied a little annoyed. ”Sheesh, what nosy people.... and monkey?”, she thought as she glanced over the both of them. Lokroil looked quite surprised with Revy's answer. From Syliras by foot? Why would one do that, it was just as easy to take the boat. But anyway, she was looking for Isa, who wasn't in the dojo right now. ”Isa's not in today. I suggest you get some rest and return here in the morning. I'll notify her once I see her. And otherwise I can always teach you some unarmed combat.” Revy looked at the man even more annoyed now. How could he be so friendly? He was an Isur and every Isur she had come across was cold, calculated and always withdrawn. They never spoke much. ”Fine. I'll be back tomorrow morning. Don't you forget to tell Isa.”, her voice annoyed and clearly a bit pissed. Revy stood up, picked up her bag and walked away. She went into the city to find an inn of the sorts to spend the night at least. She'd be there for a while, since her last job had gotten her a hefty pay. She could live off that money for at least six weeks. And in that time, she'd make sure that she'd get quite a bit of experience in the Katana.

[Revy Hiroe]

Timestamp: 26th spring 501 AV In the early morning, just after sunrise, one could see a teenager walking through the city, heading straight for the Vantath Ralo Sasaran. If they had payed attention, they would've recognized her from the evening before, when she was out looking for an inn. None the less, she made her way through the streets and soon walked out the doors towards the small dojo. Again she was clad in her leather armor, but she left her shield and luggage back at her room. As she arrived at the dojo, she saw a myrian woman leaning against the building. As the girl walked over, the woman pushed herself away from the building and walked towards her. Apparently she had been waiting for her. ”You're Revy?”, she asked brusk and to the point. It appeared that this woman wasn't one of much words. Rather straight to the point and not much talk outside of it. Revy looked up to the woman. At the time she was still smaller, not much, but enough to make her look up a little. ”Yes, who is asking?”, the girl replied, just as brusk as the woman had asked her. She couldn't bring up respect to someone if they asked her her name like that. They could at least show some proper manners right? ”Good, I heard you wanted to learn the way of the Katana? If you can pay the fee, I'll be teaching you.”, the myrian woman asked. Revy's face contorted only for a second as she realized that she stood across Isa. She quickly regained her composure and looked at her a little judgingly, or at least she tried to, but failed horrible. ”I want to learn that, yes. And of course I can pay, otherwise I wouldn't have come here.” The myrian gestured Revy to follow her as she walked inside. She headed to the meditation room, which was, at the time, still empty. She took a seat on one of the cussions and showed Revy to sit across her. Not wanting to anger the woman just yet, Revy did as she wanted and sat across the myrian. ”I'm not an easy teacher, or cheap. Depending on how well you progress, I'll adjust the price. But for that you're really going to need to be good.”, Isa explained, ”My current price is set at 5 gm per day.” Revy couldn't really believe her ears as she heard the price. 5 gm per day? That was more then she usually earned with regular jobs. Well considering that there aren't many teachers in the way of the Katana, it was believeable. It was actually cheaper then most other sensei's. ”Agreed. I'm ready to start training at any time.”, she replied. Isa smirked only for a second before she stood up, walking out of the room for a second. She returned with a flat piece of wood. It was about as long as a standard size Wakazashi, but flat and had a rectangular shape. ”First meditation. A calm mind is needed for anyone wielding a Katana. A clean cut comes from a calm mind.”, she explained. Revy nodded and sat on her knees on the cushion. She placed her hands gently on her lap as she had seen other people do and closed her eyes. It only took a couple chimes before she started to squirm a little, only to feel a sudden snap at her shoulder where Isa had struck her with the piece of wood she held. ”A calm mind isn't affected by the body, so sit still.”, she reprimanded Revy. After about 2 bells and a lot more whacks on her shoulders, Isa said: ”Ok, enough for now. Time to practice swings. I want to see a controlled motion, no wavering in the blade.” She walked to the dojo and grabbed a Bokken, then gestured Revy to follow her. The girl stood up and her legs felt like lead. She was supposed to do that with legs like this? Well, better listen and get taught, then don't and having to learn herself. She followed Isa at a short distance, grimacing from the muscle aches of sitting in the same position for two bells straight. Once outside, Isa held the bokken to Revy. ”Show me how you'd hold it. I'll judge if you know how to do that properly.”, her voice still as brusk as ever. Revy grabbed the sword by it's handle, slowly grabbing onto it with her hands. Her left hand at the very bottom of the grip as her right hand was only a little away from where the guard would be. This was how she held her longsword as well and in her eyes a Katana wasn't too different. Isa nodded. Apparently she held it correctly. ”Now make 100 Gedon cuts. I'll show you once, after that you've got to do it yourself.”, she ordered Revy. She grabbed her own Katana, grabbing it the same way as Revy. She let out a soft breath and then raised her sword above her head, slashing down until it was at a 45 degree angle with the ground. Her blade didn't waver for a second and the control was perfect. She had moved her right foot a bit forward to go with the flow of the weapon. Revy could only gawk at the technique the woman had. ”Now you.”, she said as to wake Revy up from her daze. Revy nodded only for a second and then placed herself in the same position. She repeated the same preperation process the woman had showed her. Her face then focussed as she repeated the motion, but she forgot to step out with her leading foot and the blade wavered as she made her first slash. A sharp pain from her shoulder coursed through her body as Isa had struck her with the same piece of wood from the meditation session. ”Wrong, totally wrong. Do it correctly.”, she reprimanded Revy. The girl's first 100 cuts, or would-be cuts, were horrible. But she did improve during the first set. She remembered to properly step out, but her blade still wavered with each swing. ”It's going better, but I still need to see a proper cut. You get five chimes rest, after that another hundred.” ”Isn't she being a little harsh on that girl?”, Lokroil asked Torth. ”She's just a bit fanatic about it. But that girl will learn fast from what I can see.”, Torth replied, ”Anyway, you've got a couple students waiting, don't you? Lokroil's eyes went slightly wider as he remembered and stood up quickly, walking into the dojo to start the class with his students. Torth kept an eye on the girl that wanted to learn the Katana. There weren't too many people who wanted to get taught in it as of late, but perhaps it would change soon. That was how Revy filled her day. She got two bells of meditation and after that three sets of one hundred cuts. Her shoulders sore from the whacks she got, she walked away from the dojo. But the day hadn't been counterproductive in the least. In the end she managed to make one cut at least without wavering the blade. Perhaps it would go better tomorrow. Anyway, she was ready for bed, even though it was early in the evening. The day had tired her body out completely.

[Revy Hiroe]

Timestamp: 27th fall. Another day had come around and Revy made her way to the dojo again, not paying any heed to the weird looks she got from the citizens of the city. Why would she? She wasn't interested in them. All she wanted was to get taught in the Katana. Even when an Akalak tried to talk to her, to ask what she was doing in the city, she didn't pay any attention to it. All that showed on her face was annoyance right now. The reason was that last night she wasn't able to take a bath. Apparently some rich guy had rented the rest of the inn, with the bathroom as well. This led to her being unable to bathe properly. So now she was smelly, her sweat from yesterday dried on her skin and the dirt still attached to her legs. It just had to be a worsed-case scenario for any teenage girl. As she arrived at the dojo, Isa was waiting in the same way as yesterday. As the myrian noticed her apprentice approaching, she looked over, only to see that the girl was downright filthy. ”You're filthy. Go back and take a bath before we start.”, she ordered the girl. Revy, unable to hold her anger back now, shouted back: ”Perhaps I have a reason for this. Did you think of that? Do you think I like sleeping as dirty as this? I've only had half a night's rest thanks to some rich bozo that decided to rent the whole place, locking the ones that were there before him, out of the common bathrooms. Isa's face didn't change one bit as the young girl raged against her. All she did was grab the wooden plank she had been using yesterday and whacked the girl on her shoulder. ”Control your emotions, or they will affect your cuts. Come.” The myrian walked around the dojo to the back, where a large stone bassin was located, filled with cold water. Revy simply obeyed and followed her teacher, not really sure what she had in mind. But as she saw the water, she had a gut feeling that she wasn't going to like it. She was probably going to be plunged into that water and it seemed cold, really cold. And as if to confirm her fear, Isa grabbed her by the rim of her vest and threw her into it. As soon as she hit the water, the girl let out a short yelp as the water felt almost like it was freezing. It was even colder then it looked, but as she climbed out of it, she did feel a bit cleaner. ”Now you start with three sets of one hundred, you should be dry by then.”, Isa said as she walked back to the front. About one hour later, the girl was practicing her swings in front of the dojo. Most of them looked proper, the blade didn't waver and the strike itself went fluently. Each swing was a repeat of the swing before the previous one. One swing taking a small step forward with both feet, followed by one in the opposite direction. Her skin was a little sweaty, but her clothes had dried completely in the sun. She had done two sets already and was well underway with her third as Yiru walked past her, eyeing her butt a little too much. Isa noticed the lewd expression on his face and yelled: ”Don't get any ideas, Yiru, unless you want to be at the wrong end of my blade.” Yuri, not really wanting to have a fight right now, shrugged and said: ”I was just admiring nature. Nothing more, nothing less.” After that, he walked into the dojo, as he had a class today. He stole another quick glance of Revy just before he entered the dojo though, gniffling a little. Revy had noticed the look that Yuri gave her right away, even without seeing him she felt his eyes burning on her butt. It didn't stop her from continueing her set though. But it did make her bokken waver a little. It wasn't the first time she got a lewd view, but this time she couldn't snap out at the guy and beat him up. That made her a little insecure. But as Isa chased him off, her technique, though crude still, returned back to normal. Revy's wavering hadn't escaped Isa's attention and now she stood behind her, ready to whack her again. But she noticed that it had stopped. It appeared that, even though she acts tough, she's still only a girl, a young one at that. It wasn't too weird that her blade would waver with a pervert watching. ”You get one hour rest, then three more sets before meditation. I expect you to do them perfectly.” She sat back against the building, watching Revy finish her current set. She did have talent to become good, but her swings still seemed a bit off. As if she was used to a different weapon. ”You've learned a different weapon before?”, she asked Revy as the girl walked over. Revy, having finished her sets, walked over to Isa, only to get questioned. ”Yes, the longsword. Does that matter?”, she asked in return. The girl sat against the building, resting from the repeated cuts she made. Doing threehundred in a rapid pace was tiring, even more so in the sun. ”Not really, just that your style is a bit flavoured with that.”, she replied. ”It might make it a bit more difficult for you to master the weapon. But given time you'll master it, of that I'm sure.” Revy's face lit up from just those words. ”She thinks I've got talent. Well then, can't dissapoint her.”, she thought as she stood up again. Walking out to the spot she just stood, she then readied herself to continue her training session. That was about how she spent the day. Training three sets of one hundred cuts, taking a break and then another three sets of one hundred cuts, followed up by two hours of meditation. And when it started getting dusk, Isa called it quits. Training too much would be counterproductive. After walking back through the city, she found out that the bathingrooms were opened up again. Apparently some of the guests had complained about not being able to take a bath, resulting in the owner allowing them to take them again. Revy didn't think twice and got her stuff to take a long bath. Soaking in the water after a long day training was the best. It felt so relaxing to rinse the sweat and dirt of your body and then just soak in the water. After drying herself off and clothing herself again, she went out to grab a bite and then heading back again to go and get some rest.

[Stranger]

XP Award!

Weapon [Katana]: +4
Meditation: +3

Lore:

Myrian Fighting Skills

Notes: Let me know if you think I overlooked something!