Tossin' 'round the Ol' Bag

    The work in the territory of Arcadia goes on. Which means that Elly is mostly overseeing things. And repeatedly having to block attempts to blast her with water. Now that everyone knows the Marchioness wants to learn how to shield herself, they are all 'helping out'. Which is possibly just an excuse to get her into a swimsuit and to do that previously mentioned water blasting.

    So far, her hair has been wet all day, but Elly is doing her best. Thankfully she doesn't have a map to draw. They stopped letting her try after seeing her uh, interesting interpretation of the landscape.

    So now she's just here, mostly trying to protect herself from surprise attacks. And offering her vision when it is needed. Surprisingly this simple task seems to get people energized and makes the work more fun.

Jayu is, all of the sudden, crouching Adidas style next to Wake. Perhaps he snuck up next to her while she wasn't paying attention. Perhaps he has been here the whole time. Maybe SHE moved beside HIM! Whatever the reason, he speaks up, drawing attention to himself if attention was not already had, "Good Afternoon, Baroness... Ah. Sorry. You recently had a promotion. My bad. Marchioness? Congratulations, by the by." He gives his typical slightly nervous, slightly shy smile, "How goes the world? I hear you were looking for some help with... Training? Practicing how to block things?"

    "Yes, I am trying to learn new ways to protect things," replies Elly seriously. "Also, hello! How are you, Jayu? And yes, I am a Marchioness now!" She's not beaming out of pride, but out of joy. She loves it. "And if you can teach me how to get better, I would be happy to listen. I just do not go into dangerous places anymore. At least not dungeons. Going to the Palace Lands was dangerous in its own way."

    She focuses her attention on Jayu, and though she's been blasted by water many times today, she's clearly happy. The Marchioness turns to watch the waves on the shore for a time, "So, how did you learn to block things?"

Jayu stands from his squat position in one smooth movement and faces Wake, now, with a serious, solemn expression, "There was once a great Japanese Samurai known as Miyamoto Musashi. He was widely considered the greatest swordsman of all time. He had recorded much of his training methods in, "The Book of Five Rings," a book that is highly regarded..."

He brings his hand to his chin and turns ever so slightly, dipping his head as if he were looking over glasses that are not there, "In it, he expressed how his sensei taught him to take on a sense of heightened awareness so that he would always be prepared to react to whatever came at him... Do you... wish to hear what Miyamoto Musashi had to say on the matter, Marchioness Wake?"

    "I think everyone in Japan has heard of Musashi, but I am curious what he had to say about this," replies Wake. She certainly does not look like she is prepared to hear about samurai fighting techniques, standing there in a swimsuit. But it is ETO. It is kind of par for the course, really.

    "What have you been up to? Have you been staying busy?" she asks, suddenly curious. "If you ever need a place to stay or work to do, let me know. There is plenty to do, and new territory to explore."

Jayu clears his throat, as the offtopic question throws him off guard. "Well, I have, a... Sort of... I have been in the Palace Lands lately. I have a promise that I have to keep. There are a lot of Crowned left to UNcrown, and I... want to do as much as I can."

His face goes back to his serious, practiced expression, "But yes. Miyamoto Musashi's teacher taught him to be prepared at any moment for attack from an opponent by simply making sure Musashi was expecting a potential attack at all times."

Jayu continues, "The mind is like a long, metal chain, your reaction is like electrical current, and each link represents a process in your head that you must take before an action is taken on your reaction. The longer the chain, the longer it takes for the electricity to reach the other end. This training would work on shortening the chain so that you will react almost instantly."

He raises an eyebrow, "Are you interested, Marchioness?"

    "I agree with you. Much work must be done and we cannot be satisfied until freedom is restored." Elly does not enjoy the war, nor even thinking of it. She would not leave anyone in chains, even if it, ironically, they are a symbol of her own faith.

    "So you are speaking of training me to reduce my reaction times and alter the way my mind and body react to a potential threat. Preferably by always having a kind of low level consciousness that is always braced for impact, so to speak. Or ready to block it with a wall of air, earth, or something like that."

    She looks behind herself, then sighs in relief. "Others have been helping without that same explanation. I think they just like splashing me with water. Someone threw a rock at me earlier. It sounds like something Yuuki would do!"

    Mostly, you know, because Wake did it to Yuuki first!

Jayu nods. "I can see that your friends have the right idea. Shooting water at you when they think you are not expecting it is good training. Still... This is... a false event. You ARE expecting it right now. You know, at any moment, that they might spray water at you. The problem with this is, when you leave this place, the training will be over. You will return to your normal state. This is something we cannot allow."

Jae Gu continues, dramatically pointing at Wake, "You must, at any moment be prepared for an attack. You must sleep on a thread. You must be as a snowflake, hanging from a leaf by a single tine, ready to depart at the smallest breeze. You must ALWAYS be in a constant state of preparedness."

He throws his hand to his side dramatically, as if his name were Haru and he were wearing a cape (It isn't, and he's not), "You must be prepared at any time to de-" without warning or telegraphing his movement, Jayu throws a bean bag at Wake. Uninterrupted, it would bounce harmlessly off her stomach and onto the ground. "-flect an attack sent your way. At ANY time. Are you prepared to dedicate yourself to this task?"

    Elly gets hit by.. bean bag? How odd! She bends down to pick it up, then tosses it back. "So you want me to always be ready for some kind of attack, basically. You are going to throw beanbags at me all the time now. I can see this coming. As long as you do not try to make me catch flies with chopsticks, I will do my best to learn from you!"

    As she's talking about this, in the background, someone has crept up and just as she stands up they shoot her with water in the, uh, posterior.

    "I think the water thing is wearing off. It's a hot day and it helps cool me down," she comments casually.

Jayu gives and evil grin as he responds, "Excellent. Then I will see you. You will not see me. ...Until it's too late." With that, he does a backflip into a nearby bush and you lose sight of him.... Where did he GO? Did he vanish? Is... Is he still in the bush, just... just waiting for you to walk away?

    "Well, if he shows up in my dressing room I will have to shoot back," Elly says. Apparently to herself. She sighs and turns back to her work. Which right now is just paying attention to what others need, checking on progress, making decisions with expert input. In short, she's managed this effort.

    But she is also a bit jumpy. Is he... going to throw something now? When he is going to do that? How long is he doing that for? He certainly would not just pop up in her bedroom, would he?

    "Would he?" she murmurs to herself.