[attr="class","sbox"] The torrent, crisp and cool yet nearly burning with power, crushed without end inconceivable amounts of water into a fine mist. Such pressure was enviable, admirable. Kwai Tze-keung scratched at his chin, before changing the angle of the glaive in the stone underfoot. The little carving resembled a hooded figure, shrouded in a crudely-rendered splash of water. Visible through the darkness of the hood were wide, wide, wide jaws lined with teeth. He snorted. With an instantaneous flip of the long weapon, blade side up, a bash of the staff end into the ground utterly erased the carving, leaving a round fracture in its place. A look across the floor of the waterfall-adjacent cave would reveal several of these small, controlled fractures in the rock floor. Kwai stood up for a second, dusting off the flat stone he sat on. He had, as was ritual for the warrior, arrived much earlier than necessary. Different from the rest of their usual scheduled chats about defence and other things relevant to his job description, Kwai had, at the behest of the youngest Winters, extended an invitation to the youngest Nyx. He was of the understanding that the Nyx family had recently made some progress in their research, worth bringing to his and the Leader's attention. At the very least, as the youngest Winters had very sarcastically assured, Kwai could sample a fine swig of tea. The menders, when not occupied, were well-regarded for confections and the like. The waterfall gave his uncertainty a well-tempo-ed ambiance, for he failed to remember if DaiFuyu had actually approved of inviting Rei.
Stretching his arms conspicuously, Kwai lifted his glaive into his hands with a kick, pointing the sheathed polearm at the entrance. A pressure comparable to the deluge of water just behind him stood near the entrance--truly flattening in presence perhaps to those who had suffered through fewer campaigns or battles than he. Unaffected as was typical of the grey-haired master, he murmured: "Should your name not match perfectly with Rei or Madam Kitsuna, then you will find yourself to be in the wrong location. I would urge you, in that case, to leave." His eyes, half-open as they were from a wave of sleepiness, remained focused not on the being at the entrance but instead on the waterfall ahead of where he sat.
For victory, for justice, I will pursue the truth within the world. Morality is a farce to keep us in line, force us to check ourselves. the real truth is buried deep within the heart and at the forefront of the mind.
Now that he finally had time again, Rei would often find himself taking extraordinarily long afternoon naps. Today, however, he was fearful he had overslept his meeting with the warrior, Kwai. His sleep inertia left his dazed as he carefully put on a jacket and headed out his cave and to the waterfall. As he stepped outside, he had realized he was not late, but early for his meeting. "Ah, hell,'" he whispered, "I guess I'll just wait there anyways. Maybe I can make some drinks for when he arrives or something."
Yet, as he finally made his trek to the waterfall, he was met with startling ferocity from a shadow behind the water: "Should your name not match perfectly with Rei or Madam Kitsuna, then you will find yourself to be in the wrong location. I would urge you, in that case, to leave."
Ah, Kwai. He was vigilant and gave Rei quite the startle. He snapped from his daydream at the voice of the Warrior. Interesting, he would later think, that Kwai could keep such composure despite his sleepiness.
"Oh," he raised the pitch of his voice high, "Well thats too bad. My name is May Nyx. Not quite a match so I guess I'll see you around."
He pretended to walk away for a second before returning. "Just kidding. Hey, Kwai. What's up? You called?" He was a bit afraid his tease might have put Kwai on edge, so he waited where he was to gauge his response.
[attr="class","sbox"] "Hm! Come forth, son of Nyx." Kwai, glaive lowered, turned his eyes to the shade at the cave entrance. "Take your seat, anywhere will do." The warrior clawed at his eyes in the midst of a yawn. "Madam Kitsuna will be here, in time, I am almost certain."
"Lo, how fares your research, Rei? I have heard from your colleagues that you're undertaking great works, among the menders. Work that some felt I should help bring to the attention of the leader, hence why I have called you here." He coughed lightly--his voice gained more magnitude than seemed possible. "So, son of Nyx, what do the fruits of your labour look like?"
For victory, for justice, I will pursue the truth within the world. Morality is a farce to keep us in line, force us to check ourselves. the real truth is buried deep within the heart and at the forefront of the mind.
For but a split moment, Rei was taken aback by the words of Kwai. Research? Could he know? Maybe Midnight was a snitch after all. He didn't think she knew either, but she could be the only one...
Rei stepped forward, lowering his hood after passing into the cave to meet eyes with Kwai.
"L-lady Kitsuna is coming too, huh?" He gulped, "It's not like any of my research is really ready for public eyes yet. I hope she doesn't scold me or anything."
Digging his hands into his pockets, his eyes shifted to the broken rock on the ground, where they stayed. Anxiety welled in his chest, but his face was straight. "Calm down, Rei," he assured himself, "Surely he is referring to something else."
"They are uhhh... lookin' pretty dang good," he gave Kwai a thumbs up gaining the courage to look back at him. "Apparently, there is a compound in a lot of teas called 'caffeine.' It's seems to be the thing that helps you feel awake-r when you drink the stuff. That's kind of old news though. I have been working on a caffeine filter. Theoretically, we could concentrate a bunch of that into a drink and make a super potent mixture to promote alertness. I call it 'energy juice.' But I will wait until Kitsuna gets here to cover the details. Anyways, how is Warrior-ing? Has it been busy lately?"
[attr="class","sbox"] Kwai Tze-keung rose slowly from his seat, standing tall, to stretch each arm. "Well, I would hope, you know, for your research to indeed not be ready for public, or even private, eyes. After all, I know not of anyone but select Solarisclan members capable of consuming tea through their eyes." His chuckle echoed through the cavern. "You may find it difficult to excuse my old self, for that. But on a more serious note," With a sandal-clad foot, he slowly traced the fractures in the ground--a hand of his slid upwards to scratch his neck. Kwai's gaze calmly scanned across the cavern. "I do hope you can convince some of your colleagues to pay a bit more attention to the flavouring of... all these things you all seem to be concocting. Now, it's not even that they taste poor or lack taste. Quite the opposite and, while I'm sure my opinion on the matter will be an uncommon one, I feel strongly... Well, I feel that some of the flavours are too strong. It's almost distracting. A symptom of age? Probably. But the point remains. Naturally, I would ask the same in regards to this filtered beverage you're looking into." He sat back down with a gracious whomp sound emanating from the stone surface. "Don't look so stirred, I guarantee you I am the only one to actually take, what I would consider little, issue with the flavour of the beverages that, of course, you and the others so graciously provide to the clan. Whatever the case may be, I am certain the other warriors will take well to it, which might as well lead to the fair assumption that the class as a whole has taken to it. I really do consider my opinion to be a rare one, in this matter. O son of Nyx, that concludes my own concerns, but the leader may have more pertinent questions than the trifles I have bothered you with. Let us wait patiently for her, no?"
For victory, for justice, I will pursue the truth within the world. Morality is a farce to keep us in line, force us to check ourselves. the real truth is buried deep within the heart and at the forefront of the mind.
Rei chuckled slightly and looked towards the old man with a smirk, "No worries, Kwai. I am glad to see you haven't lost your humor. You shouldn't relegate things like that just to your 'old self.' Anyways, I will make us some tea while we wait. Will be sure to make it light, as per your request. I like my teas heavier usually, but I am not too picky." He scoured his pockets for various herbs that might be of use. "Does Hila sound good?"
