Celebration

[uncommon-sensei.livejournal.com]

Most don't know the significance of the day - and of the few that do, fewer still see it as cause for celebration.

Shiva Wusan's birthday.

Richard Dragon's a little different than most people in that regard. There's an ornately carved wooden case tucked under his arm as he knocks on the door of the apartment that she sometimes occupies.

Comments

[shiva-wusan.livejournal.com]

The door is answered.

Shiva looks toward Dragon.

She is always a little different on her birthday. As if one day a year she joins the rest of the human race.

"Dragon." She manages to sound happy to see him.

[uncommon-sensei.livejournal.com]

Shiva in a pleasant mood? He's seen it before, but it's rare enough that his own smile broadens.

"Hello, Shiva. I thought I might mark the anniversary of your birth with a little momento. May I come in?"

[shiva-wusan.livejournal.com]

She turns to the side to allow him in. The apartment smells of ... something. Jasmine and something underneath it.

[uncommon-sensei.livejournal.com]

For Shiva, this is almost 'girly'. But no wisecracks, today. He sets the carved box on a countertop. "Seems to me like the last time we celebrated your birthday, Ben was still around.."

[shiva-wusan.livejournal.com]

"Quite so."

Shiva pauses.

"Maybe things were different."

[uncommon-sensei.livejournal.com]

"Things change. Constantly. Doesn't mean they're better, or worse - just different."

Dragon smiles, and taps the box. "I brought a present, and I think you'll like it."

[shiva-wusan.livejournal.com]

"There is some wistfulness."

Shiva looks toward the box, a brow arching. "Oh?"

[uncommon-sensei.livejournal.com]

"I need to track down Ben - last I heard, he landed himself a government job.."

Dragon grins, sliding the box towards Shiva. "Open it."

[shiva-wusan.livejournal.com]

Shiva takes the box and opens it carefully, looking at the contents.

[uncommon-sensei.livejournal.com]

Inside, there's a well-preserved scroll that appears to be centuries old, covered with intricate illustrations and detailed Chinese script.

"The name of the maneuver it describes translates loosely as 'Flooded River Fist'. Supposed to be a powerful technique for those with properly balanced chi."

Which might inspire her to seek that balance, if I'm lucky. We'll see. he adds, inwardly.

[shiva-wusan.livejournal.com]

"Truly?"

Shiva carefully pulls the scroll out carefully, looking at it thoughtfully.

[uncommon-sensei.livejournal.com]

"I haven't had time to study it thoroughly.." but he's committed it to memory, of course, so he can do that later.

"The sect who developed the strike ceased to exist almost two hundred years ago. Thoughtfully, they preserved a few pieces of their knowledge for others."

[shiva-wusan.livejournal.com]

Shiva spends time, minutes, looking at the scroll in silence.

Delicately, she rolls it back up and tucks it away.

"Thank you."

[uncommon-sensei.livejournal.com]

As hard to read as ever. "I also bought you a pony."

[shiva-wusan.livejournal.com]

The corners of her eyes crinkle up a bit at that.

"Did you? I shall have to find a place to keep it."

The one day a year she allows herself the luxury of feeling and she cannot allow herself to be truly unguarded. Not around this man.

[uncommon-sensei.livejournal.com]

"Don't worry, it's small." He sets an origami horse on the counter.

"So what're your plans for the day?"

[shiva-wusan.livejournal.com]

Carefully, the origami horse is picked up and inspected. The emotions are kept inside but the ripples are noticable even still.

"I was going to have a pot of tea to start."

[uncommon-sensei.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like a good idea. May I join you?"

[shiva-wusan.livejournal.com]

"It would be difficult to deny you such a request."

[uncommon-sensei.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes you enjoy your solitude. Though not usually on your birthday, as I recall."

Dragon moves towards the kitchen, intending to prepare the tea if it hasn't been brewed already.

[shiva-wusan.livejournal.com]

"No. Not normally."

She is not a woman taken to melancholy or nostalgia very often but there are some good memories worth visiting. The tea has not been prepared yet, though the water is heating.

[uncommon-sensei.livejournal.com]

"Already in progress, I see. Well, we'll let that finish heating up.."

He takes a seat on the counter-top, looking thoughtful for a moment. "So what kind of progress are you making with Canary?"

Hopefully, he can clear up once and for all that he has no intention of stealing a student..

[shiva-wusan.livejournal.com]

Shiva looks toward him and then begins the process of arranging cups and settings - pulling things out of cabinets carefully and almost overly precise.

"She will not allow herself to officialy be my student." There is a pause, the soft clink of cermaic against ceramic. "Still, she soaks in all of the knowledge I offer."

[uncommon-sensei.livejournal.com]

"That's the most important part, isn't it? Making sure the knowledge isn't lost. Whether or not she labels herself as your student isn't a concern."

[shiva-wusan.livejournal.com]

"Yes."

A pause. "Though she will not be my student she thinks of me as a teacher."

Another pause, longer. One of the ones that would become silence if allowed.