(Day 9 LA) Practice for the Birds

[Miya Mei]

Mei walks with determination to the Dojo, fire in her eyes.

When she arrives, she bows as appropriate and then immediately begins setting up an elaborate contraption using various bits found either around the village or from the dojo.

When she finishes, a shibai stands up on end with pieces of grass tied to it. In front, two buckets are set. One on top, hanging from the ceiling, angled to slowly drop water drops into the bucket underneath, with a rope to speed up the stream.

Setting the device in motion, Mei takes her stance. As the water drop falls, she draws her blade and swings, catching it on her sacred steel, the follow through cutting the tiniest blade of grass from the shinai.

She repeated this over and over, deadly focus on her face

[Soshi Bantu]

"Miya-san is quite skilled." Bantu speaks after entering the dojo and watching the exercise for several minutes. He offered a bow to the practicing Imperial. "Far too much so for me to think I could offer a reasonable challenge."

[Miya Mei]

Mei finishes her last strike and turns to face the voice.

"Good afternoon, Soshi-san."

She bows and sheathes her blade with a satisfying clack.

"Your compliment is much to high, but I thank you. Are you a practitioner of the art as well?"

[Soshi Bantu]

"Only enough to get myself in trouble should I be called upon to use it." Bantu riposted with a self deprecating grin. "In the words of my sensei, 'Soshi Bantu understands the nature and mechanics of the forms, but lacks any true grasp of the soul within them.' I can only hope that I can rectify such shortcomings with time."

[Miya Mei]

"With daily practice you can of course. Though, I admit, there is something to be said about the soul of it as well. If your heart is not in the art, you will always be overshadowed by those whose is."

She motions to the device.

"Still, practice makes the gap minuscule. Would you like a try? The goal is to be swift enough to catch the drop, but precise enough to only slice the tip of the grass."

[Soshi Bantu]

Bantu takes a moment to analyze the engineering of the construct that Mei had created, he walked around i a few times mentally calculating distances and angles. He couldn't help it, it was the way his mind worked.

Calculate every variable, take into account the humidity causing the water to hang to the bucket for that extra fraction of a second, estimate the angle of the grass, the best mechanical approach for the blade... These thoughts and a million others flooded through his brain before he settled into a stance that he had assumed a thousand times before.

A stance that did not fail him today. A few deep breaths and his blade swept out, the water droplet gleamed on the edge of his katana as a single blade of grass floated slowly to the ground at his feet.

"Like that?" Bantu asked, a little surprised at his own efforts, but trying not to show it.

[Miya Mei]

Mei nodded.

"Excellently done, Soshi-san. I have seen students take weeks to learn the timing, let alone the precision."

She smiles every so slightly.

"I am Miya Mei, by the way. It is a pleasure to meet you."

[Soshi Bantu]

"I think the knack, for me at least is the understanding of the system you have constructed. My instructor seemed to think my technique is too much up here," Bantu tapped his finger against his temple.

"And not enough here." He patted his chest right above his heart. "But I guess if we all danced to the beat of the same drum, the world would be a boring place. Anyway, I am Soshi Bantu, most recently of the Shiro no Uragiru Dojo."

Running through his memory, Bantu couldn't recall seeing Mei's name on the roster at the beginning of the miai. "Have you only recently arrived Miya-san? I can't remember seeing your name on the list of attendees when I checked it after I arrived."

[Miya Mei]

"Hmm. I would like to meet your sensei I think. Though to be fair, I would like to meet all who train in the art. There is just so many things to learn from one another. As you say, a different beat of the drum."

Mei nods at the question

"I arrived late, as my horse had suffered a sprain along the way and needed rest before we could travel here. Unfortunately it seems the Unicorn were not very understanding on this matter and their nadoko has put me quite low on the list of eligible candidates."

"Has the miai been treating you well?"

[Soshi Bantu]

"Probably blame you for the horse's laming." He only half jokes. "As a group, I've noticed they tend to place quite a high emphasis on compassion especially to livestock, above that which I would normally attribute to a samurai of the Empire."

"Unfortunately the fates have not been kind to me here. I have suffered some minor maladies, no fault of our hosts though," He is quick to clarify. "Just some minor inconveniences that have kept me from participating in some of the events, and even when I have had the opportunity, it seems my skills were overshadowed by others. But such is the struggle to prove one's self, it is only in defeating ourselves that we truly achieve failure."

[Miya Mei]

"I find my skills have been overshadowed in the few events I have been able to participate in as well. Or just plain not useful. The Unicorn have a wide range of things they find a samurai must know. It is much different than what I would have expected. To me, a miai is very similar to that of the Topaz Championship."

She shrugs

"Though, that may be because of my schooling."

Mei ponders on the last sentence Bantu spoke for a moment.

"There may be some who say only in defeating ourselves can we truly grow. That the mind and body of each of us is our greatest opponent, and teacher."

"Look at me, sounding like a Dragon though."

She lets out a half laugh.

[Soshi Bantu]

"But if one battles oneself, is there not equal chance that we shall learn the lessons of loss and defeat as much as triumph and victory? For every yin there is a yang, is this not what the taijitu teaches us?" Bantu does spare a laugh at the thought of Scorpion and Imperial debating Theology like a couple of mountain dwellers though.

"But Miya-san is right of course. It is within us all to find the path to victory or defeat, it is those who have the courage to seize their path that are destined for greatness."

[Miya Mei]

Mei thinks more on the words and gives a firm nod in agreement at the end of Bantu's statements.

"It makes you wonder...what path with the Unicorn take. They have many laid before them and how they respond to those choices may have significant impacts to both their clan and the Empire."

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki quietly stepped into the dojo once more, bowing to the other two in greeting before stopping to look at the contraption that the Miya had strung up with a curious face.

[Miya Mei]

Mei bows to the newcomer.

"Good Afternoon, Asako-san."