Pre-Bonifaas
"I need Alicia for something."
The Nova cook stared at Runali having paid the Captain a visit, she had sent a letter ahead of time, or rather Caleb did warning that Seliria wanted something, and that though everyone else had enjoyed her meal he did not and requested she tell her so when she appeared.
She stared at Runali waiting for the call to take the swordswoman with her, the only thing that stopped her from just grabbing and pulling her along was a request from her Captain's, also outlined in Caleb's letter. Due to Serliria's general….Serilianess she was reminded to be kind to the Captain, thus why Alicia hadn't been stolen in the night with a note.
Runali sat, fiddling through an old newspaper as Seliria spoke. She didn't look like she was paying much attention, but by the way Runali raised a brow showed she was. "You want to take my first mate?" She folded one of the pages and looked at the woman. "No can do. We're already such a small crew, y'know? Getting into trouble isn't the same if the first mate isn't there to try and stop us." A moment passed and Runali crossed her arms. "What's the 'something'? You're not trying to steal her away and throw her into danger are you?"
Selira closed her eyes for a moment wondering how much the young Captain would be missed but was reminded the Nova's said to be nice, she put the notion aside and sighed crossing her arms under her chest.
"You lot can't stay out of trouble for three days," Seliria said before squeezing the bridge of her nose. "Well we are pirates that is asking a lot."
The woman knew well enough how easy it was to bring forth trouble, though at the Captain's continued question she offered a shake of her head.
"Nothing she can't handle. The Lass needs a little bit extra, Imma give it to her. To do that I need her for exactly three days. There's an island nearby, and I can easily have her back here at a moment's notice should a sea monster attack your boat or some ship fires on you."
Seliria waved her hand at the very notion.
"Just a little one-on-one time. She'll be back in one piece and stronger."
"It's luck really." The captain replied in response to their trouble making. She really didn't know how they did it, but she couldn't deny it was fun. The answer Seliria gave wouldn't have been satisfying had Runali not known her. But, the Nova chef was full of life lessons and teaching so she couldn't deny Alicia her time. "Well…" Runali hummed in thought and sighed. "Yeah, I s'pose." She grinned. "Only because you care about us so much of course. Wouldn't put so much effort in otherwise." She sat up and nodded. "Bring her back in one piece and stronger. Three days. Gotcha. And if you drop by again, you can stay for lunch." She snapped her fingers. "Speaking of, Caleb left a note saying he enjoyed the meal and is very glad you're the chef.... Or something along those lines." She mumbled the last part under her breath. "But sure, you have my blessing."
"Is it good or bad…who knows anymore," Seliria said with a small shrug.
She didn't speak for a moment watching as the Captain considered her offer, personally the woman didn't like asking permission for things, the only exception being her own Captains but the Nova's liked Runali and even Seliria admitted they were the more tolerable ones of the Worst Generation…but only by a little.
When the Captain agreed Seliria offered a small nod, the closest things to 'thanks' she was going to offer, though her face twisted into a scowl at the notion of 'caring' about the crew but it returned to it's normal irritable state as the conversation continued.
"…I will consider that next time," was her response to lunch.
Though at the mention of Caleb Seliria sighed waiting for the man's complaint, though at the Captains words the woman's eyes actually widened every so slightly, the smallest bit of surprise on her face, but it faded quickly her eyebrows narrowing.
"…when'd that bastard get taste buds…the hell did he do while I was gone. He probably broke something. I'm going to beat him within an inch of his life when I get back," the woman said gritting her teeth, just imagining him standing over one of her broken possessions.
"We'll depart immediately then. I promise her safety, should you have need of her…"
Seliria held up a small communicative device from her belt, one she knew the Captain's had on the ship as a way of communication.
"It's a portable one courtesy of the soon to be half-dead shipwright, I'll leave my information with you. It works so long as I'm within certain range of a ship."
Seliria went to walk away pausing to wave at Zilia who offered a bright smile and a wide wave in return, though Seliria turned and returned to the Captain holding a notebook out to her.
"Mind putting that in writing."
Selira stood in front of the swordswoman holding up the written note of the Captain.
She had been given a very rough explanation, essentially training, you, need, a couple of day's nearby, Captain's blessing.
"You're with me for three days Tashigi, grab the bare minimum of what you need," Seliria said lowering the note. "I'll be near the dinghy."
Alicia held the note in her hand, reading it fairly quickly before looking up towards Seliria with a semi suspicious expression. "You want to… train me?" she repeated, re-reading the note again before folding it away. Ru had given the ok and since her own work on board the ship had already been taken care of there was nothing which really demanded her time. The Nova cook wasn't exactly someone she wanted to spend an extended time with, not through her own fault it was more a personality conflict than anything else.
Seliria was tough and rough around the edges, not unlike Sara at the best of times although the chef definitely seemed to have a shorter fuse. She'd made a comment during their last conversation which had bothered her, though she hadn't brought it up or pressed her to elaborate more on what she meant by it. "Alright, I'll be along shortly." she replied, tipping her head respectfully before turning to make her way towards her room to gather a few items, the long black coat of the
outfit Sid had fashioned for her lifting in the wake of the breeze.
She'd arrive at the dingy a few minutes later, tossing a sizable bag of necessities into the small boat before stepping onto it herself. The swordswoman detached the mooring rope and wove it around her shoulder into a coil before neatly packing it beneath one of the seats where it'd be out of the way. "Should I ask what it is you mean to teach me or shall I wait till we arrive at wherever it is you intend on taking me?" she asked curiously as she took a seat, lifting one of the oars as she intended to share in the work as opposed to letting Seliria do it all herself.
The woman waited at the dinghy in response to her training question, she wasn't really in the mood to repeat herself after dealing with Runali. When Alicia joined her she looked over at the Swordswoman's bag, back at Alicia then back at the bag.
"The hell did you bring? Your room?"
Her mouth twitched to the side but the woman decided not to make judgements until she saw what was in the bag.
When the boat lowered and the Alicia took the oars Seliria looked at her before opening a book and flipping it open, putting her feet up since the Alicia seen keen on being helpful.
"Island's about an hour away from here," she said. "I expected a tad more resistance so I see no reason not explain some of it, the rest it'll just be easier for you to see rather than me give a long winded response. I'll answer what I can on the way should you have any additional questions."
Seliria motioned in a direction to go ensuring they were going the right way.
"Once we get there we're going to set up camp, and live off the land, hunt for food, medicinal supplies. Live in the wild for a bit. During that time I'm going to teach you a forbidden technique that doesn't rely on the Power of Destruction. I imagine three days will be enough for you if you don't quit halfway."
The woman turned a page in her book her brows arching at what was on the page.
"It'll be easier if I just show you 'what' exactly it is but I'd rather not blow up Lady Luck so we should be away from civilization."
"Well I thought I'd bring enough scented candles to help me cope with your particular brand of attitude." Alicia replied jokingly with a small smile. It'd seem that the swordswoman had developed a sense of humour since their last interaction, the others having rubbed off on her just a little given the time they had all spent together. In all honesty if she hadn't developed one by now either Luro would be dead or she'd have taken her own life as a mercy.
When her hands placed both oars into the water, her left eye lit up in the familiar blue aura… seeming to be able to harness her power though items other than her sword to offset some of the exertion a normal person might suffer through. Of course Alicia herself was quite fragile and petite in appearance, unable to lift anything above a certain weight without struggle. However when channeling her power through an item, it became possible to use that item to command greater strength.
She nodded as Seliria gave a small explanation about what it was they would do, perking her brows at the idea of living off the land and hunting their own food. The last time she'd done anything like that was with her father back when she was very little, camping out for a few days while her mother remained home looking after a Satia whom was only just about learning how to walk. "If it's forbidden are you sure it's alright for me to learn it?" she asked as she began to push them in the direction of the island. She shook her head a little, "Forget I asked, I doubt you would be here if it wasn't."
She was quiet for a time, deciding not to throw question after question at the easily irritable woman and merely remained with her own thoughts before she eventually looked up again. "I am curious though." she began before tilting her head slightly. "Is this something you yourself wanted to share with me, or is this fulfilling a favour asked by my late mother?" Serilia never mentioned being friends with Sakura, but there was something in their last interaction that caught her and gave her an inclination that they might have known each other. The question was likely a gamble and Alicia wasn't a betting person ordinarily, but this time she just had a hunch.
"Humor. Never thought I'd see the day. Though crude it's better than your usual mannerisms, maybe I can actually tolerate you," Seliria said continuing to stare at her book.
Her eyes raised to Alicia seeing the familiar flow from the woman, her gaze seemed to linger on her for a moment but she lowered it back to the book. She didn't respond for a long moment even when she brought up the forbidden technique, there was a decent chance she wasn't paying attention to her, though after she finished her questioning she allowed a few minutes to pass before speaking again.
"The reason isn't important," she said in response to why she was doing it. "Feel free to pick either or both for all my concern."
With a small sigh she closed her book and set it to the side, resting an elbow on the side of the boat she rested her cheek on her fist staring back at the swordswoman.
"You're not wrong, I shouldn't be teaching it to you. It's not something any Feian would know, even if they went looking, that's why it's good for you to learn," Seliria said with a small shrug.
With that said the irritable woman closed her eyes.
"That's enough questions, we'll talk more when we get there."
Halfway there Seliria took hold of the oars to aid in moving to the island, the boat speeding up considerably once she was involved.
When they were ashore and the boat was put somewhere safe Seliria led the way to their destination, they walked through what seemed like miles of forest, the barrage of green almost blocking out the blue sky above until they made it to a small opening in the wood. The woman moved her hands to her hips taking a look around, it wasn't much but it'd be enough for now.
"We'll make camp here, we'll need firewood, to clean the area…."
Seliria listed off the many things they would need to make this place their temporary home for the time being, once done she turned to Alicia.
"We'll do your full training after having a camp, we'll need it. Speaking of-"
Seliria cut herself before holding up a finger.
"There are two important things to keep in mind for this training. The first one is no Power of Destruction," Seliria before holding up a second finger. "The second is no items I haven't approved of, and Shusui is on that list."
She lowered her hand at this motioning to the blade.
"If I sense even the smallest bit of your power come out...in any form or your hand so much as twitches towards your blade you can consider the session failed. For anyone else I'd say this would take a few weeks...a month for others but you're disciplined I'm sure you can resist the urge."
The woman spoke in her usual harsh tone so it was hard to tell if she truly believed in the Alicia but she continued.
"If however you feel the temptation is difficult I'll hold your sword. I'm not going anywhere and I am unfortunately aware how precious it is to you. I won't so much as draw it should you feel the urge."
Seliria motioned towards the forest.
"Our session will consist of small and large tests. The large ones will be where I actually teach you the steps of the art, the small ones are for my own observation. Your first step is getting lunch, there's a boar in this forest, deal with it and bring it here, again without your blade or power."
Seliria's gaze moved to the forest for a moment before she looked back at Alicia.
"Any questions?"
The swordswoman stopped when Seliria picked out a spot to camp, crouching to place the palm of her hand to the ground before taking a deep breath. She could feel the ebb and flow of the island, it's life essence converging around this place. A moment of curiosity crept into her mind wondering if Seliria knew this or perhaps had some kind of subconscious inclination, either way she didn't question it as she stood up again.
Alicia merely smiled when the Nova chef dodged a straight answer, deciding not to pry further about it. However her eyebrows did raise when she moved on to mention the various different tasks and the conditions on which she'd complete them, simply nodding in understanding. "I see, no crutches then." she replied, perhaps surprising that she'd mention her power being something of a crutch. But truth be told she knew within herself that she relied on it to overcome and overpower her opponents, it was a single detail about the nature of her strength she disliked the most.
How could a victory… any victory feel as such when in every situation she came up against she'd apply a tremendous amount of power in hopes of bullying the laws of physics and the law of fate into working to her favour. She remembered a time before her power when she had nought but her experience and skill as a swordswoman. At times she wished that would be enough and in some cases it could be… but every opponent they faced since those days just seemed to get harder, her opponents more powerful. Without having it to lean on, she'd probably have died a long time ago.
Untying the sword from her waist she gripped the saya of her sword and held it out horizontally towards the chef. "Not because I distrust myself, but I fully intend to see these challenges through and I'll do it without any suspicion that I've cheated. Besides, if my mother trusted you then I have little reason not to." it seemed she'd settled and chosen to believe her previous suspicions, especially given Seliria refused a straight answer upon her previous questioning about it.
After handing over the weapon she turned in the direction of the forest before tilting her head back towards the woman. "I'll make a friend out of you yet." her features suddenly broadened into a brighter smile and for a moment both her words and expression would echo the visage of her mother who had spoken those very words back in their earlier days when both had probably been around Alicia's age.
She waved a hand before taking a few steps off towards the nearby thicket. "I have no questions. I'd like to track the boar while we still have daylight." she added, soon disappearing beyond a bush as she moved out of sight.
'Firewood and dinner… no sword, no power… alright Amaiya, let's get to work.'
Seliria offered a nod to her comment on not using her crutch, she offered nothing else seeing nothing wrong with the swordswoman's clearly stated fact. Normally the distrusting woman would have a few words to say to someone being so accepting but she put such thoughts aside for the time being, this was Alicia after all, allowing her mind to fill with such doubts was only going to slow the both of them down.
Seliria looked down at the sword actually a little surprised she was willing to hand it over to her, her eyes remained on Alicia however as she listened to her reasoning, genuinely curious herself.
Her eyebrows seem to lower slightly at the mention of Sakura but she merely took the blade with both hands and a sigh.
"There are an abundance of ways to cheat but the sentiment is acknowledged," Seliria said tying the blade to her waist, making sure the tie was proper so there was no chance of losing the blade.
For her irritated attitude she kept her word on treating the sword as well as possible.
Seliria crossed her arms as Alicia walked away, her brows arching as Alicia turned to face her. She wondered if she was going to complain about something, her eyelids lowering into a narrowed glare though as Alicia spoke Seliria's mouth twitched the side and her eyebrows lowered.
"Gah just hurry up and get the food," she said not trying to hide the venom in her voice.
"Return here with or without food, and don't get gutted by its tusks, it is an adult after all."
Once the swordsman was gone Sakura's visage appeared in her mind for a moment, her grip tightened slightly on her own arms and she shut her eyes.
"I wonder…when I stopped hating that smile."
Seliria clicked her tongue and turning moved to focus on fixing what she could of the camp, and preparing for the actual test when Alicia returned.
The Boar itself was just as Seliria said an adult one, judging by the few scars decorating it and the one over its eye it had suffered it's fair share of battles. It was larger than most boars, easily twice the size of a normal one, it's Tusks were longer, clearly grown to deal with any animal that threatened it.
The first hour after leaving Seliria's company was spent seeking and gathering rocks, leaves and sticks. At first she'd considered digging out a pit and sharpening punji sticks to set a trap but unfortunately there just wasn't enough time to get it done before the sun would set beyond the horizon. Instead she'd sought out water in hopes of finding bamboo shoots, eventually stumbling onto some after following a river upwards towards a clearing beneath a small waterfall.
She gathered three in total, taking a seat on a large boulder before taking one of the sharper rocks she'd collected to repeatedly drag against the tip till it resembled a fine point. Without rope she hadn't the ability to make a bow or a rock-tipped javelin and she was certainly no Luro when it came to aiming projectile weapons, far from it in fact. Of course back home she'd been made to practice archery when she was just a little girl, but she was never any good at it. Instead she settled for fashioning a bamboo spear with a spare.
The third shoot was cut shorter than the other two and extra work had gone into fashioning it into a makeshift sword, albeit not one she'd be able to cut with. It'd make for a thrusting short sword, not unlike the kind of sword Sara would use when she really thought about it.
Tracking the boar down had taken some extra time too, though thanks to the observation haki she'd managed to eventually locate it's tracks before setting about stalking it through the thicket. She had no idea about her haki or how it even worked, she knew she had a higher awareness for noticing details but she assumed it to be a natural consequence of the work she'd put into her training and the experiences she'd gathered along her journey as part of the crew.
Seeing the boar made her tense a little. It was a whole different world to confront something like this without the safety net of her abilities to ensure she'd survive the fight and to say she wasn't anxious about it would be a false statement.
'Alright… let's see what you do with this…' she thought to herself as her hand wrapped around a stone before flinging it into the bush behind the boar, intending to spook it towards her direction as she began to launch a few more from her position crouched behind a bush, dull thumps hitting the ground as she tried to force it closer.
The Boar pawed at the ground huffing a few times, at the sudden rock through he quickly raised his head and looked over at the spot, it lowered it's body a bit clearly bothered by the noise, at the second one it took a single step back observing the brush for any danger, it's body ready to move forward at the first sign of trouble, but it continued to put a little distance slowly getting closer to Alicia.
Suddenly the bush Alicia was at rustled causing the boar to turn in her direction, a fox stepped out of the brush and shook the leaves off it's body, it blinked a few times looking up at Alicia then back at the boar who was already preparing to charge. The fox yipped at Alicia before quickly running off as the boar rushed towards Alicia's hiding spot.
The swordswoman looked at the fox as it blew her cover, releasing a small sigh before smiling towards the animal shortly before turning her attention towards the boar. It couldn't be helped and she certainly couldn't be upset with the fox, this was their home after all and she was merely a guest here.
Standing up she took a few quick steps back as the boar charged, leveling the first throwing spear before throwing it towards the boar with as much strength as her arm would allow. It sliced along the creature's side, creating a deep wound as she threw the second one which landed a little better as it thumped wetly into the boar's chest.
Still the animal continued its charge, prompting Alicia to firm her stance as she withdrew the makeshift sword. Those tusks were a real danger and the slightest mistake here could very well mean a life threatening situation if not immediate death. She steadied her breath, waiting for the pivotal moment before stepping to the side at the last moment, inverting her grip onto the bamboo sword before nimbly twisting back to sink it straight into the boar's eye.
The bamboo shoot sank deep, pushing into the animals brain before she'd release her hold on the weapon to prevent it's momentum from dragging her along with it. The boar collapsed and slid along the ground before coming to a stop and Alicia placed her hands on her legs for a moment as she bent forward and recomposed from the adrenaline coursing through her body.
She'd walk over towards it, gripping the weapon once more before pushing it deeper to double check the boar was killed and not suffering. "Thank you for your sacrifice." she commented softly, leaving the weapon embedded for the time being as it'd be important to ensure the animal kept as much blood in its body to preserve it till she could figure out how to get it back.
It was certainly going to be too heavy for her to lift alone and dragging it would more than likely spoil the carcass. She gave it a good amount of thought before coming upon an idea, one which would help to fulfil her second objective despite the rather tedious method involved.
The Feian would begin searching the area for various sticks, collecting a good amount before setting them into a pile. She began to place them in a compact row in front of the carcass before grabbing hold of a tusk to heave the body onto them. With the body on top of the sticks, she'd have an easier time with less friction between the carcass and the ground allowing her to slide the body back towards their camp while feeding more sticks under the body every so often before collecting them up again only to repeat the process. It took her a long time but eventually she'd manage to bring both the boar and the wood back to where she'd guessed Seliria was waiting.
By time Alicia had returned the clearing actually resemble somewhat of a campsite, there was even a small cleared spot for their fire. Seliria stared at the boar then Alicia, her eyes drifting to the makeshift weapons. She stood and approached the boar eyeing the animal before offering a small nod.
"Good hunting."
The woman reached over and with a small 'hup' lifted the boar off the ground placing him in a designated area she had prepared the beast.
"Have a seat over there, you have a visitor."
Seliria kept her back to Alicia as she walked over and grabbing a few of the sticks proceeded to prepare the fire, Alicia's visitor was familiar as the fox from earlier hopped onto one of the logs, it dropped a pile of acorns near Alicia before yipping at her once again.
The fox turned towards Seliria as she sat a wooden cup of water near Alicia before walking away again.
"Some believe that Foxes serve as a messenger for the deities, they're smart creatures at the very least. She came this way just before you and sat in that spot, almost as if waiting for your return. I could tell you were close as she perked up suddenly."
Seliria leaned down and dug into her boot pulling out a small knife, spinning it she held it out towards Alicia.
"I'll handle the cooking, go ahead and clean him up. Don't waste any part. If you need assistance just shout. Your test will start soon so best we start preparing him."
Seliria handed the knife to Alicia before turning back to her original task.
"How did the hunt feel without your powers and blade?"
Alicia recognised the fox almost immediately and returned another warm smile as she took the offered seat. "We met before the fight against the boar. We seem to have similar tastes in hiding spots." she replied with a small soft chuckle as she reached slowly to stroke the Fox briefly beneath the chin in thanks. She'd pause and turn her attention back to the chef as she handed her the knife before asking her to take care of the kill, her brows once again furrowing a little before she looked up from the knife towards Seliria.
"I'm sorry, but I wouldn't even know where to begin." she admitted with all honesty. "A bird sure, a rabbit certainly but never an animal of this size." she gave a sheepish smile as she stood up and approached the caress regardless. "Fighting without my powers… it was definitely more difficult and I was certainly more aware of the danger." she paused as she gave it some more thought. "But it was actually kind of nice. I'd forgotten what it felt like to rely on the basics, my experiences and instincts as opposed to taking what many would arguably call the easier path... it's become difficult to tell if this power is making me complacent against everything I'd learned before gaining it."
The fox leaned into Alicia's hand a bit as she explained their relationship, Seliria only offered a small nod and almost returned to what she was doing but stopped at Alicia's admittance. She stared at her for a moment before a small sigh escaped from her as Alicia approached.
"I'll show you, it's not too different from that, just a few extra steps," she said turning back around.
Seliria ran her fingers over the boar, stopping in a few spots before pushing only pulling her hand away as Alicia described her experience in the jungle. A 'hmm' was the only thing the woman offered at first before motioning for Alicia to draw closer.
"That's not a bad feeling," Seliria said. "Your natural senses response...and the idea of complacence...hmm. It's a pain to admit but this could work."
Seliria motioned towards the boar giving Alicia instructions on what to do, where to cut, how to cut and how to save what was important. For a moment as she instructed the harshness in her tone left her, the fox at this point had crawled onto her shoulder.
In the midst of their cleaning Serilia wiped a bit of blood off her hands.
"Okay we're getting there. Now Alicia since you're relying on your instincts I'm sure you feel that."
The two were being watched from numerous angles within the forest, upon closer observation there were a fair amount of predatory animals eyeing the two, slowly inching closer to them, stalking them from the brush. It was a strange sight but there were Leopards, a few Tigers, two bears, a pack of wolves, what looked like wolverines and a honey badger, at least that showed there were plenty behind them.
They were surrounded by extremely volatile animals and covered in the blood of what they considered their meal.
"Keeping a long story short...all the carnivores of this island want to eat this guy and for another variety of reasons, mainly due to habitat shifts there are an abundance of them."
She motioned to the next part Alicia had to cut as the predators drew closer, the fox lowered it's body slightly but seemed to understand running off wasn't the best option.
"All right time for the actual test, so long as we have this guy they're not going to leave and the only thing stopping them from attacking us is their own instincts. Which means they can leap on us at anytime."
She reached over and smeared a bit more blood on Alicia's clothes and skin.
"There we go."
One of the Tiger's roared at this and Seliria pointed back at the boar.
"Finish up, we'll cook and eat him. For the time being we just have to hope they don't come at us. I'll keep the fox safe but you're on your own, don't forget the rules."
Seliria walked past Alicia and sat on her log, the predators were aware of the woman but their clear intent was on the succulent fresh boar.
"No sharing either. That's our meal."
The fox yipped and Seliria glanced at her.
"Those who don't work don't eat."
Another yip.
"Don't argue with me."
The swordwoman paid close attention to the instructions, guiding the blade to cut the parts Seilira mentioned while she listened to her explanation. She opened her mouth to ask some questions before closing it again as she decided not to bother, deciding to instead focus on finishing up on the boar. The Nova cook seemed to be reluctant to answer the vast majority of her questions so she decided to simply wait and see if the answers came naturally instead.
She'd look up towards the cook as she smeared some of the blood on her, grimacing at first before giving the cook a half lidded look of slight irritation. "... thanks." she replied in a tone that best conveyed her displeasure to having blood put onto her. Nevertheless she had felt the presence of the other animals, though it was only partly instinct that alerted her.
While she had agreed not to engage with her power, there were certain aspects of it that were outside of her control and the connection between her and the natural world was one of them. The ebb and flow of forces that constantly moved within and without everything living, a current that could be touched and felt upon by a power user which in turn heightened senses and developed a deeper understanding of the world around them.
She unlocked the same connection in Sara back when she took her to an island just like this one, although different in many ways. To awaken the connection almost felt as if taking a first breath of cool air, colours brightening as senses refined perspective. "I'll do what I can." she replied as the cook took her position on the log, guiding the blade forward to finish the boar.
Eventually she'd manage to separate the pelt from the meat, laying it over a nearby log as it could probably be sold for a good price to the right tailor or smith. She then separated the meat from the organs before finally setting the blade down again.
"I see."
Seliria spoke to herself as the swordswoman continued her task, whatever Seliria had noticed she kept to herself but for a moment she seemed a tad more irritated. Ultimately she didn't move even as the predators broke from the wood a few still remaining hidden, bodies lowered ready to pounce. The moment Alicia put the knife down Seliria stood up one hand in her pocket.
"....suppose I can't fault you for that….fine you pass...barely," Seliria said before glancing towards the forest.
In the next moment a feeling would more than likely crash into Alicia, a brief one, like the brush a passing breeze. In the next moment the predators all turned and sprinted back into the woods, Seliria staring in their direction as they left.
The feeling was a familiar one in all living things, whether Alicia recognized it or not would depend on her but it was clear Seliria had made it clear who the 'apex' predator was in this area.
"All right on to cooking," Seliria said moving over to the ingredients. "Soon as you finish eating we should rest, tomorrow's training is simple but...well...depending on what happens it could take all day."
Seliria said this grabbing a few nearby sticks, she tossed a wet rag over her shoulder to Alicia before speaking again.
"Also Alicia, so long as your questions aren't annoying and needless like the annoying persistent ones about me and your mother I'll 'probably' answer them. Worst that happens is I choose not too."
She glanced over her shoulder.
"If you don't know something ask, if you're in doubt ask. For three days that's my job. Observation is all well and good but don't let that lead you to assumptions that will only hurt you….well you already know this. Feel free to ignore that."
She focused back on the task at hand and sighed a bit as the fox hopped off her shoulder staring at the cooking meat.
"....why'd you make friends with a fox, she's never going to leave," Seliria mumbled sighing.
Alicia's response to whatever it was Seliria did resulted in a tenseness in her stomach, her hand raising to press against it as the air around her became lighter yet incredibly dense. It passed quickly enough, though she couldn't say she really understood what it was she did.
She nodded in response, catching the rag out of the air before using it to clean up her hands as well as the remnants of blood she could see on her clothing. Of course a rag wasn't going to clean the blood out of fabric but it would at least dry it for the time being. "I've only asked you one question regarding you and my mother, that's hardly persistent. If you don't want to talk about it that's fine with me." she replied.
"She knew many people and had many relationships on her travels. I can't help but be curious about the life she led which I was never able to see for myself. She must have meant something to you though... I don't need power to see that much, it was written on your face when I brought it up." she added, returning her attention to the fox as she spoke.
The swordswoman would leave the cooking for the Nova chef to take care of. Alicia could cook but this meat and the preparations required were outside of her knowledge and skill set. For the time being she set herself down onto a nearby log before resting the rag down beside her to dry off a little. "I'd like to know more about you though. If we're spending the next two days together I'd rather not do it as strangers… granted you know plenty about me, so it's probably more one sided in that respect." she tilted her head a little before giving a light shrug. "It's up to you of course. I can't make you share after all."
"Once is enough of a bother but I suppose it isn't fair expecting the same response from you, I have to remind myself of the differences between you two and not just the similarities," Seliria said. "The Tashigi sisters have their own ways after all."
At her extra comment on her facial expression Seliria sighed.
"You're going to make a lot of people mad and not understand why. Curiosity is fine but there are better people to ask, she touched a lot of lives...positively and negatively."
Seliria left the matter alone instead focusing on her food, she did it in front of Alicia in case the time came she would ever need the process, or had further questions. The woman was skillful in her work clearly accustomed to living in the wild and the preparations required of it.
It took her little time to get through it.
She glanced at Alicia at her questions, her brows arching for a moment before lowering back into their normal shape.
"...how is everything you do annoying," she said running a hand through her hair.
She left it tangled in her locks for a moment before closing her eyes, she seemed to fight something briefly before lowering her arm and returning to her work.
"...I don't promise to answer everything but you're free to ask whatever. Only fair considering what I know," Seliria said.
After placing the food on the fire Seliria sat down on the opposing log, she looked down at her outfit and the blood coating it before crossing her arms.
"...we'll wash our clothes in the morning...well if you feel a need. There's a stream nearby," Seliria said. "For now eat and get some kind of sleep eventually."
The swordswoman couldn't help but wear an amused expression. "You say I'm annoying but If you asked me I'd think you were just trying too hard to dislike me." once again the humour of her mother began to show but the moment passed as soon as it'd come.
She gave a little extra thought about how the presence of her mother might affect her in certain parts of the world, admittedly having not considered it given she didn't make that kind of connection. Sure she looked up to her mother and aspired to walk the world as she did helping where she could, but she never once considered the two of them synonymous in anything other than a blood relative.
Alicia eventually looked up again before tilting her head slightly as she looked towards Seliria curiously. "I suppose I'll keep my first question open, that way you can be as detailed or as vague as you'd like without revealing more crease lines every time I start talking." she smiled warmly. "I'd like to know your story… where things began and how you ended where you are now." she kept the question short but broad, deciding it to be the best way to learn about her without prying into specifics which would undoubtedly irritate the older woman. "I do have another question, but it can wait till you're finished with this one." she finished, reaching to scritch the Fox behind the ears while awaiting Seliria's reply.
The woman shook a fist at the swordswoman knowing she was going to exhaust herself with a long conversation, it was not that difficult to find things she disliked about her. She put the notion and flashbacks forcing themselves in her mind back and remained silent as he posed her question. Her eyelids seemed to narrow as she explained what she was going to do, her eyes moving over to the fox who happily accepted Alicia's touch.
Her eyes moved to Shusui at her waist and with a heavy sigh she squeezed the bridge of her nose before responding.
"I was an assassin, did a lot of bad things, killed a lot of people some who probably didn't deserve it. Attacked the Nova's, didn't work out, they recruited me instead of killing me, killed the one who employed me to kill them, the end."
The woman gave the summary of her life as she had done so only a few times before, annoying as it was to recall such things, she was told to repay trust by the Nova's, if Alicia could trust her to hold Shusui she could talk a little about her past.
"What else did you want to know?"
Alicia blinked before a small slightly amused smile graced her features. "Did anyone ever tell you that you're a great storyteller? You should write a book." she reached a hand up to smooth through her white hair before nodding. It was enough to give her some insight into who Seliria was, there was no judgement following the short explanation or even a question to follow up about it. The swordswoman seemed to just accept it as it was and moved on without hesitation. It did make sense though and it explained why Seliria was the way she was, Assassins were essentially solitary hunters of exceptional skill after all… not so good with people.
There would be something of a short pause before she'd ask the other question she'd mentioned before, considering for a moment not to ask it before deciding to go along with it anyway. "Why haven't you called me by my real name?" she asked without looking up towards the cook, continuing her affections with the fox for a moment more before eventually looking up with a raised eyebrow. "It's not really that important. I am just curious as to whether you have a reason for it or not." the question was simple enough. Alicia assumed Seliria knew it given the information she had on her, doubly so if she'd been an assassin before joining with the Novas given information was among the assassins most valuable weapons.
"I should have left you to the animals."
The fox yipped at the woman's cold response and she waved her hand at the tiny creature, she reached for one of her cooked meats contemplating her recent choices, stopping mid consumption seeing Alicia stumble a little, or at the very least stay silent. She stared at her awaiting the next question, mentally preparing for another annoying one about her person, though the one she actually asked caused her to lower her food, mouth still slightly agape.
It was Seliria's turn for contemplation, she shut her eyes allowing the question to hang between them. Since it wasn't so important there was no real obligation to answer, but it was apparently important enough to bring up, even if for the sake of curiosity. She seriously considered not responding but with a small sigh bit into her food. Quickly finishing one of the skewers she motioned to Alicia with the stick.
"You didn't say anything so I didn't."
Seliria's angry expression softened a bit and twirled the stick between her fingers as she continued
"You got your reasons for not sharing it, saw no point in blatantly putting it out there. I don't like people talking about my affairs, seems only right I not mess up yours. Tempting at times admittedly, but resisted the urge."
Seliria waved her hand at the very notion.
"Nothing prominent. If you're done I'm going to sleep."
Alicia didn't give a response but simply nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer. She took a skewer for herself, pulling a piece from it to give to the fox when she was sure Seliria wasn't looking. "Go ahead and rest, I'll be up a little while longer." she replied.
Eventually the swordswoman would rest herself down, looking up into the sky where the stars reflected against the pale silver of her irises. She'd watch the lights in the sky while listening to the crackles of the fire, allowing them to beckon her to sleep as her eyes soon closed as she slipped into a soft and comfortable slumber.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~"Do you desire power?"~
Her eyes opened, a blur fading to reveal the back of a woman with white hair looking ahead of her into a white void surrounded by dark. She turned to cast a glance over her shoulder back in Alicia's direction before her lips parted to speak. "I'll save this world… end all suffering." the woman spoke before smiling, her eyes hidden within the shadow cast by the fringe of her own hair. Her smile began to widen across the woman's features as she turned a little more till she stood with only her side facing towards her.
"It didn't have to be this way you know, we could have ended it all together. You and me just like when we were children." her smile faded away, her head tilting up a little to reveal purple eyes peering coldly from the cast shadow, albeit with a modicum of sadness within them. "But in the end, you were always going to be you… and I was going to be me." her hand moved to rest onto a sword not unlike Alicia's although vastly different in colour and the pattern adorning the saya.
Alicia wanted to speak, to reach out, to move or do anything over than watch the woman reaching for her sword with such an expression of coldness shifting towards deepened sadness. "Forgive me." she spoke before her blade released from it's saya with frightening speed, a silver arch closing towards Alicia's face before a white flash blinded her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The swordswoman would sit up with a gasp, clutching a hand to her chest as beads of sweat collected on her skin. Her left eye was ablaze with the aura of her power, though unlike the usual controlled wisp that trailed away from her eye… it was instead consumed in a violent torrent. It dissipated a few moments later upon her realising it before she looked out into the dark between the trees surrounding their camp.
"Almost a whole day."
Seliria walked out of the shadows of the trees, wiping something off her hands as she stepped into the light. Her eyes remained narrowed at the swordswoman though her face relaxed a bit as she stuffed the cloth into her pocket.
"We'll consider that progress."
For a moment there was a glow to the woman's eyes but a single blink caused it to fade, leaving the possibility of it being an illusion of the night. Her eyes moved to the fox sleeping at the woman's side before she leaned against a nearby tree crossing her arms under her chest.
"Nightmare? Thought those were reserved for those with guilty consciences."
There was a strange edge to the woman's words, not exactly aggressive but it was clear she was avoiding letting her normal emotions interfere with her words.
"A memory." the swordswoman replied before seeming to cast her gaze off into the distance as if she were searching for something or someone. "At least half of one, the other a future that might come to pass." she added before lifting a hand to smooth down the side of her hair. She didn't give a response to Seliria's initial comment, feeling in no mood to begin contesting the point she was making. Instead she looked down at her hand for a moment, flexing her fingers a little before wrapping her arms around her legs to support herself a little.
"In all your years as an assassin. Did you ever have to kill someone who was close to you? Or have someone close to you try to kill you?" she asked. The expression on Alicia's face expressed this to be beyond negligible curiosity. Something was bothering the Fein girl and it'd undoubtedly be easier read by the older more experienced woman.
Seliria fought a lot of things in her lifetime, she's fought against all walks of life, she's fought man, 'monster' and everything in-between. She would spit in the face of Jones himself and not bat an eye when her time came, as she would fight against the gods themselves with the same fervor she fought everything else. Yet there was one thing that the swordswoman had trouble confronting even at her current skill level, this great obstacle now lied in her path.
Feelings.
She kept her normal expression on the outside, her cold unmoving stare but internally she was screaming at this situation. It was abundantly clear this was something affecting Alicia, she shut her eyes for a moment at the question and dug into her experiences, not so much her assassin one she already had an answer for that, but with people. She knew how to do this, she practiced this, it all came down to one thing, think before speaking. Don't be 'Seliria levels of harsh', her mental state was important for numerous reasons, the training being part of that. She'd normally blow off any questions pertaining to her life but that wasn't the case now, focus and respond.
"...more than I care to admit on both fronts."
Success! She even managed to say it without her usual level of irritation, after this came the follow-up just like in training.
"If there's something on your mind I'll listen. Can't sleep anyway so maybe this'll help."
Perfection! Now the last step was a touch of comfort to show consideration.
Seliria didn't budge from her spot, that hurdle was too high but her attention remained on Alicia.
Alicia had paid close attention to the older woman as she replied before casting her gaze upward towards the night sky. She closed her eyes for a moment, releasing a long breath before opening them again as she returned her attention back towards Seliria. "Irukia." she replied simply, assuming that the Nova chef would know the name given how much she knew about her past. "Sooner or later the time will come when we'll measure our moralities against one another through our swords." she thought back to that day once again, her brows furrowing. "She's as strong as I am, perhaps maybe more so. I'm expecting to lose."
She paused for a moment on that. "Though the thought of losing isn't what bothers me. It's that I didn't do enough. I have… regrets, that I didn't do enough to prevent what will come or prevent what she would become."
Seliria's eyes seem to narrow a bit at the woman's name, a sign that it was at least familiar to her. She didn't respond for a long moment only listening to Alicia as she had said she would, her eyebrows narrowing at little at her comment on expecting to lose but she remained silent her eyebrows arching a little bit at the mention of regrets.
She looked away from Alicia when she finished, a small sigh escaping from her. That's what woke her up in the middle of the night.
"My memory's fuzzy on that one for some reason," Seliria said. "I think she was disowned or something. If I forget someone it's generally for a reason."
Seliria said this with a small shrug.
"If you'd like I can give you a bit of advice from a woman who's had to slit the throat of a few too many people close to her, I'd appreciate you refreshing my memory of that one though. That way we're on the same page."
Seliria brought a hand to her head trying to remember this 'Irukia', but only bits and pieces came back to her causing her mouth to twitch to her side.
"Irukia...damn it why am I blanking on her."
Alicia considered ending the conversation there, it was a difficult subject to speak openly about at least for her with everything that had happened between her and Irukia. Nevertheless she'd take a deep breath before responding. "My other sister." she replied, exhaling deeply. "We're the same age, although she was born a little after me making me a little older than she is."
"After the first invasion, she began to pursue power as a means to become stronger so she could overcome anything and everything that would try to replicate what happened to our home. Her obsession of this pursuit bore fruit in her achieving grand feats of strength and ability at a young age, though her motivations changed and soon after she'd set her sights on attempting to reach a level that would allow her dominance over the free world. She believes absolute rule to be the key to preventing war and open conflict… of course you know where I stand already."
"Before Kane'Artem she visited me and implored me to join her. She said it was our duty, that our possession of power awarded us the right to rule… to lead the weak and oppress the strong that would attempt to take advantage of those who couldn't fight for themselves. She's not a malicious person, I believe that she truly has faith in her ambitions. But we both know the world isn't so easily pushed around."
"As my own ambitions push me to aspire to walk the world as my mother did, a day will come when we'll be forced to confront each other. If neither of us can be moved by words one of us will die when the day comes for us to draw swords against the other." there was more to it than she was telling, but it'd take all night for her to really get into the smaller details between her and Irukia.
"So you see, my regret is failing her as a sister. I should have tried harder to prevent her from walking this path, to find a way to make her see what she would have to become in order to achieve her goals. On some level I think she knows, it was written on her face when we looked over the charred remains of Hurasai. But anyway... now you know."
Had it been anyone else telling this story it might have seemed ridiculous. But Sakura's daughters withheld the potential to stand at her level one day… perhaps even surpass her and if even one of them let alone two or three decided to try to bully the world into submission, it'd be a very real problem that would ultimately affect everyone in the end.
Selira's hands moved to her hips as she listened, her eyelids narrowing ever so slightly as Alicia refreshed her memory and filled in a few blanks the woman had herself.Her eyes narrowed a bit and for a moment her mind flashed back to the young Tashigi children but she shut her eyes pushing that memory aside, now wasn't the time for that, she opened her eyes focusing on Alicia as she explained where her regrets came from.
It didn't take long for Seliria to realized why she had forgotten Irukia.
She shut her eyes as she spoke a bit of their relationship, it didn't take a genius to know there was more but all she wanted as a refresher, and that was more than enough.
She didn't speak for a long moment, mainly since she wasn't sure if Alicia even wanted the words in the first place.
"Well I see why I forgot her," Seliria said leaning off the tree. "You get a few of those every few generations. This cycle it's the WG next who knows. Easily forgettable."
Seliria said this sitting down with a small sigh.
"Not that I doubt it's an impossibility, sure there were a few who didn't think much of the WG when it first started. Enough time, sweat and sacrifices and anything can happen."
The woman seemed surprisingly casual considering the information she had been given, but she raised her eyes back to Alicia.
"Her response shouldn't be that surprising to you though Alicia. You Tashigi's are a stubborn bunch. Once you fixate on something you don't let go easily, I'm not surprised you couldn't talk her out of it. Consider all the conversations you've had with those questioning your way of life, you're just as bad. Satia's no different, give Hanako some time and she'll be the same."
The woman clearly didn't mean it was as an insult, more a fact of life.
"Battle changes us...especially war. I've killed and almost been killed by people who pursue the same path as Irukia, 'control' as it were. I'd be lying if I said I didn't know someone now with similar pursuits. Violence has a way of shifting our perspectives, for better or worse."
The swordswoman opened her mouth to say more but something caused her to stop, maybe she thought it was a waste of time trying to teach a lesson to someone who may not want to hear it, maybe she didn't want to say it for some other reason, but something caused her to stop. She grit her teeth and rubbed the side of her head, she wasn't her mother, she wasn't her sister, she was barely a teacher, and she didn't ask for the advice, why was she trying to help her?
Seliria's eyes narrowed at this face and she closed her eyes and laid down.
"At the end of the day people will be people. Trying to force them into our way of things is no different than controlling them...but eh I'll leave the nagging to your doctor. More than likely you'll find the answer when her blood coats your sword or yours coats hers. That's how it usually goes in these cases."
"I see." she replied without returning her eyes to the older woman. She released a small exhale, "What will be… will be." she gave a small shrug. "But that doesn't stop it keeping me awake some nights." she looked back towards Seliria and offered a small smile. "Thank you for listening, or at least trying to care." likewise her words weren't meant as an insult, but rather a way of letting the Nova chef keep her desired length away from getting too close and personal.
Her eyes seemed to narrow a bit at her comment of 'what will be' but she just sighed leaving it be.
"....get some sleep, we have a long day tomorrow."
Seliria decided to just end their conversation there, there was much the woman wanted to say but it wasn't her place, she was here to teach Alicia a technique, nothing more.
Seliria didn't waste much time once they were awake and had breakfast, the fox rode on her shoulder as they walked. She had tossed the creature off multiple times but she always found her back onto the irritated woman.
"...ya fed it and now it won't leave us alone," Seliria mumbled to herself as they made their way through the forest."
Their destination wasn't too far from the campsite, Seliria stopped in front a large boulder, just a few feet taller than the both of them and relatively wide, it was clearly a sturdy piece of rock though it's placement in the middle of the forest almost seemed off, considering all the greenery surrounding them.
Seliria knelt down and grabbed a random twig off the ground before tossing it to Alicia.
Reaching over she touched the rock, something flashing over it before fading.
"All right, cut the rock clean in half with that stick," Seliria said sitting down on a nearby stump. "I coated it with a bit of armament to make it fair. No power, go."
The swordswoman caught the twig, plucking it from the air as her eyes focused onto it, a small indication of the observation haki she used without really knowing anything about it. She blinked when the instructions were given, looking towards the rock before casting her gaze down towards the twig nestled between her fingers. "I think you give me too much credit." she mumbled, just barely audible to the older woman.
Alicia had never attempted to cut anything without a sword in her hand, let alone something as small and fragile as a twig. Shusui was heavier than most swords and difficult to wield because of it, not to mention it's other details that made the sword a unique weapon to adjust to. A normal sword with a different weight would probably be uncomfortable for her, nevermind this being an entirely different object altogether. "Well, I suppose standing and staring won't cut it any sooner." she eventually spoke before turning to face towards the rock.
Her fingers held the twig delicately, almost as if it were a wand considering it lacked the length and size for her to hold it like she would a sword. Her footing took stance before she threw her arm in an elegant upward curve, the tip of the twig passing its aim across the rock before a blade of wind licked from it to glide against it. A red line burned against the rock from the blade of air, scaring it but otherwise leaving the rock intact. Alicia however had flinched, having not expected… well, anything at all other than to look a little silly flailing her hand towards a rock.
"That… I.. I'm pretty sure I didn't use my power. At least I didn't try to anyway." she looked down at the twig with a furrowed brow. "Strange... "
Seliria didn't offer a response, only arching a brow as Alicia caught the twig and turning towards the rock waiting for her to cut the object. She could see the uncomfortableness in the woman next to her and gave a silent nod, that was good. This technique meant a little uncomfortableness, things feeling a little unnatural, this was a good kind of progress but she kept that to herself watching as Alicia took a stance.
Though was followed caused Seliria's eyebrow to arch slightly, any doubts Seliria had of Alicia learning the technique faded then. She walked over to the mark and ran her fingers down it before rubbing her fingers together.
"I was admittedly zoning out a bit...but I didn't feel the presence of the Power of Destruction come from you," Seliria. "Well this is a good thing."
The woman walked back over to Alicia and gave her a stern pat on the back.
"This training is to help you hone a technique...but if you happen to learn something new about yourself all the better. The more tools you have the less terrible you'll be in the future."
For a moment the coldness in Seliria's eyes was a little less, her gaze moving back to the scarred rock, the moment passed quickly however and her normal chillyness returned as she motioned towards the rock.
"Still intact though so go again. I'm not giving you too much credit. I know you can cut that with just a stick, I could so I know you can where you are now."
Seliria motioned to the stick.
"Being a teacher yourself….well I'm not really a teacher but you get the point. I'm sure you know this but without technique a blade is basically just a pointy metal stick you're swinging around. If your technique is polished enough, you can cut with basically anything, a blade just makes the cleanest cut. Now, don't think of that stick as just a stick, take a stance, focus, and do what you've always done, if need be visualize Shushui as you do so….if you're lucky maybe you can also do what you did a moment ago as well."
Seliria took a step away from her.
"Again, you can do it Alicia. Also we're working on your Observation Haki later."
It was Alicia's turn to raise her eyebrow. "Observation haki?" she repeated in a questioning tone, indicating she didn't even know what it was. "I've never used Haki before, though I've seen Ru and Jack use it in the past." she added which was telling she hadn't even been aware she'd been using it, likely meaning whenever it had been activated it'd came more subconsciously when needed as opposed to being used willfully as a skill.
Her mother had been exceptional with its use, able to employ it in order to finesse her cuts with staggering accuracy. Like Alicia it was also the reason why the average marksman found difficulty landing their shots upon her as the bullets were merely batted away or deflected back towards the shooter. To Alicia she assumed it to be nothing more than honed reflexes that enabled her to have an answer against ranged attackers, but for Sakura it was an important skill that enabled her to fight even within the most chaotic battles where a bullet or a sword could come from anywhere at any time.
Alicia turned back towards the rock and took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment as she attempted to concentrate on feeling the weight of Shusui in her hand where her fingers pinched the stem of the slender twig. It was difficult and conveyed on her expression which contorted when she realised she'd gotten so used to her sword that she hadn't stopped to consider the sword's weight for quite some time. Not to mention her hand position and grip upon the twig wasn't nearly the same as holding a sword which complicated it further.
Instead she abandoned the idea, opening her eyes as her brows furrowed upon deciding to focus on the basics of technique learned at an early age. All the extensive lessons she'd gotten primarily from her father pushed to the forefront of her mind as she once again took a stance before reducing her thoughts gradually to allow a modicum of muscle-memory to take hold.
Muscles in her arms relaxed as her breathing steadied itself into a rhythmic gentle pace, brows knitting together as willpower pushed from her core towards the tips of her fingers as she swept a second upward arch toward the boulder. Like before a blade of air whipped from the tip of the twig as a circle of wind blossomed out along the ground from where she stood, it cut an inch deeper as yet again a burning red line flashed across the rocky surface.
For a moment it would seem that would be all before Alicia's other hand met to clasp upon the twig as if holding a sword with both hands. And as if holding a sword she swept a foot forwards before bringing the twig across the boulder again in a following downward swing which caused a red flash to momentarily light the immediate space around her as a red blade of air maliciously and violently tore through the rock, scarring the ground in front and behind where the cut entered and left from the boulder.
"O-Oh! It worked!" she hadn't expected anything and in her surprise she hadn't noticed the twig in her hand was now on fire, her attention to it coming slightly late causing her to fling it from her hand with a small "Gah!" before stepping onto it to put out the flame before it spread onto anything around it. The cut through the rock was anything but clean, the partition jagged and slightly bent meaning her control hadn't been absolute during the execution, if anything it was the self doubt that allowed it to happen and might even be responsible for the dark undertone that'd carried in the visual display of the air blade.
Seliria wanted to have a fair amount of words towards their doctor who was supposed to have explained the basic concepts to the crew, but as she took a moment to think about it. Expecting Alicia to already know about Observation considering her ability wasn't that for off. The only reason she knew the swordswoman was using it was years of Observation herself, Zilia barely knew about it.
That was something to discuss later however, for now she was more focused on what was happening in front of her.
The scene would probably look silly to anyone observing from the outside, even Alicia herself seemed to have reservations, but to Seliria who was watching the ebb and flow of her energy it was a sign of the swordswoman's skill. When she cut rock Seliria's eyes lowered ever so slightly before offering a small nod. It was different from how she had done it, but the goal was control not imitation, and in a way it was good she had done it differently.
Alicia should solve problems as Alicia.
She had paid close attention from the stance to the execution and Alicia had just cut a rock in half without the power of destruction. It wasn't a clean cut but now that there was no doubt there, she figured the next would be more refined.
Admittedly she also had to stifle a smile watching her throw away the flaming stick.
"Of course it worked. I told you that you could do it," Seliria said standing up. "Not the way I expected but it got done and you learned something new about yourself."
Seliria walked over to the rock giving it a small tap with her knuckle.
"I may not have put a lot into it but this was still coated in Armament as well, you can be a little proud of what you did."
Seliria looked back towards the rock and the remnants of the strike, if Alicia had this much control then that saved a surprising amount of time.
"We'll have your final test tomorrow. If you're able to handle this much you're pretty much ready for the technique," Seliria said before turning towards her. "That feeling you had when you brought your 'blade' down, that culmination of power...don't forget that feeling. We're going to have you practice that today alongside Observation Haki...which I suppose I will explain to you...as you've been using it after all."
Seliria made a motion to follow her, the fox hopping onto Alicia's shoulder as the woman moved deeper into the woods. A bit of time passed and Seliria gave Alicia a basic lesson in Observation Haki, while having her focus on that 'feeling' from earlier, after wrapping a Blindfold around her eyes.
"Observation Haki is the ability to sense the presence, strength and emotions of others," Seliria stated as she paced around Alicia. "Those who master Observation can even perceive people outside of their visual range, able to see their form like silhouettes. This is of course very high level so it's different from person to person. Basically you can see their aura. Even if you can't reach that level at the bare minimum you'll sense a presence nearby."
Seliria gave a small shrug.
"For comparison's sake I can't see aura's too terribly far but I can sense someone nearby with ease and I've used it for years. Caleb on the other hand can sense every living person on the ship without much effort….thus he's the best scout. I can maybe catch someone in or outside my kitchen at best. Maybe a little further with concentration."
Seliria still wasn't sure why she was explaining this but Sakura's skill with Observation was on a whole other level, if Alicia could harness even half of that she'd be able to hold her own against even more opponents.
"When you sense a bullet about to hit you and you move to intercept it, that's Observation Haki essentially. Needless to say it was a handy skill for Sakura and is for any fighter. Long or short range."
She went onto explain that it's possible to sense the strength and emotions of others as well but for the latter it's possible for a person to hide their true emotions as well, the skill is not flawless. It's meant to gather information.
"Be wary of this however, if you use it unconsciously...you'll sense the negative emotions of a person and that can affect you greatly...you don't want to naturally empathize with pain, fear and hate without consent. It's broken less people."
Seliria went silent at this for a brief moment before continuing pushing aside whatever else she wanted to say there.
"The part that especially matters to you however is the ability to sense 'intent', if you properly harness it, this skill will allow you to see an attack coming before it's unleashed, and so long as you're fast enough move out of the way of it. It's like seeing the attack right before it comes at you, the more bloodlust or killing intent the person has...the easier it is to predict."
Seliria said this before looking back at Alicia.
"Honestly you do this already, just unconsciously. What I want is for you to do it naturally. That being said…."
Seliria trailed off bending down and picking something up.
"You won't be able to sense attacks without intent such as random or unconscious ones. The power isn't perfect after all...but you do use it Alicia. You just do it without realizing it, most users of Observation use it without even knowing it. A few in your crew are no exceptions."
Seliria paused in her steps and let out a small sigh.
"Observation exists outside the natural senses. Even if you're robbed of every single one in some manner. Observation will always show you the way, it's not bound by your bodily limitations so it's important you learn to use it consciously. Now skilled as you are you're not going to master it in one day and I don't have time to train you extensively in it. I have to keep my promise and honestly you're not completely hopeless you'll figure it out. I've given you the basics and knowledge the rest is up to you, so practice by fighting living things blindfolded. Animals are good practice as they attack on instinct, easy to predict, work your way up to people, preferably ones who don't want you dead first, and soon you'll recognize how to use it. You'll get the feeling for it and know how it feels."
Seliria immediately threw a rock at the back of Alicia's skull after saying this, with the intent to nail her in the back of the head.
Although the swordswoman was fairly adept at various forms of training, even she began to struggle to contend with the amount of information the older woman was passing onto her. There was only so much her mind could take in at once and the concept of Observation Haki was difficult to wrap her head around all at once, despite the sense it made when she thought back to previous fights where similar
'feelings' of intent had opened in her mind. "I just… thought it was fast reflexes." she replied with a gentle shrug of her shoulders, lifting one side of the blindfold with her finger while Seliria explained everything.
Truthfully she didn't even know where she'd begin to train such a sense despite her apparent use of it. Fighting animals didn't seem all that pleasant and blindfolding herself against opponents sounded like a recipe for disaster. In fact she briefly imagined asking Luro to shoot at her while blindfolded before grimacing and reconsidering it almost immediately. After taking her hand away from the blindfold she'd been so lost in her thoughts about it, she'd been distracted when Seliria threw the rock until her eyes widened. Her hand instinctively swung upward to pluck it from the air, her fingers wrapping around it as she clutched it into her palm at the last moment.
"I cheated there… '' she spoke while dropping the stone to the floor, lifting the blindfold once again. "I heard it coming, the air-" she began to explain how her affinity with the air element allowed her to detect shifts in the current to her immediate vicinity, essentially hearing the stones friction catch against the air during its momentous shift along its trajectory path. She paused her explanation however, deciding to keep it shorter so as to not burden Seliria's shallow pool of patience. "-I can feel the air moving. It's… complicated." she decided to settle with those few words. "You could try again? Or something else?" she smiled sheepishly.
"Most do," Seliria said. "You do got good reflexes but some of it was Observation. That stick catch back there was one such, I felt it from you."
Seliria eyed Alicia for a long moment before a small sigh escaped from her, it was clear this was a lot to take in, she couldn't blame Alicia. Learning something new wasn't easy, she learned Observation the hard way after all and Caleb said she wasn't the best at explaining things, but swinging at Alicia until she 'naturally' picked up on it wasn't going to work either.
Watching Alicia catch the rock her brow arched though as she mentioned cheating her eyes lowered a bit, she didn't speak immediately however letting Alicia explain the situation. She didn't feel the pull of the Power of Destruction so it was something else, at her hesitation her mouth twitched a bit but as she rested her hands on her hips her brows arched a bit.
"Oh your wind thing...right." Seliria said closing her eyes. "You have a certain affinity for the wind or something like that I believe. It's come up before."
Seliria leaned down and picked up a twig.
"Hold your breath Tashigi."
Seliria tapped it on her hand for a while before raising it and making a quick swiping motion with it, as she did something passed over the two women shoving all the wind away from them entrapping the two in a dome devoid of its presence, the wind struggling to push past some invisible wall the woman had created around them even pushing out the air around them, robbing the area around them of all air.
With a small twist of the stick she let it return, the held gust quickly brushing past them before releasing the breath she herself was holding.
"That's why I can't try something else," Seliria said nodding at her. "Robbing the area of all air would be bad for you as well, I've seen Devil Fruit Users do some nasty stuff with power like that."
She lightly tapped Alicia on the head with her stick.
"You said it yourself right. You're relying on the Power of Destruction. Your affinity for the air is no different so no cheating….though it seemed unintentional so I won't fault you for it. Still you felt it earlier right, when you 'turn off' what you're used to, step into that realm of uncomfortableness, do what feels 'wrong' or 'silly' you learn new things about yourself. I know it ain't easy to grasp, but trust me that trick with the blindfold is the easiest and most efficient. Just do it, you'll pick up on it. That idiot redhead of yours does that all the time, that's why he's able to discover new things, same with the bookworm, your Captain and the rest of them. You're all still fledglings growing and learning new things, that potential is extremely powerful. A swordswoman who only swings their blade in one direction is predictable."
Seliria blinked a few times after speaking, feeling herself that her expression had softened before bringing a hand to her face, she turned her attention to the sky and seemed to take a moment to recover before clearing her throat. The iritiation on her face returned and she seemed a little tenser than usual, waving her hand she turned her back to Alicia.
"Whatever you're not a child and you know which way of that blade is sharp. Take my advice or don't take it, maybe you'll figure out how to harness it another way. If you encounter someone who can beat what you know and you got nothing left you're screwed and got no one but yourself to blame so s' got nothing to do with me what you learn aside from the technique...the hell is wrong with me."
The last part was muttered to herself but she motioned for Alicia to lower the blindfold again.
"We'll go until nightfall, if you rely on that cheat too much I might make the wind lie to ya the next time I throw a rock...with Armament attached to it."
Seliria kept her word as their training did go until the sun had long set, the currently only somewhat irritable woman had taken care of the fire and food for that night as she had forced Alicia to do more than the previous day, and apparently wasn't heartless enough to make her go hunting at the same time, especially after making her climb a mountain the old fashioned way, hand over foot.
Though she did make her prepare the fish and animals she caught, lingering nearby to help if the Alicia needed it.
Seliria's eyes moved to the fire as she held her cup of what she called 'water', swirling it in her grip, the woman's eyes narrowing a bit as she watched it crackle bathing the area with it's warm light, her hand opening and closing as she fought some internal battle with herself.
"Tomorrow you'll formally learn the technique. If you got questions now's the time to ask them, I imagine you'll pick up on it easily enough though. You got the basics down."
As the older woman mentioned the stick her mind clicked as she recalled simply pulling it from the air. She hadn't even thought about it, once again chalking it up to fast reflexes before now considering it in a bit more depth. She couldn't rightly say she felt anything herself, though perhaps she should try to consciously think about her… no, this was supposed to be a subconscious thing… but how can she consciously train for something that was supposed to be natural and therefore subconscious. Trying to get her head around that detail alone made her head hurt.
When instructed she held her breath, observing as Seliria pushed the air away without much effort. Alicia was reminded again just how far out of her depth she was compared to the older woman, more sure now than ever before that her own abilities paled in comparison. When the air returned again she exhaled, blinking for a moment through Seliria's explanation as she wondered for a moment if the woman could read minds, easing a little when she went on to include the rest of the crew along with Luro's name.
"I see." she replied at first before nodding with a soft smile. "I'll try not to disappoint you." she added before the soft smile grew slightly upon the older woman's sudden change in attitude. Of course she knew better than to draw attention to it so decided to instead nod her response. "I won't squander your lessons Seiliria. That you've even offered your time for me is plenty enough of a reason for that." briefly her words would mirror something similar to a previous conversation the older woman would've had with her mother, who once had also claimed to appreciate the cook's time and company… albeit with a smile that the woman probably found irritating much to Sakura's amusement.
By the time nightfall came Alicia was exhausted, a few new bruises here and there from where she hadn't managed to intercept the rock in time or missed it entirely. Body parts ached and her silvery white hair had been tied into a temporary arrangement that somehow still managed to look presentable, something only Zilia appeared to find baffling if not curious. When the offer for questions came the swordswoman had to restrain herself from offloading a mental scrolls-worth that would likely only lead to a verbal reprimand. So instead she picked her questions carefully and within the subject, given the older woman seemed reluctant on certain subjects involving her late family.
"This technique… what exactly will it ask of me?" she asked after considering her wording carefully. Despite the unusual things the older woman had asked of her since coming to the island she was still no closer to understanding what it would all amount too. Being sure Seliria was unwilling to simply explain it all here and now, she thought to at least ask about what it'd ask from her that made it so potentially devastating
Seliria's kept her gaze on the fire even after the question was asked, the woman taking a small sip from her cup as she took a moment, letting the question linger in the silence between them for a moment. She looked back at Alicia and reaching up poked her own chest.
"It'll ask you to both betray and listen to your instincts."
Seliria lowered her hand and downing the rest of her drink set the cup down before tapping the side of her head.
"I mentioned it before right. No Feian would know this technique. That's cause it asks you to do something no Feian...and to a degree most wouldn't do. It asks you to throw everything away."
Seliria said before folding her hands under her chest and pacing.
"Your hopes, your dreams, your beliefs, your love, and everything in between. Tossed into a pile and burned at your own hands, that's the catalyst to learn this technique."
She held a hand up to Alicia realizing what she had said was literally impossible to ask of her.
"You don't have to do that because I'm teaching it to you and I know how to teach it without that step but do you understand why no Feian, Sakura included would know it now? If I asked you to throw away your technique, your teaching, this blade, your love for your parents, Hanako, Satia and Omoiyari, everything your parents taught you would you? Most wouldn't."
Seliria waved a hand at this.
"Even that Irukia fights for something, absolute rule to prevent war and open conflict right? No exceptions. Every Feian...hell most fighters holds their weapon in their hands for something. This technique is only for those that throw that reason away, no honorable swordsman...hell even the scummy ones will know this technique. Even dishonorable one's fight to put money in their pocket. It's because of this only three people exist myself included that can use this power and thus why it asks so much of you. Though that'll become only two soon enough."
Seliria said this stopping her pacing.
"This technique will test the you that you don't know," Seliria said. "The you that you're discovering right now. The Alicia without the Power of Destruction and without her affinity for wind. This technique will test that Alicia. It's honestly quite the dark technique with a dark history, thus why it's forbidden. Of course it won't ask anything of you that you'd consider impossible, just something that won't make sense to the Alicia who wields the Power of Destruction. I can say with certainty that even if someone somehow learned of this technique...they wouldn't expect you of all people to wield it."
Alicia almost immediately opened her mouth to express her concern and to explain how she couldn't possibly comply with such things before the older woman continued with her explanation. Instead the swordswoman frowned in thought, more questions raising while Seliria went on to indicate details that only deepened Alicia's concerns, placing them elsewhere from where they had originally sprouted.
"Only three know the technique… soon to become two..." her brow perked in suspicion towards the cook for a moment before her expression moved to a small frown. "That seems fairly ominous. If by learning this technique some form of harm befalls you in the process, I'll be clear now that I'd be less than interested in continuing with this training." her arms folded, eyes closing for a moment while the frown remained. "And before you tell me I'm entirely wrong, it can stand as an ultimatum. Besides… " he eyes opened as a small familiar smile stretched across her features, an amused grin of sorts tempered by tiredness from the day's training. "We're friends now, whether you like it or not."
As if feeling left out the fox that'd been following them around hopped up onto Alicia's lap, prompting the younger woman to bestow affections with her fingers which delicately kneaded into the animal's soft fur. "With that said and done. I'm slightly confused about something you just said." he expression shifted once more as she resumed her curiosity. "My mother didn't know the technique, but asked you to train me with it to fulfill a promise. That doesn't seem to add up, why would she ask you to show me something she herself hadn't managed to learn?" she tilted her head slightly to the side.
Seliria wasn't a fan of the myriad of emotions playing across Alicia's face, though she expected a bit of resistance at adding the idea. Though her eyes seemed to narrow at the notion of stopping her training, in her mind the swordswoman's strength was more important than some notion of camradire. Today's friend could easily become tomorrow's enemy after all, that kind of thinking led to short lives.
However as she took a moment to really take in what Alicia said her eyes shut as she realized she may have created an understanding, something that prompted her to run a hand through her hair.
Caleb and on occasion the Nova's often reminded her she was bad at extended conversation because she omitted things, she argued back that conversations should last no more than three minutes anyway, and they were way past that, she was never going to tell him he was to a degree correct.
While contemplating her communication skills she seemed to twitch a bit as Alicia posed another question, her eyes moved away from the swordswoman, her body turning slightly at the comment about Sakura. She was reminded Alicia, unnerving as she could be, paid attention to the things around her. While it was a politeness, decent trait and made her a good learner to listen to the words of others it also meant she remembered those same words.
She had this odd feeling the fox was also silently snickering at her.
"Putting the technique's holder's aside for a moment I don't recall accepting any friendships," the woman said with a sigh turning back to face her. "...you always remember the damn annoying details."
Seliria brought a hand to her face and squeezed the bridge of her nose.
"I said the reason wasn't important...and I never said she asked me to pass it along," Seliria said. "Hah...well you'd just ask a bunch of annoying questions or end up thinking about it anyway. I never showed Sakura this technique, partially because it doesn't mesh well with the Power of Destruction. Sakura who was a master of it...and probably one of the only people who understood it fully, or at least to a great capacity…."
Seliria trailed off for a moment looking at Shusui, her hands seemed to shiver for a moment as something leapt forward in her mind, she gripped her pants and let out a shaking breath, forcing her suddenly tense body to relax.
"Well long story short it doesn't fit well with it so I didn't use it around her," Seliria said regaining her voice. "At worst they'd cancel each other out. Thankfully you're still learning to control yours, so it's not so entwined in you that you can't learn this skill."
Seliria poured herself another glass after her answer to Alicia's question deciding to clear up her original mention.
"I didn't mean I'd end up harmed, I'm told I'm not good at communicating certain things. If I had to put it into words this technique has always ended with the student killing the teacher. Not because the technique forces it but it's a 'tradition' I guess you could say. The original holder passed it to their student, due to her overwhelming strength she was poisoned by her student, and that student taught another who killed him, so on and so forth. It's only ever taught to one person, and this technique was passed to the scum of the earth...it goes without saying they'd kill the original owner to keep it from getting out."
Seliria said before realizing she was doing it again and held up three fingers.
"The person who taught me it broke that tradition. He taught it to two children, me and another. I'm going to kill both of them leaving just you and me as the holders, thus two. Well unless I die to one of em' but either way only two will exist."
Seliria offered a small shrug at this and continued.
"Those other two aren't going to pass it along and though I was fine with it dying with me, I figured it'd be interesting to see what someone that's not part of the underworld could do with it."
Lowering her fingers Seliria moved her hands to her hips.
"Anything else? It's out in the open now anyway…..against my wishes of course."
The cook added that last part with a clearly irritated mutter.
The more she learned about the details of this technique the more concerned she began to feel. Despite that feeling the younger swordswoman still managed to maintain a modicum of amusement upon her features as Seliria made a comment about friendship, her amusement fading upon her further explanation about the details why she'd never revealed it to her mother. When the older woman let slip of her stoic demeanor, Alicia followed her glance towards Shusui before looking down towards the fox.
She knew better than to pry into those details, especially in the company of someone who appeared to be often unwilling to share. "I see." she replied softly before remaining quiet as the Nova cook continued to explain about the transition of the technique, more details that Alicia dared not to pry into as they appeared seated beyond a door she suspected shouldn't be opened and with good reason. Then the question finally came with an offer for Alicia to ask more questions which was met with a small shake of the head.
"I think I've stretched your patience for questions thinly enough already, so I'll withhold the rest for now." she said with a small smile, patting the fox on the side to prompt him from her lap before standing up. "But thank you for answering me and… for trusting me." she knew Seliria hadn't said it, but she got the impression there was at least some trust involved for the older woman to pass down something which seemed so dangerous. "I think I'll turn in for the night and rest for the day tomorrow." she bowed her head respectfully to the older woman before turning towards the direction of the tent.
She took a few steps before stopping, turning halfway back towards Seliria. "Oh and friendship tends to be unconditional, at least the purest kind does." she spoke with an expression which indicated she was half prodding the older woman jokingly. She turned back to continue towards the tent without a word after that.
Seliria seemed more than fine to end their conversation there, lowering her arms to her side relaxing a bit as she turned back towards the fire. Alicia's comment on trust however drew her attention again, and she waved a hand at her to basically shoo, denying both her comments wordlessly, though the sternness in her face had softened slightly.
After taking a seat in front of the fire she raised a hand as Alicia left.
"Tomorrow's the last day, be prepared for one of the hardest parts of the training," Seliria said.
Setting Shusui on the log directly next to her she raised her eyes to Alicia seeing she had stopped for some reason, arching a brow as the First Mate spoke to her, Seliria eyes twitched at her extremely annoying comment.
Glaring at Alicia she just pointed towards the tent waiting until she was out of sight before hanging her head letting out a long tired sigh.
This kind of mental exhaustion reminded of her Sakura too much.
Seliria moved away from the Camp a little bit into the night, taking a seat on a log in front of a small stream, the moonlight filtered through the tree's illuminating the area around her that the fireflies couldn't provide any light towards. Half shrouded in darkness the woman held Shusui in with both her hands palms up, staring down at the blade in silence her eyes distant as she gripped the handle of the blade and drew it slightly.
Water surrounded Shusui circling it continuously before Seliria could even fully draw it, images filtered through her skull causing her to quickly sheath it again. The water fell apart at this splashing against the water staining the soil at her feet. Seliria breathed heavily sweat suddenly pouring down her body as if something had attacked her.
The blade Sakura wielded, seeing it's visage forced those memories to return, the ones she kept locked away deep inside. Her hands trembled as she gripped the sheath and she grit her teeth shoving the rising emotions in her back down.
"...I never got to ask…damn it…."
When morning came Seliria made sure Alicia had something to eat before they began their trek through the woods, she had her take a moment to search for her feelings from the other day, and to ensure her natural instincts and experience from their first day were still fresh, climbing without any support the day before was meant to remind her of that as well. Serilia seemed to be taking them to a certain part of the island as the final part would apparently cause a fair bit of damage to the area.
For most of their travel, Seliria had merely been walking ahead with the fox riding on her shoulder, the animal being oddly affectionate towards the antagonizing woman today.
"Oi what's your problem, go bother her," Seliria said looking at the fox.
When she rubbed her face against Seliria, the woman groaned leaning away a bit.
"Keep that up and you're our next meal."
The fox yipped happily and Seliria sigh and looked back at Alicia.
"If you're not knocked out I'll have you back to your crew by evening, just in time for dinner. Already sent word to your Captain. If all goes well and you can harness it you'll be able to use the technique soon. I'll explain the last parts of it then."
Seliria turned her attention forward again at this.
"By the way it should be obvious from our talk yesterday but you won't be able to use this technique and the Power of Destruction at the same time...if you accidentally rely on it...if the 'original' Alicia responds to the manifestation. The energy will dissipate immediately and worst case backfire on you attacking the Power of Destruction itself."
After delivering her warning Seliria glanced back at Alicia.
"I know you can show restraint but felt it necessary to warn you due to my promise. So shove any doubt you have to the side and focus on the task in front of you. I wouldn't have you do something scummy….that woman would return from the beyond to attack me if I forced that on you."
She turned forward again.
"Listen carefully to my instructions one last time so you can learn it as Alicia Tashigi."
The swordswoman didn't mind their journey much, finding that there was always something to be seen and observed if one paid enough attention. From the colours of the local flora down to the stray insect flickering in the morning light between the trees, nature had much to offer in terms of entertainment and it seemed the little fox was no exception. "Like I said, unconditional." she grinned towards the older woman before turning her attention back towards their surroundings as they walked.
When Seliria began to explain more about the conflict between the technique and her innate power her eyebrows raised a little. "Ah, that explains a lot." she replied before deciding to elaborate. "I see now why you asked me not to use my power under threat of ending the training. If I'd been unable to resist using it, the time requirement for me to learn your technique would likely have been longer and that would take more time than you can afford to spend here… I assume."
At the mention of her mother coming back to seek vengeance on Seliria the younger woman could only respond with a small soft chuckle. "Honestly that would be quite the spectacular fight… and a little terrifying." she added the last part with an honest truth. She knew the stories of her mother and the spectacular feats of power and strength she'd achieved during her lifetime, not to mention her mastery over forms of power Alicia was only touching upon. But then Seliria, while more mysterious, had given the impression of her own strength over the last few days and the swordswoman wasn't so naive to imagine she wasn't just as formidable in her own way.
When the Nova cook mentioned about following her instructions she simply nodded. "I'll do my best." she replied simply. She had to admit she was curious to see where and what this was all leading towards, though of course she still carried her concerns. After all if this technique conflicted directly with her power, it could be assumed to represent the opposite concepts of manifestation. And if that were true then she would need to somehow allow herself to become numb to everything she stood for, which wasn't too different from the very explanation Seliria herself had offered yesterday.
The woman tried to glare at Alicia for her comment on friendship again, with the fox no less but the animal's affection forced her attention forward in an attempt to avoid it. At her response to the usage of the Power of Destruction Seliria gave a small nod.
"That's part of it, there are various other reasons but they're not important."
Seliria said this raising a hand and waving as if to shoo away what she considered useless information, for the time being the why didn't matter.
"Hah, this area at the bare minimum would lose a few islands if we went against each other properly."
There seemed to be more energy in Seliria's voice and her body straightened a bit as she spoke of the possibility but perhaps catching herself she cleared her throat and rotated her shoulder shaking off some invisible feeling. The fox leaned over to look at her face causing her to turn it slightly, hiding it from both Alicia and the curious animal.
"I expect as much," Seliria responded simply to Alicia's experts.
The woman went silent shortly afterwards, but as they hopped over a small stream she started speaking again.
"In the underground there are things called 'Happy Domes', they're little arena's, if it helps to visualize them you can think of them like the arean's in Tilea, just less ornate and smaller," Seliria said this with a shrug before continuing.
"Groups like the Blue Kings will take kids off the streets, unwanted or lost and will bring them to these places. They'll make sure they're starving of course and will show them a loaf of stale bread, it's always stale and set it on a little mini platform above the arena. They'll then toss in pointed sticks."
Seliria knelt down and picked up a twig at this and waved it slightly.
"They'll sharpen them not too properly but enough to penetrate skin, it takes a few good stabs though. It's no fun for them if they can get it in with one good stab and defeats the purpose of the exercise."
Seliria lowered the stick to her side ducking under a low branch before continuing.
"They'll then tell the children that 'only one person can have the bread' and then they'll wait. Sometimes days if need be, most of the time the kids will pick up what they mean, children are smart after all. If they don't they'll reword it to make sure they understand the last person 'alive' gets to have it. Eventually someone succumbs and attacks another, after that the place is filled with screaming and crying, that stretches on for what seems like days, until eventually everything falls painfully silent. Then the last one standing gets the bread and is recruited into the organization."
Seliria glanced back at Alicia at this.
"If the kids resist or try to wait it out they'll bring actual food and hiding it fan the aroma into the arena so that stale bread smells like a feast. Long story short eventually someone's will falter."
Seliria turned forward again.
"All they have to do is find the one willing to snap, the rest falls into place naturally."
Seliria rotated her shoulders at this and the Fox looked at her perhaps sensing something from the woman.
"This world has a twisted way of weeding out the weak sometimes. It'll force you to peer into the depths of your own soul, to face yourself, to confront things about your being you'd never thought you see or even knew. So it's important to know that other part of yourself."
Seliria glanced back at Alicia once more at this.
"Just as the Alicia that stands before Omoiyari is different from the Alicia that stands before Jack, Luro or even the clingy one. Just as the Seliria that wanders the seas is different from the one that stands with the Nova's, there's another part to those who choose to fight. For the times you have to face the darkness of this world, it's important not to forget those base instincts of yours. They'll speak the truth that will help guide you in the right direction."
Seliria turned her attention forward again.
"We fear, we hate, we love, we suffer and all of it changes us. Though a pain those emotions help us resonate with others. If you can't understand those emotions naturally there will always be a piece missing when you draw your blade, a force will always be missing from your strikes.
Your mother held Water, your Sister holds Fire and you Wind….and judging by what you did back there it's not impossible you'll learn other affinities as time passes. You'll have to face that foreign side of yourself to do so however, the Alicia that grew as you wielded the Power of Destruction and borrowed the Wind, and with that said…"
Seliria tossed Shusui back to Alicia.
"You're going to need that. If you bind yourself only to what's familiar you'll fail and won't grow...and I'll have wasted two days….you said you'd do your best though so I expect you to control the technique. Now remember what you did the first day, those feelings that ran through your body, then the second day that strange feeling that manifested, take those things and meld them together into one, if the Power of Destruction tries to rise gently set it to the side, if you feel the wind call to you kindly ask it to remain quiet, the voice that calls to you in that moment, that strange feeling unknown to you yet so familiar…when it speaks to you...that is when I'll administer the final part. Now find that Alicia Tashigi. I hate speeches so don't make me having wasted my breath by failing now."
Once again Alicia reached a hand and plucked her sword out of the air with the same precision she'd shown upon catching the twig, only this time she'd been more conscious of it. The feeling of it within her grasp was welcome, comforting like a favourite blanket or a squeezed embraced from a parent. She felt more at ease with it close to her, more… herself, as if it'd long since become part of her which in truth wasn't too far from the truth.
Seiliria's story about the children had bothered her, though she'd remained quiet through the explanation as she listened. As the fox shifted as if feeling something strange so too did Alicia which caused her brows to furrow a little before the feeling was pushed aside. When the older woman laid out her instructions and asked that she recall the feelings felt upon the previous tests she appeared a little confused at first, readable on her features before they softened upon her decision to simply do as was asked of her.
She exhaled a short breath, controlling her breathing as she closed her eyes to think back over the last few days. The killing of the boar which brought guilt and pity among gratitude and acceptance, the feeling of the animals watching her from the periphery of the thicket and how she could feel their hunger. The cut of the rock and the strange awkwardness of the twig, uncomfortable before the eventual surprise upon finally severing the boulder into two pieces.
Everything over the last few days was individually pulled from memory, combined and layered upon one another as if filling a cup. Immediately her power attempted to respond to these free emotions, her left eye flickering to life as the burning aura lit to consume it, the air around them beginning to pick up gradually seemingly from nowhere. But then it faded, the aura extinguishing as the swordswoman gently suppressed it while the wind calmed and reduced to nothingness.
Then it found her, deep within the core of her conscious thoughts. A ball of something, pure and untempered… raw in its metaphysical form that reached for her like a creeping warmth. It was… her, at least what she would have been without the ideologies and self imposed moralities. Her without her power, without her experiences and without anything. It was her and only her, mind body and soul in concept tempered with nothing more than instinct and the basics of what made her who she was.
Just like looking in a mirror her visage manifested from the dark, stepping towards her with a soft tired smile before she brought her forehead against her own. They coalesced and the swordswoman let out a gasp as if taking the first breath after an eternity submerged in water.
Seliria watched Alicia in silence though she grabbed the fox and gently sent it away, at least outside the range of what was about to happen. She observed the power of destruction attempt to form, the wind try to pull towards her but Alicia managed to keep them apart from the growing power within her, the moment she saw that Seliria pointed the stick at Alicia before a burst of energy surrounded the other swordswoman.
Violent Winds suddenly circled Alicia, dyed the color of the evening sky trapping Alicia within the eye of the raging storm, Seliria slowly rotated the wind faster and faster as Alicia peered deep into her being.
The technique had to be passed on naturally, it didn't come from effort, it came from feeling, while Alicia met the other within her, Seliria could only hope those feelings would help finish this final test. This was a power that was harnessed from the unconscious and made conscious, Seliria's hand closed into a fist as she watched the storm raged, coated in her own power in front of her.
Seliria realized quickly her worry was needless, the winds lapped at the focused Alicia scratching the ground leaving sharp indents around her as it whipped around violently, seeking the intruder within its midst, but in the next moment the wind immediately dispersed, the dyed winds suddenly rotating around Shusui, coating it in a gentle warmth and bottled unrelenting force.
All this before the swordswoman took that first breath.
For a moment an unfamiliar curve had formed on the woman's face, but it faded before the other's eyes could open.
Her eyes moved to the energy circling the blade, and Seliria gave a small nod.
"Congratulations Alicia. You've harnessed it...in three days you managed to learn a forbidden technique that would take others years."
Seliria raised her hands and offered light applause, the area around them showed the amount of power that had collided there in that small moment. They had moved away from the forest and it became abundantly clear why.
Multiple ripples had been created into the earth, intense heat mixed with the ferocity of the wind had thrown up the sand around them, turning it to glass mid arc creating a cage of reflectivity all around them, as multiple crags born from their collided power surrounded them, almost blocking out the sun itself with their height, a mini forest of mirrors born from the collide.
"I will commend you for that, you can feel the flow of that energy right, foreign to your own yet familiar, now coated with your own energy and a mix of something else. A technique with countless names, changed for each person that has wielded it to keep it secret. The Nameless Technique….well give it a name, the ability to steal the power of another and make it your own."
It took Alicia a moment to adjust to the scene as her silver irises peered once more into the light. The glass which surrounded them framing the destruction of an intense force she hadn't even witnessed let alone heard. She raised her arm to the side to peer down towards her sword, noting the dangerous albeit warm aura clinging to its surface. She took a few steadying breaths, the feeling wasn't… unpleasant but neither was it a kind thing to experience. "I don't understand." she spoke in a soft barely audible tone.
"The ability to steal power?" it wasn't so much she didn't understand what that meant more so than she wasn't entirely sure how she could begin to apply it. She did feel different, not like how she'd often feel when channeling her power. This was something else entirely and it put her slightly on edge, a fair reaction considering this was the first time being exposed to something other than what she'd experienced before.
She looked towards the broken ground, her expression indicative of a young woman looking for the right question as she explored the new feeling a little more deeply. "I have so many questions. How to even apply it, how I'd even control someone else's power without knowing how it manifests. The limitations of such a thing and the consequences of… " she brought a hand to her head which began to throb slightly. "This is all a lot to take in."
A small nod came from Seliria at Alicia's confusion, the look in her eyes was probably the same she had when she first manifested it. She remained silent watching Alicia come to terms with it, remembering when she had first brought it forth, the person who taught it to her and what he had done to make her used to that feeling. Her eyes narrowed at the memory, that wasn't what she was going to do with Alicia, it would speed up the process but it wasn't the right, at least to her.
Seliria reached forward and gently flicked Alicia's forehead.
"Have you learned nothing the last few days," Seliria said with a small sigh. "You're thinking too much."
Seliria rested her hands on Alicia's shoulders.
"Did you find that other half of yours by thinking about it, did you find your instincts by sitting on a log and contemplating them...do you need to consider which way to swing your sword before you do anything? Don't think about it, don't think about the what if's, how you'll use it. Just listen to the flow of the energy...that 'you' took hold of. I didn't do it for you. By feeling it you grabbed that power. Listen to it, it'll seem foreign, but somewhere in there it'll feel familiar….take hold of that and turn it off...the wind will vanish with it."
Seliria removed her hands from her shoulders.
"You don't gotta understand everything, the energy is waiting for you, it's asking what you want it to do. Just tell it you don't need it right now, and it'll leave your blade. This is someone new you just met, respond to them as you would any other, politely and with respect, it'll do the same to you."
Seliria nodded and took a step back.
"I'm nearby if you screw up so don't worry. Not that you will, if you can grab it, you can make it go away."
"Gah!" Alicia rubbed the spot on her forehead after the older woman flicked her, a small expression of unamusement on her features as she listened to what she was being told. Trying to not think about it was admittedly quite difficult. Alicia was a naturally observant person, hence why she'd been noticing a lot of the finer smaller details tucked away within Seliria's words. Nevertheless she responded with a nod before waiting for the Nova cook to make some distance while she attempted to defuse what felt like a potential bomb of energy.
Her brows knitted together a little as she placed her left hand upon the sword just beneath the Tsuba (Japanese: guard). The energy of it called for her, as if it wished to be used but unmistakingly she knew that it was not the energy but herself who felt the allure of its strength. With a deep inhale she focused her resolve before gently dispersing it away similar in how she'd focused away her power and the wind during the ritual of her inner discovery.
The aura upon Shusui faded and dissipated into the wind, reducing to particles of light which flitted away from her before fading to nothingness. Once she could no longer feel its presence she nodded towards the older woman. "It'll take some getting used to and most definitely some practice. But.. well, it certainly is something." she didn't rightly know what to say about it. Such a technique was invaluable for a number of different reasons and possessed the potential to give her an answer against situations that'd put her in a bind.
Bringing her arms to her sides she bent herself forwards politely towards Seliria. "Thank you for this lesson. You've taught me something incredible and allowed me to learn more about myself than I likely would have on my own." she straightened herself with a small smile. "And like I said before, I'll try not to disappoint you."
Seliria crossed her arms as the energy faded away, her brows arching as the volatile energy faded thanks to Alicia's will, for a moment she wondered if it'd resist her but it listened without fault. She closed her eyes holding in a chuckle. If that was the case then she'd be fine using it, her eyes opening when Alicia spoke again and she offered a small nod to her. Just as she was about to speak however Alicia's sudden bow took her off guard causing her to jump a little, blinking she rubbed the back of her neck, averting her eyes at her smile as a small sigh escaped from her.
"Until the end with this one."
Reaching over she touched the glass, a wave of energy passing through it before it shattered around them, falling to the ground and dissipating into black smoke until only the former sights around them remained.
The Fox leapt onto Alicia's shoulder yipping happily causing Seliria to shake her head.
"Well anyway it's no big deal. I just gave you a push in the right direction. You did most of it yourself. I am pleased you found something else within this session as well, means my time wasn't wasted at least."
Seliria gave a small shrug at this though the woman didn't exude her usual harsh demeanor, her stance even seemed what one could consider relaxed, or at least what it could be considering the woman.
"That technique will grow with you, so long as you practice with it occasionally it'll remain useful. First learn to manifest it without thought, the rest will fall into place. You already know how to call it forth after all."
Seliria waved her stick at this as the winds surrounded the stick again.
"Within all power is a certain flow of energy, to unlock the sense to feel that you must tune yourself to your base instincts, then become familiar with them, and finally recognize the flow in another."
Seliria offered a small nod at this.
"When your opponent throws an attack at you, now you have another option beside dodge and reflect. When the attack nears you…"
Seliria took a few steps forward and raised the stick near Alicia, the flow of energy from it pulling at her.
"You'll now see it's flow if you concentrate. Within that time frame when the attack nears you, you'll recognize the flow, change it into your own and steal it for yourself. The attack's potency will increase temporarily at this allowing you to unleash it back at your opponent with even more power. It's a risky move though but it's considered the ultimate defense...well one of them."
Seliria let the energy fade.
"Good news is you get good enough, you'll be able to stop the flow of their energy naturally without effort causing all their fancy magical attacks to become meaningless….but you'll have to reach that point, which I don't doubt you will with time. It'll become familiar to you eventually….just watch out for those that can alter their flow...eh you'll learn it with time."
Seliria tossed the stick to the side and reached forward petting the fox causing it to lean into her hand.
"Well anyway. You'll feel all this out yourself, I can tell you what it actually does now that you can feel it, if I told ya before you'd just focus on the process. Perhaps you'll even be the one who manages to combine this Technique with the Power of Destruction, make the impossible possible. Either way I'll look forward to your growth. Get a bit stronger and I'll show you something else one day."
Seliria moved away from the fox and arched her brows at Alicia.
"Still you are tenacious aren't you. When I first used this ability I couldn't move my body at all due to the extreme amount of energy it took. Granted I was child at the time but I thought at least your legs would give out. Figured I'd be carrying you on my back for this last part, saved me a bit of work though so no complaints here."
Seliria shrugged and walked past Alicia.
"Well let's head back, we should get back by evening."
Alicia eyed the stick curiously, noting that she could perceive the flow which was certainly not something she could do before. With the power of destruction the flow of power wasn't something you could see, save for the igniting aura of her eye which was unique to her due to her past with the death spirit Anduin. It's flow was vastly different and something you could feel in order to tap into it, this was something that appeared to require a good amount of notice and timing based on how Seliria explained it.
"Ahh." she let out a soft exhale as her smile remained. "I had wondered whether we'd be meeting again, it's nice to know there will be a next time." She expected this comment might be irritating but she wished to make her feelings known regardless. Alicia wondered about combining the technique with her power, of course she'd certainly try given she'd probably enjoy attempting to push and break such boundaries. But before that she imagined it'd be better to practice and become more familiar with it first.
Remembering what the older woman had said before, combining them would just cancel the other out or much worse. So even if this new technique was less of something to be understood than taken at an instinctual level, she would eventually seek to find a way to bring them together in order to expand her horizons further. Alicia was pulled from her thoughts when Seliria commented on her tenacity, her cheeks reddening slightly which made it her turn to avert her gaze as she became slightly bashful.
"Well I think that's probably thanks to what happened when I first learned to ascend my form. The power I felt was tremendous and afterwards I had to lean on Runali for support. Maybe it toughened me up a little for something like this." she lightly shrugged her shoulders, not truly knowing if that was why as she only guessed it to be the reason. She nodded at the mention of heading back, stepping in line with the older woman to make their way back before a thought occurred to her. "You know I could always fly us back, using my ascended form." she offered.
Alicia hadn't attempted full flight before, mostly using it to remain airborne like the first time she'd used it and again shortly before they thought Zilia had died. Still she was confident she could do it, in fact she'd felt the capacity for it but hadn't needed to in the past, not to mention there was also the trade off for becoming a more obvious target while in flight . "And if it makes you feel better about it, I wouldn't even have to carry you physically."
Seliria's eyes lowered slightly and a wordless grunt escaped from her at the mention of meeting again but she made no further comment on it. Seliria seemed to lean to the side slightly as Alicia turned her head but straightened back as she spoke to her, getting to see the mask drop apparently entertained her for a moment, but she paid attention to what Alicia told her.
That was certainly something interesting and would make a lot of sense.
Seliria's pace didn't slow at the offer, her gaze moving over to Alicia as the Fox hopped back onto her shoulder against her wishes, her brow arched at her but she turned her attention forward again.
"Well if you can fly then don't let me stop you," Seliria said stopping at one of the tree's. "If you can manage it yourself then you don't need an escort, go on back to your crew. Also don't forget to give the technique a name. Every holder must do so, even I had too. That's the one tradition that can't be broken."
Seliria said this moving her hands to her hips.
"You got a lot of potential Alicia, you, Satia and even Hanako. I could see the pride in Sakura's gaze when she looked at you two. I'm sure she'd feel the same even now….I'd probably never hear the end of it.
Seliria sighed at the very idea and continued.
"The flow of the Power of Destruction within you is different then the way she wielded it….but I don't think that's a bad thing. You're still growing, harnessing its power and learning more and more about it, you can only get better with it. That technique will accompany you now as well, you'll learn to see the flow of others energy naturally one day, and your Observation is already improving. One day I'll appear before you again when you're stronger and if you still need a push in the right direction I'll give it to you, otherwise I'll just test to make sure you're not rusty."
Seliria waved a hand.
"Go on before I say something else stupid and out of character, I swear being near any of you makes me soft. Go keep safe what's dearest to you."
Alicia brought a hand to her chin, looking down to the side in thought for a moment before her hand fell back to her side. "Khijin 'Ce Rin. It roughly translates to 'return to sender' which seems appropriate. Khi for short I suppose." she nodded, seemingly satisfied with her choice of name. When the older woman mentioned that her mother would have been proud she felt her chest tighten a little, an emotion surfacing which was soon suppressed as she returned it with a smile. "Thank you, that means a lot." she replied.
After Seliria spoke of her power and the future Alicia seemed to steel her resolve with an expression of determination. "Then I should make sure I'm still here to greet you when the time comes. I can already envision the path ahead, long though it might be… I'll work hard to become stronger. For my sake." she added the last part as a subtle change to her usual demeanor of altruism. Perhaps it was just the smallest amount of visible growth which indicated an opening path where the swordswoman was finally looking inward instead of constantly outward.
She stepped away from the older woman after she told her to go. "I suppose it's time. Any longer and I might decide to start calling you aunt Selly." she flashed a small amused smile indicating she wasn't serious, though unbeknownst to Alicia the only person to have ever given the assassin such a name had been her late mother. Sakura had opted to call her by that name at times during her younger years, insisting upon it as a term of endearment and fondness, almost always delivered with a knowing grin to accompany it.
A sudden burst of light erupted from the young swordswoman as her form ascended, the golden ribbons that rooted to the ornate choker embedded to her porcelain body suspended in the air behind her. "Take care, Seliria." she spoke before lowering herself to a crouch. She'd thrust herself into the air a moment later causing the ground beneath her to crack into a pattern similar to a cobweb, two crescent moons manifesting behind her which began to release a burning winged light which propelled her forwards at speed. Within a moment she was long gone, finally leaving Seliria alone with her thoughts.
"Well that's better than the name those two gave it," Seliria said.
She decided not to comment on the name she gave it as well not wanting to let that enter the conversation, the woman's mouth seem to twitch a bit as she watched Alicia and her eyes averted at Alicia's thanks. She didn't need it for stating facts but her body relaxing a little showed what her face refused too.
Her eyes moved back to Alicia and she offered a small nod glad she was thinking of herself, she'd grow stronger herself and that strength would protect the people around her.
Seliria's whole body twitched however at the 'name' she gave her and the woman narrowed her eyes as Alicia took off, she shaked a fist at Alicia as she soared through the air. Once she had turned around however Seliria's first opened into a small wave before her arm fell back to her side.
Shutting her eyes Seliria crossed her arms under her chest, Sakura's face flashing in her mind for a moment, that annoying name spoken with her voice echoing through her thoughts.
"...I told you to stop calling me that," Seliria mumbled opening her eyes.
Her gaze moved in the direction Alicia had gone, her grip tightening around the stick in her hand.
"...she'll surpass the both of us one day Sakura...well if that trouble they constantly get in doesn't kill her." Seliria said with a small shrug. "Though she's durable, sides a little trouble's good for ya. Still...it seems a part of me can't help but-"
Fire crashed into Seliria, the flames quickly enveloping the swordswoman before she had time to register the attack, her eyes widening as the flames covered her.
Three men emerged from the shadows stepping fully into the light, fire circling around the hand of one of them as they tentatively took a step forward, blades resting on their backs as they stared at the flames that had consumed the woman.
"...did we get her?" one of the men asked.
"....I hit her dead on," the flame wielder said. "I believe so...still she didn't so much as scream...our employer was right."
"Check the body," the third man said. "Can't be too careful."
"You lot couldn't show up a few minutes earlier?"
A tenseness filled the men's bodies as a voice spoke through the flames, their eyes glued to the fire they watched as the flaring red dissipated revealing Seliria, completely unharmed with black fire circling around her stick.
"I could have given Alicia a proper demonstration."
The men swallowed, forcing their fear down and two drew their blades causing Seliria's eyebrows to arch slightly.
"Professionals...you're already ready to strike again. Did Silva hire you?"
"Like we'd tell-"
Just as the men raised their foots to take a step black flames consumed them, the fire rushing over their bodies, the men's mouth's opened in silent screams as they were burned to nothing in seconds, the flames consuming every part of them in one motion.
The fire wielder's eyes widened before his gaze moved to the dark flames surrounding the stick, he recognized immediately that was no longer his fire, his flames couldn't do that.
"They...couldn't even scream…"
"I'm not a patient woman and I don't like asking twice," Seliria said walking forward. "Doesn't matter none to me if you don't answer. When you don't come back my message is delivered either way."
"Draw your blade then," the man said drawing his own as flames surrounded it. "I will not speak their name either."
"This stick will suffice."
"Fine," the man said swinging his sword, flames exploded from the blade towards Seliria, her eyes narrowed slightly as she kept forward towards the approaching fire.
"Dark Apotheosis," she mumbled.
The fire that barreled towards her quickly changed direction moving past her, splitting apart to avoid touching her, purposefully moving past the approaching swordswoman as she walked towards the assassin, the man's eyes widened and he continued to swing his sword towards her, the flames continuing to flow past the woman no matter how many he flung at her. Seliria raised her stick causing the fire to crash into it, turning pitch black as it surrounded it, before she brought her 'weapon' back.
"How-"
The shadowed flames crashed into the man cutting him off, his eyes widening as the lower half of his body was completely burned away, turned to ash before the top half of his body could even crash to the ground.
"Know that you were probably used as a message, so your 'pride' and death wasn't worth anything."
Seliria kept her pace tossing the stick onto him which burned the rest of his body away as she continued back towards her boat.
"....Khi huh...that's so much better than mine," Seliria said bringing a hand to her face. "Not that I can tell her that…."
While she lamented about her younger self's naming convention the fox stood in her path causing her to stop.
"....did she send you to watch over us?"
The fox seemed offer a cheerful yip and quickly ran back into the forest Seliria sighing.
"....for some reason I'm in the mood for Feian tonight. That's what we'll have."