The New Winds

Once again, Sasaiko is in the dojo's tea room, cleaning it and making it ready for another round of practice.

Perhaps it was practice, but the young woman hadn't offered Saburo tea that he considered offensive in the slightest, which... was an improvement over several of the ones that he had encountered in his time already here. And, frankly, his nerves were just enough on edge from his second attempt at meditation and the morning's activities that relaxation was... appreciated.

So, when he saw her setting up, he bowed at the doorway. "Toritaka-san. I hope I am not intruding on your practice." As usual, that voice of his sounded like rocks grating, but he didn't look upset. Despite the rain outside he might even have looked a little better than past days. Perhaps the air coming off of the bay inland had been good for him? Hard to say.

Sasaiko bows. "You are not intruding. Indeed, the practice relies on having more than one participant; I would be grateful if you would take tea with me."

"Thank you for the invitation," he said, taking the seat opposite her and looking around briefly. The instructor was not here at the very least, and he recalled how critical the woman had been of small missteps, not that he faulted her. Perfection should always be the goal. "As you say, more than one are needed for the ceremony, and it is of benefit to both of us. Are you expecting anyone else?"

"Originally, yes, but I had a note that the other would not be in attendance. So," she says, and she begins the ritual.

Unfortunately, while the tea turns out adequately, she drops the whisk after its use, spoiling the serenity of the event (Tea Ceremony 10).

She takes a deep breath, releases it. "Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to practice again. I appreciate your forbearance."

"I am beginning to realize," he said as he took a sip of the tea and began to relax somewhat, though not enough to replenish his inner reserves. "That certain specific disciplines are difficult for us to truly master early on. Meditation continues to befuddle me. My mind wanders constantly to the previous day's activities. The tea is not unpleasant, however."

In truth? He had had so few truly proper experiences with the tea ceremony that he wasn't about to complain too much on the matter.

(OOC: Heh, I've come to the conclusion that Meditation and Tea Ceremony don't really start coming into their own until you're squatting on 6k3 or higher. Cause, ya know, orokos. The curse of being kids.)

Sasaiko nods.

"Perhaps it is the unfamiliarity of the setting, as well. It is easier to block out distractions that have become familiar, and these are not yet so."

Especially with that Mantis boy around.

(OOC: Yeah, I can see that--but I also did so well early on...)

Oh gods, that man. He had developed opinions of that foul-tongued sea-salt smelling, incomprehensible bug of a man. yes, he definitely would agree with anything negative someone might say about him right about now. Assuming that was the nature of Saseiko's inability to concentrate and not ... other things that Saburo didn't seem capable of thinking about as a rule.

"There is that. I did find it easier to meditate within my own dojo, though I admit that I have always had something of a problem concentrating. I am told we will have centering lessons, so I hope they help."

"That would be welcome, indeed."

She pauses, considering.

"One wonders how our elders do it as they do. Is it simply practice for them, or is there something we are missing?"

"If it were merely practice, I suspect that you and I would have already found the trick of it. My sensei insisted that there was an aspect of openness to the universe that I have had difficulty doing. My mind is always roiling too much, I fear, which is a thing that I am hoping the session to come will assist me in fulfilling." A grunt and he folded his arms, nodding to himself.

"The void... cannot be described. I have tried, tried to understand it, but it is a thing beyond us, deep and abiding, impossible to completely conceive. It simply is and is not, and embracing that ... is just something that happens? Embracing the potential of all things?"

Sasaiko shakes her head.

"I don't yet know. Clearly. Or I know it, but not well enough to know how--or to know it reliably, if that makes sense."

She shakes her head again.

"How to know unreliably..."

"How to reliably know the unknowably unreliable easily enough to embrace it on a whim." A shake of his head and he frowned. "Honestly? I would guess that most adults can't do it nearly as well either. It just seems like the sort of thing that takes training to get to a certain point, but isn't something you can completely train... Very odd."

Sasaiko nods.

"It is odd, indeed."

She begins to put the tea set away. "Perhaps I will stumble into it with more practice, and not only today."

"It is said that true mastery," he said, helping her with the aged, delicate instruments as they were being put up. "It requires a real comprehension of the void. That without it, we are not a complete person. So, perhaps there is truth there, but without a greater grasp? I cannot say."

She looks at him as he helps her.

Gentle touch, she thinks.

"Nor yet I."

Gentleness and careful, obsessed precision had a funny way of sharing traits at times. In this case? They definitely did. The pieces were supposed to be treated with the respect of heirlooms. That might have been the only true lesson he'd been taught by his mother on the subject thus far. "In time? Perhaps we will have enough understanding in a few days? I certainly hope the instructor's help will open our consciousness."

She gives a puff of laughter, suddenly, covers her mouth with the back of her hand.

"There are some as might need quite a bit to open, I think. None here, of course, but some."

"One or two seem to almost magically be entirely open already." Was he implying that certain people here were empty headed? No, perish the thought. But he was thinking about it very hard with a certain Doji. "But... hmmm, yes. I think there are a few who may have a ... particularly hard time opening their consciousness."

He didn't laugh, but his sense of humor was undeveloped. He definitely agreed. They might even agree on a few of them, but he wasn't going to volunteer their names too easily. Wouldn't be good to gossip would it?

There is another puff of laughter from behind the hand.

"Asako-san, it is a pleasure to speak with you, indeed!"

He blinked, looking at her curiously. "I'm sorry, Toritaka-san? Did I say something funny?" Yes, he really was that wooden about so many things. "You are rare among most. Sister used to say that the other students found me hard to keep the company of as a rule."