Not a Spot Check

October 20, 2018:

Colleen's sensei pays her a visit and delivers a mission.

Chikara Dojo

Characters

NPCs: Bakuto, emitted by Danny Rand

Mentions: Danny Rand, Luke Cage

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

The Chikara Dojo closed up an hour ago, its Sensei saying goodbye to her late night class of college-aged women looking for some self-defense classes. The dojo is dark and quiet, but something about it relaxes Colleen almost to a point of meditation. She walks across the padded floors on her bare feet, feeling the bamboo flex just slightly under her soles. The wooden dummy has been set up at its center, and she has seen the arm repaired in recent days. She holds the shinai loosely in her grip, the wrapped hilt of the wooden practice sword dirty and worn from extensive use. She has its guarded tip pointed at the ground as she walks toward an open space where she can go through her evening forms while hse waits. Knowing that Bakuto would be arriving soon, she left the door unlocked even if it brandishes the closed sign in both English and Japanese on the wire-reinforced window.

*

Bakuto's approach is quiet - to a degree that barely seems possible for a human being. He steps into the space with arms held behind his back, shoulders straight, chin up. "You've infused this place with a calming energy, Colleen. No wonder so many students have been drawn to your tutelege already. You are to be commended."

He moves through the space not like a visitor, but like someone who has every right to be there. There is something about him that is both ready and relaxed, confident, yet mellow.

*

At his arrival, Colleen drops out of her initial form and immediately turns toward him. She keeps the shinai low as she offers a gentle bow toward him, inclining her head down with a small dip of her eyes. Then she looks up to him before her dark eyes cut around the dojo. "I think any place where they feel safe draws the kids you have me looking after. They just want somewhere that they can just be, some place that their families can't give them." She shrugs a shoulder slightly before she reverses her grip on the shinai, holding it without any intentions or purpose. Her lips thin a bit, but any questions building in her throat are kept behind her disciplined tongue. Bakuto will let her know why he's here without her prompting.

*

"Indeed. And that's why you're here, why we've given you this place. To help the young find purpose and direction. To help them learn to defend themselves from a world that seeks to do them harm." Bakuto walks further in, towards her. His hands move from behind his back to clasp gently together. A smile blossoms on his lips. "Can we have tea? I have something to discuss with you."

*

The recitation of her purpose squares her shoulders a bit. It is a reminder that she's actually here for a purpose, and not to just struggle to make ends meet and to find her best income as a street fighter. It helps her find the honor in her task once more, and that seems to be what she needs. His request, and rejoinder, both incite a quick nod of affirmation. "Of course. This way." She gestures with her shinai toward the rear of the dojo where her living quarters reside. She starts to lead the way, pausing once to place the shinai in its basket with the others so she can enter her living quarters without it. The kitchen is small, cramped, but purposeful. She is quick within it, finding the kettle and the unmarked tin of tea. She glances toward him almost expectantly, hoping to assuage her curiosity while she works.

*

"You seem tense, Colleen. This is not a…supervisor doing a spot-check. You can relax." Bakuto's smile remains and he consciously relaxes his manner as he takes a seat at the counter. "I do have some important thing to discuss with you, but I'd also like to know how you're doing." He motions around in general, "How this…place is doing. How your students are doing. If you have everything you need."

*

"Sorry." The apology is almost mumbled, but some of the held tension in her shoulders relax automatically. She breathes out a slow breath, and then glances over to Bakuto. "It has been a long few days." Then she gets the kettle on, spurs on the gas stove, and then gets out two cups. "This place… is doing okay. Advertising isn't as easy as expected, but the business is stepping up. Quite a few classes now, but…" She clears her throat a bit. "Funds are tight. I'm managing though," she reassures him as she creates two tea satchels with her cheesecloth pouches.

*

"This place is an investment. While we want you to be self-sustaining, we're here to support you. All you need do is ask." Bakuto has a way of seeming at-ease even when a situation might not call for ease. he folds his hands in front of him on the counter. "You're building something here. It will take time. And we want you to bring your training to those most in need of it. So your prices need to be low, and even free for the most needy. That's a directive we gave you, and we'll help make up the shortfall if you're feeling the pinch."

He watches her, his gaze warm and thoughtful. "I know you're putting pressure on yourself. You always have. That's what's made you such a good student, and such a wonderful teacher. But you're not alone. You have us. Don't let your pride stop you from calling on your family."

*

And some of the kids that Colleen were helping with some of the most needy, from families who couldn't care where they were and if they came home at all. She knows this, and something about it connects her closer to her students. All she tells Bakuto is a quiet, "I know." Then she turns to face him, leaning against the counter beside the stove while she waits for the water to boil — or almost boil. Her grandfather taught her how long to count in her head to know when the water is hot; it helps that New York City and the coastal cities of Japan have close sea levels, she doesn't even have to adjust her mental countdown.

Her head dips a bit at his observation, and she nods soberly. "I want to do this on my own, but I know you are always here if something goes wrong, Bakuto. If things get too bad, you know I will come to you without hesitation." Or much hesitation. "Give me another month, and I think I will have some more secure funds. Private lessons for self-defense has been the best for income so far, and I have a few more coming my way."

*

"And thus we come to the reason for my visit. Or, the main reason." Bakuto smiles and dips his head in a way that might seem shy or sheepish if one didn't know what a formidable fighter he is, and how respected a sensei. "I'm always happy to see you. It's been strange to not have you at the compound. But I've known for awhile that you've needed to spread your wings."

He takes a moment and looks around, then back to her. "There's someone who has come to our attention who could be an ally or a foe. We'd very much like to make him a friend. And we believe you would make a good bridge. He's been perhaps…given the wrong idea about us by zealous masters. So we believe an indirect approach might bring better results." He takes a breath, and then, "Have you been following the news about Danny Rand?"

*

Colleen arches her brows slightly then at the sheepishness that overcomes Bakuto, and she almost misses her mental countdown by her own curiosity. Then she is turning smartly, taking the kettle off before it gets too hot and thus scorches the leaves. She pours over the satchels in each cup, and then — with her fingertips at the rim — picks up Bakuto to offer to him while taking her own. She bumps with her hips off the counter and steps to the table where she can sit, offering Bakuto to do the same. But she stalls at the mention of Danny Rand, and her mouth thins as she lowers into her seat. "The billionaire, right? Rand Industries?" She tucks her legs under the table, both hands curling around her cup. The word masters lingers with her. "Who is he to us?"

*

"Indeed," says Bakuto as he reaches for the cup, but does not sip. He'll give it a moment longer, which could be seen as a subtle criticism of her tea-timing skills. It's hard to say. It could just be that he prefers his tea steeped a little longer. It's one of the most frustrating things about him as a sensei. Sometimes his criticisms and his praise are writ large, other times they're frustratingly quiet.

*

"We believe Danny Rand to be the Iron Fist - the bearer of a power that he neither fully understands nor can completely control. He has been given untruths and half-truths by his masters. But with the right approach, he could be brought into our family. He has potential, but also arrogance. And his prejudice against us means we cannot approach him directly. So in your dealings with him you must not under any circumstance tell him about who we are. Not until he's ready to have the scales pulled back from his eyes."

*

Colleen was lifting her cup to her lips, but stops at Bakuto's hypothesis of who Danny Rand is. She blinks, startled. The Iron Fist was one of those bedtime stories that she was told — nothing serious, or at least, that's what Colleen had thought when she was told of it. "Isn't… the Iron Fist meant to destroy us?" Her words are quiet, apprehensive — on edge, sensing a threat to her family. She frowns. "Then, the masters do believe that he could be an ally?" For that, it is important for her to believe that Danny could be part of the family, that he could be redeemed from the path he has chosen as a person who could undo all the good those like her and Bakuto are trying to achieve. Her mouth thins. "How in the world am I supposed to approach a billionaire who could be the Iron Fist?"

*

"With the same finesse with which you approach young people looking to find their way," says Bakuto while making eye contact with his student. He sips the tea and betrays neither pleasure nor displeasure at its taste.

"We believe Danny Rand to be lost and unsure. He is most definitely a student of K'un L'un who has been displaced from this world for over a decade. He may be a billionaire, but he wasn't raised as one. But he has been raised by zealots who have filled his head with misinformation, lies and half-truths. Because he is unsure of himself and his purpose, we don't believe he is beyond saving. And we'd rather have him as a friend than an enemy, whether or not he is in fact the Immortal Iron Fist."

*

Colleen traces the fine etches of flowers that decorate the cup, its contents forgotten. She has her brown eyes fixed on Bakuto, not just listening to every word, but observing them, too. The mission laid before her is an interesting one, and it fits right into Colleen's purpose in life. She guides, she teaches, and she prepares young minds and souls for their larger purpose. This is a larger purpose. To bring someone like Danny Rand into the Hand, to bring him into this tight, protective collective… it could change everything. The Sensei looks up toward Bakuto after a heartbeat of introspection. "I'll do it." Those words are said as if Bakuto was here to give her a choice, but accepting the choice — even if it was an illusion — is far more powerful than a soldier following blind orders.

"Where can I find him?"

*

"Excellent," says Bakuto as a smile blossoms onto his face. There's even a shimmer of pride in his eyes. He is a strange creature, her sensei. He is at once warm and distant, protective and stern. He is a protector, but someone it feels unwise to disappoint. "I suggest you try and make a connection through indirect means. A man like him has people approaching him directly all the time and he has firewalls in place to stop people from getting too far. But don't concoct too elaborate a ruse. And you may be wonderful at many things, Colleen, but you are not the world's best liar." The pride in his eyes turns to a sparkle of mirth. The gentle ribbing of a mentor to his student.

"He's friends with a man named Luke Cage who owns a bar named after himself in Harlem." He reaches for a piece of paper and jots down the address on the back of a receipt he finds lying on the counter. "I leave it up to you how you approach him. Rand has started a community center in Hell's Kitchen. Rumor has it that he's looking for a martial arts instructor to teach classes a few days a week. Seems like an ideal fit, does it not?"

*

The gentle ribbing prompts a rather relaxed smile on her own face, and she narrows her eyes at him through the humor. "That you know of." Then she shrugs a shoulder. "Besides, lying to Rand when we're supposed to be showing him the better path would backfire." She presses her lips together as she considers a more legitimate way to guide Danny when Bakuto offers his own suggestion. Her brows arch, and she takes a small sip of her tea before she glances down at the offered address. She looks over it, and she brushes her thumb across the faint indent the pen-tip has left in the thin, slick paper of the receipt.

*

"Ideal," she agrees in a single word. Then she nods slightly. "Might give us another place to recruit, too, and he can witness how we provide students with ways out of these lives they life." She takes another sip her tea before she begins to casually fold the paper. It slides between her fingers as she makes stark, firm lines. It gives the illusion she is trying to fold origami, but she merely folds the triangles over and over again in an idle fidget. Then she looks up at Bakuto. "That reminds me… I have a student who is about ready to apply for the scholarship. I think you'll like him. Good kid."

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