paradisalost | thread [fin] ⇉ teaching a dog owed tricks?

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thread [fin] ⇉ teaching a dog owed tricks?

Who: Kazu (

jetting) and Ino (

ireadurmind)
What: Meeting for A-T lessons.~ ~~(Wtf, all of my characters are doing this.)~~
When: Sunday afternoon.
Where: The lobby, and then wherever else.
Rating: C for cute?

Kazu had decided to do a little warmup of his own before meeting this "Ino" girl at the front door. He didn't want to pull something in front of her and embarrass himself, or something, so just a few old track stretches-- a lap around the castle-- that sort of thing. All of that, and he still managed to be fifteen minutes early.

He waited against the wall next to the beautiful double doors that served as Cair Paradisa's entrance, watching ghosts drift by with the tiniest bit of suspicion, white beanie pulled down low over his forehead. His eyes and ears were trained on the staircase. He hadn't asked what Ino looked like, but she knew him, and so...

His thoughts drifted to before his arrival, and he found himself backtracking, wondering when the amazing change took place inside him-- the change that would allow him to teach someone else the basics of A-T. Not too long ago, he was in that place himself...

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Ino had been reading the journal, writing, completely distracted from her afternoon plans - and then, glancing at the time, she slammed the book shut with a gasp. Rushing around her room, she slipped her shoes on, rummaged through her closet to find the A-Ts Kazu had made her, and then slammed the door hurriedly behind her.

Usually she wasn't late, and this time was not going to be an exception. She rushed down the stairs - ten flights were no big deal to a ninja, right? - but made sure to pause before descending the final flight of stairs to fix her hair and flatten out her miniskirt.

She came down the stairs with a smile, spotting Kazu's hat easily. It wasn't a common item in her world, so it definitely stood out. She walked up to him, A-Ts dangling by her fingertips, head tilted to the side. He seemed a little distracted, somehow ...

"Kazu~!" she announced loudly.

Kazu was a little too distracted. He didn't even notice when the ninja (did they ever make much noise?) darted down the stairs. It was her voice that startled him out of his thoughts, and he jerked to attention. "A-ah! You must be Ino-san."

A shy smile crossed his face, and he couldn't help but rub at the back of his head. "You're the first person I've met since I got here. Anyway-- you're ready?" She had A-Ts, which apparently he'd made himself, and she sure seemed eager enough. Kazu wondered in the back of his mind if touching those A-Ts could bring back some sort of memory, or if he would have customized them differently.

... Huh.

Ino giggled. He was the same as ever, wasn't he? Kind of quiet, kind of awkward, very cute. "That's me. Good to see you again~"

The first person, huh? Well, better her than some creep - there were far too many of those around to count. It was probably best that she got to him before someone crazy.

"I'm ready," she nodded, holding up her A-Ts. They were still pretty new-looking, no scratches or blemishes, since she had only used them once or twice. "There's plenty of space outside, so it shouldn't be hard to find a place for practicing," she added as she pushed open one of the doors easily.

It was a good thing Kazu couldn't read minds, then. He was just glad that she wasn't too upset over the forgetting. He really hated stomping on people's feelings, especially when it came to girls; Kazu treated them with a reverence, tempered by his sister's role in raising him, that people like Ikki and Onigiri just couldn't appreciate.

"Yeah, I spotted some good places beforehand." He found himself drifting easily beside her. "Do you have somewhere in mind already?" If not, he'd find one.

She shut the door behind them, breathing in the outdoors air for a moment. People often complained that the weather was always the same, here, but it was always the same mild climate in Konoha. She wouldn't mind a little rain now and again, but it wasn't bad.

"I didn't have anywhere in mind," Ino shook her head. "I figured the master of the art here should be the one picking where'd be best to play~" she said playfully, winking.

Kazu loved the outdoors, too. He wasn't quite like the crow-brain, but the blond often needed to run, needed to see the open sky to remind him that the world was bigger than their little school and the places surrounding it. Paradisa was definitely less rainy and cold, but he was still awkward about this place. Just how long would he be here before he got out? God knew he'd tried.

"Oh, oka...y?" Master of the what? Kazu shook his head a little, unable to control the slight blush leaping to his cheeks. "I'm not a master of anything. Ikki's the one you should be talking to for that." The remark was given without any sort of bitterness whatsoever-- even a smile included. He really admired Ikki, didn't he?

"We should start somewhere with a paved road, you know. Why don't you put on your A-Ts now, and we'll just ride around the castle paths for a while?"

Was he just being modest, or something? "Well, really I meant that you know more about this than I do ... but I thought you had that one Regalia?" Ino blinked curiously. Maybe this Kazu was from a different time period or something ... Was it bad if she mentioned something to him that happened in the future and it hadn't yet? She didn't know much about what he did back at home, but she did know that Kazu was very talented at what he did.

Ino simply nodded, bending over slightly to put on the skates. Once they were tied on, she moved around a little to make sure they were on tight enough. "Okay, let's go~!"

"Oh! Well, yeah, but having a Regalia doesn't make you the best Storm Rider. They're difficult to use, and if used incorrectly, can cause injury to the Rider." There he was, tugging his hat lower again. "I still have a lot to learn about mine..." That tone-- he was definitely musing on Spitfire again, but not for as long.

"Anyway, enough about me. Do you know stopping, starting, and turning?"

Ino rolled her eyes. "I've seen you use it before. You're really good at it." Definitely being modest. What was the point of being modest, anyways? Like Hinata. She was always shy and quiet ... it was way more fun to be loud and outgoing, wasn't it?

Starting, stopping, and turning. Those were the basics, and Kazu had already taught her that much. "Yeah, I've pretty much got that down," she said, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. That was easy stuff - and besides, it was the awesome tricks that she had come down to learn, wasn't it?

Kazu just couldn't get away from the compliments. Ino was forceful, but all the same, he knew that she wasn't flattering him when she said things like that. It felt new-- new, but nice-- to be recognized for his abilities. And Kazu knew that he wanted to be noticed, just as bad as anyone else...

"Alright. The basics take a while to learn, and without knowing them inside and out, you can't progress. Let's go." He didn't want her to get hurt over something trivial-- and hadn't they agreed upon lessons? That was how Kazu saw it, anyway. He flashed Ino a slight smile, then took off at a speed comparable to a run. It was easier to go easy after his own training beforehand.

A little laugh escaped her. Without knowing the basics, you can't progress? Damn straight. It made her remember that this Kazu didn't know that she was a ninja (yet). She found herself almost wishing that either he or she got a scrape so she could surprise him with her healing jutsu. Yeah, she wanted to show off. So what? It just went to show how radically different she was personality-wise from Kazu.

Ino smiled back, and took off. She followed behind him fairly easily, checking around her occasionally to make sure she was balanced and steady. It was only a little bit faster than how she ran normally, but it was a bit of an adrenaline rush all the same.

Kazu certainly thought Ino was more than she seemed, but he couldn't quite place it. The only ninjas he'd ever encountered were in A-T teams and that was more costume than anything else.

Kazu glanced behind him as Ino followed, watching her check her balance. Her posture was good-- really good. Maybe she knew martial arts or something. His A-Ts spit gravel as he turned sharply onto another path, one that ran close to the castle wall. The distant sound of clanging could be heard, as well as the scent of food; they were somewhere in the vicinity of the kitchen.

But Kazu didn't just stop there. He kept riding, straight toward the wall, and then he sailed through the air. His wheels dug almost painfully into the wall. There was a moment's hesitation as gravity dared pull at the jet, and then he kicked off the wall, flipped, and landed like nothing had happened. He was panting, but that was beside the point.

Ino was about to yell for him to watch out, when she realized it was intentional that he was heading directly at the wall. She watched closely as he went up and flipped off the wall and back onto the track. Her mouth dropped open a little in awe - last time she had seen this trick it was a lot less .. well .. stunning. Who did Kazu think he was fooling, anyways? Not very good, my ass.

Ino skidded to a stop next to him, before grinning and clapping. "Very well performed. I say ten out of ten." She mimicked holding up a sign with the number on it, like in sports festivals.

Kazu seemed oblivious to the awed look. He snatched off his beanie, ran a hand through his hair, and put it back on. Little rituals like that kept him sane. The clapping made him blink a bit and instinctively look away.

"Thank you, but.... the point isn't to praise me, it's to teach you how to do it," he reminded gently. "Now. Can you break down what I did into four steps?" Time to see how observant she was.

Ino raised an eyebrow at his response, recalling what he did. "You built up speed and headed towards the wall," she said, making a gesture with her finger towards the path he had taken towards the wall. "Then you attached yourself to the wall and went up. Kicked off, and then flipped in the air and landed," she finished, pointing up the wall and off it, back onto the ground.

She paused for a moment, realizing that he probably didn't need her to explain it - did he want her to try it? She glanced at him curiously. "Or did you mean actually do it?"

The jet crossed his arms and nodded as she spoke, a little twist of a smile working its way into his otherwise pensive expression. "Good eye." As long as he wanted to teach her, she couldn't see his true potential. Literally. He was still unsure as to how much of his skills she'd seen...

"The doing part comes next." He gestured to a spot further down the road. "Start from there, start running, and then jump onto the wall. Wall-riding itself is a skill that comes after weeks upon weeks of practice-- usually-- so I'm not gonna subject you to that just yet... Any questions?"

"Hey, you have to be able to see what's going on in a fight if you don't wanna get your ass kicked," she shrugged. Not that she didn't appreciate the compliment, of course, so she shot him a grin.

"Nope, no questions, sensei~" she said, half-joking. She wasn't too keen on taking it so slowly, but she supposed Kazu was the one who knew what he was doing here ... still, it might be funny to see what his reaction would be if she just stuck to the wall. She backed up to where he had pointed to, and took off towards the wall. Timing was goin to be everything here ... she came close enough to the wall where she needed to jump. She lifted herself off the ground and jumped up onto the wall. Chakra instinctively shooting through her legs, she moved up only a little, and instead remained parallel to the ground a few feet up. She leaned back a little to look back at Kazu, upside down, still stuck to the wall.

"How's that?" she asked loudly, hands cupped around her mouth.

Kazu tilted his head a little at that remark. "So you're a fighter?" Made a lot of sense. Or a dancer... She had good reflexes, and an easy sense of who and where she was at any given time. It would come in handy. More than that, even, if she could keep practicing.

Kazu glided back a little in order to stay out of the way and watch. Her posture was good, speed: excellent. She looked like she could attempt the whole trick, but all of his worry washed away then-- replaced by a plain, obvious gape.

It took a good five or ten seconds before he remembered how to speak. "I-Ino-san, how are you-- how are you doing that?"

"You could say that," she replied, not wanting to give it away quite yet. It would be much more fun to wait and explain it later when she really used her skills.

Ino laughed. His reaction was even better than she had imagined! "It's easy," she said, taking a step or two forward. "A little different on wheels, but you just focus your energy in your feet."

She hopped down easily, gliding back over to where Kazu was standing, turning to look again at the wall, scaling it in her mind this time. "You think I can try the whole thing, sensei?"

"Hmm?" So she was being evasive. Oh well. There was no doubt his curiosity was piqued, though, so Ino could be sure that Kazu was watching her very closely. Even right now, as she clung to the wall. "Focus into your feet, huh? That sounds like wall-riding, but that was definitely something else. I've never seen anyone do that." Not without spinning the wheels against gravity, or sticking into the wall violently.

Kazu studied the wall, ran over his personal performance in his head-- followed by Ino's. Maybe he was underestimating her. "Yeah. Go for it!"

"It's a little different than that," Ino said, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. "That is, it's something you use without skates, normally."

Ino smiled at his assessment. Backing up again, she put up and arm and shouted cheerfully, "Here I go!" before taking off again. She knew what she was doing, now - right?

She made it to the wall and jumped again, cheating a little bit and using chakra to pull herself up the wall the same way Kazu had. Once she got to about the same place where Kazu had kicked off, she did the same - only to notice, the skates were too heavy, she couldn't turn the way she had planned to in the air. Ino ended up doing a bit of a twist in mid-air instead of the full flip, and landed with a bit of an irritated look on her face. "Damn it."

Kazu nodded once or twice. "Something to do with your fighting abilities?" Seriously, he had never heard of anything like that. Just wait 'til he found out she was a ninja.

The blond watched carefully as Ino launched herself at the wall. Everything was good good good until she misjudged her weight and didn't go anywhere. He gave her a slight smile in consolation and drifted over to the wall to stand beside her. "Relax, it's fine. You need to make the A-Ts work with you. The keyword here is accelerate. If you don't, you won't be able to center and control yourself enough for a flip, let alone wall-riding."

Ino nodded. Boy, was he in for a big surprise once he saw what else she could do ... she suppressed a giggle at the thought of Kazu's confused face.

"Right, right," she said, tucking her hair behind her ear again. Asuma had never really done extreme training with their team, so she had never really tried anything with weights like that before. She glanced down at the skates, lifting one of her legs up to test the difference between her legs normally and her legs with the skates. It wouldn't be too difficult to pull herself around in a flip, it'd just take more energy than she thought it would.

"Okay, I think I got it," Ino said, determined look on her face. Backing up easily to the designated starting point, she took off towards the wall - this time, performing the trick much closer to the way Kazu had originally. Not perfectly, of course - it would take much more practice to do it that well.

What was she giggling about? Ino was not only mysterious, but just plain odd. Kazu confessed to never having understood girls. He understood his sister-- most of the time, but there were also times where he thought he'd been born in the wrong century or something.

"Alright, try again." The jet watched Ino closely as she took off toward the wall and flipped. He thought perhaps she was expelling too much energy in that, but with practice, she'd learn the right amount of her own energy in comparison to the capabilities of the Air Trecks.

Ino landed with the sound of light applause. "That was great, Ino-san! You found your own way to do it, which is pretty remarkable in itself," Kazu said with a small smile. "Do you want to try it again?" Until he thought of a new trick to teach her, anyway.

Ino glanced over at the sound of clapping, smile on her face. It wasn't the best, but it was pretty damn good, and that was the best she could ask for on her second try.

She bent over in a little curtsy, jokingly, before standing up straight again and sighing happily. "Hmm, I probably should, huh?" Ino glanced back at the wall, looking at the tracks scaling upwards. "I can do it a few more times, but I wanna learn other stuff, too~"

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thread [fin] ⇉ teaching a dog owed tricks?

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