5628/Rand, Wing, and the way of the Iron Fist

Rand, Wing, and the way of the Iron Fist
Date of Scene:	18 March 2021
Location:	Chikara Dojo
Synopsis:	Danny and Colleen discuss Black Sky and practice the subtle art of distance, angle, and time.
Cast of Characters:	Colleen Wing, Danny Rand

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Colleen Wing has posed:
    The dojo is empty save for Colleen at the moment. Still dressed in her black gi from teaching the advanced students class. She has a jo in her hands and is practicing the varied and sundry movements. Like a dance across the tatami mats she is making it look effortless even as the jo moves fast enough to sing against the air; rhythmic beats go from low to high as she changes its velocity for actual strikes versus parries.

    There is nothing uncontrolled about the way she moves, she moves in cohesion with the quarter staff. Its mass and momentum powerful enough that a mistake would send it flying away from her as if it had a life of its own. For her, it does, she can feel it moving about and her efforts guide it, rather than force it to do or go anywhere. It becomes a living creature in her minds eye and she its partner.

    So in tuned with all that's going on right now, her awareness expanded, she happily greets Danny without even having looked at him, "Danny. Come in. I'd say shoes off but you rarely wear them anyway..."

Danny Rand has posed:
Danny, to his credit, had been out a bit early to do some following up on a lead of one of the artifacts stolen from the Demon Prison, as he called it. He's not costumed up, at the moment, but he's not dressed to go to a board meeting wearing a simple set of track pants and one of his comfy T-shirts that's seen better days.

He moves in, unsurprised she can tell he's there. And, to his credit, he has a newer set of sneakers on, but he does remove them and gives a light bow to keep with the tradition. "I wore them today, but only because people kept trying to give me change when I wandered around without them," he notes, grinning amusedly. "I was in the neighborhood, thought I'd pop in."

Colleen Wing has posed:
    Almost as if to prove the point, Colleen seems to stop interacting with the jo for a moment and it twirls in the air as if suspended there by its angular momentum. She holds out her hand and it spins around her palm and she catches it, plants the butt on to the mats and turns to face Danny.

    "Hah. Finally, the glorious Iron Fist submits to sneakers," she teases. She walks back over to the wall and places the jo up on it and invites Danny to join her. She always enjoys learning more of the way he thinks and moves when he fights. It's been a few years of it now and she's no longer a slouch having found how it has enhanced her own style and possible explains things her grand father never got around to teaching her yet.

    "What have you found? do you have a target? Given how the Hand seem to have quieted down their drug operations in China Town lately I feel antsy and want to go stop some bad guys, you know? I don't want to lose my edge."

Danny Rand has posed:
"Who knew that athletic footwear was the greatest enemy of our day," Danny says, arms crossed over his chest. "Also Luke said I had to wear better shirts and stop showing off my tattoo. I think he got tired of me explaining what it was." Probably in full detail, knowing Danny.

"A target? Not yet, there was talk of someone smuggling some chinese artifacts in. Busted in there, beat up a few folk. Ended up being drugs hidden in a bunch of cheap Lucky Cat figures. I think some local gang looking to raise their position was trying to be clever." He does join her on the mat, strides slow, relaxed and nearly fluid as water itself. "You want me to promise to come get you to fight the next demon I find? I can't promise it won't be 300 spiders in a Man Suit."

Colleen Wing has posed:
    "If it's not 300 spiders in a man suit, yes." She smirks but looks rather concerned at the notion of 300 spiders in a man suit. She reaches out and touches forearms with him and starts to move through the gentle kata's they have been practicing for a while. There's real pressure and power in these positions, but they don't need to rush any of it. It's always different, dynamic, adapting to each persons thoughts of the day. That's what makes it an interesting way to practice after all. Danny's done it most of his life and Colleen's done things similar, just not with Kung Fu.

    "I am going to have an interview for a teaching position at a high school. Happy High. They posted up jobs - one of them was for a martial arts instructor. I already work with kids, so I might be perfect for it. Apparently the school has gifted children.. and I don't mean 'a beautiful mind' kind of gifted. Mutants."

Danny Rand has posed:
"No promises," Danny says about the 300 Spider demon, and at this point its possibly a bit tough to determine if he's joking or not. He /does/ fight some weird stuff.

As the forearms touch, he too joins her in the Kata. His is simple for the moment, focusing on breathing mostly. He did just get out of a scuffle, and even the best fighters take hits every now and again. His moves mirror her's, as well, for as much as she's learned from him over the years, he's picked up things from her.

"Happy High? Didn't go to high school myself, but I hear they're not very happy. Curious as to what you are going to teach," he admits, his tone a positive one.

Colleen Wing has posed:
    She is making very subtle movements with her core lately. It's a thing she's been applying more and more - combined with the things Danny's taught her, has made it worth while for him to learn it back. The tiny adjustments to angles and leverage can suddenly accentuate to big advantages. It comes from her sword training more than anything else.

    "Yeah I never went to high school either. After primary school in Japan, my mother dying... I lived with my grand father and I was home schooled. Mostly that was learning the family martial art properly. So this is new to me too.."

    A raised eyebrow and a few small mistakes means she takes a step back and to the left to create a bit more space, "I honestly am not sure what I'll be teaching either. It seems like the students are going to be at varying levels of competency and capability. Just self defence? practical self defence? may be focus on teaching them to feel their body and surroundings so they can learn to learn. May be help them find more inner peace to settle themselves in combat. Perhaps if some of them are really good.. teach them the full arts."

Danny Rand has posed:
Danny's focus shifts just a bit from his movements, to her's. His eyes almost seem to catch each of the smaller adjustments, the newer motions she's using. There's a soft, considering tone, and another when she steps back. "You are doing well," he notes, then after a moment he nods once and actually matches her stance from across the mat, apparently going to play Mirror with her.

"You'll be a fine teacher for them. You're already better than the monks that made me sit under waterfalls. And," he adds, still trying to move identically to her, "Who knows, maybe you can help the mutants figure out their own gifts with our style of training."

Colleen Wing has posed:
    "I imagine it won't be much different to running my dojo. Though, school rules and students who are forced to be there instead of wanting to be there. I'll have to think of ways to make it fun even for the ones who aren't interested."

    She raises her eyebrows in consideration. "I don't know the first thing about mutants, but if it turns out knowing ones inner self with chi is the key to mastering their abilities, then I'll be more than happy to help."

    She casually starts to slip in the very subtle set up of various wrist locks without actually applying them as she moves just as a nice way to practice them. Making them come naturally during combat is what takes years of mastery to achieve.

    "Just out of curiosity. What do you know about Black Sky?"

Danny Rand has posed:
He keeps in step with her still, moving as she does, trying to line it up and after a moment he is mimicing her movements almost as she's doing them. He only plays like that a moment, though, getting a feel for it. "Interesting," he says, but doesn't elaborate.

He changes his own stance now, more upright than earlier, designed for speed more than strength. He then shifts about, as if re-living a fight, dodging but with some of those more subtle shifts in weight and movements mixed in. Of course, as he does, his shirt slips up a bit, and a bit of a bruise is probably more visible at his side. "Black sky?" he asks, stopping his motion. "It sounds famailiar, I think I might've heard it being mentioned in Kun Lun, but never to me. Why?"

Colleen Wing has posed:
    As Danny starts to change it up, not letting her dictate things anymore, she gets to let the flow simply.. flow. Unlike the fight he was in, Colleen isn't trying to defeat him though, so as he advances she retreats and as he retreats she advances. Her eyes noting all the openings, then the bruise.. and the opening in the fight that lead to that. "Ah," is all she says about that as they move.

    "The Hand are searching for it. It's meant to be some all powerful weapon. Thanks to .. okay this is going to sound a bit weird. Matt met some Inhumans in the mountains of Tibet and one of them told him a prophecy of the future that Black Sky is a person. The weapon is a person. So... The Hand wants them which naturally means we don't want the Hand to have them.. so we're also looking for Black Sky."

Danny Rand has posed:
Danny's good, one of the best, but he does take hits. He's also not perfect and learning new things keeps him alive longer, thus this session might help future Danny from taking a more nasty shot. And, that learned, his stance changes again, more defensive 'Leaf in the wind' style fighting. He gives little jabs with no force to test the guard it seems, and anything given back he doesn't block, instead moves just enough to not be hit. "My teachers loved this one, and as a teenager I hated it. Get so mad, but it's like trying to punch a fluttering leaf."

He quiets enough to listen to the Black Sky explaination. "You're right, that does sound weird. But we put on outfits and punch monsters, so just another day. We got any leads on where Black Sky is?"

Colleen Wing has posed:
    Colleen grins and nods her head, "Yeah I remember when I first learnt to control ma'ai properly. My grand father was so proud and then I started to learn how to do it with different kinds of weapons. It's essential in mastering the sword to alter the timing of your opponents attack."

    She follows through with the strikes not because she wants to hit him, but because it gives him the opportunity to fine tune his control of distance and angle. "Well, there's only one reason the Hand would want an all powerful weapon Danny. They mean to kill you with it. That's always been their goal. A stepping stone to conquering K'un L'un right?"

Danny Rand has posed:
There's a brief moment where he flashes back to him being an angry teen, and one of the monks using that against him, never touching him. "I'd get so tired," he says, "And that old monk just grinned like an idiot, never did manage to land a punch." He chuckles, giving it a final little spin, dropping into a low stance for a moment, before standing more naturally, the conversation briefly making him stop sparring.

"Oh, I'm sure I would only be its first victim, not the only one. But yes, that is their usual, sinister plan." He furrows his brow, "Since I'm standing here, they've likely not found it yet. We have any leads at all? Does it have anything to do with some of the crazier things we were talking about last time maybe? Vampries or whatever."

Colleen Wing has posed:
    She shakes her head, "I don't think so no.. I think this is something different. They robbed one of the hyperloops for something to do with Black Sky. We still don't know what. We're really behind on this one."

    She folds her arms and says, "We're not going to let you fight it alone, whatever it turns out to be. The Hand have too many secrets. I still can't believe Nobu is somehow still alive."

Danny Rand has posed:
"Guess we just have a little further to go than they do," Danny says. "We can do it, Not the first time they've been a couple steps ahead. We'll just have to put out feelers. I'll see if any of my usuals know anything." He adds.

He looks back to her with an appreciative grin. "I know you won't," he says, glancing at his watch and frowning. He gives a light bow, signaling the tradition end of a spar session, and says, "I don't think I could keep you guys away if I wanted. And, it'll probably take all of us anyways if The Hand's got their A game going." He sits down at the edge to put his shoes back on. "I think there are cats that are jealous of the lives Nobu has."

Colleen Wing has posed:
    Colleen bows back to Danny and pats his shoulder. There's a grin and she says, "Mhm. And don't you forget it." She walks over to a cooler and tosses him a bottle of water, "Hydrate Danny. You never stop moving. Have a good day. I'll be seeing you around. No spiders."