prove yourself

PHYSICAL PRESENCE AND GESTURE.

1. How do they move and carry themselves? Pace, rhythm, gestures, energy?

2. How much physical space do they use, active and at rest?

3. How do they position themselves in a group? Do they like to be the center of attention, or do they hang back at the edges of a crowd?

4. What is their size and build? How does it influence how they use their body, if it does?

5. How do they dress? What styles, colors, accessories, and other possessions do they favor? Why?

6. What are they like in motion–in different environments, and in different activities? What causes the differences between these?

7. How do they physically engage with other people, inanimate objects, and their environment? What causes the differences between these?

8. Where and when do they seem most and least at ease? Why? How can you tell?

9. How do they manifest energy, exhaustion, tension, or other strong emotions?

10. What energizes and drains them most?

11. How are they vocally expressive? What kind of voice, accent, tones, inflections, volume, phrases and slang, and manner of speaking do they use?

12. How are they bodily expressive? How do they use nonverbal cues such as their posture, stance, eyes, eyebrows, mouths, and hands?

DISPOSITION AND TEMPERAMENT.

13. How do they greet the world — what is their typical attitude towards life? How does it differ in different circumstances, or towards different subjects? Why do they take these attitudes, and why do they change? How do these tend to be expressed?

14. What do they care deeply about? What kind of loyalties, commitments, moral codes, life philosophies, passions, callings, or spirituality and faith do they have? How do these tend to be expressed?

15. What kind of inner life do they have — rich and imaginative? Calculating and practical? Full of doubts and fears? Does it find any sort of outlet in their lives?

16. Do they dream? What are those dreams like?

17. Are they more shaped by nature or nurture — who they are, or what has happened to them? How have these shaped who they’ve become as a person?

18. What kind of person could they become in the future? What are some developmental paths that they could take, (best, worst, most likely?) what would cause them to come to pass, and what consequences might they have? What paths would you especially like to see, and why?

CONNECTIONS WITH OTHERS.

19. How do they behave within a group? What role(s) do they take? Does this differ if they know and trust the group, versus finding themselves in a group of strangers? Why?

20. What kind of individual relationships do they have with others, and how do they behave in them? How are they different between intimate relationships like friends, family, and lovers versus more impersonal relationships?

21. What kind of relationships do they tend to intentionally seek out versus actually cultivate? What kind of social contact do they prefer, and why?

22. How do people respond to them, and why might these responses differ?

23. How do they respond to difficult social moments? What makes them consider a social situation difficult?

24. How do they present themselves socially? What distinguishes their “persona” from their “true self”, and what causes that difference?

25. What do they need and want out of relationships, and how do they go about getting it?

26. How do they view and feel about relationships, and how might this manifest in how they handle them, if it does?

ACTIVITIES AND PREFERENCES.

27. What do they strongly like and dislike, in any category? Why?

28. What are they likely to do if they have the opportunity, resources, and time to accomplish it? Why?

29. What kind of activities, interests, and hobbies do they have? What significance and impact do these have in their lives, both positive and negative?

30. What is their preferred level of activity and stimulation? How do they cope if they get either too little or too much?

31. Is there anything that counts as a “dealbreaker” for them, positively or negatively? What makes things go smoothly, and what spoils an activity or ruins their day? Why?

32. Do they have any “props” that are a significant part of their life, identity, activities, or self-presentation somehow? What are they, how are they used, and why are they so significant? How would these props’ absence impact them, how would they compensate, and why?

THINKING AND LEARNING.

33. How do they learn about the world–what is their preferred learning style? Hands-on learning with trial and error? Research, reading, and note-taking? Observation or rote memorization? Inductive or deductive reasoning? Seeking patterns and organization? Taking things apart and putting them back together? Creative processing via discussing, writing about, or dramatizing things?

34. How do they understand the world–what kind of worldview and thought processes do they have? Why?

35. How and why do they internalize knowledge? What effect has that had on them?

36. How much do they rely on their minds and intellect, versus other approaches like relying on instinct, intuition, faith and spirituality, or emotions? What is their opinion on this?

37. Have they had any special education or training that colors their means of learning about or understanding the world? Conversely, do they lack some kind of education considered essential in their world? What kind of impact has this addition or lack had on them?

38. Is there anything they wish they could change about their worldview or thought processes? What, and why?

39. What sort of questions or thoughts recur in their lives, either specifically or as a theme? Why are these never answered, or answered permanently to their satisfaction?

40. What do they wonder about? What sparks their curiosity and imagination, and why? How is this expressed, if it is?

FREE FOR ALL.

41. What associations do they bring to mind? Words or phrases, images, metaphors or motifs? Why?

He does a ridiculous little show of bowing before stepping into the space proper. He has a wooden sword in his hand. Eyes looking around the room and surveying what it had to offer for someone with his skill set.

"Man, I guess this place will do. I was hoping for something more flashy. No knives, no bombs, took my blades. Even though I can't wield them properly anymore, I still like having them."

There is a moment where he remembers that he was talking to someone specifically. Eyes returning to Tsurugi.

That stupid ring...

"I am - you two have talked about me?" He's a little surprised the conversation turned to him at all. Rengoku and Tengen both seemed like wildly different personalities to the people Tsurugi spent time around. Even Miyaguni, in all her eccentricities, was pretty normal compared to them.

"A warm up? ...sure. They've got bamboo or wooden swords here. I'm fine with either, but I'm not sure how hard you're okay with being hit."

Considering he was down a hand, it would probably be fine...but it felt polite to ask the elder of the two of them.

Tsurugi was a radiant vision of hope, and he barreled towards him, a mad smile that feigned ignorance towards the vibrant blossoms pocked across his body.

"Tsurugi," Maru's voice warbled in pseudo-excitement. "Please tell me you don't have any flowers on you." He hid his desperation, but every flower indulged on the weeping sweat beads.

When Maru approached, he was absolutely covered in them, shades of purple casting colorful little shadows across his skin. He looked ridiculous, actually, and Tsurugi coughed to keep from laughing.

"No, I don't have any on me right now. You look like you've been having a rough time."

He raised a hand like he was going to pluck one of the flowers, but paused before actually touching.

Neither was deemed worthy enough to live without the ring, until she was deemed better in her mother's eyes, and Tsurugi the weakling. She knew how much that idea diminished his identity, and it helped him to grow physically and mentally. Although the ring wasn't a status of weakness to her as it was for Tsurugi. The ring represented the last gift of the father who stayed.

"We do nothing, Tsurugi," she admitted calmly as if this was the last words she whispered to herself every night before bed. "There's nothing to do. I kept this from you because I knew this would change your mind about me." She nearly confessed that she confided in Cross because he understood the sensitive nature of her illness, but she knew it would hurt Tsurugi.

Yes, hurting him was her last intent. She wanted his pain to appear and fade away quickly, like ripping off a band-aid. Her goal was to leave this world and let him live his life while she became a picture on his shelf and a faded idea in his mind. "Our lives were miserable after grandma and grandpa died, Tsurugi. We tried to fill in their shoes, prove to ourselves and to our parents that we were made of something more than they ever hoped for us. It turned us against each other."

Yuuka paused.

"And I don't want my horrible roll in life to change that. I don't want things to change, Tsurugi. I want to leave this world as we made it, and not pretend we actually liked each other after everything went wrong. I would rather have a screwed-up relationship with my brother than a fake one at the end."

Somehow, she knew Cross would understand her sentiment. His relationship with Maru soured over the years due to bad lots in life. Neither Cross nor Yuuka wanted to fake a loving sibling relationship unless it was earned, and to Yuuka, her brother had more growing to do before she could meet him face to face in a new breath.

If he doesn't think about it, he could have ignored the way his voice wavered a little when he spoke up. Why couldn't they try and change things here? It wasn't like home. There wasn't anything hanging over their heads like it was back there. She wanted to go back because she didn't know the things he did.

The duel, the state of the world and their friends. . .it was a weight he bore on his shoulders because she didn't know yet. If they stayed here, she probably won't ever know unless he tells her.

Well, if she could keep her secrets, he'll keep his.

"If we get back. We don't even know if we're going to be able to go back. Maybe we get back and this is all a bad dream and this conversation never happened. Don't you - ugh."

She reminded him of their grandfather. In all the years the two had been raised by their grandparents, Tsurugi could only remember mention of a single time they had fought - Grandma had said it was because their grandfather was stubborn to a fault when he thought he was right about an idea. It had caused conflict for them for their entire lives, even if they had eventually learned to live with it.

Tsurugi lifted his hands, rubbing his palms against his eyes. She had a reason to think she couldn't trust him with all this information, but it still hurt to think about.

"That isn't how this all works, you know. Just because you're gone doesn't mean I stop being your older brother. I just become an older brother who can't talk about his sister anymore."

There was a bit of misery in his voice that he couldn't fight off, stuck in the back of his throat like a fishbone. If Yuuka really didn't want to change anything, then fine. He'd continue on the way they were. But...

His attention is drawn to the stranger that draws his attention. She gets to see him turn his wrist like he intends to bring up a screen before he groans and drags his phone out of his pocket instead.

Man, he wants his watch back.

Looking up the pollen count on the weather app for his phone greets him with a little dancing flower that has a speech bubble stating Good luck! <3 over its head.

Maru lowered his gaze, refusing to look Tsurugi in the eye as he replied. "I'll help you because I want to and because you're a part of our people. There will be no favors between us, Tsuguri. We help each other because it is our purpose."

As much as his grandparents had tried to keep him and Yuuka out of the rat race that was the clans and their politics, there was only so much he could avoid when he was to take over one day. It had instilled in him a sense of a give-and-take in all things. There was a memory of his grandparents speaking to some officials from the Kamo clan - it had always surprised Tsurugi that they would bother conceding to demands when the Okkotsu family was one of the most powerful in the world.

Power didn't mean much in the face of a fractured community. Maru was trying to tell Tsurugi as much, even if he felt resistant to the idea. This was a new place. He could make or break the rules as he pleased.

Mention of the way Cross got along with Yuuka broke the stern expression Tsurugi had worn into a roll of the eyes, his head turned to the side.

And Maru wondered why the idea was so resistant to Tsurugi.

"You always have a place and purpose in our tribe," Maru repeated himself, "we do not abandon our own, even if we are denied by others for it." He wondered if sharing all this even mattered to Tsurugi. Then, he decided to lean into his perspective, "If you are unable to join us, for whatever reason you have, we will respect your decision. Your life is yours to protect, Tsurugi, as is my people's lives are mine to protect. That mutuality is what make us friends. Isn't that right, Tsurugi?"

All the things that clung to his mind as problems to be solved continued to haunt him as he stood here, feeling the weight of Maru's gaze on him. All he could think about was Yuuka's face before she left for the duel, the last time he set eyes on her.

They hadn't even spoken to each other. What did they even have left to say? They made their decisions and nothing would sway them in that moment. It felt like nothing would sway them ever again.

None of that mattered here though. It was like Maru said - a clean slate to start again.

So, almost reluctantly, that branch was taken, bloodied hand and all.

"Yeah - you're right. Fine, you can count me in with the people who'll help you with this. You have to help me with mine, though, got it?"

Maru already offered his sister a place in their peace too, so his request wasn't even off the table already.

"Kaylans," he corrected Tsurugi, "my research so far has not found any Kaylans present." His eyes lowered to the beetle that waddled up and down the leaf. The beetle sought an exit from its predicament, but the giants prohibited any worthy risk to flight. "Which is why this world may be a good alternative for my people. If there are no Kaylans, except our village's, then we may be able to co-exist here on better terms. We protect and worship our Kaylan, and respect and learn the nature of this world. A place, a choice, free from contest."

Maru turned away from Tsurugi and settled the beetle upon the bush used as a refuge. He waited patiently for the beetle to waddle off the leaf and into the foliage until its presence disappeared from Maru's gaze. He set the leaf on top of the bush for another animal to use. He shivered against a chilled breeze, and the motion loosened the anxiety that mounted in his heart. He sighed softly, understanding that regardless of how Tsuguri perceives the situation, he was his friend, a neighbor. He faced Tsurgui with the will to maintain the proffered peace to his friend.

This whole thing was so complicated. Peace felt like a rare, precious thing to be coddled to one's chest, hoping to avoid whatever would break it next. What if curses did appear? Would he and Maru become enemies over it again, even if that curse only meant to harm the people around it?

His attention was drawn from his thoughts to Maru's gentle release of their insectoid captive, its shiny shell disappearing into the foliage until the pair eventually left and it felt safe again. When the wind carried over them, Tsurugi raised a hand to run his fingers through the back of his hair, the strands sticking up haphazardly when he dropped it back to his side.

"I'm sure Yuuka will appreciate the offer. She was really excited with the cultural exchange."

His voice was flat, but not dismissive. Just a simple statement of fact in his eyes.

Maru laid a claim to this place as an envoy and Tsurugi rolled his eyes a little, looking away from Maru for a moment. It was an effort to force the tension from his shoulders as he let his eyes roam over Maru.

Unarmed at a glance, reduced to a wooden blade like Tsurugi was. If Maru had his cursed technique, it was beyond something Tsurugi could sense at a glance.

Well, he hoped it wouldn't come to a point where it mattered.

"You and Cross are here. It looks like Yuuka's here too - so it's just the four of us, huh."

The insect between them moved along the edge of the leaf, like trying to decide where to go, and Tsurugi tore his eyes from it to look at Maru instead.

"Okkotsu, huh?"

The name strikes him as strange, silently foreboding if anything, but he wasn't going to insult the other in any capacity. After all, he had no control over the family name he inherited.

The shake is firm, strong. Rengoku had no doubts the other was a capable fighter with the way he carried himself and that wooden sword. Perhaps they could spar one day in the future!

He can't help but laugh when Rengoku pauses at the name, no doubt tracing the meaning of it in his mind. His sister drew the shorter stick, with the worry tucked into the kanji of her name.

Thoughts of Yuuka draw him back to the task at hand - right. The ring. That stupid freaking ring.

"I'm not sure. I'd have to see if there's, like, a lost and found or something? I'm missing a few more things, but they aren't nearly as important as the ring. Well. Sort of. I'm kind of mad about my sword."

He blinks at the way Rengoku says things are too advanced for him and Tsurugi pats himself down for his phone, drawing it out of his pocket.

"You were blind for weeks," she maliciously testified, "now, who's the idiot?" Her fists tightened until her sharp nails sent painful shockwaves to her dying brain. "So, you learned by 'providence', and definitely not from Usami," venom dripped from her mocking tone, "and you," she couldn't register abstractness of his gentle touch, the word 'hug' was lost upon her and it angered her. "Argh!" She slammed her fists against the empty air, frustration flowing through the energy she wrought, "What's with you?! You don't get girls at all, especially not me! I don't need--" she waved the air between them, "this! We stopped being this a long time ago," she emphasized the dilapidated closeness. "And since you know, get one thing straight: I don't want anything from you. I don't want your apologies, I don't want your remorse-- I don't need it. We made each other miserable for a reason, and don't pretend we didn't do that." The exhertion taxed her soul, depleting the limited resources she had left.

Exhausted in her defeat, she sighed, and dropped her head. Death refused to leave her, sprawling himself across her feet. Her head throbbed, and her skin whitened. In the quietness, she remembered how small her hand felt in his strong grip all those years ago. She had forgotten what it was like to be vulnerable with him. Now, the thought of it made her sick. She desperately missed him, and at the same time, she hated his guts. She wanted to keep him by her side forever, take him with her as she died, but at the same time, abandon him and keep the memory of him as he was: a terrible, older brother who at times showed up as a hero.

He couldn't pinpoint when the gulf started to form between them. Probably in the months between the passing of their grandparents and the hand-off of that ring. Their paths had diverged in a way that felt irreparable from the moment it had been taken from her hands and put into his.

She fought to be strong enough to earn it back - and in his heart, without some miracle, he knew she never would. He fought to become strong enough to abandon it, but there was still some part of him missing that would keep him from crossing that final finish line.

"No, I didn't learn it from Usami, he-" He's not been around since his own technique tore him to shreds. "I haven't spoken to him about any of this. Yuuka, just listen-"

They stopped being this a long time ago, as if she would ever stop being his younger sister. He heaved a sigh, hands coming up to rub against his face.

"Fine! Fine, I'm not here to give you - whatever you think I am, not pity or remorse or anything like that. What are we going to do then, huh?"

He gestured between them, the same as she had. Her face went pale and he curled his fingers into his palm, nails biting into the skin there.

Yuuka felt her brother's arm wrap around her, and she expected him to pin her into paralysis, but what came next was a gentle side-hug. Her brows lifted in surprise, and she slithered out from his embrace, pushing him away.

"You know," her eyes were like hot iron, scalding him with unrelenting, silent frustrations. Her skin pocked with sweat as her greatest fear billowed into reality. Among the people who knew, there was only one she trusted to protect her secret. She considered the other sorcerers who held her medical documentation; they were political enough to use their ammunition against their allies. Yuuka stood up and loomed over her brother, tall and unyielding as a monument, "Who told you?"

It wasn't hard for him to piece together what she was talking about though. Cross was here and must have been alright physically - so he probably hadn't yet experienced the failed peace discussions. Yuuka had kept her health a secret from him, but even if he didn't know the exact specifics of what was wrong with her, it was hard to miss the fatigue, the hesitance in her movements...

She wasn't that sick yet. So they weren't from the same point in time, huh.

"No one told me, idiot. I'm just not blind."

Still, Maru's hesitancy remained apparent, as he crouched behind a bush, watching Tsurugi get his bearings within the unnamed world. He watched the sorcerer, cautious to approach and hesitant to leave. Maru pinched himself and stood up quickly, twigs and leaves attached to his hair.

"Tsu-Tsurugi!" his voice squeaked, and his hand rose to pull all the attention upon him. "H-hello." Maru wondered if he had any right to be kind to Tsurugi; he wondered if he saw him and his people as a blight upon Earth-- Maru refused to let those thoughts seep in. Perhaps his people saw Earthlings as ruthless, and maybe the other sorcerers saw his people as threats, but Tsurugi must have a different perspective. He had time to learn that the Rumelians were kind, generous people.

Tensions back home had run high in the wake of a failed agreement about the curses. His mind wanders to Cross's injuries, the Rumelians and their anger, and the planned duel and...

Did any of that matter here? His sister was here, presumably safe, and while he hadn't seen him yet, he had seen Cross's name listed. Maybe things were fine here in ways they weren't back home. Maybe they were okay in a way they would never be back home.

Come on, Tsurugi, be the bigger man here.

"Maru. Hey."

He lifts his hand in greeting, lazy in movement, before he reaches out to pluck a leaf from Maru's hair. There was a beetle clinging to the end of it, shiny and blue in the sunlight.