You Can't Escape the Rising of the Tide (open)

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Giselle had never been to the beach before. They didn’t have one in Andalasia. Well, she didn’t think there was one in Andalasia. There certainly wasn’t one by the forest back home, otherwise her forest friends would have told her about it and they would have had picnics at the beach. But only when the weather was nice. Giselle had heard that the beach wasn’t a very nice place to be when the weather wasn’t very nice.

But the weather was very nice today so she had decided to go to the beach and it was lovely. It was simply lovely. The waves crashed onto the sand a bit violently, but this was so much fun! The water was so cold though. She didn’t understand how anyone would want to swim in such cold water. But there were many different kinds of seashells! And she walked along the shore collecting them until she felt something pinch her toe rather painfully. “Ouch!” she cried, looking down and seeing a little crab. “Oh, please let go of my toe.”

[shifu]

Shifu was familiar with the seashore. Actually, Shifu was familiar with pretty much any terrain one could throw at a man - he'd spent enough time in his life training in various places, going on soul-searching pilgrimages through the wild unknown. And yes, he had spent a considerable amount of time meditating on the seashore. Today, he walked the sandy shore, dressed considerably more casually than normal in a loose white shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, comfortable trousers, also rolled up to his knees as he walked just within the surf. It was a nice place to walk, regardless of the time of day, and apparently he wasn't the only one who thought so. A student was standing by the water, and she seemed to be talking to someone or something in the water.

She didn't seem terribly happy about it, either. It took Shifu a moment before he got close enough to realise what the problem was. Ah, she had gotten tangled up with a crab. Shifu cleared his throat as he came closer, then leaned down and gave the crab a firm but gentle pinch, lifting it away from her foot into the air.

"I'm sorry, little friend, but I believe you're upsetting one of my students," he said, holding the crab at eye level. "Run along." He set the crab down on the sand, where it scuttled off back into the water. "They don't mean any harm," he assured Giselle. "Are you uninjured?"

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Giselle had always had someone come rescue her whenever there was trouble. Someone always caught her when she fell out of trees, like Edward. And someone always helped her when she was lost in a new place after having been pushed down a magical well. So of course someone would be rescuing her from the little crab that was currently pinching her toe.

“Oh, why thank you,” she said, addressing her rescuer and smiling brightly at him. “I’m just fine. I’m sure the poor thing was probably just scared. I’m sure I would be just as scared if something as big as I am almost stepped on me. Although I don’t think I would pinch someone. That hurts quite a bit. It’s funny how something so small can have such a pinch.”

[shifu]

Shifu didn't really do the running around rescuing people. Most of the time he just happened to be in the right place at the right moment, and in this case, he had managed to save both her and the crab. He personally wasn't intimidated by the crab, but that was because he had the whole harmony with nature thing going on.

"You're quite right," he assured her. "He was frightened, I think as much of you as you might be of him. The will to survive is the strongest instinct nature has given us, and it is an instinct also given to even the smallest of creatures. Nature saw that the crab was small, so she gave it a mighty claw out of compassion. Effective...that crab will live to see another day. Perhaps he thought you meant to step on him."

He looked up at her from his crouched position, smiled slightly, then stood up to his full height.

"I don't believe we've met," he said, because manners were the kind of thing they expected of you when you were supposedly in charge of some things.

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Giselle officially thought of Shifu as a hero and why shouldn’t she? He had just swept in and rescued her from the crab. Well, sort of anyway. Giselle was quite a lover of animals and even though the crab had pinched her she was quite sure he didn’t mean to. She had quite forgiven him because she was probably very scary. This wouldn’t have happened though if her very best friend Pip had been here because she could have told the crab that Giselle was very nice and not scary at all. But oh well.

She listened to Shifu and nodded along enthusiastically. She didn’t really understand what he was saying, but it sounded nice. And she liked Mother Nature. “Oh, I didn’t mean to step on him. I wish I could apologize for scaring him. He must be very scared. I didn’t mean to at all. I should be very careful the next time I walk on the beach. There might be more crabs and I wouldn’t want to step on them.”

She smiled at him. He was very nice, even if he did say things that she didn’t understand. “I’m Giselle from Andalasia,” she told him cheerfully. “I was pushed down a well and when I opened my eyes I was here. And it’s really quite nice here. I like it very much.”

[shifu]

It probably would have taken quite a lot of convincing to get Shifu to think of himself as a hero, but that was just because everything he did, he did because it was either instinct or (after long deliberation) the right thing to do. Neither of those, he felt, deserved any special recognition, they were just things people ought to rely on one way or the other and if good things came of it, that was always good.

"I'm sure he's endured much worse things in his life," he assured Giselle. "There are a thousand things in the ocean more terrible than your feet." He gave her a quick smile, just a little one, because they both knew she didn't have terrible hideous feet or anything.

"I'm Shifu." of...well, of some foreign land called China in his own realm of reality, but he wasn't sure what it would be referred to in her dialect. "Of here. I came here to look after some students of my own, and though they have both gone to do other things, I've discovered that there is a place and a need for me here. As you've said, it's quite nice. I'm glad you've reached that conclusion as well. If you've any complaints, don't hesitate to make use of my office hours." He said that like any professor would, but he really did mean it - oftentimes he spent his office hours meditating and wondering why students never actually visited.

[Deleted]

It really wasn’t hard for Giselle to categorize people in only a few short minutes of meeting them. Why, it was what she was best at! So of course Shifu was a hero, even if he was only doing it was because it was the right thing. He was a hero, there was no doubt about that, even if he didn’t think he was. And really, the best heroes were the ones who didn’t think they were heroic!

Her eyes grew wide when he mentioned office hours. And that had to mean he was a teacher! “Are you a teacher?” she asked, slightly in awe. “I would love to come visit you in your office hours. I could bring you warm rolls straight from the oven. Because everyone should have warm rolls straight from the oven! Although the last time I made them I added walnuts and all of my squirrel friends loves them, but I didn’t like them as much. So perhaps I should leave the walnuts. But I’ve heard that adding chocolate chips to the dough would be quite good!” She smiled as Shifu. She liked him very much. He was very nice and he was quite the hero! He really deserved nice warm rolls with chocolate chips.

[shifu]

Shifu found Giselle amusing. Not in a silly way, he wasn't in the habit of making fun of people, but she was gentle and naive, both qualities that had been in decline in modern students as of late. Naivety wasn't necessarily a good thing in all cases, but it was refreshing. Kids these days had all this horribly bad language and promiscuous habits, it was nice to meet one who seemed to still have a firm grasp of innocent imagination.

"Teacher, headmaster, and advisor should you find yourself in need of advising," he nodded once. "It's been quite some time since I've had rolls straight from the oven. Without walnuts, if you don't mind, my teeth tend to disagree with them. I do have a particular weakness for chocolate, though."

He couldn't help wondering if she was planning to take any of the actual classes he taught - he had a sudden mental picture of her trying to execute complex kung fu maneuvers in a dress.

"May I ask what classes you're taking?"

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If Giselle’s eye could get wider they did. Then she clapped her hands delightedly. “I’ve never met a headmaster before!” she cried brightly. She had never met a headmaster before and this was so exciting! Headmasters had very important jobs after all. “Well then, I shall most certainly make you rolls with chocolate chips! They sound quite tasty! And I do so love to bake! Baking is really my very favorite. I do enjoy cleaning, but baking is so much more fun!”

And of course Giselle didn’t mind his asking. She did quite enjoy talking after all. “Oh, well I’m taking a cooking class which is very fun because I love to cook. I’m also taking a dance class because I love to dance. And I’m taking music because I love to sing. I sing all the time. My animal friends and I back home all love to sing together. It’s such fun!” She really did enjoy singing the most. She sang all the time. It was just so fun that she couldn’t help it. Sometimes she just had to sing, otherwise she might just burst and bursting didn’t sound very pleasant at all.

“What do you teach?” she asked, having stopped talking about herself long enough to realize that she should find out what the headmaster taught, in case she wanted to take one of his classes. He was very nice. She was sure he would be a good teacher.