It's Like You've Left the Kettle On {Shifu}

[cazaril]

Well, after what a week, and he had had a HELL of a week, Caz found himself "zombified". He'd been having dreams now, Horrible dreams including this woman saying goodbye to him, a woman he run into recently, and happened to live opposite to him.

After a particular distracting session of trying to get his sword stanza's down, and trying to focus on anything and everything else.

Cazaril found himself being summoned to the Head of Self Defence's office, tired eyed and looking like a train wreck.

"Did you want to see me sir?" Cazaril said in the open door way towards a very respected teacher. He still had a lot on his mind, and he had to wonder considering he was apparently an older man - was this man an ally?

[shifu]

Just because Shifu taught self-defense didn't mean he didn't want to do a little defending himself when he saw that someone looked like they were in need of it. And this boy looked like he needed help. Shifu hadn't been introduced to him, but he'd seen him wandering around looking like he'd been beaten half to death with something that hadn't left a visible mark. It wasn't difficult to issue him a summons to the office, not with how well everyone around here seemed to know everyone.

"I did," he nodded as Cazaril came into the doorway. "Come in and sit down, don't worry. You're not in any trouble."

He waited for Caz to come in, then tilted back in his chair slightly, looking over the rather weary-looking young man in front of him.

"I don't think I've had you in any of my classes yet, so in case you weren't aware, I'm Master Shifu. I teach all the martial arts and self-defense courses. What's your name, boy?"

[cazaril]

Caz came in, the professor had a soothing voice, and Caz found himself feeling as though he was in familiar and good company. He moved into a chair, in front of Shifu's desk, and fiddled with the setting so he was a little higher.

Shifu had piercing eyes and Caz found it hard to look him in the eye. "Caz" he answered at last, the atmosphere felt like you could cut it with a knife.

"My full name is Lupe Dy Cazaril and I don't think I'm in your class...I do my own sword training in the gym usually."

Caz admitted this whilst thumbling with the bottom of his shirt. He felt compelled to obey Shifu, he sensed power there, respect. He was almost afraid to even accept that this man wanted to talk to him.

Biting his lip Caz finally looked up, "Do you know me, sir?" he asked fearfully. Was that why he was here?

[shifu]

Shifu, while not particularly emotional himself, had a keen eye for the emotions of others. He could tell when they were uneasy, could sense when they were frightened or overly confident - every nuance in someone's emotional frame of mind had to be considered when you faced them in combat, after all. An angry person could be much more dangerous and unpredictable than someone who wasn't angry...but then, a calm person could be much more difficult to read.

He wasn't interested in fighting this young man, but he could nevertheless tell that Cazaril was uneasy in his presence. Shifu hoped to overcome that trepidation. He carried himself with a certain amount of dignity, it was true, but even that wasn't meant to intimidate. It was simply the way he was. He rarely shouted, so whatever reason people had to be afraid of him, it was likely the result of whatever their mind had conjured up to fill in the blanks left by Shifu's own lack of emotional expression.

"I don't believe we've been introduced previously, no," Shifu shook his head. "Relax, son. You're really not in trouble." He knew he'd already said that, but perhaps it merited repeating. "I've called you in here because you appear to me to be particularly troubled. I've not seen you interact a great deal with the other students, so what I'd like to know is whether there's anything we, and by we I refer to the teaching staff as a whole, could do to help you adjust here. I personally believe that some self-defense training might give you a bit more personal confidence, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter."

[cazaril]

Caz sighed a little, so this was just because he looked like a deer in the headlights most of the time? Well, he figured someone would want to check, but not such a hard looking teacher.

Though he did have a really soothing voice...

Caz shook himself out of his internal voice and he looked directly at Shifu, his eyes gentle. "Sir, I understand you're trying to help me, but as far as I can see no one can help me. The teaching staff, beg my permission to be honest, I rarely see and seem rather caught up in their own lives."

Caz stood, this was a stranger, he didn't want to talk about this, it was bad enough he had to admit to friends he was crumbling on the inside, let alone people starting to really see it on the outside.

"I wish it was just confidence, then I'd at least know what I have to do...."

[shifu]

Shifu would never have come out and said anything like "you look like a frightened animal" but he had certainly thought it. He knew fear when he saw it, and there was definite uneasiness about this young man, for whatever reason.

He held out his hands, palms upward, as if to say 'well, here I am." There was no reason Cazaril ought to feel like he had nowhere to turn to, not here, not when the teachers had as much spare time as they did. Shifu himself had enough extra time that he'd considered taking on additional classes, but perhaps that time could be better spent in helping students like this one feel like they were looked after a little better.

"I can help you with confidence," Shifu assured him. "I think I can help you more than you know, if you'll let me."