Meeting Jinx
Go see Jinx's Dojo.


"Hmm … Jinx Dojo? Would that be the door with the sign in front?" Cheddar frowns, but you wave her down placatingly. "I won't bother him if he's asleep, or if they're getting ready to sleep. I'm just interested in learning more about the strongest person around." Cheddar still looks unhappy, but just sighs after a moment.

"I guess I can't really stop you. You promise you won't bother him?" You smile.

"I can promise I won't try to bother him, but since I won't know if I'm bothering him until we actually meet …. For all I know, simply looking at me might bother him, or he might not like the sound of my voice. Or -"

"Aya~! I'm sorry, she gets like this. But I promise we won't bother him." You scowl at Hatate, but Cheddar giggles and nods.

"Well, if you're going to see him, you should hurry to make sure you have time to talk. Take care!" You stand and bow to Cheddar and the talking stone, then shoot one more glare at Hatate before gathering your things and leaving.

"Really, Hatate, you didn't need to do that."

"Hmph! You're the one who won't stop talking sometimes." You snort; acting as if she's your handler and not your subordinate! Still, she does have her uses, so you'll let it slide for now. You make your way to the upper terrace and Jinx's Dojo. You knock and wait, wondering why this word in particular wasn't translated. Cheddar actually said 'dojo.' Which is … peculiar. After several seconds of waiting, you sigh; you'll probably have to wait until tomorrow.

"... Come in," a voice calls out as you start to turn. You stop and put a smile on before opening the door, and even take half a step before freezing in place, foot held above the floor. The walls are wood, but behind the turtle in front of you is a little shrine, and the floor the tooth of your geta is hovering above is tatami. There's even a little bonsai tree in the corner. "Er, is something wrong?" You blink and focus on the turtle, then clear your throat and shake your head.

"No, sorry, I just wasn't expecting a place like this. One moment, please." Hatate looks even more shocked than you do, and haltingly follows your lead as you take your geta off before stepping inside and setting your bag against the wall. "Are you Jinx?" The turtle twitches a little.

"Ah, no, I'm – my name is Jagger, and I'm Sensei Jinx's student." Your eyes narrow and you look around the room again. Two cleverly-disguised sliding panels in the wall to your left, but they're probably closets, and there's nothing else – you tilt your head and stare at the bonsai tree. An inchling? As you stare, the tiny figure steps out from behind the bonsai tree, tossing his vibrantly green hair dramatically as his brilliant red cape billows behind him.

"Greetings, heavenly dogs -" he begins, and your eyes narrow to slits suspiciously.

"So cute!!" You jump, startled, at the squealing sound beside you and look to see Hatate taking pictures rapid-fire with her camera. Oh, no …. The inchling, stunned for a moment, sets a stern look on his face and hops down from the table.

"Step back, Jagger. Your sensei is about to get serious." The turtle quickly scoots back as Hatate realizes what kind of mistake she just made.

"Uh, you – I don't suppose you'd be satisfied with just throwing her around, would you?" Hatate looks at you pleadingly as Jinx sneers. Then he moves, just before Hatate collides head-first with one of the walls. You slide back, arms held loosely in front of you. It's not that he's too fast to track, it's that he's so small and so fast. If he'd ditch the cloak and the hair, you'd have a much harder time tracking him, but with those to help, you can just barely keep ahead of him. He leaps up toward you and you flick your arm, intending to swat him out of the way, but he manages to catch you and swings around your wrist. You dart forward, hoping to get past him before he can grab you – and something pinches your left wing as you're swung around and into the floor. You roll off your hand, wrist, forearm, elbow, somersault to your feet, and spin around. Jinx chuckles and claps three times, slowly.

"Well done, well done." You sigh dramatically.

"Can we talk now?" His smirk disappears and he stares at you. Damn it.

"Owww~ Aya~" You wince and shake your head.

"You're fine, Hatate. You didn't even break the wall." She whines plaintively, and Jinx's student slides over to help her stand. Jinx taps his chin.

"I think … we can talk after we have a real fight. You were holding back just now, after all. If we fight, then we'll talk – as long as you take it seriously, of course. If we don't have a match, or if you don't take it seriously, then we don't talk. Well?" You clear the expressions from your face and stare at the inchling. You hate having conditions attached to interviews – it's infuriating, and having an interview with conditions is almost as bad as not having an interview at all. But he seems to know a lot, or at least have another source of information, and someone here who knows about youkai … well, it could be good or bad, and you won't know unless you talk to him. You sigh; it's much too late to be having to deal with things like this.


What do you do?

[ ] Agree to fight.
- [ ] Inside the dojo, despite the potential damage.
- [ ] Outside, where you're a bit stronger and there's more room.

[ ] Refuse to fight and find somewhere to sleep.
 
[X] Agree to fight.
- [X] Inside the dojo, despite the potential damage.

That was hilarious, let's keep it going!
 
[X] Agree to fight.
- [X] Outside, where you're a bit stronger and there's more room.

Don't see why we should be handicapping ourselves even slightly if we're supposed to be fighting "seriously", and destroying his dojo isn't gonna make him any happier during the interview.
 
[X] Agree to fight.
- [X] Outside, where you're a bit stronger and there's more room.

Don't see why we should be handicapping ourselves even slightly if we're supposed to be fighting "seriously", and destroying his dojo isn't gonna make him any happier during the interview.

Point.

[x] Agree to fight.
- [x] Outside, where you're a bit stronger and there's more room.
 
Yeah, with a fighting style relying on movement, there's no particular reason to engage in a room... unless we want people to underestimate us, I suppose, but I get the impression Jinx is too good not to see how we'd be better in the open.

[X] Agree to fight.
- [X] Outside, where you're a bit stronger and there's more room.
 
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Jinx I
Agree to fight.
- Outside, where you're a bit stronger and there's more room.


"... Alright, we'll have a real bout. But it has to be outside." Jinx cocks his head curiously.

"Outside? Well, there are places we can fight without disrupting the others, but why is it necessary?" You smile sharply and beckon for him to follow; instead, he jumps onto your shoulder. Whatever.

"First, because I fight better outside. Second, because I don't want to be responsible for making your dojo unusable. Hatate, we'll be back in a few minutes, just sit tight." Jinx harrumphs as you open the door and directs your gaze up the cliffside. You replace your geta, then simply fly up, fairly slowly, until he taps your shoulder.

"Here. Here is good. Plenty of space, and no one around to bother." He hops off your shoulder as you land. It's a small patch of gravel and rock, with a hemispherical hollow in the cliff. How is it managing to not collapse? You frown at the cliff for a moment, then look around again. Gravel, rocks, dust. Nothing to serve as an obstacle. Just you and Jinx. You stretch your arms and wings, consider retracting your wings, but since you're outside you should be able to prevent him from duplicating that trick. You smile down at the inchling and flex your fingers.

"So, are you ready?" He smiles, then dashes backward. He generates a shining blue orb between his hands, then thrusts it toward you, but by the time it's halfway to your former position, you're well to Jinx's left and charging toward him. His head twitches right, then left, and his eyes widen as he sees your approach. You spin, rotating out of your headfirst rush and dropping your heel toward Jinx. You keep your eyes on the inchling, however, and you feel the traditional tengu smirk of malice split your lips when the red cloak goes up and the sprout of green hair goes left just before dust explodes and your heel starts hurting. You reverse your drop, flying up and twisting enough that your knee complains – but you see Jinx slam toward where your knee would have been if you hadn't so abruptly changed your direction, and your leg stops whining at you. A shoulder ram; you'll have to ask Meiling about it, you've seen her do something similar against Momiji.

You snatch Jinx's cloak and flap your wings minutely, calling on the winds to aid you. Jinx is certainly fast and strong, but he's still light, and while the swirling walls of wind won't stop him, they aren't supposed to. No, they'll slow him down, ever so slightly, and keep you appraised of his position by the disruptions he causes. You wave the cloak like a little flag, then lunge for the inchling. He leaps toward you, his expression flickering as he slows from the wind, and you reach out to slap him away. He displays his skill by managing to catch your finger and throw you, but this attempt is even less successful than his earlier wing-throw: you land gently on your feet and make a dramatic thrusting movement with your free hand. Jinx raises his arms defensively as the wind slams into him, picks him up, and slams him into the cliff. He leaps forward off the cliff, and you intercept him, too fast for even his reflexes, and slap him back into the rock before dashing back and relaxing ever so slightly. Jinx lands lightly and rolls his shoulders as he considers you.

"Yes, I understand why you wanted to fight me outside, in a larger place. If it is alright with you, I will concede defeat here." He bows, although he is smart enough to keep his eyes on you, and you reach up to pat your cheeks, dislodging the smirk and smiling more naturally.

"Of course, Jinx," you say, returning his bow and holding the cloak out for him. He walks up and takes it, then frowns at your leg. You look down and shrug at the bruising around your knee. "It's fine, it's fine. I just haven't had to twist like that in a long time." It probably would have helped a bit if you'd warmed up beforehand, too … ah, well. "Now, let's head back down, hm?" Jinx gives you a searching look, then nods and hops back onto your shoulder. You walk to the edge of the cliff and step off, gliding down an arm's length from the red-orange rock, eyes sweeping the village for anyone out and about but finding no one. You push yourself forward and drop right in front of Jinx's door, and the inchling hops off your shoulder and opens the door while you remove your geta. His apprentice rises and bows when you enter, and while Hatate's eyes widen with surprise when she sees your leg, a wink and a shake of your head dissuade her from doing anything else. "So, are you fine with answering my questions here, or did you want to go somewhere else?" Jinx seems to think about it for a moment, then hops onto his table and sits next to the edge.

"Hmm … I suppose here is as good as any place." You smile and take a seat in front of him, pen already filling your notebook with the information from your fight, ignoring the clicking of Hatate's camera.

"Then, the first question would be – why here? What made you decide to start a dojo here in Monstro Town?" Jinx smiles and shakes his head.

"It was simple chance. My ship crashed on the rocks near here, and this was the first place I came to. I have no strong feelings about their cause, but as many of the residents are here because they do not wish to fight, my being able to support them has made me satisfied with my whimsical decision." You nod interestedly; so his people aren't from this continent, at least, and he hasn't been here terribly long, since the village had already been established when he got here.

"You seemed to recognize us when we entered. Are there tengu where you come from?" He studies your face, glances at Hatate, then sighs and shakes his head.

"Tengu … no, there are no tengu in my homeland. However, there are … old legends that my people have passed down. Jagger, would you mind getting my books?" The turtle disciple bows and opens one of the closets, then digs through a cabinet for several seconds before taking out two – normal-sized – books that he takes to Jinx. "Thank you," he says as Jagger sets the books next to each other on the table. "I'm afraid I'm not as good an artist as I am a fighter, but I did like some of those stories, and I've recreated the ones I remember best." He opens one book and flips through the pages, then steps aside so you can see the image, which does indeed feature tengu – older tengu, not so soft and approachable as they are now, but still very human-like. You fight to keep the frown from your face as you study the picture and read the story. The art style, distorted and imperfectly recreated as it is, is quite familiar, and you recognize many of the places named in the story. At some point, Jinx's people must have come from Japan.

… Or else Remilia is hoaxing you, and specifically placed this person here, with memories and abilities altered so that he would think they were truthful. It's the sort of thing she would do, if she were in a bad mood and wanted to mess with someone. You step back from the table and sit back down.


What do you do?

[ ] You have more questions for Jinx.
- Write-in

[ ] Ask Jinx if he has any questions for you.
 
[X] You have more questions for Jinx.
- Ask about how his people came to the planet, and his thoughts about the semi regular kidnappipng/political squabbles of the local kingdoms.
 
[X] You have more questions for Jinx.
- Ask about how his people came to the planet, and his thoughts about the semi regular kidnappipng/political squabbles of the local kingdoms.
 
[X] You have more questions for Jinx.
- Ask about how his people came to the planet, and his thoughts about the semi regular kidnappipng/political squabbles of the local kingdoms.
 
[X] You have more questions for Jinx.
-[X] Ask about how his people came to the planet, and his thoughts about the semi regular kidnappipng/political squabbles of the local kingdoms.

It has to have brackets and X people.
 
[X] You have more questions for Jinx.
- Ask about how his people came to the planet, and his thoughts about the semi regular kidnappipng/political squabbles of the local kingdoms.
 
[X] You have more questions for Jinx.
-[X] Ask about how his people came to the planet, and his thoughts about the semi regular kidnappipng/political squabbles of the local kingdoms.
 
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