When Ryu finally came to a stop in front of his meager family home, it was the deepest hour of night, stars were beginning to disappear along with the moon which had already long since hidden from their sight beneath the ocean's horizon far beyond. In his arms he held a strung out Jaguar cub and his recently adopted daughter while across his back he'd strapped the pack used to contain the girl's scant belongings. He hadn't mentioned the dive to them until he had arrived at the point where the landing platform was far below, he was used to the adrenaline of the fall and able to produce a small tornado to catch his momentum and fall, settling them down easily enough and safely. He wished that he could have come and made space for the young girl before bringing her but he would have to simply work with what he had for the time being.
Not pausing for long, he stepped across what constituted as the small yard and fumbled open the door with the clawed fingers of his left hand, bumbling for a moment before he finally bumped the door open with his hip and strode into the dimly lit foyer. It was just spacious enough for two people of Ryu's shoulder width to stand abreast one another but the step up into the home was also shallow and only far enough away from the door to allow the door to open fully before being flush with the rise. Which meant that the footwear was set off to the side in the small, compartmentalized shelf that was built into the wall, with room enough to fit a pair in one compartment and a half-dozen pair all total inside it. The home bore a faint smell of cleaning oil, tea, and a hint of metal. "I'll clean out my old room. Will take a moment." He set the girl and feline down, unburdening the pack from his shoulders so he could untie the boots on his feet with the fingers of his right hand, folding the canvas tops down so he could tuck them into one of the recesses; it left one wondering just how he tied them with just one hand. With his footwear tucked away, the towering man strode forward, patting Shizuko on the head before flipping a switch that kicked on a light deeper in the home. The entry foyer opened into a wide, barely furnished living room; it had a small, dark wood table that was high enough off the ground to accommodate Ryu's impressive height even while sitting with his legs folded, and over the stone floor was a huge woven rug with a tall pile that was gentle and warm on the feet with a pattern that was all dark brown whorls with light grey hard angled lines along the edge of the rug. The light came from an overhead fixture with two small bulbs that were hidden beneath a semi-translucent glass cover that softened the brightness to make the room feel just a bit cozy.
Ryu looked left and right as he strode through the room, a frown of thought crossing his face for a second before it vanished and left him with the neutral mask once more. "Nala will need to learn to pick up her claws." He muttered as he took a right and headed into a hall to the right of the family room that was separated by a smooth, five inch thick wall of stone with circular windows filled with rice paper screens depicting various nature scenes in vivid colors. The sound of footfalls was muted through the entire house between the rugs that were down over the stone floor and the solid stone walls; the clicks of light switches could even just barely be heard when there was silence and the light the towering man had kicked on in the hall light the five rice paper screens from behind and made the colors even more vibrant.
He ventured down the hall and took a sharp right into a room with an open door, turning on the light to reveal a room that had tatami mats covering the floor, two rice paper screened closet doors that were blank, and a desk that was against the wall directly to one's right that was covered in cases full of jewels, gems, and metals that were both in bands, wires, and strips of various sizes, lengths and thickness. The only other furniture in the room was a dark, plain rocking chair sitting beside a window that overlooked the night time landscape of the village and the ocean beyond with what looked like a potted thistle plant with a red red petal flesh peeking out the top of the closed bulb. His single hand flickered through a short set of seals and two clones burst into existence beside him; the three tall men quietly set to work collecting up the case of tools, the cases of gems and metals, the potted plant, and the chair. Systematically bringing the objects out and depositing the plant into his room, the chair and cases into the family room to be set beside and on the table respectively. The two clones bearing the chair and cases vanished in a plume of smoke as soon as their tasks were complete, leaving Ryu in his dim room setting the flower on the window sill before returning to the hall and closing his door. It was all done in a matter of minutes and Ryu once again was returning to the room that was just down the hall from his own. "Shizuko, Nala, in here." He slid open the closet doors gently, revealing a wooden double door cabinet inside beside open faced cabinets bearing the futon and comforters that Shizuko would be sleeping on. He hauled the futon out, undid the tying strings and kicked the futon so it unrolled across the floor while he lifted the pile of what appeared to be just the comforter, but when he dropped it onto the futon he flicked it aside revealing a pillow sitting on neatly square sheets. Everything was neat and possibly disturbingly organized for a man who lived alone, one might think a bachelor would live in squalor and chaos but the towering man's home was clean, even the futon which would normally go unused in this room didn't so much as smell musty. He looked thoughtful, staring out the window for a moment, waiting for Shizuko to drag her belongings into the room.
The question he chewed upon now, was if Shizuko would be able to keep up with just how strict he was. The man grew up simple, his father having been a former priest of the Temple believed that a modest life was a happy one; but that also meant maintaining one's life with a neat, orderly, methodical, and habitual routine. The girl was young, and Ryu was very certain she would learn just as he did: Very quickly.
[MFT]
Not pausing for long, he stepped across what constituted as the small yard and fumbled open the door with the clawed fingers of his left hand, bumbling for a moment before he finally bumped the door open with his hip and strode into the dimly lit foyer. It was just spacious enough for two people of Ryu's shoulder width to stand abreast one another but the step up into the home was also shallow and only far enough away from the door to allow the door to open fully before being flush with the rise. Which meant that the footwear was set off to the side in the small, compartmentalized shelf that was built into the wall, with room enough to fit a pair in one compartment and a half-dozen pair all total inside it. The home bore a faint smell of cleaning oil, tea, and a hint of metal. "I'll clean out my old room. Will take a moment." He set the girl and feline down, unburdening the pack from his shoulders so he could untie the boots on his feet with the fingers of his right hand, folding the canvas tops down so he could tuck them into one of the recesses; it left one wondering just how he tied them with just one hand. With his footwear tucked away, the towering man strode forward, patting Shizuko on the head before flipping a switch that kicked on a light deeper in the home. The entry foyer opened into a wide, barely furnished living room; it had a small, dark wood table that was high enough off the ground to accommodate Ryu's impressive height even while sitting with his legs folded, and over the stone floor was a huge woven rug with a tall pile that was gentle and warm on the feet with a pattern that was all dark brown whorls with light grey hard angled lines along the edge of the rug. The light came from an overhead fixture with two small bulbs that were hidden beneath a semi-translucent glass cover that softened the brightness to make the room feel just a bit cozy.
Ryu looked left and right as he strode through the room, a frown of thought crossing his face for a second before it vanished and left him with the neutral mask once more. "Nala will need to learn to pick up her claws." He muttered as he took a right and headed into a hall to the right of the family room that was separated by a smooth, five inch thick wall of stone with circular windows filled with rice paper screens depicting various nature scenes in vivid colors. The sound of footfalls was muted through the entire house between the rugs that were down over the stone floor and the solid stone walls; the clicks of light switches could even just barely be heard when there was silence and the light the towering man had kicked on in the hall light the five rice paper screens from behind and made the colors even more vibrant.
He ventured down the hall and took a sharp right into a room with an open door, turning on the light to reveal a room that had tatami mats covering the floor, two rice paper screened closet doors that were blank, and a desk that was against the wall directly to one's right that was covered in cases full of jewels, gems, and metals that were both in bands, wires, and strips of various sizes, lengths and thickness. The only other furniture in the room was a dark, plain rocking chair sitting beside a window that overlooked the night time landscape of the village and the ocean beyond with what looked like a potted thistle plant with a red red petal flesh peeking out the top of the closed bulb. His single hand flickered through a short set of seals and two clones burst into existence beside him; the three tall men quietly set to work collecting up the case of tools, the cases of gems and metals, the potted plant, and the chair. Systematically bringing the objects out and depositing the plant into his room, the chair and cases into the family room to be set beside and on the table respectively. The two clones bearing the chair and cases vanished in a plume of smoke as soon as their tasks were complete, leaving Ryu in his dim room setting the flower on the window sill before returning to the hall and closing his door. It was all done in a matter of minutes and Ryu once again was returning to the room that was just down the hall from his own. "Shizuko, Nala, in here." He slid open the closet doors gently, revealing a wooden double door cabinet inside beside open faced cabinets bearing the futon and comforters that Shizuko would be sleeping on. He hauled the futon out, undid the tying strings and kicked the futon so it unrolled across the floor while he lifted the pile of what appeared to be just the comforter, but when he dropped it onto the futon he flicked it aside revealing a pillow sitting on neatly square sheets. Everything was neat and possibly disturbingly organized for a man who lived alone, one might think a bachelor would live in squalor and chaos but the towering man's home was clean, even the futon which would normally go unused in this room didn't so much as smell musty. He looked thoughtful, staring out the window for a moment, waiting for Shizuko to drag her belongings into the room.
The question he chewed upon now, was if Shizuko would be able to keep up with just how strict he was. The man grew up simple, his father having been a former priest of the Temple believed that a modest life was a happy one; but that also meant maintaining one's life with a neat, orderly, methodical, and habitual routine. The girl was young, and Ryu was very certain she would learn just as he did: Very quickly.
[MFT]
