[Souls of Paranoia]Zack & Mimi - Practicing the Withdrawal

[Miz]

Zack originally had dropped martial arts upon moving from his hometown. The move was troublesome but it provided a natural break from continuing the same tasks over and over again. Zack was tired of the competition that came with being in martial arts. He started with Karate when he was younger and had a drive for it. He found the poses and stances fun to learn and the way he could use his hands was awe-inspiring as a young kid. However as he developed, Zack learned he wasn't really aggressive enough to continue with the standard route that many instructors wanted him to follow. He still got his black-belt. Not just from one of those black-belt farms but an actual school. The sensei was an old family friend who had immigrated to the country.


His Sensei, Kosei, allowed him to use his first name early on and desired for Zack to learn the more passive and delicate ways of martial arts. For that reason, Zack was taken out of the traditional competition circuit and given lessons in whatever his father felt like affording. Zack enjoy the lessons greatly, but with his father paying for them, he was expected to go to some sort of competition. He had to win at least something.


When Mimi inquired about Zack's marital arts, he avoided bringing up too much tension over it. He was more or less done, he didn't want to impress his parents anymore. However the woman was insistent. She was very curious about what Zack was able to do. Eventually Zack relented and on some afternoons when he got home, it was a time when no one else was in the house, he would show his techniques to the woman in his head through the mirror.


She complimented him. Something Mimi was not usually doing. It became a secret thing between the body and soul. So when Mimi asked about what weapons he knew how to use, Zack didn't find the question particularly odd. He did have a few swords in his room. Not replicas, real swords. They were a going-away gift.


Zack stood straight in his family's patio tonight. Things had been cleared to prevent any sort of accidents. He wasn't dressed in anything fancy, just some workout clothes. He held the practice bokken, a wooden sword shaped like a katana, in his hands. Zack was frustrated about not going to the party. He planned to Geo-cache but he was reminded of Sam's expression every time he thought about the activity. It wasn't as relaxing anymore especially when he remembered anyone he knew was at Becca's party. He didn't have the heart to tell Sam he wasn't invited. He had to act like he didn't want to go.


"Iaido," Zack said out loud as it was more comfortable than in his head. "Is just one style of withdrawing a blade. However it is the perhaps the most delicate and most precise," Zack enjoyed teaching this content to Mimi. She had an interest and he had the knowledge. He felt strong in someway.


"So how does it work?" Mimi said.


"Its easy, well not really easy, but its simple to understand. Its all about controlling your movements with the sword from the scabbard to your opponent. Striking is desirable, but its also about withdrawing the sword. A lot of people underestimate that essential."

 

[Miz]

"I don't doubt you. Its the basics people forget," Mimi said. "Controlling one's movements is the hardest skill whether its paintbrush or a weapon."


"Funnily enough, Master Kosei is a painter in his spare time, I am sure he would lecture me just the same if I tried to paint," Zack said smiling to Mimi as he pulled out the sword again and thrust it forward in the air. The action was spontaneous yet fluid. Zack was fast, Mimi was impressed but the boy just sighed.


"I'm getting sloppy," Zack complained out loud. Sweat had manifested on his forehand even in the colder air of October.


"Sloppy?" Mimi said. "That looked seamless. I would have taken you one of those people in Kung Fu movies."


"Yeah but I delayed on my withdrawal," Zack said turning the fake blade in his hand. "Plus, my hand is quivering right now. See how shaky the sword is, that's not good. I need to be calmer."


"Well - you do have an audience now," Mimi said assuming that her presence was making him nervous. "Don't worry, I am entertained. You have to remember, I don't know half the stuff you do. Just pretend I am not here."


"No it isn't you," Zack said. "My thoughts just aren't relaxed." His reset his position, the fake sword at his side.


"I can tell," Mimi retorted. "You forget I am right next to them. What though is ailing you?"


"I am sure you can guess..."


"Girls? Friends? Being left out of a party?" Mimi said. "Its all really trivial matters. In a year or two, you will forget these moments."

 

[Miz]

Zack gave off an exaggerated sigh. The practice bokken slipped from his hands. "Yeah, yeah," he said. "That's the reasonable thing to say. You know? I am going to get a girl or whatever soon enough. Just one more year, I only have to wait a bit longer."


"But?" Mimi said waiting for a reputtal.


"I've waited for so long," Zack complained as he started to pace around his family patio. "I've been told that since middle school. When the other guys in my group got girls and I didn't. People just said 'don't worry, you will have your chance,' they always say that to guys like me. Figures, Sam and such have no problem with girls. Even I am too lame to hang out with him."


"Sam though is a spastic idiot half-the-time," Mimi said. "I don't know if he's that 'cool'."


"What does that make me then? He certainly has ditched me for other things. I mean we were just childhood friends, we were friends when we were like five, why did I think we would be friends now?"


Zack felt his arms moving without him, his hands gripped the bokken. Mimi was trying out the wooden sword for herself. Maybe just as a distraction or something else. Though she was clueless with the sword in her hand. Mimi was more of a gun-girl than a sword-wielder. Placing the sword at Zack's hip, the improper position almost made Zack laugh out loud. "You aren't doing it right," Zack instructed Mimi.


"Well, you aren't doing girls right," she said back to him. "But you don't see me getting all bent out of shape because I am messing up with your sword-thing. I've been on this earth longer than you too. Why should I listen to some snot-nose sixteen year old -- especially since he doesn't even have a license?"


"I get it, I get it..." Zack said relenting to the soul in his head. "It doesn't change how I feel though."

 

[Miz]

Zack corrected Mimi's hand placement with the sword for the next withdrawal. "Anyway, why do you care? You always just lecture me about how much I make mistakes," Zack said rather bluntly.


The comments did make sense, Mimi wasn't necessarily the most supportive of people. However her comments weren't just the blatant insults of Daniel. She had a reason to her madness. "I do it to help you, motivate you, but I realized that perhaps it wasn't the best move."


"Motivate me?"


"Yes," Mimi interrupted. "I thought I could treat you like I did guys in the gang. I know now though, that's just not going to cut it."


Zack's hands lunged out from his body, thrusting the sword. The placement was off though and Zack's footing was poorly placed. "You aren't even paying attention to my swings," Zack said criticizing Mimi's form.


"Yeah, but practice makes perfect," Mimi said as she reset the hand position. It was still off, but better than last time. "You know that better than anyone."


Zack took control of his arms again, he was going to demonstrate the proper withdrawal one more time. "Heh, true."


"That's why I am gonna help you get Xandra," Mimi continued and with her words everything in Zack's head went silent. The wooden bokken dropped to the floor.