Banquet Song [Fuuen, Yugiri]

"Yes, I have learned that in my time around the Gotei and the shinigami. There seem to be quite few specialized methods which fall under the name, but it seems to me that many then take this to mean that it is a simple art. I find it curious that it receives such gross oversimplification, when it is not particularly different from any of the myriad martial arts that are so often lauded."

Now Fuuen's tone had grown a bit judgemental, though clearly not of Yugiri. He was, after all, a man who respected skill, the efforts put into one's craft and the intricacies of it beyond mere ability. It, to him, seemed outright foolish to elevate one pursuit over another.

"I have seen countless techniques mentioned in the records at Shin'o Academy during my time there, but I have seen precious few which are truly any different from any other stroke of the blade. Perhaps they are swifter, more powerful, more precise-- but they are not anything truly different from even the most fundamental horizontal slash, are they? I think, whether most would wish to admit it, that there are very few techniques which might ever be called truly unique in their nature. Those who do not have the tenacity to achieve that height will envy those who do."

Raising a newly-filled glass of shochu toward her, his expression lightening a bit more, Fuuen drank it down again, the thought of why he always found himself drawn to the liquor nagging at the back of his mind. But this was not the time to be wondering about that, was it?

"You seem the sort who pursues your craft for its own sake. Few do so. I think, truthfully, that such a trait is absolutely necessary to ever become a master of anything."

Shinigami of the Gotei aren't artists. A soldier is usually more concerned about the efficacy of their abilities over the aesthetic appreciation of them. Historically, that's how its always been. Individual figures who pursue the apex of an art are fundamentally opposed to soldiers who learn something to overcome a target."

There was a pause while she kept on eating, stopping abruptly when he mentioned her focus on her art specifically. There was a lot of personal reasons surrounding that. The whole disability thing, the feeling of needing to surpass Yoruichi and become actually recognised as more than just some failure of a noble who became a vizard. Someone that abused their position to break the law and stand over it.

"Hmm. I guess you're right. I am very dedicated to my craft."

"You are correct, of course. Whether or not I agree with them on the matter of violence, I understand why their technique develops in such a way. My issue comes only in the way I have seen so many of them laud the idea of knowing countless techniques. It strikes as ignorant, regardless of what one's purpose is for study."

Though Yugiri's own responses were more curt, more to the point, Fuuen hardly even noticed, his natural propensity for elaborate speech simply coming through in this pleasant little interaction. It was quite rare that he met anyone who left enough of an impression on him that he even thought to check his notebook to see if he had met them before, after all.

"That dedication is quite visible simply in how you speak of it, to say nothing of your actual display last we met. It is a purpose in itself. One does not need any reason to pursue a craft when there is such a passion for it. The art of it, the perfection of the craft itself, is more than reason enough."

"Mmm, fair enough."

She wasn't really commenting much on it, particularly the whole reasons of why she was so passionate about Hoho in particular and taking it beyond its limitations. Though the compliment was not lost on her, it was pretty cool to be complimented by a sword master like him. You know, the type that didn't need to be super powerful but the skill alone displayed the level of mastery that they had.

"So why are you passionate about the sword or doesn't it matter, the reason or cause, just that you have it and that's enough?"

"Ah, that is quite a question. I suppose I do follow this path for no reason other than that I wish to do so. There is simply something about the craft which calls me to master it."

Of course, there was more to it than that. Fuuen knew that there was something about his style that was deeply attached to who he was as a person. There could be no other explanation for why even those techniques he barely used simply came to him as naturally as those he had used but a moment beforehand.

"I suspect that whatever this reason is, it may well be attached to the days before my death. But I do not think it worthwhile to define myself by that. Whatever has happened to me in the past is not nearly as important as what drives me now, and there is a part of me that wonders if knowing would only sully my art."

"So what happens if you found another passion to pursue, hmm?"

She went back to her meal as she let him consider, surely in some abstract that not knowing why you did something made it more likely to be abandoned or eventually put to the wayside for another thing to fill that void. For Yugiri though it felt like as long as she was aware of her experiences and memories, then she knew why she pursued limits beyond the apex in Hoho.

"Probably, amnesia is like that. A person before and after a loss of experiences may as well be two different people."

"I think there is no passion I could find which would match my pursuit of swordsmanship. But even if by some chance miracle it did occur, I would naturally pursue it with the same dedication, simply on principle alone."

What other passions could a man such as he even have? Fuuen supposed that he did have a love of shochu, and of good food, but it did not remotely match his dedication to swordplay. The only sort of thing that he could envision matching his pursuit was what he saw in the romantic efforts of others, but that seemed almost comical to him. It was such an alien concept.

"I have heard that, yes. If it is the case, then I think I would prefer never to regain those memories. I am still myself, after all. Lacking those memories does not make me lesser."