Sord tiem

"Ohh, those would be interesting to see~" Lethe exclaimed, her curiosity for all things martial shining in her voice. "For the most part I was just thinking that moving was the most important part of a fight. Like, if you are out of range and can't move into range, then how good you are and how sharp your sword is and how many people have been fed by your grandmother don't really matter. You need to be able to move, even if it is to deny your opponent his ability to move.

So, seeing a style that can surmount the need to move, would be most enlightening! We can even use what we learn to move better, in the eternal arms race of moving vs not moving"

Lethe would, were she any less of an innocent cinnamon bun, start cackling madly. As it was, she just played with her hands, lightly bashing them together as if to showcase said eternal arms race.

"I have studied such styles before, which are predicated on the understanding that your opponent must close the gap every bit as much as you yourself ought to. I would certainly be willing to refine my own understanding of them if you believe you could learn from them."

Her innocent cheer was well and good, but Fuuen knew that he still needed to address the most pressing matter of the conversation, the single topic that would decide whether or not he was willing to teach someone else. He had put his faith into both Elyss and Yugiri when it came to his techniques, and it was not entirely unlikely that this would be the third.

"What do you believe is the purpose of a martial art? What do you think is the ideal outcome of one's mastery?"

The man was so smart! She could sit on his head and learn from him for so long! Of course, learning required she acknowledge herself and that was a sticking point, but honestly; with a good friend like this, that didn't seem so ominous anymore. So long as he didn't abandon her here like the others did, or not even come find her in the first place like whoever she was the Knight of did...

Though, maybe too smart for Lethe, since he asked a question that went way over her head.
"I...don't really know. I'm a Danava, the impetus of my very existence is learning things, but there isn't much beyond learning it, really. I've not been out in the world much or met people to have an idea what to do with the knowledge once I have it. I am sure there is a lot to do with it, but the first and most pressing part of my life is to learn it. I would assume I would learn the purpose as I got more knowledge of the world and the people in it"

In a way, Fuuen could appreciate that answer, if only because of how remarkably honest it was, and how far removed it was from what he might have considered disappointing. Innocent, frankly. But, then again, he supposed it didn't quite answer the question that mattered the most to him.

"That is a respectable answer, certainly. Better to be aware of what you do not know than to maintain a needless overconfidence, yes? Learning is not so difficult when you are aware that you need to learn."

He supposed that her answer was, at least, enough that he would be willing to teach her fundamentals, basics. His own style could not be risked on uncertainty, but he knew that anyone could learn those things from another teacher. And, frankly, he would rather that she learn it from himself than from some other, less respectable teacher.

"Well, shall we depart this place for our destination covered in white?"

Yes! Success! Lethe had been low-key worried about messing up since her answer kind of sucked, but acknowledgement of your suck was something that he seemed to like. So there was success in the world.

"Mhmm! I'm going to make a house! Probably" Lethe pettered off, scratching her head awkwardly. "I...I get these wants to do things that have no context...Or at least context where I'd rather not look. Sorry" Lethe would shuffle awkwardly and then stand and wait for the awesome show shifting powers Fuuen was about to display.

Unless he just had a bus somewhere they needed to go to. Which would have been super awkward.

"Well, constructing a house is a rather ambitious endeavor, particularly in a place like where we are going. And setting down roots that deep has never particularly seemed appealing to me."

Of course, it wasn't terribly difficult for him to open a way out of here. Illegal? Well, sort of, but it wasn't as if anyone would actually know that he'd done it. Going from one backwoods to another, that was fairly easy, and Fuuen was not remotely concerned about the opinions of those who would hold him down, whether they be demons or people of Earth. Taking up his typical stance, blade still sheathed, Fuuen focused on the space in front of him carefully. One deep breath, sword drawn--

As the blade cut through the air, the world itself was sliced along with it, creating a tear across the realms through the garganta. It was visibly unstable, seeing as it was still a cut, and Fuuen sheathed his sword immediately afterward. She'd wished to see a landscape of pure white, and so he'd made certain this would take them to the furthest reaches of the Antarctic. There was nowhere that could compete with that, after all.

"After you."

Fuuen's sword swings were so awesome, and Lethe couldn't help but watch him most intensely as he moved. Her brain whirred with possibilities, and fed on what she watched like a grand meal after starvation. Fuuen would then gesture for her to enter into the hole, and Lethe did with gusto, braving the portal to a whole new world!

On the other side was definitely the white she was expecting. It tickled at the back of her mind that this was come, or at least a place of comfort where she could go and be at peace. The much larger part of her mind however, was less polite and more vocal;

"It's so cold!" she shrieked, running around in circles trying not to get frostbite in the artic conditions. "What kind of mad woman would feel like this was a good place to be? AHHH! I am going to go back in time and beat up whoever is there for making me think this was any good place!"

Stepping through the cut after her, which immediately sealed up behind him, Fuuen simply chuckled at the sight of her running. He wasn't too terribly cold, if only because his nature as a Plus meant it wasn't something to worry about to begin with, but he could understand that she probably hadn't been as ready as he'd expected.

"I find it rather lovely, in a way. A beautiful place, as long as one appreciated the elegance of simplicity. But, if it is too cold for your liking, we can make our way to warmer parts. We are rather far from any ports, but I would be willing to carry you if you would like to leave quickly."

It was a genuine gesture, and Fuuen knew he was squarely faster than the average person. Besides, he needed a reason to put a few of the hoho basics he'd learned in the academy, and from Yugiri, to the test.

"The air hurts me face! Why would you like a place where the air hurts your face?!" Lethe exclaimed, howling at the sky. She had a vague idea of an awesome movement technique that could get her out of here quickly, but the two problems were that it was vague, and that it also felt like she really should not use it without practice. So she simply nodded to Fuuen.

Turning on the spot and half-crouching, she managed to have enough self-control to not immediately spring, and instead spoke.
"I am going to leap at you now. So we can leave" she said, giving him a second or two to deny or prepare, and then if he didn't say no, she would leap at him. Like a leaf falling from a tree, even her wild frozen leaping whispered sweetly in the eyes of a man who could admire the physical way.

"Well, I will not disagree with that, but I find one gets used to it with time."

It was good that Fuuen was well used to reacting to things such as this, and that he had worked up an impressive physicality through years of training, or he might have had some difficulty in catching her as she lept at him. But, as it was, he had little difficulty in doing it, and he made a note of how effortlessly she seemed to do it.

Well, he didn't know what to do with that knowledge, but it was worth keeping in mind. Putting a foot forward, Fuuen made his way off, most of his speed simply on account of general talent than any particular technique in hoho, but it all worked well enough to clear the snowy landscape.