You're a little young... [Trizen]

[Demetra Katsaros]

It was pretty easy to start this tai chi class. After I had been a student of tai chi chuan for a couple years, I read an article about a study done, showing the health benefits, stating, "Researchers have found that intensive tai chi practice shows some favorable effects on the promotion of balance control, flexibility, cardiovascular fitness and reduced the risk of falls in both healthy elderly patients, and those recovering from chronic stroke, heart failure, high blood pressure, heart attacks, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's." I just began visiting retirement homes, informing residents of what I had learned, and soon I had enough elderly people willing to follow my demonstrations. I mean, why not? I was offering the courses for free as part of a project to help them stay in shape. If they wanted an older or more experienced teacher, they'd have to pay somebody else.

"Now, we shall go into 'Pat Foot to Subdue Tiger,'" I declared loudly and smoothly so the entire dojo could hear me, and they complied by following my action of shifting my weight forward as I skipped across my left foot and moved my left palm in an arc to my lower left side as the right hand did the same moving backward toward my head.

I sighed deeply. There were no problems so far, and the class was coming to a close for the day. That was good, since I was beginning to feel the relaxation that Tai Chi generally brings me.

[Trizen Takano]

Suddenly the silver chimes blew as the door opened in his creek and hollow manner. An older woman had walked in tugging a boy with a cane and slim dark shades.

The woman herself wore nothing but animal furs, and on looking at her, one would see either she was used to receiving attention or grabbing attention. Whichever point of view one saw it, attention was what she got. She had the thick, black Hollywood star glasses on and laughed as she waved at the tall and handsome limousine driver outside. Now on catching this second glance of her, one would see either she was arrogant or perceived as arrogant. Whichever point of view one saw it, arrogance was what was gathered.

"Hello there! Hiiiii! Hello! Why yes. Are you uh..." She glanced for a moment down at her Blackberry Curve. Though unrecognizable. This upgrade wasn't on the market yet. "Demitrious Katsu...phrakus?"

The boy who stood behind the woman closed the door, knowing she left it open for the press to take pictures. On hearing her butcher the name, he facepalmed. It was almost unreal how stupid she was.

"In any case, this is my step-son, Tri-zen Ta-Ka-No," The woman felt women (or men) with strange last names were ignorant people. She assumed most people didn't know how to real or pronounce Japanese names, which is why she decided to play the phonetic game. "He got beat up in school and needs therapy as we discussed over the phone. Now from my understanding, it was a private session, right? What are all these... these PEOPLE, doing here."

Trizen grimaced. It was sad. His step-mother was an idiot. He knew it to be true and knew not to say anything about it. He figured he would either let others get aggravated or the woman herself would get frustrated to the point where she would leave -- in this case he hoped they would both leave.

"Oh well, I suppose that's what I get for dealing in the slums as opposed to that world-class masseuse your father would have wanted. She would have come from England to get your body all fixed up." She said on turning to the boy, Trizen. Then she pinched his cheeks and squeezed them as she said, "Now you be a goooood booooy and wait for Miss or... uh... Mister Greek over there to give you a proper lesson. Alright? Tah-tah!"

She let go of his cheek, patted his head, put a roll of money in his pocket, opened the door and left. Flashes of lights followed as she went down the stairs and towards her limo. Trizen shut the door as fast as he could and sighed deeply. He was alone again. Thankfully. His sunken shoulders were his basic apology for everything that had just happened, not to mention he still wore his frown. He was so embarrassed. Not to mention it was in front of a complete stranger. A grown man too -- or so, his mother said.

Waving his magic wand, he traced the floor and began to walk slowly. Thankfully, his outstretched arm managed to feel for an empty chair near the entrance way and carefully made his way to sit down. The boy was getting pretty good at feeling around, though it was a hollow victory. His mom told him he was going to learn Tai Chi. A style he was pretty comfortable in, though the expression on his face mainly stated the obvious: He wanted to go home.

"Wait..."

Scratch that. A smirk grew on his face. He'd be just fine where he was.

[Demetra Katsaros]

There were millions of things that I could find to hate about that damn evil woman who rudely interrupted my class (oh lookie! There's one!) but it would be a waste of my time to even think them all out in my head. I needed to stay composed to finish off my class. I was fortunate enough that none of my students said anything. They must have sensed that I wouldn't want them to complain, even though I probably would have was I under my own instructor. "Let's end with Closing Posture of Taijiquan."

Simple stuff. "I'll see you all next week."

With that, I walked over to the newcomer, dusting off my keikogi as the elderly people slowly exited out the door.. "Your mom recognized my slice of Greek heritage. Smart lady," I commented drily. Hey, I could shit talk, but it was no use doing so when the person wasn't there. Besides, I would put up with a lot of crap in order to help people through tai chi chuan. "Anyhow, I'm Demetra. I've only done a couple private sessions before, so bear with me, but I can probably help just like any other person who knows a fair amount of tai chi." I ran my eyes down his body. "Where are your injuries specifically?"

[Trizen Takano]

Still sitting, Trizen heard the words of the young lady telling everyone they'd see her the next week. Awesome. So now he got to spend time with a character who might take advantage of him while blind. Tch, he was not about to let that happen. As much as Trizen was getting used to the fact that he was blind, he did have a small fear of not being able to defend himself. Ok, it was a big fear.

With everything that was happening, Trizen needed to be in top form. Though he also knew this disability would give him time to really see the truth behind David and Gabriel's words. It was an interesting concept considering the pair of them were people Trizen looked up to. They mentored him in their own way. But, the boy needed to forget that now. The young man who would be addressing him would be speaking to him now.

"Your mom recognized my slice of Greek heritage. Smart lady."

'Huh? She's not a man!?'

"Anyhow, I'm Demetra. I've only done a couple private sessions before, so bear with me, but I can probably help just like any other person who knows a fair amount of tai chi." He could sort of feel her analyzing him during that break of silence. Though he was curious. What exactly was she reading? "Where are your injuries specifically?"

"Umm.. well... all over to be honest." The flash of pain ran through his mind. He grunted on the very thought of it. One could see him shiver at the thought of that much pain overloading his system. He remembered it for just that instant. "My step-mother thought it would be a good idea for me to come as a means of therapy. To be honest, its been tough moving with all these knots in my body. I feel like I'm not as flexible or fit as I used to be... and that's not good considering the kind of shape I need to get back into..."

Trizen knew her voice from somewhere, though he couldn't place it. From the sounds of it, she sounded like someone who would likely have a lot of fun people watching on seeing the nature of their ignorance. He didn't want to smirk, as he fought the urge, but she seemed put together which was a nice change considering he had been bed-ridden for some time. This Demetra was going to be key in helping Trizen redevelop his strength.

[Demetra Katsaros]

I suppose I was caught up in all the drama that came along with that woman entering, but really, I was rather disappointed in myself for not realizing one crucial point- he couldn't see. I'm not certain whether he was legally blind, or if his vision was hindered from injuries that would eventually heal, yet it was rather clear that some visual aspect was impaired. My sight was perfectly fine, though, and after a couple minutes I recognized his face.

"I think you're in my psychology class, Trizen." Well, I knew his name, either because I heard it out of our teacher's mouth or the woman I spoke to before mentioned it. I don't remember.

"Anyhow, as you can guess from that, I'm only eighteen, being that I'm not a super-senior, so I can't actually profess expertise in rehabilitation physical therapy. In fact, if I were you, I'd probably prefer a trained professional to entrust with building up your strength and healing your injuries." I sighed. "However, you're here already, and I've requested the dojo for a couple hours to work with you, so I might as well try the best I can. As precaution, you will be responsible for telling me if any exercise we are performing begins to make you feel discomfort, as I don't want to place stress on any limbs that should be resting."

I placed myself in beginning stance, putting my feet apart comfortably shoulder width apart. Even if he couldn't see me, it was still natural for me to perform the moves along with my students. "We're going to work on the first part of tai chi, the solo form, or quan. Firstly, I'm going to ask that you keep your spine as straight as possible, and flex your diaphragm while you breath, so that your stomach is moving in and out with each breath rather than your rib cage." I could spend a lot of time discussing proper breathing techniques, but hopefully he'd catch on without a lot of delay. "Next, try to find your center of gravity, probably the balls of your feet, so you can balance well." The words 'center of gravity' were obviously erroneous, yet it was common usage. "Extend both of your arms around you as wide as you can, moving them slowly without losing your footing."

[Trizen Takano]

"I think you're in my psychology class, Trizen."

"Hm?" He hesitated and bit his bottom lip as the feeling of a memory was coming... brewing... then appeared. "Ah crap..."

~~~~~~~~~

The boy found a tissue on the teacher's desk, though it dawned on him that the teacher wasn't quite there yet. He was relieved but still very much embarrassed, particularly because he knew how well people analyzed each other -- or, when they cared to at least. The one in the front row seemed pretty attentive considering her position there, but he wasn't about to go read anything further than that. Although it was a habit. A bad one sometimes. Most times. With his free hand, the same one with the slung shoulder bag, he held the tissue on his nose and held his head up. He looked like an idiot as he hit a couple of desks on his way to the back of the room. The first being Demetra's.

~~~~~~~

"No uh... I uh.. don't remember you..." Trizen was a pretty bad liar. It was a good thing on detecting his honesty, but a bad one when trying to cover for a stupid thing he did. This likely being the appropriate moment. He was pretty nervous at the moment, particularly remember how brilliant she was in class. She had this kind of focused vibe about her. Very focused. One of those people who seemed to have themselves together. Now he wasn't about to go any further with anything or assume she was perfect, though any male that looked at her would have likely thought that already. Thank goodness Trizen was blind, though who knows. He was fifteen after all.

Then she said something. A lot of something. Was she doubting her abilities? He shook his head slightly. If she was focused a person he felt her to be, she would do fine. Perhaps "felt" was too broad a verb. He trusted her knowledge on Tai Chi, both the practical and meditational standpoints. He always did like giving people the benefit of the doubt if he could, and he would do the same with her. She gave him no reason not to trust her. She actually seemed pretty down to Earth.

"No worries, Demetra," he said with a bit of a laugh, "If you're as good as your confidence speaks, then I have nothing to worry about. I'll be careful with my limbs and such."

Now they were in the middle of the dojo. He heard her beginning to move as she spoke. She wanted him to go into the first bits of Tai Chi. Now Trizen hadn't done any of his normal exercises for a while, and as much as he knew Tai Chi, there were a lot of variations. What surprised him was her way of explaining things. He was very used to watching and copying, or doing his own thing until he got it. From Demetra's instructions, Trizen would follow along nicely. Though he was a bit shaky on trying find himself centre, he managed to keep balance, though faltered a few times.

"My apologizes, Demetra-sensei," he said in a bit of a small voice, "I have a bit of trouble keeping balance."

His reason why was ridiculous to him. He had been out of the hospital for a few weeks now, he figured he would be alright. But it seemed the damage had taken more of a toll than he figured. That and he hadn't practised the martial art until then. He was rusty. Though he figured it would be like riding a bike. Then...

"Haha!" The slim shades wearer had a smile on his face as he got into the first position successfully. Though he forgot for a moment, it was suppose to be a serene kind of exercise. Very serious. His masters in the Wudang Mountains would have scolded him by then.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

The boy was getting in the groove of things again, but he knew more would come. His spine felt a bit out of place since he was beginning to feel his muscles really move again. It was weird being that active, but cool enough. He hoped this would be the first step to his recovery.

"How come I never see you around school? I guess it's just that big?" He asked the young woman as he continued to stand in the near-imitated stance.

[Demetra Katsaros]

This wasn't so bad. Not that I thought it would be bad. However, I didn't want to be responsible for further injuries. I obviously wasn't going to make him spar with anyone, something I did in my usual classes, as there wasn't anybody left to spar with beside myself. I couldn't see myself fighting him; if I did, I would be too busy to analyze his movements and correct any mistakes on his part. Still, I didn't have much experience helping people recover from physical bashings. I'd aided a couple with arthritis, yet that was entirely different.

What I was doing thus far didn't appear to pose a problem, though, so I'd continue. He apparently lost his balance for a moment, but hey, the floors were padded for a reason, and I didn't expect immediate perfection. Besides, he didn't actually fall down.

I almost giggled a little when he called me sensei. Even my regular students didn't call me that, either because they weren't familiar with the term, or because I never told them to, or because it felt awkward to give that higher-ranking title to a person who was likely fifty or so years younger. I wasn't sure if the terminology was even correct, considering that 'sensei' was a Japanese honorific, and Tai Chi Chaun was Chinese wushu. Then again, I often referred to the training area as a dojo, when that too was a Japanese word reserved for Japanese martial arts. I really didn't know what else to call the place, to be honest.

"Stand up with your feet together, your head and neck upright, and your chin drawn a little bit inward. Relax your chest and abdomen, and let your shoulders and arms down loosely, and your hands touch the outer sides of your thighs." I followed the simple steps as I spoke, naturally. "Move your left foot gently half a step to the left, with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes forward. Raise both of your arms slowly forward to your shoulder level, bending your fingers slightly, keeping your palms down and drooping your elbows a little. Bend your legs slowly, as if you were squatting, , and press your palms gently downward to abdomen level, facing your knees."

He had asked why he didn't see me around school. Well, uh, you can't exactly see anybody, technically, I thought. Ack1 That was rather mean on my part. Why did that even come to mind? "I'm not sure, really, why I don't see you much," I replied to his question. "I suppose that I didn't formally meet you until now, so there was no reason to seek you out or even pay attention if we passed each other in the halls. Plus, I tend to keep pretty busy, even during breaks."

[Trizen Takano]

For the while, things were alright. The boy felt a little better getting into that first stance and even managed to ask a question. Then he felt his right hamstring twitch. Never mind. At least it was stretching out his muscles and allowing them to be worked after such a long and very drawn out resting period from school. Today would have been his last day off from school -- now that school was everyday, or something like that. He didn't know if that was the case after Mister Orange had left. He hoped everything was back to normal, that and his father actually followed through with his word and sponsored a large portion of the school's reconstruction.

Then Demetra was saying another set of instructions. For someone who claimed to only be teaching for a short while, he was impressed with how easily she gave her instructions. If she really wanted to, Trizen was certain she could have released an instructional DVD to sell around different venues in L.A. From the sounds of it, she was teaching an older class, she could probably gear the video towards them if she really wanted. Not every elderly person was going to be able to make it to this particular place. Who knows how the idea would have worked out for her. Though not knowing her very well, Trizen decided against the idea and didn't ask her. Besides, he had to focus.

As he slowly bent his legs and pressed his palms towards his abdomen level, he could feel everything. His energy was beginning to move at a familiar pace again and he felt that early stage of harmony. Qi was a very interesting thing, and he knew very little about it. From what he knew of inner strength, he took it as a sense of great power... but with great power comes... well, you know.

"That makes sense," Trizen said on her reply, "The school's pretty big anyways, and if you're keeping yourself busy during the breaks, I'm guessing it's because you're either very focused on academics, or couldn't be bothered by the idiots that do bother you. Maybe both." He chuckled before saying that last bit.

[Demetra Katsaros]

I pursed my lips together as he spoke. "It's a little of both," I agreed, going into the beginning stance for a Brush Knee with Twist Step, "and then some. I do like to focus a bit on academics, and sure, it's usually easier to do so when you don't have loud meat heads messing around, breaking stuff and beating the crap out of each other, but I don't just study and do schoolwork for good grades to go to college and what-not. It's also just for the sake of learning. Sometimes I'm curious and I want to know more about a topic, so I'll just research it. I like to stay well informed." Plus, doing my homework early freed up my day for other things, but I figured that much was obvious.

"Anyhow, we're going to go into our first real Tai Chi Chuan move." Ha. He'll probably wonder, What the hell have we been doing all this time before? Everything else was mostly a warm-up. Well, the last position was the starting form, yet I still thought of that as a nice way of saying 'warm-up.' "This is called Brush Knee with Twist Step. You can do this with the left or right side as the focus, but we're going to start with the left." I breathed in deeply, not just because that was what you were supposed to do, but because I expected to do a lot of talking. Since Trizen couldn't see, I was even more obligated to verbalize each move as clearly as possible.

"Turn the upper part of your body slightly to the left, and move your right hand in an arc downward past the front of your body, and your left hand in an arc upward past the side of your body. Then turn the upper part of your body to the right, move your right hand in an arc from below to the upper right backward to ear level, palm up, and at the same time, move your left hand in an arc to the lower right part of your chest. At the same time, move your left foot back to the inner side of your right foot." I was pretty used to doing the moves themselves. When I first started taking Tai Chi, I thought it must've been impossible for the instructor to memorize all these moves, but it actually wasn't too hard for me. It was a little like what I imagined cheerleaders and dancers would do.

"Turn the upper part of your body slightly to the left, move your left foot one step forward to the left with your feet about a foot apart, and shift your body weight forward, your left leg bent and right leg straightened. At the same time, pull your right hand back past your right ear and push it forward, fingers to nose level. Move your left hand downward to the left around your left knee and press it by your left hip, palm down and fingers pointing forward. Keep the upper part of your body upright and relax your waist and hips."

[Trizen Takano]

"Wow..." Trizen was actually blown away. Believe it or not Demetra was... well, he'd explain himself in a moment. Though for now, he would do as she had instructed. The Brush Knee with Tiger Step. That whole move sounded cool. It felt familiar as Demetra explained the movement, and he was glad she would focus on the left side. He was a lefty, though he was a tad odd when it came to the casual norms of being a lefty. Or well, so he was told.

As he took the time to breathe and move in motion with the move, he knew it to be familiar. Wudan style wasn't too far off, though the monks made it clear it was not for fighting. It was for improving one's inner strength and balance. Trizen's father, as usual, didn't keep it to heart. Of course, Trizen knew that's what separated him from the old man. His heart.

Demetra was silent for a while after giving the first set of instructions. This always made Trizen wonder what people were thinking about when they were silent, but all of that moment, he would feel this legs buckle every now and again. It was apparent in the odd grunt Trizen tried to withdraw with clenched teeth. It seemed his legs and back were starting to hurt. He felt like a weakling considering how they far into the movements they actually were. But, no pain no game. Besides, his muscles needed to get used to it again, they were getting fat and lazy for two weeks doing nothing but homework.

"Believe it or not, Demetra-sensei, you're actually the first I've met that's actually thinking about post-secondary. What do you plan on majoring in?" There came what Trizen was amazed with earlier, "Most people at school are usually concerned about where they are now with gangs, plots and people. Grades don't seem to mean much of anything considering how much time it would involve with them not practising their martial arts."

[Demetra Katsaros]

I laughed after his comment. Trizen probably had a point. After all, I don't remember having a conversation with any of my peers about college in, well, ever. You'd think it would be something that at least the seniors would worry about, and yet they too appeared to be caught up in other things. "I'm in twelfth grade, so I'm in the year that normal students start worrying about applications and such. But uh, I guess Moral Crest isn't exactly your typical bunch of 'normal students,' huh?" I shrugged my shoulders. Again, he wouldn't be able to see that, but maybe he'd be able to hear the cloth of my gi shifting along my arms. Were the blinded that intuitive?

"It's funny that you mention majors, though, because the truth is I'm not really sure. You'd think a person like me, always organized, planned, and prepared, would have her future mapped out. There's a lot of things I'd like to accomplish in life, yet I don't know which major or career path would encompass them all." I knew I wanted to go to college, of course. I liked learning, and I preferred my source of knowledge to be credible, from excellent professors and well-managed courses. To choose a focus, however, was rather difficult. I wanted to use my knowledge to essentially save the world, stripping it of its evils, depravities, and systems. Where would I begin? "But uh, my mom's a teacher, so education has always been an important thing in my family." I called it a family, even though it was really just the two of us. "I guess teaching runs in my blood. Ha ha." I didn't actually believe that. I wasn't foolish enough to think that teaching was something genetic.

I glanced over Trizen again. He had made a few grunting noises during the exercises, and I was a little worried. "Are you sure you're handling this alright? There's a difference between the muscle burn you feel when you're doing strenuous exercise and the stinging burn you feel when your injuries aren't resting."

[Trizen Takano]

Trizen laughed at Demetra's first bit. Her exaggeration and point of phrasing was what made him imagine the shoulder shrugging or at least the kind of sarcasm that involved it.

"You're totally right on that one," the boy said still laughing, "I mean, either that or no one talks about the schools they've applied to simply because it's embarrassing or something. That and I'm sure it'll overshadow anyone's plans to take over the school."

Talking about the situations and rumours like that made everything sound so... well... silly. The school was the school. It was in California and clearly no one was worried about a bunch of kids overturning the economy. He figured those grown folks in suits would be more interested in doing that. Though the smirk rose as he saw no difference in who the children were.

Then Demetra talked a little more about her majors. She was right, the boy did think she would have had organized that kind of thing, but stranger things have happened. The way she spoke, it was almost as though she knew what she wanted in her life. Well, she did, she had just finished saying she wanted to accomplish a lot of things in her life. She just didn't know which major or career that would encompass them all.

"What about Journalism? There are a lot of people who end up doing a lot with their job, not to mention there's all sorts of journalists out there. Many are activists for different things -- lately campaigns -- or perhaps they're for outing different causes or societies. There are a lot of 'em that kinda go towards the documentary vibe for world issues. Sounds hard though, I can't imagine the kinds of connections they'd need to build." Trizen said in hopes of not discouraging the idea, even though it was one of many things she could probably take a look at.

Then she said her mom was a teacher. Education was important in her family. Trizen knew that all too well. His mother taught him a lot of everything, his father as well, though that was for different reasons only Trizen was beginning to discover. "I remembering hearing once that only the wise should teach. Not everyone can do it well, though by the sounds of your instructions and the confidence in tone, you really have a knack for it. Passing knowledge to others isn't only empowering, but you're shaping people."

She questioned when he cringed. But of course he would add a bit of sarcasm to his response. "C'mon. Real men don't feel pain. Ack--" He bit his lip again as his back felt sore in that moment. The timing couldn't be better. "Alright-alright, maybe it hurts a bit. I know we didn't get far, but do you think maybe we could take a small break?" He was still standing in his pose and he clearly didn't have much of a center of gravity.

"In the span of me explaining what happened to me, that might get me enough time for my muscles to man-up. Not to mention it'll explain why I'm terribly weaker than the people you've been teaching." He chuckled a bit. Trizen was slightly embarrassed with cheeks flushing red.

[Demetra Katsaros]

Ah. A break. That sounded fine. I was glad I asked how he was doing, otherwise I'd feel really guilty about now. I grabbed my water canteen (yes, there's no booze in it) and gulped down. Sure, the Tai Chi wasn't very strenious exercise, though it could be designed to be cardio, but I still drank water frequently anyway. I didn't need to sweat to drink.

"I like journalism," I admitted as he brought it up, "but there's so many things wrong with taking that path. I already kinda, sorta work for the school newscast, yet that's an entirely different field. The school isn't part of a conglemerate empire, run by mass media money-minded men who basically control any opportunity I might have. People like Murdoch and Gannett ruin the entire journalism profession, because to be part of anything that people would bother to look at, you have to sell your soul to these rich bastards who own hundreds of newspapers, including dailies and weeklies, along with magazine coorporations, television stations, radio stations, advertisement companies, billboard companies, polling industries, record companies, motion picture production coorporations, heck, even fast food chains. If I want to work somewhere that I'll really have a say, I'll actually have no say at all." I sighed. "Now, I'd like to do something to change that, but making those changes isn't a career. It's just a goal that probably requires time and money, both of which I don't have a lot of."
I was going off on another tangent. "Don't believe that crap about 'real men.' Some of my best students happen to be women, and what's more, they're eighty-year-old women, too." I started to put the cap on the cantine, then thought twice and held it in front of Trizen. "Would you like some water?"

[Trizen Takano]

A break. Cool. That was good. The two of them were still standing in the middle of the dojo, though that was fine considering Trizen was not about to sit down to readily. He trusted himself, just not to the full-extent of surroundings quite yet. Not to mention he didn't want to do something stupid like sit on her foot or something.

He then heard the twist of a cap and a few gulps of what sounded to be a very refreshing beverage. If he thought it was alcohol, he likely would have smelt it on her breath, but also knowing this wasn't the school of Drunken Boxing, he figured it was a power drink as opposed to other substances that gave you wings.

Journalism. There was a topic the pair of them actually seemed to relate. Not that Trizen was drawing out of a hat or anything, but it was interesting to hear her point of view -- not that he would be able to get a word in. The more she spoke, the more details she seemed to give. Trizen was impressed yet again. She was really hit the nail on the head, which drew out yet another of Trizen's famous grins. Now Trizen was the kind of person to let the other talk if they had something to say, it usually meant that he would learn a lot about the person who was speaking. In this case, he learned she was very much opinionated and had more of a global approach to handling financially driven medias. On thinking of journalism, Trizen was more concerned about censorship of sorts, but she clearly involved the thought in gap right down to fast food chains.

Then she sighed. A break? Not quite. She summed up Trizen's question at the end of it all. Journalism wasn't going to be a career for her. He wondered what she would say if he asked if she would become a political scientist. Nothing much to it. They watched political powers screw up the world and then write or speak about it. Some were advisors to country rulers or even so small as mayors or news anchors.

"Time?" Trizen was not about to mention money. Although rich, he preferred it as more of a tool. Money was a tool at the end of the day. It allowed people to do more or less of what they wanted. "But we're so young. We don't have to change the whole world by tomorrow, but we can affect the people who live in it today."

She was a bit silent. Probably catching her breath on knowing she was going off on a tangent. Then said said not to believe that crap about being a real man. Trizen knew this all too well which was why he laughed a genuine laugh. She was very right, though it was the idea of all the stereotypes of what a real man meant. One of which had to involve Trizen doing more than kissing a girl. Ironically, Trizen hadn't even had his first kiss.

Then she offered him water. Trizen looked up (in the wrong direction) and smiled politely. "Thank you very much," The went to grab the cantine but missed. He stopped in mid-air. He was frightened he would have touched her by mistake. The boy was very particular about people he touched or who touched him. It was almost bothersome and he always had to calm himself about it. But in any case, after a swift grab or two of more dead air, Trizen finally found the canteen and hovered it over his bottom lip. Holding it up, he did what high-schoolers called a waterfall.

"You're right," Trizen started as he held out the canteen for her, "My step-brother's a senior in the school. Him and my father are the kind of people that believe that self-gratification's the only means of being a real man. Hell, he's probably targeted you in his mind to try and get some. It seems sex, arrogance and territory are the three things most men crave when trying to prove their manhood. Though, because of them I kinda see it differently. Real people are shaped by acceptance of their responsibilities and their willingness to change themselves for the better of this world. We are a purpose. A purpose is who we are. Who we are defines what we can do and what we can do can change the world."

Looking at the canteen, he wanted another sip, but decided against it. "Most of the students at our school are only concerned about their time at 259 and what they can do to solidify their place there. But... there's a whole world out there. We're only school for such a short period of time. What about when we're out? The whole world's waiting for us."

[Demetra Katsaros]

My first response toward him was a nod, but I quickly realized that he wouldn't be able to see that (heck, I was pretty embarrassed because I had been so ignorant about his situation with the canteen. There was a bit of a struggle just for him to grab the thing and take the water I had offered him, all of which could have been avoided if my oblivious self had tried to help him, or set the action in motion in the right manner to start with). So I translated my visual reply to an aural, "Yes."

I took my own water canteen back, a little glad that Trizen took a waterfall rather than putting his mouth on it. I wasn't exactly a germophobe, but I was somewhat cautious. Better safe than sorry, eh? I didn't know his history, like who he's kissed or what he's eaten.

"You should speak at our graduation ceremony," I joked, though I did imply in truth that he was very profound. "Maybe not about guys trying to get into girls' pants, but all that other deep and inspiring stuff you talk about. It's strange, yet sometimes the things that seem the corniest--and I'm not trying to insult you or anything-- end up being the most important and the most true. I mean, you can probably guess that I'm pretty passionate about changing the state of the world, and I put more responsibility on myself to do so than others might, but I like it that way, and if somebody gets motivated to do the same, well, then more power to them."

I took another sip of my water. "Anyway, changing the subject, how the hell did you get so messed up? Did you really tick off a bunch of giants?"