Well… she was certainly sure the old man wasn’t going to be happy about it but Zerori was at least assured that he wasn’t going to be upset with her for that long. It was, what, a couple of hours? She just hoped he didn’t think that she sent that text to him as a joke. As Zerori flew across the ocean to where Master Shen’s dojo was, she was gliding upon the winds on her back with her arms crossed - trying to come up with a good excuse to break the ice with him. “Heeeey, look - about that text I sent you. I was probably drunk or… y’know? Emotions run high! Tch, he’s not gonna accept that,” Zerori groaned, bringing a hand from her crossed arms and down her face. “I could just make something to make it up to him, probably. Yeah, pft, easy,” Zerori turned around, confidence returned as she finally approached the Dojo and touched down on the ground.

Similarly to how she’d first come to this place, it was quiet and not very populated but Zerori still strode past the training yard and slid open the dojo doors in search of the Crane Master. “Yo! Master Shen, you here?” She called out to him, her boots clunking against the tatami mats as she looked around for him. After a good few minutes of searching and not even finding a single student, Zerori chose to sit down in the resting room with the bar nearby as she gathered her thoughts.

I expected he would have been here given he TOLD me to train this ‘Tri-whatever’ in the privacy of his dojo. ‘Proprietary reasons’ and whatnot, With a flourish of her magic, Zerori had produced a glass before sauntering over the bar to fix herself something to drink. Once she’d mixed together a simple bloody mary, Zerori turned around to lean against the edge of the bar-

-before she was face to face with a certain frowning face and a pair of sunglasses. “HOLYFUCK!” She screamed, nearly jumping out of her skin and spilling the vegetable mixture onto herself before saving what she could of her drink, “What the fuck, Shen?!” She hissed, holding a hand to her chest. Perhaps she was still very jumpy after her experience with the tournament, but anyone would be terrified to not hear someone sneak up behind them!

Shen let out a ‘hmm’ of obvious disapproval before he turned around, “Partaking of my bar, I see,” He drawled, walking away and toward the exit of the resting room. Zerori, narrowing her eyes at him, followed with a funny face thrown at his back. “And without a spec of decorum to boot.” He added, not even looking back at her to see what face she’d made.

“I had an entire apology sorted out, Shen. Seriously,” Zerori huffed out, taking a sip of her drink a moment later. “And, in spite of MOST of them being excuses, I decided to even explain myself. Alright, look, so there was this tournament-” Zerori had began, 100% prepared to give the play-by-play if that what would have pleased Shen, but instead he stopped and turned around to look her in the eye with such a note of severity that he didn’t have to say a thing to shut her up.

“I don’t care for the reason. I felt everything and I’m pretty sure even the weakest, most undisciplined of martial artists could have felt that power from anywhere. As it stands, Zerori… you have no chance. Not with the power that girl has achieved,” Near the end of his words, Shen’s voice seemed to fade - almost as if he were regretful of something. For her part, however, Zerori was just trying not to show just how affected she was by him seemingly to know Liari. It had to be who he was talking about, especially since Liari was the main reason that tournament was even made. “Your training is nearly complete and, along with that, our contract. I don’t care for your reasons.”

For a long moment, Zerori stared at Shen with a look of confliction. Had she really crossed the line by taking such risks? What secrets did Liari have that remained just that to Zerori. Perhaps she’d been too gullible in their time together and, once more, miscalculated what trust she should have placed.

“... Understood. Let’s go, already. We're going back to my place for Gravity. we can have our 'privacy' there,” Zerori ruefully accepted, pushing forward and gently shoulder checking the old master before walking on. “I’m coming back to this bar even after our contracts over, you know.”

“Over my dead body!”

“Hahaha, that can be arranged, Old Man,” Zerori teased, reveling in the sound of an annoyed smile that was sure to be on the crane master’s face. She just hoped that, after everything was said and done, he’d be willing to look past her stupidity. She really liked spending time with him.