It was a rather serious-faced Yul that visited the dojo. He was dressed, as usual, in uniform pants, tank top, and jacket, quickly losing the jacket as he stepped inside. He hung it up, along with his daisho and pistol.

Still frowning, he selected a bokken from the rack, walked to the nearest practice dummy, and began to strike. After a short time, he paused. Grimacing, he turned away, swinging his bokken experimentally a few times. He turned back, striking again.

Another pause, as Yul frowned down at his chosen weapon.

Further into the dojo the sharp cracks of rifle fire have faded and a tired looking Shoan walks out with her weapon slung over her shoulder. It had been another exhausting day on Asakaze, but she'd skipped her morning routine and that meant that no matter how tired she was the time had to be made up somewhere.

The Lion goes to leave, padding along the main corridor and is all the way to the xit, one hand on the dojo's doors before she looks back at Yul, pausing for a few moments as she debates whether to bother the Unicorn, finally:

"Some weapons are just out of balance, Yul-san."

Yul studied it for a few moments, then looked back up to Shoan. His lips curled up, just a little, although there was a definite ironic twist to them. "Yeah. I suppose that's right."

He bowed; apparently it was a formal evening. Well, except for his clothes, of course. "I hope you've been well, Shoan-san. Training again, huh? I gotta say, I admire your dedication."

“Always, Yul-san. This is where I would quote Leadership at you to reinforce the importance of training:”
She pauses for a few moments
“But it is late and Akodo-no-kami’s wisdom is self evident I feel. I will say that I did not expect you see you here so late.”
Cocking her head slightly.
“A day longer than most?”

Yul waited expectantly, smiling a little when the answer didn't come.

"Kinda." He frowned, turning the practice weapon over in his hands, again and again. After a few moments, he sighed. "Shoan-san, your honor seems unimpeachable. How often have you been in the position where two tenets of honor conflict with each other?"

“...”
Yul gets one of those patented Shoan looks
“Every minute of every day Yul-san, that’s the life.”

Looking vaguely amused
“Although, I am right in assuming that was not a purely philosophical question?”

"Every day, huh?" Yul flipped the bokken in his hands, letting it slide down until he held it by the handle in a reverse grip.

He crossed his arms over his chest, bokken blade trailing down his side. "So how do you figure out what to do in those situations?" He didn't answer her question.

“It’s easier in the moment, you trust in your training and your own sense of what is honourable and what is not, and then you follow that. When it’s more... complicated, you have time. That’s harder.”

Turning away from the doors and walking back towards Yul
“Some samurai dedicate themselves to one ideal, in those cases they just follow compassion or duty or whatever it is as far as it needs to go. Others don’t follow all the tenets.”
Like the scorpion
“So they can just pick whatever is most convenient, or whatever they truly believe in. For me, I usually mediate on the issue, what decision will cause the least regret, when I am judged after my death? Which choice can I defend with my head held high? Have I always made the right decision?....”

Gently shaking her head
“I don’t know, maybe not. But have I always tried to be honourable, to do the right thing? I hope so. It’s the trying that really matters. The samurai who tries and fails is always more honourable than another simply going through the motions and getting lucky.”

"Hmmm..." Yul listened, his eyes narrowed as she spoke. Sometimes there would be a flicker of emotion on his handsome features. Sometimes he just studied her.

As she finished, Yul sighed. "I've always tried to trust my instincts, and I think I've done pretty well with that." He pursed his lips. "But lately I've been thinking that I need to think about stuff more than I have been."

A short pause, and then with a smirk, he tossed the bokken he held to Shoan, handle first, easy to catch.

She reaches out and grabs the handle out of the air.

“Thinking is good, you are reflecting on decisions and weighing whether they have made you a better samurai.”
Shoan carefully deposits her rifle and equipment to the side before slashing with the bokken experimentally, rolling her wrists

“Careful Yul-san, or thinking will become a habit.”
Her eyes twinkle.

Yul chuckled. "You think there's much chance of that? I don't know."

Walking over, he picked up another bokken for himself, giving it a quick twirl in his hands. He took up a stance not far from Shoan... although respectfully far, at least. "Maybe it's a thing you can practice? Like you'd practice a sword-strike?" He demonstrated, chopping downward with his bokken.

“You can practice anything if you are determined enough. Or maybe the thrill of combat is enough to clear your mind and help find that clarity?”

She shifts her stance back slightly, her own stance has the bokken held high
“And sometimes a good bonk on the head can straight things out.”

Yul snorted. "Are you offering? I'm not sure I need my thoughts rearranged that thoroughly."

He shifted, turning to stand parallel to her. "I don't know about the thrill of combat. Trying to fight a monster as... someone pleads with me to leave is something I've been thinking about a lot, actually." Yul slowly began working through a sword form, striking and cutting here and there.

“I might strike to hard and then have some explaining to do, although if the head was thick enough....”
She begins her own simple opposite him, smoothly flowing through forms practiced a thousand times

“And have you reached any conclusions about what happened?”

Yul's form wasn't terribly advanced, but he went performed it with energy, stepping forward as he struck again and again.

"Oh, I've reached a few conclusions about it." Yul said, chuckling softly. "One, it was foolish, and two, it really hurt." His form paused a moment, Yul's eyes closing. He'd actually come to a few more conclusions than that.

He shook his head. "The problem is getting to the conclusion. I can see where I am now, and maybe I can see what should be different..." Yul spread his hands, or rather, hand and bokken. "Training, I guess?"

"Hmmmm"

Shoan slowly works through a strike several times that is coincidentally a head bonker

"You can try and train your instincts differently. That will be difficult, no true samurai flees without thought. Still, it might be possible to run some simulations to work that fight or flight response..."
Shoan gives Yul a curious look
"Has this been a problem before? Preferring to never retreat or regroup?"

Yul stopped, lowering his practice weapon as he considered, a thoughtful frown on his face.

Finally, he shook his head. "I don't... think so, not really. I mean, some trouble. I'm not sure what counts, really. A few bad flying accidents, back on Shinjo's Grace, but that wasn't an enemy. I sometimes got in trouble in my squadron for engaging a little too hard. But it's always worked before."

He looked down, the fingers of his left hand clenching into a fist, and then relaxing. "And Butterfly... that wasn't my fault. That's what the tribunal said, too." Yul's voice was a little heavier than usual.

Shoan looks on, saying nothing for a few moments

"I wasn't there and it's not my place to say."
She frowns, her eyebrows beetling
"Hmmm, the problem might be that you're too good a pilot."

Yul chuckled softly. "I never thought I'd hear that called a problem." He resumed his forms.

"What do you mean? Like, I get myself into a jam when I'm flying, I'm good enough to get out of it? But when it's just me, and an angry dinosaur... and Mumei..." Yul paused for a moment, before continuing his strikes. "That was the first time I got someone else hurt. Usually I just land my ship, and help the mechanics reattach the wing later."

"What I mean Yul-san is..."
Shoan tries not to sound unkind
"You're a great pilot, it's obvious to anyone who sees you work that you have a natural talent. And that means you've been able to accomplish things that most...wouldn't. Think about what you do, how you fly, how you fight. If you were just an average pilot, do you think you'd still be alive?"