Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck.
"Casey, gotta question."
The geek's got a question. Why am I not surprised? This is probably going to be some type of sandwich question. Or something about Walker. I grunt.
"Why are you the way you are? I mean, you're a highly trained NSA agent. You speak several languages, can fly all sorts of things and have this unbelievable MacGyver skill set. But you don't communicate very well. Honestly? I don't see you as James Bond or Napoleon Solo or any kind of smooth martini drinking spy. You just don't how to talk to people. Kinda scary, big guy."
I look up from the latest report on terrorist activity. The geek is sitting across from me, feet up on the table, eating a frozen yogurt he got from Walker, goofy grin on his face. I see that this is another attempt for him to get me riled up or talk about lady feelings. I mentally check off the options I have to hurt him but wait...
"You know, my sensei taught me many things. He taught me honor, control and yes, he taught me communication. He shared a koan with me that perhaps might help you better understand my communication skills. Do you know what a koan is?"
"uhhh.."
"A koan is a Buddhist tradition that shows aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding, yet may be accessible to intuition. So this koan is a zen way to allow you to grasp my capacity for thought provoking communication."
The grin is slipping, I can tell he's not as cocky.
"Once, a man came into the temple smoking a cigar, blowing smoke in the Buddha-statue's face and dropping ashes on its lap. The abbot came in, saw the man, and said, "Are you crazy? Why are you dropping ashes on the Buddha?"The man answered, "Buddha is everything. Why not?"The abbot couldn't answer and went away. So tell me, Bartowski, why did the abbot walk away without answering?"
"Errr, I...don't know?"
"It's simple, numb nuts: the man with the cigar is also very strong and he will hit you if he doesn't approve of your response to his actions."
"O-kay....gotta go!"
"Good choice"