Description: Aranha and Domino meet up in the park on a hot day. They talk about people they've fought and Aranha comes out of it learning a lot more about the fighters of the circuit and also about Drake terms of his skill as a fighter. Drake ends up finding out that Aranha will do some crazy things just for a bottle of water. But in this weather who can blame him?
It's a sweltering day in Southtown's park and the vending carts close by are making a killing selling water. Of course that's because the hot day hasn't stopped most fitness enthusiasts. One might see joggers running back and forth, people on inline skates, people walking(or in some cases getting walked by) their dogs, and people tossing about frisbees as the day continues.
Aranha is a different breed of fitness enthusiast. Where you'd see someone running about, you'd see a light skinned African American doing pull-ups from the branch of a tree. He's not going to go overboard with it just enough to get him warmed-up before he does one of his runs.
Drake is one of those runners, though. Fitness enthusiasts indeed, to have to run around on a day like this. But how else is Drake supposed to keep his lean, trim, slender physique? Sitting at home and munching on nachos won't do it, rest assured. Sure, he's a naturally slim guy, but training has to come in -somewhere-.
At any rate, the jogging dark-haired model perpetuates the sinister grasp the water vendors haveon the park by coming to a stop by one and getting himself a bottle of water. The top is cracked off and he takes a generous swig of it before his eyes set to a dark-skinned male dangling from a tree limb. Don't see that every day.
So what's a guy to do but stroll right on over and make a comment? Drake comes to a halt a couple feet away, hands setting to his hips. "Last person I saw doing that was a green jungle man. God's honest truth. And the last time -I- did that was to keep away from a green jungle man." He quirks a mirthful grin up at the other guy, albeit completely unsure of how he'll take this random commentary.
The traceur capoeirista drops down from the branch, landing quietly as the motion quickly flows into a roll. When he gets back to his feet and gives the other man a smile as he tries to keep himself from laughing. "Green jungle man, you say? Sounds like quite a tall tale," he says but there's no disbelief in the tone of his voice. Maybe he caught a few episodes of SNF the green skinned fighter was on.
"Anyway, I do that just to warm up before I do my parkour runs. Keeps me in shape, helps me if I ever find myself in a similar situation, and it's also become part of how I fight." He pauses for a second as he looks the other fighter over. "You look familiar actually." Of course there's that time Aranha watched Arika and Drake fight Balrog from the rooftop but he thought there was a familiarity when he saw them then. It's just he couldn't see a reason to give voice to that thought when he was on the rooftop but in person speaking with Drake there's a context to mention it.
Drake blinks at the.. well.. unfamiliar terms Aranha uses. To demonstrate that he isn't quite with him on this, his hand lifts and it sweeps over his head, complete with a 'swoosh' sound. He then gives a grin and shrugs his shoulders. "Trainin'. We'll leave it at that."
Drake isn't going to focus too much on the green man. He has a hard time believing even -he- encountered something that monstrous anyway. So he just lets the conversation, as it's blooming into, flow right on to the supposed recognition. "I should hope so," Drake says, smile turning a bit more cocky and wry. "You might recognize me by the name Domino. One of the best professional wrestlers from the U.S.? Maybe from my international modelling career? Perhaps from my success in the Neo League or Saturday Night Fight?," he lists.
Yes, Drake has an ego and a vain side. He'll make no illusions to the contrary.
Aranha lets out a slight laughing sound as it seems to go over the wrestler's head. "Well let's just say I'm fairly good at getting from point A to point B and we can leave it at that." He's tempted to give a demonstration but he doesn't need to show off. At least not now.
The conversation does indeed flow into that path. "Neo League and SNF. That's probably it. I go by Aranha when I fight. I only recently entered the fighting circuit. Haven't quite hit my stride yet but what the hell. It's been one helluva ride and I like the status of being somewhat of an oddity in the fight circuits."
"You and me both, then," Drake muses. "Model fighters aren't very common, after all." ...Except for that Alma tool he'll have to take down. Oh yes, his time is fast approaching. Fast approaching. Grr..
"..'Course, I kind'a bunk stereotyps in pretty much all counts." Except for the vanity streak and ego. Those things just happen to go right along with both model -and- wrestler, so.. whattayagonnado, right? "Anyway, who all have you fought now? Any really good matches?"
"Actually," He begins listing his official fights, "In the Neo League, I've fought a woman named Gabriel... Good fighter but as cold as a wet fish in winter. Some girl named Katelynn. It seemed like I had things in control early on and then everything that could go wrong, did. I couldn't really hold it against her. Just not in my nature, ya know? Then there was that capoeirista, Momoko. I wish I was as good as her when I was her age, she has good energy and it was fun fighting another capoeirista." His face actually lights up at the mention of that fight."It's up there as one of my favorite fights. I also fought a guy named Soma. He moves pretty damn fast and that was definitely one of my more interesting fights. Then there's that fight against Himeko in Slam Masters Arena. Playing a heel there was fun for me and she makes damned good face. I fought a Lacrosse player, named Ichiro. He hits hard and it was odd getting nailed by a rubber ball." His tone drops lower filled with disgust and anger "And there's Reed... An ass hole if you ever did meet him. I fought him once before he joined the league and we mutually beat the hell out of each other. But in the league fight against him he was untouchable. If you ever fight him and want to piss him off, and trust me, you probably will, smile. He seemed to freakin' hate that."
He then switches to the other fighting circuit, "As for Saturday Night Fights, There was the fight against a guy named Luc. I had control of most of the fight and then he got in a really good shot. Even if I won, I'm not exactly sure the better fighter won."
That's... a larger list than he expected. Drake is just left, blinking large eyes at the African-American. He looks a bit lost during this time, but it suddenly changes as he comments in turn - apparently he -was- paying attention.
"Met Gabriel. She's... not all there, I don't think. Like her brain isn't actually attached to anything, and she's on autopilot. Either that or she was just rude and struck me as a grossly boring person." Shoulders bob in a shrug. "Don't get me started on that parody, Katelynn. I've fought her. Twice. It -sickens- me to Hell and back that she won both times, and not on a merit of skill or strength, but on a merit of simple and purile dumb luck. No joke, she can't honestly hit straight or even -think- straight, she just so happened to be in the right places at the right times. To better explain things, she's all for this stupid 'destiny' crap the moment it looks like she's gonna be going down. In other words, her training regimen sucks hard, and she's the lazy type of 'fighter' - a word I use extremely generously in her case - that I can't in any way tolerate."
Drake actually pauses to turn his head and spit onto the grass beside him.
"Anyway, I only met a small girl named Momoko once kind'a casually. Don't remember much of'er anymore. The Soma guy I met and completely humiliated on Saturday Night Fight. The putz had it comin'. He learned real quick that he can't keep up with the likes of me. Only reason -that- abortion of a fight was called a tie was because he was teamed up with an even -bigger- joke named Mizuki. Avoid -that- headache, if you can."
But then Himeko is mentioned, and Drake grins a little at that. "Himeko, huh? Sweet girl, isn't she? She's pretty new to fighting, so I hope you didn't, y'know.. hurt her bad or anything. Pleasant girl, that. I fought'er once, myself. It was... weird. She has a funky fighting style. Sure you noticed that, though."
Drake doesn't comment on Ichiro, but on Reed? "..Smiling? He'd absolutely hate me, then. Might be fun. And as for Luc, I kind'a humiliated him during an SNF match, too. Both him and Tenma. I'd feel sorry for'em if I had any respect for'em. But seeing as how they have a habbit of turning on their own teammates, even when winning against someone like Geese Howard? Pass. They don't really deserve to succeed."
Drake, biased and long-winded guy. It comes from those interviews he kept having to do back in his home federation during shows.
Keith doesn't mind the long windedness. As a matter of fact the African American is taking it all in and filing it in his mind. Drake's thoughts, even if biased could become important if it does come up in the future. Of course, he's going to keep his response to a few of the people since he doesn't want Domino to get loopy listening to him.
Himeko seemed to manage well even if I did use a few heel tactics," he pauses as he puts on a sheepish grin. "Hey. I had to play the role. She launched one helluva come back."
"I guess now I don't feel so bad that Luc wasn't having that much fun in our fight, a bit of a masochist. And if you have a fight against Reed I just hope I get to see the look on his face when you mess him up. Truth be told, I'd rather do that work myself, damn pup mouthing off all the damn time."
"Remember, you're talkin' to a professional wrestler," Drake says, lifting his free hand in a gesture of 'say no more'. "I know all about filling the roles when appropriate. My last match paired me, a very well-known face, with some newcomer, who turned out to be a complete and total babyface. So that might'a came out weird. But it's -usually- more entertaining for a face to go off against a heel, so that works really well, and I'm -totally- talking your ear off."
Drake pauses to take a breath. He then lifts his index finger, asking for a second as he takes a quick swig of his water. The finger then lowers, and he resumes. "Why don't you just challenge this Reed guy yourself? You know.. Neo League it up."
"It probably would be too soon. After all he went all untouchable on me in our Neo League match last night." He looks down and shakes his head. "It was like the most... Correction... Every tactical and logical choice I could make was wrong. I let things that shouldn't hit me hit. I fought him before he joined the league and he wasn't /that/ good."
He just shrugs for a moment. "I plan on giving some people a crack at the points the bastard took from me before I come after him again."
Drake nods at him. "Sounds like a plan, then. Hone up on your own skills in the meantime. Make a good showing of it in the ring later, dig?" Drake whisks a hand over his moistened brow. "..Dang, it's hot out," he murmers to no one in particular. "Signed up for SNF?"
"Not yet, but it might be a good idea. I might get a match I can have fun with. I wasn't able to have much fun with the two of them I actually signed up for but even still, it's practice." The heat is started to get to the capoeirista as well and with the sweat rolling down his face there's only one thing to do get some water.
"Excuse me for one second. I'm gonna grab some water." After that he turns towards the closest vending cart but the path to the cart is blocked off by a group of people. He takes a step in their direction as he plans on using a civil excuse me but then he notices a the person employing that tactic gets mean mugged.
He turns to the wrestler for a moment as he says with a shrug, "I guess you're gonna see me in action after all."
All of a sudden Keith is off starting with a fast run before leaping off a park bench using that as a stepping stone before leaping up to grab a branch of a tree and immediately pulling himself up onto it. He runs along the branch before practically skipping to a branch in another tree and leaping up and over to yet another tree as he grabs on to that branch with his hands. After that, he performs a powerful swing bringing him past the previously mentioned group and dropping down to the ground before rolling to an upright position.
After he goes to buy the bottle of water, he comes back drinking the water and it seems the group of people have made them scarce allowing for Aranha to have an easier time coming back.
Drake just nods to Aranha, polite enough to wait on him while he gets his water. Though upon glancing to the cart, he frowns. Man, that'll be a while. When he looks back to Aranha, he sees him go airborne. Commence with the tree-running, springing, latching, swinging... all Drake has to say is:
"Oh snap."
With an amused grin on his face, Drake sets his hands to his hips again, waiting for Aranha to rejoin him. And when he does, the model's head inclines. "Daaaang, boy. You've got some skills. Kind'a similar to how I operate.. but I'd have to say you've got some serious stylin' going on."
"The art of overcoming obstacles and ultimately getting from point A to point B as efficiently as possible. But anyway, thanks." Aranha takes another quick sip of water before continuing. "If you operate a similar way, you'd probably be good at Parkour. Of course we probably operate differently once our feet hit the ground afterall, you're a wrestler, and I'm capoeirista. A fight between us probably be interesting."
After he says this, his mind is playing and replaying the fight that he was watching with Balrog versus Drake and Arika as he estimates his own chances. "You'd probably win the fight but it would probably be a really good show. In the end that's what usually matters the most to me."
Drake whisks the hand over his head again at the word 'Parkour'. Whoosh. He then shrugs his shoulders. "I'm all about putting on a good show. Gets the fans goin', you know?" He lifts his water to take a final swig of it, finishing it off. "Maybe sometime we'll get to see how it goes, eh? But as for me, I should get back to my run. Losin' daylight."
"It was good to meet ya. Now I have my own 'run' to get started on." He gives a respectful salute and he's pretty much off and running. Where's Aranha going? Probably to bounce off a few walls or something, maybe end up leaping from rooftop to rooftop or something. Or maybe he'll scramble up one of the statues in the park. Who knows? Hell I doubt if Aranha himself knows.
Log created on 19:18:39 07/24/2007 by Aranha, and last modified on 11:02:15 07/25/2007.