Description: A chance meeting on the deck of the Suiryuu has Aranha thinking that the punk rock princess might be a little off her rocker. But is she crazy, or could there possibly be even the slightest bit of truth in what she's thinking?
The Aranha finds himself alone on the Suiryuu wandering aimlessly as he thought about his Round One match that technically he didn't fight and of the person on his Round Two fight card. There are also those fights he has taken part on the ship or on the way to the ship as practice sessions or for other reasons.
Aranha's walk might be slow... He sore in various places and he's probably going to burn himself out by the end of this tournament. As he walks around he looks amost longingly at the the jacuzzi. By the end of the night he's going to soak those pains away. For now, he's going to just move through the aches.
So different the main deck is in the daylight. No signs of the storm, or any damage that might have been incurred during it. All pretty amazing, when you think about it. The sheer volume of the water that was pelting the boat during her fight with Marisol should have been enough to capsize it; even as large as the Suiryuu is.
A gentle wind picks up and whips blonde hair behind Arika's shoulders as she stands; arms crossed, near the edge of the ship. Deep blue eyes gaze out at the ocean, trying to spot a dolphin or other aquatic life and shake off the eerie feeling she keeps getting while she attempts to suss out her next course of action and figure out just -why- she made it into the actual tournament when she lost her match against that heel.
As for Aranha, things aren't as complicated for him. He knows why he made it. He satisfied the conditions required to win the first match through puzzling the situation out. He found a way to both stop his opponent and then get her aboard afterwards. He's probably the only fighter in the tournament who could say that he faced his opponent and won without using a single attack. While he was uncertain about whether he got in he knew he must've done what he needed by the fact he did get a second match.
The second match for Aranha was weird. He fought a bikini clad teenager who managed to knock aside one of his attacks and deliver a counter attack all while delivering a text message. His fight had the oddity of not actually taking place on the ship but on rock formations that were both creepy and beautiful at the same time.
Of course his reverie is interrupted by the sight of a familiar face and so he walks towards her. With a tap on her shoulder and a smile he speaks up, "Hey what's up?" He glances at her face for a moment. "I hope you're doing better."
A tap on the shoulder.
The normally alert punk rock princess literally jumps about three feet when that happens.
Yes, she's just a wee bit on edge out here on the Suiryuu.
Hearing a somewhat familiar voice, she calms down and then quickly spins to face the person it belongs to. It takes a moment for recognition to set in fully, and for her to realize what it is he's talking about but then Arika offers a small nod of her head. "Mmhmm. I am. If you can call bein' a sittin' duck on a cruise ship filled with other fighters bein' 'better'."
Aranha wouldn't blame her for being on edge. Hell... Aranha thought he accidentally killed Pas. He was quite relieved to find it wasn't true. Death comes with complications he rather avoid. He knows... He's had practical experience.
"Well... I haven't figured out whether this entire tournament is a bad Kung Fu movie premise or a bad Video Game plot. But you seem to at least be in better spirits than last time." His hand touches his chin as he gives the blond a look over. He's not looking her over as if she's a possible romantic interest but it's as if sizing someone up. "Hmmm are you here as a guest or an 'agent of Jinchuu.'" Even if she wasn't looking at her she could hear the capoeirista rolling his eyes in the tone of his voice.
"Kung Fu movie, bad Video Game plot... welcome to cult cruise lines," Arika mutters quietly under her breath. There is a reason she's here, whether she makes it very far in this tournament or not. While she'd ask Aranha what he knows about anything to do with Suiryuu or it's owners, she's not certain he'd have any pieces of the information she's looking for.
"So it would seem." Obviously whatever had her so down has been worked out, or forgotten. Yet, she subconsciously brings her hand up to the necklace she wears and gently runs her fingers over the flower-shaped diamonds adorning it. "Ain't an 'agent' of anyone but meself, and I certainly -ain't- one'a them. But if you're askin' whether I'm here to partake in the tourney, I am."
Pause.
"So wot 'oops did they 'ave you jump through to get 'ere? Obviously you were a good lil' puppy, otherwise they'd've likely thrown you overboard by now."
"Cult? That sounds like what my first opponent said... You wouldn't happen to know an Eva Manzetti wouldn't you?" Actually Aranha does know some things about this tournament that probably would be useful but he's probably not going to talk about that yet.
"As for the hoops? Let's see... There was match against Eva at the harbor after the buses left and we were to stop each other from getting on. I think we were the first fighters in the tournament on the boat." While he doesn't emphasize it that word 'we' is very important. He pauses as he thinks of the second fight, "I found out about another capoeirista in my second fight. We fought on narrow spires until one of us couldn't fight anymore. I barely edged her out."
Oh, snap. He heard that? Arika tries to shrug it off, but then he brings up Eva's name. Which means it's time to actually start exploring the other -people- aboard and find her teammate, or at least locate the room she's been assigned. "Eva Manzetti, hmm?" A little acting never hurt anything, and since she does it every day of her life to hide her real origins it's a very simple thing to do. "Oh, Eva... right. Yeah, I just 'appen to know Eva."
If anyone cared to do a bit of research, they could likely easily find out that the two are both part of the Shooting Stars.
"Seems like you both 'ad a slightly easier time of it than I did. 'ad to twist things a wee bit and ride along the top of the bus for a while..." But there's no point getting into -all- of the details there. "Second fight I 'ad to tie meself to the mast and try not to fall while in the middle of the worst storm I've ever seen. Didn't even see the likes of it when aboard that ship in Thailand... scary stuff."
The acting job is superb. Even if Aranha wasn't able to read tells, there's just two problems. Aranha has done the research and the mention of cults that link the two together. He's not bothering with acknowledging the performance, there's not really a need to. "Actually what I thought was odd was both of the matches seemed to favor my particular skills. It was as if they were tailor made for me." He's not going to elaborate. He shrugs as he looks at the Punk Diva, before continuing. "As for the match with Eva she wanted to see if there was a way for both of us to get on. I found it."
"Good," Arika replies in regards to the comment about Eva. Sounds like her teammate listened to what she had to say before boarding the bus. A sign of trust between the two, perhaps? Even if not, at least she's got -one- friend aboard the Suiryuu.
She hopes.
Arika rubs her hands along her arms as the wind sends another eerily chilling blast her way and then turns to Aranha. "Seems they like you. Doubt I could say that mine were tailor made to fit. Ain't exactly used to fightin' on the high wire, and busses ain't my gig either." Shrug.
"Like me?" He laughs slightly as he sees no need to bluff his disbelief. "How come I get the feeling that I should be scared if it was true," he asks with a tone filled with mirth. "I hope that isn't the case. The love of ninjas can only lead to tragedy."
Aranha stops there. He doesn't want to run the joke into the ground. That would be a bad idea. He can feel the wind cut through his bones. He's not sensitive. He just doesn't know enough about chi to put his finger on it but he's overwhelmed by a sense of weirdness in the air. "The second wasn't easy... She seemed as at home in that situation as I was. Plus she kept trying to attack my groin." His lips curled downward into a frown. He wasn't too happy about that. He doesn't go into details of how he responded... It's probably for the better.
"Heh."
Oh, she of very many words!
Arika glances past Aranha now and back out at the open ocean. Something to focus on, instead of dwelling on the odd feeling she's been having since coming to stand out here in the waning sun. "Women, eh?" A mirthful grin settles upon her face and she gives her head a shake. Some women, at least. That's a fairly low blow (pun entirely -not- intended!), and not something a decent fighter would try unless he or she were really desperate.
"If the people who cooked this up actually -like- you... I'd be terrified if I were in your shoes." No telling what the crazy cult is going to cook up next. "Word of advice, mate... be on your guard 'bout 'ere. Despite the accommodations, doubt we've seen the last of the mind games and I 'ighly doubt there's a single one'a us aboard this movin' death trap that knows the real purpose behind it." And that's about as much as she's going to say on the subject. Until she has substantial proof.
Whiiiich... will come about (hopefully!) by playing the 'lost passenger' card down by the crew bay a little later on.
Desperate... Or in some cases ticked. Of course that might be apparent when the fight footage goes to DVD
"Be on my guard? It's funny you said that... I gave Eva that same warning." Granted it wasn't for the same reasons but the warning was indeed given. He shrugs and looks at the brit. He doesn't actually mind the mind games to be truthful. He likes a good obstacle. And part of him is somewhat comforted by the fact that she's as distrustful of the ninjas as he is even though he does think she's a crack pot. The punk star did mention a cult earlier in the conversation.
To be fair, Arika -does- have good reason for believing that this is all part of a cult conspiracy. Being knocked out, kidnapped, drugged, tied up, forced to fight and then waking up in the woods with oodles of money tends to put one's mind on that track!
But the diva is unaware that someone think's she's completely off her rocker.
"Good advice then, wouldn't you say?" Uncrossing her arms, she gently tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear and then turns to face him again. "You feel like a good spot of trainin' befor' the next round o' tricks, come look me up. Wouldn't mind a good spar or two to kill some time." Truth enough in those words, since she's missing the near daily sparring matches with the Stars' team leader.
"That might be a good idea." And then that body of the Dancing Spider reminds him that he hasn't been sitting on his laurels between matches. But indeed he wouldn't mind doing so. It would give him an opportunity to fill in the blanks of his knowledge of the Punk Rock Diva.
He rubs his shoulder and stretches before starting to walk away. "I'll be in Starboard Row, Cabin 1. Just get at me if you want to dance. Anyway... Take it easy." He begins to walk away thinking resting his aching muscles in warm water. That thought makes him sooooooooo happy.
Log created on 22:24:11 09/03/2007 by Arika, and last modified on 22:06:22 09/04/2007.