Description: Aranha has plans to do some sneaking around the ship. However those plans get delayed when he bumps into Eva. Bombs are dropped in the figurative sense, though not all information is revealed.
After getting back from his meeting with Mr. Big, Aranha has been thinking about what he needs to do. He's been making preparations. He waited until his roommate Aislinn wasn't around and then he started going through his duffle bag. First there's the relaxed fit long sleeved shirt, the loose black slacks and black leather gloves.
His preparations look innocuous at first and then more stuff comes out of the bag. Nightvision goggles, bump keys, lock picks, a small canister of shaving cream, another small canister of WD40, a roll of black duct tape, a stethoscope, pen scanner, a thermite mixture packed in a small manila envelope, and most importantly the faceless see-through mask.
After everything is gathered up he pulls a small black backpack slipping the duct tape and nightvision goggles into the backpack. He then the bump keys, lock picks, stethoscope, pen scanner, mask, thermite and the two canisters into the pouch. After Aranha puts on those black clothes, he makes sure both bags are zipped up and then he heads out and looks around to see if anyone is out there.
There's one person.
One Eva Manzetti, the very person whom Aranha helped onto this ship.
Standing against the rail as she looks out onto the ocean water, Eva turns towards that possible sound, almost nervously, tightening that thin shawl that hangs over her shoulders. Ever since the incident with the trash compactor, Eva's been paranoid, and her recent agreement to help her teammate and another person free this ship of its more alarming weaponry has made her even suspucious. People have already shown themselves all too willing to seek those weapons out, and the ninja aboard seem to turn and look the other way.
Maybe it's all just another way to make them keep fighting. But for what? "... Is someone there?"
Aranha considers not answering Eva. He knows that even if he doesn't respond she's going to look and the lack of response would be more suspicious. Plus there was the fact that what Aranha was wearing wouldn't appear exactly suspicious. He does look like he's of either high school or college age and unless you knew his history, it wouldn't be all that suspicious.
Aranha turns around and looks at the Italian-American with a laid back smile. "Hey there, Eva. Wasup?" It was an unexpected stop but he doesn't really have a schedule to keep.
Indeed, the getup doesn't raise Eva's suspucious as of yet. Quite the opposite, as she's seen many fighters with a preference for wearing black. Heck, her main outfit is white and black. That is, however, not the outfit she happens to be wearing tonight; for her, it's something more casual in muted blues, with a shawl to keep her shoulders warm. ".... I was worried about you, actually." Eva's quiet voice is preceeded by a small, yet friendly smile as she walks up to Aranha, the fringe of her shawl shawling behind her. "They threw me into the trash compactor with two others who chose to find paths other than fighting. We were forced to fight until only one of us was conscious. I was afraid you had been treated to something worse when I didn't find you at all in there, but a friend of mine told me you were fine."
Looking Aranha over to search for any visible signs of injury, Eva remarks, "It seems you are doing well. I am glad." Trusting. It's a quality that Arika, her teammate, makes up for in questioning every little detail. Eva on her own, however, can only seem to look for the good in people, unless she's shown otherwise. "Have you been doing well, tournament-wise?"
Aranha seems to find the middle ground between Arika's questioning nature and Eva's trusting nature. He's the type of person who takes things as they come and lets his bluff detector do the work when he needs it to. When they lie he usually can catch people. The people who can get around it are few and far between.
What catches him by surprise though is the concern Eva had for him and the conditions for her match. "Damn. That's fucked up. A trash compactor?" The disbelief is overwhelming to him but the outward appearance is just a more muted version of the shock that he received from that. "They just took another capoeirista and myself, put us on tall and narrow spires, and had us just fight it out there. It was another match that seemed geared to my skills." The oddity being he says it like it was no big deal. "Then I fought said friend. Arika gave me my first loss of the tournament." He doesn't need to give any details though especially about how she effortlessly stymied his offensive efforts until the end.
"Yes," remarks Eva. "I 'won', but... I'm not so sure if I'd want to call it a win. If any of us were lesser fighters, I'm not sure if we would have been able to finish our match in the time alloted to us." She pauses to listen, nodding at Aranha's description of his own battlefield. ".... You may have had it harder than me, I suppose. Then again, you seem to be more built and trained for handling tight spots. Your acrobatic skills are amazing."
Capoeirista. Eva's heard of it a number of times, and it stands out in her mind as something completely different from the Asian names her brother's opponents practiced under. ".... It is bittersweet, then. I'm sad to see you lose, but Arika's a fine opponent to lose to. She is very skilled. The tournament seems all too willing to keep the fights going, so, perhaps, you just may end up fighting me." She smiles. "If that happens, I look forward to it. I feel sad that our first match wasn't as straightforward as it could have been."
When Eva comments on his acrobatics he says, "Thanks." It's then that he thinks about what those acrobatic skills used to be used for and what they're about to be used for and it just gets to him a bit. His only consolation is the people who he's preparing to piss off are bigger thieves than he is.
"She's definitely skilled," Aranha allows but he wonders if the fight could've gone differently if he wasn't drawing dead early on but he does have other thoughts on his mind.
"We were actually planning to spar at some point before the match happened. It just happened we got matched up then and there."
He then looks at the other American "As for our match, Eva, I've stopped trying to figure out the ninjas' minds when it comes to match ups. I mean I've been both in a match up where I fought on spires and in a room with weird symbols that reacted when either of us moved." As for ninjas' minds when it came to the tournament and background, that was an entirely different matter. After all, this was why he was getting the paper.
"She is. If it weren't for her and one other fighter, I probably wouldn't hav-" Eva stops. "... Remember that truck that crashed into the ship? Arika and I were...." augh how can she explain it "... looking around the library when two men showed up. One of them was that one fighter from that big fighting ring.... Yama-something. Very.... frightening. I've never experienced pain like that before. He's very powerful." Close her eyes, she guides a curly strand of hair behind her ear. "... I don't know who's more of a danger; people who wish to take advantage of this ship, or the ship and its owners themselves...."
".... It's alright." That's Eva's answer to Aranha's decision. "Just be on your guard. It's not the matchups I'm worried about; such matchups will happen in any match. It's what's behind the scenes that is troubling-" Her words stray as the young man talks about the weird symbols. "... There was a glowing symbol in the trash compactor. On the ceiling. I'm not so good with kanji, but... it looked like the symbol for 'judgement'. Or something similiar."
Yamazaki? It looks like Aranha isn't the only person from Southtown Syndicate on the ship. Ok, Aranha isn't technically a Southtown Syndicate member so much as he's spying for Mr. Big. Questions come to mind. Did Mr. Big know about his involvement? If not would it be something he'd like to know.
Aranha nevertheless feels he must respond. "Be on my guard? That was exactly what I told you our first night on the ship. I'd be a dumb ass, hypocritical S.O.B if I didn't heed my own advice."
The remark of who is more of a danger brings about a raised eyebrow. It shows the signs that she seems to know that there's more to the tournament than meets the eye. He's sure about which people fit in which catagory but he puts out a feeler to see how much she knows. "The people who wish to take advantage?"
Hearing Aranha's words, Eva remarks, ".... I know, but... that doesn't keep me from wanting to see people safe. Especially those who have helped me at the possible risk of being thrown into a trash compactor." She clasps her hands in front of her. "Also, I at least want to make things up to you by giving you a proper match after this is all over. I cannot help but think I gave you the wrong impression of myself when I refused to fight you. I'd fight you now, but... I'd rather save my strength for whatever comes down the road. You probably may feel the same way."
"This ship..." Eva hesitates, then, thinking better of it, she continues. "This boat has things of value to different people. Books, weapons, things I'm not sure if I want to know about. Perhaps, even the ship itself is desirable to some, as are the secrets it has within. There's something.... wrong with this ship, and I feel that there are many people willing to risk everything to posess what's within, even if it's just on a very notion that there's something valuable here and no physical evidence to back it up.
The books, Aranha knew about. The something wrong with the ship(besides the fact that it's pretty much hot merchandise if try to sell it on Ebay) he had suspicions but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. The weapons on the other hand, not so much. But since Eva provided that information, he might as well provide his own. Editted of course. "The ship is valuable indeed. And to think... They only had to steal it on live television to make this possible."
He ponders what he'll say next for awhile, not certain of his next move. "Perhaps, it is desirable. Money is one hell of a motivator." He should know. "It doesn't seem to discourage that behavior or notion when they act so mysteriously. The ninja are up to something and they also want us to be suspicious of everything." And damn it Aranha will see if there is that physical evidence to be found.
"....?" That eerie blue gaze of Eva's is on Aranha now, though, within the context of her face it seems more more worried and confused than her searching for secrets. ".... I..... I don't get what you mean." Steal it? The ship? On live television? To make what possible? The tournament, the weapons, what?
What does Aranha know that she doesn't?
"... They just want us to fight and suspect, I suppose. Adversity- that's what they try to give us. But why is ultimately the question." She looks back out onto the ocean. ".... I guess I'm silly, staying on this ship and trying to find the answer. But I want answers. Maybe that's the reason for all these things; to keep those of us who want answers to keep on here and to keep fighting. But do they realize..." She then looks back pointedly at Aranha, "... that many of us are willing to seek out our own answers? Maybe they're underestimating all of us. Not in fighting ability, but in our ability to create our own solutions."
A pause. "... Sorry... I'm babbling. My brother always said I thought too deeply into things..." She looks back at Aranha. "... I'd better get going, anyways. I need to get some sleep. Please, if you need anything, come to my cabin. I cannot promise anything, but I do enjoy the company. You're a very interesting person."
"Maybe I'll explain it when we meet later." Aranha doesn't need his ability to read bluffs to know that it must've been a bomb that Eva wasn't prepared to have dropped on her. Of course the problem is he doesn't have much more information on this whole thing other than that particular topic and the stuff he found out about the weapons. He's going to have to get some details from her at some point but for now he has to think about the mission at hand.
Aranha nods and then shrugs. "As for me I have some things to attend to so I guess we'll talk later. If my company was enjoyed though I guess I've done my job." He does like to create an aura of fun around himself(when it's possible) and it shows in his smile.
He considers just staying there but then it just would seem like he was waiting for her to leave(which he is). "You know I just realized that I forgot something in my cabin." Then he slips back in, and leaves the door cracked so he can listen to Eva's footsteps as she walks away. After that he's going to move towards the crew section to see if he can answer his own questions he has at the moment.
Log created on 22:54:29 09/27/2007 by Aranha, and last modified on 19:12:14 10/17/2007.