Description: As Aranha explores the Pacific High campus he bumps into a familiar face. After comparing notes about their experiences on the Suiryuu, one finds themself changed and the other finds that they are forced to confront psychological issues that existed before they boarded the ship. Whether they changed for the better who knows?
This log takes place after Tour: Pacific High School
Currently it's just after school has let out. Students are going to their extra curricular activities and sports teams begin to take the field for practice. It has been a bit of time since both Aranha and Alexis left behind Rust each heading to the Athletic Fields. Alexis was in a hurry so she had left Aranha far behind. As he made his way over Aranha had been studying the facilities and paths to and from the field. At this point Aranha is confident he could cross the entire campus in less than 7 minutes if he dashes.
The lone capoeirista stops for a moment to watch the track and field teams work out. The teenager at times wonders if this could've been him if he had not felt that he had to drop out of school or performed the other sins he committed. A look of sadness is on his face and were it not for the Oakley Thumps he was wearing, the tears beginning to form would be quite visible.
"Aranha?" For better or worse, that moment is exactly the one where Aranha hears Eva's voice, calling out softly behind him. "... I heard about something with your description joining here. I was wondering if it was you." Standing behind the capoeirista is the savateuse, large sketchbook held clapsed in front of her with crossed arms. In fact, with that pose and pleasantly surprised look on her face, Eva looks considerably more 'normal' than the girl so desperate to get on a ship that day when they met; of course, she's gotten a crisp new uniform since her old one's been disposed of during the events of Jinchuu.
"I hope things went well for you since Jinchuu. I'm just starting to get back into things now... My parents were understandably worried about me and had me stay with them for a while. My father...." Aranha has heard a bit about what Eva's father is like already. "Eheh. He was angry that he didn't have a chance to fire missiles and torpedoes at it the instant I was safely off and moved away." Looking at the Aranha's face (or head, if he hasn't turned to look at her), Eva smiles. "I trust everything's going well for you?"
"Yeah. It was me." Aranha doesn't turn back towards Eva. It might've been easier for him to face her if he wasn't just thinking about all of the things he has done in the past. It not so easy for him since it wasn't like he intentionally deceived Eva about his nature. Even that might have made it easier.
Went well? Not really. He had someone break into his house and after getting beaten, decided upon destroying his things rather than letting the thief make a profit off him. "Yeah, I've been good." It's a bald-faced lie but with him still keeping his back turned it would be hard for Eva to read a tell off of him. "And... I've been thinking about attending school again. Things ought to be calm now that I'm not being repeatedly fired at Rugal's ship."
Eva's face turns from one of surprise to a pleasant smile. .... Ah, to be this person again. To not be afraid or suspucious of the people around you. The girl seems to be in her element as much as Aranha is out of his, here, but she seems unable to detect the capoeirista's emotional state just yet. "I go here too, so we'll be seeing each other a lot! Especially if you visit the art department." Adjusting the grip on her wide sketchbook, she stands, at first believing that, like Aranha says, nothing is wrong.
If she had failed to mark him a 'good person' at the beginning, she would have probably tried harder to find a crack in that persona. Here, however, Eva places faith in his simple words. "Hopefully. The people here are nice. Just... don't believe all the rumors. Some are competitive, but.... they're hard-working." A pause. "Have you been shown around?"
"That would be... nice. Other than dancing, I seriously doubt I'd fit in with the art department." He takes a deep breath and only when he feels confident in his ability to put on a good front. A smile appears on his face but there's something slightly off about the curl of his lips. An extremely observant person who had his previous smile, sort of like the ones he gave just before he got them both onto the ship, as a frame of reference would be able to pick up on it.
"I haven't been given a reason not to think that yet, other than one student having a thing for hitting below the belt in my match on the Suiryuu... You know." He pauses as a thoughtful expression comes across his face. "I did promise you that I would go into further detail on the theft but you could probably figure out who they were working with based on who rescued us."
Aranha's face... does seem different. Eva isn't the best when it comes to judging a person's true character, but here, she wonders if that devil-may-care quality that first smile had, the one she noticed because she decided to place so much trust in it instead of fulling her gut reaction, is diluted here for some important reason.
Maybe he's nervous?
"I'm here and I don't play sports," Eva argues, shifting the drawing pad behind her. "There's nothing wrong with visiting and looking around." Looking around as topics change to less mundane topics, Eva's smile wanes. "... Tell me anyway. I want you to tell me everything as if I did not know anything."
At this point, since he had made his profit off the information and that the usefulness of said information has next to no value at this point he decides he can completely devulge it. Besides It's not like Mr. Big made him sign a contract with an exclusivity clause or anything. "As I said before the Suiryuu wasn't their creation. Or atleast not completely so."
Aranha pauses. Even without being completely himself right now, he still has atleast some flair for the dramatic. "On a Saturday Night Fight there was a match between the team of Taiyo High School student, Roberto Miura and Ikari Warrior, Faolan Sheehan vs. Seijyun student Hinako Shijou and Riko. While the two teams were fighting, pirates took over the ship and after Roberto and Faolan won, all four fighters were thrown off the ship. That same ship would become the Suiryuu after the ninja retro-fitted it with whatever the hell that technology was. I recommend that you find the fight on youtube or buy the DVD compilation and pay very close attention to Riko's shirt. You might find some interesting information there."
Eva becomes quiet as she listens, her face morphing into a mask of concention as she focuses on Aranha's words. "... To tell you the truth, even with your help, I didn't figure it out. I wish I could have, but, between the invasion and everything else... it just seemed like one thing after another." She is silent for a while. "I ended up hating R more than that ship. It's funny how that works, but... the Suiryuu turned itself against me, but it didn't turn a friend against me. R did, on unfair terms. I'm not sure if my friend will ever properly recover what they did to her."
"However."
Eva tries to catch Aranha's gaze from behind those glasses, a smile once more coming to her lips. "If you hadn't helped me on that ship... I think she would have been in worse shape. She would have had to rely on herself... and while I *know* she could have done that, the costs to her psyche may have been too hard for her to handle without coming back damaged. So... I thank you. From the bottom of my heart."
"Makes my getting fired onto the Black Noah twice in one evening and nearly being killed by Rugal both times as well as having half of the team I was working with /happily/ betray me sound like walk in the park." And people wonder why Aranha worked alone back in his thieving days. The slightly off smile forms into a wry grin. "The first time Rugal threatened to kill me if I didn't join him. I managed to escape just to be fired right back at him."
"Needless to say my experiences on that ship has only confirmed one thing I've always believed to true. I can only rely on myself. I had no support in getting my information, the people I was expected to work with betrayed me and it was through my skills and my skills alone that I survived my encounters against people I had no business living through fighting with."
Aranha takes a deep breath. It seems his experiences on the ship have left a bitter taste in his mouth. One can't say Aranha was damaged by his experiences on Suiryuu since he was already damaged before he came to Southtown. It was just the events on the ship forced him to acknowledge he was an emotional wreck. Even still he manages to reign it in enough to give his voice genuine sincerity. "You're welcome." Maybe one of these days he'll be able to create that fun atmosphere that he's known for creating around him.
"...." Eva frowns, then looks down, almost as if she was embarrassed. "... You were a part of that. I see. I'm glad you got through alright. ... I'm sorry I sounded insensitive with my remarks earlier. I guess I forgot the rage I felt when the Suiryuu crew threw me into that garbage dump. Even if the captain of the ship nearly gave up his life to protect me and Arika, it cannot excuse the way he used all of us." Her tone of voice is not angered, but logical, almost as if she was feeling out Aranha's stance.
Stepping into his shoes, perhaps. Of course, Eva has no way of knowing quite yet that these shoes would be difficult to feel out, to understand.
Things like that come only with time and further trust. "Rugal was scary, wasn't he..." Her voice is soft, as if unsure of the meaning of those words. Does anyone know, besides R and the people at the epicenter of that attack? ".... I don't.... I don't know if he's truly dead or not. What I saw was.... great power, but that man... how did either of us survive that ship..?" Looking up at the sky, she replies with yet another question, "Do you regret it all? Deciding to come aboard that ship? Was there something you wish you could have undone, or done differently?"
Aranha is quiet for a moment as he mulls it over. He thinks about the betrayals and being used as human cannonball and damn near dying three times because of it. "I don't think so." He pauses as he thinks of the money he was able to give courtesy of Mr. Big and the money from the tournament. "As for Rugal, he expected me to fall in line because of his power, but I still don't regret telling him to kiss my caramel colored kiester. I probably would've sat out the fight if he wasn't trying to torture me into joining him."
He rubs his chin for a moment before speaking again, "What about you? Would you change anything?"
Caramel colored kiester? Eva giggles at that, shoulders shaking with the quick motion. "I wonder if I would have been brave to do that.... I'd be too scared to join him, that's for sure. A man like that... I already two ways a man can twist another person.... At that point, I suppose, it would be better to go through pain than to willingly go through that." The giggles have long gone, replaced with a certain melancholy on the girl's face. "I know that would disappoint a lot of people, but... when I meet my twin, I want to be able to look him in the eye and tell him that I stood tall. Strong." Of course, telling power-mad terrorists to kiss your ass isn't exactly the most admirable trait in the world, but Eva can at least appreciate the sediment behind it.
Then. Would Eva change anything? She thinks about it for a moment, then shakes her head. "No. Bad things happen, yes, and I recieved a lot of pain. But I'm stronger now, and... whatever consequences come from it will be ones I will accept." Her shoulders shrug. "I suppose that's easier said than done, really. I suppose... the best thing to do, at the end of the day, and make sure you survive. And that's what we did."
"It was good to see you again but I should probably finish up my tour. Maybe we'll get that match that's overdue." He nods to Eva as he starts to walk away. He reaches into his pocket to swap his sunglasses for a nearly identical pair. There are a few nuances that differentiate it from his normal pair. When he's sure he's out of ear shot he talks seemingly to himself but his sunglasses have a transmitter inside of them. "Hey Big. I found out who those other guys they were working with..."
Log created on 22:35:48 11/20/2007 by Aranha, and last modified on 01:22:09 12/02/2007.