Leo_G

The two sat in silence, Kanata eating at his normally quick pace while Jase just nibbled on his food and stared off into space. “Are you not hungry?” Kanata asked after slowing down his pace enough to get words between mouthfuls, “or have I overcooked it?”

“That’s not it. I just sense something…someone else has arrived uninvited to this dojo,” Jase replied finally looking eye to eye with the purple haired boy. “There are two but I don’t think they are going to fight.”

“That is a relief to hear. Maybe the situation is back under control now.” This lifted Kanata’s spirits a bit even if it wasn’t true and so he continued to eat. “Are you going to eat that?” he asked with a mouth full of food.

Jase just stared at him coldly before pushing his bowl of soup across the table to him. “For someone of your size, you sure do eat like a horse,” Jase smirked.

Although Kanata was tall, his build was on the slim side even with the muscles he built wielding Kantetsu. “Using a naginata can use a lot of energy. I make sure not to miss a meal so I am always at my best.” Without hesitating, Kanata accepted what was left of Jase’s meal and finished it for him. “So how long have you been attending this dojo?” Kanata asked in an attempt to spark a conversation.

“…two days.” Jase replied tersely. The two days Jase had spent here weren’t in any classes but to enroll and recover his strength from long months of scavenging for food and shelter and hopping from town to town stealing whatever he needed to survive.

Kanata blinked for a long silent moment then returned to eating. “So, you can sense people from far away. You must have had a brilliant teacher. Where did you learn your techniques and how to fight?” Kanata asked while cleaning off the table of the dishes, hoping Jase would be more open.

With a roll of the eyes Jase sighed out an answer. “….around.”

“Is that so? Well you certainly did a fine job of defending yourself from that dangerous shinobi.”

“Dangerous shinobi? You mean that joke of an assassin that chose me to pick a fight for him? He was pathetic. If he were a ninja of any skill he would've killed his target without anyone even realizing he'd set foot in the dojo. He was just here to act like a fool and stroke his ego,” Jase ranted angrily. He purposely left out how he failed to land a single hit on Hikaru even though he tried his best with what he had.

“Or maybe he just underestimated the students here at the school,” Kanata added with a bit of a smile.

Did he just complement me? Jase thought to himself. I already told him I haven’t been to the school for long so it couldn’t be congratulating the school’s great students….most of them are still asleep. As he thought, Jase turned his face to a far corner of the room to hid his reddened cheeks.

Kanata buried a yawn in his fist and walked back to his armor. “I am still very sleepy but if there are more threats arriving, maybe we should go back.”

“You’re still feeling that attack? Let me see if I can help.” From where he was sitting, Jase dove into Kanata’s mind. It only took a moment to free his mind of the spell. It was like a weight being lifted off of his mind when Jase broke him free but also shield his thoughts from further effects.

“What just happened?” Kanata pondered as he perked back to his normal self. “I feel the lethargy disappearing.”

“Let’s just say I did the same thing to wake you up earlier but just gave you a second dose.”

“That was your voice I heard before? So you can read other’s thoughts?” Kanata asked wide eyed.

“Pretty much.”

At first, Kanata was amazed and intrigued but his awe began to fade. “Does that mean…..you know what I am thinking now?”

Jase smirked and rose to his feet. “If you want to find out about the two that just arrived, I’ll wait for you outside while you get changed like you had planned.” With that said, Jase climbed out of the window he had entered from and waited near the door.

Kanata twitched nervously before he took off his keikogi to replace the armored shirt he wore under it. Could he have heard….I am sure he did but I hope not.

[ QUOTE ]
Aye, very good point. Powers as they are in-game are simply unsuited for for an actual story, in my opinion. Some may be, but in general the way they animate and the damage/effect they inflict is just not sufficient. Gunfire is a good example, but so are most bladed weapons. I have a character who can cut through reinforced armour (Malta Titans, Rikti Chiefs, etc.), so by sheer inference, an unblocked slice on, say, a Knives of Artemis mercenary is not just fatal, but quite disgusting, as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

*Here comes Leo to derail another thread *

Well, I actually like using the in-game powers and feel, with enough explination, work just fine in an RP but I tend to have seemingly weaker characters(or characters with various weaknessess) so maybe it doesn't work for tank-mageish characters.

Example: My main character, a Kat/SR scrapper, doesn't actually use a katana but a bokken. I won't explain it, but he doesn't cut things by using a sharp edge to wedge through an object but focuses a certain energy that can simply separate objects on an atomic level. Granted it would take more of that energy to cut through thicker things, he can simply choose not to project the energy at all and his attack is much less lethal.

Example two: I have another character who seemingly has the strength to stop a speeding jumbo jet with a pair of palms or block a punch from Statesman himself with a finger. The catch is, he's a force manipulator so small objects (Statesman's Fist) can easily be stopped by redirecting the force of it while larger objects are tougher. If you asked him to lift a truck chances are he couldn't just do it.

MY point? In game powers can be explained far better in RP than in the game. It's much easier to say why the enemy you're fighting didn't explode in a shower of bloody gore than it is in the game.

((Not really. And if you really wanted to post something you could have had that dark magic lady finally teleport Hikaru.))

In his room, the smell of beef, vegetables and potatoes consumed every corner of his organized apartment. At the moment, Kanata had been organizing the underarmor he was wearing on the armor stand with the rest of the set. The armor slightly resembled samurai armor but with a more sleek and attractive design specifically created for him when he was twelve. The problem though, was he had never actually worn it. It was specially built to be easily modified and repaired by the wearer but the material it was made of is something unique. The glossy black metallic sheen in some of the parts that shone strongly implied durability, strength and style but what might not be noticed is its extreme weight. Kanata sighed to himself as he stared at the mannequin dressed in his armor. “How will I ever accomplish what he has….”

The weight from the sleep spell, which he seemed to have no protection against, was taking its toll on him once again and his eyes fluttered with fatigue. “Oh no…I guess I will just take a little nap after I…..*YAAAWN!*…..finish cooking.” His mind went on auto-pilot as he pulled out a loose shirt to wear to sleep from his trunk of clothes and took off his keikogi. He would have continued to undress had his mind not be brought to attention by a faint noise at his window. He turned to see Jase reclining on the window sill. Kanata pulled his now folded keikogi up to his bare chest in an attempt to cover himself and grinned nervously. “Hello….what are you doing in my room?”

Jase stared at him for a moment more before smirking and turning his eyes outside the window. “I was hungry and I smelled food.”

Kanata blinked them smiled. “Oh, well I can share my meal with you, if you would like.” He unfolded his keikogi again and draped it over his shoulders. “I am not the best cook but it’s better than rice and water, right?”

With hesitation, Jase slid off the window and sat at the small square table near where Kanata was preparing the food. “I was actually planning to steal it while you weren’t looking but….”

“….but what?” Kanata queried.

“….but,” Jase continued, “you tried to stand up for me back there against that sword guy even when I didn’t ask you. I was having second doubts about taking your food which is when you found me out.”

“So that is why you dropped that pebble so I would realize you were there?” Kanata asked looking toward the window and at the small rock that rested on the wooden floor boards.

“Heh, well your head was out to lunch so I figured it would be too easy to take your food,” Jase added with a smirk.

“Yes….I feel unnaturally tired today….I usually just eat when I feel like this but I doubt it will help,” Kanata said with a nod and a yawn. “I thought if I moved away from the other students, I could wake myself up and revitalize myself so I could help but it is not working. I cannot perform any useful naginatajutsu in this state.”

Jase tried not to acknowledge the previous ordeal but his wrist was beginning to ache again so he would remain one handed for a while. “What did you mean when you said ‘how could you accomplish what he did’ before you noticed me?” Jase asked in an attempt to change the subject. “Who were you talkin’ about?”

“I was talking about my older brother. He was such a great fighter….he was many times stronger than me at my age and I just cannot see how I could ever match him….but I would rather not….*YAAAWN* talk about that now,” Kanata responded and rested a few more dishes on the table for his guest.

“….so back when you swore on your sister’s grave that you threw those rocks…..you don’t have a sister, do you?”

Kanata flashed a weary smile, “I guess you caught me.”

“But your brother is dead.”

Kanata didn’t reply and stared silently at the floor. He was sad, frustrated, annoyed and jealous all at the same time knowing that his brother had mastered all his family’s techniques and could wield the Kantetsu efficiently by his age while Kanata himself could only manage the Datotsuichi level two. Not to mention, Kanata still had to worry about the one who defeated his superior brother.

It wasn’t apparent how long he was lost in his own thoughts but Kanata was finally brought back to reality when the steaming hot food was placed before him by Jase. “Careful, you don’t want to overcook it,” Jase said with a smile. “Eat up before it gets cold.”

((Well if there were guards, I wouldn't have any way to control them. I figure only two posters would know anything about it. Also, I'm sure the intruder/sleep spell would have made the place easier to infiltrate.))

((So when is that interjection coming?))

Having pulled the assailant from the churning shadows, Kanata forced himself to back away. This ninjutsu….it seems familiar. Could it be him doing this? Kantetsu seems distant from me now. After finally experiencing it, he didn’t want anything to do with these dark powers when the darkness began flowing again. “…no……this sorcery will cling to anything that touches it,” Kanata muttered to himself.

Still unsure of these happenings, Kanata continued to back away, swinging his Kantetsu behind him and into the strap that was tied over his chest. “I am sorry but I shan’t put myself in that position again. I mustn’t tread into such magics for fear of tainting my family’s sacred weapon.” Bowing his head to the others, Kanata left their company to his quarters.

Upon reaching his room, the first thing he did was remove his weapon and lay if flat before a picture of a man who had similar features to his own, deep purple hair that flowed over his shoulders wildly, light violet eyes and a similar shaped jaw. “I should have readied the Datotsuichi level one before doing that,” he sighed and lit a few inscents near the framed picture. He said a quick prayer before finally removing some of the armor he was wearing under his keikogi and standing to move to one corner of his room. “I suppose I should eat something before some new stranger arrives to take over the dojo,” he said with a spark of sarcasm.

“Wait! What is it we’re trying to accomplish!?” Kanata shouted just as Pyre charged forward. Kanata didn’t hesitate and was speeding toward the assassin while holding his Kantetsu in his left. When he was in range, he reached for Hikaru’s leg.

((Alright, let’s get going with this. Would like to get to more character development eventually.))

((While Jase doesn’t currently have any ‘Dark Armor’ powers like in the description of his abilities in my sig, the resistance he has to psionic attacks is due to his innate mutant power of telethapy. DA has some pretty high resists to psychic (the only armor set that can get straight resistance to psy in the game, if I’m not mistaken). So even if Pyre isn’t helping him, he probably doesn’t need it.))

“Welp…I’m done,” Jase laughed and walked toward the dojo locker rooms. “Why would you want to play with that guy? Just let him leave as randomly as he came,” he sighed and was soon gone.

“Ah, but…well…” Kanata tried to stop Jase but was too late. He turned to the others, a concerned look in his eyes. “I want to find out the source of this disturbance as much as the next person but I would not be selfish enough to send one to risk their life for this. We should all go or none.”

((I already posted my reply. Waiting on if Hikaru is going to jump back up and throw grenades or just lie there. As for everyone else, I just post when it's my turn.))

In Kanata’s mind, an image appeared of Hikaru throwing a knife at Jase from behind and his blood spilling on the stone floor around him. It was all a preemptive vision though, before Hikaru even threw the weapon or even implied he would throw it. Then he discovered he had locked eyes with Jase for a minute fraction of a second. Is he?.... he thought before gripping his naginata once more. Kanata looked over his left shoulder to see Hikaru was now moving into position to throw the kunai just like in the vision. Thanks to Shadow Pyre, he felt the weight of fatigue lift from him. The spirit of his ancestors surged through his body and the blood of his family burned in his veins. Kanata knew this feeling but this time it came more easily and quickly than he was normally capable of.

“Datostu no Jutsu! East wind!”

With speed, grace and skill far superior than he had previously displayed, Kanata quickly thrust one-handedly to his left with his Kantetsu. The large blade of his glaive managed to shield Jase from the kunai, plinking off without so much as a scratch or movement from transferred momentum to his weapon. A breeze from the force of the attack kicked up, causing Kanata’s hair to sway before returning to its normal style.

How did I see that attack before it happened? Kanata asked himself before the weight of his naginata seemingly returned, causing him to fall to his knees. He wasn’t even sure how he took notice of Jase before anything else when he woke up….or even why he woke up.

“Thanks,” Jase said over his shoulder while still rubbing his left wrist. He tried to pick up his ninjato but his wrist burned with pain if he tried to bend it. “Crap, how’d he hurt me without even hitting me?” he groaned and held both the swords with his right instead.

Kanata smiled slightly knowing Jase was okay. He sighed and drooped his head, hoping the battle was over because he’d rather nap at this moment. When his head sank down so did his view. “AAH!” Kanata shouted, jumping to his feet and began dusting off his clothes. “I ran right through that cloud of poison powder!”

Jase chuckled, walking through the dust himself to retrieve his sword sheaths. “I’m not stupid enough to surround myself with poison, but it worked just fine against stupid opponents to keep them away.”

Kanata let himself relax, knowing he wasn’t poisoned and smiled for a moment thinking ‘Hmmm, that’s pretty clever’. “Hey…” he complained, remembering he had just been fooled into thinking it was poisoned too. “Are you calling me stupid too?”

After putting away his weapons, Jase passed an odd glace to Kanata and a smirk which he though was a bit weird. “So…is he dead?” Jase asked aloud as he walked toward Hikaru’s motionless body, his hand on his shinobigatana.

Turning invisible wouldn’t really be of much use against Jase if you had a thinking mind to track. Although it was useless without a sufficient means of attack or defense. The kunai (which I think you mean when you say knife shuriken) flew at him with great speed, and although he could tell what direction it was coming from, he didn’t have the speed to deflect it. Jase pulled up his left weapon to guard against the speeding kunai and the loud clashing of metal echoed through the dojo. The force of the attack knocked Jase’s ninjato from his hand, his wrist reverberated with the blow.

Still holding his other nijato in his right, he rubbed his left wrist. “Crap,” he groaned and focused on another tactic. Hey…hey guy…Kanata, was it? Jase’s voice echoed in the sleeping boy’s mind. Kanata stirred in his sleep a moment but he continued his gentle snoring. HEY! WAKE UP!

Kanata jolted awake, subconsciously gripping his Kantetsu tightly. “…heh huh wha?” he mumbled groggily. He rubbed his eyes and looked about to see the others still about him, now Toru with them. “Did I miss the attack? What happened?” Kanata’s attention was then drawn to Jase who was now kneeling and massaging his wrist.

((Man, and here I was expecting to get through at least 1 post a day. Seriously, we're all waiting on you . There's still time before it's my bed time, though.))

((Who is he attacking? Jase? If not, disreguard this post cause I don't want to waste a day to find out.))

Jase was quite surprised when his foe seemingly awoke and lunged at him for another attack. As Hikaru neared, Jase took a step back and when he did, his heel landed on something. It was one of the saya he threw earlier.

Thankfully, Hikaru seemed to be moving slightly slower so Jase had a chance to react. Jase tucked one foot under the wooden sheath then, with his other foot, clamped it between his ankles. With a quick turn, Jase sent the saya spinning at his assailant and spreading a decent haze of powder in a cone before him.

Jase leapt backward, back in the circle of dust he created a moment before to take advantage of his opponent’s fatigue. Jase reached into his gi again but quickly froze. Crap, I’m out of tools, he hissed in his mind. He only had a few hours earlier to remake the spider pellet concoction which didn’t give him a large supply not to mention everything else he had was confiscated.

((I didn't say anything about your character. I said you, as in the poster just so you realize what he's doing.

[EDIT] I'm saying I'm waiting on you to finish replying to my other post.))

((Just if you didn't realize it by now, Jase is a telepath. Not a psychic or telekinetic but telepath. He has natural resistance to psionic attacks just like he does in game. I had him reaching out with his mind to discover the origin of the psychic attack so, seeing as you're the poster that created the attack, you have to say if he succeeds or fails in finding the source or just unveil the source already...))

Kanata was lost in a sea of confusion. Ryuu said something but he didn’t seem to understand exactly what as his thoughts were muddled. Soon he found himself pulled down but an insurmountable weight, his naginata. Eventually, Kanata found himself falling flat faced into the ground followed by loud snoring.

Jase, on the other hand, seemed just fine. Hikaru seemed to be hiding behind a tree now, to dodge the smoke. “Heh, what’s wrong? Are you afraid to attempt a counter attack?” He paused a moment, watching the spectators falling to the ground one by one. Huh? What tha….What’s going on? he thought as he leapt up and over the barrier and landed on the opposite side of the tree as Hikaru. He silently and cautiously rounded the tree to find the assailant asleep. There was a bit of shock upon discovering this and he looked about the training grounds in a panic. Crap! I thought he was doing this! What the hell!?

Reaching out as far as he could with his mind, Jase searched the area for the cause. How could this have happened without me knowing? his panic stricken mind thought as he focused more to discover the source of the effect. Suddenly, he could feel it too. Whatever it is, it was slow, gradual and encompassing. That must be why I couldn’t feel it at first… He wasn’t falling asleep but the fight was slowly being drawn out of him.

((Something about an old man with alot of arrows))

Hmm, so he doesn’t quite understand what’s going on…typical, Jase thought as he listened to Hikaru’s words, yet not as he said them but before that. Almost before Jase could react, a shuriken was sailing at him faster than he could possibly throw one. Good thing he didn’t need to dodge it because apparently it wasn’t aimed to strike him.

With anticipation that would be naturally impossible, Jase semi-countered the shuriken with a small cloth sack. On its path toward the dust cloud, Hikaru’s shuriken sliced the small pouch before passing through the dust like it would normally pass through air. The pouch showered the area Hikaru moved toward with the same grey dust that seemed to be surrounding Jase.

As the shower of dust spread closer to some random students that were watching the fight, they cautiously backed away. “Watch out! That stuff is poisonous!” said one of them which caused the rest to move away.

Jase simply smirked and drew another spider pellet from his gi and aimed it at Hikaru’s feet. “Soon you won’t have anywhere to run otherwise you’ll be stuck to the floor,” he said with a smirk.

[ QUOTE ]
I will not fight on unfair terms, death before dishonor," he whispered just loud enough for the group to hear him. "If need be, I will fight him man to man," his eyes locked onto the fight as his face remained still, the only movement in his lips.

[/ QUOTE ]

Kanata lifted up his glaive and let it fall which cracked the earth and thoroughly shook up those near him. “What time are you from?” he asked sternly. “Because in this time, the threats that are most dangerous require teams of fierce heroes to handle. It is naive to attempt to face every threat alone not to mention the lives of hundreds could rest on the successful dispatch of a villain.”

Keeping his eye on Hikaru, Kanata rubbed his brow and groaned aloud. “…I’m not sure if this man is one of those threats but I’m not taking the chance.” Suddenly, Kanata felt the naginatajutsu he had prepared suddenly disappear. “Odd. I feel suddenly tired,” he said and then yawned silently.

Kanata nodded to Pyre and Ryuu then returned his eyes to the battle. “So far, all I have learned about this foe is he’s fast. I do not think it matters what power you would have to use to slow him down, we just cannot wait around and be killed one by one. Do whatever is needed,” Kanata groaned as the grip on his glaive tightened. “Just don’t let his confidence fool you. I don’t think he can withstand much more punishment.” He said this while turning his eye to his halberd and tapping the end of his weapon on the ground as if to say ‘Let’s kill this guy with a three-way attack and I’ll go 1st’ but he didn’t say it out loud. He then turned to the other two, his face welcoming any other tactics. “My Kantetsu is ready for anything.”

((I believe Kantetsu translates to “Crown of Steel” because this naginata is a symbol of his family’s Naginatajustu mastery and secret techniques. Kantetsu itself is a relic passed down from parent to offspring, and with each passing it grows heavier and more powerful to ensure the bloodline is stronger than the previous.))

[ QUOTE ]
“That technique you used is quite common, and hardly requires skill. I expected something… Flashier…” He bluffed about the low skill, and possibly about the rareness, but was being quite truthful about the ‘flashy’ part.

[/ QUOTE ]


“Not flashy, huh?” Jase scowled as his hand slipped into his gi. “Well if you were so skilled then you’d know it’s not a technique, just a means to make a barrier. Now I’ll just shoot you from here.” Still holding his ninjato, Jase held a few white golfball sized pellets. “These spider bombs outta slow you down.”

Suddendly, Jase felt a mental lapse in Hikaru’s stance. Apparently, he wasn’t completely prepared for a mental attack or was growing physically fatigued. Jase didn’t bother to delve into that subject and quickly attacked Hikaru mentally, simply trying to extend the period of mental non-alertness. Jase took quick and careful aim and threw the white balls at his opponent, the orbs passing through the thick dust barrier at his opponent’s feet, legs and right hand. On contact they would explode like a waterballoon and spread a sticky substance that was a special concoction of animal glue and spider thread. With about five of them, one could stop a rampaging elephant in its tracks, if not for at least a few minutes.

Of course, upon arriving at the dojo, most of his throwing weapons were confiscated but that didn’t stop him from simply making new ones (or at least the sticky bombs he was throwing now) with things available around him. One might wonder where a young boy like himself would learn to make such a simple, specialized and potent mixture from.

(( Shinobigatana or Ninjaken. Also called Ninjato which is a sword a ninja would carry.

[ QUOTE ]
According to the book "Ninjutsu History and Tradition" by Masaaki Hatsumi, Soke (Headmaster) of the Bujinkan Dojo system, these swords came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Often, however, they were much shorter than the traditional daito katana used by the samurai of feudal Japan.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's pretty much a shorter version of a samurai's daito and slightly longer than a samurai's wakizashi. Jase is using two of them though. They were useful for weapons and a ninja's various need for tools. Here's a video of a FFXI ninja using ninjaken but they call them katanas in that game while the samurai in the game use weapons called Great katanas(in relation to sword vs. Great sword)))

Predicting an opponent’s moves can be difficult and even impossible for some, but Hikaru’s first move was all but unpredictable. Jase didn’t even need his mutant ability to figure it out, granted that predicting isn’t going to keep you up with a high speed opponent….but Hikaru was being too cocky and wasn’t even using all of his speed. This gave Jase the opportunity to keep his momentum forward as his foot turned.

The assassin’s foot never met his back because he was leaning forward as his body turned to slash behind him at the extended foot. As his blades traveled backward, more of the grey dust spread around and at Hikaru which came from the edges of the blades planted there by his trick saya. The dust was heavy and seemed to hang in the air, very slowly descending to the ground. Now Jase was effectively surrounded by this haze of powder from his sides and front as well as behind from when he fist threw his powder filled sheaths. Only a few steps were available to maneuver inside his created barrier.

He didn’t listen to Hikaru’s words, Jase’s mindset was completely different now as if he was a completely different person. He held up one of his shinobigatana to guard him high and the other angled down and behind him to guard low.

Kanata didn’t sit around while the intruder made threats so moved closer to Shadow Pyre. He tried his best to wave to Ryuu to come over without drawing too much attention but wasn’t sure if he paid much attention to him. He would have called Toru or Yuri over but he suspected they were a little occupied by Yuri’s wounds but he did pass a concerned glance. “I did not catch your name from earlier,” he whispered to Pyre, “but my name is Kanata. I think it would be in our best interest to orchestrate some sort of plan to defeat this villain or at least move this battle away from some of the less experienced students.” Kanata kept his attention on the quick moving shinobi as he took in whatever information he could track from his fighting style.

((Trying to give everyone an opportunity to do something if a fight is going to take multiple posts.))

Annoyance became ever present in Jase’s face. Apparently this ‘shinobi’ had no purpose here but to exercise his ego. When he sensed the enemy’s plan, he didn’t bat an eye. He didn’t care for anyone here, or that’s what he thought. It didn’t matter if they lived or died as long as he became stronger.

After waiting for the 1st few minutes, Jase figured they guy was serious about waiting ten minutes….seriously, there had to be several dozen students here. It would take over six hours to kill each one of them one at a time…and if he wasn’t going to kill them and just torture them, which Jase would surely have to stifle any fits of laughter at the screams of agony, it would take even longer. “[censored] that, I don’t have time for this [censored]!” he said out loud.

Jase reached into the folds of his gi and withdrew a pair of shinobigatana (ninjaken or ninjato) in his right. With a flick of his thumb, one of the blades shot up. In the blink of an eye, he drew the remaining blade with his left and tossed the pair of saya at Hikaru. As he caught the airborne blade in his right, the saya spun midair, spreading a stream of grey dust at the opponent. Jase charged at the enemy, ready to strike and slash at him with both blades.

((Don’t make me choose, because I’ll just choose what I want…))

Jase could feel the attention of Hikaru turning on him before it even happened. That’s why his glare grew no more or less. “If you’re so good, why don’t you grow some balls and fight everyone at once? Or at least two at a time….” At first, Jase thought he wanted Hikaru’s skills for himself, to steal them and use them but this ridiculous assassin couldn’t be worth it. “If I had a choice, you can sit on your sword and spin.”

Kanata gripped his naginata and rose to his feet. He kept his eyes closed and his back turned to the intruder. “You haven’t the gall to fight a challenger? Even after I have readied one of my best naginatajutsus?”

[ QUOTE ]
Jaime seemed to be embarrassed and began focusing on her food a lot more. “I-it’s okay. Let’s just try and find something to clean you up.” Ian’s hand went for the napkins but he remembered she froze those with a touch. Wash it off with water? Nope. “Any ideas?” Ian asked but quickly extended his hands toward her in a manner to say ‘Wait, don’t answer that!’ “Maybe we should figure out a way to communicate.”

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Jaime turned back to the food, keeping silent. It was starting to get crowded, at least to her, and she didn't know what to say or do.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ian scratched his head as Jaime seemed to ignore him and pay even more attention to her food. “Hmm, maybe you don’t want to talk? I guess I can take you along so I can talk to some of the others around that way you can at least meet a few more peo…” He cut himself off when he saw a nurse at the room’s entrance wave him over. “Ah, just a moment…be right back.”

Weaving through the gathered people, Ian quickly met the woman at the door. “Yes ma’am? Did you need something?”

The nurse just nodded, a slightly distressed look on her face. Ian moved in closer so he could hear her and so she didn’t have to speak too loudly. “It’s about Mr. Timbers. There was a bit of trouble during his testing. I’ll need you to keep an eye on him.”

“But I just got here!” Ian whispered loudly, very disappointed that his recreation was cut short.

“Well, I could have you cleaning bedpans instead,” she retorted. Ian pouted and crossed his arms in a huff. There was no way he wanted to do that….He nodded in agreement and prepared to leave. He looked back one last time at the crowd that had collected, letting out a sigh before walking out.

((Just as a reminder, Kanata is a teenager, around 15-16 years old. His build is rather average to thin, more on the muscular side, and kind of tall.))

“So you know who you will be fighting, my name is Kanata of the Datotsuichi clan, masters of naginatajutsu. With the aid of my family’s ancestral glaive, I will not be an easy opponent.” Kanata leaned forward and rested his weapon, with a bit of effort, long-way’s before him. “…but if you do not mind, I need a moment to prepare myself mentally.”

As he said that, he kneeled down and rested on his knees with his hands in his lap and closed his eyes. Are you watching, brother? I will not disgrace our family’s name. This is my chance to show the depths of my skill….I will surpass you. After about 30 seconds, his breathing became steady and he kowtowed before his weapon. Kanata straightened his posture and rested a hand on his weapon. “Alright, I’m ready now.”