the man stepped out of the shadows. a full lengthed robe completely covering him, there ia a very strong smell to him, it smelled of rotting corpses. he paid careful attention to the fight murmuring to himself silently.

"so its begun"

shoimi walked out to the middle of the arena.

"Well i am at a disadvantage here i know you knew my father so you must have faced him or saw him fight so you know how we fight but i know nothing of how you fight."

Shoimi drew his Dragon Talon Dagger and Sword holding them low to the ground waiting for his opponent.

----mispost----

"No I never fought your father before but lets give him a show he deserves if he was here" and with that Shiva took a stance.

"ready when you are

These two...All full of themselves. Josh couldn't care less about who would win but he could learn there fighting styles and give himself an advantage if he ever faced either of them...

They seem honourable enough, though that Shoimi sure is full of himself, and that Shiva seems like he has a bit of a temper. But he was polite, and that's a rarity.
Arma pondered as she perceived the world in even more detail as she meditated and observed the coming duel.
Noticing the man stepping out from the shadows, she couldn't help but notice his stench as well. The wind carries all with it, for good and for bad. Blocking it out, she focuses on the ensuing duel once more.

Jenna lazally opens her eyes, she looks around the arena, after a moment she walks over to Arma

"Hey... what's going on now?"

Opening her eyes slowly, Arma looks at Jenna with squinted eyes, and a warm smile spreads across her lips.

"Hey. Shoimi and Shiva are about to duel, I think. Though they've mostly been flexing so far."
She chuckles a bit as she says this.

Jenna sighs
"Got it, show offs... although that tells us that I was right about the fighting... is it a tournament?"

Jenna sees the man covered in the cloak out of the corner of her eyes... she shudders and attempts to ignore him

"Aye, 'tis. Hessier came here in a lightning bolt and told us. It's his tournament, apparently."
Arma sighs and looks up into the sky.

"I don't know about you, but I don't approve so much of being held here."

Jenna nodds to her

"I suppose, and yet..."

Josh sighed. These two are so big-headed. They aren't even fighting yet... Looking for yet another source of entertainment he listens in to the women's conversation. He'd gotten quite bored of most things in the arena considering he'd been in a similar one before.

"Yet it's something to do? Grants a bit of purpose? Mm... I feel the same in one way, but on the other, I have a different quest. It's not like I came here on my own volition."

Arma looks at Jenna.

"You seem... like something is missing from you."

"you could say that... I suppose that I just want, I don't know, a reason to keep going, a drive to help me progress as a Templar... seeing as how I've allready accomplished what I was fighting for... I've just sort of, drifted along sence that arena closed."

"Mm... a lack of motivation is better than a foul one.."
Arma mumbles half to herself.

"I have certain universal principles one can always live for, when in times like these; times when one has no power over one's own fate. One of them is to help others. For some reason, it has always been enough to motivate me when nothing else succeeds."
She smiles at the templar woman.

"I am certain you will find a reason in due time, when you are ready for it."

Vergil sits down against the wall of the arena resting his Katana next to him with a broad smile on his face.
"I love to watch a good fight. Let's hope their is blood, oh or dismemberment."

Josh sits down next to Vergil. "Who do you think will win?"

Vergil smiles and keeps his eyes on the fighters.
"Well, Shiva has the skill. Against most opponents, I would bet on him. Though this Shoimi he seems to have the power and speed, that is if what he says is true. This should be a good fight, though I think Shoimi will come out the winner on this one."

"Really? Same here." He sighed. The others obviously didn't have much love of conversation. But he pressed on with it anyway. "Why do you think we're here?"

Ancus skirted around the arena, uneasy about which group to talk to. He didnt know most of them, and those he did know he had betrayed at Kaze. He finally settled beside Josh and Vergil.

"I think it has become obvious, it's a tournament to entertain that one who announced the match. I just can't wait to see who I get to kill."
He looked around at the others around the arena
"I wonder who will be the first to die at my blade."

shoimi:

waiting

Jenna listens to the recent comments on who could end up winning, she thinks about Arma's statement

"She's right..."

revolverwolf:

You think it's boring?

"I have my doubts too sometimes, but then I think of all the hardship we all endure, and it strengthens me so..."
Arma looks at Jenna with conviction in her eyes.

"Was it not for the teachings my fellow monks had bestowed upon me, I would still be lost in an endless spiral of vengeance, violence, deceit, death and destruction.

We all have our pasts to deal with. But they should not be allowed to destroy our present, and there is nothing that can destroy our futures. They hold unlimited opportunities and we possess endless potential!"

Arma now stood up and clenched a fist, looking into the heavens. She catches herself in getting carried away, sits down with a embarrassed laugh and goes quiet.

"OK here I come" Shiva said while rushing Shoimi

shoimi continued to wait holding his ground as his opponent rushed him.

Shiva disappeared and reappeared behind Shoimi and executed a Hi Ryu Sen

Shoimi spun around leaning to the left as the sword flew past him continuing the spin whipping his sword upward toward Shiva as he started to fall to the ground.