The Road Begins

Subject: The Road Begins Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:06 am

Ivan sat on a bench at the base of Tokyo Tower. It was a cool, but clear day, devoid of clouds. Ivan's white, muscular body looked extremely out of place among the crowds of Japanese at the Tower today. His towering height and physique made him stick out like a sore thumb. Ivan silently examined the area with his ice-cold gray eyes, looking for any threats. While he found a few 'potentials' and 'maybes' he couldn't find any particularly identifiable ones, so he relaxed his guard a little.

After a few more minutes of quiet, intense observation, Ivan took a suitcase out from under his arm. He opened the clasps, and watched as the lid flipped open. Inside were his two massive, custom A-T's. They looked more like weapons suited for combat than tools of leisure with their strict militant appearance. He pulled of his knee high military boots and pulled on the similarly styled Air Treks. He stood up, testing the sturdy tools under his weight. The treads were different than the wheels he had seen on T.V. commercials, and took time getting used to. He tried various circles and laps to get into a comfortable groove in his riding. He found a comfortable way to ride, allowing the rapidly moving treads to tear up the concrete on the ground. Comfortable with them, he nodded his head affirmatively.

"I'll need to find some kind of mentor if I'm going to get any further with this." thought Ivan, "I'll wait here for a rider, and the first one who comes through will teach me something."

Subject: Re: The Road Begins Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:35 am

Joy rode on her sleek black ATs down the streets near Tokyo Tower. After the few months she had accumulated with the footwear, the orange haired Korean was finally getting the hang of the skates. Feet together, apply pressure, and keep your balance. Now this wasn't too hard, was it? Of course, she spoke too soon as an incoming crack in the pavement sent her flying away from the comforts of the ground and into the air. Her hurtling body was aimed at a particularly gigantic monster of a man.

"Look out!" She yelled out in vain. Her light feminine body crashed into the broad back of the hulking male. He was so big that her tackle didn't seem to dislodge him in any way. Joy on the other hand, didn't fare as well. First, she made contact with the man's back, which was as hard as a brick wall. Then she fell down, most likely scuffing her knees and hands in the process.

Laboriously, she got back up. She addressed her accidental target. "I'm so sorry, I hope I didn't hurt you." Who was she kidding? She probably hurt herself more than she did to him. But of course, it was customary to offer up an apology when an accident happened.

Subject: Re: The Road Begins Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:10 am

Ivan felt the impact and responded immediately, assuming that he was being attacked by agents of the Black Snow Syndicate. He pulled a knife from his side and twirled it around in his hand, flipping it in intricate patterns between his fingers and over his palms. He turned around, ready for combat, and instead saw a young girl laying on the ground.

Ivan was taken aback by the appearance of a young girl instead of a tall, muscular man in a suit who wanted to fight. He looked down on the ground, confused. Why would a young girl attack him? He had to appear intimidating to her, with all of his muscle and sheer size. He picked the girl up roughly by the shoulder. He was about to yell at her when he saw the A-T's on her feet. Enticed by a strange thought , Ivan held for a moment while mentally switching the language he would speak to Japanese.

"You." said Ivan in his heavily accented voice, You teach me how to ride these. Then I don't hurt you. Do you agree to this?" Ivan held her to eye-level, waiting for her response with emotionless eyes.

Subject: Re: The Road Begins Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:23 am

Holy shit holy shit HOLY SHIT, the guy had a KNIFE. A fucking knife! What the fuck was with the knife?! Holy crap, that blade looked really sharp, especially when it was only a few inches away from your throat. Oh my god, was she going to die? Holy crap, she's too young to die!

Joy started hyperventilating, frozen in fear from the sight of the knife. Practically everyone else who had minutes ago been traversing the streets were all gone, off to their own respective jobs and such. No one was there to witness the man pulling a FUCKING KNIFE on the poor defenseless girl. And there was no way she could fight off the assailant. He was just too big. Way over six feet and probably weighing easily two Joys, he loomed over the Korean like a skyscraper. His body seemed to pack in a mass of muscle in its brawny frame.

But what really put a chill through Joy was his eyes. She first started off with his hair, her own crimson eyes staring at the blood red streak running down his bleached out hair like an ugly scar. The trail of red lead down to his face where the man's eyes were situated. Joy couldn't see an ounce of pity, any sort of warmth in the man's eyes. They were devoid of happiness, cold and dark with death. They looked like the eyes of a cold-hearted murderer. The man grabbed her by the shoulder with a massive hand, easily lifting her with that single appendage. God, if you're there, please make this as painless as possible.

However, it seemed as if the man didn't have any intentions to kill her just yet. "You teach me how to ride these. Then I don't hurt you. Do you agree to this?" His accent was thick, but it was still interpretable. What, she, Joy, teach someone how to ride Air Treks? Why, she herself had only ridden on them for the space of a few months! How was she going to teach someone when she barely understood the basics herself? But of course, the alternative to NOT enlightening the man didn't especially appeal to the orange haired girl. Joy meekly nodded her head.

Subject: Re: The Road Begins Thu Feb 19, 2009 11:32 am

With the girl's meek reply, Ivan holstered his glinting knife in it's case at his side. He checked to make sure it was firmly in there, so that it didn't slide out and end up cutting him while he rode. After all, he didn't really need his hand knives when he rode anyways. That was his own little surprise for anybody who thought it wise to attack him. Sure, customizing his A-T's in such dramatic ways was expensive, but he didn't mind. The cost seemed worth it to him, even though he didn't really know why he had bought them in the first place.

Ivan instantly turned his attention back the girl in his hand. He had started thinking again, and it had distracted him from the other girl with her A-T's. Remembering that she had said yes, Ivan let her fall back to the ground, hopefully landing on her feet. She didn't seem that experienced of a rider, she had crashed into him after all, but she still knew how to accelerate and take turns and probably a couple of other things. Ivan didn't need an advanced teacher yet anyways, just a person to show him the ropes. He would worry about the fancy things after he could do the basic things.

"Alright then," said Ivan, Let us begin to ride. Teach me what you know, even if it is not much. Maybe you'll learn something from me you didn't know, and I will learn others from you that I don't. So now we ride."

Subject: Re: The Road Begins Sat Feb 21, 2009 6:14 pm

Okay, okay, the man put his knife away. Joy calmed down, but only by a little bit. She was dropped from the confines of the man's grasps, and she fell down to the ground. She stumbled once or twice, but managed to stay on her feet. Free from the man's grip, Joy's mind started racing. Maybe she could run away right now, the man didn't look that fast to her. But...even if she was faster, his reach seemed diabolically long. She couldn't escape. How did I get roped into this?

To pull her mind away from the situation at hand, she diverted her attention towards the man's ATs. The pair had a grayish tone to them. They appeared to be bulky and more aligned to a powerful style. And of course, the knife thing. Oh gaaawd, the knives. Damnit, stop thinking about the knives!

"O-Okay. Well, first of all, Air Trek run on the basis of pressure. The more pressure you apply to them, the faster they'll go." She did so, wheeling around in the road to demonstrate. "They're basically super powered roller blades."

Subject: Re: The Road Begins Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:02 pm

Ivan listened intently to the girl's explanation. Apparently these A-T were some form of "roller blade", something Ivan had never heard of. He had definitely never seen a blade roll in his life, that was for sure. The part he did get, however, was that they accelerated due to pressure. So the more he pushed, apparently he was supposed to go faster. Ivan nodded his head in understanding and did a couple of laps around the tower, pushing harder and noticing his acceleration increase ever so slightly with each slim increase in pressure he tried out. However, if Ivan went to fast, the rapidly spinning treads on his A-T would begin to tear tracks in the concrete, causing damage that Ivan really didn't want to deal with. Ivan came to a stop in front of the girl and said, "Next?" without a hint of emotion. It finally dawned on him that he had not yet introduced himself to the girl. Not really wanting to appear rude, Ivan added, "I forgot to introduce myself. I am Ivan, Ivan Petrovovich. And who are you?" Ivan simply stood there waiting for a reply from the young Asian girl.

Subject: Re: The Road Begins Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:50 pm

Roman Alexander was high as a kite. Howling uproariously as he slashed through the crowd on his ATs, the unruly teenager found himself giggling uncontrollably at the hurried, yet dignified, scramble of the Japanese as they scurried away from him, the crazy ass American.

Not that it deterred him in the least. The poison in his system clouded his thoughts, and even if he was A-OK, he wouldn't have minded all the death ray glares that the dissapproving mothers were shooting at his person. Would've been intense though if those death ray glares were real, like superman. He'd be a roasted turkey if that ever happened.

Eyes wandering, his eyes were magnetized by the form of the Tokyo Tower, the mighty man made structure that punctured deep into the heavens. Undressing the Tower with his eyes, he observed each and every curve, tilting his head back as he progressively went higher and higher.

Finally reaching a point where he could no longer contain his balance, he tripped and fell over onto his back, a giggling heap of limbs. Absolutely Wonderful. Life was great!

Picking himself up, the young lad wandered aimlessly through the crowd, casually strolling observing his surroundings. Glazed over eyes homed in on the gargantuan form of a foreigner, skating upon a pair of ATs, making his way around the bend of the tower.

HOLY SHIT! What a big mutha he was. Roman scratched his chin thoughtfully. The Golden Boy of the Alexander Family was no midget himself. If they stood shoulder to shoulder, how would they size up? How would they match up in general?

Vaguely interested, his competitive spirit slightly smouldering, Roman stealthily pursued his target. Observe, observe, and observe some more. That was the plan, and it was Go-Time!