Human Socializing Apparently Involves Violence[Kendo]

Arondight was in a constant search for understanding and cataloging of the phenomenon he experienced as emotion. Emotion in and of itself was most prevalent in human beings and as such, they seemed like the most effective creatures to study for this specific avenue. It was for that reason that he used his considerable cognitive ability and aptitude with...everything to falsify a plausible backstory for himself that allowed him to insert in to the average life of a human teenager. Of course, his definition of average apparently differed from others, most likely in no small part due to needing to wear a baggy hooded sweatshirt over his clothes to hide his metallic appendages, but for the most part, it was a decent attempt at assimilating in to their world. Over the course of past week most people seemed indifferent to him while others shied away from him, an arrangement that allowed him to study them rather easily. It was ideal.

The ideal slowly started to wane however as, while he was learning a lot about emotions, he was not experiencing them in all that many capacities. As such, he decided to pursue what the humans call a club. Of course, the definition of club was far different than the social gatherings and activities that the humans described, so Arondight decided to pick the club that was closest to the bludgeoning weapon for which they were named, Kendo. No one had given him clear instructions on...how to join a club however and there was no internet avenue for him to pursue to learn how. As such, after locating the building used for the activity, Arondight slowly pushed his way through the door...waiting quietly to be acknowledged.

Dansen was in the Kendo dojo with a few others who after training their swordplay had decided to challenge the young first year to a game of blackjack hearing of his supposed reputation as an avid gambler. At first Dansen was hesitant, but then realized that these were the exact kind of marks he was looking for when he join the Kendo club. Those with strong arms and soft heads were very easy to manipulate especially when they let Dansen be the dealer, it didn't take him all of one hand to already have the advantage and a few more yen added to his wallet. "Easy money" He thought to himself, it was fun to outdo his seniors as well as knowing they had no chance of winning when he was playing as at this point he was cheating.

It was dishonorable yes but playing dirty never killed anybody, at least no one Dansen knew. "That's 21 again gentleman." As another victory was handed to him it was then that he caught sight of a seemingly out of place student, he was wearing a baggy hooded sweatshirt that seemed to cover most of his upper body, the guy looked lost or at least he seemed to be in a state of some sort of confusion as for his clothes it was not like Dansen to pry but they wouldn't work well in a Kendo match. Still a new face mixed up the drudgery daily life had slowly began to be while in Ueitawa even when they was something to do... But for now Dansen would wait until he came over to him as he had no interest in striking up conversation when he was on a roll. "I'll see if he'll be any fun in a bit, for now I'm feeling a hungry and I want a bit more money to throw around."

Kizuna Academy's Kendo Club was both shameful and free spirited through the eyes of Tsurinai Naito. For someone like him, who came from a school who's Kendo team was number one in the region for years, coming to Ueitawa and joining the lacking club was a sick and cruel joke. Though, he digressed. Leading the school to glory was no longer his problem now that he had supernatural adversaries to test his blade against. So as his fellow peers played blackjack with one of the freshmen of the team, Tsurinai and the captain of the club, Hibiki Kei, stood off to the side. The silver haired second year had his arms securely folded over his chest while standing comfortably with his eyes closed. Even though he seemed to be lost in thought on various matters, Kei would not let up on his relent assault of words attempting to pique the stern Naito's interests. "Dude, I'm telling you the nightclub has free drinks on Thursdays! If we take the whole team there, we'll totally get them motivated for the upcoming event!" Oh Hibiki, always so enthusiastic even when he knew what he had planned would have a severe punishment. Tsurinai took it upon himself to finally open his eyes narrowly and address the captain's horrible plan. "The members here are underage. If, or should I say when they are caught, responsibility would fall all down upon you. I sense your execution in the near future if the Student Council gets word of such plans." The silver haired imperious prince spoke in his usual blunt tone. It wasn't like Naito to speak any other way, even when addressing his superiors. How he was raised, his life was very sheltered. Though even so, somehow he had formed some sort of superiority complex when dealing with the rest of humanity. He had a self proclaimed entitlement which involved them being his possessions, like some new vintage action figure.

The conversation between the second and third year students continued back and forth. For some reason, Naito couldn't bring himself to walk away from Hibiki. Perhaps he was beginning to enjoy the cold footed captain's presence. However, their conversation would slowly fall to a blank as Hibiki took notice of a newcomer at the doorway. Tsurinai followed suit and took a mild glance towards the newcomer aswell. His attire was more than strange, and he honestly didn't look like he belonged there.. Naito would be the first to speak, as Hibiki seemed to confused to open his mouth at the present moment. "Are you lost? If you're looking for the athletics club, they're further down the hallway. Hanomura Mako is the club leader, so look for her. She should be the only one there doing any real work, seeing how she is such an overachiever." Once again, Naito was blunt and to the point. No wonder man found him as rude, but somehow his fellow class-men flocked to his side. It hadn't crossed his mind once that the boy who entered was a new recruit to the team. Would he be another type to sit around and simply play cards all day? The rarity of hard workers was surprisingly high, but no one could really complain. Ueitawa was a mountainous region in probably one of the most laid back areas in the world. The only area that probably saw alot of like was Shibakuzoi, but even then it probably wasn't anything special when compared to an average city. Getting back to the point, Tsurinai would move his left hand, showing some body language, as he spoke to the newcomer. "If you need someone to show you to the athletics club, take the gambling freshman. He's doing nothing but swindling numerous fools at the current moment." Blunt, like always.

Acknowledgement did not come quickly, almost like someone promised to be on and participating all day but didn't show up until said day was far too close to ending, a certain person analogous to a large test, but that was neither here nor there. As Arondight was given time to absorb the situation around him, he was first drawn to the most active area of the room which, unfortunately, did not match the description of Kendo that he had read. They were instead sitting in semi-circle and playing with a stack of fifty two, sixty three by eighty eight centimeter, thin cardboard pieces, each person typically holding two at a time. Arondight cycled through his formidable memory banks in a matter of milliseconds and pulled up the game most analogous to what they were playing, blackjack being the most common designation. There was something strange however. The...dealer, yes that was the word used to describe that position in the semi-circle, was operating outside the set of parameters that Arondight had learned of the rules of the game. The "boy" continued to blankly stare at the proceedings, murmuring inaudibly to himself as he watched.

"Elevatedheartrateofdealerwhilstdealingnotablebytensingarmmusclesconsciousplacementofcardsindeckoccasionallyexceedingfiftytwocardlimitactionsdonotabidebyrulesofgamere-evaluationofprocessesinneed."

A voice graced Arondight's ears that broke his concentrated rapid murmuring and he slowly turned to see the human that was addressing him. He was an interesting one, different from the others that Arondight had met during his tenure here. He had been able to classify everyone in two distinct categories since he had come here. The spastic and the stupid. The stupid were obvious, they were oblivious to everything around them and tended to even be ridiculed by their own species. The spastic were so wrapped up in themselves in an attempt to feign security that they consciously ignored everything else around him. This one did not fall under either category. He actually had the...what was the human word for the notion...the confidence. He was not devoid of it nor did he need to frantically pretend it was there. It was interesting, it was worth study. Arondight did not respond right away as he was asked if he was lost and how elsewhere there were people working in the athletics club. Was there a different definition of working that Arondight was not aware of? Perhaps the athletics club was dedicated to city construction efforts through use of physical labor? That did seem like the best way for humans to develop athleticism, yes, that made the most sense. As the man's arm shot toward the previous object of Arondight's attention, the machine's eyes followed it. As the man spoke again, he explained what Arondight had previously been witnessing. Swindling? Yes, synonym to cheating, cheating definition: defying the rules. Yes that made sense, why would a human operate outside the rules though? The why did not compute, but at least he understood the what for the time being. Cheating was not something he was looking for right now though, delving in to that subject of human confusion would come later. Arondight's attention diverted back to the confident, direct man and the boy spoke, deliberately slowing down his speech.

"Thank you, but I was not looking to build a railroad. I was looking for the Kendo Club and appear to have accidentally found the Cheating Club. If you would point me toward the proper location I would very much appreciate it...(quick memory back search for the proper japanese designation) senpai."

Seemingly the new guy as well as one of the upperclassmen, Naito was his name from was the swindler could remember name had caught onto the play Dansen had been making, it wasn't nice of them to spoil the fun so quickly but the others seemingly reacted angrily to the accusations of cheating from both the new blood as well as the obscenely blunt Senpai. "Come on cheating? You wound me saying such things I would never cheat in a game of cards here I'll let my opponents check the deck..." Handing the deck over to them was fine, the cards had already been shuffled and the winning hand that would put the number or cards up to 54 was already up Dansen's sleeve by the time they had laid out the cards and checked for any abnormalities. Still the 'Cheating club' as the rather out of place new guy had said had a nice ring to it, but for now the Kendo club could always do with more than overzealous senior believing swinging a wooden sword made them seem anymore cool than they were.

Dansen walked to the new guy and looked to put his arm around him in sort of a buddy way saying to him "If your looking for the Kendo club this is it, but for the most part none of the guys here other than maybe the captain and the rather stunningly eloquent Naito-Senpai really seem to do much around the place anyways..." Dansen stopped for a second to stretch and welcome in the new club member further into the practice area. "I wouldn't say that a guy like you would get much enjoyment out of dealing with all the trouble of getting hit by another guy with a stick but if you say you're here for Kendo then I suggest you pick up a stick and start swinging!" Dansen sat to on of the walls of the room as he waited for the new guy to make his response, "You should probably get a training partner to show you the rules of the sport first-off I would volunteer myself but as are distinguished Senpai's are here I think maybe they should get you into how Ueitawa's Kendo club operates."

Dansen was happy to show the guy the ropes but he never really did care much for the sport of Kendo, the school never really put much stock into it, and as such the club never really seemed like they were looking to be more than a was to kill time for those who did not want to go home right after the end of school. Had the upperclassmen showed any enthusiasm for the club then maybe Dansen would be more inclined to show he was more than willing to just take their money from them but for now the only one really interested was the captain and the guy was not exactly known for being that much of a leader. Still maybe he could give the new guy a shot at glory on his first day.

The "superior" student, Tsurinai Naito, simply stood with his arms crossed as he analyzed this newcomer with a narrow eyed gaze. He was not one to frequent the first year or third year hallways, but even so he would remember seeing such a strange individual atleast once, correct? Tsurinai knew for a fact that this student before him was not a fellow second year student. After all, the silver haired prince made sure to keep a roster of his peers, simply for... entertainment purposes? Well in his case, for future schemes that involved dominating them utterly. There were few people on Naito's list that he honestly respected. Being one who never used honorifics in his greetings when referring to even his own "superiors", it was quite difficult to tell who had a positive standing with the teenager. Even Hibiki and his fellow Kendo club members questioned if he was there as a friend, or simply there to scorn them. Luckily for them, recently Tsurinai had been softening up around them. Most likely because they shared similar goals with him when it came to the way of the blade. Though, even then Naito was more focused on Iaido Swordsmanship over the basic principles of Kendo. Why he remained on the team, not even he knew. It could have had something to do with him facing his Shadow a few months before this date. What his Shadow said did push Naito onto a path that wasn't so lonely, but still... some old habits did die hard.

Naito was clearly in some form of thought, as he seemed to be in his own world before the voice of the lower classman broke him out his trance. Shifting his gaze towards the one named Dansen, Tsurinai held an expression of indifference. He didn't know this boy well enough for a detailed analysis, but he did have a first impression to go on. It was a simple four word impression. Not. to. be. Trusted. Though, he'd be a hypocrite if he were to follow that impression saying that he, himself, could be. "You don't need to explain yourself to me. I have no interest in your card tricks." Once again, Tsurinai was as blunt as could be. It wouldn't hurt if he was abit nicer, correct? Atleast that was what Kano Genji tried to tell him. When the newcomer mentioned he was indeed looking for the Kendo Club, the silver haired student couldn't help but raise a brow. He looked nothing like one who could even hold a blade, let alone swing it properly. However, Naito wouldn't say these thoughts like usually. Instead, he'd let the over enthusiastic, and most likely sarcastic gambler explain the situation. There was only one thing the second year student wished to add. "Even if this were the cheating club, most of these fools would still fail when it came to competition. No matter, do not group us all in the same shameful category. It's unbecoming." Naito's words were slightly condescending, and slightly indifferent. His gaze followed the first year gambler, and he tilted his head to the side to get the silver locks from out of his line of sight. "You know, Dansen. It makes me wonder why you joined the Kendo club if you believe all we do is swing sticks around, without purpose, just to hit one another." The second year student then turned back towards the newcomer and gave a thin smile. "But atleast we have people here who seem to show a proper interest. Tell me, what is your name newcomer?"

"Noevidentinjurypresentuponmalenovisiblebloodnoindicationofcutnoimbalanceinlimbsoutsideofmuscletensionduetoextrapointfivemilligramsworthofweightfromtwosixtythreebyeightyeightcentimeterplayingcardsituationok."

Arondight watched carefully, and quietly, well...sort of quietly, as the one designated cheater spoke about how he was wounded, which was confusing to Arondight. His muttering evaluations were quiet enough that at the distance they were at, only Naito would possibly notice that Arondight was making noise and would most likely be unable to decipher his rapid mutterings. He could determine no physical injury upon the boy. He was not bleeding, there would be marks in his clothing, and he was not favoring any limbs outside of the tell tale indentation and subtle muscle flexes to keep the two playing cards hidden in his sleeve. Consequently, Arondight could not determine any injury upon his person. Was this a different wound or was the man simply lying? Lying was a recurring function for humans, Arondight did not understand the concept or desire to present falsehoods. It was not conducive to a learning environment, humans were so strange...and stupid. When Naito cut off the wounded man, most likely drowning out Arondight's muttering in the process, the machine turned his attention back up at the man. Humans had a definitive hierarchy and as far as this club was concerned, it would seem in order to fit in, Arondight should dedicate the majority of his visible attention to the one who was designated to be higher on that hierarchy. It was another nuance of human idiosyncrasies and while Arondight did not understand it, he would do well to adhere to it for the sake of blending in.

"Arond..."

No, that was a mistake. When the human asked him his name he had begun to answer it truthfully, and therein he found not only that he had been, effectively, lying about his nature this whole time, but he could not fully give his actual designation. He was Aaron here, a western name but one better than being named after an ancient sword, as all his kind tended to be designated. Perhaps lying did have beneficial purposes, the documentation he used to get in to the school in the first place was of course, a lie. Perhaps he would need to re-evaluate the purpose of lying, at least when used properly. Over something as pointless as a card game seemed to be a waste and misuse of that power.

"Aaron, Senpai."

Senpai was the designation for an older student wasn't it? These people were so strange.

It had seemed that Dansen had gotten under his Senpai's skin a little bit with the mention of Kendo in such a simplistic manner. He had meant no offence; Dansen rather quite enjoyed the history and style that came with the sport. But he did not have much time to dedicate to just training in swordplay but it was nice to know that his elder was continuing the track record of blunt statements, it made him feel all the more happy that he had come up with a retort to hopefully take the focus off all the accusations of cheating that had supposedly come his way since the new guy entered "Senpai I meant no offence to Kendo, but for the most part I can scarcely tell the difference between Kendo and hitting people with sticks when it comes to this club...I mean I would never say a word against my elders but the only 2nd years I can tell could outdo a first year like myself would probably be the captain and you..." Saying all this still with a rather cheeky grin made his next few words seem perhaps a bit insincere. "No offence guys." Where he then looked over to his playmates at cards who where seemingly aware of the slight but could not really disagree due to their lack of training in terms of the sport. For now the focus was back on the new guy and he finally introduced himself.

"Aaron huh?" Dansen found it a bit peculiar that a foreigner would want to join the Kendo club but he had simply guessed that the new guy's shady appearance as well the fact that his skin color seemed almost a bit too pale, but he brushed off these points thinking it may have to do with the guy’s upbringing in another country. But still it was still strange that he was wearing such ill-fitting clothes when joining the club... But the young gambler decided to put it out of his mind and wait for his Senpai to make a decision on the new applicant it wasn't his place to judge the guy, just to make fun of what could happen when the dust settled and he made a point to let the guy join or to test his skills, "I have yet to see Naito-Senpai's swordplay I wanna get a read on it, and him...." He thought to himself as he continued to relax and stretch out further onto the ground waiting for some entertainment.

Tsurinai Naito closed his eyes as he listened to a low audible, incoherent ramble from the newcomer. The silver haired student was one who was quite intelligent when compared to his fellow peers, but for once he found himself perplexed with what exactly was going on. This student murmured at such speeds as if it his mind had began to speak itself. It was quite impressive, but rather strange aswell. Tsurinai decided not to make a big deal of it, as it could have been a mental disability or the sort, and he had no interests in delving further into that. Either way, the second year student's attention would once again be reclaimed by the gambling first year. His knowledge when it came to the ways of Kendo were lacking if he truly believed there was a scarce difference between the art of the blade and knocking each other with sticks, even if he specifically meant for this club only. Though, he did hold some truth aswell. Alot of the members were lacking in the skill department, which bothered Naito in the past. However now, he forgave them. To think a school out in the middle of nowhere would be winning any tournaments based on teamwork and hard work almost made him scoff. He'd have to work towards individual rewards and not team championships. That was fair enough, he had plenty of rewards from his own Kendo team back at home. "Perhaps you're right, Dansen. Though, speaking in such way won't motivate anyone here to get off their posterior and work harder. Trust me, crushing spirits does not help in the least." The silver haired student would turn back towards the newcomer who began to speak of their name. Tsurinai's eyes would narrow as he noticed the student first mentioning a name, then stopping mid sentence to change it to Aaron. Was this some sort of nickname? Interesting. Naito simply stared at him for a few seconds before tilting his head to the side and giving a slight nod. "Okay then, Aaron, welcome to the Kendo Club. Do you have any previous experience when dealing with the practice?"

It wasn't every day that Naito met someone in Ueitawa that shared his experience or love for the art of the sword. Though, most of his life he had been more of a practitioner of the Iaido style, Kendo was second hand. When he thought back on it, the first time he had touched a blade was in his father's old dojo. Back then he really didn't care for much, with his sister's continuously irritating him, and his parents neglecting him. Though, throughout his entire life before his teenage days began, he was a full on antagonist for his loved ones. The only time he didn't antagonize them was when he was practising his moves with a blade in his hand. It calmed it rather well, and kept his mind off the reality that he truly despised the people he lived with. Though it seemed like Iaido was helping with his problems, it also added abit of their own. As he grew in skill and triumphed over his peers, he also grew a sort of superiority complex when socializing with others. He found something he was truly gifted at and used it as a pedestal to stand above the rest. Luckily, ever since he was shipped away to Ueitawa, his complex had been humbling out over the weeks. Tsurinai was slowly becoming a better person, thanks to either the people he surrounded himself with, or the Shadow he had faced to overcome his own hardships.

Arondight watched the exchange between the two humans with a fair bit of interest. Apparently, the Kendo Organization that this particular school boasted was not especially...well...special. It did correlate with his previous assessment of the atmosphere though, considering how many of them were sitting off in the corner and distinctly not "beating each other with sticks." Was Kendo simply easy enough to grasp that dedication and practice was not necessary for humans? No, that was not it. Arondight had learned that humans needed to practice everything. They simply were not the kind of life form that could master something at a glance, they needed to repeat the process countless times over to gain the necessary acumen at it. It was that deficiency that was most likely they're greatest strength as a species however, it was something that Arondight could only fleetingly glance at. He wasn't sure how it was possible to be so flawed and so successful at the same time. Granted, successful was relative. That concept though, motivation, it was interesting to Arondight. It wasn't an absolute, Arondight only understood absolutes. There was no programming for humans to push themselves, no directives, no mandates...it was built upon a sense of desire. A concept Arondight was barely beginning to experience. He didn't quite understand what crushing the paranormal remnants of the deceased had to to with Kendo however.

Arondight gave a small nod toward the human, the human designated as Dansen, a strange name, as he repeated the designation that Arondight presented for himself. Arondight was aware that Aaron was typically a western name, but at this stage in world development, it wasn't exactly odd to see people from other nations and territories immigrate elsewhere. He decided he could adequately "get away" with it, which was one of the many human idiosyncrasies that he had learned over the course of the past year. As the question was directed at Arondight, he wasn't quite sure how to answer the question. Did he have experience in Kendo? Not first hand, no. He was three months old at the most and the experiences accrued there involved him surviving rather than learning sport fighting. However, by the same token, he was most likely far more knowledgeable about the practice than anyone here, most likely even the one speaking to him. Having an encyclopedic knowledge of...almost everything that can be found in books or the internet tended to have that effect. Arondight's eyes shifted to the ground, something humans noted as a sign of embarrassment as he decided to answer with the middle ground.

"Some..."

Dansen had once again got a rather blunt response from his elder; it wasn’t unexpected to say the least that Naito had given him another rather straight to the point retort. His read of Naito from the start was that he was not a people person. He knew that was quite an obvious assumption as just about anyone with working eyes and ears could figure that out within a few minutes of talking with him but heck, he was no psychologist just a teen who made money and some entertainment for himself reading the actions and personalities of others. Naito saw his poking fun at others expense as a bit of a demoralizing gesture which, it kind of was in a way but Dansen could tell any of the people who gave a damn about Kendo in the club could probably be counted on a single hand. The state of the club itself was disparaging without the need of an assist from the young gambler but having a bit of levity in the face of adversity always seemed to brighten up the day. Still Dansen was focusing on other things such as seemingly trying to get a read on the new guy, Aaron.

He was shifty in a way, every time someone said something he seemed to take a second to process it and always seemed a bit confused at when an idiom or an expression was used. "Maybe he's just not use to the language yet, still he's all a bit too out of place..." When Naito had gone on to ask Aaron about his skill when it came to Kendo the guy seemed to think about his answer for a few seconds then answered with a hint of embarrassment as he claimed to have at least some experience. "Well that's perfect why don't we have a sparring match then to see a bit of what you got?" Dansen stood up brushed himself off, stretched his legs out a bit and then went over to get prepared if the offer was taken up on. "You don't mind do you Naito-Senpai?" Dansen had wanted to see Naito's was of Kendo but the new guy had made Dansen almost wary, something was off about him. It wasn't really the way he looked or talked but his body language didn't give off anything for Dansen to go off of he wanted to see the difference when they were against one another in a match.

The silver haired student would raise a brow towards the mysterious newcomer that seemed embarrassed to answer such a simple question. What was up with this guy? Was he simply nervous around a crowd, or was this just his personality? Tsurinai thought on it, as he stood with his arms firmly crossed over his chest and a strand of silver hair following over his left eye. He hadn't bothered to move it out of his line of sight, simply because he was so lost in thought. Through all his years of reading people, manipulating people, and overall dominating them, something seemed completely off with this one before him. Perhaps Naito's skill of reading such people was slowly dimming over the years. After all, there was little he really wanted from the students of Kizuna Academy. They lacked power and ambition, which were both traits that practically made them useless to him. Though, if he were to become a proper leader, like he always spoke of, he'd need to find a way to get them off their ass and get moving in life. That was Tsurinai's burden to bear for them. Perhaps it was one of the reasons he kept finding himself waking up everyday and returning to the Kendo club that simply didn't have any drive to become champions. "I see, Aaron. Some is far better than none." The student would tilt his head forward and give a thin smile towards the newcomer that had blessed them all with his presence. "I have high hopes for you. Don't let me down." For someone to be praised by Naito, even if slightly, was a rare occurrence. Especially since he seemed so against being too friendly with his peers.

When Dansen took the liberty of standing up and offering a spar, Tsurinai's eyes would widen in surprise. He lifted a hand and pinched his chin between his thumb and index finger while giving it a thought. "I see, very well. I have no objections to a fellow club member looking to test someone's skills. Infact, I implore you too. Perhaps I was wrong about you, Dansen. There's hope in you yet." Though it sounded as though Naito was praising yet another club member, his expression was that of complete indifference. He was ready to test the newcomer himself, but if the eager first year wished too, who was Naito to object? They were the future of the Kendo Team, like it or not. The fellow students, and even Naito himself, cleared the way for the two first years who planned on having their spar. "Don't go easy on him, Dansen. He'll need to learn somehow."

Arondight's blank expression did not waver as the people around him carried on their conversations. At this point he was a passenger to the plan and honestly, he mostly preferred it that way. Given the changes in their facial expressions toward him and the physiological changes people tended to undergo and the tell tale signs of it when they were lying, Arondight knew that he was not exactly succeeding at blending in. It wasn't an issue really, the point of his presence here was to learn to blend in with these people and figure out their eccentric nature of emotion. If he was ratted out here, he could simply move to a new school, he'd have to kill everyone here for his own safety, but he doubted the world would investigate too much in to...a spontaneous explosion at a school. No, humans would find killing on that scale to be appalling, granted, he was interested in knowing what emotion they'd ascribe to that sensation. Pain, loss, sadness? What were those? He would have to investigate. However, something told him that school wide genocide was not the best way to go about things for the time being, he'd find other ways to study sadness. Defeat was typically good provocation for sadness, granted the opponent they were giving him seemed to be a master in feigned apathy. Arondight wasn't sure he'd be able to gleam any kind of emotion from him regardless.

"I'm going to assume there is equipment I can borrow in there."

His words were spoken while the confident one was imploring the cheater to take him seriously and not go easy on him, Arondight showing quite simply and blatantly that he didn't care about whether or not the man took him seriously. In fact, part of him hoped that he maintained that air of confidence, it would be much easier to smack him down and observe the emotional reaction. Humans tend to be most upset when they find a fact they know to be true to be proven irrevocably false. It was human nature to latch on to any semblance of certainty they can find, a nature Arondight hoped to exploit. He had located a spare set of equipment and made sure to remove his hooded sweatshirt and don the protective gear out of sight of anyone else and most likely before they finished talking and had a chance to react. Being able to hide his mechanical apparatuses was the reason he chose the Kendo club in the first place. The armor for the Kendo club let him do just that, after acquiring the armor and putting it on, the boy returned to the floor and silently took his place on the mat, picking up one of the weapons they use on the way. He didn't really care which one of the two took their place opposite him.

Dansen stretched out his arms in the armor that he had retrieved from the Kendo club's back room. The armor had always felt a bit bulky to him, it was the kind of equipment that meant speed had to be in short bursts or that those with heavy-set bodies simply power through the weight and use it to their advantage. The young man knew that Kendo was a sport that required both patience and the thought process to think two moves ahead, luckily what Dansen may have lacked in appreciation and effort he made up in analytical skills. "This new guy seems to be one of those silent types... Gonna have to see if he has some power behind those arms of his." Dansen prepared as he went to the mat the new prospect was sitting at Dansen openly complained as he could no longer contain his thoughts on the armor. "Jeez.... This armor is super stuffy, I can barely breathe in it..." Dansen went to grab his weapon from the club's stock he proceeded to swing it to get a good feel for it then bowed at his opponent before preparing to start the match.

"Hmm I would usually go for a one handed style of fighting but this thing is heavier than I'm use to plus I feel that my own style could come in handy later..." Dansen took up the traditional stance and proceeded to call out to Aaron "Hey as a test to see your swordsmanship I'll give you the first move, I mean it’s just a sparring match so let’s try to do our best okay?." Dansen set his feet to the ground and prepared himself, those feelings of anxiety about the new guy was still eating at him, his strange demeanour and the way he seemed almost doll-like the more you saw of him made the first-year nervous "I'll find out what he's got with this then I can deal with the situation as it arises." He thought this to himself as he shouted over to his opponent "Whenever you’re ready!" as he waited for a move.

((Of course he doesn't remember, he only remembers useless creepy stuff))

Arondight's eyes followed the man with a sense of stoic concentration as he whined about the stuffy nature of the equipment and how he couldn't breathe...breathing, that was another thing humans needed to do. It was a strange function. Arondight spent an hour and a power supply to generate the necessary energy for days at a time, it was a simple, quick, and efficient process. Humans needed to be breathing, constantly, to bring in oxygen to generate the energy their bodies needed to function and to Arondight, he did not understand how the constant practice was anything but irritating. How they tolerated such a mundane action, day in and day out, for almost every second of every day was baffling to Arondight. Living creatures were so, so very strange in an endearing sort of way. Sort of how a human would view a dog whenever they did something clever he supposed. Humans were probably best suited as pets. The next words that flew from the cheaters lips were endearing as well, he was offering Arondight the first move. It was an interesting gesture. Arondight was intending to take the first move to begin with, being given it seemed to cut out the need to actually try to wrestle it first. It seemed like his opponent was just handing him the keys to victory.

Arondight scanned through his internal encyclopedic records, drawing upon everything he knew about the sport fighting known as Kendo, committing the different styles, strikes, and footwork to memory as his opponent readied himself and as soon as the word "Ready" left his lips, Arondight had moved with a speed that should have been than improbable for a child that size, as he closed the distance in the time it took to blink and quickly struck out, on a downward arc, and aimed straight for a Kote-uchi, a strike to the boy's wrist guard. If he reacted quickly enough to block that blow or was forced to step back to evade, Arondight would use his forward momentum and strength to push the boy's sword back, locking it in embrace with his before pushing off his opponent's weapon and aiming for a straight strike to his oppositions side for a Do-uchi.