The Hero's Apprentice

[lysander]

[Ah, alright. I remembered phil, so I thought Herc might've lurked.]

Iznan was confused by Hercules's confusion. It took him a few moments to doubletake and realize that maybe not every world had the same slang. But this seemed to be a popular enough place... This guy should've at least heard a few phrases. Enough to piece Iznan's bit together. Ahhhh, what a backwater place. The spider shrugged. "I heard there was going to be a tournament here, for valor and virtue! My lord hath relayed to me, his humble servant, a commandment for which to defeat all comers in this tournament, and reap all riches and prize for my glorious land."[/color] His voice was a gentle chiding of officious language he'd been surrounded by no matter where he went. But there was less of the more modern slang, so maybe Hercules would understand this time?

Either way, Iznan wasn't bothered.[/size]

[Clow]

(Uhm, hey, I was invited heh heh ^^; sorry for the delay )

‘Interesting…. This is all… very interesting’ Shin thought as he survived the area, taking notes in his research journal. “Seems to be a place were people gather to train and what not…. Well it is easier then world hopping to track down strong heartless, or what ever the local stock of deadly creature is.” Shin said to himself, nibbling on his pen lightly, before adjusting his glasses, still taking note of the area and various people. It was in his deep train of that, that he accidentally bumped into a rather large man. Orange in hair, and more then a little muscular, many would be intimidated by such a strong looking guy.

But not Shin, his eyes showed now fear, they hardly every do. “Oh, my apologies, I was a little caught up in the area.” He said still glancing around, notching the teenager the gladiator looking guy was talking too. He was… A bit odd looking, but not to much so, he would get a few odd looks back home, most people not into the…. Perhaps punk look? “Oh am I interrupting anything? “ Shin said, a bit curious why two people such as these would be talking to one another, it did strike him as odd, no doubt.

[Hercules]

Herc sort of smile-laughed at his otherworldly conversation partner after his change in linguistics. Apparently the demigod found it amusing.

"Well, I gather that you want to join the games," he said finally, still quite entertained but apparently being able to decipher the boy's meaning from both sets of explanations. With an eyes-closed smile the musclebound hero reached over with his right hand and slapped Iznan firmly on the shoulder before giving a slight shake. "That's great! Don't underestimate the competition though!"

Hercules would have continued if not for being stumbled into by another unfamiliar face. He seemed surprised for a moment as he looked back and down at the kid. Sure he'd felt the boy coming but people didn't usually fail to notice the champ was around and just walk into him. 'Guess I need more focus training after all,' he said to himself, continuing a thought that Herc had had earlier in the day.

"Not at all," the son of Zeus said while raising the open palm of his right hand to diffuse the boy's worry. "But please try to be more careful in the training area. Some of these exercises are dangerous if you aren't paying attention."

[lysander]

Iznan blinked at the larger man's laugh, and the sudden jolt to his shoulder was unexpected as well... though... hearty. This man reminded him of Izna'na. Not ultra-similar, as Izna'na would've encouraged him to slaughter the competition and still have some confidence leftover to take down a titan. But that's what two rebellious brothers did. They took on the world, and refused to accept any possibility of defeat. This man was... not a rebellious brother, but something like it. "Yeah, that's what I want."[/color] He said with a quick nod, almost suddenly enthusiastic and yet almost apprehensive of getting close to the man.

The feeling of the hand, caused him to tense, but not because he was against the man, or uncomfortable. It just made him think. But the interruption of the other, allowed him to slip out of thought and away from the man. "Huh..."[/color] he murmured, while looking between the newcomer and the hero. He chewed on his lip, wondering whether he should make a cruel comment, or if that would upset the strangely familiar elder figure.[/size]

[Clow]

(Forgive me, I've been Ill as of late, but I'm feeling MUCH better )

It wasn’t that hard for Shin to deduce that this rather large man with the orange hair was native to this world, he did go with the motif. He also seemed to be some sort of big shot, but in a good way, perhaps the champion of whatever arena contest, or what have you. “Thank you for the warning, but despite my appearance I can hold my own.” He said in a polite tone, making a few last note and putting his notebook away.

“Still I like the look of this place, after all, if your training isn’t a little dangerous you won’t show all that much progress, I’ve notice most people who are veterans with the heartless grow powerful rather rapidly.” He said adjusting his glasses, more or less enjoying the small talk, glancing at the boy he has dubbed “Punk rocker” from time to time. “But I’m being rude, I’m Shin, from the Destiny Islands.” He said politely extending his hand to Hercules with a slight smile

[Hercules]

"Oh? I've never heard of those islands," Hercules replied happily, taking the kid's hand. "And here I thought I'd been pretty much everywhere. Guess Phil was right about Rule #72: There's always more out there than you expect."

Neither of the two present would "get" Herc's reference to his trainer as far as the demigod himself knew, of course, but he enjoyed talking with fellow competitors enough to relax like that. He gave Shin a firm shake and then placed his hands back on his waist. Hercules seemed to be the kind of guy who looked like he was always striking a heroic pose, even when he was just being casual.

"I'm Hercules. It's a pleasure to meet you both," he said, giving a look back to the "punk rocker". "Will you be looking to join the next Games as well, Shin?"

[lysander]

The quiet, bright-haired kid withdrew into himself as the other two began to converse, paying attention, but not contributing. There was something uncomfortable about this heroic figure. He brought back memories of good times, spent adventuring with Bro; how was he supposed to feel about this guy? Spiteful that someone similar to Iz'nana had lived, while his brother had had to die; fearful that he may actually become friends with this figure; happy that maybe Iz'nana was smiling upon him, possibly trying to provide this brief shining of light in an overcast kid's perspective...

"The Satyr..."[/color] Whispered words. He could vaguely remember a tournament, just vaguely, as if it had been in another lifetime. And there had been a satyr who had some useless list of rules memorized. There wasn't much else. A few fallen trophies, and a lot of darkness. His eyes opened wide and looked first to Herc... Then to Shin... Then to the trainees. Had he won that fight? Why yes he had. All on his own too. This would be no different. "Gods have mercy on your head if you intend to."[/color] Iznan laughed.[/size]

[Clow]

Shin snicker lightly “Yes, seems few have heard of my little world, though we sort of have a celebrity living there, pretty much everyone has heard of him it seems, a bit annoying.” Shin rubbed the back of his head, admitably jealous of the world traveling keybearer. “I don’t know him personally, but I got his name in my notes somewhere, he’s got spiky brown hair, and carries around this odd but interesting sword… Still doing rear each what his deal is.” Shin said in a rather aside matter, not really wanting to talk about Sora further.

“But that’s a rather positive way of living, plenty of places to go, seems people come from all over to come here though, pretty interesting, this place is really one of a kind isn’t it...?” Shin said admiring it once more briefly before readdressing Hercules. “Quite a name, Hercules, well it’s a pleasure to meet you as well, as for these games, it certainly seems interesting.”

Shin mused, only glancing at the third within their party who had yet to introduce himself, chuckling a bit. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t ask for anyone’s mercy, let alone a gods.” Shin adjusted his glasses, not appreciating being underestimated, shooting the unnamed man a very slight glare before turning back to Hercules with a faint smile.

[Hercules]

"I'll be sure to let them know how you feel about that," Herc said in answer to Shin's last statement, not a single hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I'm sure you'd both put on some impressive shows."

'Spiky brown hair and a weird sword that everyone has heard of, huh?' thought the champ, an internal query caused by the other things Shin had mentioned about his home islands(Which at this point Hercules didn't know he meant was on a completely different world from his own, the demigod just assumed the kid was being metaphorical in referring to it that way). 'I wonder if he means Sora? I never did ask him where he was from.'

Well there was little time for thinking about that right now, so the monologue was pushed aside. Instead Hercules opted to return to business talk. These two seemed to have some undertones of arrogance flying at each other, which was fine for competition, but senseless to take too far as well.

"So what level are your Hero Licenses at right now, boys?" the champ asked. "Don't forget: You need to be at least Juniour Heroes to enter the next Games coming up."

[lysander]

Iznan shrugged lazily towards Shin, tilting his head back towards Hercules when the other spoke of heroes and licenses. Well Iznan had never been particularly heroic, or very keen on personal identification. And as such, he'd been less responsible about informing himself on necessities that he felt didn't much apply to him. Such was the way of a boy who could only read sparingly, and didn't feel any inclination to either further his education or work harder. Once you knew when and where you were off. That's how things went with Iznan; he did not calculate, plan, or organize. He simply floated. "What's a hero license?"[/color]

He briefly wondered if the Underdrome would be doing anything soon. It seemed as if it would be much, much easier to understand the terms of engagement there than here; partly because the Underdrome had so little written documentation. But then he felt that urging in the back of his neck that bothered him, annoyed the crap out of him, to walk in such a way that you put forth effort and produce something that your soul can be proud of. Strange then, his conscience would prickle up at this point.[/size]

[Clow]

Shin raised his eyebrow a bit, unsure if he said anything to offended this guys local culture. “Well don’t get me wrong, I just don’t want anyone to hold back, it’s the merciless fights, the truly deadly ones that make you strong, is that a wrong assumption?" Shin asked, a little curious, wondering what Hercules thought, after all he seemed to know a thing or to about combat.

Then Herc mentioned something about a hero license. Shin couldn’t help but glance over at Iznan. Seemed he didn’t know what Hercules was talking about either, which was a shame, Shin had hoped he would know a bit more about this world. “Yeah, I don’t really have one either, but I’ll follow whatever rules you have hear, it’s not to time consuming is it?” He asked, a little oblivious. He was interested in whatever tournament were here, it looked very promising, but he did have other things to do.