He makes note of the collar first. That's pretty weird, but plenty of the fighters in attendance have their gimmicks. A couple of the members of Noroshi are particularly annoying with theirs, so though he flags it as worthy of looking into, he files it away for later — or at least that was the plan, before the first fighter runs up to the guy and botches his punch so thoroughly, it almost seems as though an invisible force field turns it back on him. Upon seeing that, Endo's brain starts moving very quickly, trying to make sense of the technique, catalogue the guy's abilities and non-abilities, and figure out how the collar might relate. He spends that first (non-)fight being intrigued but not quite entirely sold on what he's witnessing.
The second fight, however, confirms that whatever this guy is doing is on another level entirely. That really gets his interest piqued, in a way it hasn't been in a long time. He wants to test it for himself: poke, prod, determine the limitations and how much power this guy truly has at his disposal — and maybe, just maybe, keep him to himself. By the time he's standing in the street, his hands are trembling with barely contained excitement and his grin is a little too wide — his eyes a little too focused. It takes immense self-control not to call off the member of Noroshi before he makes contact, but he forces himself to wait; he wants to see just how quickly this guy will put him down. He brings his thumb to the infinity tattoo on his neck and presses it there as he watches —
— the worst punch he's ever seen.
Somehow, it's effective, but the whiplash that Endo experiences is almost as bad as the kind he inflicts on others when he's genuinely irritated — or outright angry. He goes from approaching a near-point of no return in the amplification of his interest to deflated, albeit not entirely. Just enough to keep him from cajoling this guy into a brawl of his own, in order to experience how thorough that "power" of his really is — and maybe also to see if he can get his hands on that collar. For fun.
Now, though, Endo finds himself standing in a middle ground, which is unusual enough for him to take a few seconds to decide how to approach this. Normally, if he's truly taken by someone, he burns hot, consumed entirely by the need to possess. Otherwise, people aren't worth his attention — at least not enough of it to warrant giving a fight his all. But a feeling that is simultaneously greedily curious and unimpressed? Talk about mixed messages from his own brain. He'd rather be all or nothing.
It's too late to blend back into the fray now that he's surrounded by all this fighting, especially since he's a suspicious sight himself: all these brawling teens, and he's standing in the middle of the action entirely untouched. One even swings in his direction, but upon realizing who he's swinging at, immediately pulls the punch and hurries away.
So Endo clicks his tongue in a chiding manner while he sticks a hand in his pocket, revoking his overinvested stance in favor of being relaxed: Tsk, tsk, tsk. Then, when he's sure he has the guy's attention, he says: ]
I heard there was gonna be a massacre. No one said anything about cheating.
[ His tone is bored, though his eyes are still a little sharp. If nothing else, he has learned that this guy is capable of destruction — it just doesn't seem to come from his own hand. ]
@levelshift
[ Endo has never seen anything like this before.
He makes note of the collar first. That's pretty weird, but plenty of the fighters in attendance have their gimmicks. A couple of the members of Noroshi are particularly annoying with theirs, so though he flags it as worthy of looking into, he files it away for later — or at least that was the plan, before the first fighter runs up to the guy and botches his punch so thoroughly, it almost seems as though an invisible force field turns it back on him. Upon seeing that, Endo's brain starts moving very quickly, trying to make sense of the technique, catalogue the guy's abilities and non-abilities, and figure out how the collar might relate. He spends that first (non-)fight being intrigued but not quite entirely sold on what he's witnessing.
The second fight, however, confirms that whatever this guy is doing is on another level entirely. That really gets his interest piqued, in a way it hasn't been in a long time. He wants to test it for himself: poke, prod, determine the limitations and how much power this guy truly has at his disposal — and maybe, just maybe, keep him to himself. By the time he's standing in the street, his hands are trembling with barely contained excitement and his grin is a little too wide — his eyes a little too focused. It takes immense self-control not to call off the member of Noroshi before he makes contact, but he forces himself to wait; he wants to see just how quickly this guy will put him down. He brings his thumb to the infinity tattoo on his neck and presses it there as he watches —
— the worst punch he's ever seen.
Somehow, it's effective, but the whiplash that Endo experiences is almost as bad as the kind he inflicts on others when he's genuinely irritated — or outright angry. He goes from approaching a near-point of no return in the amplification of his interest to deflated, albeit not entirely. Just enough to keep him from cajoling this guy into a brawl of his own, in order to experience how thorough that "power" of his really is — and maybe also to see if he can get his hands on that collar. For fun.
Now, though, Endo finds himself standing in a middle ground, which is unusual enough for him to take a few seconds to decide how to approach this. Normally, if he's truly taken by someone, he burns hot, consumed entirely by the need to possess. Otherwise, people aren't worth his attention — at least not enough of it to warrant giving a fight his all. But a feeling that is simultaneously greedily curious and unimpressed? Talk about mixed messages from his own brain. He'd rather be all or nothing.
It's too late to blend back into the fray now that he's surrounded by all this fighting, especially since he's a suspicious sight himself: all these brawling teens, and he's standing in the middle of the action entirely untouched. One even swings in his direction, but upon realizing who he's swinging at, immediately pulls the punch and hurries away.
So Endo clicks his tongue in a chiding manner while he sticks a hand in his pocket, revoking his overinvested stance in favor of being relaxed: Tsk, tsk, tsk. Then, when he's sure he has the guy's attention, he says: ]
I heard there was gonna be a massacre. No one said anything about cheating.
[ His tone is bored, though his eyes are still a little sharp. If nothing else, he has learned that this guy is capable of destruction — it just doesn't seem to come from his own hand. ]
I gotta say, I'm a little disappointed.