Within a few minutes of the designated meet-up time, Eddie had arrived at the monument. Through the hood of his raincoat, he scanned the area for his anonymous admirer, and wordlessly kicked eyes with Sam. Briefly, he looked the man up and down, and internally recounted the situation that had brought them together. It had been two days since his skirmish with Rose. He’d rented out a small room in Dojoville—a quaint little place with the faded inscription [i]Hallwinter[/i] etched into the door. He’d unpacked what little possessions he had left, hid the money that he’d taken, and went out to replace and improve what he’d lost. Turns out, Tatakai’s weapon market was quite a bit more formidable, as well as more open, than Amoridia’s, and he quickly found what he was looking for. In fact, he was suiting up for another hunt when he’d received the invitation. It was anonymous, with a vague message and an undisclosed recipient, but it spoke volumes. While it merely said for Eddie to meet the benefactor at a café near the Phoenix Monument, the information implied that the anonymous sender was either important or skilled enough to have procured the information about him, and furthermore, took interest in his abilities. If he’d wanted Eddie dead, he’d likely be dead already, so the meeting was likely benign. That didn’t stop Eddie from packing his two staves on his waist, or bolstering his MSR-4 in his waistband. Back in the present, Eddie calmly walked over to the man sitting under the pavilion. His grey raincoat disguised most of his features, including his weapons, but the man could make out keen brown eyes, that didn’t seem to miss much. He stopped just in front of the table, and surprisingly, his cold exterior mostly faded away. “[b]See, I, uh.... I don’t really know how this kinda think works.[/b]” he said, still keeping an air of calm around him as he stuttered. By the sound of his voice, he was in his late teens or early twenty’s, with a slight New Haven accent.

"Edward Tobias, or should I just refer to you as Eddie? Take a seat if you may, I want to have a chat." [i]Samuel had asked the Amoridian with a noticeable yet slightly disturbing smile on his face. His stark blue eyes were unwavering as they watched Eddie like a hawk. He was packing heat as well, not to attempt to harm Eddie of course but for general self defense. A Dueller Prismatic was in it's underarm holster under his greatcoat, loaded with lockdown rounds. The Agents fingers tapped the table as he spoke up.[/i] "It is surprising to see an Amoridian here, nonetheless one that can defend himself from a low level telekinetic, possibly a metalbender. I am curious though, why come to Tatakai?"

“[b]Well, that depends on who’s asking.[/b]” he says as he sits down, regaining composure. “[b]As far as everyone back home knows, I’m just coming to Tatakai for my journalism internship, trying to document what life’s like here, while escaping the... turbulence in Amoridia. But to someone like you... I came here to see the best warriors in the galaxy fight each other, so maybe I could learn a few tricks.[/b]” He made himself comfortable in the seat, and took off his hood, revealing a young, fit face with black hair, that sat fairly long on his head, though gelled. There was a bruise on his cheek from where he hit the ground during his fight with Rose, though the wound was recovering quickly. “[b]I don’t see the sense in lying to you,[/b]” he continued, “since, y’know, you seem to be the capable type, so I’ll just tell you straight up: I’ve been trying to become a, uh, vigilante.” He hesitated. “[b]In hindsight, that sounded a bit less cool than I wanted it to be. When I was a kid my dad taught me a little self-defense, and back in Amoridia, some private-security taught me a few more tricks. The gear was all homemade shit that I cobbled together. I dunno how I survived, much less won, the fight with that TK chick, but I dunno if I’d be able to do any stunt like that again without some luck.[/b]”

[i]He raised an eyebrow at the word 'Vigilante'. His smile had disappeared however, a more neutral look replacing it.[/i] "I am glad you decided not to lie to me. Vigilantism is illegal in New Haven, I am sure you are aware of that though. I do not believe in luck Eddie, if I am to be honest with you. Most people here they just charge at each other senselessly, trying to see who can get the first shot or cut. You would not learn much from just watching them fight, the real answers lie in studying their equipment or thaumaturgical abilities and coming up with a counter, or at least making sure you don't get killed by it. But just for a hypothetical question, let's say Luck does exist. What if I told you I have an offer that'll make sure you don't have to rely on luck in a fight anymore? You seem like a good person, not to mention intelligent and skilled enough to not get killed by rogue people, I'm willing to cut a deal. I will mentor you, teach you some of my wealth of experience and give you top of the line equipment in exchange you work for me. We will remain on Tatakai however, The Dojo has it's uses after all."

Eddie took a moment to contemplate the decision, but something told Sam that he had already made his choice. Though he broke eye contact in order to think, his brown eyes were still laser sharp, and within seconds, he answered. "[b]I'm in.[/b]" It hadn't been much of a choice, really. Here was a clearly competent warrior--perhaps a spy?--who was offering him tutelage. Nobody back home needed to suspect anything. Here, with the man's help, maybe he could make a difference. "[b]When do I start?[/b]"

[i]The smile crept up on Samuel's face once more, now clasping his fingers together.[/i] "We will start in a few days time, you need to recover from that scuffle after all. But we will work on yourself, what you excel at and what you do not. We will start by mastering what you are good at, then cover your bases at what you are not good at." [i]He explained to Eddie, pointing at the bruise.[/i] "My apologies, I did not even give you my name. I am Samuel Weiss, or Sam if you prefer." [spoiler]Sort of didn't know where to go with this lmao[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Yeah no problem. We can timeskip if you'd like.[/spoiler] "[b]No problem. I don't think that I answered you either--call me Eddie, Eddie Tobias. Nice to meet you Sam.[/b]" Eddie extended a hand for the man to shake, while tilting his head slightly to cover the bruise. "[b]But yeah, I'll keep in touch until then.[/b]"

[spoiler]Yeah, time skip would be good.[/spoiler] [i]Samuel took Eddie's hand and shook it.[/i] "There is no need to hide the bruise. Take it with pride. I suppose I shall bid you farewell for now."

[spoiler]I’ll let you describe the area. Let’s just say that he met up at the designated location a few days afterwards. [/spoiler] After a needed session of R&R, Eddie was finally ready to take up Sam’s offer. His new mentor remained cryptic as ever: bring your gear to this location, 10:00 PM. That was the gist of it, anyways. So he suited up, for the first time donning his more lightweight, flexible polymer body armor, alongside a light Kevlar vest. The new mask came with a voice modulator, but still appeared largely haphazard, though necessarily threatening. He ran across rooftops, slunk around dark shadows illuminated by streetlights, and perched himself on unattended balconies as he searched for the location. Stealth was slowly becoming more natural for him, but he had much to learn. It took him only thirty minutes to cross the large distance across Dojoville to the location, where he waited for Sam’s permission to enter.

Eddie had found himself in the mostly abandoned corridors of the Dojo hallways. Most had barely used their rooms which provided his mentor more than enough rooms to store his stuff. Soon enough the door marked [b]S. Weiss[/b] had shown up in his vision, the door opening up for him to enter. It was a marble white room all around, not a speck of dirt was noticeable besides the figure in a matte black exosuit standing in the middle with his arms crossed standing besides a wooden crate on wheels. Silver scales gleamed from his otherwise militaristic suit, they certainly weren't for show. On his left hip resided a ninjatō type blade in it's scabbard, and on his right was a carbon fiber scimitar. If he were to peer closely at the hilt there was a gun trigger near the pommel, speaking of which it was replaced with a barrel. Underneath his armpits were two pistols of different designs. One of which was the Dueller prismatic from before, and the other looked to be a Mateba Revolver. He wore a utility belt of some sort held the blades and what seemed to be an assortment of hunting gear and what you would see on a soldier. Bolas, magazines for the Dueller and quick-loaders for the Mateba Revolver. There were two spherical objects with a simple button on each side of the belt, most likely grenades of some sort. The Exosuit itself was rather imposing, it boosted his height to 6'4. It bore a dragon motif it seemed, claws on each hand, preceded by gauntlets. The helmet was shaped more like a faceless head with tubes leading down to the back from the jaw. Whoever the hell Samuel Weiss was, he seemed to be the type of person who was not joking around. "Good. You've made it here. If you would close the door we may begin." He told Eddie with a distorted voice, it was metallic and deep.

[spoiler]That’s kinda a rough photo of what parts his gear covers and stuff. Similar silhouette, different colors. [/spoiler] Eddie closed the door without breaking eye contact with Sam. It seemed as if his initial hypothesis had been correct: Samuel Weiss was not a man to be trifled with. The armor looked extremely militaristic—Eddie could at least recognized that—but customized to the extent that he would more likely be a wealthy mercenary than a soldier. ‘[i]Shit... My bruises had just recovered,[/i]’ he thought to himself as, with a flourish, he withdrew both of his escrima sticks at once, and got into a ready position; his hands were raised in front of his chest in a neutral position, and his left leg was placed slightly forward, for better balance and reaction time. After all, why else would Samuel be armed for battle if not to test Eddie in melee combat? “[b]So, you wanna make first move?[/b]” he said, his voice modulator making himself sound far more confident than he actually was. Despite himself, he grinned like a madman: the voice modulator actually sounded pretty badass. [spoiler]Imagine that he sounds kinda like Red Hood with the mask on. [/spoiler]

"I will accept this request due to the fact I need to understand how you fight. However I will not be using my tools, seeing how they can severely injure you." Samuel had told Eddie as he unclipped his belt and holsters, placing them on the crate. With a clench of his left fist the temperature had dropped severely around it, ice forming around into a Morningstar shape. "My exosuit is more than enough to take you on." With that statement Samuel had gotten into a more relaxed version of a Muay Thai fighting stance and beckoned Eddie to make the first strike, taking good note of his stance.