Post by Seimenk on Sept 8, 2009 7:17:49 GMT -5
Name: Armaan
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Personality:
Skill Level: Swordsmanship: Beginner
Skill Level: Speed and Agility: Advanced
Skill Level: Hand-to-hand: Intermediate
History/Background:
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Personality:
A carefree, optimistic individualist, Armaan usually does whatever he wants, when he wants to, and looks on the bright side of whatever comes out of it. Part of this comes from his parents he had similar attitudes, and some of it comes from growing up better than most people. He is also brutally honest, and neither hides what he thinks nor expecting others to do so either. As a result, he often seems rude, or tactless. He's no diplomat. However, if one wants a completely honest opinion or assement, Armaan can give one.Appearance:
He appears to have some sense of responsibility, especially in regards to using his special abilities. Upon cusory glance it looks like he cant sit idly by if someone can really benefit from them, or if he he's the only one around that can help. In reality however, he's using his powers for his own entertainment.
He tries not to see these unexpected crises as 'interruptions' to his normal life that must be attended to solely because of some moral obligation, but as 'opportunities' to do something exciting. Most people would be guided by some little voice in the back of their mind telling them to act because it's the right thing to do; for Armaan there is a voice but it says something very different. To those who simply see him in motion he appears to be a man of heroic action Those who come to know him will see beneath the veneer and recognize that heroes have very different motivations.
Armaan is broadminded and very social, often going to clubs or friends parties. He's not a drinker, nor does he use recreational drugs -albeit from his time in Europe he took a liking to nasal tobacco snuff. He likes to keep a clear head, and is always the designated driver. In fact, he's the driver, period. He never rides in anyone else's car or with anyone else if he can help it; both because he trusts his own abilities over anyone else's and the fact that he simply has to drive at any opportunity.
He is very confident, and by nature a risk taker, believing that 'dangerous' is very a relative term.He is also characteristically impatient; for him anything he wants to see or do, he wants right away. He dislikes the entire notion of waiting. One of the things he dislikes most is waiting in line -so much so that he'll leave a line and do anything else, usually taking a drive around the block a few times though, and then return in hopes that the line has gotten shorter in the meantime. Together, these two traits sometimes get him into unnecessary trouble or tight spots that could have been avoided.
On spiritual matters, Armaan was agnostic like his parents for most of his life. Armaan remained so until his full spiritual awakening. After he gained the ability to see and converse with the dead, he gained a greater spirituality, accepting the existence of the soul, of some kind of life after death, and of true evil. He has considered whether the magical item tied to his powers is an Astra (Divine Weapon) normally gifted to celestial warriors, whether the White Faced Soul Eaters are in fact Rakshasa - the reincarnated forms of wicked human beings into spirits that desecrate graves, possess humans, harass priests, and feed on the dead as well as their own.
Fighting Style: Since gaining his powers, Armaan has tried to learn some form of martial art, so as not to rely soley on his powers. Armaan took to studying Vajra-mushti (Sanskrit lit. "Diamond Thunderbolt-Fist") an Indian martial art. Fighters often use a knuckleduster like weapon, and Armaan carries a pair of brass knuckles in his pockets, replacing them with his Vayavastra when using his powers. It incorporates strikes, grabs and the use of pressure points.
The striking aspects of vajra-musti are similar to karate, boxing and some Chinese arts while the grappling aspects are similar to jujutsu, modern vale tudo.
Armaan usually sticks to ranged fire is he believes his enemy is stronger than him or airborne, otherwise he tries to close the distance between them and fight in hand to hand.
Height: 5'4"Origin of Power:
Weight: 135lbs
Eye Color: Light Brown
Hair: Black
Armaan is a small Indian man; he didn't used to be very well built, but started exercising a while ago and attained a toned, though not bulk physique. He has short, messy black hair. He usually keeps it tucked under any number of baseball caps depicting various sponsors, and is so rarely seen without one that only his family and close friends have actually seen the top of his head. If you ask, he'll take it off just to show it's not like he's balding or anything, and then it's right back on again. Albeit, while it doesn't hide a bald spot, there is a 1/4 in scar from his accident*. He has short sideburns, just long enough to frame his ears. He shaves, but always maintains a dark stubble. He has a broad nose, an ethnic feature, and soft brown eyes that connote a friendliness, but also a personal confidence.
He generally wears a polo shirt with jeans, usually with his collar 'popped' or upturned, sometimes even with shirts never made to be worn that way. Of the former, his favorite color is any shade of blue. The latter is often paired with white British Knights, or some other white tennis shoe by virtue of the fact they go with everything. And when needing to be 'formal', he'll wear black ones if can get away with it in the name of being comfortable.
[*See Origin of Powers]
Add. Info
- He takes his alternate name from the Hindu Lord of Winds, Vayu, who shares power with thundergod Indra. He is invisible to mortals, but is said to be blue in color, and holds a flag in two of his four hands. He rides in a shining chariot driven by as many as 49,000 white and purple horses. (If that were a engine, it'd be 180 tons and have power to move a 1500 ton Naval Destroyer; albeit as of '09 new 75 ton superconducting electric motors have been tested that provide the same horsepower. )
-He is Indo-Japanese
- Fluent in Tamil, Japanese, English (Strongly Accented)
- The scar on his head is where unbeknownst to him a sword fragment was completely embedded in his skull; if it still exists there, its undetectable by mundane medical science. It seems to have had a strange reaction with his innate psychic abilities and his racing equipment. It may have, or still may be exposing his brain to foreign reishi particles in the form of spiritual radiation.
- OOC: His name is derived from real drivers Takuma Sato and Armaan Ebrahim, though the character holds no relation to them.
Most of Armaan's abilities are tied to a polished gun metal helmet. The helmet covers the entire head, and the face; the latter of which has a robust faceplate with strong 'cheekbones' and a thick brow. It has no visible nose piece and rectangular slits for eyes. The faceplate from above the jaw and up is capable of lifting as a visor. The helmet itself seems to be unbreakable, but its full limits have never been tested. Putting the helmet causes his clothes to undergo a transformation. He has spiritual connection with the helm, and should he have want of it, can locate it easily. However, because it is the key to his powers, he usually keeps it close by in a messenger bag or the like. He never thought of a special name for it and simply refers to it as 'My Helmet' It grants him several abilities*, but its magic is generally characterized by giving offensive energy attacks and some overall bodily protection. As far as he knows, anyone could wear it, but only he gains any benefit. He thinks now that his powers do not come from within the helmet, but that they reside within him and the helmet is only the key to his powers 'ignition'. He doesn't know if it could be possible to open his powers by force of will alone. After obtaining the helm, Armaan also gained increased physical speed, agility, and endurance which can be further enhanced when using his full power.Special Abilities:
[*See Powers First/Second Stage section]
Armaan obtained the helm at the same time of its creation, in an incident one evening on the Kari Motor Speedway. To this day, he himself does not fully understand exactly how it came to be or what its existence means.
Armaan had always displayed some psychic abilities as the result of a very weak spiritual awareness, but was never able to see spirits. Unbeknownst to Armaan or any of the spectators, there was a fierce battle in the skies above the track between an unseen Shinigami and a huge hollow. During the fight, a small coin sized piece was chipped from the Shinigami's zanpakuto, landing in the middle of the track. Armaan sensed something was going to happen, but he couldn't figure what. Since the last lap, his danger sense was going crazy. As the driver in front of Armaan rode over it, their tire picked up the invisible shard and threw it. Before it could dissolve into reishi, it passed through Armaan's windshield, and even his helmet, burying itself completely in his skull. Suddenly having a seizure and losing control of his car, he spun out of control before another car collided with him, sending him flying end over end in no less than six rotations before hitting the track. His team mates, friends, and family could only watch as his car disintegrated into a 140mph rolling fireball. Whats more, Armaan was ejected from the vehicle and thrown...but when he hit the track rolling, they noticed he wasn't wearing the same suit or a helmet that was approved at all. In fact, it didn't even look like any helmet they had ever seen before!
Coming to his senses, Armaan was surprised that he was alive, even more surprised that he wasn't hurt all that bad, and that he was wearing clothes he couldn't remember putting on. Standing up and seeing the other drivers car in better shape than his, he ran to help him. Armaan thought the wreck was a little ways away, but he seemed to get there much faster than he thought. Before he could even try to reach into the vehicle, Armaan suddenly found the driver beside him.He started to ask the man how he got out, but then the both of them became transfixed by the body the wreck. The man was dead! Armaan suddenly wondered whether he had survived the crash at all, but not for long, as what was falling from the sky caught his attention. A huge bird like creature fell from the sky in the middle of the stands, crushing the bleachers and some of the protective wall around the track. Missing a wing, it thrashed about until it was able to stand. Screeching, red orbs of light from its mouth, blowing large holes in the ground. Running literally like the wind, Armaan evaded them, not wanting to find out what they might do to him whether he was really dead or alive. Fearing an earthquake, the spectators and everyone else began to flee as quickly as possible.
Descending from the sky, a flying man in black attacked the creature with a sword, as the creature tried to snatch him in his beak. Armaan didn't see what happened as both the man and the giant bird disappeared into motes of light. Removing his helmet as he tried to make sense of all that had happened in the last three minutes, he was surprised when the strange clothing mysteriously disappeared. Examining the helmet he realized it too was different, not the helmet he had been wearing a second ago, but it still wasn't the helmet he had been wearing when he got in his car.
Professional Driver - Going to professional driving school, spending years behind the wheel on the track in several motor sports, and off as a stunt driver, has given him the ability to maintain control of a vehicle in all weather, under hazardous conditions, and at extremely high speeds.Powers First Stage:
Mechanical Knowledge- Working in his father's auto shop he gained an intimate of auto mechanics, and from his mother gained a general knowledge of mechanics from her engineering background.
--
Kinetica (Enhanced Speed & Agility)- He can pace himself and comfortably maintain a 'jog', or tactical hustle of 25mph without exerting himself,as fast as the average sprinter although only for 30 minutes at a time and can achieve run speeds up to 70mph although only for minute or so. His speed and acceleration are nowhere near as fast as Shunpo, Sonido, or Hirenkyaku, however. He is extremely agile, able walk and even run on narrow ledges, railings, and even power lines without losing his balance. As a result, he can manuever though an urban enviroment with a kind of parkour. He has a standing jump height of 10ft, 15ft if crouching.
[ Note To Reviewer: Do forgive me and let me know if the latter speed should go under Powers First Stage; I compare it to Chads apparent super strength in normal form before using his First (Red/black) or Second (White) arms which I see as separate stages.]
Powers Second Stage:
Description: Donning his helmet, his clothing metamorphosis into what looks like a black, one piece leather racing suit, albeit it appears noticeably thinner and is skintight. It is complete with boots and gloves. It has no seams or zippers, and is bonded in some fashion with the helmet at the neck, as well as with the boots and gloves, completely enclosing him from the environment, and yet still allowing him to breath as long as there is air. It has four angled blue stripes on each leg, that slant upwards as they go towards the outside, and similar stripes on each arm. Together with the helmet, this outfit is known as Kavacha.
Kavacha (Armor) MK I- His costume provides some heat resistance; rather than continue to burn after being exposed to flame it will self extinguish, provided that it is not covered in flamable substances. It is tougher than mundane leather, and will resist cutting and tearing due to extreme friction, shrapnel, or cutting implements, albeit it is not impregnable and wears down over time revealing his bare skin. It has demonstrated the ability to stop small arms fire, though rounds will still bruise badly or break ribs.
Vayavastra (Vayu's Divine Weapon)- Channeling his reishi into his hands, the surfaces of his hands become enveloped in an aura that is hardened and very sharp. This reishi appears colorless, but is visible because of the visual distortion it causes likened to the air around something heated. Closing a fist he can shoot blade-like projectiles or what he calls 'razors' formed from this aura, about as long and as wide as his hands. He can fire them at a 'semi-automatic' speed, and alternates between hands if necessary to lay down continuous fire. He does not tire except for long streams (8-12) seconds) of fire after which he must pause for about the same amount of time, or after a particularly long fight. After cutting into things, they disappear almost immediately. When fired they make a very loud fizzling sound comparable to some fireworks.
Rather than shoot, he can maintain the aura and chop through most mundane materials using the sides of his hands, and parry mundane knives or swords, as well as Zanpakuto or magical arms provided the enemy's spiritual pressure is within (1) step (levels) of his own.* The wavering aura attempts to 'shave' material from whatever surface his fists or hands contact. Simply holding the aura does not tire him, although actually fighting for long enough will. While held, or charged, the aura gives an electric hum.
[*Fights between people of the same tier within 1 step of one another tend to be close fights, and so seems reasonable that he would be able to parry others close to his level, perhaps with difficulty)
Description:Skill Level: Special Items: Advanced
Building up multicolored aura of reishi, it solidifies preparing any current damages to his costume and adding additional layers. He gains a stiff, hardened dark blue vest that seems to have solid plates in between the layers of its material. The vest has four chrome tubes that start from the back at the spine with vent or exhaust like openings, and wrap around ending at the closure in the front. On top of this he gains an open blue jacket, slightly shorter than waist length, with a high stiff collar that frames the helmet. It has solid plates inserted between the material at the shoulders and the elbows. There are air current designs made up of three light blue lines bent into an angular spiral on each cuff and both sides of the collar. There is a similar design of three streams (each of 3 lines) come from over the shoulder, and interior edge, and bottom of the jacket, that meet under the arm on the jackets right side. A verticle section of the back of the jacket is removed, exposing the four spinal 'exhaust' openings. A short black cape like strip of fabric, of about knee length, is attached to the back of the jacket just beneath each shoulder. The tips of the gloves extend and harden into short claws or nails, which are effective weapons in and of themselves, though they cannot parry against Zanpakuto or magical arms with without Vayavastra.
The helmet conforms more to the face, appearing more organic, gaining a defined nose and slightly more defined mouth with lips. The top of the helmet expands into a bulky, roughly "{v}" shaped mass that sits atop the head, and is indeed larger in volume than the head. It is not one piece but, but appears to be composed of numerous angular plates fused together. Two bent black stream designs sweep down either side of the head piece, and down the forehead. Two also accompany either side of the face plate and the chin. The eye openings glow steady with multicolored reishi. When the wearer speaks, their voice gains a metallic almost synthesized quality and the mouth opening flickers with the same light.
In this form his reishi is translucent as before and wavers or shimmers like heated air. However, it rapidly changes colors between hues of green, yellow, and red, but is always mixed with some amount of white. This is visible in the projectiles he fires, his auras, the eyes of his helmet, and the mouth of his helmet when speaking.
Accelera - Using this speed enhancement technique, he can accelerate from 0 to 68 mph in just 3 seconds, as fast as the cheeta, which is faster than most performance supercars. In comparison, the average consumer model cars can reach 60mph in just under 9 seconds. Unlike the animal which is limited to short burts over distances up to 1500ft, he can comfortably maintain a speed of 60mph without exerting himself for up to 30min, but if pressed, can reach top speeds of 180mph though only for just under a minute or so.
This speed still pales in comparison to the supernatural Shunpo, Sonido, and Hirenkyaku. These latter three techniques allow high speed movement that not only surpasses his, but are performed with nigh instantaneous acceleration to max speed in extremely short distances, as well as instantaneous full stop. To stop quickly or abruptly he goes into a slide for some distance, often crouching and putting a hand on the ground to slow himself further screeching to a halt.
Whereas the other movement techniques are relatively silent, Accelera produces a sound likened to the roar of an decelerating engine; this sound is also a Shepard tone, giving the auditory illusion of a sound continuously decreasing in pitch without actually getting any lower*. One is also highly visible, as one leaves a misty trail or 'exhaust' of glowing reishi in ones wake.
Accelera is also only useful when running on a surface, as humans cant stand on air; albeit if a high enough speed is maintained one can run on or up walls, clear large gaps between buildings, and even run on water.
[i.e. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfJa3IC1txI ]
Kavacha MK II- This enhanced version of the MK I is completely impervious to damage from small arms fire, though bullets in very large volumes may slow or even knock down the wearer . Bladed or other melee weapons weilded by those with no spiritual pressure are utterly useless against it. It is able to lessen impact damage from collision with objects at high speeds, though even if by chance there were no damage, the shock of impact will still likely stun.
Vajrayudha ( Diamond Thunderbolt)- Gathering reishi, an aura envelopes one hand and forearm. Slashing, he is able to fire reishi from each finger that merges into a single fast moving projectile that resembles a spinning blade 3ft in diameter. It takes approx. 6 seconds the gather the necessary energy, but one needn't fire it right away. It can be held for the duration of (2) full posts or 60 seconds, and while doing so used to parry as with Vajrayudha (albeit with more coverage than just the hand), but not to inflict damage. The technique is his most intensive and most powerful; he may only perform it (3) times per day, after first he suffers no ill effect, but after the 2nd and 3rd he loses his Accelera and Vajrayudha abilities respectively, as he can no longer maintain the energy output to perform them. He retains his other abilities however.
.
Skill Level: Swordsmanship: Beginner
Skill Level: Speed and Agility: Advanced
Skill Level: Hand-to-hand: Intermediate
History/Background:
Armaan is the only son of a Japanese driver Shiro, and a female Indian mechanical engineer. His father competed in races in Japan, Australia, and all across Europe and Asia. However he found his love, Bipasha, in India. Japan and India are two countries in which many hold strong traditional values; ordinarily a Japanese family would want to see their son marry a good Japanese woman, and an Indian one wouldn't want their daughter to marry foreigner. However, Shiro was always very loose and detached from his parents, and his career while decently successful, never fit with the life they had tried to plan out for him. Shiro's parents tried to be happy, but in some ways they were disappointed in him. Bipasha has always been by nature an outspoken and strong willed individual Not content to be a housewife like her mother, she studied hard and was able to earn a full scholarship to put herself through college. Shortly after his parents married, his father retired from the track and opened a large business that sold aftermarket parts, and did custom work.RP Sample:
Armaan grew up in Coimbatore, the second largest city in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Motor sports plays a large part in the city of Coimbatore, often referred to as the "Motor sports Capital of India". The city has a Formula 3 Category circuit, as well as three Go-Kart circuits. National Champion races for Formula racing, Motorcycle racing, and Go-Kart racing are held in Kari Motor Speedway. Rallying is another major event, conducted in closed roads around Coimbatore districts, with all teams based in the city.
As a child, his father often took him to races, and indoctrinated him into motorsport culture. He subscribed to magazines, traded cards with statistics, and collected a few thundered matchbox cars. This wasn't unique, nor result of his fathers past career, but typical of boys growing up there. His father, Shiro, never pushed him into anything, like his own parents had. Shiro didn't expect him to run his business if he didn't want to, though he didn't think twice about offering him a job when he needed one; nor did Shiro expect him to follow in his footsteps and try to be what he had. Nonetheless, Armaan loved racing culture enough on his own to take up motorsports. He began karting at the age of 12, and through highschool competed in numerous junior competitions. When he wasn't racing or practicing, he spent his time riding his motorcycle through the back alleys of Coimbatore.
Though he only won a handful of competitions, he consistently placed well. Part of it was probably from early experience, as his father (without his mother's knowledge) gave into his desire to learn to drive, and taught him in his shops parking lot at the age of 10. Part of it was probably a certain amount of natural reflexes. But another part of it was something else. Armaan displayed an almost sixth sense, or heightened awareness of his surroundings. It was as though when he had made a mistake or someone else had and was about to and create a potentially dangerous situation, something let him know to be wary, enabling him to spot it faster and make a correction. This sense even extended to life off the track, allowing him to narrowly evade the collapse of a shelf in his fathers shop and ready himself when a passing stranger attempted to rob him and his girlfriend at knifepoint even before the weapon was drawn.
After graduating from highschool, Armaan went on to professional driving school. After graduating he competed in Formula 1, Formula 3 and Rallying in India, and to an extent parts of Europe and the United Kingdom. During the off season, he maintained a job as a stunt driver for commercials, television, and a few times in small films. To some, his life would have seemed special or extraordinary, but for him it was prosaic though highly enjoyable. Everything made sense, until his accident.*
[*See Origin of Powers]
After that, it seemed his entire world was upside down. He could see and converse with dead people, there were occasionally white faced monsters skulking about at night or even broad daylight that were invisible, and flying men and sometimes women in black. Always overhead, in the months that followed he was never able to 'catch' one of the people one on the ground and could not bear to call out to the heavens in public to try to garner their attention. He had heard about something called the Flying Humanoid Phenomenon**, that people all around the world and especially Mexico had seen humanoid forms in the sky 'standing on air' or flying in a standing position. Sometimes these were blamed on balloons or other things, but other times they were unexplained and 'believers' said they were aliens, or rare creatures, or beings from other dimensions particularly, or especially among Mexicans, witches or something supernatural.
[** This is a 'real' thing in cryptozoology and ufology]
However, unlike all of these reported cases, these flying people could not be filmed or photographed. Armaan tried several times, but it proved useless. Only he could see them. But something struck him about their appearance. While they seemed to be human and off all race, were black, white, brown, red or yellow, in his closest encounter he could see that their robes were distinctly asian, specifically Japanese. He recognized the style, and his father was Japanese. He questioned him casually about such things, pretending to be interested in mythology, and read several books, but was unable to find an answer. The dead people he talked to didn't know what the monsters were either, only that they wanted to eat them. The black robed figures would seemingly kill whatever the monsters were. The dead would sometimes linger for months, but they would always disappear eventually and suddenly. Armaan wondered if the mysterious 'Black Robed Ones' had something to do with it, or if the spirits passed on their own. Whatever they were, they didn't seem to be malevolent.
He knew he couldn't be crazy, because he had the strange helmet from the crash, it was a very real thing. He tried searching for anything like it on the Internet or any brand markings, but it seemed to be completely custom. Then there were the things it could do, how wearing it changed his clothes, and the super human powers it gave. Immediately after the incident he explained it away, saying that it was something he'd had specially made and switched into. After that he avoided bringing it up, and kept it hidden under his bed wrapped in a blanket. But looked at it several times a day, feeling it to make sure it was real, uncertain whether one day it would suddenly disappear. He tried using it several times late at night in the back alleys he used to ride his motorcycle in, 'test driving' it so to speak. He didn't dare tell anyone about it, for fear the might think he was using black magic, or the government might think it was alien technology and take it away, hoping to use it for something terrible.
During the day, he was officially retired from Formula racing, as many drivers did when they reached or neared their 30's. They often opted for a less intensive or demanding motorsport, like Touring. In the months after the incident he sat on the idea. But at night...he took up the job, or seeing as he wasn't paid, the 'hobby' of being a masked adventurer. What exactly does that entail? Not content to search at random, he bought a radio and began listening in on police and emergency radio bands. In the beginning he just listened in for accidents and raced to the scene, getting there well before the ambulances did and carried people to hospital. A little bit later he intervened when a man threatened his workplace, confident he was too fast for anyone to shoot him anyway. When he actually tried to disarm him though, he proved to be a bit stronger and managed to shoot Armaan anyway. Rather than penetrate, the two point blank one to the shoulder and one to the face, bruised him terribly and gave him a concussion off respectively. Armaan managed to pass of the injuries a 'accident' playing an impromptu game of ***football with some friends, saying that he was running and had fallen on a rock 'or something'. For a while local papers, mostly tabloids, ran stories on a bizarre 'robot man' they thought had escaped from a government lab or come from space. He didn't appear in any major papers until after the shooting incident, after which he decided he was drawing to much attention and decided to quit.
[***Soccer]
But why did he do these things? For one thing, it wasn't everyday someone actually got 'powers', he didn't know whether to call them 'super' or 'magical'. If you got them, you had to do something with them right? Part of it was because he enjoyed them. Armaan loved the thrill, the speed, the energy of driving, but now that was all his without any engine in between him and the road.In his mind if he was going to enjoy himself, he might as well do something for other people to. He realized, that as a driver, he was also an entertainer in a way. But he couldn't let anyone know he had these powers. Furthermore, if anyone ever knew you had them and that you only used them for your amusement or recreation, wouldn't they say you were doing the wrong thing or were wasting it?
At the same time, he had to ask -where did the powers come from? Aliens trying to help mankind? Or more likely gods, seeing as he was able to see dead people afterwards? Something else? He wasn't really sure his gaining them was an accident, and yet playing a superhero and saving people or fighting crime all the time didn't seem the right way to use them - as it drew enough attention to risk losing His Helmet to people he knew shouldn't have it and undermined the jobs of normal authorities and services. From then onwards, he decided only intervene if he was certain there was no way normal people could help each other, or they danger was so great, or the incident so big that they really needed intervention. Instead, he decided he would take up duty of helping those no one even knew about, the departed. Inhumanly fleet of foot, he tried to help spirits escaped the white faced Soul Eaters, and through doing so even discovered that he could shoot them with a kind of energy. In a particularly tough battle, focusing, he found he could change into another form with a different helmet and different clothes. This was the same form he had assumed the first time immediately after his accident.
When the next racing season rolled around, he decided to move to his father's country of origin, Japan. He used the excuse of opening a driving school and wanting to know his fathers side of the family better, but really he wanted to spend as much time there as possible, thinking the Black Robed Ones ought presence there than anywhere else with their Japanese style. His fathers parents and most of his fathers relatives lived in neighborhood in the Tokyo metropolitan area called Karakura-chou, where he recently settled.
"...But I mean, should I replace that sensor?", his grandfathers voice crackled over the phone, "I dont really know that its accurate, the engine temperature never went over 200 degrees."
"Yeah grandad, but consider ya had three fluid leeks, none of 'em hose leaks. They went unrepaired, and ya ran that thing at such low fluid pressure for the longest time.", he explained ," For that sensor ta be accurate, it has ta be submerged in liquid, but ya probably had it surrounded by-"
"-Air, right?", he answered, reaching the same conclusion.
"Yeah, thats what I mean. Ya probably noticed in between replacing your fluids the temperature kept rising and then it just sorta stopped -thats when it was surrounded by more air than fluid.", he elaborated, leaning back in the leather chair in his home office.
Well, it was going to be his home office, or a study, or something to that effect. Right now it was bare save the desk, the phone, and the chair; the walls should've been covered in posters, awards, photo's and so many other things. But there were only nude white walls, relflecting the light of the pale blue dawn. All of those things were still packed away in so many boxes in his living room. He yawned, as it was early, he wouldn't have even been up this early if he were back home. But he had just moved the evening before, and was planning to take care of some things today. He ate another spoonful of cereal, what most people would call 'kids stuff', sugar saturated and filled with all kinds of artificial colors and flavorings. He didn't have a kitchen table yet, and so he was content to eat on his desk, not bothered by a little spilled milk on particle board. He had intended to call his grandparents the next day, having talked to them all of about five minutes late the evening before, but apparently his grandfather had decided to call him instead. The conversation had started with the usual, lite conversation, but at some point his grandfather brought up some issues he'd been having. Armaan didn't know his grandfather well, and wasn't sure whether this had been the real reason behind his call, or whether his simply mentioned them because he knew he was good with this kind of thing by virtue of his profession. Whichever the case, Armaan simply couldn't leave these kinds of questions without answers.
"Ya know, if ya run an engine with low coolant long enough, ya can actually get reads below normal. Now that you've taken care of all the leaks, ya should be alright. That take care of everything?", he asked, feeling more awake and wanting to get a move on.
"You know, you probably saved me an arm, not having to pay some bozos to look at it and would'a asked me to replace it anyway, and a leg in gas money driving over there.", his grandfather said, laughing a little.
"Naw, naw, its nothing like that!", Armaan professed, "Ya could've asked anyone grandad, really-"
"-You remind me of your father, you know that? He was always helping me figure out things like this. I wish...", he sighed, taking a moment to get started again. "I wish he would come back over here some time. I used to think, think that he was making a mistake running off all over the world like he did, but now I see exactly what he was doing. He did the right thing.", he admitted. "I'm sure he has a wonderful wife, because he had a wonderful son like you -like he was for me. Looking at what he did, what you did, I can say that both of you have lived a lot more than I have, more than a lot of people-"
"-Well...", he stated to explain, " Well it's not like everyone can-"
"-I should've been more happy for him...", he interjected. "That's all I really want to say. I'm sorry, that because of my ignorance I didn't show interest my son's life, my son's wife, or...my grandson. I'm sorry that at the age of 27 I'm only getting to know you now, unwilling to visit your father, and having pushed him away so as to take all reason for him to visit me anymore...", he apologized.
"..." He was silent. He didn't know what to say, he hadn't seen anything like this coming. He felt rather awkward, not just because this was one 'turn' even a pro like him wasn't ready for, but because he felt for the first time in his life, he wasn't being entirely honest. In truth, Armaan had only come to Japan to try to learn more about his strange abilities, and the mysterious Black Robed ones who seemed to have come right out of a history museum or a martial arts movie. His father never rarely brought up his grandfather, except to make a point of 'Dont let anyone make you, make yourself' and why people were generally happier doing what they liked, rather than giving into some constructed identity, some mask made for them.
"Armaan?", he called, uncertain whether he had hung up.
"...I'm still here.", he answered, quietly.
"..."
" Yeah, yeah I'll tell him.", he promised.
"Thank you, kindly."
"Yeah....well, I gotta go, ya know it bein' this early in the morning 'n all. Just gettin' settled in the new place, 'n started lookin' to put this stuff together, buy this other place, start a li'l business really. But, if that dont work out, I can always get a job at professional drivin' school rather 'n' start my own, or start drivin' again -different style though. I'll just have ta see really..."
"Well, dont let me keep you...", he told him. "And remember you can come by anytime."
"I'll be over in a few days, probably. I'll ...talk to ya soon. I love you, grandad."
"I love you too."
