Character Name: Kintsu Raek

Age: 24

Race: appears to be Human

Gender: male

Height: 5'-10"

Build: athletic - lean with obvious muscle tone but not bulky

General Appearance: Black, unkempt and rather shaggy hair that is on the shorter side; warm brown eyes that are often hidden under his hair; worn tunic and leather pants, both having seen better days but still well mended and cared for as are the soft leather moccasin style shoes he wears; carries a canvas rucksack over one shoulder containing his worldly possessions. His hands are callused and he has many scars all over his body though most are small and insignificant. At first glance he looks rather unremarkable though the tips of his ears appear to have a small point to them.

Personality: Tends to keep to himself but is generally easy going though he has a sharp tongue when irked. Extremely confident in his abilities though anyone besting him tends to set off his competitive streak and he can be quite stubborn about things he considers important such as pride, honour and loyalty. Typically it is difficult to get him really angry as he claims it takes far too much effort but the truth is that his anger can be devastating when he loses control of his temper so he keeps it under a tight rein. Also has a quirk that any magic used around him causes him to laugh as the energy apparently 'tickles' though he is trying hard to control that. He has an inquisitive nature and more often than not his curiosity gets him into trouble time and time again. Likes the ladies but is careful not to get into any serious 'romantic entanglements' that could hamper his wanderer lifestyle.

History: His mother was killed by a mob for being a witch when he was very young and his father died not long after from an illness as they were forced to flee the village where they had lived. The death of his mother troubles him still but he tries not to dwell on that or the fact that he has been on his own for a long time despite all the people he has encountered. He has a restless soul and has wandered all over, working on farms to earn money, studying at any fighting school that would have him and even spent a season at a monastery so he could learn the basics of reading and writing. Up until now he had avoided the city as he did not feel comfortable in a place with so many people and buildings crowded together but now his curiosity demands that he finally go and check things out, including rumours about the amazing battle schools the city may contain.

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Return to:
- Genesis Gauntlet
- Competitions

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The waiting room was teeming with people of all kinds of folk of different shapes and sizes and colours. There were pamphlets and magazines, a muted television that some people seemed to be paying attention to, but otherwise a usual boring waiting area. A thai woman in her 30s appeared from the corridor leading to the offices and announced with as clear a pronunciation as she could muster: "Keen-choo Rake" and let her eyes wander over the crowd, trying to identify the correct person.

Raek looked up from the corner he had tucked himself to wait, scowling slightly at the blatant mispronunciation of his name but it disappeared just as quickly. It could have been worse he supposed and at least now his wait was over.
He raised his arm briefly, ignoring the glares from those around him who were forced to continue waiting.

"Yo!" he shouted over the din and began moving toward the slight woman, "Excuse me please, coming through. Excuse me. Excuse me. Sorry. Pardon. Hey, watch it! Excuse me. Thanks." He dodged, ducked and squirmed his way through the crowd to where she stood waiting.

"Yeah, that's me," he stated, giving a relieved grin, "I thought I was gonna be waiting there forever."

The woman smiled. "Hello, I'm Mary," she introduced herself quickly and directed Kintsu down the corridor and to a small office. It wasn't cramped, but not particularly cosy either. Drawings by children pinned up on the corkboard were the only objects in the room that were not perfectly common office decor: a desk, a filing cabinet and chairs. Mary sat behind the desk and motioned Kintsu to take a seat opposite her. "Before we start: are you comfortable speaking English? These offices are equipped with spatial translators so that we can communicate with you, but if you need, the government can issue you a personal portable version. It eases the integration as you can imagine."

"Hi," Raek answered simply then followed quietly behind her, ignoring the grumbles of the bored crowd behind him. He hid a grimace at the sight of the smallish room and not for the first time wondered why he had thought coming to the city was such a great idea. He nodded as she indicated the chair on the other side of her desk and inwardly sighed, enjoying the luxury of sitting after standing for so long.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, English is fine," he answered with a shrug, "Its actually my first language though I've had to learn a few in my travels. The technology is great but if I don't need to use it, why bother." He sat back then, taking a look around the office as he did so and smirked slightly at the sight of the drawings.

"I see you enjoy the fine arts though," he remarked, nodding in the direction of the drawings, "Are the artists yours?"

Mary nodded along when Raek spoke about languages. She liked it that the majority language of Krung Thep had become English through the years, it just made life so much easier. She couldn't even imagine back in the pre-Great Event days when everyone spoke Thai - try to teach this lot to speak, let alone write that stuff! Her train of thought was interrupted by Raek's comments on the drawings. She blushed a little and admitted that they were indeed. "Yes, one is three and the other is six. These drawings were presents for my birthday," she explained, then after a small pause continued "speaking of birthdays, would you mind filling this for me," she said pulling out a blank form from the filing cabinet. "It's just for record-keeping purposes, things like name, age on this day, marital status and such." She placed a pen on top of the paper and pushed it towards Raek across the table.

Raek nodded at that, his eyes still fixed on the drawings for a moment and misted a little with memory. A fuzzy image came to mind of himself as a small child offering a handful of wildflowers he had picked himself for his mother's birthday. The features of her face had escaped him over time but he could still see her smile that day and he blinked, finding his eyes were damp.

"I'm sure you're quite proud of them," he murmured then grinned, snapping back to the present, "Sure. Doesn't matter where I go there's always paper work and red tape to deal with." He leaned forward and took the pen in hand.

"Let's see...," he muttered, quickly jotting down his name, "I suppose this has to be as accurate as possible huh?" He smirked slightly at that, thinking that the Great Event meant that he no longer had to hide such things about himself.

"Marital status: single, age...," he frowned a moment and glanced up at her, "What is today's date anyways?" He looked about for a calendar or something along such lines in the tidy office.

Mary noticed that something was going on in Raek's head or heart. She felt bad: she had been trained to read people - body language and expressions - and to be sensitive to clues about changes in people's moods - but now she felt like she was invading on Raek's privacy. She tried to ignore it and pretend like she hadn't noticed, but pretending always made her awkward.

"The date, is uhh," Mary started to point towards the calendar she used to have hanging on the wall but which wasn't there anymore - she hadn't got round to buying a new one for this year - and then awkwardly turned to check it on her computer, before remembering that the date in the computer hadn't been set right either, and in the awkwardness of the moment she didn't realise that she knew the date without having to check. She felt dumb, but then said "it's January 17th today."

"Have you been traveling a long time before coming here, or did you come straight from home?" Mary asked, making conversation, but also opening a file on the computer for recording informations from Raek's interview.

"Right, thanks," Rake jotted down his age, shaking his head at her question, "No, I've been travelling around for a while now. I lost my folks when I was pretty young and didn't want to burden the people who took me in. They had taught me how to live off the land and I was curious about the world. Seemed like a good idea at the time." He finished filling out the form and laid the pen down before sliding it across the desk towards her.

"There, all done with that," he said, straightening in his seat, "So what else do you need to know?"

Mary wanted to ask further about his family and she was disappointed about the change of topic. She took the paper with a nod, and moved on. "Well, we'd like to know a little about your plans - so that we can figure out if there is anything we can do to help you. So, do you want to work or study here in Krung Thep, or is this more like a visit to someone?"

"Nah, as far as I know I don't have any surviving family left and I don't know anyone in this country let alone here that I'm aware of but cities are funny things. You never know who you'll run into," Rake replied honestly, "I'd actually like to do both work and study. That's how I earn my keep in a place since I don't like having a lot of money on me." He turned his hands palms up then to reveal hard, callused and scarred skin.

"See, I'm not one to be afraid of a bit of hard work especially in exchange for a bed and a warm meal," he continued, turning his hands over to reveal more scars, "Great way to learn things too. I'm a jack of all trades and master of none." He grinned at that briefly then became serious once more.

"Though to be honest, I heard rumours that there were schools here that taught different kinds of martial arts," Raek continued, "The disciplines and ideals of martial arts reveal a lot about the culture it originated from. Not to mention so much of our history is centred around battles and wars, you can learn a range of different things from well, history to mythology to spiritualism." A small smile seemed to play on his lips, his eyes growing distant for a moment.

"Sometimes there isn't anything more liberating than a good fight," he murmured dreamily, "A feat of strength and wills between two warriors where pride, honour or even life itself is at stake. Everything disappears in that moment but your opponent and your goal of victory."

Mary listened quietly, nodded along and made small noises like "uh-huh" and typed a few things in the computer as Raek spoke. But when he got to the part about a good fight, she stopped and just stared at him with her mouth a little open. He'd totally lost her.

"So uhh, yeah that's good," Mary said, composing herself. "We can help you get some info on schools as well as get you in touch with the employment services, so that you can start applying for work you think will be interesting. I hope it'll work out," she continued and typed for a little while in silence. "What about accommodation? Should we get you a place in the governmental hosting site?"

Raek flushed at her comment, remembering where he was.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that this country is known for its pacifism. Sorry about that," he said as he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, "That sounds great. I'll probably need a job before I can start researching the schools though." He blushed again at her questions about housing.

"I haven't been in town that long so I haven't really looked for a place," he admitted, "Some city official told me I had to come here first and wouldn't even let me get a paper to check the classifieds." He scowled briefly at that.

"If I could get a spot in the governmental hosting site, even if its temporary, I would greatly appreciate that," the young man answered, "I gotta admit though, I'm a bit out of my element here in the city. I guess its about time I learned about this part of the world too huh?" He glanced at her and gave a sly grin.

"That was a rhetorical question by the way," he stated, dark eyes dancing, "I'm pretty sure I know the answer anyways."

Mary smiled and tried to meet him half-way on the fight-thing. "Well, like you said a lot of our history is tied to the martial arts, there is deep philosophy behind it. So it is certainly worth studying. And we'll get you a spot in the accommodation, people usually only stay for a short while in those. Not that there's anything wrong with them," she hastened to add, though she had actually never been to one, only seen pictures in the brochures of the vacant, clean ones.

"You have actually arrived at a pretty good time, what with the bicentennial celebration happening this year. So there are a lot of opportunities going on. New beginnings if one could say so." Mary told Raek. She had a problem, she could tell that she hadn't got to the heart of everything with him, but she was at a loss as to what to ask. Or rather, how to ask it nicely. She decided to play for time, and went on with the standard questions. "So uhh, what kind of training or schooling have you had?"

"Believe it or not, its more the philosophy and discipline than the actual fighting that interests me," Raek responded, his eyes lighting up, "The people who took me in after my parents died were Native American. They have a very rich spiritual life based on the belief that all life is tied together. I think Bhuddism is similar in that but I really don't know that much about it, another reason I came here." He blinked as she explained about the housing units and actually laughed at her hurried explanation.

"Hey, as long as there's four walls, a roof and a floor, I'm good," he told her, "I've had to spend a lot of nights roughing it so just about anything is luxurious in comparison." He paused a moment, thinking hard.

"Let's see, I haven't really had a lot of formal education I guess," the young man admitted then, "I've learned hunting, trapping as well as how to prepare catches for eating and how to tan hides; I spent some time in Europe and China where I learned how to prepare traditional medicines; I apprenticed in acupuncture but never finished though the Shaolin monk who taught me said I showed promise; I lived in Japan for a while too and studied bushido, calligraphy as well as learned to prepare sushi; I went back to the States after that where I worked in a field hospital but I'm sure not a doctor." He hesitated again, sifting through his memories once more.

"I think that's about all worth mentioning other than maybe some basic skills in carpentry, plumbing and masonry," he concluded with a grin, "I did mention I'm a jack of all trades. As for martial arts, I've trained in okichitaw, boxing, kendo, aikido, jujitsu, several different styles of kung fu, iron shirt, zui quan, thang-ta, a few different styles of wrestling, and fencing. I'm no master by any means in any of them though." He tilted his head to one side, giving her a thoughtful look.

"A new beginning huh?" Raek murmured, eyes becoming distant once more, "You know, I've been wandering around the world looking for just that. With all the countless years searching for it, you'd think I'd have found it by now." He shrugged listlessly at his own remark.

At first Mary attempted to type the information Raek shared, but soon gave up as the list kept growing. She hesitated a little, then summed it up with the main points about hand skills and other craftiness. Then she pondered for a minute, before asking, rather directly, "so uhh, can you read and write?"

Raek blinked in surprise at her sudden question then nodded.

"Yeah, I can read and write most of the languages I know though English and Japanese are the only two I'm completely fluent in speaking, reading and writing." he told her, "I have to war you though that other than the Japanese calligraphy, my hand writing is pretty atrocious."

Mary felt a little awkward for having asked, and explained: "Sorry, I just needed to make sure. One last question, how is your health? Is there any recurring illnesses, anything that runs in the family, anything at all that you would need help with?"

"Nope, I'm fit as a fiddle," Raek answered confidently, "In fact, I don't think I've ever been seriously ill in my life. My father died from tuberculosis when I was really little and more than a few of my adoptive family succumbed to small pox but that's all I can think of. Though I guess I don't have to worry about the medical history of my adoptive parents do I?" He gave a hoarse chuckle at that though it was a bit strained.

"I don't know much about my biological family though," he admitted then, "My mother died of... well, unnatural causes before my father died and I only know what he died from because I remember the nuns at the hospital whispering about consumption." He shrugged at that.

Mary decided not to make note of the tuberculosis or the small pox anywhere, nor to ask any further questions although she was incredibly curious. She realised that Raek was again one of these mysterious strangers that she wasn't able to pin down and describe on paper, and she simply had to go with her gut, even though her gut was telling her that there was something she hadn't figured out about him.

"Well, we're just about done here, if you give me a minute I'll sort out the paper work and bring you your new card," she said, rising from her seat.

"Oh, all right then," Raek answered, watching her get to her feet, "So that's it for the questions and stuff?"