At this point, the individual who had previously called himself Shikake certainly did figure that Russel would have honestly known why it was that he had shown up here and ended up sitting next to Rebecca.<br/><br/>Nevertheless, for the time being, he didn't actually say anything about it at all.<br/><br/>"I appreciate it, I prefer it straight if that's alright. No sugar, no lemon." He nodded, apparently liking a particularly strong hot cup of jasmine tea.<br/><br/>Once she had apparently gotten riled from the mention of the Waterfront in spite of the old man's warning, Shikake smirked a bit and gently leaned his head back.<br/><br/>"I would have assumed, honestly, that someone who spends as much time in the pits as you do would actually have known how to get the crowd far more riled up than I ever would."<br/><br/>If she was going to drink, then that was her own business. He wasn't going to stop her, but he trusted that few people made genuinely better fights when they were buzzed. One could wait until they had poorer judgment and allow them to hang from a rope that they themselves lay, as the saying might have gone.<br/><br/>"If I were hiding from something, then why would I have selected an alias that was so notable and obvious?"<br/><br/>Honestly it had seemed as though he didn't mind exchanging the verbal barbs at all either. Maybe she was right about him possibly even enjoying a little poking and prodding.<br/><br/>"If someone as famous, or should I say infamous, as you were willing to fight me...I would consider that to be quite an honor for sure." He smiled a bit and leaned back in a seemingly serene fashion.<br/><br/>For someone who was proposing to create quite a disturbance as well as get admitted into an underground organization at the end of the night if he played his cards the right way, it didn't seem like he was entirely too excitable.<br/><br/>The one thing that had surprised him was the fact that she hadn't connected him with the alleged Machine Warrior that had been mentioned, especially considering his name, but he figured that in spite of how bold he was acting that it was possibly for the best. Perhaps more notably, he figured that it might have been for the best that whoever this Akihiro fellow was interrupted her train of thought.<br/><br/>"As I said, once I finish my tea I would be honored to join you, if you would have me."<br/><br/>With a gentle exhalation, he turned around again, apparently waiting for the aforementioned hot drink. It was perhaps ironic that someone who seemed like such a traditional-like individual would have even cared for something like this, but honestly the thought of the fights got his blood boiling to every degree that she had. The sound of it was exciting to say the very least.<br/><br/>Exhaling a second time, he smiled, "You are an American if I am not mistaken; is that right? Your Japanese seems well-spoken if you don't mind me saying." Shikake smirked again, seeing fit at this point to compliment her as well as issue the previous statements that might very well have sounded like insults.<br/><br/>They were certainly sharing an interesting dynamic that was for sure, and if he did anything to bother her, well that would be for later.<br/><br/>"Well-spoken and a rocker in the pits, eh?" He smirked, "Not something that I get to see a whole lot." That seemed to suggest that this wasn't going to be his first barbecue so to speak. He was pretty much ready for whatever it was that would happen.