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He tread the ground slowly, taking in the area about him as a cigarette lay lit in his mouth, Gunblade tote on his right shoulder with its odd gears and mechanical parts making quiet sounds that seemed to creep throughout the area. The area itself was the equivalent of a desert he could imagine, this area just in the midst of it all. A tall structure lay to the left, his eyes managing to grasp it as he continued onward, finally halting as he came upon a man he had not seen in the longest time. This will be interesting. The cigarette dropped from his mouth, exhaling the smoke as he hoisted his Gunblade up and looked at Varitas, examining him for a moment. "You haven't changed." The words seemed to carry multiple meanings.

"Who doesn't have a few bad habits?" Another slight jab in return sarcasm, ways for them to relate around the conflict that was to come. The blonde knew that Varitas was looking at him with scrutinizing eyes, analytically looking over every part of him to find maybe a probable advantage as the fight would begin. At least that's what I would do. he perused, while doing the same towards his old comrade. The man really had not changed, other than perhaps an even more mature look than what was already there prior to vanishing in the explosion of Winhill. But there was one thing that the warrior instincts in hi could assume. Varitas was tensed just as much as he was, Riyel holding onto his Gunblade tighter to a slight degree before pulling it off of his shoulder, letting the blade point towards the Centran.

As Varitas's words reached the blonde, Riyel merely continued to gaze at the man with that piercing look that his trainees had come to know of their Instructor. A funny thought, considering Riyel was more or less keeping the SeeD alive and growing as they knew it. "It has never been for me to say whether I am or not...but the chore of others to make that judgement." Riyel gripped the blade tighter, holding onto it with both of his hands. The fact that he held the Gunblade with just his one hand was a testament to the fact that he had certainly gotten stronger. "And does anybody truly want to grow up?" It was almost like he was goading Varitas to come challenge him...to start this spar and maybe prove himself to the Centran, a warrior years longer than Riyel had ever thought of. "Careful of this one..." Ifrit's voice whispered within his head, and Riyel's eyes merely narrowed greater as his face hardened, waiting for Varitas to strike.

Watch it. Ifrit commented, Riyel not even showing concern as the whistling came towards him. As soon as Varitas had reached into his pocket, Riyel gripped his Gunblade tightly in response, his eyes staying on Varitas as he threw the weapon. Of course, Riyel stepped to the side, the blade whistling by him and smacking into one of the tall stone pillars that lay behind him, Riyel only watching as the Centran ran towards the safety of the pillars. While his approach here had been rather noise, one would be surprised at how quiet Riyel could be, considering how the Unbroken generally ran operations he was rather adept at staying quieter than most. However, in this case, Riyel knew that chasing after Varitas was foolish. It would be a wild goose chase that left the Unbroken leader at a disadvantage and in such a hurry, some sounds would be given away. So what was he to do?

As soon as Varitas went sprinting behind the cover of pillars, Riyel calmly walked into the shade of one of the pillars, making his visibility less than stellar to those that weren't birds. But it was his luck. THe area itself was quiet, no wind making unnecessary noise. Him standing eliminated his enemy's ability to be alert of an oncoming attack, and the shadow of the pillar held some of Riyel's visibility. Anything thrown would whistle and alert him almost instantly, making the only issue to be moving. Thus, did Riyel wait for Varitas to reveal himself, and hopefully this swordsmans' spar could commence.