As if encountering an unknown species for the first time Claudette looked at the boy with a mixture of bewilderment and curiosity as the boy tried to unsuccessfully weasel his way out of whatever trouble he had gotten himself into. For some reason she wanted to experiment on him and only through considerable mental effort resisted the urge to drop him with her acupuncture needles. Besides, it looked as though Aaron might have gotten them mixed up in something that they really shouldn’t have. From what Claudette understood these so called ‘one-stars’ were no pushovers, even for someone like her brother. As if sensing her thoughts her brother reassuring placed his hand on her shoulder before stepping forward alongside Aaron.

Reynard appreciated what Aaron was trying to do but there was a pretty even chance that he was just going to escalate the situation by openly challenging the authority of these one-star punks. Reynard raised his hands in a placating manner to show that he didn’t mean any offense or trouble. As much as he would have loved to knock these guys down a peg they couldn’t afford trouble so soon after arriving. [colour=dodgerblue]“Sorry, my friend here is a little headstrong. What he meant was you guys don’t have time to be dealing with a little punk like this,”[/colour] he said motioning to Sasaki. 

Without warning he slammed what appeared to be a rib breaking jab into Sasaki’s midsection. The sound was good and there was just enough power to drive the wind from the kids chest. It looked more than convincing. Instinctively Claudette moved in and grasped the boy as if to hold him upright. In truth she had discreetly paralyzed him from the neck down with a well-placed needle to the neck so that he would not spoil the ruse by recovering too quickly from her brothers blow. Reynard turned back toward the one-stars. [colour=dodgerblue]“Let us deal with this guy. He needs to be punished for giving the rest of us a bad name,”[/colour] Reynard said as he reached back and without looking grabbed a handful of Sasaki’s hair, clearly denoting the location of the next strike. 

A few of the one-stars looked a little sceptical but the majority seemed ready enough to go along with the situation since Sasaki was going to get disciplined one way or another. And Reynard was right in that today was going to be pretty hectic for them. Did they really have time to waste on a loser like Sasaki? Especially with preparations for the upcoming announcement.

Assuming that that was the end of it Reynard would ruffle the kids hair and Claudette would remove the acupuncture needle from Sasaki’s neck, giving him back his mobility. In case the ruse failed Claudette had secreted another set of needles from her sleeves, hidden from sight behind Sasaki. Reynard was ready to grab the nearest guy and break his nose with his forehead. They both hoped to avoid confrontation but were ready for it if need be. They just hoped that Aaron would go along with the ploy.