Almeida
Location: On the way to the cafeteria.
Not quite sure what to do next Lavi sat there and simply waved Londo goodbye as he began to walk out of the classroom, looking around herself it seemed the two teenagers were talking amidst themselves as well. And well the two of them… they unnerved her a bit. She didn't know why, but she grew a bit uncomfortable, a reminiscent feeling of someone which she couldn't place. As for the spirit and the man who sat in the back, they creeped Lavi out more so then the same uncomfortable feeling.
So she decided to rather just go to her room. Making her way out of the classroom she began to walk through the hallways absentmindedly, trying to figure out what path she took again. Until she began to hear a groan, a groan from her own stomach, Aaah I am so hungry, I haven't eaten yet since this morning. I… I will go do a detour.
Trying to follow the signs of numbers at this point, she made her way to the cafeteria to calm her stomach.
Location: Somewhere in the hallways.
Now that Almeida had gotten some time to think, after wandering aimlessly through the building for a while, she had calmed down enough to start questioning things. She parked Valerius against a nearby wall to stare out of one of the windows, starting to talk to the spirit short after.
"It doesn't make sense."
"What do you mean?"
"It's too much, too evil, so to say."
"I fail to comprehend."
"Mages are just tools for me to use, welcome to hell, I don't give a shit about them, stuff like that. Even someone that's plain evil wouldn't be that utterly vocal about it, whereas someone cold and rational would just try to defend themselves with numbers and facts."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning he's trying too hard to be evil, I guess."
"I repeating. Meaning?"
"I'm not sure. If he was insane, he'd probably not be the headmaster, or so I hope. Do you think he could be plotting something?"
"I haven't been around for long enough to recognize such behaviour."
"You speak formal enough to suggest you're a few centuries old though."
"Do I?"
"Yeah."
"That's not cool, yo!"
"Please don't ever do that again, and forget I said anything, ever."
"It shall be done."
"Thanks."
"So, what do you desire to do about the headmasters situation?"
"Nothing much, at the moment. If he's insane, others should notice soon enough. If he's always this outspokenly evil, the public will eventually rise up. If he's plotting something, however, we might need to figure out why, and what."
"I see."
"One thing I won't do is clear though, I'm not going to keep being angry at him. If anything, that'd probably just be what he wanted, after saying so much fucked up shit."
"So you're favouring him now?"
"No, I'm considering him a potential danger, but one that warrants fear and concern more than anger."
"I see."
"Well, I'll grab something to eat before meeting teach again. I guess I should respect her for being able to work under such a dipshit, enough to try showing up on time."
With that, Almeida picked up Valerius once more, heading into the cafeteria.
Location: Cafetaria.
Upon arrival, Almeida was quick to select her food. A few sandwiches (cheese, chicken and ham), some fruits (apple, banana) and a glass of water. Having picked up lunch, she looked around to see if there were any familiar faces around.
Walking down the aisles Lavi began to look around the buffet for anything that seemed like something she would want to eat, taking up a plate she began to assemble what could be called lunch. However there seemed to be a lack of unhealthy food, instead all seeming well made but just not that tasty looking.
With an abundance in salad, sandwiches, fruits or soup for warm food. Reminded of her mom she looked around once again with a different idea in mind. Something more healthy. Grabbing what looked appetizing, yet also healthy. A sandwich with toppings on it, a mandarin and three packs of milk since she still had to grow and began to look around for a place to sit.
Almeida soon noticed Lavi in the cafeteria, seeming to plan to indulge herself with a fair amount of milk. Figuring she'd leave the headmaster trouble behind for now, she waved at Lavi and headed over to her table, putting Valerius down on a nearby table.
"Heyo~" She nodded towards the milk.
"You're planning to grow a lot more, aren't you?" She had already said it before she realised the joke might just go over the kid's head, or maybe it wouldn't, Almeida wasn't great with kids. It seemed like she'd have to learn through trial and error though, with how many kids there were in this place and how few others seemed to care about them. Almeida could hardly ignore them just because she had forgotten how they operated.
Lavi sat down at her table and righted herself on her chair. Looking down at her mandarin. In a less than enthusiastic manner she began to slowly peel off the skin. A deep sigh exhaled as she looked down.
Quickly however her attention was throw off as Almeida waves towards her. She did not move yet. However as she heard the familiar voice as well her head quickly turned.
"Hmm?'' Quickly caught by surprise as she recognized whom it was. As her demeanor became a bit more ecstatic and inviting again.
Her insinuation didn't seem to immediately catch on. As she began to search for what she meant.
"Oh haha, you mean this? Yeah, I guess so as well. I mean I have always loved the taste of it, but when mom said it helps me grow in various ways I did kinda start drinking it more.'' And as she seemed as bit less subtle, it was obvious she understood the other meaning by even for a second looking towards her chest.
Having meant no double-speak, for her mind was more pure than her body, Almeida didn't notice she directed Lavi's attention towards a specific area. As Almeida was looking for a topic to avoid awkward silence, she realised the kid was probably here because she bonded to a spirit, yet there was no spirit in sight.
"So, what kind of spirit did you bond with?" Almeida was a little direct, but she figured it'd be better than going about things in a roundabout way when dealing with kids. She'd wait for Lavi to start talking before taking a few bites out of her sandwich.
Having finished peeling the mandarin, she grabbed a piece of it and chewed on it as she listened to Almeida, chewing a bit more than necessary she created a bit of a pause, before swallowing it.
"Hmm? Oh Phoebe you mean? Umm what to say about her. She has only really been one to stay in her mana form so I don't usually bring her along, but she is an animal spirit. She is really smart and ooh umm pretty.'' Taking another piece of mandarin, Lavi finished this a bit faster to continue talking.
"Uuh uum, aah. She is a nature spirit, like the ones you see more outside the city. A bit like me, I feel a bit cramped here in the city as well.'' Lavi glanced towards the large weapon that was the pickaxe.
"Is that the spirit you made a bond with?''
'An animal spirit and feeling cramped in the city…So she's from outside of Uruk.' There weren't a lot of children growing up outside of the Bastion, as the dangers there were plentiful. Almeida figured it'd be best to avoid the topic of parents, as she had a growing suspicion it'd be a rather sensitive one. That's why she was glad to hear the kid speak so happily about her spirit.
"Smart and pretty? Phoebe sounds like a great spirit to bond with~" Almeida said it with an honest smile. With the kind of life ahead of mages, having a nice spirit meant a lot.
As for her own spirit…
'Has Valerius even spoken to anyone other than me? I don't think so.' She wasn't even sure Valerius would, so she figured she'd call out to the spirit.
"Hey, Valerius, why don't you say 'hello' as well?" Soon after, a voice could be heard in the minds of anyone within talking range, in this case amounting to just Almeida and Lavi.
"Hello." The voice sounded as 'metallic' as you'd expect from a weapon that telepathically 'spoke' to its surroundings.
'So Valerius does speak to others, good to know.' Well, it seemed like the weapon didn't have much to say, so Almeida figured she'd take over.
"Anyhow, yes, Valerius is the spirit I've bonded with. To be honest, we don't yet know each-other all that well, but we've got some shared ideals." She couldn't introduce the spirit as well as Lavi introduced hers, but it probably didn't matter a lot. With that out of the way, she started on a second sandwich.
She continued to listen attentively. Eating the mandarin she held in her hand, to finish it before she would have to speak again, at a bit faster pace. She seemed happy to see the smile on Almeida and the bit of praise she was giving Phoebe.
'Oh so it's called Valerius. A bit of a fancy sounding name.' She was caught by surprise as she heard a crude voice, it sounded like a person, but the manner in which it spoke. Its was so monotone that it sounded wrong in a way. But she was engrossed nonetheless, as it had been the first time she had talked with a artificial spirit.
"Nice to meet you. Haha, I did not expect that kind of voice, maybe I should have. And I mean, I haven't known Phoebe that long, it has only been two days now. But I am glad to have her. I always thought Artificial Spirits were a bit rare, so I was a bit surprised, especially one in that shape. I hope you two will make good friends then, as.. do they call it partners?''
"It is most likely due to my status as a weapon." Valerius replied to the remark at his monotone sound, as if it needed further clarification. Almeida just raised an eyebrow at the weapon, but she wasn't even sure Valerius could see it.
'Wait, can a weapon-spirit like him even see anything to begin with?' They probably had some awareness of their surroundings, but she had no clue to what extend. Well, it was best to shrug it off for now. Instead, she replied to Lavi.
"Yeah, partners in crime!" She realised the kid might not know the old Terran expression, so she was quick to clarify.
"That's just an expression, by the way, we're not actual criminals. It just means you're willing to break the law together if such a need were to ever arise, or something along those lines."
Almeida did wonder if Artificial Spirits were indeed rare, or at least more so than other spirits.
'Now that I think about it, that might indeed be the case…' She resisted the urge to shout 'You hear that, you're a rare item!' towards her partner. She figured it'd be better to redirect the attention towards Lavi's spirit.
"So what kind of animal is Phoebe like?"
She seemed to nod in understanding towards Valerius. But soon after there was a genuine confusion towards the quip of Almeida, not quite catching what she meant by the expression before and after she elaborated further upon it. She quickly took to mitigating eye contact and sipping out of the first pack of milk as she listened further. And as if avoiding it, took to the next topic.
"Oh Phoebe. I guess; I guess a stag. But she is a lot more supernatural, like how her horns are, the color of her fur and skin, she has a tail more similar to like a horse and she has got like flowers made out of mana. You can definitely see she is a spirit when you meet her.'''
Almeida couldn't help herself from raising a bit of an eyebrow at the mention of Phoebe being a stag.
'I guess the spirit is equally androgynous as Valerius.' Spirits seemed to be weird like that. On the other hand, it was fun to hear Lavi speak about Phoebe like that.
"I'll be looking forward to meeting her then~" Having said it, Almeida looked at the time.
"Oh, we should finish up if we don't want to be late for miss… ehhh… our teacher's classes. I forgot her name." Having said it, she took her own advice to finish up her food and put away the dishes. She'd wait for Lavi to finish as well so they could head to the gymnasium together.
Nodding enthusiastically at the mention of meeting Phoebe, Lavi seemed to be hit by a realization as she drank the milk, a true miracle drink. Swallowing the milk she was drinking
''Oh yeah, I should be picking her up, right? Do you think teacher Okamoto wants us to have our partners with us for the gym class?'' She glanced at the likely clock hanging nearby and began scarfing damn the remaining sandwich whilst grabbing the two remaining packs of milk.
"I can take these with me for the way there anyway.''
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Collab with: Lavi
@Giftvi
Mentioned: -
Interacted with: -
