Despite having a clear distance between that of Jackson and the two mysterious additions to Armstrong, Jackson's path somehow collided right into the firm stance of Izumi's. The blonde's hands were placed on his hips like a superhero overlooking his city, a smug expression planted on his face. "Where you goin'~?" Izumi had asked, expecting nothing but a mumbling mess in return. Behind him, Enki had emerged, hands in the dark folds of his school jacket. Unlike Izumi's excited, dominating aura, Enki possessed one of minor interest, only caring to face Jackson on one side of his body. "He's different." added in the stoic one. Izumi took a step forward in Jackson's direction, closing the distance to mere inches where the two were nearly matched in height, with Izumi being an inch taller.
"No.." Izumi thought out loud while he looked Jackson over. "Hollows can't be pussies. The gem, perhaps?" A sudden flutter of Jackson's pocket and the hollowfied gem was held between Izumi's index and thumb. The mere presence of the object rendered Jackson a nobody to Izumi as he stepped back to examine the gem with Enki. "I've never come across one of these before.. A hollowed gem?" Enki's red eyes snapped up to meet Jackson's. "Where did you get this gem from?"
|Early Morning|
|Armstrong High Entrance|
|Interaction: Izumi and Enki @IAmEnzo |
Jackson was surprised when the scarred blonde was suddenly in front of him, and he only became more so when they mentioned hollows. He stared at the red head, wondering how to answer the question. He didn't want to mention Kaivant, as he wasn't sure if they had any idea who he was, and if he did, if that would cause them to be hostile to him.
"Where I got the gem is my business," Jackson's demeanor changed as he spoke, his eyes becoming hardened by his determination. Maybe his luck wasn't so bad after all. "But I do have some questions for you. How do you know about hollows, can you fight them, and if you can, can you teach me to do the same? Answer my questions, and I may tell you where I got the gem." He kept an eye on the blonde who was currently inspecting the gem. The fact that they knew about hollows meant that these two could be potentially dangerous, as he had no doubt that Kaivant's powers could kill people just as easily as it can kill hollows. "Also, since you seem to be the more polite one, may I please ask for your name, mine is Jackson Ducarthy." As he spoke, he put his hands in his pockets, one of them holding his pocket knife. He didn't know whether or not these two would get violent, but it was better to be prepared. He especially suspected the blonde one, as he didn't seem to be particularly adverse to conflict.
After such a nice uneventful day yesterday, Keon couldn't help but wake up a with a little more rest than normal, he woke at the same time as he usually did as it was routine for him every since grade school, he instead of working out, got in the shower and did everything else that was supposed to be done before school, after getting all nice and squeaky clean he sighed lightly got in his uniform and walked out of his dorm as closing the door behind him.
Keon had seen a few others on campus, like one of others from the dual enrollment program with two others who he seemed to be talking too, so he shrugged it off and and walked elsewhere climbing on a tree he sat down, he could see a good part of the campus, this included the three but he had his eyes closed as he usually did when he was alone. Kicking his feet to nothing just to make a noise on the trees trunk as he was on a nice study branch.
Evening > Morning Mall > Home > Armstrong High Nothing happened, nothing happens, and then school again.
It seemed that their presence was enough to put an end to the situation before it actually got to the point where they had no choice but to step in. As the one trying to calm the two gestured towards the two of them, Kota raised a hand in greeting to acknowledge that yes the two of them were here because of the two arguing. He could see the two glance between him and Mark before finally turning around towards a nearby exit. They still hissed quietly at each other, the argument simply moving away rather than stopping, but that was good enough. The third of their group bowed ever so slightly as if apologizing for the trouble before hurrying off to catch the pair. With the eyes of several bystanders watching, there wasn't anything he could do but act professional even if he wanted to sigh. In the end he settled with muttering, "Glad that's over with," to Mark, who sharply nodded in return.
Thankfully, nothing else happened on their way back and it continued to be a quiet night after Amar took Mark's spot. They continued on their route, albeit given Amar was more social there were more pauses as his partner conversed with store employees, building connections and ties with people that shared the same workplace.; they even got free coffee and donuts from the Dunkin Donut occasionally which was great. As the mall winded down for the night, Kota was busy at the desk and fulfilling his responsibilities while trying to just relax a bit. It wasn't long afterwards when he and the others closed up for their shift, handed the responsibilities over to the three that were coming in, and headed home as a new day technically began.
__________________________________
The walk to Armstrong was done so with a travel mug of coffee in his hand again this morning, a small measure for the late hour when he'd managed to fall asleep at last. Sipping from it occasionally as he finally walked onto school grounds, he was a bit early today and figured it would be a good idea to check the announcement board given he hadn't done so since orientation day.
Seeing quite a number of students at the board, he supposed it was simply morning routine for some of the students. Given he was taller than most people present he didn't bother trying to move through the crowd, content to simply stand on the back and read what he could. Most of the postings weren't of much interest for him, but there was one that seemed to pertain to him and most of the student population. Taking the center of the board with a border of empty space around it was a plain notice. From what he could gather, homerooms would be merging to mix the grades together for the first few periods as per the school's tradition. Confusing and odd in his opinion even if he could see the potential boons that a mixed class might offer. 'Well, good thing I checked.' With that thought in mind, he departed to try and find his new homeroom.
Sleep. Hideko stared blankly at the wall, her attention focused on its surface but nothing registering on her face. She had gotten sleep last night, enough to have quelled the edge of nausea she was beginning to feel at being up so long without nourishment. So her state couldn't be contributed to Nightmares because she had not experienced any. In fact, Hideko looked to be at top health again, despite her angry stomach which was giving her the silent treatment currently. No dark circles marred the skin below her eyes anymore, the sallow look to her skin was gone and even her hair--still unwashed-- had less of a 'Survived the Jungle' look to it and more of bed head quality. Her fingers tightened ever so slightly on the sheets pulled around her like a cocoon.
So much had happened yesterday-- or had it been the day before?-- so much information had been given to her and so many new questions had blossomed.
Spirits existed, spirits that could interact with living, breathing beings. How many of them were there? Were there different kinds? Did they only exist on this plain of existence?
She paused in her train of thought, mind tumbling back to when she had awakened in the surreal meadow. 'Rakku's limbo' she recalled the ram spirit saying at one time or another. So there were other plains of existence it seemed. Her mind erupted into a frenzy of possibilities, like sparks of a fire that leaped every which way, burning opposite directions and slowly building into a raging infernos that in turn gave birth to more sparks that burned more directions and so on and so forth. Did the spirits have the ability to jump from one realm to the next? Was it only a certain kind that could or was it that specific circumstances had to be met? How many plains of existence were there? Did spirits have the ability to create their own? Or were they just able to wander about since they had no physical attachment to the current one?
Hideko closed her eyes, attempting to still her mind. Needless to say, the action was pointless.
In a swift movement, she flung the covers from her and raced over to the desk set up on the other side of the room. 'Pen, pen, pen...' She thought frantically, eyes roving over the surface. Once located, she snatched it up and dragged a notebook towards her. Hair sticking up at odd angles paired with the fierce look of determination on her face was a sight.
Click.
She was off, scribbling out lines of ink in a blur, before the tip of the pen fully deployed.
The task shed set out to do only took twenty minutes.
"Ah~" Hideko let out a lung full of air as she stretched. Her amber gaze slid to the papers before her and she grinned in a completely satisfied way. There before her was a pile of papers. Half of it was filled with her speculations so far and the other half was a list of questions she had decided she was going to get answered one way or another. 'Because even though that Kaivant weasel tricked me I'm still not going to give up!' She thought. Her attention turned to her arm with the tattoo and she clenched her fist. After all, she had just been given a new source of information to exploit.
At some point during the walk to the dorms with Puck she had decided that she was better off attempting to get along with the ram man she was apparently now a host to. Though she'd have to have a discussion with him about the tattoo. There was no way she'd be able to keep it if she wanted to still be breathing after her father saw her next. The thought drew her to the fact that she had yet to get ready. Humming to herself, she grabbed her bathing supplies and practically floated towards the bathroom.
'The shengxiao is real.' She thought breathlessly. She could only imagine what other sorts of things of myth were founded upon truth. A glint entered her eyes. She planned to discover them all. Then the moment was over and she continued on her way with a skip to her step. 'I wonder if all of the animals match the personalities that the Chinese calender lays out for people.'
~Thirty minutes later~
"First day of classes!" The asian girl exclaimed cheerfully, flinging herself through the window and out onto the tree. Her hands grabbed hold of a sturdy branch and she swung herself to the ground with a suprising amount of grace. A detail that was lost on her as she was too wrapped up in her information high to notice. Well it was actually the second day of classes but it was the first for her and she was celebrating it by actually wearing the school uniform.
Her hands went to her sleeves and she adjusted the cuffs of her blazer. The sun was shining, the tattoo had been easily covered up by some concealer and foundation, and she was going to set to work on finding a few choice people through out the day.
"When I find Kaivant I'm going to repay him for all of this~"
With that lovely thought in mind, she set off for the first class of the day the skirt of the uniform swaying above her clunky boots.. The paper had said it was homeroom. She'd never had anything against homeroom.
Black satchel backpack with orange stitching around pockets.
Black mock tapered gauges
Boots
Candy- (12 lollipops of various flavors, 5 candy bars)
Cellphone-status : on. 98% charged
Wallet- $40, California I.D., 2 debit cards,
(1) Books- Chinese Mythology
Chapstick
Pens-(3) Purple, Blue, and white.
Medium sized notebook
Papers written put this morning
Voice Recorder-- Battery: 100%, Status: OFF
「 Path to Armstrong Academy → Classroom | Early Morning| Sleepy | Interacting with: None 」
✎__________________________________________________________________________________
A loud yawn escaped out of Shimako's lips as she covered it with her hand so no one could see,"Wow, that was a loud one. Had a rough night?" Casper asked surprised to see Shimako so 'out of it' with dark bags under her eyes making her look like a panda,"I just got caught up on homework is all." Shimako lied stretching her arms in the air,"One more day of school... Then it's the weekends." Shimako thought and was surprised to see how fast it felt since the first day. She had made a good amount of friends this week but now some of them were on the trip to Japan so it seemed she would have to make some more friends again. Maybe she could befriend some of the people that were part of the tour if she could find them.
"Hello, Earth to Shimako! Were you listening to me?" Casper asked waving a hand in Shimako's face,"We're here already. What were you thinking about?" Casper asked letting out a chuckle,"H-huh?! Oh! I umm... It's nothing. Guess lack of sleep getting to me." Shimako said giving an apologetic smile,"Try not to get in trouble now. Anyways, I'll see you later and here." Handing Shimako something, Casper went off to class as usual,"See you later." Shimako quietly said and looking at the object that Casper gave her, it turned out to be a lemon-flavored candy ,"I'll save this for later." Stuffing it in her jacket pocket, Shimako tried fixing her glasses as it felt a bit uncomfortable for her to wear since in the beginning she had been wearing contacts all this time but it turned out she needed to renew her contacts to another prescription again so as of for now, she was to wear glasses again until she could get another pair of contacts.
Walking towards the main building, Shimako noticed a familiar figure and adjusting her glasses again, she noticed that it was the guy from before that almost passed out during the first day. From what she could see was that he was with two strange guys, one of them having a long scar over the bridge of his nose and a red-headed boy who looked like a sad guy. She didn't really have anything to say to them nor was she even familiar enough to just come up and say 'hi' to,"Uhh... what was his name again?" Shimako thought pondering on what the boy's name was again but quickly dismissed it once she got closer to the main building,"Seems he made some interesting friends..." Shimako thought and walking over to the announcement board to see what else they had posted up. From the looks of it, all the posters didn't really have much to concern with until she came upon a paper indicating grade levels would be put together in one class,"That's something... different." Shrugging it off, Shimako just did as the paper told and went to her homeroom to just get a few minutes to sleep in before classes begin.
Being the few early birds in class, Shimako went to a desk close to the window - in the middle row - as she took her seat and placed her bag down next to her. Letting out another yawn, Shimako pulled her hood over her head and took a quick snooze to pass the time until the teacher arrived.
Bag: ► School books
► Writing utensils
► Binder full of paper and folders
► English to Japanese Translator book
► Headphones
► Wallet |$20, IDs/ Cards and some pictures of her brothers|
[spoili]Again, I'm not putting any color and I forgot to mention this in my post and CS but Shimako has bad eyesight so she usually wear contacts/ glasses but rarely wears her glasses since she hates the itching feeling of it on her nose.[/spoili]
Idelle was pretty sure she was going blind. The light was shining in her eyes somehow. Probably because it was right above her bed; this wouldn't normally be a problem, but somehow, somehow, she had flipped upside down and was now lying on her back at the foot of her bed. Anyways. She had to get up and get dressed. So, she did. Doing a sort of barrel roll to the right and, in the process, pulling all of the blankets off with her, she plopped onto the floor and rose. Luckily, she had laid her outfit for the day out the previous night. Slipping it on, Idelle ran a hand through her lavender hair and yawned. "Ah..I should probably get to school.." She said, beginning to walk down to the kitchen, where her school bag lay. "Can't be late again..Well." Idelle grabbed the white bookbag and reached the door before turning. "I'm leaving!" And with that, she left.
|Armstrong Bound|
Idelle walked briskly through the front gates, her petite arms swinging with each step as she hummed a happy melody that slowly faded away as she realized just how boring the day would be. Nothing was really happening, and the two people she could call 'friends' were more than likely on that Japan trip. So, that left Idelle standing alone like a total loser. This. This is my fate,she thought bitterly. Might as well get to class...
|Learning Time?|
After some pain, awkward conversation, and a healthy amount of embarrassment, Idelle finally staggered into her homeroom. The hunt had been successful; and on the first try, too. Must be a record. She scanned quickly for Val or Iphiehhghljx, but they were nowhere in sight. Loner Idelle was here to stay. Sighing, she plopped down into and empty desk next to the window. At least I get a view, she mused as she pulled out her cellphone. Opening up an app, she began tapping furiously. If someone had seen her, it would've appeared as if she were in deep concentration as her right arm was having a seizure.
Rays of sunlight hinted through the thin veil of white laced curtains that hung over the room's windows and brightened the room with the arrival of morning. A gentle groan sounded from the bed just before a head of fluffy, blond hair popped from under the blanket. With a half-asleep expression still on her face, Yang proceeded to sleepily yawn whilst stretching her body, dressed in a pure white night gown.
"Yin~...Wakey!"
With her words, the spirit began shaking a bulge under the blankets only to giggle when no response followed her actions. Flinging the lace sewn cloth off of the bed, Yang quickly pounced on her sister to begin gently nibbling at her ear. Forced awake by Yang's antics, a faint moan sounded from Yin after which her half-asleep words would soon question the necessity of being awake.
"Is...not more....time...for sleep...Yang?"
More giggles followed Yin's broken statement as Yang took a moment to nuzzle and kiss her sister's cheek before hopping of the bed and making way to the room's kitchen. Despite being spirits, no supernatural features seemed to define Yin and Yang's existence in the current setting. Had a human existed within the room, Yin and Yang would have appeared entirely normal apart from the peculiar actions between themselves. Even further, a host would have failed to notice any supernatural presence emitting from the girls.
Morning for the spirits proceeded in a customary fashion akin to that of most humans. A quick breakfast, although unnecessary, followed by a long, hot shower and other bathroom preparations had become the girl's routine since their recent arrival in Brookfield. Despite having transferred in Armstrong several days past, it was only just today that attending classes became a factor in their lives.
"Is Yin cute, Yang?"
Having changed into Armstrong's black and gold uniform, Yin performed a little pirouette that displayed her petite appearance toward her sister who began squealing praises of 'cute.' At the end of Yin's display, Yang quickly changed into her own uniform while Yin patiently awaited by the room's entrance. With no knowledge of proper school supplies, the spirits departed from the dorm, empty-handed, but in high spirits, as they began cheerfully singing a Chinese nursery rhyme while walking, hand in hand, towards the school. Apart from intrigued gazes from other students to whom the twins responded with cheerful waves, nothing of interest seemed to occur until their arrival at the school grounds. There, the presence of three hosts and of hollow energy quickly caught the spirits' interest. An invisible source of Zodiac power off to the side, while two sources of immensely potent power surrounding a seemingly ordinary human from which they palmed a gem that emitted the source of hollow energy. Although the oppressors simply seemed curious for the source of the gem, the human boy's response was clearly defensive and confrontational which brought about a sigh from the twins. The blond's personality was blatantly obvious after all...
Yin: "Yang, do we intervene?"
Yang: "An opportunity, Yin!"
Yin & Yang: "We are human after all~!"
Prancing the distance of the school yard, Yin and Yang rushed to Jackson's side where they wrapped themselves around his arms at both sides. Knowing their existence felt human, the spirits were certain that the pair of hosts would shy away from any major confrontation against ordinary folk. Though, it didn't stop the girl's from piping in with their own playful taunts.
Puck had a much better night's sleep compared to the previous two nights, though they did end up sleeping in later than they originally intended, but looking at the time it should be alright. They sat on the edge of their bed and looked at the mess of clothes on the ground and sighed. It's only been what two days and the room is already a mess. This would never fly back home, but there was no one here to nag on Puck to pick after themself so a hazardous floor of clothes it is. Puck figured they should at least tidy up a little bit on the off chance that someone visited them, if that was even a thing people do. Puck wasn't so sure. Ah well, while it is better to be safe and sorry it would have to wait. Puck needed to get ready for classes, there was hardly any time to spend wasting zoning out and staring at the floor.
For the most part Puck got dressed and all washed up quickly enough, though their hair decided to be a downright pain. So they decided to just leave it down for now and figured they would deal with it later. Their hair looked comparatively unkempt compared to usual when it was down and it reached past shoulder length, but not quite at Puck's mid back yet. They put a few hair ties around their wrist and tossed their brush in their backpack and checked their phone. Yep it was certainly time to go.
On their way to homeroom Puck noticed that quite a few people were gathered in front of the school. It didn't seem like the nicest of confrontations, plus Puck wasn't exactly the most presentable at the moment, so avoiding whatever was going down seemed like the best option at the time. Puck made it to homeroom with time to spare and they realized that they probably could have taken a detour to a restroom to work on their hair a bit more but they didn't want to leave now and risk missing attendance. Oh well. They decided to just deal with it later.
Backpack with the supplies needed for the day and a hairbrush
A wallet containing $28.75 and a picture of a Puck holding Beatrice
A smartphone
A pack of gum
3 Hair ties
|Morning|
|Armstrong High Entrance|
|Interactions: Izumi and Enki @IAmEnzo , Yin and Yang @Tsu |
Jackson turned his head, looking first at the girl on his left, then the one on his right, not that it made much difference as they seemed to look exactly the same to him. They were also much to close for him, as he wasn't comfortable with having people invade his personal space like this. His face turned a very bright shade of scarlet as his mind seemed to have shorted out for the moment All of the confidence and bravado he had the moment for disintegrated as Jackson turned into a blubbering mess as he tried to explain the situation to the twin girls at his side.
"Um, Y-you d-don't understand, it's n-n-not what- well it k-kinda is but- I mean we were kinda in t-t-the middle of, uh, a, um" His voice started to break in to stuttering gibberish as Jackson tried to figure out how to get what he was trying to say across to the girls, but then he realized something. He was going to be late for homeroom if he didn't hurry, and while he thought this was more important, he still needed to go or else he'd get in unnecessary trouble.
"N-nevermind, I ap-p-preciate the sentiment, r-really, but your m-making me very uncomfortable right now, so c-could y-you please let me go." He then turned to look at the red head as his blonde friend. "And c-can we m-meet later this aft-t-ternoon, and give me the g-gem back as well?"
Morning Armstrong High (Homeroom) Found homeroom, this is weird and still tired.
It didn't take longer than the walk over for Kota to reach homeroom given his familiarity with the school's layout already. Approaching his new classroom, he opened the door and glanced inside. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't the first to arrive nor did he recognize most of the students inside. He did notice one or two faces that were in the fourth years, and a few he had seen during 'orientation' day but that was about it. Deciding against saying anything given most of the students seemed to be preoccupied, he simply left the door open behind him as he picked out a place in the row closest to the back of the room. Far from the window and closest to the hallway, he set his bag on the desk before quietly taking his seat. A glance at his watch told him there'd probably be a while before the rest of the class and its teacher arrived.
Sipping from his mug, he took a few moments to figure out exactly what he wanted to do with the little free time he apparently had. Covering a yawn as he leaned forward to open his bag, Kota paused and figured that was as good as a sign as any. The coffee had apparently yet to kick in, but he figured a quick nap would be long enough for the caffeine to circulate. He nudged his bag forward slightly, clearing a bit more room on the desk before slumping down onto the cool surface to get some shut-eye.
Yin: "Is he okay, Yang?"
Yang: "He's flustered, Yin. Look at his face!"
Yin & Yang: "How adorable~!"
Giggles followed the twin's playful teasing in response to the boy who was beginning to more closely resemble a beet than anything else. Nevertheless, as he requested, the girls released his arms and hopped backwards, only to then, pull down an eyelid and stick out their tongues toward the boys they had branded as "bullies." Harmonized laughter erupted into the air as the girl's pranced forward to high five each other in acknowledgement of their successful act of unison. Turning to once again face Jackson, the twins gave him their parting words and several quick pats against his back before skipping forward, hand in hand, toward the school entrance ahead.
Yin: "Don't bother with them, okay?"
Yang: "Be a good boy and listen to Yin, now!"
~~~
With students flooding the halls and every classroom appearing the same, Yin and Yang had become effectively lost in their attempt to find homeroom. While Yin was silently trailing behind her sister, Yang was becoming increasingly more irritated by the map, which did little to locate their position in relation to their destination. Several days past, Yin had suggested they scout the location of their classes, but Yang's subsequent protest had quickly shot down that idea. It was now in the present that Yang realized her mistake and was sorely regretting her decision. Turning around to burrow her head into Yin's chest, Yang began dramatically sobbing whilst apologizing to her sister.
"Y-You...were...r-right...as always...
Y-Yang is a fool. A fool who--"
"Yin and Yang?...Peculiar names you girls have there."
A voice cutting off Yang's fake sorrow and calling their names, immediately garnered the attention of the sisters who turned to gaze upon the middle aged man standing before them. A wave of suspicious began to settle between the spirits though it was quickly quelled by the sensible conclusion that the man was not a threat. Dressed in semi-formal attire with a carrying folder in his hand, the man resembled the stereotypical image of a teacher far too closely to be anything else. Distrust aside, the twins nodded in response to the man's question; an act which brought an overjoyed smile to his face.
"Great, I'm your temporary homeroom teacher. I was told there were an interest pair of twins in my class, and I figured they had to be you two. You girls seemed lost, so I thought I'd help ya out. Class is this way."
|Classroom|
"Good morning~!"
The substitute teacher, Yin, and Yang all entered the classroom at the same time; however, while the teacher simply made his way toward the room's desk, Yin and Yang performed a quaint curtsy before enthusiastically waving toward the entirety of the class.
Yin: "I'm Yin?"
Yang: "You're Yin, and I'm Yang!"
Yin & Yang: "Let's get along, everyone!"
The sound of clapping drowned out Yin and Yang's fit of giggles as the substitute teacher rose from his desk and crossed the distance to the front of the class. There, he gave the twins a beaming smile before speaking the thoughts that were on his mind.
"Great introduction, girls.
Also, don't worry, class. I'm not going to make everyone introduce themselves to our transfer students, though if anyone would like too feel free after class.
For now though, if you could go seat yourselves, girls. I'd like to begin class."
A unified exclamation of "Yes" came from the twins who then pranced toward an open desk in the center of the room. Rather than each occupy a desk of their own, it was Yin, who first sat down, only for Yang to settle herself into her sister's lap. A perplexed expression occupied the teacher's face, but rather than protest, he choose to simply begin class. Before he was assigned to substitute for this class, he had been warned that Yin and Yang were...peculiar...in ways. He could now see why...
"Let us begin homeroom. My name is Mr. Smith, and I will be acting as your substitute teacher for a little while.
First, attendance....--"
(Assume class continues for the rest of the day.)
~[Satori, Hideko]~
|Morning||Armstrong||Homeroom|
{>.<}
Interaction: No Intentional Interactions
'I'm going to be late.' Hideko thought as she sprinted towards the classroom. Her feet barely touched the ground with each step and her arms were pumping furiously through the air. She probably looked quite the sight, purple ponytail bouncing every which way, boots partially untied, and a wild look gleaming in her eyes as she attempted to make it to class in time. She was going to be tardy for the first class of the year and her father was no doubt going to find out about it and then he was going to look into the school more and find out about her dual enrollment in the Mythology course at the college and pitch a royal fit about how she was wasting her time on unproductive things. And it hadn't even been her intention to skip the class! She forced her legs to move faster at the thought. Her feet skidded slightly as she whipped around a corner without bothering to stop, shoes squealing against the surface. Probably not the most safe thing to do but she wasn't going to slow down and risk being any later.
Why had she ended up in this situation again? She had woken up bright and early, even started for class early and now she was late. The fact that she had somehow ended up across campus wandering towards the woods might have had something to do with that scenario. A drop of sweat rolled down her neck. 'I got lost.' She mentally grouched. But it wasn't as simple as that. Contrary to the popular belief among her family members Hideko had a great sense of direction. She could navigate with a map easily, she had great directional awareness, and she only had to go to a place once for the directions to stick permanently with her. Unfortunately none of that helped if she got distracted.
Which was what had happened.
Heat scorched over the plains of her face, coloring her features an embarrassing shade of red. She had been so unobservant! Getting caught up in her thoughts about the supernatural and if any gods existed if spirits did had been the major pitfall. And then she had begun to think of all the legends that the deities tended to be more prominent in nature and she supposed her feet had just lead her in the direction of the closest 'nature'.
She honestly couldn't even remember half of the journey as she'd been so engrossed in her own mental world.
The door with the right number besides it jostled her from the memory and she veered to where it was on the left side of the hallway. Her feet screeched to a halt and she pressed her ear against the door to listen. They were in the classroom already, but she couldn't make out what was being said over the sounds of her heart hammering and the rough pants tearing through her lungs. Hideko swallowed and then made an effort to calm herself. The pounding of blood in her ears slowly dissipated and she leaned forward once again to listen, this time holding her breath. A muffled voice reached her.
"Let us begin homeroom. My name is Mr. Smith, and I will be acting as your substitute teacher for a little while.
First, attendance....--"
Attendance! Her lips twisted skywards. Attendance hadn't been taken so she wasn't really late was she? Quietly, she pushed away from the door and gave herself a second to smooth over her harried appearance. The blazer and skirt were tugged into the proper positions, her hair was straightened slightly. Amber eyes went to the loose laces of her boots but she decided to wait on those. They weren't too noticeable and she could easily fix them once she was seated. 'Alright, all I have to do is go in, sit down, and answer when he calls my name. No fuss.' She eased the door carefully open and slipped in. Only to freeze up minutely. The door was situated at the front of the classroom, meaning she had walked out in front of everyone instead of behind them like she had planned. 'BAKA!' She mentally screeched, 'You didn't even check the orientation of the room through the window!'
Well it was too late anyhow. Jolting right back into motion as if the pause had never happened, Hideko strolled to an empty seat at the back of the room near the outside window. Her face remained a painted mask of a pleasant nonchalance and she tried to keep her gate casual. 'Casual but subtle.' She chanted to herself. She didn't want to draw attention to herself and get the teacher angry enough for her to be sent to the office or something. Avoiding looking anyway where particular she made quick work of the space between and her pinpointed destination. With a practiced move, she slid into the chair and swung her pack onto the floor besides her simultaneously. Her back touched the cool plastic and she let out a breath of relief. 'Goal.'
Her eyes closed briefly as the tension left her abruptly, leaving an almost bereft feeling in its wake. She really needed some candy after that.
Black satchel backpack with orange stitching around pockets.
Grey T-shirt with a abstract forest splattered out on the front of it in black and a black crescent moon on the back
Black shorts: Smart Phone- Status: On vibrate; Packet of Cards
White crescent moon earrings with a shower of stars dangling beneath on silver chains.
Black and White Zip-up Hoodie
Candy- (9 lollipops of various flavors, 2 candy bars, 1 chunk of fudge)
Wallet- $20 California I.D., 2 debit cards,
(1) Books- Creatures of Horror
Chapstick
Pens-(1) Purple
Medium sized notebook
Voice Recorder-- Battery: 100%, Status: OFF
Jackson breathed a sigh of relief when the girls , whose names were Yin and Yang apparently, left. Now that he could focus again, he turned to the two boys that he had been talking to before. "Looks, If you want to know where I got the gem, then meet me after school this afternoon, right here. If you don't come within ten minutes of school ending, then I'll leave." After saying this, he grabbed the gem out of the blondes hand and went to class .
_____________________________________{HomeRoom}
Jackson had just made it to class and had situated himself in the back of the classroom. He noticed some familiar faces, like Puck And Satori, but he didn't try to talk them, to focused on hoping that the two boys he met would meet him later. He had been bluffing a big game back their, and he hoped it wouldn't blow up in his face. He also made it a point to avoid catching Yin and Yang's attention, as they seemed to be in the same class. He might try to talk to them later, as they seemed like nice people, but he hoped that from now on they would keep out of his personal space bubble.
Backpack full of school supplies
Strange black gem
Swiss Army Knife
Pocket Knife
Wallet with Student I.D., $40, and $150 credit card
"Training?" Izumi echoed the words of Jackson. A harsh scoff escaped the blonde just at the mere consideration of a random student being taken under their wing. An assumingly inexperienced high schooler who didn't even know what a Zodiac or Hollow was, at that. A sharp jab was delivered into Izumi's arm and it was followed by a quick glare from Enki. "We're here to grow, idiot. It's the whole point of us being here." Lightly rubbing his arm, Izumi would have completely forgotten Jackson for a second time to face the stoic red-head. "I'm getting tired of your shit, Enki. Nobody put you in charge of jack, so don't act like it!" "I could say the same to you. At the very least, I use reasoning." The two would have continued bickering in the background as two small females approached Jackson.
Eventually the two would have ended their conflict with a draw as they refocused on the student at hand. At this point, it would have been apparent to them that Jackson was a harem king, or the sort. Izumi's past aggressiveness faded as he found a new goal in life simply by staring at the two girls clutching at Jackson's limbs. "This man's a lolicon.." Even though it was subtle, there was an ounce of admiration in his tone. Enki signed towards the blonde's sudden emotional flip. "I suppose it's for the better.." He muttered through the exhale. "I'm sorry, you said to meet with you here? After class? We'll be here." And Jackson was off, after retrieving the gem from the passive Izumi.
| Present time.
For the duration of their first real day at school, Enki and Izumi cast themselves off as normal students, simply blending into the background of the protaganist-looking audience. No outward aggression or loud noises came from the duo. They simply sat at their respective desks and took notes just like any other student.
...
When it came time to leave, the two made sure to stand exactly where they had encountered Jackson. At the moment, he wasn't present, leaving the two to go over their options as a scouting unit. "On a more serious note, I can't imagine Ignatious being upset if we bring in a non-host to our ranks, especially on our first day." Izumi was stretching his arms and legs with minor grunts. The blonde wasn't used to sitting down in one area for that long. "-..Yeah." Izumi sighed after finishing his arm stretches. "There was a presence coming off of a cutie, too. I'll be talking to her." A self-absorbed smile formed on Izumi's face when he shut his eyes to visualize himself spending time getting close to Hideko. Enki on the other hand, blankly stared at the blonde with a hint of 'Seriously?' in his eyes. "I expected many more, at least half a dozen. Where are all the other hosts..?"
In the realm of the dead, the land that inhabited it was lawless, created and molded from the minds of the souls that existed within. One location was a remote set of mountains, topped with grass that lost it's pigmentation. The mounds of earth(?) itself stood high, separating the desert from that of the woodlands. The valleys between the mountains were tightly formed, and full of dangerous cliffs and jagged rocks. This area was known to Zodiacs as Hollow ground, as it was home to no particular Zodiac.
Two quick figures traversed the cliffs, sprinting down the valley and occasionally leaping great bounds from cliff to cliff to cover extra ground. The leading figure was Tyrik, armored to the core and helmetless. Her long scarf fluttered behind her form, and her half-visible expression was focused on the task at hand. The following body was Axel, the purple-themed savior that had picked up Tyrik from the Warden's personal domain. Unlike Tyrik, who sported skin-like armor, Axel wore light, leisurely clothing with a tint of faded purple. It resembled that of a jester of sorts, but not entirely. Both girls were unarmed, and moving at a quick pace.
As they continued to rush down the seemingly endless valley, the grounds beneath them began to shake, as if an earthquake started up in the region. "It knows we're here." Axel pointed out with a calm tone, despite the speed and visual effort they put into their movement. A flash of red emitted from the other side of the valley, toward a cliffside of rock. From that wall, a giant humanoid figure began to force it's arm out of the cliff, and with one large heave, the left arm ripped free of the cliff and carried it's momentum to the other side of the body, where it yanked free the right arm. Something large was awakening from the cliff itself. "This better be worth wasting my time for."
The two came to a stop just across the valley from that of the rock giant. "Just stay out of my way." retorted Tyrik, who gripped at her scarf and yanked it from around her neck. The fabric quickly shifted with a wave of blue fire, before forming into that of a large battleaxe which she held ready with both hands. Axel brought her hand up to her mouth in an attempt to suppress her yawn. Behind her landed the large matching figure which wielded it's two large swords. Jumping up and landing on the figure's shoulder with a lazied pose, Axel glanced towards the battle-ready Tyrik with a sleepy expression. "Come find me when this is over, sister." Axel gave Tyrik - who wasn't even looking - a wave before the figure leaped up into the air and out of sight.
Meanwhile, the rock giant had completely freed itself from the cliff and stood at it's full height of around a 35-story building. A single hole at the head of the creature lit up with a blue node of light, and the entirety of the giant's form blocked out that of Limbo's 'sun', looming over that of Tyrik.
"T-T-TYRiK, HuNTeR.. 0F... HOLL0W.. WE.. M3ET."
The giant's distorted voice rang and echoed throughout the air and valley, shaking the insides of any living creature nearby with it's raw bass.
The female's reason for being there was obvious to the giant hollow, and as such, the giant lifted up it's massive arm several hundred feet in the air before hammering it down on the cliff in which Tyrik stood. On impact, the cliff exploded into a cloud of dust and smoke as the surrounding land was shaken apart. Emerging from that dust cloud was Tyrik, who sprinted up the giant's arm with her axe in hand. The surface of the hollow's arm began to reform into bent spikes intended to impale the Zodiac should she run into them on her way up. With little effort, the Zodiac was able to nimbly pass around the spikes as they were created to stop her. As she reached the upper arm, the Zodiac jumped a large distance up above the head of the giant. At the peak of her jump, Tyrik readied a downward slash towards the rock giant's face on her decent. As her speed picked up, the dark steel of her blade ignited into blue flame, nearing collision.
...
The shake of the impact caused Axel to sigh in frustration. For the second time, her eyes fluttered open as in instinct to danger, only to remember that it was only Tyrik's doing. "Curses." The girl muttered as she shifted around on the figure's shoulder to get more comfortable.
...
With it's head gone, the large body of the giant went limp, falling back onto the mountain it freed itself from. The blue essence of it's once existing head began to swirl around Tyrik, who stood on it's lifeless chest. The blue energy began to swirl into the girl's axe, supplying it with energy that further reversed the process of her own hollowfication. However, even with Tyrik's swift victory, she realized that the amount of energy was.. lacking. Underwhelming. With a slump of her shoulders, she realized exactly what she needed to do in order to fix that. "I do need a host."
Morning > Afternoon Armstrong High (Homeroom) Weird twins, weird combined class, time to eat and then go waste a few more hours in class.
Kota perked up easily enough when a greeting was called out to the class from the front of the room. Given the voices, he wasn't too surprised to see a trio of individuals at the front of the room after he had rubbed his eyes a few time. Looking at the two, he could only assume they were twins, he was a bit surprised to see more people with white hair. That common trait aside, the two looked a bit young to be in high school. Their mannerisms were also unusual and an eyebrow climbed skeptically as the two made their introduction before finally taking a single seat for both of themselves. Turning away to focus on the teacher, he was again surprised by the announcement that Mr. Smith was only a substitute teacher for the class; he imagined a seemingly useless tradition would at least be well practiced if it was being kept around.
As the teacher began to call out the attendance, he slumped forward and cradled his face as a tired sigh escaped.; the prospect of school in future was looking ever dull. Glancing up when he heard the door open, he turned his attention back to his tablet he'd brought out at seeing it was simply a late student. The morning seemed to pass quicklyenough as he busied himself with the tablet, browsing sites he hadn't had time to check up on yesterday at thanks to work or fiddling with a few mobages he bothered with. Occasionally he would look up just to keep himself somewhat aware of what the class was doing at the moment, but at best his attention was split maybe 60/40 in favor of what was happening around him.
_____________________________________
When the bell for lunch finally rang he stood, pushing the chair back, and stretched, though he brought a hand down to stifle a yawn. Watching the substitute leave the classroom with a wave at his students, Kota glanced around at the other students. Having only interacted with those that sat immediately around him, and scarcely at that, he sat back down without a word and pulled out his lunch. Though he managed to pull out the box of pasta just fine, he nearly fumbled the still hot container of tomato and meat sauce. Dropping it to the desk with a small hiss, he shook his hand to cool off the fingers as he sighed.
The campus grounds of Armstrong were ripe with students home bound or heading straight to after school school activities. Clubs, jobs, hangout, study groups. A metaphorical rush hour flooded the sidewalks and pedestrian crossings, the air was loud with the hundreds of teenaged voices chatting amongst each other in outside voices. Topics ranging from homework, people met, shifts, and other idle chit-chat like rumors. To most people, this is just common practice found on school grounds. Nothing out of the ordinary. To one man, he studied it. He studied the voices, the conversations, the faces passed and atmosphere of the students. Dressed in thin linen business wear to keep the summer warmth from baking his skin, an older man, looking to be in his mid 40's strutted down the middle walkway that lead into the main doors of Armstrong. Suitcase in hand and trilby on head to keep the beaming sun from beaming down on his face. His dress shoes tapped down onto the ground, clacking at every hard step. He quickly sauntered up the steps and pushed one of the double doors open and surveyed the halls within. Removing his hat and exposing his dark brown hair, with hints of aged silver. He kept his trilby in hand as he explored the halls in search of the Headmasters office, where his meeting would take place.
...
Within the span of a few minutes, and some directions, the middle aged man finally found the Headmasters office. His face was bitter with spite, knowing he was a few minutes off from his appointment, fearing that being punctual was one of the key assets to obtaining the job he desired, but showing up was far better than flaking at short notice due to being a few minutes late. Now ignoring the disappointment in missing a potential mark, the man gave the door a series of knocks to check if the Headmaster was still present.
Keon, after sitting in the tree for what seemed like longer than usual, he jumped down and and walked to his homeroom getting there way later than anyone else as he had enough time, turns out he didn't though it was just a sub so at least it wasn't that bad hopefully, when he walked in he saw that he seemed to be introducing two people, twins by the look of it, he ignored it as they had finished introducing themselves and looked at the sub for a moment and rubbed the back of his head, saying sorry for being late and then he walked over to his seat as he would usually do. He sat in class after class waiting for the actual fun to being which of course was track practice. Seeing how Keon had barely any real friends at the moment he instead simply had to look forwards to track and since it was such a nice track he couldn't help but feel hyped up about it. So he went through the rest of the day and the second school was out he booked to it Ravenwood getting there in no time.
☨Present time☨
When he arrived he slowed and walked in coolly, he didn't want to look like too much of a little kid so he just acted like he had walked. "Finally., a nice relaxing run to help me with my boredom!" He exclaimed to himself as he walked over to the track, after changing in a very nice locker room Keon walked out in his running clothes, a simple red shirt and black gym shorts, he looked around as everyone else started to stretch and such. He did the same and when they were done, Keon watched as the groups all walked off. The jumpers went with the jumpers, the throwers with the throwers, long distance and hurdles. Leaving just the sprinters left. Keon looked around and smiled he looked weirdest here. His appearance often got questions.
"Do you really have gray hair?"
"Are you sure you are just fifteen?"
"Why are your eyes teal, do you have contacts?!'
Of course he would just smile and laugh just answering all the questions just as easily as they were asked, even coaches looked at him weirdly sometimes. He never minded at all he just did what he was here to do which was to run. After practice he walked over to a nice quiet area, it had been just as fun as yesterday. Running and technique along with some weight training that is usually how it went with teams like this. It was just as exciting as he remembered in Cali so he was just fine with what ever. He laid back in the nice grassy field away from everyone else it was what he did after every workout almost like to get his head back together.
|Afternoon|
|Armstrong Entrance|
Interactions with Izumi and Enki, @IAmEnzo |
Jackson had walked over to the entrance at a quick pace, but tried hard to not be to obvious about it. He didn't want to seem to desperate, and he had to recover any shred of dignity he had after his pathetic display this morning. Notes to self: be more aware of surroundings, get more self-confidence, don't allow anyone else to call you adorable ever again. He wasn't adorable, he was. . . he didn't know what he was, but he wasn't adorable, or cute, or anything like that. The entire situation had just been to embarrassing to him, and he wanted to forget it ever happened. Hopefully it wouldn't be mentioned when he went to talk to the other two.
Speaking of, their they were waiting at the School Entrance and seeming to be in the middle of some light-hearted discussion that he only caught the last sentence of. Hosts, that didn't sound pleasant, not in the least. What ever, hopefully these guys would take him in once he told them about the Gem. He had been considering it all day, and he'd come to the conclusion that he would tell them the truth. Why? Because he was a shitty lier, and he was sure that Kaivant, and who ever else he had on his side at Ravenwood, could handle two kids around his age if they had beef with the red-eyed man.
Focusing on the present situation, he took a breath,gathering his confidence again and hoping that a repeat of this morning wasn't in his near future. He then walked up to the both of them, his hands in his pockets, deciding he would talk to the red haired one, as he seemed to be a lot more calm and amiable than his blonde friend.
"Glad that you decided to come, so the deal is the same as last time, you answer my questions, then I tell you where I got the gem. In case you don't remember, my questions were: A) How do you know about Hollows? B)Can you fight Hollows? C)If you can, then will you train me so I can do the same? and I have a new question as well, What are these Hosts that you were talking about earlier, as I heard you say something about others. Are you guys Hosts? and what are you the Hosts of if you are?"
Backpack full of school supplies
Strange black gem
Swiss Army Knife
Pocket Knife
Wallet with Student I.D., $40, and $150 credit card
