Courtyard (North)

[Spinerella91]

Sapphire watched as Baeli walked away, "Hope she's okay." She said quietly. She noticed Kreig's posture and feelings change. He want from strong and conifedent to nervous, worried and getting angry.

He kept rubbing his finger and she could see the tan lines from where a ring should be. She watched him carefully as he looked like he was about to freak out. She wondered if he lost a ring or if it was just a nervous habbit.

With a hint of anger creeping into his voice, Kreig said, "Come, I need to get something from the gate area." Without waiting for a reply, Kreig ran off towards the gates, still rubbing his incomplete finger.

Sspphire jumped almost of her bench in shock from what had just happened. "Oh!" She said standing. "Coming!!" She yelled running after him towards the gates.  

[makoto346]

Makoto journeyed into the southern courtyard hoping there were no bullys n such."Wow.." Makoto was astonished about the beauty of the courtyard. He spoted a tree and went on all fours and climbed the tree with great ease and layed down on a branch."Hmmm this school is amazing" Makoto layed there adorably like a baby kitten and dozed off.  

[ginseku]

It was as it had always been, only, things had returned to this status, instead of remaining that way, which was frustrating in and of itself; Ria was empty. Even through that short period in which everyone who had mattered returned for a period, Ria had still not regained the attractive presence it once had, that magnetic energy which enticed people to remain; so now, Ria was a ghost-school again. The management crew for Ria were the only people Ginseku saw around at all now, and even they were beginning to thin out, looking for new places of employment.
Ginseku and Austin both sighed, the latter taking a drag from his cigarette beneath the tree which shaded him, and the former simply sitting there, almost passively, at the fountain. They were taking a short break from their busy lives to train again, and the only place that they could think of to re-sharpen their skills was, obviously, Ria. Much to their own despair, though, since leaving Ria during the repopulation, Ria had cleared out yet again and was as empty as before.
"...So, what do we do now, then?"
Austin ashed the long gray tip of his cancer stick to his side, taking another drag of it after asking Ginseku's opinion. Ginseku could only remain silent as he gazed across the un-kept grounds, staring at the ridiculously tall grass and the tons of dandelions that had gathered there.
"I'm not exactly sure, to be honest. I was hoping at least the Arena instructor had stuck around, because then at least we'd have a partner to train with. But i guess we're stuck with each other..."
Ginseku scratched his scruffy hair slightly, evening it out.
"Bah, what the hell happened here?..."  

[Pearlholy]

‘You always have to come fifteen minutes in advance in order to give your employer a good impression’ was what people always recommended. Thus, as a… hmmm… good mercenary, Diamond Hematite tried to come early at Ria Gates in hopes to meet her employer and protégé. The 5’6’’ woman stood by the gates, her back against the wall of bricks, lighter in hands and cigarette between her lips, ankles crossed. An hour past and her employer was very late. Head low, hand on her hand to conceal her face, the twenty-eight year old swordswoman turned to look at what was beyond the gates with interest. It was the sound of footsteps that caught her attention. The man before her was not her employer. She was greatly displeased yet the stranger before her will not have the luxury to see it; her frown was concealed by the shade of her hat and her sunglasses. The short bald man gave her a letter and bowed apologetically after explaining why her employer was not here to greet her. Then, within a split second later, the man scurried off, back to the school institution. Hm. He must have been very busy. She turned the letter around; the seal on the enveloped proved the man was not bullshitting.

“I’ve heard late employers but I’ve never heard of late messengers. Humans are truly unpredictable creatures.”

It was a voice that only belonged to a living creature of a masculine gender. The male expressed interest in the man and the letter but there was a hint of disappointment and offense in his tone. However, low lives like them did not have the luxury to be so outspoken to complain about it. Walls have ears.

“Well, what does it say?”

A quick glance over her shoulders was all Onyx needed to fall silent. According to the letter from her employer, their meeting will be postponed until much later on today. However, she was free to walk around Ria High and even provided her an employee member card and a map. Minus one possible hindrance. She pushed herself off the prickly red bricked wall and passed through the gates with no problems.

Instead of exploring however, Diamond Hematite and Onyx rested at the northern courtyard. She sat against a tree and on the unkept grass. For a school, the place was surely unpopulated. She knew for a fact Ria High students reside in the institutition, yet the place seem unpopulated and even deserted. Perhaps there was a school field trip today? And event? Maybev. Still, the place lack maintenance. Even if this period was the vacation time, logically speaking, there should always be someone responsible to keep the place neat and clean. As a person who grew up in the slums, Diamond didn’t mind. Onyx however, felt much needed to say otherwise, “I’ve never heard of any prestigious school with such strange taste in appearance.” Diamond hummed in response, looking out in the distance, and pensive as usual. Her mind was still stuck on as to why her employer was not there to see her. Onyx paid no mind to her lack of response, instead, he took the liberty to change to his panther form and sat in the lovely grass. He purred and snuggled to the green herbs. “A true feline delight! Maybe they shouldn’t mow the grass at all. I could use a rich bed such as this one.

“What the hell happened here?”

“Indeed! What on earth happened here, humans!”

Even though Diamond was not the one who asked the question, Onyx seemed to be eager and thirsty for human interaction. “Maybe the lawnmower man will be here shortly,” Diamond finally replied, before tilting her head to the side, looking up at the two, presumably, Ria students. She didn’t feel the need to speak, however, both of them were standing in her line of vision, preventing and blocking her view. From where she was sitting, the grass shouldn’t have hid her and her companion at all.  

[ginseku]

Ginseku's eyes drifted quickly across the grounds, searching for the source of the inquisitor.
Austin remained silent, instead yawning slightly then taking another drag of his cigarette, seeming almost totally uninterested.
His free hand floated up nonchalantly and pointed out who Ginseku was failing to notice, without looking. It was a panther and presumably a human girl. Ginseku couldnt really tell who had asked but the voice had sounded masculine, in it's own right.
"I was hoping someone else could answer me that question, honestly. I'm not quite sure myself....But from what I can gather, the Teachers went missing first, and then the Students weren't really that tempted to stay...So the both of them just started to clear out, one by one. At least, it should seem that way."
Ginseku began to stand slowly before reaching up and outwards to stretch his arms slightly, when something struck home in his noggin.
'Wait a sec..'
But Austin was already on that lead, asking since he had been listening intently and feeling out the situation slightly.
"So, if you're here without knowing, the only possible answers are this...You're either completely new here, or you're 'Visiting'. And by Visiting, i mean trespassing... Even returning students like ourselves at least have an idea of what's happened. We've checked the Active Students Log, already. Including myself and Ginseku, there's only one other Active student...and he's a male. You couldn't possibly be new, because the admissions Rep is gone and I checked that list, too; the last new registration was at least a year ago. So who are you, then?"  

[Pearlholy]

Oh? Playing with reasoning now? Very interesting. “Trespassing? Now that sounds rather amusing!” Onyx got walked around, as if he was trying to stomp on the grass to make a bed. His yellow eyes never left the two male students of Ria High. While one seemed indifferent by his and his master’s presence, Onyx showed a lot of interest in both. After all, human were truly fascinating living creatures. “Trespassing to sit in a place like this sounds a little absurd.” If a feline could smile, Sardonyx would have done it. “People may have left the institution but unlike humans, robots do not need to rest. Android Lilith, was that her name? Clearly if we were trespassing, we wouldn’t be able to sit here, without any wounds. Trespassing has an aggressive ring to it. Trespassing would imply hostile behaviour. Hostility rarely goes through the front door, human. We, for a fact, are not hostile people, trespassing… though I do like the sound of visiting.” The black panther purred and snuggled its head on Diamond’s arm.

When Onyx took the liberty to speak to the younger males, Diamond pulled out her I.D. card and clipped it on her vest pocket. It was to reinforce the fact they were no trespassers but it would still leave them room to believe that both she and Onyx have newly arrived here. While the smoker’s reasoning was sound, Diamond had no pleasure to chit-chat. Instead, she tilted her head to the side to study the men. As she did so, she lit a cigarette as well. If she was going to get scolded for this, she’ll blame it on the students.

“But for someone who happened to be residing here for some time now, you also don’t seem to have much of a clue as to what’s going on here. What if we’ve been here for a long time? Why can’t we have the rights to be just as ignorant? It is not because this is our first encounter that it’s my first time here. Were you the one who also checked the registration two years before or even three? Also, you said student log, what makes you believe that my master is a student here and not a staff member? Hmmm… I wonder… Why would they have a student do such chore? Lack of staff member is barely excusable…”

Onyx walked circled the tree Diamond was sitting against, and continued, “We are not students, we are not trespassers, and we are certainly not visitors according to my master’s I.D. card. Yet my master does not display any traits similar to a teacher… Now tell me, what are we?”

“We are who you want us to be,” Diamond finally interjected, trying to put an end to Onyx’s monologue. He was far from done. “Who knows, we could be your lawnmower people simply taking our break. We could have been here for a long time—yet you could not have noticed us unless you were skipping classes. Regardless, the identification card claims that the woman here is Diamond Hematite.” He lowered his head, bowing to them, “And I go by the name of Sardonyx.” He paused. “You owe us the courtesy of telling us your names as well, I believe.”
 

[ginseku]

The Panther had a silver tongue, that was certain. It was somewhat irritating to find someone who could speak as clearly as himself, if not better. There were a few holes that he had managed to miss, due to the fact that he was nothing more than a student, he was inable to put in a teacher id number to verify the teachers list. He didn't see any real need to at the time, and though Austin would've done so if he believed there were teachers he could swipe the card from, he could not find any.
The woman seemed rather...bored, in a word, at all of this, though the panther seemed interested enough. However, aside from Ginseku, Austin was not in the habit of carrying on conversations with animals, with Ginseku being a special case.
Ginseku, however, heard something that caught his ears and twisted a few gears in his head. Words jumbled slightly.
"We are who you want us to be."
"Oh? Is that so..."
Ginseku could not help but grin somewhat, at that statement.
His eyes narrowed a bit, and his face had somewhat of a challenging nature about it now. As he leaned forward slightly, his hair overshadowed his face so you could make out his features a bit better.
"Does that mean you're taking requests, then?"
Austin wanted to stand up and bonk Gin good for that one, but instead, he exhaled a long stream of smoke, shaking his head somewhat.
When given their names, Austin did not reply at first, allowing Ginseku to take the opportunity first since he was trying to look cool.
"I'm Ginseku Shirokiba, and this guy here is..."
Ginseku turned towards Austin somewhat for a moment, then looked back at Diamond.
"I'm the shade beneath the tree and the relief in the wind. Austin Gonzales."
With the simple utterance of his name, a thin, aromatic breeze blew through the courtyard, almost as if on cue. It settled after a couple seconds.  

[Pearlholy]

“Very poetic, young man. In fact, I used to write poems myself. Well… recite would be a better term for it.” Onyx replied chuckling to Austin. He did not like the way Gin addressed himself to his master but there was no need to feel defensive and protective. The human did not seem to have any ill intentions towards Diamond.

“I don’t take requests from clients who are not serious. Requests with a price,” Diamond replied nonchalantly after getting back up on her feet and dusting her clothes off. She flicked her cigarette bud away, having it tossed to the garbage can. They were on school ground; loitering was not tolerated. Dusting her gloved hands, the older woman looked at Austin and Gin. Now that she had a vague idea of who these guys were and an outline of their personalities, she would excuse herself and explore the institution.

Onyx, however, had something else of his agenda.

“A request must be equivalent to the price of a grand tour in Ria.” The feline purred in amusement. “How about it? They clearly did not need a tour, especially if they claimed to be in Ria many years ago. However, it was a nice pretext to see how Diamond would interact with people who weren’t related to her current job and mission. So far, she remained the calm and indifferent person that she had always been. Truly admirable. Even though Diamond did not approve of Onyx’s proposition, she did not deny Onyx’s need for amusement. Being limited to one person to talk to all the time could be slightly boring.

"Name your request Shirokiba."

 

[ginseku]

Austin made note of the fact that the two characters before them now did not have any real knowledge of Ria's interior. Though it wasnt exactly valuable information, it was something of relevance, so he pocketed that for later.
Ginseku, however, was far more interested in the woman, than noticing small things like that.
"What makes you think i'm not serious? Certainly my demeanor may be relaxed...but i don't ask for things i dont care to have."
Ginseku paced slightly, taking a slow walk to his right with careful, slow steps, almost foreboding in a way. It was something like a slow circle around Diamond, but it wasn't a very large one.
He observed her clothing, and the way she carried herself. He noticed the curvatures of her muscles, and the arch of her back.
"Oh? It seems you have some skills.."
Upon circling around front again and coming into sight once more, Ginseku nodded slightly.
"Alright then. I'll give you a tour...my request can wait until afterwards."
Ginseku turned his head slightly, looking back at Austin.
"You comin?"
Austin stood, stretching slightly.
" Meh. I think I'll pass for now. I'll meet you up later..."
Austin placed his hands together in a mixed-seal, and the dirt and broken grass beneath him swirled upwards in a flare, then quickly settled after engulfing him; when it had receded, he was no longer there.  

[Pearlholy]

Onyx licked its’ paws as he listened to the three humans talk. Could it be that Gin was making advances on Diamond? Clearly the man was shameless or had strange taste in women. As a living creature who has been in the company of humans, he observed that men usually took liking to younger women. The black panther knew for a fact Diamond was much older than him. It appears that Gin was looking for some entertainment. Could he be scheming something at the moment? Hmmm, these two students intrigued him greatly but it made everything much more interesting.

“If I truly lacked skills, I wouldn’t be on Ria grounds, now would I? Even if I didn’t, the insititution recognises people with potential.” The only person right now Diamond felt she should be wary of was Gin’s companion, Austin Gonzales. He was quiet yet very observant. She paid no mind to the way Gin was circling her. As a person who has been surrounded and worked in a milieu predominantly populated by men, his behaviour was did not bother her. She crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side, allowing the man to look as much as he pleased. Right now, she was more preoccupied with how she should deal with both Austin and Gin from now on. Secretly, Diamond hoped today would be their last encounter. To see them again, and often, would hinder her. By then, she would not be able to roam freely around Ria as much as she would like to.

“Spoken like a true ninja,” Onyx commented as Austin left them. “Such a shame though, I feel like I may be the third wheel from here on. Conversations are more constructive when in pairs.” After heaving a sigh, the panther added, “Protocol would strongly oblige us to know your price before you leave--.” Diamond’s hand rose to silence her only friend. “After you.” She gave gin a smile and gestured him to take the lead.

This was one way to pass the time until she would find the person she was looking for. “Meow” With that, Onyx took a leap. As he jumped at Diamond’s direction, the panther transformed back to his black cat plushie form and hung on Diamond’s left shoulder. “So tell me Gin. Why are you still here if the rest have… presumably left? What is keeping you here?”


 

[ginseku]

"Nothing is keeping me here...I came back to train a bit. Sometimes what you need is a break from the everyday...I figured i'd come back here for a bit and sharpen up some of my skills."
Ginseku turned slowly and made his way to one of the doors leading out of the courtyard, keeping Diamond a certain distance from him. This was not out of precaution but rather out of courtesy so that she would lower her defenses a bit around him, since he was a foreign person in her life. He pushed the door open and held it for her, and when she had come through it, he let it shut behind him with a thud.
"Lets see, lets see. Where to start...I suppose the living quarters would be the best start, if you're staying on-campus, but...are you?"
Ginseku turned to face Diamond for this question, pausing for a moment in the hallway before they proceeded. Since he was able to work in the question in a way where it wasn't awkward, Ginseku would know where Diamond was staying now, if she had a room on-campus. Each step Ginseku took, however little, was taking him closer to where he wanted to be, in essence.