Welcome to Gaia! ::

The amphibaena boil was bored, he already made a large plate of biscuits and he checked his schedule, no classes today, he flexed his slim but firm body, maybe it's a time for a spar? He grinned mischievously.

Looking from the entrance of gym, he searched for possible target until the back silhouette of a certain ghoul caught his eyes. He smiled, a bit naughty as he sneakily got to the back of her. The horns were so distinctive. He slowly wrapped around and covered her eyes with his hands, with a smiling tone, he asked. "Can you guess who I am? If you do, you will have a lovely reward." Yes, he loved to play little games with his little witch.

"Bingo dear!" He took off his hands and sat next to the witch. "Here's your reward." He untied the ribbon of a small bag, and shoved its towards Maple. "This's my first time to try this, hope it's alright," He leisurely picked one and tossed into his mouth. "Um, not bad~ So- what are you doing here?" He looked around the gym, watching the creeple sparring with a slacking smile, cute year one scarelings? It's a bit surprising to have see the ghoul here, she was interesting in fighting? Thinking of that, he slightly raised his eyebrows and smiled bigger.

What a nice discovery.

"REALLY?" He gave her a hug out of happiness. "I am so afraid I will mess things up. Sorry that I was too busy around the House Cup to serve you, I did mean to take you around the booths." He sighed, being the food catering was fun, but ignoring a dear friend like Maple was another thing, he felt sorry for that. Actually when he cared so much, he used to be alone and just himself......

As for his question, he knew the witch well and patient enough for that, so he just smiled and watched more of the spar ongoing until she opened her mouth. "Studying? Are you interested in sparring?" If she did, he didn't mind to have a spar with her, of course he will hold back. "I can spar with you if you wish?" He asked softly with a smile. "Practicing is so much better than just looking, you need to experience to learn what you did wrong and improve."

When he was explaining, Head was like an audience watching a fighting show. "Hit him! Knock his knee, that's the weakest!" He then turned to yell at his opponent. "Noooo not like that, you should jump up and squat when he swings his scythe!" Adding opinion seemed not to be a good thing when someone was sparring, but the dense Head didn't care at all.

Maple 's exclamation interested the boil, he was curious of what he liked in her eyes. He was just a normal teenager that enjoyed baking and fighting.....What if she knew his nightmare during the wonderland? The gore...bloody...violent dark side of himself. He didn't know her to know any, she only deserved the good things like flowers, beautiful scenery, etc. She was a good friend and an adorable little sister, he witnessed the efforts she made, even though she was inconfident and lack of insecurity, he all saw that, the little bit and little bit of improvement. He'd like to spend more time with them, his friends. It was hard to imagine he would have friends one day, it used to be a distant word. "Haha I am still learning, but thank you, you are such a sweet ghoul." He wrapped his arms around the witch. "I hope you will find what you like~"

"Poke? Do I know them, who's them? So- did it work?" He asked curiously, maybe a potential spar partner, he wished to know more. His suggestion didn't get a yes or a simply nod at all, he rubbed his hair embarrassingly. "Well, so sudden right? It's alright if you prefer not sparring with me." Maybe she prefer to spar with another girl or she already had partners to do so, so for the best of them, he changed the topic. "I think reading is a good hobby, because you will accumulate knowledge, what kinds of book you particularly like?"

He never know what "keep a distance" meant when it came to friends, he treated it as a kind of affection, Andrew was a very good sample of that. So he only thought she was shy but not uncomfortable when the witch squeaked. In his impression, ghouls like to squeak anyway, she used to squeak when she saw something adorable or when she found a nice boutique selling reasonable stuff.

Who's she?

Maple's answer had his thought threw away, "Oh a senior." He was quite amused that the little witch who was once so shy got her social circle enlarged. "Ah that sounds great, I had someone to have my exam together too, Marosa if you know him, he's a faerie." Information exchanged, he was curious but not too eager that he would force the witch to tell him more. If he and Poke were meant to be meet, they would. AJ was looking at Maple, so he noticed her petty action.

So far.

His sensor of Maple's negativity was ringing. The sad voice caught his attention, was she drive herself into the dead end again? The boil had no idea what the witch was thinking because he didn't have mind-reading ability. "To me, knowledge is like sand, when you don't use it, it just accumulates. When you need it, for example, building a sand castle, you will know its power. So my point is don't be sad even if you can't apply them now, just accumulate them as if they're in a treasure room." He smiled and winked. "Fantasy is good, nice pick! I like those involve with adventures and battles. Any is your favourite?"

"Not me, you. Do you wanna spar with me, we can both learn from it, because others can notice better what improvement you can make." He winked, tempting to little witch to muster her courage.

To his surprise, the witch knew the faerie, maybe earlier than him. "I'm glad you've met him too." His reply with a smile. AJ was glad that at least there was someone nice in her mind which might help to drive the negativity and unhappiness away. Nice creeple always do the trick when you think of them, he was lucky to have met some in his boring life. Everyone deserves some nice creeple in their lives, no matter their natures are good or evil.

It was unfortunate that the ghoul didn't try, because the boil totally liked ghouls who had their viewpoints, weird or not. It wasn't exciting if your partner only knew to agree with everything you said, he was easier to be attracted by ghouls having a strong personality and will go against him. Fun as he said. "Improvement can result in satisfaction, though it won't bring the same effect as our essence. So you are in?"

The boil pushed himself slightly backward and checked the ghoul from top to bottom, before he smiled with a light jokey aura. "Um - I don't think I can tear such a lovely set of clothes - let's get changed? I will be here waiting for you to come back."

AJ would only do something that benefit the witch, he didn't know why, but he cherished her a lot. Be honest, he wasn't a professional so his opinion might be wrong in some ways, he just stayed what he thought, it can be shallow, it can be deep. He wasn't the one to decide that, but the listener. All the boil wanted to do was to encourage the ghoul to try things, for AJ, she was like a little sister that needs his caring and spoil. Anyway, AJ was dense about relationship, it was never his first concern. However, she surely had a place in his heart, together with Andrew.

Ah, so she said yes. Being with the ghoul for almost a year, he would understand what she said easily. "Are you sure?" When she said she didn't need to change her lovely clothes. "Ah, I see. you are right. Sometimes surprises come so easily." He recalled the moment there were shadows everywhere in the school and they had to fight with them. AJ never mind her slowness, he patiently waited until she finished the action and ready for the spar practice.

"You are ready, great! Let's make it clear first, you can use your full power to attack me without worries, I would evaluate the situation and strike back with a force that you can handle. Most of the time, I would be just defending, but I might give you sudden attack so that you know how to deal with those next time. Are you okay with that?" He smiled, briefing the witch while leisurely towards her.

"Oh we need a safe word also, in case I lose control, think of one? Just one word will do, if you yell that, I will know to stop." He suggested, grinning to the witch and flexing his muscles, better not to have spasms in front of Maple. "You'd better do some warm-up before we started." He suggested, finishing his and moved backward. Maple could see the skin of the boil slowly covered by scales of a darker color, black nails extended into some sort of claws.