Welcome to Gaia! ::

Where: My dorm room. II With: Minori, in the morning... II Feeling: Tired but, prepared.

Where: My dorm room. II With: Wifey Minori! II Feeling: Clean.

At 4AM Gavin’s alarm went off. Quickly silencing it as he slid it into his sweatshirt front pocket, he pulled up his hood and headed out the door. He had been awake since 3:30 and was ready to go. Usually he slept until his alarm and several rounds of ‘snooze’ went off. But since he had been in bed at 10, he was plenty rested. Moving through the halls and down the stairs to the front door, he enjoyed the morning silence. Yesterday had been chaos around campus. Cars, trucks, moving vans, students, parents, little brothers and sisters and RAs, it was insane. Now, he was finally taking time to look around where he was going to be living. Not too shabby.

Stepping out of the front doors, he took a deep breath of morning air. It smelled like freedom to him. With a rare smile on his face, he pulled his hood up further and set off at a jog. They had sent a map of the school grounds with all of the entrance information crap. The map had been the only thing to catch his attention. A few times as a junior cadet, they had gone on field trips to state parks or national forests to do orienteering. They had a topographical map and a compass. The map was marked where flags were and where the base was. The first one back to base won the exercise. Those were Gavin’s favorite exercises. Now, this map was of a town, not a forest, but he still enjoyed absorbing it. Now, with the map firmly engrained in his mind, he set off jogging through town.

The larger city, where his car sat in Luis’ shop, was about a twenty minute drive away. However, the town were the school was located had enough of the essentials to make do. His feet pounding down the quiet sidewalks, he passed a corner store, a few clothing boutiques, a coffee shop, a garage, gas stations and there was even a little shopping center. The houses ranged in price and condition based on the neighborhood that he was in. All and all, it was a fairly cute, quiet town. Which made Gavin pine for the city. There were no clubs or anything that looked like much of a night life. In fact there were only two restaurants in the sleepy town, a diner and a fast food joint.

Trying to reason that the quiet atmosphere would help him focus and get through this year without distractions, he pushed himself harder and really got to running. By the time that he jogged back to the dorm, the sun was not yet up, but early rays were coloring the distant horizon a lighter blue. Looking down at his watch, it was almost 6AM. Making his way through the dorms again, he heard a few rousing sounds of people waking. It was still early, so he was hoping Rin was still sleeping. Slipping into his room as quietly as possible, he grabbed the clothes that he had set out before he left and a towel and slid into the bathroom.

Showers after a workout were always the best. Washing all of that sweat and grim away made Gavin feel like he was emerging a whole new person. His shower took a little longer than usual, standing under the hot water for a little, letting it hit his back with his steady, rhythmic, pounding rain as he wondered what this first day would be like. The teachers, the students, if he was going to be able to keep his mouth shut and not get into trouble on Day One.

Jumping out of the shower so that he was sure Rin still had enough hot water for whatever her morning routine was, he hurried through the rest of his morning grooming. Emerging from the bathroom dressed for the day, Gavin dropped his workout clothes and towel in his laundry bin and started gathering his books and reviewing his schedule. Math was actually his favorite subject, so he was pleased to see it first thing in the morning. That way if I skip afternoon classes, I won’t be missing anything important. Next was Music. That must have been his dad’s idea. The only instrument that Gavin played was acoustic guitar, not really a ‘school band’ kind of instrument. He could only hope that it was actually more focused on music history and they just listened to ‘80s rock the whole time.

The rest of the day was fairly dull. He was curious though as to what the PE program was like. On the bases it had always had a very military/boot camp style approach. The day ended with a study hall which was actually helpful. If he could get all of his homework done then, he would have the rest of the night free to go to Luis’ and work on his car.

Checking his watch, he decided to head out early and swing past the coffee shop in town before class. That way too, Rin could have the whole room to herself to get ready. Swinging his bag up on his back, he slipped back out of the room and headed out. Almost 7AM the town was waking up. Cars carrying people to jobs and kids to school. A few shops were opened already while others were still dark and quiet. Luckily, the coffee shop catered to the early crowd, so their doors were wide open, sending tantalizing smells of coffee and pastries into the early morning air.

Choosing just a venti black coffee, Gavin strolled back out and made his way to campus. During his run he had figured out where his first class would be, so he found his way over to the building. Not quite ready to go in, Gavin dropped his bag on a low, wide cement wall bordering the courtyard and sat with his coffee, drinking the dark magic down as he watched the morning unfold.

Where: Outside

Rin rubbed her eyes before looking at her clock, 6 am the normal time her and her brother woke up. She was about to say something but then remembered that Ryu wasn't in the room. Grabbing a book she had placed by her bed along with a small book light, Rin opened it up, carefully placing the bookmark down beside her, the covers drawn up over her head. As she began reading she heard someone moving around the room and figured that Gavin must be up, before she could think of anything to say the room door had shut. Rin couldn't help but to let out a small giggle, no one besides Ryu could ever tell when she was awake reading in bed, she felt like a ninja.

Continuing her book for a while longer, Rin turned to the clock and placed the bookmark into the pages. Slidding out of her bed, Rin picked up her Rubix cube and placed down the book before placing the cube down on top of it. Grabbing her clothes for the day, Rin slipped into the bathroom and went through her morning routine. A couple minutes later, Rin walked out and placed her folded pajamas at the foot of her bed out of habit. Grabbing onto her backpack, Rin put it on as she headed towards the door. As soon as she reached for the door she quickly turned around and rushed back over to her desk, grabbing her hat off of it and putting it on. Her brother always had to remind her to put it on during the afternoon so the sun wouldn't irritated her face as much, but most of the time it seemed to slip her mind.

Running through her mental check list one more time she gave a small nod to herself and smiled a bit. Alright, I think I got everything. Rin thought to herself turning back to the door and heading outside. Looking at her schedule, Rin decided to try and find the location of her first class, Always better to arrive early she thought to herself, setting out and adjusting her hat.

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Ryu let out a small chuckle as Marian stated that if anyone gave him problems then she would beat them up. If only she knew what he'd been through... what he'd done. It didn't take him long to fall asleep, and for the first time in a long while, it didn't feel like the weight on the world was baring down on him.

Ryu awoke at six, a normal time for him to wake up. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes he spoke out of habit "Morning Rin." he said before he remembered where he was. Right.... that's going to take a lot of getting use to.... Ryu thought to himself. The two had always shared a room together, no matter where they went to. Getting out of his bed, Ryu quickly grabbed his clothes for the day and went to change, folding his pajama's before placing them at the foot of his bed, another habit that he had. Grabbing his hat the he had placed on his desk, and his backpack, he put them on before heading out of the room glad to see that the sun still hadn't made its way up yet.

Glancing at his schedule, Ryu took a look around at where his wandering around campus had gotten him. He'd passed a couple of buildings on his walk that had seemed pretty interesting, and he had made a mental note to let Rin know about the bookstore. Coming up to the main school building, Ryu walked inside, taking a look at the room number for the first class of the day as he walked.