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 Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 12:55 pm
Far from being insulted, Sora's raised eyebrow and slight head tilt indicated surprise and approval at Yamazaki's request about the syllabus. "I'll make sure you get a copy." She agreed, as Cait grinned gleefully. "Mine too! And I can get Graham's and Coach's and San-sensei and Logan's."
"I think I'll get Logan's." Sora's expression didn't change, but the air she held indicated a wry amusement. "He's - rather formal."
"Aww, it's be easy, Sora! I can get into his classroom with my eyes closed."
"Yes, and he'd probably have an apolexy when he found out you were in his things again."
"I thought epoxy was a glue." Cait said in all innocence, though her eyes sparkled with an almost infectious mischief. Rune put a hand to her forehead as fourth and fifth figures appeared in the door, both smudged with quite a bit of dust.
The closest was a young woman that had the same lean, competent agility to her body as Sora did. Her hair was long and straight, a gorgeous dark blond, while her face was one of high cheekbones and a nearly-pointed chin that still looked determined. Her eyes were calm, almost cool, and their color could have been blue, green, or silver, it was impossible to tell even when looking straight at her. She wore what might have been called a scoop-necked black T-shirt if the entire bottom half hadn't been torn away from a few inches below her chest. Over that came an open red jacket that was almost as short, looking oddly like the top half of a marching band director's outfit with its white inside and gold trim. A pair of dark pants that seemed to be a combination of leggings and durable jeans were slung low on her hips, a gold stripe down the outside of each leg to match the jacket. A common swordbelt and matching double-blade sheaths on either side housed what were probably lethal blades. Her boots were the same crimson shade as the jacket, hitting nearly mid-shin, with their tops flared out like the shirt cuffs on the jacket and decorated with more gold piping. A flat pendant of some worked, bleach-white stone hung low from a thin gold chain around her neck, with gold earrings in her ears and a few gold bracelets on her wrists. Her entire waist was banded with tattoos, thin black scrollwork lines in elegant patterns.
She also was not pleased. "Will someone please tell me," she said, her alto voice low and slightly ominous, "why the hell I have to deal with this?"
'This' was apparently the final arrival, a slim, petite woman maybe a year or so younger. With long brown hair and a rather elfish cast to her features, she was outfitted in a strange sort of halter top / short dress combination that tied around her neck, but left her shoulders bare and had two types of sleeves. The inside sleeve was tight and purple, ending at mid-forearm; the outer was short and belled, with slits cut on top and below and a cuff of purple squares with gold embroidery. Like the outer sleeves, the rest of the dress was cream-colored, the flared skirt hitting at about mid-thigh and decorated with runic designs in gold and purple thread. A leather belt with the same designs was tied around her waist, flaring down into a fringe on her left side. Beneath it all, she wore purple leggings, and short brown leather boots with more purple / gold embroidery around the cuffs. She looked slightly abashed, her young-seeming face pink-cheeked. "I didn't mean it." She objected.
----------------------------------------------------
Cody grinned, Rin hastily stifling a laugh at both Ani's burp and Steve's "poofy stuff" comment. Ramene's face warmed further, and her smile made her seem almost friendly. "Close enough - now, concentrate, and you've got it."
Several things happened at that moment, none of them quite expected. With a flash of blue and red light, the air around little Ani was suddenly filled with cloud on cloud of warm, hissing steam, tinged with pale blue and a vibrant, flaming red. Even stranger, it smelled like hot-springs minerals. His small form was completely obscured as the steam bunched and twisted lazily around him.
Steve didn't seem to fare quite as well as intended, either, though his results were a bit different. With a sharp and audible ka-thump, a large package landed just next to the little boy, its end still trailing bits of the sin'oka energy-line that he'd grabbed and pulled. And Steve himself seemed to be missing his shirt . . . and a sock . . . and the opposite shoe . . .
Angel blinked and twitched the stick Steve had left beside her, pointing. Next to it sat Steve's missing clothes. "Stevie make cwose go poof." She clapped, apparently pleased with his effort. Horo Horo and the rest of the kids looked similarly impressed, Daimon giggling as he and Ceres tried to capture some of Ani's steam with their small hands. "Pooooof!"
(*cracks up* Not bad for their first attempts - Cody's first ended up with him in his undies in the middle of a field, with flowers growing in his hair and covered in mud. Of course, he was older and tried to do two things at once.)
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Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:41 am
Steve grinned wide at Angel and the midgets that were cheering him on. Triumphant he made something go poof, he took up the package as best he could in his hands, hoisting it upwards.
"Nin-jaaah!" he cried out. And that was all it took before this new curiousity took hold over him. He set the package that he had poof next to him. With a glance at the gathered kids and somewhat adult supervision, he started to tear into it, wondering what sort of ninja stuff was in some box that was stuck to the sin'oka line.
-------------------------------------
Stranger and stranger still, and deeper down the rabbit hole, was this place going.
Yamazaki was a bit off set, by the new arrivals. More in particularly, because one of them was armed. Now sure, he knew swordsmen that wouldn't leave their blades anywhere. She might be one of them. Or it might be because she thought she might be waylayed between their school, and this place. He doubted that she brought the swords, to deal with anything in the safety, supposed, of the school, or to assault someone in the adoption center, after all.
"Mind if we take a walk out of this room? I still have some issues to discuss. But with all of Rune's work," he said, gesturing to the piles and mountains of paperwork, "it's getting cramped in here."
"Besides, all this talk about schools and Steve going off is just reminding me I need to spend more time with the kid while I can."
While yes, he would love to continue this discussion, maybe test out a few of the teachers on their subjects, and so forth. He really was missing the kid. No telling if he was doing one of those first time things that parentals just hate to miss. Thus he got up, bowing slightly towards the gathered faculty, and to Rune, before he picked his way out, and back towards the midget holding room.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 2:03 pm
Ani heard the strange hissing sound as he started to feel hot and muggy, He slowly opens one eye then the other opened in shock. Ani was in a cloud of pretty smoke! He couldn't see through the smoke, his little voice is heard slightly muffled by the steam. "Ay! Where evyone goes? What Ani do?" Ani gets into crawling position slowly reaching out with his hand, pressing it down he feels solid ground then slowly moves forward until his head is looking out of the mist. "Did me and Stevie go poof?"
----------------------------------------
Wolfey eyed the new arrivles. If not for the swords strapped to her hips, he would of thought she was a band majorette or maybe the band director! "Curiouser and curiouser..." Wolfey mumbles under his breath. He nods in greetings to them both thinking the younger of the two was into some mischief and got caught.
"I agree with Mr. Yamazaki, its getting a bit crowded in here." He starts to weave his way through the women, Yamazaki's anxiousness starting to rub off on him.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 3:30 pm
(*edited 'cause it's here* Muahahaha, postie!)
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:25 pm
Caitlyn grinned and caught up with Wolfey and Yamazaki before the rest had made their way out of the room. "Don't worry 'bout Siker - she's got a sort of curse on her, it makes her irritable." She assured the two Guardians, not unkindly. "She's just that way, kinda. And considering what we go through, it's custom for us to go armed."
Extending her hand, she revealed a small but servicable dagger that had been concealed in her sleeve. Looking curious, she glanced up at them. "Don't tell me you don't do it here?"
"Sometimes, Cait." Rune trotted up - having abandoned her paperwork for the moment - and sighed wryly. "But most of us don't carry open."
--------------------------------
"Almost, squirt." Cody laughed, ruffling Ani's hair before turning his attention back to Steve and the box. It seemed to be resisting the toddler's efforts to open it, though its lid was certainly stuck tight enough with several layers of tape. Weirder still, there seemed to be air holes along the top of the sides, and small squeakings were heard from within. "What the he - heck is that?"
Ramene frowned, sitting up. "I have no idea." Rin, too, shook her head. "Beats me." The little fox-girl said, gathering up Steve's clothes idly. "Those marks on the side look like Aunt Syblin's stuff."
(*snicker* Poor Syblin.)
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:35 pm
"I go armed. When I'm going to war," Yamazaki pointed out, then smiled, using his teeth to slide the glove off his left hand, showing the small, blue runic marking on his palm, "But otherwise, like the vast majority of people, I trust my abilities, my body, and my mind to keep me away from needing a weapon, if you catch my drift."
"You gotta understand. I like that guy. Really do. When the teachers, masters of their arts, which probably include magic, and unarmed combat, have to walk around armed to the teeth like their going to war... that doesn't really inspire me to send the kid away to learn from you. Ya keen?"
And with that, he slid on his glove again, and left the room. Really, he was missing Steve, and wanted to get back to him.
---------------------------------------------
Steve frowned and fumed, at the box that was being very, very resistant to his efforts. It was his ninja gift, after all, gained by his ninja skills... So open already!
Steve resorted to shaking the box wildly, chewing on it, andstill trying to tear one of the holes in it, even bigger, since the tape was foiling his attempts to get inside.
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Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 12:26 pm
Wolfey smiles at Yamazaki's comment. "My father use to say something similar to that... 'Trust your training and you abilities and you will survive any battle.' he also said always keep a back up." He grins then pulls the back of his shirt up just enough for them to see the gleam of a dagger hilt in a scabbard hidden under his shirt and kilt.
Wolfey gets a little closer to Cait to make a quiet comment. "Cait that woman's weapons didnt bother me so much, but what was with her clothes?"
--------------------------------
Ani appricated Cody's praise but was still slightly pouty for not going poof. He crawls out of his slow disapating steam bath, to see the thingy Stevie poofed into the room. "What dat Stevie? Me no know we can poof tings in!" He giggles feeling Steve's excitment at his difficult to open ninja gift!
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Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 9:56 am
Cait squeaked slightly, eyes bright as she tried desperately to muffle her laughter at Wolfey's comment. "It - it doesn't usually look that bad." She finally managed, voice a bit strangled with suppressed giggles. "The whole curse thing - it makes her slightly goofy. That whole yelling about the sheet? It basically makes her a nitwit when she tries to do certain things."
"Surely a weapons master would carry their weapons even when they aren't at war?" Sora questioned Yamazaki quietly, catching up to them in the hallway. Her tone was calm, with a hint of curiousity. "After all, your runes may be considered weapons, and it could be argued that you don't need to have them etched into you. And they do detour most casual thugs."
"Besides, if you're a pirate, you carry a weapon." Siker piped up, her words loud and roughly-accented as they had been when she yelled from the other room. Eyes widening slightly, she stopped short, then cursed soundly in another tongue, glaring at Syblin. The younger woman shrank back a bit, looking even more sheepish. "Sorry, Siker."
Caitlyn smirked. "Curses are fun."
Rune, meanwhile, was staring at the disappearing steam clouds. "What on earth?"
-----------------------------------------
The box gave slightly where Steve had been digging at it, and the squeaks inside became louder, a small round 'hand' limb poking from within. Cody trotted over and motioned the little boy back, flicking open a small switchblade style knife. "Here, let's cut that tape and see what's in here, huh?"
Rin nodded, and Ramene raised an eyebrow, glancing at the hallway. "Hurry up, Mom an' the rest are almost here." She said calmly.
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Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 1:35 pm
"Well Caitlin, I can call you that, right?" Yamazaki said, smiling a bit, slowing down his pace to be at her side, throwing his arm around her shoulder carefully, "I'm still a bit on edge, you know? Barely used to having anyone live with me, much less a kid, right? Then today I find out about some army apparently hunting you down, the guild, the academy, and all that. No warning at all. Most the teachers seem a little... off... and armed. Nothing against all of you of course, just brings back memories of my own schooling. That'd be the sort of experience, I'd want to spare that kid. Now... I have to give you the benefit of the doubt. But my gut tells me otherwise, you know? My good friend Rune, has been ill at ease ever since I asked about this. My own instincts says this will be a bad thing. And seldom are these things wrong."
"So... I will go be your smith, and the kid will go, as I don't seem to have a choice in the matter. But I will always have my eye on him," he whispered at her, "And I will step in and make your lives miserable if you hurt the kid in any way. You keen? Just nod and smile, nod and smile. And remember, I'll be watching, even if you don't think I'm anywhere around, I'll be there. No matter what."
And with that, he patted Cait's back, and walked into the room, seeing Sulfuric steam, babies, Steve, and a box...
Yeah...
Where was Rin? Spotting her immediately he cleared his throat at her, giving her a chance to explain what's been happening.
-----------
Steve jumped, giving a little yelp as he felt a finger poking at him from the box. Then Cody stepped forward, with his offer to cut the box. Steve wiggled away from it a bit, though still kept his ninja kung fu death grip upon the box, refusing to let go til he knew what was inside.
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Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 8:04 pm
(*strangled giggle, snerk* Omg, you have absolutely no idea how confused Cait is now. *pats her* It's like "Wait, what? Hurt the kid - Rune doesn't like - I'm not off, am I?" o.O gonk Caitlyn's never dealt with anyone remotely military related, and was completely raised in the Academy; as far as she's concerned, Yamazaki's speaking complete greek. Of course, the actual Academy is fairly different from the English use of the word, partly why there's a problem. There really isn't an English translation for the type of schooling they have, so Academy was the closest they could come.
*snickers* Though Rune's actually not ill-at-ease about the Academy - she's spent her time in Aimee and Siker's heads, she knows they're the good guys and the schooling's kind of cultural. She's more worried about the fact that the bad guys around her are starting to realize "ooo, look, lots of magical people here.")
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 1:10 pm
(( Sorry didnt look in to see if Arc had posted yet! *L* ))
He smiles at Cait trying to contain her laughter, then in a lower tone that before. "Maybe you can tell me about her curse later?" He looks over his shoulder seeing the rest of the crowd had filed out of the room. At Runes words Wolfey quickly turns his head to face forward, his eyes go wide seeing what looked like smoke! Is that smoke!?!?!
Ani mouth just hung open when he saw the claw stick out of the box. Whatever it was, it was alive and moving!
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 1:36 pm
Caitlyn stared after Yamazaki, beyond confused and looking almost hurt. Hurt a kid? That was insane? Who the hell had Rune given little Stevie to, that he would think such a thing?
Of course, if it had been anyone else but Caitlyn, they might have thought Yamazaki was insane. But Cait's powers were intense, stronger than almost anyone's, and she could tell the magesmith only wanted what was best for the little boy. He was - a good guardian, sort of. She shook her head. She just didn't understand, and like as not, her emotions were leaking perfectly well into Yamazaki's head.
-------------------------
"Hey, Mom, look!" Rin grinned up at the approaching people. "We found a neat little box, and it's got something aliv - "
"NOOooooo!"
Syblin yelped, diving past Rune to snag the box from Cody. "You can't open that yet!" She stared wide-eyed at Steve, looking both horrified and impressed. "I thought I put this away!" She wailed under her breath. "How did you get it out?!"
Rune's eyebrows rose. "Syb? What the heck do you have in there?"
"Do NOT tell me you were making constructs again." Siker added, her tone slightly ominous.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 2:56 pm
Wolfey walks over and picks up Ani, as he picks the boy up his tail wagging wildly back and forth."DA-UH! DA-UH! Mez and Stevie tried to poof! Me jus make wet 'moke was pwetty though, but but but Stevie poofed some his cloffs and den make box poof in!"
He looked around confused... poofing? Sees the box moving with Steve and Syblin holding onto it, then the fading smoke slightly relieved there was no fire, all the new teachers of the school milling around.... He laughs outloud almost hysterically as he sits himself down holding Ani. "I just came here to ask Rune if she would watch Ani during this day this week! Now all this, an academy, possible inter-deminsional war, AND my kid's element is fire!!" He looks around unseeing, his eyes unfocused in thought.
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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 3:19 pm
Trice damned telepaths, Yamazaki thought, feeling a few emotions coming at him, emotions that weren't entirely his. Which was never a god sign. It only served to remind him he needed to make some anti-mind hacking charms for himself and Steve, when he got home, and after a few other projects that were now on his plate, because of this.
And then Syblin freaked out over a box... That apparently Steve was responsible for. All very confusing, but very interesting. He walked over towards Steve, ruffling his hair lightly, "Way to go little ninja."
Steve beemed at the praise, "I learned Ninja Magic! Mister Big Kid and Other Big Kid taught me! Wanna see? Wanna See?!"
Yamazaki laughed a bit, looking around, seeing his clothes were off the box was apparently trouble, and shook his head a bit, "Soon. I got a special place I'm going to take you tomorrow. There you can show me all your ninja magic, and I'll even help you use it even better."
Now if you could imagine a look of pure, simple joy, that would be what crossed the kid's face, as he leapt around, kicking and throwing his arms up, wooting loudly, and generally having a good time working out his excitement.
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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 9:54 pm
Syblin blushed a dark crimson to the roots of her hair, though she giggled at Steve's display. "Um, sorry Stevie." She grinned at him, awkwardly balancing the box as she dug in a pocket. "I didn't mean to yell, and you getting this box out of hiding is a very impressive try. These come for later, you can't have them just yet, but I've got another gift for you to celebrate with - erm, somewhere in here - "
With an exasperated sigh, Siker stepped forward and took the box, now quite dented, ripped and squashed at one end, and settled it on the nearest table. "I swear by all that's holy, Syb, if you manage to blow something else up - "
"She'll be just like Mom!" Rin beamed, hugging the mage-girl 'round the waist before dancing with Steve. Siker paused, Rune's cheeks went red, and Sora snickered. Angel giggled and cheered, waving her hands. "Stevie nina! Good Nina!"
Caitlyn, on the other hand, blinked and glanced at Yamazaki with a faintly sheepish look, the emotions fading from his head as she caught his curse. She had a very distinct feeling that the mage-smith didn't like her - or any of the teachers, really. It was an odd feeling for her, to say the least, and it made her uncomfortable even as she smiled at Steve's happy display. Somehow, she was sure this wasn't going to resolve itself soon.
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