Welcome to Gaia! ::

And why would Kaleb not be the center of the conversation? He was the one they had lost base with.

Relm could not refrain from snickering, her hand going to her mouth as she leaned into Keme. "That's what we were talking about before." She hoped Kaleb would not mind her filling in a little. "Seems Scholar here doesn't think he's up to snuff at thinking on his feet. Hence, the sparing."

"DO you need someone to spar with, Kaleb? And in what way? You seemed interested in swords earlier." Rikku has the look of one whose mind is both on the subject but still occasionally blown by the other news.

Naruto rubs at his chin with his free hand, thinking, "Well, I can create clones of myself, maybe that would help when you have multiple attackers on you!" he suggests with a smile.

Keme leans back and decides to keep quiet, not having anything to add to the conversation since he wasn't really much of a fighter or had any type of special skill, wrapping an arm around Relm's shoulders to keep her warm.

Kaleb brighened up, Naruto's clones would certainly add a whole new level of difficulty to his practice, and Rikku's different weapons would keep him from getting too used to one style. He smiled lopsidedly. "I-I would really appreciate it if you guys wanted to practice with me sometime."

His smile faded quickly when Relm spoke up though, and he began to look a little apprehensive. "I-I don't think there is anything you can do." He said quickly, and involuntarily shuddered a bit as he glanced down at his book. May as well tell them now and get it over with. "Th-the part of the examination I'm worried about is called the Self-Affliction task. It's believed that the best estimate of a healer's skill under pressure was to see what was the worst injury they could successfully heal themselves of. It-it's being petitioned against now because it's unethical, but I can't afford to wait until they change the test." He chewed on his lower lip a bit, and couldn't find the courage to look up at any of them. "Unless you try to kill me, th-theres n-nothing you can do."

Both girls paled at the concept. "Fayths!! That's horrible!" Rikku bit her lip, wanting to stop Kaleb from doing so somehow but remembering how futile it was trying to stop Yuna from going on her Pilgrimage even when her cousin knew it would end in her death. Meanwhile, Relm's mind was already whirling with possibilities as she tried to find an alternative. "No... it makes sense in a way, Keme. A healer has to be able to..." Relm shuddered, snuggling in her WhiteMage garb into Keme's side as she remembered. "Painting was not always quickest in a battle & since I had the largest store of magic there were many times for my companions I was the only Healer..." She closed her eyes. "Being smallest... I would fall easily...." Shaking herself Relm opened her eyes, focusing on the here & now. "I suppose I could be ready with a Life 3... too bad we can't cast Life on you in such a way that you'll automatically come back if you go to far."

Rikku stopped in her sad contemplations, suddenly perking up. "You mean like Auto-Life? I can cast that. I think. Haven't needed to use it since Yunie's Pilgrimage."

Relm gaped at her sister, light green eyes dancing with excitement though she was momentarily at a loss for words.

Keme nodded his head and decided to just to keep quiet, blushing slightly embarrassment. Of course they would really understand and Naruto didn't even protest. 'I guess I really should have kept my mouth shut this time around...' he thinks to himself, fiddling with a loose string on his jacket.

"Well, if you ever need multiple sparring partners, just come by my place, I'm usually not to busy, unless I am training my mini-me!!" he says with a toothy grin, thinking about the Naruto Talaye.

Kaleb smiled weakly, trying to put the test out of his mind. "Sparring is much more fun, and i-it's not as messy." He blushed a bit and fidgeted. "Th-thank you for being concerned about my safety though," he said in a really small voice. Just knowing that he had friends who cared about him so much gave him some measure of courage.

He smiled again, this time with more conviction.

"You say that as if you didn't expect us to care, Scholar." The artist notes, not taking her eyes from Keme's just yet.

Rikku was grinning at her tail being "captured" but at least caught Kaleb's almost fully real smile. "Of course we would be concerned! You're our friend!" Then a curious look crosses her face & she tilts her head at Naruto. "Do they always do that? So does that make them not much good for anything else?"

Naruto gasps and looks offended at Rikku's words, "Not much good!! Of course it's good!!! As long as they don't get hit, they can do anything I can do!!!" he explains, looking quite offended, especially since the Clone Jutsu was one of the first ones he mastered.

Keme just continues to smile and then leans down and kisses her, right in front of everyone.