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The woman had lead the way to the Reaver. An awe inspiring sight, if Verito was capable of enjoying it. It likely would be the first Leviathan he'd see, focused on the ground as he was, and trussed up by the bandit earlier. The woman stopped next to a large leg that rivaled the size of the largest and eldest of trees, almost the size of a building itself. She woudl wait for the kid to look up, and if he refused, pull back gently on his head until he did look upwards at the Leviathan.

It dwarfed anything in Getsu most likely. A creature, a lizard of dark mottled greys and greens. It's sheer bulk was mind boggling, 420 yards from the far head to the short stubby tail of the creature. It was wide as well, a good 60 yards from shoulder to shoulder. Around the beast a rig was built, scaffolding and bracing which allowed a massive series of buildings upon its back. Towers which loomed ominously near the edge, barbettes with strange devices, large machines of war speaking of its long storied history as a Siege Leviathan before the academy was transfered to its noble back.

High off the ground, the only way up as it stood now were several ropes. The woman had led Verito to the "Easy" rope, with knots in it every foot. Most of the lines from the Reaver's back had fewer, if any such help.

"At the top you'll find your clothes, food, and instructor. If you cannot make it up... then you're mine."

An evil smile came upon her grim, hard face.

"Oh dear," It was really unnerving when you look in one direction, sneeze, then find a total stranger in the same place. The dark-skinned child-no teenager blinked deep chocolate brown eyes at the sight then frowned heavily. Although normally not too suspsicious the young student wasnt very happy someone had snuck up on him, especially someone who seemed to be of either genin or academy rank.

"Hey!"

Tensai wasnt that high on the Lab staircase but didnt want to risk a injured limb from the fall so he quickly darted down the stairs. Easily skipping the last four steps the young student strode toward Verito, carefully slicking his hair backwards to give himself a sharp look. Lifting his chin up and puffing out his chest he eyed Verito with obvious suspicion,

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

A small boned, brunette haired girl deftly climbed down the stairs from the Lab, skipping the last few in a jump. Feeling the jar of her landing she reached a hand over her shoulder, to pat a rather large war hammer that was strapped on her back. Certain that it was secure, she looked around the edge of the Reaver with proud grey eyes.

A newcomer was talking to another boy, one she recognized but couldn't name, not that she could name that many people outside her clan.

He's not in my class at least. But I really should know him.

She began to scrunch her nose in thought, but stopped herself. Staal's do not scrunch noses, she inwardly sighed as she remembered the grandmother that drove that point home with a rod.
Then her face broke out in her trademarked crooked smile as she remembered what she had done to said grandmother's favorite dagger in retribution. That particular prank was worth the extra lessons in discipline.

He's very suspicious. her eyes narrowed at the newcomer, and she decided to walk over there, trying to look as intimidating as possible, which given her small stature, wasn't very. Her numerous scars at least helped, and she wiped the smile from her face.

She came to the two boys, and her proud grey eyes scanned the unrecognized one, Out of breath? she gazed next to him, seeing the end of the rope, He must have just climbed up here then.

"Pathetic," she said, "If you are tired already then you have no business coming here." with that she turned on her heel and walked back towards the Academy's spires, heading towards the Jungle.

Neither boy saw the crooked smile come back as she walked away, "Now if you want to become stronger you could follow me." He has no clue! He doesn't even have a coin to buy one with! How did someone so weird end up here?

Damn it all, she was intrigued, and Staal's never got intrigued... or at least she was fairly certain they didn't. She looked back at the two boys, "Incidentally, my name's Tamar. Now are you going to just stand there all day, proud that you actually got up here, or are you going to try and survive the actual school?"

[[sorry, internet failure....I'm back.]]

Verito had risen to his feet triumphantly, about to answer Tensai when the girl showed up. He ignored the hammer. And the scars. In fact, he didn't see her as threatening at all. If the boy had been a little bit older, he would've crushed on her instantly, enraptured in a torrent of pure puppy love. As it was, he simply felt a longing to be approved by her.
What a fool, unaware of the irony of the situation: He a slave, she a Staal.
Her approval was harder to reach than the moon. He gazed at her patiently, and, when she finished, he found himself unable to find words.

So he followed Tensai sullenly toward the old woman, whispering to his fellow,

"Who's she?"

Verito had very much intended to find out who Tamar was, but context would probably lead Tensai to believe he was wondering about the old woman on the chair, whom Verito had yet to really notice.

The woman's eyes seemed to lock upon Tensai as he approached her. She otherwise did not move, but there was definately a sense of focus and awareness dawning upon the old woman. Her mouth cracked open just a hair, a heavy breath coming out slowly, the scent of smoke and medicines drifted out towards Tensai on that breath, a choking stench.

A smile drew on her face, her wrinkles bunching up, giving her face an appearance like worn leather.

"Is it classtime already?" she asked. Her tone seemed to suggest she wasn't aware of where, or when, she was. Her eyes looked from Tensai, to Verito, and back, waiting for an answer from the pair.

"Who are you?"

"I dunno," was the muttered answer to the unknown boy, thinking he was talking about the old fossil before them. He was thinking about reach out to touch her when an overwhelming stench filled his nose and he reeled backwards. A disgusted expression washed over his face while he frantically wrinkled his nose, trying to force the smell away.

He barely heard the unrecognised boy nearby give his name but managed to organise his expression and give a decent answer to the old woman. He suspected she may be there teacher but he didnt think someone so old and weak looking could teach much.

"Tensai Kana"
"-ma'am," he added hastily.

((Hey Yoshi. Remember that "The Giant" was down on the ground. You're now on top of a large beast some 80 feet in the air. So he's not near you. Also read the above posts to get an idea of what's going on, right at the "Landing" where another character just climbed up. Thus presumably right where you'd appear.))