Welcome to Gaia! ::

Since the official term had not quite started up yet, that meant there was still time for him to use the facility without being shooed away for any other sport's team practice. This coming school year, it would be more difficult to find an outlet for his fencing practice, solely because the other two teammates he had accompanied for two years had both graduated the previous term. Even with all of his investigations, he had found himself unable to find any replacements.

Which meant the Fencing Team for Hillworth was shut down.

It was a pity, but it definitely wasn't any sort of tragedy. They had been a sport for fun and for practice. They didn't win any big competitions, they didn't go to state. In fact, for the past two years, Hillworth had honestly been quite reluctant to let them have a team at all. Howl accepted this gracefully and did not attempt to throw any sort of tantrum at the school's stance. Come the official start of the school year, he would no longer have this particular extracurricular activity on his list of daily activities. Perhaps this year was the year to contemplate getting a job?

In the corner of the athletic center, Howl had cleared out an area for himself to work. Since he had no opponents to go against, he did not necessarily need to wear the classic protective gear. His teal hair was tied back in his tell-tale ponytail, and in preparation for the work out, he had decided to go with a sleeveless white undershirt. Since most of the pants he owned were actually nice, he had decided to wear the white breeches that went with his fencing gear.

Considering the environment he was in, it wasn't unheard of for other student to walk past and cough out at his expense slurs such as "f**" or "Homo!" These commentaries went ignored as he swiped at his invisible opponent with his fencing sabre. After all, when amongst neanderthals, one did not need to sink down to their level.

This was Hillworth. A school for delinquents.

It was not surprising that someone would be throwing sport balls at him. A red ball flew past, missing him completely, but smacked against the nearby wall and bounced out of sight. In all honesty, it reminded him of his first official school day at Hillworth, where Killingworth had that horrid dodge ball game. However, when he turned to see who his opponent was, he was not quite prepared for what was there to greet him.

What in the world was that abomination of a creature?! Howl had heard of the various monster attacks, and he had in fact been rescued by a monster by that Sailor Senshi, Sailor Virgo. What had been that term she used to call a creature such as this?

Oh, right, a youma.

Rather than run away quickly, the teal-haired lad merely stepped away slowly until his back was against the wall.

"...oh my goodness..." he uttered in a low tone. Despite that wave of panic that wanted to overwhelm him, he tried to keep his wits about him.

This thing had basketball eyes? How did that even work? Probably not very well considering how badly the flimsy creature's ball assault had missed. Rather than scream his lungs out, instead he was straining to keep his breathing as quiet as possible.

Teal eyes had been fixed on the strange creature, trying to take in anything he could. The body was flimsy, probably something that could have easily been burned up with a lighter (alas, Franz was deceased, so the pyromaniac would not be able to assist him). The eyes did not seem to be all that functional or practical. He continued to look over the youma's figure, trying to find any other practical weaknesses it might have had. Though, what could he do in this situation? It was not as if he had any sort of abilities like the Senshi.

It was about this time that a stranger seemed to address him. Slightly jolted out of his overly thoughtful daze, his eyes glanced towards what seemed like a blur of white that was swiftly approaching. Has it not been the concern in the question, the lad might have hopped away towards the side upon such an approach. However, such was not the case. Howl remained firmly planting his feet to the ground.

It was when the figure finally stopped next to him that Howl spoke up. "I am still in tact. This youma does not have good aim."

It was then that the youma launched a series of tennis balls just above their heads.

"...or rather, it did not have good aim." There was a slight pause as he looked over the young man's figure. "Might I ask if you are a Senshi? You seem vaguely familiar."

"Fortunately, it had miserable aim when it attempted to hit me earlier. I am quite able to move as needed." The moment the young man mentioned his name though, Howl remembered. It wasn't even deja vu in all honesty, he simply remembered that desert from his time spent in a coma. And one of his main companions from that excursion was a man named Sailor Boreas.

"It is a pleasure to meet you again, Mr. Boreas," he mentioned as if to pointedly hint that the two had met before. With such a hint left to linger in the air, he then gave a small assessment of the situation (as Boreas had asked). "There were no others here that I saw."

Of course, it was growing much more difficult to ignore the hissing cries of the youma. "...star...seeds...?" That was definitely a term he was not familiar with. He tucked that away in the back of his mind for later questioning, then listened to the proposed plan from the senshi.

"I should be able to make my way over there, Mr. Boreas." There was no questioning the senshi at this point. The senshi had much more experience with the youma than an everyday boy like Howl would have. After the youma had seemingly spit up a couple beach balls, the teal-haired fellow began to make a dash for the football equipment.

Howl had every intention of remaining quiet. He had done such earlier and it had given him some pretty good results. So as the senshi suggested such, all he did in response was nod his head.

However, his nose began to itch. At first, all the teal-haired lad did was sniffle slightly, but it wasn't enough to appease the tickling in his nose.

"...I beg your pardon... but it seems as if my allergies are acting up..." he warned in a whisper, not understanding how such would be getting set off. Did Boreas have any furry pets?

It seemed as if she had been noticed, though it wasn't by anybody who was important. Rather than remain hidden for much longer, a small round animal seemed to pop out from the pile of football equipment. Trying to keep quiet too, she padded past the unfamiliar boy's ankles and rubbed up against Boreas' ankles.

Considering that Howl had not stood up suddenly like the senshi, he had remained quite safe behind the stack of football equipment. He winced sympathetically as Boreas was hit, then let out a sneeze which he fortunately muffled with the crook of his elbow.

Unfortunately for Boreas, with the additional company of regular young man (alas, he was no senshi, no making a henshin pen for him), it meant that the cat would be remaining somewhat quiet. After Boreas had been hit, the cat headbutted his ankle with a slight mewing noise, as if to chastise him about being more careful.

Eyes watering a bit due to the presence of this feline, Howl asked in a low tone "Do you make a habit of speaking to your pet cat like this?" It was quite bizarre for him, especially the comments being made about distracting the creature. Had his face already not flushed from the fact the cat was causing his skin to get irritated, it would have flushed at the mention of how pretty his face was to look at. Howl, of course, already knew he had a pretty face, however, it wasn't often a man would mention it so readily.

Rather than nod her head, the cat simply stepped out from the hiding place, trip-tropping towards one edge of the facility. In as loud a tone as she could muster, she began to trill some cat noises in an effort to gain the youma's attention.

The hesitation to the Senshi's words did not go unnoticed. "Either you are embarrassed or you are lying to me, Boreas." Howl could have mentioned it might have been a combination of the two, but he had gotten his point across. It also was quite strange to the lad that the feline seemed to know what the senshi had been talking about. There was no evidence. Felines were known to do their own thing. Perhaps wandering away and being a vocal feline was what the cat (who apparently was lacking a tail) was known for.

"You do what you need to do, and I will remain here." It was not like this Hillworth student had anything to offer in this fight with a youma. As he ducked down, the only thing that would give him information at this point were his ears. He had no clue what a 'Tundra Torrent' was. At this point, Howl would not get to find out.

********* watched on with no fear. It was her duty to help out when she could. Even now, in this form, she still had many tricks up her sleeves, though none were actually needed today. Boreas had bounded up to the youma, given it a good attack to the face, then come to scoop her back up against him.

Since the other boy wasn't watching, the feline merely offered a nod of her head as she agreed to his improved aim.