[center] [h2][color=ed145b][i]Arlette Sylvestre[/i][/color][/h2] October 21st Death City, Nevada Arlette and Keith's Apartment[/center] The morning light gently radiated into Arlette's room, diffused by the curtains it filled the surprisingly well-organized bedroom with a faint orange glow. The room was filled with plants, they were on the floor, on shelves and on the wooden furniture, this was not only because Arlette enjoyed gardening but also because they were essential to keep the air fresh and cool in spite of the Nevada heat. The faint glow was enough to wake the Demon Weapon, who would stir in her bed for a moment before stretching, yawning. She would look to her side and find her clock to set its alarm off, alarms were annoying by nature, but an unnecessary one ringing was way worse. The clock itself was a classic analogue one, Arlette found the mechanical sounds of the clock lulling, which was good for someone who had trouble sleeping, and furthermore, she just didn't like silence. Getting up, she would get herself something to wear, shorts with a loose t-shirt would do for the moment, also placing her hair in a ponytail since she would likely be preparing the breakfast. Her mood was bright, she didn't mind Mondays, that was half because she was easy-going, half because she was not putting much of an effort in the classes anyway so weekends and weekdays tended to blur. That said, the news that one's position in the Death Festival would count for their grades did make her a bit annoyed. She was looking forward to it since, to her, battling was fun, especially now that she had a meister, but the use of it as a grading factor added some tension to it. Leave it to schools to turn what could have been fun casual violence into a chore. Moving to the living room she did notice Keith was not around yet, or more accurately, as she came to learn, he had already been up and left for his training session. It surprised Arlette quite a lot to learn he was an early bird, considering how he was sleepy the rest of the day. Perhaps all the energy he saved was spent on this, or perhaps it was this act that made him sleepy, it was a mystery. What she knew was that he would likely be hungry when he came back and Arlette herself was always hungry by default so she hurried to the kitchen, to start preparing a nice well served breakfast. She possessed a natural talent for cooking, she was able to discern the taste of the ingredients down to the most minute details and knew exactly when to use, transform, suppress or highlight them. It wasn't something born from deep thinking or focus, as she was still sleepy at the moment, yawning with her eyes barely open, but rather a more instinctual feeling based wit. Knowing that Keith would come back soon, she would set the table. The amount of food seemed a bit excessive for two people but considering Arlette's appetite it was a modest serving. There was a clear division between her's and her partner's dishes, she had picked up that Keith liked sweeter flavours, they had never talked about it but she could see from his expression, so she made sure to prepare what he would enjoy, french toast with berries and a granola bowl along with a cup of cappuccino. For herself, she preferred things such as omelette, bacon pancakes or ham with cheese along with bitter black coffee, also in an unreasonable quantity. Looking at her reflection in the dark surface of the coffee she was hit with a sudden uneasy shiver. [color=ed145b]"Hmm?"[/color] she wondered, [color=ed145b]"Strange for my senses to act up like this at home... Maybe there is something sneaky going on somewhere, I wonder what~♪"[/color] she smirked, sipping on the coffee. [hr] [center]A few weeks earlier Death City, Nevada DWMA[/center] [hider=A chance meeting] "Mum did tell me to be a bit more active..." Keith mumbled to nobody as he placed the ad on the wall. "And if nobody shows up, no skin of my nose. I tried." On the hastily made ad was seeking a 'drawing model' and nothing more. Keith huffed in satisfaction, totally oblivious to how his poster could be interpreted another way. He then trot towards the designated room, drawing book in hand, ready to simply just nap in the dark room. As soon as he arrived he laid back on one of the sofas and placed the book over his face- falling asleep within minutes. Arlette yawned as she walked into the halls, how bored she was. As the months passed, most demon weapons had already found their partners, unlike her, which just made everything so difficult for the girl. It was harder to tease people because they would often walk in groups, it was harder to spar because she was no match for the proper duos, it was almost driving her to stop being lazy and actually put some effort on finding a partner, but just thinking about having to spend hours looking over profiles and seeking people out made her fatigued. "Ohhh?" She stopped her walk all of sudden, a mischievous grin forming on her face as she slowly turned towards the wall. [Drawing Model Needed] said an ad. As she looked over it seemed to be that opportunity to play around she was looking for. There was so much potential in this situation, she was already thinking of all the ways she could make this fun, striking silly poses, misunderstanding orders, sneakily moving props about and, of course, the classic act of pretending she thought it was a 'human anatomy study' which was bound to make the boy or girl who posted the ad quite embarrassed. Swiftly taking the paper off the wall, she would use it as guidance to the room assigned, being impressed at how dark it was and at the person who was waiting in there. Not only because said person was sleeping, but because he was not the image of the sheltered teen artist she had in mind. "Hello?" she would announce, approaching the sleeping figure. "Is this the place where someone needed a model?" Keith snapped awake as soon as he heard a voice next to him. Lifting the book off one of his eyes, he saw that there was indeed a person in the room with him. Curse my luck. Keith thought to himself, fumbling up and reaching for one of the light switches on the wall. He eyed the person who had answered hid ad, she was a student he saw frequently around the school. He didn't know much about her other than being somewhat infamous for a reason that escaped him. There was a moment of silence in the room. "I am Keith..." He finally said, forgetting to introduce himself fully. "Ah. Solomon, er, Keith Solomon. You are?" "I am Arlette Sylvestre, a pleasure to meet you." Now that the light was on and the book was off the face, Arlette too recognized the boy as someone who definitely existed within the same space as her, though she did not remember seeing him around too much or ever interacting with her. "So..." she would wait a bit, waiting for something to be said. "About... the drawing offer? What shall I be doing to assist you, monsieur?" "Yes, you will also be compensated for this." Keith continued, he swept his hair behind him to get a clearer view. "Down to business. Would you change, please." He stared at her after making his demand. She nodded. Change, of course, so she would need to wear some outfit or something? The wolf-like girl would start to look over the room, still smiling at first, though a few things did start to come to her attention which painted a peculiar scenario that was not developing necessarily to Arlette's advantage. There was a noticeable lack of a changing room or even a divider or curtain she could use, also noticeable was the lack of any clothing she had to wear. Suddenly her eyes widened, it couldn't... be, no way a school would let a drawing session like that run in their facilities, but then again, it was pretty much an essential part of proper classical art lessons... Arlette took a deep breath, she was likely overthinking. "So, uhm, you want me to change right here, right now?" she asked, a bit more sheepishly than her usual tone. "As soon as you are able, yes." Keith said, raising a brow at the confusion. He pulled up a wooden stool and a lectern to him, placing his drawing book on it and readying his materials. "Oh, I get it." He walked over to the corner of the room, pulling up a podium for her to lay herself on. "I seem to have forgotten, sorry about that." He pulled the podium next to Arlette before sitting back down behind his lectern. "Alright, whenever you're ready." he said, continuing to bore down at her as he had entered into his 'drawing state'. "Ah, o... okay. Just a moment." Cheeks slightly red, Arlette placed a fist over her mouth as her mind raced to find a way out of this situation. Her pride wouldn't allow her to back away now, so leaving the room or clearing the misunderstanding was not an option. She took a deep breath and gulped, closing her eyes for a moment. "It is fine," she thought. "It is completely natural and professional, nothing out of this world really! No need to be shy over showing some skin. I can do this!" Slowly, she rose her hand to her vest, removing it before slowly starting to unbutton her blouse, trying her best not to blush and failing at it. "WAIT." Keith almost screamed aloud with flushed cheeks, holding his hand out whilst simultaneously covering his eyes with his other hand, "What in the world are you doing Miss Sylvestre?!" This was the first time in awhile that he had raised his voice above 60 decibels. She was legitimately spooked by the suddenness of it, flinching at the sudden and unexpected raise of his voice. "W-what?" she questioned, it was not like she had unbuttoned too much, she was too nervous for that, just showing a bit of cleavage at most. "What do you mean!? I was doing exactly what you had asked me to, Monsieur Solomon!" she retorted, also breaking a bit from her polite persona she had been showing so far. "Didn't you ask me to model for you?" Keith buried his face in his hands and sighed for a few seconds, "Yes, it is indeed a modeling gig." he continued, "But when I said 'Change' I meant change into your weapon form. Not out of your clothing. I wanted to improve my detailing. What did you think this job was Miss Sylvestre?" The ad popped into his mind, the whole situation replaying in his head and how the misunderstandings piled up. Oh god. "Ah. I see how this whole scenario happened." He said, as if receiving an epiphany. He bowed to her in apology. "My apologies. I'll give you the amount I was going to pay you at the end to make up for the misunderstanding." "Weapon form!? You did not even mention you needed a Demon Weapon in the ad, you are lucky one of the few girls who are not a Meister in our class showed up today." she barked, still a bit grumpy even as he started to say he was sorry. Though when he offered to pay, she changed her expression, that was a bit over the line for her. "Wait, no need for that, I was not even here for the cash, as a matter of fact, you didn't even mention payment in the ad. Furthermore, hey, it's no big deal, no need to embarrassed over such things, you know, I was raised by wolves in a forest, so I didn't even know what clothing was for most of my life," she said, as she hastily buttoned up her shirt in a speed a thousand times faster than the one displayed when she unbuttoned it. "So just relax. It has been a while since I fully changed into my weapon form anyway, so I am glad I have the chance to do it." Keith sat, letting tens of seconds pass before being unable to hold back a light chuckle at the absurdness of the situation. "As long as you don't mind, please go ahead." he said, keeping it to himself that he thought that she was brave for willingly just taking her clothes off like that infront of a stranger. She nodded, finding herself a bit tense again, as it was quite rare for her to turn into a weapon, she hoped she would not be seen as silly or wonky when compared to more practical and common weaponry such as swords and guns. "Alright. Here I go!" in a flash, her form shifted, and over the podium was now a double-bladed glaive, black and copper in color with a moderately complex design, with branching blades that all seemed to have a specific function in battle. As soon as Arlette changed into her weapon form, Keith was impressed. She turned into a double bladed glaive with an intricate, ornate design. She seemed to be the perfect design of form and fuctionality while still maintaining a certain coolness factor. "Beautiful." he said unconsciously, before focusing on her form and starting the line drawing on his book. His eyes swam around her, absorbing every detail and shape as he sketched her. It would take him a bit over an hour to be satisfied with his drawing of her weapon form. He scratched his cheek, going over the details, composition and perspective once more before nodding in satifaction. "I think that's it, Miss Sylvestre. You're good to change back." The compliment was more than a bit unexpected, she was thankful that she was in her weapon form. Staying still for one hour was a bit of a challenge, but it was also hard to sleep in such a situation. Eventually she started to focus on the artist as a way to distract herself and it was kinda interesting to see how keen he looked when he was focused, it was a different sight from the sleepy boy she had been interacting with. Particularly, she found it interesting how he could perform complicated and fast movements with his hand while not even looking at the drawing sheet, that was some impressive coordination skill. When he finished she was more than glad to turn back, sitting in the podium, stretching her limbs. "Staying as a weapon for too long makes my muscles feel stiff" she complained, bust soon enough she was smiling, as she stood up and walked towards Keith. "Oh! That is actually quite great, Monsieur Solomon, I am impressed." She said, leaning forward as she inspected the drawing of her weapon form, noticing how accurate it was down to the most minute details even she seemed to forget were there. "Solomon's too stiff, Miss Sylvestre, just call me Keith like everyone else does." Keith replied, his hands fishing through his pockets for the money, "Staying still for anything other than sleeping is a pain." "Here, for the trouble and staying to do the 'modeling'." He said, his expression going back to how it normally was as he yawned, "You can keep the sketch of yourself if you want." "Hmm. I will consider your request monsieur." She said playfully, as he had basically sealed the fate of how she would address him. "Hmm... I still do not feel very much like taking this money, the drawing is more than enough payment for me." Tapping her finger on her chin for a moment, she smiled. "I say we wisely invest this cash on something to drink, or maybe ice cream, something cold because I personally can't stand this heat. Nobody is gonna use this room for a while right? It is pretty nice in here compared to the rest of the school at the moment, good ventilation and facing away from the sun. So yeah, want to do that? I can go grab it and be back in a moment." Sharing the spoils with Keith did make her feel less bad for taking his money for doing what she intended to be a prank initially. "It is your money and I did just ask for a huge favour. So yes, I am fine with that." he replied, lifting his shoulders slightly. "This room is nice. Tend to nap here when I have free time, especially in heat. Likely an extra room people forgot about." She nodded and quickly left the room, returning a little while later with a few snacks and some juice. "Back." She announced, quite loudly, expecting the artist to be asleep. As she set the table, she picked up the drawing again, to set it aside "It really is impressive, you must have draw your Demon Weapon partner quite a lot to reach such skill, no?" Keith jostled awake from his short-lived nap. "Guh. Urgh." he moaned, "Partner? Not quite, don't have one assigned, been lazy." He straightened himself to stretch, his joints popping at each motion. He picked up a juice box and poked a hole through it. "You?" "Pretty much on the same boat. Gah. It is such a bother to have to look for a partner. I really don't know what I will do about it." She said, calmly taking a juice box for herself, starting to sip on it before the logical conclusion sank in. "Oh! We could team up. Would save us a lot of trouble, I say." She proposed, turning to face Keith. Not only it would end her troubled as a lone Demon Weapon but it would give her access to this room which seemed great for naps, it was a great deal all around for Arle. "Huh." He placed a hand on his chin, "As long as we're comptatible I am fine with it." It came with the added benefit that his parents would finally get off his back about finding a permanent partner instead of temporary ones. "Shall we try?" He stood up, finsihing off the last bits of the cookie. He hoped it would work, as it would have been a massive weight off his shoulders. "Très Bien! It won't hurt to try... actually it might if our compatibility is bad, but I got a good feeling about this one." She would nonchalantly shove a few cookies in her mouth, chewing them up quickly and swallowing, taking a deep breath as she walked forward. "Right. Place your hands over here." Arle would guide his hands so he was holding both of her sides, hands resting just under her ribs. She took a deep breath and would shift into her weapon form, the Demon Glaive now in Keith's hold. Keith spun her multiple times around himself before settling into a two-handed resting stance, Arlette fit like a 'glove', more-so than any other demon weapons he had tried. "Well." he said, patting himself with a free hand. "I don't seem to be bleeding." The wavelength felt compatible and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He spun her with both hands infront of him continuously and then came to a stop. "This will do nicely." he continued, "I am surprised a demon weapon as superb as you has not found a partner yet." "And no excruciating pain to report on my side as well. Seems like it worked out." The weapon would say after being tested out and swung. "Yeah, when I arrived I was set with a few meisters but it never worked out, none were able to move with me with as much dexterity as you just did. I was called too big or too complex back then, and honestly, I kinda believed it for a bit. Though as you spun me around just now, I felt... right? I guess? It's hard to put it to words, but it made me realize how wrong they were, I just needed to find the right someone it seems." Returning to her human form, she would face Keith and smile. "So thanks for that!" "It's always the unskilled that blame their weapons." Keith replied simply, he couldn't agree more with what she said. He held out his hand for a handshake, "We'll be working now it seems, partner." She nodded and grinned, taking his hand and shaking it. "Indeed, and I look forward to working with you!" His face turned serious for a moment, "Now back to the personal business." he said, dimming the lights and laying back onto the couch, an eyemask somehow on his face "I am gonna catch up on that nap I missed. I'll see you around, Arlette." "J-just like that?" she blinked rapidly, seeing Keith already fall asleep on the couch. "Oh well. Guess I should probably handle the paperwork of this. See you later~" she said with a smile, knowing there would be no reply at this. [/hider]