[IC] Academy of Noble Arms

[KindledBeast]

@Altasaire "Yes could say that, this academy is quite marvelous though. But there seems to be some tension surrounding the grounds, do you by chance know why classes have been cut?" Grey grinned when he saw Takumi sheath his blade with a flourish. He proceeded to peer into the sky for a moment, The Philippines were much different then his home in Romania, but at least now he had a chance to meet others like home. Grey stopped for a moment looking shocked, "My apologies, I didn't introduce myself I'm Grey Nevăzut and you are?" Grey gave a slight bow to the boy as he introduce himself. It didn't take Grey long to notice the boy was of Asian decent, this lead him to bow he saw it as a form of respect or at least manners.

[Eklispe]

Well that was alright. Class had been a little bit fun, plus she didn't have to go to any more of them. The orders they were given were laughable. Stay here and wait for an adult or ride the bus home? What was this middle school? Dismissing the commands with a slight shake of her head Nishka started heading back into the city. As she came to the gate she saw Luis waiting for something and suddenly remembered his note. Something about a trip into the city? "Hey nerd, waiting for the sun to come down for ya?" she asked sarcastically as she leaned on the wall next to him. "Got a plan or we walking around aimlessly?" Not that she really cared either way. If it was too boring she'd just ditch him.

@banjoanjo

[banjoanjo]

He rolled his eyes at her sarcastic response. At least he had one thing he could always rely on her for: her merciless mockery. He gestured to the bus stop and started walking, knowing she'd follow. The bus didn't take too long to arrive, so Luis explained the piano situation to her on the way.

"So basically, I need your swapping power to get it up the stairs. You'll get properly compensated of course. Mrs Castillo makes a killer apple pie, so you'll get some too. If that's too little, I'll pay for lunch today too. I know how stupidly big your appetite is."

"Oh, and Pablo and Reinhard are going to check out the Guerrero Street incident. I'm gonna join them after so you're free to come with."

@Eklispe

[Letter Bee]

After a few more minutes of waiting, Pablo's Father finally arrived in a car that, in all respects, was average, so as to deter potential carjackers. Still clad in a combat vest over his shirt, as well as tough jeans and wooden sandals, he greeted Pablo, who was now running outside to the school courtyard.

"Pablo!" he said as he hugged his son, who, although already 16, was not ashamed of the affection. "[i]Buti nalang walang nangyari sayo (Good thing nothing's happened to you)![/b]" A smile was on the man's mustached and short-bearded face, before he continued:

"Senador (Senator) _________, got killed today. I think it's the Disarmers; Noble Arms users would have been more...exotic. Anyway, we should get back to the car before we talk more."

A nod from Pablo.

Inside the Car

"One of my classmates is going to follow us from afar, Dad," said Pablo. "Basically, he's agreed to help me investigate the other bombing, the one on Guerrero Street." This statement caused Pablo's father, who was driving, to give a brief stony look at Pablo, before saying:

"Seryoso ka ba (Are you serious)?" he then nodded. "Make sure to protect yourself, then. I am not having you die from heroics while still a minor de edad (age of minority). Also, here's hoping your classmate will protect you."

"Anyway, Guerrero Street is a few roads to the left; you and your friend all right with that?"

Pablo gave his own nod, and then the car drove off, to adventure!

@TheHangedMan, @M127, @banjoanjo, @Eklispe.

[Altasaire]

@KindledBeast

"Isamaru Takumi. You Slavic?" Takumi gives a vaguely polite bow in return. "Need a guide?"

Grey was amicable enough, so there was no reason to not offer him some small help.

[Eklispe]

"Ah the incredible power of my noble arms, put to the use of menial labor. But shit I ain't gonna turn down apple pie and my appetite is quite smartly large thank you, more than I can say for some brats picking at a salad and having a 'cheat day' later to make themselves feel better." Nishka said caustically in response to the task before her and its rewards. She stepped out of the bus and looked at the hotel. "On one condition though. You carry me to where I'm swapping it to. You were going to have carry the piano without my help right? So this is like that but not as hard and directly benefits me, plus its probably the closest you'll ever legally get to a girl. Win-win." Nishka said cheerily with an innocent grin on her face. After a moment of waiting her grin vanished and she tapped her foot demandingly whilst looking at Luis, "Well nerd?" This wasn't necessary at all, but Nishka felt like doing it, so that was that.

@banjoanjo

[M127]

As Pablo entered his father's car, Reinhard dropped his spear on the floor. He proceeded by stepping forward, until both feed stood firmly on the spear.
Before taking off, Reinhard looked around to see whether staff was nearby, and if there was, whether or not they were close enough to get a hold of him before he was out of their reach. Once that was assured, he telekinetically applied an upward force on the spear, just enough to counteract his and the spear's weight. With a slight further increase of the force, Reinhard was accelerating upwards.

Once high enough in the air, he decreased the artificial lift until the forces were balanced out once more, and applied a small forward force telekinetically. Reinhard didn't cancel out his upward momentum, as he still needed to ascend, but he didn't need to ascend any faster.
However, instead of following the car, Reinhard decided to directly head for Guerrero Street, as his time was limited due to the strain, and the car could get stuck in traffic.

The flight shouldn't take too long, considering Reinhard was in a traffic free and almost friction free environment.

[KindledBeast]

@Altasaire
Grey smiled, "No I'm Romaian but there is defiantly Slavic influence in my home country." Grey took out a charcoal grey flat cap from his pocket and put it on. "I would very much appreciate a guide, thank you." Grey looked around noticing lights coming from a stadium, he questioned himself on what might be going on but ultimately didn't care enough to ask.

[TheHangedMan]

Guerrero Street. The site of the latest bombing. Police swarmed the area, alongside specialists in suits that were definitely not normal law enforcement. Cars were thrown to the side and the pavement was charred pitch black. The scorch marks on the ground were . . . wrong. The pavement was melted in a straight line, with no indication of where it began and where it ended. Rather than an explosion, it looked more akin to a surge of extremely hot air passing through. Like the burst of heat following a nuclear explosion.

Traffic, as expected, was thick and slow moving, caused in part by incompetence, but largely due to the scope of destruction on the road. It was simply unusable in the state it was it. The pavement had warped badly, and nearby cars had similarly melted right into it. More importantly, officials advised civilians not to come to close . . . and for the media not to provide any coverage at the moment.

For Reinhardt at the roofs, the reason would be clear -- the bodies of victims caught in the blast radius were horribly charred, and their bodies had melded with whatever they had come into contact with during the blast.

This was not a scene they wanted televised, at all. It was the stuff of nightmares.

---

Several establishments closed down due to recent events, however, there were still several businesses that were willing to keep open in spite of it all. Noble Arm workshops tended to fall into that category often, largely because they were impressively well protected -- if not by themselves, then from their patrons.

The one referenced by the instructor earlier that day was likewise up and running, though with fewer patrons than usual. Understandable, given the circumstance. It was located two streets away from the site of the bombing, and it was moderately sized, enough for some of the more explosive Noble Army types to have some room to practice, provided with certain limitations, of course.

Currently, there were only ten people inside the two storey building, meaning that there was quite a lot of space. A sparring session was in progress between two lean men, though apparently none had brought out their Noble Arm.

[Letter Bee]

"Well," spoke Pablo's Father, as the car reached a parking lot a few blocks away from Guerrero Street, "it seems that the car can go no further. I'll wait for you here." He then turned towards Pablo, then said:

"Find out the monsters who did this, and give them hell for me." Pablo's father then ruffled his son's head, before rethinking his words.

"On second thought, be safe first and foremost. You and your friend be okay, I hope!" And with that, the car door opened, and Pablo unfastened his seatbelt and loped off to Guerrero Street, conjuring up his Noble Arm. Looking at the Police and Specialists, the boy knew that heading straight for the crime scene was a fool's errand, so he had the same idea as Reinhard did; go to a rooftop.

Taking out a seed and planting it to the ground, the boy grew a small tree with climable branches, and used it to get up to one of the rooftops, before causing said tree to revert to a seed once again. Then, seeing Reinhard on a nearby building, the boy began rooftop-hopping to get to the other boy, saying, once he got there:

"Glad to see you once again. Anyway..." he paused, "Noble Arms did this, right?"

@TheHangedMan@M127

[M127]

"Considering how focused it was, I doubt there are any other mobile means to cause that kind of damage restricted to this relatively small area within a short amount of time." Reinhard responded.

"Whatever it was, it looks like it used a stream of a very hot gas or a plasma."

[Letter Bee]

"Considering how focused it was, I doubt there are any other mobile means to cause that kind of damage restricted to this relatively small area within a short amount of time." Reinhard responded.

"Whatever it was, it looks like it used a stream of a very hot gas or a plasma."

@M127

"So, a heat-based Noble Arms?" Pablo questioned.

[banjoanjo]

Luis scoffed good-naturedly.

"Oh, like you're such a prize yourself, Miss I-Don't-Give-A-Damn-'Bout-My Reputation. How many nice fellas have you snagged with that punk rock get-up, eh?" he retorted and gestured to her dyed hair, only about half-meaning it.

To be perfectly honest, Luis wasn't really concerned about his standing with the ladies. He was going to return to America after graduation anyway, no reason to get too attached to anyone. Plus it wasn't like he had a shortage of admirers. Nishka could tease him however she wanted, but there was no denying that his physique was something to keep an eye out for. Let's just say that Yuri wasn't the only guy on campus with mad gunz.

He had to admit though, that request was pretty weird. How on earth would being carried directly benefit her in any way? Whatever, he wasn't fussed about it. He just had to think of it as an exercise. He made himself a mental note to check his pockets again later, to make sure she hadn't pick pocketed anything. The only things in his pocket were some scraps of paper, his wallet with just enough lunch money for two, his bus ticket and his apartment keys so if she did end up stealing anything, it wouldn't be a total disaster.

He rolled his eyes and stretched his arms out.

"Bridal, fireman or piggyback, Princess?" he asked sarcastically, inquiring about the way she wanted to be carried.

@Eklispe

[Eklispe]

"Oh and whatever makes you think I would want to snag a, 'nice guy', as you put it?" Nishka asked skeptically, giving a little shake to her indicated vibrant hair. A person's hair said a lot about them. Nothing irritated Niska more than seeing a group of people hanging out all with the same hair. Ugh. Nishak then promptly strutted in between his outstretched arms and leaned back on one of them. "Bridal of course, let's go then. Oh and if you're going to use titles 'Empress' will do just fine." Nishka said with a pleased expression on her face. This trip wasn't so bad after all.

@banjoanjo

[banjoanjo]

Luis shrugged, which was a bit more difficult to do now that Nishka’s full body weight was in his arms.

“Nice guys, nice girls, it’s your business. I’m just sayin’ that you might find it easier to connect to someone if it didn’t seem like you were gonna roast them alive for every little thing they do,” he said nonchalantly.

He hated to admit it, but Nishka wasn’t entirely wrong when she teased him about proximity to girls. He wasn’t gonna spaz out if a girl entered his personal bubble or anything, but being this close to a girl for such an extended period of time? Who could blame him if this sort of stuff affected him? So he kept his eyes straight forward, his gaze never once wavering down to Nishka, whose side was slightly pressing against chest, and her hair brushing against his arm, and her arms around his neck, and- COME ON MAN, GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER.

He just needed to think of it as a game of chicken. Whoever got flustered first, loses. And Luis had always been pretty good at endurance games. Just focus on the road ahead and don’t show any signs of weakness.

They arrived at his apartment building soon enough. One of his neighbours on the lower floors was waiting for him, with the piano in question still in its crate beside him. Luis spoke a few grateful words to him before the neighbour went back inside.

“Should be a simple job. Castillo’s apartment is on the fifth floor. Stairs are on the far side of the building so let’s get this done quickly. I need to eat soon and Pablo’s waiting at Guerrero Street.”

@Eklispe

[Eklispe]

Nishka tossed her head disdainfully, doubtlessly tickling Luis with it, "Can't take the heat get out of the kitchen." His muscles were big though weren't they? And he smelled kinda nice too. Well alright he wasn't that bad of a guy. Defiantly a nerd though, she could practically feel his heart-rate speeding up. Nishka yawned as Luis talked to some person and nodded when he explained it. "Easy peazy, watch this." Nishka said with a devilish grin on her face. She glanced up at the building for a moment and took out two moderately sized stones, ones that you would use for skipping, from her pocket. A brief windup and two were hurled upwards, one landing on a balcony, the other soaring straight up into the air. In the span of a second Nishka swapped with the airborne one to give her line of sight on the one that landed on the balcony, swapped the balcony stone and the crate, then swapped herself back to the stone she'd initially used. Piano safely transported. Nishka caught the rock that had flown into the air with a decisive swipe and looked at Luis with a pleased expression on her face. She was a bit of a show off at times. "All done, something about food?" At least assuming that had been the right balcony.