whose face is in the mirror today?

[stavros]

Who: Kokoro and you
What: Training, research, and attempted dark brooding.
When: Early- to mid-February
Where: Around campus
Warnings: Nothing so far

[mythril cage - early afternoon]

[If you're around the Mythril Cage over the lunch hour, you might find Kokoro using her Rune Armour plus a drone of sorts, red and white to match it, floating beside her. She flies through a target test as normal, but it's not long before she gets turned around. While Kokoro still ends up hitting most of the targets herself, her Option is pointed behind her, leaving a trail of matching scorch marks on the back wall.]

...I shall need to learn to work with this.

[library - day]

[Or for a less destructive option, you can find her in the library, mulling over a handout and walking the aisles of the science books. If she sees you, she may flag you over.]

I seek input. Well, I seek an idea for a science project that is unlikely to catch fire. Following the... holy water incident, I suspect I may need to play it safe for the rest of the semester.

[pond - night]

[Puella's questions the previous month had weighed on Kokoro. She bundles up (not hard when she already wears a jacket and scarf all year long), grabs a few of her basic weapons because... well, you've seen what's happened at Daybreak over the past year, and slips out of the Lumière dormitory and out to the snow-covered green.

Given the crosses on everything she owns, it might be easy to predict that she'd end up at the Cross of Life, clearing off a space on the edge to sit and stare up at the towering mountains and ornate buildings. She takes a deep breath, gets up, and steps onto the ice-covered pond.

And promptly slips and skids down the ice with a yelp, because the world never takes Kokoro Belmont as seriously as she takes herself.]

Comments

Cage

[notbornguilty]

[Weiss just watches Kokoro train for a bit before speaking up.]

Would you like a sparring partner or two? I still need to work on fighting while I have a summon active.

[stavros]

I can, if you wish. With or without the Rune Armour? I may be testing out the addition I got from Professor Valvatorez, but I may need to practise on foot as well.

[Read: Hibiki made fun of her.]

[notbornguilty]

I was thinking that I would fight the drone myself. As for your opponent...

[A white glyph appears in front of Kohaku in the armor. An empty suit of armor forms out of white energy above it, sword in hand. It's roughly the size of the Rune Armor actually.]

Like I said, I need to work on my multitasking.

[stavros]

Very well, though you'll find that Stavros and Trigon are meant to operate as one. ...I'll admit that I'm working on it. Let us go, then.

[Kokoro activates her beam whip with one hand and starts shooting lasers with the other. As she flies forward in Stavros, the rune armour, instead of pointing forward, Trigon, the Option, points backward again, firing in the direction she's not facing.]

[notbornguilty]

Is that so? Well my Armor and I are one!

[The Armor moves with surprising agility, dodging around what laser fire it can and blocking what it can't. It steadily makes it's way through the beams towards Stavros.

Meanwhile, Weiss raises a thick sheet of ice between her and Trigon, opaque by design. As the laser fire begins to melt through the ice, Weiss uses the cover to create a repulsion glyph behind the drone.]

[stavros]

[Kokoro turns to the side and snaps her laser whip at the Armour. Meanwhile, her Option is suddenly knocked a bit out of range. Kokoro turns and hurls an axe, but she shoots too high, misses the glyph entirely, and ends up hitting the ice wall; Trigon, on the other hand, starts firing solar-powered shots straight.]

[notbornguilty]

[Weiss smirks as her Armor simply dissolves before the whip reaches it, reforming behind Kokoro and swinging it's blade.

Weiss herself jumps into the air, repulsion glyphs forming to keep her in movement. She swings Myrtenaster at the Option, careful to not actually damage it.]

[adjectiveprince]

[Night time is uncomfortably cold, but daytime is uncomfortably bright, so Zagreus often does stuff at night. He peers over the edge of the pond at Kokoro.]

Er...Are you alright?

[stavros]

Gk--! I'm fine!

[Kokoro drags herself up to a sitting position and brushes off some snow, grumbling.]

I suppose I should have expected some people out at night. I simply wished to think some things over.

[adjectiveprince]

I shouldn't worry about it if I were you. I promise not to tell anyone.

[stavros]

It isn't as if people aren't already laughing at me. What are you doing out this late?

[adjectiveprince]

Stuff to do, you know. Plus it's not so bloody bright out at night.

[stavros]

Well, some do need that. I assure you it isn't always this cold, but we are in the mountains, after all.

library

[silksoul]

[ Hornet is lingering in the library, inspecting the books. She's still unfamiliar with them; she's used to reading things in silk or stone. ]

If water is flammable, things truly are different outside the Outlands. [ She tilts her head slightly. ] What sort of projects do you enjoy?

[stavros]

Not all water! When I fight with holy water, it bursts into flames on contact with certain beings. And I... may have had an issue with a science project.

[She turns red and looks away.]

Not the usual things. Everyone's done a model volcano, how long it takes different types of bread to go bad in different conditions, something about germs that boils down to remembering to wash your hands, or roller coasters made of K'nex. Which means those projects will likely face a harsher rubric as they've been done so many times before. Plus all the research materials are likely to be checked out by the uncreative.

[silksoul]

[ Hornet listens with a blank, stoic expression, but Kokoro may get the impression that it's more because she has no idea what Kokoro is talking about with common science experiments and has no idea what to say, rather than being judgemental. ]

Perhaps you could rely on your own strengths. Surely among your equipment and skills, there must be something you could use as an experiment. Something like...the different weights of weapons. How they compare and feel with one another, their effects on a certain target.

[ As always, Hornet is...focused to a point. ]

[stavros]

Do you think they would take that? Perhaps, but it seems more like a combat assignment than a science one.

[silksoul]

Is combat not a science? [ She seems genuinely surprised by the notion. ] It takes ingenuity and skill to wield a weapon.

But if they're focused on creation, perhaps making a weapon, or some kind of trap, would serve you better. The process of forging something to make it ready for battle and use involves little, if any, combat. [ Maybe fighting off things for the materials.

Or is that just her. ]

[stavros]

Perhaps... I do worry that people think I'm too focused on that sort of thing. But you're right that we must be constantly working to improve in the face of threats!

Pond - night

[improbablenotimpossible]

[Given his nature, he's naturally more active at night, and his ears were quick to catch a yelp. He was at the cross of life in almost a blur]

Are you quite all right, Miss Belmont?

[The man heads closer to offer a hand, but suddenly recoils as if struck]

Ah...

[stavros]

[She wobbles to her feet, albeit almost wiping out again, and carefully shoe-skates over to the edge.]

Professor? [Kokoro rubs the back of her head and checks her hand.] Right, the pond. My apologies. A simple accident, that's all, I was just distracted.

[improbablenotimpossible]

Teaching Assistant, not Professor.

[He quietly corrected, lord knows Moriarty might have some words about that]

No injuries or anything?

[He'd smell the blood if there were any scrapes]

[stavros]

There's no blood, anyway. I might have a bruise tomorrow. [She winces.] I probably should have expected some people out at this hour, but it's usually fairly quiet.

[improbablenotimpossible]

It generally is, I'm usually in the library at this time.

[But he had a lot of things on his mind recently]

Trying to clear your mind, I take it.

[stavros]

[She fidgets and breathes in, then sighs.]

I've had a few conversations lately that warranted it. People always seem to feel sorry for me or become frustrated. I know I inherited a great burden, but I don't feel that abandoning it would do much good. ...Are you well?