Out of the way old man coming though

[lionson]

Who: Shiro and anyone!
What: Getting used to life at the academy, and possibly scaring people while doing it.
When: August 12th - 16th
Where: At the Academy, various locations
Warnings: none

(1)

[It's early morning, and everyone is just getting around to breakfast and such. Most people are probably still half-asleep, even. But the sudden thunder of heavy footfalls from a very large animal might be enough to wake up anyone. The vibrations traveling through the ground aren't enough to knock anyone down, but they can definitely be felt. It's like a herd of horses are about to run through the Quad or something.

And then suddenly, leaping up the staircase that leads to the Quad, is a giant two-tailed cat with a human riding on its back. The cat bounds across the Quad, taking its entire length in just a couple jumps. The human on its back- a man in his 50s- manages to stay on the cat's back despite both his age and a lack of a saddle or any other equipment that might keep him secured in place. He's even holding onto the cat with just one hand, because his other is occupied with holding onto a backpack that has been slung over one shoulder.

The man also has a piece of toast in his mouth. Because of course he does.

Once the cat reaches the side of the Quad closes to the main hall, it skids to a stop. The man hops down, and the cat shrinks down to a cat-sized version of itself. With that done, the man pulls the piece of toast out of his mouth, breaks it in two, and tosses half to the cat. Both cat and man eat their toast as they walk into the main hall.

Neither of them act like anything strange just happened.]



(2)

[Classes haven't started yet- Shiro is still busy procuring equipment to use and arranging a spot far enough away from the important buildings so that everyone is less likely to break windows. Luckily he has found a spot, and he is busy building targets out of plywood and paint.

Given the heat of the day, Shiro has opted to shuck off his long black coat and toss it to the side. His cat, Kuro, is currently napping on it.

At some point, he will pause in his work to address whoever is nearby:]

I dunno if you're busy or not, but if you've got time then I wouldn't mind an extra set of hands helping.



(3)

[At some point in the early afternoon, Shiro will have disappeared from his outdoor shooting range he has been building. He might be difficult to track down, at least until someone hears his snoring.

Yep. He's on a roof somewhere taking a nap. Hard work means rest time, and he even took the time to find a shady spot so he wouldn't get sunburned. Shh, don't disturb him! Or do, he probably shouldn't sleep for too long.]



(4)

[It's the end of the day, and night is starting to fall. Shiro hasn't left the grounds quiet yet, though. He's sitting on a wall in the Quad, watching the sunset as he drinks from a bottle of water, one which he occasionally squirts at his small-sized cat so the cat can get a drink too.]

This place ain't so bad. Plenty of strict pricks, but I guess that's normal for a school. What do you think?

[ That question is directed at the cat, who meows in return, but it can be answered by anyone walking nearby.]

Comments

2

[inflictwounds]

[Hieke is making his way across campus, glamour intact for once as he's making his way back from Soleil. There's a shopping back in his hands, but despite that he still slows to a stop when Shiro asks him for help.]

Uh- [He looks down at the bag, as if weighing his options, before shrugging.] Sure? What are you even doing?

[lionson]

[Shiro sees the bag, but he also assumes Hieke would have said 'no' if it was anything that needed to be tended to immediately. So!]

Building some targets to use in class. These wooden ones here are gonna be used for throwing projectiles, and the string I'm hooking up in front of those haystacks is gonna be for setting up paper ones. I don't know if any of the kids here have actual firearms practice so I decided to be ready for any level of skill.

[The cat sleeping on Shiro's jacket is no longer asleep, by the way, and is watching Hieke intently. Said cat is also not a normal cat at all.]

[inflictwounds]

I see...

[He kind of does. He's pretty sure the school would provide targets if he asked for them, but he supposes there's nothing wrong with getting hands on with things.

He sets his bag down, sparing the cat a glance. His familiar? Probably a safe bet.]

What do you need me to do?

[lionson]

[Don't ask for favors when you can do the work yourself. That's Shiro's motto. He doesn't like owing favors if he can avoid it.

This totally doesn't count as 'owing favors' either.]

Do you know anything about constructing targets? Or are you better with painting stuff.

[Kuro isn't quite a familiar, he's actually a Fey that Shiro is contracted to. But he seems attached to Shiro, enough so that he feels comfortable falling asleep on Shiro's things at least.]

(2)

[yokeye]

[Toki often takes walks around campus, or used to. It's more of a "being walked" at this point, with the presence of a personal guard and child leash. It's a nice day, though a little hot, and he's brought his cat Kuroko along. She clings to his shoulder, occasionally batting at his hair. Toki's wandered closer to Shiro simply because there's a cat. He looks away from Kuro as he's spoken to.]

Uhh...

[It's work. It's horrible. He was lured here by the cat, a deception. Toki looks at his guard and then back at Shiro. It would be advantageous for him to say yes, a nice gesture that can go on his record in the "good" column. He pulls Kuroko down from his shoulder and sets her on the ground. She immediately runs over to the coat to inspect her potential rival.]

I guess? I can paint things!

[He might escape any labor intensive activities.]

[lionson]

[Her potential rival seems to have a sudden interest in her too, and is getting up from his position on the coat to sniff at her. He's not threatening her, though, he's just curious.]

Good! Here you go.

[Was he hoping to avoid labor-intensive activities like carrying buckets of paint around? Because sorry, he's totally getting handed two of them, plus two brushes.]

Make red and white rings, starting at the center with red. Don't worry if it's not perfect, as long as it's close to round it's fine.

[yokeye]

[Kuroko stares and tilts her head, but she has initially decided this cat is acceptable.]

Okay...

[He looks at the buckets for all of five second before pawning them off on his guard. He's not carrying them. Kneeling in front of the first target, Toki dips his hand in the red paint and draws a circle with his fingers, meticulously coloring it in. It's almost perfectly round. He may have uncommon methods, but he knows what he's doing. His other hand goes in the white bucket to continue the project.]

What's your cat's name?

[lionson]

Kuro. Even though he's not completely black, I figured it was a good name for him. He likes having a name that kinda-matches mine too.

[Kuro seems content at this description of his name, so it is probably legit. Also, interestingly enough, the pin on Shiro's jacket is the same as the charm on Kuro's collar.]

What about-

[His sentence does drop off suddenly, as he looks up and sees just how Kuroko is painting. It's weird, but it seems to be working, and far be it from him to question someone else's methods if they're working. So after a moment, he starts his sentence again.]

What about yours?

1

[steelguarded]

[ A tall and completely unconcerned-looking man approaches as the giant cat comes bounding in. ]

Hey! You're... Shiro, yeah? I'm here to help you get your supplies together.

[lionson]

That's me!

[He sounds rather cheerful as he speaks up.]

Who're you?

[steelguarded]

Name's Snow, I'm a coach here and all-around muscle when it's needed. They said you might need some help haulin' stuff.

[lionson]

I probably will, yeah. I've got no clue where to even set up my class stuff, since it ain't really fitting for a normal classroom. Wanna help an old man figure that out?

2

[buddinghopes]

[She's been poking around campus after an... eventful last few days. She was about to move on when the request for help came, and now... well, she can't turn this guy down.]

Sure thing! What would you like for me to do?

[lionson]

Take this-

[He tosses a small rubber ball in her direction.]

-and try hitting that target down there while standing here. It's okay if you can't hit dead center, I just wanna make sure the target itself isn't too far away.

[buddinghopes]

Alright!

[She catches the rubber ball, takes aim... throws...

... And it just falls short of the target.]

Oh. Whoops.

[lionson]

Hmm. They might be a little too far away.

[He'll toss another ball to her.]

Try one more time, just to make sure it's not a fluke.

4

[hattersgonnahat]

--Is that your cat?

[Who in their right mind decide to let small kids out and by themselves this time of day? ...Actually no one did. Maybe that's something to be even more concerned about.]

[But she likes cats. She pretty much likes any animal though.]

[lionson]

[...kid.]

Sure is! This is Kuro. Just hold your hand out and let him sniff you first if you wanna pet him.

[He will get this sorted out and get her back to where she needs to be soon, he's good at wrangling kids. But for the moment, establishing a rapport and getting a name is what's needed first.]

[hattersgonnahat]

[Kids are a menace.]

[But Puella does just that to get to know him. She doesn't seem bothered at all that Kuro did not look like an ordinary cat, actually if anything it just makes him even more awesome.] He's cute~

3

[trademark_skull]

[Roofs were a great place for broody introverts and edgelords. Needless to say, Emizel visited some of them frequently too to take much needed breaks away from humanity. The ones above the dorms were usually always occupied, so sometimes he had to venture further out.]

[He landed on what seemed like a vacant roof at the time, only just seconds after the noticing he was right next to someone sleeping.] --Wha?!

[He staggers back, luckily he hadn't retracted the bone wings yet in case he does fall. It's not often that a daemon startles itself, they generally had keen senses to prevent this kind of thing.]

[lionson]

[The fact that there is suddenly someone right in their personal space, and an unknown daemon at that, is enough to get Kuro the Fey cat to hiss defensively. It's a warning, not a sign of true aggression, and when Emizel staggers back Kuro becomes slightly less poofy.

Both Emizel's startled words and Kuro's hissing are enough to snap Shiro right out of his sleep, and he's sitting upright within a second or two.]

-Christ! Don't go sneaking up on people like that, kid!

[If Shiro had been unconsciously reaching around next to him for a weapon that isn't actually there currently, it was totally a reflex to being startled awake. Also he'll plant his hand down firmly on his knee to try and cover up that quick hand motion too.]

[trademark_skull]

I wasn't trying to! [He tried to intimidate back, but after being so flustered it barely came out as such. ...Not that he was great at it anyway.]

What are you doing up here anyway?!

1

[nevernoaction]

[Ren is getting used to the different forms of powers on display at the Academy. However, seeing someone ride in on a giant cat that shrinks itself to a smaller size and watching the man stroll around like nothing unusual happened is certainly new.

He might just be quietly staring.]

[lionson]

[Honestly that's a very common reaction and Shiro is used to it. So he gives Ren a friendly wave as a way to let Ren know that yes, he can see the staring, and that he should go over to say hello. Curiosity didn't kill only the cat, after all.]

[nevernoaction]

[Ren does cautiously approach at the wave. He takes a moment to form words. It's not often he's taken aback.]

Interesting form of transportation.