Jivusa said
Jacholaus smiled when Val spoke back to him. At least she accepted his presence. Jacholaus had been taught all of his life that first impressions were everything. And, from a wealthy and, almost aristocratic in a sense, family, he was expected to treat new acquaintances extremely well. Though, a bit odd circumstances, since this wasn't your typical soiree and ball for royal families and businesses like they did back in Hungary. This was an introductory session for his new school, Shibusen. Jacholaus then heard her ask about him, smiling.Jacholaus gentlemanly took her hand and encased it in his, crouching on one knee, leaving the back of her hand for him to kiss, a greeting he'd grown accustomed to. "A great honor to meet you, Val. My name is Lucard Jacholaus. Jacholaus, being my given name, you may call me by." He stood after introducing himself by name. "I am, truthfully, a Demon Weapon. More specifically, a rapier," he said, smiling, baring his elongated canines, almost fangs, to her. He would take an opportunity to straighten out the more casual clothes he wore for the event, being a vest over a dress shirt and tie, dress pants, and some black formal shoes. To the normal person's wardrobe, it would be extremely formal. He would wear this just around his home. In hind sight, he may overdo it in some eyes, especially the greeting, but he didn't want her to think he was a bad person.

"Oh, um there is no need for you to be so formal. I mean there is nothing wrong with it but you just don't need to talk to me so formally if you don't want to." Val told him as she looked him over. Here she was under-dressed and he was overdressed. It was ironic in a way. Someone who is so formal and elegant talking with someone so.. not. Val smiled at him, "Would you mind if I called you Jac? I feel like that will probably be easier for me because I am not the best with names." Val then thought for a second. "Also, if you would want to we could be partners. I mean if you are ok with that. I understand if you already have someone as a partner, I was just throwing out the idea." Val rambled on before looking at him for an answer.

Carson sighed when he heard them talk about being partners. He slouched over as he walked past them, and merged back with the crowd. Why did everyone ignore him? Maybe he looked more normal than he thought, as if. It wasn't very normal to have one green one pink eye, and skin with a greenish tint. Maybe that was why they ignored him, he was was a freak and no one wanted to have to talk to him, just like the parents that dumped him in the forest. Agian he let out a sigh, maybe he was too hard on himself, but he would never know.

For Colliene, this was a sad joke and she only responded "Ice cream is for nutcases." Refusing to talk to Rose any further, she turned her back towards the girl and crossed her arms. The problem was the sudden approach from Jackie. She grabbed the girl by her hoodie and pulled her up, examining her from top to bottom, all the while receiving fluffy swats from the witch. "Eh... You should treat your owners better, or else you are put down." Colliene shuddered and whimpered, while being sat down on the ground again. She still did not talk to Rose, though.

---

The weekend rushed through Shibusen. For the most time, there was nothing to be done. Like Vater said, the school would start on Monday, so this weekend was given strictly to get in touch with people and become familiar with the extensively large school premise. Colliene remained on the school ground, walking around and mostly avoiding Rose.

There was class, then. Jackie was well educated and easily explained everything. The week started off with lessons about the soul wavelength, something crucial in fighting and especially in partnership between a Meister and his/her Weapon. Without the wavelengths synchronizing, it is almost impossible for the Meister to wield the Weapon. Jackie kept the lesson going further than usual, leaving large groups of students tired and bored out. She dismissed the class before sunset, though.

By the end of the week, the first tasks for students were added to the black board. For many people, this was the deal they were looking for. Unfortunately, most assignments were taken already, leaving large group tasks and assorted 'surveillance' work. One in particular stuck out. It was a group assignment about a group of Evil Souls that have turned into a hunting committee of sorts. Their hunting area for human souls was an oasis in the middle of the Nevada desert. Roughly ten targets.

"Sure!" he replied, his excitement clear in his voice. "Should...should I change back? Or would you rather I stay like this a little longer? he asked "I'm...I'm not to heavy...am I?" he asked, a hint of worry in his voice "the people who tested me had a hard time lifting me, let alone aiming me. I was afraid that I wouldn't find a Miester who could use me. I was worried I was...broken"

Amellia laughed out loud.

"Shush. That won't do, you won't get any girls with that sort of thinking. I'm running around with you on my arm right? So don't worry so much." She looked around for a moment. "And you should change back. Unless you were planning to come along with me to my house."

"Well, see you later!"

---

A few days have passed, and she was back in Shibusen. Those few days were... fun? Alright? It was her first time holding a genuine weapon, so she wanted to be sure she can wield him properly. Amellia had asked Mike out for a few training sessions in the woods nearby, mostly so she can get a proper feel for the weapon. She was gettting pretty good at shooting.

Shooting stationary targets that was.

She sighed, slumping forwards in her seat as the teacher finally went out.

"Ah... my back hurts from all this sitting... and..." She stopped mid sentence as the sight of some students crowding the blackboard attracted her attention. "Hey Mike? Did the assignments get posted already?"

Walking quickly down, she pushed past a few students, and glanced through the remaining assignments posted.

"Surveillance, group work... group work... group tasks..."

She sighed again. Most of the solo missions were already taken, and those that was left was.... undesirable. Clean out the 13 stables? No thanks, she had not the strength to divert a river for that. Help a man go back home? How on earth did he get lost for 10 years?

"A mission in Nevada? Hunting... Evil Souls.... And... Group tasks?"

A look of disappointment crossed her face for a moment.

"This one looks far better than the ones left."

For Mike, the next few days felt like a dream come true; He had long forgotten what it felt like to feel wanted by someone else, it was a wonderful feeling. For Mike, the bond between Miester and Weapon had always seemed like a sacred thing. Considering his parents were a Miester/Weapon pair who had been with each other since the beginning, it wasn't that much of a surprise. Although he doubted he would be as lucky as they had been. As such, when Amellia asked him out for target practice, he had felt more then a little excited. Mike hadn't felt that happy in a long time. Not only that, but having a fully stocked kitchen in his room was almost too much for him to handle. No longer did he have to practice his cooking on leftovers, for he now had fresh ingredients to work with. Because of this, Mike had gotten into the habit of pinching himself to make sure he wasn't just dreaming. He was drawn out of his thoughts by his Miester's voice "Ah... my back hurts from all this sitting" in his eagerness to please, he almost offered to give her a back rub to help alleviate her pain, but he stopped when he realized it might come off as creepy. Before he could persue that train of thought any further, Amellia spoke again "Hey Mike? Did the assignments get posted already?"

"Huh?" He looked over to the blackboard to see a crowd of students gathered around it "I guess so" he replied

She quickly made her way to the blackboard, pushing aside any student in her way, Mike was right behind her. "Surveillance, group work... group work... group tasks..." he heard her say to herself as she looked over the remaining jobs "A mission in Nevada? Hunting... Evil Souls.... And... Group tasks? This one looks far better than the ones left." she said, her disappointment clear

Mike nodded "It's the only one left that involves any fighting, which is what we came here to learn how to do after all. Some of this stuff seems like a waste of our time considering what we're being trained for" he mused. "Oh!" he suddenly realized something "if we're going all the way to Nevada, that means that we'll need to pack some food. Now what to make? Clearly we'll need a cold dish...maybe some seafood......perhaps a shrimp dish" he began to think to himself out loud

"Or maybe that ice cream stuff, those girls seem to be very interested in it" said carson as he nudged mike with his elbow.

"so your taking the navaaa- nevea- nevda mission to?" he said. HE had never heard of this wonderful world of 'Nevada' and at first glance instantly decided to go on the jurney, even though he had yet to find a miester. He was good his his hands, thought he couldn't use his weapon from unless he needed to be a pirate(peg leg, his basically a stick) but he could knock some heads.

With a tired sigh Dante leaned back in his chair, having just finished off another letter to send home. He had agreed to write every day about his stories in Shubusen. He wrote about the last few days that he had spent training with his new partner. He knew the littler kids would miss him, so he made sure that he wrote to them. They were one of the main reasons that he kept on his mission to become a miester. He was determined to keep them safe because they had no one else who could do it for them. With a smile, he glanced over to the window of his new room and admired the view. And with that, he dropped his letter off in the office to be posted and went to sleep.

---

After sitting in class for the whole day, he was excited to get up and stretch his legs. He had never exactly been to a real school before, just taught general things by the caretakers like maths and very, very basic English skills, so something like this was almost a bit too much for him. He was about to run outside before he noticed a large group of students gathered. With an element of curiosity, Dante worked his way forward, wanting to see just what the commotion was about.

“Assignments?” Dante said questioningly. He had fallen asleep a lot the last few days and didn't really know what these were about. Upon closer inspection he saw something about evil souls. With an air of excitement he read the whole assignment sheet. “The hell is a Nevada?” He asked confused. He also had no concept of geography other than land is hard and ocean is wet. After contemplating for a few moments, he decided he really didn't know what it was. He then came up with an idea, ask Zubuzi. He looked around, jumping up and down looking for her, somewhat regretting having run out of class and left her behind. After a while, he spotted her and waved excitedly.

“Zubuzi!! Missions!!” He yelled out, excited to finally get a chance to show off his mad skillz. “We get to have a Nevada!”

"so your taking the navaaa- nevea- nevda mission to?"

“Zubuzi!! Missions!!” Some other person yelled out, Dante was the name if she recalled correctly. “We get to have a Nevada!”

These two... probably wasn't the best people to bring along on a group mission. One looked ok, but had nothing really special she can see, but the other.... he seemed a lot more reckless, prone to show off in a battle and endangering the rest.. Seeking some sort of mission, anything that was even slightly better than the rest of them, she spied another assignment barely noticeable at the very bottom corner of the board.

Wanted was written in bold letters, followed by a picture(badly drawn) of a man in some sort of tribal mask."Wanted... a Tikoloshe killing people every night.... need help... dead or alive?"

A hunting mission. It looks very hard, as the marked was called Tikoloshe. Not something they would name a simple murderer, but a demon beyond control. So this person must have done some pretty gruesome things to be called that.

Not really a good first mission, as well as having a ridiculous tone to it, for anyone not knowledgeable about Tikoloshe. She could hear some girls giggling about how dumb that name sounded, saying it was probably some low ranked hunting missions hopeless Meisters and Weapons would take.

Regardless, her other options did not look attractive, consisting of boring surveys, escorts and other things that won't net them Evil souls to power up MIke. And that group hunt... Well, a group hunt wasn't what she needed at the moment. A proper assessment of her and Mike's combat abilities would be rather inaccurate if someone else were to help. With it she could probably identify their weaknesses and try to compensate for it.

She turned to Mike and gave him the piece of paper, looking very pleased with herself. "MIke, we're going to Africa."

Jacholaus smiled towards Val. "If you insist," he said, stopping his being formal towards her. Maybe she was just accustomed to being casual? I mean, she sure did dress casually. Not that it was a bad thing, though. Jacholaus was considering finding more casual things to wear than what he had on right now. He considered it, though. Maybe one day. Jacholaus gave his full attention to Val. When she asked if he had a partner, and said that she could be his partner, he smiled more. Jacholaus then nodded and said, "No, I do not have a partner, and I'd love to be partners with you." Jacholaus then realized he was still holding her hand in his, the entire time. "Oh...Guess you want this back, right?," he said, before letting her hand go.

---

Jacholaus stood in a small group erected by the fellow students of Shibusen, looking at all of the available missions they could go on. The first week had just passed, and they were being allowed missions. This was interesting. Jacholaus straightened the cuff links he wore as he read an interesting one. It was also in Nevada, so it was fairly nearby. He turned his head to the person who had trouble just saying Nevada, like he'd never heard of it. "You do know that Death City is inside Nevada, correct? You are in Nevada right now." Jacholaus then shrugged and turned back to continue reading the mission description. It was for a group of students, not just one pair. "Would you like to go on this mission, Val?," he then asked, pointing to the interesting one.

"Africa!?" Mike jumped in surprise. Looking at the assignment that his Meister was looking at before "Wanted... a Tikoloshe killing people every night.... need help... dead or alive?" Well that's just great. They had practically nothing to go on! How the hell were they supposed to find this guy. While Mike would admit that he wasn't really great at geography, he did know that Africa was a really damn big place "oh...oh wow. We're going to need to pack a lot of food. Mostly cold things if Africa is as hot as I've been led to believe. Maybe some chilled fruit. We'd also need to take a cooler along. The one I have should be big enough" he started trailing off as he began to plan out their menu for the trip "hey Amellia, do you have any kind of food allergies?" Mike had to mental facepalm when he realized that he was just know asking this. "I'm worried that this is going to take awhile, The closet thing we have to a lead is that he's in Africa. Which is a lot less then most detectives have when working on a murder. At least they can narrow down the culprit's location to town or city"

"I dislike spicy food, food that are too slimy, and food that are uninteresting." Se replied to Mike absentmindedly.

She could not stifle her laughter when he expressed his doubts about the mission though. "You can leave that one to me, so trust me on this. The name is all I need."

Now they have to go through all the rigmarole of registering themselves to the assignment, and she had to book a flight to South Africa. The Tikoloshe was of Zulu origins, thus the most probable place was KwaZulu-Natal.

"Meet me back at my place alright? Pack lightly, bring only what you need." Amellia smiled. "I'll cook. Consider yourself lucky to be able to taste an innocent girl's home made cooking."

---

Well, all her preparations are done. If all goes as planned, she'd be done with the mission in 2 days at most. A small bag was all she needed for this trip, containing only a few change of clothes and all the essential things that she would need.

The last thing she had done tonight was book them a flight there and cooked up a hearty meal, now concealed under those silver dome shaped cover thing she had never really learned the name of. Amellia sat down on one of the chairs, humming cheerfully as she waited for Mike to come. But what if he doesn't come? She stopped for a moment at that thought, but shoot her head and resumed humming.

He will come.

He will come or she'd be royally pissed at him tomorrow.

Mike was feeling conflicted. On the one had, he was upset that he didn't get to cook. Cooking was his greatest passion in life, and half the reason he came here after all. But on the other hand, someone wanted to cook for him. And not because they were getting paid or anything. The last person to do that was his own mother. However, this was a girl cooking for him, his own Meister, and that changed a few things. According to varies sources of his; girls this age only cooked for boys that they liked. Did that mean Amellia liked him like that? He had to admit, that didn't sound too bad.

Since his own parents had been a Weapon/Meister team from the very start, he had initially saw the bond between Weapon and Meister as something sacred, almost like marriage. However, time and varies dysfunctional teams had quickly killed that vision.........but could there be hope? Could he really have the chance to have the same type of bond that his parents had? That idea filled him with hope. So he knocked on her door, ready to take the next step

Val smiled at him. She now had a partner.

---

Val looked over the missions basically just blanking out and not reading them because she was tired from wondering around the streets the night before looking for a safe alley to sleep in. "Would you like to go on this mission, Val?" She heard Jac say, snapping her out of her trance. "Hmmm?" She said looking at the mission. "A hunting committee of evil souls." Val said reading it out loud to herself. "Sounds good to me. But who else would we be going with?" Val asked Jac as she turned towards him adjusting her red cloak that hung over her hiding everything but her head since her hood was currently down. No one had actually seen her outfit underneath yet because she always wore the cloak. Her pink hair was braided to the side like normal and a pieces from her bangs slightly his her tired gold eyes as they looked towards Jac.

There came a knock on her door, sounding a bit hesitant in its rhythm. Her house was located on a parcel of land just outside on the outskirts of the city, close enough to be a part of it, yet far enough so privacy was ensured. Thus the kind of people who would knock on her door were law enforcers and guests.

She opened the door revealing Mike standing outside, looking a bit nervous.

"Hi. Come on in and make yourself at home. Have a seat in the dining room while I bring out the drinks."

***

The dining room was a bit sparse, with only a few quaint looking chairs beside a similarly quaint looking table. The table was laden with so much food it looks as if it would break under the weight of it all, especially with the centerpiece still under the silver food cover. She took it off with a flourish, revealing a large platter filled with meat of all sorts.

She poured Mike a glass of apple juice, one for herself, and sat down in the chair opposite him.

"C'mon, have a taste." Amellia looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to have a taste of her own homemade cooking.

Mike had never been in Amellia's home before. Sure, he had gone to her house to meet up with her, but he hadn't been inside. So as he walked to the dining room, he couldn't help but feel that the place felt...empty, like something was missing. Shaking it off, he sat down at the dining room table. It was overloaded with food, Mike found himself wondering why she had cooked so much. Then she took the cover off of the center piece and poured him a glass of apple juice. So the centerpiece was meat eh? That must mean it's the dish she has the most faith in. Taking a large piece of meat with his fork, he cut off a bite sized piece and ate it. "It's not dry" he said to himself, pleased. While it might have sounded odd to others, drying out a piece of meat was the quickest way to ruin it. That Amellia kept it nice and juicy said a lot about her ability to cook. Taking another bite, he noticed something else "getting a little wild with the spice?" he asked her, with his best attempt at a cheeky smile. He had tasted 3 different spices in the meat. Not that it was a bad thing, some spices complemented each other well. Hell, he knew about a few dishes that use at least ten different spices. Quickly remembering that this wasn't someone looking for an in depth criticism, but a girl he was on a date (maybe, he still wasn't sure) with, he quickly added "it's good"

Jacholaus smiled, happy that they were going to take part in the mission. At Val's question, he shrugged. "I'm not sure who else may be going. Some others sure seem interested, like that guy," he said, gesturing to another male who was eyeing the post for the mission. He then turned back to Val. "Are you okay, Val? You look tired..," he said, noticing her tired appearance and facial expression. He then asked, "Did you eat a proper breakfast this morning, and did you get enough sleep the night before?" If Val wasn't getting what she needed, he was more than happy to invite her to stay with him in his manor-esque home. It was way too big for one person, anyways.

The assignments drew all students together to the black board. There was a lot of sighing and discontent, since most assignments were taken or rather stale. The interesting part about the black board was the apparent invisible assignment for all the students. There were rarely any people that laid eyes on the group assignment. Jackie watched the students with a bright smile, despite the fact that she was not feeling all that glad.

Then the mirror behind her suddenly chimed. "Goldman-chan. I have a task for you", Vater spoke through the mirror, in the same way that Shinigami used to. The teacher looked at the mirror and struck a pose. "Whatever you say, boss."

In front of the school, another face appeared. A man, scruffy hair and fairly badly clothed. He smiled brightly, putting down his backpack. He was finally at Shibusen. His teaching career would start anytime soon. "Let the resonate training begin", he muttered to himself, as he began wandering towards the entrance, humming a children's rhyme.

---

By the evening, the rumors were spread that a teacher came to Shibusen that would teach any group of students that were able to beat him, while he was fighting with just a toothpick. Some say he is probably the best Meister now inside of the school next to Vater and his powers are similar to the infamous Fraken Stein. Others also add that the lessons he were offering would be basically the successful crash course version of Jackie Goldman's studies, starting off with a fast way to learn how to use Soul Resonance.

"Ohh, umm. Yeah...." Val said not really paying attention. She not only was tired but the rumor of the new teacher interested her greatly. Val always wanted to be stronger and soul resonance will be a big thing in that path but first maybe she needed to be truthful to her weapon partner. "Jac follow me." She said walking until she was outside the academy and sitting on the steps. Once she saw that he was out there with her she began speaking as she stared across the city. "As partners we need to be truthful with each other right? Well my house is the streets and the alleys. My meals are anything I can scavenge. That is what my whole life has been. It is why I were cloak, my clothing is dirty and the only clothing I own. Sorry that I have kept it a secret but it is hard to tell people about my life." Val said not taking her eyes off the sky. Not knowing how the elegant partner of hers will react to what she is saying.

Her smile grew slightly wider as Mike sampled her dishes, and slightly more when he said it was good.

"Thanks. Time to dig in then." After a mouthful of the meat, her expression turned to a blissful one for a moment. "Did you know? I got this off cheap off some hunter when he came back to this city. He looks a bit different from what I imagined hunters would look like though. He wore this huge black plate armor, wielding a huge black flaming sword, and his eyes seemed to glow red in his helmet. Oh and he gave me a rate of 2 dollars per kilo of meat off something he hunted recently, not sure what it was. But it sure had huge pincers and stingers. Such a nice fellow."

The reason for having a huge amount of food on the table was soon apparent, as Amellia started eating at an alarmingly fast rate, albeit still using her utensils properly. After snarfing down 2 plates worth of food, she realized she haven't told him the reason she wanted to meet him here tonight.

"Speashing of whish-" she started with her mouth full, stopped a moment in embarrassment, and continued. "Speaking of which, there is this teacher coming soon. Did you hear about him? Something about being stronger than Stein. I think he might just be a fake, tricking all these people with fake tricks and pre orchestrated stunts. "

She pointed a spoon at him, looking very excited. "We should go spy on him when we can, catch him using stupid tricks and all that."

"Well that aside, the true reason of why I called you here. What do you know of the Tikoloshe?"

Amellia looked unusually serious when she asked the question. As serious as one can be when shoveling food into their mouths anyway.

She didn't even know what kind of meat she was using? That thought alone almost sent his food down the wrong pipe through shock. However, he managed to control himself in time. "Speaking of which, there is this teacher coming soon. Did you hear about him? Something about being stronger than Stein. I think he might just be a fake, tricking all these people with fake tricks and pre orchestrated stunts.

"This is the first I've heard of it" Mike answered. Truth be told, Amellia was the only person Mike really talked to. His status as her weapon gave him the foot in the door that he had so much trouble getting with other people. Hell, he would even go as far as to say that she was his first friend...ever

"We should go spy on him when we can, catch him using stupid tricks and all that." She said

"Oh...well if you want to, then we can" Mike honestly didn't care, but his Meister looked to excited by the idea for him to say no. He didn't want to let her down

Then she finally got to the point "Well that aside, the true reason of why I called you here. What do you know of the Tikoloshe?"

Mike shook his head "only what was on the job board. I don't really keep up with current events very much. I didn't have regular access to a TV or computer until I came here after all"