[IC] ☆ ☆ SOUL EATER ☆ ☆

[Hitman]

September 14th, Death City, Nevada

It was September in Death City, but judging on how hot it was, you would think it was July or August. The heat baked the streets of Death City, and the students trapped inside the classrooms of the Death Weapon Meister Academy felt like they were locked inside an oven.

The EAT class was assembled inside one of these classrooms, where Professor Franken Stein was performing yet another dissection. They were a favorite of the peculiar teacher, especially when performed on rare creatures like the one strapped to the table in front of him, but not all of the students shared his enthusiasm. In fact, basically none of them did. Stein pushed his foot against the ground, and the swivel chair rolled across the room over to the blackboard.

"Now, we will be beginning the dissection of the South African Gagu. As you can see, I will be making a single long slice down here. we will then investigate the innards of this creature and see how it works. I look forward to finding out how this rare creature ticks before it unfortunately goes extinct. Now..." Stein swirled back over to his table, and reached for the scalpel when-

Brring brring!

Saved by the bell.

Stein sighed. "Very well then. Class dismissed. Tomorrow, then, old friend." He glanced at the bird, which gave a terrified squeak.

~~~

Gabby leaped from her chair as soon as the bell went off. "Finally! We're free!" she cried joyfully as she quickly exited the building. She walked out the doors, looking down the many steps that lead to freedom. They were never fun to brave, even assisted by gravity while heading down, but Gabby looked forward to taking the rest of the day off. She cracked her neck. As a member of the EAT class, she was no longer forced to wear a school uniform, and as such she had opted to wear a crimson crop top and a pair of olive green short shorts, as well as a pair of leather brown boots, good for kicking the crap out of people.

She felt like drinking a coffee. As she took her first step down the stairs of the DWMA, she reached for her pocket to check for bills and found none.

She gulped. Had she used up all of her weekly DWMA allowance? If she had, that meant she had to...work at a cafe. She quickly looked around, desperately, for her partner, anybody, to bail her out.

~~~~~~

Jackson gave a slight under-his-breath sigh of relief as the bell rang, their signal to get out. Jackson saw several students rush out of the classroom as soon as possible, to which he gave a slight headshake to. He was no fan of Stein's dissections, but he felt it was disrespectful to rush out so quickly.

He stood up. Today he was wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of standard blue jeans, as well as a black fedora, gently perched on his head. Wiping sweat from his forehead, he stood and walked over to his weapon partner, giving him a slight nudge. He knew how little he payed attention to Stein, and with the heat, Jackson was worried that he might have fallen asleep.

"Hello? You awake?" he said with a slight laugh, gently elbowing Sphera in the back.

[Rabidporcupine]

@Agent 47
Zander sighed as he watched his partner reach her hand into her pocket, only for a panicked expression to appear on her face as she started staring in all directions.

"Alright, I know that look." He said, reaching into his pockets and pulling out about twenty dollars, holding it out to the red-haired girl. "Hey Gabby, here. This should be enough for, what, two days of coffee? I don't know, I'd never waste money on something that tastes like that anyway, but you do you, I guess. I can't give you anymore though, unless you're fine with not eating for the rest of the week."

Still, despite his aversion to coffee, he was still gonna follow her to the cafe anyway, just to make sure no fights broke out. He could still remember the last time after all, seeing it every time he closed his eyes.

So much screaming...

"So how long are we gonna be out anyway?" He asked. "Because I'm eager to just lie on the couch and recharge for tomorrow, you know?"

[Cherrywitch]

The time always seemed to tick away ever so slowly in this class, didn’t it? The professor’s voice has become an inaudible blur in his hearing, sounding muffled through a sheet of cotton and blended with the sighs and disgust of his peers. Sphera lightly nibbled the end of his pencil’s eraser, staring out absent mindedly to the hot day outside. The one thing he could say about his prison getup— it was quite cool.

With his cheek pressed firmly into his pale palm, all of the surrounding noise of the classroom was completely set on mute and ignored, unluckily this included the bell. Sphera’s piercing orange eyes began to let the top eyelids slide down and curtain his vision, happy to fall into his little dream world until he was poked in the back.

Sphera gave a silent jolt awake, turning his head slowly to gaze up at Jackson with parted lips. It took a moment for his lullabied brain to process the words, closing his mouth and giving a little nod in response. The quiet weapon got up from his seat and gently pushed it in against the table, glancing back at his meister. He hesitated, before almost whispering in his usually hushed raspy voice. ”Are we going to the mission board again today?” The dark haired boy played with his fraying sleeve out of nervous habit. He was getting better, at least. Before he couldn’t barely look anyone in the face, but now Jackson had the honor of receiving the occasional glance of eye contact. It was a work in progress, no doubt about that.

@Agent 47

[vancexentan]

Having left Stein's class Lars wondered if there was a particular point behind it. In the end their mission was simple: hunt, and take down enemies of the DWMA. His being here by choice, or not was irrelevant that was his given mission and he would seek to take it down. Resting under a tree he pulled out a notebook, and slowly started to scroll through the words on the pages finding the whole thing somewhat pointless given how much he had already learned as a younger boy on how to hurt specific types of individuals. If you could hurt them, if you could make them feel that pain then fear would follow. Fear led to panic. Panic was death.

Many of the other students were right to stay away from him usually. He was not a talkative person, and he preferred to keep it that way. His partner Andrew endeavored to make him open up he found little point in it like the book he read. Like the book Andrew held many informative tidbits on things they specialized in. Unlike the book it didn't talk back when he told it to shut up, and get to the point. He wondered....was Death fully aware of whom he had introduced into his academy? Did he have some sort of end goal for him? He had met the being once who ruled over this city. He was golly...and the biggest pain in the world. Friendship? Comrades? Pointless mental functions that only sought to have people lean on one another. What was the use of friendship when it was just a way for two failures to cover for one another. Andrew was a 'friend' if only by the purest technical term. He was a partner, and an ally. Taking anyone else into his line of thought meant that Lars would play favorite. What if one of the other students got captured by a dangerous, but heavily wounded Kishin? What if he cared about them? He would hesitate, and he may lose. Better to cut through the 'friend' to save more.

After all what was worse than living a pointless existence? If one were to live with the fact that if they lived just so others may die? Or if all others had rejected them? People were social constructs. Lars had endeavored to learn more about the 'feelings' of others. They may be useful someday. A childish smile. A hug. A pat on the back....a dagger always in hand. People never suspected their best friend. Or the happy go lucky maverick. That was a mistake. A friend one day could be an enemy the next minute. Liabilities...possibilities. To be a top ranked hunter Lars would need to find out more about others one day. If only to find better ways to hurt them. To accomplish his mission. To make life worth living. Be it as a mercenary, or a armed civil servant. He was still a child soldier either way.

Lars was poked on the cheek suddenly as he turned his head to look at his weapon right next to him, "Is it brooding time already?" Andrew chuckled a Lars stared blankly at him. "Yes." Lars responded simply. "Alright I'll leave you to your thoughts then dark knight." Andrew said coolly as Lars grumbled out, "Grey Knight." the meister told him. "It was humor Lars." retorted his weapon as Lars sighed, "You know I hate that.
Now let me 'brood'."

[GreenGoat]

Rika Roanoke Rashima

---

Among all of them, she seemed to be the only one who wanted to see Stein dissect the bird, to see it pinned to the board as its inside gets exposed stroke by stroke. But alas, the bell rang, and classes ended, leaving the bird alive and undissected.

She had misgivings about having him as a teacher before, for her own reasons and his scarred appearance, but he seemed an alright teacher, if a little strange. Gathering up her things, she went down towards the exit, nodding at Stein along the way.

"I'll see you later, Teacher."

A grin stretched out her features, as she thought of her free time. And for her free time, she was going to need that girl. Yes, her partner, the one she not only wielded as a weapon, but one who could understand her. Her steps grew faster, as she ran towards that person, calling out her name.

"Helena!" Rika slowed down, matching her speed to walk beside Helena. "You're free at the moment, right? Lets go back and watch mov- I mean, plot the demise of the world!"

Helena, her partner, her weapon as a Meister, one who had not rejected her outright. She was so much taller than Rika was, and much cooler too. That eyepatch and all just tells her that they were destined to be partners, like how pirates and parrots go together. Ah wait, wouldn't that mean she would be the parrot?

In any case, her excitement was instantly visible to anyone watching, though most would only see her stretched out grin and that low giggling as she walked beside the taller girl.

@Jinxlynx

[DearTrickster]

---

Time: After Class - Present Day
Location: Homeroom - DWMA

Diligently a ballpoint pen scratched across a notebook. Keywords, definitions, and even jot notes lined down the page. Notes that were enviable at first glance for their organization and concise tutelage over easy-to-read handwriting. Henry, the long haired scruffy looking Halloway twin made his school work look comparable to art. His black dress shirt was untucked, lazily two buttons were actually buttoned to shamelessly fail in hiding his band shirt. Black jeans with wrinkles and a pair of comfortable brown sandals.

Peter, the other Halloway twin had his notes, scratching through commentary of his own to keep focused throughout another repetitive lesson from the infamous Professor Stein. Both twins were in their school uniforms, Peter immaculately formal in his default black suit, sporting the school’s logo over his right breast pocket. His uniform was ironed to be wrinkle free, pressed black slacks with shiny dress shoes, his square framed glasses polished with hair cut stylishly close to his head. In the horrible heat, even as the Illinois native Peter was, he never complained.

Between them sat their partner, Vanille. Staring off into space as per usual. Her notepad completely empty.

When the bell rang she shook free of the boredom spell, both twins packed away their school supplies. Henry carried his things in his arms while Peter slide his things into a shoulder bag. Henry stretched, letting out a sigh as his back popped. “Mildly interesting wouldn’t you agree Vani?”

“Utterly electrifying,” Peter replied dryly. “C’mon Vanille. Let’s go, we’ve got shit to do and there’s AC in the car.”

When he didn’t receive a reply he cranked her head up, “Earth to Vani, do you read us? Shit to do means combat training, you know.” He let her go throwing his hands up. “Your favourite thing.”

Henry chuckled brushing hair from his eyes to squint down at her, “I call shotgun, get first dibs on the radio. Not to mention there’s that pop quiz for Professor Jekyll we have to study for. He is horrible for trick questions.” He groaned, only taking a little imagination on how that would go.

They waited for their partner to join them, filing out from the lecture hall.

@Hero

[Hero]

Outside the window was a very small, blue bird. It had caught her attention the moment she walked in, and as the lecture began, her mind seemed stuck on it. She had only been able to glance at it before she was pushed along to her seat. Birds were such a curious creatures, able to take advantage of the winds and soar through the skies with little issue. Well that wasn't entirely accurate, they had to watch out for bigger birds. And their eggs could get stolen by other animals or people. Oh no, that was such a sad thought, why were people so mean? Those poor little birds, maybe that's why they were always flying.

Then again, if Vanille could fly, she would go everywhere. Or at least, she'd fly straight out of the lecture. Then she wouldn't have to take any classes! That sounded awesome! Oh, but then no more fighting. Could birds fight? Then again, if she was a bird then she'd have to worry about bigger birds trying to eat her. But if she was a bird, she'd make sure to be the fastest bird. She's outfly everything, even something fast like...a car!

Before she could elaborate on that thought, she realized she had been on auto-pilot, not really paying attention to anything. At least class was over. She was being addressed by her two partners, two of the few people that managed to not only surpass her height but made good sure to keep her on track. Vanille blinked as she looked between the two brothers, her large, blue eyes wide as she tried to register what was being said to her. "Do you think that birds fly faster than cars because they're tinier?" She ended up asking out loud, furrowing her brow as she tried to think. A few seconds later, she brushed the thought aside, letting out a laugh. "It's probably because of aerodynamics."

Vanille nodded proudly, though it occurred to her that she missed the entire conversation. "...um...pop quiz on training? I have nothing to fear for once!" She stated rather cheerfully.

@DearTrickster

[Hitman]

Luckily, her savior arrived in the form of her partner, Zander. She immediately grabbed the bill and wrapped her arms around her partner, pulling him into a tight hug. "You are actually the best," she said with a massive grin, and gave him a powerful squeeze before letting him go. She began to walk down the stairs of the DWMA. A perilous mission.

Zander quickly asked how long the coffee break would last for. Gabby gave a shrug. ”I dunno. You should probably get out more, though. You’re not going to get any better by sitting on a couch all day.” She knew her words would fall on deaf ears, as they always did, but it was always good to try.

~~~

"Mission board? Already?" He shrugged. "We did go hunting for souls recently...but I'm sure it couldn't hurt to do more. Trouble does sprout up pretty quickly. Still, it wouldn't hurt to go out for a while. Enjoy the city." Jackson knew that Sphera didn't like being in public much, but he had to do it sometimes. "Or we could just hole up in the apartment.
Really, it's up to you. I don't mind much either way."

Jackson put his hands in his pockets, looking at the poor bird that Stein had captured for his dissection lesson. How did Stein get his hands on the poor thing?

~~~

[Rabidporcupine]

"I dunno, do I even need to get better?" Zander asked, a small smirk on his face. "After all, I am already "actually the best"... I'm pretty sure once you reach that point, you can't really get a whole lot better."

He sighed.

"Still, lets not forget that I am going with you. I really don't want a repeat of... that incident..."

And then he poked her lightly on the forehead, in a teasing manner.

"Besides, if I don't, you'll probably just buy two coffees today, and try to guilt me into giving you coffee money tomorrow too. You're welcome, by the way."

[Cherrywitch]

Sphera visibly winced at the mention of simply “enjoying the city.” Unlike his meister, the ball and chain was far from a socialite. The boy was frightened of social interaction and crowds, both of which were unavoidable in the outside world. Though he wouldn’t mind browsing alongside Jackson, it was the others who surrounded them that Sphera wished would disappear for a day. Sphera shuffled uncomfortably, twisting the broken link at the end of the chain around his neck thoughtfully.

It worried him too... Was he holding Jackson back? His antisocial nature really barred his meister from going out. Though Sphera has insisted on multiple occasions for Jackson to go out on his own without the luggage of his awkward weapon, the green haired boy was simply too kind hearted to leave him behind. But then, if Jackson didn’t have many friends, that must certainly mean it was Sphera’s fault, wouldn’t it?

The dark haired boy clutched his arm with one hand, muttering out quietly. ”... You... want to go out. So, we should do that.” It was almost painful to say. Outside?! Around people?! Strangers?! Having to talk to them?! Sphera almost made himself light-headed. It’s for Jackson. And, I’ll just hide behind him anyways. I most likely won’t be noticed. He thought in a meek way to comfort himself.

@Agent 47

[DearTrickster]

---

Time: After Class - Present Day
Location: Training Halls - Gym, DWMA

Peter, Henry and Vanille made their way to the gyms. Dressing in separate locker rooms, from their uniforms to gym clothes. Peter and Vanille began their warm ups while Henry gathered his notes, flashcards, and a textbook. They went through their reps of pullups, pushups and lunges. Working their muscles in anticipation for training. While they did their reps Henry marched in front of them reading off flash cards. Quizzing the pair of them on various subjects and what they had been recently studying in class.

It was normal routine for the twins to study this way, stretching their brains and their other muscles. Peter preferred combining the two not having to allot time to one or the other, and combining the two helped Vanille out quite a bit. The movement kept her attention while refreshing her memory on things they studied in class. The quiz and tests were another problem altogether. Henry went out of his way to support his partners academically.

The twins were forced to be picky in choosing their meister. Their soul wavelength not only had to be suspeciptable to wielding two weapons but it had to have a balanced soul charge as well. For them to achieve resonance their partner had to have a balance of both negative and positive soul charge. Thankfully for Vanille, she fit the requirements. Peter had taken some time to grow accustomed to her quirky airheadedness, reserving some judgemental notes. While Henry was happy to at least have a partner. When the pair saw her in action, discovering her anti-demon wavelength it redoubled their efforts to work with her. Knowing full well they’d be set.

They made for a unique team, of both offensive abilities and support. Vanille’s lack of soul perception was made up for by their ability to sense soul charge, gave them an edge but not the same as a keen sixth sense.

In reality they needed every bit of an edge to get a leg up, 200 souls was no simple task.

@Hero

[Hitman]

Gabby playfully punched her partner in the arm. "Shut it. That dude totally had it coming." She stuck her hands in her pockets as she walked down the scorching streets of the city. Deathbucks Café was straight ahead, a popular location in the city for both students and residents alike and a beautiful sight for Gabby.

She quickly darted into the café like a falcon that found its pray, and purchased a large coffee. She emerged from the shop a moment later, sipping it from the cup. "This stuff is the best I'll ever taste," she proclaimed, raising the cup into the air like it was the Holy Grail. She then realized she looked fairly stupid and brought it back down.

"I'm assuming you want to head back to the apartment to crash, and there's nothing I can do to stop you, so we should probably get going," Gabby said with a sigh. However, before the duo could get going, there was an ear-shattering boom that resounded across the city. The almost-empty coffee cup fell from Gabby's hands due to the tremors. "So much for your break.
Let's go."

~~~

Jackson certainly was not anticipating his weapon's response, but he wasn't going to say no. "Alright then. Try not to have a panic attack," he said with a wink, emerging from the building and walking down the steps.

Sphera had certainly improved since when Jackson first met him. When he had first found the weapon, the poor boy was almost wholly inaudible and would not look anybody in the eye. Jackson had to admit that he had his doubts about the boy when they first became partners, but he had grown on him over time. And plus, his weapon form was purely badass.

Once Jackson hit the bottom of the steps of the DWMA, he prepared to venture out and enjoy himself. Alas, this would not occur due to a massive explosion near the DWMA. The ground shook and smoke rose from a nearby building, which Jackson recognized as one of the DWMA intelligence buildings. His Soul Perception saw 2 souls leaving the building, a weapon and a meister, neither a Kishin egg. Peculiar.

"Sphera, let's go. Can you retreat those spikes? We need to keep them alive, if possible."

~~~

[Cherrywitch]

The pale boy tried to hide a frown at his partner’s joking comment, half expecting Jackson to take pity on Sphera’s social phobia. Well, he was stuck with the decision now. Sphera began to fidget even more, anxiety clouding his head. What if I actually do faint? That would attract so much attention... The weapon was a few moments away from tearing his sleeve from nerves.

Suddenly, Sphera was no longer scared and trembling, his heart had stopped a moment as his orange eyes widened through the smoke drowning him. His ears rung from the explosion, but he could just barely make out Jackson’s command:

"Sphera, let's go. Can you retreat those spikes? We need to keep them alive, if possible."

A sickening grin cut open on the once timid face, eyes sharpening with pure blood lust. Hehe. I’ll smash them to bits..

His body glowed pure white, including the chain around his neck. Said links shot out and curled around his meister’s forearm, the vague form of his body morphing into the shape of the huge wrecking ball and falling heavily into the ground, the spikes retracting almost ruefully into the shiny silver metal. Sphera’s soul image appeared in the reflection of the ball, smiling wickedly through his dark curls. ”Ready when you are...”

@Agent 47

[vancexentan]

Lars, and Lawson both were still peacefully sitting around the tree when the explosive blast went off. Lars felt the rumble, and gave a long, and deep sigh. "The teachers here have one job...to make sure morons don't blow up the DWMA...apparently that is not what they felt like doing this afternoon. Confirmation Andrew?" asked Lars as he looked through his book some more finishing a page before putting a book marker on it, and then sliding it into his backpack. "Confirmed one blast iminating from what appears to be on the the intel buildings." Lawson said to his friend, and meister who rose up and looked at the blooming smoke stack appearing from the building. "Then let's do something smart. We'll check the perimeter. All the other students, and meisters will rush to the building itself. No one is actually going to look to see if there are any perps running away. Even if they're too strong for us Lord Death would want to know who to look for if something important has gone down. If we find nothing we can go to the building as back up if need be." Lars told his weapon who nodded. "I was hoping for a nice day...all well back to work." commented Andrew as the two went running towards the outer perimeter of the Intelligence area. The two hoping they'd find something.

[Hero]

Vanille kept her eyes firmly outside the window as the trio did their usual routine, trying to see if she could find the same bird again. The clouds were especially poofy today, so if any birds decided to hide in them, she would never see any. No, wait, birds don't hide in clouds. As much as she knew she should be focusing on the flash cards, she found herself resisting. That wasn't good, she'd end up getting scolded. Or worse, they'd take her ice cream. Letting out a whine of defeat, Vanille threw herself on the ground in protest. Sure, the physical part was a piece of cake, but she hated learning.

Pounding her fist to the floor, she let out a surprised shriek as the ground rumbled. Jumping up, she looked around nervously. Oh no, was this punishment? Was this what happened when she ignored Peter's cards?! "I didn't do it!" Vanille immediately defended herself, waving her arms wildly. As the rumbling ceased, however, she let out a sigh. "That is so crazy, I hit the ground and then it shakes! I've gotten a lot stronger, right?" She laughed out loud, apparently proud of herself.

@DearTrickster

[Rabidporcupine]

@Agent 47

"Did he really though?" Zander asked, raising an eyebrow. "He cut in line. Sure, its kind of shitty, but I feel like there was some significantly disproportionate retribution that took place."

He watched Gabby raise her cup to the sun, as if it was some kind of god, and shook his head.

"Yeah, no, you're holding your cardboard cup of bitter black water like its a gift from god, and I really think you need to rethink that opinion. In fact, it looks like you're holding that more happily than when you carry me. What's more important Gabs, your coffee or your partner?"

Of course, throughout that whole pseudo-rant, his voice had been practically dripping with sarcasm, but sometimes, every now and then, he still had to wonder.

Unfortunately, before he could give a proper response to her griping about his rest period, an explosion rocked the city, causing his brow to crease. Of course, the explosion paled in comparison to the fact that, as Gabby had said, this would be eating into his relaxation time. Still, Zander Branc was an optimist, and he would keep trying to look at the bright side and do the best for everyone.

"Alright, I guess I can sleep through tomorrow's dissection! Not like I can't just find it in a nature book or something anyway. Now, lets go save the world!"

As he shouted, he transformed into his weapon form, a three section spear, and spun into Gabby's hand, his chains retracted to leave him in his normal spear mode.

[GreenGoat]

Reppuu & Ozen

---

"Oh, Rika!" Helena turned towards her partner. "Ain't it a bit too early for movies?"

Rika's face contorted for a moment in an odd expression, before returning back to her usual creepy smile. "Its never too early for movies!"

"Hmm... Then," Grinning widely, Helena grasped her hand firmly. "We should go training. You've been cooped up a lot, ya know? Can't be a Death Scythe if my Meister slacks off now, can I? We can watch movies after."

"Eh? Ah wait, I can't.." Rika looked genuinely distressed, her creepy front having disappeared, leaving only the face of a small raccoon-eyed girl unwilling to go out and work out too much. She was unable to really escape too, Helena being much much stronger then she was, pulling her along whether she wanted to or not. "There's... But I got the limited..."

Before she could finish speaking however, a massive explosion rocked the place, enough to send both of them stumbling.

"Helena."

"Yeah, I got it."

In an instant, Helena transformed into a massive chainsword, much longer than Rika was tall, though it did not seem to inconvenience her with its weight at all. Revving the engine on the sword up, she moved quickly towards the Intelligence Building.

[DearTrickster]

---

Time: After Class - Present Day
Location: Training Halls - Gym, DWMA

“Shit!” Peter yelped. Standing up he helped Vanille back to her feet.

Henry stood up straight, “The hell was that?”

“Just another day in Death City. You guys want to check it out?”

The pair of them nodded enthusiastically. They quickly headed out of the school, making a beeline for the car. Peter spun his keys around his finger unlocking the doors, the car was a beautiful and impossibly sleek 1968 ragtop Chevy Camaro. Deep blue with white racing stripes across the hood, the chrome of its mirrors shined in the grinning, goofy sun. Peter took a seat in the driver’s seat, with a turn in the ignition the engine rumbled to life. Peter adjusted his glasses, grinning as he usually did. How could he not? The sound of the engine was so satisfying.

Henry adjusted the seat forward for Vanille to climb into the back. Henry always called shot gun, he immediately went to the radio adjusting to a different radio station. Peter waited for everyone to pull on their seatbelts, they rolled down the windows for a breeze. The brown leather seats were warm but soft. Peter shifted the gears, pressing the clutch and then took off. Picking up speed with a roar of gas.

The explosion felt like it was near by and they followed others that headed toward it. Drawn by curiosity as much as the others were.

@Hero