SARP Reboot: Part 1

I stepped onto the concrete docks of Sanctum, the academy in view ahead of me. There weren't many students in front of me, as our cabin had been closer to the front. Thanks to mother, I'd been forced to sit with the rich students arriving at the academy. I hadn't spoken to them much, as I didn't particularly like any of them. One of them, Elizabeth Vane, was particularly repulsive in my opinion. The way she spoke about the poor was outright disgusting, and she had made it perfectly clear that we were going to be 'friends', seeing as we were both rich and from Lamorak. I was not thrilled at the idea of it, to say the least. I would much rather have taken the lower deck with the other students, but mother had insisted that I travel in luxury.

My sword was quite difficult to carry in a cramped space, and especially so in crowds of people, so I had strapped it to my back. I couldn't reach it easily, but I doubted that I'd need to do so, nonetheless, it was still rather awkward, given its size.

It was almost blinding when I stepped out of the lower decks of the boat, climbing the stairs to the top deck among the throngs of other students. I was almost glad for the glare of the sun, since this meant our journey was at an end and I'd be on solid land again---traveling by sea was definitely not for me, or at least my stomach. There was the gentle sound of water lapping against the hull of the boat, seagulls cawing overhead as I finally made it to the deck, and took a look at the other students, seizing them up.

They all looked a bit better than me, though some of them looked just as sick. Clothing wise.....various classes, though if my worn, slightly torn shirt was any indicator, I was around the lowest class. And yet somehow the richest, considering I managed to pick more than a few pockets and make off with some cash. What? I was a thief for years before I became an angel. Not like I was going to stop doing what I did best. Moving through the group to be among the first (sorry, the first after the high and mighty first class nobility. Assholes) students to get off the boat, I took comfort in the reassuring weight of Ebon Wind strapped behind me over the small of my back, just above my hips. Starving, I hoped they would feed us before a lengthy orientation.

I felt a jolt as someone bumped into me, which made my sword bang uncomfortably into my leg and the back of my head. Maybe it would've been easier to carry it in both hands, but there was no fixing that now, seeing as how difficult it'd be to take it off. There was a man in a spotless white suit waiting for us at the end of the docks, obviously there to see us to the academy.
"First years," He said, "First years over here. I'll be showing you to your rooms."

Reaching the docks was easy enough and I had to resist dropping to my knees to kiss the concrete, simply because I was a thief and streetrat with standards. There was someone calling for the first years, so I headed for them. The noble students were there as well, and already some of them were sneering at me, others even looked surprised that a street urchin was there. I didn't care though, since hey, I could take them for their money and they wouldn't even know. Hell, I wasn't even going to fight with them after this was all over; build up my power and skills, go back home, and help my gang stay alive. That was all that mattered to me.

"Rei."
Silence woke her. Her name made her open her eyes. Above her was Aurielia, straddling her hips. Rei groaned. "Get off me dammit..." she rubbed her eyes. "Why do you insist on waking me like so?"
"Simple. You dislike it." Auri giggled. Rei wighed and went silent as Auri roppled off and got up, letting Rei sit up straight. Auri's father had paid for one of the better rooms on the vessel, and now Auri dragged her adopted sister up and over to the mirror. She began combing the smaller girl, who sleepily drank water.
"Why do you insist on doing this?" Rei complained, Auri keeping her there. The elder said nothing, until finally slipping the ever present headphones over Rei's ears.
"Because you're my sister."

Off the boat, Auri led Rei to the man in the whire suit. Rei's double ended katana strapped to her back, Auri shook her head. The kid was enraptured by her music. Touching her own rapier, Snow White, and continued on. She felt Rei's hand grip her sleeve, and Auri smiled to herself.
Same age. But forever the older sister.

"Uh," Elizabeth huffed indignantly, "Why would they let something like that into such a prestigious school?" She asked me, nodding towards a boy in slightly tattered clothing behind us, as though the boy's being there was a grave offence to her great ancestors. I sighed, already I was growing tired of her constant moaning about the poor, especially now, seeing as this was how the last bout of complaining had started. I had to be polite, however. "It's disgusting," She carried on, "That they expect us to work with common thugs like him. He's probably planning how to rob us all blind while we're at dinner." I rubbed my forehead, resisting the urge to slap her. Father had said that there were people that you had to work with that you would would love nothing more than to throttle. Elizabeth was one of those people. I wondered if she realised that other people could hear here. Though I assumed she did, and just thought herself above any consequence. Obviously, she'd attracted a following already, a couple of girls who must have been less intelligent than my father's dog, were blindly nodding along in agreement.

One of the people who heard her was Aurielia and Rei. The latter opened her eyes and slipped beside the loudmouth insulting everyone in sight. In a preemptive move, the pink-haired girl closed her eyes and began her second special talent - echolocation. She began mapping, and a neat trick Chief Nu taught her was body mapping. This close, it was childs play.
"Big boobs, big ass. It is a tragedy that such a well endowed body is marred by a mouth of greater size. Only God knows how your ego compares; it is definatrly bigger than the combined cup size of this mass of lemmings around you."

Aurielia looked a bit shocked, and took a bit to process on the fact Rei just started mouthing off to those rich kids.

Elizabeth stuttered, her face turning a shade of pink. I laughed through my nose, expertly disguising it as a sneeze as she reeled to find a retort. I could already hear her words as she opened her mouth.
"Who do you think you are?" She demanded, as I stopped myself from mouthing the words myself, just to see if I could, "I'll have you know that I am the daughter of Sir Richard Vane, one of the most powerful and influential men in the world." I sighed quietly as she ranted, she'd made sure to let everyone know who her father was, as well as finding out everyone else's parentage, though I'd managed to dodge and deflect her questions.

"Elizabeth," I said, turning my head to her, "Is it really worth fighting already?" I asked, my expression serious and neutral.
"But-" She started, before I silenced her with my hand; acting with the same authority I had seen my father use.
"Is it?" I repeated, keeping my hand raised.
"No." She said, pursing her lips. She was not happy at being told what to do, I could see that much, she might even try and get back at me. It didn't matter that much though, at least she was quiet.

Rei looked at the girl.
"I am an orphan. And I don't need daddy's name to get me anywhere."
Then the other girl silenced the bitch. A few terse words later and they were quiet. Rei looked at the woman with the massive zweihandler, then doffed her headphones. "And while it may not be worth fighting now, people should remember that we all bleed the same blood. You can be a high ranking exec or just a beat cop. Both bleed red, and both can cry the same tears."
She slipped her headphones on and walked off, and Aurielia hurried after her, bumping into Emeline.
"Sorry!" She said, and moved on to catch Rei.

Did I hear the annoying tart trash-talking me? Of course, since she went out of her way to make sure I did. But better question was, did I care? Nope. I extended her the same amount of respect she clearly extended me: I walked past her with my nose held high in a dignified manner and said in my best impersonation of a noble, drawling voice "Oh forgive me madame for my ruffledness, for I was not born with a silver spoon up my ass. But I worry, if such a dainty thing like you can't bear a sight like me, how will you survive combat?"

Aurielia grabbed Rei's arm.
"Hey! What the hell are you thinking?"
"She was cute."
"What?"
Rei looked at Auri, eyes...her eyes were sparkling just a bit. That dullness would sometimes make Auri hug Rei randomly - it now sparkled just a bit.
"She was cute."
"The big breasted bimbo crying out that she was near royalty?"
"No. The girl with the big zweihander who silenced the bimbo. She was cute."

Auri blinked. Well then. Now she knew Rei's preferences...

Part of me was enjoying Elizabeth's face growing redder, but another part of me felt sorry for her. She didn't know any better, as was the case with most nobles, and even if it didn't excuse her actions,  she didn't deserve to be publicly humiliated. Not when public image was so important to her.
"Ignore them," I said to Elizabeth, offering her a way to save face, "It's not worth getting riled over." She nodded in agreement, obviously trying to swallow her embarrassment, but didn't speak. I was surprised at how quickly people's backgrounds had caused arguments already, but there was no helping that now. I left her with her cronies who were reinforcing what I'd said to her, "He's just a commoner." and the like.

I walked over to the boy she'd been insulting, taking silent note of him as I approached.
"I'm sorry for my... friend," I said, adding the word 'friend' hesitantly. "She's definitely not the nicest person, nor the smartest."

"Nobles rarely are," I said dryly. Taking a moment to look at her, I seized her up. Snow white hair, blue eyes that went well with her skin and hair color.......and a giant ass sword on her back. "I never imagined nobles would use swords that unwieldy," I said, al trace of sarcasm or dryness gone, and dead serious.

"There's a lot you wouldn't imagine about nobles," I replied, "I only came to apologise for her behaviour. But please, try not to be too harsh with her. 'Princesses' rarely cope with the harshness of the world outside of their mansions."

Looking over her shoulder to her 'friend,' I snorted and said "Hey if she leaves me alone that's enough. It'd probably be too much of me to ask her to learn a little humility."

"Well, hopefully she'll learn it here." I said to him, as I walked away, following the guide. He stopped us outside of the girl's dormitory first, and having explained what it was and informing us that another member of staff was waiting inside, led the boys to their dorm.

I walked inside the girl's building, glancing at the woman waiting for us. She was also wearing a white suit, though she had a skirt instead, and listened as she read out names and door numbers. My name was going to be near the end, as she was going alphabetically.

Good. Aurielia was mere doors away from Re. That worked best - Rei could be a handful. She had a tendency to walk absently listening to her music, and more then once ran into people. She hiccuped with echolocation used to get around - she needed to stop that.
Rei shrugged to herself. Whatever.

Her eyes fell on zweihander girl. Maybe she was nice? Maybe. Hopefully.

After she walked away, I simply shrugged and followed the guide to the boys dormitories. They were very nice, I had to admit. A lot nicer than what I had been seeping on for the past few years anyway. I didn't have much stuff on me, so there was no worry about luggage......as opposed to those who were carrying the luggage of the nobility students. My god, did they bring their entire rooms with them just to cram into their new rooms?

I pushed open the door to my room, carrying my luggage in front of me. Unfortunately, my sword got caught in the door frame, and I had to unhook it before I could move forwards. I didn't pay attention to who my neighbours were, most of my focus was on getting my Zweihander through the door.

Rei saw her get caught and made to help, but as she unhooked it and stepped through Rei pulled off a shoelaced-assisted forward dive, and faceplanted the floor in front of Emeline's door. She groaned. "Ow."

Aurielia facepalmed and put her stuff inside before pushing Rei's stuff into her room. She needed to learn how to not be clumsy herself. Sigh. Auri just did not know what to do with her.

I turned and looked at the girl on the ground, shocked by her sudden, loud appearance.
"Are you alright?" I asked her as I leaned my Zweihander against the wall and moved to help her up.

Rei accepted the help, then slid her headphones off. She blushed with embarrassment. "Yeah. Uh..." she smoothed her clothes. "Uhm..." she bit her lip for a second. "I'm Rei." She held out her hand. "Was gonna help you free your sword, but my shoelaces conspired against me."

Auri was frozen and shocked again.
Headphones...off?

Iulius Nikolaus sat by and simply observed the others of his age group converse in there way on the ship to Sanctum and on its arrival. Listening was an important skill after all. You could learn much from just listening. On the Ship many attempted to make conversation with him, he declined them with the subtle grace that is befitting of the noble class. He stayed, as was almost social custom, near the other nobles, the classes seemed to stratify and congregate amongst their familiars. Though he sat among nobles he felt isolated still, they shared social-economic class only in commonality. He doubted many of them would share his interests, or even be inclined to converse with him, he thought this despite having decline conversation with many people already.

When the Ship came to port at Sanctum and they were all ushered to their new living spaces he thought to himself: "I hope they didn't go overboard with the housing for the noble families."

The boat ride was uneventful for Artorias and he just laid back, He didn't have much of a room and just stayed near the bow of the ship for the Journey. Upon Arrival he could hear from some girls trash talk about a ragged or poor kid.

He didn't interfere and just continued on until they reached the boys Dorm. He was going to be in the front area because of this Alphabetically set rooms. "So many rich kids nowadays." He said to no one in particular but got some odd looks from those he mentioned, He guessed he said it loud enough to be heard from the area that contained such. All Artorias had was one bag full of essentials and Sif on his shoulder.

I took the girl's hand, shaking it.
"Emeline Winterhalter," I said, "Thank you for trying to help, but please remember to tie your shoelaces." I said with concern. Tripping like that could have ended in a serious injury if she'd banged her head.

Getting acquainted with my room wasn't that bad: it was a bit spartan, just a bed, writing desk and chair, a a lamp on the said desk along with a lighted fan on the ceiling. This was practically luxury for me, and I plopped down on the bed. It was soft, warm, and very comfortable. Oh man I was going to enjoy being here if for no other reason than that bed.

"If that's everything, I need to unpack." I said to her with a small smile, and walked into my room. It was spacious than I'd imagined it would be, but not as big as my room at home. There was plenty of room for the things that I'd brought, with drawers and a wardrobe for my clothes and a desk for my computer to go on. There was nowhere for my soul to go as of yet, so I left it in the corner. I could probably get a wall mount for it later. The bed in here was only a single, whereas at home I'd had a queen sized one, not that it bothered me. I found a piece of paper on the desk, informing me that until dinner, which was in an hour and a half, I was free to do whatever I wanted, which at the moment, was to unpack properly.

Artorias entered his home and viewed what was inside before closing the door. A Desk, single bed, fan, pretty much everything he needed. Artorias planted his bag next to his bed and had placed Sif on the corner and sat on his bed. it was comfy and most likely warm for cold nights so Artorias was pretty much happy as can be.

He stared at sif for a bit before realizing a note. He read what it contained and decided to Pack everything the best he could but he was always sloppy when it came to rooms so he was sure by the end of the day something was gonna look messy.

It wasn't like I had much unpacking to do, since it was just the clothes on my back plus whatever I had packed into the one bag slung over my shoulder. So really, there was nothing else to do except pack my spare clothes away into the dresser, before I got stir crazy and left for a walk.

It shouldn't have taken that long to unpack, though when a pair of crewmates from the boat suddenly arrived with more luggage, sent by my mother without my knowledge, the task suddenly became a lot longer. Hanging all of the dresses that had been packed for me took much longer than the rest of my unpacking, thanks to the sheer volume of them I'd been given, though all of them were beautiful... and expensive. I had my computer neatly on the desk, and with everything unpacked, I found that the room was big enough to fit more furniture or a bigger bed in, which mother would definitely pick up on if she ever saw the size of the room. I wouldn't be surprised if she had managed to get me a bigger room than other students just for that reason. No doubt she and father were already planning to visit to make sure that everything was to their standards. I just hoped that they wouldn't make a scene.

After I'd made my bed, using the bed sheets and duvet covers mother had included in my luggage, I took a seat next to my desk. The room looked so empty and bare, despite all of the extra luggage I'd been sent. My books were stacked up neatly in the corner, being to many to store on the desk. I would have to buy a bookshelf for them, which would hopefully make the room look less bare. I checked the time, and found I had about forty minutes until dinner. I could go and socialise, I thought, but being cornered by Elizabeth was not something I wanted to risk. Instead, I picked a book and lay down, losing myself in it.

The moment I got to the dormitory door, I found myself stunned. Mainly because the door was being held open to allow a bunch of servants garbed in clothing of various colors, each color signifying an individual servant as belonging to a particular noble house. They were carrying in a bunch of suitcases that no doubt belonged to their charges and I resisted the urge to gag.

Sure I had plans of going back home and staying with my gang, but I still knew full well what the life of an angel, even one in training entailed. These pampered, delicate noble children were going to fall apart, no doubt about it. I imagined that one girl, Elizabeth her name was, bursting into hysterics at training because she broke a nail.

Brought a smile to my face as I passed the servants and walked out into the sunlight.

Artorias left his room and quietly closed the door, he was a bit more built than most of the others but then again, he had been training with greatswords and was a blacksmith. He could fix swords easily but making them was trickier for him. He thought of a few things to do, go for a lovely stroll along anywhere, pick a fight or just chat and he wasn't in the mood for the first but the other two sounded fine by him.

Rei scurried away when she left. Honestly she was a bit overwhelmed. So, she slipped into her room and began to unpack. Chief Nu had gotten her a new laptop for being accepted into Sanctum, and she loved it. She had done everything possible to personalize it, and it was her flprized posession.
Setting her posters on the bed, she began putting her clothes away. She had little in the way of posessions, having not been with the Nu family long. She looked at the flowing nightgown Aurielia had gotten her. She smiled, then puther headphones on. She got up and exited, then headed for Emeline's room and knocked. "Emeline?" She said. "Uh...I...I kinda managed to figure out what I wanted to say."

Meanwhile, Auri had her clothes put away. Happy with it, she began to put up posters.

The room was barren. Nothing to mark it as his own. Except for the clothes in the closet. I placed writing utensils and notebooks on the desk and that was all. You would not know it was the room of a Nobleman if you entered it.

I turned my head to the door, waiting a few seconds before I closed my book and got to my feet. I opened the door, bringing myself face to face with Rei.
"Yes?"

It was a fairly large campus and that was just my impression from walking twenty feet away from the boys dormitory. There were other buildings, probably classrooms, the main hall, all arranged neatly together. But I didn't go for the buildings first, instead heading back towards the dock. Well, the beach really. Back home, we were landlocked in my town so I never got a really good waterfront view, short of the large river that ran by. And when we were boarding the boat, I never got a chance to really look at the sea in all it's glory.

The sound of waves gently lapping against the sandy shore, was really rather relaxing. There was that scent of sea-spray, the wind blowing against me and making that sound in my ears like someone was blowing puffs of air inside each one. So much blue, all moving and rippling on the surface.....if there was ever a time when I would leave my gang, then perhaps I'd use the money I stole to buy a boat, and just sail. Go as far as I wanted maybe. But that was a dream and I needed to live in the real world. My friends back home needed me. So I sat on the shore, gaze cast out to the endless blue, and took a moment to entertain a small fantasy.

Rei's cheeks went slightly pink. "Sorry about insulting your friends back at the docks...I'm not fond of people thinking they are above others because of a name or checkbook." She moved from heel to heel. "And...on a less...mean note...your name..a...are you from Lamorak?" She asked shyly. "Knights and stuff?"

"They're not my 'friends' as such," I said, "I sat with them on the boat. I don't particularly like any of them," I told her with a sigh, "Yes, I'm from Lamorak. What about you? Are you from Koga?"

Artorias had not much to do and didn't expect to make many friends from just standing there so he decided to head to the area the note told him to go earlier than others, unless someone decided to stop him along the way then he would stop.

Rei relaxed. So she probably was nice. "Yeah...but I moved to New Pregus with my...my..." she looked away. "But I live in New Pregus now." She finished. Rubbijg her eyes to ensure she had no loose tears, she looked back over. "Uhm...what kind of places does Lamorak have? Do you have big castles and forts and cool armored knights all around?"

"There are some forts, but there aren't really any castles," I said, making a mental note not to ask her about Koga again, "And they're mostly in the military zone for defence. There are sometimes knights, but they're for ceremonial purposes, mostly."

Getting up from the sand and brushing off any that clung to my pants, I made my way back inland , heading for the school to look around some more. Briefly, I wondered about looking for a training field to work on my knife techniques, or improve my hand to hand at least. Back home, we always used to practice fighting, but it would be obvious to any observer that none of us were experts. That needed to change. A few other students were out, moving around, and I steered clear for the moment as I looked for a map. I had to wonder though, who out of the whole list of people I met on the boat, could I stand to be around the most...... That one rich girl that was being an ass, Elizabeth, was a definite no no. Emeline....seemed like she couldn't stand Elizabeth either, so that was a plus mark. Rei, the other girl that seemed to defend me--or at least stand up to Elizabeth--also seemed good.

As I gave it some thought, I couldn't help but find myself amused: so far, three girls and one me. It seemed the ratio of female vs male students, was not in favor of guys.

Artorias was thinking now. Thinking about why he didn't study the directions better because he had no clue where he was. "God damn it." He said as he decided to look around to see if he could find someone or maybe a Angel to help him.

I awoke as the boat stopped, apparently we arrived at Sanctum. I yawned hugely and gave myself a stretch. These noble class chairs were prime nap material. I started to gather my back trying to find my shades. It was far to bright for...whatever time it was. I placed my hood on and shades and made my way outside, sluggishly. I followed the group that was heading to what seemed our dorm. All I could think about was how comfy the bed was. I lifted my shades up to get a brighter view of my room. It was barren, perfect for making it your own. I placed my bag down and fell face first into my bed. It was a little rougher than I wanted but it wouldn't take me long to pass out.

"What is that, salty. Sound of...waves? Are you serious."

I quickly got up and looked out my room window to a beautiful view of the clear blue waters. Excited at this event I yelled what came next.

"There's a fucking ocean on campus!"

The training field was kinda easy to find really. I mean, just look for the obstacle course, sparring rings, and practice dummies. It was vacant, which made sense in a way. First day of school, doubt there'd be classes today, when it was just the day of introductions. So that left me with the place to myself.

Fun.

As always, the first thing I did, whether it was for training or stealing from a shop, was stretch out. Made the mistake once of not prepping before I had to do a snatch and go of a coin purse, and man was it embarrassing. I mean, you try living down getting a beating all because you pulled a leg muscle in the middle of running away.

Anyway, so I stretched out first before going to one of those sparring poles, you know those wooden pole things with a bunch of branches sticking off them for hand to hand combat practice? Don't give me that look, it's not like I know what the exercise equipment is called.

Leofrick sat under a tree, eyes closed and content. He was humming softly, a little tune he made up some years ago, a thing with no words or meaning. His foot tapped to the beat of the song in his head, his crossbow laying on the ground next to him, resting against his hip. He was enjoying the sounds around him, the rustle of the leaves on the tree above him, and the feel of the bark against his back. No one had bothered him yet, but that was probably because he looked unassuming enough.

So the first thing I remember learning, when I first tried one of those wooden pole things: don't punch them. That's not what they're really there for. Which is why I ended up avoiding them, and instead went for the obstacle course. That would be better, since I could improve my skills at running away through crowded streets. As I headed for it, I thought I spotted someone sitting by a tree, perhaps under it. But it could have been my mind playing tricks on me for all I knew, shadows and masses.

Leofrick opened his eyes, still humming his song, and saw someone looking towards him. Maybe not at him, but generally pretty close. He waved politely, smiling and tapping his foot to his song.

Well, I definitely saw someone that time, but by the time I registered the wave I was already running and straight for the wall with that rope you had to climb, so not like I could wave back. That'd be just silly.

After some time, Artorias got a bit sick of waiting around and wandered off until he found the training area or at least he thought it was the training area. Looking around, he noticed someone already climbing the rope and probably someone nearby the tree. "Maybe they might be talkative." He said as he viewed the place next to the door.