SARP Third Try

Rika ambled off of the boat, her luggage slung across her back. She knew how first days went by now, though she'd skipped the speech last year. Third years had a seperate one this year, because they were taught differently to second and first years. It was usually just the same stuff at first, though, so there was no rush.

Nerva waited her turn to get off the boat, wearing a large backpack rather than having a suitcase. She brushed the hair out of her eyes and watched everybody sort of file off, wondering what the speech was going to be this time.

Laila clambered down off of the boat, backpack over her shoulder. She couldn't have cared less about the upcoming speech, instead finding her small gang as they came off the boat too. They cracked a few jokes. They looked to her as a leader, much like her gang back home but she could never have considered them as friends.

Nerva didn't bother trying to find her friends, most of them were back at home. Some of them were here at Sanctum, but they were so few and far between that it would be better to just go get settled in before trying to look. She clambered off the boat and made her way towards the school grounds, hoping to get a good room, or at least something that didn't have a window view directly into a wall.

Richter had fallen asleep on the boat ride to Sanctum. The rocking of the boat and the waves slapping against the hull gave him a very soothing feeling. The thing that woke him up was one of his classmates shaking him awake. He grabs the backpacks he brought along and lines up behind the line of students disembarking and either returning to, or getting started on their first day to the Academy.

'least I can catch a bit more sleep during the speech He thinks with a yawn.

One of her gang pointed out Nerva as she walked on by them and Laila couldn't resist.

"Hey Nerva. I'm surprised they even remembered to bring you this time. I can see you still look like shit."

Her gang laughed and called out a few choice words of their own at the girl.

Nerva looked sideways at Laila. "You think I look like shit while you still dress like that? My littlest brother looks nicer than you after cleaning out the grease trap, Laila." Nerva tried to hide her smile, but the corner of her mouth crept up with a little giggle.

"Oh, that's right. Your family is so poor, you can't even afford a cleaner. Or a doctor for that matter. Say hello to your father for me, won't you?"

Laila gave the girl her sincerest and most innocent smile.

His feet hit the ground and he looks around for a second before letting out another yawn. A breeze catches him. The scent of fresh air loads his senses. He adjusts his bags a little bit before moving towards the school grounds. He didn't care what kind of room he'd get. It's just somewhere he'd be sleeping, anyway.

Nerva saw right through that smile. "At least we aren't afraid of a little dirt. Wasn't it year one that you got spooked by a worm on your shoe or did I just imagine that?"

Laila squared Nerva up, walking towards the girl. Dropping her voice now she was closer, she whispered.

"I'd like to see you keep talking with your face in the dirt."

"And I'd like to see you actually do something. Something besides order your little minions around." Nerva pointed with her chin at Laila's little gang. "But I bet that's too tall of an order for you, isn't it princess." Her heart started beating faster, the anticipation before a fight.

Laila didn't even waste time with talking anymore, she simply threw a punch at the other girls stomach aiming to follow up with a second punch to her face.

The punch to her stomach connected, landing square and knocking some wind out of Nerva's sail's, but she did have enough left in her to dodge the second punch and counter with a shoulder hit, using all of the weight she had, including the backpack full of her stuff.

Laila fell backwards under the weight of the shoulder barge, pulling Nerva with her as she fell. She hit the ground and rolled, attempting to straddle the other girl.

Nerva wasn't prepared for the roll, but did her best to go with it and hopefully catch Laila off-guard. She dimly heard some chanting and cheering somewhere behind them, but didn't really care. This fight, right now. The backpack hindered the counter-roll, but she did at least get one foot under her, still struggling for a breath.

Laila reached her position on top of Nerva and began raining punches down on her head. She knew the backpack under the other girl would be causing her a lot of discomfort and making things awkward, although hers wasn't much better right now.

As he walked further in, he could see a crowd forming. As he drew nearer, the voices of Nerva and Laila could be heard. No doubt Laila was the one who had initiated this crowd. He fought through the crowd to see what the fuss was all about and when he got to the front where he could see the goings on a bit better. The first punch was thrown and the following events happened very quickly. His heart began pumping while witnessing a fight.

He says to the student next to him.

"Fightin' on the first day? Why did no one invite me?" He says with his head tilted slightly.

As the barrage of punches began, he felt himself move forward towards the two. He would get behind Laila and try to grab her from behind to break up the fight.

"Aight, she learned her lesson enough, yeah?"

Nerva blocked as much as she could, obviously unable to get all of them stopped. Nothing too wounding at least, just some scrapes and bruises to show off later, if there was a later. In what was probably only a half second-lull in the punches Nerva went for a shove, planting both hands on Laila's face and pushing as hard as she could in her uncomfortable position. If things didn't start going her way she might call in her Cesti for this fight.

Laila found herself looking up at the sky as Nerva pushed against her face. She couldn't see where she was aiming with the punches and only a moment later she was being dragged off of the girl by someone else. Her vision came back down to look at Nerva lay on the ground, her lip busted open and her nose spewing blood. Laila wrestled her arms against whoever was holding them from behind. There was lots of talking, some in her ear but she wasn't listening.

Nerva slowly got up to her feet, wiping away a little blood off her mouth and dropping her bag on the ground. "Come on, princess. I dare you. Get a little dirty." She spat on the ground in front of Laila, and started to drop her bag, ready for a good old brawl. Her blood was pumping, adrenaline kicking in. She slowed and eventually paused, noticing Richter was holding her back and seemingly trying to stop a fight.

With the flailing Laila off Nerva and Nerva herself up and looking as if she was ready to go for another round, he lets Laila go and calls out to Nerva.

"Hey, Nerva, as much as I love fightin' we got shit to do and beatin' the hell outta each other isn't one of them, yeah? So let's all move on and you can get this done and over with at a different time, yeah? I'll even be the referee"

As soon as she was free, Laila tackled Nerva again. The adrenaline was flowing freely now, she didn't even pause to drop her bag. She heard someone trying to reason with Nerva in the moments before she collided with the girl, but paid it little mind. She could hear the beating of her heart, smell the excitement in the air from the crowd. Judging from Nerva's stance, she didn't expect the sudden rush.

Nerva went down with a whump of air from her mouth, and summoned in her Cesti just before impact. She didn't stone form, but did (as soon as her head stopped bouncing from the impact) start swinging for the ears as quickly as she could.

Laila landed atop the other girl punching downwards at the girl yet again. She was knocked sideways from a large impact on the side of her head.  

She staggered to her feet, still dazed and seeing double of Nerva but with enough sense to bring her Glaive into her hands and hold it at the ready.

As Laila rushed for Nerva again, he looks at them in awe. When they bring out their weapons, he turns to the crowd and barks his orders to them, something he would rarely ever do.

"Don't just stand there mouths gaped open! Help break this fight up!"

As he did so, a few people from the crowd would come out and try to pull them apart from each other. Him included, they weren't going to go at each other a third time.

Just as Nerva was getting to her feet, people started yanking her back. She struggled like an idiot, itching to get her studded gloves on Laila's smug face. "Let me at her dammit! I can take this bitch with one arm!" She shouted, almost tempted to hit some of the people holding her back just so she could get a free punch in.

Cornelius sat by and watched the cat fight. Just harmless fun, I suppose.

Laila was quickly surrounded by her gang, talking her down and she desummoned her glaive. She turned her back on Nerva and everyone else and stalked off, her gang following closely behind her. She could feel her ear bleeding where the cesti had hit her and there was a serious ringing in the background.

Laila and her cronies head off and soon after, the crowd itself. They go off to do whatever, most likely to find rooms or prepare for the speech. He didn't know, nor care. They managed to get a story on the first day that they'll tell for awhile before it fades off. He looks towards Nerva and nods.

"You aight? Didn't know she'd jump right back on ya, but it looks like ya got her back."

Nerva calmed down after a few deep breaths and desummoned her Cesti. She jerked her arms out of those holding her and rubbed her jaw. "Yeah, I'm alright, Richter. Nothing a couple stitches and an ice-pack can't fix. Thanks for trying, at least." SHe bent over to pick up her fallen bag, dusting it off a little a she stood back up.

Cornelius got a glimpse of the girls fighting. So much for harmless fun. Aren't there Angels about to stop this sort of thing?

Rika absent-mindedly watched the fighting until the two were pulled apart. None of the teachers were present, most of them getting ready for the assembly or directing the first years. Yawning, she walked off. She could just sneak into the assembly before anything important was said, so she lay down on one of the vacant piers, her head resting on her bag and her legs dangling over the edge.

"Aight, you get yourself checked out"

He gives a slight yawn

"I'm headin out to the assembly. See if I can't get a bit more sleep durin' that speech."

He gives her a lazy two finger salute, turns around and heads off.

Rika stared up at the sky, thinking about the last two years, and what would be different this year. Third years got sent to their first posts, but it's not like they were out in the Ashlands, like some of the more dangerous postings were. They were mostly in the larger towns throughout the country, though Pendragon was one of the hardest, thanks to its proximity to the Ashalnds.

Nerva smiled as Richter went off, and carefully made her way to the campus, hoping to find the doctor before any word of this story reached them. A busted lip and nose could be somewhat explained by a door, but a bleeding ear like what Laila had would be tough to explain away. With any luck, she'd get in, get an ice pack and get to a room without any trouble.

He follows behind a group of people making their way to the Assembly Hall. Through the courtyard, he finds some of the other kids he hung out with in the years prior and groups up with them. Talking about the fight and what has been going on in their lives over the year. They enter the Assembly Hall and take a seat right at the entrance, farthest from where the speakers would greet the students. They had time to kill and they knew that. Richter's friends had already grabbed their rooms during the fight and had set up a reserved room for him. He sets his head back and props his legs up onto the seat in front of him, relaxing a bit.

The assembly passed without incident, though one of the more observant teachers noticed that there were several third years missing. All of them were found once a small search party was sent out, and forced to attend the remainder.

Most of it was ceremony, Rika noticed, just another of the Archangel's duties. The only important thing was about our first postings, but they were still a while away.

Nerva listened in on what she could. She had barely gotten her icepack from the nurse before she was practically dragged to the assembly. It wasn't anything important, at least not for the most part. There were mentions of where they would be stationed, but apparently they wanted to save that for last. As the Archangel blathered on, Nerva looked around, just to get some satisfaction in Laila's bruised up head.

As the speech droned on, he felt his body going numb. His mind slipping into a state of sleep. His location in the back of the hall made it easy for him not do this and not get caught. That is until he began snoring. Loud enough to most likely garner attention, especially in such an open venue. He'd feel one his friends push on him to try to wake him up. His eyes would flutter open and he would look around for a second.

"If you're going to sleep, try not to snore, man." The friend who pushed on him says in a hushed tone.

He shrugs and closes his eyes again.

Rika had stopped paying attention after being told that postings would be assigned later, and wandered off in her own mind, focussed more on what she was going to do when she left. A quick glance around told her that nobody was paying strict attention to her, so she left. She'd rather take a walk around the school than stand around doing nothing.

Nerva didn't see her, so she went back to following the Archangel's speech, using it as a sort of distraction to the pain in her sore areas. It wasn't perfect, but it was something.

Cornelius paid enough attention to the Archangel to glean the facts about what would happen post-graduation. He stood, rather than sat, through the assemble. His eyes were closed during some parts, because he was focusing on the words being said. He noticed, from where he was standing, that Rika had left the assemblage. She hasn't been the same since her sister died.

Rika arrived at her room, the same one she'd had since first year. She'd even carved her name into the wall behind the desk. She dropped her bags, rummaged around and took out her soul, putting it in its usual place on the desk. The assembly was probably finishing around now, though she didn't get why anyone had stayed to the end. The Archangel wasn't going to announce our postings in the assembly; he'd probably put off writing them until the night before we were being shipped out.

Once it was all done, Nerva headed back to the dorms. She looked around, and claimed a room, giving it a quick once over to make sure the window didn't look right into a wall or anything. She closed the door behind her and started unpacking, putting out the little figurines and small decorations she was allowed to take with her.

He's once again shaken awake by one of his friends. Assembly had ended and they wanted to head back to their rooms. He complies with their wants and follows them, albeit a bit sluggishly for their preferences. They would eventually get up to the dorm and find their rooms. He opens his door to find the essentials of a dorm. He cracks his neck and yawns slightly before beginning to unpack his things.

The assembly speech by the Archangel was certainly interesting. There was a lot of information about their future in what the Archangel did not mention in his speech. For example, where they were going to be posted after they graduated. Cornelius wasn't all too concerned about it, but it was interesting. There were a few things that a bolder person might ask about, but Cornelius knew the answers would be revealed on there own in time. He remained behind in the assembly after everyone else had presumably left. Except for the Angels and some of the other staff. Cornelius looked around to see if he recognized any of them.

There was a knock at the door, giving Rika some satisfaction in the fact that she hadn't started to unpack when people might interrupt. She answered it, and came face to face with a teacher.
"Rika Kyubei, this is your first official post. You'll be sent out in two days. Combat gear will be provided, but you need to pack formal wear, and two sets of casual clothes." She handed Rika a white envelope, before she went off.
That was fast. Rika thought as she took the envelope and sat down on her bed.

"Rika Kyubei,

You have been assigned to Outpost 7, in central Koga. Your duties here will include: Patrols, Guard Duty and other ceremonial duties. A VTOL aircraft will be arriving at 06:00 in two days time. You will be accompanied by Nerva Vibiana, Cornelius Alterus, Laila Lark and Richter Leone.

Archangel Micheal"


They really went all of the way when trying to make this seem like a real mission, having Archangel Micheal sign it. Rika re-read the list of names, silently evaluating the choice of students. The only person who'd actually take this seriously was Cornelius. Laila and Nerva would probably start fighting, and Richter wasn't the most motivated student ever. Either way, it wasn't her problem to deal with.

Nerva was right in the middle of the taking out a figurine her father made her when she was a little girl when the messenger arrived. She took the letter and read it over once they left. Anybody who was probably nearby heard a very large expletive come from her room's direction a moment later. Part of Nerva was happy, at least she would be send off to actually do something. On the other hand, now she was going to be stuck with Laila.

"Richter Leone, this is your first official post. You'll be sent out in two days. Combat gear will be provided, but you need to pack formal wear, and two sets of casual clothes." He handed Richter a white envelope, before he went off.

"Richter Leone,

You have been assigned to Outpost 7, in central Koga. Your duties here will include: Patrols, Guard Duty and other ceremonial duties. A VTOL aircraft will be arriving at 06:00 in two days time. You will be accompanied by Rika Kyubei, Nerva Vibiana, Cornelius Alterus and Laila Lark.

Archangel Micheal"

He reads the message for a bit, going over the names.

"Laila and Nerva bein' on this mission together might be excitin'. Rika's an alright chick and Corny'll do what he can. I just hope we can get some action goin' that doesn't involve fightin' among us."

He crumples the paper up and tosses it in a nearby trash can before proceeding to continue putting up his belongings.