Sophia Rozen's Story

Dorian would be fully dressed, having been up for quite a few hours due to his inability to sleep past 3am. A steaming cup of coffee would be in one hand as he walked into Sophia's room, placing the cup of coffee on her nightstand and drawing open the blinds to let in the sunlight, "OK Sophia, it's time to get up, class in a bit." As he spoke, Dorian would already be out of the room, making his way to the kitchen where he placed two pieces of toast each on a saucer with a small pap of butter and a small cup of strawberry jam. Dorian turned and shook his head, having expected Sophia to be right behind him, "Come on Sophia! Your breakfast is getting cold."

When Dorian opened the blinds Sophia squalked and wrapped her blanket around her slight frame. Watching him walk out the room, she rolled her eyes and wrapped herself up in her bathrobe and grabbed her coffee, breathing in the wonderous smell "I'm here i'm here"

Quickly, Dorian slid one of the two saucers over to Sophia, meanwhile taking a small bite of dry toast. After sufficiently swallowing, Dorian looked to his weapon, "We definitely need to get moving, I think there may be a mission for us to go for. We could really use the experience out in the field. You know?"

Shoving her mouth full of jellied toast, and talking through crumbs and reading the paper "Ok, lets get moving then." Squinting at Dorian she asks "Do I have clean clothes?Dorian perked a brow over his spectacles, "I don't know, do you?" As the young man spoke he would look over to the balcony where Sophia's clothes still hung from where she didn't bring them in the night before. Dorian sighed as he took another bite from his toast and sipped from his cup, "I'd suggest we get a move on, just bring them in and put on what you need, we'll take care of the rest of this when we come home."

"Okay sounds good" Untying her bathrobe and walking forward towards the balcony, and tossing it over a chair, and pulling her clothes off the line and dressing as she gets to her room. Calling out to Dorian "Is all my stuff in the same place as last night?"The young man quickly averted his eyes, "Would you please stop doing that? It's so classless for someone of your calibur Sophia." At her question, Dorian shrugged as he walked over to his easy chair to grab his messenger bag, "It's wherever you left it last night. Let's get moving. No use in being late." With that, Dorian shouldered his messenger bag and finished his cup of coffee, placing the cup in the sink and filling it halfway with hot water.

"I was wearing pjs! Classless or not i've spent more time waterclad than cottenclad." Brushing her hair over her shoulder, walking into the kitchen and downing her coffee in one long gulp. leaving her cup on the saucer and rummaging around in one of the cabnets trying to find her backpack.

Dorian sighed at the argument, "It doesn't matter, if we are to show these people what it means to be victorious with class, we must demonstrate class in our every day lives. To respond further, I have spent more of my time dirt clad, but you still see me working to keep myself as respectable as possible. Also, your backpack is under the sink. I remember where you put it last night when we came in. Why not keep it in the same place every time we come in? It would definitely save you some time like now. Come come, the DWMA awaits our arrival." With that, Dorian gave a sarcastic flourish of the wrist in a theatrical manner towards the door.

Smirking imperiously, grabbing the backpack and walking through the door "Oh thank you, your so kind" giggling at his sighs and slides down the banister. Dorian watched as Sophia slid down the banister, "Well, it is faster than the stairs, here goes!" With a quick bend and hop, Dorian would be riding the banister down in a surfing stance, having carefully waxed the soles of his shoes. As he reached the bottom of the banister, he crouched to jump and perform a small somersault onto the tiled floor of the lobby, "Wow, not bad. I must say that was rather enjoyable!" A small chuckle left his lips as they curled into a tiny grin, "Anyhow, now that we've had our fun, let's get going."

Giggling "Oh god your such a freak Dorian" Slipping her hand onto his forearm, allowing him to lead the way to school and calmly shooing away some fuzzes on his arm and laying her head against his arm "Pretty morning hmmm?" Dorian blushed slightly, quite unfamiliar with the affection given, "Um...yes, quite nice. Not too warm." The two walked in silence as Dorian racked his brain for something to say to break said awkward silence. For Dorian, his entire life gave value to silence as a virtue to a point where basic interactions were foreign to him. Happy with the silence, she closed her eyes and soaked in the sunlight on the short walk they had to school. Skipping up the stairs trying to keep up with Dorian's long strides

As they entered the DWMA, Dorian would turn them down the hallway leading to the Mission Boards. Dorian's eyes quickly began scanning the boards for appropriate missions for their pairing, his eyes hidden behind a glare on his spectacles. Rifling through her backpack, and pulling out their schedules to figure out where they would go "So anything new? Anything interesting?" Slipping his glasses just high enough to remove the glare, Dorian discretely pointed to one of the mission tags. He hadn't seen the entire summary given their distance, but he could see the stars and the type of mission it would be, "There's a bounty mission that we might be able to explore, from what I can see it looks pretty cut and dry." "Money bounty or star point bounty? We could use a bit more cash to keep up with the amount of coffee you make every day." gently leading him by the arm over to the paper posted on the wall and read it over silently, biting he lower lip. Dorian simply shook his head, "I'm afraid I couldn't see that part. Personally I hope it is star points given we need to keep moving up, we can't get bogged down in jobs strictly for money. If we need money we can work around DWMA." "Or one could simply make less coffee, break the chain mate, drink a soda."

Sophia smiled at Caroline, "Please, call me Sophie. All my friends do." She knew by the way that Dorian was holding himself that he was about to say something incredibly rude Digging the heel of her all-star into Dorian's high gloss dress shoe, and grinding it back and forth to keep him from speaking, Sophia painted a grin on her face. Cutting angry eyes up at her meister, waiting for his mouth to shut before she spoke. As Dorian pursed his lips together, she looks over at Caroline and replies "We" grind "would be happy to help" grind "you and Malcolm with this mission." Calmly taking the card from her hands and glancing over it. Looking up at Dorian, she gently removes her heel from his probably crushed toes and offers the card up to him. Snatching the card up he looks over it and nods. "Of course we'll assist you." Sophia nods and smiles up at him "If you'd like to meet in a few hours for brunch at Lola's Tea House, we can meet up and discuss the mission? Does that sound good? We'll be able to go in with a good idea and a plan." Dorian nodded curtly "A plan would be good." Sophia rolled her eyes, her meister was really weird around people, she was too, but whatever.

Malcolm watched as Caroline chose a mission and looked it over. She said that it was a difficult one and that they should team up with another pair. Malcolm looked at her and gave her the slightest nod in his approval. It seemed as soon as another pair showed up, Caroline went right up to them and began to speak with them. Malcolm followed in tow like a faithful puppy. He stood directly next to her as she spoke with the team. Malcolm believed he recognized them but couldn't place names to the faces. Malcolm was always bad with names.......and remembering most things in general. Then again, that's why he had Caroline. The girl, which he could tell was the weapon by the fluctuation of her soul, introduced herself as Sophie. Her meister seemed to look over them in a way that didn't seem very nice. He also seemed to be holding back some kind of pain, but Malcolm wasn't sure why, nor did he care. Malcolm wasn't really paying attention when he heard a word that he didn't recognize or understand. Caroline then looked up at him in the way she did and asked the basic questions she did when discussing something.

Malcolm glanced down at her with a slightly raised eyebrow, his inquisitive face, and spoke. "Brunch?"

Sophia felt the muscle under her left eye twitch, and curled her lips into a demure smile to hide it. She loved brunch, the more times a day one could eat the better. if she'd had her way they'd celebrate English tea time along with breakfast, brunch, lunch, supper and dinner along with after dinner snack. scuffing the sole of her shoe on the floor she flicked her eyes up to Dorian to help her out. Dorian quickly nodded to the pair and gently guided Sophia off to the side, leaning in to whisper in her ear ever so faintly, "I think before we join them we should do a little research. I have a plan and it's always better to be overly prepared than under." With that Dorian turned back to the pair, handing back the tag with the mission description, "We shall see you then. We have a few errands to attend to before we meet."

Wiggling her fingers in a wave goodbye, she took Dorian's arm and they headed off to the secretary to register for the mission. "I'm sorry i squished your toes." Dorian remained stone faced as they stepped out of the Mission Room on their way to the registration desk, "That is fine. We can make up for the rudeness by trying out a new workout regime that will not only train your body but also incorporate the class training we have been working on." As they reached the desk, Dorian smiled to the woman behind the desk, "Hello, I would like to register a mission if you please: The Vertigo Samurai under Caroline, Malcolm, Sophia, and Dorian. Also I was hoping you could help us in one other matter. The mission code was left empty but I was wondering if you might be able to provide the coordinates for the mission." With that the woman quickly accessed the database and jotted down two numbers and handed the note to Dorian, which Dorian took with a kind smile as he looked quickly to the note and folded it into his vest pocket. "Thank you very much Ma'am" Biting her lip to keep from groaning, she nods a goodbye/thank you and they head off to the library to do some research "Am I not classy enough for you? I'm cute and petite and i always smile. So do i really need to be more classy? Maybe you need to be less classy, you know. burp loudly, not starch your undies, etc..."

Dorian merely sighed and adjusted his glasses as he lead his partner to the library, "Do you know why I am trying to make you a lady? Because class allows for soul flexibility, which means we can improve our bond and even make you a stronger weapon if we find ourselves on missions where I cannot accompany you. To fight with class is to fight with utmost purity, refining oneself in life allows for a refining of one's technique. Just being strong is not enough, a mouse could easily take down an ox with the right refinement of technique, where the ox has more power, it is unrefined, stupid. Therefore it is important that you work to become a lady in order to help refine your abilities as a weapon. Do you see now?"

Nodding "I do, I also think that if your a tad bit more flexable it'd help you be a better meister. Sometimes you have to fight dirty." Shrugging "As long as I don't have to wear a skirt i'm happy....that isnt part of my training is it? because that is just unnessessary." Walking up to the library door she calmly waits for Dorian to open the door and strides through the open door over to the card cataloge and starts to flip through it

Dorian nodded, "If victory requires one to fight dirty, then that is a victory best not claimed. To sacrifice one's honor for any means is to sacrifice one's own meaning of fighting." Dorian's resolve was strong when it came to one's honor. "Now then, come along, we have research to do." With that the young man moved to the sections in which the maps and books of geography were kept.

Sophia rolls her eyes and continues through the card catalog. "No one likes to be rushed fussy pants." Selecting the card she wanted, she paces over to the map bin and calmly selects the map they needed. Smiling smugly as Dorian watches her unroll the map "See? no one likes being rushed. Here's the map of the annexed section of Death City he's hiding out in." Dorian shook his head as he retrieved three books pertaining to the annexed area, one being an old journal from one of the architects. "And no one likes to wait, so we are even it would seem." With that, Dorian began scanning through any diagrams that may reveal a potential point of advantage for the group. With a sudden flash of inspiration, Dorian grinned and turned the book to Sophia showing an underground drainage tunnel, "How about this?"

Scanning over the book and pursing her lips, she flips to the water piping blue print and lays it out. "A sewer? I'm a sea rat, not a sewer rat." Running her fingers across the blue print and biting her lower lip her finger pauses over a drainage well. "This looks likely. far enough away from the surface to be undetectable, isolated enough for easy defensibility. Hmm....As gross as it is..this seems the best way of entry..." groans, and trades places with Dorian and the journal "All right chess master, time to plan the moves."

Dorian nodded, "Exactly, though it does us no good to simply slip in and take out the boss. Contrary to popular belief, that does not work. It is better to take out the entirety as much as possible. What we do here, is send one group to cause as much damage and distraction as possible while another pair moves behind them and perform a pinscir maneuver where we will meet up and finally attack as a group to take out the Samurai."

Nodding and tracing her fingers through the pipes and bringing down the electrical blueprint and structural. Pursing her lips "hmm. Loads of hidie holes for baddies. I vote we be the distraction, as I'm not exactly one for stealth, in any form really." lowering her eyes to the journal, slowly flipping through it. "Service tunnel..."pointing to an empty part of the structural blue print "Here. Accessible through.."pointing to an air shaft "here." Clearing her throat and glancing up "Its doable, if not entirely sanitary"

Dorian smiled, "Once again we are in accord. I don't exactly see how an anchor would be good in stealth. Besides that, I believe we need to work on our Soul Resonance more, and these group attacks would be perfect for training. So our main focus will be to cause as much destruction as we can in order to give our team mates as much time as possible. Understood?"
Grinning slowly "I like destruction. I can do destruction. I'll go check the maps and journal out. See if there's any mention of the boss in any mission reports ok? I'll be back soon" Sophia pulled her pocket watch out of one of the many pockets in her overalls and flipping it over "We have about half an hour till we meet at the tea house."
Dorian nodded, "I think I have a few ideas how to overcome the vertigo he's implied to induce, but it will take time and effort to prepare everyone. This thing has survived this long for a reason so it will be in our best interest to not rush into this. I'll be right back." With that Dorian disappeared into an aisle containing books pertaining to different folklore creatures and field notes on encounters with creatures, "Now let's see...." Dorian muttered to himself as he continued up and down the aisle.
Sophia carefully rolled up the blueprints and slipping them back into their carrier, capping the parcel as she moved over to the main desk to sign out their haul and return the card she had swiped from the catalog. Slipping into an armchair, Sophia drifted off into a nap until her meister walked over with an old tome and a grin on his face.

As she felt her meister walk up, Sophia cracked an eye and stayed silent and confused as her usually stoic meister smile down at her "'chu find?" Dorian smiled and held up the tome "I've found what we're looking for, the rest of the needed information. Let's get on to the tea house." Sighing and stretching from the tips of her fingers to the soles of her feet, she smiles up at her meister. "Secrets secrets are no fun, secrets are for everyone...But if you want to be all dramatic...who am I to deny you?" Rising, adjusting her satchel with the blue prints and books, she pats Dorian's cheek, like her uncles used to do to her "You're just too cute to deny you little things." Quirking the corner of her lips at his deer-in-the-headlights look in his eyes, she giggles, taking his arm and leads him off to the tea house.