Ryou's Story

Dorian resisted the urge to roll his eyes when they boy- Jackson, right?- started complaining about, of all things, Karma's hair. Luckily, the cart was soon moving so there was something else to focus on. He listened silently to Mr. Vo's story, interested despite the rambling and sudden changes in topic. This was a completely different world with its own history and historical figures, completely different from Earth and he didn't know anything about it.
The Academy was more than he'd imagined and certainly more full of life. Training here would probably prove to be interesting, if the students and the grounds were anything to go by. He was still trying to take it all in when they got out of the cart, gray eyes darting around at all of the new sights and perhaps trying to catch a glimpse of the elusive Ryou. When would...?

"Haru!" Dorian heard him before he saw him, a golden blur pulling Haru into a big hug. It would have been funny if it hadn't been so surprising. "It's been forever! You never write, you never call-" The man chided, obviously in a joking manner as he embraced the serious red head.
He let go and stepped away, and Dorian finally got a good look at the new arrival. He had tanned skin and was tall, just a little shorter than Dorian himself. His frame was obviously lean and slightly muscular, as showcased by his green, sleeveless training gi. But the most remarkable thing about him was his messy golden hair, the color real if the color of his scruffy facial hair was any indication, and golden eyes to match.
"Sorry about that," He grinned brightly, obviously not sorry at all. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Ryou. Welcome to my Academy."

Haru took a few steps back after being tackled. His hand, by instinct pressed onto Ryou’s shoulder so that he could keep his balance. Once he got himself together, he smiled slightly. “Hey man.”
Once she caught a glimpse of Ryou outside, Karma threw herself at the older man. She pounced dramatically, trusting that he would catch her.
“See! There was no reason for you to be worried. Your daughter had it covered. Got em here nice and safe!” the pink haired girl cooed.
Haru raised an eyebrow. Daughter…? “Ryou you never told me you had a woman.” He attached slight laughter to his statement. It was obvious that the topic caught his interest. He looked Karma over she had to have been about six or seven. “When was this? Is she here?”
Tallyho stared skeptically. That was their teacher? The blonde dusted her dress off and crossed her arms.

Ryou caught her with practiced ease, spinning her around as he did so.
"I was never worried!" He snorted. "Of course you had it covered! You learned form the best, after all." He grinned down at her, holding her comfortably in his arms, before turning back to Haru and the general group.
"Well, it has been eight years, Haru," Ryou said, his face suddenly serious. "A lot can change in that time." But Dorian could already see the smile fighting to break through his serious expression. He glanced at the others. He was supposed to teach them how to save the world?

Jackson smiled a little at the sight of the school. It was the most ordinary thing he'd seen since he arrived. Perhaps it even had a library! He jumped at the arrival of a very energetic blond in a strange outfit. He was uncertain about what it was called, but he thought he saw something like it before. Once the man was introduced, the boy looked confused. He was the teacher? Ryou wasn't like any teacher he knew about before, and Jackson wasn't sure if that was a good thing or bad thing. He raised his eyebrows at the girl, Karma. How were they related? He wasn't sure if he cared either. "Do you have a library?" He interrupted the conversation between the two older men.

“Oh! Well where is she?” Haru questioned as he scanned the courtyard. “It wouldn’t hurt to meet her.”
As the two guardians jabbered on, Tallyho went digging through her back in search of the bread she bought the day before. She bought about three loaves and took out one before she casually bit into it.
“Banya…” she huffed quietly. When were they going to show them to their rooms?

"Hell if I know," Ryou said with a shrug. "I've never met her myself. Or Karma's father." So he had been teasing Haru after all, which, Dorian realized, was probably more telling about his personality than any getting-to-know-you activity could ever show them. "I'll tell you about it later." Ryou winked at Haru before turned towards the group again, not put off at all by the general grumbling and interruptions.
"To start off, yes, we have a library," Ryou said, his smile, even at the face of Jackson's personality, a testament to his patience. "And, before Karma and I give you all the grand tour, I have one question for all of you. Have any of you ever fought before? Doesn't have to be professionally, it could be anything."

Rajani was both impressed and intimidated by the school in front of her. She never saw a university before and it was so big! She pulled back a step from her place and tried to take it all in. Ryou's arrival pushed her back another step, startling her. The strange little girl was his daughter, adopted since he said he didn't know her parents. That was nice, adopting children that need homes. Maybe she'd eventually adopt.

Twisting her opal, she answered Ryou's next question with levity. "Does wrestling goats to take to market count? or stubborn little brothers who don't want to go to school?"

Jackson's smile grew and he tightened his hands on the straps of his rucksack. A library! Maybe this won't be so bad after all. He paused and looked between Haru and Ryou before answering, "I can't really say that I fought." He knew he wasn't strong enough for physical fighting, but he didn't think arguing with Haru and trying to run away counted. His smile faded and turned to a glare at the little pink-haired brat's comment. "and you're a little kid. Can you do any better?"

The next day was certainly strange. New faces, pink hair, war stories, it was a little much to take in. "I'm afraid I can't fight." Autumn said with a frown. "But i'm willing to learn if it means i'll survive this." She decided to ignore Jackson's comment. She didn't really agree with it. After all, in a world where cats could talk and turn into humans who could say that that girl wasn't powerful? But it really wasn't her place to say.

"Of course they're worth my time. It's my duty after all," Ryou smiled, finally setting Karma down to put his full attention on the month warriors' answers. To his credit, his grin didn't even shrink by one molar as negative answer after negative answer was given.
"I practice Tae-Kwon-Doh," Dorian finally answered when it seemed like no one else was going to speak up. He wasn't actually sure if Ryou would know what that meant at first, but from the way the man perked up, it was apparent that he did.
"Really? What belt?"
"Black belt."
"Excellent!" Ryou beamed, looking well and truly pleased that at least someone had thrown or would admit to throwing a punch in their lives. Dorian just hoped that he wouldn't hug him.
"All right! Thanks for that bit of information, everyone. Now the tour can officially begin. Follow me and, please, don't taunt Karma. She's lived at a training Academy since she was a baby. It's just not wise. Now, let's go!"
With that, Ryou spun around and began to lead the way around the Academy.

While the Academy was not extremely large, as the tour revealed, it had a lot to offer. It was one interlocking building but with a variety of different, large rooms, much like any university or even a mall. Ryou pointed out an armory, a dojo, the library("Only if you have my, Karma's, or one of our elite student's permission. Same goes for the armory," Ryou had warned as they passed by), the dining hall where meals would be served("Come when you're summoned because we don't serve after meal hours . Usually a bell rings when it's meal time"), and a number of other room before he stopped, once more outside the maze-like building. Dorian had a terrible feeling that he'd get lost in the building and they'd never hear from him again.
"These are the dorms for our students. The East dorm is for the boys, West for girls. Simple, right?" Ryou said cheerfully. "You'll be staying on the bottom floor of each dorm where all of our new students stay until they progress through the ranks."
He then pointed at a building a small ways apart from the Academy building.
"That is where I, Karma, and a few others live. If you need help, don't be afraid to pop in. Now, you lot should go get settled, all right? Your rooms are the ones with open doors. Meet me out in the court yard in an hour at the latest."

Tallyho didn’t hesitate to move to a room immediately. She entered the hall which seemed to be empty because there wasn’t the slightest stir Perhaps it was because the others were in class. The blonde ventured down to the end of the hall and turned into a room where the rice paper door was wide open just as Ryou said it would have been. She wasn’t very surprised that the room was so simple. It was basically a rectangular room the size of a casket. However she didn’t complain, she merely set her rucksack down in the corner.
Haru approached Ryou once the teens broke off to get into their rooms. “Well you really had me fooled,” he said as he sent a glance towards Karma who ran off to go follow a group of older students. “So ah… What exactly do you have planned for these kids?” The red head hummed. He wasn’t sure where to begin when it came to talking about their personal lives, but business was a good start, for him at least.

Dorian found himself claiming one of the middle rooms- not so close to the door that he would have to jump every time someone entered the dorm but not too far. The size of the room was uncomfortable, he noticed as he set down his bag, closing the door shut behind him. At least he wasn't claustrophobic. He paused for a moment, letting out a little sigh, before changing into the clothes he'd bought earlier. He hadn't exactly wanted to change in front of everyone at the inn, and the room gave him at least some illusion of privacy.

"Really? I didn't think you'd buy it," Ryou said, clearly pleased with himself for getting one over on Haru. "And I thought I might start with the waterfall. The other new students always seems to enjoy that. Although these kids aren't exactly...normal." He had definitely noticed that and he'd only been in their presence for less than an hour. Was it an Earth thing? Probably not because the Airian girl was pretty strange too.

“Yeah I’m just happy that I’m not the only one with them for now,” Haru huffed. “You know, one of them even accused me a kidnapping? I gave them the choice to come with me or roam about themselves, I don’t see what the problem was,” he mumbled. He said it as if roaming alone in an unknown world was nothing to be taken seriously.
“Say, when do you serve dinner around here?”

"Let me guess, it was that kid who asked about the library," Ryou laughed. Even if he didn't know his name, he understood Jackson's personality so far. He chose not to explain to Haru that for Earth kids wandering around Aires by themselves wasn't much of a choice. At all. He probably wouldn't care or understand. Either way.
"And dinner's going to be served today after the waterfall training. I think that this group is going to need a little push before they agree to do just about anything." Push, blackmail. Whatever you wanted to call it.
"I've really missed you, Haru," He hummed after a moment. "It's been way too long, man."

Haru shoved his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, it’s especially nice to see you succeeding with the academy. I have to admit, when you told me about it I thought that it was some pyramid scheme.” He laughed. “And yet you’ve succeeded and I still don’t think I can trust you to function on your own,” the redhead said with a smug look. “Anyway, if I were you I would get them on that waterfall ASAP. I can tell that you can’t let these guys relax for too long or they’ll get lazy.”

"Why are you so hurtful?" Ryou gasped in mock-hurt. "I'm a productive member of society and everything. That doesn't mean I don't need my best friend now and again, though."
"Yeah, I think I've given them long enough to settle in. I don't think they can get more lazy, though... Let's go 'round 'em up!"
Ryou whirled suddenly whirled around and made his way back to the dorms. First the boy's dorm and then the girls, he walked in and called out, "We're meeting in the court yard right now! Let's get moving!" Before making his way to the courtyard himself.

Dorian was a bit relieved to have an excuse to get out of his room and soon found himself joining a smiling Ryou in the courtyard.

Tallyho decidedly left her bag in the room and quietly made her way outside after Ryou came through yelled. She approached Ryou and took a spot standing next to the boy who sat next to her on the ride up. Dorian was his name? She didn’t bother to make conversation, or eye contact, however. She looked over at Ryou questionably, concerned about what was going to happen first.

Thankful for something else to do besides watching dust particles float around the room, Nia eagerly jumped at Ryou's announcement.
Navigating through the halls, she soon found herself standing outside with the others. Taking a spot towards the edge of the group she sized up the other two who were already there, the tall dark haired boy and the blonde.
Neither said a word, each waiting for Ryou to tell them what was going on.

"All right. It's time for your first lesson. Everybody follow me," Ryou said, once all of the month warriors had gathered. He then began to lead them up a path away from the Academy and towards the forest.
"Now, usually new students aren't allowed in the forest," Ryou said as they reached the very edge of the tree line. "Only come in here if you have permission, all right? I wouldn't want anyone getting hurt. Or lost."
With that, he continued on. The forest was thick with trees of all kinds, some Dorian had never seen before. There were green bushes with berries and flowers, and vines wrapping their way up the trunks of the trees. The path wasn't like a mountain trail, just a part of the forest where the ground had been tread on so many times there was now a notable impression. It was a good fifteen minute walk until Ryou stopped, parting the foliage and revealing a scenic cliff, an area more than big enough to hold all of them comfortably, with a cascading waterfall, high above the body of water below.
Ryou steped onto the natural platform and waited for everyone to follow him in. Dorian followed behind and, he had to admit, was impressed by the natural wonder. He'd seen waterfalls on television, sure, but never anything like this.

Autumn looked in awe at the waterfall before her. It was gorgeous! "So what are we going to do here?" She asked, following the man. As pretty as this was, she couldn't really see how this could be applied to training.

After the tour, including his renewed irritation that he needed permission to visit the library, Jackson tossed his bag in a corner of the room and sat down in a huff. He had his own room, which was great, but it was tiny compared to his one at home. His closet was probably this big. His closet full of snacks that he wanted right now. The walls were thin, but he did claim a room with at least one outside wall which should be thicker than the interior ones. He had an outside wall and a quick escape if he needed it, because he was near the exit. The downside to that was that he would hear Ryou calling them away sooner than others. He huffed again and got up, still wearing his clothes from the day before, minus the extra sweater. He didn't get changed before slipping into a doze and rudely waking for the second time that day. He wasn't used to being up so early in the morning, and he couldn't wait for it to be over.

He didn't say anything after joining folks in the courtyard and Ryou leading them into the forest. This he liked. The boy even paused once or twice to pick an interesting looking plant. He didn't fall too far behind on those explorations though. Getting lost or hurt in a strange place was a bad thing. He wanted to ask about one of the plants he picked up, but his voice faltered at the waterfall. Tucking the strange leaves in his pocket, he gave an appreciative gasp.