Kokoro Maimi and Kumori
Apprentices, Light
Everlastia, Keyblade Guild, Courtyard
ARPers: @FedoraChar

"Hey," Kokoro heard someone start, and she turned her head in time to see the boy from earlier reach out to touch Kumori. She opened her mouth to warn the boy not to do so, but it was too late--as he came into contact with her partner, Kokoro saw the boy's face change a moment before he practically jerked away. Kokoro winced--this was the last thing she needed right now, it was the last thing Kumori needed right now.

"Don't touch him again," she said, and she hated how sharp the words came out, particularly since the boy didn't seem keen on touching Kumori again anyway, but she couldn't take the risk. Instead, she went for the last trick up her sleeves.

Usually, she didn't need to use it, Kumori had rarely become that far gone. Initially, she'd unknowingly discovered the trick some years back, when he'd had a particularly bad night sleeping. Upon coming to Masters Xin and Xaya, the two had been surprised she had managed it, but quickly seemed to become convinced it only made their decision to take on both of them worth it. Something about transfers and bonds, but that was almost every lesson Xin and Xaya taught them. They were to be opposite halves of a whole, reliant on each other because they were much stronger together than they could ever be apart.

Forcing herself to stop panicking, Kokoro let out a deep breath before trying to release the tension from her body. Kumori still held onto her silently, arms holding her in place. Wherever his mind had gone, it was clearly far away if he hadn't responded to her. She tried not to let this worry her. Instead, she focused on memories--old, good memories, memories made before everything in the world had gone wrong--and she focused on hope and kindness.

All Kumori knew was that one minute he was battling his inner demon, and the next it was hissing and withdrawing its hold over him. "One day, one day," it whispered as it went, "and she'll be the first to go."

But not today, Kumori thought in reply, returning his thoughts outward. He came back to himself with a jerk and a gasp, as though he had been holding his breath the entire time, and realized immediately he had trapped Kokoro in his arms. He let go and stepped away quickly, ducking his head and practically whimpering an apology. Of course, he quickly noticed two pairs of shoes in front of him instead of one.

They had had an audience.

He shifted closer to Kokoro again--he vaguely recognized the boy, possibly as the one that had run into he and Kokoro not to long before, but his memory of the meeting was fuzzy, except for the feel of the girl's hands on his jacket. "...I..." he started slowly, but Kokoro shook her head.

"Try not to wander so far away that I have to call you back," his partner told him softly, though there was no anger there, only worry. Kokoro may not have known what was going on entirely, he was too afraid to tell her, however she did know that sometimes his mind wandered in strange places, and those places were far from safe. Sometimes he came back as someone else if they weren't careful, and that someone else wasn't very nice.

"I always do. I don't know what happened that time... One minute I was just worried, and the next... I don't know." Kumori shook his head, biting his lip. He knew he couldn't lie to Kokoro, but it seemed Truth Seeker permitted not telling the entire truth, so long as what you said was the truth.

Glancing around, Kokoro noticed that people had gathered, and she took Kumori's arm before turning her attention to the boy. "You should probably come with us," she told him quietly before starting to tug Kumori towards the boy's dorm again.

Synna Bard (and Master Astrid Kain)
Dark, Apprentice
Everlastia, Keyblade Guild, Underground Training Space
ARPers: @FedoraChar (?)

Another snap rang through the dimness of the training space, and Synna fought back the urge to swear as more shadow constructs stepped into the ring. A glance up told her Master Astrid wasn't even looking at her now--they had been at this for days. Synna still didn't know what she was supposed to be accomplishing, other than mowing them down as quickly as possible.

The Elders or any other Master would have had a fit if they had seen Astrid's personal training space. She claimed it had once been a storage space, however it had been cleared at her request because of her Apprentice's knack for fire magic. After all, no one wanted the forest burnt down in an accident, and she wanted a personal place to train. At least, that was what she told the Elders. As such, it sported stone walls and floors, as well as a single metal storm door set in the ceiling for entry and exit. When training, that door remained closed and locked. Master Astrid claimed she had spells set to alert her of someone's approach as well, but Synna wasn't entirely sure about the truth behind that one. The only thing in the room that appeared to suggest it was used for training was what appeared to be a large chalk circle. What it was actually made of, or supposed to do, she still didn't know.

The light in the room was provided by a few balls of electricity hovering near the ceiling, courtesy of Master Astrid. She had tried having Synna provide the light in the room, but the flames she produced had a tendency to go out while her thoughts were focused on fighting--there had even been a few occasions in which she had subconsciously tried to use them as weapons. Eventually the other woman had taken it upon herself to provide the room's lighting instead. As such, the space seemed to be filled with flickering and pulsing that Synna still hadn't entirely gotten used to. This fact was pushed to the side as one of the six constructs that had been summoned lunged for her.

Synna tightened her grip on Grimoire before lunging as well, meeting the creature with ease. She was tired from the last round, but refused to show it--she had to prove that Master Astrid hadn't made a mistake in choosing her as an Apprentice, that she could be the best.

She didn't even get a second blow before the construct she had been fighting and the five others disappeared. "What--" she started, but she was interrupted.

"Aero," the other woman whispered, and the circle on the floor disappeared as a strong wind tore through the room. Only when this was done did she provide an explanation. "Drill through fire magic, from basic Fira techniques to more complex Firaga techniques. Something tells me we are due a visitor soon, and it's nearing the end of lunch anyway. Our little friend who caused the the incident with the tree is going on trial."

So that was what that other Master had pulled Master Astrid aside to tell her earlier--they had been waiting by her training room door when they got there, but that was a small detail compared to what Master Astrid had just told her. Another dark wielder was going on trial--this was what happened when you got caught. Synna gave her a nod before starting up a battle with imaginary enemies, summoning up fire to defeat a good many of them.

This was just getting more and more interesting.