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

“I… I thought he was…” Kokoro heard the boy speak up, and Kumori stiffened. Clearly the boy was embarrassed, however he didn't need to say everything. His earlier actions and tone now made it clear.

"I would never," Kumori started quietly, but the words were surprisingly resolute, "hurt Kokoro." In the back of his head, his other half chuckled.

"But I would," he flinched at the mental words, and Kokoro shot him a look of concern.

"I'm sure it looked questionable," Kokoro replied, looking back at Rush, "but Kumori..." The girl stopped, shaking her head before looking back to her partner. "We all have our demons. Kumori's like to torment him more than most, but we're old friends. I'm used to it, and I know he wouldn't hurt me." The boy stumbled but caught himself before he could fall. Kokoro shot him another look, but Kumori gave her a shy smile.

"You always were better with words than I was," he answered. Kokoro laughed in reply before looking to Rush again.

"We're not...normal. We won't claim to be, and we're not trained to be. We're just...we're a team, two halves of the same whole. We trust each other, and that trust has never been misplaced," she said, flashing a brilliant smile.

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

Their visitor dropped from the ceiling without warning, and halfway between his point of entry and the floor, what Synna had thought was a rat morphed into the figure of a man. Shapeshifting? Synna hadn't seen shapeshifting magic in years, not since she'd been studying under Wizard Arthur in Ingary.

Whatever spell he had used produced a puff of smoke in its wake, and Synna allowed it to choke out the fire spell she had been in the middle of using. The new arrival didn't speak, instead he looked across the room at Master Astrid, who was now staring back at him.

"It would have killed you to have actually used the door, wouldn't it, Mr. Owens?" The question fell a bit flat, and there was an obvious note of annoyance in the woman's voice. Master Astrid prized professionalism above all else, Synna knew, and that was why they got along. It was also why Master Astrid got along with very few others.

Finally, she broke her glare to adjust the pair of wire frame glasses perched on her nose. "Regardless, you would not have come here without reason. I can take a guess at who sent you, but frankly, I'm more interested in why." Synna looked back and forth between the two warily. Master Astrid's displeased tone had faded to one of polite interest, but the Apprentice could tell she wasn't happy.