Even On Cloudy Days (Midori - past thread)

[Talith Dupree]

There was the alarm clock. That was where it began. It hadn't went off even though Talith set it the night before, how ever he had unknowingly set it down too hard and dislodged a battery. Then there was a rude and gro[\ggy awakening when he realized he had slept in 30 minutes. Class started in 10.

Strike one.

On that day, rain beat down on the city. It was strange, it rained so little in Death City, when it did Talith was almost mesmerized by it. He could hear the drops hitting the school angrily, changing the ground below into a messy mud-like mixture of sand and water. But Talith always enjoyed it. It was calming.

Unlike most people, the sound of the rain was disrupting for the blue-haired meister. He could not make background noise out of it, instead the rain took the talking teacher's place, forcibly stealing the spotlight. Talith's eyes stared through one of the classroom's tall windows, looking out towards the small wooded area nearby the school. It was strange to him how water could change the way something looks so drastically. He decided, quietly, that he would take his lunch out onto one of the many balconies the school had.

The sound of the rain died down and at that very moment Talith realized the teacher had called on him to answer a question.

"Talith? Talith Dupree?"

Strike two.

Talith's eyes narrowed at the usage of his last name. but he quirked the corners of his mouth up to speak, "Yes? Sorry sir," the teacher looked at Talith, assessing him. Talith was sure the teacher was taken aback, usually he listened so well. It was very rare for Talith to lose himself in his thoughts in such a way.

"Can you answer the question?" The teacher questioned warily. Talith blinked a few times, confused he asked, "what question?" To which the classroom laughed in response. Sure, it was easy to laugh at him. He was usually one of the smartest people there, always eager to answer all of the teacher's questions. Sighing, the teacher remarked about how his participation grade for the day would be affected by his lack of concentration, which bothered Talith. It's not like the meister needed to pay attention to what he said. He knew most of anything they went over in class already.

Talith pulled his shirt around, it had twisted a little while his daydreams had held him captive. He was busy mumbling about how stupid it was of him to allow himself to be so distracted when a girl caught his eye. He wasn't sure if she was looking at him, but it seemed as if she were. There was a moment of awkward eye contact until Talith broke away, turning his body forward once more and shrugging his shoulders. He crossed his arms and thought, she seems pretty lost, but you don't see the teacher picking on her.

Class ended, there was a brief, chaotic moment of students rushing to leave. Talith always sat that out, he didn't like to be bumped into or touched. Once the flood of students subsided, Talith reached down for his bag and stood up. Walking sideways to leave the row of desks he sat at, the blue-haired boy hadn't even noticed the small puddle of water at the end. There was a sharp sneeze that startled Talith, he had thought he was the only student left, before he laid his eyes on who it was, his right foot slid in the water causing his shoe to lose traction on the wooden planks that made up the student desks.

While trying to catch his balance, Talith turned around, which proved to be a terrible idea, because then his body began to fall backwards down the stairs. Before he knew what happened, Talith was rolling down the tall sets of desks until his head thudded onto the hard, tile floor. He laid there for a moment as pain seared through his skull. He brought a hand up to touch his forehead and felt something warm and sticky. He was bleeding. ]ow.

Strike three.

At least his classmates were gone, they didn't see such an embarrassing display of gracelessness. No, wait, his body shot up fast, too fast, his head spun and he saw lights before his eyes. It took him a second to gather himself before he glared up towards the desks and, with an accusing tone, said, "YOU SNEEZED."

This day sucks.

[Midori Yumi]

Midori loved the rain. Quietly of course. While she adored the rain she did not go around advertising her love for it outwardly. It was more of a, "I enjoy this but I'll keep it to myself," type of thing. So when she woke up and heard the rain pelting against the outside of her building Midori smiled and quickly got out of bed. The long haired weapon spent a few minutes happily gazing out the window at the dreary sight that was presently Death City. The rain took the usually cheery city and turned it macabre. Even the sun looked down at her with a dour expression. She gave it a bright smile and then pushed away from the window and made her way into the bathroom. Her smile melted away at the sight of her hair. A groan left her lips. At least the rain had woken her up early. If she hurried, and didn't want to actually look like a functioning member of society, she might be ready in time to leave for class. Midori grumbled under her breath as she yanked up the brush and began to run it through the tangled mess atop her head. "Something something, stupid crystal hair." Littered around the girl's bathroom were small crystal clusters of different sizes and colors. Actually it wasn't just in the bathroom. Midori was grateful of her suspicious lack of a roommate for the moment. What if they didn't particularly like crystals? It wasn't her fault that when she got upset they just kind of... appeared. It probably was her fault though. After a few minutes, or twenty... or thirty, the girl studied herself in the mirror. Her long hair was pulled into two pigtails high on both sides of her head. Her normally clear face was scratched up in a few places, but she'd gotten used to waking up to a few cuts a long time ago. At least she looked halfway decent. It wasn't like it would matter much.

Midori shrugged at her reflection and then walked away. It didn't bother her very much anymore that hardly anyone spoke to her. When she'd first made it to the academy she'd been so nervous and jumpy. Anxiety had ruled her every thought and made her almost completely useless in any sort of social situation. Her participation in class had been atrocious. She sat alone at lunch.

She still did that last one, and her class participation hadn't gotten much better. Well, at least she'd gotten used to the thought of being alone all of the time. Also if she didn't talk to anyone she had less of a chance of sticking her foot in her mouth. Figuratively of course. While her class grades weren't much to show for, her time spent in the dojo was. While no one had committed themselves to being her partner, as there wasn't much of a need for strict partners, many people seemed to rather enjoy her weapon form. Midori herself enjoyed the practice but hadn't actually found anyone who liked her weapon form enough to spend rather long amounts of time with the girl herself.

Midori slipped her shoes and her bag on before heading out the door, umbrella in tow. The rain drops splattering against the top of her umbrella reminded her of home as she hurried up the steps of the DWMA. With two minutes to get to class without being late for the third time this week she wasn't sure if she was going to make it, yet again. "Move please, excuse me, thank you." The weapon pushed her way through the crowded hallway and spilled into her classroom looking disheveled and slightly irritated. So much for my good hair day, but hey at least I'm on time for the first time this week. With a scathing look from her teacher the girl scurried into her seat and sunk down into it until she was almost hidden. When the class started and the teacher was in full swing Midori turned her eyes to the window and watched the rain fall.

"Talith? Talith Dupree.

Midori blinked and tore her eyes away from the window to look at the teacher. That tone of voice meant only one thing. Someone wasn't paying attention. At least it hadn't been her name called this time. Midori cringed at the thought of how many times their teacher had to stop the class to get her attention. The girl wasn't stupid, rather the opposite really. She was quite intelligent but she was also finicky and easily distracted. Following the teacher's gaze she found herself looking at a blue haired boy. Talith Dupree? Oh yeah. Smart kid who answer most of the questions asked in class, never worked with him, seems kind of stuck up. Midori only blinked at the boy's next words while the question seemed to entice a cacophony of laughter from the rest of the class. Midori was about to mentally voice her sympathies for the boy when he looked in her direction.

No not her direction... he was actually looking at her. Or he had been. The boy looked away rather quickly. Well okay then. The class returned to it's normal state of people answering questions aloud as Midori followed in her head. When it was all over Midori sank even lower in her seat to ride out the stampede of bodies making their way into the hallway. She'd had enough of wrestling through that for one day. As she went to stand Midori noticed that the blue haired boy from earlier was just leaving. She decided to wait for him to leave and instead she leaned up against the wall.

Man someone should really dust these wa-

Her thought was cut off as the aforementioned dust made it's way into her nose, causing her to sneeze mid thought. The weapon's eyes went wide and she sucked in a deep breath. "Oh no, oh crap." Her face began to turn a bright red as she watched the scene unfold before her. It was like something out a of comedy. She almost expected to her a laugh track play behind her but instead all she heard was a faint, 'ow," from the floor. Moving to the of the aisle seemed like the best idea so she made her way over to see if the boy named Talith Dupree was okay. By the time she'd made it to the end he'd stood up. He looked a bit wobbly and Midori wondered if he was okay. He must of hit his head pretty hard if he can barely stand up. Good job Midori, you killed the boy.

"YOU SNEEZED."

"Uh...." Midori's face, already red, turned a color that should have been physically impossible. She raised her hand and then dropped it in favor of opening her mouth to speak. Except she didn't know what to say so she just stared at him, growing increasingly more flustered as each awkward second passed Midori kept her eyes on Talith. Her mind was racing and her heart was pounding in her chest. She could feel the emotion rising, crawling up the back of her throat and tingling her scalp.

Oh no. Oh crap.

"All I did was sneeze!" She shot the words at Talith and turned red again. Then the darnedest thing happened. Her hair decided that since she was flustered and feeling threatened that it needed to change, harden and become something completely different. The longer pieces of her hair began to crystallize and cause chain reaction starting at the bottom and making it's way up the girl's pigtails.

[Talith Dupree]

Talith had his hand on his head, the fall had caused the side of his normally pinned up hair to fall messily about his face. He stared up at the girl, it was the same girl who sat behind him every day, the one that he saw without seeing at each class meeting. What... was her name? He was almost certain she was a weapon, recalling briefly that quite a few students had taken a liking to using her in practice, but no one really used her steadily it seemed.

She was quiet, like him, but probably for different reasons. Talith didn't talk to other people much because he found polite conversation bothersome. It was pretty apparent that she found it terrifying.

Midori. Yeah, that was her name. After a moment of standing there, Talith was able to regain some of his senses, realizing that she had in fact sneezed but that was not the cause of his fall, no. Someone must have laid wet umbrella in the aisle which caused the puddle of water. His face reddened. He had just yelled out at the girl in such an obnoxious way. The teacher, Mr. Q (which Talith had dubbed him, since his name was a little strange), was asking Talith if he needed any assistance while handing him a handkerchief. Talith took the handkerchief, but politely refused the ointment he had offered. He patted the bloody spot of his head and said, "I'll go see Class Four. I am sure one of those girls could fix me up in no time," said Talith, referring to the class of witches that possessed magical healing powers.

The teacher then turned to Midori, questioning whether or not she was participating in some mischief. The girl looked completely mortified and Talith felt a tinge of guilt. She yelped out in response and a second later her hair began to harden, changing right before their eyes. Talith's eyes widened, he instantly remembered why no one ever used her weapon for for long. Her magical abilities were not under control. Talith, gaping now, wondered for a brief second how she managed to wiggle herself into Class Two, but as the very tips of her hair turned into glistening crystals that appeared as different shimmering shades of green to him, but were actually an even more radiant shade of blue. It was at that moment that Talith registered Midori as a permanent fixture in his mind, even if he wasn't aware of it yet. The girl who he had previously looked over without much thought was radiant with her crystal hair. He could not tear his eyes away from the it.

After a few moments of awkward staring, Talith realized his head was pounding. He wasn't sure when, exactly, his head cracked open but at least he knew how. He recalled the water that he had previously slipped on. Talith, almost absentmindedly, waved his free hand in circles, summoning the water to come together and freeze in small cubes of ice. The ice traveled quickly down the steps of the desks and into his hand. He pulled the bloody piece of cloth off his head and placed the cubes inside it, then placed his makeshift ice-pack onto his head. The cool touch of the ice did little to sooth the ache in his head, wincing a little, he cleared his throat,

"Sir, she didn't do this. Her sneeze startled me a moment, but ultimately it was my fault for losing my footing. I apologize for the spectacle," Talith nodded his head a little in a bowing fashion, "If you would excuse me, I should go see about getting this fixed. Perhaps she," Talith pointed towards Midori, "could come with me to make sure I make it there okay?" His question was innocent enough, but Talith really wanted to know more about her hair.

[Midori Yumi]

They stared at each other for a moment, well longer than just a moment, and she felt the heat sustained in her cheeks start to burn as the chemical reaction in her brain associated with her slightly out of control magical abilities caused her hair to crystallize, beginning at the ends and quickly rising halfway up the length of her long hair. She was careful not to move, she dared not, while her crystals were spread out on either side of her. She had a bad habit and getting poked or cut in situations like this, It had been hell to deal with when it had first manifested. Any slight upset sent the girl into fits of uncontrollable magic, her hair stabbing her if it was precariously placed. Talith was staring at her still, his light blue hair having slightly fallen onto his face, which was now turning red as the boy straightened up and turned towards their teacher, who had walked up on them as the meister had been picking himself up off of the floor. She watched the two of them talk easily as she tried to get her heart rate under control.

He was staring at her again. Well not exactly her, but her hair. She watched as his eyes moved downward and fixated on where her hair had transformed into shards of crystals. She wondered why he was staring at her hair, wondered about the odd look on his face and wondered why her heart felt as if it was going to beat out of her chest. She wasn't could get more flustered without causing herself injury at this point. She already had two fresh cuts on her face this morning, she didn't want to add more. She moved her hands to push any stray hair out of her face without really thinking about it, her eyes still watching Talith. He wasn't staring at her anymore, rather her had a different sort of odd expression on his face as he looked down at the puddle on the floor. He waved his hand and Midori scrunched her eyes together wondering what exactly he was doing, before she noticed the water began to move, forming small cubes of ice. Well, he can make things change too, she thought as the ice cubes moved now, making their way into his open hand. He definitely had more control over his abilities than she had of her own, which made her momentarily jealous of him. She observed as he used the ice to make a sort of ice pack for the sore forming where the cut oh his head rested. 

Midori began to breath the way her father had taught her when she needed to get herself under control, the sort of control Talith had that she lacked.

In through the nose, out through the mouth, repeat.

She could feel herself begin to calm, could feel the tingling of her scalp recede slowly, and she let out a breath of relief before the teacher turned to her and accused her of having something to do with the boy's fall. Her heart began to beat fast again, the tingling returned and her hair didn't have time to fully transform back before her face turned red again. Midori opened her mouth, and then shut t, wondering what she would even say. She wasn't one to stand up to a teacher, whether that teacher was wrong or not, and so she pondered on what to say, chewing her lip a bit before opening her mouth only to be cut off by Talith's own words. Her hair, now almost crystallized up to her shoulders, brushed her sharply, making that odd noise something sharp made when it ran over fabric. She wanted to nod but she couldn't until she'd calmed down. "Uhm yes, I'll go with you. I just, uh I need a moment." She closed her eyes and focused on the feeling of calm as hard as the weapon could and after a few seconds of awkward silence the girl's hair slowly but surely began to change back into it's natural state. She opened her eyes and looked back to the teacher. "I'll take him now and make sure he gets checked out." She moved closer to Talith eyeing the ice pack he'd made and stopped beside him. While she was still wary of the boy, she was also definitely worried about him and still felt a bit responsible for his injury. 

Since he seemed psychically capable of walking without help Midori moved to open asile and motioned for him to follow her as she moved to the door. "See you tomorrow Sir." She said to the teacher as she ushered herself, and Talith out of the room. "Are you alright?" She asked him finally, concern apparent in her features as they made their way through the hallway. 

[Talith Dupree]

Talith noticed the cuts on her face, realizing that it was her hair that had put them there. As pretty as it was, he wondered what sort of practical use an ability like that would have. Maybe if she could control it, it could be used aggressively, but it was hard to say. For now it looked as though it was a nuisance, something that Midori rejected, perhaps. He’d noticed that she tried to calm down, at the same time her hair slowly began to change back to hair, but the first attempt was unsuccessful.

To his suggestion, Midori agreed. She took a moment, breathing carefully and waiting for her hair to return to its normal state. He noticed small crystal flakes around her, on a desk and some on the floor. He’d be willing to bet it would hurt to constantly be poked by them, but the weapon was probably used to it by now.

The pair made it to the Class Four room, where a few young witches took it on themselves to rush him to the teacher, an older witch with a peaceful demeanor. The room was set up much like an infirmary, even though there were desks set up for the students. In the far left front corner there were large, cloth dividers separating a few cots along with some metal cabinets that held various first aid materials.

It seemed as though their class time was also over, only a few stragglers remained, talking excitedly to one another about new abilities they were developing. This class always piqued Talith’s curiosity. These witches seemed so at peace with what they did, but to the meister it almost seemed a bit sad. Their whole career at the Academy was decided already. But they were happy to help, to heal. He was willing to bet this acceptance had something to do with the calm, intelligent, almost motherly-like instructor.

“What happened?” she questioned, eyeing Midori, who was close behind the meister. Talith sighed, his hand still holding his icepack, “Someone left a puddle on the floor and I fell down the desks in Class Two..” The teacher, who also acted as the school’s nurse, gave his icepack a critical look. Talith had had more than one run in with her, he had lived at the Academy for a long time and the teacher worked as his doctor, helping to keep him healthy. She felt as though she knew the stubborn meister well. She spoke again, “let me see that, open the cloth,” she demanded, motioning towards Talith’s creation.

He removed the pack, opening it to reveal murky-colored cubes of ice, the water from the ice had begun to melt, leaving a slight brown mud stain on the cloth. She sighed, “you used the puddle water for ice to place on your open head wound? Are you stupid? Do you want to encourage an infection?” Talith didn’t like to be scolded, but he respected all the teachers in the Academy. He looked a little warily at Midori, trying to gauge how she felt, wondering if it was amusing her to listen as he received a talking to.

Realization crossed the witch-teacher’s face and she smiled, “oh! I see. You wanted to show off your little water trick to… Midori, right?” She acknowledged the weapon’s presence.

Talith looked to the teacher now, his mouth gaping a little and his cheeks warming just a bit, “what? No, look I have assignments to get to, can you fix this or not?”

She laughed again. It sounded small and bell-like. She placed her hand on his head while muttering something. There was a flash of light and his head burned for a moment.

“There you go. Don’t go trying to impress any more girls.. or guys, I suppose,” The teacher teased. Talith wasn’t amused, though. Not at all.

[Midori Yumi]

Silence followed them as they moved to the Class Four room, a place she was rather familiar with herself. If she woke up with a bad cut, or rather a piece of jagged crystal sticking out of her face, arm or side. It wasn't often but it did happen if the girl had a particularly bad nightmare of stressful dream. She knew basic first aid, of course she'd have to, but there were some things that were too painful or complicated for her to take care of herself. Her first week alone at the academy she'd seen this room, and Lord Death's office, quite a few times. When they entered the room she smiled at the girls, recognizing most but happy to see the new faces mixed in with them. Midori loved this room, it was always so calm, though how a room could be calm she'd never been sure, but it was. Midori stayed behind Talith as he was ushered in and examined, The nurse seemed to know Talith as well as she knew Midori, if not better and Midori wondered breifly about that as the woman spoke to her. She opened her mouth to speak, to answer the woman, before Talith ran over her and spoke for her. "He knocked his head a bit and might have a mild concussion," she said lightly as the woman looked Talith over and then demanded to see his ice pack. 

The weapon took a step back and watched as the woman scolded him, like a caring parent and stifled a laugh at the meister's expense, as he locked eyes with her once again. She shrugged at him and then went rigid as the woman said her own name. Show off his little water trick? So this woman did know him, at least enough to be familiar with his abilities. Which meant either he was injured a lot or he had some reason to be around Class Four. Midori looked back to Talith, surprised to see his face reddening a bit at the witches accusations, before complete denial set in. Midori almost shook her head at him, but instead she just gave hi a half smile and focused on the witches hands as her magic worked to heal the wound on Talith's head. 

Magic was still wondrous to her, even though her own abilities grew daily, or rather malfunctioned daily. Still, she found the process itself fascinating and enjoyed learning as much as she could about it. She wondered if Talith's magic abilities were passive or not, not hers could be if she didn't keep a close eye on her emotions. Did he get flustered and freeze his cup of water? That image played out in her head and caused her to laugh, though only after the teacher was finished speaking so of course it looked as if she was laughing at Talith's misfortune, which in a way she was but not the fact that he'd been embarrassed in front of her. She cleared her throat and straightened moving closer to see for herself that his wound was healed. 

"Will he be alright to go home on his own?" She asked, resisting the urge to reach out and touch the boy's forehead. "I don't have anymore classes today so I could walk him if he needed me to, though I was supposed to train in the dojo today I'm sure the teacher would understand f I was a bit late." She looked at Talith quickly and then back to the teacher who seemed to be already interested in something else, so Midori turned back to Talith, wondering what she should say now, if she should say anything at all or just leave. She found she didn't really wan to leave, rather she wouldn't mind staying and talking to the boy if he was in the mood to talk. An unfamiliar emotion bubbled in her belly, making her blush and look away from Talith, and causing her heart to jump  into her chest. She was afraid her hair might go a bit crazy, because she was sure that she herself was going a bit crazy with this feeling, wishing he would say something, anything. 

[Talith Dupree]

Midori had shrugged her shoulders at Talith’s embarrassment, which meant Talith could close the chapter on that and never read it again, although he most definitely would, whether it be in the shower or when he tried to sleep, as embarrassing moments seemed to like doing.

The pair seemed ready to leave, but Talith wasn’t really sure where they were supposed to go. Normally, he’d head to the library or his dorm room and get started on any school assignments or study. Talith wasn’t interested in that, not at the moment. He quickly walked over to a sink near the sectioned off beds and emptied his handkerchief of ice before he headed back to Midori and said, “I think I can handle the walk to my room, you should get to where you need to be.” It wasn’t what he had wanted to say, but it was what came out. He pressed his pink lips together, wondering what to say next.

Talith rarely spent time with people, other than staff members of the school, just to hang out with them. He preferred to be around people he could learn from, someone that could help him become a better meister. He told himself the only thing that interested him was her hair, but there was something about the sheepish girl that the meister was intrigued by. Could it be that he saw a bit of himself in her? It was hard to say, they had just met, after all.

A crooked smile brightened his solemn face, “I don’t have anything planned, really, for the rest of the day… I’d like to talk more, but I should study anyways. When are you free again?” He bit his lower lip just a bit, while raising his brows. He felt nervous, which was weird. He never felt that way.

Out the corner of his eye he saw the witch teacher smirking at them which told Talith it was time to go, “I am feeling better, really, just got a small headache now,” he took Midori’s upper arm, wrapping his hand around it easily, “let’s get out of here before they decide they need guinea pigs for experimental magic, yeah?” He said, only half-joking. He started to lead them out of the room, letting go of her arm, “I can walk you to the dojo?” He ended his last statement on a note of uncertainty. He didn’t like it.