Trials & Resolutions (IC)

[Scuffles]

Kristin popped into the line behind Vicky and ordered a spicy beef and rice dish that looked pretty tasty. Despite John's offer she also paid for it herself, grinning apologetically at him as she said "Sorry, independent and all that! But you can still get the icecream afterwards if you insist!"

She followed Vicky to a table and plopped down next to her. "So what's that about the boys dorms? Surely you wouldn't know anything about popping into the boys dorms would you?" She asked with her best attempt at a scandalized look. It didn't last long before she was chuckling instead.

[Aoiroo]

Etain got herself some sesame chicken and sweet and sour pork. Unlike the other girls she let John pay for her meal, if only because she actually had no money of her own at the moment. Walking behind she smiled at Kristin's comment,

"There would not be much of a point, as the boy she is currently entangled does not reside there at the moment. Not that it would matter so much if he were, the Parkhurst would always have a room available for whatever it is they would need."

Etain didn't giggle and her tone didn't vary, she just said the whole thing as if discussing the weather. She knew that there was some strangeness around such things here, there was nothing unusual about such visits.

[Semi-Autogyro]

John smiled apologetically at Kristin. "I appreciate the intent of your offer to assist, but it is a personal preference to carry this as it is my purchase and therefore my weight to carry. Besides, I consider this merely additional weight training." Truth be told, he still was hesitant at trusting new people, even ones as seemingly nice as Kristin. It was something he had voiced to Headmaster Summers, namely integrating better at the school and expanding his social repartee. That and he was well aware of the looks and subtle gestures some other people at the mall were shooting at his and the ladies directions (mostly by teenagers), and it was better if only one of them was burdened if something were to occur.

Returning to the task at hand he looked over the menu before deciding on the curried chicken and rice, paying the cashier with a decent tip as well. John followed the others to the table, setting his tray and load down before joining the conversation. "I admit I do miss Mr. Morgans' presence. He was serious about training with his father ever since the incident in the zen garden on campus. I hope he is doing well, as he promised me a rematch when he came back." He took a bite of his food and decided he liked this curried chicken dish, making a mental note to look up a recipe later. "It has been quiet around campus without him. I still check the tree whenever I pass by it." Johns' expression didn't place emphasis on whether that was good or bad thing.

[Azuth65]

Vicky stuck her chopsticks in the container of rice and looked at Kristin, a mischievous look on her face. "Just the one," she replied, her smirk cracking into a chuckle of her own.

"Yeah, we've been making some calls on weekends. He's making progress but the team as a whole isn't the same. Hell, he's the one who gave it a name," the white haired teen sighed before digging into some of her food. After a minute she stopped and glanced at John with a smile, "Me to. Ten bucks says when he comes back he'll be found stuck in that tree, hanging by his ankle again."

[Scuffles]

"Alright Alright.." Kristin said as she stopped shoveling rice into her mouth and looked at her three friends in turn. "Who's this 'Mister Morgan'? Vickys boyfriend I'm guessing?".

She paused to wash her food down with a mouthful of water and then continued to fire off questions. "What happened in the Zen garden? Rematch of what? That sounds fun! And why on Earth would he be hanging from a tree by his ankle?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment as she considered that last question. "Actually that sounds like something that would happen to me.."

[Aoiroo]

Etain giggled lightly at Kristin's confused questions,

"Morgan is a friend of ours from Claremont. The Zen garden, well I am not actually sure what happened there unless we are talking about the incident with Megastar, I would rather not it was such an unfortunate experience for all present. As for the tree, Morgan does not have any powers of his own instead he uses magical runes sewn into his clothing. Such things are very violatile and require a lot of practice to use properly, especially in his case the teleportation rune which quite literately turns him into the wind. The first couple of times he had tried it he always managed to fall into the same tree which ended usually with him hanging from his foot on one of the branches."

She split a pair of chop sticks she had gotten and started to pick up the chicken without really looking at it,

"I do not think you should worry about falling into trees Kristin, you could likely create a cushion that will let you slide down the side of them and hit the ground properly."

[Semi-Autogyro]

John chuckled lightly as Etain filled in the details to Kristin. "I have my own theories as to why that tree seems to be an attractor for Mister Morgans' appendages, but it remains an excellent source of schadenfreude when he is around." He ate a few more bites as the conversation continued. "I do not think you have to worry about it, Miss Kristin. I think it has an affinity of sorts for magic practitioners." John took a long drink from his water, washing some of the lingering heat of the curry sauce away.

"As for the rematch I mentioned, Mister Morgan and I were routine sparring partners since we were roughly equal sans using our extra-normal abilities. When he returns it is for him to show the results of his training to me easier than any verbal explanation could convey." He only nodded slightly in confirmation toward Etains' at her surmise that it was the Megastar incident he was talking about. Getting himself thrown a 150 meters through a building and half did not exactly leave a impression of victory in his mind even though the Irregulars had triumphed in the end.

[Azuth65]

Vicky finished chewing the bit of chicken she'd picked up. "You know, I've had a theory about that tree. And given the student body and the other occurrences around the school, the tree being unusual wouldn't surprise me," she said, her hand holding her chopsticks waving as she talked. Maybe I should see if Gwen noticed anything odd about it when we get back? she thought to herself.

"And I'll be selling tickets, drinks, and snacks for that match," she commented with a smirk.

[Scuffles]

Kristin chuckled "Falling out of trees is probably more my style than falling into them, so I guess I'd have to have a pretty good excuse to be in the tree in the first place!". She paused to swallow another mouthful of her beef, then continued "But in the meantime maybe we can find someone else who rocks the magic and see if the tree captures them too? It'd be like science. Magic science!"

The mention of a sparring match clearly interested her even more than a magic tree. "Count me in for watching that and not paying Vicky for a ticket!" she grinned. "And if you want to John I'd love to spar with you sometime."

She shot mock-glares at Vicky and Etain for a moment, then grinned. "Maybe you can teach me something that'd help me stop these two from kicking me around the gym quite so much!"

[Semi-Autogyro]

John took a drink from his water. "I am always more than happy to help others in their training. I favor adaptability in the field and prefer asymmetric and unconventional strategy, so I avoid most specializations. For example, Miss Etain could instruct you better in swordplay and Miss Victoria in holds." He gave a rueful laugh at Kristins' exasperation at Vicky and Etain.

"Gaining the upper hand against Miss Etain is like trying to grab onto a waterfall. Her defense is impeccable, and it is very hard to catch her off guard. With her abilities as well, you are effectively fighting with a handicap on yourself."

John thought for a second before continuing, "As for Miss Victoria, It's more about where she will be than where she is currently. Trying to keep track of her is an exercise in futility akin to trying to visually follow the wind, and with her abilities it is usually over if she can successfully get a hand on you." He finished off the last bit of his lunch.

"I believe I can assist you in the endeavor; but you are indeed setting the bar high with them as your goals."

[Aoiroo]

Etain smiled as she too a sip from her drink at John's amp description of her skills,

"It is a pre requisite of where I am from. My father is an exceptional fighter, though I lacked a lot of what made a warrier so I had to compensate greatly. It also helped I was always smaller then the other fighters it is much easier to avoid someones reach when there is less to grab."

She took another piece of chicken and smiled at the other two girls with this. They were all more or less the same height, which for this realm at this time was considered rather short. Still she couldn't think of anybody better in a fight then Victoria, except maybe Eve, but she was definitely a member of the tiny titans that was the women at Claremont.

[Scuffles]

but you are indeed setting the bar high with them as your goals.

"No sense setting easy goals!" Kristin chuckled. "And a little pain never hurt anybody! Okay that didn't quite sound right. Never mind."

She paused for a moment to take another mouthful of her drink. "Before my first Judo tournament my coach said to me 'You're going to win, and the reason you're going to win is all the times you lose in the gym'. I guess I kinda took it to heart."

A moment later she chuckled as a thought struck her. "Which is a bit silly. I lost in the first round!"

[Azuth65]

Vicky gave her own slight smile at John's description of her combat abilities. "I never got much of an opportunity to cut loose back home but I've been given instruction almost since I could walk," she said before adding with a sigh, "It's a long story I would rather not get into in public."

The snow haired teen turn her sunglasses covered eyes towards Kristin, "How's that old saying go, 'pain is weakness leaving the body'? I prefer, 'the more you sweat in practice the less you bleed in battle'."

To Etain she commented, "Sometime I need to bring some of my story notes and design sketches by to have you look over, see how off my character's swordplay is."

[Semi-Autogyro]

"Regardless of who you go to or train with, due to the wide experience range of the students at Claremont you can find a style you are comfortable with. You'll find that once you get past a certain point, you can easily fuse different styles coupled with your abilities into your own unique blend." John set aside his chopsticks.

"There are a few dojos in the Freedom City area as well, if you seek a more traditional education style in the matter." He paused before volunteering the next information. "If you want practice with more...modern weapon styles; I can assist you in the matter. However, it would have to be cleared by Headmaster Summers first." He collected his trash together on the tray.

"Now if you ladies would tell me what flavors and size of ice cream you would like, I can go and purchase them."

[Scuffles]

"I'll definitely take you up on that," Kristin grinned. "But what's this thing about icecream flavours? Everybody knows that the only real flavour of icecream is chocolate. None of the others should even really exist. Not only that, but chocolate icecream should come with chocolate chips in it, and chocolate topping on it."

"As you might guess, I'm a bit of a fan of chocolate!" she chuckled. "I think I'd just like the smallest size though please John. The food here is really really nice, but wow it's filling!"

[Aoiroo]

Etain smiled as she closed the stereofoam box and tossed it in the trash,

"What I may want and what is available very greatly, a Brandy soft serve would be nice, but yes, they do not have it. Then there is Butter Pecan, not available either, how about, no there is no pomegranate either. There really is no variety at this particular mall is there."

She looked at the list for a few more seconds before looking down,

"I guess I will go for the vanilla, very simple taste but an excellant pallet cleanser."

[Azuth65]

Vicky finished her meal quickly as the conversation wound down and plans to bring Kristin into a training session were started. Sticking the fortune cookies in her bag for later she piled the rest of her trash onto the tray before walking over, dumping it in the bin and placing the tray on the pile on top. As she walked away she made a mental note to pick up a pair of reusable chopsticks rather than waste the disposable ones.

Following the rest of the group, she looked over the menu, "I think I'm going to go with Etain and roll with a vanilla soft serve myself. Makes for an excellent ending to a fine meal."

[Semi-Autogyro]

John departed to fill their requests, and the ice cream was decent quality, for mall food. Deciding at least to at least look at some other stores, the four Claremont students wandered throughout the mall. Victoria managed to pick up the game that she was looking for on sale, and in a specialty cooking store Etain noticed some non-metallic utensils.

After misplacing Kristin for a few minutes, they found her wandering in a sporting goods store. Thirty or so minutes later they managed to get her back into the mall. When they passed by the arcade, Vicky had managed to persuade John to try one of the light-gun games after he had asked her about it. John most of all didn't expect a throng of young teens becoming enthralled as they watched him plow through the game with ease, but he appreciated the congratulations and admiration from them when he beat the high score. Eventually, after they had completed everything they had needed or wanted to do the four returned back to the academy.

By the time they had gotten back, it was almost time for dinner at the cafeteria. John thanked the three of them for helping him today, and left to put his new acquisitions away in his dorm room before heading to dinner.