Multiple Settings Anima Studies

[Yakov011001]

Why was it he always ended up here? The Foundry was someplace Nikklaüs always considered a second home, but that’s just because he always had so many reasons to try and stay away from his first home as often as possible. Even now, condemned as it was, he continued to run away to here whenever his cowardice reared its ugly head. A place where he could find comfort in the certainty of steel, a strength untethered by fettering emotion. If only there was a furnace he could hide away in: a place for him to cook out his imperfections, a way to hammer out the kinks in his head.

Nikklaüs hissed to himself as his labored breathing pushed through his clenched teeth. His Anima continued to jet out in a pulsing current of ultraviolet energy, and he couldn’t get it to calm down. Not for the fifteen or so hours since it started. So he continued to train, today was the exam after all. Yesterday reminded him that he wasn’t in Anima Studies to make friends; he was studying to become an Arcanist after all, and he was done getting distracted.

He was in the rolling mill at the exit point of the furnace. With his experience in the foundry he was able to get the mill up and running again and had primed the furnace with some amount of scrap metal for the rolling mill to wedge into cables and spool up for distribution. At least, that’s its intended purpose, but Nikklaüs needed to work on his defense even still. He was up against frighteningly fast adversaries, demons even he was having a hard time keeping up with. Suitably he had rigged the rolling machine with a metal wedge between some of the roller gates that would force the cable into a cobble, that is to shoot out wildly, dangerously in many directions at speeds he had never needed to respond to before he stepped into the halls of the academy. Now he would have to, or risk getting skewered by a 925 C metal cable traveling at 7.5/sec. Cobbling did have failsafes of course, but it wasn’t anything he didn’t know how to override. Honestly, he’d already been at it for some forty-five minutes at this point.

Some extra cable came at him almost directly in the face, something he deflected to his right with a swipe of Zantetsuken. As its front end flew out to the side, the cable contacted the ground and caused the cable to flex in a way that bent back towards his torso. Ready for the possibility, Klaüs cleaved through the cable with a quick downswipe that made the cable’s new end veer left instead. Predictably it bent back in the same way much lower this time, threatening to take him by the ankles. Twisting his body violently out, he let his amplified legs kick him into a wide sideflip that let him sever the cable again. Upon landing, he watched as the cable buckled at hitting the back wall straight on and shooting an arc of hot metal into the air where it coiled into a large cluster before coming down over him.

Open up.

Unsheathing Zantetsuken, Nikklaüs eviscerated the entire coil of cables before it made contact with the ground. Something that created just enough space for him to slip between the cracks.

Good, that will show them. Show them? Show who? Marianne? This isn’t her fault, it’s mine. I pushed too hard trying to help her. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped, what was it all for? I just wanted to repay her for the kindness she showed me. Kindness, is that what I call it? Sure, I do, I have to, right? She was someone who helped me cross the threshold into a life I wasn’t ready for. Thanks to her, now I am. Thanks to her? Thanks to me! I don’t need help from her. I saw her struggle with Amplification, one of the most basic of fundamentals. She couldn’t deal with even a Rank I without putting herself out of commission. All I need is to look around me, and see what all I can do now. I understand now that she is below me. No! That’s wrong!

Nikklaüs’ thoughts were interrupted by the rolling mill producing one last sputtering meter of cable that shot out and took him by the right tricep.

“Fuck!” He shouted, clutching his tricep where it had made a nasty gash. “You are fucking kidding me.”

Hey, hey students, today’s the day, so make sure to arrive with time to spare to the main entrance or else the examiners will get mad at both of us.

Nikklaüs clicked his tongue at Jaquie’s timing, his brow furrowing in frustration and annoyance. This guy’s voice pisses me the fuck off. But I suppose that means I shut all this down and leave. I’ll have to stop by the Cintas kit before I do though.

Taking a short moment to stop the rolling mill and quell the furnace, he stopped by one of the offices where they kept a wall mounted first aid cabinet where he retrieved some burn spray and gause to fix himself up on the way out. That path led him through the scrap floor, where the furnaces took metal in for refinement. It was a wide room and the center had been cleared out, leaving only two large bloodstains smeared across the negative space. It was something that caused Nikklaüs to instinctively bring his hand up and hold the scar under his pec. Those were the only two casualties of the accident that condemned this foundry, and he almost made three. The fact he was alive was a statistical anomaly, though it would’ve been even more of one if he did die. Just him and those two, it would be too coincidental, too poetic. He never did figure out what they were doing there that day, but it didn’t matter anymore.

He only wished that didn’t still control him.

---

“Has anyone seen Nikklaüs?”

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Nikklaüs hadn’t bothered stopping anywhere else between leaving the forge and the Academy’s front gate. That meant he was simply in the same clothes he was the day before. Red joggers with zippered pockets and a black, sleeveless undershirt. That meant this new bloodstained wrapping on his upper arm was open for everyone to see. Though it was hard not to be distracted by Zantetsuken’s hilt jutting out of his chest, he hadn’t been able to calm down enough to get it to dissipate since stepping onto campus grounds.

As he walked, his Anima outstretched its boundaries in a most invasive way. It was like a pressure that weighed down on anyone that passed through it. He settled on finding a secluded corner away from everyone, careful not to cross Marianne’s line of sight. There, he settled on his knees and closed his eyes. It was something he would’ve called meditating, if he wasn’t stewing on the spiteful negativity that festered inside him.

 

[Solirus]

Preparation
Verite November Witch Tiguidi Juju Yakov011001
​

"Hi Valerie." Jaquie dryly responded to the enthusiastic girl, his focus still sharply focused on his cards, then back to Terrance. "Give me your eights."

Terrance remained utterly silent, no hint of communication nor motion was present, yet Jaquie seemingly grew annoyed, as he reached toward the deck, taking the top card. Mariana would then arrive at the main entrance, yet since she did not address Jaquie directly, he remained glued to his game.

"Go fish." Jaquie responded, as if Terrance had seemingly just spoken to the man. And just like clockwork, Terrance would reach out and grab the top-most card with extreme care.

"Morning." Jaquie was quick to reply to Cobalt's own greeting. "I'll take your kings" Jaquie stated, prompting the silent man to hand over two kings toward Jaquie who now had a visible smirk on his face. "Cheating? I didn't cheat!" Jaquie exclaimed, at the apparent accusation thrown his way.

Terrance remained motionless and expressionless, to a normal person, Jaquie would appear mentally unwell. "You're more likely to cheat than me. Oh, don't get sassy with me, mister, the wording has nothing to do with it." Again, Terrance was less lively than roadkill.

At Marianne's question, Jaquie waited for a second until the man himself walked through the door, "He's there." Jaquie stated before returning to his game with the statue of a person known as Terrance.

Shortly after, the shut door behind Nikklaüs slowly opened as Isaac entered the main gate. Quiet as ever, Isaac moved to an unoccupied wall and leaned on it. His anima was as anxious as ever, but the usual tinge of pink was different today, evidently more so when his gaze landed on Mariana. Momentarily darkening the anima before returning far more vibrantly. Isaac would then stare off into the window to avoid any potential eye contact with anyone.

"Ok, you're going to need to relax for a second there, mister." Jaquie demanded as Terrance carefully set down his hand of cards and stood up from his chair. Grabbing the leg of the chair, Terrance seemed ready to bash the thing right at Jaquie, "Stop, don't do-"

Jaquie turned around as he felt a new presence approaching.

"Heya!" an ambiguous voice exclaimed. None of the students would recognize the voice, except for Nikklaüs, who could instantly tell from whom the voice came from.

​

"Hello Aster-" Jaquie welcomed, as Terrance slammed the chair directly into Jaquie, shattering it into pieces while Jaquie remained seemingly unaffected, but highly annoyed. "Are you done?" Jaquie asked as Terrance took a seat. "Goodness, you're such a sore loser. Anyway, Aster, what's up, got bored with your previous look?"

"You know it! I was getting tired of that previous style, felt too artificial, you know?" Aster explained as they brushed their hair to make it messier, "I also just looove how this color looks… So what are you all up to"

"Today's the rank 2 exam." Jaquie responded, pointing back at the students.

"Really? Oh my goodness" Aster brimmed with excitement and joy, their anima a soft and vibrant cloud, "I had such good memories of the exam, we had such a fun party afterward! Wait, you guys should totally hold a party after the exam or maybe some sort of celebration, then we attend, and you'd get to hang out with the rest of us. Oh, Roderick would love that so much." Asters anima surged with giddiness and excitement, seemingly too much.

"Celebration is fun, but is there a reason you were here?" Jaquie asked, Aster, before they got too excited.

"Oh, I'm just passing by. But guys, we should totally hold a celebration, I'll be available later if you guys have any ideas." Aster continued walking past the other students in rhythmic strides, as if their very walk was a dance. "Oh, I can't wait!" Aster's voice could be heard until they finally left the vicinity.

"Before any of you get any ideas of celebration, try to focus on the exam... but don't stress over it too much, you'll all do great, I'm sure." Jaquie commented before moving towards the door. Some students seemed to be running late and others seemed far more down than others. "I'll leave the door slightly open for any latecomers, so don't close it when you walk past, capiche?"

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With that, Jaquie opened the door, a warm breeze washing into the room. Walking past the doors, the students would be met with the brightness of the sun and the song of chirping birds. Grass painted the ground, a beautiful pasture dissected by a smooth stone path. Trees meticulously placed in the surroundings, either individually or in groups, to provide shade from the sun. It was more than obvious that the place they stood on now was a simple and inconspicuous park.

A man wearing simple office attire sat on a nearby bench next to the door, reading a newspaper. The man turned to face Jaquie and the students who passed through, and raised an eyebrow at Jaquie. "Don't worry, some are just going to be a little late."

"In that case, I'll wait." The man continued reading his newspaper, while slowly reaching out for a suitcase under the bench.