The Regal Rper
Mad Scientist
Ark | DWMA | Library
He'd seen the message hours ago the day before, and already knew two things he already did not like about this.
The first was the location. The library. Crowded areas with lots of people in general were not areas he liked being in. Always left him tense and on his toes. It was a habit at this point more than a symptom.
He sighed. Pocketing his phone. The trip to DWMA would take him exactly twenty minutes. Taking the stairs down, he was met with the sight of service. In French he replied: "Good day Leo."
The butler smiled. "Hello sir, off for the big day I presume?" the trimmed mustached man responded back. Voice echoing in the parking hangar.
"Afraid so." And Leo laughed, prompting a minor smile from Ifechi as walked the catwalk past one of the six vehicles there, eyes turning to one empty spot where the seventh normally had been and was a favorite.
"Uncle is gone again, I presume?" noticing the empty spot.
"Mm" Leo nodded, "had a meeting to attend to at 9:30. Didn't want to be late. What with him no longer working as a Weapon he's focusing on humanitarian efforts these days and all. I know you haven't seen much of him since you returned."
"Why are you down here?" Arcel couldn't help but ask as he took a key from the key rack on the wall.
"To see you off, sir." Leo smiled warmly. "Busy as our mornings tend to be, we all wish you the best of luck on this endeavor. I know it hasn't been easy- but good luck sir."
Staring at the key as he took it, lips pressed into a thin line, and with a nod, feeling a moment of emotion and clearing his throat. The Sorcerer nodded.
"Y'know, none of the others, from the Realm I mean, have bothered to really ask about how I'm doing. Aside from what happened two days ago, they've basically written off me joining this as some kind of lack of foresight move that I'll just snap out of." He chuckled. "Kind of funny huh."
Leo smiled sadly, but said nothing in return. Except as Arcel moved to his bike, he did say one thing. "I'll be sure to let them know, as you have requested before when you do not wish to be disturbed, that you are busy."
The sorcerer could not help but smile at his caretaker. One of many, but one of the ones he liked the most. "Thank you Leo. I'll see you later." And with the roar of the engine, rev of the bike, hum of the motor, the large door slid open to an uphill ramp that led outside the estate, and past the silver guard gates. And with a turn, he was off to DWMA.
From Parking Lot K, to DWMA.
There was no point in wearing a disguise. No hoodie, no shades, nothing but a loose shirt, open to let some air in to his exposed upper body, a necklace from his grandmother given to him years ago as a gift for good luck, dark red jeans that contrasted his red and silver hair- and his gloves. The spellbook hidden away in his clothes. Transdimensional space courtesy of his father's work and the combined efforts of an old frenemy of sorts of his father's, who worked in the fashion / tailoring business ironically.
Apparently the same guy also had a son who could do magic. Small world. Maybe he'd meet him on the way to his new 'FATE'. After all, he'd been about DWMA these last few months still training- as that was all he could do to avoid getting rusty.
Yet as he walked out of the field and into campus territory- he could not help but notice the eyes.
It made him want to scratch his neck, but the damn collar made that a bit of a hassle. So he settled for ignoring the nagging itch, pocketing his gloved hands, and simply moving forward.
The benefit of being incredibly tall, with his shoes he was 6'7 now, given they added two inches, were specially designed to allow him easy comfort and maneuverability and had bits of magic work done on them to be effective of limiting any feedback he'd feel if he kicked stone or anything absurdly sturdy, it was no real pain to climb the stairs in here, as it was no different than Africa's DWMA Branch, located in Egypt. Every DWMA, it seemed, had the same first level challenge. Stairs that were designed to tire you out. With his long legs it wasn't really a matter of that, it was more how drained he'd be from having to skip steps just to do it.
Years of practice, made for a better outcome though. And either way, he didn't bother skipping steps. Arcel took his time. He was in no rush to meet the group, but at the same time was also keeping his attention on the eyes that would occasionally turn to look and stare at him as he approached or passed people, mostly younger than him, probably freshman in NOT or a bit higher.
The thought to give some encouraging words occurred to him, but he found he couldn't be bothered. He merely smiled when someone stared for too long, and then pressed on to leave them behind. By the time he'd made it to the top, several other students were approaching him, whispering and muttering excitedly.
"Seems like that's my cue to buzz." And buzz he did.
Taking long strides he quickly made his way towards the direction of the library, to meet a group he had no information on, no details on, knew no one in, and would most certainly be made to deal with any unnecessary drama that would ensue.
It was his nightmare. Probably one of their dreams.
The guilt was the only thing that made him go. The guilt and the advice of his seniors at least. If it weren't for that, he might've just taken therapy and some time off on missions. It had been an option presented to him, but it hadn't been an option he felt comfortable with. Punishment for what he had done was deserved, the so many times he allowed the Pull to take him out on a ride, had become too much. He needed to control that. He had always believed he had it under control, but experience had shown him these last several months- that he didn't have it all locked down like he had thought.
Granted, this was also the paranoia speaking. I'm not that bad, anymore he told himself, because it was true. He wasn't. The last few months, from November to January, had really helped. He didn't want to slam his large paw over someone's throat for innocently surprising him. Didn't feel his habit of reading or trying out magical concepts through tinkering as a nagging addiction anymore, and he didn't feel like letting lose spears of molded stone and chiseled earth at anyone that even gave him the inkling of coming off as aggressive. That murderous, indifference was the number one thing he was glad his time in therapy had curbed off. He had claimed better control of his anger as well, incidentally with the help of his own relatives, some intentional, most of the time not so much. And it had all ultimately paid off.
What time had not done him favors for, was the looks. The eyes. Status, fame. Lot of youth that came to DWMA sought it. It took time to build that up, time to build that network gain and benefit, unless you were from a prestigious family or had it in with people already at the top- it took effort to build up status and name.
"ARK!" His eyes flicked in the direction of one of the students rushing up in his direction. With her, another following right behind her. "ARK! W-Wait!"
"YEAH SLOW DOWN, FOOT LONG!"
Mentally, he cringed. Eyes turned as he had no choice but to slow to let them catch up. It wasn't that he didn't like the attention. It'd been nice before the incident. Now, it just left a bad taste in his mouth. Especially as eyes turned his way.
"I-- whew-- " she gasped, her partner patting her on the back as she took a stop, resting on her knees. "T-Thanks for waiting."
"Bethany" he smiled, albeit not happy she had brought some gazes his way, he wasn't displeased to see her or her Weapon. Happy to see her, not pleased that it had to be now when he was psyching himself up. "You know you can call me Arcel right? Don't need to use my stage name whenever you see me--" she floundered, cheeks reddening- with a raised finger he cut her off as he stopped his progress to shoot her a glare that made her flinch and then made her partner narrow his eyes as the shorter boy grabbed and pulled her back.
The sorcerer snorted with a nod. "Good. Glad to see you didn't take as much offense to my lecture last time. How are you?"
"Oh, um, w-we're g-good!" She beamed. "A-Are um, are you okay?"
"Tiff." the boy's voice said in warning.
She frowned, shooting her partner a disapproving look. "Jackson, stop. I'm just concerned."
"About?" Arcel cut in before the two could get at each other.
Jackson sighed. "We heard you got into a fight of some kind the other day. A few people in the Training Grounds within our class were doing some training under the tutelage of one of our instructors- y'know, NOT students have to get that extra practice before we can take the EAT entry exam. Word got around that you and some mages were fighting. Tiff was concerned, so--"
"Thanks." He meant it. The smile was wider this time. "Both of you, thanks."
For a moment Jackson didn't say much of anything. The flush to his cheeks as he looked away though. Especially not when he said: "Whatever, didn't even care anyway. Tiff was the one who wouldn't shut up about it."
And yet Bethany, a.k.a 'Tiff', said nothing but had a big, happy smile, and two rosy cheeks.
"Look, I know last time you guys asked me for some help, I was a bit harsh" he rubbed the back of his neck, shifting his collar as he did so, "when we were training and all in that mock session. I didn't mean to be so, rough- with you guys, y'know?"
The punch in the gut threw him off guard but the response that followed was actually much less biting than he had expected. "Don't sweat it dude. We getcha, you ain't bout to go easy on us just because we're NOT."
"Yeah!" Bethany beamed, and in one movement, swatted Jackson on the arm hard enough he flinched and pulled his other arm back. They both heard him say 'bitch', but Bethany's attention remained strictly on her senior. "We appreciate all the help- h-honest!" She grinned. "And so does he. Even if he has a terrible way of showing it."
It got a chuckle, but that chuckle ended when he saw the time on a distant statue. "Now I hate to be that guy, but I've got a meeting to attend-" the way her face fell with a look of nervousness made him wince internally, "we'll catch up though." He turned.
"How?"
He froze. Not really expecting the sudden coldness in Jackson's voice when he said that. The look he shot him was skeptical. Reminded him too much of the time a friend back in the UK had done the exact same thing he was doing now, just with entirely different reasons for why they were leaving. His was legit, that old buddy's had just been excuse. "How do we 'catch up' when we don't even have a way to contact you?"
He paused, glanced at the time. Was aware several people were standing around, staring- all of them either a mixture of fresh EAT agents or NOT students. When had things become this crowded.
The time, he checked- 9...something. He wasn't really late, but he was getting there. It would be such a shame honestly to get kicked out of the program before he even started. The things House members would say, already he had a few younglings from the Realm around his age range unrelated to his House, or even their class, prying and asking about what he planned on doing now that he was a big hero.
The hints at what they were really suggesting, did not escape him.
Just like he couldn't escape all these curious, wondering eyes.
He couldn't imagine what some of his cousins would think if they found out he'd missed out on a important meeting just because he had been chatting it up with students that had sought him out. Already they thought he was avoiding them because of pompousness, to have to wait for another group when this one was just a couple feet away. "Good point, here, gimme your hand." He didn't wait for her response, he just grabbed Bethany's hand, ignoring the squeak she made, and with a simple basic spell, traced his number in the air.
People fumbled for their phones out of the corner of his eye. Heard someone say: "Oh shit, this could be our chance", the lights made up of his numbers rushed into her hand, and when it made contact, his number materialized on her palm.
"That spell lasts ten minutes. Copy that number down and don't give it to anyone. Just for you two. Got it?" Stunned, they both nodded. "Throw me a hit later." And with a shift of the earth, he launched himself out of the crowd, and with another movement, rose a column to catch his fall as he descended it down back into the ground.
Walking inside, he made his way to the destination.
Checking the time, he got sight of five new text messages.
Damn.
Looks like someone had been able to snap a pic of his number after all.
Deal with it later. Get this over with now.
By the time he showed up someone else was already there. Listening to music no doubt.
Perfectly fine. He had no intent on talking to anyone really. Having some time to himself was good. His phone, when he looked at it, was still going off. Forty messages in the last five minutes.
Death- what? There was an audible sigh.
"Should have just whispered it in her ear or something. Probably wouldn't have mattered, pretty sure that one girl with the cat ears was a feline Witch. Damn." Flicking through his phone he started looking through the messages. Any one of them could've been from Bethany & Jackson. Best he could do was look through all of them.
The group hadn't even been fully formed, and already he had his work cut out for him.
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