Among The New

[Ethan Yukimaru]

What a beautiful day it was.... The sun passionately shinning down upon the Academy as it floated so freely in the blue sky. In it, people walked so freely among the streets.... Knowing that the Academy would protect and guard them. Among these streets walked a man...in his middle to late twenties and dressed rather elegantly, yet looked a bit younger then he actually did.... A life of keeping clean and what not. Behind him was a large complex of some sort. Upon closer inspection, one would realize it is, instead, one very large and Oriental dorm.... All meant for one person. Regardless, the mid-twenties man continued walking, his face cold as ice as he headed toward a large building in the distance. It was huge and marvelous.... filled with all sorts of people from all over the world. It was, in fact, the Arcane Academy...hanging right in the middle of the City of Babylos, with entrance leading to the lower ground of the floating island....

Quickly did the man walk inside, passing nearly unnoticed by the school guards as he soon found himself in the vast courtyard of the school. Looking at the clock tower nearby, the man realized he was early...quite early. However, it was always better to be early then late, and as such took a stroll around the pavilion. Quickly turning to the left of the courtyard, the man found what appeared to be the Japanese section of the area... Filled with cherry blossom trees, Japanese symbols and such, it was overall quite relaxing. Feeling at home, the man soon sat down on a bench nearby, resting his body before his class would begin...

"So here I am... At the Academy" Ethan thought, letting the wind blow his robes around. "It felt like so long ago....that i wanted to come here... Before the war started, and even after then , i had to wait four years with rebuilding the family and stabilizing our economic empire.... Regardless, I am here now... And that's all that matters..."

With that, Ethan soon got up, his face turning passionlessly to face the free flying cherry blossoms moving around him....envolping his body while the gentle wind brushed against his tied hair....

"Finally...peace' he uttered, before simply enjoying the vibrant scenary...

[madelyn]

With the sun shining overhead casting it's glowing rays down on the academy Madelyn longed to be outside. Usually it was the stars that called to her. The darkness of night when she was running away from her nightmares. But lately her nightmares had come less and less. Her life better and better here at the academy.

Stepping into the well lit courtyard she scanned it for a moment watching how the sunlight fell through the leaves casting a stained glass effect on the world below them. Her short black skirt rustled in the gentle breeze as she walked towards a empty bench her flute case in her hand. She smoothed down her white collared shirt and opened her flute case.

The beautiful blue sky reflected off its shinning metal. She took exceptional care of her flute. It was the only posession she owned that she would fight for if she could. Her magic..her passion..her voice. It was in the flute. She began silently putting the pieces together and she took a deep breath for a moment before raising the instrument to her lips. Closing her eyes she began to play.

This song was a song that seemed to sing out the beauty of the day. Each song played by her flute seemed to be laced with magic. Even when she wasnt' casting a spell her magic filled her music. Today's sung of the beauty.. blue skies, warm green grass, the gentle breeze, the humming birds and the butterflies. So much of the beauty that could not even be described with language was displayed in her song as the notes rang out beautifully through the courtyard.

Several minutes passed before the song came to it's end and the blonde let the notes finish resounding in the air before she brought the flute down to her lap. Her violet blue eyes opened and she smiled slightly as she looked up at the sky. Such a beautiful day.

[Ethan Yukimaru]

Looking up, Ethan could hear the sounds of a flute play nearby, breaking the serene silence of the courtyard. Slowly he let go of the strings he had hidden in his hands, a trait he learned while in the war.... To suddenly have a weapon in your hands at the first sound of battle. Regardless, while Ethan did enjoy the tranquil sounds of music, he felt silence was golden. Regardless, he felt no desire to interrupt the woman playing somewhere behind him, and began to continue his observation of the scenary....watching as leaves playfully dance around himself... Shadows from the branches being casted upon himself. Slowly the wind brushed against him.....blowing his hair all around as well as scarf and robes, enjoying, with a cold face on to add, the tranquil winds of the Academy...

When the music stopped, the man slowly turned around... His face calm and expressionless. Before him was a girl...one that was much younger then he was. Indeed, Ethan was a bit ashamed that a woman like her, who was indeed so young, was able to get into the Academy while he was so much older....but the war and the rebuilding after it provided a solid reason, and as such it levitate his shame and possible regret. Slowly he took a step to the woman, his face still remaining the same as he stared with his deep and yet blank eyes at the girl....Silence slowly enveloping the two...

"That....Was a Marvelous piece" Ethan spoke softly and quickly, his tone melodic and very elegant. "I am Ethan Yukimura, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

[madelyn]

A voice. Male.. mostly instilled fear in the young musician that sat on the bench. It was not something that she could control. The instant tensing of every muscle in her body the cringing in fear of the blows she was just positive would come. Yet in all the cases so far at Arcane no one had yet to hit her. She was learning albeit slowly that not always did she get hit. It seemed that the police had been right when they said that care takers were not supposed to hit their children.

So yes. At first the young girl did tense. Why? Nature. The memories of her past coming up to haunt her in ways that were unseen to the outside individual. But she slowly calmed herself before she let her violet blue eyes look up to meet the source of the voice. Fear struck cold in her heart again as he was much older than she. She bit her lip for a moment. No.. she would trust. She could trust. So far it had not failed her here.

She sat her flute down on top of her case. Lovingly she made sure it would not roll off and hit the ground but there was definatly enough room to sit if he so chose. At her hip as always was a small black bag. It held the very same things a memo pad of paper and a pen with green ink.

She flipped open the cardboard cover an artfully decorated first page had her name drawn on it with flowers and vines colored in. She lifted it up to show him her name...

Madelyn.

She flipped the page when she figured he had seen her name long enough. She clicked her pen open. She smiled up at him silently as she wrote.

Nice to meet you, Ethan. Thank you for listening.

She smiled up at him silently once more as she handed the notepad to him. Her violet blue eyes told him to read it but she uttered no word and made no sound at all. She was more silent than the quiet nature that filled the courtyard. She patted the seat next to her gently motioning for him to join her if he would like.

[Ethan Yukimaru]

Ethan slowly took up the Notepad, staring expressionlessly at the girl before him. Reading the pad, he realized that the girl was probably mute, or just didn't like to talk. Either way, he soon learned her name.... Madelyn. An interesting name at that. Anyways, he soon thought to himself about why this girl was so silent when he realized that she was patting the seat next to her, motioning for him to sit down. Quietly did the old man sit down, the wind slowly brushing his hair and robes around. His head then turned as his piercing brown eyes stared at the girl.....observing her. He had not seen a mute person, and perhaps decided to take the opportunity to try and better understand them and what not.... Quickly handing her the note pad, Ethan kept his face as usual....somehow unmoved by this...

"Madelyn is it" Ethan began, his tone elegant, yet cold and abrasive. "It is a lovely name for you Miss. As for your music, it was wonderful.... No need to thank me, if not i should be thanking you.."

Despite what Ethan said, his cold demeanor and expressionless face looked as though he truly did not mean a word of it. Regardless, he still kept the passionless face as he felt the sun light coming down upon him, gently heating the man up as the wind blew once more, pushing his hair and robes toward the girl. Today was really beautiful, and her flute playing did accompany the day. But as before, Ethan preferred silence over anything....yet did not wish to harm this girl's feeling by saying something like that. At any rate, Ethan found himself staring up in the sky, his head turned away from Madelyn as he stared into the ever so deep and blue sky....

"Today is quite beautiful" The said to himself, practically ignoring the girl next to him...as though he was enveloped in the ever azure beauty of the skies....

[madelyn]

He handed her notebook back. His face expressionless. But really she was used to it. Jonathan took special pills to keep his emotions down and gone from his face. She didn't take anything she didn't mind showing emotions on her face but she was not unusued to others doing so.

He sat down beside her and she smiled up at him as his robes flapped in the wind. She watched him almost studying him trying to figure out how to read him. He said he loved her music but his face and his eyes they spoke other wise and so she knew that on some level if not completly he had not enjoyed her music at all but was giving her a false compliment which she truthfully did not understand.

Carefully she pulled her flute apart as the man next to her stared up at the sky and she put it away in the soft velvet of the case. Closing it carefully almost lovingly she sat it in her lap the notepad next to her the green pen on top just in case she needed it. Sighing a little she looked up at the sky her violet blue eyes staring up at the clouds floating by at a leisurely pace offering shade and subtle beauty to the azure depths above.

The breeze blew again and lifted her platinum blonde hair up blowing it around her shoulder gently. She moved it back behind her shoulder and her eyes caught sight of the birds that came here in the afternoons. Her eyes went bright as she dug back into her small waist bag and pulled out two pieces of wheat bread she had saved from her lunch.

Opening the zip lock with a *zzzzp* sound she grabbed the first piece of bread and began to crumble it in her hands throwing it out to the small birds hopping around in the courtyard. More birds flew down and she giggled a little a smile brightening her face as she fed the little birds. She did this every day. It was something she enjoyed and it seemed the little birds did too.

[Ethan Yukimaru]

Staring at the skies above, Ethan slowly noticed the birds coming down to his feet, eating away at the bread crumbs. Upon hearing some chirping, the man turned his head down toward the animals, watching as Madelyn fed them. Ethan indeed enjoyed the beauty of nature, and he himself would offer some food to these poor birds, however...he had none on his person. Regardless, upon looking over to the clock tower nearby, Ethan realized that it was nearly time for class. Silently getting up, he turned to face the silent girl, looking calmly into her eyes...as if trying to pierce her soul or something....

"I apologize Miss" He began promptly, his tone still the same cold and expressionless tone it was as before. "I must go now. Class is soon to start, and I need to be there promptly on time"

With that, the man bowed as he turned his body...facing forward toward the academy. Around him the cherry blossoms fly around....beautiful as the sunlight shinned down upon him. Not even staring back, he continued to walk down the Courtyard, thoughts of what assignments the Teacher, who odd to say was younger then him, would assign the man. Quickly he then thought of today's encounter...and how he had met the silent, mute girl in the courtyard. Perhaps some day soon, he'll see her again and with it, her voice. While he did not care for her that much, it would be interesting to hear if she could speak...

"Regardless, i should focus on class now....Although i must say today's encounter was peculiar...."