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She managed to get out an 'aye' in response before the inquiry he followed up with garnered from her a pause. He hardly knew her to talk with her in such a familiar manner and already was at an unease. It was one thing to wax on about trivial things, but to ask her to start indulging personal information seemed hardly called for. If it had been Renais, she couldn't see it being taken so lightly, but to be fair, for as open as she was about who and what she was, Eirika didn't exactly advertise her crown status.

"Nothing to the concern of anyone here," she replied politely. "Idle thoughts." Simply that she had a lot of them and nothing she said was false. Her thoughts only affected her and were only of import to herself and there was no harm in saying so.

Shortly before hunting with his mother, Connor found himself just out and about. Honestly, he was heading to the woods right now.

That is, until he found Desmond.

He was sure it was Desmond. That lost expression and that scar were sort of unmistakable. Why on campus again? He wasn't enrolled. Or even on the staff list.

And he's been gone mysteriously for a few months.

He's coming your way. Beep beep.

Yeah. That's us. We're hot.

Connor was hopping to find some more game...and soon he did. Or so he thought. He put up a hand signalling to his mother. Yes, he found something. Or rather, he heard.

He was behind the tree and away from the noise, so it wouldn't see his hand.

He quietly, and carefully, got out his blade.

Tweet tweet tweet...

A bird on land. Did it hit a snare? He was sure his mother had set some up as well as he around these parts. Connor knew the snares and was usually careful. But that was what he thought, since the tweeting was weak.

He would just go down there and finish it to end its pain. Then take whatever spoils, how little they would be.

He went down there...then stopped.

She quieted when he lifted his hand to her. And then she chose to stay put, for moving from her spot would likely disturb whatever it was he'd found. Instead, she watched him without judgment, without haste, and waited patiently, a trait she'd acquired throughout the years. For when she was younger, she thought she was more prone to ambushes than tactical thought or maneuvers.

Her eyebrows knit together when she saw him pause and it was only as she crouched down upon the branch that she chose to speak up again.

"...Ratonhnhaké:ton." A question without it actually being a question.

This would be when he would end the pain of the animal, but yeah, he didn't do it. Ziio was wise to question how he was reacting. Since there were no other prey, there was no need to be silent anymore.

He knelt down toward the chirping animal.

He only looked up and spoke when addressed.

"Mother," he replied. "This is not an ordinary animal."

Which was an invitation to come see.

There was a small bird. With or without the knowledge on THEIR person, but it was a Rufflet, a Pokemon. A very small Rufflet. It was chirping in pain.

"It is wounded...the wing is broken," he said. "It must have been out here for a few hours, judging from the snow caked on its body."

Yeah, he sure was coming his way, wasn't he?

Desmond is fixated on the nearby fountain when the crunch of snow grabbed his attention. Following the sound, a look of surprise crossed him when he saw it was Connor headed his way. It took a moment even with a reminder to himself that he wasn't hallucinating his ancestor anymore; this was the present and Connor was real now.

Desmond stopped walking and waited for him to get closer.

"Connor," he spoke up in acknowledgement.

Not an ordinary animal. Since when was any animal at the academy something to be considered 'ordinary?' She shook her head when she heard him, but it took very little time for her to emerge from the tree. Landing softly, she was careful in her approach and when she joined him, her arms folded over her chest.

"Hm."

She didn't know what species it was or anything else about it. She did gather from how he sounded, he wasn't interested in making bird soup out of it, so she didn't even bother suggesting that. And the moment he started talking about wounds, she had that feeling that the softness in her son was going to lead him to adopting everything that suffered. But who was she to stop him?

"The encampment is not far from here," she suggested. "Unless you plan to take it back with you." Which perhaps he did.

The air was nippy and not kind to men with frail constitutions such as Rhys's. But who could pass up the first snow of the season? It would be a shame not to celebrate it by wandering outside for a bit to admire the world swirling whiter and whiter. As long as he dressed for the weather!

While he's strolling about, he wouldn't be adverse to joining in on all your fun snow fort-making and snowflake-catching and whatnot. So long as it's not getting buried beneath snow drifts or getting snow shoved in his face!

Okay, tree-climbing, while possible, really wasn't Haytham's forte. He was experienced with climbing man-made structures, where he was used to the predictable angles and ledges he could grasp without forethought.

Going full-tilt through the chaotic splays of icy tree branches was not within his resume of experience. And it cost him. He broke through a weak branch, he grabbed at air, and fell.

But he had the grace of a cat, and was set to land feet-first. But something was in the way-- or rather, someone. Instead of sinking into cushy snow, his feet struck the back of a man's shoulders, and he simultaneously held his balance with a hand on the victim's head, driving the poor guy into the snow face-first with the weight of a Templar standing crouched on his back.

"...Ah."

After a moment, Haytham removed himself.

"My apologies."

It wasn't even the asscrack of dawn yet and Mondo was wide awake. He tried to go back to sleep but was too restless to put his mind back down, so he pulled the covers off and decided to get up and walk it off.

What he didn't expect to find was flecks of white drifting to the ground outside the window. It's like they called to him with every tumble through the sky, 'check us out, Mondo', and he was drawn to the glass enough to press his... well, it wasn't his forehead that touched the window before his stupid hair did. It hadn't been, but it felt like a lifetime ago since he'd seen snow fall. And to think, there was a point in his life where he could possibly never get the chance again. An almost childish excitement welled up inside of him. Enough that he decided it was a good idea to wake up his roommate and spread the good feeling.

"Hey, hey, wake up!" he whispered loudly, nudging his sleeping form over and over and over again. "Bro, you need to see this!"

Desmond did not expect to have the wind completely stomped out of him when he went on this adventure today. He knew this feeling from the giving end, feet pressed deep into a man's back, clocking his lungs to a complete stop. With his head colliding into the cold fluff and just barely keeping him from a cracked skull, he had little to no time to make a sound before he ate snow.
Stunned, shocked, and admittedly frightened. He'd been hiding out here for awhile but this place still made him uneasy.

When he realized he hadn't received a new piercing in his throat, Desmond immediately flipped over onto his back with a sharp schink cutting the air, gasping with his blade ejected from his sleeve.

"..gh!"

Only to see Haytham. Shit.

Uh.

He should probably conceal that but he's not actually sure with this man.

Edited 2013-12-08 03:48 (UTC)

This other grown-ass man could very likely glean the same type of joy from something as commonplace as snow, rocks, plant parts, and other sorts of building blocks nature had to offer. Here he is now.

"A pinecone for a nose? That's an interesting idea!" he commented as he stopped to admire the snowman.

"Fujisaki!"

Do you hear that thud? That is the sound of Aoi's boots thudding on the ground as she jogs to catch up with the programmer. Eventually, she comes to a stop, breathless, exhalations visible in the chill air.

"I need your help! It's really--it's really important."

"What if it is a student?" Connor asked toward her. "You have seen some of the different fauna here, have you not?"

Honestly Connor had learned if it wasn't familiar, he wouldn't eat it.

He wasn't sure if he liked the draw back his mother was giving him. Maybe she didn't get it...?

"The abnormal creatures are capable of much more than what us or our people have seen."

He didn't want to take risks, basically. Besides, it really did look small. Too young to be out here. Maybe it fell out of the tree?

"It cannot fly," he simply stated. "If it is a student, it needs care. In this cold, it would not last the night."

Soon enough, he did catch up to the guy. The cold snow bothering him less and less as his heavy feet crunched. He wasn't stealthing. So this was a sort of demanding gesture.

Honestly, there was much he wanted to say and ask but little knowledge on how to say it. Where had he been? What had he done? Did he see other Assassins? Why had he come back? Why was he here?

"You look well."

...Or we could start there, that's cool.

"I have," she began. "And I have paved the route of harming said fauna." Poor Vinnie. Yet Ziio had managed to take care of him and felt a good degree of remorse for assaulting him without even knowing. She had a hard time knowing what was and wasn't a person because of that and it had made hunting far more difficult.

"That is why I had thought that we either bring it back with us or you would." That was what she had said. "Whichever you would prefer. Either way, we can take care of it, and perhaps if you kiss it as they do in the books, it will turn into a person." She might not have been serious about the last part.

It wasn't a particularly bad idea to explore the campus, Desmond told himself, but when it's below freezing and he had already spent most the day walking in a poor selection for winter clothing, it got a little old. Fast. He was alright with finding where he needed to be right about now.

Every so often he stopped to take a look around and register where he'd been, this particular time at a bench to get the snow out of his socks. Foot up and bent over, he was TOTALLY unaware of anything that could possibly happen. Which is nothing, of course.

"Yeah..." God, it was all still surreal. Realizing he was staring, he added, "So do you." For a 200-something year old dead guy.

That awkward but somewhat expected greeting aside, to the point. "Glad I finally found you. You're just the guy I was coming to see."

Wow.

Connor thought that was so funny, he forgot to laugh. Was that really her being sarcastic? Well, that was mighty rude. Or maybe she doesn't know. He remembered when he first saw it happen...

"On my first day on these grounds, I saw a person turn into one of them. A boy turned into a odd looking stag. Like it was nothing. But he was in perfect health," he just...kept talking. W h a t ever.

He actually went to pick it up, and the bird was too weak to really object to it. Or maybe it knew it was being saved. In any case, it was just weakly chirping and pathetically shifting closer into the warmth of Connor's hold. Its eyes were closed shut like it was in pain.

"I could bandage up the wing and take it to a clinic. I have learned you have to take them to a special doctor."

"You obviously missed the part where I said I assaulted one unintentionally." Ziio shook her head and refrained from rolling her eyes because it really was sort of like him just to roll over what she said in favour of whatever his one-track mind was paving.

"Although I was unaware of the doctor," she admitted. "The one I knew of I took back with me and administered to his wounds."

She looked from Connor in the direction of the academy, not something she could see from where she stood, but knew of the direction well enough. "Were you thinking of the one in the town or the academy? Either ought to do, I think."

Yes friends, he is here, in a parka and trademark yellow scarf and also earmuffs, staring unflinchingly into the white abyss. One can only guess what kind of incredibly serious Captain Falcon things are on his mind, but rest assured they are incredibly serious and also incredibly important.

Clearly this means it is a very good time to approach him.

It wasn't really that...he just didn't know what to say to it. So he just...didn't. Unless if it was dead, then she would say right? Or well, she wouldn't be here if she killed him/her. The justice system catches up easier here.

Did you want for him to scold you?

"It is not that," he said in defense. He really was only thinking of this thing being weak and injured in his hands. But her comment made him take a breath. Okay, he just needed to take one step back for a moment.

"...We should just discuss it later. We can do something now for this one."

He looked to the academy.

"We can start at the academy."

So the real question that came out of this was...

"Do you need me to go with you?" Because it wasn't like he was some child any longer and she couldn't see much of a use in both of them going together for the sake of the bird. Aside from simple company for her son, which she was fine with, but she knew he was about as independent as she was, so it seemed somewhat unwarranted for her to immediately join him.

He found it. It was his bird- for the time being -until it poofed into a person (if it did). She was just a witness to the situation.

That was. A snow fort. That was definitely a snow fort Falcon saw right through this clever trap. He was not entirely sure who was in it, but he was sure that they were up to no good. Why else would you build a snow fort, after all?

Truly, there was a dastardly purpose afoot.

The Captain wasn't much one for stealth, and mysterious fort-maker had probably already spotted him--and had the distinct advantage of being the one with the fort. The goal, then, would be to draw mysterious fort-maker out. Falcon packed a snowball tight with his palms and then threw it in a high arc, hoping to have it land either in or on the fort.

YOUR MOVE, MYSTERIOUS FORT-MAKER

"Hi! I haven't seen you in a long time!" Sonny said, waving to Rhys. "I was going to use carrots. Buuuut then I wanted a snack on the way here. I still have the green tops, though, so I think I might use those for his hair."

Being as Sonny didn't often go to the school's medical centre, the last time he'd seen Rhys was probably when he carried Giovanni all the way there after Pele first showed up.

"How have you been?"

jingle bell jingle bell jingle bell

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great x500 grandson, ur in trouble

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GREAT x500 GRANDAD ruuunnn

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Open! Rhys is roaming.

hey you nerd

For KIYOTAKA and most likely closed but I don't make promises

guess someone didn't earn that scout badge ha ha

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chasin u

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Daytime daytime

takes ur cane

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kyaputen farukon is here. for you.

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