Quiet Returns

[Maledict]

Maledict breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped into the main hall of the Academy, glad to be back. In fact, he seemed even more pleased each time he returned - this place, despite its purpose, felt safe, and after such a disastrous assignment, very peaceful. The assignment was completed, sure, but in a method he didn\'t enjoy having to, nor expect to, take. And Ella had shown up. Why did she always seem to show up when he needed her least, and then make things extremely difficult for him?

"Good to be back", he mumbled, rubbing the burn on his hand as he strode calmly over to a seat and, dropping his bag, sat down to think. He couldn\'t remember a few things, one of which was where his room was, and the trip back had been tiring, considering he hadn\'t slept a wink since he got on that blasted boat, so stopping for a bit would be nice. He leaned back and closed his eyes.

[w0rmy]

As the vampire walked back from the East Tower, still dazed about what had happened. What had happened? Tuo had a vague idea that December put her under a spell or something. Or perhaps he didn\'t? All she knew she had to go see the little wanker tomorrow night.

"Oh god!"
She muttered out loud, obviously displeased about her punishment. Tuo kicked the ground and made her way to the entrance of the Academy. She took the long way round for some reason... to think? The spell still lingered over Tuo and it annoyed her to a great extent. Trying to look past it, the vampire opened the door to the main hall... not many people were about.

Thank god.

She wasn\'t exactly in a good mood to talk to anyone or for anyone to look at her. Suddenly Tuo squinted, there was someone here! At first, she didn\'t recognise him but after a minute or two...
"Maledict!"
The vampire called out and jogged over to the man, surprised to see him because she thought he was out on an assignment.

Must of got back today.

Smiling slightly trying to look as if nothing was really bothering her, Tuo asked
"How are you? How did it go?"

[Maledict]

"Maledict!"
Tuo\'s shout brought him back to reality, and he opened his eyes to watch her approach.
"Hey," He replied curtly, not really sharing her enthusiasm for it. He was too tired for it.

He smiled weakly when she stopped before him. Her appearance was slightly ratty, like she spent the night outside. Her smile was the next odd thing to him - it seemed... flat. Insincere. Something was wrong, and she wasn\'t going to talk about it just yet.

"How are you? How did it go?", She asked. Mal groaned. He didn\'t want to be reminded.
"Terribly," He replied bluntly.
"The target was better guarded than originally anticipated, They were notified of my arrival, and then things got really bad with the arrival of my \'dear dear sister\'. I had to put a stop to HER meddling, and then all hell broke loose when the building caught fire! Buuuut, at least he\'s dead." At least I hope so, he thought to himself. There wasn\'t much of a chance of him escaping that sort of trouble, and he was bleeding so much, but his sister was a wildcard. She could have healed him just for spite, and that would be something the Masters wouldn\'t take very well.

"But please, how have YOU been doing? Why\'re you looking so ratty?", he asked curiously. It would be interesting to hear what trouble she brought on herself this time.

[w0rmy]

Maledict curt greeting hurt Tuo\'s feelings a bit, for some reason expected a kinder greeting after what had just happened...

I shouldn\'t expect him to read minds so what would he know?

Shrugging and pulling some strands of hair out of face then attempting to make her hair neater however failing in the progress. Tuo sighed and looked at Maledict. What he had told her about his assignment seemed must of been quite annoying. Tuo didn\'t know much of Maledict sister but he always seemed bitter about the topic so she didn\'t ask... she will ask later when it deemed more appropriate.

"For your sake, I hope he is dead... it wouldn\'t be good to see him walking around fine and dandy."
The vampire sighed and folded her arms, her face apathetic... for she was still thinking about what happened no long ago. However, her face changed to surprise and.. perhaps, fear?
"Nice of you to comment on my appearance. I just had, uh, a fight with someone. I got in trouble... yeah. Oh, and I received a punishment for my actions. It\'s fine."
Tuo tried to act is it meant nothing to her... however, she couldn\'t take it. Just acting as if nothing happened. The vampire blurted out suddenly,
"He fucking did something to me! I don\'t know what, some magic trick or some shit like that!"

[Maledict]

Tuo\'s stammered reply received a raised eyebrow from Mal, until she finally cracked and babbled everything.
"Uh...huh", he murmured, with the same sort of calmness one would associate with a man about to pull a revolver and kill everyone in the room, ending with himself. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back.

Sitting there for a good few moments, considering various things, he eventually nodded to himself, and turned to her, his eyes flicking back open.
"Okay, who was it, what did he do, and why?", he finally asked, his voice level and calm. Inside, however, he was simply trying to determine if it was worth it to get angry over this. It was Tuo, of course there was going to be trouble. What mattered was if this trouble was serious, and what could be done about it.

If they did something serious to her...

[w0rmy]

As Tuo began to rethink the steps of what happened, foolishness and petty emotions waved over her. Perhaps she had just been over-reacting? It was her fault after all for acting so rashly...

Rubbing her left forearm slightly and frowning, thinking whether or not to tell him. The vampire decided to go with her gut.
"Um. A master of Confuto offended me! Sneering at me as if I something vile. I... I kinda lost my temper and threw a knife at him but it basically healed straight away. Then, he didn\'t this weird thing with his hands..."
Tuo paused for she didn\'t really know how to describe it because she didn\'t really understand it herself.
"This force pushed me to the ground but he wasn\'t near me when this happened. It was like telekineses but it was different. Then I tried to get up, he did this form of manipulation and the agony! Oh god. I don\'t know what he fucking did."

Putting her hands in the air in frustration before continuing... however Tuo hesitated before speaking. For some BIZARRE reason, the vampire had an somewhat of an attraction to December. She like gagging at the thought to be truthful, sure he was good looking and what not...
"He did something else to me too..." Speaking very quietly, "It was almost as if he was hypnotising me but he wasn\'t telling me to do anything. It made me... feel..."
Shrugging, she didn\'t want to say it. Perhaps she should tell Maledict not worry. Yeah.
"Ah never mind. You probably had a worse time than me on that assignment of yours."

[Maledict]

Maledict stared at Tuo for a few moments. She\'s hiding something, he thought to himself, noting her trailing off, but made nothing of it. If she wants to tell me what happened, He reasoned, she\'ll do it in her own good time.
His expression changed to a smile, and he rose to his feet, deciding to change the subject and give her time to leave that alone.
"Come on, perhaps you can help me remember where my room is?", He suggested, still slightly embarrassed that he forgot. He wasn\'t one to forget anything, let alone something so trivial as the place he lived when not working.
"So tell me, Tuo, what else of note has happened?", he asked as he began to walk towards the stairs.
"And I heard a new Master was instated. Know anything on the subject?", he added, looking back at her.

[w0rmy]

Could I be anymore subtle?!

Tuo thought sarcastically to herself, she was somewhat relieved that Maledict changed the subject but on other matters she wasn\'t. It was a 50/50 situation but in the end, she\'ll probably confess everything. Taking a deep breath before returning Maledict\'s smile, a real one this time because she was slightly amused by the fact that he could forget where his quarters where. Walking quickly over to his side and linked arms with Maledict.
"You forgot? The Maledict forgot where his quarters are?"
She said, teasing however not intending to hurt his feelings, just a bit of fun... Yes, Tuo knew his quarters where so the vampire lead him in the direction.

"Nothing really... you know how it is. I heard one of the chefs go into a fight with a cat or something. God, I don\'t know. I just heard some of the students talking about it... but besides that, nothing interesting has happened."
When the conversation got the topic of the new appointed master, it made her stumble slightly. If Tuo\'s body still functioned like a human, her heart would probably skip a beat and blood run cold.
"Ye-Yes I met him briefly."

[Maledict]

"The Maledict forgot where his quarters are?"
He laughed at this. It was always surprising for him to make a mistake, especially of this nature, and she never missed a chance to point it out.
"Well, it\'s not that hard to forget. When just trying to survive a botched assassination with a sister like mine in the area, the last thing you\'d be thinking of would be a small room in an Academy somewhere", he replied, not resisting when she took his arm.

When Tuo stumbled, Mal\'s eyes glanced over to her smoothly, and his eyebrow raised again. Interesting...
"The meeting didn\'t go so well, I take it?" He asked, watching her.

[w0rmy]

She smirked at Maledict, glad that she bumped into him. Just something to ease her mind. Tuo nodded,
"Fair enough! I probably would forget too with a confrontation like that..."
Pausing briefly before commenting,
"I\'m sure you\'ll be able to remember as we walk closer."

Tuo cringed slightly as felt Maledict\'s eyes on her

Who is an idiot? You are, Tuo! Yes you are!

The vampire was annoyed at herself for not being careful. Too damn sensitive, as she often described herself... secretly of course. Not looking at Maledict but held his hand, interlocking their fingers. Tuo felt helpless and wanted some form of physical comfort.
"It was alright."

Oh very subtle. Bravo, Tuo, bravo!

[Maledict]

He grinned at Tuo, feeling her lock hands with him.
"You know, for a Confuto you aren\'t very good at concealment!" He joked, looking back over what she had said earlier.

"A master of Confuto..."
"He did something else to me too..."


Maledict stopped.
"What did he do, Tuo?" He asked quite seriously. Something had definitely happened, and he really couldn\'t be bothered with the regular methods of tact he\'d normally employ to get information from her - ignore it until she eventually caved and told him everything. No. This was Tuo he was dealing with, and now he needed to get to the bottom of what was troubling her. And then... and then, deal with the problem.

[w0rmy]

Tuo chuckled at Maledict\'s statement.
"Yeah, I should of enrolled for Libramen instead."
She scoffed, the idea of being Libramen made her shudder but perhaps she really did deserve to be in there? Was that why she hasn\'t advanced any further? Probably however shaking off the negative thoughts.

Maledict suddenly stopped which made Tuo curious at first but when he asked

"What did he do, Tuo?"

Her curiosity vanquished and wished to continue walking however Tuo knew there was no backing out of this.
"I\'m not sure... he put me under this trance. Despite it being a few hours ago, it still lingers..."
The vampire bit her lip nervously, not wanting to tell Maledict that for some reason that she felt attracted to him. Taking a deep breath and squeezing the man\'s hand, for she feared his response.
"The Master placed his hands on mine, pinning me down then looked directly at me... then... then all of a sudden I felt attracted to him! Why? Why would have an attracted to someone like that?"
The last sentence was more of a rhetorical question, anyway, Tuo didn\'t expect an answer.

[Maledict]

"The Master placed his hands on mine, pinning me down then looked directly at me... then... then all of a sudden I felt attracted to him! Why? Why would have an attracted to someone like that?"

Mal made a "Huh" response to this, much in the same tone as earlier.
"I want you to watch yourself around him, then. Try not spend time with him. I\'ll handle it when I can."
He was remaining rather calm, surprisingly. Of course, he didn\'t know a think about the guy, and he\'d become a Master, so it was a tentative matter to deal with.

Beginning to walk again, but now at a faster pace, Maledict\'s eyes were facing forward, and unblinking stare. He currently had no work to do, so all that he wanted was to settle in and then, well, whatever.

[w0rmy]

Even Tuo was surprised that Maledict remained so calm... she was more used to something a bit more...

Whatever

The vampire frowned, averting her eyes away from his face, telling Maledict slowly,
"I can\'t avoid him. You know how I am punished? Well... I am to go to the Master\'s quarters tomorrow night to receive my punishment."
Tuo noticed Maledict quickening his pace and she felt shame over come her. She shouldn\'t of told him this, especially on the return home from his assignment. The man must be nearly dead. Loosening her grip on his hand slightly and said,
"I\'m sorry."

[Maledict]

Maledict rolled his eyes skyward, His brain digesting everything very slowly. Confound it all, I just want sleep! it told him, and he laughed out loud because of it, despite the seriousness of the topic.
"Well, I want you to take care. If he can do that he\'s capable of worse", he advised her, his eyes focusing once more on the world ahead.

A few minutes of walking in silence, he gave an exclamation.
"I remember now!" he told Tuo excitedly, heading around the next corner a lot faster now, thinking only of his bed.
"Come on!" He called back to her, the previous conversation apparently forgotten.