Recuperation [Rita & Hyde]

     // ...Holy shit, it actually worked. // Not that he doubted Shino  or the possibly that whatever she pulled form her pocket would actually get them out of that desert, but it was still hard to believe that they'd be able to return so quickly. One second, he'd been staring at dunes and disappearing monsters, and the next was the slowly setting sun and the pristine grounds of Zela Academy. He'd have to remember to pick up one of those things when he finally made it to the Velvet Room himself.

    Passing a hand over his face, Julian let out a small sigh. That went pretty well, actually. There were no ambushes, no mistakes, nothing. But damn, he was kind of tired now. Just like every time he came back from Emmilene's world, but worse. Well, except for when he sparred with her. That time he'd practically passed out the second he got home. Shaking his head slightly, the teen focused on the girl next to him as she spoke. Huh, so both of them had gotten out? Brilliant.

    "Never thought getting into a fight was fun." He raised one eyebrow and smiled lightly, as if amused. Shino and her persona had seemed pretty hyped to fight those shadows. The persona, he could understand; after all, they were meant to fight shadows, right? As for the owner...he wasn't quite sure. Maybe she just liked the adrenaline high? "So you alright? You got smacked around a few times."

A few minutes would pass and then Hyde would show up in his school uniform. This would be without his cape though, he figured that it would be better if he left it home for safekeeping. Hyde was also wearing a pair of glove, perhaps he had an intent of doing dome bike riding. Hyde also had a small bag of snacks with him, just coming from the school store. “Yo! Hyde would say as he noticed that Rita and Julian were together. “Guess you hit it off just fine! What did I tell ya, the people I know are pretty cool. Though, you guys look pretty beat. Though, I’m glad that I managed to come through for ya, and it’s a good sign if Rita is with you.“ Hyde would then reach into bag and pulled out his chips, offering Rita and Julian some. “Low fat Baked Lavys, they are pretty good. Want one? I have water in my bag too...

    He gave her a quick one-over before glancing out at the front gates of the Academy. He wasn't sure if she was stronger than she looked or just playing it tough for the time being, but either way, he wasn't going to push it. No sense in asking again and again if she was probably going to give him the same answer every time. "Alright. We probably should get going; I'm not really in the mood to explain to a teacher or security why the hell we're at school so late." It was hard to tell, but it seemed like it was pretty late. A quick look at his iPod informed him that, technically, some of the more dedicated school club members might be around, so he actually had a good excuse if someone asked. Still, he didn't really want to run the risk, so it'd be best if-

    A certain voice and the sight of its red-headed owner instantly put a stop to that train of thought. Julian stared at Hyde as he spoke, focusing mostly on not grinding his teeth or frowning as much as he would've liked. "Come through for you?" Sure, he'd given Julian some phone numbers, but according to Rita, Hyde never contacted these "friends" like he said he would. So basically he had a bunch of people's numbers who had no idea he knew about them and their "abilities", making them understandably suspicious of him. Yeah, Hyde really pulled through on that one. But throwing a fit or getting in Hyde's face now wasn't the best move. He was exhausted, annoyed, and would probably just wind up making a fool of himself if he started something now. Instead, the teen let out a tired sigh and held out his hand, requesting, "A water would be great."

    Assuming he would receive said water, Julian would open the drink and gulp down nearly half the bottle before taking a breath, all the while listening closely to Rita and Hyde's interaction.

Hyde would stop eating for a brief moment and toss Julian a bottle water. Just what happened anyway? Both of them looked pretty tired, like they were having a really good workout or something? “Were you guys working out? Why didn’t you invite me or something?” Hyde would then notice that Rita wanted some water too. Hyde would give her his last one, pretty concerned with his new friends. “You got to keep yourselves hydrated you know?” Hyde didn’t mind too much that he himself wouldn’t have anything to drink, he was just glad that he was able to help in the first place.
Rita continued to speak and made a proposition to get on out of here, in which Hyde agreed to. “Aright, let’s talk then. Maybe it would be best for us to get away from school grounds. “Hyde was a bit curious as to what she they wanted to talk about.

    "Working out"? It wasn't too bad of a guess he supposed. In a sense, Hyde was actually right. The innocence of his tone was what really baffled Julian. Could the redhead really think of no other reason why they'd be winded and tired? You could say that." he muttered. Shaking his head lightly, the teen capped his drink, glancing over at Shino and frowning. "Careful there. You're going to make yourself sick." Even after a light workout, guzzling so much water in such a short amount of time could be bad. Pair that with the heat they'd just gotten out of and their exhaustion, and he'd be surprised if she wasn't feeling at least a little nauseous later. Her body, her decision, he supposed, but he'd prefer not seeing her throw up or get dizzy within the next few minutes.

    She reiterated what Julian had said just a minute ago about leaving the school. Preferring not to waste too much more time repeating the same thing over and over, he stuffed a hand into his jeans pocket and started off towards the front gates of the school, not bothering to see if the others were following. If they really wanted to move, they would, and if they wanted to stick around and talk, they'd pull him back (assuming he was meant to be part of the discussion). If he heard the other two begin to follow him, he'd glance over his shoulder, slowing his pace a fraction as he asked, "Got a destination in mind?" They could go to San Malarus, possibly. Or hitch the subway to Penecia. Hell, if they wanted peace and quiet, Malstu would be a good spot. So long as it was someplace he knew, Julian was fine with going anywhere.

“Ok, let’s go to my dorm room then. I don’t mind the company…” Hyde would say as he turned over to walk towards the dorms of where he stayed, making the shift to take the lead. “It’s not too much of a long walk; the Dorms are pretty close to Zela academy. Though, I don’t know how you would feel about it Rita. It is basically a boy’s room and all that, so it’s not like the girly things you would mention in a room. Oh, but I do have “That”…. Hmm oh well..” Hyde would continue to walk, going along with the idea of having a nice and quiet place for them to talk. If they accepted and followed….

-Time Skip- Hyde’s Dorm Room

Well, make yourselves at home. Good thing today is laundry day, so you guys get to see my room clean. You can sit on the red beanbag, the bed, or my wooden chair. And I have a mini refrigerator so there’s some things in there.

    The dorms? Not a bad idea. It was close by at least, and they could at least close the door so as to have some privacy. ...Wait, no, what about making purple? That was a rule in the dorms, right? No girls allowed in guys' rooms and vice-versa? "Hey, what about-?" No sooner had he spoken up, the other two hurried on ahead, not even considering how they could possibly draw more attention to themselves this way. Sighing lightly, the teen just jogged to catch up, opting to bring it up later.

    The walk there wasn't too long at all, and actually getting to Hyde's room was a breeze, oddly enough. Julian would've thought for sure that some dorm mother or another resident would cry foul at the sight of Rita on their floor, but apparently everyone was either too engrossed in their own activities to care or was perfectly fine with the situation. Not that he was complaining of course; whatever made this day easier was fine by him.

    As Hyde threw open his door and detailed the places to sit, the teen decided to take the chair. He walked over to it and sat down, redoing his ponytail while the other two found a place to sit. With a glance up at Hyde, he'd ask, "You have a roommate?" If there'd be someone barging in here the moment they started talking about personas, he'd prefer to know now. After Hyde gave his answer, Julian would nod. "And are you going to get kicked out if you close the door while a girl's in here?"

Roommate? No Julian, I room by myself. This entire room is mine, though it could be accompanied by two people instead of one. It’s safe to say that I managed to get lucky in a way, not having a roommate and all. Though, I do feel a bit lonely sometimes, so it’s nice to have some company every now and again. Plus, the dorm is pretty quiet today, so I think its ok if we close the door for some privacy. We did come here for some discreetness didn’t we? Though, there was the sushi restaurant I work in too.. oh well.”

Rita would then explain to Hyde that she and Julian met in one of the Rifts. Hyde wasn’t especially surprised, he already knew about the rifts and the danger. “I’m glad that you guys managed to get back in one piece. What happened? “

    ...That was probably the longest answer Hyde could've possibly given. At least he got to the point finally. With a nod, Julian stood up and shut the door before sitting down again and folding his arms. Shino took it upon herself to get this "discussion" underway, thankfully. At least now they had someplace to start.

    "I got a text message from the Velvet Room." he began, responding to Hyde's question. He'd even pull out his phone and show him the list of messages that had the same subject: VELVET ROOM. "They said there was a shadow that they wanted gone on the other side of the rift. I figured it was a good chance to train, so I took them up on their mission. Long story short, I met her on the other side," he nodded in Shino's direction, "we fought a few of those monsters, then came back here." A pretty concise summary, if he did say so himself. Glancing over at the girl, he'd give her a moment to interject anything else she wished into his explanation.

There was a shadow that they wanted gone? Was it the invading shadow? I wanted to take that thing down for weeks now, but the rest of my team seems too uninterested. One of my partners said she heard a voice in her head that tried to tempt her to team up with that shadow to take me out or something in particular. All it did was make me more curious...“ Hyde would say with a small pout, but he would quickly switch back to the situation at hand. “ Well, I’m going to assume from what Julian said that the mission as completed and you took the monsters out right? Start buying some gear items are pretty useful when it seems like a fight wuld drag on too long. You would never now what you might need.“ Hyde would then look towards Rita when she asked if he got the messages. “Well, that’s about right. I would get some messages from time to time. However, I would say that it’s much better to do things at a team of three or more. The more the merrier, that’s what I would like to say .

Hyde would look at Julian and Rita again and smile. “looks like you guys have gotten stronger. That’s a good sign. By the way, the rift in Zela academy, did you find anything strange? That girl we saw at the awakening Rita, or…… whatever you want to call it. The mask shadow with the thousand hands holding a lot of swords. Remember what she said? Was anything in there guys? I mean, anything notable.