Wounded Feelings, Verbiage and Castigation [Ryoji/invite]

Date: Day 5
Time: Morning

There were a number of coping mechanisms that Esra used when she wanted to defuse herself. To someone that had no idea what a smile looked like the gritted teeth might almost look like one. Her tongue flicking side to side behind them like a child strumming railings with a stick. Her fingers interlocked behind her fought with each other, feeling the tension rise and fall in her knuckles. Brownish red eyes locked forwards and the world shut out, a murmur all around herself that didn't seem real. It was best that way, so she kept telling herself.

If she was actually capable of that then she would not be in the situation she was in now. If it had been one rumour, one complaint then maybe she could have just let it all go. Four, in one afternoon and the teachers not seeming at all interested. It was generally known that Esra was tough as nails and never seemed afraid of anyone. Those that normally let her be popped up when they needed something. It wasn't abnormal, she was an unofficial class rep when it came to stuff like this. Still it grated on her, having to put herself in a situation that tested how much control she had over the tempestuous emotions that whipped at her.

He was around somewhere, thought she hadn't talked to him before. She hadn't talked to a lot of people outside her class and it felt safer that way for the most part. No one from her prior life would get within a three miles of the school here, still. It was the same city. Twisting a purposeful step around a corner she saw him. It was hard not to at his height, brown hair.

Reflex made her smooth the skirt of her uniform as she unclenched her jaw and let her fingers wriggle free. A deep breath as she tried to fold her tongue around his surname, "Schattenpalast, I need to have a word." It clearly wasn't a friendly word. It took all she had not to rise onto the balls of her feet and drop her knees a little. Looking right up into his eyes with her cold reds.

"I prefer to be called Beowulf, however..." In the same moment, as he heard the words coming from a feminine voice, Beowulf already know it could be something related to his perverted interest on hitting girls. But, he was more annoyed with the girl using his surname instead of his first name, and he made sure to correct her into his preferred way of being called.As he directed his body to the opposite side, he saw the girl who was calling him. Red eyes, cute black hair, but with an angry expression to boot. Beowulf didn't mind, as he found such expression of anger as cute and feminine. Making a silly excuse was easy; he could just act like his usual self, a pervert that will hit on all cute girls. "I didn't expect such a cute girl to ask her senpai out. May I ask your name, marvelous milady?"

Beowulf saw her confrontation as nothing more but a confession of her feelings, but that was just an act of his. He knew some "bitch" called that girl to deal with his antics, but if he really admitted his errors, any chance of him entering the cadets would be over. The only way to get away from this confusion was to act silly and stupid, with no acknowledgment of what he did. Act like a pervert like always. "Happily, I will notice you, my beautiful kohai." But, he did more than saying beautiful words. He tried to grope the girl and kiss her, but she didn't give any chance for him to do what he wanted. Four attempts, as he could recall. If it wasn't from that bitch, he could be safe, but he was lucky, the 'hero of justice' was a cute girl. "What about it? Maybe, this can escalate into some lovey-dovey stuff."

Esra remained rooted to the spot her eyes locked right through his head, this was, disgusting. It brought her right back to the days when thirsty scumsuckers letched and swaggered about like they owned the world. That he had such a singular interest made even a modicum of flattery from his desire vanish. Hitting on anything that moved in the hopes of getting his chin tickled. She wanted to box his ears, strap him with a belt, punch him in the throat, slide a knife between the fourth and fifth rib. Bile roiled up her throat at that final thought, making her want to gag. It brought her state and clenching her fists she stepped back, she was not ever to think that.

Discomfort rolled across her face before sinking back into anger, angry at herself and more so at him for making her feel that way. Losing control as much as she did, her voice a growl between teeth, “You are sickening.” It was never going to be pleasant but he had already made it so bad that she was afraid of breaking down. Sucking in and trying to bury her feeling inside herself she relaxed ever so slightly, “You are a lecherous creep,” A finger fired out of a first to point up at his head, “Either you like upsetting people or you are so out of touch that you don’t have a clue.” His reaction so far implied that he thought he was god’s gift to women, lanky stick creature.

Stepping forwards those angry eyes thinned, “Stay away from the girls you’ve been hassling and all the others until you can act like a man rather than a spoiled child!” People had their own problems sure, she knew that. This guy might be some sort of mentally deficient robot but that didn’t mean he had to be everyone else’s problem on top. It also didn’t change the fact she wanted to knee him in the groin, lock him in a headlock and drag him on all fours to the teachers lounge.

"So, how these guys in Suzie Q scored with girls that way? 

His perversity was something he got from hanging out with delinquents. From what he said, the girl could think of his as some type of guy that follows what is trending and what is not. In this spectrum, someone who is made from popular trends. No identity, no sense of being, a person molded by the public opinion and nothing more. However, he had more than that; identity disturbance. Beowulf can't really understand what he is. "I see, their identity is bad? So the opposite is good, I see. What about changing my identity? You could give yours to me right now."

He showed no malice. Beowulf decided to let go from his identity disturbance since he was a kid. Unconsciously, he could borrow personalities, likes, dislikes, motivations, dreams, and everything that gave a feeling of identity to a person. He was very different, a faceless thug that steals the ego of others. Either if the girl was disturbed, angry, or both, he didn't care anyway. He only asked if the only way to change for the better is to steal another mask to hide his face; nothing. Even the way calls himself, is the borrowed name of a legendary character.

"Or perhaps I can suggest that you behave yourself or face the consequences instead." a voice spoke from behind Beowulf.


A man was situated behind the lecherous boy with his arms crossed against his chest with a finger testily and repeatedly tapping against his elbow. His rather pleasant face was distorted by a look of sternness. He was quite visibly displeased by this. Both students should be able to know who he was, especially presenting himself so visibly in the Opening Ceremony of the school that took place several days ago.

"O-of course! I've been a good student! A good young--"

"Then keep it that way, if you would please," he abruptly cut in without mercy. He had a piercing look in his eyes. It was a silent message telling him to be quiet and to make his departure. Which he was swift to do with the quickened pattered of feet that filled down the hall.

Robert glanced at the retreating figure before turning to address the remaining teenager, "As much as it is praiseworthy for you to stand up for your fellow peers, I implore you to leave it to your teachers to address this issue, Miss...?"

He paused there out of complete ignorance of her name. But surely she would supply hers.

"Dean, sir." Esra was surprised but didn't miss a beat. Dealing with stuff like this was far easier than dealing with her own problems, a welcome distraction. Maybe it would have ended in a fight, she would have been fine with that. Righteous and to her totally reasonable, punching someone who deserved it would have been a sweet release. Folding all that emotion up and throwing into the well where she tried to forget about them she placed her hands neatly in her lap and looked up with blank deference to the principle.

"I thought that as a fellow student he should have a warning before it progressed to that level," She would have not have tried to enforce the law herself, that was silly. Yet she would also not pass on an honest and well made request for help just because it was technically someone else's job. More so when those people seemed to not be doing their jobs. If she was a teacher this sort of thing would never have been allowed to happen in the first place. "We are almost adults sir. We need to start taking responsibly for ourselves." A light cocksurety crept into her blankly respectful tone. She was quoting him at the end, a few months ago from a speech about something or other.

Robert was rather displeased by these turn of events. To think there was someone within this Academy harassing his peers... Perhaps this was time to discuss with the administration regarding harassment. But before Robert could spare another thought, he blinked at her, this time being pleasantly surprised himself before chuckling in amusement. "Certainly that is an argument, Miss Dean."

The Headmaster expected a good majority of the students to have some immaturity from their youth. After all, that was the norm, ri ght? While the behavior from Beowulf didn't quite surprise him, rather become more pessimistic, Dean's reaction was a nice change of pace for once. "A responsible adult in any society would report any aberrant situations to the proper authorities first. As some might say, 'Let the experts handle it.'"

He was wondering how the student would respond as his interest was piqued.

Was that directed at this situation or did he know? How could he know? Esra looked panicked just for a moment as she tried to put the facts together, she had to be stupid. There was no way he could know about what was happening to her, unless Pen had completely betrayed her. That wasn't impossible, or if he had done something stupid. Not reacting would be the best idea, a little late for that.
"I um, well," Great start to a convincing argument right here. Esra adjusted her skirt, took a breath and tried again, "If you rely on everyone else to do everything for you, what do you learn?" She was grasping at straws from books she had read. The answer that she didn't trust anyone else to do a job better than she could more often than not was not the one anyone would want to hear.

"I know my capabilities sir, learning is about broadening them, isn't it?" Deflection seemed the better choice given how shaky the ground she was on. No, that wasn't what she meant to say, "I mean, if you always defer then who would have a new idea? I'd rather take responsibility for myself and ask for help when I could not do something." That sounded better constructed, a darn sight more impressive if she had started with that over meandering over the issue. Esra wasn't exactly a member of the debate club.

She seemed rather surprised by his words. It seemed as if she was hiding something. In fact, he did come up behind the uncouth boy earlier and hence he had some idea of what was going on. Were they much of a reason to be startled in any case? Or maybe there was something much more going on than he thought. "You only need a more pliable and able mind to even remotely begin the process of learning, Miss Dean."

He began to raise an eyebrow at her continuing to speak. But he did nod in agreement about equating learning with broadening capabilities. It's not that he didn't quite completely disagree with what she was saying. After all, he came from a family of scholars himself and the path to knowledge required work. "Certainly learning does require effort from oneself and thus can translate to the betterment of the self, but that is further facilitated by having others teach us what we don't know. That is exactly why you and I stand here today with my fellow staff, is it not?"

He was beginning to crack a grin at her. In a way he was beginning to have a liking to this prospective young student. It wouldn't surprise him that she was actually a good one, but none of that stopped him from asking her, "Is there a reason why you seem surprised? Have I said anything wrong?"

To Esra teachers directed learning and provided help, the student was the one that did all the work. By doing, reading, they learned. She learned best not from a book but by having to work it out for herself. That way it stuck with her, the point wasn't lost but she felt she was missing part of it. The fact that he rambled on a little gave her some time to cool off and assume her mask.

Right up until he brought the topic back around again, this time she was waiting for him. Not flinching nor much reaction at all she answered softly, "I like to learn things for myself, even if it is not the most efficient way. The journey matters more than the destination in the end and we each find different routes to our liking." Hogwash. Life happened and you struggled to not get washed away by it. If you worked hard you had a better raft but that was all it was, and the sea was cruel and tempestuous.

It didn't answer his question but she hoped that was enough to defect a little bit of attention, "Some of the other students were asking me about a disappearance a few weeks ago, something about a curse." Letting out a breath she looked him in the eyes, "I think its stupid but, I haven't reported it to anyone, I don't know if they have. It has just been on my mind, sir." When she wanted to be Esra was a pretty good liar and this time it wasn't even a lie. People had asked her about it, she had thought it was stupid and it had been on her mind lately.

"I wasn't thinking of solving it myself," Cutting that off at the pass, "But it does bother me that people can disappear in a city like this." How much did he care about the well being of his students? It should also explain how she reacted, if it was something of a taboo topic.

It was a strange and interesting perspective on learning, if at all something that required and encouraged an active approach. There wasn't anything wrong with that as long as there was fruit to bear for all the effort in the end. Robert would have continued the conversation, but there was evidently something else that warranted his attention.

The Headmaster allowed his thumb and index finger to pinch his chin, almost thoughtfully pondering about this situation. "This is quite troublesome news. I suggest you don't look into this, Miss Dean. You are one of my students in this Academy. There is no need for you to needlessly risk yourself over something like this when we have law enforcement and the Cadets. I shall go report this to them, I will deal with this issue with their assistance."

It was a reassurance on his part, after all he was the one heading this academy and it was normal to act like a kind of role model in that case, right? "Now. I believe class is about to start soon? Perhaps you should be getting ready, Miss Dean."

"Yes sir," Esra nodded and bowed her head ever so slightly in deference. She had not really spoken to him before, though she had listened many times. He seemed odd, aloof and it felt like he wasn't willing to tell her anything at all. Telling students you are worried about them and giving them the tools to look after themselves were not remotely close to each other. A part of her wished she could trust the Cadets and have them look after her, yet there was something there. Beyond wanting to look after herself, beyond not trusting people. Too many secrets. If they worked to stop demons, why not tell everyone all about them? If the protected people why not more like the police? What were they hiding?

It had to be worse than what she was hiding, the effort that they went to. Faking a smile Esra headed towards class, not looking back and keep herself in check. It was a simple matter for her to look at attendance records and see who stopped coming to school and never came back, it was a start at least.