Comin' to the Tree, to 'Art and Chill' [Open]

Amidst the noise and bustle of the courtyard commons of the school sat a rather large garden area which despite being rather large, was actually rather empty. Aside from one bear faunus sitting underneath a tree far away from the crowds of people who were bustling about the courtyard doing whatever it was they chose to do with their time on a Saturday. It’s not that Oliver wanted to seclude himself from social interaction, in fact talking with friends or potential friends was one of Oliver’s favourite things to do at Syne, aside from combat classes or drawing. However it was in this peace and quiet area, that Oliver had chosen as his most frequent hangout spot since his arrival at the academy, that Oliver took it upon himself to get in some practice on his art skills. (Which were phenomenal already.) So it was under the seclusion of this tree, with his scroll unplugged playing a song he rather enjoyed at a volume that wouldn’t pester anyone. Oliver sat in the grass with his notepad in hand and his weapon laid out by his left leg, drawing his stress from the previous day away to a simple ‘Art and Chill’ session.

Royce often wondered what the word happiness meant, for his youth was anything but. Ever since his birth he was always alone, besides the greatest graces of his sister who kept him company once in a while before he left. He was curious though, at how many students at this school had paralyzed one of their parents. He noticed the undying amounts of psychos that they let into the school, and from that he kept on his guard. He wanted atleast once to relax, and from there he saw the doors to the outside.

He walked through them at a hesitant pace. He would admit this school was a frightening place, and he felt as though he'd die any moment. But he brushed the thoughts off his shoulder as he peered through the black eye sockets of his helmet that concealed his ugly face, and noticed a boy by a tree all to his lonesome. He remembered his sister, and that drove him to approach the boy, his footsteps terrifyingly silent. He was almost like a ghost in his moments, and he approached from the side to avoid sight of the boy.

As he was right upon him he placed his gauntleted hand against the tree and peered over his shoulder to see what he was doing outside by himself. He noticed the sketch pad, and tilted his head in confusion. He was out here drawing? 'Maybe I should leave him be.' Royce thought but kept attention off of himself until he started getting the eyes again from other students. He silently retreated behind the tree and pulled himself up from branches, positioning himself above to continue watching the lad.

Just the sheer amount of peace in the air and with the boy he almost lost himself in his own little world. He moved his body into a more comfortable position and rested his back against a tree, his legs sprawled over a branch with his arms behind his head. He kept his eyes low and continued watched the boy at an unbelievable amount of relaxation. He soon lost his peace as his brain started replaying loss and he got swept up in the moment and started writing.

-'Honestly I felt I lost myself when you got cancer, I look to god with questions but never got an answer. I'd give my soul just to see you once more, I dropped my happiness as I left your door, looking to the sky I'm still pretty unsure. A whole day passed and I started losing patience, sitting in the room with all the cancer patients. I walked inside and saw the tubes in horror, I felt like my life hit game over.

Chemotherapy made the days a littler harder, I feel bad for my mother for losing another daughter. Her only son went a little crazy, his brain went a little hazy, god knows you were her little baby. The days after were the worst, existing became nothing but a living curse, the pain never subsided and it got worse. I'm burnt out I cannot hide it, I can never ride a plane or become a pilot.

I feel like I'd just crash and set the world up, your cup ran over I can't fill it up. Loss of words became a common thing, I haven't spoken a word since your final dream. If we could switch places I'd do it in a heart beat, because I know you'd do better while your heart beat. This is a brothers shame that I can't save you from everything, I tried being your superman to do the same thing. I still remember the tears in your eyes I wish I could have made them pass, staring at you behind the two way glass.

I remember the sullen silence as you flat lined, with you gone i think my world died. I just felt I went insane, but atleast you aren't in pain. The day of your last surgery I still live in the moment, your necklace you wore I still hold it. Family never knew you were my favorite sister, wish you could grow old and meet some random mister, I wish that one more time I could have got to kiss ya. Wish that I'd get another brother I'd could hold dear, but those'll be words ill never hear.

I socked the doctor afterwords because he had a laugh, pocketing all the money that we didn't have. My eyes burn from everything I cannot see, you were the only family that actually loved me. I hope you know that ill always love you, sincerely, your little brother Yuto."- he wrote and shifted the papers away. He lost his attention from the boy beneath him and looked down to see if he noticed the boy above him. (Sorry for the book, I got swept up in music and decided to write.)

Eve was dashing through the courtyard giggling and carrying a pair of shoes that seemed to be way to big for her to wear. They belonged to a friend of hers named Kyo and she managed to take them while her friend was taking a nap. Eve checked to see if she was being followed and then she darted to a bush and hid the shoes then she continued to run around the courtyard. While she was running Eve noticed two students and was trying to look at them and run at the same time which was a bad idea. Eve wasn't paying attention and tripped over her own two feet which caused her knee to get scraped up. Eve just sat there feeling the pain from her knee and sorta whining like a dog would if they were in pain only it was a very quiet whine meaning that it wasn't that bad but it still hurt and she did not want to get up.

Kyo had spent basically all night last night reading, studying, and cleaning his weapon so he was pretty tired and spent a few hours napping today. Little did he know that his tiny friend Eve was getting extremely bored and took his shoes as some form of entertainment. When Kyo awoke he went to put his shoes on and merely sighed as he said "Eve what did you do this time?" Kyo then set out on a two part mission number one was to find Eve and number two was to get his shoes back. Kyo made his way to the courtyard and saw Eve running around but without his shoes which confused him since he was sure she had taken them. Kyo ran over to Eve when she tripped and asked her "Are you okay Eve?" Kyo noticed that she just scraped her knee and he sighed and said in a joking manner "Does it really hurt you so much that you have to whine about it? It doesn't look that bad?.. But if it really does hurt that much then we might just have to remove your whole leg I mean we wouldn't want that pain to spread through your whole body now would we?" Kyo then realized what he said could possibly scare Eve and so he changed the subject "Alright Eve where are my shoes I know you took them so where are they?.. If you tell me where they are then I might play a game with you but that is only if you know where they are."

Oliver had been so wrapped up in his drawing and the music that was playing softly from his scroll that he didn’t notice the one boy sneak up on him and begin to peer over his shoulder at Oliver’s work. What the boy’s eyes would be met with is a rather interesting re-creation, or creation at that, of some form of Grimm that seemed professionally drawn, as it was anatomically correct on most parts, that being said there was a large chunk of the drawing that was still sketched guidelines. However once a girl carrying shoes, for some reason, tripped and started to make a lot of noise, did Oliver break from his trance. Blinking slightly as he slowly lowered the sketchpad down from his eyes to just peer over the top lip at the girl, now being talked to about presumably something to do with her leg. One could probably say that Oliver was angry, however at the same time he didn’t seem mad. More so salty that his quiet got disturbed, however not angry enough to actually be considered mad. Annoyed would probably be a good word. “Just why, might I ask, are you carrying shoes?” Oliver asked with a raised brow. Only to see that the boy that had been speaking to the girl actually had no shoes on currently and quickly made the connection. “Nevermind... don’t answer that.” Oliver shook his head slightly and returned to his drawing. Still oblivious to the fact that someone was above him.

As new humanoids appeared Royce moved higher in the tree instead of being right above the boy. He wanted to admire the young gents art longer, but he picked up on his secrecy. He was nearly to the top of the tree as he watched the full scene below with new girl crying. He held his hand out, but slowly drew it back as a man followed suit and approached her. He was barefoot, and he watched closely as he started... Badgering the girl? That wasn't right, and he heard every word of the man.

He was about to rain lightning upon him until he noticed the two were actually close, and he offered to play with her. His eyes that held anger turned softer as he began to understand the situation, and from that he withdrew his thoughts of ill violence. He quietly came halfway down the tree. He watched the boy once again, and he softly broke a branch. He wrote a note that said -'Keep drawing, you are pretty good. Here's to buy more supplies to keep you going.'- and attached a $5 dollar bill to the note and wrapped it on the branch.

He held it off and dropped it to watch it land just beside the boy within his reach. His cover was almost blown now, as he was sure the boy would look up. He silently moved to the opposite side of the tree to his body and kept out of sight in case he did decide to look for Royce. From him being out of sight he started drawing as well.

A peaceful forest scene started forming, and at the bottom he started drawing fish, being mindful to keep extra detail in the scales and water with small plant life growing from the bottom. He drew the trees after the small body of water was completed, pine trees and oaks sprawled about the page, and he paused on that little scene to draw the sun, and even went through the extra effort to add the rays of sunlight affect the water.

Eve was a little freaked out as she said to her friend "Y-you wouldn't really remove it right?" Eve's face went from being scared to being happy in a matter of seconds though then her friend mentioned the word play and she said "You will play with me if I tell you where your shoes are? You promise?" Eve then stood up and began walking over to where she had hidden the shoes and took them out. Then she looked at her friend and said "Any game I want?.. Well I want to play keep away!" Eve then began running around the courtyard saying "Catch me if you can Kyo!" She had to stop when she nearly ran into someone a man that had brown hair and green eyes. She looked up and the man asking "Hi there! Do you want to play too? the game is simple make sure Kyo doesn't get his shoes back!"

Kyo seemed happy that his friend was actually listening to him and went to get his shoes. But this was short lived as the girl mentioned that she wanted to play keep away and began to take off again. Kyo sighed and said "Out of all the games in the world she just had to pick keep away.. Well I did say I would play with her so I guess now I have to play to get my shoes back." Kyo then began to chance after the girl and also trying to speak with her "Eve if I step on any random shards of glass or something along the lines of that you do realize it will be your fault right?" Kyo stopped when she stopped and he began to creep up behind the girl. When he got close enough to reach his shoes he then spoke hoping he wouldn't startle Eve but just to sorta corner her "Give me my shoes Eve!" 

Had been sketching with a furrowed brow at this point, as he had been trying to not get distracted by the two students in clear sight behind his notepad. However Oliver’s brow furrowed even further as he heard a small crack and quickly moved to glance up. Only to see a branch fall beside him with a note attached to the side of it. “Hm.” He’d pick up the branch and unroll the message off the side. Noticing a 5 lien bill tucked away inside the note, which kindly read as: ‘Keep drawing, you are pretty good. Here's to buy more supplies to keep you going.’ Oliver smiled and quickly stashed the note into one of the pockets and conveniently, paused his music right as the girl with the shoes approached him. Turning his gaze away from his scroll to lock gaze with this girl, Oliver’s immediate reaction was to try and scramble backwards to get some space. However he realized that his back was right up against the tree and his feeble attempt to go backwards only made him back into the tree. Rolling his eyes slightly as she asked him her question about playing some form of game. “Are you sure keeping someone’s shoes from their feet is safe? I mean. This is a courtyard. People eat and do other things out here. There could be glass in the grass. Or worse, nails even. Wouldn’t want them stepping on that.” Oliver then saw the boy approaching behind the girl and blinked slightly. Deciding not to say anything as he thought that the other male could handle the situation. Sitting back down Oliver took his scroll and pocketed it in an inside pocket on his coat. Waiting for the events affront him to unfold as they might.

Royce kept an open ear towards the ordeal, but for the most part he didnt interfere. He finished up his drawing, and in an unexpected notion he shredded the picture. He kept his arts to himself and stuffed the pieces in his pocket, a few took air and fell to the ground. This time he would draw the girl, looking down in her direction and captured the mental image. He quickly sketched the outline of her happy face and started putting the minuet details in the face and clothes, then the outline of her Faunes looks while shading in what darker colors she had.

The smile, her delicate smile captured on paper. The mans face, he decided to change that. He didn't like his frown, so he changed that to a more at peace look. Now for the young artist, he captured the look of his hand in his pocket. His look of somewhat curiosity as he was in wait. He look was captured all on a simple piece of notebook paper, and with that he was more satisfied with the amount of detail in the Faunes girl. He looked down towards the group, and held his hand out. Small sparks of electricity started arcing with the spikes on his gauntlets, until it finally moved to his fingers and electricity pulsated from his hand to the ground.

He closed his hand while pulled towards himself and warped with the lighting as he was shot forward, landing in front of the Faunes girl. He tore the paper from the notebook and moved it into her hand, and walked past her as he waved his hand. He was sure the devilish helmet would scare her so he didn't try to stick around.

Eve understood the danger of going barefoot in the courtyard but she was too hype to care as she said "You guys are sooooooo negative! If the courtyard was really dangerous then we wouldn't be allowed to be here right now right? So don't worry about it!" Eve jumped a small bit when her friend snuck up behind her and she jumped even more when someone appeared in front of her. Eve was then handed a paper by this person who seemed to be a ram faunus. Eve looked at the sheet of paper it was a drawing of her and it was pretty good. Eve tucked the drawing a way to look at it later when she noticed the guy began walking away. Eve chased after him throwing the shoes aside and she jumped trying to grab at the guy's horns saying "YOU HAVE HORNS THAT'S SO COOL I HAVE NEVER SEEN A FAUNUS WITH HORNS! I WANT TO TOUCH THEM!!!" Eve was now more hyper than she was before.

Kyo sighed as he heard what his friend had to say about the courtyard and he thought I guess now she is too hyper to listen to reason.. Fantastic so I guess I will have to play her ga- Kyo's thought process was cut off when someone that seemed to have qualities of a ram appeared in front of his friend and handed her a paper. Kyo kept a close eye on this guy while thinking We don't know this guy so I can't tell what his intentions are.. Or what that paper is.. I will try to get it from Eve later and see exactly what it is. Kyo was a bit surprised that his friend merely casted his shoes aside and Kyo quickly retrieved them and began to put them on when his friend darted after the ram faunus. Kyo just sighed again watching closely to see how the guy would react to his little friend.

Resting against a tree with his arms folded across his chest, Oliver watched and listened as the girl ranted to him about safety issues and rolled his eyes. However once the lightning burst down out of nowhere from the tree in front of him, Oliver instantly leapt to his weapon and picked it up. However realizing that it was just someone coming down from the tree faster Oliver returned to his spot and put his weapon where it used to be. However he placed his hand on top of the weapon just to be safe. Raising a slight brow as the ram-horned man handed something to the girl. “Uhm… might I ask where’d you come from?” Oliver leaned to the side so that his face wasn’t being obstructed by the 'new' arrival’s back. He then moved back to sitting straight up and picked up his sketchbook and weapon. Attaching his weapon to his shoulder strap, and stuffing his sketchbook into his jacket, Oliver stood up and sauntered over to stand beside the group.

Royce managed to get a few feet away from the group of two before the girl was on him like white on rice. The moment she started obsessing over his horns and tried touching them he dropped to his knees quicker than he teleported. He felt the girls hands fiddle around with the multi curled horns upon his head while simply letting her do as she pleased. He wasn't a violent person, especially with a young lady with a similar genetic attribute that separated them from normal humans.

But it was rather awkward having his back to someone so Royce rotated his body a complete 180 to face the girl. He was asked a question by the young artist, and as he let the girl play with him he wrote -'Well, when a man and a woman love each other.... Nah I'm just kidding. I was above you, in the tree, watching you the entire time because watching you draw was pretty peaceful. You got talent, I hope it gets you somewhere.'- he showed Oliver and laid his notebook down.

Now as for the young girl he pulled off his black steel gauntlets and rubbed her head with his bare hands, petting her ever so softly before moving his hands to rub behind her ears. She had soft hair, and he noticed her friend staring at him. He turned his head to face the man, the soulless eyes of the black skull staring back at him, but he didn't stop moving his hands to play with the adorable Faunes. He just played with eve while staring at him.

Eve's face lit up when the ram faunus got on his knees so she could actually reach his horns and she began giggling and and touching them. Eve then felt a very soft touch on her ears and noticed that the ram faunus was petting her. Eve's tail was wagging like crazy and she was getting more happy and hyper than before if that was even possible. Eve then smirked and began to growl at the ram faunus but it was more of a playful growl as she said "Grrr ya know if you want to really want to play then you can be a bit more rough!" Eve then pounced on the ram as she continued to growl and say "Come one let's play  for real! There is nothing wrong with getting a little dirty!". Eve then looked over to her friend who seemed to be looking over at her and she said "Kyo! Come play with us don't just stand there!" 

Kyo watched as the ram faunus began to pet his friend as he though So far he seems to be alright.. But let's just see what your real intent is? Maybe you are not that bad but still I can't be to sure about that I mean he hasn't even said a word to us.. Maybe he can't speak?.. Well I will just have to wait and find out no point in interrogating him right now when I hardly know him I have to establish some level of trust first. Kyo was a bit surprised to see his friend pounce on the ram faunus. When he was asked to join he said "Well after the game you tried to play earlier I am not sure that I would want to play whatever you have in mind now. I am going to stay on the sidelines for now but if I want to join in then I will I want to see what you have in mind first."

Standing in silence Oliver watched the Ram Faunus fumble around with Eve and shrugged. Reading his response to Oliver’s question which had been written on his Notebook Oliver nodded, however not before giving a dry chuckle at the love joke. “Little creepy, but thanks. Appreciate the compliments.” Oliver gave a dry smile as he then presumed to watch Eve pounce the man after giving some very questionable responses to her being petted. Listening to Kyo’s input on the subject Oliver nodded alongside him. “Yeah, as fairly innocent as I’m sure you are. I’ll pass on the ‘playing’ part of things.” Oliver then interlaced his clawed fingers and cracked his knuckles. Rolling his shoulders afterwards and sighing. “I’ll just let you two do your thing in peace.” He would then move to go over and stand behind Kyo and glance between him and Eve. “So you two know each other huh? That must be fun.” Oliver blinked slightly before shaking his head slightly. “Gah, where’s my head today.” Oliver would then turn to Kyo and extend a clawed hand. “I’m Oliver. Pleased to meet you.”

Royce was more focused on staring at the boys before the girl pounced on him, sending him to the ground. His head gently rattled from the shock before he realized the girl was only playing. He picked her up, set her aside, and pulled off his hoodie to reveal a black tank top. He tossed his hoodie and notebook on top of his gauntlets before taking a stance, and rushed, picking up eve and tossed her in the air playfully, catching her as she came down.

He let go and jumped back, preparing for her to rush. He was really unsure of the stickler the girl was friends with, but it was her choice. He took the time and rolled to the side, bolting up from the ground and wondered what in heck he was doing. Why was he playing? Especially in public, with those thoughts he out his hands down and went completely oblivious to his surroundings.

Eve was tossed in the air and all the time she was smiling and laughing. When she was put down Eve heard that her friend wasn't going to join them and her ears dropped a bit. Eve then got an idea and she smirked but then she turned to face her friend with her sad puppy dog eyes as she said "Kyo I don't understand why are you being so mean? I just wanted to play is that something bad? You always like to play with me so what's wrong this time? Is it because I took your shoes earlier? Are you really mad about that? You know I wasn't trying to make you angry I just wanted to play." Eve was walking towards her friend hoping that her plan had worked. When she got close enough her sad look quickly went back into a smile again as she pounced on her friend saying "I got you! You are going to play with me whether you like it or not!" After Eve was done with her little act she then ran toward the ram faunus saying "Don't worry I didn't forget about you!"

Kyo was keeping a close eye on the two playing until he heard someone speaking to him and replied "Yeah we know each other Eve and I go way back and even now she can be a bit much even for me." The one who was speaking to him was named Oliver and Kyo introduced himself "I'm Kyo Su it's nice to meet you Oliver. May I ask where you came from before coming to Syne? Eve and I come from Mistral." While Kyo was making small talk with Oliver he almost didn't notice his little friend walking up to him with a rather sad look. Kyo hardly knew what to say all he could think was Oh no.. I screwed up.. Does she really believe I would be that mad she has done worse before.. But she looks really sad.. Maybe I should play with her? I mean what harm could it do?  Kyo was then knocked to the ground as his friend pounced on him. When she ran back to her initial play mate Kyo got up and said "How did I not see that you were faking?" He then sighed and said "Well.. If you can't beat 'em." As he moved towards his friend. 

Giving a slight chuckle as he watched the scene outfold from infront of him. Nodding slightly as Kyo introduced himself. “Yeah there’s another person around here i go way back with. Granted she’s my sister but still. We go way back.” Oliver gave a slight chuckle and a nod as Kyo introduced himself. “It’s fine, I came here from Vale. Nice place really. Signal was cool too." However as he saw Eve crawl up to Kyo with puppy dog eyes Oliver raised a slight brow as she tried to convince him to join the two in their antics. Nodding slightly at Kyo’s if you can’t beat them comment. “Join ‘em?” Oliver gave a slight chuckle and gave Kyo a nod as he went forward to join his friend and her new friend. Oliver shrugged and rolled his eyes. “Wellp, I might as well live by my word.” Oliver gave a slight chuckle and marched to join them as well.

Royce let the girl go do her thing of mental manipulation on her friend and immediately decided to not doubt how bad this little squeaker could get into someone's head. His fear was that she could do that to him, and for that he kept his guard up around her. After she convinced the one the other decided to join, and with that he activated his semblance and seemed to levitate a foot off the ground. Royce seemed to glide around and as she ran at him he held his arm away from her and pulled his arm towards himself, and warped through the air at Kyo.

He picked Kyo up gently and laid him softly on the ground considering he had no idea how to rough house with boys so the idea was to pick them up and put them down. He looked at Oli, and repeated the warp until he was staring face to face with Oliver. He tilted his head to basically say 'you know what's coming' , picked him up, and laid him on the ground softly like he did Kyo.

Next was the girl, which he warped to and picked her up, spinning around without touching the ground. He tossed her high into the air, warped to her, and spun her around high off the ground until he landed softly. Royce shut down the semblance as he dropped back to the ground, back stepping from the group when he put eve down.

Eve was so happy that other were joining her game and she was laughing too much to even react to what was happening until finally she yelled "ALRIGHT NOW IT'S TIME FOR THE REAL GAME! I LIKE TO CALL IT EXTREME TAG!!! THE RULES ARE SIMPLE TAG SOMEONE USING WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY! AND SINCE I AM THE GAME MASTER I SHALL BE THE FIRST ONE TO BE IT!!! READY?!.. LET'S BEGIN!" Eve then began running towards her target which was the brunet who just recently joined hoping to catch him off guard. While all this was going on Eve's only thoughts were This is going to be so much fun! Extreme Tag is a lot more fun with more than only two people like the way me and Kyo use to play! Let's see how well the other boys are at this game.. But let's be honest I will be the Extreme Tag champ just like I usually am!

Kyo hardly noticed that he was being picked up by the ram faunus as he thought D-did she just say Extreme Tag?... Oh no.. No. No. No. No. When Kyo was back on the ground he yelled "EVERYONE SCATTER!!!" He didn't have time to explain Extreme Tag more clearly before his friend began so all he could so was run away as fast as he could and hide. But hide where? Kyo is six feet tall there so naturally he had a disadvantage in this game. Kyo was looking for a spot to hide hoping that he wasn't being chased although he didn't dare look back. In this game it's every man for themselves.. Eve is known as the champ but that is only because it was me and her playing before and half the time I let her win.. WAIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING THINKING JUST FOCUS ON RUNNING! REMEMBER WHEN EVE MEANS TAG SOMEONE USING WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY SHE MEANS IT!

Oliver had some options when it faced him time to run in. However as Eve bolted off towards the Ram faunus Oliver slowed down and eventually stood still. A singular brow raised as the faunus warped over to Kyo using presumably his semblance and picked him up off his feet and laid the man down. Furrowing his brow now he watched as the faunus warped over to him. “Oh no you don’t.” As the man would reach for Oliver to pick him up, he would roll out of the way. Glancing back over to eve as she yelled something about ‘tag’ and ‘any means necessary to tag someone’ “I can live with those rules.” Oliver looked around for the nearest tree as he saw Kyo start running, and conveniently there was the tree he was formerly sitting under almost immediately to his right. “Oh. How lucky of me.” Oliver crouched down and jumped so that he would jump into the trunk of the tree and then flip himself off it into the tree’s branches. Just barely dodging Eve in the process. How lucky. Once in said tree Oliver looked around for a large branch and revved his axe. “Alrighty…” Eventually after having found the right branch Oliver proceeded to saw it from the tree with his weapon. Only to have said branch float back up to him and sit up beside him. “Alrighty. I’m good.” Oliver shouted down to the others.