To and Fro [Open]

Warren leaned up against the railing as he stared at the horizon, painted orange and purple by the setting sun, a bright semi-circle slowly growing dimmer and dimmer. He liked to imagine that he could feel the cool breeze of the evening air blow past him up on the observation deck, a large room surrounded by massive windows that showed off the earth beneath them, as well as a good part of the prow of the airship, as they glided gently away from Bellmuse and up to the Academy. The last flights up were always among his favorite, as they generally had the fewest people, and the sunset was a sight to die for.

Glancing around the observation deck, he noted that it was relatively empty right now, not that he really minded. He was fine with being there with nothing but his thoughts. Standing up straight, he brushed his hands against his shirt, straightening it before tugging at the black harness around his chest, connecting to it were a number of metal canisters, small windows glowing with red light. It wasn't hard to see that he was a Hunter, after all, not many people wore such strange contraptions, and it was easy to see that the canisters contained Dust if one knew what to look for. Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out his scroll to check the time, and nodded as he saw that he'd make it back to the Academy without being late. There was still sometime until the airship would dock with the castle however, and until then, Warren peered back out at the sunset, content to enjoy its simple pleasure.

The horizon in Bellmuse seemed strangely metallic. The addition of an odd building or metal structure twisting up into the sky always caught Ahn off guard. She was used to desert sands, casting great mirages of light and heat across the horizon. The lone cacti or tweelie bird silhouetted against the harsh setting sun. Here it was all wrong. Lights cut into the encroaching darkness, shedding an eternal daylight across the land. People didn't set with the sun, instead many emerged as it grew dimmer and darker. It puzzled her greatly. The sun was a natural signal that the days work was to end and candles were lit to help farmers and hunters return home in the strange hours of dusk where one could see, but also not.

The faunus gazed at the purple sunset, ears perked forward in interest at the hues scattering across the sky in painted waves of color. The observation deck cut her off from the world. She felt strangely cold standing in the building and watching the sun slowly set, instead of being among the forest or wilderness and feeling the breeze tickle her cheeks and caress her skin. It was all unnatural to her. A human had mentioned the sunset here in passing to her. He had said it would be like nothing she had seen before, yet it was barely comparable to what she had witnessed back in her homeland. This was pathetic.

The faunus sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and turning away from the glass and settling against the railing. She couldn't look at it any longer. She missed her home.

A figure caught her eye, he was standing to her left, intently gazing at the sunset with a contented look on his face. She stared at him for a bit longer than normal and then as if realizing she had been shamelessly gawking at a stranger she quickly looked down at her wrap covered feet.

A flash of movement caught Warren's gaze as he turned towards his right to follow it. He was rather taken aback to see a rather tall and imposing looking woman, with bronze skin and long, straight black hair, along with... uniquely foreign garb, that showed that she was rather obviously not from around here. Hell, Warren would've hazard a guess that she was probably from far across the ocean. To top it all off, she was a faunus to boot, a pair of pointed black ears sitting atop her head. All in all, she was almost intimating, standing even taller than Warren, and dressed in strange clothes of silk and gold, the yellow colored face paint giving contrast to her raven hair.

She gave off almost a kind of amazonian presence, either that or a sort of nobility or royalty about her... Someone who was proud of who they were in an extremely confident and self-assured kind of way, and weren't afraid to stand up and fight when the gauntlet was thrown down. Well, at least she did until she turned away to look down at her own feet in an almost adorable embarrassed fashion, one that was emphasized more so by the difference between her appearance and her actions.

He couldn't help but smile, though he did his best to hide it, turning it into a subdued smirk. He supposed he could've been nice and just let it slide, turning his attention back towards the window, but a meaner part of him told him to press, while another more cautious part of his head told him that this would probably end up in him being thrown out the window of the observation deck.

"Is there something I can help you with?" He tilts his head as he seems to look her over for a moment. "Ah... Actually, are you new here? I mean, I don't recognize you from any of the other students at the Academy, and well, the majority of the people riding this airship are students, you know?"

Anput's ear twitched, her lip lifting in a silent growl as she felt eyes on her. The human had seen her staring at him. She couldn't help it, something about the strange red, glowing canisters donning his chest intrigued her. He carried a simpler aura about him then most humans as well, an almost humbled and rational one, rather than the cockiness she had encountered in other humans. She reprimanded herself for showing weakness in looking away, her mother would have told her to hold the gaze of the person instead of submitting, but she had grown to realize humans did not like being stared at, nor even the faunus here, and so she had learned to look away or be ridiculed.

These peoples customs were strange and foreign to her, their handshakes and greetings were different and even their manner of dress and style of fighting. She wanted to retain her culture, but another part of her knew that she needed to somewhat adapt to survive...

The man began to speak, addressing her and inquiring about things. She turned to him, purple eyes narrowed and ears pulled back slightly. "No, I don't need your help." She said curtly, turning back to look out the window. It was probably a bit rude of her, but she didn't want the human to assume her weak or in need of help. Male humans escprcually always thought that a female of any race needed their help.

"Yes, I am new here. Recently moved from Vacuo and my homelands to this." She somewhat spat the words, glaring at the slight reflection of herself in the window. She couldn't help but be hostile and irritated. She was in a new place, among strange people, and technology that unnerved her. She didn't like the flying machines that transported them from place to place, the height from the ground made her uncomfortable and her skin prickle in slight fear. But she couldn't show weakness. She covered up her fear and discomfort with anger and biting remarks.

Warren quirked a brow at her apparently hostility. It wasn't that she was aggressive, more simply that she was simply cutting him off. Well, he kind of expected that kind if behavior from the girl, almost everything about her gave off the impression of someone trying to... Cut themselves off from the world? No... Maybe aloof was a better word. Warren never was the best at this kind of thing, but still he pressed on.

"Woah, hey I don't mean any disrespect now," he said, raising his hands in a calming gesture. "Just wanted to make sure you're getting settled in alright, that's all. It's a new school year, so we've got a lot of new students coming in." He drops his hands, turning back to look out the window, figuring that she wasn't exactly too willing to hold a conversation right now. She didn't seem to like Bellmuse all too much either. Still, he supposed he'd give it one more chance. "So, you say you're from Vacuo? You're a long way from home, what made you come here?"

Anput grit her teeth, turning to the man as he put his hands up as if to calm an aggressive animal. She backed off a bit, realizing she was a bit hostile in her response. She cocked her weight to her right hip and crossed her arms, fully turning to face the male, her purple eyes meeting his head on.

He turned away, back to the window. Anput's ears perked forward in interest. A man, and human at that, who relented to her. Not out of weakness or submission, but perhaps respect for her privacy and her anger at her predicament. Whatever the case she arched a brow as he continued to speak.

"Yes I am a far way from home. It... Saddens me greatly." Anput muttered, ears folding back and eyes wandering out to the shifting landscape outside. "My father, he received a job offer here to help teach and be an ambassador for my homelands back in Vacuo. He negotiates shipments of water and other supplies in exchange for dust and other materials that my people make." Anput sighed, putting a hand up to the glass.

"This place. It is so foreign to me. And the people, they treat as if I am some savage who needs to be trained, tamed, and taught their ways..." Anput trailed off, hand falling back to her side, balled tightly in a fist.

She hadn't meant to be so open with the stranger, but his aura didn't seem to choke her or overpower hers. He was quieter more subdued in his nature. A listener...

Warren glanced at the girl out of the corner of his eye, admittedly shocked by the fact that she was willing to continue the conversation, though he hid his surprise well enough as he looked back out towards the sunset before turning back to properly face her again. He wondered if this was a conversation he actually wanted to be having right now though, as she trailed off at the end of her sentence. He'd always been the kind of person more interested in work and study rather than going out of his way to talking to people, and he'd essentially locked himself up in his own home for a long while before he'd come here to Bellmuse. It was safe to say that social interaction really wasn't his forte.

Still, he had to say something back, after all, he was the one who pushed for the conversation to continue, and he was rather curious about the girl and her homeland if he had to be honest with himself. He wondered if curiosity was good enough of a reason to push into such a... sensitive topic of conversation with this girl. Hell he didn't even know her name.

Warren nodded along as the faunus girl spoke, signifying that he was listening to her. "An ambassador, huh? That sounds like a rather important job..." he pursed his lips in contemplation for a moment. He wanted to know more about her father, this ambassador, and how this girl ended up coming to Syne... After all, most students who joined Hunter Academies like these were generally considered adults, short of a few talented exceptions here and there. He didn't want to push that particular route, though, as he felt like it would be getting too personal a little too quickly.

He decided, instead, to ask about her home. "I've always heard stories about Vacuo, mostly about how it's a massive desert and about their own Hunter Acadmy... I'm curious though, what's it actually like, compared to Bellmuse? You definitely seem to carry a bit of your home with you..." Warren gestured at the girl's dress, as it was obviously a foreign garb that he assumed to be from her homeland.

"Bellmuse is meager in comparison to my home. I lived on the outer parts of Vacuo, away from the main metropolis and city. My father commuted to the city every day for his work whilst my mother and I tended the land with the rest of our...tribe, you could say." Anput blinked, surprised at the man's interest in her family and people. Most had written it off as unimportant and unrelatable and so never asked nor cared. It was strange to talk about it, but not unlikable.

"Where I lived was near the outermost wall, where Grimm couldn't get in, but the occasional attack happened. Me and my tribe live in what you and others would call a primitive way. We don't use much or any electricity and we rely heavily upon the land for resources. The one thing we needed to have transported to us was water every so often, but we were well versed in storing and conserving it." Anput looked about the mechanical fixtures and tinkerings of Bellmuse. Pondering on what else to talk about.

"Most of Vacuo is, civilized and industrialized I suppose, but we are the few who have chosen to retain the ancient ways. We are a village of Faunus all family in some way or another, whether in spirit or blood. This," she said gesturing to her odd clothing,"Is the typical garb for females. It keeps us cool in the desert heat. Men usually only wear the skirt, kilt, portion though. Unfortunately the weather here is much milder so I've had to start wearing a wool cloak that my mother weaved for me over this."

She trailed off, biting her lip, ears pinned back slightly. She was not used to talking so much. It was not in her nature, but it felt better to indulge a stranger in this information then to keep it in.

"Uhm, what about you? Do you hail from Bellmuse or elsewhere?" She asked, her eyes curious. She wasn't sure, nor could she base it on clothing or gadgets alone as everyone here dressed differently, though not nearly as different as her.

"Tribe?" Warren asked, tilting his head in curiosity. It wasn't a word that he thought would be used to describe a group of people, at least not in a passing conversation about someone's family. He crossed his arms as he listened to the woman speak, honestly rather curious about it all. To be honest, he found it a little odd that people would willingly choose to live away from the comforts that a city provided. Her family didn't sound simply like farmers, who still used running water and electricity, but people who actually went out of their way to deprive themselves of such, for the sake of tradition? That was a strange thought to him, but to each their own he supposed.

"Hm... I don't think I could live without running water and electricity myself, but I suppose I'm simply used to it." He admitted, as he scratched at his chin. "I'll be honest, I don't think I could see myself in nothing but a kilt either." Warren gave a bit of a laugh, smiling at her to show that he was joking. "Don't think I have too much to show off, you know? Though I have to say, you do pull off the look quite nicely." Warren was doing his best to be friendly, joking and complimenting the girl. She seemed a little uncomfortable, perhaps because she was so far from home? She spoke of it almost wistfully, and complained about where she was now, so... Perhaps he wasn't too far off? They'd be fellow students from then on as well, so it didn't exactly hurt to start building a positive relationship with her. He only hoped that it worked, he was still struggling to understand some of the more subtler nuances of 'making friends' so to speak.

"Me, huh?" Warren asked back, tilting his head back slightly in thought. Now that he thought about it... This was perhaps the first time anyone had really asked him about where he'd come from. "Well..." he said, wondering where to start. "I come from the Kingdom of Vale... Honestly, the geography isn't much different from what it's like here in Bellmuse, just... Bigger. I'd say the way I lived was... pretty much the opposite of yours. I was born and raised in the city, and my parents were rather well off. Owned their own home, and actually had a few servants here and there, mostly maids to handle the cleaning. They'd been Hunters for generations now, and I'm simply following in their footsteps. Was trained for it from a young age too, most of my life that I remember's just been going from one tutor to another." Warren glanced down at the girl, gauging her attitude. "I was originally going to attend Beacon back in Vale, but..." Warren paused for a moment before sighing. "Well, I suppose I came here instead for a fresh start." He shrugged. "I'm... Not sure what else there is to say about it."

She laughed, the sound surprised her, and she covered her mouth in shock. She had actually giggled like some school girl! She couldn't help it though, she had imagined the guy in a kilt and lost it and his comments were quite amusing and light hearted. He seemed genuinely interested in her culture and her people and didn't pull a face or make a strange comment about how she was not natural or strange for having lived away from modern society. It made her relax around the male. She felt more accepted, though she knew he was likely one in a million...

"Oh, I'm sure you could pull off a kilt just fine." She said playfully. "If my uncle, who is larger than even the fattest cow, can do it then I'm sure you can." Her uncle was rather rotund, but he was good natured and always ready to dish out a joke or two to lighten the mood.

She outwardly ignored the compliment that he had given her, but inwardly she reveled in it. He thought her ensemble was nice. Most just said it was exposing or impractical. A smile played on her lips as he continued through his own life story. She wondered what and where Vale was. She had heard rumor of it, stories in passing, but knew little else of the city.

"It sounds like you had a good life. And there is little else to say about a life that has been well lived." She wondered if his life was actually all smiles and sunshine, but she figured if he wanted to correct her he could.

"Oh by the way... My name is Anput." She interjected, just recalling that introductions were forgone for conversation. Perhaps it was a good sign that they could hold a conversation without even knowing the others name...

Warren looked a little taken aback for a moment as Anput began to laugh, before he quickly broke into a smile and laughed a little along with her. Well, it looked like his attempt at making friends was working, as the two of them seemed to be getting along rather decently, and he hadn't been thrown out the window like he had first guessed might happen. Unless she was faking the laugh... He really hoped she wasn't faking it.

"Well thank you for the vote of confidence, but I'm honestly not too sure how comfortable I'd be wearing just that." Warren said, chuckling as he scratched at the back of his head. "I'm sure your uncle may be as big as a cow, but how do I know he isn't as strong as an ox either?"

He tilts his head upwards in thought as he thinks on the girls next words. "Hm... Yea, I suppose I've had a good life. I mean, everyone has their own hardships that they have to go through, but... I really don't have much to really complain about." Warren looks back at the girl, Anput as she introduces herself as now, and gives her a smile.

"You sound like you've lived a good life as well, if you really miss it as much as you sound like you do." He offers her a hand. "My name's Warren. It's a pleasure to meet you, Anput."

She took his hand with a warm smile, her eyes alight with genuine warmth. Warren seemed like a genuine and good souled human. She made a mental note to herself to seek him out in the future and become friends and allies. He was someone she would want on her side in a fight. She squeezed his hand tightly, as she would do when greeting someone in her tribe, and moved her hand up and down once before letting go. It symbolized a budding friendship and future well wishes for the other. A well met gesture. He probably wouldn't understand but it was thought that counted.

Anput hummed a non committal response at his mention of having lived a good life. She had indeed lived a fortuitous life with her family, surrounded by loved ones and people who saw her as equal. It was only when she came here that she had experience bumps in the road. Her eyes wondering to the window and watching as the landscape began to slow outside the window. The ground beneath them shook slightly and with a slight rumble she felt the ship begin its descent into Syne Academy. The time here was drawing to a close.
"It was a pleasure to meet you as well Warren, but I think our time here is drawing to a close..." Her voice dropped off a bit. She was indeed saddened. What if she never got to meet the friendly human again? He could be attacked and killed by a Grim tomorrow and then she'd be back to square one in the friend department....

Anput was unlike most faunus that he had met so far, Warren thought to himself. While faunus Hunters were on the rare side of things as far as demographics went, there were still a few that Warren had had the.. privilege of meeting here at Syne. While Anput was confident and sure of herself, she did it in a way that wasn't very aggressive like the majority of the faunus he'd met at the Academy. Most of them seemed as if they had something to try and prove to everyone they met, and took everything as a challenge, which admittedly was much like Warren in a way, but they went about it in an aggressive fashion almost. Others were simply just hostile, and a few more were simply timid. Very many of them seemed to stand at one of two extremes, with very few in the middle.

Warren looked out the window to see the airship already beginning to near Syne and nods back in return at Anput. "The pleasure was all mine. Feel free to drop by and say 'hi' to me if you see me in the hallway or just in passing, we'll be classmates from now on after all." He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a notebook and pen, scribbling something on a page before tearing it out and folding it, handing it out towards Anput. "If you want to find me again for whatever reason, there's my room number and the number for my scroll." Returning his hands into his pocket he moves to walk off, giving her a wave goodbye.. "Well, I'd better get moving, gotta grab a few of my bags I left in storage. See you around."

Anput accepted the paper with a smile, her ears twitched forward in interest. Warren seemed like a genuine person and not too full of himself as some others had been when she had first gotten here. She waved to him heading off to gather her own things from where she had left them. She stopped a bit ways off turning, "Thanks for everything Warren. I hope we meet again soon." Her eyes danced with genuine delight. She had enjoyed their brief conversation, no matter how rocky it had started out. Her feet made naught a sound, courtesy of her lack of shoes and the black wraps that muffled sound, as she walked across the metal observation deck and into the halls of the ship to find her stuff and disembark.