Who Is Bench II: The Sitting

"I'm handling it... mostly fine, though you seem to be having troubles? " Viola responds with a cheeky smile and a slight blush.

Placing Fiato back in its normal place, she moves to a sitting position and looks at Leo, waiting for an answer.

"Hmm... Mostly... worried..." He smiled under his helmet at her. "... I'm not... exactly built for gentle... and... well..." He looked away, and cleared his throat again.

This time, he didn't look back immediately, but he did after a few moments.

"... So... that was... a thing..." He repeated himself from last night, biting his lip. "... You're... okay?"

"A little sore, but otherwise fine. Why? What has you so worried?" Viola responds before standing all the way up and heading over to the bench Leo was sitting on earlier.

"Coming?" she quickly says with amusement evident in her voice.

"... Of course," Leonius said, sitting down and leaving room for her next to him. "... It is difficult to say... what has me worried..." She had been the first young woman with whom he had been intimate who did not know him as Dominus of a great villa. She was so small, and seemingly frail while he had difficulty being gentle with his size and strength. But he didn't want to say these things, so he just sighed. "... Mostly it is... concern for you... But a little bit... anxiety about what happens... from here."

He glanced at her, and shrugged, smiling.

"... Though... I am glad that you... are fine..."

"I'm fine and I don't regret anything... so no real problems there. Explain your worries about the future and maybe we can work through them?" Viola replies as she sits down next to Leo.

With Viola sitting next to him, he had a bit of trouble turning his head to look down at her, but he managed it. "... Well part of it... had been worrying about your potential regrets... so that solves that one." The titan chuckled, sighing. "... But the question of... where we go from here... Or rather..."

He frowned, trying to work out how to phrase things. He found it very odd when the tactical computer, taking into account his mental state as he had "trained it" started pushing him to be assertive and forward. As he did in battle, he let it reinforce his will.

"... Do you want to... perhaps... be together... in the future?"

"I hadn't quite decided on that part. I was thinking of just letting things go where they do... either we get along or we don't, only way to know is to continue forward. You know?" Viola replies, blushing slightly at his question before looking up in to the sky.

Leonius nodded, smirking. "Not a yes... not a no... An answer I can... respect and accept..." He reached over, gently holding her chin while he leaned and looked at her face. "... And I will say again... you are immensely cute... when you are blushing..."

"I'll take your word for it... but for now maybe we should talk about other things... like our new... teams. Viola says, still struggling with accepting that she now has a team to deal with on top of everything else.

I wish I had tried to ask Leo to be my partner before... maybe we'd be on the same team now if I had. Damnit.

Leo sighed, shrugging. "I haven't gone over the details... of my team..." He looked at her sadly and shook his head. "Though I would have loved to have you... as a forward spotter... calling targets for the Malleus Caeli..."

Ah man I am so bored. It didn't help that I was late for initiation, Mao thought as he walked around campus looking for something to do. Suddenly, in front of him, he saw a a man in a full suit of armor talking to the girl who had kicked him earlier. Maybe...

Mao, laughing cynically in his head, snuck up behind Leo with a marker in his hand.

Trudging into the area slowly, a very tired Melissa looks for a place to rest. Seeing the bench, she approaches it, despite it being occupied already. Due to the lack of space, she merely lays her head on a tiny corner and lies on the ground, not even noticing who was sitting on the bench.

"Hey... What's up..." She mumbles in a barely audible voice, more for the purpose of staying awake than wanting to make conversation.

Leonius was in full armor. His early warning sensors were largely offline, but he still had motion sensors. He still had ways to see behind him. And while Melissa was approaching and he wanted to say hi, he turned, looking behind him at the approaching classmate as he switched on a voice modulator.

"Can I help you?" A daemonic growl, amplified by his suit, issued from Leonius, as his visor flared with a cold blue light. He noticed Kirkka far too late, but he was tempted to keep up the act and trust in the Groundskeeper not to flip out on him.

It was Melissa suddenly laying her head near him that made Leo drop the act, looking down at her with concern.

"... Little one, I do not think... that is a very comfortable position..."

"Well... that's our own fault anyway, but it'll all work out in the end, I'm sure." Viola says before noticing one of the guys from class walking up behind Leo... with a marker?

Well... this will be interesting... wonder if Leo will get mad at me for not saying anything

Noticing Mel laying down and saying something that Viola didn't quite catch, she says "Mel? What the hell happened to you... it looks like you went a few rounds with an Ursa!"

"Better... Than.... Floor..." Melissa said slowly, having to carefully speak out the words resulting in her words being slurred.

"Desks... Not good for sleeping on..." She continued, falling asleep part way through for a moment but quickly jerking awake.

Hearing someone else talking to her, but still not even recognising the voices, she replied, "Slept very late... No one told me we had class, especially not morning classes... Or that the teacher shouts at you if you sleep in class.." She said, making an effort to speak a bit louder and clearer, though it drained more of her little remaining energy.

Mao, surprised by the demonic voice, dropped his marker to the ground. Laughing nervously, Mao answered, "I was uh...admiring your beautiful armor. Yes, that's it. What...beautiful armor you have!" He started to slowly back away, unaware of the girl laying on the ground. Oh god I am so dead., Mao thought as a single drop of sweat descended the side of his face.

Viola notices the guy with the marker freak out and turns to Leo to say "Hah... just leave him alone, I'll let you break him later. We should take care of Mel... this is for sure not the best place to leave her. Maybe you could carry her to the infirmary?"

Kirkka mutters under her breath in regards to Mao's... questionable excuse. "He probably should have been running already. Ah, well." She raises her voice to more easily audible ranges as she reaches the group of now four people. "Leonius! How are you doing? I see you've tested out the new benches. What do you think? Are they sufficient? We could have gotten the newest model, but they were too expensive and the first year field trip fund was--" She halts her speech midway, realizing her blunder. Well, that was dumb. "So! How is it?"

Leo sighed as he stood, looking at Viola, then the impudent student who dropped the marker, then Kirkka, then the impudent student again, before looking down at Melissa.

Then he looked back up at the student. "Modus: Vindicta."

As his cannons spread into his wings, he slowly raised two fingers as his wards formed around the impudent student's legs and yanked him off his feet, suspending him upside down with his face near Leo's visor level. Had Kirkka not been present, the student would have been suspended by the throat.

"Pray that nobody... brings me candy... and a baseball bat..." Leo's visor remained locked on the student, even as he addressed Kirkka. "The benches are quite... nice... But..." He tilted his head, looking at Kirkka. "... That such an expense... was inflicted... is troubling. Less so... than... her..." Then he knelt down to Melissa, leaving the impudent student suspended as he examined the sleeping girl. "... This may just be sleep deprivation... Melissa, how long... has it been since you... slept? ... I hope it is not... a side effect of her medications..."

"Better idea... Got any sugar? Candy? Coffee?" Melissa said, perking up slightly at the thought of any of those delicacies that she was rarely allowed to have (for some strange reason she could never figure out, people tried to keep those things away from her!)

Pausing for a moment in response to Leo's question, she tried to remember, "...I didn't sleep last night."

Glancing at the kid suspended nearby for a moment, Viola completely ignores everything the janitor said and turns to Mel saying "Uhmm... I usually have some kind of chocolate on me at all times but do you really think that's the best idea? Sleep would probably be much better for you..."

Melissa's eyes lit up at the prospect of such a treat, and if she had energy she probably would've jumped up, "Yes! Can't sleep, more class soon. Teacher doesn't approve of sleeping in class."

Kirkka watches Mao as he is being held by his ankles, suspended in air. "So... you should definitely put him down. On his feet. Surely you can take a simple joke now..." Her tone of voice was serious, but not forced or angry. She appeared to be looking out of Mao more than trying to prevent an.. incident.

Mao's eyes glistened at the prospect of not having his head 8 feet off the ground. "Yes, preferably not dro-". Mao paused. I better not give him any ideas. He continued, "Yes, feet on ground, please." Mao's face started to feel a little warm. I think I'm starting to get dizzy...," he thought as he stared at himself being reflected off Leo's armor.

"... Feet first... that's... going to be a bit difficult..." Rising, he stroked his chin, or rather the armor over it. "... Though I suppose..." He leaned in, looking at the fear in Mao's eyes and chuckling, "... if anyone would know about vandalism being a joke... meriting a merciful response... it would be you, Miss Scarlet... Would softly lowering him head first... to prevent injury... be acceptable?"

He did, however, regard Melissa a moment.

"... You did not sleep... yesterday either... Are you sure this... is wise?"

"Probably not... Didn't know we had class though..." Melissa replied briefly, having gone back to mumbling lethargically.