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After his success at the Fire Cavern, Nero headed off. A solitary man with only one thing currently filling his mind; power. His sights were now set on a nearby place, and there it was before him; the renowned training facility of Balamb Garden. It was widely known for its elite mercenary force; SeeD. One thing that allowed these warriors to be so successful was their use of Guardian Forces. He didn’t want to enlist, pay some kids to fight, or teach them. He wasn’t here for any of that, the Guardian Forces were the only reason why Nero was here. It didn’t matter to him if he had to do this forcefully. The first plan was negotiation, but he already had plans if that happened not to work.
Plan A: Wander in, find someone with authority, negotiate himself a Guardian Force. Particularly one that he found quite interesting – a dark demon by the name Diablos. It seemed like the sort of Summon that would suit him. The plan didn’t really go any further than that. Nero didn’t really know what he was going to say. Not that it mattered; he didn’t expect them to just give up their strength. That was why he had a back-up plan.
Plan B: Break in, fighting off any stupid students that got in his way, and take what he wants by force. If he was to get an audience with someone of authority here and rejected, they would make a good hostage. If not, his newly attained Bomb would make a good amount of chaos and help to blast his way through the school until someone important showed up to stop him.
Most of the people here were just students; Nero wasn’t concerned about them, they were here to learn how to fight, obviously they couldn’t be that good. It was only the SeeD members that he would have to be careful of. Presumably, being mercenaries, the majority of them would be out on missions but he couldn’t help but think there would be a few here to make his life harder. Well, it was time to put his plans into action. It all seemed easy as he thought of it but he knew, when it came down to it, this was going to be harder than it sounds. He paced over to the main entrance and marched through the large gates and continued on until he came to a stop at a security checkpoint. A student walked past by presenting his ID but, obviously, Nero didn’t have any ID to show them.
“I wanna see whoever runs this place…”
Nero stated to the person on the other side of the glass, inside the ‘reception’ box. His usual self; a lack of enthusiasm, politeness and without self introduction. His face was covered by his hood as always, and he just stood looking at the receptionist with his arms folded. He began tapping his foot too, just as a sign of his impatience…
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Post by Lady Summoner Adiona Duer on Sept 29, 2009 17:08:59 GMT
Admin Post/Rinoa Post
The receptionist behind the glass nervously shuffled her feet as you demanded to see someone in charge, curling her hair behind her small ears she slowly began to stammer something about not being able to get in without a pass or prior appointment. Quite annoying as a matter of fact and a waste of time, it was almost getting to the point where you may have to just break through to see someone. That was until you heard some footsteps behind you, upon turning around you would see a young girl dressed mostly in blue with shoulder length black hair. Smiling she pushed her way to you linking her arm with yours, turning to the receptionist she flashed some sort of card to her before moving forward though the barrier with you in tow.
"Don't worry about it he is with me"
With a quick wink this young girl dragged you through the barrier and straight into Balamb Garden, quite a strange thing to do...you could have been anyone. Still with her arm linked with yours until you were out of sight she began to hum a tune looking around the front entrance. As you both walked you would soon see the full extent of Balamb Garden's size, circular and with long corridors leading up to different area each with their own colour. Without warning the young girl dropped your arm and stood in front of you, placing a hand on your chest to stop your moving any further a half serious look plastered across her face.
"Now lookie here I probably shouldn't have done that but I need to see the Headmaster here too and it might be easier if we both demand to see him together. Also I know the headmaster via writing him already...my name is Rinoa by the way. So what business do you have here at Balamb Garden."
Patience is a virtue… One that Nero lacked. His foot tapping had stopped as he was about to just march on in without the receptionist’s permission anyway. But something distracted him, only for a second mind you, but he twisted his body a little as he looked over his shoulder to see a young girl approaching. He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on at first, was he supposed to know her? She linked his arm and led him inside. Although he was uncomfortable with it, he went with it. It wasn’t exactly what he had in mind, but after all, it got him inside. So, he walked beside her, still unsure as to why she helped him, until she stopped him. And damn, she liked to talk. Nero thought about just pushing her aside and carrying on as she rambled. In fact, it wasn’t until she said that she knew headmaster that he changed his mind. That would help his chances. The only downside was that he would have to put up with the girl…
“Name’s Nero.”
He said bluntly. Obviously, that hadn’t answered her question. But with the pause between that and his next dialogue, she might not of known that he would indeed reply. It was just a little late as he was a little reluctant to tell her anything. He decided that it didn’t really matter if she knew what he was doing or not, Nero planned on taking down anyone that got in his way, even if it was the girl that helped him in.
“I wanna see him about Guardian Forces. To put it plainly; I want one. But I’m not signing up to be one of his stupid students.
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Post by Lady Summoner Adiona Duer on Sept 30, 2009 16:52:23 GMT
Admin/Rinoa Post
Quickly and sharply Rinoa crossed her arms across her chest a stern look on her face, you only noticed a dog beside her as she began to tap her foot furiously against the parquet floor. The dog quite furry and large began to growl under its breath as its eyes locked onto you. Other Balamb Garden students began to walk past you and Rinoa quietly looking as they passed, slightly glaring Rinoa stuck her tongue out at them before turning her attention back to you. This was getting beyond a joke now, you had gotten inside Balamb Garden thanks to Rinoa but she seemed the type to just cling and not let anyone get their expect her own. Unfolding her arms the young girl patted the dog on its head, you could safely assume the dog was her pet perhaps even her only friend if you more presumptuous.
"I will have you know Nero one of the best SeeD recruits is a student here, this Garden has done many great things for different continents and Gaia in general."
Obviously flustered and annoyed Rinoa turned her back to you to face the stairs leading up to an elevator, in turn so did the dog to match her movements.
"It can't hurt to speak to Headmaster Cid but he usually only sees people who have appointments or if it is urgent business....like my situation was..and kind of still is. Also if you walk around here without an ID card you are likely to just get thrown out so what is the harm in just applying to get what you want."
Upon turning around Rinoa almost bumped into a male student wearing a long white coat, her face turned from serious to shocked. Trying to gather herself Rinoa straightened out her long blue woollen coat and black shorts while trying to keep her eyes on this student. This student looked to her only briefly before averting his eyes to you, if looks could kill you would have been dead on the spot. Rinoa sheepishly looked to you and then back to the student.
What’s the harm in applying to get what you want…? Well, there’s no harm in it, it just takes longer. Nero usually kept to the quickest and most direct approach to most things. He couldn’t be bothered with all these formalities, booking an ‘appointment’ would be such a waste of time. Rinoa seemed to know quite a lot about this place, well, she couldn’t seem to stop talking about it. But, hopefully, Nero could get some useful information out of her… As long as her answers didn’t drag on too much. Nero practically switched off towards the end of her little speech; he didn’t really get on well with talkative people, their voices just seemed to grate after a while.
“… Where can I find this Headmaster?”
Nero responded, simply shrugging off everything Rinoa had just told him. He truly wasn’t bothered what she thought or what the consequences of his actions may be. As far as he was concerned, it made no difference to her, and had nothing to do with her. Rinoa’s opinion meant nothing to him.
And that was when the student in white made an appearance. Seriously though, what was his problem? With a sigh, Nero brought his arms up and folded them over his chest as he glanced at the boy before him. He simply glared back at him with a look of disdain, not that he would have known this of course, since Nero’s over-sized hood shadowed his face almost entirely.
“Shouldn’t you be dribbling over a desk trying to learn to count somewhere, kid…?”
Nero asked this newly arriving Seifer guy in a patronizing tone, obviously rhetorically. He didn’t wait for a reply from the student and turned his attention straight back to Rinoa instead.
“This is a waste of time, tell me what I need to know so I can get going…”
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Post by Lady Summoner Adiona Duer on Oct 1, 2009 16:50:28 GMT
Admin/Rinoa Post
Flicking aside a longer strand of his blonde hair Seifer crossed his arms over his chest while smirking and chuckling at your remarks, appearing behind him were another male and female student. Both didn't say anything but looked just as mean and sarcastic, the female stood to his right and the male to his left. The female student placed a hand on her hip pointing to you and the male burly and large in physique cracked his knuckles. Rinoa through this awkward silence gently kicked the ground with her feet keeping her head lowered and her eyes on the floor, it was clear Rinoa was not that comfortable with confrontation. Seifer's eyes briefly looked over to Rinoa you could almost sense the awkward silence was between the two of them and not your appearance here, snapping his eyes back to his trademark smirk found its way back onto his face.
"Ha you have no idea who I am do you? Name's Seifer but I'm the head of the disciplinary committee around here...and you punk have just been busted. You obviously aren't even a student here so shouldn't have even been let in, I think it's time I showed you a lesson."
Seifer began to lift his arms slightly ready to battle the two students behind him took a step back to give Seifer some room, it was then you noticed his weapon...a gunblade. Without warning Rinoa almost leapt forward in between the two of you facing Seifer with her arms out stretched, her pet dog also following her movements keeping close to her side. Just like Seifer she was also armed with her own weapon something you had failed to notice, then again Rinoa didn't seem like the type to get involved in any sort of conflict
"Just leave it Seifer let Headmaster Cid deal with him....he is here to see him anyway even if it is unannounced."
"Just walk away Rinoa...you were the one who let him in here in the first place."
Brought down Rinoa lowered her arms slowly before moving to the side with Angelo kicking her feet against the floor again with her head lowered. Seifer had already drawn his gunblade ready to strike you down, whether or not you wanted to this young student was ready to take you down for stepping into Balamb Garden without authority.
{RP fight Seifer, you may not control him or Rinoa. Rewards will be given for quality.}
The head of the ‘Disciplinary Committee’, what a joke. Nero almost laughed as he imagined how pathetic that would be. What does he do? Threaten kids with that bizarre sword of his for chewing gum. He had no authority really, especially not over people like Nero – people who just turned up in Garden, he doubted whether the students would even listen to him. It was blatantly obvious that Nero wasn’t a student here, he wasn’t the right age and his attire made him stick out dreadfully; all black with a large trench coat. It was strange that Seifer hadn’t said anything sooner if he thought himself and his ‘job’ so seriously.
With him drawing his weapon and the other students backing away, it was clear that Seifer was starting something. What was going through his mind at the time was beyond Nero, did he really think that his toy gun would stand up to the huge sword on Nero’s back…? As Rinoa dived in between them, his hand reached up over his shoulder so that he could grasp the handle of that very sword. He refrained from drawing it straight away, but was prepared to at any second. In fact, Nero was thinking about telling her to move himself, but Seifer beat him to it. Though seemingly reluctant, she moved aside leaving room for the two.
“You wanna fight me, huh? You’ve got spirit, kid, I’ll give you credit for that. But seriously, you don’t think you’ve actually got a chance of winning, do you?”
Nero asked with a clear cocky tone. It was apparent that he thought he had won already. After all, Nero was a highly trained and Mako-enhanced member of SOLDIER. A student didn’t really match up with his credentials. Never the less, Nero would give the teen what he so desperately desired. It was then that he slowly pulled his weapon up over his shoulder and allowed the heavy blade to drop so that the tip hit the floor with a thud. It remained there, at his right side, as Nero lifted off-hand up to his head. He slid his hand back across to slide his hood off the back of his head. It dropped onto his back revealing his true appearance; his eyes glowed an unnatural light blue and his white hair reflected light back to give it a sleek shine.
“You sure you wanna do this…? I’ll give you one chance to back down…”
He stated clearly, not even being sarcastic this time. Nero then lifted his sword up into a more efficient fighting position, both hands wrapped around the handle and holding it up in front of him. With the size of it, the blade wasn’t too far from his opponent, it would only take a small lunge forward to be within reach of striking Seifer. But, Nero didn’t do this. He genuinely did give Seifer the chance to back down… or the chance for the first strike…
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Post by Lady Summoner Adiona Duer on Oct 2, 2009 16:19:53 GMT
Admin/Rinoa Post
His eyes were focused entirely on you nothing around you seemed to matter, his cheering section stood behind him almost posing and cheering for him to beat you down. Rinoa stood silent next to her dog glancing up every so often to see what was happening, now in her mind she knew she had done the wrong thing in letting you inside Balamb Garden. It was too late now for any regrets now what was done had been done, Seifer of course seemed to revel in this as he brought his gunblade above his head ready to strike you.
"Seifer enough! Get back to your duties now and I don't want to hear any back talk."
Stood on the stairs to the elevator was a woman in an orange dress with blonde hair tied at the top of her head, clinging to her waist was a whip her weapon of choice. Her face said it all...she was not amused by this little fight, Rinoa's head sharply turned to her as did Seifer's but instead of saying something smart which appeared to be his way of doing things, he simply lowered his gunblade and walked off with his comrades. A sigh of relief escaped Rinoa's lips along with a brief smile.
"Thank you for that..."
"I think you both need to come up to the headmaster's office now.....I think you both have some explaining to."
Still not amused of satisfied by this whole incident the older woman walked back up the stairs into the elevator holding it open for the both of you, Rinoa shuffled herself inside along with her pet dog refusing to look at you anymore. In her rashness and boldness had she sealed Balamb Garden's doom by letting you in? Were your intentions to destroy Garden? These were answers Rinoa could not know. A bing sounded the opening of the doors revealing the headmaster's office, straight ahead of you sat at his desk looking through some paperwork was Headmaster Cid.
Well, the kid really wanted to fight, perhaps brave, but there’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity. As Seifer lifted the weapon up to attack, Nero’s foot twitched slightly as he was about to move. It was unclear as to whether he was about to evade or counter, but it didn’t matter, both of the supposed combatants stopped at once;
"Seifer enough! Get back to your duties now and I don't want to hear any back talk."
With a quick glance over at the woman, Nero came to the conclusion that this woman was some sort of teacher here. Someone with real authority, unlike the ‘Disciplinary Committee’. Following Seifer’s reaction of lowering his blade, Nero pulled his large sword over his head and put it back to its usual resting place: on his back.
‘Headmaster’s Office’? Now he was getting somewhere. And without bloodshed… so far. It only made sense to follow this teacher up to meet the Headmaster, presumably the one in charge of this establishment. Stepping into the lift, Nero couldn’t help but notice that there was something up with Rinoa; he couldn’t tell exactly what was up with her, but her sight never meeting his, Nero could safely assume that it was something to do with him. Though, he didn’t say anything, he often got reactions like this from strangers, he was used to it by now. His attention turned to the other female in the elevator. Her weapon of choice was… unique. Nero had never fought or seen anyone who used a whip as a weapon. It had both advantages and disadvantages; though it would have good range and be hard to defend against, the damage sustained from it wouldn’t be as severe as a sword, especially not one like Nero’s. It would be interesting to see how she fought in combat.
Suddenly, Nero’s thoughts were interrupted with a ping as the lift doors slid open. Nero stepped out of the lift after the others, taking the back of the group at first, but with the man behind the desk asking who he was, Nero felt the need to slip to the front. He studied this Headmaster for a second before answering; Nero assumed that the Headmaster of a mercenary training facility would be a proud fighter himself, yet he didn’t appear much like the warrior sort. Maybe he was wrong, but Nero thought of himself as a good judge of character.
“My name’s Nero.”
He stated simply in response to the man’s question, even if the question was intended to be directed towards Rinoa.
“I’m here to speak to you about your Guardian Forces, their power interests me…”
Nero left it at that, for now. He could have gone into more detail, but it didn’t appear necessary just yet. He would prefer to see the Headmaster’s initial reaction before deciding how to proceed. He didn’t even seem to care that he had pushed his reason to be here before Rinoa’s. Nero was first to state his reasons, she could wait her turn. That’s how he saw it anyway…
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Post by Lady Summoner Adiona Duer on Oct 10, 2009 18:26:10 GMT
Admin/Rinoa Post
"I see....Rinoa and Quistis would you please leave us for a moment."
Turning around both with frowns on their faces the women left the office via the elevator, Headmaster Cid stood up from his desk and walked towards one of the windows. The sun shone brightly through the glass as the headmaster peered through looking out onto the courtyard of his garden.
"Nero your presence here will upset the balance of my school and that is something I do not take lightly, the guardian forces are ones which are not confined to Gardens. They choose the ones which they help they do have free will unlike some. You may have this and I ask that you never return to Balamb Garden, just by your manner and body language you lack the discipline needed for SeeD. Good day and take care."
Turning slowly back around Cid walked to his desk and pulled out a sheet of paper, sliding it across the desk to you he sat down. The headmaster only glanced to you for a moment before pulling his work back to him, it was clear now he wanted to you leave and not a moment too soon for you. With the mood unsettled your eyes would glance to the paper, the words Guardian Forces in bold caught your eye as did a list of locations. Upon closer inspection you would see that it was a list of all the GF's in Gaia along with their locations, but why would Headmaster Cid give you this? Didn't you have to be a SeeD to obtain them? Maybe there was someone around the Garden who cold help but then again Cid did say to vacant the premises. There was something slightly unnerving with this meeting, your question wasn't exactly answered but then again what you held in your hand was just as powerful as obtaining the GF's themselves. This would be quite valuable on the black market. As the elevator doors opened Rinoa stood there with her arms loosely crossed over her chest, waiting til the doors closed Rinoa then leapt in front of you.
"Hey what did Cid want to see you alone for?"
{Obtained List of GF's and their locations} {Now it is your choice whether you wish to leave Garden and attempt to find the GF's on your own or find out more information first. Your reward for the previous post will be given at the end of this thread along with any others ready to update your bio with.}
Nero remained still as Headmaster Cid made his speech, allowing his eyes to wander around the room, only half listening to what the Headmaster had to say. It was only when the paper was given to him that he began to pay his full attention. Shocked by what was on it, Nero’s eyes lit up. Metaphorically of course, his eyes already glowed, they couldn’t get any brighter. It wasn’t surprising that he was stunned by what he saw though; Nero was here for permission to obtain a Guardian Force, but instead, he obtained the locations of them all – this would be very helpful.
“… Thanks.”
He said, with manners for once, a rarity with Nero. As he said this, he folded the paper in half twice before sliding it into a pocket on the inside of his tench coat. After looking at the sheet though, his eyes were drawn to one of the Guardian Forces in particular, the one he was here for: Diabolos. It had a rather strange location unlike the others: ‘inside the Magic Lamp’. Nero could only assume that this ‘Magic Lamp’ was the black one sitting on Cid’s desk. Why else would he have a lamp sat on his desk? Logic told him that it was the one he was after. So, without even the slightest hesitation, Nero just reached out and grabbed it.
“I’ll be needing this… Perhaps I’ll have Rinoa bring it back for you when I’m done with it.”
Nero stated as he turned around to head for the elevator. He walked across the room casually, with the lamp in hand, loosely swinging by the handle in his fingers. As he stepped into the elevator, he glanced at Rinoa before turning his head as the lift doors began to close and gave the Headmaster a smug grin as they did. Nero’s attention then was drawn back to the girl as she asked him about the meeting…
“Nothing that concerns you.”
Was the blunt response he gave Rinoa, in reply to her question.
“I don’t need a kid asking me questions, I need answers. If you want to know what’s going on, you’ll provide me with useful information. Otherwise, get lost.”
Nero stated, getting his point across quite effectively, in his opinion. He then pulled up the ‘Magic Lamp’ and held it up by the base to show Rinoa what he had got.
“Now, can you tell me how to use this?”
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