The hot sun streaming through the window felt wonderful against her back, and the steady droning of Professor Calvert was making it increasingly difficult to keep her eyes open.
Her head listed slowly to the side before she blinked sluggishly and righted herself, staring blankly at the untouched sheet of notebook paper and pen on her desk.
Whoops, she thought sleepily, I'll have to get the notes from Arch… It had been happening a lot lately, Rain falling asleep in class, but her partner had been there to keep her caught up, though his disappointed face had become an almost permanent expression.
Arch valued a good education and had a knack for almost anything academic, a skill he was trying, and failing, to impose on her. She really couldn't care less about schoolwork unless it directly affected her soul collecting, and anything she missed that was actually important would be relayed to her through Arch and his bottomless patience.
Her view was that instead of dumbly sitting in a musty, old classroom listening to the ramblings of an ancient teacher, she should be out defeating kishin and saving lives. She could say with some level of certainty that, in real life, she wouldn't use half the things they were taught. It made perfect sense to completely disregard the classes and spend the day soul collecting, and she had begged Arch more than once to skip with her.
He never did, telling her that school was important, that they needed to learn this stuff, telling her to 'quit being silly and walk with me' as they toiled up the stairs of DWMA. So far, they both had a perfect attendance record, since she could never bring herself to leave him behind. Instead, they went hunting after their schedules ended, often arriving back to their apartment late at night, cue her dozing off in class. Though it wasn't like she had paid attention before their midnight ventures, at least now they were useful spots for snoozing.
A sharp poke in the ribs caused her to jump with a start, sending her pen skittering noisily to the floor. She glared pointedly at the disturbance, a tall, red-haired girl with a carefully painted smirk across her face, as she retracted a perfectly manicured finger from her side.
"Class is over, Rain," she mocked, as Rain rolled her eyes, bending down to grab the pen from where it had fallen under the desk. "I know, Ivet, you didn't have to poke me," she grumbled, glancing around at the rows of empty seats and the noticeably absent professor. Leaning over Rain's lap, Ivet frowned disapprovingly at the blank notebook paper, "You've been snoozing again," she accused.
Rain stood, stuffing the paper and pen into her already overflowing messenger bag, "So what? I'm not going to actually use any of this information…" she paused, "besides, Arch will fill me in." The two girls started along the aisle, heading out the classroom door and into the hallway's turmoil of chattering students.
Ivet sighed dramatically, hitching her own bag higher on her shoulder and sidestepping a knot of giggling classmates, "You can't rely on Arch for everything, you should start keeping up with your classes. Stop hunting so late and get some sleep." She glanced at Rain critically, "Heaven knows you need it."
Rain gave her a wry expression, "I'll think about it. Anyway, how's your new art project going? Have you decided who to paint yet?" Ivet was a fairly well known artist around school, specializing in detailed portraits and facial expressions, a hobby that became public after she won an art contest in California. She was currently searching for a poser for her next painting, and was looking around school for 'someone with an interesting face.' "Weeeell," Ivet began, "I have a few ideas… what do you think about Sarah Forster? Or maybe Jeremy Shipton, I really like his cheekbones... oh, but Carson Figel has the most lovely eyes…"
The red head continued her rant, with Rain interjecting her opinion now and then, until they both exited the school. Some students had one or two more classes before they were released, but Rain and Ivet both took early lessons and were finished at around 3:00. This allowed more time for Rain to collect souls, and agreed with Ivet's often detailed and time-consuming art sessions, though they both concurred to missing late mornings and brunch.
The light from the sun was dim and a sheet of grey clouds stretched across the sky, already darkening menacingly. Rain frowned, "Looks like a storm," she observed, subconsciously worrying at her bottom lip with teeth straightened by three years of orthodontics work, "Guess I'll be getting that extra sleep." The other girl grinned, patting her arm with fake sympathy, "Guess so."
They began their trek down the steps of the school, plodding along at a steady pace - both had realized rather quickly that racing down the hard, concrete steps could only end in disaster. It had taken just one trip to the hospital before the lesson was learned.
"And try and give Arch some slack, will you?" Ivet nagged, rolling her eyes, "Poor thing has to put up with you all the time." It was true, they both attended DWMA, had most of the same classes, and shared an apartment three blocks from the school. Ivet liked to tease that they were 'practically married!' but, even with so much proximity, they got along amazingly well together. She had theorized, at first, that it was the bond between meister and weapon that was keeping them from fighting or having personal space issues, but after meeting Ant and Pawn, partners that attended the same school, she knew that wasn't the case. She had the sneaking suspicion that their lack of problems stemmed from Arch's constant even-tempered approach to all situations and avoid-conflict-at-all-costs mentality.
She smirked, "Arch is exceedingly lucky to be graced with my excellent company, it is his solitary enjoyment each and every day." Ivet slowed, eyes clouded and seeing something far away, "No, Rain," she said quietly, "I mean it." Rain halted beside her friend, instantly serious, placing both hands gently on the red-head's shoulders, "I know, Ivet, I know," a heavy weight attached to the words that made Ivet look up, face clearing.
Rain removed her hands , and suddenly lightened the mood, clearing away the shroud that had descended over the two, "We're going to watch movies all night and eat popcorn, I swear, that's all we'll do. No hunting, no homework, movie marathon," a sincerity rung in her words that had Ivet smiling. "Hey!" Rain started, both girls continuing down the stairs, "You could come over, too, I've got a stash of twizzlers and rolos that we could raid." Ivet grinned good-naturedly but shook her head, "Nah, I've got some serious painting to do tonight. You guys hang out, have fun, don't get carried away." "Yeah, yeah," Rain grumbled, "I'll let you know."
Soon they had reached the bottom of the steps, all the grand magnificence of Death Weapon Meister Academy looming over them. Intimidating, she had thought upon first arriving at the school, though that had soon changed to an ugh, schooool whenever the red spires and simplistic skulls entered her view.
Ivet turned, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and squeezing quickly before pulling away, "Alright, see you tomorrow. Tell Arch I said 'hi'." "Yeah," Rain replied, "I will," before the red-head was off, lightly striding down the sidewalk and off to her empty apartment and tubes of paint. Rain turned away from the girl's retreating form and glanced around the small paved area for Arch. Usually her partner arrived before her and Ivet, though she had no clue as to how he got down the steps so quickly. Spotting his familiar form standing beside a lamp post, she made her way over.