Coming back to the grand staircase is different somehow. As if he is wearing a suit of armor instead of a simple headband. It isn't much, but it's enough for Soul. Armed with his new mantra of "calm, cool, collected", he grabs hold of his suitcase and begins the climb. The first forty stairs aren't necessarily easy with the added weight of the suitcase, but they're manageable. Step sixty is where he begins to regret bringing even the little bit he had decided to bring from home. Once he reaches step… whatever, he's lost count, he notices there are others like him also making their way up to Shibusen.
They, too, are panting and sweating profusely, however their gazes are all set on the school. They came here for a purpose, and no amount of stairs are going to deter them. Soul can feel his second wind coming along after seeing his fellow classmates' resolve but is too distracted by them to notice his whole foot hasn't quite made it onto the next step. A bit of flailing helps keep him from eating cement, but it doesn't save his pride. He can feel his ears burning just as a black blur whizzes by him.
"C'mon! You can do it!" a female voice calls from above.
Picking himself off the ground, the boy mumbles, "How can she have so much energy…?" He looks back up towards the school to see far more than just a black blur. Blonde pigtails and a flash of white that makes his whole face flush. The girl doesn't seem to notice that she's flashed him and continues running up the steps two at a time. Maybe someday he'll have the opportunity and the courage to tell her about this day and they can laugh about it, but for now Soul fights to regain his composure and follow her up the stairs. After all, the badasses in the movies bounce back from embarrassment quickly, and they sure don't get all flustered at the sight of some girl's panties.
His Three Cs are repeated over and over again until finally he reaches the top. Hands on his knees, he stops to catch his breath and hears someone gasp next to him. He looks up to see a brunette girl with her hands over her mouth, looking out behind him. The boy turns and looks out over Death City, his new home. For the first time in a long time, a smile tugs at his lips.
"Hey, First Years! Orientation is starting soon, so let's get a move on!" Soul turns back towards the school to find a red-haired man waving both him and his fellow classmates down. "Sid's not the kind of man to wait on late students! C'mon, Octopus Head!"
The smile is short-lived. Giving a pointed glare to the man (who seems to get incredibly offended by it), the boy follows the others into the school. The halls are flooded with students, some nose deep in books, others laughing with friends, and still others talking to weapons in their hands. It still startles him when he hears some of the weapons answer back. Even though he had been able to fully transform once, it still feels like a dream. Like he's back home in bed, and any moment now his father will be shaking him awake, shouting that he'd slept in again. But this is real, and he won't be sleeping in again for a long time. He has a reason to get up in the morning again.
He files into a classroom, awkwardly pulling his suitcase along so no one trips over it and it doesn't attack his own ankles, and is stopped by a dark-skinned woman, face wrapped in cloth. "Name?" she asks, glancing from him to the clipboard in her hands and back.
"Soul… Evans," he replies, avoiding eye contact. Without another word, she hands him a burgundy nametag that reads "weapon" and turns to the next student behind him. Instead of putting on the nametag, the boy clasps it tightly in his hand and moves to find the least crowded area of the room. He honestly hadn't anticipated there being so many people at the school. The ability to transform into a weapon didn't seem like that common of a trait, and neither did being able to wield living, breathing weapons for that matter. Yet here he is, struggling to find elbow room. He fastens the nametag to the front of his tank top just as a dark-skinned man takes the podium at the from of the classroom.
"Thank you all for being here," he booms. "My name is Sid, I'm a teacher here at Shibusen. Some of you hear have the unique ability to become weapons. Some of you may have the ability to see souls. And still some of you may not have full control of your powers. No worries, we'll get to that in your classes.
"I know it must be a little daunting being here, and it will take time to adjust, but I urge you all to keep a look out for your partner. Meisters for weapons and weapons for meisters. Who you partner with is very important, especially for weapons who struggle with their weapon forms, so focus on finding a partner you have good chemistry with." All the students look around at each other and shuffle their feet nervously. "That's all I have for you for now. Girls, please follow Nygus to the girls' dormitory. Boys, you'll be following me to the boys' dormitory."
The girls file out first, following closely behind the woman who had given Soul his nametag. As he watches them leave, he catches the brunette from earlier staring at him. She notices and turns bright red before running to catch up with her group. The mantra and new outfit appear to be working, and the tiny smile reappears on Soul's face.
It takes a little bit of walking through the city before they reach the dormitory, but the boy is happy about it. The people of the city are interesting, and he's definitely a people watcher. But with all the excitement and people he'd met that day, Soul can feel his eyelids getting heavy and is certainly pleased when they finally arrive at the dorms. Common area, locker room-like bathroom, fully stocked kitchen, and they are finally shown their assigned rooms. Most of the rooms have three roommates until it is down to just Soul and a bald kid from orientation.
"Evans and Ford, you'll be room sixty-four," Sid informs them while handing them out sheets and keys to their new room. "This is tomorrow's itinerary, so please be punctual. I've never been the kind of man to excuse tardies. Feel free to take a look around campus, but make sure you get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow's a big day." With that, he leaves the two boys to make their room arrangements.
Before Soul can even move from his spot in the doorway, the other boy claims the bed farthest away from the door. "I bet the light in the hallway is on all night for anyone who needs to get up in the middle of the night, and I won't be able to sleep if I can see the light from under the door," he says, throwing his suitcase on the mattress before taking a seat next to it. A blue nametag sits on his chest with "meister" written across it. "So you're a weapon, huh?" he asks, presumably waving at Soul's nametag.
Soul shrugs. "Guess so." He follows his roommate's lead and claims a bed of his own, the one closest to the door, leaving one bed between them. The more space between them the better, he thinks.
"Well, let's see then!" The meister leaps from the bed, making the other boy back away slightly. "I'm curious if we're compatible as partners."
The odds of them being partners is slim to none in Soul's mind. Sid had said that partners need some sort of chemistry, and even though they haven't known each other very long, he can tell that a partnership with this "Ford" guy isn't going to work out. But he doesn't know how to come right out and say no, especially since it may make rooming together awkward, so he screws up his face in concentration and attempts to transform.
It's the same as all the other times. A faint glow emits from his right arm, and once the light disappears, all that remains is a scythe blade. Here he was hoping he'd get the full transformation down this time. The meister doesn't seem to notice that he'd meant to transform more than just his arm and claps politely. "Very impressive. This is honestly the first time I've seen someone transform. However, scythes… just aren't my style. Perhaps it would be best if we didn't partner up, Mr. Evans."
Scythe blade returning to flesh, Soul gives a small sigh of relief and says, "Just call me Soul." He returns to his bed and begins unpacking his luggage.
"Soul then. I'm Ox Ford, very nice to meet you." The meister, too, begins unpacking. They work in silence for a little while before Ox says, "Did you want to go walk around for a bit when we're done here? Get a better tour of the city than we did on the way here?"
Soul shakes his head. "Ready for bed, to be honest." After a few "are you sure"s and most of his suitcase emptied, Ox leaves to explore, leaving the other boy alone for the first time since climbing the stairs. He has maybe four outfits to his name now, a guitar pick Wes brought home for him once, an old record from his grandmother, and a folder of sheet music as well as the usual toiletries all set nicely at the foot of the bed. Sighing, he flops down on the bed despite all of his belongings sitting precariously. It still doesn't feel like he's woken up from the dream yet, and his mind is racing with thoughts of how tomorrow will go for him. The pamphlets he'd received in the mail had a lot of information on what to expect, but so far everything is more than he had been ready for. Throwing an arm over his eyes, he hopes that sleep will make everything better. And that maybe tomorrow will find him a partner.