Talk Trio POV. Please review.
Circuit
Ru, Sarius, and Toma. One does not say one name without saying the other two, two names without the other one. The Talk Trio. Gossipy Grizzlies was another name, except their ears were all too small for such a strong word as grizzly. The trio of grizzlies have been friends since any of them could remember (that is sort of a dry statement- they knew everyone in their social clique for as long as they could remember). They were each other's best friends, of course, and almost nothing could tear them apart. They did everything together, though each was different in his own special way. For example, Toma liked to 'start stuff', as the phrase went. Ru had all the info. And Sarius had a way with people.
They were all lovers as well. And though Riki abhorred it, they made a bunch of money showing off their threesome.
But that was something else entirely. What they did best was talk. And the biggest talk was the Blondies. Everyone back home, those outside the Academy street borders, were intensely curious over the Blondies, how they were, what they looked like, were they getting bullied.
The truth was, they did get bullied on the first day of school. Nothing serious, just bumped into lockers and had things toppled over or smacked out of their hands. Plenty of hard, evil glares. It was hard to believe for some, but the three had brains enough for six people, but they were also lazy. They had nearly identical schedules, half 'easy', half 'hard', but nothing too serious or too boring, except they bombed with Amoian History. It was fully of angry Blondies, including the teacher, who drilled them with certain questions about history and getting more and more angry with each question they got right. It was probably all the more infuriating that they answered simultaneously.
Not like they cared. They have gone through far worse than some bratty Elites.
What they cared about were their new Blondie friends, who didn't seem to mind much that they were mongrels. And some relationships were progressing far faster than the three could ever dream of, even though there were some strong obstacles in the way.
"Heiku is shy," Sarius explained.
"And Xian's slow, poor dear," Ru added.
"Raoul is even slower, and he's kind of a jerk," was Toma's comment.
They were riding the bus to school, taking quick looks at Riki and Guy who were kissing heavily in the last seat to the back.
The bus driver, an aging man who used to chauffeur around Elites and got the short straw when they were divvying up routes, saw them and screamed, "You two stop your shenanigans! Stop it right now, or I'll report you!"
"Well, report us! Like we give a hot damn!" Guy yelled back, and then continued kissing Riki with wild abandon.
"I will report you," the driver spat.
"Poor thing," Sarius said, almost genuinely. "It must be so beneath him to drive us mongrels around."
"Fuck him and his mama," Toma muttered. Of course, he didn't really mean any harm to the driver's mother. It was just a common phrase.
"And then there is," Ru said, continuing with the earlier conversation, "Guy in between Iason and Riki."
"Who are you rooting for?"
Ru made a face. "I guess… Riki and Guy, just because they were together first and it kinda feels wrong for Riki to leave Guy for Iason."
"Why not?" Sarius asked. He shrugged. "If they love each other, then it is just as bad for Riki to stay with Guy out of pity."
Toma inquired seriously, "Do you think things will get to that point? Like, there's a real contest going on? To me, it just seems as if Iason is just playing around."
"I don't think so. He sure seems more like he is really trying. Maybe not to get into Riki's pants, but at least be as big a friend as we all are."
"There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"
"Well, when you're focusing on one person, who has a boyfriend, and you're smart enough to know that it looks that you are trying to woo that person, then, yes, there's something wrong with that, but, oh well."
"Riki will never leave Guy."
"Never say never," Ru advised.
They sat contemplatively silent for the rest of the ride, all stuffed on one seat.
Their classes were separated into two types, Electives and Circuit. Then days were separated in Elective Days and Circuit days; the former meant there were more electives than circuits. The first day of school was an Elective, with classes like Art, Gym, and Home Economics the majority of the classes, while today was Circuit, whereas there were more science and math classes. The Talk Trio's first class was Advanced Calculus 3, a prestigious class which required the signature of a teacher. It wasn't even taught at East Ceres. The three enjoyed math enough to sign up for the course, though they were a little afraid of how hard it was going to be.
The teacher was a hot Blondie who shot them another one of those evil glares that they were getting a lot of.
"Books in the back," the Blondie said stiffly.
They got their books in silence. On their way to the back they caught sight of two very interesting people. The first of which was Megala Chi, head hanging so low that his hair covered all of his face. He looked like he was sleeping standing up, but his hands were squeezing each other, like some nervous tic.
The other was Nico Tathens, who saw them and waved them over, seemingly ignoring Megala. When the three got there, he asked cheerfully, "You guys must love math to be taking this class, right?"
"It's alright," they answered together.
"Woah! Weird!"
"Are you going to invite your friend over?" Ru asked.
Nico made a sad face, jutting his mouth to the side while holding a dubious face. "No. When he's like this, it's best to leave him alone."
"He's been like this before?"
"On and off, on and off. He doesn't deal with stress very well, so even a little bit gets him like this… And for him to go through the forest thing all over again- which I'm sure is how he feels- it's going to be a while before he'll be talking to anyone."
"At least we can invite him over."
Nico shrugged, and so Ru and Toma sent Sarius on over to Megala.
Sarius first searched for Megala's eyes beneath his hair. When he found them, he noted with dismay that they were unfocused, unseeing, and the boy was mumbling to himself, not saying anything intelligible. Sarius knew that if he touched the poor kid, he would probably scare him right to death. But he did it anyway, softly, deftly, on the shoulder. Just a pat.
Megala let out a small scream that had the teacher looking at them strangely, then snarling, making a face Sarius thought was truly sexy.
"If you are done playing around, dark child-" A euphemism for mongrel. "-then we can start."
Sarius looked back into Megala's eyes. They were unfocused again, the lips moving with no words coming out. Sarius gave up temporarily.
That first day, they reviewed past math, again being drilled, and again acing the rapid-fire inquisition. Nico wasn't left alone, either, being sent to the board the most.
And then the teacher called on Megala. Megala didn't even twitch.
"Megala Chi!"
"Sir," Nico answered instead, "it will be best if you just leave him alone."
"I know what is best for this class, Nico." The handsome math teacher walked to the back of the classroom and smacked a book on Megala's desk, inches away from his twitching fingers.
"Just don't touch him, please, Mr. Asis," pleaded Nico.
In direct defiance, Mr. Asis took Megala by the shoulder. Megala waved on the spot, then he fell over to the side, Mr. Asis grabbing him at the last minute once he realized what was happening. He eventually, after unsuccessfully trying to rouse Megala, had to call the nurse, and Megala went home once more and was not seen for the rest of the day.
"The poor dear!" Ru cried after class ended.
Hearing him, an Elite sneered, "Fucking crazy, that's what he is."
Ru ignored him by saying, "Whatever happened in that video must have been…"
"And five hundred years!" Sarius exclaimed.
"Do you think?" Toma asked vaguely.
"I do," Ru answered, saying again, "Poor dear."
"He'll be alright in about a week or so. I mean, he made it to class." Nico nodded. "He'll be fine."
"No offense, but…" Toma trailed off.
Sarius, guessing, said, "Should he go to a mental hospital? Or maybe an asylum. There's places like that here, aren't there?"
"He doesn't do well in confined places, and drugs don't work on him. Since he's harmless, the doctors let him roam free."
"What is he going to do after he graduates?"
"He wants to be an architect. At least, that's what he wanted when he was last… you know, good in the head. But I don't know if he can handle it."
They sighed together.
"Who are you looking for Nico?" Toma inquired curiously a little while later.
Nico grinned. "For Aether! My sweet man should be around here somewhere. I memorized his schedule, but I don't see him… Oh! There he is! Aether!" he called out cheerfully.
Aether was an easy guy to spot, as other students gave him plenty of space as he walked past, his face stony and emotionless. All he said was, "Nico," when they met up in the middle of the hallway. His face was expressionless still even as Nico puckered his full lips for a kiss, but he slowly and thoroughly let his tongue swim in the moist cavern of Nico's mouth.
Mr. Asis, such a timely creature, called them out, "No public displays of affection! Separate immediately!" He didn't wait, though, and came over to the couple and separated them roughly.
Nico sighed extravagantly, and Mr. Asis answered with a frown that made him look even more good-looking to the Talk Trio, and they wondered how much better Asis would seem like if he actually smiled. But at the moment he didn't act even the least bit pleased with anything.
"I'm off to chemistry, hon'," said Nico, playing with a button on Aether's shirt.
Aether simply replied, "Kisses."
"Kisses!" and Nico went on his way.
"Where are you off to, Aether?" Ru asked, sidling up close and personal to Aether's large frame.
"Amoian History."
"Oh, we had that yesterday."
Aether said nothing, just looked at them. Then, abruptly, "See you later."
As he was walking away, the Talk Trio convened:
"He's not the shy type."
"He's definitely not the talkative type."
"Very cute, very cute."
"Wonderful set of lips! I would have kissed him, too."
"Nice ass."
"I've seen better."
"True."
"True."
"Bet he's built like a rock."
"All Blondies are built."
"We have P.E. next, right?"
"Too bad he's not in the class today. That would have been fun."
And the meeting adjourned then, as they walked to the gym.
Circuit day gym class involved all their new Blondie friends except Aether and Nico. Daryl was in the stadium, sitting next to Katze. They had all been informed to wear their gym uniforms the second day of school, and there they all were, dressed accordingly. The Talk Trio went to the locker rooms to change, where Aertis and his friends were changing.
"Well, if it isn't the little hero!" Ru smacked him on his back. Like Toma said before, all Blondies were built. Hitting Aertis was like hitting hot stone.
Aertis jumped. He was putting on his shorts. After hastily pulling them up, he asked politely, "How are you?"
"Oh, I'm just fine, just fine," Ru said, pulling his clothes out from out his backpack, simple white tee and gray shorts. "How are you! Man, you went through some stuff back then."
"I've been doing better now."
"Did it, like, traumatize you?" Toma asked. He pulled off his shirt. Soft curly hairs covered his stomach and made their way down to his pant's edge.
Aertis looked away, blushing a little. "A little bit. I killed a rational being, after all."
"It was either you or him."
"Yes, I know. That's what people keep telling me but doesn't it sound sort of bad that I killed him to save my own skin? It sounds sort of selfish."
The Grizzlies looked at each other. "Not really," they said.
Aertis merely looked at them. Sighing, he exited the locker room.
"He'll get better," Sarius told Mrir and Zusin, knowingly. They nodded but didn't look the least bit reassured.
When the three got dressed and got out, they saw Aro doing his laps around the gym. He didn't seem the least bit stressed in his running, showing how much the laps were affecting him, which wasn't much. Aertis was in the bleachers, waiting like everyone else for Master Hwen and Coach Qentu. Aro finished his laps and sat down next to Jaden. Not a bead of sweat.
Hwen and Amon came along shortly. Hwen came up close to them while Amon stayed back.
"Good morning, children. Today, we will be assigning your Circuit day spots. Wait for Coach Qentu to call your name and sit down to where he points you to."
Sarius raised his hand. "Can't we just pick our own seats? I'm sure it is a lot for you to do if you had choose our seats for us and keep track every single day," he wheedled.
"We'll manage," Hwen said gruffly. "Afterwards, we're going to do some calisthenics, some runs, and perhaps, if we have time, we can go outside and have a game of…of…" Hwen turned around. "What's the name of that blasted game, Qentu?"
"Flag handball." The Ceres and Midas children cheered at this. The Elites looked lost, so Amon explained, "It's that game where you throw the ball and take it to the other side of the field to score points."
"Oh! You mean football," Xian said.
"No, football is when you use your feet to get the ball into the goal on the other side of a field."
"That's soccer."
Amon grinned. "Me and Hwen already went through this, and I know ya'll play another game that's also called handball, and that's inside. We'll play that in the winter. Anyone against flag handball-slash-football?"
"We won't have time for it if you keep talking!" Hwen chided
"Alright, alright. I'll get on with it. Sheesh, such an impatient guy. Sarius!" and he pointed to a spot next to him, walked a few feet up, then called out, "Riki!" then, "Aro! Ru! Aertis! Guy!"
"They're separating all the best friends," Toma complained aloud.
"Damn skippy," Amon answered. "I did this last year!"
"Yea, I thought that was a last-year thing. Didn't think you would do it again."
"Well, too bad."
Toma clicked his teeth disrespectfully and Amon gave him a solid look of warning. Straightening immediately, Toma sat down in his spot, far away from either Ru or Sarius.
"Alright, all of you, stand up," ordered Hwen when all the students were seated. They rose unto their feet, and began to do stretching exercises as he commanded. Bend down and touch their toes, hands above their heads, stretching the lower back and shoulders, and all the rest. Then the exercise started.
They sprinted first, thirty marvelous laps around the large gym.
"Circuit gym days will be dedicated to running and calisthenics, while Elective days will go towards skills and… magic," Hwen said slowly. "All of you should be prepared each day to work your body to its very limits."
By the time they were finished, the students were a little huffy.
Fifty jumping jacks, one hundred push-ups, thirty mountain climbers, another fifty jumping jacks, fifty six-inches, and a slew of other activities with hardly a breath between them. There were people sweating, groaning, and complaining over the grueling regime, which lasted until the end of class.
The one thing they couldn't complain about was that the coaches didn't exercise with them- they did, with almost ridiculous ease. Steady and precise, they must have been working all summer for the stamina they had.
"Alright, class is over! Go take your showers and try to be quicker next time so we can play easy!" Amon patted several of the kids' tired backs.
In the locker room, there were steady complaints.
"Oh, my god! I thought I was going to die!" Ru said morosely. "I can't believe we had the time to almost kill ourselves like that." He kept sneaking glances at Raoul's body. The Blondie just so happened to be standing next to him in the shower. It had nothing to do with the fact that Ru nearly ran to the open showerhead closest to him.
"Has it always been this hard?" Ru asked Raoul, who was still breathing a bit heavily.
"We never did anything quite as terrible as that," Omaki answered for him. Running his hands through his hair, he looked like an actor in a commercial, and Ru appreciated his tall, muscular form as well, but admittedly not as much as he did Raoul's, whose creases of muscle ran deeper into the skin. Ru knew the favoritism wasn't lost on Omaki, so he winked at him. Omaki winked back.
"I can't wait until we start practicing magic again," Riki said loudly, exuberantly. Guy stood to the left, Norris to his right, and several other of his mongrel friends around, providing a substantial barrier against Iason- Sarius noticed this with amusement.
But Xian was close, just a man away from Riki. The Blondie asked innocently, "What sort of powers do you have?"
"The regular stuff."
"Like what?"
"Like, shooting magic and healing extra fast."
"You don't have anything special?"
"I'mma show you the video one day. We all-" He gestured around the showers. "-got our magic around the same day, 'cept for Katze."
As usual, Riki avoided directly talking about his powers. His powers were strange, and perhaps dangerous to share. Who knows what sort of evil things could happen if people knew what he could do? When Riki said one day, it could mean never. Anyway, Riki had no intention of being best buddies with any of the Blondies.
But Sarius was abundantly sure that things would end up with them being friends. Maybe even the best of friends. He was good at things like this and he could feel the unspoken magnetism between the three groups- the Elites of Midas, Blondies of Eos, and mongrels of Ceres. It may be because they were raised together once upon a time and their spirits recognize familiarity. Nonetheless, they were together now, and they would be for the rest of the year, at least.
Sarius turned around to glance at Iason. His sinewy body was covered in little rivers of water and he seemed intent on shampooing his hair, then combing through the conditioning with his fingers. When Riki started talking again, though, his whole body turned towards the voice.
"I mean, we can't just go 'round tellin' secrets like that."
Xian asked, "It's a secret?"
"Don't you have secrets?"
"Y-Yea?"
"Is that a question?"
"No?"
Riki sighed loudly. "Look, let's save this convo for another time."
"Ok."
Riki didn't talk again, and neither did Iason turn.
Yes, Sarius thought, it was inevitable.
