The First Day (Atsuko & Ciara/Muiri, ask to join)

(The following thread has a rating of: Mature. Based on the assumption that strong language or other things of a mature nature may be referenced or indirectly referenced. Better safe than sorry!)

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Moments earlier in a now mostly empty Classroom. A Teacher had been looking over various papers as the young student Atsuko Inoue waited patiently for him to finish. "Ah, here it is.", the man finally stated. Setting a piece of paper aside as he then organized a few things on his desk. He then looked to the student standing in front of him almost as if expectantly. "Now, you have spent enough time here at the Academy that you have been deemed qualified for field work. However, before you may accept and set out on missions you are required to select a weapon. Based on your capabilities and personality, as well as observations that I and others have noted, we have prepared a list for you.", after his explanation he proceeded to hand the paper to Atsuko.

The young girl accepted it and began to read through the paper. "This is a list of weapons that are without Meisters and as such are free to choose. With their names you should have little difficulty finding them. From there whether or not they are willing to work with you remains to be seen. Best of luck.", with that, he calmly waved Atsuko off. The girl gave a nod and then stepped outside of the classroom. As she closed the door behind her, she gave another look over the paper.

There was certainly quite the selection of weapons here. But there were two that stood out the most to her. "Ciara, Muiri Vao." They were listed as twins, and twin weapons. "Well then.", Atsuko thought to herself. "I'll start with them. It's almost lunchtime. I'll start with the Cafeteria...", she finished her musings and set off down the hall to the Cafeteria...

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Timestamp:
January 16th, Friday
12:00 PM
Shortly after above events

As the girl stepped into the Cafeteria, she took a few moments to adjust the tie she wore. And then she glanced around the Cafeteria. As much as she had expected it was already filling up and becoming lively. It would take too long just to look around and try to identify them in this manner. So she set off once more with the intents of asking around... She calmly approached one of the tables that a student had claimed. And she spoke in calm tone of voice. "Excuse me, would you know where I would be able to find the weapons Ciara and Muiri Vao?", she inquired with the Student. If luck was on her side she wouldn't have any troubles finding her intended selection and thus be deemed ready to accept missions. Her first day as a Meister had gotten off to an average start.

The student that Atsuko had chosen to approach, an inconspicuous looking lad of around 17 years, greeted the sharply dressed younger meister with a smile. "Oh, you mean The Things? They usually sit at that table over the-" The young man trailed off, paling as he suddenly felt a heavy negative energy radiating towards him. "-ey're right behind me now, aren't they?"

"Why yes, Reggie, we are!"

"How good of you to notice!"

Twin thuds heralded the arrival of twin gingers on the bench, occupying the two seats on either side  of him and looking at him with Cheshire grins.

"Reggie, Reggie, Reggie!" The twin on his left began in a mock-incredulous manner.

"You really ought to know better by now." The twin on the right continued.

"Now we have to do The Thing"

"And call you that other Thing"

"Until you've genuinely repented for the first thing!" Both finished with an obviously fake pout.

Reggie groaned. "I'm sorry, it was a slip of the tongue, honest!"

Both twins shook their heads sadly. "You've been at the DWMA long enough to know the rules, Reggie:"

"You call us The Things"

"Or copy our Thing,"

"Then we have to"

"Show you why"

"Such a thing"

"Is a bad idea!"

"I hate when you do this... the only reason anyone can tell you apart half the time is because of the way you mirror your outfits! Where the heck do you even keep those shirts anyway? There's no way they fit in your handbags!?" He was, of course, referring to the Dr. Seuss themed shirts the twins were currently wearing: red, with a white circle and the phrase "Thing One" and "Thing Two" in black lettering.

The girls giggled; Reggie just groaned and rubbed his temples.

"Could you at least stop with the twin speak? It's giving me a headache!"

"No can do, Reginald;"

"It's part of The Thing!"

"It's not our fault that you can't handle The Thing."

"Ugh... Well, I'm just going to go somewhere else then. Ciara, Muiri... Newbie." And with no further ado, Reginald stalked off with as much dignity as he could muster... Managing to just barely avoid resembling a dog with it's tail between it's legs. But only just.

Ciara and Muiri, of course, found this hilarious, and after sharing a quick glance, broke down into a synchronized giggling fit. Neither of them noticing that they were in the presence of a new kid and probably making for an interesting first impression at this point.

The girl listened intently to what the young man had to say. He began to gesture to a table just behind him, but cut off as he seemed to come to a realization. The straw-white blonde proceeded to glance over to that direction as well and was surprised to see the twin girls grinning in Cheshire fashion. And as if straight out of a story they spoke in such a manner that allowed the other to finish the sentence. To say that it wasn't the least bit unsettling would be an outright lie even if one could present all of the evidence as to why that was possible.

The young man, now identified as Reggie however didn't seem to be as unsettled as Atsuko was. Rather he seemed to be more annoyed at his bad luck. After a groan he excused himself, leaving the straw-white blonde with the twins. She sized the two up for a moment, though they seemed to be unaware of her presence. She decided it was time to change that and cleared her throat as if to announce herself. "Ciara and Muiri Vao, correct? I've been looking for you. My name is Atsuko Inoue, I am a Meister that is seeking out a weapon to partner with... Though, in this case, I suppose that would be weapons.", the blonde introduced herself to the two girls. She had already taken enough time to compose herself, the initial surprise had worn off.

"Would you be willing to discuss the matter with me?", Atsuko added. And then looked at them expectantly. It was easy to tell that she was trying to conduct herself in a professional manner but, she was simply new to this. It didn't exactly take a deep observation to figure such a thing out, either.

"Eheheh- eh?"

Both twins abruptly stopped giggling when the new voice sounded off, causing them to snap their gazes onto the newcomer's visage. They, still in unison, settled down to stare at her, raising one arm onto the table to rest their respective chins on. They would continue to stare through the new student's, Atsuko's, introduction, listening politely.

Their manners did not last long.

"Well aren't you cute," 'Thing One' (the one in front of and to the left of Atsuko) drawled in a tone that suggested she actually thought quite the opposite. To which 'Thing Two' quite appropriately reacted by swatting the back of her head.

"Sister!"

"Hey! It's not my fault she-"

"Enough. I'll handle the talking for this one, if you don't mind!"

'Thing One' looked like she most certainly did mind, but 'Thing Two' simply turned to speak to Atsuko before her twin could say anything else.

"Please pardon my twin, she can be a bit of a bitch sometimes."

"Sooo that would make you Muiri then." A voice chimed in from the neighboring table.

'Muiri' fielded the question with flair: "Perhaps you're right, Grigori. Of course, I could actually be Ciara, in which case I'd have to inform you that doing something stupid like actually trying to guess which of us is which will simply lead to the big muscly Slav getting embarrassed by the little Sino-Gaelic girl next week at Combat Club."

"Er... Shutting up, now."

'Thing One' giggled sweetly. "Good boy."

"Moving on. What my sister so kindly meant to ask before we were interrupted"

"Is why we, 4th year students of the DWMA,"

"Should partner up with you,"

"A literal newbie."

"Not that we're rejecting you outright, of course."

"We would just like to hear what you believe you can offer that will interest us in choosing you as opposed to someone more experienced."

'Thing One' smiled sweetly... While 'Thing Two' grimaced and turned to her twin.

"Okay, that was just mean, even for you." 'Thing Two' accused as she began to remove the T-Shirt... revealing her normal outfit, before turning to face Atsuko again. "Sorry about that."

The girl listened intently to the twins as their manners began to fade in a fairly swift manner. Although to be fair that only seemed to be one-sided, at least one of the Twins was willing to hear out what Atsuko had to say. Of course before she could speak up, one of the neighboring students had decided to barge into the conversation with a guess as to their identities. Though he had been sufficiently intimidated from trying to do so again.

The two continued their little game for a little while. And then they had delivered what would have normally been a fairly difficult question to answer. But Atsuko simply smiled, closing her eyes. "Well.", She began. "I could think, in fact, think of several reasons as to why partnering up with me is a rather appealing idea. I'll start with the most obvious one.", Atsuko paused momentarily. And then gestured to the two with a single hand. "You're twin weapons. You wish to work as a team."

Atsuko let that sink in for a moment. Then she opened her eyes again. "However, Meisters most commonly only have the ability to resonate with a handful of weapons. I am one of the few with the ability known as 'Utility'. That is to say, I can perform multiple resonations with ease.", the straw-white blonde explained, and then continued. "Another reason why is, if you did know of another such experienced Meister... Logic would dictate that you would already choose them. Perhaps you wouldn't even entertain what I had to say as a 'newbie'."

She wasn't quite finished there, though. She returned back to her usual posture and stance. "The final reason is... Any experienced Meister is likely to already have chosen their weapon or weapons. They're unlikely to change that anytime soon. So... I ask you, what would make me so unappealing?", the girl finished with a smile. Although there was that slight hint in her expression that she had at least one more reason. "I also find it doubtful that any such Meister you might have your eyes on would have personal recommendations from the Teachers that... They would work well with you?", Atsuko then showed the paper with the list of weapons on it. Now, she was smiling in a manner that seemed to say "I'm done". Even if they didn't particularly like the idea of working with a newbie, she did have some damn good reasons as to at least consider it.

Both twins listened politely to Atsuko deliver her list of selling points as to why they should consider her, or, at least, as politely as one can while also preparing their lunch. Though their attention was mostly on Atsuko, the fact that each had turned one (opposite) hand into the point of their weapon forms and sliced their sandwiches in half had probably been noticed. To be fair, however, Atsuko had tracked them down during lunch.

"Ooooh, I like her!" The former 'Thing Two' decreed to her twin after taking the proffered list. "She wasn't even bothered by your bitchiness!"

"...I suppose I do have to at least consider her for that alone, don't I?" A wry grin covered 'Thing One's' face as she surveyed the seemingly smug meister in front of them. "You make some very good points, but what if I told you that we have been asked by more experienced Meisters, some of whom were capable of dual-wielding?"

"Before that, though," 'Formerly Thing Two' cut in, "Why us? We're not even on the top of this list, and not even the only set of twins. Nor are we the only experienced ones on here... Though I'll admit that we probably are the most experienced. Still, unless you've spent the whole day going through the list instead of attending classes, I'm led to believe that we're the first you've approached. Why?"

"That is simple. I have been deemed ready for field work. Before I can set out on missions, I must choose a weapon to partner with.", Atsuko responded to 'Thing Two', ignoring 'Thing One' at the moment. She was going to address a single point at a time, no foul ups that way. "As for why I chose you two. Honestly, as I went through the list I stopped on your names because they stood out to me. You're certainly not the only twin weapons however I did not scan through the entire list yet. I followed my instinct, and it helped that I had heard of you two before. So it seemed a good place to start.", The straw white blonde answered truthfully on the matter. There was no reason to disguise it as anything else.

Atsuko then turned her attention to 'Thing One' "As for your point... Clearly, you're not partnered up with them. And you're in no rush to find them again and form such a partnership. It's reasonable to assume that, if they did ask you it was probably some time ago. And their situation would be similar to mine. They don't exactly have a shortage of partners that they could pick from and then set out on missions with. By all means, if I'm such an unappealing choice, perhaps you would prefer to wait for one such option to open up again? If they are still willing, of course.", Atsuko responded. She tapped her chin for a moment as she pondered.

"Or, you could simply work with me instead. We both benefit that way. And you have yet to state a single reason as to why working with me would be unappealing.", with that, she examined the two for a moment. And then she gestured to 'Thing One'. "I would venture that you are Ciara.", Atsuko then gestured to 'Thing Two' "Which would mean you are Muiri. Based on what I've heard and the observations I've made, of course.", with that, the girl fell silent once more as she listened for what they would undoubtedly have to say in response.

Ciara rolled her eyes at Atsuko. "Not too difficult a guess, now that we're not actively pretending to be two halves of the same person."

Muiri rolled her eyes at Ciara. "Nevertheless, well done. Both on that and your deductive reasoning. It was..." Muiri made a quick glance over to her sister... who was staring daggers at her. Muiri gave a small reassuring smile before turning back to Atsuko. "Mostly correct, but close enough that it doesn't matter. And you've demonstrated a remarkable amount of patience with us so far, so I'll tell you what; we'll hang out with you for a week. And if, at the end of the week, my sister and I are convinced, we can make it a permanent thing. Sound good to you?" Muiri finished with a smile, hoping for a positive reaction to her suggestion; it would be imperative to ascertain that Atsuko would be able to get along with Ciara, after all.

Atsuko simply continued to smile. She wouldn't even bother to say a thing like 'there's simply no pleasing her'. This was just the type of person that Ciara was. Still, the straw-white blonde would slowly be able to earn her respect. Nevertheless neither of them could think of a single reason as to why working with her would be a bad idea. Which prompted Muiri to propose a deal. One of which that the young Meister paid close attention to. After thinking it over for a little while, she gave a nod in response.

"A week of working together is certainly fair. We will be able to tell whether or not we can work together properly in such a time frame.", Atsuko then verbally replied. Now the initial smugness she had seemed to fade. She merely seemed excited at the prospects. "I can hardly wait! This will be my first real chance to prove myself as a Meister!", she definitely did not lack ambition. The girl wanted to strive straight towards the top. And she intended to do so with Ciara and Muiri backing her up all the way.

Though one would have to see just how that would play out...

Atsuko might not have voiced her realization, but to a person like Ciara, the slight change in expression upon coming to that conclusion was impossible to miss. Love it or hate it, Atsuko had been able to see that getting Ciara to be nice to someone was a privilege to be earned. Accordingly, Ciara donned a smug little smirk; at the very least, it would be a fun week of snarking at someone who wasn't too overly bothered.

Speaking of which, an opportunity had just presented itself.

"How cute. That newbie enthusiasm... hurrah."

Thunk.

"Stop that." Muiri was having none of that, and had turned her arm into her blade form before smacking Ciara over the head with the flat. The point was then waved under the now glaring twins' nose. "You've driven off every single Meister to approach us with your attitude, and half of those before we could really even give them a chance. It's been six months since the incident; if we want to have even the possibility of revenge, we'll need a trained Meister, and with neither of us being a Death Scythe, Meisters aren't exactly going to line up once we graduate. So, for once in your life, try to play nice... Or at least tone it down, okay?"

"Hmmpfh." And with that, Ciara turned her attention to her lunch, leaving Muiri to turn and smile sheepishly at the blonde.

"Again, sorry about that; as you've no doubt noticed by now, Key doesn't do 'sociable' all that well. She wasn't always like that, but..." Muiri didn't even need to look at Ciara to see the pointed glare. "Well, that'll be a story for a different day. For the record, though, I think your enthusiasm is a good thing. Though, as a weapon, I feel obligated to remind you that allowing yourself to become overenthusiastic, especially during combat, can be fatal to both yourself and your partner." Muiri winked at Atsuko as she finished, hoping that the accompanying smile would serve to remove some of the bite from both her own and Ciara's statements. To that end, a conspiratorial smirk appeared on her features:

"That said, I can't wait to work with someone as enthusiastic as I am. Maybe some of that enthusiasm will finally begin to rub off on Ms. C for Crotchety over here!"

Needless to say, said twin was once again glaring at her sister... And a new group dynamic was being formed. It was still very rough, and in the stages of being created, but this? This was something Muiri felt she could work with.

Hopefully, she would feel the same way at the end of the week...