Soul Searching; Breaking The Ice

"Well, I--" immediately, Yumiya was able to very acutely feel the tension and irritation not only coming from her voice, but also from inside of her, like some sort of wave that struck his soul. He recoiled rather quickly, somehow feeling rather offended and hurt, lowering his head, a smile no longer on his face. "... I just wanted to get to know you a little better..." he said in a crestfallen tone, "... I figured it was... the nice thing to do..." This is what he meant when he told Krikor before that people probably wouldn't like him all too much. After this, it would seem that he started to spiral down on this path of discontent, which he also seemed to be picking up from not only Tsubaki, but also from Krikor. He no longer wished to talk, but knew since he started the conversation, it made sense to continue.

"... Well right now..." he said a bit hesitantly, wondering how his good spirits had fallen so fast, "... I'm feeling really bad. Some sort of tension and troubling feeling in the air... and inside of me, too..." He turned away slightly as his voice started trailing off. "... Sorry I disturbed you..." He went back to his own quietness, quickly shut down and no longer chipper. He was secretly also worried about Krikor, since he felt some powerful disdainful feeling coming from him. Yumiya wasn't sure why this was, but for whatever reason, after how he interacted with Tsubaki, he figured that maybe he shouldn't talk to Krikor, at risk of disturbing him the same way. He sighed heavily.


In the darkness of the ambiguous blackness of the room, there was a voice from relatively nearby that said to them, "Hey, you're killing the vibes. Stop that." It was probably from one of the more adept Wavelength users in the room who was vastly perceptive and acute on the waves in an area and was picking up on the negativity and disharmony of all three of them suddenly after being peaceful and content in their own session before the newbies came. Another whispered, "They're probably just noobs, don't worry about them." There was slight clamor in the background, but eventually faded as the smoke continued to thicken.

Krikor didn't hear a word anyone said. He was too caught up in his flashback/dream thing. He was still running as fast and as hard as he could, the demons (who finally noticed him) swooping down on him, hot on his heels. He knew how this was going to turn out -- he would meet Thompson for the first time and live -- but that didn't make it any less terrifying. He knew he would run out of energy long before they did.

Suddenly, Krikor stumbled on a rock, and a KRAK was heard. Pain shot through his leg as he fell to the ground on his stomach, and he looked back to see bone protruding from his skin at his ankle, blood pouring from the wound. The demons were closing, and it seemed like the end of the line for him. He desperately tried to return to the real world so he wouldn't be stuck here anymore, but nothing happened -- he was stuck.

After being thoroughly scolded by Tifa, Yumiya was still feeling pretty low, but her explanation about the Soul Realm and how he was just picking up on other people's wavelengths put him in at least a better place than he was before. "Ah... S-Sorry..." He was a bit embarrassed due to his improper timing... But he couldn't quite shake the feeling of distress completely. In fact, it was pretty much getting worse, even as his mood was lightened. He couldn't really tell why, but he noticed that Krikor hadn't said a word, nor even moved from his spot. 'Wow... He must be really good at this...' Yumiya thought, glad that Krikor was getting adjusted to the class so well. Though Yumiya had been to a few of the other classes, this was the first time he'd even been to this specific one, due to his previous disability with his Soul.

Even though he was still getting the sensation of distress from Krikor, with what Tifa said, he didn't pay it any mind and merely kept to himself for a while. He closed his eyes and started to drift off into his own thoughts, letting his thoughts and feelings overtake him.

Eventually, as he drifted, he would be able to faintly see the outline of his own soul in the darkness of his own subconscious... or wherever he was. He wasn't sure if it was what Tifa meant, but whatever the case, he wanted to get a closer look at it... So he could perhaps see what Tear saw. His soul was, as it was described, pink with a white cross as its core and shaped like a capsule with two antennae on either end of it, and radiating a faint aura matching the capsuline outline, pulsating from the center. It drew him closer to the soul, a sort of soothing feeling overtaking him and relieving him of all the tension from Tsubaki and distress from Krikor. It made him want to go nearer to it, simply because it felt so nice... and, he did. He got so close, he would nearly touch it; hands gently cradling it between his palms without actually touching it. He felt as though if he were to touch it, something would happen... But he was alright with just basking in this soothing radiation coming from it.

A warm smile appeared on his face and a faint pink glow that only those who could see Souls and Wavelengths could perceive around him, and any tension in the area in his immediate area would go away.

Tsubaki huffed. All of this nonsense was upsetting her slightly; first, with the teacher pretty much singling her out before hand. Then, the guy next to her throwing off her groove. Now, she was getting in trouble for reacting to something he did! It was really irritating.

When she saw his reaction, though, she was a little bit sad and kinda felt bad about getting so mad at him, so she didn't say anything in response to either of them. She just sat there and thought about trying to make it up to him for being mean. That was all she could think about. 'I hope he's okay...' She thought to maybe, after this was over, talk to him more nicely and maybe see if they could be friends. She might as well. 'Okay, I'm gonna make these guys my first friends, get enrolled, come back, and we're all gonna get along! Yeah! That's what's gonna happen!' In her heart, there was some perky determination, now. For some reason she was feeling better now. She couldn't quite tell why, but she didn't care. She gave a triumphant, yet small smile at these thoughts, feeling like this was the best thing to do. 'When this is over, I'm gonna definitely make it up to them!' First things first; being officially enrolled.

Just as he was basking in the pink light of his soul, his eyes shot open at the call of his name, and he would sit upright. "Um, yes?!" She instructed him to switch places with her, for reasons he didn't understand... But figured that she did. "Ah! Yes!!" He stood up, chuckled and promptly made his way to the seat she was in, next to Krikor. He sat back down and rested, closing his eyes again, trying to find that concentration he had again... The faint aura still glowed around his body and radiated, but he was distant from his soul, again... Oh well. Time to try again.

In his trance, Krikor heard two gunshots ringing out. He looked behind himself to see that both of the demons had dropped to the ground, each one with a bullet hole in its forehead, not moving save for a few twitches here and there. He looked in front of himself to see a large man standing over him. The man helped him up, letting him lean on his shoulder so he could walk with his broken ankle.

"Who...who are you?" Krikor asked, finding it hard to see through the pain he was in.

"That can wait," the man replied. "For now, we need to get you to the rest of my people. That ankle needs to get patched up."

With that, Krikor's eyes snapped open in the real world. He gasped for air, taking in a large amount in a short time, and coughed a few times on some of the smoke from the incense. His hands were shaking from his vision, one that he'd thought he had pushed back into the darkest recesses of his mind never to be seen again.

Tsubaki was totally out of it now. She couldn't find it in herself to get the same concentration she had when she first started out. "Shit!" she muttered under her breath, now far too excited about enrolling to actually focus. "Um, 'scuse me, Tifa? Where do I go to get like, officially enrolled?" Hopefully she wouldn't be a bitch about telling her...

As Yumiya kept on trying to center himself again, he would suddenly be jolted away from his soul searching by not so much the reaction of Krikor, but the feeling of him in a panic. Their eyes would open at the same time, as if synchronized, and, with a shortness of breath similar (but not nearly as severe) to Krikor's would he turn to meet the eye of his friend with a look of shock and worry.

"Krikor?! Krikor, what's wrong?" The pink aura that was around his body suddenly faded in his panic, as if with the loss of calmness would also his healing wavelength disperse. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Krikor said, his coughing starting to subside, "yeah, I'm alright.  Just had a...really intense flashback, is all," he said, shakily getting to his feet, his body covered in cold sweat.

Internally, Krikor was furious with himself.  He knew he was stronger mentally than this.  Why did memories of Earth-1282 cause such a reaction with him?  That was 12 years ago.  He should be over it by now.

Tsubaki wasn't really paying much attention to Krikor as he made such a scene, not until everyone started rushing over to him. She hoped that he was okay, but was also trying to get her own goals accomplished as quickly as she could. "Awww..." she cooed, "I hope you're okay..."

She figured that Tifa had to focus on him right now, so being given those shoddy directions was SORTA acceptable for the moment. Tsubaki would eventually find her way; this place could only be so big. Besides, the best way to get the hang of a building, or any confined space, was to get lost in it and eventually figure out everything. So, it might work out for the better. "I'll see you guys later," she said to the three of them, "And I hope you feel better!" She waved them all off and exited the Soul Room, on her own in the school to find this 'Death Chamber' so she could get enrolled officially.

Many of the other students in the room were slightly concerned about Krikor, as well. Some chuckled, knowing that the inhalation of the smoke for first timers was pretty rough if they weren't expecting the effects, whilst others were hoping that he wouldn't choke and die.

Yumiya, who was right by Krikor's side, would pat him on the back to make sure he was okay, but take heed to Tifa's dismissal of the class. "... Ah... Well, thank you, Miss Tifa, for teaching us. You've been a big help." Yumiya had gotten a lot done today; met a new friend, unlocked his soul and even learned something about it and its properties. This was one of the most eventful days he'd had since his few weeks of being in the school, honestly. "... Maybe she's right, Krikor. It's been a long day. I think we should probably go back to the dorms and rest." With Yumiya's concern, the faint pink aura would begin to glow around him again, but neither he nor Krikor should be able to see it. However, the soothing sensation it produced should have been felt by the both of them, and hopefully eased Krikor's mind and spirit... at least, a small bit. "What do you say?"

"I agree," Krikor said, his breathing normalized again. Something was calming him down, he just didn't know what. Perhaps he'd find out in time, but for now, he figured it would be best to leave this room before he had another flashback. He hoped his classes wouldn't all go like this, or he would probably be kicked out before he regained contact with the rest of his gear. He tried to put those thoughts out of his head for now, and said, "Lead the way, Yumiya."

"You got it, Krikor!" He started on his way toward the door, exiting the Soul Room. He was actually pretty bushed, himself. It had gotten relatively late and he was just about ready to retire for the night, anyway. "Next stop, the Dorms, huh?" He laughed, still trying to help Krikor feel better. He hoped a good night's sleep would do him well. Yumiya wasn't sure if he'd had a nice bed to sleep on in a while, but it certainly would make him feel better to be sprawled out on one right now.