Welcome to Gaia! ::

William was on his way to the cafeteria, but in no hurry. He found that he was quite relaxed and at peace lately. Even the impending tournament could not mar his enduring good mood. He was taking a meandering path through the grounds and just happened to come across Zenobia. She was sitting alone, and seemed quite downcast. William had noticed that she had been extremely reclusive and introverted since they had returned from their last mission. He walked over to her and sat down next to her.

"Hey, I haven't seen you around in a while. How are you?" William asked.

(( Familiarity? Got it! ^__^ ))

"So...." Zekai said to Kiro, trying to start a conversation as he approached him.

"I had been wondering," he began. "What exactly is this tournament like? I mean, I've been to recreational contests of all sorts, but never to an actual tournament!"

The excitement was evident in Zekai's voice, as well as in the expression on his face. But also, the beaming expression was also due to his motivation to get on Kiro's good side.

Kiro didn't bother moving his head or body to face Zekai, he simply glanced at him with his cold eyes.

"I wouldn't know. I'm a rather new Guardian and team 13 is also quite new." Kiro replied, his voice deep and young. "Why would you ask me? I'm sure William would be much more knowledgeable on this subject than I." He added quickly, becoming quite irritated at the fact Zekai was trying to strike up meaningless conversations with him.

Zekai's eyes averted to the side briefly, then he looked back at Kiro, meeting his cold stare with a friendly stare of his own.

"Ah, well, you see," he began. "Sir William is busy at the moment. I thought it would be best to speak with you."

He leaned in forward slightly to whisper to Kiro. "But apparently we're both quite new to this! Tell you what --- we should try and steal tactics from our opponents as we watch them! That way, we'll have achieved the skill without even having to work for it!"

Zekai let out a cheerful laugh, winking at Kiro. He knew that there were so many flaws in that strategy; it would just be interesting to see how Kiro would respond to this poor excuse for a "plan". For Zekai, it all came down to testing Kiro, trying to figure out the way his mind works. The task wouldn't be too difficult for Zekai. At least, it had never been so in the past.

Kiro glared at Zekai boredily and didn't flinch at his statement at all. This guy can be really dense. Kiro thought to himself.

"That whole plan would be pointless unless you knew you could avoid their techniques for sure. Plus just simply watching an attack won't help unless you knew how they go about doing it in the first place. That way we can figure ways to avoid and or counter attack easier." Kiro replied, giving his more then usual answer.

Kiro sighed. "Do you still not know who I am?" Kiro asked Zekai suddenly. He has been around THIS long and still dosn't know about the connection between Axis and I?

She chuckled dryly, "I'm just fine....just fine...." Her voice drifted off and so did her gaze, going distant and unfocused. She shook herself out of it, "I was thinking....maybe I'm getting to old for this....maybe it's time I retired my blade....settled down somewhere..." She murmered.

((Sorry for the delay, I had a post half-typed the other day and then my comp froze and I had to restart it and lost the post. Unfortunately that alone was enough to put me off from making another post...))

"Perhaps you should, if that is truly what you want. You honestly haven't seemed your normal cheerful self since we returned from our last mission. You're always so quiet now, and off by yourself as often as possible. I would like if you stayed with us though. You're a good friend, and a powerful ally, and I really would miss both of those aspects of you were you to retire. As for old, you still seem quite young to me. Still in the springtime of youth and nowhere near the end of your journey yet, still just beginning in my opinion. But if that's not how you feel, if you really do feel that you cannot go on as a Hunter-Guardian, then that is your decision and yours alone. Nobody can make it for you, all we can do is give you our support and you have mine, at least." William stood and turned to leave her to think on what he had said. He spoke over his shoulder as he began to walk away. "Let me know what you decide. If you should decide to leave I'd like the chance to say goodbye. And if you wish to stay then I'd like to train with you some before we win that tournament."