A New Student [Open/Wright]

[Zao]

It wasn't so long ago that the slender, white-haired kid was in this very hall after being accepted into the Sky Reach academy with the help of his Auntie who took him and a few other of the war orphans from the invasion of Suna and brought them away to this place. Ziv straighten up his kimono style robe blouse as he looked around. Today was a bit of a special day, the senior student that the puppeteer was had been informed that a new student would be arriving shortly, though not too much information was given to him up front about this newcomer but they also said that he'd know them when he saw them.

Ziv felt a bit odd about their words, yet he also understood his duties as one of the senior members of his grade, despite his still young age, and the responsibilities that came with such a place. He'd be in charge of conducting the standard tour and also helping sort out the fifth-year classes that his new house mate would be enrolled in. Reaching up with either of his well-manicured fingers, the kid rubbed his eyes and face for a moment, wiping away the sleep and tiredness from his face from studying for the last round of finals as he was working towards being promoted to a first-year student and perhaps work as an assistant teacher for a bit.

Yet, that was a thought for another time as the other student that roamed the hallway were quickly transitioning between rooms, not trying to incur the wrath that some of the teachers had for those that didn't take their class seriously. 'Wonder what this guy even looks like...?' He pondered silently in his head as the bright blue orbs of the young man scanned around as the crowd began to quickly thin as they disappeared into their next block of classes.

[WrightJustice]

phpBB [video] After a bit of a journey with Enzaragi and a bunch of his men, Akira had made it into this so called "Sovereignty of Freedom" and after a few discussions and decisions was finally settled into a homebase for his personal self which he didn't particularly care what or where it was so long it fit him and his personal belongings without much bother.

With that settled it was time to move onto other matters such as finding a homebase for his work self, hopefully what would be a great workshop were he could tinker and build as he pleased with a few projects already on his mind but in particular something stood out to him that would improve the quality of of capabilities in the form of a puppet.
However first things first as he was granted the opportunity to visit and become acquainted with another one of his great reasons for being in such a place, something he learned in his discussions during their trip to these lands that very much excited an old thinking man such as he; Sky Reach a grand school full of many endeavours and grand hopes and dreams.

The ancient being clanked with every step as he arrived at the illustrious seeming school and ventured down its halls, admittedly in a bit of a slow pace as he attempted to take all its grandeur in and quietly spy into the classrooms he passed to gain a proper understanding.
As such he was a bit late as he clanked his way over to find the slender boy whom was supposed to show him around, eventually eyeing him just before students crowded the halls and moved to their next class and finally approaching once they thinned.

Towering over the young, blue eyed, silver haired child the cloaked figure leaned forwards as if ready to say something but not quite mustering the words, perhaps conscious of his still broken speech and instead appearing perhaps a little monstrous as light shone across his blank and featureless puppet face as it stared at the boy instead.

[Zao]

There was a faint clanking noise that found its way into the ears of the young man, his gaze unconsciously drifting off in the direction of the odd sound only to see this strange, cloaked figure that towered over most of the younger aged students here at the Sky Reach academy. ‘This must be him!’ The though suddenly flashed through the mind of Ziv as he found himself snapping back to reality as the other student zigged and zagged around the figure who proceeded to move down the hallway.

At first the second-year student couldn’t quite put his finger on the thought that was forming in his mind, a quandry. Something was truly familiar about the figure of the newcomer even though he had never personally met them. After all, it was passed to him by his house master that they would be receiving a new student today, but Ziv wasn’t completely sure exactly why he’d been chosen. Before now he had thought it was because he was a somewhat levelheaded person who was able to get along easily with others, yet now there was something nagging him as he continued to allow his bright blue gaze to linger on the approaching seeing at first what appeared to be some sort of almost blank mask hiding the face of Akira.

‘Could it be?’ Suddenly it was like an epiphany had hit the boy, his level in the art of puppetry had risen greatly over the couple of years that he’d spent here in combination with the puppets that had been left by his dad that he’d been able to dissect and learn about the inner working of those puppets and their unique weapons. ‘The shape of the body, its movements patterns, even the sound that this new student’s body make…it a puppet!’ Though this left him with another unanswered question on his mind. Was this a body meant to hide the puppeteer or had this figure took the mythical leap and fully transformed his original form into that of a puppet body? This was something that even Ziv wouldn’t even consider doing.

Finally, the pair came face to face, at least in figurative terms as the puppet body of Akira was a good sized bigger than the slender framed second year but a smile had already formed on Ziv’s lips. This truly was an interesting person. “Hello.” Ziv opened as the new student neared, though it was a bit odd as the puppet frame leaned in but no sound was created, but at the same time there wasn’t even a mouth cut out on the rather plain, blank face, only a slit for where the eyes should have been. Though the figure leaned in slightly, as if about to speak nothing still was returned only a glow seemed to emanate from within the eye slit that cut across the majority of the upper portion of the mask like face.

‘Maybe he isn’t a big talker?’ Ziv tilted his head slightly in response but tried to continue in order not to let the awkward silence takeover. “Do you have any baggage or personal items we need to grab? I’ll be showing you to your new living space first, so we can drop it off there before we walk around and do a little tour of the school grounds.”

[WrightJustice]

Akira regained his composure at the sound of the young boy's voice and after quickly contemplating his age, gave a gentle bow of the head and raised himself to full height as he finally spoke.
"Ah, yes, well..." he paused a moment as he tried to gather his words "Given my cur-rent cir-cum-stances all my perssonnnal affects are on my own per-son and as such we do not neeed to wor-ry about drop-ping anyyy-thing off as I aim to get a freshsh sstart in these lands" he commented, clearly having some sort of speech problem but a far improved one as far as he was concerned given the journey with Enzaragi and his men back to what as now to be his home and being roped into a multitude of continuous discussion.

With that he gave another courteous nod to the boy before glancing around to even just take in their current surroundings, feeling quite impressed by such a grand school already and the punctuality of the students from before even if it meant holding himself up due to the foot traffic.
"This certain-ly seems like a great... school in-deed and you must be quite the ded-i-cated stu-dent to be taking my-self around and you have an air of fam-liar-ity about..." he began complimenting the place then paused for a moment "AH!" he then blurted as a sense of common courtesy finally washed over him, realising neither would know who each other were as of yet
"Oh, my, I forgot to say but... You may call me Ko-dai... ahem... Kodai Akira and what of your own title?" he commented and questioned, curious to know and wishing to correct his mistake as he looked upon the young lad with great curiosity.

[Zao]

Ziv nodded, listening quietly and patiently for the new student to finish speaking, though he took note of the strange speech pattern that almost felt like the figure before him was almost forcing himself to speak. It was strange without a doubt but who was the white haired second year to judge anyone as he could be a bit odd on his on at time. After all, he was raised by a bunch of spirit elephants for a good portion of his youth. So, something that were natural in the human realm he still found new or even odd. But the response given by Akira confirmed a subtle thought that had been drifting in his thoughts from the moment the puppet body came into ear shot. 'So, he is a puppet human?'

We'll it was either that, or a very tiny human hiding inside that large puppet body like a suite of armor, but Ziv was inclined for the previous train of thought. "The Sky Reach academy is definitely a place for such a thing, it is actually where I was able to get a fresh start myself only a few years ago. Can't believe I've already been here two years." Though the last words were more meant for himself they were still spoken in an audible tone, despite it being a whisper like one. Time sure could fly when you were constantly finding yourself in trouble with your brothers. He smiled at the thought of his two brother and himself and the adventures and exploits the trio had been involved in. "It is my duty and pleasure as an upperclassman to help out." Akira mentioned an air of familiarity, but the blue eyes student was quite sure what he had meant by that.

"It's a pleasure to have you here at Sky Reach, Akira. Please call me Ziv." Very few at the academy besides the headmaster and a few of the first-year teachers actually knew the puppeteer's sur name, but it was for the best in order to not have him linked to the past that was his father, at least not until he was strong enough to stand on his own against those powerful threats in the shinobi world. "If you're ready, we can start our tour while the rest of the students are in their second period classes. So, we shouldn't run into too many people for the next hour or so. If we head further down this hall and up the next set of stairs, we can start at the headmaster's office." Ziv half turned, raising his slender fingers to point down the hall behind him, the same direction of travel that the new student had been walking in previously. Once everything was in order, he would gesture with his other hand for the fellow student to follow alongside as they walked down the hallway.

[WrightJustice]

Akira was bemused about how this young kid was leading him as an upperclassman, their ages well and truly opposite to such a concept even with any technicalities removed but then in a sense he was fresh and brand new himself because of those technicalities and perhaps such a situation would aid in bringing himself back up to speed.
With a light chuckle the ancient doctor gave a courteous nod to the young lad as he explained the academy and how it was all they could both possibly hope and dream of, filling an old heart with a long lost spark much akin to the original research that brought him here in the first place.
"Yeeess... I can see the wonder held here" he commented perhaps with a surprising jovial tone of pure wonder.
"A plea-sure to meet you as-well young Ziv, I very much en-joy your comp-any allll rea-dy and can't wait to get to know t-this place and your-self..." perhaps it was the spark being brought out of him but his speech was already improving as he filled with joy "Let us get to this... head office then..." though obviously still needed work.

With that the clanking giant followed behind the child, still yet bemused by their strangely reversed standing, taking everything in as they moved up the stairs and along the hallways as other students studied in their classrooms out of their way.

[Zao]

Ziv raised an eyebrow at the speech pattern of the large puppet man, it almost sounded like the figure was from another time, but perhaps it was just where Akira hailed from so for the moment the second year wrote it off as nothing important and smiled before nodding his head and in a couple moments the pair was casually walking down the now quiet hallway. All one could hear was the heavy footsteps in step a set of softer ones. On either side of the hallway, you could hear the lectures from the rooms that were currently in the middle of a class, in a short while the pair had already ascended the two flights of stairs onto the second floor which held fewer classrooms and more office spaces for the faculty and other staff.

After stepping onto the wide hallway of the second deck, Ziv's blue eyes shifted off to the first door on the right as the golden lettering on the door spelled out guidance counselor as the boy's slender hand lifted and pointed to the right now and his pace slowed. "This is our guidance counselor, though if I must say he's a bit strange and even kind of pushy from my own personal experience. Seems he doesn't like my two friends and I for some reason." He intentionally left out any incriminating parts about the trouble the trio often caused around the academy grounds, that was a story for another time, and he wanted to at least form a good impression of Yume, Yami, and himself before exposing the new student to the shenanigans. Perhaps he would become another in their little group eventually. As he spoke, the pair seemed to slip by counselor's office without stopping, eventually the odd man would want to speak with Akira, but Ziv attempted to spare the puppet man from that experience until a later time.

A few offices down the would pass the headmaster's office, a large set of double doors crowned the Dean's office as the white-haired puppet ninja turned to face his new Sky Reach comrade and continued to speak. "This is one of the headmaster's offices, at least the one inside the main house of the academy. Ikanbi-sensei's main office if secluded out within the greenhouse region of the school grounds. Normally the assistance headmaster will use this office for school matters. I would assume that you'll be summoned by one of them tomorrow morning after we get you settled this evening. Ziv paused, feeling that he was talking a lot and took a breath and allowed Akira some time to ask questions before they moved on to other places within the institution.

[WrightJustice]

Akira couldn't help but give a passing glance and listen to the lectures as they passed by the doors down the silent hallways, fully intrigued by Sky reach and what it teaches but endeavoured not to creep and linger as he kept pace with the youngster as he was escorted up the stairs and towards the offices.
Once they approached the offices Ziv explained each of them, pointing out the guidance counsellor's in particular with a clear hint of distaste, though perhaps with a hidden intent to guise potential reasons of disagreement between the two but the old doctor could not care less what foulness arose between them and was more intrigued by this potential strangeness that was mentioned.

The giant puppet lingered for a moment as he couldn't move out of curiosity of the counsellor but snapped back to reality when young Ziv mentioned the headmaster, apparently having moved towards a pair of grand doors leading towards the dean's office just past said headmaster's office.
Apparently said person was also somewhat interesting and had a more secluded office that was more well used by them which also sparked some curiosity in the ancient being.
"Hmmm... Intruiging... A strange counsellor you say? I c-could cert-tainly be in-terest-ed to see why and then this Ikanbi... The head-master... They have per-culiarly secluded themselves in this so called... greenhouse area as their main office... rather than here?" he spoke trying to puzzle things together
He stepped closer, peeping into the office much like he did with the counsellor's before turning to face the grand double doors.
"What of these doors? The dean is it?" he asked curiously, scanning the title that adorned them wishing to get his facts about the staff correct for certain.

[Zao]

"It's just her thing, really. No one really questions it since I guess it has always been like that." He shrugged slightly, not sure what to say about the headmaster and her strange ways or place of her actual office. Next, Ziv nodded in response to the latter question, "Yes, the dean more or less runs the entire academy. Ikanbi-sama often tends to disappear for different reasons, sometimes for a few weeks and other times for a few months. No one really knows where or for what reasons she goes most of the time. Anything school related though the current dean is able to take care of." Due to his relationship with the headmaster, often referring to her as 'auntie', the white haired second year understood a bit better than most the reasoning for her trips but that was also the old woman's own personal life thus it wasn't his place to discuss it with others. But without a doubt the headmaster was a strange but powerful shinobi who had guided both of his brothers and himself during their time here into becoming not only stronger but more refined warriors.

"Would you like to see the workshop area next?" As a fellow puppeteer, it was obvious that the body he saw before him of the large man had to be some sort of either mechanical armor or puppet body, at the moment he wasn't exactly sure but just based on his own experiences he had narrowed it down. Based on the appearance, the materials that he could see, the movement patterns and the sounds it created to move. And as a fellow puppet enthusiast he couldn't help but bring up the workshops that the school had built to support those crafters, not puppeteer's specifically but lumping them into with equipment and weapon smiths. Assuming that the old doctor was interested Ziv would reveal a genuine smile on his young face before walking to the end of the hall leading him to another set of stairs.

"The closest workshop area is located on the first basement level on this side of the academy, but there are three others." The pair would begin to descend the well-crafted stone stairs that led them back down to the level were a number of classes were still in session, turning to the left and following the stairs further down the area was lit by well-placed fuuin that created artificial lighting. "This one is mainly for those that just need space to work on their equipment, while the other two are used as smiths and forges for creation of equipment and weapons. We can stop by their later if you want. " Ziv appeared a bit excited as they passed down from the last stair onto the wide and tall hallways, easily ten meters wide and about seven meters tall. "Here there are ten separate workshops, if you need to reserve one you can speak with any teacher, and they can schedule you for an open time. Those are normally in the morning time frames, depending on the day, while the afternoon and evening times are shared with anyone who wants to use them."

Ziv gave out a bit of info on the spaces as they started to walk down the hall, glancing to the first workshop on the left there were already a few students working on various projects and as they looked into the one on the right side of the hallway the fifteen meter by fifteen-meter room was unoccupied. Pivoting on his left foot the slender youth turned and walked into the room, five large table like benches were evenly spaced around the room and along the edge of the room were additional smaller workspaces with a number of tools neatly placed in shelves along the walls. "Most of the common tools you might need can be found in each of the workshops, specialty tools you would have to either bring yourself or request them from one of the weaponsmiths at least a day prior." As a craftsman, he knew a bit about these spaces and the tools that the school had, but ultimately over his time here he had ventured out and acquired most of his own special tools for working on his various puppets.

[WrightJustice]

Akira nodded along, perhaps a bit stiffly which would be something for him to check out later, becoming more curious just to see these leading people of the academy himself and gain insight on how things are run and perhaps some understanding of knowledges given by them.
"Ah, well, they sound interesting at any rate" he spoke, clearly curious especially about this disappearing Ikanbi but his attention was soon twisted over the mention of workshops.
"Workshops?" he questioned, showing true delight greater than before highlighting the fact his past curiosities were just, simply that; a curiosity.
With great fervour the giant tin man made haste with the boy, barely answering him and almost forgetting everything else thanks to his renewed interest in the exploration of the school.
"Yes, lets be off" he said with delight as they had already set off in search for said workshops.

As they arrived, Akira even foregoing peeping in classes or even paying attention to the specialist fuuin lighting the place, a great bemusement flooded the man as he crawled each workshop with his eyes and honed into Ziv descriptions and rules of the workshops but just barely enough as he began to get too deeply engrossed in each working space; his metallic and very different looking hands glided over surfaces and tools with each crawling scan of his unavailable eyes ignorant to anyone else's ongoings.
"Marvellous" he muttered, definitely impressed by what they had even if it was just things considered basic for it had been so long for him to witness even just that.
The last workshop he was in was even more basic still, just barely able to service his puppet body needs as he spent long times working on himself to little avail until picked up by Enzaragi and his crew.

Having so much at hand was a dream and in such a dream words of the outside world started to drown and slip away; things like scheduling and other students appeared muffled and blurry as he walked around the shops.
Full of marvel Akira moved almost in automation as he separated from the boy and really took in the tools, instinctively releasing chakra strings to pick some up and bring them closer as he inspected them with a keen eye.
"Simple yet still grander than 100 years past" he began to speak out without realising it
"Even these will certainly serve me well, speciality be damned" his voice was, perhaps unknowingly to himself much more complete but still filled with some older speech patterns, breaking through the mental blocks he seemed to have in his speaking capabilities that had previously shattered the words to pieces.
In his mind he finally began to envision his true self once again, pulling up images of a sleeker build perhaps resembling more of himself rather than the clumsy ensemble of parts he was now not only that but further designs like an idea for some turtle-like puppet that had rotted into his mind thanks to that Enzaragi and his men chattering away to him.

[Zao]

Just as Ziv finished speaking, his own solid ocean blue eyes scanning across the large number of tools that decorated the walls of the large workshop area, he turned to see the new student he'd been escorting around the Sky Reach academy grounds this morning seemed to be suddenly drawn away into his own world within his mind. This was a common thing amongst crafters, it was like a moment of enlightenment for them, when they could suddenly see something, they could either develop or improve, be that a new weapon or tool for themselves or something that could be enhanced in one way or another. It caused a warm smile to cross the then lips of the white-haired teenager, to meet someone who shared a similar passion as a crafter and inventor was always a welcomed occurrence.

Thus, he paused any further words and simply let the clanky, puppet bodied man be in his own world. Though some of the words he spoke aloud, perhaps not meant for Ziv's ears were a bit odd to say the least. A mention of something a hundred-year pasts and the almost ancient phrasing he used while speaking felt out of place, almost as if the large figure next to him was from a time in the past. It was true that the second-year student didn't really know any background about Akira, but it also wasn't his place to pry just yet into the new student's history just yet.

But perhaps with time the two who shared similar interest would develop some sort of relationship, be that just as fellow crafters and puppeteers that could share insights and ideas in order to refine them or even as genuine friends. "Akira-san, if you'd like, I can just end our tour here for today if you'd like to utilize the workshop and available tools. " Ziv was upfront with the potentially much older man who he was showing around, if the man wished the teenager teacher's assistant could leave him with a map on how to get to his door room and basic schedule for tomorrow. Allowing him to take his time to work here and explore a bit on his own .

[WrightJustice]

Akira was so engrossed with the potential of the workshops available to him he almost didn't hear the boy, blanking on the fact he was supposed to have been on a tour of the place but with a jolt he snapped to reality with his puppet face snapping just as quick to look upon the youngster.
For a moment the giant just appeared to stare at Ziv with an aura of curiosity and confusion, though of course his face could not betray such emotions thanks to its stiff, blank state but when the moment passed the mechanical being lowered and relaxed before approaching calmly.
"Ah... Dear boy... Y-yeess..." his words trailed as he started to pull together his thoughts once again, realising what was just asked of him.
"This school... It truly is fas-ciiinating and I would like to know... much about it and yyet..." he spoke, still clearly pondering as he then glanced around the room again.
"Yes... I figure that I can do well on my own... from here... So I will accept this chance to work on things... Get things up to... Standard" he finally spilled his thinking, nodding to the boy as he gently reached out with his large and bulky hand and placed it on the young student's shoulder in affirmation.
"Your tour has been very useful... and I am sure I will get to know more ww-with your map and... I shall surely be fine from here" he added, releasing the boy as he then stepped back with a bow, now clearly eager to simply get to work as he had offered.

As he stepped back he took in his younger a bit more, feeling the resonance between the two once again as he felt that perhaps there was also a future with Ziv as it seemed like he was certainly very reliable and easy to work with.

[Zao]

"Very well, Akira." As a fellow craftsman, Ziv was able to understand to an extent the aura of the man as he took in the workshop that the school provided for the students to progress and create. With the map and other needed documents removed from his person and placed on the workbench that was nearest to the white-haired teenager he only nodded to him in the end. "Classes begin tomorrow, till then please feel free to use this workshop and explore the rest of the campus. If anything comes up, you can come find me in the Avian house's dorms at room number 39." There was nothing else that the third year felt he needed to say and do, even letting the large figure know where he could find him in the Avian doors.

"Then I shall be off, enjoy the rest of your day." With that, the young man adjusted his robes and gave a final glance towards the puppet body that made up the old man's current form. 'What a unique guy. Maybe latter I can discuss some designs with him.' Though that would be best for another day and without another moment of hesitation turned to leave take a few steps before he was out of the workspace. Turning left he headed towards the ascending stairs that would lead him back upstairs as he needed to go assist with one of the fifth years class as the teacher's assistant.