Desperate Measures | Sixth

Grinning, Karma walked into the Dueling classroom, sliding her leather fingerless gloves over her hands. In her usual black tanktop and shorts, she took residence leaning against a spot against the wall as she surveyed the empty classroom. Waiting for professors and the other students was always such a hassle - she didn't really want to be anywhere near a classroom right now. She'd been feeling rather... restless lately. She itched to fight someone, anyone, and this time...

There'd be no mercy.

Mars walked into class. He was surprised that only one person was in the room. He made a show of taking a deep breath in through his nose.

"Hey, rich girl," he greeted. "How's it going?"

He looked at her clothes. "I didn't realize the uniform was optional. Bit stuffy, isn't it?"

Arsen entered the classroom and immediately went to stand against the wall. He wasn't in the mood for messing around he just wanted to fight. So the faster this lesson began the better. It had been a while since he'd just let his anger and frustrations out and this was a good place to start.

"Did you hear the headmasters teaching this, this year?" He asked the two already here. "That's gonna be great." He frowned.

"Hey Pluto." She greeted. Pausing, she glanced down at her clothes, raising an eyebrow. "Oh. The uniform's mandatory." Sighing, she shrugged her knapsack off, reaching into its depths, her arm moving around until she found what she was looking for. Tugging out the Slytherin robe, she shrugged it on, yawning.

"Hey Hothead." She blinked, fastening the front of the robe so that it hid what she was wearing underneath. "Soulsnatcher's teaching this this year?" She sighed again. "Yeah, a grand party."

Aria walked into the dueling classroom in time to hear Karma's remark. "'Soulsnatcher'?" she queried. "Must be a story I missed while I was away." Her mismatched eyes hardened, a frown pulling at her lips as she considered the probable reasons that the man might have earned such a name. "You'll have to tell me, sometime.

"Good morning," she greeted them all belatedly, giving Arsen a small smile and Mars an acknowledging nod. Leaning against the wall beside Karma, she waited for class to begin.

"Damn," Mars said as Karma put on her robe. "I was hoping to see more bare flesh before the day was done."

"I'm getting the feeling the headmaster is a favourite," he said sarcastically. "Does that mean this class is going to be a drag?"

"Morning again, yourself, Dite. I really look forward to doing some dueling with you," Mars said to Aria. "I would gladly unsheathe my sword."

Arsen turned his burning red gaze to Mars and frowned. "Your claws are getting awfully close to my girls dude." He warned, making sure to include Aria as well. She was his too after all and no one else was going to get her. Not this time.
He'd already lost her once and he was not going to allow it to happen again, he'd sooner incinerate the whole castle.

"Don't push it!"

"It's not a story I like repeating." Karma said softly, almost giving into the urge to wrap her arms around herself before she crossed her arms over her chest instead, leaning against the wall and grinning at her sister. "Long story short; Soulsnatcher reached into my chest and ripped out my soul. Almost didn't put it back, too. Probably would have died if not for Kama and sheer luck." She shrugged, mostly unconcerned with the facts of it, more worried about the man himself overhearing. She'd already told Hothead (and had spent the next hour or two explaining very carefully why, exactly, killing the Headmaster of the school would be a very bad idea.) and she didn't much care if Mars knew.

The teen gazed over at Mars, a small smile of amusement flashing over her features. "If you want bare skin, take of your shirt and go stare at a mirror. This..." She gestured to herself, a slight smirk flitting across her lips. "Happens to be reserved."

Pressing a hand against her mouth, Karma tried to hold in the giggles at Mars's words, not quite understanding what she found so funny about them. She heard the double meaning, and she understood what he could be saying, but that wasn't exactly it. Maybe it was just the boy himself.

Swallowing her laughter, she grinned recklessly, tugging off her knapsack and reaching inside for a lollipop. Unwrapping the thing carefully before sliding it between her lips, sucking softly on the sweetness of it. The irrational giddiness that came with being declared Arsen's hit her once more, and she didn't even have a problem with the fact that he made it sound like she had to share.

Or, more likely, she hadn't noticed he'd said it yet.

"Alright settle down!" He called as he entered the classroom, intentionally ignoring Karma's story time. No one but him, his wife and now her and Damian knew of his gift now so who'd believe her anyway? It wasn't like reaping was a common gift people often had.

"So in the past few years you've learnt spells and ways to protect yourselves using only your body. Now it is time for you to learn to fight with the use of weapons. Who here can list me the advantages of a knife in a close combat fight?" He asked pulling one out of his robes.

Aria rolled her eyes. "I told you it was Aria," she told the boy, unimpressed by his antics. She went quiet as Arsen talked, feeling pleased that the boy claimed her as one of his, and discontent that the word had been plural. Rather discontent. So discontent, in fact, that she found herself lightly placing her hand against Mars' chest as she stepped closer to the boy.

"But I suppose you may continue to call me Dite, if you like." She smiled warmly, mismatched eyes shining up at him. "It does have a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

She frowned at Karma's story, diverting her gaze from the professor in question to keep from glaring at him. Karma was the closest thing she had to family. No one had the right to mistreat her in such a fashion. If she had been around...

Knife-fighting being something she had only a head knowledge of, and not trusting herself to speak to the man, just yet, Aria remained silent. A tangle of vines had covered the nearest chair, however, the flowers that had budded on it smoldering.

Mars looked at Arsen his eyebrows. "Both of them?" he asked, frowning. "Is there anyone else in this harem or just the one mistress? Because I need to know who I can flirt with without meeting an unpleasant end."

He looked down at the blonde, Aria, as she stepped closer and put her hand on his chest. He knew what game she was playing now and he resisted the urge to smirk in amusement. So the mistress didn't like being the mistress.

"I'd call you Dite, anyway," he said honestly. It was a nickname. Arsen could deal.

Noticing the vine and burned flowers on the chair, Mars raised a brow. He was pretty sure Arsen couldn't do that and vampires couldn't. That left blondie. This was going to be a very fun class.

"I think the biggest advantage is all the misinformation about knife fighting," Mars said. "People think they will have time to pull their own knife or be able to disarm their opponent, but unless the person holding the knife is an idiot this isn't really the case. Whoever has a knife in a combat situation almost always without fail has an unfair advantage over the person who doesn't. Bringing a knife to a fight isn't about fighting fair. It's about winning and doing a lot of damage in the process."