The Lunchroom

Raya blinked slowly with a small, sweet smile. "I don't know. I understand that you're not a tool. No one is," she said, trotting now to keep up with him. "And... I don't know. I think that we could work out," she said, not sure how to put it. "I like you, so maybe our souls could connect?" she asked, frowning a bit and stumbling over her words. "Wh-what I mean is that when you have positive feelings towards someone, your souls resonate more strongly, and I don't think anything bad about you, but I don't know if it would work, because you don't like me," she finished, wrapping her arms around herself.

Luis' walk was cut short by the girls words again, and he began rubbing his temples. "Listen, I already told you it's nothin' personal." He spoke minding the girls unsteady tone of voice. He looked back at the girl once more. "'Side's I'm little too big for you kid." He was trying to ignore the fact that the girl was embracing herself for comfort. "And you don't seem like the heavy weapons sort of gal." He continued, grasping a straws that would turn her away.

Raya blinked up at him again and nodded, keeping her mouth shut this time, as she didn't want her voice to crack or anything that would embarrass her. She sighed a bit through her nose and glanced away for a moment. "But I..." she started, wincing when her voice cracked and her throat constricted a bit, showing that she was getting frustrated and hurt. She didn't understand why they couldn't just be friends, or why he was being so difficult with her when she was trying to be nice to him. She glanced down again, unable to think of anything she could say that wouldn't result in her bursting into tears.

Luis looked down at the girl. This was ridiculous. What did he care if she cried over nothing? Apparently a lot. "Listen kid, you're way too worried about this." He began in his most sincere tone this entire encounter. "I don't know what you're worried about. What's the worst thing that can happen here? My attitude hold no power over you you don't give it." He turned again, to walk away, his hopes pinned that he had sated her. Even though he -didn't care- his mind went over the words, wondering if he was too harsh.

Raya sniffled and rubbed her eyes, tears clinging to her eyelashes as she worried her bottom lip between her teeth, looking up at him as he started to walk away. "You don't have to have an attitude," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes still. "You could be nice sometimes. I don't know what happened to you to make you so mean, but I would still like to, and I'd like to be your friend, Luis. I'll keep on trying until you decide to be friends with me," she said in a determined, stuffy tone.

Luis slouched a little at the girls diatribe. Wasn't he doing that already? Being nice? What made her think he needed anyone? Everyone just wants a tool anyways. Friends were a means to an end from where he sat, and he wanted none of it.

Over the course of the next few days, the girl proved to keep her word. Everyday she would sit with him, and chip away at his patience. He almost began to enjoy the company almost. Nothing seemed to draw him away from simultaneously hating it though. She was digging at something that needed to stay buried. Moving to his usual seat, he only hopes that she's out sick today.

Raya walked into the lunchroom again and got her lunch as always, this time bringing warheads to share with Luis. She walked over with a small smile, hoping she wasn't getting on his nerves too badly. She'd hate it if he were angry with her. Of course, she knew at the same time that he hated her coming over here every day. She was really trying, though, as she knew that it was important that he have some form of companion, just as much as she did. After all, she knew that a human being couldn't be alone forever, no matter how much they may want it.
"Hello," she greeted warmly as always, setting the candy down in front of him and offering him a small smile. She had decided to keep the hood on, as usual, since she felt more protected that way, and she didn't want to come that far out of her bubble just yet.

Luis gave a sigh in his head. It really was pointless asking fate to have her sick. After all, he would only bother himself equally by wondering if she were okay. He still thought she should leave him alone, buzz off, stow it, et cetera. "Hi." He answered with the shortest possible interjection, and leaned back on his hand to look at his papers. He didn't like eating in the DWMA, as it felt like he was wasting school-time. He took a moment to scribble down a few words. "Haven't given up yet?" He added to his greeting in a monotone.

A small smile crossed her lips and she shook her head with a sigh, pushing the bag of candy toward him. "I told you I wasn't going to give up until we were friends," she informed him as she pushed some of the food around her plate with a sigh. She wasn't sure how well this was working, but darn it, she was going to be friends with him even if it killed her. She took a sip of her drink quietly, waiting for him to reply and expecting something either snappy or just short and boring. She looked up at him with round, reproachful blue eyes and a small, welcoming smile on her face as usual.

Luis looked up from his paper to see the smiling girl. She seemed to be getting comfortable around him. He just couldn't seem to get her off of his back like this. "Do we really have to do this exercise every day?" His tone was more tired than aggravated, but never the less contained a mix of the two. He had considered beating around the bush, the sort of thing that got him in this position in the first place. After a split second of silence he began again. "I mean, you've told me what you want, but I still don't get it. What's drivin' you so hard kid?" His words were quieter than usual, as part of him appeared to still be digging through his head.

Raya blinked slowly at him and then smiled slightly. "I already told you, didn't I? I think we both need friends, and I want to see if our soul wavelengths match up. You're always so quiet and alone, and I want to be your friend," she explained, almost the same thing she had said every day. "I won't stop until you decide that you want to be friends," she said with a small smile, turning back to eat her food quietly.

Luis rubbed his temples in aggravation. He couldn't ridicule her, she wasn't the self righteous type. More importantly the only thing he needed was peace, and quiet. "You want to match wave-lengths?" He spoke in pure venom, throwing his hands into the air. "Fine then, but you'll only be disappointed." He spoke standing from his table. From what he could see they were two different beasts. Consciously he was completely unwilling to admit any common ground between them. Even if there was neutral ground for them to meet on, he was sure there was too much he held back to resonate with anyone. "Well, where you want to try this girly?" He demanded.

Raya flinched a bit at his tone of voice and nodded slowly. She got to her feet, her stature quite a bit smaller than his. She couldn't help but feel intimidated and scared now that he had finally come around to it. "Y-yes... I-I do," she stuttered, feeling her eyes start to burn with tears that she choked back. She really hoped that this was going to work, or else all this work she'd done for the past few days would be for no reason, and he would probably rub it in her face forever. She sniffled and brushed a hand across her eyes, her lower lip poking out just a bit. "Um... we... we could do it outside," she said, hoping her voice sounded somewhere near as demanding and scary as his, though it squeaked a bit, and she basically looked like she was cowering in fear in front of him. She was determined, though, and she had a very good feeling about this guy.

Luis couldn't help an odd proud feeling. Somehow he'd expected her to cut her loses, and run. Even though she seemed like her break down hanged dependent on this next action, she pressed on. Luis granted her a sort a reassuring smile. Perhaps he'd found a true believer of a cause. Whatever that cause may be. Beginning his approach to the cafeteria exit, he glances back at the door. "And remember, you can't hold anything back." If there was anything that broke the resonance, it would be Luis' blind anger towards people. It was true, the girl could grow on him pretty quickly. Exactly why he had to convince her to leave him alone.

Raya looked up at him with round blue eyes when he smiled, and she dared a tiny beam of her own as she trotted after him. "Right," she said determinedly. "I won't do anything to disrupt the resonance," she promised as she hurried outside, clearly quite excited, but still very scared as well. She hoped this was going to work - if it didn't, then she didn't know what she'd do. Probably just go crawl in a hole and cry for a day or two. She looked at him with slightly eager, anxious eyes that held a sort of mixture of hope and fear as well as she got outside and stretched out one hand for him to take it, rocking back on her heels with a nervous, reassuring smile.

Looking down at the girls hand Luis takes a deep breath. It had been ages since he took a full weapon form. Even if they did manage to resonate, the matter of having a partner bothered him. Not to mention the blade would be as long as she is tall. Luis released the breath in a way that almost seem to sigh. He took one more moment to gather his focus. He couldn't hold anything back. After becoming mentally readied, he takes the girls hand, and shifts into his weapon form, holding nothing back.

Raya was focusing very hard on this. She felt the weight of his weapon form in her hands - heavy at first, and then it got lighter as she felt her soul leap a little bit to join with his. It wasn't a huge feeling or anything, but something just felt so right about it. Like, if they kept trying, they could do so much more than just a little feeling in her chest. She opened her eyes and looked at the blade in her hands - shockingly, it was bigger than her, but she could still hold it, and with the right amount of practice, she could definitely wield him. She smiled slightly in triump. "Soooo...?" she asked with a tilt of her head, blinking slowly and thoughtfully.

Luis gave a sigh. "So what?" He feebly retorted. As far as they knew this was as far as they could get. Not to mention the ability to resonate was no guarantee she wouldn't slow him down. She was just a kid right? "You just learned we can stand, so don't get ahead of yourself. We need to learn if we can walk too." He spoke, ending in an optimistic tone. "By the way, I have not trouble running on my own." His words sought to convince himself this was only for her benefit, and no his. Feeding on the resonance, he sent heat through the blade, turning it from it's obsidian black to a deep blazing red. There was no fire, but it was hot enough to start one. "Don't listen to a thing they tell you, when they said not to play with fire!" Luis felt he was speaking to much. But the excitement of his first resonance since his old companion.... He couldn't help it.

Raya looked like a kicked puppy for a moment before she nodded. She jumped when he turned the blade a different color and looked at it in awe, eyes round. "Wow! How did you do that?" she asked, her lips parted and eyes round. She took a couple of steps with him in her hands, wanting to prove that she could do more than just stand there. She looked at him with a haughty expression, feeling his excitement through the handle of his blade. She smiled softly. "I told you we could resonate," she said with a big, happy grin.

Luis' face turned sour in the blade. As she remarked on the resonance between them. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't get all cocky on me now." He gave a short sigh. "It's my element by the way. Heat, not so much fire. The ports on the back of me act like an exhaust to propel the sword. Packs a wallop, but you gotta time it well or you're wide open." Luis felt odd thinking about how the two of them managed to resonate, but in the end he felt it was a pointless feat. His mind wondered in worry for the girl. He seemed to have gotten her hopes up. This would make breaking away that much more difficult for him to pull off harmlessly. In her case maybe impossible. In the best possible way he tries again to reason. "You know, it's kinda pointless. I'm no good at followin' anyways girly.... And I don't tend to play well with others." He scratched away at his head, trying to reinforce a pretty feeble argument. "Besides, I could only have a meister if they didn't slow me down." In a way he almost wanted the girl to prove herself. He couldn't help, but hate thinking of anyone else being the one responsible for such a gullible girl. What if something happened. At this point it might as well have been on his head.

Raya looked at him and sat the weapon down on the ground, sitting beside it with a small, depressed sigh. "But I can handle myself," she argued, looking at his face in the blade. "I promise I won't slow you down!" she told him, not liking the fact that he seemed to want to argue and make it harder. "We resonated, though, and that means that we can work together really well, so why don't you want to be partners? I'm tough," she promised, looking down at her feet with a small, sad sigh. "I would be patient with you. I wouldn't be mean when you were, so you could make a lot of the decisions, and I won't let you get hurt or anything. I'll work really hard," she said eagerly, eyes round and pleading as she watched the blade of the sword, her hood still covering her head.

Luis went through his head again. The girl was determined, and she had a strong will. These were good signs of course, but Luis still couldn't shake the bad feeling he had. The very idea of having a partner terrified him in more ways than one. The fact that she had resonated with him erased any doubt he tried to harbor of her manipulating him out of desperation, or something. At any rate, this wasn't a decision he made lightly even by the highest standards. Worry, however, wasn't something he did, and the fact that this was worrying pointed at reasoning in both directions. Luis shaked the confused feeling out of his head. "Alright, listen up then." He began in demand. "Don't consider this permanent right? This arrangement is more like a candidacy." Luis looked off, seeming to wonder what the hell it was he was saying. "I have to know just what you can do first, then I'll tell you when I decide. If that doesn't work for you then oh well." He continued looking away, waiting for the girl to tell him no.

Raya looked up at him with a bright smile and got to her feet with a grin. "I won't disappoint you!" she said brightly, her blue eyes round and shining with both determination and appreciation as she looked up at him. She extended a hand for him to shake, seeming a lot less nervous at this point. She had no real reason to be worried - not in her mind at least. She was a good Meister, and she would prove it to him. [b]"Of course that works for me. I'm so excited!" she chirped, her hood nearly falling off, though she reached back to pull it over her head again, her blue eyes wide and trusting as she watched him carefully, looking for his reaction. She wanted to get to know him very well. She needed to know more if she wanted them to resonate more strongly.

This girl sure works in u-turns doesn't she? Luis wasn't too sure to be glad, or if it was one more thing to worry about. Luis took the girls hand firmly, almost surprised that she dared to offer it. "You know that hood is bound to come off during combat right?" He said casually, and in a factual manner. "I don't see why you would want to wear that in a desert anyways." He knew it was a security blanket just by the way she acted, but felt asking indirectly why seemed less like he was judging her. Again Luis berated himself silently for even letting her get far enough for him to even care.

Raya blinked slowly at him and blushed a bit, tugging the hood closed with one hand and rubbing the soft inside. "It... it's not too hot," she lied softly. In reality, it was burning up underneath the black fabric, but she didn't show it. "Besides, I just like it. It makes me feel safer," she told him, this time truthfully as she stepped back away from him, her white hair falling in wisps around her forehead. She wasn't sure whether to tell him the exact reason for her hood or not, but she did figure it would help establish a bond of trust between them. She hesitantly pulled it off her head, her white hair fluffing up a bit around her head and face. She bit her lip a bit. "I got it at the orphanage," she informed him in a quiet tone.

Luis cringed on the inside at her immediate reaction. Holding up his hand, he begins in a soft tone. "You don't ever need to tell me somethin' that you don't want to." The hand fell to his side once more. He was really trying to help her at this point, but wouldn't force anything. "It really won't change my view of ya in the long run. Hind site's 20/20, and whatever. You should just know there's nothin' out here you need to be afraid of is all." Luis kicked himself again. He was diving in far too deep for his taste. What could he do though? Obviously no one else saw fit to help her, so he supposed it was on him now.

Raya shook her head. If only he understood. She had to be afraid of everything out there, because she had assumed the orphanage was safe until that woman hurt her so badly. She nodded slowly with a tiny smile, but couldn't think of anything to say as she pulled the hood back close to her. It was clear that she was scared, and she didn't know what to do in this situation. "If... if you asked, I would tell you," she assured him. "Meisters are supposed to trust their weapons," she said as she shifted on her feet, glad that he was being nicer, but a bit nervous for some reason. She felt a little bad about keeping something like this from him. "But there are lots of things to be afraid of here," she murmured quietly.

Luis gave a smile at the girls willingness to trust him. Again it was cause for both joy, and worry. "Yeah, message received." He spoke responding to her first statement. "Thing is? You're tougher than that stupid cloth, and it ain't anything you can't take care of without it." He added in the most empathetic voice he could muster out of his rough personality. "Besides, you want a heat stroke?" He threw in critically to keep the conversation from being too comfortable.

Raya looked up at him with round blue eyes. "Well, um, it's soft, and I don't want people seeing me," she explained quietly, shifting on her feet and looking down at her shoes. She shook her head when he mentioned the heat stroke and just held it even closer afterwards. "People can't see me. No one," she said in a pretty firm tone, for her. She continued to shift on her feet, a bit of sweat on her forehead as she realized that it was pretty hot with it on her. She placed a hand over her stomach, fear still flashing in her eyes.

Luis took a step closer to the girl, and rested a hand gently on her shoulder from arms length to make sure he didn't spook her. "No one's going to do that ever again." He said in a serious tone, and wondered what he was referring to with the word -that-. In a way he felt he was digging a grave for himself, but also that it was a necessary evil. "If you like wear whatever you want. But that won't change a thing either." He was almost offended by the fact that this girl pushed him over so easily, but couldn't even take off a single article of clothing.