Under the great oak tree.

[Yllarius]

Seleucus sat under the great oak tree and sighed, staring off vacantly into the sky. He wondered how this whole school thing would work. The only kind of education he had was being mentored by Yllarius and Hirokoto, as well as his two favorite combat instructors. He shook his head slightly, letting silver bangs fall into his smooth face. He stretched and let out a yawn. Moving back he leaned on the tree and closed his eyes. Thinking once again about the older times. He wondered how old he was. He couldn't be that old, not like the old bat Yllarius. He smiled to himself, if that ever came out at school he would be in for a world of hurt, but he couldn't help but laugh at the effects it would cause. Yllarius chasing him around with fireballs and broomsticks, it wouldn't be the first time.

[Bharune]

The thick foliage of the tree made it a great place for shade from the bright sun this afternoon, and apparently Seleucus wasn't the only one who thought so. High up in the heavy mass of leaves sat another student perched on a sturdy limb, sleeping soundly with his back against the base of the tree. He seemed comfortable enough, the end of his long cat-tail twitching slighly in his slumber.

"No, I dun want no more...donuts..." he mumbled softly, turning in his sleep.

As he did so his body's balance shifted and moved just a little too far outside the branch, starting to drop instantly like a rock towards the person beneath the tree.

[Yllarius]

Seleucus' nose twitched, and just as the man came falling from the tree, Seleucus sneezed violently, forcing his body forward and out of the danger zone. "Oh man, I wonder if I'm allergic to something... I bet it's the dirt or something...." Seleucus voiced to himself, oblivious to the rock-like student until the loud WHUMP as he hit the ground. "Jesus christ almighty! Falling cat toys!" Seleucus called out, standing and spinning around to star at the other student. "If you insist on falling from the sky like that, I think they should revoke your pilot's license or something," He prodded at the cat-being. "Jeeze, it's a cat who thinks he's a duck." He grinned. "You know your supposed to stay in the air right." He flapped his arms in explanation. "You need wings though...." He laughed and let his arms fall to his sides, then he stretched one out to the man to help him up. "I'm Seleucus, man, not duck."

[Bharune]

A little dazed, the fallen individual peered gingerly up at the student he had nearly toppled on.

Somehow he had managed to land on his back, but he didn't seem injured at all. It took him a moment to sort through Seleucus' words, though, and even longer to figure out his meaning.

"A...duck? Yes, I'm a duck."

Grinning sheepishly, the cat-eared boy accepted Seleucus' hand and hopped up, somehow seeming very dexterous but not at all graceful.

"And I'm Zephaniah Joachim," the maneki neko answered with a dramatic pose. "The amazing cat-duck of d'Winter Academy. Quack."

Zephaniah liked ducks...duck soup, maybe.

"You must be new, right?" he asked, brushing off his pants.

[Yllarius]

Seleucus laughed. 'Yea, Freshman...." He struck a pose as well. "Luckiest man/duck dodger in the world." He stuck out a tongue playfully. "Perhaps I should stay out from underneath trees, either that or you need to work on your landing." He smiled. "I take it your not new here?" He inquired, curious about his new found acquaintance. "You don't look old enough to be a senior, so then you must either be a junior or sophmore, unless you flunked...." Seleucus said out loud, then caught himself. "I don't mean to call you stupid, I think ducks are awfully smart...."

[Bharune]

"It's not obvious?" Zeph inquired with a grin, smoothing his vest. Gold -- the color assigned only to the junior classmen. "Zephaniah Joachim -is- a smart duck, and never flunks."

His long, cow-print tail flicked slightly.

"....Except some magic classes. Okay, all magic classes." But he generally made up for it in his combat classes...didn't that count for something?

"Anyway, this is my tree here, everyone knows that," he continued, pointed to the trunk of the tree. There, carved in the wood, was a grinning chibi face with cat ears giving the 'peace' sign with his fingers. "'Course, I'll share, just be alert for falling masses."

He slept in the tree a lot, and fell on occasion...which was why no one else had been loitering under the tree that day.

"So you're a human, you said?" Zeph remarked, giving a light sniff. "You smell kinda funny for a human, yes?" he wrinkled his nose slightly.

Kinda like a dog almost...

[Yllarius]

Seleucus scratched his head. "I don't really know the colors yet. Besides, it takes the fun out of it, y'know?" He chuckled to himself. "If I failed a magic class Yllarius would strap me down to a chair and tutor me violently until I knew everything." He shuddered, Yllarius was cruel on a few occasions, but Seleucus didn't hold it against him, it's just the way he was."
"The tree is yours? I was taught trees are everyones, and you shouldn't sleep in a tree uninvited, last time I tried the tree tried to eat me. He sweat dropped, remembering Hirokoto's spell....

"Uh, well, mostly Human,. I turn into a beast under certain undesirable circumstances. I could show you, but it gives me a headache and sometimes it doesn't go very well...." He shook his head. "Maybe you'll see someday, but preferrably not." He sighed. "I was cursed, if you wanna know. I'll save the details later, kinda embarrassing, y'know?"

[Bharune]

"Uninvited? The tree loves me," Zeph answered with a grin, patting the trunk affectionately. "I saved the poor thing from getting chopped down."

It had just been too sad a thought for Zeph to bear.

"Professor Yllarius would?" Zephaniah asked with a nervous laugh, scratching his head. That...sort of sucked. "I have him for my magic class this year, is he strict?"

Just his luck...Zeph could hardly do any magic...

"I thought it'd be an easy class..." he mumbled, plopping down in the grass, his ears flicking slightly.

[Yllarius]

Seleucus looked up at the tree. "Chopped down? Who would do such a thing?"
Then he turned his attention to Zeph, sitting down next to him. "Well, he probably wouldn't do such a thing to you. But I've known him for...for....a long time I guess. Since before I could remember...God that makes me feel old. Anyways, just don't say anything degrading about his appearance, and compliment him and he shouldn't kill you. he likes teachers pets. I suppose he's a bit of a control freak, once I asked him how much he weighed and I was sore for months." He sweat-dropped, Yllarius beat him quite a bit, but he guessed it was more of a way of expressing his superiority, and maybe a little bit of affection...maybe....

[hanya]

Cody walked swiftly through the coutyard, his wings hidden. He would have looked a mortal, would have looked human, if it weren't for the slight glow his skin tended to give off. It was annoying. Cody continued to walk, looking at his feet. When he looked up he say the oak tree, and two other males there. One seemed to have ears and a tail. The other looked completely human. He walked over to the tree, deciding he had nothing better to do, and he might as well meet some new people. He pushed away his shyness and spoke to the two. "Hello." He said, a nervous smile forming on his face.

[Bharune]

"Oh!" Zephaniah said when the new person wandered over. "What have we here, more freshmeat-- I mean, freshmen?"

He grinned to show his feline fangs, raising one brow, but the expression quickly dissipated.

"Just kidding," he said good-naturedly, hopping up and sticking out his hand for the boy to shake. His smile became sheepish. "You're not even a freshman, eh? My bad..."

He wasn't really the most observant cat-duck in the school...

[zaralith]

Zalarith sighed and walked out of the building his sketch book in his hand. He looked at the tree seeing Seleucus under it with.....a duck/cat/man...thing.''......'' he looked at the old tree seeing the necko carving with the piece sign carved into it. He walked up behind Seleucus and sighed.''..Cant get away from you..Can I?''. he then remembered.''Ah hell....what class does Yllarius teach?'' He had a hunch it would be illisions.'' oh..Hello..'' he looked at the...guy with Seleucus.''Im Zalarith Sheshemaka....or in seleucus terms...the emo guy...'' he looked at seleucus.''Have any near death experiences lately?'' he was allways doing this to seleucus teasing him about how lucky he was..and seleucus would tease him about being emo. he pulled out his sketch book and wrote down a quicvk note about the other guy remember ing to add him to his book. He thought about going to eat brekfest but then decided to stay here. He wanted to put off seeing Yllarius for as lnog as possible.

[Yllarius]

Seleucus grinned. Turning to cody. "I'm Seleucus, some people call me Sel or Sele. But I don't care what you call me, as long as it's not degrading or something...Is Sele degrading do you think? Maybe I should just tell people to call me Seleucus...." He thought for a minute then spotted Zaralith. "Emo Ahoy! Done any cutting lately?" He asked, Poking him in the ribs. "Hope I don't have to hide the razorblades." He grinned. This is Zephaniah Joachim.." He motioned to the Cat-boy. "And....and... Drat, I don't kow your name, be kind and share with us, if you would."

[hanya]

Cody's nervous smile changed into a happy one. He took Zeph's hand and shook it.

"No, I'm not a freshmen. I'm a junior..I just transfered here." He said, dropping his hand. He turned to Seleceucus and gave a slight wave. "My name is Cody." He said, then looking toward the 'emo boy' "Yes. I'd really rather call you by your name then a nickname you didn't choose. I used to hate that." Cody said, remembering how at his old school everyone had called him angelboy and goody-two-shoes.

[Bharune]

"Hey, I'm a Junior too," Zeph answered enthusiastically, as if it was the most coincidental thing in the world. "Most people call me Zeph for short."

'Zephaniah' could be a mouthful, and Zeph didn't mind anyway. Sometimes he was thinkful he had his name just so he didn't have to be the one saying it all the time...

"Oh, are you really 'emo'?" the cat-boy asked, glancing at the other newcomer. His tail flicked in a way that seemed happy, despite that being unnatural to felines. "I've never met one of you before, do you really always lurk in shadows and speak in monosyllabic words and paint everything a very grim shade of black?"