An Angel in Training {Closed}

It was a beautiful day, barely even a cloud in sight and a slight breeze tousled the branches of the forest trees.  The wind not only tousled the leaves, but also the bright blonde messy hair of Leo Herman. Who's eyes matched the brilliantly blue sky above. Such eyes were narrowed in concentration, one closed and another open. On his back, were a pair of bright white wings, which if spread out, they would just about reach Leo's arm span. They weren't that big, however they grew larger every time he practiced with them. Leo wore navy blue sweatpants and a white shirt that was not white as his wings, and had holes in the back to allow for the wings. In his hands were a large bow, and an arrow drawn back to where it was at it's full strength. His aim? A green apple settled within the branches of a pine tree, which sheltered the apple from the teenager's onslaught of arrows. He had missed twice already, yet he kept his calm, as he had forgotten to count in the wind.

Thunk

The apple was launched out of the tree and sent flying back into the foliage. Leo's face broke into a grin. He knew he wasn't that bad at this. The pair of white wings unfolded and made a single stroke, allowing Leo to make a sort of leap to the apple. Bending down, he snatched the apple up and plucked the arrow from it's core. He placed the arrow in the quiver that was situated on his back, between both of his wings. Observing the apple he brushed off some dirt that had gotten on it from the fall, and took a bite. Only after chewing for a moment, did he hear a crunch of twigs.

That crunch of twigs?

It came from no one in particular, just another student from Beata. Well, not exactly. She was in the tennis tournament, and had won the great hunt. Her name had gotten around, heck she had even been voted for Formal Queen. So, the statement of a nobody wasn't exactly correct... But did Leo know of her accomplishments? Most likely not. Braiding part of her hair, she then shifted the long braid into a bun and pinned it all together with a bobbypin. Such long hair was surely a nuisence some of the time, and now was no exception. A set of throwing knives were aligned in a row in a strap around her torso, each organized to a unique order. Length and use. Which, meant for a pretty funny display. But either way, she looked rather threatening.

Taking a knife out from her row, she looked at the blade before throwing it in a ninja-star-like style, making it whizz just past Leo's ear. It struck straight into the tree, and she smirked. "Hey, Leo. Squeezing in some practice, I see?" She chuckled, jogging over past him and grabbing her knife, before putting it away. Instantly though, she was rather fascinated by Leo's wings. She wanted to touch them, to see how they felt... But she wasn't that mean. Looking up at the sky and determining where the sun was, she smirked slightly. A pair of transparent wings, outlined with a soft blue hue, came from her back, mimicing the design of Leo's. "I haven't exactly talked to you much since you got sorted. Word says you got Autumn?"

Leo felt the shift of the air and the sound of something flying through the air. He ducked his head to the side, narrowly avoiding the weapon, then turning to face his attacker, arrow notched and ready to fire. His apple dropped to the ground with a soft thud. Only to stop once he saw who it was. Keirsta. However she looked more frightening with her throwing knives. Which might be due to the fact that she nearly sent a knife through his face. Relaxing the bow, the angel placed his arrow back into his quiver. A frown appeared on his face. "You scared me so bad, I nearly sent an arrow your way. Be careful sneaking up on me." He told her, an uncertain look on his face, turning automatically as she jogged by.

A smirk matched Keirsta's own before he replied to her comment. "Well, I was told about the Tournament that was coming up soon. If I am to fight other people, I'll get to get as good as I can get." Leo pursed his lips curiously at his friend's moonlight wings. Intrigued, he walked around her observing the pattern and placement of the blueish wings. All the while he talked casually with her, "Yeah, the people I've met so far are pretty laid back, which is cool." Leo went forward to touch the wings, he knew that she had made them with her power, however he was curious how it could compare to his own. Besides, she didn't grow up with them, how could she know that it felt like? He laid a hand on the elbow of the transparent wing, expecting his hand to go through, only for it to touch something solid. Shocked, he retracted his hand to his chest. "Wait, these are solid! Can you fly with them?" Leo exclaimed, taking a step back to give her room.

He had never been able to fly. As much as he would have liked to be able to, his wings are always too small. Living in the normal world, his parents had taught him to hide his wings, so he had never learned to use them. Which meant they did not grow. However, now that he was here, Leo could begin to build his wings so he could really get to flying.

A solid nod came from Keirsta. He had some good reasoning. The summer tournament was in fact coming up, and every single student who had hopes to participate surely would be practicing. Keirsta was no exception, she had spent the last few days on Diane's Hill practicing some of the most complex spells she could muster. Nevertheless, it had left her stronger, but mostly drained. It had taken a huge chunk of energy out of her for awhile, and having just regained almost all of it back she would start training once more. That was her thing - Kill your energy to zero, build it back up, and keep going. It was most effective for her, anyways.

Listening to the statement given to her by Leo about scaring the living daylights out of him, she just shrugged innocently. As if nothing had ever happened, as if she had been there the whole time. Once more replaying his statement about the tournament in her mind, she realized how much truth there was that applied to just about all Beata students. All of them needed to get training, all of them needed to prepare. They all needed to get ready to bring their A-Game. Keirsta and Leo were no exception.

"That's good. Y'know, I think your dorm isn't that far off from mine. Guess a bit of luck still does surround these halls." She said quietly to herself, thinking on the ghost-like creature in the hallways of the Spring dormatory floor. The thought of that thing still gave her the creeps, and she wanted nothing to do with the memory, every again. But if something came up about it... Heaven knew she'd step right in and give all of the information she had to tell. All of it, then and there. Experience, every.thing.

A soft chuckle came from Keirsta as she looked at Leo's shocked face. A soft smile also accompanied her features, and a cheerfur glow registered in her eyes. Flexing the oddly-colored wings, when they were completely outstretched they seemed to be a bit longer then she was tall. About a good six feet, working perfectly for her. "They are solid. I've been working on them for awhile, I never really know what I'm capable of, and I still don't." She spoke calmly, looking at her palms for a brief moment before returning to his question. She had never actually tried to fly, but just rather train them for a bit of strength.

"I'm not too sure, let me see..." That was her answer, before outstretching them. When they beat, it stirred a lot of debris from the forest floor. Almost in a bit of a tsunami-like style, but nevertheless she took off from the ground. A good few feet before she landed, not truly bothering with doing much more with them. "I guess it's a yes. What about you, Leo? Can you fly?" She asked, pure curiosity twinkling in her eyes like the nighttime stars.

Leo watched in awe as she took off. "It must be amazing to be up in the air" He breathed, jealousy adamant in his soft words. He has always wanted to fly like that. Even that high would be enough for him. Just enough to where he could stay in the air. 'It would be so nice to fly around. I'm always jelous of the birds.' He admitted to himself. A soft frown crossed the boy's lips as he thought back to his parents. Why didn't they let him practice alone? He had always told them how much he wanted his wings to grow so he could fly, yet they stopped him from practicing?

The frown switched to Leo biting his lip and looking down, feeling a great sense of jealousy fill him as she landed. She seemed so confident when it came to flying. Why did she get to use her powers to let her do what ever? Where he had to work hard for his own to even work? Realizing his emotions, he swallowed it down. Or rather choked it down, and put up an encouraging smile towards Keirsta. "You've been work on them? Must take some effort, huh?" He paused when her question was asked. The emotions were coming back up. Destractedly, he looked up from the ground toward Keirsta, back down to the soft grass, back up, and down once again. All the while having an unreadable face. "No...not yet. B-but practice will help..." He gave her a smile, but he wasn't sure how well it worked.

Keirsta had been studying Leo's gaze, wondering about his emotions. She couldn't read them, but nevertheless something was off, that disturbed her to some degree. It made her feel uncomfortable, and as she landed she allowed the wings to fold to their original state. To be honest, flying wasn't exactly her forte. Not with these wings, anyways. They were too powerful for her liking, blowing around the forest floor debris and stirring up dust. They were all too foreign for Keirsta, but they still felt rather amazing. "Some... I want to be able to fly for the tournament, but I need to perfect them to where I like them." She explained casually.

Noticing the slight degree of jealousy coming from the other Autumn student, Keirsta decided to help him out. "Open your wings for me..." She said, her voice calm. Once he had, she traced along the feathers on either side with her fingers, the blue aura that made up her own wings fueling into his. On the end of either wing, several rows of long feathers manefested. They should be long enough now, and strong enough. She had also added a few more feathers to the inside of his wings, adding stability. "Try flying now." A note of tire was executed within her voice, using her gift to do such a thing draining her slightly.

The angel stood still, spreading his white wings for her, curious as to what she was going to do. There wasn't anything she could do for him wing wise...was there? Sharp blue eyes watched his friend do something with his wings. Unsure of what she was doing, Leo looked up at the sky. A lone cloud floated by, it was wispy, barely even a cloud itself.

Only when he began to feel an odd sensation in his wings, did he look down, startled. Keirsta had added multiple rows of primary and secondary feathers, and a few layers of primary coverts. Mouth in a thin line, he brought a wing forward so he could examine it. 'Did she do this so I could fly...?' Leo thought, shocked and a bit confused. "Why...how?" She looked tired. Taking a step towards her, he held a hand out to help her. "Are you alright?" Leo didn't want someone to become hurt just to let him have the ability to fly. If, that is what it was about.

Even if she felt drowsy, Keirsta was in total, rather fine. Wiping her eyes, she gave a soft yawn. Looking at the disbelief in Leo's eyes, she could only chuckle. "They should stay there permanantely until actual feathers replace them..." She trailed off, staring out into the distance for a moment before snapping back to reality at Leo's words. She nodded in response, even though she was sleepy. "I'm alright Leo, just tired. It's part of the effects of using my gift in daylight..." She quickly explained, covering part of it up.

Taking a moment though, it wasn't too long before she had part of the energy she had lost back. Stretching, she gave a smile to Leo. "Try flying, though." She said. Confidence in her work shown in her eyes, but also excitement to see Leo being able to fly.

The student seemed to relax at Keirsta's confirmation that she was alright. Not matter how much he wanted to be able to fly, he'd never want someone to be hurt in order to help him. Nodding, Leo backed up to a distance much like Keirsta's distance away. Biting his lip, he let his wings spread out now a bit longer than this own arm span. Gazing at them, he realized they definitely looked bigger. But, would they be able to let him fly? "Ready?" He asked, straightening his pose.

Wings reached their full expanse, with a single stroke, he rose a few feet off the ground, Scattering any debris within the clearing into the foliage. Brightening, he quickly looked down at Keirsta, a bit shocked and honestly a bit excited. A huge smile adorned his face. With another, he was sent flying into the air with a shout of shock, surprised with his own wings' strength. Once he broke through the tree line, a strong gust of air caught Leo by surprise. Struggling to keep himself in the air, he propelled himself higher to get out of the stream of air, and into not so strong gusts of air.

Leo's blonde hair caught him in the face, spluttering, he brushed his hair out of his eyes. Only to be welcomed by the sight of Beata. It was beautiful. Even more so than words could accurately describe. His breath was taken away. Grin softening, he practiced saying in the air, all the while taking in the beauty Beata had to offer.

A soft grin covered Keirsta's face as she nodded to Leo's heads-up call. "Go for it!" She called, smiling brightly. It made her happy to see the excitement in Leo's gaze, the positive feeling making her feel nice as well. She watched carefully as he spread open his wings, concentrating to make sure that the feathers did their job. She didn't use anymore of her gift, but just rather concentrated on keeping them there and durable enough to withstand the wind and whatever height he went to.

When the debris stirred up from him taking off into the air, she had to shield herself from getting hit with the uncomfortable foliage. To say the least, all of the dead leaves on the ground were not the nicest of materials to get hit with. Even so, a few leaves did manage to hit her ankles. They weren't as bad as she had originally thought, but still. Dead leaves weren't the nicest things. 

Once he had disappeared above the skyline, Keirsta got a little worried. Or rather, jealous. She wanted to be up there with him, flying about above the campus. Using her ears to hear where he was at, she pin-pointed his location rather easily. Large wings aren't always the quietest, and this was no exception. In fact, both sets of wings were rather noisy... If she could hear the beat of his wings rather easily, it told you that they weren't the softest of noises.

Spreading the wings of her own, she jumped slightly before the wings took over in making her levitate. Having to curl them towards her in able to get through the tree branches without cutting them, she successfully got herself above the branches and green petals that they bore. A soft, yet unexpected breeze met her wings, and so she flew backwards slightly. Not a big worry to her though, she caught herself and stabilized herself enough to where she could fly safely.

Looking around while her wings continued to beat at the air, when she spotted Leo she quickly flew over to him. It was already taking some good amount of energy to keep herself suspended midair, and it only made her wonder how things would be as she started truly moving about in the air. "Hey Leo, you don't get all the fun!" Keirsta said, flying right beside him. Drifting somewhat away, she flew up higher into the air, watching Beata's campus shrink slightly as she did so. Once she was at a height that she rather enjoyed, she tucked in her wings.

Opening them up as she started coming close, she grinned as the air caught beneath her wings, propelling her upwards. Having seen it in an old cartoon movie, the trick was rather fun. Stopping though, she landed in one of the top branches of one of the trees. To say the least, she was growing fatigued. Trying to fly after not having done so at all was a little hard to do, and she'd have to work on that. "How does it look from up there?" Keirsta asked, wondering slightly.

Although he constantly shifting the position of his wings to accommodate for the wind, Leo didn't have much a hard time enjoying the view. His reactions were slowly becoming automatic, adjusting to the winds. Which only made him smile more. Taking a deep breath, he noticed how fresh and free of any humidity the air was. It was a nice feeling, fresh, and without a doubt, free. 'Is this what being free feels like? The only thing to hold me down is something as small as gravity?' Who needed gravity? Gravity was for the weak and feeble. With that thought, he leaned forward and took off, barely minding Keirsta as he began to go in a controlled downwards spiral around the tree his friend stood in. Only when he was at the ground, did he place his feet down. However, this was to allow him to push off with his feet and into the air with the help of his wings. Once he was level with Keirsta, he spread open his wings to allow him to stay in place, flapping them every now and again to remain in the same spot. Looking back towards Beata his smile turned into a grin.

"It looks amazing. I should really get a camera to take a picture like that. It has the lake in it and everything!" He beamed, putting his arms out in front of him, palms facing up, as if saying 'hey-look-for-your-self'.

To say the least, gravity was overrated in so many ways. It absolutely stunk.

A soft chuckle came from Keirsta as she saw Leo's joy over being able to fly. It made her smile, to say the least. She was rather glad that Leo was happy, and that he was able to use part of his gift as it was meant to be used. Wing manefestation just didn't come with any gift, oh no. Speaking of such, her own set had vanished. She wasn't going to use them anymore for the time being, and so what was the point with keeping them on? It was a mere extra luggage that wasn't worth the hassle to keep. At least, not in her mind. Keirsta decided that she would try again at some point tomorrow, but until then she was content with watching Leo's joy.

"That's great!"

She said, somewhat forcing her enthusiasm. Looking beneath her, she quickly calculated her route down. Simply put, she was getting back onto the ground to do what she had originaly came here for... To train. Grabbing the branches beneath her with her hands and swinging down, it was rather easy for Keirsta to get to the bottom of the tree... Even if it meant dropping a few feet to the forest floor below. Landing swiftly, she crouched down to help with the force of the fall before standing back up straight again. She still had all nine knives aligned in the strap, and she slipped the sash-like accessory back on.

Picking out the sharpest knife first, she twirled it around in the fingers before making a target for her to hit. She etched it into one of the tree trunks, hard enough to hit but not too hard. Taking a good five or ten steps back, one by one she threw every single knife she had. One or two of them landed outside of the target, but for the most part she had made it in some part of the circle.

Leo turned to watch her make her way down, before dropping himself. However, not in the way that Keirsta had done it. Instead, it was something more like a free fall. His wings extended to they held no resistance to the air pushing up. A daredevil esk grin on his face as he fell, straight towards Keirsta, who was unknowingly tossing her knives. Only when he was getting close, did he begin to fly again. All the while sending a large gust of wind downwards onto the pink haired student. A laugh escaped his lips before he launched himself back into the sky. Every movement he made became more and more natural, much to Leo's joy.

Hovering around the treeline for a moment, he thought of what to do next. "I'm off to explore the forest~" Came is call to his friend, letting her know of his departure. He was going to see the forest like no one ever has. Taking off, he flew back towards the school, just barely skimming the treeline, before making a sharp turn back to where the clearing was. He bobbed and weaved through the different heights of the trees, suddenly he broke through the canopy of the trees, close to the ground. Thus allowing for more challenges in avoiding trees and wild life that didn't hear him coming. After some narrow misses, Leo arrived back in the clearing, landing with a loud swoosh.

Once he landed he put weight on his legs, who unexpectedly went limp, dropping Leo on the ground on his butt. Surprised that his legs gave out from under him, he laughed in shock, not entirely sure how to react.

The girl shrieked in surprise when a gust of wind came pelting onto her frame, her gaze quickly turning upwards and her eyes narrowing unhappily. After a moment though, she just laughed. She didn't stalk after him, or yell... But just laughed. Shaking her head afterwards, she continued to pull all of her knives from the tree. "Alright, don't kill yourself!" She called out to him in response, grunting as she pulled out the last knife. Looking at the marks on the tree from her work, she was rather impressed by how deep she was able to throw the semi-sharp objects into the wood.

To say the least, Keirsta was put off-guard by the sound of something landing. Telling herself it was probably Leo, she figured she would go make sure he was fine. Seeing that it was his first time flying, he could've crashed. Well, that risk was always there... But she still wanted to make sure he was alright. Sprinting across the forest floor, she tried her best to figure out where in the world Leo was... There! She saw the white wings, and the blonde hair. It was undeniably him. Jogging around, she observed him quietly as she extended out her hand. "You alright?"

Leo blinked once, twice, three times, before even responding to Keirsta. Needless to say, it had been a surprise for him. He automatically assumed that his legs would keep him up right when he landed. Nope. He had been betrayed by the ones that supported him. His legs. Leo huffed, and drew himself to his feet. "I'm fine. I guess that I can't transition too well with my wings to my legs. " He muttered, bottom lip drawn out into a slight pout. He could fly easily, it just was natural. But switching from wings to legs? That'll take some practice.

Noting his sore muscles, Leo let his wings disappear, not wanting to strain one. The pure white appendages faded from a solid color, to translucent, to completely gone. Feeling the weight become non-existent, Leo trotted over to where he saw his jacket disappear a bush. He liked to hurry, as he felt ridiculous with wearing a shirt with two holes in the back. Removing his bow and arrows for a moment, he slipped on his jacket, before replacing his quiver on his back. It felt a bit weird without his wings' weight, but it was something he'd have to deal with. With a thoughtful look, Leo met back up with Keirsta, a bright smile on his face.