"Risks" [Laz/Closed]

[Dante Taylors]

Dante sat on one of the Courtyard's comfy benches, a nice little red snare drum sitting on his lap. Next to him, an old beaten up hi-tom sat there. Cautiously looking around, Dante looked around for a certain red-head. Sighing, he twirled the newish drumsticks in his hand before beating on the snare drum softly, practicing the complex intro to "Beast and the Harlot."

"She's a dwelling place for demons..."

[/b] Dante said to himself. He wasn't singing, he was simply talking to himself as he waited for Laz to appear. He had a couple things to talk to him with, and some stuff to give him.

Of course, this was the other boy her sister had gotten close to, and the new object of his scrutinizing. He had no problems with Laz before, although the two hardly knew each other. But he still tried to maintain a protective stance for his twin sister, after all, the two raised themselves with a protective mentality for each other. Dante met up with him earlier during the week and simply told him to meet him in the Courtyard. That was it, nothing specific. It was all nice and cryptic. How Dante liked it, really.

"C'mon, Ysal. Everything's gonna get warm. Hurry the eff up."[/b] Dante said to himself, hitting the drum on his lap harder, the snare making a more familiar sound. Drumming the morning away, Dante twirled his sticks around, his manual dexterity showing no signs of weakness nor fatigue.[/blockquote][/font]

[Lazarus]

"What other songs can I do?"

Laz wondered, his Gengar idly floating by him as the two more or less stayed within the same rhythm of moving around the school. There had been nothing to do as of late, and his body had began rejecting a lot of things. He knew he had to take a break from the entire training session thing and it was getting hard to wake up every morning to finish his sessions and the homework he would forsake in order to get his pokemon up to snuff with everyone else.

The Gengar just shook his head and drummed his fingers to the faint music he was hearing from where they were apparently headed. His trainer had set up some sort of appointment for himself, personal matters really and as much as Kostya was inclined to know about it, even the ghost needed some kind of break from everything. He had delegated the task of teaching the newbies how to fight with his other teammates. Vulcan and he had done enough for the time being and arguably, they too needed a break.

"Dante."

Laz said, the acoustics of the gazebo in where they found each other amplifying his voice such that the older brother of Melody would at least be able to hear it. Well, he didn't really know what was happening so he might as well just wing it.

[Dante Taylors]

"Ohayoo."

[/b] Dante said, his tone with much less formality than that of his sister's. He didn't really look at Laz for the moment being, he simply kept on drumming, although softly.

Stopping abruptly after a measure, Dante set the snare down to the side and picked up the hi-tom that was in the way of anyone who was to sit next to him. Smirking, he gestured slowly. "Go on, have a seat. Let's have a little talk." [/b]

As soon as Laz would sit down next to him, Dante would take out a small, shiny silver object: a drum tuning key. As the young drummer/trainer started to talk he began to unscrew the bolts that held the drum in his hands together.

"So."[/b] Dante chuckled softly. "Word around campus says you're becoming rather close to my 'little' sister. I'm not one to follow gossip--it's tacky as hell--but, y'know, Melodia won't stop talking about Laz this, and flying that, and joining the talent show with him, all sorts of shit like that."[/b]

Dante pocketed the two bolts he took out of the drum and threw them in his pocket. Four more to go. "I'm technically her older brother, and well, the two of us look out for each other all the time. I'm just doing my part as she would too."[/b]

He sighed, struggling with one particular part that had gotten striped. As soon as he was able to get the damaged piece off, he continued on.

"Melody's a nice girl. She's innocent, she's kind, and she's very naive."[/b] Dante chuckled. "She likes you for some reason, and you make her happy. So you're alright in my book, Lazarus."[/b]

Working on the final bolt of the drum, Dante non-chalantly asked. "You two going on a date anytime soon?"[/b][/blockquote][/font]

[Lazarus]

Shrugging his shoulders, Laz didn't need to really sit down since he didn't feel like it but did it anyway in favor of being respectful to someone who wasn't deserving of his doucheness, the red head accepted the offer and pretty much sat carefully on the seat next to the drummer, who apparently, was fixing his stuff.

The red head looked around at the small break of the older brothers musing. Giving Kostya a curt nod, the Gengar got the idea and nodded back. He was more or less free for the day until Laz sent his Xatu after him. With a gleeful smirk being covered by his hands, the purple mass of energy waved and went off in its merry way. Probably to go spook some of the students or find something to practice on.

"She is, too naive at times but it adds to her charm, I guess."

Laz returned as he leaned back on his chair, stretching his legs before making a four out of them. Patting his breast pocket for a cancer stick, the red head was mildly amused to realize he had stopped it long ago. The habit still came around at times but it was more seldom than usual. Shrugging it off, the red head did give some thought at that last question.

"I'm planning on taking her on a date, to be honest. I just don't really know where would be a good place to go. The school grounds aren't exactly a good area to lounge around in for a first date. The amusement parks are just too cliche for my tastes."

Laz listed off a few of the possibilities he had already shot down for the mere fact that it was what every other people went too that the novelty had already run out. As such, the red head busied himself for a bit musing on a few things.

"I can probably head back to the Ice Caves, find some sorta ice gallery or make one with my pokemon. Mizu, her Dewgong, might probably enjoy it too."

Laz trailed off as he weighed the pros and cons for the actual event.

[Dante Taylors]

Contrary to Laz's belief, Dante wasn't indeed working on the drum, but rather, he had concealed a couple items in there that might have gotten him in trouble if any faculty member had caught him. Of course, Dante was much smarter than this, and almost made it a hobby to smuggling random forbidden objects, not necessarily out of need or want, but because the rush of the potentially-troubling action was something Dante enjoyed. As far as Dante was concerned this time, though, there were only two items that were really 'forbidden,' and he was going to keep one of them.

"Well, wherever you take her, I'm sure she'll be happy."

[/b] Dante said, taking off the top pad off of the drum, then stopped abruptly. "Ew. That was too mushy. I should get punched in the face."[/b]

He cleared his throat and set the pad to the side, tilting the drum to the side, showing Laz what was inside. "Let's keep some things in mind, hm? Who knows her better than her twin brother? I spent nine months tied to her, after all. So I'm going to essentially play cupid."[/b]

The drum revealed a large green bottle, a couple boxes, a list of items, and a small book with certain lewd content. Dante took out the book and pocketed it for himself. "This one's mine."[/b]

Clearing his throat once again, he began explaining the contents of the drum, which for these purposes was serving as a clever crate. "I know you like alcohol as much as the next red-blooded guy, and it might just make your date more interesting. That's where this little bottle comes in handy. 750 milliliters of good old Nigori Sake, negative twenty on the taste scale, so that means it's really sweet... almost like wine, but it hits you like vodka if it's really chilled. Brewed in Ecruteak, so it's got a nice traditional feel to it."[/b]

Dante smirked devilishly. "It's Melody's favorite, although she has no idea it's alcoholic. As far as she's concerned... it's like cider. "[/b]

He began pointing around. "The rest is rather innocuous. The boxes have an assortment of other kinds of treats that Melody enjoys. Strawberry Pocky, Hi-chew gummies, oh, and Prawn Crackers. They're nasty as shit, but Melody's got weird taste buds."[/b]

Dante took out the list, and folded it in quarters, handing it to Laz. "This here, is basically a list of Melody's... uh, I guess you could say, stats. Her full name's there--call her Cecilia, and you'll die a gruesome death by her hands--birthdate, favorite color, favorite foods, cup size, shirt-size, favorite music, and pretty much more than you could ever possibly want to know about her. If you want to be that guy that learns about her during the date, that's fine, but chicks dig it when you know certain little things about them."[/b]

Screwing the drum back was much, much simpler than unscrewing it. Once Dante finished closing his 'crate' once again, he set it on Laz's lap, with the shiny silver tuning key on top of the pad. Saying nothing, all Dante managed to do was smirk, as usual.[/blockquote][/font]

[Lazarus]

The red head lifted his left hand as his right hand just began tapping on the arm rest the seat he had taken had on it, his index and middle fingers pounding it indefinitely as the red head began to create a random tune on and it had no actual form yet even so, there was a vibrating feeling to it as the nails scratched the white paint off of it. The red head didn't notice this as he mulled over the things that had recently happened, slightly lost in his world as the tapping continued.

"I'd rather take her to where she'll be the happiest."

Laz retorted at the comment of anywhere would've been fine and could make Melody happy. The red head was happy to know that that was the case but the small fact that he wanted it to be something more, something special and not just some kind of cop out to the both of them was what his mind was focusing on. Once more, the idea of finding that secret spot for the two of them became more and more enticing as the idea began to take its hold in his thought process.

Having nothing else to say for the time being, the red head only listened to the conversation as his eyes were led to what looked to be a compartment inside a drum. Within it, to where Laz was rather surprised, was a bottle, some book that could have had something and that little list.

Seeing Dante take the lil' book from the stash, Laz just shrugged and went along with it until he was warned about what the bottle had contained. Taking the information in his brain like a sponge would do to water, the red headed tried to memorize the details of the content of the bottle. It was alcohol, bottom line that was. And Laz had to hold back a chuckle when the little tid bit concerning Melody thinking that Alcohol was Cider was absorbed into his memory.

Letting the chuckle subside inside him, the red head only listened more intently. These little bits and pieces were what usually mattered. The little victories when it comes to remembering a girls favorite color, their favorite snacks and desserts, these things usually scored you brownie points if any and Laz didn't exactly want to waste the time he and Melody had spent together because he was ignorant of it all.

Seeing these little snack boxes and the occasional chewing gum, the red head had to smile at how childish they were. Then again, Laz could call himself Childish as he himself liked the occasional Pocky and the chewing gum helped him out of his smoking habit. The Prawn Chips though, he's never had them. He'd probably know the taste if Melody ever offered him any but for the time being, the red head took the drum case and flipped open the list that he had just received.

Reading it over, making sure to understand what was written there and not only having the information leak out of his ear once his eyes passed the words. The red head nodded, chuckled and was even surprised at the other things he had managed to find over here. Still, Laz decided to remember all of them and just play along when it was their date.

What Dante said was true, that girls weren't against their dates knowing a little about them. Now what Laz had to do was decide exactly how much he should know about Melody by then. That would take some careful planning and some common sense. He doubted it'd put him in a good light if he knew the girls cup size. As good as the red heads eyes were, they weren't that good.

Fixing everything up and locking the little set with the key, the red head pocketed the key, reminding himself to make a sort of chain for it when he got the chance to make sure no one would dare take it away from him. Information is a rather fulfilling form of currency as they say.

"Cupid eh? So far, so good at least. Helping me out with all this."

Laz started as he mulled over the things and would more or less keep the information to himself and return it if things would become to heated for a certain reason. Either way, Laz had a tugging feeling and that even if he didn't follow it, it'd be alright. Then again, Laz did it.

"So what do I owe you, for this? Your sisters Happiness?"

[Dante Taylors]

Dante began to move his two feet in similar style to pressing dual-kick pedals on a drum. It was a subliminal thing in his mind by now, however impressive the expert movement was. In fact, closer inspection would place Dante's rhythm similar, if not equal to the break in Beast and the Harlot where it was all kick-pedal.

"Melody enjoys a good view. Anything with an excellent view, is something she would love."

[/b] Dante said, his feet stopping abruptly. "I dunno, take her to the top of a mountain, to some kind of geyser, underwater, somewhere where the view is breathtaking, or something. The moment she says 'this is so beautiful' or something, you win. Oh, and... look at her eyes." [/b]

Dante took off his glasses and looked at Laz, if one would look at him without looking at his hair, Dante looked almost like an exact replica of Melody. His eyes weren't as shiny as Melody's, though, this time around, they looked more like when Melody was depressed. "Melody and I have this weird thing, where our eyes show our mood. Ever heard of mood-rings? Whatever. The color comes and goes depending on our mood. Shiny's good, dull is bad, essentially, use your judgment."[/b]

Dante placed his glasses back on, and shrugged. "That's my two-cents, anyway. You'll know what to do when the time comes, at least."[/b]

As Laz asked the final question, he chuckled, partially coldly, partially friendly, sometimes you could never tell with this guy.

"Owe me something? Nah. Just keep her happy, and it's all good. Don't think you owe me anything, if anything, focus on her instead."[/b] Dante said, adjusting his gloves. "Also, this goes without saying, but if you hurt her in any way, I don't care if you're one of the strongest students on campus. But an older brother's wrath is much stronger than anything you've seen before."[/b]

Dante smirked. "But I'm sure that won't ever be a problem. I actually trust you, which is quite the fucking achievement, really."[/b][/font][/blockquote]

[Lazarus]

"Is that so?"

Laz commented as he got a pretty important piece of information that should at least let him get a better location for their date. As such, a good view meant that he was gonna need to find a rathe secret place where only the two of them would know and fashion it enough to make it look impressive. He doubted he would find it so already, the red head had began making back ups for back ups to secure the idea.

"No wonder she liked that flight..."

Laz trailed off as he reminisced on that short yet enjoyable flight the two had experienced courtesy of his vengeful Crobat, who, for once, actually decided to listen to his Master outside of battles. Regardless of it all, Laz knew what he was gonna do to make it as impressive as he could and he had Dante to thank for it.

"Yeah, Mood Rings, I know what they do. Never been a fan of one." Laz shrugged as he remembered that one time where his place was full of the rage with Mood Rings that totally made everyone feel all cool and shit with it. Screwing that over, the red head at the time just gave it to both of his older sisters for the hell of it since he didn't want one.

"Shiny's good and Dull's bad."

The red head resounded for the sheer idea of making sure his mind comprehended the idea and that he wouldn't forget. That would sure help at least, knowing how to tell a persons mood was essential if you wanted to understand them. Patting the secret stash of rather important things to both the red head and the older brother, said red head pretty much stood up and patted his legs to get rid of the imaginary dust that would always appear on his thighs.

Giving a rather confident chuckle and a sarcastic shrug of his shoulder, the red head allowed his hands to rest in his pockets as he kept the drum in between his left side and his left arm, keeping it secure as he turned his head to the right to look at the Match Maker of the day.

"Thanks Dante. I mean it, for once."

A small grin coupled with a two fingered salute from the red head as he gave another laugh. His steps echoing in the rather empty gazebo in where the two had met and discussed their little chat. With information to back him up and being confident with his idea, the red head would head back to his dorm and would start preparing for everything before that day.

[Dante Taylors]

"Doita shimashite, sottare. <You're very welcome, motherfucker.>"

[/b] Dante said, softly chuckling at his juvenile way of hiding his expletive in his other tongue. "Good luck, and use protection, you two. I don't really want to be an uncle just yet."[/b]

Dante grinned as he watched Laz walk by. Once he was out of sight, he patted his naughty book in his hoody's pocket, and grinned devilishly. "This is a good day. Tiring day... but good day."[/b]

Stretching a bit, the drummer took his time and loafed around on the bench before picking up his snare drum, he shook it a bit to check the contents inside, hearing only the snare's 'beads' rattle, he frowned. "Oh, no. I think I left the disc in the other drum..."[/b] Dante facepalmed, then placed the drum to his side. "Well... I hope Laz likes pink-haired girls."[/b]

Sighing, the red-clad trainer began to make way to the forest, he needed to put his snare drum back on his normal set.[/blockquote][/font]

[Tao]

An almost ghostly pale hand softly gripped onto the students shoulder as the grip intensified as the power behind it would normally cause pain to a normal person of everyday life. The silvery sheen of waterfall of silver hair and the ever commanding black suit that the Head Master had iconically worn creating a demented grace as his eyes, ocean blue and glowing, looked down on one of his more...outgoing students.

"You're pretty brave, swearing in front of me."

Tao chuckled as his grip became harder on the persons shoulder as he began to drag the person through the courtyard, waving to the students that looked at him and sent them packing with a deadly and malificent glare that could burn water.

"I see you've been running amok my school with these things."

Tao hummed as he snatched the objects that Dante had with him, examining them carelessly as he placed it inside his suit. How that thing fit, no one needed to know unless they were willing to pay a certain price.

With that though, Tao pretty much threw Dante to an open space, in the courtyard once everyone had already left and they were the only ones there.

"Now, I'll let you off one of the hooks since you've been so elusive."

The head master laughed as he took out a pokeball, inside it was a rather monstrous pokemon that none of the students could probably control. Maybe a few of those impressive ones but then again, Tao knew better than to put things to luck when he could do it properly.

As such, the Head Master pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and produced a ballpen from somewhere on his person as he began scribbling notes on the item. A flourish of his signature and the note was done.

"You've been demoted to Red. And You'll be receiving Detention when the time comes so make sure to be prepared by then."

Tao commented as he slapped the stick note on the kids face before laughing and moving out. If you tried turning around, you'd see nothing except some random tumbleweed that was rolling around.