[Having been defeated by a lucky counter, Mariah left the fight room to go cry somewhere. Unfortunately, though the castle seems to have all manner of secret areas and passages, none of them appear to be really secret. After some searching, the best she could find was a small balcony overlooking the town at the base of the mountain upon which rests Battle High.] [Looking Glass Match... FIGHT!] * Mariah sits down carefully on the balcony and stares down at the town, sniffling. I... can't go on. They're waiting for me. But... *** RDMgryphon has left IRC * A soft sniffle comes from somewhere below you. It sounds like someone else needs to cry, too. * Mariah stands up to get a little closer to the balcony and looks down, momentarily distracted. * There appears to be a girl hanging from the bottom of your balcony. She's very slight, with long, blond hair that trails out in the wind, and she's wearing a pair of white slacks and a loose white blouse. She's also got a quarterstaff strung across her back. ... hi? * Girl looks up and nearly loses his foot grip on the underside of the balcony. "Waaaaaah!" * Mariah pales. "-- oh, god, I'm so sorry... I just heard..." It's okay. I just needed a place to angst for a while. ^_^ This seemed like a good place. * Girl throws himself backward, then forward and flips up onto the balcony next to Mariah. You're okay? ... I'm, uh... I'm glad. I suppose you had the same thought, too. Yeah. ... did you just get out of the placement test? ...yeah. You too? Yeah. So how'd you go down? * Mariah pauses. "I'm not really sure. I was just barely, barely on my feet, and then he hit me, and I didn't even see it coming..." * Girl winces. Anything broken? ... I don't think so. I was okay once I woke up. But it still hurt. * Girl nods. "Yeah. We heal fast, but the pain doesn't go away. Especially the non-physical pain." * Mariah nods. "I just... I wasn't sure if I should be here. And then he beat me *so bad,* 'cause he was *so much better*... * Girl winces again and shifts uncomfortably. I don't think they'd let someone come here who wasn't good enough to compete. I mean... what would be the point? ... I dunno. But I kinda wonder if there was a mistake. Isn't that why they send out the teachers to test everybody? As a last check to make sure you're good enough? But the principal wasn't really trying to hurt me! This guy was! The principal? ... yeah. He tested me. I guess, anyway. Appeared from nowhere, challenged you, beat the hell out of you, and then gave you the invitation? * Mariah nods. Yeah...that's the test, all right. I guess I did okay, but... well, why can't I fight for real? Dunno. I mean... maybe you can. After all, _somebody_ has to lose. ... I dunno, I watched all the fights, and I'm not sure if I could have beaten anyone there. Of course not. If you're sure, you're either wrong, or you totally outclass your opponent. Even then, you stand a chance of losing either way. I mean... if you know you're going to win, what's the point of fighting? The fight is to show who's better and who needs to improve. ... I guess you're right. And that was the placement. I mean, maybe that guy was supposed to beat me. I mean... I lost. Badly, in fact. Four broken ribs. * Girl pulls up his shirt, revealing a nice, flat chest with a large bruise all up and down one side. See? Oh, goddess, that's awful! I still can't figure out whether it was the impact with the wall or the hit itself that did this. ... you hit the wall? It... was a lot rougher than ours; everyone in our room got out okay, I think. * Girl nods. "Some people hit hard. Really, really hard. We didn't have anybody go _through_ the wall, but did you hear about the auditoriums?" I heard they got wrecked... Imagine when we're seniors. Will _we_ be able to demolish buildings accidentally? ... I dunno. * Girl giggles and immediately regrets it, clutching his injured ribs. * Mariah ... cracks the tiniest hint of a smile. "Although there's a guy on my team who maybe will -- he's really powerful." Really? He beat the girl he was fighting in one hit. Either he was real lucky or he's real good. Wow. That's... amazing. My team's really strong. Just not me. Don't be so sure about that. I'd be pretty sure you just need to hit your stride. Maybe. I guess I'm gonna learn. ... Or fail and go home. You're too pretty to fail out. * Mariah blushes. "Really?" Absolutely. I'd go out with you in a minute. Well, once my ribs heal, anyway. I'm not up to climbing the mountain until then. ^_^ Wow... I... man. Hey, you're not the man here. ^_^ ... uh... wow. -- Hey, what's your name, anyway? Clint Sweigart. Pleased to meet you. ^_^ * Girl offers his hand to Mariah. * Mariah takes it and shakes. "Mariah Ritter. Same to you." * Clint smiles. "I came up here to brood, and I ended up trying to cheer up someone with the same problem as me. Go fig." But it worked! Are you okay? Me? Yeah. I just need to follow my own advice. Yeah... and, hey, y'know, half of every must have gotten beaten. And they wouldn't have made that many mistakes, right? Yeah. So... yeah! So... you wanna go out in a few days, once my ribs are healed? ^_^ Yeah! ... where's there to go around here? Down the mountain? Yeah, pretty much. There's a mall, though, and a couple restaraunts. Oh, and a theatre. Oh, that's pretty nice... so, yeah, let's go out! Cool. What room are you in? 103 Alexander the Great. Where are you? Musashi 102. Cool! Great. Seeya in a few days. Or maybe in the cafeteria. Man's gotta eat. * Clint hops off the balcony and floats down to the ground. * Mariah nods and waves to Clint as he jumps down. * Clint waves back as he heads inside. ... I'd better go meet the others at lunch. I hope I'm not late. [Looking Glass Match... Win by submission, Mariah]