The Maria Tour

Maria blinked, a soft blush coming to her cheeks. What could she offer him in return for his help? She tilted her head at him and pressed her lips together. Here came the bargining stage.
"How long do you think it would take you to train me? I pretty much can just about slap and leave a mark," she smiled slightly. She hadn't thought about owing him anything.
"I don't have any money really...not until my pay check comes through...so what would you want?"

Jecht chuckled at her, she was trying to entice him into teaching her, it wouldn't work. "I'm up for it but..." He would pause, giving her a flirtatious smirk. "What's in it for me?" Jecht would simply reply to her, he wasn't trying to make some sort of money grubbing deal with her, just trying to make it worth his while. He didn't even really want money, maybe a few free packs of smokes, or just a nice quiet night together...Wait what? Why the hell was he thinking of that? Maybe she was right, maybe it does suck to be alone...

Maria grinned, a sly sort of sinister grin as she looked up from under her hair to meet his eyes, her blue eyes flashing dangerously.
"Because I have something that he doesn't," Maria said quietly in a low voice. She didn't want him to die - she hated killing after her first murder; no. She wanted answers from him and she was sure if she got a few good moves in just good enough to get him down so she could...She bit her lip slightly. He had information that she wanted and she had information he wanted. They couldn't kill each other but at least Maria had the upper hand. She shrugged.
"Can you teach a pathetic girl or not?" I heard you were the best fighting teacher here - can you handle the challenge?"

Jecht shrugged at her, he had heard this scenario one too many times before. He wondered why she asked to learn instead of just asking for Jecht to kill the guy for her. Maybe she wanted to deal with it on her own, something that he could respect and understand. He was a natural loner himself, wanting to do everything on his own. He could tell there was more to her story, but she didn't seem willing to tell, another thing he could respect. "So what makes you think a few lessons with me would help you kill this guy?" He wasn't trying to shoot her motives or dreams out of the sky, merely help her see reality. If this guy was a trained killer, a few new tricks wasn't going to stop him.

Maria smiled weakly: she hated lying and she was glad she wasn't good at it, it wasn't something she wanted to persue as a lifelong dream or use it as a talent. She looked down at her hands wondering how best to explain what she knew about her father and what she had found out. She wasn't sure she should tell him before her brother so she'd just tell him a bit of it.
"Basically I think some guy wants to kill my brother and me for something our dad did and I don't want to go down without a fight," Maria looked up to meet his gaze. She wasn't sure if that would satisfy him enough. Suddenly the tables had turned and he was the one talking to her and she the one going quiet. Each one to their own secrets she guessed.

Jecht chuckled at her, he could tell she was lying, or at least she sounded like it. He would calmly speak to her in his deep lazy voice. "You're a bad liar..." A smirk dragged across his face as he finished his sentence, bringing his "Italian Smoke' to the ash tray and flicking some of the ashes off. He brought it back to his lips and inhaled a drag, pulling it away once more so that he could speak. He exhaled through his nose before speaking. "So why do you really want to learn?"

Maria winced at the last question and shuffled uncomfortably. Should she say that she wanted to learn to fight because someone could be going to assassinate her like someone tried to do with her dad? or should she say that she thought learning to fight would help explore another form of dancing? Maria bit her lip. Both of them where true but neither the whole of the truth. She shrugged slightly and looked up to meet his eyes.
"Lots of reasons...1. my brother, I don't want to be crucified in another fight, 2. i think it would help alot with dance - like you said it's another form and it would be easier to teach if I could do it and 3...3...I think I need to learn."

Jecht rose his brow at her, she sure liked to talk a lot. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, maybe even more so of a good thing. Jecht didn't talk much, so she filled in the silence, almost matching him in a weird way. His hands would move to the back of his head, relaxing there as he let out a yawn. The 'Italian Smoke' never fell from his lips, he gripped it well, inhaling a drag as he yawned. He would exhale through his nose as he finished yawning, his eyes looking towards her once again. "I guess." He said with a shrug, he wasn't sure on why she wanted him to teach her anything, but what ever, at least it killed the time. "But why?" He was expecting her to ask him to dance, or something along those lines, but she wanted him to teach her how to fight instead, that was odd to him.

Maria blinked, looking up at him. Dance...and fighting...she wouldn't really think the two were the same but when she thought about it...
"Martial arts is dance I guess...I saw some Japanese people do it once and it looked so gracefull...I guess it is," Maria smiled, thinking. "Mmm...you know you have just given me an idea for some new dance moves."
Maria smiled at him and scratched her lip slightly as she thought over the different dance moves she had to teach. She grimanced. She knew nothing about fighting so maybe she wouldn't be able to do alot of that type of dance unless...
"Hey...you wouldn't be able to teache me some moves would you? I pretty much suck at fighting..."

Jecht grew interested when he heard her say dance, it kind of surprised him actually. He had always found a woman who could dance extremely attractive. He would inhale a heavy drag from her gift, it didn't really bother him one bit. He would exhale, allowing his deep and lazy voice to call out to her,"Dance eh? It's very similar to fighting...Just more peaceful..." He didn't realize it, but he was starting up a conversation with her, possibly even opening up some common ground between the two.

Maria leaned back in the chair, slouching slightly. She had jet lag and she couldn't be fucked to sit upright to be honest. She looked at the cieling for a moment, lost in her ownt houghts as he took his first puff of what had sent some men outside chocking. She glanced back down at him surprised he asked the question.
"Softball and Dance for now and I'm running and after school Swimming lesson," Maria answered simply, shrugging. She knew what he tought so she didn't bother to reply witht he same question.
"Do you enjoy teaching all the fighting stuff?" Maria wasn't really good at fighting unless she got into her other form thens he let her instinct kick in.

Jecht followed her eyes, they showed a lot of what she was thinking, she was worried about her class still. He shrugged at her as he viewed her 'Italian Smoke', he preferred his cigarettes any day. He had just grown accustom to them. "Sure...Why not.." He lazily extended his right arm to her, holding his palm flat as she placed it into his hands. He simply brought it to his lips and placed it there, reaching down for his lighter with his left hand. He grabbed the lighter off the table and pulled it towards the end of the 'Italian Smoke'. He ignited the flame and inhaled the smoke, it didn't seem much different, just a little bit more harsh, but nothing he couldn't handle. "So what do you teach?" He had been pretty forgetful, unsure of if he had already asked that question or not, if he did, what ever. She would just answer it again. Besides, he was looking to change the subject anyway, he hated to speak of his past.

"Well it's good you don't have my pity then, just my friendship," Maria smiled softly before glancing at the clock. She had a class tomorrow at about this time and she wondered how it would go. She wasn't sure if alot of people would do dance, what with it not being that cool and anyone who did do it was most likely to be a girl. Maria shrugged slightly, she didn't believe he was fine but hey if he didn't want to talk she was fine with that. She slid a hand down into her travel bag she had with her: maybe she did have some...hah!
She offered him an italian smoke. It was stronger than the one he had given her but she thought he was a man who could handle alot.
"Want to try the Italian way?" Maria smirked slightly.

Jecht was impossible to read, his thoughts impossible to tell. He was a book that could never be read, a man who kept his problems to himself. He wasn't the type to really open up, nor the type to share much of anything. His eyes would meet hers, his showed no emotion, no sign of life, they were dull yet colorful. Jecht was indeed a very mysterious man, you could never tell what he was thinking. "I'm fine...I stopped caring a long time ago..." Back when I died...Is what I wanted to say...But chose not too...I've said enough... He took in her offers of kindness, still not understanding why she was willing to do this for him, he wasn't use to having people care, always assuming it was a lie. "...I don't need your pity..." He said coldly, he didn't care if it hurt her or not, he was always one who pushed others away, to stop them from getting close. He was sometimes even guilty of acting the opposite of how he actually felt.

Maria grimanced when he said the last line, knowing she had struck something. Her voice lowered to a soft note as she gently offered him a smile.
"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to drag up the past..." Maria bit her lip slightly, having been ignored on the other she just brushed it off, ignoring it. "If you ever...need to...err...talk about something you can just give me a shout...Even if you just want someone to sit with in quiet for a bit? I'll be there," she smiled slightly, trying to show him she really was sorry for dragging up dead memories. She wanted tog et along with her collegues and she didn't like people being upset.
She wondered if he was the kind of guy who hurt inside on his own or one to sit with someone in utter silence and let his memories engulf him. She was unsure whether he would want her to leave now and she would if he asked. She sat on the edge of the seat just watching him, wondering what he was thinking.

Jecht's eyes would shift to the ground as she asked that final question, it had brought back many painful memories, too many to count. Things of his past life he never got to finish, his life had been incomplete. He ignored her other questions, this one just took him by surprise. He cared for some one at one point, for a few people, but one name stuck out more than the others...His first real love, his last real love...Emily...A name he hadn't thought of or uttered in a long while. Painful memories he had suppressed, he had many of them. His eyes would lift back to view her, his facial expression never changing from the dull lifeless expression. "I use to...but that was a long time ago..." He simply replied to her, his words becoming soft and poetic...

"Why not?" Maria asked curtly, her blue eyes flashing her own lips curling into a slight smirk. "I mean...you're my work collegue..shouldn't I be worried about people I'm working with?" she raised an elegant eyebrow. Maybe this guy wasn't use to people caring about him but he'd have to just get use to it. She was...honestly...slightly worried about the guy. He seemed to spend all his time alone brooding and it would just make him feel worse.
"If you don't do something how can the future be editied for you? I personally don't believe in fate but if you do surely what you do know can change what happens? Unless of course you know of some stone tablet it's written in for everyone," Maria bit her lip slightly, looking up at him through the strange of hair that fell across her eyes.
"Don't you have someone you care about?"

Jecht felt a small smirk tug across his lips as he listened to her tell him what he should do. He didn't like that, he wasn't one who took orders very well, and he didn't take very kindly to criticism on his own dream. He wasn't even sure why this woman cared so much, she had just met him. He never viewed it as giving up, he viewed it as accepting his own fate. He was one he strongly believed in it, that your entire life was planned out from day one, slowly being edited as time passes. But the editing on his life was done, his life had been lived and killed, despite how many things he left unfinished, that life had died, along with the name Jecht Spiegel...He wasn't even sure why he gave these people that name, the name of a dead man. But it was all he knew..."I've already had my chance...Now let me ask you a question..." He took a moment to ask her, rolling his neck to the right before doing so. "Why the hell do you even care?"

Maria frowned at the man, if he gave up then he was going to spend his time alone. She concidered him for a moment, thinking about other peoples problems and thoughts and feelings - even her own.
"You can't just accept 'Fate'," Maria scoffed the word - she didnt believe in fate, she created her own future - her own destiny. She brushed her hair out of her face and looked down at her travelling clothes: she looked like a wreck.
"If you just sit here and do nothing then you're giving up - why give up? Youve been given another chance, thats how I see it."

Jecht simply shrugged at her, he didn't believe he came here to be accepted, in fact that had nothing to do with why he was here. He was destined to be alone and he had known that, he had already died and lived alone, it was not a fear of his...At least not a fear he would admit to...His eyes remained cold and uncaring as they viewed her. "No...I didn't come here to fulfill some bull-shit fairy tale... My life's already over... There's no changing the past..." His words were cold, deep, and lifeless. His expression was blank, as if he were bored stiff. If he were destined to be alone for the rest of his dreams, then that would be how it played out...There was no changing it.

Marias eyes soffened slightly as she watched the man carefully: maybe there was more to him than most people thought. A Small bout of trympth twisted in her stomach. She had heard a lot of the kids say he was just moody and like that all the time but she never judged a person untill she had found out why they were like that.
"Do you ever....think maybe that you just don't belong so you came to the place no-one belongs in hope to belong?" Maria raised an eyebrow slightly. She didn't want it to sound rude but some people did genuinly feel like if they were at a place where ervyone was different, opposites might attract. She glanced up into his eyes, they had an odd mysterious beauty to them as she smiled friendly, she genuinly didn't want this guy to feel alone: no-one deserved to be alone.

Jecht had many answers to that one question, few of which he was willing to say. He would simply look up to her, his eyes were different colors, no one but Jecht had known why, another story he was most likely not willing to tell. He would let out a deep breath through his nose before his deep and uncaring voice spoke. "To find out if I'm alive...To find out if this is more than just...A dream..." His words were soft and touching, like those of a poet. He had been unsuccessful with his reasons for being here so far, life was still a dream to him. What was his purpose in being here? Not just this school, but this world. It was like he was watching a dream, a dream he couldn't control, a dream he was just waiting to wake up from...I was just all alone. I couldn't enjoy a game with anyone else. Like living in a dream... That's the kind of man I was... I felt like I was watching a dream I could never wake up from. Before I knew it, the dream was all over....

Maria watched the man carefully, her blue eyes narrowing slightly before she let out a soft sigh. She guessed she just wanted to make a good impression on the school. She leaned back gently, leaving the paper and pens sprawled on the desk. Maria loved to relax but she had never been able since she was 16 and had been on the move with Jay - worry came with the whole non relaxing thing. Maria studied the man curiously. He seemed so...uncaring....yet...there was jsut this little nagging at the back of Marias mind that said don't give up hope on a possible friend.
"So why exactly are you here if you don't give a damn?" Maria was good with kids but being a teacher hadn't been her dream. It seemed like all people who had a problem or where suffering from depression ended up as a teacher. The reasonMaria here though was worry... She shook her head slightly to clear the thought.
"If you don't mind me asking...?"

There was nothing special about Jecht, his voice was lazy and unmotivated, his hair was a mess, he was just himself...A lazy, unmotivated, and uncaring guy....A blank expression ran across his face as she recited his name, he would bluntly reply with.."Spiegel...Jecht Spiegel...." He listened to her as she went back onto the sports subject, still asking him for ideas..."Look, can't we just relax and stop caring about them for a few minutes..." Jecht shrugged lazily, letting out a yawn not long after.

"Maria Parker" she blinked and sat back down slowly. she kne whis first name but not his last name.
"And your Jecht....?" Maria waited for him to completly the last bit as she got out some paper and pens, drawing up a list of sport ideas they could do. She wrote down dance off's, swimming, running races, flying races and fighting competitions along with dueling.
"Anymore ideas?" she murmured in her soft voice. It had a slight italian tang to it as she spoke fluent Italian and had gotten into flow of talking with that kinda voice. It was soft lullying and slightly sexy. Maria was a sucker for accents and the Italian accent was her apsolute favourite.