An intricate maze of trimmed hedges, lawns, flowering bushes, trees, and hundreds of different varieties of roses, particularly English roses. And winding around it all is a cobblestone path with creeping, delicate green moss growing in the cracks. The quaint path leads to an off-path, where sits a large, but pleasant country house with a thatch roof surrounded by a white picket fence. Roses, daisies, tulips, lavender, and aster grow in the flowerbeds, with hydrangea, dogwood, and boxwood shrubs and trees giving flowering shade.

The cottage is the residence of Lady Kaoruko and Ren Katohika, who are attended by several servants in the employ of the Academy... but who report to Ambrose Passero.

While students with plant-based Alices grow the gardens, it's Lady Kaoruko who helps keep it trimmed, neat and tidy, with her ability to summon an unlimited amount of blade spirits.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 03:31, Sun 17 Feb 2013.

Amidst the blooming spring flowers and the gentle greens of the garden flora, lies a small, slender form kneeling in the grass. A white, silken skirt pools around long, slender legs, while long green hair swirls like a river of emerald. She seems asian, specifically of Japanese heritage, though her features are quite exotic; green hair, reflective, green eyes and pale skin. Cupped in her delicate hand is a pink rose in full bloom.

"So pretty." Lady Kaoruko whispers softly, like a gentle breeze.

A whirring noise; a snap of blades. Little creatures gather around Kaoruko, doing her silent bidding without hesitation. They shine in the spring sunshine, metallic and reflecting all the colors around them; very beautiful in a way, despite being deadly. They snap off the ends of blades of grass, making each perfectly even. Others slice off lengths of dead branch, then chop it to bits so it blends in with the dirt of the flowerbed. They dance along the shrubbery, trimming and making the hedges even.

This is her Alice; the ability to summon these creatures made of metal, a metal of unknown origin that can slice through anything, even other Alice abilities. A shadow stands over Kaoruko, but it reflects all manner of light and color. It's one of her summoned blade spirits, the size of a person, made of interlocking blades. It sweeps an arm across the top of a hedge and completely flattens it. It walks, perfectly silent and careful of unnecessarily slicing any flora, except where Kaoruko wishes it.

Her voice is barely audible, but Ren, despite standing several feet away, hears it clearly. His Alice has everything to do with mental prowess, and his telepathy is second to none. Lady Kaoruko's mind is like an open book to him. Within her mind, he hears and sees colors and sounds, peaceful and calm thoughts of flowers and her gardens. Underlying it all is the natural control of her bladelings and blade spirits. It's like breathing to her.

"Kaoru-chan," He calls softly as he draws near. He side-steps a bladeling, and for an instant his link to her mind is cut, as the little creatures have a natural ability to "cut" off alice abilities, like a null. But he quickly reconnects the link and he "hears" her stirring, as if from a dream. "It's time to go to class."

The young man draws his hand down the front of his vest and jacket, smoothing down the narrow lapel of his white coat, though it's already smooth and perfectly wrinkle-free.

"Oh, Class." She says softly as the tiniest of her blade spirits step from the rose cupped in her hand and walk across her finger and into her palm. "I had almost forgotten." Her voice sounds rather sad, and her thoughts become wistful. "It's the first, nicest spring day we've had and I'll have to spend it inside. How... terrible."

Kaoruko draws the bladeling to her shoulder, where it rests against her neck, perfectly tame and perfectly harmless.... to no one else but her.

Lady Kaoruko finally looks up at Ren, noting his familiar paleness. Her thoughts are an open book - this she already knows, but she speaks anyway. "You need more color, Ren-kun. So much white... you blend in with your coat." She giggles prettily. "But you look nice by the hedge, like a big white chrysanthemum against a backdrop of greenery." She smiles innocently at Ren as she offers him her hand to help her up, as any gentleman would.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:23, Fri 08 Feb 2013.

Ren's face grows hot, but he immediately takes her hand when she offers it, a natural gesture. She weighs practically nothing as he helps her stand. He clears his throat and drops her delicate hand. She begins walking ahead quite entranced by the surroundings. He notes the white skirt of her uniform has a grass stain on it. Quite the affront, but Ren knows just the thing to deal with it; he'll send one of their servants to clean it for her. Many of them have Alices specifically trained for cleaning, anyway.

It's a simple matter of drawing one near using his Alice, the tell-tale sign of his alice's use showing in his eyes as they glow red. As the servant, their mind completely under his control, approaches, he notices Kaoruko become tense. She turns and slips her arm around Ren's, hiding her face against his shoulder as the servant approaches. Despite his already rigid posture, he tries to stand straighter, an attempt to make himself taller as, despite their identical ages, Kaoruko has an inch over his height.

"It's all right, Kaoru-chan. The servant is just going to use their Alice to tidy your skirt. Let's keep walking or we'll be late and that's very unbecoming behavior."

When the servant finished with Kaoruko's skirt, never touching her, just using their hands to drawn out the stain using their considerably weak Alice, he sent the servant quickly away, actually forcing them to run.

"There. The servant is gone." He reassured her, calming her with his mind, and patting her hand on his arm.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:56, Fri 08 Feb 2013.

"H-hai, Ren-Kun." She says in her quiet voice. The servant's arrival was very disconcerting, very nerve-wracking. She didn't trust anyone but Ren-Kun, especially the servants... they frightened her. And, especially when Ren-Kun wasn't there to send them away, they watched her. She could feel it... always watching her with eyes that weren't their own. She imagined seeing one blue eye, one red eye... The bladeling on her shoulder chittered anxiously, responding to the rise in her anxiety.

The air wavered around her - the summoning of blade spirits.

Then Ren patted her hand and the frightful image that stirred in her mind dissipated. She sighed and her mind returned to normal; peace and calm, her world of light and greenery. Especially once the servant left. She knew it was Ren's doing. He always made the bad things go away.

The air cleared. The blade spirits were dispelled, no longer useful. The chittering bladeling on her shoulder, however, remained... though it was now considerably quieter.

Lady Kaoruko looked up into the morning sky, the blue was brilliant today. The clouds puffy and white, like marshmallow and... big chrysanthemums. She smiled. Anxiety forgotten.

"It's such a pretty day, Ren-kun."

Ren nodded, his smile not quite reaching his eyes as it did Kaoruko's. He was forced to dispel her anxieties, her fears. He hated having to do it, not being able to comfort her as any normal person would, to let the other use a friend's strength to hearten their own. Instead, he controlled her, as he controlled everything.

He didn't want to control Kaoruko.

"Yes, it's quite pleasant," He agreed, though he didn't consider the world around him on his own; instead, he reviewed the world through Kaoruko's eyes; light and peace and... big puffy chrysanthemums. He walked along the path, pulling her gently along with him. He wanted to let her run through the gardens, do as she pleased.... he had his orders, however. "But class awaits, Kaoru-chan."

Kaoru enjoys her walk to class, though, as the looming brick and mortar gothic castle of the Academy looms before her, it immediately disheartens her.

Ren is of course affected by Kaoruko's mood, though anxieties are immediately dispelled by him to ease her growing depression over having to be inside on such a beautiful day. However, when the bladeling on Kaoruko's shoulder moves to the other, and back again, it cuts his hold on her and he has to keep reestablishing his connection to her mind.

(Ren and Kaoru move to Alice Academy - Main)

This thread had to be restarted as the two characters were played "out of character". However, this thread is being left for FYI until it can be deleted later.