Black Bull Headquarters

[Bloodedge]

Black Bull's base of operations is a headquarters that houses all of the members. The headquarters is in the form of a large house with asymmetric structures. The house consists of multiple stories with most of them made of stones and bricks. It has a large number of windows and chimneys and a single wooden gate for an entrance. The base is located in a forest within the Common Region.

Several features of the house are a dining hall where the members have their meals, a kitchen to complement the hall, a public bathing area, an underground cage filled with beasts, and a female living quarters which is heavily protected with traps. Regarding living quarters, it would seem to have been established that the senior members have larger quarters than the newer members.

[Apollymi]

At the Black Bulls Headquarters, a young woman with startling red hair awaited the arrival of her Captain an whatever new recruits he'd gained while at the Entrance Exam. Of course, she hadn't gone along because she'd been on a mission herself, but now that she was back, she was ready to see who had been chosen. She waited in full black clothing including a long cloak with the Black Bulls insignia on it. And a hat with a strange design on the front which had wings on either side and a closed eye. Regardless of whatever was to come, she stood waiting for their arrival, outside of a strange brick building which seemed to have multiple layers and a very strange layout.'What kind of newbies did you get this time Danchou?' she wondered, knowing at the very least they contained a bit of edge though the extent of that edge was likely very different than what most would be willing to allow.

[Bloodedge]

Not far from the location of the redhead was a young man with short black hair, wearing a straw hat, jean shorts, and a red vest. He sat on a bar stool with a giant turkey leg in his left hand, cheeks inflated due to the massive chunks he bit out of it at each opportunity. "Danchou's taking a long time. I wanna hurry up and see some new people get initiated," he said, though muffled through a mouthful of meat.

These two would not be waiting much longer. In fact, the very moment the black-haired man spoke, the Captain of the Black Bull squad was finally reaching the end of the forest path toward the headquarters. With him were two young prospects, including the ash-blonde son of the house Vermillion, Leonis. Few - if any - words were shared amongst the trio as they traversed the land on their way to the young ones' new home. The Captain, Heero Yuy, actually only had a single thing to say upon entering the front door of the building. "Tadaima."

[Apollymi]

"You're worried about the wrong thing Klause," the redhead said. She could care less about the initiation, she was more concerned with the delicate balance of personalities. The last thing she wanted was an off personality or two or more being added to the list. Though she had the utmost faith in her Captain, sometimes his foresight made her upset, because she still had to deal with the people before they were proven to be good or bad. Still there was more thing which needed comment from her and she'd give it, right before the Captain made his entrance. "Don't talk with your mouth full!"

Soon enough the arrival of the Captain and two new recruits was underway. Heero Yuy entered with an ash-haired blonde male in tow and also a green haired girl in tattered clothes who didn't seem the least uncomfortable. But looking at her face, one couldn't really tell what she was thinking. It was almost as if she wasn't really a person in there. There was also the eerie quiet as Hikage hadn't spoken a single word since leaving the exam. Seeing this, group of people come together only a sigh could escape the redhead. "Danchou you did it again didn't you?" she asked in reference to a pair of obviously strange recruits, before giving a proper greeting. She'd remember it after the fact and add it in so as not to be rude. "Okaerinasai..." Hikage for her part in this let her eyes travel over all new faces. She was getting a feel for them, figuring out what kind of place and people these were.

[Bloodedge]

"Buh muh muff ishn't fuu~" replied the male in the straw hat, following yet another massive bite taken. As these muffled words escaped him, so too did several shreds of turkey that had been partially chewed, and were now doomed to never be swallowed and digested. Even more food would be launched from his mouth when he heard the voice of Heero. "Yuy-san!" he exclaimed, causing the jettison of roughly half the food his cheeks held before he swallowed the rest in one giant gulp.

Heero stepped casually into the building to guide the other two. The opening query of the redhead took him aback for a moment. He expected to hear this words, of course, but not in front of the new recruits as the first thing they would hear of a Black Bull. "Oi, oi, oi... Relax, these are good guys. Hows about a warm welcome to start, Raina?"

[Apollymi]

"It is! And you're gross!!" she said in before the lad greeted their captain, thus expelling half of his food before swallowing the other half. "This is why you're so skinny, you don't even eat half your food!" she said sounding the slightest bit disgusted by him on the whole. Of course, she was already used to his presence and as such didn't have much else to say about him at all. There was the matter of Heero choosing now to point out that the girl had been somewhat rude, in her choice in greeting. "That welcome was for you... not for them. And you're the reason I can't relax, Danchou," she said cutting her eyes at the Captain. She was of course, nothing if not polite to the new people, even if she thought her Captain needed to take a bit more care in his choices. "Ohayou gozaimasu. Raina Akeldama desu, Vice-Captain of the Black Bulls, Yoroshiku..." she said to the pair of newcomers offering both a smile though she was still cross with her Captain. The green haired girl stepped forward and offered piercing gaze with golden irises and slit pupils. "Hikage..." she gave her name only because one was offered to her. And this was one of the first things she'd said in quite a while, Hikage herself was quite used to not speaking most of them time, but apparently people found her silence unnerving at some points.

[Bloodedge]

"Oi! I'll have you know I eat a lot! You're just mad 'cause my ass doesn't get half the size of yours!" he said while pointing the half-eaten turkey leg in Raina's direction. Given the appearance and mention of the two newcomers, he paused this interaction to raise the turkey leg in the air, as if waving at the young Magic Knights with it. "Artem Klause, Magic Knight Supreme! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!"

Heero threw both hands in the air as he walked forward, stopping upon reaching the nearest couch to fall into. "If I'm the reason you can't relax, you might have to reevaluate a thing or two," was all he had to say. This clause was followed by an extended yawn. From this point forward, he was content to wait until such a time as the inevitable initiation of their newcomers.

Whatever the exchange their Captain and this redhead had together meant, Leonis was unmoved. His hands found the interiors of his pockets as he stood beside Hikage, following up her introduction with one of his own. "Yo. Leonis Vermillion."

[Apollymi]

"I'll kill you." Came the rather simple statement from Raina following the words of Artem. Of course, whether or not she meant this as seriously as her countenance let on was something completely left to the imagination. Whatever the case, this particular group seemed to be less intense than Hikage would have guessed a group like the Blue Rose would have been, and more inclusive than groups like Golden Dawn and Silver Eagles. Of course, the words of the Captain were more than enough to further cement this idea, as he seemed to be so relaxed himself that he fell onto a couch not soon after entering the building, claiming the other girl not being able to relax had nothing to do with him. "All your fault, Danchou," she followed up with a frown. She wasn't wrong about this, the man's relaxed attitude was part of the reason she was troubled, but it was also part of her freedom, a double-edged sword. There was also the fact that this girl was prone to exaggeration among a few other things. Given the introduction of the other person in the room, Hikage's eyes shifted but a simple nod would ensue, she seemed to find this entire conversation strange and thus she had nothing to add to it. "Vermillion?!" Raina couldn't believe her ears, and she was immediately stunned. She wondered what sort of defect a noble had to not end up drafted to another squad without having to take the Entrance Exam. "I come back from a mission and you've done something crazy, Danchou... I can't believe you!~" she chimed, and in this moment, one couldn't tell whether she was pleased, afraid, excited or angry. "Ano... I wanted to be a Magic Knight and get paid to kick people's asses. So... is there a way to get started on that?" Hikage asked, and though it was polite what she said would likely be a bit disturbing to some. Raina was stunned by what was said, but it simply went to prove to her, that her Captain had indeed found someone with a strange personality defect. But this was likely to be mediated by the lad who was royalty he'd managed to pick up with her.

[Bloodedge]

All introductions for those present were said and done. In addition to this, one of Heero's selections had something else, something rather unheard of, to say. She openly admitted to becoming a Magic Knight for the sake of fighting while being on payroll. Leonis knew about this beforehand, so he wasn't at all shocked to hear it. In fact, hearing it now only reminded him of the battle he had with this girl so recently. Artem raised a brow as his eyes grew wider and the turkey leg stopped just shy of his open mouth. In spite of this shock, he stepped forward to look upon this girl more directly. "You wanna kick people's asses? Good for you, but you ain't initiated yet. I guess you're first up then," he stated. Without further ado, Artem stepped past the new duo on his way outside, where he intended to properly initiate the girl named Hikage. Of course, his turkey leg came along with him.

[Apollymi]

Hikage obviously didn't care one way or another for the extra speaking bits of this interaction. If anything she only wished to do what she'd come here for, and everything else, seemed to be getting in her way. Soon enough she was being approached by another, the strange lad who'd introduced himself as Artem Klaus. He'd even gone on to say that regardless of what else she wanted that they hadn't been initiated, and as such she was apparently first up for whatever that entailed. While she was being stared at Hikage stared back, of course, as was generally the case when she wasn't harboring anything resembling malice her face was impassive, and had an emptiness which bordered upon being animal-like. "Hai." she murmured, whatever was about to happen here, she was being led outside, she wanted to assume some form of violence was about to follow this, but she couldn't allow herself to get excited like that in this moment. Once outside she'd wait for the explanation, seemingly devoid of any care one way or another about what could or would happen here. She'd been in two fights today, she hardly cared if she got herself into another one, even with someone who was supposed to be her superior.

Sometime during the staring contest between Hikage and Artem, Raina came back to herself enough to speak. She looked at her Captain as at least two of these people headed outside. "Danchou, is it a good idea to let this happen?" she asked of him. This question was about more than just the initiation. The girl he'd chosen had a very strange reason for becoming a Magic Knight, and she had no idea what kind of feat the girl could have possibly shown to gain her Captain's favor.

[Bloodedge]

Heero yawned again and stretched against the couch. He was hoping the initiation wouldn't occur so soon, but it couldn't be helped. Unsurprisingly, Raina chose to question his choice to allow this occurrence. "Probably. She wants to fight, and she was gonna get this one whether she wanted it or not. It's basically a rule at this point to go through this initiation," he said. This may not have been the answer Raina wanted, but it was all he had for her now. Moments later, he was dragging himself off the couch to follow Artem, Hikage, and apparently Leonis as well to the building's exterior.

Once both he and Hikage were outside, Artem took another bite of turkey and began to chew. In the meantime, he showed an open grimoire. "Kemono Mahō: Rainoserasu Āmā," he chanted. Mana suddenly encased Artem's body, taking physical shape in the form of a rhinoceros. He remained within this armored form while continuing to eat. His following words would be shared from behind the defensive barrier. "OK. Hit me."

[Apollymi]

The response that Raina received was indeed not one she wished for. In fact, she wished at least once that her Captain would make the responsible decision as far as these moments between members were concerned. But no, this day like every other, he'd drag himself off the couch to follow the newcomers outside to see what would happen when they faced the initiation thought up by Artem. 'Ugh, every time...' she thought exaggerating the seriousness of the situation even in her own mind. An exasperated sigh escaped her, but much like her Captain she would also follow out the group, if only so she could be around to deliver the massive, I told you so, at the end.

Meanwhile, Hikage watched as this man before her created a large magic around himself. A vicious grin appeared on this young woman's face, as surprisingly enough she'd get the fight she was hoping for. She felt a strange tingle down the length of her spine. Her eyes lit up and her pupils shrank into almost disappearing slits. If one was paying close enough attention even the young woman's hair seemed to be standing on end, as she felt a sensation she didn't think she'd get to feel twice in a single day. Her nostrils flared as well, as she scented the air and knew for a fact what she was feeling was the absolute truth. "Two in one day..." she started the sentence only to finish it sadistically. "LUCKY!~" when she was told to hit him, she had not the slightest bit of hesitation in her soul. Her body moved forward of its own accord, her grimoire opening mid movement as she aimed to close the space between herself and this large form in mere seconds only to spin away from his form building up momentum as she cast a spell. "Steel Magic: Unlimited Blade Works," this would cause the blades formed by the spell to spin with her at high velocities. She kicked out a couple dozen of these combat blades all aimed for a single point, the horn of this supposed rhinoceros shape. Her aim innately to build up a massive amount of damage to a single point of the form. During this action she snatched up two of these blades in her hands, her aim to follow up the initial strikes with a spinning one controlled by her arms. Her hope that the combination would allow her to break through to the lad, bringing her spinning knives within reach of the boy's turkey leg dinner.

[Bloodedge]

Artem was curious as to what this girl could have been talking about when she spoke of her 'two in one day' experience. Had she seen another user of Beast Magic? Maybe she had been on the receiving end of his earlier statement twice now. There was no way for Artem to know, but he also wasn't at all concerned. The girl deemed herself lucky for the experience. He wondered what sort of experience led to this sort of personality trait, but that didn't matter in the moment. Hikage's first offensive spell use was used in a way that Artem could respect. Many blades were made by her Steel Magic, and she focused them on a singular location of his armor. This didn't seem to be accomplishing anything at all in the beginning. As more and more struck the location, though, the shell began to crack. The cracks caused a full break when Hikage came forth with physical effort. Artem was casually taking a bite at the time, only to have what remained of his turkey leg be shredded as he held it. "That's... not nice. I said hit me," he repeated. "Kemono Mahō: Gorira Aamusu." The pages of Artem's grimoire rapidly flipped to another spell, which granted him magical arms containing all the musculature belonging to those of a full-grown gorilla. Since Hikage had brought herself within such close range already, he swung out with extended reach using his left fist, aiming to punch her torso with enough strength to send her crashing through the forest.

[Apollymi]

Hikage was able to break through Artem's defenses with a quick thinking heavy artillery style, that being said by the time she would have gotten to the appropriate level to harm him, instead she met turkey leg which shredded before her, making her eyes widen. Normally, she went for more centered body parts, but she hadn't expected the break to occur so quickly nor had she counted on being distracted by the idea of food. "Gomen. I'm starving..." she said her words accompanied by the rumbling of her stomach which was both audible and embarrassing. Surprisingly enough though, the girl didn't change the tone of her voice nor the excitement of her being, but Hikage didn't have much time to think on this. Soon enough, the man whose defense she'd broken was using a new spell this one gave him large arms one of which immediately extended towards Hikage's body. Her instinctual reaction made her pull her limbs into herself, making this gorilla fist make contact with the fronts of her arms and knees instead of the center of her being. It mediated the force but still sent her flying back through the forest quite a bit. She was careful to angle herself to eventually be able to come to a stop, though not without breaking a tree or two on the way. "Kufufufufufufu~" she laughed before she took to walking back towards the front. She was tossing one knife around in her left hand as she used her right to rub her head. "I didn't think I'd get to have this much fun!~"

[Bloodedge]

"Huuuh?" Artem questioned, subconsciously tilting his head left by about 45 degrees. His right hand was still shrouded in the gorilla arm spell, but it also still held the remains of his turkey leg. As such, hearing about the new recruit's state of hunger, he held it out before her. "Starving and having fun. Doesn't sound like a combo that's supposed to work out. Eat," he said. A full stomach meant more to the man named Artem than just about everything else in this world. Conversely, an empty stomach was an absolute atrocity. These extremes were a balancing force for Artem, while also being the driving force behind him doing nothing else at all for this initiation, unless Hikage accepted or rejected his offer first.