Not all that shines is gold. [Anthy]

[Lucas Blacke]

For the first time in days, or weeks, he hadn't kept track, he felt amazing. He'd obviously kept his issues from his still current girlfriend as he knew it'd end poorly. But he also knew she'd figure it out just by touching him if he'd stay quiet for too long. But his mind was too pumped up for yet another exercise to think about his girlfriend and how he'd handle it.

He plopped down the wooden dummy on the grass on the same spot he'd met Karalie for the first time, near the same bench and dropped the bag he had around his shoulder down on it. He took a bottle of water from his bag and put it on the edge of the bench as he began wrapping up his hands in cloth. He was beginning to really make a name for himself, he figured as he realized he only really put cloth around his hand because Axelle had told him to do it.

It wasn't always the most positive that was said about him, but it evened out at the end of the day. Besides, he was changing. Or was he just using that as an excuse not to change?

He took off his shirt and rolled it up in a ball before putting it in his sports bag. He eyed the dummy and smirked, this would be a good day for exercise. After a few good hits he got into the swing of things and changed to wing chun, weaving his hands along the arms of the dummy with breakneck speeds while slowly circling around the dummy. After a round or 10 he felt something beginning to feel a bit moist and smiled as he continued to circle around the dummy, wanting to see how far he could go in one helping of defenseless dummy mashup.

After about 23 rounds around the dummy he was pretty beat and felt the sweat dripping down his chest. He smiled at his own condition an silently cursed himself for being so out of it. He took a seat on the bench and grabbed the water bottle as he unscrewed the top and poured some water over his chest. It felt refreshing to say the least.

Then he finally brought the bottle to his lips and took a thirsty gulp from the already half empty bottle.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

It had been a while since she had visited the courtyard. But then again, Anthy didn't often come here. Instead, when she felt he need to drink in some sun, she usually just wandered the grounds or something. But then again, she supposed one could consider the courtyard a part of the grounds too, so there was that.

There was no music. Not like six days ago when she had first met Matt. No, it was pretty quiet today actually, even with the few students that were dotted around the area. Anthy gave a small stretch and a slight yawn as she walked out into the open, still waking up from the nap she had taken to make up for the trouble she had had in sleeping the night before. It had been one of those nights where she had gotten too deep into a book and put homework off too late, so she'd missed a bit of sleep trying to get the homework done before morning.

She looked at the book she had been carrying. Yes, it was the same one that had almost gotten her into a tiny spot of trouble. Where The Red Fern Grows. Yeah, she had a bit of a habit reading the old classics. But that wasn't so bad, was it? And it had only been something she started doing recently, so it was a relatively new habit she had formed.

She was just looking for a spot to take a seat, when she saw him. Lucas. Her mind flickered to that awkward memory of what had happened last time they had met and she quickly thought to find someplace else, not quite having the nerve to approach him yet. Sure, it had been literally a week since their first encounter.... but... but she didn't think she was ready... So, Anthy started on her way back in the direction she had come from, hoping he wouldn't spot her before she made it out of sight.

[Lucas Blacke]

He was more thirsty or more needy than he'd thought as he put the cap back on the now empty bottle and threw it into a trashcan without looking. He leaned back on the bench slightly and used his arms for support as he looked around the courtyard. The sun was shining today and making short work of the water the boy had just dowsed himself in. He swore he could feel the droplets evaporate one by one, knowing they'd be replaced by droplets of sweat soon enough.

But before that happened he inhaled deeply through his nose and sighed deeply as he took his phone from his bag and turned on the screen to see if there was anything he'd missed. There had been.. certain events that led him to go around with the sound of his phone turned of, and his background was now no longer a picture of Marnie or Karalie, it was one of some random red haired girl he'd seen somewhere. He thought she looked interesting.

As he opened his music folder he navigated to something motivating. Like the song he used when he was doing things with Sawyer..

His eyes scoured around once more and he was about to hit play as he suddenly saw something in the distance that grabbed his attention. The silhouette was moving in the direction of the entrance, but it didn't seem like it was in a real hurry as it had only just scurried out. It was an odd sight, seeing someone emerge just to back out again.

Upon closer inspection he began to see some resemblance to Anthy in the figure. Judging from the way she's talked to him in the past it was expected for her to avoid human contact, even Luke's. Though he shrugged that off and waved.

''Anthy! Glowchick! Here!'' He yelled with the phone in his hand.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

Luck, it would seem, was not cooperating with her, it seemed, as she heard Lucas calling over to her to get her attention. Both by her name, and by a nickname she really hoped didn't stick.

<Would you prefer he call you Glow-butt, my dear?>

Oh lord, not this too. Anthy tried to ignore the voice of her imaginary not so friend, and quickly tried to make a decision on what to do. She only had a second or so to do it, so yes she had to be fast. Either she could decide to keep going like she hadn't heard him, or she could acknowledge she had heard him and make her way over. Well, as tempting as the first option was, she ended up pausing in her steps and somewhat slowly turning around to look in his direction.

She stood there for a second and a piece before taking a breath and biting her lip as she made her way over to where he was so they wouldn't be having a conversation halfway across the courtyard.

"H-hello, Lucas.... Um... I.... About last time... I'm.... I'm sorry for running off like I did..." She said, once she was close enough to hold a normal conversation.

Well, as normal as she could be right now, that was.

"I just.... well....." She trailed off, fidgeting with her book some and not quite looking at him.

[Lucas Blacke]

The boy watched as the girl came over as he got up to his feet, leaving his phone on the bench for all to see, his collection of music actually mostly being videos. It helped to have some sort of visible guideline for him to play awesome music, since he was in a band he had to be prepared for mostly anything so he had pumped video after video in his phone for those times he hadn't anything better to do.

Sadly enough he didn't quite notice that the screen of his phone had scrolled a bit and was resting on a moving preview of a more raunchy one of his videos. As he didn't see it he took on a smile as the girl came closer and was within earshot. She didn't come face to face close, which wasn't totally without surprise as Luke had the feeling he'd fucked up. She'd only walked off because he had touched her, and no matter how good it felt it seemed like the girl didn't.

But then she apologized to him about running off. Was she serious? Did she think she was to blame? She did realize it was him who very nearly forced himself on her, right? He was the one wanting to see more of her, so he was to blame when she complied and caused Luke to scare her off.

''You're sorry?'' Luke replied as he saw her fidgeting with her book and avoiding Lucas' eyes. ''I am the one who should apologize, really. I was too darn straightforward.'' He nodded.

''So stop it with the apologies, 'kay?'' He cocked his head and shot the girl a smile as he tried to find her eyes and make her look at him.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

When he questioned her apologizing, Anthy felt even more timid and ended up biting her lip a little too hard. It'd leave a bit of a mark later. But, that was what lipstick was for, right? He didn't seem angry, seeing how he hadn't blurted it out or anything, but she didn't understand his confusion. Slowly her eyes worked their way back up to meet his rather bright blue ones. Her expression changed to that of confusion though when he went on to telling her that he should be the one to apologize, though she ended up looking away again as she thought of the fact that she had been the one to make things awkward in the first place.

She was shaking her head in disagreement but he was already continuing, telling her to stop with the apologies. Anthy met his eyes again.

"You.... you weren't. That is... I mean..."

Back to step one, it seemed. She couldn't even form a proper sentence. Anthy took a breath and let it out before trying to stop being so timid. It was kind of sad when a book had more spine than she did.

"You were just trying to help me calm down... And... And I appreciate that." She told him, trying to offer a smile, as small as it might have been.

[Lucas Blacke]

Through all he was saying the girl kept on ingnoring his gaze, but as he saidsd he should be the one apologizing her eyes met his, but instead of returning a smile she looked at him with eyes that screamed confusion. As the boy went on talking he found the girl shaking her head at him, he couldn't really blame her as he pegged her for the kind of girl who blamed most things on herself. Luke had been one of those people who blamed mostly anything on himself not too long ago, but as the weeks had passed he realized that passing on some of the blame to other people helped quite a bit. Intended or not, people held influence.

Luke stepped back a bit and picked up his bag, throwing it on the ground near his set up dummy. As with that time he supposed he wouldn't get all that much training done. He sat down on the bench and on the spot just opened up by his bag being lifted from it. He tapped on the spot next to him, telling Anthy to sit beside him without words. He too realized they were back at square one as she had failed to form full sentences. But this time he had no intention of yelling at her. No. If anything he had other things in mind, but he wouldn't act on them now.

As his hand tapped down on the metal bench three times, ''Come, sit. I won't bite, I promise ya.'' his phone took it as a sign to turn on the screen and provide the outside world with the moving preview of one of his less okay videos which he actually used for certain.. studies..

He quickly grabbed his phone in the hopes Anthy hadn't seen anything and threw it down in the grass near his bag.

''Let's get to know each other, 'kay?'' He added with a smile.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

He picked up his bag from the bench and just threw it on the ground near the odd wooden person thing sticking out of the ground. Dummy. That's what it was. Then, he took a seat. A moment after, he was patting the spot next to him on the bench before telling her to sit and assuring her that he wouldn't bite.

The comment about not biting caused her to smile a little despite her shyness.

"You know... you're... you're the second person this week to tell me that.... The not biting thing." She commented in a soft voice.

She blinked a couple of times when Lucas grabbed his phone off of the bench and threw it on the ground near his bag, having not expected it and not having seen exactly the reason why he had done such a thing. It was probably fortunate that she hadn't, as that would have likely caused her to implode. Not literally but still.

He managed to get her attention by speaking again though, suggesting that they get to know each other. Though Anthy was still feeling a bit timid, she ended up taking that seat after all.

"I'm.. going to keep you on that promise." She said, trying to joke a little.

[Lucas Blacke]

''Second?'' He asked. He wondered who the first was, and though it wasn't that big of a deal he liked the idea of being the only one. But he swatted that lingering thought away and figured that a girl with a demeanor like hers pretty much requested a comment like that. Thinking about it, he was asking why there weren't more instead of being surprised that there was more than 1 person saying that.

As she smiled softly Luke noticed her eyes following his phone as it landed on the soft grass, he was half concerned that she could have seen what was on it before he turned the screen off, though the way she kept on acting gave the boy the impression that she hadn´t. He held back a sigh of relief.

And when hhe suggested they get to know each other better he threw her a smile and waited for her to act. Which she did after a short moment by sitting down on the bench next to the boy. There was a small moment of silence which she finally broke (out of all people she broke the silence) by joking about her keeping him to that promise.

Which promise? Luke wondered. What did he promise? Suddenly it redawned on him that he promised not to bite her. He forced a smile at the girl and looked her in the eyes.

''So, miss Anthy Blacksmith.'' He began as his hand moved forward and over the the seat she was sitting on only to use it for support as he leaned in. ''..do you want to build a snowman?''

[Anthy Blacksmith]

When he inquired about her having mentioned that he was the second one to make a comment like that or close to it, Anthy smiled a bit more.

"Yes, second. Matt... Matt had told me he wouldn't bite too." She replied, seeing no reason not to tell him.

Though, after she had spoken, she realized that there was a good chance that Lucas didn't even know Matt. After-all, this was a pretty big school with a good amount of students, so he could have very well never come across him. But then again, there were likely more than one Matt in the school too due to the number of students as well. Anthy was getting distracted away from that soon enough though as Lucas spoke again. It wasn't the fact he was speaking that had caught most of her attention but what he had said.

The bewildered blond blinked at him briefly, and for a second she looked at him like he'd grown an extra head or something. That was, until she got control of herself.

"A.... snowman? But... but there isn't any snow?"

[Lucas Blacke]

''Well,'' Lucas answered with a shrug. ''with some patience I can make the next best thing appear. It's this white substance.. it'd be a small snowman though.''

He withdrew his supporting arm and moved away a bit from Anthy, partly surprised by the fact she didn't really react to him being so close. Did she like him being close? Did she think nothing of it? If Luke would be given time to think he'd go for the latter seeing as he wasn't the most positive guy on the planet.

He crossed his arms over his bare and still slightly sweaty chest at the mention of the name Matt. It did sound kind of familiar. Didn't he have a band member named Matt? Could that be the same one? She hadn't told him anything other than his name and that he had also made the biting comment so he couldn't really be sure. But if it was the same Matt..

Luke sighed deeply through his nose and opened his mouth. ''Fun fact:'' He said with a forced smile as he lowered his arms fom his chest and raised a single index finger. ''There is a guy in my band called Matt!''

[Anthy Blacksmith]

She had been so shocked about the snowman comment and confused as well, that she hadn't even realised how close Lucas had leaned towards her until he was moving away again after his statement about being able to make a small snowman out of some white substance. She flushed a little in a delayed reaction to the previous proximity.

"What.... what would you make a snowman out of, if not snow? Would it still really be a snowman?" She asked him.

Her eyes darted away from him as his arm crossing brought attention to the fact he was shirtless, and she went to finding a brand new interesting not so interesting branch. That was, until he spoke again and she looked at him once more out of habit. Her eyes stayed on his face though.. Well, until he held up his finger as she ended up looking at that before she went back to looking at his face as he continued.

"Is..... is he blond? Play the guitar? He... he might be the same Matt. He showed me how to play with it a little...It was a little harder than I thought it would be but... but he was pretty patient... So, you're in a band? What instrument do you play in it? Or are you the singer?"

[Lucas Blacke]

His eyes widened. Who the fuck cared about making a snowman without snow? Well, he would, but not right now. Anthy summed up things about this Matt guy she hadd met and it sounded like the Matt he, well, didn't know, but met. And then she said he showed herm how to play with it. Play with what? And she went on to say how it was harder than she thought and that he was patient about it.

There was a small pause and Luke had to mentally restrain himself from blurting out something that would surely scare her off, so he decided to just throw his frustration at the dummy beside him in the form of a punch, uttering the word 'dick' under his breath before turning back the the girl and plastering a fake smile on his face.

''I'm in a band. Kind of. Play all kinds of instruments.'' He said stoically as his fake smile faded from his face. He should have known that whatever Anthy said she didn't realize, it sounded wrong to him but for some reason not to her. Maybe his mind was too fucked up, or just plain fucked. He blamed Sawyer with a small internal chuckle.

But whatever he knew didn't really compare to what he thought of Matt. ''What'd he make you do, Anthy?'' He tried to remain calm.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

There was a moment. One of silence. Slightly awkward as she wasn't sure on what had brought it on. But then, he went to punching the dummy, which caused her to wonder if he was having.... one of his moments. Like those moments he seemed to have had the last time they had met. She didn't ask about it. Why? Well, because he might have had... a problem... and he might have been sensitive about said problem. Or maybe she was just being sensitive herself? If that was the way he was, then that was the way he was. Different people acted different ways.

Still, she did find it odd to see him just punch that dummy in the middle of their conversation when he hadn't been punching it the whole time they had been talking. Even if they hadn't been talking all that long of a time...

He smiled at her. Then, after telling her he was kind of in a band and that he played all kinds of instruments, that smile dropped gradually. She was about to ask about the "kind of" part and on which instruments he played, but he was speaking again before too long, asking her about what Matt had made her do.

Anthy, confused about the wording of what Lucas had asked, was silent for a brief moment, unsure of how to take it. The implication went right over her head and she went to assuming that it might just have been a style of speech he was using. Still, she did want to clear things up.

"Hmm? Oh... I.... That is... He didn't force me or anything. I mean, I didn't expect it, it was a surprise, and before I knew it he was putting it in my hands and showing me how to hold it.... but... But people always have a choice in what they do or don't do, right?" She said, trying to clear up that she hadn't been bullied into playing the guitar or anything like that.

Sure, Matt was forward, and he didn't seem to have a problem with being friendly even towards someone who was a little too timid for their own good, but he wasn't a bully. He hadn't shoved the guitar in her arms and demanded her to play or else, or anything like that.

"Well, he didn't put it in my hands... he... he more of held it out to me and... and then positioned it when he could so my fingers would be in the right places.... But still..."

[Lucas Blacke]

Luke felt himself getting angry, but tried to remain calm as the girl went on to try to explain what Matt had done to her. In a normal state he would have known what she meant; a guitar, the words she used made it kind of obvious. But currently Luke had no business between the lines, so he failed to read into it. He was hearing her speak instead of listening and felt himself growing more and more annoyed with Matt. Which was odd because Anthy wasn't his, was she?

A wonder slipped into his mind asking why she told him about it in the first place. He eyed her fingers and, truth be told, some kind of respect was needed to be given to Matt as he'd quite like those fingers on his own. But still, it wasn't what she said but how she said it that irked the boy, almost compelling him to blurt out for the first time 'Hey I had hot steamy sex with Sawyer.' , though luckily he didn't.

When she continued about her getting fingers in the right places and Matt helping her to get them to comply some realization of what she was talking about seemed to sink in. But for now it wasn't what she meant that got him all hot headed, it was what she said. He had this urge to go look up Matt and have a talk with him, though that would likely end in him getting another talk with the head honcho and he didn't want that.

''So yer one of those.'' Luke said hesitantly. ''So no matter who the guy is, if they show it to you you'll play with it? And what about blowing?''