Next they took us on a tour of the castle or at least a tour of everywhere that we were allowed. Professor Stein was right; some partnerships were obvious and immediate. The big guy, Bull Ratkin, and a tall skinny boy named Roy parted ways at the end of the day with a handshake and a promise to start training together first thing tomorrow. A short stout boy and a tall skinny girl had clicked immediately. And two girls that had never met each other became fast friends right away. I headed back to my dorm bed and flopped down in exasperation.
“You didn’t find a partner either, huh?” A perky voice that reminded me of apple cider asked from over on my left. I looked over, on the bed next to me was another girl flopped in much the same manner as I. She had thick curly brown hair and watery blue eyes. “Don’t get too depressed. You still have two days to find someone. If you start stressing now, you’re gonna psych yourself out. By the way, I’m Jillia Kozum. I’m a crossbow.”
“Ripper Albarn. I’m a scythe.”
“No shit! Really? That’s awesome.” She was obviously impressed. Being a scythe had its perks. Probably because of the title ‘Death Scythe,’ the stereotype was that all scythes were badasses. I smiled a little.
“Thanks, but it’s no good if I can’t find a partner.” I sighed and stared at the ceiling.
She laughed. “Well I’m not any better off than you. When was the last time you saw a crossbow shoot itself? But it’s like I said, don’t stress. It took my Dad like a week before he found a partner, but he did.”
“Your dad’s a Weapon too then?” I asked curious. Jillia seemed nice.
“Yeah, he’s a longbow. He’s retired now though. When he met my Mom the prospect of being a Death Scythe didn’t seem so nice. So now he’s hoping I’ll do what he never did.” Now she was the one sighing.
“Wow. Pressure much?” I asked and we laughed. I thought I might have made my first friend. If only she was a Meister, I thought, and then we’d both have partners. The next day we attended classes with the current students and did our best to socialize with all the other new students, especially the Meisters. But although I did feel a faint connection with some of them there was nothing strong enough to be called resonance. Even Jillia didn’t seem to be having much luck with finding someone. The second day went by without either of us finding a partner. By the third we were a little frantic. We did our best to expose ourselves to all the Meisters who didn’t already have partners, but nothing seemed to click. At least I wasn’t alone. I still had Jillia. However, even that changed at dinner that night.
We were in line for food in the cafeteria with the older students. It was kind of intimidating, but most of them seemed nice. The guy in front of Jillia reached back to get an orange off the shelf and bumped into her. He was a straight up jock, but the size of the dictionary he was juggling in one hand let us know that this guy wasn’t all muscle. He was very apologetic and before we knew it we were all chatting like good friends. His name was Karnino and it turned out that he was a second year Meister without a Weapon. No one had fit him the year before. He and Jillia resonated like crazy.
By the end of the night Jillia took a good long look at Karnino and said, “I think I’m your girl.” In any other situation this would have sounded weird, but Karnino got it.
“I think you’re right.” He answered and they went to go see Professor Stein that night about getting a dorm.
“Don’t worry, Ripper.” Jillia said to me before bed that night, “I’m sure that there’s someone out there for you. I mean look at Karnino, he had to wait a whole year, but here I am.” I nodded and forced a smile, but I was far from content. The truth was though, that even with the older students, and others my age, I just wasn’t feeling any resonance. I was really starting to worry. Was there something wrong with me? Was I un-partnerable?
That night I went to sleep agitated, I tossed and turned and woke up in a sweat, it was way too hot in there. Jillia was peacefully asleep in the next bed over, which kind of ticked me off. I tossed off the covers and got out of bed. I wasn’t sure where I was going, but I needed to walk, I thought that might help me quiet my mind. I didn’t even bother to put on shoes I just grabbed a thin sweater.
I wandered the halls until I came to a small courtyard. Somewhere someone was playing jazz music too loudly in another part of the castle. I sat down on a bench, but couldn’t stay still. I paced around for a bit. I stopped at looked up at the sky. There were no clouds, but the lights from all over Death City were too bright for me to see stars. Instead the sky was cast in a dull burgundy, it was depressing. The jazz music continued to play from across the building. I swayed from side to side, closing my eyes. When I was little I used to take dance classes. Mom had wanted me to be a ballerina. Now I merely danced for fun. My swaying turned to stepping, picking out the pieces of a swing number. I danced with an imaginary partner. But then suddenly I felt a hand light on my waist and another politely taking my leading hand. My eyes peeked open slowly, half expecting no one to be there and deeply embarassed. It was a boy, probably about my age. Tall, thin, and blond. He spun me into a dip.
“Sorry to butt in on your imaginary partner and all, but you just looked so silly dancing her all by yourself.” He had a sarcastic voice. His eyes were dark green and his face held a slightly teasing expression. I didn’t respond at first, I just danced some more. I tried to come up with a sharp retort.
“That’s alright,” I finally answered, slightly suspicious, but too tired and shocked to be rude or witty, “I didn’t have a partner in mind, so you shouldn’t feel guilty.”
“Oh,” His response betrayed the fact that my lack of a rise had thrown him off. We danced for a moment more, “By no partner, do you mean you don’t have a dance partner? Or do you mean you don’t have a Weapon partner?” He looked at me with a politely questioning expression, but without looking like the answer really mattered. I wondered if he was an older student or if I just hadn’t met him yet.
This entire experience was pretty surreal but I answered him anyway, adopting his half-teasing tone, “Well I’m a Weapon myself, but I don’t have a Meister partner, or a dance partner.” He nodded and spun me again.
“You’re a pretty strange girl to dance here all by yourself.” he looked straight at me, the frankness of his stare was slightly unnerving, but he didn’t scare me, I got the feeling that he was testing me out.
“Well I guess I am pretty strange, and silly, but I’m not going to apologize to you for it.” I stopped dancing and stepped a polite distance away from him. Something was different about this boy. “You’re a strange kind of guy to start dancing with a girl just out of the blue when her eyes were closed.”
“I guess that’s just the kind of person I am,” He explained. We stood there for a few minutes without talking.
“Are you a student here?” I broke the silence, thinking that I should say something.
“I am now. I’m a freshman. But I got here too late for orientation. I might even be too late to find a partner.” He smiled wryly, silently suggesting.
“Weapon or Meister?” I asked.
“I’m a Meister.” He answered me, “My name’s Bad Luck.”
I looked at him blankly, “Are you serious?”
“Sure am. What? Is it that bad?”
“Yeah, kind of.”
“Well my real name’s Caleb Smith. But that’s got to be the most boring name on the planet, and my brother calls me Bad Luck, so I thought I’d adopt that name as a Meister. I’m registered as Bad Luck Smith. You can just call me Luck if you want.”
I bit my lip to hold back laughter, “Ok, Luck. My name’s Ripper, Ripper Albarn.”
“Nice to meet you, Ripper. Should I even ask about the name?” He jabbed. I smiled sarcastically. I could feel it now; our soul’s wavelengths were meshing. It was like two gears that fit each other. Every once in a while the gears slipped, but for the most part they worked perfectly. I wondered if he felt that too. We stared at each other for about a minute before he spoke again, “I think you should be my partner. I think that the kind of person that you are, and the kind of person that I am might work well together.” He let those words hang in the air for a while and then held his hand out. I bit my lip and took it, we shook.
“I think you might be right, we will work well together.” He smiled. I grinned. We stood there for a bit and then arranged to meet up at the final orientation meeting the next morning; there we would talk to Professor Stein about getting a dorm. I made my way back to bed, wondering if when I woke up the next morning the events of the night would turn out to be my subconscious teasing me. But somehow I thought that it must have been real. I mean, “Bad Luck?” I definitely wouldn’t have dreamed that one up.
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