Watching Clouds.. (Open)

[Velt Neventa]

Silence. A rare thing for one to hear when they're near Velt Neventa. But there he was, sitting silently beneath a tree, his eyes glazed with boredom.

"There's nothing to do.."

A small sigh escaped the boy's lips as he toyed with the dog tag he wore, but he quickly grew bored of it, and pushed the cold metal back beneath his shirt. 'I don't even remember the last time I was so bored..' he thought, a small frown crossing his face as he picked up a leaf and rolled it between his fingers.

"If only I could talk to my angels.. then, I'd never be this bored!"

A small laugh escaped Velt's lips as he imagined his guardian angels' displeased faces as he rambled on and on to them about his day. What a troublesome thing he'd be to those poor creatures! "They'd drop me like a hot potato if I could talk to them, that's for sure.. "

He had no idea why he used such old sayings, but he did. Maybe they were things his parents used to say; maybe he was just that strange... but whatever the reason, he didn't know why he was, who he was.

But that was beside the point. Humming to himself, Velt proceeded to throw small stones into the air, watching as they landed several feet away, or rather, as they bounced off of his own head. "Yowch!"

Rubbing his sore cranium after a rather large rock had landed on it, he quickly gave up on that way of amusement and decided to simply get up and walk around. "There's got to be someone out here to talk to.." he mused, standing.

Wandering around the grounds, he resumed his humming. As he brushed his multicolor hair from his face, he sighed and stopped, simply sitting in the open area and flopping onto his back, staring at the sky. "Jeez.. am I the only one out here?"

[Joshua]

"The only one except for your angels, evidently~."

Joshua had a way of appearing without notice that had always startled Neku, but he wasn't certain Velt would be so affected. At any rate, not announcing his presence was more out of a desire to observe--how did the boy act when he was alone? How did that compare to his attitude towards others? Meaningless questions, really. A new face around campus made next to no difference to Joshua, but he was finding himself bereft of his favorite toy of late and the new boy with multi-colored hair would do splendidly in place of the ginger-haired one.

Which is why Joshua was careful with first impressions. He was the one from which nothing could hide, and he looked it, leaning against the tree in a way that appeared almost seductive except for his skinny arms crossed over his chest and the almost predatory glint in his eye. "You seem...unusually enamored with them for a child. Pity, really." He relaxed a bit, letting his back rest flush against the tree and releasing Velt from his gaze. "Angels," he continued somewhat spitefully, twining a few gray strands around pale fingers in a sullen attempt at detachment, "are highly overrated."

[Velt Neventa]

Velt, though surprised by the other's appearance, did little to show he heard him. Sitting up, he brushed multi-color strands from his face, turning his head ever so slightly to look at the other boy.

As he listened, he felt his insides twist up with anger, and his fingers twitched with suppressed rage. 'He thinks my angels aren't real?!' he thought, bright blue eyes narrowing.

"Angels are highly overrated."

Forgetting whatever manners he had, he stood. "You're in no place to say that!" he snarled, "With the way you talk, I'd be surprised if your guardian angels even bothered with you anymore!"

Clenching his fists, he looked as if he were ready to punch the other right in the face... but he didn't. What would his guardians think of him if he hurt someone? An awkward moment of silence fell upon him, and he tried to think of more to say, without persuading himself to harm the boy.

Finally, after much thought, he said, "You're just an ignorant prat!"

[Joshua]

Joshua's eyebrows went up in thinly veiled amusement at Velt's explosive response. "Anymore." His lips twitched in a smirk punctuated by a faint, derisive chuckle. "Who's to say they ever bothered with me in the first place~? The lack of them would certainly explain a few things."

He pushed off from the tree and strode closer, unruffled by the remote possibility that Velt might resort to violence, and slipped one hand into his pocket. "After all, what proves that they have the slightest interest in you? For all you know, they tired of you long ago..." He indulged in a knowing little smirk. "And yet I'm the ignorant one. Ah, well...I suppose you must be allowed your petty weaknesses. It must be so spiritless to project all your own strength onto an outer force. Give a ghost the credit." Rolling his eyes heavenward, he made a motion as if to extend a hand, but thought better of it and used it to push his bangs out of his eyes instead, peering around them at Velt calculatingly. "Yoshiya Kiryuu. But you may call me Joshua. I'm honestly charmed--and do you have a name, or shall I pick one out for you?" Not that he actually needed to ask, but keeping a low profile meant not knowing things he shouldn't.

Besides, Joshua thought that Rainbow would be the perfect nickname for someone with his shade.

[Velt Neventa]

Every pore in Velt's body ached to punch the boy, to force him not to speak so ill of his precious angels. Trying to think of a witty response, he frowned, his only response being, "Shut up.."

His eyes gleamed with hatred as he watched the other, his fists clenched tightly. "They never would!" he exclaimed. "If it weren't for them, I would never have been-"

He cut himself off, his lips tightly shut as he thought of what would happen if he'd have continued. 'No one needs to know about my past..especially not him.' Unclenching his fists, he allowed himself to relax, but only for a moment.

"Say one more derogatory word, and I swear I'll rip out your tongue!" he shouted, stepping forward. But, he stopped. He knew his angels would leave him if he turned into one of the people who had kidnapped him... the evil, selfish brutes that maimed and tortured him, and left a long, jagged burn across his chest.

Calming himself, he stared at Joshua, his blue eyes gleaming with lingering anger. "Velt Neventa." As he slowly regained his rationality, a silent sigh escaped his lips.

He could swear he felt a reassuring hand pat his back.

(( Sorry for not posting recently! Busy, busy, busy! ))

[Joshua]

Oh, Joshua liked him. He was very much like Neku in some ways, easy to get to when Joshua found exactly the right buttons and stroked each of them fondly before jabbing them as hard as he could, and attempted the same little restraints--both desperately trying to intimidate Joshua into silence and prove that the words weren't getting to him.

Delightful boy.

"Only one~?" With those words Joshua moved in--moving to pass, but initially he didn't make it look like that and was careful to invade Velt's personal space and stop there first, eyebrows raised innocently and face tilted up into Velt's own. "How barbaric, Rainbow."

It wasn't a retreat, but Velt could interpret it as one if he liked, as Joshua dipped his chin abruptly before stepping past him with an airy sigh--an airy sigh that turned into something of a cough as he took two steps to the side and shot a wary glance at something just behind Velt. He couldn't sense a vibe that would suggest any other presence--it was really just a hunch, but Joshua knew better than to write it off, or to draw conclusions. So he only filed it away under Interesting.

Let's see if we can draw it out~.

"You wouldn't be here. The usual argument,"[/color] he pressed almost idly, ignoring any relevance to whatever dark past the reference may have indicated. "I think." He turned to look flirtatiously over his shoulder with a coy little smirk. "You simply don't possess a shred of self-reliance. Aren't you the egotist, though~? The heavens just happened to select you, out of all those calling out in the midst of suffering, because you were just that incapable of helping yourself."

Tilting his head to one side so that a curl of gray brushed his cheek, Joshua scoffed, violet eyes narrowed in cruel sarcasm.

"Moving."