Visiting the training facility [Private:Warren]

Willow gave a wide grin, quite pleased with the reaction that she elicited from her brother. She just stayed there and smiled while Warren expressed his utter surprise at her unexpected arrival. Finally, she let out a chuckle, slapping a hand onto her brother's armored shoulder, "Of course it's me, bro! Who else?" she claimed, "I got to take the test a year early and aced it!" she bragged, despite quite obviously not acing anything except for maybe the physical portion of the exam, "Just moved in a few days ago and I've been getting used to how things work around here, y'know? So it's been a while, what have you been up to, I assume not just going around and bullying first years?" Willow joked, tossing a glance over towards Mana.

Willow shrugged towards the girl, "Granted, I didn't have to mention it again, but.. honestly, seeing you blush is just a bit too amusing to pass up. It's certainly a face I could get used to seeing, even if you'll end up wanting to kill me for it!" she said before giving yet another chuckle, showing that she's amused by her own antics, "But a bit more seriously, you did well, and it's a good thing that you have some ideas to fix that little 'problem' of yours. But hey, multiple ideas or solutions couldn't hurt, y'know?"

Warren blinked as he processed the fact that Willow had been accepted into the academy nearly a year earlier than most other applicants did. He felt something well up in his chest, and twist at his stomach... Was this pride? But what was this other feeling? Jealousy? No, it couldn't be. Warren quickly squashed those thoughts, giving Willow a brotherly frown. "So you sign up for the same school I'm going to, and you don't even tell me about it? What kind of sister does that?"

He gives a snort. "Hey, I don't bully people, if anything you're the bully right now! Making fun of me like that! And Mana too!" He wraps on arm around Willow's neck, locking her under his shoulder, and drives his other hand into her head, rubbing it back and forth in a noogie. "Why don't we talk about why you were standing off in the back and watching like a creeper instead, huh? You little rat!" Warren of course does all this lovingly, though a brotherly kind of love... Where he's not particularly afraid to hurt Willow whatsoever, though it wasn't as if Willow wasn't afraid to hurt him back.

"Ah!" Was all that Willow could do as her head was gripped into a headlock and then proceeded to be thoroughly noogied. The typically semi-composed and friendly tomboy seemed to turn into more of a child-like figure at that moment as she flailed wildly, trying to escape from her brother's clutches. Metallic thuds could be heard as her fists hit her brother's Dust Carapace. Because of this armor, hits that would at least hurt a bit became all but ineffectual. Not that it mattered as it was mostly the struggled that mattered during times like this; Willow couldn't accept admitting defeat or allowing her elder sibling to do whatever he wanted without a fight.

"I'm the creep?!" Willow asked quite loudly as she continued to attempt to pull away from her sibling, "I'm sorry if it's weird to not interrupt people while it's fighting! It's not my fault you two made it super weird for no reason!" she called out, "Y'think I enjoyed seeing stuff like that? Ugh!" she finished as she tried to stabilize herself. Of course, despite the insults and fighting, Willow was enjoying herself at this moment; possibly more than she has the entire time she had been at Syne. This was one of the few people that she truly felt comfortable with and knew; he was family. With a growl, she even attempted to give a kick to the shin of Warren's armor.

Whether that was successful or not, Willow paused her struggling for a few moments as she caught a glimpse of Mana. Her angry yet playful gaze towards her brother turned into one of worry for her roommate. She wasn't exactly sure what could have been wrong, but she didn't feel that it was from the fight as she was fairly okay with calling it off for the moment. Which means it may have been her that caused such an expression; had she gone too far with her teasing? She didn't mean anything by it, "H-hey, Mana..? You doing alright..?" she asked, even if she was still currently wrapped in her brother's arm being bullied, "Erm... sorry if I said something awkward..."

Warren was unrelenting in his assault against Willow's head, glaring down at her. "Of course you're the creep! You've always been a creep! Ever since I've known you!" Warren lets up as she begins to pound at his armor and kick at his shin, releasing her from his grasp as he crosses his arms and looks down at Willow with a disapproving look. "If you didn't enjoy it, then why'd you stick around? Obviously you were getting something from it."

Seeing Willow glance over at Mana, Warren did the same, blinking in silent surprise at her solemn expression. That seemed extremely unlike her from just moments ago, and he wondered if he'd did something wrong. "I don't think it was the joking around, Willow..." Warren said as he took a few steps towards Mana, leaning down a little to look at her face. "Hey, you okay there? We didn't do anything did we? Are you worried about something?"

Mana stepped back in surprised as Warren leaned down toward her. His face seemed to just appear out of nowhere right in front of her and didn't expect that. She cleared her throat while looking away. "I-I'm fine, really, and you two did nothing. I just got lost in some thoughts, that's all. Not the best thoughts I could have but I'll be alright, so don't bother. It's nothing I swear..." Something was clearly going on since a small shine could have seen in the corner of her eye as she looked away, with a clear look on her face that said that something was wrong. She just didn't want to bother anyone with this little jealousy of hers. She knew how she felt, seeing two siblings messing with each other and would have wished for something like that, but it wasn't her right to bother them with her little problem. She simply kept repeating that everything was alright and avoiding to look at the two.

After a while, Mana looked at the time. It was still pretty early and she had the small spar that she wanted, so she thought about leaving the arena. True it was a way to avoid bothering Warren and Willow, but she also had something that needed to be done, or rather completed, but she had to go in her room for that. "I-I think I'll be going, it was a nice spar Warren and I I'll be happy to spar with you again someday, but I need to do something important now. Oh and Willow, I'll be happy to spar with you as well if you want." She started t make her way out after giving a slight smile to the two.

OOC:Last chance to get her to talk if you want, if not..... -EXIT-

Warren looked over at Willow in curiosity, silently asking her what was wrong with Mana. The two were apparently room mates after all, so she should have a better grasp of what Mana's moods were, right? Then again... How long had Willow even been here? Couldn't have been more than a few days at the very latest.

He didn't know what to say to Mana, or if it really was his place to say anything, but he saw her face and how troubled she looked, and he felt like he needed to say something, even if he had no idea what he should say. Eventually, he seemed to settle on something. "Hey... If there's anything troubling you... I mean, I know I just met you, but... I'd be willing to hear you out. And, I mean, if nothing else... My sister is your room mate. So. Yea. That's all..."

Warren felt more than a little awkward saying that, and gave a heavy sigh. Well, not much more he could do, not without stepping out of his bounds anyways.

Willow the look towards her brother, giving a shrug that signaled that she didn't exactly know what was going on. She quirked a brow as she watched Warren call out to Mana in a way that was rather strange. Granted, she hadn't spent much time getting to know Mana on a deep and personal level either, but at the very least she felt she could make it where the interaction wasn't extremely awkward for everyone involved. Although perhaps the sincerity of the elder Novack's statement was what the black-haired young woman needed, but Willow thought of it as focusing on what was wrong. Paying close attention to whatever was making her feel the way she did, and that wasn't something that made the tomboy feel great about alienating her friend.

Eventually, Willow decided what to do about the situation. To offset Warren's own method, Willow put on a wide smile as she called out to Mana, "Hey, where ya goin'?" she asked before turning towards Warren and waving a hand, signaling for him to follow. She jogged up to close the distance between her and her roommate, "You think you can get away from us that easily? Come now, once we like someone, it's hard to get rid of us, y'know." she joked, aiming to ease the situation and uplift Mana's mood. She let out a chuckle, "But seriously, I was hoping that the three of us could do something, y'know? At least get lunch before the two of us bail on my brother." she said somewhat quietly, but certainly loud enough for Warren to have heard.

Warren gave a sigh of relief as Mana seemed to open up to Willow's attempts to comfort her as opposed to his own. He never was good at these kinds of scenarios, for too often focused on his own studies or training to be able to read the subtle social cues required to handle talking to people reliably. Sure, he could make small talk, and even make friends, but... When it came to more personal matters, Warren sometimes felt like it was much easier to be alone than to have to talk to people and figure out what exactly they were feeling.

He glowered at Mana and Willow as they mentioned just ditching him, though he didn't particularly mind at that point. It was obvious Willow was much better at consoling the girl than he was. "I'm right here you know..." Warren says jokingly, going along with the two girls.. "And I'm not /that/ slow! You try running around in a suit of armor!" He crosses his arms in a huff. "It hurts knowing that you two want to ditch me that bad, especially you, Willow! You see your brother for the first time in years, and you just run off with another girl! The nerve!"

Willow smiled in return, feeling relief wash over her as she watched Mana's mood improve drastically. A sense of relief washed over her as the black-haired young woman showed happiness instead of the sadness she was showing moments before. It filled the tomboy with a sense of pride that she could so easily shift the girl's mood with a few jokes and simply being friendly. She gave a chuckle, continuing their loud whispers, ""No, no that won't work. He's persistent, so he'll hunt you down if you don't give him a bit of attention. Like a big metal cockroach." she stated before giving a shiver, "So we go eat and then we have the real run, yeah?" she asked, nudging the girl and winking to her. However, to her, there was no real fun. Just something to make her brother seem like he's not involved in something quite amazing.

At Warren's calls, Willow turned her head towards the young man, grinning. It was obvious that this was just sibling banter; no actual insults were being thrown. She cupped her hands to her mouth so that her voice would carry better, mostly for dramatic effect, "Sorry, bro! She's just a lot cuter than you!" she would call out before giving a glancing smirk towards Mana, "Really, it's your own fault for not stealing her away first~" she sang out, followed by a chuckle as she returned to heading out with her roommate.

"Metal cockroach, huh?" Warren asks as he walks up behind Willow, hands reaching out to grab her by her waist before he slings her over his shoulder, quickly falling into step besides Mana as he refuses to stop bothering them, much like an annoying mosquito. "What happened to the cute little sister I used to know? You never called me mean names like that when we were younger you know?" Warren says, feigning injury as he places one hand over his heart. "You're breaking my heart here, Willow." Looking back at her, he frowns. "Do you really hate your older brother so much? Well, either way, there'll be no running from me when I'm holding you like this! You'll have to get some grade A bug spray to get rid of this cockroach!"

He turns to Mana, looking down at her with a hurt expression, pouting at her and making a very bad impression of a puppy dog face. "You don't think I'm a bug though, do you? We're friends, right?" He takes a moment to shift Willow's weight on his shoulder, though he doesn't break his stride, walking alongside Mana easily. "I mean, beating the crap out of each other is how friends are made, isn't it? Or is that rivals?" He waves one hand in the air dismissively. "Ah, no matter. I can never remember anyways. I never was too good with that kind of thing."