The doorbell echoed through the building another two times before Jack made it to the front door. He opened the door as he let out a complaint.
"I heard you already, no need to keep ringing it."
"Hey, Jack, how's it goin? You really got this whole place to yourself?" Clay dropped a hand on Jack's shoulder as he walked in. "Do you give guided tours?"
Jack sighed as he closed the door behind them. Walking into the building proper he replied,
"No I don't give tours, because there's nothing much to see here. There are three floors, but the top two have been left to rot. They were planning to demolish this whole place before I arrived, so all the furniture and furnishings have been completely removed. It's just walls, floors, and ceilings up there."
To give the clearest example possible, Jack led Clay to one of the far corners of the first floor that had been cleared out as part of the demolition preparations. Jack was neither joking nor exaggerating, during the preparations for demolition the entire building had been stripped. Top to bottom, beds, dressers, desks, chairs, tables, stools, shelves, cabinets, light fixtures, showers, toilets, even the plumbing that wasn't buried in the floors or walls was completely removed. They'd had to do a fair bit of work reinstalling amenities on the first floor so that it was livable again.
"Dang, yeah this place is basically a ghost town huh. Only reason you don't mistake it for an abandoned ruin is all the windows still being intact." Clay voiced his opinion as they walked back towards the furnished section of the building.
"It's pretty much treated as one though, did you know this place is technically off limits to students beneath Rank-1? Since there are two wild beasts here they discourage people from coming over here." Jack revealed.
"Seriously? A forbidden zone on the school grounds?" Clay asked not totally believing it.
Jack sat down and took a sip of water before replying,
"They don't outright say it, but ever since I enrolled here this place has been marked as a 'teachers and graduate students only area'."
Hearing this Clay immediately pulled up a map of the Academy grounds and panned over to Jack's building. The whole area was shaded red and very clearly labeled.
"Holy crap you're serious. I didn't notice before since there are so many restricted areas. Are your pets really that dangerous?" Clay asked with some surprise.
"Not while I'm around no, you remember the field trip and all those wild creatures. But I can't really say the same for when I'm not around." Jack answered simply
"Yeah, when you put it that way, I guess it makes sense..." Clay sank into an awkward silence.
Jack accompanied him in his silence for a few moments before checking his ID bracelet. There were no messages from Rust. She had mentioned she'd be late but it was very nearly noon. With no message saying when she'd arrive or that she couldn't make it Jack was some what uncertain whether to begin assessing Clay or to wait for her. Seeing this Clay latched on to a topic to rescue him from the awkward atmosphere.
"You and Rust get along quite well huh, Jack?" he declared with a somewhat suggestive smile on his face.
Looking up and closing the ID bracelets projection Jack replied,
"Yes we do get along rather well, we've been friends for a number of years after all."
Jack was somewhat confused as to the intentions behind this question, and even more so when, at his response, Clay's smile grew.
"Friends for a few years huh? So you could say you're very close?" Clay's smile grew ever wider as he questioned Jack.
Jack was now both more and less confused about the direction of the conversation; less confused about it's nature, and more confused as to the intention behind it. As such his brow furrowed a small amount as he replied neutrally.
"I wouldn't phrase it in that exact manner, no."
Seeing a trace of confusion and suspicion, Clay stopped smiling quite as grotesquely and continued prying in different manner.
"Hey, don't get me wrong I'm well aware that relationships are forbidden, but I'm sure you're aware how many of our seniors get married immediately after retirement? While it's ostensibly forbidden, a lot is tacitly permitted and ignored as long as it's not too overt and doesn't interfere with our performance. I'm not trying to get you in trouble." Clay assured him before continuing, "So, how far have you guys gone?"
Somewhat stunned by both the assurance of 'secrecy' and the almost disgustingly blunt question, Jack frowned slightly, deepening the furrowing of his brow.
"Nowhere at all, if you really must know." Jack responded with equal bluntness.
Clay dropped the majority of the mangled imitation of a smile, all but his characteristic confident smirk.
"Maybe I misstepped in my phrasing there." Clay backed off a little bit before advancing again, "Are you guys dating? You're 'close friends' after all."
Jack suddenly had a premonition that this situation was going to be a long and overly drawn out process. Attempting to make the most efficient use of his time he answered while standing up and walking into the living room.
"No, Rust and I are not dating. Say what you will about 'fierce rejection being admission'; we really are just friends."
"Yeah, while that wasn't exactly the kind of exaggerated rejection you can call fake, you know how hollow the claim of 'just friends' rings right?" Clay asked as he followed him into the living room.
"I know how it's generally received, yes. But that doesn't mean it can't be true." Jack responded as he looked around for his practice scrolls for essence control testing.
Hearing Jack's response and seeing him 'avoiding' the situation Clay's suspicions still weren't dispelled in the slightest. He changed gears and tried a different tactic.
"Hmmm, so then you think I've got a shot with her?" Clay asked pointedly and looked closely for signs of jealousy or irritation, "I know the Vermillion family name is quite the hurdle, but my Marigold family has a long history of prestigious military service. They might not be on the same level, but it wouldn't much of a drop in status."
Considering that this might be the real reason behind this uncomfortable conversation, Jack, who had just found the test scrolls, answered straightforwardly and firmly.
"No, you don't have a chance. Rust is completely uninterested in starting any such relationships. To be frank I myself am not either, it's one of the several things we agree upon and are similar in. She'll tell you the same yourself, but I ask you to kindly not bother her with that, she has to deal with it often enough as is." Jack answered him clearly and expounded.
Rust had been dealing with 'covert' proposals in the form of requests to join a party from members of prestigious families for years, and it was her confiding her annoyance in this that led to the discovery of their second shared trait- complete disinterest in relationships romantic or political. Their solution to such an issue was simple, stay in active service under the Academy. It was impossible for even the Vermillion family to find fault with their daughter for avoiding marriage when Conquest Academy forbade relationships.
Clay believed his suspicions to be affirmed with this denial and was even somewhat impressed by such a well planned 'cover story'. He decided to stop probing and move on to another topic.
"Well, you might be biased but I'll ask anyway, Who do you thinks hottest out of our new teammates?" Clay bluntly jumped off onto another tangent.
Jack's brow furrowed ever deeper as he finally became annoyed.
"I hadn't really considered it. Here trace the rune path of this essence control scroll." He replied in an attempt to move to a different topic. Clay took the scroll, but not the hint. He followed Jack as they went back to the kitchen and continued speaking.
"It's a bit of a hard contest. Rust keeps her face at least partially covered almost all the time, but she's a real beauty from what I've heard. Iris is rather pretty in her own right and her casual aloofness is a plus as well. Amber might not be as outstandingly beautiful as some, but she's definitely not ugly and on top of that she's one of those people who brighten up the whole room they're in. Honestly I'd be happy to marry any of them." He began to concentrate on the scroll as he finished praising their teammates.
"From what I can see and have heard, you should be a spellsword, right?" Jack ignored him and tried to get back to business. When Clay nodded in response Jack continued, "While it was one of the classes that was abolished due to the high death rate, it was formerly one of the top three classes with the highest damage potential."
"Yeah, my family had a number of prestigious lightning spellswords who made us what we are today, as such I wished to walk the same path as my most renowned ancestors." Clay replied after he finished the scroll.
"Hmmm, no problems with essence control at this level. From what I've read and know it seems like in the first two or three Ranks its more efficient to engrave runes for elemental magick and rely on one's training for your sword rather than directly strengthening your arm, yes?" Jack asked relieved that they finally seemed to be able to talk normally now.
"Yeah, my family have had the tradition of drilling swordsmanship into all of their children, one of their maxims was 'Runes are not for covering your laziness, they're for attaining power humans can't gain through training.'" Clay started reminiscing a little as he replied.
"Your family is smart. Runes do increase your body's abilities, but they certainly aren't the only way to do so and if you only rely on runes you'll never reach the peak. Personally my suggestion to you would be to directly attach an amplification rune to your lightning rune. You should just be able to do it with your level of essence control." Jack suggested.
"Hmmm... Maybe, I was thinking of just adding another lightning spell but that might be a more effective method." Clay considered the suggestion.
"Well, you can think it over for a bit, there's still time before the final exam. I don't believe we have any more business, I apologize for my rudeness but I will be asking you to leave now as I have some things I need to do." Jack bluntly dismissed Clay.
Clay was a little surprised, but there really was nothing else they needed to do and if Jack said he was busy it would be rude of Clay to stay instead. Jack escorted him back to the front door and saw him off. As Clay walked off Jack heard him mutter briefly,
"-odd guy, maybe he's shy. Well this party is still pretty good."