Manners Matter

[Sync]

(ooc: He's actually from Tales of the Abyss, which is an anime based on the game of the same name. The anime used to be on Youtube, but I think it's been taken down by now.)

Truthfully, Sync didn't know why he'd asked. Normally he would have brushed off little kids like Vanellope as obnoxious brats and done everything within his power to avoid contact with them, but this girl was different. An outcast, or at least appeared to be one, and she seemed to understand to a degree about where he was coming from. Not that she was useless, though. She had a purpose beyond fighting and being someone's useless puppet to be tossed away when he'd outlived his usefulness. She had a dream of being a racer. Sync, on the other hand, had no such hopes. The only one he had that could qualify was wishing for his inevitable doom in the arena. Suicidal? It probably was the best way to describe the youth. Not that he'd admit it out loud.

"So screw what the ones who say you can't do it say. You want to race? Prove you can, and then no one'll give you flack about it again," Sync said. Who cared what the ones who were against her said? If Vanellope wanted to race, Sync thought the solution was simple. All she had to do was get out there and do it.

"At least, that's what I'd do."

[Vlad Masters]

"I do hope that all that talking is going to be about your papers." Vlad said calmly. "These are due at the end of the period, in case you forgot." His blue eyes seemed to glimmer a bit with something that no one could read. He was at least thankful that Daniel Fenton was not in his class. That was the last thing he needed, the old ghost had been slowly getting over chasing over and ruining the Fenton's life. So, now he could at least relax and not have to worry about the blasted ghosts.

[Vanellope]

"I would, but I'm not allowed in the kart bakery. And without my own kart, I'm not gettin' anywhere." Vanellope stared broodingly at her pen, which she still had yet to put to paper. She'd tried kart making once before on her own, before King Candy had locked her out, but the attempt... well, getting the right ingredients into the bowl was harder than it had looked and she'd failed at the first stage. Then she'd been caught and literally dragged out of the bakery before she'd been able to try again. Unless she found someone who was willing to bust open the anti-glitch door for her now, there was no way she was getting a kart of her own.

"An' you? You got any dreams or anything?" she prompted Sync. Even in spite of his manner and his, well, everything, he still struck her as nicer than more or less everyone back in Sugar Rush, and she was genuinely curious about him.

She made a face as Professor Masters spoke up again. Did he not realise how hard it was for someone who was known for little more than no being meant to exist and came from an arcade game to write anything either decent of believable about herself at all? In all fairness, probably not. "We're workin' on it," she shot back in his direction, before looking expectantly at Sync for his answer.

[Pinkie Pie]

"I would, but I'm not allowed in the kart bakery."

Pinkie's blue eyes widened. Bakery? "BAKERY?! You aren't allowed in the bakery!? Who told you THAT?! What kind of horrible cruel hearted pony said THAT to you?! Everyone should be allowed to get nummy sweets and treats and things!" She bounced a few times again, this time in annoyance and anger. Who would deny a child like Vanellope entry into a bakery?!

"That's awful! I can't believe that!" Well we'll have to fix THAT[/i], Pinkie thought, tapping her chin and putting on an evil grin.

"Hey mister!" Pinkie said to Masters, "Are there cakes and sweets at these fancy parties? I can do without the balloons but if I don't get a piece of cake, I'll just explode!"

[Vlad Masters]

Vlad smiled at Pinkie Pie before nodding. "Indeed." he replied. "There is many types of food and deserts at the types of parties I am talking about." He nodded, as he thought about the types of deserts at the parties. "I suppose you could say there are deserts that you could only dream about." He was at least glad that one student was happy in his class. Hopefully it would go well. 'Think of it this way Masters, you don't have to worry about that meddling Fenton kid.' he thought.

[Blitz]

Blitz quickly came to the conclusion that attending class wasn't really going to be all that bad. Read a chapter out of some book every night? Write a paper introducing himself? He could do all of that, no problem! After all, he had lots to say about himself.

Moving the textbook aside, the Cano-Sapien pulled out some notebook paper from the black-trimmed dark gray book bag that he'd been given by Professor Hubert before coming to Dante's Academy. Locating a pen, he started to write.

He found himself halfheartedly tuning one cropped ear in Synch and Vanellope's direction. Neither of them seemed too wild about Professor Masters or vice-verse. Right now, it was too early for Blitz himself to form much of an opinion of the man, but he was fine with him. He did find himself sympathizing with the two young humans' situations however, or at least Vanellope's, though he declined to jump into their discussion for the time being.  

And now they were talking about party food. He wasn't as gluttonous as that big walking mop of a dog, his teammate Shag (though he would used the word "teammate" very loosely in their cases), but well, he was still a dog and he liked to eat. A cake sure did sound good right about then...

Not bothering to raise his hand - which was simply more out of ignorance of class procedure then anything else -- he directed a question at their professor. "Parties and cakes are all well and good, but will this class get people to like and respect you?"

[Sync]

(ooc: Blitz, it's not Synch. It's Sync. The spelling you're using is actually the Japanese spelling, and while I commend you for that, I'd prefer if you stuck with Sync. Thanks.)

"Unless you count putting an end to my existence at some point, I don't think I've got much in the means of a dream, kid," Sync said. His statement was flat and, admittedly, almost sounded sort of casual. How could anyone talk about ending their existence in such a way? It would have baffled anyone, he was sure, but Sync didn't care. He'd never cared much before and he certainly didn't care that he was admitting this much to a kid. Whatever Vanellope thought of that much, it probably didn't matter in the end. He'd probably be killed in the fights before long, anyway, so there was no point in doing much of anything in his eyes.

"I'll spare you the whole story, but what it comes down to is this. I'm worthless. That's what everyone's always told me, and I doubt that's going to change any time soon. No amount of manners or classes or any other crap like that is going to change it," he said. He didn't care much about the language he used or what Vanellope picked up on. He'd always been that way, and it would remain that way until some life altering experience occurred. He also didn't care about what Vlad was saying. Instead, he just scribbled down a couple of words to make it seem like he actually gave a damn about the assignment.

"And if this assignment or whatever isn't supposed to count for or against us, why does he care what we write anyway? We could write something as stupid as 'blither blither blither' and it'd still count. Right?"

[Vanellope]

"I don't need to go in the bakery to get sweets, the whole world I come from is made of candy," Vanellope rolled her eyes, not even thinking for the moment how odd that must have sounded to Pinkie and Sync. "The bakery's where the racing karts are made. King Candy says I can't race so he locked me out." No way was she going to mention why he had said that, however; if asked, she would just dodge the question. Vanellope wasn't about to let on that she was a glitch, after all.

She turned away from Pinkie as Sync spoke again, frowning. He wanted his existance to end? What was that about? Not even she, with her life as miserable as it often was, would ever want to just give up on it altogether. She could, however, sympathise with the green-haired youth as he continued to talk, and when she did speak up, her voice was softer than usual. "Hey, everyone's always told me that I'm worthless, too. Ya can't just give inta that, though, you have to prove them wrong. That's kinda why I'm so determined to be a racer; it'll show everyone that they were wrong about me." Who was to say that whoever 'they' were to Sync weren't equally wrong about him?

When the youth voiced his thoughts on the assignment, however, Vanellope grinned. "I like your thinkin'," she enthused. She didn't think Prof Masters would take that very well at all, in all honesty; still, that didn't mean she didn't approve of the idea a lot.