Welcome to Gaia! ::

Honestly, this was something he should have done a long time ago. Like, the moment he'd been warned about the dangers of Destiny City, time ago. Before he knew it, Marks would have been here for almost a year, and had luckily avoided most of the dangers. However, now that he was part of the Magical Boys Club, he had his doubts that he could keep that streak going. So that's what brought him here. To this dojo.

It wasn't like Marks didn't know a thing or two about fighting, but Nordic folk wrestling wasn't exactly the kind of scrapping he really wanted to get in to on the battle field - especially with enemies that had inherently more lethal weapons and could teleport.

Not that he wanted to scrap at all! But..it was inevitable. At least knowing a thing or two about self-defense could maybe give him a fighting (hah!) chance out there.

So he stepped through that door, full soft sunbeam that he was with his kind face - fair and lightly freckled - and pale ginger hair pulled back into a messy bun with a cascade of sunrise waves, radiating friendly vibes.

Before even entering Marks noticed the cats through the window, so when he entered he lingered at the door for a moment, making sure it closed fully, watching for any would-be dash attempts. then his attention was drawn to a voice greeting him and he looked up with eyes as pale green as any cats.

With a smile, Marks walked towards the desk where the proclaimed owner and teacher leaned.

"Hello, I am Marks and ah, I was hoping to register for classes."

From the short greeting it was hard to tell that he even had much of an accent, but after more talking it would become more apparent - longer vowels, th's substituted with d's, and some words that started with vowels changing or losing them entirely - nd or und instead of and, eets in place of its, and so on. Nothing that would directly point to him being from the Flanders region of Belgium, but definitely just enough to tip anyone off that he definitely wasn't American at least. So it would have been safe, and accurate, to assume that he was fairly new to Destiny City.

Marks smiled softly down at the napping cat on the desk, crouching down slightly to kitty-level, and then looking up at Peter with a genuinely innocent look before asking;

"I can pet?"

Marks, ever so good with following instructions, gently gave the old kitty the much beloved ear scritches.

"Ah, always a good idea to befriend the wise old men," he said, smiling warmly down at the clearly very loved kitty.

Then, back to Peter, he smiled and replied;

"Happy to be here and meet you as well. Ah, well I am definitely interested in some basic self-defense - this city..it seems like a good idea. But I also would not mind learning some legit martial arts. I would be a complete newbie, though I do have some experience in Glima - it is ah, an Icelandic form of wrestling - very Viking inspired - so it's very different. Probably some habits to be un-learned," he laughed a bit, "But I am happy to learn"

At least, if anything, it meant there was already some discipline, sportsmanship, and a little competitive spirit to work with!

But really - it was perhaps best not to give him too many options - he wasn't good at decisions and could be easily overwhelmed by them. But at least this time it wasn't like the pressure of being asked where or what he'd like to eat or something. THe yogurt section at the grocery store was bad enough - where were there so many options!? What happened to just Strawberry, Blueberry, and Strawberry-Banana? And what the hell was this Greek s**t? He'd rather stick chalk in his mou- Okay so he had opinions. But that was neither here nor there at the moment.

"I can give a basic run-down and some demonstration, but honestly, I'd be far more qualified to teach archery than Glima, hahaha."

Of course, Marks had enjoyed the sport of Glima, but honestly part of the appeal for him was kind of getting thrown around by strong men. It had been an ✧*̥˚ awakening *̥˚✧ so to speak. But archery! he has always been fascinated in how the use or archery permeated pretty much every culture at some point. It was a truly universal art that connected human kind! And then there was the technical aspect of wielding a bow~ He could really go on and on about it. And of course, if Peter were interested in that, he would be happy to indulge in that, too!

But on to class schedules!

Marks nodded, "That sounds good - I won't be rushing after work to get here," he nodded.

Already mapping out a schedule in his mind, and accounting for magic shenanigans, he was quite excited - although he was not accounting for how much time he would inevitably end up spending on the kitties, but time with animals was always time well spent!

Marks might not have been quite so dexterous as to be able to shoot with his feet, but he was pretty good at mounted archery. People could certainly draw their own conclusions from that. :gu_innocent:

Marks nodded, "Tuesday sounds good!"

Deals were struck, and then he went in to the topic of how he got in to archery while filling out whatever forms were needed. It could have been a lot shorter conversation. But the Pandora's box had been opened just a liiiiittle bit, and several things could be learned from it;

1; Marks was well traveled, especially around Scandinavia and Northern Europe.
2; Ancient History NEEEEERRRRRRDDDDDDD.
3; His soft-bean sunshine optimism and active personality had a tendency to land him in potentially dangerous situations, but luckily everything had always worked out! But good lord someone needed to protect him before it didn't.

The conversation was perhaps mercifully ended before Marks could ask his own questions, like what had inspired Peter to study martial arts and open a studio, when others entered the establishment;

"Ah, thank you for letting me take up so much of your time! Tuesday then, yeah?" Marks quirked his head to the side a little, and delivered a last little chin scritch to Zedd kitty, who had been subjected to many gentle pets the whole time.