RP: Fort Ready Class 6

“Oh, chibi Toushan-sensei told us to meet her back at the parking lot in about twenty minutes, otherwise she'll be angry and make us run. I love running!” Freyja almost squeed, obviously she was still too young to realise running was a punishment. She focused on Rikou a little more, digging her chin into the covers as she stared at Rikous red eyes. “Hey, haven't I seen you somewhere before?” she asked, face turning to the other side to regard her.

Jairen took a half-step back from the girl as she jumped, surprise registering on his own face for a moment. He hadn't been expecting that from her. Perhaps I should make my presence known sooner next time, he thought.

With a slightly embarrassed look she turned to face him and answered "I'm Daniela. Call me Dani if it's easier!" then paused, before asking "I uh, didn't get yours either?"

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"I'm Jairen," he answered, then paused for a moment. "I, uh...don't have a nickname." His eyes flicked momentarily to his left before returning to her. "It's nice to meet you, Dani." Bowing politely, he left the Nepleslian to her task and returned to making his own bunk.

Tucking the last corner in, Jairen looked around the room. Most of the recruits had finished their unpacking and left, but some were still at it, either chatting with their neighbors as they worked or taking a slower, more casual approach. He wondered how much time they had left before the deadline ran out. It felt like they'd been there fifteen minutes, but it could have been twenty, or maybe more than that. Wish I could keep track of time better, he thought, pushing the lid of his locker closed. I really need to get a watch.

Raising his voice slightly, he addressed his remaining classmates. "Anyone know how much time we have left?"

"Probably not enough, let's get out of here if we're done. Plenty of time later for chit-chat," Makoto replied to Jairen's question. He doubled checked his bunk number and hastened out of the barracks, towards the parade ground.

"Two minutes, nine seconds," murmured Shizuko, relating the countdown results from her mental timepiece as she walked past her neighbors on the way out the door. She glanced at some of the footlockers that were still opened as the slackers (present company not included in that reference) finished putting away their things. The trunk-like footlockers, with the bunk-bed arrangement, were arranged parallel at the foot of the lower bed.

Foot...locker...huh, thought Shizuko, finally understanding the origin of the term. Of course it was obvious, now...

She held the door for a couple of the recruits before another took over and she followed the crowd back out to the field, forming up as she was able.

Hotaru would have nodded to Rikou, but didn't have the chance as the latter had already wandered off to go ask one of the recruits. Oh well, not much could be done about that. Following her own training, the samurai looked over each of the individuals in the room briefly, gauging any possible hostile intentions, glancing back at Rikou and this Freyja between each evaluation. Was Hotaru being paranoid? Probably, but then that was part of the job, no?

The samurai stood away from the others a bit, though close enough to quickly respond to anything of course, as she listened to the various conversations. It wasn't to be impolite, but again, it was her job to be aware of things. The main thing was to put names to faces and keep track of who was who.

As if to reaffirm the idea of 'don't try anything,' Hotaru's hand rested idly upon the hilt of her blade.

Daniela sketched an awkward reply to Jairen's bow and turned back to her gear, slamming her locker shut as she finished packing everything away.

How can it take them that long to unpack? She thought to herself as she headed out the door. How do they make an army from this scatterbrained bunch of... kids?

Arriving back at the parade ground, Daniela dropped into place next to Shizuko and waited (impatiently) for the rest of the recruits.

"Well, Freyja-san, It seems that we should head out, then, no? The other recruits seem to be impatient. Did they use up most of the allotted time already, or am I missing something?" Rikou asked, wondering why everyone was in such a hurry if they had been given so much time and not been in the barracks for very long.

Rikou turned around, and looked to the Samurai whom had accompanied her into the barracks. "Hotaru-San" she called "I think we should go outside with the others, now."

“My, my. Time does seem to fly” sighed Freyja, getting up and bustling over and out of the barracks. “Come on Rikou-san, meet Shizuko-neechan!” she said happily as she left, seemingly losing interest in Rikous familiarities.

MissingNo said:

"Two minutes, nine seconds," murmured Shizuko, relating the countdown results from her mental timepiece as she walked past her neighbors on the way out the door.

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Jairen's eyes widened slightly in alarm at the neko's soft answer. I think the walk over took longer than that, he thought as he hurried for the door. Setting a brisk jogging pace (at least, as brisk as he could manage), he made his way back to the entrance where the other recruits were assembled. Finding a spot in the back row, he fell into line and waited, breathing deeply.

"Hai, Rikou-sama." Hotaru headed towards the door, and held it open. Of course she did a scan of the surroundings as she did so for whatever evils may be out there.

She patiently waited at the door until she could follow Rikou off to the parking lot, if she had heard correctly.

As everyone filed out the building, Rikou followed, and once she was out of the door, she half-folded her legs up and began hovering along, a bit faster than she had before, in order to keep up and make it to the gathering place on time.

"Thank you, Hotaru-San" she sent telepathically to the Samurai, before she went.

Once Rikou arrived, she landed back on her feet again, and walked over to where everyone was forming up, joining with all the others.

Hotaru nodded in response and calmly followed behind. Continuing to survey the area, the samurai counted each step towards their destination, before stopping a ways away from the formed up students and reevaluated them. Her eyes worked double time here. A parking lot meant many vehicles, which in turn meant lots of cover and places for would-be assailants to hide.

The samurai herself felt a bit silly being this paranoid, but it would be better than missing something. Also, she still wasn't that far out of training, and it'd be bad to be getting lazy already.

The slim instructor was waiting right where they'd left her, though her eyes were a bit distant, obviously thinking about something other then them as they came running back. After the entire little squad, samurai escort and all, had formed up, she refocused, looking back at the small group of trainees. "Got lucky on that one. Thirteen seconds to spare is cutting it a bit close." Itsuki shook her head, and pointed off in another direction (Path 22/23). "That's where you're headed next, though. Nothing big, just basic qualifications and a quick set of tests for you. It's about half a mile out there, and all you have to do is beat me out there." That said, the Yamataian woman turned and started walking in the direction she'd pointed.

She is walking... Why was she walking if the point was to beat her there?

Shizuko's mouth twitched into a momentary frown. Instead of running, she took up position just behind Itsuki, matching her pace. The instructor was likely wanting them to wear themselves out running against the gravity, so Shizuko ran a quick calculation of her known stamina, then factored in the weight changes due to increased resistance, then added a little more distance to account for misunderstanding where the turnback goal was and stray due to avoiding other runners and objects.

She would be walking for a while longer, it seemed. If she wanted to remain standing and able to perform further calisthenics, that is.

((edit: punctuation.))

As the recruits fell out Freyja trotted up to Shizuko excitedly, “Look shizuko-neechan, this is Rikou-san.” She spouted, happily “I don't really know who she is, but she has a mean looking lady with a sword with her, so she must be important.” Freyja's hand went to her chin and her eyes wandered as she tried to think “Somehow she reminds me of something I've seen once.” she said, concentrating but obviously not finding anything.

Makoto started jogging at a slow but regular pace 20m ahead of Itsuki. That way, he would be ahead of her but still in sight to make sure she didn't disappear. If she did, he'd pick up his pace.

But for now, with the instructor in sight and himself placed ahead of her, all was well. Though, what the two recruits right next to the instructor were doing, he had no clue. Unless they planned to get there two steps ahead of Itsuki.

Shizuko looked over at Freyja, then the direction she indicated. She didn't really need the directional cue as the bodyguard behind Rikou was difficult to miss, being out of uniform and of course carrying the sword Freyja had mentioned. Shizuko turned forward again, still walking.

"Check your database," she told the bouncy neko beside her. "That is a Ketsurui samurai. We have a royal in the class." Then Shizuko frowned. Something might be wrong with her perception, or the instructor had misspoken, either one incredibly improbable. "Freyja-chan, what did Itsuki-san say we had to do?"



((edit: Punctuation, again.))

Freyja mimicked their teacher, not perfectly but far from unflattering “Nothing big, just basic qualifications and a quick set of tests for you.” Freyja pointed towards where they were heading redundantly “It's about half a mile out there, and all you have to do is beat me out there."

Returning to her own voice Freyja huffed “I'm just waiting for her to reach the split in the path ahead so I can run.” she sounded impatient to actually start. She resumed their old conversation “Ketsurui aren't the only ones with samurai,” she leaned closer conspiratorially “and just what would a royal be doing here, anyway?” It always seemed to her that the only reason they sent perfectly good neko to Fort Ready was to condition the other recruits for life in the Star Army.

Shizuko looked down at the ground a moment. She was sure she had heard the instructor say "there and back"...and the distance had completely missed her notice. Only half a mile? Then the only thing that was the actual destination...

"I have only been alive for less than twelve months. I know as much as you do," she said by way of answering Freyja-chan's question. Then Shizuko accelerated her pace a little, matching Itsuki's pace when she caught up. She almost asked if she could ask a question before realizing the mistake inherent in it, modifying it before addressing her instructor.

"May I ask another question?"

Herd mentality, Jairen thought to himself, is not always a good thing. He had been following the group of recruits as they quickly jogged across the parade square, headed for the path the instructor had indicated. Running without a bag full of gear on his shoulder was definitely easier, even with the gravity increase, and he was able to keep a steady pace with the others. As they passed between the two buildings which flanked the path, something caught his attention, and he slowed his pace and fell back from the group.

There were two paths along this route, one which continued straight and the other which branched off to the left; the instructor hadn't said which one they were to follow. The mob of recruits had chosen to continue going straight, but something seemed...odd about the situation. Was that the right way, or were they all supposed to go left? Jairen stopped at the junction, looking back at the petite Ittô Hei who controlled their immediate futures in the Star Army. Is this one of the tests you mentioned?

Facing down the pathway again, he started to mull the possibilities over. He spoke aloud to himself, a habit he'd picked up at the university, as if hearing his voice helped bring things into focus. "Two paths, only one is the correct one...the rest of the group has chosen the right path, I think I should go left. If I follow the group, and they're right, then there's no problem...we all made it. If they're wrong, then I'm wrong by association...everyone fails the test. If I take the other path, and I'm right, I might look good to the instructor for taking initiative, but the others might resent me for it...if I'm wrong, I look like someone who doesn't follow well, which is bad from a military viewpoint."

Hesitating in his musing to glance quickly back at the instructor, he continued, "A fifth possibility: if I ask which way to go...well, there's no harm in asking, she will probably tell me. And at the very least, I can wait and see which way she heads, then continue that way." Turning to face the Ittô Hei as she approached, he gave her a questioning look. "Toushan-Hei?"