Zeph had taken a detour to observe the layout of the floor in which they had all been assigned. She could note most had began to make their way towards the dinning hall. Perhaps it was their design that the recruits would share a meal together in order to eliminate the inital tension that would come with being surrounded by the unknown she thought. Her ears picked up on a voice that sent the closest thing to a chill she had ever felt.

"Hopefully we have a lot of the same classes,"

The Nolluxian and the Zaneux where of similar status, meaning Zeph was constantly forced into situations that where not ideal for someone of her...taste. Her parents trusted that they would be fast friends,sending her on shopping bouts with the younger Estella. One such occasion ended with her in a one girl fashion show trying on outfits that Estella had hand picked for her.

Her eyes searched for any means of escape, the ventilation was much to narrow, nothing to hide behind. She was trapped and wearing a suit no less...In a situation like this she would need to use a preemptive attack! Without a moment of hesitation she loosened her tie and unbuttoned two buttons that would allow her to look more suggestive. A pair of slender needles slid out of her sleeves, that quickly where used to style her hair.

The beast turned the corner, with a rabbit in its fangs. The poor girl, she had already been claimed Zeph thought.

"Estella." Zeph said with a smirk. "It has been too long. I assume you are heading to the dinning hall as well?"

Nau checked his watch, looking down at the time. It was time for the new Recruits to head down to dinner. He looked over at Tri, who is scribbling furiously on his clipboard. Nau rolled his eyes and walked over to the intercom. He pressed a small, silver button underneath the mouth piece and then pressed the floor numbers that the Recruits were on. "All Recruits please descend to the cafeteria. Dinner will be served shortly. Any Recruit that is late will be locked out of the cafeteria and go to bed with no dinner. And no sleep for you will be staying up watching security cameras with one of the Elite Guards." Nau smiled to himself. "That's all."

Right then, Sky burst in through the door. Kym was not with him. Nau saw the look on his friend's face and knew immediately something was wrong. "What's going on, Sky?" Sky, who normally doesn't breath hard, lets out small gasps of air and shook his head. He stood up, running a hand through his hair.

"It's back," he said, jerking his chin toward the still occupied Tri. When "it" is mentioned, Tri looked up from his clipboard. He narrowed his eyes at Sky and reached up to touch a mark on his neck that almost looked like a handprint. Sky nodded, knowing what the others were thinking. "Yes. It is back."

"I thought Cru killed it?"

"I guess not," Sky said, shaking his head. "He might have killed the physical form, but it's ethereal form is definitely back."

Nau paced nervously. "What do we tell the Recruits? And where is Kym?"

"In the infirmary. She received a nasty blow to the head." Sky looked between the other two. "And we tell the Recruits nothing. They don't need to know until it is captured and destroyed. Got it?" Both Nau and Tri nodded and they all head down to the cafeteria. Tri was stroking his neck nervously, his thoughts taking him back to that fateful day on his seventeenth birthday and he suddenly shuddered. Nau placed a hand on his friend's shoulder and consoled him. Sky glanced over at the two and stared back at the ground, his heart aching from the mention of his partner and best friend earlier.

They walked to the front of the cafeteria and watched as the new Recruits entered the cafeteria. Nau looked over at Sky and Tri as the Recruits began to sit down and chattered among themselves. Sky nodded to him and at precisely six o'clock, the doors to the cafeteria were shut and Nau put on his bravest face as he walked to the center of the room. He felt the eyes of all of the Recruits on him. He smiled and said, "Hello again, all. As I remember, I forgot to introduce myself this morning. My name is Nau Kent. Not long ago, I was like you. I was in training to become a Guard as well." He took a deep breath and continued, "This will be one of the hardest, but greatest experiences in your life. You will make friends… you will make enemies. You will get crushes or girlfriends and you will get a broken heart. You will see friends conquer their fears and… you will see the light fade from their eyes." Tears started to form at the edges of his eyes and he coughed. "I'm sorry." Tri walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Nau nodded and waved him off before smiling once again. "Now, let's eat!" He threw his hands up and servers swarmed from the kitchen doors, bringing out platters and dishes full of food, setting them down in front of the Recruits. Nau met Sky's eyes through the chaos and he saw the same fear he had reflected in his friend's eyes.

@MatParker1711

"Sure go ahead," Citrine said with a smile, gesturing toward the door. She sat down on Sarah's bed and leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. She smiled. This was all kind of surreal. She couldn't wait until class started tomorrow. Right then, the intercom came on and it was the man from earlier today calling everyone to dinner. She looked over at Sarah remorsefully and said, "Well, maybe later I guess?" She then walked out of Sarah's room and headed down to the cafeteria. She took her place immediately, walking toward the front of the cafeteria where the teachers from earlier were standing.

She was starved from this afternoon. She hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, which had been a big mistake. She watched as the other Recruits entered and sat down. She smiled at some of them and turned to face forward, looking as they shut the doors directly at six. Nau began to talk and she watched as he deteriorated from a strong confident man to a crying, miserable person. He tried to re-put on his brave face and he smiled and threw his arms up, releasing the swarm of servers behind kitchen doors. Citrine's eyes went wide when she saw all of the food. She had never had this much food before. She smiled and laughed, wishing Rey was here to see this.

@AgentFallenSoul

Colt chuckled at her last comment and immediately stood back up. He pulled off his vest that he was still wearing. He tucked it into his back pocket. Now, he was completely shirtless. He grabbed Dyana, hoisting her up onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and wrapping her legs around his waist. He laughed and spun her in a circle. "How's this?" he said sarcastically. He was about to head out of the room when the intercom came on.

Once the announcement was done, Colt looked up at Dyana with a smile. "Well I guess I could take you there," he stated and took off at a full on sprint out the door. He made sure to grip her tight and he raced down to the cafeteria, not even slowing down for a little bit. He laughed again at the speed and suddenly he thought of her and his laugh was cut short. He dodged into the cafeteria and walked over to a table. He set Dyana down and pulled out a chair for her. After she sat down, he walked around and sat across from her, pulling on his vest once more. He smiled across the table at her and looked at Nau as he began his speech.

Once he was done, all of the servers burst through the doors and began distributing out food and platters and Colt laughed at how much food there was. He looked across the table at Dyana with a smile and exclaimed, "You'd think they're trying to get us fat!" He grabbed an apple of a stack of apples and took a big bite out of the middle of it.

@Satsuki @CallaLily

"Zephornial," Estella greeted politely. "It really has been and yes we are heading to the dining hall as well. Zephornial, this is Lilith. Do you remember her from our grid? Lilith this is Zephornial Nolluxian. You've probably have heard of her. Our families were good friends, and so were we, weren't we Zeph?" She smiled at Zeph, but it was a bit fake.

She then heard the announcement and said, "We better head to the dining hall quickly. I hope you know where it is Zeph, because we are a bit...well lost. If so, lead the way."

Paige let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding when he accepted her apology. She nodded when he said he was from Slight. They continued to make their way to the cafeteria as he explained what it was like living there. She couldn't imagine growing up like that. It seemed so dull and boring. But maybe it was just that her childhood was too flashy. She turned to look at him when he said he had an important question. When she actually heard the absurdity, she broke into a laugh. "One of life's most important questions."

Just as she was about to answer the intercom came on and all the Recruits were called down. She would claim to be shocked by the ultimatum if late, but it really wasn't that surprising at all. They had to learn to be punctual, it made perfect sense. Walking into the cafeteria she chose a seat and folded her hands on her lap. "So, in answer to your question. I am a very loyal fan to..." She picked at the invisible dirt on her dark blue jeans, stalling. With a chuckle, she looked back up at Linc and grinned. "Vanilla. It's so much better than chocolate. What about you?"

As soon as the words tumbled from her lips, the doors were shut. Looking towards the front of the room, she saw the man who had greeted them outside. He introduced himself as Nau and gave them even more expectations for their stay. When he was done, a ton of servers came out with an abundance of food. She took a sip of water before turning her attention back to Linc. "What's your answer to the greatest question of all time?" She asked.

@_Middle_

Zeph's Eyebrow betrayed her when it twitched with irritation. It twitched once more when Estella was once again acting aloof to the seriousness of a situation. True it was a dinner but a first impression determines at least the next three encounters. She turned abruptly away from the pair and began to walk towards the dinning area with an overwhelming feeling that she lost the first skirmish in this battle.

How could she forget that Estella had already made an impression with the outburst. Well played....

As she escorts the pair to the dinner she talks over her shoulder to Estella. "I do not keep track of your servants, why would I remember this one?" While the words are cold the tone was rather disinterested, It was genuine question not an insult. Rather than wait for the answer she stepped into the dinning hall with hardly a moment to spare, and she allowed the door to close. A simple gambit to show her foe that the battle was still young.

@Karamonnom
---Speech---

Zeph noted the changes in the behavior of the superiors, strange how the men earlier could be spooked so suddenly. Particularly how abrupt the ending was, Zeph stood in quiet contemplation at the numerous reasons of what could have caused such a change. But as she was yanked out of it by the most disgusting crunch...

The sound resonated from the uncouth exhibitionist from earlier. His following comment about the food proved her initial thoughts. She stepped just out of striking distance for obvious reasons before letting lose a small retort.

"Given your repeat offences I believe that you are either attempting to quell your nerves or you are absolutely ignorant of how obnoxious you are. I thought it best to inform you now that I dislike you." Without a second thought she did an about face and began to gather her own meal.

@Scarlettwaters16

@Puffhead

Tarvas decided that this Derric fellow was alright. He seemed to be from Slight as well, and certainly not one of the rich kids.

"Yep, lets eat."

---

Tarvas was surprised, but not overly, at how much food came out of the doors. He barely paid any attention to the speech; it didn't catch his interest.. He decided to feast on an apple to start with.

As soon as Seril asked about the dining hall, an announcement came over the loud speaker, beckoning them all to dinner. Nya stood up abruptly and motioned for him to follow her. "It's this way, I'll show you. But we need to take a short detour into my room so I can change. It'll only take a second. Is that ok?" She didn't wait for him to answer. Fortunately he followed her but stood awkwardly in the doorway. He was a bit fidgety, lightly tapping on the door frame. Impatient boy is impatient she thought. Then she chuckled at her introverted wit. Nya grabbed the recruit gear off her bed and moved just out of sight to change. She continued talking to Seril so he would know not to leave. "My brother graduated Guard training. He was top of his class. He'll be 17 in a few weeks so he hasn't been out on the front-lines yet but I know he's itching to get there. He's going to be amazing, I already know it." She had finished getting dressed quickly and was back to Seril by the end of her anecdote. "Well, I'm starving and I will die if I miss out on the food for even one night. It's rumored to be the best in all of Focal. Are you ready?"

@kagethekiller

Lilith followed Zeph into the lunchroom, shooting disgusted glances at Estella. Whenever Zeph told Estella the servant joke, Lilith knew that she was out of line. Yet now they were in the lunchroom, and Lilith couldn't say a word without being judged for it. "Zeph, honey? I just hope you know this servantis your roommate. Have a lovely evening. Lilith sighed and turned towards Estella. "I despise her and now we sleep in the same room. How unsatisfying. But because of her attitude I believe all she'll make here is enemies. They can do the dirty work." She frowned because of her attitude, but managed a smile as she pointed towards a table. "Let's sit." As soon as they found their seats Lilith was listening to a speech by a man named Zau. Lilith cleared her throat, the short speech hit her hard, because she knew it was true. It wasn't like most of her parents speeches which were meant just to be short and fun, but this was meaningful in an easy way.

@karamonnom

Mason was glad when the announcement rang and called the recruits for dinner in the cafeteria. He assumed his normal process of pushing through the hallways and nearly ran over a couple people on the way. He entered the cafeteria and looked around, his eyes searching for an empty seat.

His eyes landed on the closest seat, about a foot from a group of girl, one of whom he instantly pinned as a Principle girl(@karamonnom). He sat beside the girl, not speaking or making eye contact. He did his best to ignore the obnoxiously loud recruits in the room, but he found himself becoming irritated by the volume. When the speech came, he watched the man, Nau Kent, intently.

He seemed confident, but the façade seemed to be cover some kind of stress. When the servers brought the food out, Mason filled his plate and began eating rather wolfishly. He was sure that his table manners were no where close to adequate for the principle recruits, but if they were paying him any attention, he didn't notice or care

@CallaLily@SheriffLlama
"I'm so sorry for her," Estella apologized."She has a grudge on me, and I don't know why. Well, to be fair, she has something on everyone. Though I have only been nice to her." She meant it, surprisingly. When she was forced to hang out with Zeph, she didn't mean anything bad when she took her shopping. She even chose clothes she thought suited Zeph.

Sitting next to her was a guy with bad table manners, but Estella didn't really care. He was cute and cute boys were her kryptonite. She glanced shyly and smiled at him, which was pretty out of character. She turned to Lilith and gave her the "please help me not look like an idiot" face, or at least she thought it was that face, she never made it before. Her heart was racing really fast, and she didn't know what to do.

@ScarlettWaters16@Satsuki

Dyana felt herself getting lifted up by the shirtless boy with the really...really...really nice body and Dyana almost couldn't contain her blushing, she nuzzeled the back of his neck and buried her face in the back of him without thinking. He asked hows this, to which she replied "It...sucks..." having to contain herself and she couldn't even focus with her arms and legs around the boy. "God damn dude...this is really dangerous...I dont know how long I can without throwing myself at this guy...its the first day..." she mentally put her face in her hands "what do I do..." she snapped out of it after hearing the intercom "away you beautiful guy you!" she joked as he started running.

He took off at full speed and started sprinting down the halls. His hands gripped her legs tighter and she buried her face into his back again, laughing she held on tight as she felt the warmth of his skin under her hands and on the inside of her thighs "I think im in...no I dont know what that is...this is just nice, thats what it is...you gotta keep yourself under control D, just..." she heard him laughing and she lost her train of thought all over again, though he stopped and she felt the mood almost change but he quickly got into the cafeteria and found an empty table. Placing her down, he pulled a chair for her and she smiled as he went to the other side and sat adjacent from her. Sitting she watched as the instructor from earlier that planted Colt on his face talked but suddenly his mood changed, almost like Colts, it was odd but servers quickly started bring food to their table. She grabbed a couple of grapes and watched as a girl came by insulting Colt again and informing him that she didn't like him.

Dyana laughed, throwing a grape in the air and catching it in her mouth "You've gained quite the reputation already hot stuff, I might have to stick around just to make sure you don't cause more trouble" she joked again trying to ease any approaching tension and she threw a grape towards Colt, hoping he would catch in his mouth.

@Satsuki@AgentFallenSoul

As the weirdo bitchy chick wandered off, Colt called after her, "Yeah, no one can stand me sweet cheeks. That why I love myself so much!" He chuckled right as Dyana made the comment about sticking around so he didn't cause trouble. She threw the grape at him and he caught it with ease in his mouth. Actually, he catches it between his teeth softly, not even breaking the outer skin of the grape. He grinned around the grape at her before hooking the grape back into his mouth with his tongue. He munched on the grape for a minute before swallowing and stating, "Where's the fun in causing trouble when you have a handler?" He smiled and laughed before taking another bite out of his apple.

He looked around, looking for the Till guy who tried to fight earlier this afternoon. He couldn't find him yet, but he honestly hoped not to find him. He didn't want to get into a fight with him in front of Dyana... Woah, he thought to himself. Did I really just think that? Do I actually have feelings for this chick? He quickly shook his head. Nah. It's just like usual. It's just a fling. He smiled at Dyana again and said, "You know, I bet I could turn you to my side. Show you just how much fun being bad can be." He smiled and winked at her, taking another bite out of his apple. He saw that girl again, the one who made the rude comment to him, and made sure to chew with his mouth open and very loudly.

The plethora of food was brilliant. There were so many choices. Then Paige asked for his answer; Chocolate or Vanilla. Lincoln looked at her, then looked down at the table for a bit. "Chocolate." Lincoln softly said, still looking down at the table. He realized what he was doing and snapped out of it. He quickly looked up and put a smile on his face, "Anyways, are you excited for the next year? Admittedly, I am a little nervous." Lincoln looked back at the surplus of food. "Dang, look at all this food. If only I had this much back at home. You know back at Slight, sometimes-" Lincoln stopped and his eyes widened. He realized that he is rambling. Lincoln becomes like this when he gets too comfortable in a situation or with a good friend. "I am sorry. Back to my original question. You excited?" Lincoln didn't look back at Paige when he said this, just continued to grab his fork and knife and began pile food on his plate.

@tabbycat

@karamonnom

Lilith smiled at Estella, at this point she thought of two options for her, Estella, and the boy. They'd all become great friends with no benefits, or Lilith would be the quirky one that would get them to start talking and soon become the third wheel that's a friend to them on the side. Option one would be heavenly, but she knew it wasn't likely. So Lilith smiled at the boy who ate his meal like a pig. "Hey! I'm Lilith, that's my friend Estella. How are you? Did you like the speech? I can tell you love the food." This would never work, Lilith thought the boy was handsome but he was also piggish and he was probably not friendly to Principal kids.

@SheriffLlama

@ScarlettWaters16

"And whats the fun in causing trouble and getting kicked out, plus, I'd say you have a pretty cool handler" she threw another grape into the air and caught it. She smiled at his comment and threw a grape at Colts head, hitting him on the forehead "Well bad boy, you can try to show me all you want, I welcome that challenge. I mean not every day I get to room with..." she looked him up and down and made a finger motion "a guy like you and play games? Who wouldnt? Though I hope it wont be all games?" she slightly threw a hint of some type and instantly regretted it "Dude...why...why...why" she mentally pictured herself slamming her face into the table "You were doing so well to..." she kept smiling and grabbed more grapes looking at him watching for something.

She turned her head and looked to see all the other recruits, then she thought for a moment "I hope you aren't looking for that tool of a farmer boy from Till, please don't start another fight, here why don't we"

"dude you aren't go-" getting up from the table she threw another grape in her mouth and walked towards Colt.

"do this so that you can focus on something else?" she sat on his lap and draped her legs over his "...I hate myself..." she looked at him "You aren't gunna...you know, spout a tree on me are you? I would like to think you would take me out to dinner first before that" she joked and put her elbow on his shoulder, tossing another grape towards his mouth.

@ArenaSnow

"Right, let's go then!" He states simply as he made his way towards the door, leading the way to the cafeteria. Once h got there he saw tat Sherwood people had already made it , in fact the place was almost filled. " Hm. Seems we're a bit late. Have you met anyone here yet?"

@ScarlettWaters16

"Sure" Sarah replied a hint of disappointment in her voice as she replaced the uniform in the wardrobe and followed Citrine out of her door. Taking a place behind her, she followed her to the front and sat next to her, listening intently to one of the teachers as he gave what was clearly to him a very emotional speech. It made her even more determined to make a success of this and looking at Cit she hoped that she had found a friend that she could trust.

As the servers came pouring out from the kitchens, Sarah finally realised how hungry she was and the large amount of food look extremely appetising. Pulling a plate of sandwiches towards her, she took a bite of one and turned to her friend as she laughed. Smiling she held out the plate

"Sandwich?" she asked

Alda scanned the crowd entering the cafeteria with a yawn, watching tables fill up. She was a little nervous of having nowhere to sit except for with a bunch of Principle snots, but she reasoned that if she could survive a tree falling on her she could probably also survive arrogant rich people. After spotting Derric, she made her way toward him, thinking that if he'd made any friends she could hopefully as well, by extension.

@CLIW

Derric glanced up to see the girl he had met from earlier and smiled cheerfully, waving at her through the crowd.

"Alda, over here!" He called over the sound of the crowd. He hadn't gotten to know Tarvas very well yet, but he could already tell he wasn't much of a talkative fellow ... He was hoping that Alda could at least add some conversation over the meal.

Mason had come to the facility, expecting to find people he didn't like. The moment he stepped out of the limo, he spotted a select few. When he entered the Cafeteria, however, he expected the principle girls to eye him, disgusted, or possibly reprimand him from his snobby habits. He did not expect for either of them to be nice to him. When the girl beside him smiled shyly, he found himself staring dumbly. When the second girl spoke to him, he decided that he'd have no privacy during this dinner. Might as well make the most of it...

He picked up the napkin and sheepishly wiped his mouth clean. "Uh... Hi." He said. He glanced at her, Lilith apparently, and then to the girl named Estella, who he couldn't help but notice was pretty much gorgeous (Though her friend wasn't ugly, either). "I'm good... I guess. Uh, yeah.. Speech was great.." When she commented about his food, he glanced down at his plate. "Oh... Yeah, the food's pretty good..." He answered, almost embarrassed. He sat back in his chair, fumbling with the seams of his shirt, which were uncomfortably tight on his arm muscles.

This was quite odd, he thought... He felt a strange sensation in his stomach as he sat in a rather awkward momentary silence. He still maintained a hard-set jaw and stiff posture. He shifted his legs under the table, though they were slightly cramped in the small space meant for people who were not 6'6. This time, he took the initiative, and reached a large hand over the table to shake Lilith's hand; he almost knocked down a cup in the process.

"I'm Mason - Till. Nice to meet you." He said, more confident in his words this time.

@CallaLily
@karamonnom