Alexander had remained silent at the approach of the young man he learned was named "Holiday," and opted to instead let Yrhen deal with the newcomer, as she seemed much more open to these types of interactions. Alexander simply stood passively, watching Yrhen as she vocally balanced open hostility and mere irritation, much to Alex's interest. Apparently the two of them had history, and it's seemed that history revolved around Oharra's rifle. A fourth person approached, a young woman with beautifully fair skin and snow-white hair. Alex averted his eyes, knowing that if he didn't he would stand staring at her, which would be a particularly odd first impression.
Much to his elation however, Professor Brovak began speaking and called the Students' attention, and began to, condescendingly, organize the lot of them. During this period, Alex heard Brovak assign a student by the name of "Matt Harken" to their group. Alex looked around, and found a young boy with a flushed face that refused to look up from his feet walking towards the duo. Alexander was about to speak reassuringly to the newest addition to the group and explain that there was no need to be nervous, but was interrupted by Brovak beginning to introduce the equipment provided to them for the exam. Turning his attention and body towards Brovak, Alexander listened attentively.
Accompanied by the soft sound of
popping a harness appeared before Alexander, thanks to his quick reflexes, he was able to grab it gracefully and strap it on before it hit the ground. A moment later, a rifle appeared along with two revolvers and a knife. With an outstretched hand, Alexander used a small bit of magic and held the weapons in place as he quickly loaded and chambered his rifle, as well as his revolvers. He then sheathed the knife and revolvers, holding the rifle with his right hand and resting the barrel in the ground near his feet. Then, following a third and final
pop, five condenser appeared already strapped to his harness. Glancing to the watch on his left wrist, he noted that his personal crystal configuration still had about 83% of it's charge. Listening to the professor, he also made a note that the provided crystals only had about 70% of the energy capacity his own personal condensers had.
Within moments, Alexander felt the familiar experiance of being teleported, and he instantly began to survey his surroundings; to the far North there was a small cluster of 2 story buildings, and the town appeared to be to his South-East. He noted a small handful of buildings that stood a bit taller than the huts that littered the cities outskirts. One building stood out in particular, a single four story building that seemed to comically dwarf the huts surrounding it.
Turning to his team, Alexander saw that, their newest addition had already packed his equipment and was now sitting on the hands of a brightly colored paper golem, and Alexander nearly shot the thing down on sight.
"Harken... Please disassemble the walking flare. The last thing we need is a nine foot beacon of blue and red to signal our location." Alexander said in a voice that was gentle and kind, but assertive no less.
"O'Harra, take the rear and keep that rifle ready. I'll take point and Harken can stay behind me. Regardless of what happens, if you hear shots, hit the dirt. We're moving to take the four-story building to our SE, and find the temple. We're playing this aggro, any questions?" He half asked, half ordered. Alexander wasn't fond of taking the lead, but he knew how to, and he was good at it. He'd lived the last two decades being prepared for the military, even if he wasn't sure that's what he wanted to do in life, he knew he'd be damn good at it.
Matt's smile faded a bit as his male companion berated him. It wasn't very harsh, but he'd been hoping they'd be more impressed. Everyone at home had always been very impressed by his golem. "Oh, but... umm, if the problem is that he's too tall, then I can fix that! After all, Fizzlestick is a self-folding origami golem! The first in the world!" With a gesture and some unnecessary fake Latin words (Matt doesn't actually know any Latin) Fizzlestick immediately began re-configuring itself once more. It seemed to flatten out, looking less and less like a humanoid until it most resembled an origami frog. Matt was sitting on it's back, once more beaming brightly. Now he was low enough that he didn't stick out above the ground. After seeing this, there was no way they wouldn't be impressed!
"Well? Well? I told you, right? Fizzlestick can do all kinds of things. Like this it'd be fine, right? An I mean, um, he's really fast too. Like, because I gave him long legs and stuff, and he can carry a bunch of stuff too. He's even big enough for all of us!" Indeed the new frog form did seem to have enough room to ferry up to four people on it's back. And even as a paper golem it remained a golem, and so was far stronger than a normal human. The fact that it could so easily carry Matt was proof of that. "If you want to get to that temple place it's best to get there fast, right? He won't be very fast with all of us on him, but he'll still be faster than just walking through the grass." In truth it wouldn't be very much faster, but Matt figured this was the best way for him to be useful at the moment. After all, he was relying on his companions to save him when things started to get dangerous.
Alexander felt a pang of remorse as his newest companion attempted to justify his golem, he was impressed to be fair, animation of lifeless objects was a powerful ability to have, and the boy was clearly well-versed in it's use. As the creature dwarfed down into something resembling a monstrously large frog, Alex couldn't help but smile at the boy and his Golem. Perhaps, however, the golem did have it's uses.
"Can you communicate with him?" Alexander asked with a smile warm enough to melt the coldest of hearts, primarily due to the boy's attempts at Latin. Alexander couldn't help but smile around Matt, to be frank, he was adorable, and his enthusiasm was nearly contagious. However, Alex couldn't think with his heart if he hoped to get the three of them through this exam without a scratch, and out of a mix for concern for his partner's well-being and the gravity of the situation they were in, Alex's smile faded quickly from his lips.
Yrhen Oharra opened her eyes and stood straight again, taking stock of her new surroundings for the first time. The terrain was hilly, with high grass and low shrubs. Plenty of places to hide just by crouching low but there was no real cover. There was nothing that could protect them against bullets or magic if they were spotted out here. It made her feel exposed, especially since there were three of them and she couldn't move freely like she normally would if she were alone.
Catching sight of movement and bright colors right on top of them Yrhen snapped towards it, bringing the new rifle to bear. She realized quickly that it was just Mat, who was creating... something. She watched with a mixture of amazement and horror as a giant, brightly colored paper construct formed.
This boy is.. truly going to get us killed.Fortunately Alex's thoughts mirrored her own, and he told Mat what he needed to hear. Unfortunately Alex also decided he needed to start telling her what she should be doing. While she had come to the Institute expecting to learn and follow the chain of command, something about how Alex just started throwing orders at her was very irritating. At the same time she was relieved it wasn't herself or Mat taking the role of superior officer. Not only that but Alex was probably the best qualified and most experienced of the three of them. Despite this she still couldn't help but feel irked.
Why does this even bother me so much?"Aggro? Breckenridge are you just assuming we know what 'aggro' means? Like you assumed I'd just be fine with you assigning yourself as leader? Lucky for you I do think this is the best arrangement. In this case. Now can we get moving? We're way too exposed like this."Her voice nearly cracked with the last sentence as she thought she sensed movement right behind her. She grabbed at her knife and spun around but there was only grass blowing in a light breeze.
Being out here like this is making me jumpy. There are people out there hunting us even as we're supposed to be hunting them. And that sound... traps and the other teams aren't our only problems. It seemed that both Alex and Yrhen wanted to get moving, and Mat was inclined to agree with the sentiment. His worries from just moments ago had vanished like snow before the sun. Yrhen seemed like a hard person to work with, but Alex's smile made Matt immediately discard his earlier assumptions. "Not really? He can't talk. Some of the fancier ones can, but I'm not sure how to do that. But if I touch him and use some magic I can look through his... well, his memories. Although it's actually a lot more complicated cuz.... well, it is." At this Matt self-consciously started flipping a pen he'd retrieved from his bag earlier. He'd been about to explain the entire system of magically 'freezing' images and sounds, and how golems even 'saw' in the first place, but something about Yrhen's twitchyness made him think she wouldn't appreciate a long-winded explanation. Or a long-winded anything, really.
No longer scared, Matt whispered a word under his breath while placing one hand on Fizzlesticks' back. Immediately the golem lurched forward, using it's light frame and powerful legs to rapidly move forward. Like magic (well technically it was) the boy and his homemade friend vanished into the tall grass, as he could be heard softly but hurriedly telling the golem to slow down a bit.
The warmth Alexander often portrayed disappeared as Yrhen spoke, his eyes becoming cold in a way that didn't seem possible next to the kindness he had moments ago displayed. If they had not recognized him by the his surname and the redness under his eyes, the harsh face he now wore would surely give him away; The Breckenridges were known in military circles to be some of the harshest soldiers the world had ever seen, and their cold but efficient demeanor was not one that went unnoticed. Turning to O'harra, he spoke in a low, daunting voice as his eyes seemed to pierce through her entirely.
"I'm assuming you'd like to finish this exam without knowing what a bullet-wound feels like." He began, enunciating the word "assuming," before he continued,
"So if the assumption is correct, I'd advice you to practice restraint the next time you decide to protest an arrangement that you agree with." With that, he turned on his heal and began to jog briskly, clutching his rifle in a way that hinted to his familiarity with the act. Before long, he was moving alongside Harken and his Golem, and even sooner he had passed them, bee-lining for the large building a few hundred yards away.
Alex's eyes, far more than his words, cut into the girl that knew better than to trust anyone, but who had let her guard down anyway. Alex could be intimidating when he wanted to be, and a chill shot down her spine. She did not flinch or look away, but meeting his eyes and holding her ground was
hard. What he said was hard to counter as well; she had carelessly spoken out of irritation without really knowing why. She still didn't know what had gotten under her skin this much.
So stupid, so very very stupid. He's not Pe'pe, never will be, and I'm an idiot for even once comparing the two of them. At the end of the day this Alex Breckenridge is just another boy who doesn't like it when things don't fit in to how he thinks the world should work. I really... let my guard down after all. But he is right, I'm complaining like this even though I agree with his decision, not even thinking about it before hand. This is how it would work in the military, though. There will always be someone outranking me, telling me what to do. But we're both just applicants at this point. Technically equals but he just decided on his own to place himself above us, above me. Best choice for the job aside, maybe that's what is pissing me off so much? Maybe...Crouching low and holding the new, still unfamiliar feeling rifle close to her body, she followed behind the others as quickly and as quietly as possible. As she kept on the move, alert for any threats near or far, she wondered just how badly getting shot would hurt. Even if death would be prevented by their instructors, there was nothing said about the prevention of wounds, minor or otherwise. Pain was an irritatingly familiar companion in her life but she had yet to be shot. If it happened would it really be any worse than some of the other wounds she'd endured?
Better not to find out.
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