Gnome: Vhat is this...? ...Ah. Must be something Ripples-related to help the crazy woman keep her sanity...
(Hehehe... Enjoy~ ...While you can...)
Part 1 - Meeting Outside New Ebenthan
Golden-brown eyes scanned the skies above the man as he stood in front of the city's gates. It was quiet. Early in the day, too early for anyone to really be out and about and noticing him.
Probably for the best. He wasn't going to be here much longer. He did need to go report in, after all…
It was always a strange combination of exciting and worrying, whenever he started a new 'life'. It was another chance to make friends, to learn the humans and their ways, to learn their differences…
Perhaps next time he'd gather up the courage to go join one of Ifrit's villages. He knew they tended to look, speak, and act very differently from the other humans, after all. It would be an interesting challenge to try to live among them without drawing his younger brother's attention.
"Lost?"
He jumped a bit, spinning around in shock.
That was… a rather neat trick. It wasn't often that men could sneak up on him… and yet, that was exactly what this man had done. Brown hair, lighter brown eyes… honestly, they almost could have passed for brothers.
"No, simply… Oh dear. Almost late now. Excuse me," he replied as the time finally registered.
He kept forgetting that for humans, time passed much faster.
The man chuckled. "I'm guessing you're the new guy from Alkast?"
He nodded. "I am." Hm, the man who'd snuck up on him was wearing a military uniform, as well… He really needed to get going.
He started walking, long legs carrying him rather easily through the gates and across the stones of the humans' roads. The man followed him, footsteps quiet even as he practically jogged to keep up.
"Might as well come with you. Even if Colonel Raxan starts throwing a fit, might as well spare you a headache on your first day."
He glanced over at the man again, then held out a hand in a human greeting. "Sergeant Gaius Shale," he introduced himself.
The man smiled and shook his hand—what a funny greeting, but… hm, firm grip, not too strong, interesting—before replying. "Major Barakaru Masaru. Er… Masaru Barakaru. Sorry, I'm—"
"Clan Barakaru," Gaius murmured. He was fully aware of the Clans. There were a little over two dozen of them, after all.
"You… know about the Clans?"
He nodded.
He knew. He knew they worked outside of just fonons, knew that their knowledge was of a time that predated even his elder brother.
And now his curiosity had been piqued. "A little," he replied. "There is rather a bit of information floating around, if you know vhere to look for it. But it is… patchy, at best."
Masaru shot him an amused look. Whether it was because of his accent, which was rather distinctly Bergan in nature, or if it was because of the less-than-subtle fishing for information, Gaius didn't know.
He wanted to, though. He was curious about the humans, truly. He wanted to know everything he could possibly learn from them, and he'd already learned so much in the last few centuries… So much more could be learned yet, he knew.
Like the hand-shaking. Why was that so much of a social standard?
They stepped into the military headquarters of New Ebenthan, and Gaius was reminded immediately of why he'd been dithering between New Ebenthan and Bergan for so many months.
King Archibald was rather… well.
He wasn't well-suited to a peacetime rule, truly.
Masaru glanced around, even as Gaius rapidly familiarized himself with the building's labeling. "Room?"
"14-C," Gaius replied immediately. Hm, everything on this floor seemed to be an 'A'…
"This way," Masaru said, tone leaving no room for argument, not that Gaius was offering one. He followed the man up the stairs, then up a second set. A spin, and then he was following the man down the hallway.
Masaru stopped in front of the correct door and opened it without knocking, something Gaius would have found rude if not for the man's next actions.
"So, yeah, looks like you're exactly one short, that's my fault…" Masaru shifted and waved Gaius past. "In you get… And I will get out of your hair, Alaire. Hey, lunch?"
Gaius only barely made it into the last open seat—right in the front, good grief, people—before the blonde behind the desk was throwing a chalkboard eraser at the man who was rapidly not there.
Thing was, he could still hear Masaru cackling halfway down the hall. Gaius shot the slowly-closing door a wary look, even as the blonde… woman—Colonel Alaire Raxan, apparently—glanced over at him. "Don't make a habit of this, Sergeant."
"No, ma'am."
Green eyes looked like they wanted to roll, but didn't, even as the Colonel strode back over to her desk and picked up another chalkboard eraser.
"Alright, listen up!"
Ah. There was the familiar snap he was used to.
And, rather predictably, it had him sitting up perfectly straight, not that he'd been that slouched.
Back in a classroom… Thank whatever gods existed that this would be a short stint. There was a reason why he never started as a child anymore.
Time to familiarize himself with the rules and regulations 'Gaius Shale' would be expected to hold to.