She felt odd, in a manner she had never felt. When Cezary showed her how to use the sniper rifle, she felt a strange sensation. She'd never known herself to feel it before, so it was entirely new, at least to her. It was warm... happy almost. Her heart beat a bit faster, and she knew she'd blushed against her will. The idea that someone wanted her for more than just reproductive reasons was beyond her, but she had to see some reason why she felt different near him.

"I guess I couldn't avoid this," Marina muttered to herself.

Thinking to herself, thoughts began to cross her mind. She couldn't help but think that the reason he'd helped her was beyond simply wanting to be able to trust his life to her. At the same time, she desperately wanted that to be it. If it wasn't, that meant he was into her. That was only helped by the fact that he seemingly called her 'pretty', or at least implied it. She'd never thought of herself in that manner. The thoughts made her both happy and upset at the same time. Since she was alone at the moment, she allowed herself to show the emotions. Perhaps a bit fortunately, happiness took precedence over whatever confused anger she had, and a small smile began to form on her face.

"Maybe... he likes me... too," she again said to herself. The thought was certainly pleasing.

She couldn't stop her mind from wandering. Though she hardly knew him, she began to picture various firsts with Cezary. The first kiss, first date, and first time. Though she winced lightly at the last first, she figured it would be one of those things that happened along the way. Besides, if he actually was the way he acted, perhaps she wouldn't mind a little pain at his hand. Maybe he was thinking similar thoughts about her. This would only help her in the long run.

A light sigh escaped her lips. Happiness faded. What if he was just acting? He could just be out to break her heart or something, or the real him was some sort of asshole who'd dump her as soon as he'd claimed her virginity. This thought bothered her to no end, and the smile began to fade. She knew that the only real way to find out one way or the other was, indeed, to confront him about it.

That was just the problem she'd have. She felt deathly afraid of confronting him, and in the back of her mind she was quite aware that it would be an instant trip to laughing stock. Her father would never respect her if he caught wind of how the others laughed at her, but burying the feelings she at least thought she was developing for a guy she hardly really knew would be hard, if not impossible.

In her currently somewhat-absent minded state, others had begun to appear in the women's barracks. It seemed she wasn't the only one going through the basic refresher course. The older female sniper from the range saw Marina seemingly sulking to herself.

"Lass? Is something wrong?" the older woman asked.

Snapping out of her thoughts, the black-haired girl quickly looked up at her elder. "Huh... um... no, ma'am."

"Really, now? Are you really sure about that?"

Knowing the woman probably wouldn't leave her be until she was given an answer, and probably an honest one at that, Marina looked away with another blush threatening to come. "No."

The woman shrugged, and feigned confusion. "Really, now? Does this have anything to do with the lad on the shooting range?"

Marina quickly shot back from the woman, comfort zone breeched, and the blush threatening to come to her skipped the light pink tinge stage and went straight to red. "N-No! I-it has nothing to do with him! In any way! Why do you want to know anyway?"

This only seemed to confirm the woman's thoughts. "Your lips are saying 'no', lass, but I know well enough that the rest of you is screaming out 'yes'. Don't try to pull that on someone who was in the same place herself."

An annoyed grunt of sorts came from the younger markswoman-in-training.

"I'll tell you, there is a reason my surname is O'Hara."

As much as Marina desperately wanted this to help her, it ended up doing more harm then good. Hearing someone else's success story would make her failure all the harder and more embarrassing. The blush reddened further.

"M-Missus O'Hara... stop... right there..."

"What's wrong lass?"

Marina diverted her eyesight away from the married woman. "I-I know you want to help... but... please, just... don't."

Not having much else to say after that, the woman nodded. "Alright. I think I can see when my advice won't be needed." Leaving the younger girl to her own devices, she walked off to her bunk.

Now, a bit of remorse set in. A lack of contact with anyone past her father had certainly taken a toll on Marina, and what had just occurred had demonstrated it, though she did doubt Missus O'Hara actually could help her. As far as she knew, they were worlds apart.

"Agh..." she grumbled to herself. At the same time, the older woman could have been exactly like her at some point, and lightning could strike in the same place twice, just like a bullet could. It was very rare, but possible. She should have heard the older woman out, but now she'd put herself in such a manner as to be on her own.

That was dumb, she thought. She could have really helped me out... but, then, it wouldn't really be my doing, would it?

More conflicted thoughts came to her head. Again, Cezary came to her thoughts, causing the nearly-not-a-sniper to want to disappear into the restroom to be alone again. This was when things suddenly fell silent, and in spite of being surrounded by people.

She let out an annoyed sigh, mostly at herself than at anyone else.

-The Male Barracks-

Many things were on his mind, that much was certain. The fact that the others were convinced that he had something of a crush on the girl he'd helped on the range being one of them. While Cezary would quite readily admit she was cute in a strange, solitary way, the idea of actually getting past helper with her was very out there for him.

One of the jokers of the camp kept giving him crap about it. He was convinced the joker, a guy name of Ted Ustinov, was interested in the girl more than he was. The way he kept talking about Marina could certainly make one think that – of course, it could have just been to bug him.

This didn't mean that Cezary himself wouldn't, as some others had put it, tap that. The problem was actually convincing the others that it would only be a one-night thing. Two at the most. He simply couldn't see himself actually being with Wulfstan. That, and he wanted to be able to count on everyone on that range with his life. Oscar, upon getting his head out of his ass and slowing down a bit, was getting shots on target. Catherine he didn't need to worry about at all. The various others were respectable in their own rights. Marina was the only one, as far as he knew, who was missing do to actually not knowing the weapon in her hands.

The last thing he wanted was to have to trust his life to someone who couldn't hit what she was pointed at. She could miss at an inconvenient time – or worse, hit him on accident by doing something stupid. It would be impossible to tell. That, and he hardly knew the girl past her looks and seeming shyness.

Though, granted, said looks did make for very good dirty thoughts. He'd have to keep them in mind for when he he was a bit more available for that sort of thing, since the last thing he was going to do was confirm those rumors by actually banging her. Not that he didn't want to, but he would have to be very, very drunk in order to put that option on the table. Then he could claim drunken immunity, with the whole girls-getting-prettier thing.

That, and supposed beauty was quite tarnished after the ring under that girl's eye. If he ever did bang her, the hair would have to stay.

"Shut up, Ted," he grunted.

"What? I haven't said anything! I just walked in!"

"Exactly. I want it to stay that way."

The spikey-haired Scout grunted. "Doesn't quiet get boring?"

"If quiet means you're not talking, then I like it."

If at all possible, keep a distance between yourself and Ustinov in combat. He'll talk and distract. That gets you killed. I don't think he'll help me out all that much anyway. He's not even all that good of a shot.

Ignoring the others coming in, who mostly kept to themselves, Cezary thought a bit. He remembered seeing someone manage to get a GSR-3, which he would not mind having. Getting superior firepower, and mixing it with a good hiding place, could put threats out of action. More threats KIA meant he had a greater chance of heading home. Maybe even the rest of whatever squad he got put in would go home too. Whether or not that was actually good was debatable, but he figured it would be an OK secondary objective.

Well, unless any darkhairs happened to be there. God help him if even a single purplish-blue hair showed up, that'd end them all. He never did remember anything good coming out of them, but if he had to entrust his life to them, well...

...Best to hope they didn't expect similar from him. At least, for him, nothing good ever came out of being within a few meters of them. Unless, of course, he could absolutely, positive count on that particular one being able to save his ass. He did spot one of the scouts who seemed to be an OK shot. Enough to hit an enemy at two-hundred to three-hundred meters, but he wouldn't trust the darkhair past that.

Eh... maybe helping that girl was actually a bit wasteful...

-End Chapter 2-

Yeah, second round. Cezary isn't as nice as the first chapter made him out to be, and his racism is still present. There are certain aspects that will not be touched, as they are integral to the character him or herself. Cezy's racism is one of these.