During the next few days, the blonde had been subjected to multiple medical examinations, as well as a couple of tune-ups for her God Arc. Her first and only God Arc had been upgraded into a third and second generation prototype. It had some tweaks and would require constant observation in case that it would experience complications as it was still in the developing stage. The reason why she refused to change it was because of the attachment that she claimed she had with it. Fortunately, the God Arc engineers complied to her wants and managed to modify it instead. Currently, she was making her way towards Friar's silent lobby. She was requested to talk with Fran, the branch's operator.
"Morning, Fran!" She greeted with a jolly smile, "Finally going to throw me into the lions?" She joked causing the other to chuckle. Despite the light small talk that they were having, she remained focus on typing. She stopped and turned the screen towards the platinum haired girl.
"You are to defeat 5 Ogretails that are roaming around the Abandoned City." The young operator informed her as she closed in on the screen, she noticed the two names that were labelled with yellow and blue.
Julius Visconti and Nana Kozuki. This caused the girl's lips to curl upwards, she realized that she had not seen the two since the first time they met, which had been about a week now. She would have lunch with Romeo on some occasions, said male was thrilled and relieved at the fact that her appetite had normalized. Often joking that Friar would run out of rations because of the monstrosity that she called her appetite, this earned Romeo a couple of bruises here and there. Despite the size of Friar, she would rarely run into the other two.. This made her wonder if there was some spell casted on her that would repel the Captain and the recruit.
'I probably deserve that after comparing some guy's last name to a dessert and sneaking into someone's room in the middle of the night just for food.' She bemused, not noticing the way that the operator was looking at her who had to clear her thought just to get her to snap from her daydreaming.
"Ah, when do we depart?" She pulled away from the screen to look at the other blonde. She faced the screen back and continued to type.
"Captain Julius has already gone ahead, he came from another mission which happened to be near the area. As soon as Kozuki arrives, you are to leave." The moment that she said those words, the black-haired girl that they previously talking about had made an appearance.
She was panting, indicating that she had ran, "Sorry I'm late!" She bowed with her hands on her knees. "I'm ready to go." She stood up properly, her breath finally normalizing. Fran then briefed her as Brynn decided to head to the God Arc storage area. She carried Auricle towards the departure area, soon followed by her companion who was clad in an extremely revealing and bare outfit. Brynn couldn't help but stare, a wave of nostalgia washing over her.
"Earth to Brynn!" Nana snapped her out of her reverie, "Are you ready to head out?" She asked with a bright smile. Brynn nodded with a bright blush on her face as she muttered a yes. They made their way to the helicopter.
'Great, she must think that I'm a perv or something. But she does have a great rack.'
The two arrived at the point of rendezvous, they walked towards the edge of the cliff where the captain of their unit stood watching. His eyes training themselves on the aragami loafing around below them.
"Captain Julius!" Nana ran up to him with a wide grin, waving her free arm in the air as she dragged her Boost Hammer with one arm. Brynn followed close behind, her excitement was more toned down than the former but the smile remained fixed on her face.
"Good morning, Nana." Julius formally said as he nodded his head towards the scythe wielder's direction, acknowledging her.
Brynn returned the nod, "Good morning, Captain." She finally spoke up.
"I hope that neither of you are feeling uneasy after the journey, I know that helicopter rides can get a bit shaky. We all need to be on the tip of our toes." Before any of the two females could reply, a creature suddenly sprang from behind ready to attack. Nana shrieked, closing her eyes as a reflex, Brynn switched to her gun and shot it before it could harm any of them. A loud thud had been heard the Ogretail fell to the ground.
"You have very good reflexes, Brynn." Julius praised, his eyes slightly widened. This time, another one jumped out. Brynn cursed because of the lack of OP that she had, instead, she covered her cowering companion to take the impact or the attack.
She had her back turned as she braced for the impact, her eyes tightly shut closed as she waited. It never came. She heard a soft chuckle prompting her to turn around, her eyes widening in surprise. The Ogretail was latched unto her captain's forearm. He had a smug smile as if it were nothing.
'What the fuck?' The man then tossed the bipedalled beast into the air and sliced through it with his long blade, as if it was as light as a feather. She now knew why he held the position of captain. He wasn't just responsible, he was pretty strong too.
"Two down, three to go." He announced, his voice remained calm despite the two attacks. This did not stop Brynn from seeing the blood that was pouring out of his arm. Despite God Eaters having exceptional healing abilities, wounds still hurt and it would take awhile.
She approached him, getting something from the pouch that had been strapped to her thigh, "Before we proceed, do allow me to fix that." It was more of an order rather than a suggestion. Julius acquiesced, his grey eyes fixated on his left arm that was currently being patched up by the girl.
She finished, managing to stop the bleeding and properly bandage it. Julius flexed her arm a bit to check whether it was getting in his way. "Thank you." Brynn gave a cheeky grin and a winked before she joked shamelessly.
"What about treat me to lunch later?" She prompted, half-joking. This caused the other's eyes to widen, before it closed with a smile playing on his lips.
"Very well, it can be arranged. I'm clear for the day anyways." The other smiled widely, while the black-haired girl behind them watched the exchange with amusement and curiosity.
"Very well," Julius turned to face the greenland with multiple demolished buildings that scattered around. "Let's begin." He jumped down, followed by his two female companions.
There were three Ogretails walking around, devouring on whatever edible scraps that they could feast upon. Their attention diverted towards the three God Eaters, causing them to roar in an enraged manner. Brynn was the first to reach her target, swinging Auricle with strength and power, greatly damaging the Ogretail who backed away in pain. After a couple more swings with her Scythe, the enemy had been taken down. The other two still dealing with theirs. She switched to her gun to provide back-up, aiming alternately at the two Ogretails.
"Behold the Blood Art!" Julius shouted, his blade was now bathing in red and black as he swung his blade with extreme speed, precision, and power. He cut through the Ogretail multiple times without slowing down. The moment that he stopped, the beast roared one last time before it had been silenced, falling to the ground.
Dead.
"Woah!" Nana was the first to react, just finishing her Ogretail as well, smashing its skull multiple times with her hammer. "That was amazing." She said in awe making her way over to the captain.
Julius began to explain more about Blood Power and Blood Art, Brynn had only been half listening. Her head was starting to throb but she masked it by putting on a blank face. Fortunately, her captain had not asked her anything or else they would have known that she was not listening. The three proceeded to walk over to the extraction area.
"I would have brought a novel if I knew that it would have taken such short time." Julius sighed displeasure at his own forgetfulness. He would always forget that group missions in this rank would usually require a short amount of time to accomplish. They would be stuck in the waiting point for quite some time. He mentally scolded himself.
"Here." He caught the book that had been chucked at him by a certain platinum-haired girl. He caught it with ease and brought it near to his face, reading the title.
"The Lilac Sage?" He read the title out loud with inquisitiveness.
Brynn nodded before describing the book, "It's about an extremely competitive culinary school during the 2010s. It sounds boring but I find it worth reading." Her brief explanation had him nodding with acceptance.
"Aren't you going to read it?" He asked, not wanting the girl to suffer the boredom that their waiting would provide them with. He had to suffer through that multiple times. The girl waved her hand in an dismissive manner with a small yawn.
They made it to the pick-up point which was also the starting point. She made her way towards one of the boulders and slid down, leaning against it.
"Don't worry, I plan on sleeping." She shifted a bit to fix her position, Julius stood across her, leaning against the stone walls as he began to read his book. Brynn placed her God Arc in its gun form and closed her weary eyes.
Julius couldn't help but notice that the girl was going to sleep, "For someone who has been sleeping for 3 years, you prioritize your siestas." He remarked with amusement but had not received a reply, the girl had been pulled into the arms of sleep almost instantly. He now was too engrossed in the book that had been lent to him by the said girl. Their other teammate was busy munching on the comical sandwich that she always summoned from the white bag that she usually brought. They stayed in silence until the hour was up, their pick up had arrived.
Julius noticed that his companion was not being roused from her sleep despite the loud helicopter, he made his way over to her, gently nudging her shoulder. "Brynn, it's time to proceed back to Friar." Her caramel eyes fluttered open to lock with his grey ones. She blinked rapidly.
"I'm up." She begrudgingly pushed herself up, stretching her arms in the process. She remembered her God Arc and followed after the two who entered helicopter.
The trio arrived at Friar, storing their God Arcs in the storage area. Nana had gone separate from them in order to attend lectures. Lectures that Brynn was exempted from because of the profound knowledge that she managed to carry over despite her memory loss. The two had been left alone.
"Well then," Julius broke the pregnant silence as they walked down the stairs, "Shall we go for lunch? I do have a promise to uphold." He gestured to his bandaged arm. Causing the blonde to put a diffident look on her face, which turned to a small smile.
"I was just kidding about that!" She replied, a blush appearing on her cheeks, causing her companion to slightly smirk.
"It's fine, really. It will be a good way for me to get to know you." After a little bit more of coaxing, they made their way towards the cafeteria.
"Friar is said to have greater food quality in comparison to the other branches." He explained as he used a chopstick to pick up a vegetable at the side of his dish. He got steamed fish. "The worst being the Far East, despite them being the front lines." He stuffed it into his mouth, chewed then swallowed before continuing. "However, I heard that there has been advancement in their rations."
Brynn stuffed a piece of chicken into her mouth, it was juicy and soft, she hummed in delight, "I suppose that I'm lucky that I ended up here then. The food is great!" Her words held true as Julius watched the way she ate her food, she clearly was enjoying it.
"Your God Arc seems to be made of rare Aragami." Julius tried to strike a conversation after he had finished his fish, they had been talking about food nonstop. The new recruit turned out to be a food fanatic.
Brynn swallowed her food before answering, "I checked it's stats earlier, and saw that it's mostly Aether and Hannibal." She explained, Julius' full attention was upon her. She had her eyes looking up as she thought of what other materials her God Arc was made of. "I honestly can't remember the other materials, I'll have to check it out later."
The dark blonde couldn't help but be in a state of disbelief, if she was capable of having those materials, it would mean that she wasn't just a rookie. Her fighting style did scream experience. The fact that she had high-level materials just showed that she also encountered those Aragami previously. God Eaters usually kept their materials to themselves, to sell or to use to upgrade their equipment. No one would have given her materials like those.
"You must have been an exemplary God Eater from wherever you first originated." He mused, this prompted the other one to sigh with a small smile following after. The male had noticed this, "Perhaps, I could provide support in unearthing what branch you came from." Her face lit up, she gave him a genuine smile this time.
"Thank you. That means a lot, captain."
Julius nodded, "No need to be so formal, Julius will do."
"Alright, Julius." She tested the name, "Thank you so much for lunch!" She gave her thanks once again. Julius chuckled softly.
They both stood up now, walking over to the rack where they would leave the trays, "I look forward to the next time." He hinted at another lunch or chat that didn't involve being in the battlefield. They made their way out and went their separate ways.
Julius made his way to his room, he needed to finish a couple of mission reports that had been piling up. He made his way to his terminal and began typing away. He managed to finish it all within 2 hours with breaks in between. His left arm was still a bit strained after using it to block the Ogretail.
'Why did I do that in the first place?' He scolded himself, he could have just cut through it. He decided to use his freaking arm.
Deciding that it was time to start on the promise that he made earlier, he began looking at the different branches. Basing on her last name and starting with European branches; the one in France, Germany, Belgium, etc. None had information in regards to the blonde girl. He checked North and South America branches, but still no answers to his questions.
Just as he was about to check the branches in Asia, a knock on the door had caused him to close his terminal. Cursing at the thought that he may have forgotten to save that last report.
"Come in." He managed to calmly call out, the door opened slowly to reveal the second person to join Blood, Romeo.
"Sorry to interrupt, Julius, but Doc Rachel is asking for you." He casually said as only half his body could be seen through the door. Julius sighed in relief.
"I'll be there." He gave a curt nod, "Thank you, Romeo." Said male gave him a thumbs up and gently closed the door. Julius gathered the folders which contained other reports and documents, then proceeded towards the outside. He looked back at the terminal before saying.
"I suppose that you have to wait a bit longer."