Ding
Ding
Ding
Ding
Ding
The assorted youth exchanged glances as all five of their tablets alerted at the same time. Jim shrugged. "Group chat from Varian?"
Sy scanned his palm on his tablet. "Only one way to find out." The others followed suit. There was a moment of silence as the youth read over their messages. Braxton let out a whoop of joy.
Schedule Update
Recruit James Hawkins has a volunteer missions update
View?
Jim swiftly selected to view the change to his plans. His calendar loaded and opened to the upcoming Sunday.
Volunteer Mission
Time: 1300
Note: Dress in uniform
"Sy, let me see yours!" Jim leaned over so he could look over the younger boy's shoulder. Sy turned his tablet towards Jim. Their messages were the same. "Sweet! We're probably on the same team then!"
Matt, Braxton, and 628 were in a huddle together looking over their messages. Braxton reached over and ruffled 628's ears. "You're going to do great. If you're opposed to us, that's fantastic. You'll be so fierce to fight against! We'll have a real challenge on our hands."
Sy frowned. "How do you know that he's opposing you?"
Braxton glanced up. "We did these last year. I was on the same mission as Jim, but was told to show up at a different location in civies. Students that are going to play opposition roles are asked to dress in civilian outfits so that the fourth years don't know how many people they're facing against, if any. Helps to keep an element of surprise and to make the tests more authentic."
Sy nodded thoughtfully. "So is 628 being asked to dress in civies?"
Matt nodded. "It's odd, the mission wasn't even particularly large. There were only slots for ten recruits on the sign up list."
Jim frowned. "That does seem small. I think Sy and I had, how many were we signing up with? I think we made a dozen."
"A dozen like you count or a dozen like normal people count?" Braxton asked suspiciously.
"I mean twelve people, Brax, not thirteen. I don't know how you still think your people are the normal ones." Jim shot back with a scoff.
Sy giggled softly. "Did you know that the citizens on Trespon consider a dozen to be sixteen units?" Braxton and Jim both pulled a face at that. They might not agree on what was right, but they could both agree that was wrong. Very wrong.
Matt set his tablet aside. "Does anyone remember how much longer we have until the mail comes in?"
"Two weeks, maybe three?" Jim answered as he glanced towards Braxton.
Braxton nodded his confirmation. "Two. We've only got one more Friday in this month."
Matt took Braxton's tablet off him. Grabbing his friend's wrist he pressed Braxton's palm flat against the screen.
"What are you doing?" Braxton laughed, though he didn't fight to stop him.
Matt started tapping away at Braxton's tablet. "I'm putting in a reminder for you to make me eat. I'm going to be so nervous that I'm not sure I'll want to stomach food, much less sit still long enough to do so. You have to remind me to actually eat my dinner, okay?"
Jim flicked his tablet open again. "I'll put a reminder in for myself as well. Don't worry, Matt, we'll take care of you." Sy followed suit, his head bent over his tablet as he also added a reminder.
628 scampered over to climb up into Matt's lap. He nuzzled into his chest and looked up at him with bright eyes. "We shove food in your mouth all night."
Matt broke into peels of laughter. "I don't think you need to go that far," he replied as he scratched the experiment's ears, "but thank you. You guys are the best. I'm truly lucky to have all of you."
Jim smirked. "And yet you couldn't bother to tell all of us about your magic," he teased.
Matt gave his friend a sheepish grin. "I told you I'm not very good. I never have much of a need to use it. Back home, someone stronger would have handled anything that required magic. Here, there's rarely a need to ever use it. It just kind of slipped my mind, you know?"
"Magic slipped your mind."
"Yes."
"Magic slipped your mind?" Jim repeated.
Matt gave him a funny look. "Yes. It's not a big deal."
"You literally do magic, Matt! How is that not a big deal?" Jim's expression was incredulous. "It's magic."
Braxton patted Matt's shoulder. "Let's just give him some time to come to terms with it."
"I can hear you, you know." Jim muttered, mostly to himself.
Sy winked at Braxton. "Varian comes from a world with magic, too."
"Oh come on!"