Introductions

Donovan killed his curiosity at that. She had her reasons, and he was not interested in fouling their relationship for something so trivial. "So hypothetically speaking, how would I use a Split Crystal?"

"Pass a thread of split through it with the intent to learn."

"The intent of learning?"

"Mm. You can erase what's inside of one if the thread has the intent to destroy, and write in one if it has the intent to teach. It's kind of like that thread of split used when you speak." She was doing a little dance with her index fingers, trying to give an idea of how it worked. It didn't help, but Don found her efforts endearing. Titanyana was not an accomplished teacher, but the fact she was so earnest in her attempts made him more comfortable with reciprocating that energy.

Sword fighting and split were both topics that he had grown very interested in.

"Speaking of, when you strengthen your body with split, do you do a similar thing split? Just a thread with the intent to strengthen?" The Arboreal Maiden hadn't gotten to that part yet, they were still learning about theory and basic concepts they needed to know, so he was curious to se how it was done.

"It's a lot more difficult. At minimum, you need to be able to maintain 16 threads to be perfectly combat effective, but many people can get by with less than half of that number."

"How many can you keep going?" Donovan could barely maintain two at the moment, but he was getting better.

"When I push myself in a serious spar, I can maintain around 300 for a few minutes. Most of the time I try to keep an even 160 though, seeing as going further only exhausts me that much faster. That demonstration with the plate was with only half that amount, just in case you needed some perspective on why armor isn't too fashionable in the academy."

"I don't mean to offend, but is that amount irregular in any way? Like, are you significantly above average?"

"Above average, though I don't know by how much. I feel like the majority of the people in attendance could be much stronger if only they put some effort into it, they have noble blood after all."

"Is heredity that much of a factor?"

"It is the only predictor I know of. If one or both of the parents are proficient with split, the child is that much more likely to be strong as well." Titanyana began to remove her leather gauntlets, the only armor she sported. "On that front, I am something of an oddity. My people's ability to use split has been gradually declining for a very long time, so the fact I'm as good with it as I am has been a source of confusion for my family."

"Hm, interesting. I suppose we can talk about this later though, its almost time for me to be introduced to the rest of our squad and I really don't want to be tardy." Donovan worked up the energy to stand, taking a moment before walking over to his bag. "You wouldn't happen to know where we can wash ourselves off would you?"

Titanyana shook her head silently before collecting her own belongings. "It shouldn't be too far away, but I don't know its location. Should we ask somebody?"

- - - - -

The furnace responsible for the heat in the courtyard turned out to be the primary source of heat for the washrooms in the building, supplying a large and small bath with piping hot water. The staff, it appeared, had been warming the water for quite some time, they simply didn't know when they would be finished.

This was the first time since he left Earth that Donovan actually had the chance to soak, his hygiene having been taken care of by ARC. T-showers were certainly efficient, not taking much space and water to operate, but they didn't really relax you like a nice warm bath did. It even smelled nice, undoubtedly the result of something that the staff had done.

He did miss not having to wash himself though, and he wasn't at all familiar with having to dump a bucket of water over himself to wash the soap off. Fortunately, his muscles were not sore to the point of being too weak to lift it above his head.

As he exited the washroom and returned to the dressing area, he could vaguely hear the sound of water splashing on the other side of the wall. Titanyana seemed to be taking longer than he did, even with his fatigue and inexperience. Women were pretty high maintenance in comparison to men when it came to hygiene, after all.

Slipping into his dress uniform, his only formal attire for the time being, he noticed that his skin was smoother than usual.

"How did you-"

"I can put all my clothing on in thirty seconds."

Titanyana was standing in front of him as he passed through the curtain to the washroom. She was wearing a uniform, one that seemed to be supplied by the academy, but her hair and tail were still damp. In fact, her tail was twitching and swinging in an attempt to get the water off.

"Is drying your tail with a towel hard?"

"Very. I prefer to just not bother and let it dry naturally. Rubbing a towel against doesn't feel pleasant and it pulls out hair."

"Ah, gotcha. Yeah that would be annoying wouldn't it." Donovan watched as the tip of her tail made a few violent twitches to throw off the last few drops that could be wrung out. "Shall we head to the front door?"

"Mm."

- - - - -

The Captain was standing in the foyer, just to the side of the front door, waiting for Donovan and his squire to make their way to him. He could hear some voices outside, but the walls muffled them to the point of being unintelligible. They were spirited though, and if his limited exposure to their social dynamic was anything to go off of they were not in an amiable debate.

'Was this really the best we could come up with?' The Captain thought to himself. Pulling aside the curtain, he peered outside. 'Was there really nobody else we could set him up with? Maybe a more temperate group of people?'

"Captain." The carpet had muffled their footsteps, but it was still unacceptable that his attention had been somewhere else when his host had approached.

"Lord Strauss." The Captain gave a small bow to him. "Lady Strapper." And once more to the lady.

"Please, don't do that. I'd prefer it if you just called be Donovan or Don, and drop the bow while you're at it."

"I apologize, Lord Strauss, but that is something a man of my station is not permitted to do while on duty. It would be a violation of protocol, you see." He bowed in apology, eliciting a cringe from Donovan once more. The Captain really didn't feel like such formalities were appropriate anymore either, but his oath of neutrality had to be fulfilled.

"So... is that them?" Donovan could also hear the voices from beyond the front door, and the motions of Titanyana's ears suggested she was trying to make sense of the sounds.

The Captain almost broke his posture to sigh in disappointment. "It is. Would you like me to guide them inside?"

"Please."

A courteous bow later, the Captain was on his way outside, the door's smooth opening failing to alert those outside that he was there.

"-more complicated than what you think!"

"HA! Little man thinks punching is hard!"

"If anything I think its easy you NUMPTY! Did you not understand a single thing I just said?"

"Bah, took too long, wasn't listening."

"That's - That's - wha - How stupid are you? I was trying to tell you should try a different weapon!"

In contrast to what the Captain had expected, only two of the three people were arguing. "Ahem." He cleared his throat to grab their attention. Immediately their conflict died down.

"""Sir!"""

Three pairs of boots shuffled into position, three pairs of eyes locked onto his face, and three bodies froze still in the time it would take for him to snap his fingers. If nothing else, these three were disciplined when it came to respecting authority.

"While I won't say that such discussions are to be shelved, I would take care to not tarnish Lord Strauss' image of you, not this early on. Instead, I would like to ask if all of you are prepared." The three did not respond, they had no worries that could be addressed at the moment. "Very well."

The Captain opened the door and gestured for them to enter, an action that almost sparked conflict as the argumentative pair jockeyed to be the first to enter. This gave the third person the chance to quietly slip past. Beaten to the punch, they recollected themselves and followed silently, positioning themselves to either side of the interloper.

Once again, they saluted, this time to Donovan.

"At ease." He wasn't used to being saluted as a superior, so he just said what his CO did. It seemed like the intent got through, kind of, as they were kind of slow when putting their hands down. "Damn, you're a big guy aren't you?" This remark wasn't translated with split, it being a sort of a gut reaction to what he was seeing, but it still drew an eyebrow from the Captain. He could understand English, if only barely.

The dude was massive though.

By Donovan's estimate, the man to his right stood at about eight or nine feet and was built like a truck. Dirty blond hair and milk chocolate colored skin, his forearms (exposed by a lack of sleeves) were covered in a multitude of vibrantly colored scales. His eyes, the same vibrant yellow of some of his scales, looked like lemons from a distance.

"What's your name big guy?" He needed to start with introductions somewhere.

"My given name is Wall of Gilded Earth. Wall is fine." He responded with a beaming smile, revealing a row of ever so slightly yellow teeth.

"Excuse me if I come off as rude, but would you mind telling me how you received that name? I am unfamiliar with the naming conventions of other cultures."

"BAHAHA-HA. No problem. Gilded Earth is name of clan, Wall is name of individual." He beat his chest, proud of himself for some reason Don could not decipher.

Wall's outburst caused the man opposite of him to scoff. He was skinny, and his features were comparatively dull. Ash gray hair and pale white skin coupled with eyes gave him an appearance that didn't stand out. He seemed to be compensating for it with some bright colored and eye-catching clothing and accessories, but there was only so much you could do without altering the uniform.

"And what's your name?"

"Elevial Stri Sanna Di Rei, though I insist that you refer to me by either Sanna or Rei. My Family Name is Elevial, my Dynasty's Stri, and my Personal Name is Sanna Di Rei. For the purposes of communication, I find that constantly having to say my full name, or even just my personal name, to be a waste of time. So long as we are not conversing in an overly official capacity, I will have no qualms responding to Sanna or Rei."

He was wordy, but he picked up on stuff pretty quickly. Donovan didn't even have to ask, he had answered his question. To show his approval, he nodded, evoking a slight smirk in Sanna's face.

"What about you?"

Donovan was hesitant to qualify the last person, the one standing in the middle and the first of the three to enter, as a man. Best case, probably an older teenager around 17 or 18, he was probably younger. Black hair, red irises, and almost paper white skin, his visage reminded Donovan of a vampire.

"My name is Len Kerr, sir!"

His voice sounded just as young as he looked. If Don had to guess, he wasn't even finished with puberty.

"By which do you prefer to be called by?"

This request seemed to put a damper on his enthusiasm, and he took a minute to think.

"Len? I've never been called anything besides my full name, so I don't know what I like more."

"Do you have a family name?" Len Kerr shook his head in the negative. "Clan name?" Again, he shook his head. "Race name?"

"I don't know it."

Everybody besides Donovan showed signs of shock at this. To him, it wasn't a big deal.

"Hmm. In that case, I will refer to you as my people would. Until such a time that you do actually figure it out, your first name will be Len, and your last will be Kerr. Informally, you are to be called Len, formally as Kerr, and officially as Len Kerr. Is that fine with you?"

"Yes sir!" Another salute.

"If you don't mind, could you tell me how old you are?"

"I'm not sure, but at least twelve."

The Captain chimed in here. "He is old enough, Sir Strauss. More than that, he has passed all of the necessary tests admirably. There should be no question of his ability."