New Comrades

As she approaches the opening of the tent she hesitates. Opening the flap of the tent meant that this was real, that she would have to spend the rest of her life in hiding. She felt like a coward. She ran over her options In her head one by one, searching, hoping that something would save her from this. A single mistake from now on could mean her life. Sure, she had risked herself for the past week, but she was a blurry memory for all of the soldiers she had met thus far. Nothing could be as risky as getting close to others. She made a silent oath to herself to maintain as far as a distance as she could.

She overhears a scuffle from inside of the shelter and with a loud roar, a pale boy flies out of the tent opening. She maneuvers, effortlessly avoiding his tiny body. He falls to the ground. The boy gapes up at her. "You new?" his voice cracking. Xiao can't help but hide a muted chuckle behind her hand. The boy gets up and raises his arms in disgust at all the mud coating them. His cheeks slightly rosy, embarrassed at this being their first meeting.

A serious-looking, dark-skinned man with a scar down his left eye exits the tent. His hand raised to block the flap from hitting his sharp face. Xiao bows deeply, "Xiao reporting for duty, sir" The soldier chuckles. 'The hell was so funny' Xiao thinks. Noticing her poorly veiled anger he says, "Sorry, sorry, you're just a breath of fresh air after having so many rebellious brats. Too much pride around here. You can call me Captain Dunder." He steps forward to shake Xiao's hand, she's confused by this action. Confounded by his respect towards her.

"Well, he's clearly not a noble, that's why," An angry-looking east Asian guy states from behind captain Dunder. "Much better, back to what I'm used to," she thinks, smiling bitterly to herself.

"Yuto, behave yourself," Dunder asserts.

The boy from before pouts, feeling ignored and offended. Captain Dunder takes hold of the pale boy's collar and drags him back inside rather violently. She thinks there must be a story behind the kid catapulting through the tent flap but she never ends up hearing it. "Idiot," Yuto mumbles.

Following them inside she takes a moment to assess the scene. Bunks lined against one wall, wooden tables and chests along the other wall. Dirt floors and White bedsheets. Dunder approaches her, placing her training uniform and a towel in her arms. The uniform is made of heavy fabric and weights her frail body down.

There's only one bunk left for her to take, The bottom one underneath the boy she first met. She overhears the other boys calling him "Nel," she thinks it's a cute name. Nel's rambunctiousness reminds her of the temple kids. If she had to bunk with someone anyways, bunking with him wouldn't be the worst thing.

She places the fabric on her new bed while Nel glares down at her from the top bunk. "You know, you kind of look like a girl, being all skinny and all,"

His words make every muscle in Xiao's body tense. She grasps at every idea, every thought in her mind, every comeback that could be used to put the focus on something else. Nel was probably just a boy with a loudmouth, but the fact that it occurred to him meant that just a change in appearance wouldn't be enough to dispel doubts about her gender. She needed to start observing the men around her and overcompensate to the extent that they would never even dream of Xiao being that ultra-feminine trope they believed women to be. "Oh? Do you think I'm cute?" She tries to joke. Stuttering with his words, "WHA, NO, IT WAS JUST AN OBSERVATION…" He murmurs to himself.

Xiao effectively distracts the noble with his pride, and noble he was; with his shiny sword, and pristine metal armor. Armor that weighed his small body down, and made obnoxious crashing noises as he walked. Nel jumps down with a clang. "Just to make it clear, I meant no disrespect, I'm sure you're plenty manly," he pauses, contemplating his next words, "people tell me I tend to have no filter."

From out of nowhere a shaggy, red-headed boy swoops in and hooks his arm around Nel's shoulder, choking him with his inner elbow. The redhead hunches over a bit in laughter, bringing Nel along for the ride. "Oh god! Could you swoon more? Christopher! Come over here, Nels got a crush on the newbie!!" A white-haired man with porcelain skin and a lanky, tall body approaches. His presence almost regal, with hair half tied up, small braids draping down to his shoulders, and pointed ears. His eyes glow a vibrant red in an unsettling sort of way.

"Nel, this is Bootcamp, not a matchmaking service, when will you learn the difference?" He shows a slight smile, one that seems to hide something behind his eyes. The redheaded boy stares at Christopher, then suddenly and without warning, he plants a deafening slap in the middle of Christophers back, causing him to arch in pain. "What the hell was that for?" the redhead cackles, ignoring him. "There's nothing wrong with a little crush, we're all young!" Nel's skin is cherry red and fuming.

"Are they always like this?" Xiao nudges Nel's shoulder with her own. "I'm never introducing myself to anyone new again, why am I the bud of every joke," he wines, too overwhelmed to pay any mind to Xiao.

"You're just too fun to tease Nel," the redhead looks over to Xiao, "I'm Chance, this tall freak over here is Christopher, you've met Nel, obviously," He snorts "-And over there is Yuto... I swear he's only like that most of the time. We've all only been here for a few days, Christopher and I arrived first, that's why we're such good pals." Christopher looks down at him with an unamused stare. Xiao extends her hand to Christopher, he accepts it in stoic silence.

"you are... surprisingly manly Xiao," Nel blurts, unable to restrain himself for even a few minutes. Chance and Christopher completely lose it. They both gasp for air, keeled over in a fit of wheezing. "Oh my god," Chance shouts in between his gasps. "It was just an observation, you dicks!" He pouts, arms crossed in defiance, eyes down at the floor.