There came an Echo

[Greil9]

"Come on you maggots, I've seen my mom run faster! And she's had crutches for three years now, but runs a hundred meter dash in fifteen seconds flat! If you can't keep up with her then why do you think you'd ever be real marines? Now move it!"

Being yelled at by a drill sergeant was as much a part of the marine recruit period as learning to handle the weaponry and proper discipline. Still that part never felt comfortable to the scrawny chemist who was once again dead last on the track and barely still moving. Sweat was running down his forehead in streams as he gasped for breath, trying to keep moving since he was fairly certain he couldn't start again if he stopped now. Not to mention further angering the drill sergeant, Ensign Durham. Though it was hard to tell since the roughed up face of the man in his mid-twenties never seemed to show any emotion other than anger. Not that it would surprise most with his almost clean-shaved head and five o'clock shadow that seemed to tell everyone "anger me and it's the last thing you do". It was just five more minutes of running and the days service would be over, so it was best to just keep moving, watching the far more fit recruits pass him by once again. 

Finally the ensign shouted "Alright, I guess that's enough if you ladies can't handle any more. But few of you ought to do a hell of a lot better if you think you're ever going to become real marines. Take a minute, then gather up." As soon as the phrase was finished, Sieg feel to his hands and knees on the grass the track was surrounding. It felt like his lungs were on fire after that torture, though at least in the month he had spent in the marines he stopped puking right after days like these. Didn't stop his entire face turning completely red from the blood desperately trying to keep up with the demand of oxygen.

Passing by his grounded form was one of his fellows that seemed to have far less trouble keeping up with the exercise, recruit Genland. "Hey Falkarn, good going there. You're getting better all the time." Despite wanting to respond, Siegs every effort went into trying to catch up his breath to the point he could stand again. Best he could do was a slightly approving wheeze. Finally feeling a slight sliver of strength return to his limbs, the chemist struggled to his feet and gathered to the row with everyone else. "Okay maggots, you may have thought that was all for today. Some of you get off lucky, but the names I'm gonna read now will be joining me at the docks. A vessel is bringing in supplies as well as new recruits and we'll be there to help unload." taking out a clipboard, officer Durham began reading names. "Genland, Giles, Shiver, Dunswick..." The first names made the scrawny recruit breathe a sign of relief between the sighs for just breath. Seemed like only the more physically fit marines were being picked. "Jetsam, Kisuke and Falkarn. The rest are dismissed for the day." And now Sieg felt crushed both in body and spirit. Though somehow not as much as usual since the boy was fairly certain the drill sergeant had begun to hate him for some reason. This wouldn't have been the first time he was named for extra work or made to do additional exercise.

Slight hope arose when the marine who earlier tried cheering him up stepped forward, saluting their superior before speaking. "Sir, with all due respect Falkarn is barely standing. Surely someone else should take his place. Hell, I can work for both of us and just let him rest."

This hope was dashed when Durham pointed his clipboard at the recruit who just spoke, taking a stern tone. "Watch who you're talking to Recruit Genland. Falkarns results in physicals have been far below minimum standards for marines so he's going to have to pick up the slack elsewhere. Are we clear?"

While it looked like the muscular recruit wasn't happy with the response and wanted to speak up, he seemed all too aware of what disobeying would achieve here: nothing. Bowing forward, the recruit said "Yes sir," before stepping back in with the rest. 

"Alright, everyone named form a marching line. The rest of you, dismissed!" The marines not designated for the assignment were quickly scattering. Most headed back to barracks to shower, few decided to try their luck at the mess hall and not get kicked out for the smell, few to some directions he couldn't quite gather their destination from. The chemist on the other hand shuffled towards the line while trying to hold it together by thinking about a hot meal and a moderately soft bunk that awaited for him on the other side of this task.

As the recruits called formed a line in alphabetical order, Sieg whispered to the recruit in front of him. "I appreciate the effort Casey. But I think I'll be fine. I've survived this long, what's a little more?"

It seemed like it wasn't quite as certain, whispering back. "Survived? I don't remember a night you weren't the first one to drop to your bunk and the last one to get up. Plus I'm not the only one who thinks Durham has something against you, big time. Maybe the marine lifestyle just isn't for you. Ever thought of just leaving and trying to do something else with your life?"

Trying very hard to say it wasn't an option, the scrawny recruit just sighed and conceded the . "I'd like to say I can't, but the last few days I've been seriously considering that. Wish I could have just started at the science division." As much as that would have made things easier, it wasn't feasible at the moment. Scientific expertise was often recruited from the marine-sponsored university, one he hadn't been to. All he could do was try to make to the end of each day and hope it somehow got easier along the way. Though definitely not for now seeing as there was unloading to be done at the docks.

[Cryo Through the Looking Glass]

Junior Lieutenant Valerio Mahnke woke at the crack of dawn, a habit that accentuated his obsession with time. Even though they weren't supposed to wake up till an hours time, the captain he was sailing under had a similar habit of getting the morning shakes out early, and so they would often stand on deck, mostly silent. His two pets scampered towards him excitedly. Well, only one of them scampered, the other one awkwardly flew onto his shoulder. Titan and Ryu, the unlikely rabbit bird combo that followed with Val as the master. He shooed them away for now, opening the closet and selecting an formal suit, packing his other clothes away in his suitcase. Today was the day they arrived at the Silver Islands both to resupply and to select units fit for relocation. As a Junior Lieutenant, he was expected to lead a small squad, but he wasn't sure he'd find anyone worth selecting or who he'd get along with. In any case, it was time to go.

Valerio walked upstairs, arriving on the top deck amidst a mist of chilly air. Next to him was his superior, Captain Emily Brent. 'Morning.' Val said coolly, his breath coming out in The other marine gave a feminine grunt in reply, handing him a small rolled up cigarette? 'Em, you know I don't smoke.' She sneered. 'Val, you know you don't call me that. And they aren't fags, it's tea leaves wrapped in waterproof paper. Val responded quizzically: What's the point of that. The Captain sighed exasperatedly. Dumbass! They're already filled with a little hot water!' she paused to get one of her own out. 'Like this. First, you put it to your mouth. Then you breathe in.' Val did the same, a strong scent of peppermint and ginger floating out of his mouth. 'That's some cigarette...' he aahed at the relaxing tea leaf cigarette. 'For the last time!' It's not... you know what. I give up. Stop trying to piss me off!' Val grinned sheepishly, taking another breath of peppermint.

They had arrived at the small archipelago of Silvers, and Val was supervising the unloading of goods with Emily, who still had an annoyed look on her face, blatantly refusing to talk to the Junior Lieutenant. He was handed a clipboard of names by one of the people he had trained with, Durham. Val shook his hand, before asking why he needed a clipboard. Durham replied, that he was just pointing out one kid in particular. Siegrif Falkarn. The ensign told him Sieg's habits were maybe a little more suited to his style.

In any case, it seemed the marine recruits had arrived. He began roll call, eyeing the recruits nervously. 'First of all, I'm Junior Lieutenant Valerio Mahnke, though you can just call me Val.' A little unorthodox, but that more often than not worked better.

[Greil9]

With the short transfer of command, all the recruits brought from the base got to work unloading the ship. Most of commands were given by the people on board, directing where each crate or piece of equipment was to be taken. And few noting the recruits seemed quite exhausted, most likely because he was among them. Still he wasn't the only one showing signs of slowing down considering they were all taken right after exercising. Though he was the most obvious one, always carrying the lightest loads and still struggling with them.

Only thing that sustained Sieg was the thought of what would come after: shower, warm food and bed. He didn't even have the energy to read that night, hoping to just lie down until he fell asleep and hopefully be a bit more rejuvenated the next morning.

At the very least Sieg could hope the lieutenant in charge of them for the moment was more lenient than Durham and just dismiss everyone once the job was done. For one he allowed a first-name basis right off the bat, something every other commanding officer would make everyone do push-ups for. In his mind Durham would crucify any who tried. Though even that hope seemed insignificant with how the task didn't seem to get any closer to being done from outside the ship. Hoping to at least get a tiny bit of rest, the recruit sat on one of the crates brought to the dock, thinking him sitting down for half a minute wouldn't raise problems.

[Cryo Through the Looking Glass]

Val watched the recruits get to work on unloading the ship, the sweat pouring down their faces. He whispered to Emily: 'They're certainly hard working. She replied with a snort and: That's because you've been a slacker your whole life.' She chuckled at her own comment, as Val, miffed, retorted that he woke up at 6 am to talk to her because no one else would. Then she punched him, straight in the gut. It wasn't a new experience for him, yet he still recoiled backwards, winded. Picking himself up, the junior lieutenant looked hurt, though not physically, mentally.

Valerio assumed the one Durham had pointed out to him, Sieg, was the scrawny one who always seemed to grab the smallest object possible. It was sort of painful yet funny watching him struggle to unload the goods, yet the botanist marine sympathised. He'd been the butt of such jokes before, but they were all part of the plan to turn you into one of 'the good ones'. This didn't always work, some recruits choosing to quit rather than push on forward.

The job was done quicker than expected, and quickly the recruits fell into line. 'Ok... Nice job! We'll now be selecting recruits for mentoring with higher ranked officers. For now, you'll be considered part of their little group, though this could be subject to change. We'll be choosing from you guys first, so don't consider yourself the unluckies cause you had to do the lifting. Think of it as if you were selected to be the luck- Val was still cheerfully speaking when Captain Brent cut him off.'Val. Shut up and stop rambling.' Valerio opened his mouth to say somethong back, then closed it as he decided the words would probably hinder his 'friendly' relationship with his superior. 'So!' Emily clapped her hands. 'Let's begin!'

The botanist pointed at the scrawny recruit, stating his intentions of having him in his group. Then Emily chose. Durham chose. It continued, Val remaining silent. When all the other marines had been divided to Emily and Durham's respective groups, Val took his chosen recruit to the side. 'Hey. Your name's Sieg right? Durham pointed you out to me as a fellow... student of the sciences. Well, you'll be happy to know I share that interest, namedly in the field of botany.' He paused to let Sieg speak. 'On a side note, I have also happened upon one of the Devil Fruits, one that allows me to connect with existing plant matter. When you have an ability like that, it's hard not to like plants!' Well... that should be all for today. Meet me in the city tomorrow. By the way, I hope you're an early riser.' The botanist checked his time piece, proceeding to leave. Titan squirmed inside the lieutenant's coat, poking his head out drowsily as Ryu proceeded to fly down from above, his mechanical wing letting a whirring sound out.

The day was over, and as Valerio Mahnke put his suitcase into his temporary cabin, he thought about life as he fiddled with the small bamboo plant next to his bedside, twisting it into geometric patterns and shapes. For sometime, he moved it around with his palm. He began to lose consciousness, and as his hand dropped to his side, the plant followed, grafting itself to his arm.

[Greil9]

Being chose for private training seemed to be a great opportunity for the ones present. From what he had heard from few of the other recruits aspiring for more than just a private, some officers would scout for recruits early to potentially join special units. For the most part this seemed sensible since the most physically capable recruits had been gathered.

At first Sieg had trouble grasping how he could be among the people to be chosen from. Even more troublesome was grasping why he was among those to be drafted. Though a moment of thought gave away the most likely explanation: it was an easy way for Ensign Durham to rid himself of the lodestone and make the chemist someone elses problem. What he found no explanation for was why Lieutenant Mahnke chose him first, or even before he was the last one left.

Not sure if the officer was asking him a question or not with the pause, Sieg hesitantly said "Sir, it's... actually Recruit Falkarn Siegrif, Sieg is just what people tend to call me. As for the science... well, I was home-schooled in chemistry and have a lot of personal interest in it. Though I never had a formal education, which is why I couldn't join with the R&D department." 

However upon hearing of Lieutenant Mahnke being a devil fruit user, the chemist had to use his full mental strength to resist starting to ask dozens of questions about the fruit. He had never actually seen a devil fruit user as far as he was aware and they were such a mystery to him the chemist just had to know more. However that kind of questioning was inappropriate towards a superior officer, causing him to resist the urge. Maybe there would be time for that at some point when he had proven himself and become an actual marine, but for now it was an easy way to ensure he'd never become one. Sieg simply clicked his heels together, saluting slowly due to exhaustion as he said "Sir, yes sir."

Several thoughts swirled around the recruits head hen returning to the barracks. Slight potential that he was being scouted for R&D despite the lack of formal education, the officers devil fruit and the dozens of questions he wanted to ask, happiness from at least temporary release from Durham and relief from the service finally being over for the day. All of this kept going all the way back to the barracks, hoping to remain standing until reaching his bed after shower and a meal. Either his tenacity was above the chemists own assumptions or the constant exercise was working since he fell down during neither task, managing to climb into his bunk and quickly fall asleep before anyone else even considered going to bed. Then wake up again as a horrifying thought crept into his mind. "Crap, the lieutenant never said where we're supposed to meet! "The city"? That could refer to a whole lot of places in the city!"

[Cryo Through the Looking Glass]

Valerio Mahnke woke as his timepiece ticked to 6 am, his daily morning routine commencing. Today he and his squad were to patrol the city, a schedule that Val assumed would be pretty boring considering that the Silver Islands were almost completely free of crime. Still, it helped to keep appearances up, and it would be a good chance to get to know Sieg and.... and.... He'd forgotten to go get more recruits. Shoot. Em was going to kill him for this. He'd have to go check the files for any slightly higher seamen who were currently in a state of non mentoring. Leaving his room with a fresh suit on, the botanist turned left, almost immediately running into a marine. Seemed the Silver Islands had more early birds than just his captain, a fact he was glad of, much as he hated to think it.

'Good morning.' Val said cheerfully. The marine grunted, looking at the lieutenant's arm with disdain. Valerio lifted the extremity in question, noticing his bedside pot plant had been untastefully curled around his limb like a strange glove. 'Uh... you've got a little something there..' The Mahnke replied sheepishly: 'Oh... yeah. I was looking for the marine listings at this base?' The casual, yawning marine waved his hand. 'Down the hallway, to the right. Knock yourself out.' Something about the teenaged seaman put Val on edge, but he dismissed it, preferring to concentrate on the task at hand.

Valerio took out the files, quickly flicking through the well thumbed book they were contained in. 'Let's see.. recruits... recruits... apprentices....' All the names he saw had side notes next to them, the vast majority being booked to 'Brent' and 'Durham', and those who weren't were out on mission or moved to another base. The next page, however, proved vastly more helpful, with about 4-5 names without mentors. The picture beside one, was the laid back marine from earlier. Another page turn provided Val with two first class seamen. He took his Den Den Mushi out, Titan sniffing the snail quizzically as the botanist rung the Silver Islands base commander. 'bzzzt... Good morning officer, this is Junior Lieutenant Valerio Mahnke making a request for... 5 seaman apprentices, Jessie, Wynston, Nissan, Benjamin, and Alex to be moved under my command. The snail phone beeped for a moment as a message came through. 'Request received and accepted, the marines in question will be notified of their new commander.' 'Oh, and two seaman first classes, Vanessa and Monroe, also to be transferred to my command. 'Acceptable. These seamen will meet you outside the base.'

The next order of business was to find Siegrif. Reflecting on his last encounter with the recruit, he hadn't given very good instructions to the boy, after all, telling him to meet him in the city was like telling a blind man to find a needle in a haystack. Val found Falkarn's dorm quickly, giving a sharp knock on the door. 'Sieg?' He checked his timepiece. Just past 6:30. They would be late for the start of patrol, and especially because his squad knew virtually nothing about him, they had to be early.

[Greil9]

Everyone in the dorm room was bustling around, still not quite used to how fast everything had to happen in the morning before service. You had 25 minutes to get out of bed, brush your teeth, use the bathroom and get dressed before being called to the front of the barracks, ready to march to the mess hall for breakfast. Or in the case of few recruits, slightly less than 20 since they were still under Durham, cutting the population of 12-recruit room in half.

Although Sieg had climbed out of the bed five minutes later than others, he had actually taken some time during his first week to figure out the most efficient manner to get everything done in the morning. When one has so little time, every minute of it has to count. Usually he was ready by 6:30, just in time for the service. And yet today he felt even worse than the day before, having lost a decent amount of sleep worrying about where to head in the morning and trying to figure out some way to find out. Though it seemed to have worked, since scribbling unintelligible characters into his notebook due to the darkness of the night had given him a plan that could figure out the officers location in time for service. And feeling tired could always be mended with three cups of coffee during breakfast. Not that he liked the stuff, just that he got used to it as the one means of surviving the mornings.

Still, most likely it was half an hour of lost sleep well spent if it meant getting into good graces with at least one officer. That is until someone knocked on the dorm room door, followed by a familiar voice. 'Sieg?' 

Right after sighing deep mentally, the scrawny recruit resumed his duty. Since few of his fellow recruits were still in the room waiting for regular service, the chemist quickly whispered "It's Lieutenant Mahnke, everyone at the ready." Every recruit in the room knew what this meant and prepared accordingly, facing the door. As soon as Sieg opened the door, everyone saluted towards the lieutenant from where they stood.

[vanessa]

Three knocks on the door was enough to startle the young woman who was currently changing herself. Quickly, she buttoned up her shirt before opening the door, revealing one of her fellow first class seaman, Monroe. With a shy smile, she greeted the marine who was delivering a message, saying they were both moved to a new command. Vanessa was surprised to hear that she was being transferred. Though, on the other hand, perhaps it was Ensign Durham, who had made this decision. He was truly a scary man. At least in the eyes of Vanessa. She was very scared of this mean looking man. Even if he didn’t look much older then her, she still felt like a child when he looked at her. He had this constant frown on his face, making little Vanessa shrink. She was always very uncomfortable when she was near him. She thought back when she had to help unload a ship and somehow, she managed to break or lose half or the supplies she carried. If a look could kill, there would be nothing left of her. She wouldn't even be surprised if he had already dug her grave after all the accidents she created. So, maybe, he really wanted to get rid of her, after all, having a clumsy mess under his command was just too much trouble to handle.

The raven haired woman was a little curious about her new superior. Was he like Ensign Durham ? Was he mean ? Does he have a devil fruit power ? Hundreds of questions swirled in her head, wondering who could be this new commander. She glanced at Monroe, wondering if the marine knew anything about this knew superior. She wanted to ask, but as soon as she openned her mouth, she stuttered so much, even she couldn't understand what she was trying to say. So Vanessa decided to wait until she met this person outside the base.  She made her way outside the base with Monroe at her side, without saying a word. They were supposed to meet the rest outside. Once outside, she saw a few marines walking back from the night patrol, she guessed. Vanessa was anxious and she could feel her stomach twisting. As she walked with Monroe outside to wait until they meet everyone, Vanessa’s clumsiness showed itself. Without consulting her brain, her foot decided to stumble over absolutely nothing. Quickly, to avoid falling, she grabbed Monroe’s shoulder, making them both fall on a surprised and unsuspecting marine who happen to walk passed her. The clumsy woman quickly got back on her feet, helping the two unfortunate souls, victims of her clumsiness. But, as she grabbed their hand to help them up, she took a step back and stepped on the other marine's foot. Oh god, this was going to be a long, long day.

"Now I really wish this new commander isn’t as scary as Ensign Durham," she sighed.

Monroe got back on his feet and slightly glared at the woman before shaking his head.

" Nessy, I know it's hard, but you'll have to be careful when you meet the new lieutenant. You wouldn't want to be kicked out of his command on the first day, right ? " 

After stuttering an apology to the other marines, she stood up, her back straight without saying a single word and hoped to god she wouldn't make a mess in front of the lieutenant.

[Cryo Through the Looking Glass]

Val opened the dormitory door to a room full of saluting recruits. The level of discipline at the Silvers Base was pretty impressive to Val, who had come from experiences of hardworking yet casual soldiers. He gave a nod. 'At ease, recruits. Go get yourself some breakfast and report to your commanders immediately afterwards.' As the botanist said this, his stomach gave a growl, and he continued down the hall hastily, passing two marines, one of the marines, a female, tripped over themselves, and catching onto her comrade's shoulder, made the pair fall ungracefully onto Valerio.

The surprised look on the junior lieutenant's face said it all as he was squashed into a clump of bodies. He was helped up by the clumsy female who'd tripped him up in the first place, and as she did so, she stomped on his foot. Val shivered as a jolt of pain arced into his foot, but he could see visibly by the agitated marine's face she hadn't meant it. Her face contorted into a sigh as she murmured a plea to her friend. 'I really wish this new commander won't be as scary as Ensign Durham.' That was enough to give the botanist a clue as to her identity, and her friend's response only made Val more sure of it. "Nessy, I know it's hard, but you'll have to be careful when you meet the new lieutenant. You wouldn't want to be kicked out of his command on the first day, right?" Nessy in his eyes was a nickname variant of Vanessa, and if he remembered rightly, that was the name of one of the seamen first class he'd placed under his command.

As 'Nessy' apologised to him, (a little late much?) Val grinned. 'Are you Vanessa? If so,' he turned to the other marine. 'You must be Monroe. If all that's right, then I'm your new commander, Junior Lieutenant Valerio Mahnke. Also, Durham's not bad, he's just strict and looks out for you. Weeding out the weak from the strong, eh? And since you two are still here, that makes you the strong. He began to stroll down the hall again, giving them a order to go get breakfast.

He arrived at the mess hall, the tables still relatively empty. Still, a chatter resounded through the building, a pleasant bubble that accompanied the botanist as he grabbed a tray and a plate, bringing it to the cafeteria servers. One dumped a steaming pile of perfectly yellow scrambled eggs, and the other put a buttered piece of toast on. Bacon was served, and Val left to sit down. Eating the food, he noticed nobody else was at his chosen table. He looked round, sighting Siegrif lining up for breakfast. He waved him over, smirking.

(OOC: That took way too long. Also, Greil, Vanessa, tell me if I stepped on any toes.)

[Greil9]

Having his new commanding officer get the recruit himself at least made sure he'd find the man instead of just using the most likely places to find him. Still the lost sleep didn't really feel good in the morning. To compensate, Sieg decided on a high-energy breakfast that would get him moving: three cups of coffee and two pieces of toast with egg and bacon in between them. Lot of energy and caffeine to help keep up with the marine lifestyle.

While looking for a place to sit down, the young recruit noticed the lieutenant waving at him to join him. Though hesitant to respond too much to someone of higher rank, he did nod back to let his CO know he saw the greeting and slowly began heading over. Not like he could respond in kind while holding the tray. Still, sitting with someone of higher rank did make him a bit uncomfortable as in his short time as a recruit he had learned the officers often eat in their own tables with no privates or recruits allowed. But then again disobeying was most likely the worse choice, so the chemist set down his tray, though letting his gaze wander to anything other than Valerio.

First thing he enjoyed off his tray was one of the three cups of coffee, slowly downing it. Still bitter, though it went down so much easier than at first. In fact nowadays Sieg took his coffee black rather than mixing in sugar or milk. It seemed to have more of a kick that way from what he had experimented with different dosages over the last two weeks. Not a large time-frame for such experiments, but he had to work this out as fast as he could. After downing the first cup entirely, he tried to still retain from talking to the officer and just enjoy his sandwich. Then again if he was called over and acted more friendly than most officers, maybe he was expecting him to talk. Caught between two possibilities, the young recruit decided on something that wouldn't go completely against either option should he be wrong. He hesitantly asked "Sir, what is our schedule for the day?" though it still felt like a bad idea right after.

[vanessa]

Life couldn’t get worse. Or, it could. It’s always when you think life can’t get any worse, that life shows otherwise. For Vanessa, it looked like she had somehow enrage some god at some point. Not only did she created a mess this morning, but the one she stumbled on was no one else than the new commander! But, what surprised the young woman was how the man, Valerio Mahnke, the junior lieutenant, react. Or, how he didn’t react. He acted like nothing happened! Oh, if he knew… She is always this clumsy. Though, she was surprised to hear him talked about Ensign Durham. She was strong? She wasn’t too sure about that. Yes, she knew how to use a sword quite well, thanks to her two years of training with her brother, but was she that strong? It did bring a small smile thinking about how proud her twin brother would be. She wasn’t that bad… Maybe…

She bowed slightly and whispered another apology when the junior lieutenant continued his path in the hallway. For a moment Monroe and Vanessa couldn’t help but stare at the man. He was strange to say the least. He seemed very friendly, and also familiar for the raven-haired girl. She had heard his name once or twice. She was sure of it.

“Nessy, stop staring, there’s nothing. We have to get breakfast.”

The small girl nod and followed her friend to the mess hall. Along the way, she was very quite and couldn’t stop thinking. Why was he so familiar? She soon stopped thinking about this when she heard the noise in the mess hall. Oh, she wished the lieutenant wasn’t there. She couldn’t bare to live a second longer if he was there and she made another mess. Carefully, she picked up a tray and took a cup of tea. So far so good. She didn’t make anything fall. Then she picked a plate of scrambled egg with fruit on the side. Nothing more. Now, the real challenge. Walking with her tray to a table without making anything. She looked around, trying to find a place for Monroe and herself when she noticed the new commander sitting with… Siegrif, she guessed. Carefully, she made her way to the table wondering if it would be alright to sit with them. After all, she would never eat breakfast with someone with a higher rank. Yet, lieutenant Mahnke was there, sitting with a recruit and talking without a care in the world.

“Would it be alright if I sit here ?”

She hoped so much that she didn’t look too weird.