The Ranch

Partnership (2)

Lost in reverie, Tih is woken up by Kai's call," Tih, come help me up! I don't think I can move on my own. You think this place has crutches or wheelchairs or somethin? Ah, forget it, itd probably cost money anyways. From now on, everything is going to cost money. We have to spend it wisely, right Tih? Ah, speaking of which, me and a bud I made last night decided we were going to join classes today. Wanna come along an- woah!"

When Kai was struggling to sit up, Tih simply picked him up in a princess carry. Kai exclaimed,"Woah woah, what are you...actually, if I'm not lying, this is pretty comfortable, if not incredibly embarrassing. The more time I spend with you Tih, the more my pride as a man dwindles." Tih listens to Kai in silence. "Anyways, thanks for your help, you can put me down now."

Tih places him feet first on the ground, so Kai is standing, but once Kai loses his support, he immediately starts falling to the ground. Tih reflexively catches him again and places him back in a princess carry.

"Hmm, maybe I should just rest for today? But  I want to choose classes before they're all full. By my estimations, only a small part of the new recruits will be able to sign up for classes. Once the classes are all full, the rest will have to wait for more classes to be available. The more time they have to wait, the less money they'll have and they take any classes available to them, even if it's one they don't want. Considering most jobs require you to know the basics, classes will be in high demand for a while. I bet some of the more unliked professions will take this chance to offer classes to desperate recruits. Once you pass the class, you'll be low on money and need to find a job quickly. They'll be forced to take a job in the disliked professions and that's how they trap you. I don't want that to happen to me! I need to get there today no matter what." Kai continues to ramble on, not realizing he was being princess carried out of the apartment.

Tih carried Kai and walked to the cafeteria. It has to be said, Tih's "walk" is about as fast as a bike. It's usually faster, but Tih is forced to slow down, worried that excessive movement will be painful. Walking as smoothly as possible, Tih and Kai arrive at the circular cafeteria.

Onlookers stare at the skinny looking child carrying a slightly larger child as they walk into the cafeteria. Tih brings Kai to the menu before waiting for Kai to tell him what floor to go to.

Kai, who's feeling a mixture of shock an embarrassment, decides to put his attention elsewhere and looks at the electronic menu. He takes out his ID and inserts it into the slot by the electronic board. Kai raps on the screen a message chat pops up. He presses on some letters on screen and clicks send. A couple seconds later, a new message appears saying 'On the second floor'. He says to Tih,"Guess we're heading to the second floor."

Tih carries Kai up the stairs as Kai slows adjusts to the awkwardness of having everyone stare at him. He would walk on his own, but he really can't move his body. He doubts anyone in their group has left their rooms. Only athletic recruits are able to move after all that running yesterday, with Tih being an exception, of course. So physically fit recruits or oddballs.

Kai wasn't wrong. On their way over to the cafeteria, little to no individuals could be seen in the housing district as they walked through the streets. Most newbies have crashed on their beds and presumably won't be awake until mid-to-late afternoon. There were a few exceptions, most of those exceptions being in the cafeteria to eat as well. The current population of the cafeteria is two percent newbies, eight percent instructors, with the rest being normal soldiers.

Tih walks along the aisles until Kai spots the newbie he met last night,"Hey Sher!" He calls out and waves.

The person recognizes him too,"Over here!" He beckons Kai over, only to pause when he sees the position Kai is in. He covers his mouth to hold back the laughter.

The stone-faced Tih carries Kai over and places him on the bench. He sits down next to Kai and stares at the two new people across from him.

The one that called out to Kai has brown, almost red, short hair, brown eyes, and freckles. He's little shorter that Kai , so about average for Kai's age group.

The quieter person sitting next to him with a cynical smile has straight, dirty blond hair, green eyes, and is lanky for his age.

Kai coughs to hide his embarrassment before introducing each other," This is Tih, doesn't talk much. Ah, and as you can see, he's physically a superhuman. Tih, this is-"

The child interrupts," My friends call me Sherlock-"

"What friends? Isn't that just your self proclaimed nickname? Stop trying to act cool." The man besides Sherlock snickers.

Sherlock slugs his friend," Come on Lucien. I'm trying to be cool here!" The child named Lucian shrugs in an uncaring manner.

Sherlock shakes his head,"Sheesh, anyways, what was I saying? Right! The name's Sherlock, this here is Lucien, we're roommates. We're both thirteen and you said you were the same age right Kai?"

"Yeah, nice to meet you! Me and Tih also met on the ride over here, we also got lucky and ended up being roommates. Hey, we never got to finish our conversation from last night. So why do you think we were brought to this island?"

As Sherlock was about to open his mouth-

*grumble*