[COMPLETE] R E V E R S E #NaNoWriMo2k17

Chapter 4

"Wait, are you serious?"

Stella lay sprawled over her bed, hanging upside down, fiddling with a scarf. Over the course of the last two weeks, they had grown to be good friends. It was interesting to see life from a different perspective, and Stella frequently shared with him her antics and her lifestyle. The Agyris house was warn and welcoming, and not afraid of others, which greatly surprised him. Stella's father returned after a week of him arriving, and he quickly proved himself to be funny and courageous. Ajax often ended up reflecting on his own silent, cold, resilient family. No nonsense, no jokes. Exert control to make others respect you. It was a rather bland way of living, compared to her colourful family. No there, was a lot more then he thought to others.

She rolled over so that she was facing the right side up. "Yeah. I mean like, I haven't really trained much so I'm not that good. I wanna know real tactics. Like, what do you do if you get hit by serthis poison? Or if, dunno, there's a centaur holding a bow to your face?"

"Rinse the wound with water, and apply antivenom. All soldiers are equipped with a pack just in case. And I'm not sure about the centaur one. I mean, its never happened to me."

"Waiiit. You're saying you've been hit with poison? How? I thought you haven't qualified for soldier rank yet?"
"I... technically have. My parents made me stay behind to receive extra training so that I would be 'life ready'. But I've no, I've never fought in a real battle."

"So then how did you get hit? Oooh, do they let monsters lose in the Center?"
"What? No, they only put one in at a time for us to practice. And its super rare. Plus, serthis create the poison from a special fungi. They don't create it themselves."
"So...."
"They gave us a small dose, just so that we would know what it felt like. It was only a tiny amount," he added quickly, seeing her face. "But it burned like hell. It was mainly so that we could identify in the battlefield if we've been hit, or it's just a normal wound."
"Where did, um... they splash it?"
He flicked his tail, pointing. "Here, right at the tip. It also burned the fur away, so I had an ugly bald spot for a month, which sucked. It's healed by now though."
She absentmindedly chewed on the end of a paintbrush. Ajax seriously hoped that thing was sanitary. "Your teachers are hardcore."
"Yeah, no crap. The oldest, Flint, is a pain in the backside. He's a retired officer, and he's been in numerous battles. But he always yells like he's still in the middle of a fight, and he always drills us instead of teaching new things. Mingan's better. She's actually quite sweet and often treats us, and she's quite a good teacher. Zafir's also fine. Pandra though..."
"Yeah, I've heard all about her. She's infamous, y'know? She's the only non-ice aligned teacher."
"Mhm. I don't like her, she's extremely shifty. I swear she's up to something."
She made a weird breathy noise through her nose, and he glanced over quizzically. "Sorry. It's just, conspiracy theories, y'know? Anyways, if it fine if I come along?"

"I'm not sure if Pandra would like that."

"Oh pfft, puh-lease." She won't care about me, I'm just a casual mage walking through. Besides, if she gets mad I'll make sure she'll never forget my face." She removed the brush and continued painting the same thing she'd been working on for the past three days. He was no idea what it was, but Stella wouldn't show him.

"Uhhh," he answered slowly, secretly wondering if she'd lost her mind. "I don't think you should try and take her on."

"Oh no, I won't. I have my ways."

"...what ways?"
"None of your business, nosy." She flipped over and snatched her clock off her table, squinting at it. She somehow kept painting with one hand. "Two in the afternoon, right? It's one right now, should we go?"
"I don't usually leave until half past, it's way too early."
"You can never be too early." She started making tiny strokes, and he leaned over, trying to see over the endes of the canvas.
"What are you painting?"
She sighed. "I don't like showing other people until I'm done. It looks really bad in the in between stages, y'know?"
"Just show me, please."