Incipience

Chapter 12 pt 2

"You know, after seeing all of the cool outfits they had in some of those ceremonial balls, this uniform is a letdown," Diane comments with a wrinkle of her nose. "I wish I could add some of my beadwork to accessorize with; this outfit is so boring."

Chloé laughs, "If you think what they have going on is impressive, then you've obviously never been to a Yoruba wedding. Our geles alone put their entire wardrobe to shame."

"First of all, Diane doesn't have an entire week to set aside to attend a Nigerian wedding, so I'm going to stop you there," I laugh. "My sister Anegada married a Yoruba man a few years back and let me tell you, every wedding I've been to since has felt like it's only five minutes long."

"What can I say?" Chloé shrugs, "We know how to throw a party. I bet that none have been as much fun either, right?"

Her grin is way too smug to give her the satisfaction of answering yes.

"No comment."

"What I'm hearing is 'yes'," her smile stretches even further. "I rest my case."

"Whatever," I reply with a roll of my eyes. "We're already running behind, so let's just go before we're late. I'd hate for us to be the first to introduce the Inovarian Empire to CPT."

...

We make it to the shuttle with seconds to spare. Unsurprisingly, McCormick is already sitting across from Xiomoazi, the two looking as prim and proper as ever. Meanwhile, the three of our uniforms are a bit disheveled from our rushing. I jump in next to Xiomoazi while the other two take the seats on both sides of our fellow meta. The shuttle driver wastes no time jetting off.

"What took you all so long?" McCormick asks. "We split up like an hour ago."

"Don't you have sisters?" I reply. "You know how long we can take to get dressed, especially if we're in a group."

McCormick gives me a blank stare, "yeah, but they only take that long when they're dressing up for a pageant or something. You three just put on some clothes. You don't even look all that different."

"Ow! What was that for?"

Xiomoazi and I laugh as Chloé and Diane simultaneously swat him on the arm.

"I believe you still have quite a bit to learn about women, cadet," Xiomoazi comments lightheartedly. "Be careful, I have visited a number of planets where that comment would've resulted in much more than a little slap!"

McCormick gives an uncharacteristically humorous groan, "So you're telling me the women in this solar system are just as crazy? I can't win!"

The rest of our short ride is spent filled with laughter. Even McCormick cracks a smile, even if half of the jokes told are at his expense. It's amazing how you can lose track of time when you're with the right people.

Unfortunately, our lighthearted mood begins to fade once the other cadets come into sight. Our shuttle cruises along the line of chattering young adults before coming to a stop at the end of the line where the cadets from our barrack are located. Sometimes I forget that there are humans on this ship outside of the ones in my barrack. Judging by how long it took to get to the end of the line, there has to be at least 500 of us here if not more.

"As you just learned during this morning's lesson, it is customary for instructors to escort their cadets into their commencement ceremony and present them," Xiomoazi starts."However, since Rombag is with the Alphas, I will be the one leading your procession. I hope you don't mind."