Walking to the kitchen, Roman finds his way into it with little of no issues. Looking around, he notices two additional people, especially the obvious note of the only youth in the room. Not that thin, not that bad. He nods to himself, as he walks to William, after a customary nod to Luke, who doesn't know this person. Only a little from the past, and it was mostly just some minor moments.
However, knowing the person and understanding that person is a different thing. Luke notices at last that this person is what he assumed he was when he walked into the kitchen.
After all, Roman used to be quite a well-known figure in the Academy. That doesn't mean he wasn't known in the Federation. In fact, he was involved in some military operations with the Federation. Apart from that, he was one of the first custom instructors who remained in the Academy for 10 years, until having enough, traveling east instead. He is long gone from the Academy and the surrounding of this part of the planet. Ever since his leaving, he only came back for some important things. Such as the current situation.
Appearing behind Roman, Mi-Yung knows this person quite well, so she is about to introduce him.
Rank 7, Roman Antler, known as an Unmoving mountain in the Academy. He is older than Luke, but his experience is uncountable in many ways. As with his reason coming his, his Emblem is of the Annihilation Element like William's. It was one of the first of its kind, discovered with surprises, but rather a strange influence. Unlike many like him later, he was a gentle and calm type. That speaks volumes, that he has a tremendous talent in the structural flow and understanding of the Annihilation Element after so many years.
Noticing and glaring at the approaching figure, William makes a polite greeting. “G-greetings, mister...” and in return, Roman glares at him as if he... he wasn't sure what to see.
“I expected a fiercer persona, but this will do. You can call me Roman, as everyone is calling me that. No need for some honorifics.” he pats William's shoulder, before going straight to the table. Gulping some tea, he isn't one bit polite about the food that Mi-Yung put on the table afterward.
“This is godsent... Bloody hell..” he says between chewing and drinking. ”Imagine being summoned from freaking Japan of all places... Terrible nights, lack of sleep. I am spent.”
It leaves a frown on Luke and William, who are a kind of surprised by the sudden guest in the home.
Though, Mi-Yung doesn't find this one bit strange, since she knows him. “Japan is tough, everything is tough, back there. I am surprised you even agreed with Schultz's summon. I would never guess your presence here, since... the past.”
“I wouldn't care, or do so either.” he snapped in undeniable agreement. ”But he promised me the 12 ounces of high-rank Crystalite from... you know, something.” Roman explains but with some hesitation in the presence of William and Luke. Both are of lower rank Walkers, where certain things aren't needed for them.
He is yet to know that Luke is Rank 5, who is privy to these secrets. Luke obviously knows and can understand what he means.
Feeling a bit disappointed, and... somewhat restrained, Mi-Yung says an unwilling acceptance. “That's a bit too much...” Her comments with some frown, reveal some hints in them, but it goes unnoticed by Roman, who has his food. Sighting, not wanting to repeat the destructive nature of her disappointment, she rather chose to prepare more food.
“It's a lot more than usual, but it's more of a reason to go with such a request. Have a seat, boy.” Roman gestures with a finger behind his back, indicating for William to come back beside him.
William acknowledges, still standing behind. Sitting beside him, he awaits what is coming, or not.
In a while, for once in its lifetime, the table has no empty chair. Roman munches everything down his throat with no politeness, being quite a messy eater. Manners are not his thing, leaving William's and Luke's appetites a bit lacking. Leaning on the chair after this sumptuous meal which he didn't even expect, Roman grunts in pleasure. “Glorious day after a long stretch of travel. This was welcomed.”
Appearing healthy, and energetic, he still has some dark clouds under his eye, but it isn't that strange. What is stranger is his stature, which is smaller than even William himself. Although he is slightly thicker thanks to his frequent eating. Regardless of that, he has some muscles, long rough brown hair over his scalp, and a cleanly shaved face.
“Thank you for the meal.” He gives a customary bow which he is used to in japan and flickers his long hair into a bun.
“Are you here to teach me, mister Roman?” William asks, no longer hesitant to tell his wonder.
“Yeah. Exactly. It's gonna be a nice vacation, which is welcomed, but... never mind.“ he hesitates. “I can't wait to be paid. Heheheh.” he laughs, in an obviously good mood, which goes right into Mi-Yung's weak point.
“Roman...” Mi-Yung glances at him with a questionable gaze, which ends up being useless. Roman doesn't even flinch at her words, readying his sentences in a powerful voice, and meaning.
“How to go about this? Some explaining is due, don't you think? Mi-Yung, his proxy?” he utters in a half smile, turning serious halfway through his questions.
He comes here with a purpose after all, and while he has very little obligation here, he needs to return to Japan sooner rather than later. Of course, the latter means after the full 10 days pass, so he could get his payment. Everything is under the contract he signed this morning prior to coming here.
All that Roman knows is that Mi-Yung is the proxy for his "responsibility" of 10 days. That, and that his contract has Annihilation Element which hasn't appeared in the Federation for 2 years.
Mi-Yung, hearing Roman's words, doesn't feel particularly unhappy about his involvement, but his words sure are annoying. She met him for the first time when he was still an instructor at the Academy. Back when she was the newly appointed instructor. He taught her a lot regarding the teachings and good things to say as an instructor. It goes without saying that transferring knowledge to other young, and weaker Walkers is a tremendously effective way to train new blood.
Although, what happened in the Academy remained there, as it... wasn't the brightest, nor the greatest year in her life. To this day, she is a bit speechless by the sheer tough training and expectations put on the Walkers in that place.
Standards of 70 affinities in recent years speak for themselves, of their standards. If 1 in 10 walkers have such an affinity, that is considered quite a good result in the Awakening. It's more of a 1 in couple dozen, but making statistics is a pain in the ass since it involves young Walkers only.
After all, the number of Walkers, who are older, than younger, is much higher. It is a case of survival that enabled this to happen. The earlier roads are the harshest, and surviving past the early Ranks is very important to remain going longer.
It is said, that when one reacher rank 5 before turning 30, one is safe to live for a long time. It is a broad saying that may as well not be true. That, or it is a piece of propaganda to ease some pain, and expectations for not-that-powerful Walkers.
Mi-Yung sights, biting a few mouthfuls bites of the apple, looking directly into Roman's eyes.
“Wanna me, to be blunt?” she asks.
“As always.”
“William Gale is his name. Annihilation Element is given at this point, he awakened his Emblem to 75 official capacity, and System awakened in that bunker too. I made sure to oversee the fusion, while he should finish the first steps with Mindless Eyes very soon.” she explains without holding back, finishing the apple afterward.
“Ho... He has already done so much less than 2 days after being a Walker of rank 1?” Roman nods to himself while looking at William to his right.
“I guess I did that,” he tells with Roman's gaze on himself.
“I am intrigued,” Roman tells, scratching his chin. “Your father is... I can't care less about him if I am fair. To me, some Walkers would be definitely interested in another Annihilator in the making... What is this about, Mi-Yung? I am inclined to understand a bit more of behind the scenes of this mess.”
“What do you want to hear, Roman? You are not one to care for the most part.”
“I care for my kind. Victor was the same. I was with him in Korea, after all, but I never knew him well.”
“I know...” Mi-Yung sights, recalling the incidents in Korea. “There was some interest from Cloud, as well as Yondu to some extent. While even... Frederick Kaufman of the Library is having some view or unknown intentions in this matter.”
“Kaufman did?” Roman asks, raising his brows, before hearing more of her explanations. He doesn't even bother with asking William himself, since he wouldn't know much anyway.
“He was the first to get to understand William's potential of being Rank 0 for 11 years.” Mi-Yung continues.
“1.. 11 bloody years? Mine was 5... Damn.” Roman surprisingly says while being quite impressed.
All of this information leads to William, who is staring at the table, speechlessly listening to their conversation. He doesn't want to be between those Walkers at all, but it seems the choice isn't his. This talk... he isn't interested in this as he heard it before.
“It clears some things... Thank you. I will take the kid. Some proper explaining is due for the potential Walker. We don't want other accidents, am I right?” he tells a rhetorical question, before continuing. ”9 days are left, so I will make sure to teach him what I can. His chances at the academy should be great, but that will wait for my later evaluation. Worry not about this, and let me do my work.” Roman reassures Mi-Yung, who accepts his words, even if she doesn't. No amount of words can ease the burden on her mind.
However, if something could, it would be Roman and his experience, so that leaves no choice for either her or William. Glancing around after the room turn to silent, William is left stunned by a sudden change. Roman gets up, wanting to leave with him right away for the training. So, they do, and it is quite a rapid, and abrupt one, since Mi-Yung, has barely a chance to wave back at the disappearing pair.
Still, William at least grasps his bamboo bottle, as a source of water is best to have in hand. That is all he has on him before he leaves the 47th building complex. Roman leads him toward the Central district without any words, yet William is one to quench this silence.
“So, is Japan so rough?” he asks the silent Roman, who walks with both hands in his pocket. A long jacket is about the only large thing he took with it from Japan.
“Tough... Tough? That's rather a weak word for that... I bet you've seen the pictures of Tokyo in the present time, didn't you?” Roman couldn't help but answer, unbothered with replying, since the words aren't that expensive, after all.
“I did... but how's it from Walker's perspective?”
“You curious about that?”
“I am.”
“You should be more curious about other things,” Roman tells. “Such as the upcoming 10 days.”
“I... still am curious, but I was curious about that as well. Is it wrong?” William argues as if the matter of his logic, is well founded.
“Japan is Japan. A long place from here, so don't worry about it.” Roman dismisses his curiosity. “Do you even know what it means to reach the Academy and do the Trials?”
“Not much.“ William responds, feeling disappointed with no information about the Outside world. “Something about being difficult is about it. The reason for this training is to get familiar with my Emblem so I will have a chance at it. The only best kinds of Walkers can go there.”
Roman shakes his head. “Wrong, but not far from the truth. Let's go check your Emblem first but in a proper setting. Bunker in the Institution should be sufficient for our needs.”
“A bunker?” William asks, recalling many kinds of bunkers in his life.
“Yeah. It's a luxury put forth by Schultz. Most newbies like you would get one since founding familiarity with the Emblem isn't the easiest or... calmest.” Roman explains without properly answering the previous topic. After all, the 10 days will be enough for him to see whether William will have any chance at the Trials.
In a quarter of an hour, the pair reaches the Central District. Walking further into it, there are the protruding buildings that seem like their destination. It's the Institution of the Emblem, which William notices right away.
Seeing Roman not so talkative, but more than he assumed him to be, William is curious about what kind of Walker he is. The kind could be good at teaching? Is that right? How one could teach since there are so many variables put into the System? William doesn't understand it perfectly, but the course of this action is rather simple. It's all about the Annihilation Element, and nothing else.
How could someone teach the Annihilation Element, other than being a master of it? William isn't sure about either possibility, as he expects something along the lines of Mi-Yung teachings. Nothing fancy, but the stress will be there for sure.
With such worrying in mind, William walks into the main building behind Roman. He stops by a counter with a good-looking lady who greets him.
Roman shows her some paper from his pocket, and the lady gets him a small thick card. Such kind indicates something similar to the library card. An opening gadget, that is here for private and simple reasons.
Gesturing for William to follow, Roman continues walking from hallway corners, until he is facing the elevator. Similar to the one, that William saw 2 days ago.
Roman places the card on the metallic surface beside the wall, and the elevator opens up. Rather worn down, with no walls, but a wired cage instead. It looks like some kind of industrial one, but enough for dozens of people, which is huge.
Clicking some buttons aside from the closing door, Roman makes the elevator go down for quite a while. It opens automatically, revealing another hallway but worn down, with cracks, and no care put into this place.
At this point, William could guess this is a rather messy situation. The kind that he finds familiar, and nice, for once. It reminds him of the messy camps that had to be built quickly. But here, it doesn't look newly built. Instead, it's an old, and worn down place, with noticeable passing of years.
This underground facility is old. More so than a century old.
Roman leads him further to the door at the end of this hallway. It reveals a spiraling staircase down and up. Like before, it's quite open, and one could see it is more vertical shaft than a horizontal kind. This staircase is made of some steel, appearing somewhat manageable, but some parts are old, dusty, and even rusty. In some parts of this staircase are sections to the entrance of the many bunkers, while the shaft itself goes for hundreds of feet upwards, and below.
Noticing nothing of value, unlike William's curiosity, Roman speaks out of this silence. “Ours is number 4, so down we go,” he says, stepping on rather uncertain-looking metallic stairs.
It creaks with a sensuous sound that echoes in this eerily space. Down and up, it makes quite a distinct sound. William couldn't see the ends of the stairs on both ends. It goes deep and above.
And he is right, it's big. A row of stairs, and a few minutes of descending, reveal a few doors on some parts. It goes until the one with the number 4 is on the wall.
Roman places his card on the handle, causing the door to open up. Inside is empty, and dark like everything this deep underground. So far, their only light is some small lighting bulbs that aren't taking much energy and make enough light for them.
Flicking his hands to find the switches, Roman is awkwardly trying to light this place up. Soon enough, William watches as an enormous bunker is before his eyes.