Wake up. Run a few laps around the block. Come back for breakfast at 07:00. Take advantage of the fact you still need to organise the bookshelf to read and study each of the few books before organising them. Have lunch, then more exercises and more studying.
That was Hector's routine for the better part of the week while he waited for the school and the army to exchange their Paperworks.
He would take his time during his runs to get used to the neighbourhood, looks at what's around. A bakery in the same block, a mechanic a few blocks down, a tiny square where he could lift weights. An open water channel in the middle of a boulevard to the north. His new school would be to the south-east. He heard there were some military stables to the south-west.
The more he got west, the closer he got to the 3rd wall, and hence, the poorer the neighbourhood, whereas the more he went north-east, the richer it got.
Life at the pension was very slow. He would only really interact with people during the meals, as most others were already going to school, but he got glimpses at his neighbors: a quiet girl; a tall and chubby fella that ate a lot; two indian brothers; an old lady that seemed to have the beginning of dementia.
On Thursday, about a week after his departure from the base, he finally got the OK to go to the school. Not that he was really counting on it, but he knew that he could keep his rigorous routine for so long, and sooner or later he would start lacking, and school would be good for that - it would delay his slacking up, because it took a large part of gis day and, as an outside obligation it didn't require self discipline to maintain, and it would make it easier for him to get back to his feet once inevitably he did slack off. That being said, he wasn't in a hurry to start the boring gruel that would be studying stuff he probably already knew in a noisy class, so he decided he could postpone his start to monday, at the beginning of the week.
Monday come, he was ready early, having completed his run a bit earlier than normal in order to avoid any delay from not knowing where his class would be.
During breakfast, however, Sñ. Bigode decided to talk to him:
> “So, first day in the new school, hum?”
>
> “Yeah, sir”
>
> “And what grade are you in?”
>
> “I'm a Senior, sir. Last year in”
>
> “Matthew” – he called to the other side of the table where the tall and chubby fella sat – “You are a Senior as well right?”
>
> The tall man grumbled, still sleepy, and nodded his head in the affirmative.
>
> “Why don't you do something for once and show this fellow here his way around school”
>
> “Oh, you don't have to worry” – Hector interrupted – “I know how to get there”
>
> “No, no, Sñ. Bigode has suggested something good for once", his tall colleague replied, “the halls are quite the labyrinth once you go inside the building, and I'm going there already. You just have to wait for me to finish my breakfast”.
That is how Hector found himself walking home with his new classmate:
> “I Don't think we've been introduced, by the way” he said, “my name is Hector”
>
> “Matt” he said pointing at himself “And you don't have to be so formal all the time”
>
> “Sorry Matt, old habits”
>
> “From the barracks?”
>
> “Yes, actually. Mr Cortez has told you I came from the army?”
>
> “Not really, I just… You go running every morning before breakfast”
>
> “?”
>
> “Normal people don't do that, you know? I just guest you came from the military”
>
> “Well, you are right. 3rd battalion school for children of commoners officers, under the wings of Monseigneur de Marseille.”
>
> “Sounds pretty fancy. Why did you leave?”
>
> “Had to. My caretaker died in action”
>
> “Sorry to hear that.” He paused for a moment “but you left after he died? Just like that?”
>
> “He wasn't my father, and never got through the bureaucracy to officially adopt me, so I got no pension privileges. No way to remain in the school either”
>
> “Uff, that sucks. Well, welcome to the world of us mortal civilians”
>
> “Well, I'll be taking the officer exam in a few months, so I hope this is only temporary” – he said, unsure how to react from Matthews joke about his previous status
>
> “Good luck then” Matt said, unbothered.
At least he wasn't resentful – Hector knew he had grown up in privilege – at least as far as most people from the 3rd ring were concerned, but Matthew seemed unfazed.
> “So, any tips on how to adapt to this new environment while I'm here?”
>
> This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
>
> “Well, I'm not really one of the smart kids in class, so I'm probably not the best person to be giving advice to a driven and competent young officer as yourself” he said, in a jokingly manner still – “I can point to you the more studious and serious bunch if you like. Or, I could go showing you around the parties and the troublemakers if you're in for a change.”
>
> “I guess you could start by pointing me in the direction of my classroom, then I’ll think about it” he said, as they approached the school grounds.
----------------------------------------
The classes were as tedious as he thought they would be. They were going through subjects he had already studied, and had a very superficial look, just to make matters worse.
During recess, he went to check on the gim. There, people were playing grapper.
----------------------------------------
Grapper, dear reader, is a kind of sport that children of this world like to play in their free time. To play it, you separate teams (that can be of any size, tho the official tournaments usually have about 30 people each). The space is separated into 5, kind of like dodgeball. In the back, a thin slice for the ‘dead’ attackers, then a fat area for the defenders, then, in the middle, a neutral zone, and hence repeat like a mirror, with a second area for the other team defendants and a second area for ‘deads’. Each player then ties a easily breakable knot with a piece of fabric in their head, also know as a ‘weakness’.
The goal is to steal your opponents' weakness and keep yours. You can only steal the weakness in the neutral or defending zones, and after that, you have to take the weakness to the ‘dead’ area, behind your opponents, to make it count as a point. An opponent without a weakness has to get out of the game. If you take your opponent's weakness while you are in the attacking area, you give them their weakness back but they still have to go outside the court, ‘to rest’, but they can still come back if one of their teammates can get their weakness back, or by trading their ‘life’ for one of the other team players that is also ‘resting’ (so the players would exchange their weakness, making it a 1x1 trade, each teams gets a player back).
Each team must have at least one person in the neutral zone at all times, but outside of that, there is no rule on how to divide the team amongst the zones.
The way to steal the fabric from the opponent is by being faster, stronger or more agile than them. No punches or kicks to the torso or head are permitted, but legs and arms are fair game, so it is basically a fighting game for children. Grappling is permitted, but because that would put your weakness in danger as well as your opponents, usually avoided, despite what the name of the game might suggest. From what I understand, the name refers to the act of ‘grapping’ the opponent's weakness, and not to the grappling fighting style.
Now you have the basic knowledge to understand the game – tho I understand that a game like this is difficult to fully understand unless you play it yourself – I’m not sure if this game existed somewhere back on my earth, but I definitely did not know of it, and in here it is quite famous, with some international competitions, altho it is sometimes seen as an underclass game, as are most team sports. This world prefere the individual sports like fencing, archery and wrestling.
----------------------------------------
Back to Hector, tho. He had already played Grapper extensively, and so offered himself to get in the next team.
The first game was disappointing because of how easy it was. It was a 17 vs. 17 – they did not have enough kids for full teams, but their court was actually quite small, so it was not so different – Hector, however, easily outmaneuvered the first three kids that came to the middle grounds, stealing their weakness with little more than a few feints and quick reflexes. Only after the third steal, the other team reacted and their two strongest defenders went to keep him busy. At this point, however, his team saw the advantage, and moved almost completely on the offensive, leaving the other team struggling to defend with a three person disadvantage (and with him keeping their two strongest players occupied). The final straw was when he broke through their defensive line to secure his team's stolen weakness (that, at this point, had gone up to 5). With 5 people definitively out of the game, and only 17 people in total, the opposing team had nothing to do except wait for their inevitable defeat.
The second game was better, with everyone in the court having understood where he stood in comparison to them. The opposing team left him with two markers at all times when he was attacking, and sometimes a third invader would come to actually try stealing his weakness just to take him out of the court. He knew he could probably overpower the defendants in real life, but the game's limits on where to hit and fair play made him take things slower than he would back in the military, so he stuck to the defense. That being the case, he encouraged his teammates to go all out on the offensive while he took guard of the back and made sure no attackers made it to their dead zone. That made the opposing team have difficulties, since they had to choose between sticking to defense and slowly losing their weaknesses given the players , or try to break through his (and his 5 teammates) impregnable defense and be crushed. He ended up stealing three ‘lives’ again, this time on the defensive, so his opponents were only momentarily out of the game, but it would not take much time for his team to once again win.
Well, that was enough of a sweat, and his break was almost over, so he decided that that was enough for today and went back to class. At least he could still have some fun while here, even if they needed two people to keep him busy.
----------------------------------------
In the Schoolyard, during lunch break:
> “So Matt, new meat in town?”
>
> “What?” – Matt said, looking up from his meal (that, he tought, had only the same old piece of meat, a thin slice of ham) to see a well proportioned young man with dark hair and fiery eyes.
>
> “You know, the kid you came in today?”
>
> “Ah, yeah. Sorry Bill, I don't think he'll be into your whole gang thing”
>
> “You never know until you try them. But why do you think that?”
>
> “Kid's a soldier. Not only does he come from the army, he intends to get back there”
>
> “Yeah, pretty bad odds then. Well, no reason not to try, tho”
>
> “Well, count me out of whatever you are thinking. I have to live in the same place as the guy no matter the result.”
>
> “Bah, coward”
>
> “I'm just cherishing the peace inside my own house”
>
> “Ok, I'll talk to Marie then”
> “Marie, hey, nice to see you, I’ve been looking for you!”
>
> “Bill, you good?”
>
> “Yeah. So, we have a new target”
>
> “Hum. What are you thinking?”
>
> “New kid in class 3C. Lives in the same pension Matt. Good physique, completely destroyed on the grapper court today, probably a smarty pants as well by what Matt tells. Came from the military”
>
> “Oh, so we're recruiting from the army now?” She said sarcastically
>
> “That's the thing, right? I’ve been thinking, and we aren't lacking soldiers, you know? What we need now is a few generals”
>
> “And you think he can be a general?”
>
> “Probably not, but you never know, and we won't get any new competent people by doing nothing. So why not try?”
>
> “Ok. So what do you want from me?”
>
> “I was just thinking if you could get some more knowledge on him, see if he is really all that I’m hoping he’ll be. And, maybe, if you get to know him a little he will be more open to what we have to say”
>
> “You know I don't like to play with boys hearts like that”
>
> “No need to do that, you can just be a friendly student by his side. Nothing wrong with that”
>
> “..., I'd have to go to class in 3C for a while”
>
> “You are as much part of the gang as me, if not more. The final decision is yours”
>
> “Oh well, fuck you.”
>
> “Thanks, Marie, I knew I could count on you!” The boy said while throwing kisses.
And that, dear readers, Is how I meet with the protagonist of this story. Yes, me. I am the Alice in question, and Bill, the young ruffian mentioned, was a good friend of mine