The assembly hall continued to fill up as time progressed, with more and more recruits filtering in through the twenty different inspection rooms located around the area.
Unlike Thea's own inspection, it appeared that most of the other recruits completed their inspections within a minute or two at most. This created a bustling atmosphere in the hall as newly arriving recruits attempted to locate their assigned seats among the vast expanse of metal chairs set up before the podium.
Thea was preoccupied with her own thoughts when a recruit came up next to her and greeted her with a friendly voice, "Greetings! Guess we're sitting next to each other for this one. I'm Marcus, by the way, nice to meet you."
As Marcus sat down on his chair, Thea briefly scanned him with her heightened senses, a habit she had already gotten into since the integration, before answering. After all, growing up in an undercity had taught her to be reserved when it came to making new acquaintances at an early age.
Marcus appeared to be a confident and well-built individual, seemingly open and friendly by nature. He stood around 185cm tall, with a sleek black haircut framing his fairly handsome face. His movements exhibited a certain poise and deportment that suggested a refined upbringing to Thea.
After a brief evaluation, she decided that he seemed nice enough and engaged with her new seatmate. "Hi, Marcus. I'm Thea. It's nice to meet you too," she said, offering a warm smile.
Seemingly happy to have made a new acquaintance himself, Marcus started asking her questions, while fiddling around with his wristband, seemingly struggling to get a function to work the way he wanted, “That previous ceremony was a bit of a scam, huh? Never thought that’s how I would die, not going to lie. I was definitely scared when that giant beam came my way…”
“Ha, tell me about it! That was absolutely terrifying. I was utterly convinced it was a test too… I didn’t even realise it was real until the System had already grabbed my Soul from the Void,” Thea retorted with a self-deprecating smile.
Chuckling at Thea’s response, Marcus stopped fiddling with his wristband, having given up in frustration at the technology and looked up at Thea for the first time.
As his eyes met hers, his smile froze. He abruptly got up from his chair, startling Thea slightly, before he walked away without a word.
Confused by what had just occurred, Thea followed him with her eyes and focused the rest of her senses on the briskly walking Marcus, trying to discern what had caused his abrupt departure.
A couple seconds later, Marcus reached the nearest UHF Private working as a coordinator for the event and promptly started talking, his voice laced with hostility and disgust, “There’s a Cyan next to my seat. What is the meaning of this?”
Taken aback by the sudden hostility, the Private backed away from Marcus a couple of steps, before he looked at Marcus with a frown.
“Ah… Yes. This recruitment drive was partially held on mid-worlds, including their undercities. It could be that it’s one of the citizens from there, they often end up having to resort to the Cyan Solution, due to their lacking healthcare and general poverty,” the Private explained, trying to calm the quietly fuming Marcus.
Marcus’ reply immediately showed that the Private’s attempt had failed, however, “This is unacceptable. I demand to be assigned another seat! I did not go through all of this, just to be seated next to trash. It's bad enough to have to share my ceremony with one of them, but I won’t sit next to it!”
Having heard enough, Thea breathed a heavy sigh, before concentrating on retracting her senses back to a more passive state.
‘I really should’ve guessed that’s what was going on… Just because we went through the same integration won’t mean that people will simply accept me as I am, apparently. Figured the annoying behavior of the past two years would continue regardless...
‘I’ve gotten too used to my little corner of the undercity, where people knew me from years of coexistence… I suppose I’ll have to work my way up from the bottom once again…’ she dejectedly concluded, sinking into her chair.
The encounter had completely sapped her excitement, as it had reminded her of her early years in the undercity.
Even in an area where a lot of Cyans existed, they were generally not welcome. They were seen as a drain on public resources and nearly always ended up as ruthless and lawless gang members, due to the direct pipeline of undercity orphanages to gangs.
Thea had only escaped that fate due to sheer luck, as no gang member had shown up to grab her off the streets on her fourth birthday, as was customary in the undercity. She had never figured out why there hadn’t been a gang member present to grab her, but she was infinitely thankful for it. After all, this fortunate turn of events led to her fateful encounter with Old Man James and her current life…
----------------------------------------
Over the course of the next twenty minutes, two similar incidents occurred, before Thea had finally given up on trying to make any acquaintances during the ceremony.
All of her earlier excitement had given way to a feeling of dejected acceptance that, regardless of where she went, she would always be seen as a Cyan first and foremost.
She had since then opted into a more aggressive approach, to ward off any prejudiced Recruits, by staring at them intently as they approached, eyes wide open.
This approach had successfully kept the seats next to her empty, as another three Recruits simply heel-turned and requested different seats, while the assembly hall was not filled up yet.
With a mixture of both annoyance and elation at the fact that her rudimentary plan had worked so well, Thea simply waited for the ceremony to start. With bitterness rising in her heart, she wanted to get the ceremony over with, so she could finally leave the giant hall filled with Recruits she had initially hoped to get along with.
As she continued to brood over the rejection by her fellow Recruits, Thea’s heightened senses picked up the tell-tale signs of another Recruit approaching her seating area. She had quickly learned that there was a certain cadence to the footsteps of someone that was approaching their assigned seating area, so she was specifically listening out for that tell in order to prepare herself for the inevitable social encounter.
The footsteps abruptly stopped next to her, just as she had anticipated. With an exhausted sigh, Thea prepared herself mentally to deal with another prejudiced Recruit.
She widened her eyes to make sure the Recruit could see her Cyan-ness front and centre and stared at the person that had approached the seat to her left.
She saw a young woman of medium height, standing around 170cm tall, looking back at her.
She had a slender build and delicate features, with large, expressive and attentive green eyes framed by long, dark lashes. Her wavy, chestnut-brown hair cascaded down past her shoulders, and she had it partially tied up in a loose bun.
Thea’s heightened senses could also pick up the subtle usage of high quality make-up in the Recruit’s face, which further elevated her natural charm, and briefly wondered if she should have learned how to use make-up herself.
As Thea stared into the attentive eyes of the female Recruit, she braced herself for the inevitable reaction she had come to expect: eyes widening, a frown appearing, and a varying degree of disgust forming on their faces before turning and leaving.
The female Recruit's eyes did widen nearly immediately, as Thea had expected, but instead of displaying disgust, she suddenly surged forward, placing her face only centimetres away from Thea's. A distinctly pleasant smell of what semeed to be some sort of subtle, floral perfume hit her nose.
Taken aback by the unexpected reaction and the sudden breach of her personal space, Thea reeled backward on her chair, nearly falling off of it. "Ahhh! What...!?"
Without giving Thea a chance to recover, the female Recruit exploded into a veritable ocean of extroverted energy, “Are you a Cyan?! You are, aren’t you?! That’s so cool! I’ve always wanted to meet one of you! My name’s Karania Faulkner, but my friends call me Kara! Nice to meet you! I guess I’m sitting right next to you—what a lucky coincidence!
“Your eyes are absolutely mesmerising! I’ve been studying the Cyan Solution for years, you see. I've seen a lot of holo-pictures and simulations of Cyan eyes, but never in real life before! They’re absolutely gorgeous! What I’d give to have such beautiful looking eyes…!
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“Ah…!” the girl interrupted her barrage of social outpouring, realisation dawning on her face, “Don’t get me wrong! I’m sure you’d rather not have to deal with the whole, stupid prejudice surrounding it, and you’d probably rather have a mom, now that I think about it. But still…! Your eyes are super beautiful, mysterious looking, and amazing, and I’m definitely envious of at least those facts!”
Completely taken by surprise by Karania’s outpouring and the overwhelming aura of extroverted energy radiating from her, Thea had trouble forming any coherent thoughts. As someone who struggled with social interactions in a regular encounter, meeting someone as openly excited and extroverted as Karania was the worst-case scenario for Thea.
“Ahh… Th— Thank you…?” was the only reply she managed to muster.
“No need to thank me! It’s nothing but the truth, after all!” Karania replied with a big, toothy smile on her face. She stretched out her hand towards Thea before continuing, “I’m not sure if I mentioned it before, but my name’s Karania Faulkner. My friends just call me Kara. It’s an absolute honour and my greatest pleasure to meet you! I hope we can get along well!”
Still stunned by the complete lack of inhibitions from the female Recruit in front of her, Thea could do nothing but slowly take Karania’s hand and shake it hesitantly.
As if suddenly realising something important, Karania stepped back, eyes wide.
“Oh shoot! I totally just overwhelmed you with all my excitement, didn’t I? I’m sooo sorry! I always tell myself not to do it, yet always end up doing it anyway… Haaa… Please don’t hate me?” she finished with a pleading look towards Thea, genuine fear of rejection apparent on her face.
Thea was slowly starting to recover from her shock, now that Karania had backed out of her private space and she felt empathetic towards her fellow Recruit. She knew all too well what constant rejection was like, after all.
Holding up both hands in a calming gesture, Thea replied, “No, no. Don’t worry, I don’t hate you. I’m just a bit… overwhelmed… that’s all. I’ve not had many good experiences so far when it comes to our fellow Recruits…
“My name’s Thea. Everyone just calls me Thea. Nice to meet you, Karania. I’m glad that someone finally decided not to be upset about being seated next to me, ha!” She tried ending with a self-deprecating joke to ease Karania’s fears further.
As if she had flipped a switch, Karania’s face suddenly lit up with the same toothy grin from before, “Awesome! Thank you so much! I don’t understand how anyone could be upset about being seated next to you! What rude people! Unbelievable…” her voice trailed off as she sat down on her metal chair, her head shaking in disbelief.
Still not quite sure what to think about the highly energetic and extroverted Karania, Thea decided to observe her carefully. She was not fully convinced yet that this was not all part of an act. Due to her heightened senses, Thea quickly managed to pick up on a couple of things.
Karania had a unique quirk that was evident in the way she carried herself when not actively engaging with anything. She had a tendency to unconsciously tap her fingers in intricate patterns on any available surface, almost as if she were playing an invisible piano.
This habit seemed to be a manifestation of her boundless energy and creative spirit, giving her an air of constant motion and engagement with her surroundings, while also making her appear continuously restless.
Furthermore, Thea noted that Karania had a habit of rapidly scanning her surroundings every couple of seconds, evident in the way her green eyes quickly darted around before returning to their normal state.
She got the overall impression that Karania was a very attentive, albeit highly energetic and extroverted woman, and she couldn't help but want to accept her open and genuine-seeming nature.
Most dangerous of all, she felt a slight hope blossom deep inside her heart—a hope she had long buried in the darkest recesses of her psyche: the hope of finally making a real friend.
Thea had grown up in the undercity of Lumiosia under the tutelage and watchful eye of an old war veteran. Coupled with the fact that she was born a Cyan, an orphan, and seemed to be living a more-or-less sheltered life compared to the other children in the undercity, she had never managed to make any lasting friends.
The closest she had come to making friends, outside of Thomas and the Old Man, who were more like father figures to her than real friends, were some of her galaxy-net contacts from the various arcade games she had competed in.
As such, the hope that was now slowly blooming inside her scared her. She had no experience with making friends, being a friend, or maintaining a friendship whatsoever. Nor did she know how to even broach the subject or when it would be a good time to do so.
Faced with such an overwhelming degree of uncertainty, Thea remained silent, simply continuing to observe Karania in the silent hope that she would find something that would make her tumultuous thoughts vanish. If she could just find a reason to dislike Karania, she wouldn't have to take the scary steps into the unknown…
Karania abruptly looked at Thea, who was still in the process of carefully observing her fellow Recruit, and spoke up again, “Actually… I was wondering about something, Thea:
“Do you think we'll get our own rooms again? I really liked not having to share bunk beds or anything… But at the same time, it would be awesome to live together with someone like-minded, don't you think? I could totally see you as my roommate!”
Realising that she hadn't considered anything about her future past the ceremony at all yet, Thea quickly thought about the question before answering.
“Hmm… I think it would make sense for the Recruits to live more closely together now… I think the UHF purposefully kept us from making too many friendships before since they knew the majority wouldn't make it to the Marines.
“But now that we've passed the filter, I could see them trying to push hard for us to build up our squad cohesion and a sense of camaraderie. So maybe we'll all get put into rooms with our squad members?” she proposed analytically.
For reasons unknown to Thea, Karania pouted at her response.
Thea worried whether she had said something wrong or offensive and went over her answer once again, but found nothing that would lead to such a reaction.
Utterly confused by the reaction of her fellow Recruit, she quickly added, “What do you think, Karania? Do you think we'll be placed alone again or not?”
Maybe she could glean some information on Karania's reaction based on her response.
Throwing up her hands in a shrug, Karania answered in a slightly dejected voice, “I have absolutely no idea. I honestly would really like to be roommates with you though, so I guess that’s what I’d hope for?
“My friends call me Kara, by the way,” she added with a hopeful look on her face.
Thea ended up being more confused by the reply than it had helped. Karania had simply stated her wishes, but given absolutely no thought to why it should end up being like that. It was like her entire mindset was singularly focused on what she wanted, not what was the most likely outcome.
She had also mentioned her friends' nickname for her once again, which confused Thea even more. Why was that an important enough detail to be mentioned three times? Was she simply bragging about having friends to Thea? Did she figure out that Thea had no experience with friendships and was looking to put her down as a result?
It didn’t really fit with Thea’s image of Karania so far, as she seemed extremely genuine to her and could not feel any malicious intent behind her words, but she also had no idea what the actual reason could be.
With no further ideas on how to analyse the girl’s peculiar behaviour, she simply decided to answer in the most non-confrontational way possible, “That’s nice. They must be really kind.”
This led to Karania’s face distorting into a frown and an even more intense pout, before she abruptly looked away from Thea.
Frustrated in equal levels at herself and Karania, Thea's thoughts became jumbled, ‘I guess I messed up…? What in the Void is this girl’s deal…? Why is this so complicated?!
‘I really hope she doesn’t hate me… Though, I guess, if she did, she would have left like all the other Recruits. So maybe there’s still a chance…?’
Before she could attempt to patch things up, however, the lights in the assembly hall began to dim. Startled by the sudden change, Thea rapidly expanded her heightened senses in an area around herself, only to realise that the hall had filled up during her conversation with Karania. She also noted that another Recruit had taken his seat to the right of her, although she did not want to engage in even more complicated interactions at the moment.
“Oohhh! It’s starting, Thea!” came the excited voice of Karania to her left. Once again marvelling at the rapidly changing emotions displayed by her fellow Recruit, Thea simply decided to grunt an affirmation before fixing her gaze upon the grand podium in front of them.
The assembly hall immediately quieted down as the lights dimmed, and all the Recruits excitedly held their breaths for the real ceremony to begin.
Similar to the experience during the previous, fake graduation ceremony at the UHF station, golden-coloured spotlights started illuminating the centre front of the podium, followed by the tell-tale sounds of military boots stepping on polished stone echoing through the hall.
The impressive silhouette of Major Zephyr Quinn appeared from the shadows behind the spotlights before she fully stepped into the light, leading to an awe-striking moment in which the metallic details of her uniform and insignias reflected the golden glow, giving the Major a majestic appearance.
With a wide, genuine-looking smile, Major Quinn saluted, prompting all the Recruits in the audience to stand at attention and respond in kind, sending a thundering sound of fists hitting uniformed chests through the hall.
“Welcome to the UHF Marines, Recruits!
“This is the true graduation ceremony, and by the Emperor, you all deserve to be here.
“When we last spoke, I had to lead you all to your deaths, like lambs to a slaughter. It is by far my least favourite part of any recruitment drive, but it is of utmost importance, as you have all undoubtedly realised by now.
“This time, however, I get to enjoy my very favourite moment: welcoming each and every one of you into our esteemed ranks. You have all proven yourselves more than worthy to be part of the prestigious institution that is the UHF Marine Corps, but your journey is not complete quite yet.
“Over the past two years, you have all undergone a level of basic education expected of every UHF member, regardless of whether they are Marines or not.
“In the following year, you will all undergo rigorous education in what it means to be a true UHF Marine. You will be required to learn everything there is to know about the Allbright System, the UHF’s place in the galaxy, our technology, our enemies, and everything in between.
“Before you truly begin with all of that, however, I will disclose some information that I believe all of you are both entitled to and eager to learn about:
“The reason for the UHF’s stringent behaviour over the last two years, the rigorous physical training you’ve undergone, and why you had to go through such a gruesome experience at the end of it all.
“Lastly, I will explain the proceedings going forward and introduce a couple of people who will be paramount in your continued service with the UHF Marines.
“With all of that said, be at ease, Recruits. Take your seats and listen up closely, as I will not be repeating myself…”