Sitting in the common area, staring up at the ceiling, Treyvon feels slightly fatigued but mostly relieved. Him and Aoife have finally been granted a break after the 4th section was complete.
He turned to Aoife, stating “You know I was expecting much worse, it felt easy, there were a couple sections on the computer science section that were a bit annoying but I think I’m good.”
Aoife beaming responded “See, I told you so. Sure the Literature section was nothing but dryshite but everything else was fine. Anyways I’ll be back, just going to get some food.” Aoife then lightly jogs away to the line to the buffet to await her meal, leaving Treyvon to his thoughts as he was not hungry.
“The only unfortunate thing about this is that they are written, and I hate the sound of writing, not sure why but it is so damn annoying! Well at least it’s not pen, pen is actually fucking painful to listen to. Hell that’s why the computer science section was better, I much prefer typing.”
Treyvon then spots a seat by a window with Apollo's rays coming through to provide a comforting warmth. He then moves over to sit down and bask in both the warmth of the light and the coldness of his thoughts, but that is cut short as he sees a rather short guy walking over to where he was, immediately what stook out was the respirator he had on , covering half his face; this essentially gives away he is from Feronia. He also had brown skin, slicked back black hair and round glasses encircling light brown eyes. He then walked up to Treyvon, stopped and stared, without saying a word.
“......Can I help you?” muttered Treyvon, in a very perplexed tone. The man immediately responded “I was planning to sit there, I have my bag there”, he spoke calmly and politely, however the respirator distorted his voice making him sound somewhat intimidating, he also had a noticeable foreign accent, further adding to the ominous tone he had. Treyvon looked down and noticed the bag, slightly agitated for missing it the first time and now having to deal with this. “Sorry man I’ll move”, he responded, hiding his annoyance.
“There is no need”, the man responded, “I do not mind a conversation.” Treyvon just shrugged his shoulders and responded “Eh why not? My name is Treyvon, what is yours?”
“Xever” he responded, it became clear it would be very difficult to read him due to his formality and the respirator hiding most of his facial expressions. “I take it you are a local” he followed, his tone slightly more cold now.
“Indeed, I’ve lived in Arcania my whole life.” Treyvon responded, catching the slight shift in tone in his voice, which became even more noticeable with his follow up.
“Oh, Arcania, how nice, it is a very beautiful city with such admirable scientific achievements. It must be quite nice to live in such a luxurious place.”
Treyvon, the best he can respond with is “........Yeah I am very fortunate.” Treyvon was aware that some people from the moons held deep rooted animosity towards Elysians for the luxury of the people and benefitting from the exports of the moons, and here it is showing. Treyvon thought “well at least he is trying to be civil” and continued the conversation “Where are you from?”
Xever responded quickly, his tone going back to being polite “I am from Quetzalexio, Feronia. It is the 3rd largest province on the moon and one of the most environmentally diverse.”
Treyvon hearing this is reminded of how much of his life he could remember was sheltered, as he realizes how far human civilization extends and how others travel, especially if they want to fulfill goals and get a better life. Carrying on from this thought Treyvon decides to ask “What made you come all the way here to try out for AVA?”
Before Xever responds, he takes off his respirator, revealing more of his face, which clearly mark him as Feronian, particularly from the shape of his nose and his face structure. He flashes a smile before pulling out a fruit from his bag and taking a bite. Treyvon, a bit stunned and confused asks “...Don’t uh.......Don’t you need that to breathe?”
Xever after swallowing, answers “Yes and no”, his voice now sounds much more organic and approachable without the respirator. Treyvon shoots him a confused glance before Xever follows with “Allow me to elaborate, Feronia’s oxygen concentration is higher compared to other moons, it is roughly 26%, compared to Elysia’s 21%. As a result of that, the lungs of people in Feronia got slightly smaller over time to adapt to that environment to avoid oxygen toxicity. However now, when we go to other moons the volume of our lungs is inadequate to provide proper oxygen supply initially so we wear respirators for about 30-40 days to accustom ourselves to the environment and then we can eventually take them off. Now of course the use is intermediate so we can slowly adapt to it.”
Treyvon, despite not expecting the explanation, was still intrigued, “Damn, so that means I would have to do something similar if I ever go to Feronia?”
Xever, maintaining his composure, nodded and said “Indeed, anyways, to provide an answer for your previous question, why did I choose to go through the trouble of making traveling arrangements just to apply for AVA, not even knowing if my abilities will be sufficient to be accepted?” The slightly cold edge in his voice returns now, but fades in his follow up. “You see, I find the chemical and biological sciences quite intriguing for me and this is the best academy humanity has to offer, so naturally I would do everything to obtain this opportunity to further my knowledge and offer scientific contributions for humanity advancement.” Xever then with his 3rd continuation adds, almost in a snarky manner “Now let me ask you Treyvon, what is your reason for applying and going through such a lengthy admission process, despite the low acceptance rates?”
Treyvon, a bit caught off guard once again, thinks for a bit, but then is able to muster some swagger in his response. “I don’t have as profound of a reason, ……heh honestly I wish I had that. Really all I can say is that I want to fight to protect people, and I am good at combat and doing other types of field work such as spying since I’ve received a lot of training for it. Haha, I am hoping I find the reason for myself if I get in. As for the low acceptance rate, I don’t care about it, I know I'm getting in regardless.”
Xever flashes another half smile before pausing, then continuing with a hint of respect in his speech now. “You do seem to have a reason that aligns with protecting the interests of humanity, that type of life has a purpose, no matter how small or insignificant you interpret it to be, for the specifics of your purpose you simply need more introspection.”
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Treyvon, simply nodded and said “Thanks”, not wanting to admit that actually resonated with him, “Maybe this guy is not so bad, he seems like a nice person.” he thinks as he decides to continue the conversation, “anyways you said you are good at Chemistry right?”.
Xever, flashed another smile, this one seeming more genuine “Yes, I assume you want my help or advice for the next section of this exam?”
Treyvon quickly followed with “Not exactly, I should manage but Chemistry is not my forte, hell sometimes I even forget the difference between Ketones and Aldehydes.”
Xever responds with an unusual quickness, startling Treyvon “Aldehydes has the Carbonyl group on the edge, Ketones have it in the middle between 2 methyl groups.”
Not sure how to respond, Treyvon simply says “.....thanks” before starting another sentence before Xever interrupts him “The break time is expiring soon, my test room is very far from here so I should leave now. I wish you the best of luck on the rest of the placement exams.” Treyvon is barely able to deliver a “likewise” before Xever finishes his fruit, puts his respirator back on, grabs his bag and hastily walks away. Right as this happens Aoife finally arrives with her food, noticeably agitated “Ah, those cafeteria staff were serving the food arseways! Holding the line up on me, Anyways who the hell was that?”
Treyvon responded “Oh that’s Xever, another student trying to get into AVA, he is interesting. Anyways you have 15 minutes to eat.” Aoife, with a deadpan face responds, “I’d have more time if it wasn’t for the staff acting the fucking maggot, I’d have myself more time!” Treyvon in response can only laugh as Aoife eats her food and calms down. Once she finishes, she asks “Are you sure you’re not hungry?” Treyvon answered “No really, for whatever reason I do not get hungry often, but seriously I’m fine.” Aoife, confused, can only respond “Odd, but your call.”
Soon there is an announcement over the speakers “You now have 3 minutes to return to rooms where the 5th section, Chemistry will begin.”
Aoife laughed “Rumor has this is the worst section, but still time to give it a lash anyways. Are you ready Treyvon?”
Treyvon calmly responded “I think I should be fine, I was grilled particularly on the chemistry section since it is always what sinks people’s written scores.”
Aoife, impressed, responded “I should be ready too. I will not let one section ruin my chances! I am getting in here!”
Treyvon smiled as both him and Aoife walked back to their testing room and took their seats, the chemistry booklet already on their desks. The proctor then began his usual speech “This is the fifth portion of the written exam, the Chemistry section. There will be 25 Multiple Choice questions and 15 free response questions. You will have one hour to complete the exam and must stop when instructed to do so. First, open the booklet to the first page and fill in the blanks with your personal information.”
Once Treyvon is done, listening to the pencils scribbling as he waits for the proctor to start “Turn to the second page, and you may now begin.”
The next 5 sections were very grueling for the students including Treyvon and Aoife, the Chemistry section was rough as most students were still writing after time was called, the Biology section was not much better in that regard either however Treyvon was able to finish it fairly quickly. The Politics and history sections were much easier and now the last minutes of the Geography section were ticking away while Treyvon reviewed his answers “My labels should be correct and my proposed solutions to some of these prompts should also be good enough, I think I’m fine. Let’s s-”
“The time for this exam is now up, please stop writing, close your exam booklet and leave it on your desk, you are now dismissed.”, this announcement broke Treyvon’s thought process once again but now he is no longer concerned, the most tedious part of the entrance process is now over.
“Well, that’s that,” Aoife said, walking alongside him and stretching dramatically. “I don’t know about you, but I feel like I dragged myself through a hedge backward.”
Treyvon chuckled. “Yeah, I’m glad it’s over. How do you think you did?”
“Not too bad, I’d say now,” Aoife replied, grinning. “Though that Biology section was pure pain. They ask me list one more muscle group, I’ll die.”
“What about Geography?” Treyvon asked, genuinely curious.
“I loved that one on me,” she said, her eyes lighting up. “Maps and landscapes are my thing. You?”
“I think I did okay,” Treyvon said, though he couldn’t quite shake the feeling that he might’ve mixed up a river’s name in one of his answers.
They paused at the exit, watching as other students filtered out, some looking deflated, others excitedly chatting in groups. Treyvon noticed Xever standing alone, his posture stiff, as if in introspection. Treyvon raised a hand in greeting, but Xever simply nodded before disappearing into the crowd.
A voice crackled over the academy’s PA system: “All candidates are advised that the results of today’s written exams will be announced tomorrow at 8:00. Please report to the central courtyard for the results and further instructions.”
Aoife practically bounced on her feet. “Tomorrow! That’s oddly fast”
“Guess they want to keep the momentum going,” Treyvon said. He glanced around at the other students, many of whom seemed visibly tense.
“Ah, don’t let it get to you,” Aoife said, nudging him with her elbow. “We’ve done our best, just a matter of waiting now.”
Treyvon nodded, though a knot of uncertainty still remained in his stomach.
Later that evening, Treyvon sat in the common area of the dorms, watching as students milled about. Aoife sat down beside him, holding a steaming mug of tea.
“You’re too quiet,” she said, mock-stern. “What the hell’s going on!?”
“Just thinking about tomorrow,” Treyvon admitted. “Wondering if I’ve done enough.”
Aoife sipped her tea, her expression unusually serious. “You have sure. Just stop fretting, alright?”
Before Treyvon could reply, his eyes landed on Xever, seated at a corner table, scribbling in a small notebook. His movements were precise, almost methodical. Treyvon wondered what kind of thoughts lied in the boughs of his brain, what goes through the head of someone like him.
Later Treyvon was in his room, it was now 23:00, he knows he should be sleeping but he feels like he doesn’t need to for any reason. Looking out the window as Apollo slowly grows more present, the peak of the Diurna slowly approaching. But Treyvon at this point decided he needed some sleep, he shuts the blinds and gets himself in the bed, he simply whispers to himself “Regardless of your score, you did your best. That’s more than most people can say.” before he closes his eyes.