Hurry up and wait

[Seprafel]

Junctior, Season of Autumn, of Era III of the Celestine Mandate, Era XII Post Fractum

The katta had headed back to Barracks 5 in a flash. Although he had to rely on an internal clock to wake him up, there had been no problems recently. After he had slipped into the bad that he called home for the time being, Seprafel set his intneral clock to wake up in an hour. And then, he feel asleep.

When Seprafel awoke, he was disoriented for a few seconds. Where were the drill sergeants yelling at him to get ready for the mornings physical training? His mind slowly cleared, and he understood what was going on. He hadn't bothered to get undressed, so he hopped out of his bunk and made his bed quickly before running to chow. On the way, Seprafel had spotted more than a few flyers announcing his squad's briefing time and location in regards to the wilderness training.

"Right." Seprafel said to himself. "Better make sure the halflings know when you see 'em at chow." And see them at chow he did. They were hard to miss when they were two of the shortest recruits carrying the most food. Seprafel almost laughed, but then thought better of it. It would probably be a good idea to stuff himself to maximum capacity. There was no telling how long the wilderness training would last.

Not to mention you'll probably be giving up some of your food to keep the other two alive Seprafel thought to himself as he began piling food onto his tray. Once he was through the line and carrying a tray as loaded down as the halflings', he moved over to where the two were sitting. They were talking merrily when Happy spotted him and wavved for him to join them. Seprafel sat down and almost immediately began to wolf his food down. He had learned that the faster you eat the more food you could consume before you felt full. It had become a skill that helped keep his stomach from grumbling too badly on long days of training.

In between mouthfuls he managed to say, "We've all got that wilderness briefing today. Few minutes after chow. We can all go together. Don't wanna be late." Seprafel paused long enough to see that his two new buddies understood what he had said. The katta finished his meal in what would have been a record time had he still be a civilian. His stomach still felt empty, but he knew that feeling would pass in a matter of minutes.

Seprafel waited impatiently for the two halflings to finish their breakfast. He voiced the need for both of them to hurry up only twice. The third time he spoke he mentioned the pushups they had both had to do even with a pass. That thought seemed to get through to them and they began to eat a little faster. They had tried to go back to grab a few morsels for the road. Seprafel didn't have the time to waste while the halflings tried to fetch more food for themselves, so he grabbed each one by an arm and led them out of the chow hall.

"We don't have time to go back for seconds, and I'm not going to wait for the two of you to go back. Now, I'm about to jog to the briefing. I can't stop either of you from going back inside, but if you do you won't have the time to find a flyer and then the correct building where the breifing is." Seprafel spoke his few words of advice and looked down at each of them and sighed. The katta took off at a brisk jog not looking back to see if his halfling friends were following him. He didn't stop until he found the building that the flyers had indicated.

The building itself was unimpressive. Like most of the buildings around it, it was a dull color that seemed to blend in to everything around it. The only difference was it had a sign next to the plain wooden door that read "Wilderness Briefing". Seprafel pushed the door open and walked into a congested room. The only light inside came from the evenly spaced windows. He observed the room and thought all it needed were a few bars on the windows and it would look like a prison cell. Four large wooden benches without cushions were lined up in the center of the room, one behind the other. Apparently they were expecting a lot of recruits to show up.

[Maddyn]

For better or worse however, the two Halfings simply considered food their number one priority. It wasn't as if the squad was overly large to begin with, and so obviously things couldn't begin without themselves. As Seprafel entered however, people were already milling about and making an exit in preparation for their own Wilderness Survival Assignment. Point of the matter was however that very soon Seprafel was the only person in the briefing room as everyone else eventually cleared out in their own given time.

And another good fifteen minutes before Sergeant Hjolnirson made an appearance. Of Seprafel's fellow Recruits however there was still no sign.

Moving about the room at a sedate pace and scowling slightly as he looked about the room, for the first time the Dwarf actually managed to look flustered by the Katta's other squadmates. "Fethin' Cetheron's beard this is getting rediculous!." the Sergeant swore, looking at a sheet of parchment upon a wooden clipboard and then at the solitary soldier.
"Right. That damn well does it, Recruit Seprafel, you're to report at the North side of Nexus Prime near the city gates for your Wilderness training. Acting Warden Verus is in charge of tha squad and Corporal Ly'san is the supervisor of the mission. You can be briefed en route... you'd best run as they should be leaving soon."

"Any questions before moving out Recruit?"

[Seprafel]

Seprafel cursed as he noticed that the two halflings hadn't followed him. Those little buggers got on his nerves! How could somebody willingly join the military and then seem to forget that it required discipline? The katta sighed once he was the only recruit left in the large room. When the drill sergeant made his way in, Seprafel stood with his hands behind his back at parade rest for the sergeant. He listened intently to his brief instructions, and nodded. He had plenty of questions, but time for none of them.

"Roger, sergeant. No questions." Seprafel kept his reply short and sweet. He snapped back to attention, executed an about face and began moving towards the door. Once he was outside, the katta took off into a dead sprint to find the group he would be working with. A smile crossed his face.

So, Verus is the squad leader? That's one last person I have to make friends with he thought to himself, trying to think positively. He had wanted the job of squad leader after all.