“This is DJ Demophon Kerner here on K-RAD LA, the only radio station that brings you the stone cold truth!
Coming atcha this morning with a dose of local news before we hit the tunes – Senator Marcus Marcus Marcus the 3rd has disappeared from public life since attending the rchant’s Guild Debutante Ball last weekend. No one who knows is talking, but you can bet soone knows and they are keeping things very hush-hush.
I have no doubt – no doubt! – that the gov-ern-nt knows exactly what is going on here. They’re covering sothing up, sothing very mysterious, and I can’t wait to bring you the stone cold truth right here on K-RAD – just as soon as I figure it out! I am public enemy number one of the hush-hush crowd and I won’t back down!
Now, let’s throw on sothing that fits the mood like a fucking glove! It’s ti to listen to those Hushed Whispers!”
- DJ Demophon Kerner, on K-RAD LA, April 8th, System Year 453
I had hoped it would be interesting to be on the other side of the Tutorial day experience. Instead of one of the eager teenagers waiting to get their Class, I was standing with the Delvers, observing. It turned out to be pretty boring, honestly. The Mayor of Arcadia gave a slightly less crappy speech than Sunland’s Mayor had, and the group of kids was smaller. There’d been fourteen of us going through the Tutorial at the ti, but today there were only ten.
I stood around doing my best to look tough and badass until the last of the kids had vanished into the Tutorial, then spent a while practicing casting Fire while we waited. The ones that decided on the Basic Tutorial were done within fifteen minutes, but as far as I could tell we had no interest in recruiting any of the four of them. The first to finish the Standard Tutorial was about half an hour later and turned out to be an Enchanter. I wondered idly what their Tutorial was like as we kept waiting.
About ten minutes later, a boy exited the Tutorial and, after hugging his relieved parents, imdiately turned and marched over to us. Curious, I Identified him.
Na: Alex BarrettStolen from . Support AzureInk by reading the original. s/fiction/142838Class: ArcherLevel: 1
Following imdiately behind the short, slim, brown-haired Alex was a girl who had to be his sister. Identify.
Na: AlyssaStolen from . Support AzureInk by reading the original. s/fiction/142838Class: MageTier: 0
Interesting, she looks younger than him but she must be older if she’s already been through the Tutorial…
Alex walked up to Hassan and stuck out a hand, which Hassan shook bemusedly.
“Hello sir, I’m Alex. I see that you’re also an Archer! I’ve always wanted to be a Delver, how do I sign up?”
His sister stopped next to him and elbowed him in the ribs.
“My na’s Alyssa, and I’m with this lout,” she announced. “We’re a package deal.”
Alex didn’t seem terribly enthusiastic about that but he didn’t disagree. I gave him and his sister both credit for not flinching at seeing Mason up close, especially considering the way the Guards had acted the night before.
Captain Rivers not-so-subtly wandered by to see if she could entice them into listening to her recruiting offer, but she didn’t press the issue when the siblings declined. Mason took them into the inn for a discussion while the rest of us waited for the remaining three Standard Tutorial takers. One got a Fighter Class and signed up with the Army, while the other two had non-combat Classes.
Thirty minutes or so later, Mason erged from the inn with the siblings, who were both wearing DG recruit badges just like I was. They ran off to talk with their parents, all smiles, and with a great deal of hugging involved.
Waste it, I wish my parents had lived to see take the Tutorial. Although they might have died of stress when I didn’t co out after hours and hours…
I found myself missing the kids – Yuna, RaeRae, and even snot-nosed Dustin. As the oldest, I’d had to be the strong, mature one for them, and I was sure it had helped keep sane. I’d mostly been the one giving the reassuring hugs, not getting them, though in the last six months or so RaeRae had developed a scarily accurate sense for when I was feeling down and always did her cute little best to cheer up. I definitely didn’t have to blink away tears at the mory.
Fortunately, Mason interrupted my hosick thoughts and let us know that we’d be staying one more night and leaving in the morning. The town would be celebrating the successful Tutorial tonight, and we were to stay in our room and keep to ourselves.
“Why?” I asked, curious. I didn’t really care, but it seed strange to .
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Hassan added.
Block added, only to be scoffed at by Hassan.
The two resud their usual bickering as we walked, which was a bit odd since Hassan was rarely in sight, making it seem like Block was arguing with the air. We continued back along the road most of the way to Arcadia, before turning south onto a new road. We made camp perhaps a mile or so south of the junction, but there was no convenient cave to send the new recruits into.
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