"You were right, darlin,' we do get the full salute." She nudged him discreetly and stalked over to the food line, grabbing a tray and watching disdainfully as she was given her meal. Kat frowned and shot Mode a sardonic glance. "If they don't drug it, then I'm not sure I can eat it... who knows what they put in this shit." But her complaint was only half-hearted as the rest of her attention remained focused on the room.

Sliding into the seat beside Dante, Rox nudged her friend discreetly with a curt nod toward Nathan and Kat seated nearby. Swede wasn't quite so discreet as she glared openly toward the pair, her turquoise narrowing. "Look, dat baztard and heez gurlfreend are alreedy here... vat zay yoo, Roxxy, vee ztart a food fite?" Nicolai grinned at her words and proceeded to pick up his pudding. "Yeah, who are we aiming for? That white spiked guy over there? I think I have good enough aim to catch him right in the..."

"Shut up and stop it!" Dante kicked Nic in the shin and elbowed Swede hard. "We're not starting a food fight, geez, you're all terrible. What did I tell you two earlier? No trouble." She shot Rox and Swede a warning glance, and although they grinned innocently at her, their plates were set back and they began to eat again. "That's what I thought, you bitches. Shit. Remember last time we had a rumble in here, anyway? Mitch stood up to yell and someone knocked an entire plate of spaghetti right in his face! Haha, five demerit points for that kid, damn... y'all remember who was the one to throw it?"

Everyone except Sergei shifted to stare at Nicolai, who feigned naivety. "Wasn't me, some other Mishkin. I don't know what you're talking about... besides, it was Rox who started it, she hit the Hydra commander in the back of the head with her plate." Rox shoved Nicolai hard, and he fell against Sergei with a laugh. "I did not! Stupid scout liar, Nico, think you fly so hot. You weren't laughing when I smeared pie in your hair!"

"Hi, Heelen, Caztor, long time, neh?" Swede grinned just as Nic stood smoothly, a welcoming smirk on his face. "Ahh, Helen? Nice to meet you... I'm Nicolai, but you can call me Nic." He winked cockily just as Dante kicked him again, making him wince. "Cool it, Casanova."

The three continued to snicker as Nic stormed from the mess hall, a bumbling Sergei at his side. "Nice eatin' with ya, Nico, and nice seein' ya again Serg!" Sergei turned around with a timid smile, then followed his angry older brother toward the barracks.

Seated alone, and looking very, very flushed.

A grin started to creep across her face, but she fought it down, keeping her expression neutral and friendly as she approached the girl. Dante glanced up, as if expecting someone, startled flash of surprise and recognition in her violet eyes as she smiled shyly. Wait. Violet? Rox knew Dante way back at BattleSchool, before her battles with Nathan, and that light amethyst was the exact shade she used to carry, not the cold silvery ice she'd grown following the fight. Interesting. Very interesting.

Without waiting for permission, Rox slid onto the seat beside Dante, a chummy grin on her face as she nudged the girl knowingly. She flushed, averting her eyes, and Rox almost fell out of seat with amazement. Something must have happened, something big. Usually Dante would give back as good as she got, that ice responding with sarcastic comebacks, but she was actually blushing. Rox had the feeling that it had something to do with one of the twins...

"So where ya been all day, Jéli? We been lookin' for ya all over, me 'n' Nene thought you might wanna go shoot up some greens later on in the game room. Whaddya say? Looks like you're done eatin' to me, wanna go find Swede and start shootin?"

Dante only shook her head silently, flushing more. Great. She hadn't wanted to leave Donovan in the first place, was waiting here patiently for him, when Rox of all people showed up. Who was next? Nicolai.

Damnit. She really shouldn't have even thought that, because out of the corner of her eye she spotted him entering the mess hall, looking around and frowning as he noticed them. Sighing, Dante glanced toward Rox. "I'm waiting for someone, but it looks like Nicolai found us first." She didn't expect Rox's angry hiss or the look she shot her. "He's being a jackass. Let's ignore him."

Goddamnit Roxy, stupid bitch... Dante's going to find herself broken by one of those jackass twins and withdraw from everyone again. After you knew I claimed her first, too, we even had a fucking bet, and look what you did. Shit shit shit...

"Hi, Anjélice." He slid onto the seat opposite the pair, frowning severely as Rox gave him a nasty glare, then turning to look at Dante. She gave him a small smile, a secret smile that he knew all too well, and he kicked Rox hard under the table, ignoring her painful hiss as he kept his gaze trained on Dante. "Hi, Nicolai."

"I haven't seen you all day... what have you been up to? Just finish eating? Maybe we could go to the observatory, talk a little, eh?" She flushed slightly and glanced away, shaking her head. "Just went to class, walked around. Um, not done eating yet."

Rox smirked pointedly at Nicolai before patting Dante on the shoulder. "She's waiting for someone, and we were talking until you showed up, flashboy." His eyes narrowed at her then, a calculated glare before turning to watch Dante once more, his voice strained and falsely casual. "Oh, really... who're you waiting for, Jélize?"

"Donovan." She wasn't quite sure what was going on between the two, but she certainly didn't appreciate their fake cheeriness, their sudden interest in what she was doing. This seemed... almost planned, and she knew that something was going on. Dante didn't like being the target when she didn't even understand the hunt. "Why this sudden interest in..."

But Rox interrupted before she was even finished speaking. "Oh, Donovan! I know him, such a sweetheart. Isn't that right, Nicolai? Is he coming here to meet you, Jéli? Maybe we can all stay around; I haven't gotten a chance to see him forever!" She returned the favor to Nicolai, kicking his shin sharply, smirking again as he winced. "Of course, I don't think Nico really likes Don very much... didn't he steal your girlfriend once, flyman?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Roxinne." Nicolai managed to force out from between gritted teeth, shooting her a warning glance, then smiling tightly at Dante. "How did you manage to meet Casanova Donovan, eh, Jélize?" It was Rox's turn to glare menacingly in his direction, neither really noticing the sudden flash of frightened confusion on Dante's face. "We just... met. What do you mean, Casanova Donovan? He seemed nice to me."

"Oh, don't worry, he is! He's such a darling, Jéli, a perfect gentleman... unlike Mishkin here. At least Donovan knows how to treat a woman, eh, Nico?" Dante glanced uncertainly at them both, unsure of what had spurned this sudden angry spat. "Woman? That's what we're calling ourselves these days, Roxinne? Dominic call you that too? Or do both of them call you that?"

His innuendo tore a hiss from Roxinne, but Dante didn't quite understand what he was getting at, her eyes slowly freezing back to quicksilver as unwilling realization stabbed at her. It was with only half-hearted attention that she listened to Rox's words. "Just jealous, Nico darlin' that you can't handle so much? Or is it lack of that's gettin' you now? I told you; lost two. Now fuck off and leave us alone."

"Hey, I'm the one trying to be the nice guy here, not you, little hapa geisha. Don't listen to her, whatever she tries to tell you, Anjélice. Those Japanese are notorious for lying, especially the half kind who don't know when to keep their mouths shut. You two have a good night." Nicolai restrained himself from slapping Roxy, barely managing to stand from the table and stalk away, cursing quietly to himself as he went.

His eyes shifted back to Dante's and his heart sank as he saw the quicksilver had returned to her eyes. Whatever he'd missed of Nicolai and Rox screaming at each other she'd obviously caught.

He sat down across from them almost hesitantly, eyes softening to twilight as he looked over Dante's face, searching for some of the affection he'd seen so recently. Amazingly, a thread of it was still there, but it was tainted with hurt. He had to speak to her now, to get this over with before she heard anything else.

And most importantly, Sol was here to share all this with him. Same Quad, same Cell; the powers that be were conspiring in their favor again. They would have been together anyway, of course; even if they wore different uniforms, even if they slept in separate rooms, they would still have spent all their free time together, still would have played chess together and taken their meals together and if either's commander or fellow quadmates had had any problems with that, then so be it. But they didn't have to deal with any of that at all. It was all taken care of.

Someone with authority was looking out for them.

These were his thoughts as Gabe and Sol got their food and seated themselves in an relatively empty corner of the room. A few other students in various uniforms glanced up as they sat, and nodded greetings.

"Greens?" one asked.

It was Sol that answered; she was generally the one that did the talking, because Gabe was content to completely ignore most other students, whether Sol did his talking for him or not. Gabe wasn't really listening to her dialogue with the older student; it was fairly standardized stuff. She generally answered enough of their questions to make sure she and Gabe weren't going to make any enemies, and no more.

Gabe was thinking about Bryant, and the meeting earlier that day. Someone with authority. Headmaster of Command School was certainly a position with authority. If he wanted them to be kept together, then chances were that it would get done.

In fact . . .

Gabe was thinking of a few more examples of convenient intervention from the past when Sol's voice called him back.

"Not hungry?"

Gabe realized that he'd not yet touched his food. Sol had already started into hers. She had a slightly worried statement on his face. Apparently she took his preoccupation as a bad sign.

Gabe did not smile, exactly. His face did not seem to move at all. And yet there was a change in his eyes, and that change seemed to affect his entire face. No one could have noticed it but Sol, of course; no one could read him like she could. But for her, he knew that it would say just as much as any reassuring smile could. It was like emotions in code; they could send messages to each other without anyone else knowing they were communicating at all.

Gabe liked that.

He ate his food leaving the only some jello type stuff on the corner of his tray. He wasn't much on dessert and the small amount they offered here was easily passed up. He pushed his tray out from him and laid the old book in front of him. Its dark brown leather contrasting heavily with the light table top. He opened up the cover to reveal the note his grandfather's grandfather had written in it. He had no idea what it meant as it too was in some oriental language like the cover. Kyle's grandfather had said it was written to his grandmother. Kyle had often pondered how someone in his family had ever known that language. It was something to do with the Second World War he was told.

Turning the next page he could recognize the words. The rest of the book was in stark. It never made much since but it did seem like a rough translation. It was about a young man in the east most partin Asia. The man's struggle with honor and martial arts made the story. It was the reason Kyle had first gotten into martial arts. It wasn't a violent fighting sport. It had more to do with peace. When he found the blank space in his mind his instructor had always told him about he was at peace.

He closed the book and turned toward her. As she started to eat. "Trying to read in peace," he said in a pretended annoyed voice and a heavy sigh. He eyed her with a smile. He could tell she had been up and about. "I don't start classes until tomorrow so I was a little bored. Early lunch," he glanced at his empty tray.

Kyle watched her eat for a moment as she was in thought. She held herself delicatly. Sue always seemed like a girl. She was tough but, she always had that femine touch to her. Unlike some girls he had seen in space. If their voice was deeper and you were talking to one without seeing her you would never know. He almost smiled thinking about it. He stopped himself.

"I don't know, I just thought you maybe had. I was just curious after hearing it." He turned and sat straight facing the table again hoping Sue hadn't noticed he was admiring her.Duh, how would she notice?I am just sitting here. I'm an idiot.

"Sure! The sims are a bit more advanced than the ones back at battle school. You wanna go now? Or later?"

As they walked together out of the mess Kyle kept thinking about what his commander had said. He had to take out at least three enemy fighters in his first battle or he would be transferred. Not that he had had time to care about Panther but, it just wouldn't look good to other commanders if he was transferred his first day.

A long moment as she pushed it around her plate, before she glanced back up at Rye, eyes rather unfocused as she thought. Rox-- now that was a problem. Her friend hadn't mentioned what she had done beyond saying that she'd played with the wrong person, and after reassurances that she was just fine, curtly asked them to drop it. She knew it had something to do with Dominic... that was another topic not yet fully explained, as well as Dante's newest relationship with the other twin, Donovan. So much. And she didn't really understand it all.

"Coomon. Letz geet yoor deezgrazefool defeet ovaire vith, hmm?" He smiled and followed suit, the two of them dumping their barely touched meals and walking out of the mess hall together, on their way toward the game arena.

He was almost eighteen now. His skin was light from years in space which contrasted greatly with his brown hair and dark brown eyes. He was by far the oldest student at Battle School before he graduated. From what he gathered from several officers was that he was being kept around to test up and coming commanders. Only he knew the real reason he was graduated finally. All the pshycologists said it was because there was no more competition. It all started when Dante left. The two had been the best commanders in Battle School. She even seemed to surpass Seth himself. Seth admired everything about her and before long ended up in love with her. Only there was nothing he could do about it. Several years ago something happened that she would never talk about. Seth knew it was the reason he was never able to get close to her. He tried for nearly two years with no success. He didn't understand it. Then she graduated. They had become friends he thought and she even seemed to be more open to him than ever before. He went to sleep one night thinking about her and woke up the next morning to a new commander in Fox. She was gone with not so much as a good bye.

After that Seth Battle School wasn't the same. He thought about her every night and the day they would meet again. In his dreams she started to love him too and he couldn't be happier until he awoke. He tried his best to get them to send him to command school. He even went through one of the longest winning streaks most officers had ever seen at Battle School. There wasn't any competition when she left and the older he got the easier it became. Finally, he gave up. Next thing he knew he was being sent here and ever since arriving last night all he could do was think about seeing her again.

He went through the line scanning the room while his food was placed on his tray. His eyes fell on a auburn-red head filled with curls. She was facing away from him sitting at a table close to the back next to another girl. It had to be her. His mouth went dry and he almost dropped his tray.

And on top of that, Donovan and Dominic were late. Normally, that wouldn't have irritated her; but Rox wasn't talking, and Pallas had left to go speak to another soldier. Rox just sat with a wide, mischievious grin plastered on her face, but refused to say anything beyond "You'll find out when Dommy gets here." Unwilling curiosity was gnawing at her too, and Dante was more than a little anxious to find out just what had happened to make her friend smile like such an idiot all morning long.

She just sighed and pushed the wayward curls from her face, lost in thought until an oddly familiar voice spoke her name almost tentatively. Rox nudged her in the ribs, and Dante glanced up to a tall boy who stood across the table from her. Her eyes silvered as she stared at him for a long moment, trying to place the face, the brown eyes and hair, the slight smile.

Seth?

He straightened his stance when he realized that it might be obvious he was gawking. He fumbled for words, "Yes. Yes it has." He took her hand in his and cussed himself for not wiping his sweaty palms first. "You... you look good," he said with a slight smile.

Donovan spotted them first and he and his brother walked towards the table. There was another soldier there Don didn't recognize who looked too old for a green, standing in front of the table and shaking Dante's hand. That was unusual. Donovan and Dominic knew almost everyone on the station that had been there more than six months, by face if not by name, but Don didn't remember seeing this man before.

They approached the table and Dante looked up at him with a bright smile, and he returned it. Their visit last night had made him aware anew that this was nothing like his past dalliance. Holding her afterward had been the sweetest part. He'd wanted more than anything to spend the night with her, but with the new greens in his cell it would have been problematical at best, and he'd settled for walking her to the Griffin Quad door where she was staying.

"Oh... dearest, this is Seth Taylor. He commanded Eagle when we were at BattleSchool together and I ran Fox. Seth, this is Don--" she was interrupted by a howl of laughter, and the three turned to see Dominic pick up Rox and sling her over his shoulder. She was grinning and giggling, and he was laughing as he winked to Donovan and turned toward the exit. "See you around, bro. Me'n'Roxdoll got some discussin' to do."