After Major Jax escaped, Kai and Tih was left alone with the strict-looking person in front of them.
The lean man’s eyes followed after the major, he shook his head,”That man…” before turning to the two burdens he was left with.
He said,”Hurry up and get your food, then follow me.” Noticing that they were now the cause of the line not moving, Kai quickly took out his ID, followed by Tih.
They picked up their trays and followed the man.
The man led them to a more desolate and quiet spot and sat down at one side of the lunch table.
Tih and Kai took spots on the opposite side.
Kai placed the fragrant food down, drooling and wanting to eat, but held back to wait for further instructions from the man in front of him.
Kai has met people like this before, a stickler for the rules, who more often than not have a stick up their butt.
The man noticed Kai’s behavior and nodded in approval.
He liked these kinds of kids that knew how to act depending on the person.
Feeling satisfied with the newbie, he turned his head only to see the child next to him slouched over, stuffing food into his mouth.
Kai also saw Tih’s behavior and the odd expression on the man’s face and tried very hard to hold his laughter in.
Tih, who was oblivious to the situation around him, was happily filling his empty stomach that has shrunken over the past month.
His pace quickened as the new tastes and textures filled his mouth.
Seeing the child ignore basic etiquette, the man slammed his hands down in angers.
His palms hit the table, creating a loud smacking sound and attracting the surrounding people’s attention.
Seeing the face of the angry man, the observers start to whisper.
“Isn’t that Instructor Maddox?” “Woah, he looks furious!?” “Who provoked him this time?” “Look, that kid.
Must be a newbie.” “Oof, he’s in for a painful lesson.
I feel kinda bad for him.” “Eating like that in front of Instructor Maddox?
I say he’s getting what’s comin to him.” The observers watch as the Instructor freezes in place before pushing up his glasses and calmly sitting back down.
“Oh?
He managed to hold it back this time.” “Lucky!
The kid caught a second chance.” “To see with my own eyes one of the rare chances Instructor Maddox reins in his anger…” “Sigh, and the one to get it was an ignorant newbie.” The child, who is being considered lucky by the onlookers, is completely unaware to why the man in front of him slammed the table, but it was timed perfectly to when Tih finished his last bite of food.
Swallowing the last delicious morsel, Tih licked his lips in satisfaction and looked at the man in front of him with curiosity.
Kai finally coughed to cover up his laughter,”I’m sorry sir…Instructor Maddox, my friend isn’t really used to proper etiquette, please forgive him.” It was Kai’s first time seeing Tih eat as well.
He didn’t know if this was how he always ate or if this was a one time thing, but to save the inaudible Tih, he started making stuff up.
With deeply scrunched eyebrows, the instructor spoke with an incredibly icy voice,”No matter.
All can be forgiven with a simple apology.” “…” Kai’s eye twitched, he knew they were screwed.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something but not know what to say.
The instructor’s narrowed eyes peered through his glasses to lock eyes with the naive looking child.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The instructor met eyes with the new recruit that he thought had no manners.
He expected to see what he usually does, annoyance, anger, and fear, if they knew who he was, and most did, because of the infamous rumors surrounding him.
He thought the child in front of him was a big fish in a little pond, and only needed to chastise the child and open his horizons.
But when he actually looked into the child’s eyes, he realized his conjectures were completely wrong.
He gazed into the deep pools of still water, that contained not even a slight ripple.
Empty, emotionless, unfeeling, these words popped into his head as a cold sweat started to form.
He has met many unique and strange people on this island, each having their own personality and emotion, but the instructor has never encountered something like this before.
It was almost as if…he was looking at a blank canvas, no.
A black void.
The man opened his mouth to speak only to realize it was bone-dry.
He forced himself to look away to take a swig of water to quench his parched throat, but by the time he looked back, the child’s eyes had already changed, now looking like a frozen pond.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tih looked into the eyes of the man and stared.
He observed the emotions in the man’s eyes.
A little anger, a sense of superiority, but mostly moral integrity.
The child saw no fear, nor hate or disgust, which he had grown accustomed to.
Being able to see emotion in one’s eyes was a skill he picked up from his old life and was the reason he had a habit of making heavy eye contact with people.
The man in front of him was one full of moral integrity.
He had his own set of right and wrong and tried to enforce it, even if the people around him did not agree.
The man understood that there would be people around him that would disagree, but he had a strong conviction and determination.
That personality is what brought him to his position today and his current predicament.
This man reminded him of the old man.
Tih missed the old man.
The old man was kind and gave him a feeling of warmth on occasion.
Understanding the man had no bad intentions, Tih stopped observing his emotions and started listening to the murmurs around him.
~~~ Mad..dox ~~~ “What’s going on?” “Why aren’t they saying anything?” Murmurs can be heard in the crowd that’s slowly starting to increase in size, but the three people involved are in their own world.
Instructor Maddox looks at the child,”Name?” He says in a stiff but slightly kinder tone of voice.
He’s never seen someone look at him with no emotion.
Whenever people look at him, all he can see are negative emotion from soldiers and fellow instructors alike.
Even the weirder people on the island treat him without respect or outright ignore him.
But this child looks at him without bias.
Although they’re quiet, the murmured rumors can still be heard, but this child continues to give him his full attention.
The instructor feels like he is mistaken, but can’t help but feel like he’s being treated with respect.
He wants to know the child’s name and if he’s willing, take the child in as his student.
He waits for a reply only to be left with closed lips.
The first voice he hears comes from the slightly older boy next to him.
“Um…His name is Tih.” “Why can’t Tih speak for himself.” Instructor Maddox looks at Kai with a raised eyebrow.
Kai bites his bottom lip and thinks to himself, the instructor will find out eventually.
It’s best to tell him ourselves,”That’s…he doesn’t speak…” The instructor’s eyes go wide.
Quickly turning his head to the child,”Is this true?” Tih gives an almost unnoticeable nod, but one that’s slightly larger than the one he gave to the major.
Instructor Maddox, who’s attention was keenly focused on Tih, noticed his slight movement.
He sighs in his heart,” Can’t speak…it’ll be hard to learn my profession.” “Profession?” So hasn’t heard anything related to professions since coming here.
“They haven’t taught you yet?
Well, this is as good a time as any.” The instructor nods his head, thinking he can leave a favorable impression on Tih.
Hearing Instructor Maddox start lecturing on the basics, the onlookers lose interest and slowly disperse.
The instructor begins,”Everyone on this island has a different rank, with most being common soldiers called Privates, at the bottom of the barrel.
Higher ranks come with physical or superficial power depending on where they’re placed.
For example, the man you were with earlier, Major Jax.
He has strong capabilities which is why he was promoted to Major, but he also has a lazy personality, so he was assigned to the position of warden, which basically holds no physical power.
Of course for someone like him, it’s the perfect job.
He gets to sleep all day while the people working under him do all the actual work.” The instructor snorts.
“Then how about you?
Where do instructors rank?” Kai asks.
“Although their are military ranks, they have no relation to instructor.
Basically anyone can be an instructor as long as they reach a certain standard in a profession.
Instructors can also have multiple professions as long as they’re deemed skilled enough.” The instructor taps the two stars pinned to his uniform.
“Eh?
But why are they different colors?
One is silver and one is brown?” Kai listens intently, memorizing everything immediately.
“Yes, that’s because Instructors have their own ranking system.
The higher level of proficiency, the higher star rank you have.
The colors being green, purple, brown, red, silver, gold , and white, with white being the highest rank you can earn.” Instructor Maddox notices Tih staring at the stars on his chest.
“Instructors are also like teachers.
They can take in students using an apprenticeship and create a master-student relationship, in which the instructor teaches their students in the profession they have stars in.
That’s also what makes Instructors highly respected…some more than others.” He trails off at the end.
“So they’re like idols in high demand?” “Hmm, I guess you can phrase it that way.
Instructors can pick whomever they want as their student and reject the people they don’t want.
Similarly, soldiers can ask for an apprenticeship and reject an instructor they don’t want, though that wouldn’t realistically happen.” “Why not?” “Because the ratio of soldiers to instructors is too wide, adding to the fact that instructors have high demands, soldiers would be incredibly willing to become an apprentice to anyone that would offer.
Well…maybe not people in that profession, but those instructors have crazy high standards anyways, they would never willing bow down to ask if someone wanted to be their student…” He mumbled the last bit to himself.
Kai and Tih was still able to discern his words though, but before Kai could ask, a familiar voice called out,”AH!
There you too are!” They turn around to see Private Scott walking in a standard military march.
Walking toward the two boy, the soldier explains the situation,”I saw the note on J- Major Jax’s desk.
Where is that fool?” Reaching the table, he finally notices Instructor Maddox,”Ah?
Instructor Maddox.” He salutes.
“That buffoon, Major Jax, ditched these children.
He should be back at his office by now.” The instructor told him there was no need to salute, and there really wasn’t.
Although they were technically part of the military, none of the basic rules were enforced.
However, for some reason, Private Scott continued with the usage of military customs.
“Thank you for watching these two newbies, Instructor Maddox.
I’ll be taking them back to meet up with the rest of the group now.” The soldier stood the two children up and started ushering them away.
“Understood.” The instructor looked at the departing Tih before abruptly getting up,”Wait!” The private pauses and turns around,”Yes, Instructor Maddox?” The instructor walks over to the child,”Your ID?” Tih obediently pulls out his ID.
The instructor takes it and clacks it together with his own card.
An interface appears on the card and he presses the ‘Friend’ option on both ID before handing the card back.
“I want to talk with you after the integration period ends.
I find you when it’s over in two day.
Then, Instructor Maddox walks away.