24The walk felt longer than it should have. Ozpin gave me weird looks every few seconds, like he was thinking about asking me something, but never did. The courtyard was spacious, with a large fountain in the center of it. The statue on top depicted, what I assumed at least, were two famous figures. One of them, the man, was holding a sword in the air while the woman held some sort of axe. One of the creatures I had killed was under them, seemingly roaring or howling.
We continued through the building while I observed everything properly for the first time. My original tour was brief and I did not get to observe anything in detail. What I did notice on the first time, though, was that students were usually everywhere, but I noticed that there were barely any people.
"Why are there so little students out at this time Ozpin?" I asked him. It seemed a bit strange to me.
"It's because classes are starting soon, and many students get to class early." He responded.
"Makes sense, I guess. Being late is not usually a good thing in most social circles, after all. Speaking of classes, where is mine?" I asked him. I had not received any sort of schedule to my knowledge, and Ozpin had just said that classes were starting soon.
"Your first class is with Professor Port, Alexander. It's where I'm taking you right now, actually. You will receive your schedule during lunch, but your next class will be in the arena."
"Alright, then lead onwards, Ozpin."
It took several minutes to get to the class in question. Students gave me weird looks when I passed them. I could not figure out why at first, but I realized after a few minutes it was because I was not wearing a suit like the rest of the men were.
"Why do I not have one of those suits, Ozpin?" I asked.
He looked over at me before responding. "It's because I haven't had time yet. You should have one by the end of the day. If any of the teachers ask just say that it's still being tailored." I just nodded in response. We were in front of the class, so I walked in.
The classroom was spacious, with a large, open area in the front. Mounted heads adorned the walls around a desk in the front of the room. I sat down in the very back row, hoping other students would avoid me. I was attempting to be the creepy-looking guy in the back of the room, the one nobody would talk to, and it worked. Students entering the room would either not notice me or catch sight of me and go in the opposite direction. There were not many students in the class, I would guess about 25 at most. What surprised me, however, was when JNPR walked in. I had not expected to be put in a class with them.
Luckily, they either did not notice me or avoided me altogether. I was happy with either. I did faintly hear students muttering things, likely about me, as I was an enigma to them. A very tall man wearing a torn robe with leather harnesses strapped all around it did not seem like a typical man who would attend any sort of school. I had heard mutterings of 'cultist' and 'freak' in the hallways. I could only smile at the ignorance displayed by these children, if only they knew of what I had been through.
My musings were interrupted when a portly man entered the classroom and started speaking. "Monsters, demons prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey!" He seemed strange, immediately starting off the class with an, admittedly, bad joke in an attempt to seem funny. He started speaking again when he realized nobody thought he was funny. "And you shall, too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy." I zoned out after that, not caring for what he had to say. I just pulled out one of my throwing knives out of its harness and started playing around with it to pass the time.
He rambled on for almost three quarters of an hour before I neared the limit of my sanity. All I could make out was that his grandfather was wise and that the professor was celebrated as a hero in his hometown. I was relieved that he was done with his ramblings, and put my knife away, ready to actually learn something.
My relief was turned to excitement when the professor spoke up. "Now who here thinks that they are the embodiment of a true Huntsman?" I immediately raised up my hand and practically shouted.
"I am!" Everybody looked over at me with surprised looks on their faces. They probably had not thought me to be a talkative person. They would usually be right, but I needed to see what this school had in store for me if I were to continue my attendance.
"Great! Alexander, is it?" The professor asked.
"That is right, professor. May I come to the front for this 'challenge' of yours?" I asked him. He just nodded at me. "Thank you."
I slowly raised myself out of my seat and stalked toward the front of the class, keeping a slow pace. The professor walked off into another room and dragged a darkened cage out of a back room. I knew there was something in it by how it was snarling and rattling around. The creature seemed smaller than any of the beasts that I had fought. I slowly drew my sword and braced myself for an attack.
After a few seconds of waiting the professor chopped the lock off with his axe. When the door fell off I saw a beast with the appearance of a boar. It took several seconds for the beast to notice me, which gave me several seconds to strategize. It suddenly rolled up into some sort of ball and charged at me at blinding speeds. I was prepared to dodge its attack beforehand, anticipating some sort of charge from the beginning.
I sidestepped the charge and turned to face the beast once more. It looked at me with what I assumed was hatred, you could never really tell with abominations such as these. It charged at me again with the same result as before. I knew its armor would be tough enough to resist most of my direct blows, so I would have to hit an unarmored portion. It's stomach did not seem to have any armor, as it would drag on the ground and slow the beast down with short legs like it had. I saw it charge at me again, but without rolling into a ball. I saw my chance for an easy victory and took it.
As the beast charged at me I stepped slightly to the right and caught ahold of one of its tusks and held on with my immense strength. The beast pulled me along for a second before realizing that I had ahold of it and promptly stopped running. I very quickly threw the beast onto its back to expose its less armored stomach. I quickly sliced it open, eliciting a pained squeal that made me smile. I saw an opportunity to terrify the students and took it. I put my hands into the cut in the still living boar and ripped its stomach open. Not much blood spewed out, though, which disappointed me. It's pained squeals reverberated throughout the classroom, causing some students to look at me in horror at the torture I was inflicting.
Tearing open the chest cavity was easy, the skin and muscle offering little resistance to the sheer strength that I possessed. With the beasts insides exposed I let loose, tearing out ribs and organs alike, with no care as to what I did. I needed to terrify the students on my first day, after all, if only for entertainments sake. Out of all of the kills I had accumulated the torturous ones were always the best. The heart was always my favorite organ to play with, though, with how it always seemed to carry the most blood. With great care I tore out the beasts barely beating heart, stood up, and let out a blood-curdling roar. Crushing the heart and letting the blood flow around my body was the most pleasurable thing I had done in a long time.
I looked around the room in amusement, fresh blood still dripping from my body. Various looks of disgust and horror greeted me, with some students looking as they were about to vomit. I knew I looked like some sort of nightmare to them, and I enjoyed that feeling immensely. I gave the class a respectful bow before returning to my seat. Bloodstains were always hard to remove without returning to the Dream and I did not have that luxury until I could find a lamp in the academy.
Class ended soon after my demonstration and I was the first to leave. Blood soaked my robes and the prospect of entering my next class in them made me smile. I knew that I would intimidate people, and I was hoping it would deter people from talking to me. It worked wonderfully, people gave me a wide berth and tried to not look at me.
I wandered the halls for several minutes looking for the arena. There were no maps of the campus, which I thought was weird. Yharnam did not have any maps, but I assumed that the Moon Creature or whatever was responsible for the nightmares of Yharnam trying to confuse me.
It took several more minutes to find something resembling a guide. A sign hung from a room with the word 'arena' written on it with an arrow pointing down one of the halls. I followed its instructions and walked down the hall, hoping that I was close to my class, or else I would be late. Luckily the arena was close, only about 20 feet down the hallway.
I walked into the class to see a large arena in the front with some sort of window above it. I got strange and terrified looks when I walked past people, definitely because of the blood that soaked my robes. A few of the students from my previous class were in the stands, and they actively avoided me. This class was much larger than the one with Port, with at least 80 people in attendance. I sat in a seat close to the front, hoping to see the combatants myself so I could study the various fighting techniques that the students used.
Class started almost as soon as I sat down. The teacher came out almost instantly, and I was surprised to see that she was the same woman that accompanied Ozpin when he came to 'greet' me in the forest. She either did not see me or deliberately ignored me and started speaking.
"Welcome to combat class everyone. My name is Glynda Goodwitch, and I will be your combat instructor for the year." She sounded authoritative, just like she had when we first met. "Now, this class will be devoted solely to improving and honing your combat skills. Duels will be a regular occurrence that you should always be prepared for." It seemed a simple enough system, two students enter, one leaves.
"Now, to start today off, would anyone like to duel?" I did not want to at this moment, I needed to observe how the students fought. I would not have even had a chance to fight first, as two boys immediately raised their hands.
"Alright, Chervan and Plava, please change into your combat attire and meet back in the arena." I wanted to see how these two fought, it would give me valuable insight if I ever have to put either of them down.
Both men were back in less than two minutes dressed for combat. One of them had some sort of loose robe on that reminded me of the Church's choir gear, while the other had a form-fitting blue jumpsuit on with pads of armor scattered around vital areas. They both looked rather strange, but I shrugged it off. My gear made me look homeless from a distance, so I had no right to judge. It did not seem that either had a weapon, but they were probably hidden somewhere.
Both of them walked up to the stage and something strange happened. The large window above the arena lit up with some sort of projection that was split down the middle. The left side had a photo of the red kid's face and a large green bar underneath it, while the left side had a photo of the blue kid's face with the same bar underneath it. Both pictures had names over them, the robed one was apparently named Chervan Bjulgar while the blue one was named Plava Crat.
"Now, as we can see, both boys have a meter representing their individual aura levels." Glynda started. What the hell was an aura? "As most of you know, a tournament-style match ends when one combatants aura goes into the red, as to minimise the danger of injury or death." I was baffled. Why have tournament fights where both combatants survive?
"Are both fighters ready?" Glynda asked. Both men nodded and pulled out some sort of weapon. The Chervan dropped two large daggers out of his sleeves that were connected to some sort of long chain. They looked useful for mid range combat, but would be a hassle in close range. Plava, on the other hand, simply pulled out a small stick from one of his pockets. I had no idea what it could be used for until he pressed something on it. The stick suddenly expanded into something resembling a mining pick.
Before I could analyze anything about his weapon a whistle blew and the match started. Plava rushed forward almost instantly while Chervan held back While swinging his blades around himself, creating a barrier of sorts. It was an impressive display, but I could see several different openings and flaws in his attack. I noticed Plava hesitate before he attempted to charge into the barrier. It was a foolish move, even with the flaws it would be next to impossible to dodge his hits at the speed the blades were moving. He would definitely be caught by at least one of the swords.
My prediction was correct, Plava was struck by one of the blades and fell backwards. I looked up at the stats of the combatants and saw that the hit had taken Plavas meter a good fourth of the way down. Chervan hit hard, but his stamina appeared to be lacking, as he was panting heavily after only about 15 seconds.
The fight lasted only a few minutes longer, as Plava got overconfident and left himself open for counter attacks. It was an impressive spectacle to watch, for sure but it was disappointing in the end. Chervan only got hit once, and it was only a glancing blow. True to her word Glynda called the match as soon as Plava's aura got into the red. As far as I understood aura was some sort of shield that everyone here seemed to have. It was probably what the resistance I felt while fighting those criminals was. It did seem to slow my swings, but offered little resistance overall. I would probably have to tone down the power of my swings if I did not want to kill anyone.
"Now, does anybody else want to fight today? That was a long bout, but we have time for one or two more fights." Glynda announced. I thought about it for a second before raising my hand, hoping to get experience against the Hunters of this world. I was the Hunter of Hunters for a reason, after all.
It took awhile before anyone raised their hand wanting to fight me. Rumors had probably already begun to spread about what I did in Port's class. If students were too frightened to fight me it was not my problem. I would not intentionally try to kill them, it would be an accident if it happened, though.
I walked up to the stage, purposely making myself look as threatening as possible. I needed an air of terror surrounding me at all times so I would not be approached by anyone. I hated people and despised talking to all but a few. My new 'student' would have to be one of these people, no matter how weak he was.
I took my spot on the platform with pride. I saw the window above me light up in the corner of my eye, but did not even give it a passing glance. I had to get myself psyched for the fight, I did not need any sort of distraction. I looked over at my opponent to try and gauge how he would fight. He wore mostly orange, which mystified me. I kind of understood darker reds and blues, but why this bright orange? He would be the first to be seen, and concurrently, the first to be attacked in most encounters. I did not see any sort of weapons on him, but it was probably hidden like the other two's.
I unsheathed my sword, no real need for the scythe, and got into one of my more offensive stances. He narrowed his eyes at me and pulled some sort of staff from his back. I noticed a mid-sized blade come out of the top and bottom of the staff. It would seem that he used some sort of double-ended spear. Very easily countered with some fancy maneuvering on my part. This fight would be a very easy warm up for me.
The whistle blew and the match started. He immediately dashed forward at me in an attempt to end the flight quickly. All I had to do was shift myself slightly to the right and he missed. He seemed overconfident in his combat abilities, time to rectify that. I ducked under a series of swings and thrusts from his spear and punched him in the face. He reeled backwards with the force of my punch, his aura took most of the hit for him, but he still felt most of the force behind the punch.
He seemed be be getting angrier as I dodged most of his swings. He had to know that I was just playing with him at this point. In the few times I did swing my sword at him he did fancy looking, though impractical, flips and jumps around my blade. They would take up much more energy than my more conservative slides and rolls. After a few more minutes of playing around I decided that I wanted to terrify this group of students. I knew that I could not kill the student, but I had no qualms about injuring myself. I had possibly hundreds of blood vials in the Dream, and 20 with my at the moment.
I jumped backwards, putting distance between me and him, goading him into attacking. I purposely shifted around the armor around my chest and stomach so he could get a solid hit in. I knew aura deflected blows, and he would also have to know that. He would expect his blow to be deflected off of my chest with help from my aura. He would not know that I did not have an aura, and thusly not expect his spear to go straight through my body.
I made the universal symbol for 'come get me' with my fingers in an attempt to anger him and make him charge me. It worked perfectly, he was already so angry that he did not expect me to do anything. He rushed me with his spear forward in an attempt to push me off of the stage. I stood completely still, not moving a muscle as he got closer. I noticed that the audience gave me questioning looks to what I was doing, but I ignored them. I needed to focus on my opponent at all times, even when I was letting him skewer me on a spear.
My tolerance to pain was very high, but it always hurt to be stabbed with any sort of weapon, spears being no different. My opponents grin faded instantly as he felt my stomach give way so his spear. I stood tall, ignoring the burning sensation in my stomach. I heard screams from the audience as they saw me get completely run through. Blood dripped from my wound, the spear helping to slow the blood loss.
The room was completely silent, as everyone thought me dead. The silence was broken by me quietly laughing to myself. I got progressively louder every second or two before I was laughing hysterically, the sounds loudly echoing across the room. Nobody knew what to say, they all thought I was going to be screaming in pain.
"The look on your face is the best thing I have seen in a long time!" I loudly exclaimed. "I wish I could have a photograph of this moment, to savor it forever." I kicked my opponent away from me. He let go of his spear in the process, either from surprise or shock.
I quickly sheathed my blade and pulled the spear from my stomach. Blood freely flowed from the wound, but I did not care. A smile graced my face as I fought. I twirled the spear around to get used to the weight before I pressed my attack. I moved faster than most could see, my arms a blur. I swung the spear like I would a staff, smacking him in the face and chest multiple times. He had no chance of blocking without any sort of weapon to speak of. His aura dropped to the red in record time, ending the match. I had the courtesy to let up when I heard the whistle blow, signaling the end of the match.
I threw down the spear next to my defeated opponent and stepped away from him. I quickly pulled a blood vial from my pack and injected it into myself. They always hurt immensely, it felt as if my blood was boiling inside of me for several seconds. I just grit my teeth like I usually did and held back a scream. Even with my incredibly high pain tolerance I still felt the need to. Anybody who looked at me would have seen the large hole in my body seal up and disappear almost instantly.
Everyone stared quietly for a few seconds before Glynda spoke up. "And the winner is Alexander." She did not sound very enthusiastic to announce my victory. She was either still in shock or, more likely, disappointed that I won. I knew she held a grudge against me from when we met in the forest.
Before anybody could say anything I jumped off of the stage and walked back to my seat in the front. I noticed that the people around me were very jumpy and did not look like they wanted to be next to me. I sat down and crossed my arms, observing the stage. I had a small, almost invisible, grin gracing my face for the rest of the class. Nobody else wanted to fight, too scared of the large bloodstains on the stage, I assumed.
When class ended the students around me practically bolted out of their seats in an effort to get away from me. People were probably still in shock at my injury, I even caught multiple students staring at my stomach, apparently looking for any injuries. They would always look away the moment I looked over at them.
I knew that it was time for lunch, but Hunters did not need to eat, the Dream sustained us. We could still eat food, but only for the taste. Our bodies would not get any sort of energy from food, no matter how nutritious they were. Since I had no need to eat I headed back to the dorm that I was staying in. I had no idea how I would get in without a key, but I had my ways.
I approached the door with JNPR imprinted on the front and thought how to get in. I did not want to break down the door as to not cause a ruckus, plus I did not want the teachers to hate me more than most of them did. I thought of what to do for a minute before having an idea. I had never tried to do anything like this before, but I did not want to ask for any sort of help.
I called forth a group of messengers to aid me. When I first saw them they disgusted me and I tried to avoid them as much as possible. Over time, though, they grew on me. They essentially worshipped me and I used that fact to my advantage. Messengers were very useful for carrying messages for me, but I never used the to do anything physical.
"Hello, my messengers." I greeted them like I usually did. "I have a… mission for you guys. I need you to get to the other side of that door and see if you can open it, okay?" They just nodded like they would usually do when asked to do something.
They disappeared under the floor and I waited in front of the door for some time before the knob turned and the door opened. I did not want to ask how they did it, as the were all still in the ground. All I cared about is that they opened the doors. I just nodded at them and waved my hand, dispelling them back to the Dream. I walked into the room and closed the door behind me, finally able to relax. I knew that my uniform was supposed to be dropped off while I was in class. I looked around the room hoping to see a uniform laying around somewhere.
To my surprise a nicely folded shirt was lying on the ground where I had slept last night. I grabbed it and held it against myself. It looked as if it would fit nicely, so I walked into the restroom to change. I saw several students when I walked the halls who were wearing extra accessories on their uniforms, like cloaks and light armor, so I assumed I could add some extra protective gear to my uniform.
I pulled off my hood and cloak, looking at myself in the mirror. Leather and metal armor adorned my body, and I strapped and pulled it all off. There was a large pile of gear in the corner of the room. I felt a lot lighter without all of that metal holding me down.
"I may want to make some lighter armor pieces for myself. I could get used to this light feeling." I muse to myself. It would make sense, just customize some of my old Hunter gear with extra bits and pockets. My charred gear would looked nice, it could work.
I cut my musings off and started to change into my suit. It was relatively easy, as I was used to putting on complicated pieces of armor and clothing. Once my suit was on I looked back in the mirror. I still looked a bit off, so I decided to add a bit extra to my uniform. I took some of my leather knife holsters and wrapped it around my chest for a tiny bit of ammunition in case of attack. It still looked off, but I had an idea. I took the scarf out of my hood and wrapped it around my neck, so it would be able to be pulled over my face.
I pulled the scarf over my mouth and looked at myself in the mirror. It was perfect. I was wearing a proper uniform while still keeping an air of mystery and individuality. Before I got out of the restroom I heard the door open and several people walk in, talking about some trivial matter that was of no concern to me. It was most likely JNPR, who I would be bunking with for the duration of my stay in Beacon, however long it would be. I was about to step out of the restroom before I heard one of them speak up about me.
"Alexander is terrifying! He tortured that boarbatusk and, somehow, survived being stabbed through the stomach. If he's willing to do all of that what else can he do?" Whoever said it sounded worried. I could tell it was a female by the tone of voice, but could not tell who she was talking to. "I just don't want a person like that staying in our dorm."
It did not worry me that they felt like that, as I expected them to. The only person who I even remotely cared about was Jaune, and that was only because he was my apprentice. He needed to be able to control his bloodlust, if only so I would never have to kill him. I did not enjoy the murder of those close to me, Gehrman being the prime example.
I knew that whoever was in the room would have to go into the restroom at some point, so I just decided to stack up my gear and walk out. It did not take long to get everything organized to my standards. The armor was the most annoying part, with it constantly falling out of place. I continued to hear talking from the other room about other subjects not relating to me.
Their musings stopped as soon as I walked into the main room. They heard the door open and looked toward it, probably expecting someone else. What they saw, though,was the person that they were just discussing. It was Pyrrha and Nora who greeted me on the other side of the door.
I put down my gear in the corner in which I slept and took a deep, exaggerated bow. "Ladies, how wonderful it is to see you here, in OUR dorm." I said in my most polite tone. Pyrrha looked at me in horror, while Nora just giggled. I could tell who was badmouthing me just by how the were reacting. "You know, it is not very nice to talk so negatively about someone behind their backs like that, Pyrrha."
"I wasn't trying to offend, Alexander!" She seemed fearful, as if she was expecting me to murder her. I could continue this charade, but I did not want to be murdered in my sleep. Death was never a pleasant experience, no matter how it happened. Jaune could not know that dying was part of the job until he absolutely had to. I wanted to see how he would react to his first death.
"It is fine, Pyrrha, I want to be feared by everyone. I am purposely making myself seem as unapproachable as possible. It is right to be afraid of me, though." I responded, trying to sound calm and approachable.
Surprisingly Nora stayed silent throughout our entire conversation, listening to what I had said. I needed to come to an understanding with my partner team, if only to encourage teamwork and cooperation.
"I understand, Alexander, and I'm sorry about talking about you like that." She did not need to apologize, but it was a bonus, if only to guilt trip her. I just nodded in response and walked out of the room. I wanted to see what the dining hall would be like so I would be able to at least act normal.
It was a long and lonely walk, there were barely any students walking about, and those that were actively avoided me. I knew rumors were already spreading about me, it was what I wanted, after all.
The dining hall was a rather large building in the center of the campus. The multitude of large windows on the outside showed an impressive inside view of the room. Dozens of tables lined the room, with possibly hundreds of students seated at the various tables talking with each other. The entrance doors were large, easily allowing me entrance with my 6'7" frame.
The room had not quieted as I walked in as I had hoped. People just seemed to ignore me, which I was fine with. I looked around the room, hoping to catch sight of Jaune in the large crowds. I spotted him on the other end of the room, sitting at a table talking with a few other students, all female. Strange, I did not expect Jaune to be a very social person by the way he acted. Perhaps my initial judgements of him were wrong, after all.
I never got to hear what he was talking about, mainly because the moment the girls caught sight of me they stopped talking and looked at me with mixed looks of fear and disgust. They had either seen my torture of the beast or my fight with the other student, maybe even both. The only one who did not seem at least a little scared was the one with black hair, who seemed to be ignoring me.
"Hello, ladies." I bowed respectfully. "My name is Alexander, how are you?" They looked put off by my polite demeanor.
"Oh, uhh… this is Alexander, my teams... bunk mate." Jaune stuttered out. He needed work on his social skills, even I could pretend to care about others in a more graceful manner.
"It is a pleasure to meet the four of you, though I do not know your names yet." The girls looked somewhat shocked at my politeness. They had probably expected me to be either a jerk or maniac.
The one dressed in red responded first. "HI! I'm Ruby!" She was an enthusiastic one, that was for sure. "And this is my team! Say hi guys!" Her yelling would get on my nerves if it kept up.
"Hey." The yellow one said dismissively. "Name's Yang" She gave a halfhearted wave. She seemed fun.
"I am Weiss Schnee." She said it like I was supposed to know who she was. I would have to ask later.
"Blake" The final one responded. She still seemed to be on edge about me. The large bow on the top of her head seemed strange to me, but I just assumed that was normal in this area.
"I am honored to meet the four of you." It was not a lie, but I did not see myself socializing with these four much. I needed to put as much effort as I could into training Jaune in the ways of the Hunters. I needed to become a mentor to him like Gehrman had for me.
"I apologize for any interruption, but I must take my leave. Farewell you four." Before anyone could respond I turned around and walked away, back into the crowd. I knew it seemed rude, but I did not feel like talking with anyone at the moment. I only came here to get to know the building and maybe talk to Jaune. My first task was a success, but my second was not.
It did not matter to me in any way, though. A social life is a good thing for most people, and Jaune was no exception. I had little contact with anyone during the Hunt, and had adapted to being alone, which was fine with me. Most people were either idiots or weak, which were the two worst things anyone could be, in my opinion.
More people were in the halls on my return trip then there were on my way there. Lunch was almost over, so that would probably explain why. Two hours of free time seemed a bit excessive, but it was probably a time meant for training purposes or getting to know one's team. I had little use for either one of them. I was already a masterful combatant and had no team of my own.
I could speak to JNPR, but I had all the time in the world for them, plus they seemed a bit wary of me after my various demonstrations of brutality throughout the day. I thought it would have horrified Jaune, but he showed no external fear when we spoke. It was strange, I thought he was going to be more of a coward by the way he acted around me when we first met.
It did not take long to get back to the dorm. I had a knack for memorizing areas my first time through. Beacon seemed complicated, but once you got the hang of it the building was a simple building to navigate. Yharnam was always a very hard city to navigate through without a map, which I never had, and that is why I was so good at memorizing locations.
The door opened easily enough, and I was surprised to see that the dorm was empty. It would seem that the girls had left. Being alone was always good, at least for me. Human contact was really not my thing. I was observant, yes, but had trouble properly socializing with others. Small talk was not a thing I excelled at, which would make forming connections… difficult. I did not need to talk to people, but I needed it to seem like I at least cared about others.
With nothing else to do for several more hours I decided to just sit in my little corner. Nobody would probably get to the room for some time, assuming that they were training. With nobody to talk to I simply closed my eyes and returned to the Dream.
AN: And after about three week I'm finally finished. I could throw excuses around as to why it took me so long, but the answer is simply writer's block and procrastination on my part. Not having any sort of story outline has its detriments. I'll try to update more frequently, but no promises.
A real problem that I've been having is characterization. Alexander was originally a supreme douche to everyone, but I rewrote parts of this at least four times to make him seem like he just wanted to have people not talk to him.
Other than that I've got nothing to say, so until next time (whenever that may be).