Azure: Gunner

Chapter 7-2

Public holidays in Lost Angels are a fascinating mix of pre-System and modern history. PAST has single-handedly preserved a number of ancient American holidays through the simple, expedient tool of financial incentives. The Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, and Thanksgiving persist today thanks in large part to PAST directly funding a significant portion of the annual celebrations.

More recent additions include holidays such as Quarantine Day on March 19th, celebrating the anniversary of the successful ‘quarantine’ of the undead within the area now known as the QZ.

- Rufus Veres, Level 29 Prolix Historian, Oddities of the System

Time at the Academy seemed to slip by much faster now that we had an uneasy truce with Clarice and her team. Over the next month, a few of us were challenged by other students – but not from Squad Elite. It was just students who wanted to test themselves against the best recruits in the school, and they usually came up short. Two more students either quit or were kicked out – all I knew was that they had been put in the basic track and then disappeared after a while.

There were a few minor monster attacks, but nothing big enough or exciting enough to get any of my team more Levels. We did Level some Skills, of course, and I practiced Force enough to bring it to Level 3, but there were no huge breakthroughs. I didn’t count Inventory and Inspect both reaching Level 4. The most exciting news was from Jayce and Tara.

The cyborg had reached Skill Level 5 in Sound Magic and acquired the new primary rune of Light. I didn’t understand how that was related to Sound, but they claimed both had something to do with vibrations. Regardless, they were now able to cast Light Bolt, which moved so fast it was impossible to dodge and was absolutely blinding if they caught you in the face with it.

Tara, on the other hand, became the first of us to Level up from training when she finally hit Level 4. She was thrilled to no longer be the lowest-Leveled in the group, tying Arlo, though we all knew that he would certainly reach 5 before she did.

When the calendar rolled around to July I learned that we’d have the 4th – and 5th – off from class. I was surprised, since we hadn’t had any holidays yet at the Academy, not counting the day off after the monster attack that had killed Alex. Apparently even the Guild celebrated the 4th, which made PAST extremely happy.

I turned off my alarm and slept in that day, only to awaken to the sound of a knock at my door. I was surprised, since normally even on Sundays I was the first one awake from our team.

“PAST, what time is it?”

[It is 0827 on the most glorious day of the year! HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY, GUNNER!]

“All I care about is that we have a three day weekend. What the fuck am I going to do with myself with all of that free time?”

[I RECOMMEND FIREWORKS, BASEBALL, HOT DOGS, BEER, AND SEX! ALL OF THE GREAT AMERICAN PASTIMES!]

“No shouting! And I don’t want to hear anything about sex from YOU!”

[My apologies, Gunner!]

The knock on my door came again, and I heard Tara’s voice call out.

“Az? Are you awake in there? You’re going to miss breakfast!”

“Fine, I’ll be out in a minute!” I replied, forcing myself to crawl out of my bed and stretch. I felt too lazy to actually put on clothes, so I just summoned my armor. Once I was presentable, I walked over and opened the door to find the beautiful Defender there wearing a sundress. My eyes widened as I took in the sight of her in the tight green fabric that matched her eyes.

“Really, Az?! You’re wearing your armor today!? It’s our only holiday break of the semester!”

I crossed my arms defensively. “Hey, you just woke me up, I didn’t want to waste time changing. Let’s go eat before they close!”

“Fine, but after breakfast you’re getting out of that armor and into something more comfortable!”

We started walking out of the dorm and towards the dining hall as I complained.

“I don’t have anything more comfortable! None of my regular clothes fit right anymore!”

“Yeah, rub it in that you’re having a growth spurt,” she retorted.

It was true. My Status had told me I was 5’8” when I arrived at the Academy, and now I was up to 5’10”. I’d been slightly taller than her to start, and now I had a full 3” on the blonde, who hadn't grown an inch. I hadn’t expected to grow any more after hitting eighteen, so I’d asked Lydia about it one day.

The Healer had told me it was probably due to ‘chronic borderline malnutrition and over-exercise’ which sounded a lot worse than ‘not eating enough and running around taking care of your siblings’. Her diagnosis made me even more glad that the kids were out from under Hazel’s loving care now.

I’d mostly grown straight up though, and only a little out. Just enough to make my clothes not fit quite right. Only my armor, which magically adapted to my size, still fit perfectly. I didn’t feel particularly tall – at least not around my teammates.

Zaire was 6’ and both orcs over 7’. I had almost caught up with Raylan, but Arlo had an inch on Zaire. Tara was just jealous that she was the second-shortest in the group, being an inch or so taller than Jayce. I liked her height, though I kept my comments to myself. Even after months of training together and months of sidelong glances when I thought she wasn’t looking… I still found myself struggling to forget who she was.

“I can’t help growing!” I told her as we neared the dining hall. “And I don’t want to waste money buying clothes that I might grow out of in another month or whatever!”

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The truth was I regretted even buying the few clothes I had back in Sunland. I spent the vast majority of my time in my armor, and when I wasn’t, I was usually wearing a t-shirt and my shorts. The jeans barely got used, considering how hot it was all the time. All my jacket had proven good for so far was being my pillow on the trip to the Academy.

“Oh, that’s no problem! I’ll just lend you something of mine, I have plenty of outfits!”

I looked into her beautiful green eyes, confused.

“Your clothes wouldn’t have fit me before my growth spurt,” I told her in exasperation as we collected some food and sat down at a table by ourselves.

Surprisingly, the dining hall was fairly empty, most of the students presumably having already eaten. Tara just laughed lightly in response.

“Of course they will! That’s what resizing enchantments are for, after all!”

My jaw dropped, then snapped shut after a moment. Waste it, sometimes I forget for just a moment she’s a Gleason, and then she does or says something like this and reminds me…

“Are you telling me that all of your clothes are enchanted?” I asked.

“Of course not – but the ones I brought to the Academy are!” she replied as she took a bite of oatmeal piled with dried fruit. “I came prepared, since I knew there wouldn’t be any place out here for shopping!”

“Do you realize that the only shopping I’ve ever done in my life has been for armor, mods, and weapons?” I asked. “The only time I ever even bought my own clothes was in a hurry on my way out of Sunland!”

She gave me a pitying look. I responded by tossing the water from my cup at her, and then the food fight was on. It was over almost as fast as it started, because it turns out that when no one else joins in – well, let’s just say it was awkward. Almost as awkward as keeping my eyes off of Tara’s wet – ehem.

After we’d cleaned up – under the watchful, resigned eyes of the dining hall workers – Tara slipped her arm into mine as she practically dragged me back to the dorm. When we reached her room we were surprised to find the door locked. Since you could only lock them from the inside, we basically only used the locks at night and even then we’d been getting casual about it since nothing much had happened with Yuri’s former team recently.

She knocked loudly on the door, but there was no response. We gave each other confused looks before she tried the Comms.

It was several moments before the cyborg responded.

We stood there for a moment in surprised silence, then Tara burst out laughing as she covered her mouth with both hands.

“What is so funny?” I asked, confused.

A giggling Tara grabbed my hand and dragged me towards Zaire’s room, where we found the manaborn Mage reading at his desk. Tara closed the door behind us, not bothering to hold back her laughter any longer. I crossed my arms and glared at her as Zaire looked at us curiously.

“What?!” I demanded. “Tell me – tell us – what’s so funny!”

“Mage Zaire, have you seen Raylan?” she asked between laughs.

“Yes, just twenty minutes ago he told me he was going to do some training with Mage Jayce,” Zaire responded.

“Oh fuck, it finally happened!” Tara giggled, and my brain slowly caught up to what she was talking about.

“What?!” I gasped in shock. “You mean… really!?Raylan and Jayce? Are you serious?”

That just made her laugh even harder, and I punched her in the shoulder. Not that hard.

“Waste it Az, of course you wouldn’t have noticed!”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, just that you’re… how should I say it? Fucking blind to anything besides training?” she said.

I definitely did not pout at that.

“Defender Tara, do you mean to suggest that Fighter Raylan and Mage Jayce are… engaging in sexual relations?” Zaire’s voice sounded mildly surprised, which meant he was shocked.

“Fuck, you two are just…” she laughed even harder. I could see tears in her eyes, and I was slightly tempted to punch her again.

I started thinking back over the last few weeks, trying to figure out what I’d missed. Those two had been spending more time together, I realized, but I had honestly thought they were just getting in extra training. If Tara was right, they were far from the first students in our class to be hooking up, but as far as I knew they were the first on our team.

I wasn’t sure Zaire even had any interest in sex, the two orcs were, well, probably a bit intimidating for the rest of the students, and Arlo hadn’t expressed interest in anyone that I’d noticed. Though apparently I had missed quite a bit, so maybe I wasn’t the best judge.

Even though her wardrobe was currently out of reach, Tara insisted that I change out of my armor. I ended up in my usual shorts and a t-shirt combo – paired with my old soft leather boots since I didn’t have any other shoes. We ran into Arlo just outside, and ended up going back into the common room to play a game of chess.

Well, Tara and Arlo played and I watched. Despite several attempts by Arlo to teach me, I still hadn’t figured out anything other than the basic rules and was hopelessly outmatched trying to play the Pistoleer. Tara was much better than me, but still lost four out of five games to him.

After another defeat – though it was closer than usual – she decided she wanted to go for a walk. We left Arlo to challenge some other students and headed towards the dining hall. I felt strange walking around the school without my armor on. Intellectually I knew that I could summon my armor in just seconds, but I still felt vulnerable without it.

We really are lucky to have Class Armor and Weapons… I guess all the monsters more than make up for it, though.

We eventually found ourselves climbing the steps to the wall. It was the first time I’d been up there when there wasn’t an attack going on. There were a few guards out on watch, but most of them were hanging out at their guardhouse or patrolling the Academy grounds. The two of us were the only students on the ramparts, and we easily found a spot where we could just stand and look out at the view.

From the top of the thirty-foot walls we could see for miles. The town of Backhorn was clearly visible just a few miles downhill, with farms spread out around it in all directions. Beyond that, the land kept on sloping down into the distance, where it eventually reached a range of smaller hills south of Backhorn – I had no idea what they were called.

Neither of us said anything for a long moment, and then Tara shifted to lean gently against me. I swallowed as I felt my heart beat faster.

“Az,” she said softly, and I turned my head to look at her. Tara’s blonde hair was shining in the sunlight, her big green eyes captivating. She reached up, her hand slipping into my hair, and everything seemed to freeze for a moment as my thoughts raced. I wanted to kiss her, badly, yet there was still a part of me that wouldn’t forget who her family was and what they’d been responsible for.

As my thoughts swirled, smashing into each other, she started to pull me towards her, full lips upturned. I flinched involuntarily as the stupid voice inside my head told me that I was about to have my first real kiss with a Gleason. She froze at my movement, which pulled me away from her just an inch or two – just enough to ruin the moment completely.

Her eyes widened and then suddenly filled with tears as she abruptly released me, then pushed me roughly away from her. She turned and fled down the stairs, leaving me standing there in shock and confusion.

What did I just do?