Lavish restaurant contained in the Business block, Zithen family complex, State Zhyphrese, Draconian continent Voldage, and the Year 2041, Planet Grimoire.
Well, events had taken an odd and disturbing trend, much to Thera Tae-Jun's dismay. Cilin was sulking because he'd evidently misunderstood what had happened while being assigned to guide Tae-Jun around until an official manager was assigned.
As a result, Cilin makes a point to simply talk to Shellu and ignore everything that is going on.
Of course, that meant they couldn't talk about what happened because of other things happening. Tae-Jun was relieved they couldn't talk about anything serious. On other matters, he knew a confrontation was brewing again.
During the transition between the actual meal time and when people could merely socialize, Tae-Jun acquired a new seatmate who was proving quite troublesome. He wouldn't leave Tae-Jun any space to move around, which was so irritating that Tae-Jun could barely stop himself from gnashing his teeth at the lack of space. "So, who are you?" he inquired since he couldn't do much else right then.
"Tate Michelson, what are you scanning the area for?" Tate's amber-brown eyes watched Tae-Jun closely behind thick-lensed glasses. He had long azure-sea-foam green hair that was feathered around his features. His ears were sharply tilted and webbed. His complexion was pale blue, and his skin was pebbled with slick moisture because the restaurant was a tad overheated. He'd been one of the unfortunate individuals caught at a table that stank in the aftermath of the upheaval earlier.
"Trouble," Tae-Jun informed him. "I only just now realized something. I saw a few individuals leaving and returning with something concealed in their pockets." He'd caught subtle signs that Baltazar, Altreu, and others would cause trouble somewhere.
"Are you kidding me?" Tate shifted subtly to glance around. "Why do people insist on pulling this garbage after the earlier purge?" His eyes dilated and then narrowed into slits. "Hmm," Tate didn't say anything else but looked distinctly displeased. "So, what did you do to them?"
In the intervening hours, more fragmented memories had finally come through for Tae-Jun, enough so that he gained some basic knowledge about Atreu, among others. Those tagalongs were basically freeloaders on the Zithen family grounds.
Not only that, but they were bullies allowed free rein to do what they pleased. No reprimands came down whenever they beat someone to death, either. Tae-Jun wound up on their target list as soon as he came into the complex with his unknown origins and was viewed as a stain on ancient draconic honor.
"I breathed the same air as they did?" Tae-Jun shrugged when Tate made a disbelieving noise in his throat. "They're holding a grudge that they've nursed from prior to this gathering."
True, they weren't part of the group clustered around Casio before the uproar occurred, but that still didn't mean they weren't going to do something. It would most likely happen in the dormitories, where they would be assigned sleeping quarters.
Tate shook his head. "The authorities in charge of everything are taking too long to create a new schedule," he sighed in dismay. "much less the sleeping arrangements." Tate tapped his wrist. "I'll see if I can find out anything."
The announcement about those arrangements hadn't come through yet, much to Tae-Jun's concern. He listened to everything going on around him.
"I'm bushed."
"This is getting boring."
"Why can't we just leave already?"
"When will we meet the managers?"
"This is just a ploy to see how much we can tolerate."
"Whatever, I just want to leave this place."
The noisy table from earlier had quieted considerably after the disgusting stench came from a farther table. The officials had been forced to cut their joviality short and deal with the situation. They'd also chosen to exit the restaurant in high dudgeon and fury etched on their faces.
"Awesome, now we can chat informally."
"Yeah, we can also leave if we want."
"Finally, some of us have our room assignments. I'm outta here."
That left the trainees time to chat with each other. Much to Tae-Jun's surprise, all the remaining trainees walked to different tables and introduced each other. He'd been polite in replying in return. They had yet to stick around long because neither Shellu nor Cilin bothered with the most superficial courtesies.
Tae-Jun sighed because he wasn't impressed with their bad attitudes. Sulking was one thing, but taking it out on other people? That was downright immature. He finally just pretended they didn't exist while he chatted with those who came around.
Shamus and the others had also gone walkabout.
Tae-Jun wanted to do the same so that he could stretch his legs, but he was trapped in a corner, and his seatmate wouldn't budge.
The person's name, Tate, had almost escaped Tae-Jun's attention. True, they'd talked earlier, but neither had much in common to converse and, therefore, turned their attention to other subjects to occupy their minds.
From what Tae-Jun could tell, Tate was courteous but wasn't about to move and lose his spot right there.
Tae-Jun, on the other hand, was getting stiff and uncomfortable. He'd had too many liquids to drink, and now he felt urgent to leave. "Tate, I need to use the bathroom." This was getting aggravating.
Tate frowned at him. "Fine," he muttered. "I also have to go."
Uh, creepy, much? Tae-Jun sighed. He caught Cilin's eye and lifted an eyebrow, slanting his gaze toward Tate in question.
Cilin shrugged and signed for him to go along with Tate's request. Tae-Jun frowned when it clicked that Cilin was behind Tate's choice of seating. Hmm, something must be going on. He was going to establish boundaries of what he wouldn't tolerate right now to prevent further misunderstandings.
"All right, but don't cling on me," Tae-Jun warned. "I'm not much for physical contact." He wasn't in the mood to get felt up by a complete stranger.
Tae-Jun disliked it intensely but knew he'd have to tolerate a minimal amount to keep from getting criticized.
Tate gave Tae-Jun a long stare. "Fine," he agreed patiently. "No clinging will happen." He seemed relieved when Tae-Jun set boundaries. "We have to hurry back, though."
Tae-Jun was grumpy. This night was lasting too long. "Really, why?"
Tate shrugged. "I just received word that we'll get introduced to prospective managers." He frowned. "Though if I were you, I'd stick with Cilin. He seems to know how to respect boundaries." His voice held respect and no little envy.
Tae-Jun grunted. "Fine, let's go. I can make it as quick as needed." They headed to the restrooms, took care of business, and then returned. He wasn't sure why Tate chose to hang around him, but he figured his motive would be exposed eventually.
However, as Tate alerted him toward the tail end of the meal, each of the candidate trainees was introduced to the individuals who would be their managers for the remainder of the show. That was only when it aired and if they managed to get through the preliminaries.
Before the show began airing, the managers were in name only.
Tae-Jun needed clarification since this was the first he'd heard of preliminaries. "I guess some new changes were made." A sigh escaped him.
Trevor Kindred was supposedly his new manager, but in the end, Tae-Jun acknowledged that he'd prefer to work with Cilin after all. He just had to figure out a way of expressing that thought to Cilin when he had the opportunity.
As it turned out, Tae-Jun would get the opportunity differently from how he'd envisioned it.