Marcus did not snap back into awareness all at once. Stuck halfway between a dream and reality, he gazed into infinity. Somehow his best ideas came to him when he wasn’t running on all cylinders. In the dreamy half aware state, his mind went off on barely thought over tangents, a thousand possibilities condensed into a semi-logical narrative. Formulas turned to colorful balls that danced in a white void. A hollowed out shell with an inner coat of teflon naturally progressed to a screaming Grimm trying to keep it’s molten face in place.

The alarm shattered his dreamstate, sending fragments of ideas bouncing around his mind. Wildly Marcus flailed for his scroll as he scrambled to remember his ideas.

“Gotta make the coating strong enough to withstand the stress, needs something to counter the forces involved. Also need to stabilise the antimonic acid prior to delivery.” he muttered as he typed away then paused. “How? How did I stabilise that?”

“G'Morning." Diamond said as she woke. Marcus blinked owlishly. Oh yeah, people. [i]His[/i] people. That was going to take some getting used to.

“Um, yes. Good morning.” he replied. Now fully awake and in possession of his faculties, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, dropped the scroll back in place and stood up. Once more straight and stern, as much as he could in boxers and a t-shirt. For the first half hour, he practised the martial art forms, simple straightforward punches, kicks and blocks.

Marcus was the first to admit he was poor in personal combat compared to other hunters.

He was [i]not[/i] someone who passed the Beacon entrance exam through luck or bribery.

After that he showered and headed for the mess. Time to top off the tanks.