[@Penultimate_Pi][@Mr Rage]

To Lora's outburst, Harold was not the least bit irritated, only further confused. He understood that perhaps a situation as unfamiliar as the one that they were in raised the ire in some people. As an officer, he wasn't used to being addressed so directly and so pointedly, but Lora didn't look intimidating enough to be taken that seriously. She apologized quickly, too, so he further saw no reason to be offended. It did seem like she did not know her place - but again, he reckoned that only a few of the group had any formal military training in the first place.

Ariin's speech about rights and human beings really hammered that in, if the stark prevalence of pubescent ages didn't make it obvious enough. He'd let such disrespect slide, for now.

"It's alright," he said to the raven-hared girl, smiling diplomatically. "I understand that this whole situation can be tough on some of us. I do agree on your proposal, that in the case we would be fighting [i]with[/i] each other, on splitting ourselves into separate teams that could each act as an independent maneuver element. It's tactically damn sound. Say, did they teach you squad tactics when they trained you in Framewerks?"

Zim's support for him raised Harold's spirits. He was even flattered, although he'd never admit it. He'd mistakenly thought Zim's age to be far younger than he actually was, owing to his diminutive size, but it occurred to him that his way of speaking entailed the wisdom which only age bestowed.

"I look forward to teaching you folks what I know," said Harold, as Zim concluded his speech of reason and before he turned to Katya. "Hell, I've got a license just to do that."

Then it occurred to him that perhaps he was being too loud. Such bluster was common within the Service, but he was beginning to think that this manner of speech might be considered as arrogant to the uninitiated. Circumstances, circumstances...