[b]"You know what I hate, man?"[/b] Honehe was awoken from his silent contemplation by the disagreeable drawl of his unintentional acquaintance, Joseph Milit. By sheer dumb luck, he had chanced into a few conversations and interactions with him over the past few months. While mercifully quiet most of the time, the man would sometimes be triggered into ranting about something that had "gotten his goat" to people he knew, and since he had been unfortunate enough to have "broken the ice" with him, he often chose to gripe to him when he was nearby. Honehe wondered what he had done to deserve such a pox on his person.

[b]"No, but I imagine you're about to tell me."[/b] Honehe replied disinterestedly.

[b]"Fucking Brovak, man. Him and his dumbass wacky learning class where he doesn't explain shit and has people doing crap like eating dirt. Who the fuck eats dirt? I bet that jackass never ate a speck of dirt before in his life. He's just doing this shit to get on our nerves. Why the hell do they let this guy teach? He's not even actually teaching jackshit!"[/b]

With a resigned sigh, Honehe prepared to engage with him, if only to keep him from nettling him until he got a response. [b]"Perhaps his advanced experience has given him some unique insight into how to teach magical theory? I'll admit I don't care for him or his methods personally, but I imagine he must know what he is doing."[/b] His line of logic was intentionally half-hearted. Honehe didn't care to defend Brovak, but neither did he care to encourage Joseph's inane complaints.

[b]"Bullshit, asshole. Stupid motherfucker is just a stupid motherfucker. He could stand to learn a thing or two from the Vances. They know how to teach the right way. The [i]military[/i] way."[/b]

[b]"Ah yes."[/b] Honehe began flatly. [b]"I never tire of hearing about your love for the military."[/b] He recalled vaguely hearing of his father being a soldier or something. Whenever Joseph got the chance, he would talk about how he preferred how things were run in the military, in spite of never having been a part of it.

[b]"Hey, fuck you. The military is where my heart lies, don't judge. What, you think it's better in your sissy commune up in the mountains? Maybe we should all have a sing along and hold hands to learn magic. I bet that will work out."[/b] Joseph knew this wolfey bastard had some monster playhouse way beyond the Unoctoc. From the sounds of it, they were all batshit insane and had some dumb ideas about "bringing together monsterkind". Sounded like a complete pipe dream to Joseph.

[b]"Yes, my sissy commune is a terrible awful place and we're all stupid for wanting a place to call our own. Seeing how stupid I am, it boggles the mind why you would deign to speak with me."[/b] The irritation in Honehe's voice was plain for all to hear.

[b]"Well gee, I'm so sorry I tried to make some idle conversation. Maybe if you weren't so high and mighty all the time, you could appreciate me taking precious moments to grace you with my pearls of wisdom. But no, you want to be the special monster kid from buttfuck nowhere looking down on all these lowly humans. You can be special all on your lonesome if you wanna be, dipshit, just don't come crying to me when no one cares."[/b] With that, Joseph mercifully returned to ignoring Honehe for the time being. Honehe knew this respite was but brief, considering they had engaged in many hostile conversations of the sort, only for Joseph to return to gripe at him as though all the cursing and hot air was somehow deepening the bond between them.

The arrival of their truck at their destination proved to be Honehe's salvation, allowing him to distance himself from Milit for the time being. He imagined he would be quite enamored with the fact they were being overlooked by members of his precious military for this exercise of theirs. Honehe was only vaguely aware of this "Mage Corps" as being an elite unit in the Unoctocan military. It did not truly matter to him who they were or what they thought of them. When Honehe had gathered all he could from this place, he would leave this empire behind him and focus on his own. For now, there was naught to do but steel himself for the trial to come, even if it was unlikely to be of much importance.