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It had been quite days ever since. Michael had found himself drained of all the commodities he could bring with him till now. He hadn't received any responding letters from his family yet, so no reason to write another one. He had fidgeted around with his deck of cards so much now that he could probably start a career in cardistry once he got back from the war. Alive and able-bodied that is. Who knows. Maybe he could impress some ladies with his tricks, either physically or mentally. But that would sound pretty cheesy to be honest. He wasn't that guy to come around and be flirty with others like Jean. Now that he mentioned it, where is he right now?

As Michael sat and read the book about automobile for the third time in a row now, perhaps attempting to memorize each and every words, the constant yawns and sighs of boredom quickly slapped his senses out from the pages of the book. He could heed the racks of the train door and the deafening toots of the steam locomotive as the signification of the next stop was all too clear. Sounds of the boots clacking on the wooden floor rhymed with the voice that boasted of great distinct and individuality. And for once in a while it sounded quite...uplifting, yet a little saddening. They were excited. They were yelling things like glory and honor. That they would be kicking Imperial asses once they arrive at their destination...just like they did before Hill 58. Seven hundred souls wouldn't make it back. Who knows if the remaining two hundreds would dare to repeat what they said to everybody if they did have the guts to say it. 

Michael continued to focus, or tried to, on the pages, ignoring the soldiers outside. The train defiantly gave another roar as the sound of metal rail clashing with the locomotive creaked. A while after the train departed, Michael heard another conversation going on. Pretty loudly in fact, even standing out against the thumps of metal and the chatters of other soldiers. It wasn't really nice to eavesdrop on others, but hey, that was never his intention to begin with. They talked loud enough for him to hear anyway. Every.Single.Word

[color=FF0202][b]"Oooooh, Corporal Charpentier has a lovely deaaaaaaaar!"[/b][/color]

The book in Michael's hand slammed closed in a second. 

[i]She's pretty.[/i] That voice just gave it away pretty obviously. No wonder whoever is out there were laughing so hard they could probably die. Poor guy just jinxed himself. He didn't know...

But they did mention about Marathon halfway through the conversation. He's on the train? Interesting. Michael had heard stories about him being chanted over the camps during training. He was described to be a pretty noble fellow, doing acts of kindness every chances he could get, while being all brave all around. Hearing so, despite having never met this fellow, he did have a little respect. But considering they had fairly similar pattern as the stories about MIDDLETON, Michael was quick to halt his impressions. A content of a character should not be judged so quickly. Maybe Michael could come out and have a chat up with this man, Thomas [I]Marathon[/I] Carter, and probably see the faces of these new recruits as well. He was running out of activities anyway.

Michael placed the book into his rucksack before standing up and pass by Jean, completely unaware of whatever was in his mind right now. He walked along the hall of soldiers. Some recognizable, having been through hell on Earth at Hill 58 and some before that. Though most were strangers. Just as he would expect really. They were pretty fresh. Eager and...curious. As he trotted down the cabins, some of the recruits were turning their eyes over like bees to the floras. Maybe because they didn't think such a boy would be in the military. They had their reasons to mistaken him for such a thing. More a shock's party to let them know that he was older or the same age than most of them. Or maybe he wasn't among the freshmen joining war in the batch. He didn't look very aesthetically pleasing. His uniform still contained the soils of the place where seven hundred people died. They were probably drawing comparisons to how they would look after this. So this is the feeling when he was coming to the front days earlier. Now the freshmen had become the veterans. Not exactly that battle-hardened to say, but he did receive his baptism of fire.

Inevitably, Michael would find this man. The bent hat gave the identity away pretty obviously (they had their reasons to be proud of the signature), making filtering much easier. He was with another soldier. This guy though...

It was a rare sight indeed. He looked much shorter than Thomas was. And as he approached the two soldiers, the shock was even made clear that he didn't even need to look up to face the opposite side anymore. What are the chances of having two of this in the military to begin with. 

[color=bf00ff]"Good day gentlemen."[/color] He gave the two of them a quick salute as he slowly made his way over. [color=bf00ff]"If I am not mistaken, you are the Thomas Carter, is it correct?"[/color]

Michael then turned over to the smaller individually. Wow he's even shorter than him. What a pleasant surprise. For once Michael is taller than someone else. 

[color=bf00ff]"I've met my equal. It's a pleasure to be in this with you fellow for the next one."[/color] He tried to creak out a bit of optimism for once. He wasn't too into this, but maybe perhaps with the help of these tough and unkillable soldiers, they could escape the horrific statistics that was Hill 58.
[@LetMeDoStuff][@Brithwyr]