As this commotion was going on a young unremarkable woman slipped into the line behind them. Elisabet was not at all surprised she had not been noticed and indeed held it as a rather good thing all things considered. All things considered these girls were not the sort of crowd she much cared to associate with. And to think this whole day started so well...

She got up early this morning as she usually did. Sleeping in even once being a habit incompatible with her views of excellence. Her parents were not there to greet her, having already left for work. But she didn't mind. She was used to it at this point. If anything it was a bit nostalgic. For two years now she had left for work pretty much when they did and being abandoned in the morning reminded her of the old days back in school. Fitting, considering where she was going today.

Still as she made her self breakfast Elisabet couldn't but wonder about what must have being going through their heads. Elisabet knew her mother and father both disapproved of her life choices. And she understood why. Having your daughter go out into the battlefield to risk life and limb against the unyielding mechanical horde was not something any sane parent took to gladly. And unlike most they had had a front row seat in just what sort of nightmares made those machines tick. Not to mention the stuff issued to their own troops.

Truth be told Elisabet had little doubt that the reason why they pushed her so hard during school and than into a job as their assistant was to share that view with her. To peel away that veil of youthful romance and reveal the dark sordid underbelly of the war. But if that really was their intent it had failed. Her standing here was proof enough of that.

Still, she could not begrudge them for trying. Just as she could not do so for them leaving early for work. Even if it did hurt, deep inside, just a little bit.

Moving swiftly along her arrival here was uneventful. The walk to school was nothing to speak off and her entry into the hall equally fraught with ambiguity. It all went down from there.

As the principal held his speech Elisabet could not help but wince internally. The old man was spouting the same sort of thing every parent and teacher did throughout her life, only with a tint of government propaganda. Not that she mind that in particular. A respectable institution like this academy obviously needed to keep and enforce standards of responsibility and discipline. She was all up for that. There was a place and a time for having fun and a place and time for being serious and respectable. But the way the others, even the teacher immediately after reacted was just cringe.

Really, did nobody here take this thing seriously? Anyone? Aaand that is where we return to the beginning and the butplanting demon girl.
*sigh* "Why do I even bother?" she thought to her self even as she had to consciously restrain her hand from slapping her face. "Of course they wouldn't."
When the posters at the recruitment office said everyone here would be "special" she dared hope for but a moment that it was the other kind of special, the good kind. Just comes to show that no matter how smart one is hope is a sure way to end up being wrong.

Still, things could be worse. The girls could be in her class. 

...

Oh. 

This flurry of thoughts which followed weren't pretty. Indeed they were unladylike enough that they bear not repeating here. Sufficed to say that as far as first impressions go this was not a good one. Maybe mother and father were right after all. Maybe war really wasn't a place for a smart girl like her self.

The whole thing distracted her for much of the time after that. So much so that she made an almost deliberate attempt not to pay attention to what was going on around her. She just had to get through this, settle in, go to class and than she would get to explode stuff. And all would be well with the world.

Fire... it always did relax her so.