[center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/WbB6nZmm/373e0ca06a44ee67c49939abb2f77c34.png[/img][hr][h2][color=#EDC700]Food![/color][/h2][/center][hr]

Sure enough, the mess hall was still mostly empty. Long benches sat neatly arranged around a series of long and narrow tables, with a single path between them leading up to the counter, where a few of the other cadets, together with some of the palace servants, seemed to be hard at work preparing the day's breakfast. It seemed they planned on weaning the artistocrats among them slowly from their more delicate tastes, as the meal consisted not only of a variety of freshly baked biscuits, but also real sausages, and gravy made from the same. Granted, by noble standards, it was already a poor man's meal -- but for somebody like Julian who had been living on scraps for the past several weeks, it was a feast fit for a king. And so, lured in by the delicious sights and smells at the counter, she approached without a care for the fact that Kai had already arrived first.

Once alongside him, however, it struck her that she really didn't have the slightest idea what to say to the bluette. Their only conversation had been on the prior night, and hadn't exactly been under the best of circumstances. She was pretty sure she had managed to assuage his concerns about her... but something about him still just put her on edge, and she couldn't quite place why. It wasn't as if he was terribly imposing, or had a particularly scary face -- his expression was vacant and a little sleepy, like the look of a contented sheepdog. She probably even could have called him cute, if it weren't for the way those bronze-red eyes of his seemed to suddenly fixate on things without any warning.

...But now she was the one who was staring, and cute or not, that was still rude. So, she struck up a nervous grin, and, giving a slight chuckle and a wave, greeted her squadmate.

[color=#EDC700]"Good morning, sir. You're, uh... pretty energetic this morning, huh? Ehehehe..."[/color]