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Post by Sze Kamlong on Jul 14, 2006 19:58:37 GMT -5
The coastal town and its lively bustle was only a temporary distraction; they would be leaving this populated area soon enough. Visiting the port was only necessary because it was a rendezvous point for new recruits, which worried Kamlong nevertheless. The fact that the emperor was commanding a draft only meant that times of war were approaching, and while at first he had thought the movement of their troops was only a further precaution against the enemy nation, his expectations were quickly changing.
The three generals had given most of their troops leave for the day. There was really nothing of importance to be done at the camp, and few remained. It was good to enjoy a town and its attractions while they still could, and a good portion of them had never traveled at all. Rie Chou and Yulin had remained with him, of course. They would be taking their share of new soldiers to train as well. The responsibility, and the headaches, would be evenly split.
Kamlong ran his eyes down the long line of men and matched each name on the scroll in front of him to an unfamiliar face. Some of these were only boys, having to take their aging or ill father's place in battle. There was nothing to be done about it though. Duty was duty. There were a few men who had not shown up - people who had skirted their call or were arriving late. Either way, he didn't let them hold up the process, and went on to the next name just as quickly as he had crossed out the last one. "Zhong Xue, is he present?"
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Kwok Yulin
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Manlier Than You [China]
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Post by Kwok Yulin on Jul 14, 2006 20:04:56 GMT -5
Yulin and Rie Chou stood to either side of their fellow general. With her arms crossed, and a look that did little to hide her obvious distaste at having been left behind in camp, she eyed each face as they answered to the roll call. First impressions were as important as any, but she could care less what they thought of her now. It was difficult enough already to bite back a few yawns, or stop herself from rolling her eyes.
Some of them were young, and some were much too old to be doing any fighting. Some of them looked as though they had been pampered all their lives - sons of nobility, she figuered. Some looked like they could best oxen in tests of strength - farmers and the poorer of the bunch. She hoped that those overly confident ones got stuck with Rie Chou. She didn't have the patience to deal with egos. Inwardly, with a smile, she did note that there were a few not-so-bad-looking ones.
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Post by Shen Rui on Jul 14, 2006 20:17:30 GMT -5
After settling his men to get prepared for a move with the new recruits, he had wanted to see the new men for himself. He had always believed in the freedom of choice, but with the draft he wanted to welcome new-faces with a sense of security. However, wanting to make a point that joining had it's consequences. Shen didn't announce that he was near-by, considering it would have been rude to interrupt Sze's roll call. Instead he approached Yulin from the side, arms crossed as his dark stare lingered on the men.
Zhong Xue.
He had heard the name, waiting for the man to speak-up or step forward. Shen wondered how the line of men felt considering a female was one of the Generals. Which reminded him of a time way back then, working with a female was very intimidating and so far it had been proven for the best. Still, he would never admit that to Yulin.
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Post by Zhong Xue on Jul 14, 2006 20:28:28 GMT -5
Zhong Xue had reached the point where he was reminding himself to breathe. He twisted his hands together, cursing inwardly; he thought he'd be fine once he got settled, but standing under the stare of his superiors - in a crowd of noisy, fidgeting recruits, no less - was proving to be more than he could handle.
"Zhong Xue, is he present?"
He started at the sound of his own name, as if the General was sentencing him to death, and for a moment, he froze. 'He's talking to you, idiot,' he thought, making an effort to stand up straight and look presentable.
"P-P-Present!" he stammered.
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Post by Sze Kamlong on Jul 14, 2006 20:32:32 GMT -5
Kamlong looked up at the sound of the response, and found that the face matched the uneasy stutter perfectly. Zhong Xue was one of the younger recruits, fitted with an expression of almost abject horror at the sound of his own voice. The general allowed himself a small smile of amusement, hiding it behind the piece of paper in his hands. It wouldn't do any good to let the boy see it and jump to the conclusion that he was being ridiculed, after all. "Very well," he said, careful to keep his voice level and 'official'. "Next is..."
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Kwok Yulin
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Manlier Than You [China]
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Post by Kwok Yulin on Jul 14, 2006 20:35:34 GMT -5
Yulin had to bite her lip to keep herself from bursting into loud, unchecked laughter. Zhong Xue looked and sounded just like a little chick. It was almost difficult to make the distinguishment in her mind. She ducked her head while covering her mouth, masking the small chuckle that escaped as a forced cough. "Oh, you're here," she said quietly, noticing Shen standing a little behind her when she turned. "Come to gauge your competition, Shen-Shen?" she murmured under her breath, so that only he could hear, while turning back to the line of men.
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Post by Shen Rui on Jul 14, 2006 20:44:13 GMT -5
Shen's bold expression slowly drained to an apathetic one as the boy started to stutter. He didn't know whether to find it amusing or sad. To hide the mixed emotions he closed his eyes and allowed a light smile to appear on his face, yes, it was amusing. Unlike Sze and Yulin, he didn't bother to hide the expression. Instead he opened his eyes at the name 'Shen-Shen' - which he absolutely detested. It was likewise for Yulin to say things such as that.
Folding his arms more he turned his back a little to the girl, eyeing the recruits before he mumbled bitterly under his breath. "No." Yulin would be the last person he would explain himself to.
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Post by Zhong Xue on Jul 14, 2006 20:55:15 GMT -5
Xue watched the expressions on his superiors' faces with growing wariness: the shorter man grinned outright, the female looked vaguely uncomfortable, and the man who called his name hid his expression behind the paper. 'Did I do something wrong?' Xue thought, biting his lip.
Then it dawned on him. 'I must have addressed him too familiarly!' His stomach twisted. 'I should have said 'sir,' or 'General,' or... he must think I'm so disrepectful! Could they kick me out for something like that?'
He repressed the urge to turn around and run right then, inhaling deeply. He'd just have to explain later that he meant no disrespect by it.
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Post by Sze Kamlong on Jul 14, 2006 21:34:43 GMT -5
The rest of the call went by relatively quickly. None of the other recruits were quite quivering in their boots like Zhong Xue, which made his name stick out in Kamlong's memory after the list was done. They split the list in thirds, alphabetically. Yulin took the first, he the second, and Rie Chou the last. They had no time to pick favorites, and it was not orderly to give any a choice. This was the fairest way to go about things.
"Huh," said Rie Chou, and it was all the greeting he gave as his group approached him. The large, towering man obviously intimidated a few of them, but Kamlong figured that would work in his favor. In his experience, that was the way Rie Chou worked anyway, and he had no right to argue on methods. The oldest general led them off to his part of the camp to get settled in, motioning with a curt wave of the hand.
As Rie Chou left, Kamlong turned to his own group, offering a hopefully friendly smile. "Hello, I will be in charge of you from now on. I am General Sze." He took a quick glance around and tried to remember who was who, but his memory wasn't extraordinary. He could only recall a few names and a few faces, but the corner of his mouth hitched slightly as he noticed Zhong Xue, standing at the back of the crowd as if he were afraid of coming forward.
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Kwok Yulin
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Manlier Than You [China]
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Post by Kwok Yulin on Jul 14, 2006 21:37:36 GMT -5
Yulin's group was as motley as the rest of them, and to her dismay she had her fair share of men who looked like troublemakers. A few of them were already giving her measuring glances. It never fit well with men to know that they were under the command of a woman. She shrugged it off, too used to the treatment to consider it demeaning. They could try to challenge her if they dared, but it was always useless in the end.
"Welcome to the army!" she exclaimed, beaming, but there was a definite sharp edge to her smile. "I hope you're all ready to work hard, or die trying. Follow me, I'll lead you to the camp and give you all patches of ground to rest your backsides~!" She turned on her heel and marched off, knowing that however reluctantly, they would follow.
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Post by Shen Rui on Jul 14, 2006 21:46:02 GMT -5
Shen watched the new recruits go to their designated Generals, the smile that was on his face finally drifting away. He had wanted to role as a General once, but he saw how hard and stressful the job got and decided to work one-step under Sze, besides, he had his own group to baby-sit. His eyes drifted along Kamlong's group, noticing that Xue was hardly moving towards the ground. Deciding it would be best to pressure the kid that it would be ok if he just participated, he walked forward and placed his left hand on Xue's right shoulder.
"You've got the best General, there's nothing to worry about," he said quietly to the boy so that Sze himself couldn't over-hear. Without mentioning anything more he urged the boy forward with a slight push. There was no turning back now.
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Post by Zhong Xue on Jul 14, 2006 21:55:18 GMT -5
Xue edged towards Kamlong with the rest of the group, trying not to let the fear show in his expression. Not only did he disrespect his superior, but now the General had to deal with him everyday? As soon as he got a moment, he had to apologize.
As a hand landed on his shoulder, he jumped, barely biting back a squeak. Pulling himself together, he turned to Shen, trying to look him in the eye but ending up glancing towards his feet, instead. "Is it really okay? I-I mean... I offended General Sze..."
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Post by Sze Kamlong on Jul 14, 2006 21:58:33 GMT -5
"You didn't offend anyone," replied Kamlong, weaving through the group until he was standing right before Xue. He smiled down - hopefully to calm the boy down, since he looked like he was going to have a heart attack any second now, and then nodded gratefully to Shen. "You should've told me you were here, but thank you for staying behind to help. This is your Lieutenant General, men, he will also be watching over you, so give him your respect as well," he introduced, pulling his friend forward gently by the arm.
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Post by Shen Rui on Jul 14, 2006 22:10:54 GMT -5
Hearing Sze's voice he looked away from the boy to give the General a light smile. He would've loved to grasp for Kamlong's attention right away, however, requesting for little things like that always got in the way. It was true, trying to hide things from Sze turned out to be difficult. Feeling a tug on his arm he allowed his steps to motion him with the other, lifting his eyes to the group of new recruits. When he looked over them he had an intense stare, as though he was glaring until he turned his head to look at the General, eyes softening. Quite the dramatic change.
"I was going to wait till roll call was over, but you noticed me before I could tell you myself," he failed to give out his name to the new ones. At the moment there were no other Lieutenant Generals around.
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Post by Zhong Xue on Jul 14, 2006 22:22:11 GMT -5
"L-Lieutenant General?" Xue blurted out before he could stop himself. As a few heads turned to look at him, he felt his cheeks burning with embarrassment. He'd babbled about his foolish insecurities to the Lieutenant General, and by the way the other recruits were snickering at him, they'd completely misconstrued the meaning of his outburst.
"I-I'm sorry, sir..." Xue bowed low. "I didn't mean any disrespect before, sir. It won't happen again, sir."
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