Day 75, Morning

[amazing_am_i]

Bert spent the rest of the previous day punching the sack of questionable materials in the soldier training area and staring at the ceiling in his room. He'd upset Gisela, upset himself by losing to such a wussy little punk, and now he just wanted to go home more than ever. He had a rough night sleeping, and his early morning workout just wasn't

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[orange_mullet]

Yozak knew where Bert was. He'd been trailing him for a while now. If he tweaked his own morning routine just a little they'd probably line up pretty good. He figured the big guy wasn't in a good mood after his loss the other day, and he didn't want to catch him too early, or too grumpy, so he followed him around a bit first to gauge his mood. He couldn't figure out where it was Bert seemed to be going. Once he was sure he wouldn't get his head chewed off, he casually stepped around a corner as if he just happened to be there.

"Hey, Bert. How's it goin'?"

[amazing_am_i]

Bert was a little stunned to see josak and as he was mostly spaced out, he nearly jumped out of his skin. After a short exhaled breath, he was able to reply.

"Eh, it's been better, but I guess it could be worse. I guess I didn't do so hot yesterday, but I got to keep my head."

[orange_mullet]

Yozak grinned at Bert's reaction, but reminded himself to be sympathetic to his situation.

"You can't win them all. At least you didn't get stabbed."

[amazing_am_i]

He really needed to relax, and a slight huff/chuckle managed to escape. This guy seemed friendly the day before and still seemed it now. "That little bastard.... I can't believe I lost, but I kinda can. For a minute at the end I thought he was gonna put that sword into me. And now Gisela's upset with me too. I should probably apologize, but I'm not sure she wants to talk to me." He scratched the back of his head and looked off to the side. He always got a little embarrassed when actually talking about unmanly things. Which needed to be changed. No more un-manly conversation!

[amazing_am_i]

"It'd be nice to go home. Even more fun if you could come. I mean we got microbreweries, a lot more fun clubs, and just other stuff this place doesn't have."

He frowned at the lack of celebration for his return and the acknowledgement Conrad got. As far as he was concerned, it probably would have been a better end without him. "That's not very fair. I mean, if only you two survived, then what the hell?! You should have said somethin'. Made them recognize you. That's just fucked up." He was well into his second beer at this point. He didn't want to drink too much, after all, he still had no money of his own.

[orange_mullet]

"Micro...breweries..." He liked the sound of that. And the other things. "If they find a way... Though I wouldn't want it to be permanent."

He took a long, long drink. "War is fucked up. Wasn't my place to say something. And Conrad was a prince." He shrugged, like it didn't matter. "Anyway, I was just thankful to be alive, and to have a place to come home to. All I wanted was for this fucking country to accept me, not matter if part of me wasn't demon."

[amazing_am_i]

"There's nothing like the feeling of being stuck. That I can promise you."

"Wait, so how bad is the other country? y'know, the one you fought against. I guess this one is just that much better? But I'm human, so are they more accepting?" Bert definitely couldn't connect dots well, especially with a little beer in him. Though even his sober mind never handled things well. It was a miracle he made it as far in life as he did. Sometimes it amazed him too.

[orange_mullet]

"Yeah, I can imagine."

Yozak grunted and shifted down in his seat. "I dunno. When you're stuck in the middle, no side seems better. But we were willing to die for Shin Makoku, to prove to them we were loyal, even if they didn't give two shits about us. But I was born in human lands, and it was worse there. A lot worse. It's still bad, for half-breeds, and any human caught loving a demon."