Eat with Ingersol

Dolph followed Ingersol to a table with a different group of recruits.

"Did the crybaby make it?" Talia said. Talia was one of the fastest recruits, and her brown hair was long and messy. Dolph couldn't think of anything clever to say back.

"He did" Ingersol said.

"Awesome. Did you toilet train him as well?" Klaus said. They all laughed. He had been among the recruits that had finished first in the **** race. He seemed to always look smug, with his perfectly parted hair.

"I can see this is the asshole table." Dolph said, getting up to leave.

"They're not so bad." Hanna said. "Come and sit down, they'll be nice."

Dolph reluctantly sat back down. He looked at the other two people at the table, Shira and Eden. The two couldn't be more different. Eden was very relaxed, alarmingly so in these stressful days. Shira was tightly wound, despite being such an effective recruit.

"Hi" Dolph said.

"Hey" Eden said. She was looking at Dolph like he was a piece of food.

"So you're a farm boy, right? You must have huge muscles." Eden said.

"Not this shit again" Klaus said.

"You're just worried that he's bigger than you." Eden said. Klaus was perturbed. Dolph smiled, maybe he could get under this asshole's skin.

"I do." Dolph said, taking his uniform jacket off and flexing. He watched as the girls and Ingersol looked at him. Talia seemed uninterested.

"So do they have toilets at the farm, or do just go in your pants?" Talia said. Klaus laughed.

"Both" Dolph said, biting off a piece of his bread. "Now let's arm wrestle." He said, with his mouth full of food.

"I can see they didn't teach you manners at the farm either" Talia said.

"I've lost my appetite" Klaus said.

"It's a friendly competition, unless you're scared" Dolph said.

"You childish oaf. I don't even know if you've washed your hands." Klaus said.

"Let's all calm down here, and eat. Dolph, it's rude to put your elbow on the table." Hanna said.

"And to talk with your mouth full. Could you please chew before you talk." Shira said.

"That too, please." Hanna said. She was being so polite that Dolph began to feel like the jerk.

"Sure." Dolph said. He wondered why Dirk didn't sit at this table. Why did he even follow Ingersol here?

"So Dolph, were there any girls on the farm?" Eden said.

"Some. Had a few neighbours."

"Any you were close to? A girlfriend waiting for her heroic farmboy to come back?" Eden said.

"Not really" Dolph said. Eden was smiling.

"That's a shame." Eden said. Dolph continued to eat his stew.

"You and Nanaba are close, right? I see you together all the time." Klaus said.

"Yeah, we're friends. I have a lot of respect for her." Dolph said.

"You two ever screw?" Eden said. Dolph looked up, feeling his face become red.

"We uh, we aren't like that" he said. Dolph pictured himself with Nanaba and couldn't help but feel excited.

"What a waste" Klaus said. "She clearly likes you."

Dolph looked around nervously.

"Do you know what sex is?" Talia said.

"Of course I do." Dolph stammered.

"But you've never had it." Talia said, condescendingly.

"I've-" Dolph paused, wondering if he should lie or tell the truth.