The Barracks

{if Show Chapter Id == true} Chapter Id: 11 | Chapter Id (variable): {Chapter Id}

{endif}{if Barracks Event == false}Going to the barracks makes you feel like a fish swimming against the stream, because you are greeted by a steady stream of people coming your way. It's evident, that a general drill is taking place. You decide, that there is no use in trying to get any further. {else

}{if Barracks Level == 0}Nostalgia leads your way into the garrison. The once filthy, cold and uncomfortable complex still looked filthy, cold and uncomfortable. But you also felt a fondness within you, that you didn’t even know existed. Since Lilleth had gotten you your own room you did not have the same sense of comradery anymore.

You look through both the sleeping halls as well as the dining hall, but you only meet people you know superficially. None of your old friends. It seems that your old unit isn’t here currently.

You think to yourself, that you should return here soon. You might meet some old friends.

{elseif Barracks Level == 1}

{if Barracks Event Resolved == false}You find yourself in the barracks. They seem as empty as they usually are. They were technically the home for any regular soldier in Castle Sankao, like they were for you until shortly ago. But being a soldier meant rigorous drilling at day. Well and not to forget nighttime drills. And drills in the morning and evening. Luckily, it was rarely all of those on the same day. But it happened when someone high up drank too much and complained about the youth getting too complacent.

A warm breath crawls down your neck. You try to turn around, but two strong arms are already wrapped around your torso, pushing the air out of you, only to let go a bit again. Your panic turns into bemusement.

“Thalia? Damn, stop scaring me!” You just hear giggling behind you in response. “Okay, you didn’t want it any other way.”, you say. She might be very strong, but that would turn against her. You start to spin around in place. Thalia tries to stop you, but her feet don’t have enough grip on the ground. As she loses her balance you start spinning faster and faster, until she has to keep holding on or fall down and eventually, she just takes off, her whole torso uselessly flailing in the air.

“Damn Tarian, that’s cheating! Stop it!”, Thalia finally shouts through the commotion you two are making.

“Says the one with the sneak attack!”, you answer, but start slowing down. You come to a halt and immediately you and Thalia start to stagger around like drunken cats.

Thalia, still staggering, grabs your hand. “Let’s get into my dorm, before an officer thinks we are drunk.”

She leads you into her dorm. The door wasn’t even fully closed, when she gives you a kiss. Careful, questioning. “I missed you”, she whispers.

{else}{if Thalia Romance Path == true}

“I missed you too”, you answer.

You have cared for her since you met her in the military. She was the closest thing you ever had to a relationship.

“I have tried to find you here, but you weren’t here”, you add.

“Yes, many drills recently.” Thalia shifts her balance from one foot onto the other. “Can I … kiss you again?”

“I’d like that.”, you answer.

Before you know it, you both are in her bed, making out. But as you try to go any further, she moves herself away from you, coiling, as if you both were magnets being pulled apart.

“Tarian, you know we can’t … here.”, she say and smiles coyly.

“Well, you will be happy to hear, that I’ve been granted the privilege of my own room.” You exaggerate your hand gestures, as if you just invited her into a mansion.

“Well, don’t you think, I deserve to see it then?”

You tell her, where she can find you. You notice that the barracks became filled with the noises of everyday live while you both were distracted. You were probably lucky, that no one had walked in on you and Thalia. You decide to use the chance and meet some of your old companions.

{else}

“I … I’m sorry, whatever was between us, I … I came as a friend, is what I want to say.”

Thalia looks at you. The loyal brown of her eyes filling with shock.

“I see”, she says. “I’m sorry to have mistaken … us.”

Some silence hangs in the air between you, unspoken words, waiting to be plucked.

“I –“, you try to start a sentence, but are interrupted.

“Listen Tarian, I’ll be always greatful to you. What you have done for me, is more than anyone else ever has or could ever do. I’ll be your friend, if that’s what you want. I’ll be so, gladly and with all my heart. But …”

“I understand.”, you say. She needed some space. You pet her back for a moment, careful not to get to close and then leave.

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