The remainder of the long weekend was much less eventful, which was probably a good thing since we slept through most of Sunday. We didn’t get out of bed until well after lunchtime, and then we were all hungry enough to raid the closest cafeteria after we were all showered and feeling more alive. The shower was important, not only because it relaxed the stiffness from working too hard on Saturday and then sleeping through a good portion of the day, but also because search and rescue is dirty work (or so the others told me) and last night we had all just collapsed into our beds as soon as we were able to dismiss our body armor back to the pocket dimension from whence it came.

As we made our way to the closest of the two cafeterias on campus, Poppy and I rested on top of Kelly’s head, between her fuzzy white foxlike ears. Neither of us had much energy and that probably wouldn’t change until we got some food and nectar into us. The only thing that I had the energy for was to read an progress report that Vice-Commander Carpenter had sent sometime this morning while my sister did the walking.

The report had been sent to the Vanguard Officer’s mailing list, and for some reason, it had been sent to me as well. I wasn’t sure if that was because I was an officer in training or because I was so involved in yesterday's Incursion, but I figured it was due to a combination of the two. The report in question was basically just an update on the post-Incursion operations and a breakdown of the issues that had prevented us from using the personnel transports.

It outlined that there had been a malicious firmware update from Lundburg Technologies to all our transports, which made them unusable during the Incursion. While the Vanguard would be pursuing legal action against the military tech supplier, there was little else that we could do to them since their corporation was headquartered in the United States rather than Amethyst Harbour. As for the transports themselves, the issue was taken care of, at least for the moment.

While we were busy with the Incursion, and the search and rescue operations that followed, the Vanguard’s magitech development division was hard at work as well. They had their best computer coding people look over the troublesome firmware on the vehicles to start working on some new custom firmware and remove Lundburg Technologies’ ability to mess with our equipment again. They were working even later than we were last night, and came up with a solid fix in the early hours of the morning. After some testing to ensure that everything was working properly with the new firmware, the cargo transports would be heading straight to Rio de Janeiro to start collecting the disabled Titans left behind when the Breach closed.

It was nice to know that things were working out on that front, but since there didn’t seem to be any other action needed on my part, I just confirmed that I had received and read the report. I didn’t have anything else pressing to do, and since this was supposed to be my weekend off before the Incursion shot that all to hell, I planned to enjoy what was left of it. The first order of business was getting something to eat, and by the time that I finished reading the brief report and sending a reply, we had arrived at the cafeteria.

Once we had gotten some food into us, we decided as a team to just chill for the rest of the day and explore the campus a bit. There weren’t many people around, and there likely wouldn’t be until after the holiday on Monday, so that left us somewhat free to look around without anyone bothering us. Students wouldn’t be required to be on campus until Tuesday, which was the official first day of classes.

Not that there would be any actual classes for us that day. Only second-year students and beyond would be jumping right into classes on Tuesday, while those of us who were new to Vanguard University would be attending an orientation, followed by a tour of the campus in the morning. After lunch, the civilian students who were paying to live in the dorms and take classes at VU, most of whom were non-Altered humans, would be free to settle into their dorm rooms and relax until classes started on Wednesday.

As for those of us who were Vanguard recruits and here for our first year of classes, we would be attending a ‘meet and greet’ during the afternoon. Vice-Commander Carpenter had mentioned that to me before, telling me that it was a good opportunity to meet other Altered recruits who are studying to join the Vanguard upon graduation. It would also be a good time for those of us who had not formed official training teams to do so with people they thought they could work well with, and for teams looking to add a member or two to do so.

I was not looking forward to that day at all, especially the crowds. I had never really been comfortable in large crowds composed of people that I hardly knew or didn’t know at all, and being a five-inch-tall Sprite now only made it an even more daunting possibility. None of my group were really all that social with others either.

Moonlight had the ability, and frankly every reason, to stay out of sight, at least from her point of view. Unicorns might be excessively rare, but from what I’ve seen from mine, they are generally only concerned with the health, happiness, and well-being of the Maidens that they bind themselves to. She got along well enough with my friends and family, but she usually preferred to stay ethereal, out of sight, and avoid the attention that she might get if visible, only choosing to show herself in public places if she felt that I needed her or if I asked her to show herself for some reason.

Honestly, I believe that Poppy was the most social of all of us. My girlfriend didn’t mind socializing, but she tended to get nervous and babble a bit when outside of her comfort zone, like she did when we first met. Okay, not quite that bad, and there was usually a lot less unintentional sexual innuendo with other people, but she still tended to get nervous when placed outside of her social comfort zone.

My sister used to be okay with big groups of people, but she had changed, and not just physically, since she was captured and then discarded by the Titans. Kelly was still dealing with a lot of trauma, especially since she discovered that her nightmares were based on real buried memories. I was a little worried that large groups of people might trigger her as well, after some of those nightmares she had told me about, where she had crowds watching her either as a gladiator or some kind of actress/entertainer.

Karen had trauma as well, and she had been trying to push people away since she became a Dark Elf. She seemed to be getting better with those of us in our group, and I was hoping that she was even starting to see us as friends, but I was worried about how she might react in a crowd if someone pushed her. I knew that deep down she was afraid of getting hurt and losing someone she cares about again, which was why she started pushing people away in the first place, but she had gotten far to accustomed to putting on the bitch act and pushing people away. The mere thought of her at any sort of social gathering before she was used to interacting honestly with people again was sending up all sorts of red flags in my mind.

Ainslee wasn’t terrible with people, but with as unnaturally beautiful as she was, she was bound to draw attention in a crowd, which would likely bring attention to the rest of us as well. If guys started hitting on her or flirting, and they almost certainly would, that could end up being a problem since my best friend had no interest in anyone except my sister, and she could be extremely… blunt. She wouldn’t be a bitch, like the act that Karen could put on, but she would firmly tell them no before they could even finish their come-on line.

Honestly, with Ainslee, I was far more concerned about what might happen when a simple, “No, I’m not interested,” failed to dissuade someone. Ainslee had the stereotypical Scottish temper and was damn scary when she was angry, and not just because she could summon magical plasma weapons at will. She didn’t need her plasma to be terrifying; she was a Baobhan Sith, a sort of Fae Vampire, and the only one of her kind so far that we knew of. She didn’t even need her impressive speed and strength to subdue an overly attentive guy; she just needed to ask them to dance or accept if they asked her.

She had told all of us that dancing was instinctive with her, and that and their physical beauty was how her kind ensnared their prey. If she danced with a man and he got caught up in her rhythm, a geas would take hold of him, and the moment that he stopped matching her speed and movements, his life would be hers to take. Ainslee didn’t like feeding on people, but it would be hard for her to resist the call of the blood singing in his veins, and he would not be able to fight or refuse her. It was how she had fed on the men in the prison.

My best friend was worried that her temper might get the best of her and that she would do something she would regret. That was why she told us all about the dancing thing and warned us to stop her if she tried to dance with any men. She felt that it would only end badly for everyone involved, so if any guys got a little too pushy and refused to take no for an answer, she wanted us to do our best to run interference.

I feared that these first-day social events were a cluster fuck waiting to happen, at least for my team. If attendance wasn’t mandatory for all new recruits going to the University, I would have had us skip it altogether. We already had a team, and I wasn’t interested in adding any new members. Unfortunately, we had to go, and now I was going to worry about it for the remainder of the long weekend.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one worried about that either. As we wandered around the campus in the general direction of our dorm and the stables, so Moonlight could get some exercise, and so Kelly and Karen could each go for a short ride, Ainslee asked, “Is it just me, or is anyone else nervous about Tuesday? That meet and greet is supposed to be a party, and I’m already dreading all the people who will probably ask me to dance.”

“Hmmph… Well, if they can’t take no for an answer, then I’ll just make it clear to them,” Karen offered with an expression and tone that hovered somewhere between angry and protective. “Nobody fucks with my… friends. Honestly, I’m more annoyed that we’ll be stuck in our fucking dress uniforms for the whole day.”

Aww, she said the f-word out loud, and I wasn’t talking about the f-bombs that she dropped either, since she seemed to have an arsenal of those prepared whenever she opened her mouth. She called us her friends; this was such a big step for Karen. Also, I kind of agreed with her on the uniform thing, but this was considered a special occasion, and several high-ranking officers would be at the meet and greet, so we were expected to wear them.

Honestly, it could have been worse, though. We were only required to wear dress uniforms on special occasions, and our body armor when we were doing boot camp training and team training sessions on the weekends. While in classes, though, we could wear whatever was comfortable and suited our individual fashion sense. Still, I felt the need to agree. “Yeah, I’m not looking forward to being in uniform all day either.”

Poppy flew closer to me and fluttered her eyelashes as she suggested, “It’s not so bad. I do love a woman in uniform… as long as it isn’t me. And by the end of the day, I’m sure I’ll love getting you out of that uniform too, Love.”

I felt my cheeks warm at her brazen flirting in front of the others, but maybe there were positives to the uniform after all. Unfortunately, my thoughts on that weren’t allowed to go very far, as that was when we reached the stables. Moonlight wasn’t in her stall, since she had been sticking with us in her ethereal form, but her saddle and other gear were here, Kelly was looking forward to a ride, and she wanted to check Moonlight's shoes and give her a good brushing as well. Karen wanted to ride as well, since she hadn’t ridden a horse for a very long time. Other than her family’s semi-regular camping trips, one of her favorite vacations with them was when they all went for a horseback riding expedition when she was twelve.

“Come on out, Moonlight, Lily said that you promised us a ride,” my sister called.

She had indeed promised, after a little prodding from me. I thought that it would be a nice way for some of us to relax after all the stress from yesterday, and Moonlight deserved some love and care as well, even if she would never admit to desiring such a thing. -Fine, let us get this over with,- the Unicorn complained as she appeared in her stall. I had a feeling that her heart wasn’t truly in the complaint, though.

After checking Moonlight’s shoes, Kelly gave them the okay and then started prepping her for riding. After securing her saddle firmly in place, and then the bitless bridle and reins, she secured the fairy saddle in its place, where the bridle was fitted at the back of Moonlight’s head, so that Poppy and I could enjoy a ride as well. We did enjoy ourselves, too, and everyone got to ride the Unicorn for a bit, even Ainslee, though her hooves made the stirrups awkward for her.

It was almost dinner time by the time that we returned to the stable and Ainslee, Kelly, and Karen all worked together to give Moonlight a well-deserved currying, brushing, and some oats and an apple to eat while they worked. It was a nice time for us all to bond a bit and let loose some of the stress from yesterday. We were all still a little nervous about our first day at Vanguard University, but we would face it together, just like we did everything else.