Team play! Probably Not

I groan in annoyance. I am no longer distracted by the stew or roaring crowd enough to not focus on the fact I do not know who I am supposed to meet with.

“Stupid messenger.” I mutter while walking around the large complex looking for someone or a group that might seem out of place.

-- -- --

“Yamakuma?” A tall elf girl inquires stopping me in my tracks.

“Yes.” I answer turning to face her properly. “Do I know you?” I ask her.

“We’re in the same hunting party.” She answers.

“How do you know that?” I ask walking up to her.

“Because the message said so." The elf responds.

“What? Mine just said the time and place!” I exclaim letting out my annoyance. “I’ve been walking around looking for someone in the group for over an hour!” I continue throwing my arms up in defeat.

“What’s an hour?” The teen asks me. Shit!

“A wai.” I quickly correct myself.

“Is hour a word for wai in another language or something?” She interrogates with a raised brow.

“Yes.” I respond meekly looking down at my feet. Please let this end.

“So I’m not first, surprising.” A gruff voice says from behind me.

“Ah!” I exclaim jumping up in surprise. Turning around I see a rather muscular green teen wiping his hands on the jacket of his uniform.

“Frenta Chaska.” The applicant says with a hand raised out to me. “Trapping division.” He adds.

“Yamakuma Lydia.” I respond shaking his hand, it is quite tough from callouses. “Magic division.” I add.

“Islet Celosia.” The elf says finally introducing herself. “I’m from the tracking division.” She says stepping to my side and resting an arm on my shoulder. “Best tracker there is really.” Celosia confidently adds rubbing a hand against her nose. She is confident at least.

“Really?” I inquire the elf while I move her arm off of me.

“Yeah, despite the rankings saying otherwise.” Celosia says sounding offended.

“Oddly the same thing for me.” Chaska interjects while appearing to be tinkering with a trap or something.

“Strange that multiple people who don’t do well in the rankings are teamed together.” I mutter aloud.

“Really makes you think they did it intentionally.” Chaska responds. I see he is not just observant but might be quite intelligent as well.

“I see all of the underlings have arrived before me. Good!” Goodswell’s condescending voice nearly echoes through the area. You have got to be kidding me… “Now let us get down to business, no?” Goodswell practically orders us.

“Who put you in charge?” Celosia asks walking over to the asinine boy. “Last I checked you just got here and we didn’t decide that yet.” She continues stopping in front of him and putting a finger to his chest letting her annoyance be known.

“It’s obvious that I should be in charge.” Goodswell says removing Celosia’s finger from his chest. “I am a natural born leader after all.” He explains moving his hand to his chest as if to emphasize his point. I hate arrogant dumbasses like him the most. I facepalm while groaning in annoyance.

“What’s wrong?” Chaska asks me.

“Nothing.” I mutter with a sigh. No way they randomly put two people who cannot work well in a group together and three people that should be top of the rankings but are not for one reason or another. “Do you care about any of this Chaska?” I inquire looking over at the orc.

“Not really.” He responds putting away whatever he was tinkering with. “I take it you don’t either.” He adds.

“I just want to pass the exam.” I answer honestly crossing my arms waiting for the elf and other human to stop their bickering.

-- -- --

I groan while opening the door to my dorm.

“What’s got you in a huff?” Birta asks me mid crunch. I close the door and begin to shuffle to my bed before answering.

“My group for the hunt is…” I answer while my roommate continues her workout. “Bad.” I finish plopping onto my bed.

“Who’s in your group?” The teen inquires finishing her workout.

“I doubt you would know the two from the trapping and tracking divisions.” I reply looking over at her. “So I’ll say my group is full of people who don’t work well in a group but could be top of their divisions if they weren’t so, unique.” I continue carefully choosing my words as Birta sits up in her bed.

“Who’s from the fighter division?” She pushes the question.

“William Goodswell.” I say slowly almost painfully.

“I’m sorry.” She responds while beginning to stretch on her bed. “He could arguably be the top of the division if it wasn’t for his terrible attitude and disrespect towards even our instructors.” She explains while stretching out a leg onto the small desk a good meter from her bed.

“So all four of us are problematic in some way but actually could be the best.” I mutter moving onto my back.

“Pretty confident in yourself, huh?” The teen replies with a chuckle. I look up at the ceiling and stretch myself out.

“I’m only ranked low because I don’t use implements.” I respond slightly annoyed. “I can learn the spells nearly immediately but casting through the wand takes more thought for me.” I explain raising my arms up. A mix of dust and shadows begin to emanate from my hands to hopefully emphasize my point. Being basically a prodigy is helpful for somethings.

“Don’t worry, I know you’re easily the best.” My roommate says while still stretching. “Strange how you all got randomly put in the same group.” She adds the shadows and dust disappearing from my hands. “Like how my group is all the top in our divisions.” She finishes with a chuckle.

“You really think it’s random?” I inquire turning on my side to look at her again. Happening once is a coincidence. Twice is a pattern. Or is it three times?

“You think they seriously say it’s random and then work extra to decide the groups?” Birta retorts while stretching her arm behind her back. Her bust has gotten bigger… Damn it Yamakuma! She is a child! You are not, technically…

“Sounds like plausible deniability to me.” I finally respond. “Dealt with it a lot in my old life.” I mutter.