Even though Ethan knew that Claire was just playing around, he still went slightly pale and a shiver went up his spine when she talked about Cuvier "gobbling him up."
"Please don't do that again..."
He had a dejected look on his face, but he soon brightened up when she asked him about robots.
"Well, I haven't built any robots yet and I don't have any implants. That's a big part of the reason I came here: to use the academy's equipment and take my experiments farther than I could at home."
He now had a proud smile on his face.
"But, since you mentioned it...I have been working on creating an AI assistant! I figured I might need some help since I've heard this place can be a little dangerous at times. Once I get myself settled in here, I should be able to finish it up in no time!"

---------------------------------------

Demitri turned around when Adelie pointed out that the fire was still going.
"Oh, would you look at that. One moment, if you wouldn't mind."
He picked up the fire extinguisher once again and sprayed the fire thoroughly to make sure it wouldn't be able to burn up again. Satisfied that the problem was taken care of, he turned back to Adelie.
"Now then, to answer your first question--"
He stopped suddenly when he realized that she had slumped down to the floor.
"Adelie?"
He knelt down turned her over to confirm what he had suspected: she had fallen unconscious. His calm demeanor now had a look of genuine concern.
"I should get her to the infirmary as soon as possible."
Fortunately she wasn't very heavy, so with some effort he was able to pick her up and carry her on his back. He sprinted out of the building to get her away from the smoke as soon as possible. When he was outside, he slowed down to a normal walk and made his way to the infirmary, which was a fair distance away from them.

When he arrived and entered the building, he approached the first nurse he saw and explained the situation through ever-so-slightly ragged breaths. A few moments later, Demitri laid Adelie down on a bed and sat down beside her in a nearby chair. The nurse approached him a while later, a smile on her face.

"You can leave if you'd like, we can handle things from here."
Demitri shook his head.
"Actually, I'd like to stay as long as it wouldn't be an inconvenience for you."
The nurse gave him a wry smile.
"Ohhh? I see...if you don't mind me asking, how do you two know each other?"
"We're recent acquaintances. We met about thirty minutes ago, actually."
"Oh. Then...you're not an item or anything?"
"No, nothing like that. I just feel responsible since she fainted from the smoke that came from one of my experiments."
"That seems like a lot of trouble to go through for a stranger, if you ask me. You could have called us to come pick her up and just gone back to your dorm. For that matter, are you really planning to stay here until she wakes up? It might take a few hours, you know."
Demitri shrugged.
"It's only natural. I'm the reason she needed to be here in the first place; the least I can do is personally make sure that she fully recovers."
The nurse patted him on the shoulder.
"You must be Demitri the Dragon, right? I don't care what anyone says, you're alright in my book."
She then left the room. Demitri was somewhat surprised that his nickname had spread this far throughout the school, though it didn't actually bother him.

It felt like an eternity before she came back to reality. A dull throbbing pain started to hum on the side of her head. "Что случилось? (What happened?)" Not yet used to the brightness of the florescent lights in the infirmary, she covered her eyes. Uncertain of where she was or what happened, she peeked through the spaces between her fingers. "Где я? (Where am I?)" A nurse passed her and seemed to smile at her actions of still hiding from the lights. Deciding she looked a bit odd, Adelie uncovered her eyes and started to attempt to sit upright. Still in a bit of pain from hitting her head, she whimpered slightly. A feeble 'ouch' was the last thing she sounded before attempting to get up out of the strange bed she was in.

The nurse passed again, this time noticing Adelie trying to get out of bed. She shook her head and chuckled, "Already trying to get up and look for your boyfriend?"
Startled at the question, Adelie looked at the nurse wide-eyed, "Boyfriend? I have no idea what you are talking about."
"The boy who brought you here. Demitri. He left to get some water. I guess he saw you starting to gain consciousness again."
Adelie laughed. "Miss, I believe you're quite mistaken. We just met today, he's not my boyfriend."
The nurse cleared her throat and looked at the watch on her wrist, "Oh. I do apologize then... I'll go get you some more medicine for your head." And with that she turned around and left.

"возлюбленный (boyfriend)... that's a good one." She giggled quietly to herself. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she saw the gas mask sitting on the bedside table. She reached out and picked it up, turning it over and over again in her hands trying to recall foggy memories from a few hours ago. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recall what happened. The most she could remember was being choked by some smoke and after that it all went black. Shrugging her shoulders, Adelie got back into the bed, propping up the pillow so she could sit upright. Just as she got comfortable, she saw Demitri coming back with a bottle of water. Hopefully he knew what happened and would be able to fill her in on everything that happened. She smiled his way and gingerly waved feeling a new pain in her shoulder. "привет! (hello!)"  

Just then, he noticed that she winced ever so slightly whenever she moved one of her arms.
"Ah...does it hurt?"
-------
She looked at the water bottle on the table and reached for it with her right arm before answering Demitri, "A bit. One of the nurses said she was going to get me some more medicine a bit ago." Adelie looked off in the general direction of where the nurse had disappeared to. Sighing, she looked back at Demitri and attempted to open the water bottle. After a few painful tries, she finally got it open and took a drink. Placing it back on the table she smiled, "спасибо. (Thank you.)" Her smile quickly turned into an embarrassed expression after she saw the confused look Demitri was giving her after she gave her thanks. Flustered, Adelie turned bright red and choked out, "I mean 'thank you'."

Trying to push back the embarrassment, she took another sip of water and started to ask about what happened. "I'm completely at a loss here at the moment. Could you possibly fill me in as to what happened? All I remember was that I was getting choked out by a mix of the plastic smell from the gas mask and smoke." She paused. "It's a bit distressing waking up in another foreign room on your first day." Adelie nervously laughed and anxiously looked back towards the direction of the absent nurse. Her pain was starting to evolve from a low throb to feeling like being hit by a bus. She looked back at Demitri with an apologetic look on her face and started to get up out of the bed.

Shivering as her feet hit the cold ground she whispered to herself under her breath, "Где она? (Where is she?)" Standing up the best she could with her head causing her tons of pain, Adelie started to slowly walk towards the general direction of where she had saw a few nurses begin to congregate. "Excuse me..." She kept her voice low in fear she would possibly wake up other students in the infirmary. "Excuse me... I was supposed to get another dose of something. One of the nurses passed my bed and said she would be right back. Which was about a few minutes ago." Ignored for a second time, she slowly walked back to her bed, holding her head in an attempt to mute the pain for a bit longer.

"I really can't apologize enough for this whole mess. Even though it was a complete accident, it's still my fault that you ended up here like this. I would understand completely if you feel bitter about this but for what it's worth, I am very sorry."
--------
"Bitter? Why would I be bitter for you helping me?" She looked at the floor. "Part of the reason I passed out was a bit of my fault, too." Anticipating getting reprimanded, she covered her face and mumbled out the rest of her reason, "I neglected to make sure I ate even if I didn't feel hungry from the jet lag." Adelie peeked out from between her fingers at Demitri to try to gauge his expression. Not being able to tell, she removed her hands from her face, but continued to stare dejectedly at the floor.

A few moment of silence lingered in the air, but were broken by the sound of footsteps nearing the two students. "I'm sorry it took me so long... we were out of what I was going to give you and had to wait for someone to bring a couple more bottles from inventory in the back." The nurse paused and stared at the two of them. "Is everything alright? You look like a kitten caught in the rain."
Adelie looked up at the nurse and smiled, "No, I'll be okay. Just in a bit of pain. That's all." Taking the pills off of the tray held in front of her, she quickly put them into her mouth and washed them down with a couple of sips from the bottle of water. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Is there anything else you might need? If not, I'm certain that you will be free to go. I just need to check on a few things with you." Leaning in towards Adelie the nurse started to check for signs of a concussion and the severity of her shoulder pain. "Well, there's good news and there's bad news."
"Bad news?" Worried, Adelie tried to get a look at Demitri to make sure he was okay. Knowing the way he felt now, she was worried that he would take on the bad news as something being his fault. Before she was able to catch a glimpse of his expression, the nurse stepped in between them.
"Well, with the state your shoulder is in, you're going to have quite the bruise. I'm suspecting it's clear to the bone. I'd advise to not do any heavy lifting for a few day. Go slowly and be careful. Don't over work yourself. But, on the bright side, you don't have a consussion." The nurse smiled at Adelie and Demitri and looked at her watch before heading to the door. "Ah! More good news. You won't be missing dinner tonight."
Almost as if on cue, Adelie's stomach growled the loudest it had ever done in a long time. Feeling the blood bubble to her face in embarrassment, she grabbed the bottle of water and started to take small, frequent sips soon causing her to have hiccups.

"Are you feeling unsteady at all? If you need some help, you can lean on my shoulder."
---------
She shook her head no but decided to stay close in case anything happened. "Thank you for the offer." Adelie smiled sweetly at Demitri.

Not knowing how far the cafeteria was from the infirmary, she decided to try to strike up a conversation to get to know Demitri better. "How long have you been attending school here?" She remembered back to his statement about her being new here. "Ah yes. I'm quite new here. I just got here a few days ago." She stopped and laughed, "I'm still not even fully unpacked. Doing as you might say out here 'living out of suitcases'."

Still feeling a bit of pain in her head, she suddenly stopped and reached behind her, taking the pony tail out of her hair. Running her fingers through her hair, she looked back at Demitri and went to go catch up. "Before I forget, I'd like to thank you for helping me. If there's anything you ever need help with, don't hesitate to come ask. I owe you a few favors."

"I...went on longer than I meant to. If I told you more than you wanted to know, I'm sorry. How about you tell me a little about yourself? What brings you to the Academy?"
-------
"Artificial Intelligence and other things. Hopefully by the time I finish my studies here I'll have something to bring to the table during foreign affairs meetings or something like that." It's a silly thing to want, I know. She giggled and gently touched her shoulder, though it's going to be difficult to do most of my work for a bit. Seems I'll be sticking to astronomy for a while." Astronomy, that was something she always held close and dear to her heart. It was one of the things her father taught her before he ended up becoming busy in government affairs.

"So... what kind of food does the academy serve? I'm curious." She saw the doorway to the cafeteria just down the hallway. Tons of other students gathered there sitting together or sitting alone. Talking among themselves or trying to figure out some algorithm. It had a bit of a strange homey feel and oddly enough it calmed Adelie a bit more. Her stomach growled again, "It's a good thing we're here, да (yes)?" She saw a confused look on Demitri's face. Figuring it was about her phrase she turned bright red, "Мне жаль. (I'm sorry.) ... I did it again. I still forget to use English every once in a while..."

"It's fine, don't worry about it. More importantly, I find it very interesting that you study artificial intelligence. I've heard it can be a particularly complicated area of study. If you don't mind my asking, have you had any success with creating your own A.I. program?"
He then tilted his head in thought.
"And while I'm thinking of it, what you said just a moment ago...was that Russian, by any chance? That's just a complete guess since I don't know any of the language, but it sounded like Russian to me."
--------
She nodded, "I've been successful so far. It's just a small computer thing at the moment, but I'm hoping to someday transfer that information and make an android of some sort. I've had my fair share of-" She paused, trying to find the right word. "I think the word is hiccups? Yes?" Adelie shrugged her shoulders, "It sounds right to me."

They walked in silence for a few moments until Demitri asked her another question. Surprised, she looked at him and grinned, "You my друг (friend), have a very good ear for language. It is indeed Russian." Excited that someone recognized the language, Adelie giggled and let a compliment slip through her lips in her native tongue, "Спасибо за заботу обо мне. Это очень много значит. (Thank you for taking care of me. It means a lot.)"

Cyn took the boy's hand. "Cynthia." She told him.
"So you work with robots. The two of us will probably have some projects together. I do psychological testing. AMong other things. I enjoy testing human capacity for... things. Mostly behavior."

------------------------------

"So what kind of things do you plan on building?" Claire asked.

"Sounds a little to complicated for me." Sam said walking towards what he assumes is the cafeteria. While he did take breaks to eat it was stuff from vending machines so this was the first time he left his room since he got here. "I've never been very good at analyzing or understanding people. I mostly just shut myself in my room and work on some sort of project that pops into my head." Wanting to smoke some more, Sam took out his box of cigarettes and pulled one out. Before putting the box away he offered one to Cynthia.

Cynthia took one of the cigarette and put it unlit into her mouth. "Thanks," she said. "You know these are banned on campus, right?"

Ethan scratched his head as he tried to think of how to answer that question.
"Well...for right now I'm just going to take it one step at a time. Once I make an assistant-- or maybe even two-- to help me out with my work then I guess the sky's the limit! One of the things I definitely want to work on is a suit of powered armor, kind of like what you'd see in sci-fi shows and video games. Oh, and nanomachines! I can see a lot of potential in those-- maybe something like a serum that gives you super strength for a while!"
He stopped himself and let out a nervous chuckle.
"You, uh...you can probably tell now how much time I spent alone as a kid, can't you?"

------------------------------------------------------------------

Demitri cautiously motioned Adelie away from the table she pointed out. Of course, it didn't matter at this point since they had already noticed him. He hung his head as they called out to him.
"Hey, Demitri! I heard you almost burned a whole building down today. What's up with that?"
One of the other male students cut him off.
"Dude, show some respect. Don't you know who this is?"
He then spoke in a mocking, overly dramatic tone.
"In their tongue he is Dovahkiin. Dragonborn!"
The students all started laughing as Demitri let out a heavy sigh.
"A Skyrim reference. Very clever. Yesterday I was Smaug, if I'm remembering correctly."
The male student shrugged.
"Yeah, that sounds like something we'd say. But hey, don't worry, we'll lay off the dragon jokes for a while. Seriously...we wouldn't want you to burn us alive or anything!"
They started laughing again as Demitri simply watched with a clearly annoyed expression.
"Wonderful. Now if you'll excuse us, my friend Adelie and I will be sitting elsewhere."
"Watch the skies, traveler."
"...I thought you were going to stop that."
"Sorry. I had to get in one last joke for Jay, seeing as how you almost choked him out today."
"Fair enough."
Saying that, he started to walk away and motioned for Adelie to follow.
"Let's find someplace a little more...peaceful to enjoy our dinner. Is that alright with you?"

Appalled at how rude the other students were as she was close enough to hear the insults they were mouthing off Adelie started to get very agitated. She was trying her hardest to stay out of what wasn't her business, but she couldn't stand idle while her friend was being belittled. Before doing anything she stared at the ground and started to reason that since no one knew her, what she might do could possibly make her a target. Quickly weighing out the pros and cons, she exhaled and looked at the group dead on with a straight face. Before saying anything to them, she looked over to Demitri and whispered, "You may not want to be here for this. I don't want to embarrass you..." Seeing that he didn't move, Adelie nodded and looked back at the group of students.

She took a few steps forward and stared at everyone. They all gawked back at her, not knowing what to do. All except the one kid who was the apparent ring leader of the group, he smirked at her and made a snide remark.
"What are you gonna do, Princess? Looks like you've got somethin' to say. Why not share it with the whole class?"
She smirked and prepared for a vitriolic exchange of words, "Я не твой принцесса. Что не так с вами люди? Я уверен, что вы имели свою долю ошибок. Почему, черт возьми, вы настаиваете действуя так грубо? (I'm not your princess. What is wrong with you people? I'm sure you've had your share of mistakes. Why the hell do you insist on acting so rude?)"
When she was done she stepped back and looked at the group again before saying one last thing. Picking up her tray again she laughed, "Не связывайтесь с Demitri когда-либо снова. Если я получаю ни одного слова о вас комментируя, я лично пришел найти вас и убедиться, что вы съежившись от страха, так что вы будете думать дважды о выступая негативно о ком-то еще раз. (Do not mess with Demitri ever again. If I get a single word about you making comments, I will personally come find you and make sure you are cowering in fear, so that you will think twice about speaking negatively about someone again.)"
With that said, she walked off and followed Demitri to a new place to sit. Worried about whether or not she embarrassed him, she sighed and apologized. "I'm sorry if I got carried away back there..."

As the two walked off, the other students looked back and forth at each other with concerned looks on their faces. The de facto leader of the group, Arin, finally spoke up.
"I have no idea what that was, but she sounded pretty serious."
He turned to another student named Ivan, who happened to be of Russian descent.
"That sounded kinda like some of those foreign words you use when you're talking to your parents. Any idea what that was all about?"
Ivan spoke up meekly.
"Well...to make a long story short...I think we should leave Demitri alone."
After that, they went back to eating their dinner in complete, awkward silence.


As they sat down at another table, Demitri shook his head and smiled.
"Oh no, not at all. As a matter of fact I quite enjoyed that. To tell you the truth, I've never had someone stand up for me the way you did just now. It was...a refreshing change of pace."
Demitri hesitated, unsure of what to say next. Although he normally appears calm and aloof, he actually has a somewhat difficult time expressing himself in situations like this. He even looked somewhat nervous, which was quite unusual for him.
"Actually, I...what I mean to say is, I really appreciate what you did back there. You're a good friend, Adelie. Thank you very much."

"You're not going to check who that is? I wouldn't want you to miss anything if it's an important call. If it is, I don't mind waiting here while you take it."
-------
She shook her head no, "It's probably important, but they need to learn that I'm no longer easily reachable as I once was. I'd figure they'd understand that once I told them I'm leaving the country. But you know... some people just never get hints."
Shifting in her chair she muttered something to herself about it being Thursday then looked back to Demitri, "The only plans I had was to unpack everything finally, but since my shoulder is out of commission for a few, that won't be happening. So, I guess I should be finding something to do in the mean time. Do you have any suggestions?"
Waiting for an answer, she looked up to see someone walking up to their table behind Demitri. Confused she pushed her chair out slightly as if preparing to have to get up for a conversation elsewhere. Not knowing who could be coming up to their table, she kept a constant watch on them.

She leaned in towards Demitri and whispered something to him about whether or not he knew the person that was approaching the table. He looked like one of the guys from the group she just yelled at but he didn't look like he wanted to start a fight. Instead he seemed eager to hold a conversation. Adelie stood up and took her tray to take care of it to make it seem like she didn't notice the other student.

When Demitri saw who was approaching the table, he turned back to Adelie and whispered.
"Don't worry, he's alright."
Seeing that he wasn't sure if he was welcome or not, Demitri waved the young man towards their table with a smile.
"It's fine. Take a seat, Kage."
Kage nodded slightly and sat down with the two of them. His face clearly showed that he was feeling a little guilty about what just happened.
"Hey, Demitri...and Adelie, right? I'm sorry the guys gave you so much trouble back there."
He let out a heavy sigh.
"I've tried to tell Arin that he's been taking his jokes too far sometimes, but he doesn't really want to listen."
Demitri looked towards Adelie and spoke up, feeling that some explanation was necessary.
"As you can see, Kage is the reasonable one among Arin's group of friends. You might remember him as the one who was laughing the least at Arin's jokes. He and I have been friends for a little while, ever since he apologized the first time for their behavior."
Kage groaned, feeling even more guilty than before.
"They're really not bad guys once you get to know them. They're just a little...I don't know...set in their ways? It's not just you, they end up giving a few of the other students a hard time, too. Of course, they're mostly just following Arin's lead...and I don't even know what his problem is."
"His problem is that his ego is getting the better of him."
Although Demitri said this plainly in a matter-of-fact way, it still struck a chord with Kage.
"Yeah...you're probably right. He used to be an okay guy but now...I'm not really sure. He picks on people for the dumbest things."
He looked up at Demitri with a smile.
"To be completely honest, I think your research is pretty cool!"
He quickly turned to Adelie.
"I mean, wouldn't it be great? If dragons really existed?"
Demitri choked on his drink and coughed a few times, clearly surprised that Kage would blurt out something like that so carelessly. Kage looked back at him with an apologetic expression.
"Oh, you...didn't tell her yet, did you? Sorry..."

"Dragons?" She was intrigued. "You wouldn't mind telling me more, would you?" Adelie smiled, trying to help Demitri feel comfortable again. "But if it's something you don't wish to talk about at this point in time, you don't have to. Take your time. We can always save that for a rainy day."

She looked at Kage and nodded, "I think it's best you don't associate with Arin anymore. Gathering from what you just told me, I doubt he's going to heed my warning. Yes, it might have caught him off guard that a foreign force came in and yelled at them like I did but I doubt he'll be in fear forever. A child like that will stay silent for a least a week and then work under the influence that I had forgotten my threat. Unless..." She looked at Demitri who seemed to be following along with the conversation then looked out back towards the other table. Seeming to be caught in a moment of formulating a plan, Adelie looked at the table and began speaking to herself in Russian piecing something together bit by bit.
"Unless what?" Kage looked concerned about what she was talking about let alone what was going through Adelie's head. He looked at Demitri who just seemed to shrug and was as every bit of confused as Kage was.
"Unless you'd like to keep tabs on him for me... in fact I'm pretty sure you have an idea of what I said to you guys. There seemed to be one of you that seemed to actually know what I was saying. If there's any way you can get him to help out as well, I'll make sure this Arin панк (punk) won't be making any trouble for anyone again. I've dealt with many people like that in my line..." Her voice trailed off into an unfinished idea.
Kage stared at Adelie even more confused than he was before. To combat the confusion, she quickly tried to change the subject. "В этом нет ничего. Пожалуйста, забудьте об этом. (It's nothing. Please forget about it.)" She smiled and turned to Kage, "What are you here for?"