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"I'm sure." Dallol laughed. Boy did she really need that. She had been so highly strung up from studying ever since the beginning of her senior year that she couldn't even remember the last time she laughed or smiled over something like this. At Corinth's question of how this year's Thanksgiving was on her end, she heaved a sigh and simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Hywel's out doing the usual long hours s**t so it's just another day in the week really. I can't wait to get all this studying over with so that I can join you there to be honest." Things had been like that for the longest time ever as far as she was concerned. It made her angry whenever she thought about it initially. These days, however, she just didn't know what she ought to feel about it anymore.

"Ok." She really needed a brief break from the studying lest she burnt herself out before the actual examination date itself. Nodding to indicate her agreement, she held onto Corinth’s hand, her attention focused on Mistral when the other Squire began to speak on what she had brought to share with everyone present.

"So um... do you have any idea about this signet ring thing that she's speaking of?"

Wolframite might not have been a Negaverse agent any longer, battling with Chaos's grip on his heart, but it was still fundamentally the same approach, she reminded herself. He was angry. Unsure. As a new knight, having previously been a comfortably settled-in veteran, he must have felt so unsettled by comparison. It was how Hvergelmir imagined moving a cat into a new home to be.

The decision not to fight was mine alone, she wanted to say. I've never asked anyone to fight for me. She asked her friends to believe in her -- and that was demanding enough as it was. Hvergelmir said none of that. Defensiveness rarely gained.

She said instead, simply, softly: "They had you in a dog's collar when I met you -- yet you still held your head high and bore it with dignity. Of course I remember. That strength of conviction is hard to forget."

Hvergelmir turned her manners to the quieter man with him. "It's nice to meet you, Hawara. This is Kairatos of Mars, Scholomance of Saturn, Mont Blanc of Saturn, Babylon of Mercury, Baikal of Mercury, Tikal of... Ganymede? and Nis of the Cosmos. I'd stand to shake your hand, but Scholomance was in the hospital recently and he's still recovering."

She looked back at not!Wolframite. "What name would you like to be called?"

What might have been a pleasant conversational group had far too rapidly become something else. Nis halfway felt as if she were watching some bizarre form of tennis, the way her head kept swiveling about. But when talk reached the topic of torture and whatever problem the angry dude seemed to have with everyone, that was the point where she noped the hell out.

Rising gracefully enough from her seat, she smiled at the original group, particularly Hvergelmir who seemed caught in the middle of... whatever the hell it was that was happening. It wasn't a position she'd wish on anyone.

"Well, this has been educational, not so sure on the fun part yet. I'd like to talk more to y'all, but maybe another time? When things aren't so... snipey. As it is, I was pulled away in the middle of unpacking and I'd kind of like to get back to it."

Giving the group a friendly enough nod, she headed towards Mistral to collect her ring upgrade. And possibly be allowed to pet the dog.

"Seems like it got pretty awkward in here," Scholomance mentioned as he rose to a seated position, "so I'll leave the rest of you to your verbal bloodbaths. If you'll excuse me." Cane in hand, Scholomance lifted himself with effort and started through the sea of humanity that collected around Hvergelmir. The limp was difficult to disguise, and he hardly bothered; with the staples only recently removed, his leg still loathed to bear weight.

Others had gathered around Mistral to claim their respective upgrades, but there was enough space around that he could squeeze in edgewise for a few words. Mistral herself looked well-dressed for winter, but he wondered if she was sweating here. Additionally, he wondered if the dog she carted around with her was a therapy dog. It appeared much too well-behaved to count for a regular pet. On the other hand, he didn't spot any vest to state the dog's profession.

"You're very clever to have come up with something like this. Thank you for taking the time on it - I daresay this works far better than trying to scrawl out a hasty message in the midst of battle. Speaking from personal experience, of course." Scholomance tapped his cane to the boot of his injured leg. "You said you had spare upgrades with you?"

Seeing other people going up to get their upgrades, Alhambra figured he should too, before Mistral ran out of them. He was delighted to have a new toy to tinker with -- once he found his ring, that is. That would be his next mission: a visit to Uranus and his wonder to seek it out. Maybe he'd also get some more answers there too.

The Uranus page stood and made his way to where Mistral was in the midst of a group of other Knights collecting their upgrades and chatting with her and each other. Waiting politely for a break, he finally was able to shoulder his way through and approach the girl and her dog.

"Hi," he said with a friendly grin. "I don't have my ring yet -- I'm only a week into this Knight thing, haha. Can I still get the upgrade, and the previous one if you have it?"

Mistral dug around in her pocket and pulled out the whole bag of upgrade parts - people were finally breaking out of the bleachers and heading her way. "That's all right," she assured Havasu. "This club's always had an intel problem. It's hard to find things out if you're not already ing the loop. Hopefully this'll help. Just snap it into place - around the bezel, like that."

She turned towards the approaching Cosmos page, Nis another little wire ring already in hand. "Here for the upgrade?" she asked. "Use it in good health."

No offer was made to pet the dog. Mistral turned towards Scholomance, looking up at the very creepy-looking Saturn squire. "I am very clever," she confirmed, a smile wide on her lips. "Here."

She slid the little wire ring around his finger, clicking it into place. "You're all set," she said. "By the way, we're married now."

Winking, she turned towards Alhambra. "Sure can," said Mistral, handing him an upgrade.. "Just hold onto it until you've got your ring. It's all one piece of hardware. The new stuff's a software update, like I said."

Verona had been just chilling, really. She didn't have a ring but that didn't mean she couldn't pick up what the others were getting. She never knew how to get hers, so she never really tried.

When Tiede bounced her attention over to her, the blonde rose a brow and tilted her head.

"Uh yeah, I haven't actually gone to my wonder or anything." She smiled sheepishly, "Don't know how. I guess this is a good time to ask right?"

Havasu gladly took the upgrade and quickly snapped it into place. "Thanks O Tech Guru. I promise not to accidentally blow it up." He tossed her a cheeky grin, his mossy green eyes sparkling in amusement, before stepping off to the side and powering the hologram up. It looked super futuristic and he silently wondered if he could eventually figure it out. "Like wiki hum?" the cowboy muttered to himself, apparently he would be doing some 'how to' reading before he even attempted to add stuff to the database.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the jokey comments by Mistral about being married. Havasu glanced over and nearly did a double take as he saw a fellow in one weird a** outfit with bones on it. "Cool," it was said with admiration and he said as much to the other squire... all the other signatures were kinda muddling his senses but being this close ment the pluto squire could finally figure out what the saturn fellow was powerwise. "Love the outfit dude. Really bad a**." As he got closer however he paused, something about the other knight was familiar. When it finally hit him he couldn't help but to literally facepalm.

"Awe hell..." He slowly dragged his hand down his face in an exaggerated move. The squire was the fellow from the train station, the one he had called 'dickless', at the time Havasu had thought the other knight was just scared and wimpy but now after the last fight Havasu was in he kinda totally understood the reaction of the Saturn knight. "Look man, about last time... I owe you an apology. At the time I didn't really understand the whole 'staying out of it' vibe but I kinda get it now. I really am sorry." He hung his head and looked at the bone covered knight in a sheepish, 'I'm in trouble', puppy way. He deserved a tongue lashing at the least if not a good punch to the gut for his harsh comments but in his defense Havasu is normally a d**k so it could sorta be expected.




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Pompeii watched as more and more knights were going up to get the first upgrade, it made her feel better about not being the only squire without it because she really wasn't. Well better late than never she thought to herself before standing up ready to join the gathering crowd. The purple squire paused and turned back towards the group she had been sitting with, "Nirvana you have your update yet? Viminal right? I'm guessing you haven't either right? Well no time like the present. Come on let's go grab them... I left a book at home that I really must finish tonight. See the protagonist is about to find out that the antagonist is not actually the antagonist just the puppet that is being controlled by an even greater evil." That last little bit was said as she started to walk away. Weather or not the two followed her didn't really worry her too much. The sooner she got the upgrade the sooner she could learn what the senshi knew... and could get back to her book.