Welcome to Maracas island II

Dan and Sai walk into the male dormitory with other male participants coming in as well, the dorm room doesn't say much has its appearance it's quite dull with not so vibrant colors on the walls setting is a bit militaristic with the beds set up in bunks.

"So this is where we'll be staying, huh… I guess this is alright."

Sai remarks as he throws his arm around Dan's neck, Dan shoots a gaze at him before taking off his arm and walking to the edge of the room where he drops his bags on the last bunk at the edge of the room and sits down with his head bowed.

"Cold as always…. I really don't know why Ilara likes you so much."

Sai mutters has he meets up with Dan where he was sitting, Sai drops his bag on the top bunk and sits beside Dan.

"What do you want??"

Dan asks harshly.

"Look I don't know why Ilara has taken such a liking to you and even why you decided to join us when you have no desire to be a law enforcer but I'm still gonna ask that you to do your best and help Ilara out with her mission, I hope that's not too much to ask… don't go rushing into anything and be more of a team player cause that's what we need now, so we good??"

Sai stretches out his hand towards Dan, Dan raises his head up and shakes his hand.

"Yeah we good."

Ilara feels a bit lonely as she walks into the female dormitory on her own.

"I wonder what the boys are up to, hopefully they don't kill themselves before tomorrow."

Ilara thinks to herself which inadvertently made her chuckle a bit.

"Hey."

A voice from behind Ilara catches her attention causing her to turn round, in front of her is a dark skinned girl with a relatively child like smile on her face, she's a bit small in stature with cute dimples and a slender structure that made Ilara feel a bit jealous even though she had similar attributes.

"Oh hey."

Ilara replies.

"My name is Okoye, what's yours??"

Okoye asks with a childlike innocence as she puts her hand out towards Ilara.

"I'm Ilara."

Ilara shakes hands with Okoye and discovers that she had quite a firm grip.

"Nice to meet you, Ilara."

Okoye says.

"Nice to meet you too, Okoye."

Ilara retorts a bit weirded out by Okoye's antics.

"Do you have a bunk partner yet?"

Okoye asks has other female participants pick out their bed spaces.

"well not exactly, I haven't even picked out a bed space yet."

Ilara replies with a smile.

"Well my bunk is free so you could come stay with me if you'd like."

Okoye offers has she points towards her bunk.

"Uhmm OK then, but don't you have a female partner in your squad??"

Ilara asks with a suspicion.

"Well I do but she decided to stay with someone else, according to her I can be a bit weird and I'm also don't have class though I can't disagree with her assessment of my character and social status."

Okoye replies with an awkward smile as she placed her hand to the back of her head.

"But then why come to me with such an offer?"

Ilara asks still suspicious of Okoye's nice gesture.

"Well I know it might be weird but you seem pretty cool at first sight and you looked kinda confused on where to stay so I thought I'd ask you to join me"

Okoye explains with her hand still at the back of her head as she felt the conversation was starting to get more awkward than she had hoped.

"Hmm..... OK then I guess we're bunk mates then."

Ilara replies with Okoye finally sighing in relief.

"For a second there I thought that you'd refuse considering how weird and suspicious what I'm doing is"

Okoye remarks with Ilara sizing her up

"You are quite peculiar."

Ilara mutters to herself as Okoye leads her to her bunk space.....

"Ladies and gentlemen"

A voice booming through a sound system begins.

"We welcome you to Maracas lounge, hope you have found accommodation here to your liking and hope you all have settled in nicely….we are making this announcement to invite you all to a bonfire organized by the administrators of this exam to allow for a little bit of familiarity between the participants in this year's exams, so come on down and have some fun."

The voice ceases after the announcement was done with the participants already lodged in the hostel murmuring amongst themselves at the strange arrangement made by the administrators.

"We came here to participate in the exams but now we are being invited for a party, that's a bit odd."

A male participant remarks with a suspicion.

"What's so odd about that??... The administrators obviously feel that our journey here must have been stressful so they just want to put us at ease before the exams start in earnest."

Another voice counters in an assuring tone, soon enough the participants begin to troop out of their rooms towards the center of the lounge after they had freshened up to be greeted by a bonfire and a banquet as well…

The atmosphere jumps from tense to being lively as the participants begin to settle into the vibe of the bonfire and get acquainted with each other, some stay away from the flurry of activities and stay on their own while the rest stay close to the bonfire and chat amongst themselves.

"So where do you come from??"

Ilara asks out of curiosity and in a bid to kill time waiting for Sai and Dan.

"Well I'm from a little town off the coast, Arca.. My people are mostly fishermen and farmers, not a lot of industrialization has happened there though."

Okoye replied with a chuckle.

"What about you??"

Ilara and Okoye seem to be seated not too far from the bonfire but far enough to not be disturbed by the activities taking place, they both seem to be munching on a snack as they continue with their conversation.

"I'm from Calos city."

Ilara replies.

"Oh yeah, I've heard of that place, the city that never sleeps…. I always wondered what it was like in the big cities."

Okoye remarked with a glow in her eyes.

"Well I can tell you, it's not so rosy."

Ilara retorts with a smile causing Okoye to burst into laughter.

"You can't be serious."

"I'm a detective back home so I know what I'm saying."

Ilara says with an air of pride.

"Oh wow, a detective.. That must be pretty cool."

Okoye says.

"Well yeah, it's so cool with how I'm able to help people with my position but unfortunately not everyone feels that way about my work."

Ilara says with a hint of sadness, Okoye notices this and decides to pry.

"I'm guessing there's someone you want to acknowledge your work but that person isn't exactly doing what you had hoped."

"Well yeah, my dad… he never wanted me to become a cop, heck he doesn't even want me here, apparently he's scared that something might happen to me but I don't know why he can't understand that I can take care of myself now."

Ilara laments in frustration not knowing when the conversation got personal as something about Okoye put her at ease.