A wish, Shattered.

As Siegward reminisces over his past memories, his nose twitches. Turning to his right, he notices the interloper stinking of sweat. Looking at the black-haired recruit, a standard issue MRE bag appears on a platter before him.

Siegward chuckles, "This newbie is in for a rude awakening."

Deciding to focus on his incredibly delicious meal, bought with the points he earned from fighting in the holo-arena, he hopes that the smelly human will soon leave to sit at some other corner in the common area, preferably as far away from him.

Suddenly, Siegward senses the stench only getting stronger. Turning to his right and seeing the newcomer approaching his table, Siegward clamps his nose with his index and thumb, making a shooing motion with his left hand. Hoping the stinkbag would understand the message and go away, instead, he is completely and utterly ignored, as the black-haired recruit proceeds to take the seat directly opposite him.

"Dude, have you ever heard of a shower? I come from a planet filled with tribes and even we had the decency to bathe once in a while."

Cedric, now sitting in front of the rude elf, takes a moment to take in his appearance. Although slightly pale, the youth busy making rude gestures with his fingers folded into a fist with one sticking out in the middle, has quite a bit of muscle on him, especially in his arms compared to his much slimmer body. 'A bow user,' Cedric assumes.

Stretching his hand, Cedric declares, "My name is Cedric Bladehart. I don't remember what the planet I come from was called. Let's be friends."

Shocked at the ignorant brute, Siegward finds himself in a predicament. Not willing to dirty his hands, yet not wanting to appear rude, he decides to take the risk, promising his hand that he shall scrub it long and hard in order to redeem this mistake. Siegward shakes the smelly recruit's hand, saying, "I'm Siegward. Man, seriously, you stink. Even I haven't smelled as bad when I was out hunting for beasts, covered in their excrement."

Confused, Cedric assumes the recruit is trying to tell a joke. He decides that in order to win his approval, he too shall reciprocate.

"I also tend to cover myself with my own excrement when I am out training. A refreshing feeling, is it not?"

'WHY IS HE SO DENSE? He must be pulling my leg. There is no way in hell someone would do such a thing for no good reason,' Siegward thinks to himself.

Siegward inquires, "I assume that you're joking, right?"

Smirking, Cedric retorts:

"Yeah, I am. I thought you would appreciate the gesture, seeing as how you started with your funny joke."

"Wha- How does that even make any sense? Why would you even answer a joke with another joke? You're weird, my dude."

"Dude? What is that? Is it edible?"

"AAArgh no, never mind. So, you new around here? I saw you getting that delightful MRE package. Go ahead, open it up, I wonder what you got."

Cedric, gladdened by the success of his approach to this talkative elf, decides to take him up on his offer. Opening the paper bag, Cedric finds it to be empty. Although seeming full, it was just lined with small metal strips on the sides in order to give the false impression that the bag contained any food in the first place. Instead, he finds a small piece of paper with some text scribbled on it. The note read, "Go earn your own food. Stop always depending on others. You useless piece of Slag."

"HAHAHAHA, you should have seen your face. I love it. I imagine I had the exact same reaction. Still is funny to see from time to time. Which is why I dine out here, instead of going back to my room. Keeps me entertained."

Cedric, his excitement gone, asks Siegward with a deflated tone:

"Well, this is just a bad practical joke now, isn't it? And how do I even begin to earn my own food anyway?"

Siegward, smiling, decides to inform the depressed Cedric.

"Ah, I see you got extremely lucky, seeing as how you landed on Officer McGrumpy. She never actually does her job, always yelling at recruits for no reason. Slag this, Slag that. Maan, she's such a buzzkill."

"Anyways, the robot fella standing in a booth next to the training area is our only lifeline on this Archon-forsaken ship. He was the one who told me about gaining points and the benefits they provide on this ship."

Pointing at his half-eaten plate, Siegward reveals, "One of which is this amazingly cooked meal. The soldiers manning the spacecraft aren't really as hungry and lacking in manpower as McGrumps makes them out to be. This ship was created after all for those like us, headed to The Forge. A final piece of comfort before we get shafted in the trials. Most of the kids here ain't even gonna make it out."

"Oh, I understand. Well, I guess firstly, a shower is probably in order. After that, I shall go and see this 'robot-fella'."