Gracie and Hake Meet

He ponders in thought for a bit, trying to formulate words during the process.

"Perhaps, but would-" He starts to realize he's been in solitude most of his life; not knowing much about how much Zaiwynneska's evolved as a whole. "-no, Zaiwynneska is capable of creating countermeasures against dated weapons and strategies but they would need an ample amount of time, research, and manpower to do so. Right...?"

He says the last phrase quietly under his breath, he closes his eyes, thinking about how he's met Blaze on occasion, taking note on all the tech, weapons, and plans he's been told about before.

Gracie sighed softly as she listened to him, shaking her head slightly as she asked, a hopeful tone in her voice "You didn't send it in to Blaze by any chance, did you...?"

He reopens his eyes after she speaks, replying with: "No, I have not.-" He picks up the black notebook on the table with his hand, still eyeing her. "-in fact I finished right before I arrived."

Gracie heaved a sigh of relief, giving him a nod and a grin returning to her face as she said "That's all well and good, but if you were hoping for my help, that's not something I'd be able to provide. There's a pretty big conflict of interest, after all~."

"I didn't expect help."

He puts the notebook back on the table, looking down at it, his forehead looking comedically blue, looking at the table with a serious expression yet his eyes look worried, thinkg to himself: "Am I really that out of touch with the world, is my strategy actually doomed to fail...?"

"So....." Gracie started to say, smirking to herself as she gestured towards the burgers "You lose your appetite or something?" She asked, trying to change the subject to literally anything else

"Huh? Oh, absolutely not." He looks back at her, staring for a bit before he shakes his head. His pale expression shifting back to his default stoic face. He grabs his burger and eats half of it in one bite. Eating, yeah... Let's do that instead of worrying about the project.

Gracie shook her head slightly as she watched him do so, placing her hand on his free hand as she said "Well, if it makes you feel any better, Blaze did say that there would be another opportunity to prove yourself... Not that I know what those will entail, but this isn't necessarily the end of the line."

He looks at her with slight relief; his eyes lighting up slightly, but he quickly defaults back to normal. Nodding afterwards, clenching the hand she's touching into a fist, steeling himself once more. "Hmph, you say that as if I were worried."

Gracie laughed a little as he said so, shaking her head slightly as she replied "Anyone with a brain could tell that you were. You're kind of bad at hiding the way you feel." She added, as she ran her thumb over his knuckles "I'm sure you'll be second best. After me, of course"

His eyes widen, blushing a bit, he eyes to the side and sighs, relaxing his eyelids. Not sure how to respond to her first statement, but the second... He eyes back at her, letting out an exhale of slight frustration. "We'll see about that." He takes another bite of his burger that's in his other hand, eating the second half in one bite.

Gracie grinned at him as he said so, and once he'd finished off the burger, she began to stand up, slinging her tote bag over her shoulders as she said "Alright! Let's get going. You have work to do, and I need to go take a load off myself. I'll walk you out."

He nods, picking up his notebook before he stands up. Keeping his other hand near the hilt of his katana, his fingers tapping against it every once in a while due to habit. "Fair enough, let us part then."

Gracie didn't say anything about him tapping his katana hilt, her only reaction being her eyebrow raising slightly, as she led him out of the restaurant, and said "I hope that you're able to think of something new by tomorrow. Good luck."

His eyes drift the other way, unsure what exactly he'll do. He brushes the thought out of his head and looks back at h er, nodding. "Likewise, Gracie. Thank you again for inviting me out." With that, he leaves the scene, walking the opposite way from Gracie.

The next day, Blaze gathered the 3 hopefuls once more in order for them to start the next part of their trials, at the break of dawn, and once they were standing in front of him, he said "I hear you three met up at a diner last night. I hope you all enjoyed yourselves, and I'm glad that you did. Regardless of the outcome of this competition, you will all be teammates, so building rapport here is important." As he spoke, he slowly paced up and down, looking each of them in the eye before slowly moving on to the next "Do any of you have any idea what task I will have in store for you today?"

Hake looks at Maxwell, who appears to be silent and giving Blaze the upmost attention, he eyes Gracie for a moment then back at Blaze. "No, sir. What task do you have for us today?"

Blaze nodded with a satisfied look on his face, before he finally elaborated "A lieutenant not only needs to be quick thinking, but also needs to have the ability to fight. I will be putting you three against each other in a round robin styled tournament. Everyone faces everyone." He said, pausing to gauge their reaction

Gracie raised her eyebrows slightly as Blaze mentioned the tournament, for the first time since this competition started, a look of apprehension flitted across her face, but it was soon replaced with a stern resolve. "Interesting. I've got a few tricks up my sleeves for these boys."

Hake closes his eyes and exhales, looking rather calm before he speaks. "In that case, I give the best luck to my opponents then. " He says with a relaxed tone, not realizing what he just said could be considered cocky.

Maxwell lets out a "hah," before grinning. Cracking his neck before stating: "I was hoping for this."

Blaze then pulled out 3 small wooden sticks from his pocket, holding them out to the 3 individuals as he said "Alright, come on up. It's time to draw lots. Let's see who fights when."

Gracie stepped up first, eager to get first pickings at the order, and she reached for a random one, closing her eyes as she picked it out, before looking down at it, and grinning "Hey, I'm number 2! Looks like neither of you boys can catch a break. Literally."

Hake grabs a random one right after, he blinks and looks down at it, letting a light exhale out. "Number 1, this could be interesting."