A Block greeted Elias by looking him over in pieces.
The badge first. Then his hands. Then the pack on his shoulder, the way he carried his weight, the healing stiffness around his ribs, and the fact that he was old enough to look out of place among people who still had academy posture in their bones.
Near the training mats, Kikaru Yirazawa watched with her arms folded. Her short blond hair was cut above the jaw. Her uniform had armor plates fitted over dark green fabric, clean enough that Elias wondered whether she changed after every exercise out of spite for dirt.
She looked at his badge again.
Low Perception Watch.
Elias could almost hear the file cabinet closing in her head.
Dot hovered near his shoulder and peered across the lounge. "One of the Ikonas is pretending to wave from the couch, and I am accepting the diplomatic breakthrough."
A snake shaped Ikona coiled around one man's forearm and flicked its head toward Dot. A different man lounged with one boot hooked under the table, knife flipping over his knuckles in a rhythm too calm to be accidental. Across the room, a bird shaped Ikona perched on a red haired woman's shoulder while the woman pretended to study a wall screen.
"Please do not begin foreign relations with couch people."
"Too late, Elias, because I have already recognized their sofa sovereignty."
Oliver stepped beside him and raised his voice enough to make the room quit pretending.
"This is Elias Kael, eighth assignment to A Block. Treat him under the same rules that applied when each of you arrived. If you start something, I will assume you want additional supervision."
That earned more attention than Elias had.
The knife stopped mid flip. The bird Ikona tucked its beak under one wing. Someone behind the divider muttered something Elias could not catch, and someone else kicked the underside of a table to shut them up.
Oliver pointed toward the sleeping pods. "Kael, move your gear into the open pod, change, and report back at the top of the hour because medical testing comes first. The walk is ten minutes if you resist the urge to interrogate every locked door."
"I will save my best questions for locked doors with guards."
"That response explains several concerns in your intake file."
Oliver looked over the block again. "The prior A 08 occupant has been transferred to D Block. Intake numbers will increase this week. When we reach forty confirmed bearers, command will begin wider trials. Until then, keep to your assigned regimen and avoid making the staff regret giving you furniture."
He left through the sealed door.
A Block waited until the lock finished cycling before it breathed again.
The man with the knife resumed flipping it. The sound was soft, metal against skin, catch and turn, catch and turn. Elias hated that his eyes wanted to follow it.
Kikaru crossed the room.
She stopped close enough that stepping back would become a statement. Elias stayed where he was and let her inspect him. Her gaze worked like a checklist with no box for mercy.
"Kikaru Yirazawa is my name here," she said. "Current top performer in A Block. If you want to test yourself, ask before wasting my time."
Elias offered a hand because old habits survived worse than common sense. "Elias Kael, current bottom performer in at least one visible category, and nice to meet you."
Kikaru looked at his hand, then at the badge, then back at his face.
She left the hand alone. "You are older than the usual intake."
"You are blunter than the usual welcome committee."
"That saves time for everyone involved." Elias lowered his hand because leaving it there had started to feel like begging for manners.
"Usually it just gets me in trouble."
The man on the couch laughed. He caught the knife by the handle and pointed it lazily at Elias without raising his arm.
"You two finished measuring horns, or should the rest of us pretend provisional means interesting?"
The snake near the couch opened its small mouth, showing two clear fangs. Dot drifted a little behind Elias's shoulder.
Elias lowered his hand. "I have done enough fighting today, so dominance can wait until after medical testing."
Kikaru's expression shifted by the width of a breath.
Less dismissal. Not approval.
The knife man shrugged. "Medical will poke you, command will rate you, and everyone will pretend the numbers mean control. Then some shard does something stupid in a hallway and we all get locked down because one genius forgot fear has consequences."
The red haired woman spoke from the wall. "Tid, you promised one hour without making the new person regret breathing."
"I promised to make the attempt, Kari, which is legally weaker."
Kari looked at Elias at last. Her bird Ikona watched him with one black eye.
"If you are hearing a small companion that nobody else can hear, say so before group drills. People here react badly to surprise voices."
Dot straightened. "I am not small in constitutional relevance."
Elias rubbed the side of his nose. "I have a visible Ikona to me, audible to me, and deeply committed to making my life harder."
Tid leaned forward. "So the badge should say low perception and haunted."
"Haunted implies she pays rent for the privilege."
Kikaru watched the exchange without joining it. Elias could feel the test inside that silence. She was waiting for him to sell himself, threaten someone, ask for sympathy, or give the room a speech about unity. Any of those would have been easier than admitting he had no idea how to fit among people who had been processed into danger before lunch.
He adjusted the strap cutting into his shoulder.
"I am not here to recruit roommates into a noble cause before I find my bed," Elias said. "The Doctor mentioned requirements, and the military is already treating us like a shared problem. Pretending we are separate might feel good, but it will not stay true for long."
Kari's eyebrow lifted.
Tid smiled with the knife still loose in his fingers. "That sounded almost responsible, which makes me distrust you more."
"Fair reaction, because I distrust it too."
Kikaru stepped aside, granting him the path to the pods without making it look like permission.
"Read the rules before you speak in drills," she said. "A Block has enough brave idiots and not enough people who know when to stand still."
"Standing still is currently one of my better skills."
"Then protect it until training ruins you."
The last pod on the far wall glowed with his temporary assignment. A 08. The capsule was larger than a coffin and shaped by people who had absolutely heard that complaint before. It had storage under the bunk, a thin privacy screen, and a locking panel that probably made command feel generous.
Elias crossed the room with every pair of eyes following him differently.
Curiosity from Kari, suspicion from Kikaru, and amusement from Tid reached him in different weights. The fourth person near the back watched without expression and kept both hands tucked under the table.
Dot drifted beside the pod. "The room has decided you are official."
"The room has poor judgment so far."
Elias set his pack down and felt the pod accept his badge with a quiet click. The sound was small. The meaning was not.
A Block had room for him now.
Nobody here seemed happy about that.