The Mess Hall was swimming with both instructors trying to reach some sort of order and teenagers shouting at each other from opposite sides of the large room. Lance could hear the noise that was in the loudest bracket of hubbub from outside the ten-foot tall double doors, which meant it was definitely considerable, since the doors were six inches thick. It took both Lance and Sparta to open one of the heavy oak doors, being late to breakfast because of Lance's deeming that time was left for one more game of Call of Duty. It seemed that he was impaired without Nathaniel there, and had faired badly both fighting against and with Sparta.
The Mess Hall looked like a fifteen hundreds church form the outside, a blocky building with a pointed roof, made of stone slabs that were just too big to be called bricks, and with wooden floors. At the front a platform was raised by about three steps and there stood the tables with the massive vats of scrambled egg, bacon, sausages, tomatoes, lettuce, racks of toast and stacks of salt and pepper shakers. The hall was about one-hundred and twenty meters in length, about forty wide, and had seven tables running the length till just before the platform. The furthest table to the right was where the instructors sat and ate, but the remaining six where awash with adolescent werewolves and plates half-full of scrambled egg.
White noise veritably struck Lance as he entered, but Sparta seemed unabashed. It wasn't long before Lance spotted Luna, and it took her less than a minute to meet his eye. She excused herself from the conversation she was half-heartedly in, and carried her plate over to where Lance and Sparta were sitting. She set her plate down next to Lance, on the other side to Sparta, and continued eating her eggs.
'Hello.' said Lance.
Lance didn't receive a reply until Luna had finished her mouthful and swallowed, and he was very surprised when it did come.
She spun from facing her plate to facing Lance so fast Lance didn't see her hand until he felt stinging heat on his cheek. All Sparta thought was that it would have been embarrassing if anyone else saw that. As it was Sparta found himself lacking a word that meant 'more funny than hilarious' and was stuck with thinking how hysterically funny Luna's change from calm to angry was.
Lance then felt both Luna's arms encircle his neck, and, expecting more unexplained punishment, he tensed until he realized it was a hug. then he relaxed, a little unsure and more than a little surprised that he elicited such polar emotions from Luna.
'Where the hell were you. You were injured, healing your back, and then you disappeared. Just disappeared. You had me worried sick! I thought something had happened to you!' she said angrily as she broke off the hug. Lance frowned for a moment, then it dawned on him. She was acting as his sister or cousin would. Then he tried to think up a suitable brotherly reaction.
'Meh.' he said, shrugging. This drew a sigh of exasperation from Luna.
The two stared at one another, Luna angry at Lance and Lance wondering why he had drawn such a response. The moment was broken by Sparta's not-concealed-well-enough chortles.
Luna turned to him, giving a look so deadpan a deceased pot would have been jealous 'And I suppose you think this is funny, Sparta.' she said, as devoid of emotion as an arctic desert.
Instantly he stopped laughing and donned a straight face that an english royal guard would have applauded. 'Not at all. Lance was very wrong in what he did, and will not do it again.' he said, the last part through gritted teeth.
Lance picked up the significance of Sparta's clenched jaw. 'No. I will always inform you of my future excursions outside the camp grounds.' said Lance, as straight faced as Sparta.
Luna narrowed her eyes and looked at both of them, inspecting the impeccably straight faces. On the inside, however, they were both straining extremely hard not to let a drop of laughter escape. She deemed them both contrite, and went back to eating, giving them both the first chance to eat that day.
