“As far as I can tell, temporary pairings exist for two reasons - to make sure each Inmate has someone responsible for them and for the Admiral to see if two people mesh well enough to pair them permanently. I don’t have very much personal experience with the temp circuit, to be quite honest with you, for the simple fact that I was paired with my first Inmate early in my tenure here, and my second was assigned to me almost immediately after the first had graduated. They’re usually hit or miss from what I can tell, and it’s impossible to predict how they’ll go until they actually happen.”

He was never paired with Florian temporarily, ironically, but they had gotten along very well beforehand. So he’s sure that factored into the Admiral’s decision there. Among other things.

“As for my background…that’s somewhat complicated. But you’re right - I’m not a civilian. I spent most of my youth in battles or war zones. Fighting, yes, but not under any one specific banner. If there was somewhere I thought could benefit from my skills, such as they were, that’s where I would go.”