I miss home. I think everyone does, except for those from bad homes or no home, of course. And all the classes are harder than I expected, although mathematics has been fun so far. I suppose I don't miss my classmates landside too much, but I miss the playground. It's all mechanical and sterile here.
And more than anything I miss the classes with Father Auldlar. I wish he'd gotten permission to... well. I'm still not seven yet. (I'm sure the teachers could read this if they wanted, and so could anyone else, since my desk's already been broken into once, so there's no sense in being stupid.)

Weird. So ten commanders graduated today, all at once, and then Salamander commander got transferred to command another army. I'm glad I'm not a soldier yet, there's a lot of mixing up going on. And this one older boy got banned from his desk, and if he uses one he doesn't get to be in practice! The soldiers say deskwork isn't as important for them, even though the teachers say they're stricter on soldiers, but still, that's bad.
I dunno if I look forward to army practice. Launch practice is kinda boring. And if classes get harder, all the writing classes are gonna be even eviller.

So I spent most of Free Play in the hemispherical target practice room, the one where the discs seem to surround you instead of just zooming back and forth one-dimensionally. Niccolo showed up about halfway through - he's not quite as good as I am at shooting, I don't think. But I think I'm very, very good.
During the first part of Free Play I was playing the Fantasy Game, but it's so frustrating to keep dying. I've got this goat that's running along this cliff, and the stone starts crumbling under its hooves (under my hooves) and eventually it falls into the canyon below and splats. Or gets impaled on a rock spire, or breaks its neck, or whatever. So frustrating!
So I went to shoot stuff. Much more productive.

So I'm not updating too much because not too much happens. No one's gotten promoted yet, but I think we're close. I spent nearly all of Free Play yesterday and most of the time I meant to use studying for history on the damn Fantasy Game though.
See, there was this place I found a while ago where you're a raccoon, but if you walk along this river long enough you become a fish. And being a fish is frustrating, so I didn't stick with it before, but I did yesterday. If you swim long enough against the current, you get sucked off into a creek, and become an eel. And being an eel is like being in a flash suit with your legs stuck together but still able to bend. It's weird, and I was exploring, but I kept getting caught in a hole in the side of the creek.
And I could eel through it and all, but I kept dying. I suffocated, got squashed, got eaten... so frustrating! I'm sure I could find a good metaphor for it for composition class. Maybe I'll try to do that. Except I'm writing between classes now, and I should just use all my Free Play tonight to study. Or maybe I'll work on my aim some more.

I had the strangest dream last night. I was an eel, except I had hands, and I was sitting in a classroom - but not suffocating or anything - and taking notes on my desk. And Captain Kraden was teaching Latin grammar, and then he made Felix come to the front and chant the Agnus Dei, except Felix's voice was all deep and sounding like he was talking underwater. Which makes sense I guess since I was an eel. (The rest of the class weren't eels, though. And it didn't look any different than a normal classroom.)
I know there's something I'm missing with the current puzzle on the Fantasy Game. There has to be. Except there's a math quiz tomorrow and I can't just trust that I'll pass it without studying. Maybe I'll study during dinner.

I know a new swear word. c e r d e l a k. Cerdelak! I'm gonna use it on that Leopard if I see him. He won't know what it means anyway.
I should find out his name.
Maybe they'll put me in Leopard. I hope not. I don't want to have to work with him and be nice to him! Except I'd rather be in Leopard than stay a launchie for very long.
I think I'm really good at shooting. I hit a disc that looked like it was half the battleroom away. I don't know, though. Like I told Felix, it has to get harder as a soldier. And then he said It's good when it's easy now, because after this it won't ever be again and he's right, so I feel better about it. I mean, it's not like I'm anywhere near as good as I could be with practice, and I don't think I'm even the best in the launch, although I guess I could be.
And when I get into an army, they'll train me. By example if nothing else.
Leopard or Scorpion or Squirrel, even if they're all annoying as that stupid blind boy was, they're the top three so I'll learn good stuff from them.
Also. I did study.

So I wonder which of us will get promoted first. I mean, I remember from when the last launch got promoted that a handful of kids went at the same time. Maybe they'll promote all twenty-two of us at once, that'd be kinda cool.
Still, I don't think we're all ready. I think I am - no, I know I am. And Felix might be, and Hickory and Igny and Justin and Niccolo. Maybe Myra too. That's seven, a nice number to go at once. Of course, they'll probably spread us out - but what if they put all seven of us together? Maybe they'll decide that the reason Manticore sucks is because their soldiers are all bad, so they'll ice seven of 'em and put us there. That'd be weird.
I think I'd rather go to one of the armies in the top quarter, though. Not that I can control it.

Well, I don't know all who went out of launch, but I know Igny and I got put in Manticore. Commander's a girl, Psyche Hemlock. She put me with a girl as toon leader - Trick. I suppose that'll work best.
Kinda weird that a week after I talked about going to Manticore, I got put there. I wonder if they did ice out two of their soldiers for us?

So Igny and I went to our first practice today. He did all right, I guess, I wasn't watching him. It was only movement drills, though. I didn't like that. We learned what 'stars' were, though - they're these brown soft cubes with handholds.
I was never that much slower than the rest of my launch, but I think I'm absolutely the slowest here. It's awful. And Psyche called me into her quarters to ask me questions - like she thought I hadn't noticed how humiliatingly slow I was. She's going to watch me in the hemispherical target practice room, though. Maybe she'll decide I'm worth keeping.

Practice was better today. Still just movement drills, but I'm getting better. And before practice, Psyche came to watch me in the hemisphere room. I could have done better, but I think I impressed her. Enough that she'll keep me, anyway.
And I think there's something about Leopards. I tried to be nice to one, and he ended up all insulted instead. And accused me of looking for a fight!

So Psyche had her first battle today. Against Leopard - that was unfair on the teachers' part, putting #20 against #1! It was mine too, but I think I did really well - one kill and two assists. All of them from Leopard's A toon, which was even better: I got Felix's head, and somebody's [ed: Bastet's] left leg, and then a kill! [ed: Body shot on DeepSix] In my very very first battle, I got a direct body shot. It was great.
Then I got frozen, of course. And that wasn't the worst part! After the Leopards were pretty sure they'd won, they went around and destroyed everyone who wasn't destroyed! I think I'd be angrier if I'd actually thought I'd survive the battle only disabled.
I think Psyche's angriest of all, which makes sense.

So I checked the date. It's been exactly two years since we came up here. They're not so big on dates here - I know no one said happy birthday when my birthday came up, and I wouldn't even have remembered if I hadn't gotten a new uniform both times.
I wish I remembered more about home, but everything here is important every second. And my parents haven't written, or if they did I haven't gotten it.
I wonder if there's a chaplain available to the staffers.
I wonder how I'd find out.

I completed the obstacle course today a whole five minutes faster than my previous best. I didn't hurt myself, either, besides my muscles kinda aching now that I've been sitting in class for a while.
We're supposed to be writing about tomorrow's lab - what we'll do in it, that sort of thing. I was mostly done before I started writing this, and I wanna ask one of the older Manticores for help with it anyway.
So I was climbing up the net and this Rabbit comes in. And he says he wants to race, but I have no desire whatsoever to do so. As I'm a third of the way across the parallel bars, he races up the net, down the net, and across the beam - and when he gets to the end he yells. So I almost fell - but I didn't - and I hurried across the bars. And through the tunnel - I'm surprised I didn't twist myself down there - and across the stars.
They should've told us, as launchies, that the cubes in the obstacle course were like high-gravity stars. But they didn't.
So I get across the stars and start the tires, and he falls on the stars. Kinda hard not to laugh. Anyway, I got to the end and palmed in again, and it was record time for me. I bet I do better in our next battle - I'm getting faster and flexible-er. More flexible.

So we had a battle today. And I was really good at the beginning. I got two kills before we reached our first outpost star. [Ed: Actual killshot on Winker] Then I got four assists and another two kills [Ed: two assists from kill on Winker, assist and kill from Tip's left arm, assist and kill from Tip's left leg] before someone [Ed: Sari] got my left arm. I got another kill and another assist [Ed: Sari's head] before my right arm went, too [Ed: Also by Sari]. So Psyche decided to have Corrinne and I - she had lost both legs and both arms by that point - float off together to draw fire. Corrinne got frozen before we reached the star where Rabbit's commander was, but I didn't until I'd stopped myself - and then Lee got me point-blank.
Corrinne and I were facing the wrong way to see what happened, but after a little bit, the group of Rabbits there went off somewhere, and then I saw Jecht, Claud, Trick, and Drew head through to take a corner each and then Shayl went through it. I guess it's nice to send the littlest through, but I wish that'd been me. Even though I don't think the game would've accepted someone frozen through the gate.
Anyway, it was good. I'm really happy with my shooting, even if my movement could have been a little cleaner. I'm faster than I was two weeks ago, or maybe just better at moving in formation, and when Psyche looks at the statistics, she'll see how I did.

I met Cedion's toon leader today. He has the same accent, it's scary. And he was using a public desk, too, just like Cedion was when I met him. Dunno what it is about older Scorpion boys and public desks.
Anyway, I was talking to him about toons and such, and he said what I needed, in order to get a toon second spot, is to have the things a good commander does. Or to be working on them, anyway, since if I had them I'd be a commander.
I know I'm still little. But I wanna get a toon second spot, before I'm nine if I can. I've been doing well in battles, and keeping up with my classes. Everything's hard, and I don't think it'll get better, but at least I'm not falling behind.

Some launchies are really, really scary. One of them was crying at me today because he missed his family - this, after staring at me for a while. I wonder if he was a Third or something and had two older sisters? Except I look little.
Anyway, so he asked me to slap him. So I did. And then he asked me to slap him harder. Well, my hand hurt! So I kicked him instead. I was aiming for his crotch, since even if he'd been a she, that'd've hurt, but he ducked and I hit him in the chest. (Honestly. Why would you duck a kick?)
He threw a book at me, and just then Captain Robinson came in. We both got in trouble, but I had the feeling that I was in less trouble than the launchie, oddly enough. Maybe he'd already screwed up or something.
Anyway, I have to help the librarian for a week during freetime, which isn't that bad, except I have to do it at the same time as the launchie. I got piggy points, too - a week of glop.

Psyche called me into her quarters today. It was kinda scary - she sat me next to her on her bed, which was bad enough, and then asked me about the launchie. I was telling the truth in dribbles, and then Tye came in. She'd only just been transferred, and she stalled Psyche for a while, long enough that when Tye left, Psyche gave up on asking about the launchie and asked me about Trick instead.
What was I supposed to say? Whatever I said worked, though - apparently Psyche was just checking to see if I had bonded with Trick or something before moving me to MacDole's toon.
I know the toons are mixed, but it kinda sucks to go back from B to C. And Igny's still in A. I should ask him what he thinks of Jecht.
Two more days of glop.

Another battle, this time with Rat. No closer to a toon second spot, but I think I did fairly well. Only six assists, which disappoints me a little, but I kept hitting already-frozen folks or not keeping the beam long enough to freeze. Eight kills, though, and one of them was the leader of the A-toon of mousies.
We didn't just squeak by them, either. It was really a really good battle.
The scarier thing is that Psyche called me into her quarters afterwards - well, about an hour afterwards, I had some time to study for the geometry test tomorrow - and said she wanted to try and use me as a sniper. All by myself in the back.
I don't think it'll work so well, it's too obvious where shots come from, especially if it's dark, and we don't have any special guns. But of course I didn't say that. And worse, it's all by myself, so if they storm where I am, that's it.
Still, it means my commander's noticing me, and that's promising!

So I just came back from dinner. And Tye got a deskmail supposedly from Davan, who hit her once before, and it threatened to send her home in a box. But Davan swore he hadn't sent it, and when this little Rabbit, Gray (heh, a Gray Rabbit) tried to find out, Davan's desk was broken. We were talking about it for so long that dinner ended up being over, but we'll meet in the library tomorrow during free play.

I was stuck studying chemistry during all of free play and completely forgot to go to the library yesterday. I think we're all dropping it - Tye hasn't said anything, and I haven't run into the others. Not in my classes, not in my army... I guess the teachers don't care either.

So I only got one kill this time, but I got four arms and six heads. I think I do better when I'm not held back as a sniper, and I'll tell Psyche that, if she gives me a chance. I got a corner again, though, and that makes me all sorts of happy.
It was pretty quick, too. We caught the tail end of breakfast.

So I told Psyche I wanted out. She was really angry, saying she was disappointed in me. I was honest! I did my best to explain! But she was still angry.
Anyway, at least I'll be back with the formation for the rest of my time here, even though I don't think Psyche will ever give me a toon. Not that it matters, she'll have graduated before I'm old enough.
Talked to Felix later, right before my last class. He's weird. I bet we'd be good as a pair though, he's good at maneuvering and I'm good at shooting. They should put him and Igny and Niccolo and I all together in a toon somewhere. Maybe Phoenix. I'd like to be traded to Phoenix. Or Scorpion. I'd say Squirrel too but Squirrels... aren't very... scary.

So I was floating in the battleroom after practice, figuring I had time until class, and a Rabbit came in. From his size and his voice I figured out he was Gray. And I shot at him, not really expecting to hit, but I froze him. That was kinda cool, and I found out that it takes over ten minutes to thaw out when you're in unscheduled practice.
Anyway, he thawed and started shooting back, and we ended up mutually disabled, except I could talk and he couldn't. He thawed first, but not his shooting arm, but he switched hands. It was pretty clever; I'll need to learn how to do that. I think I hold the gun too tightly though. Then he got a killshot on me, which made me mad.
After that I left. He hadn't figured out who I was, so when he asked I told him.

Psyche has gone insane.
Like, the doing-random-things kind of insane. She made me a toon leader! A toon leader! I'm a couple months from nine yet! No one gets a toon this early.
I'm really excited, but I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. Although it's not like I have all the responsibility, Jecht is my toon second, and he'll probably be giving most of the orders. I'm sure that's what Psyche has in mind, and what she'll tell the teachers.
Still! I'm a toon leader!
 
She said I remind her of herself. Does that mean I'll go insane too?
I mean, I didn't do that well in the battle yesterday...

I don't think I like being a toon leader. I mean, maybe it'll be wonderful in battle. And it was kinda neat for a while when everyone was calling me "sir", but it's starting to make me crazy.
Igny does it, and I was in launch with him! Spook does it, and he's probably two whole years older than me. Even Jecht does it, and he used to be the A-Toon leader, and he's probably older than Spook! And that's the weird thing because mostly Jecht makes suggestions in practice, and so I relay the order, and it's weird, weird, weird.
I bet that's why commanders are all crazy. All their friends call them sir and salute them, and people who might be smarter or even older do too, and it eats at their brains.
Or maybe it's just essays like this one in Captain Luna's class. Maybe that's what drives them crazy.
And Tye's still gone. She hasn't been replaced, so she's still in the brig, but she's been there a while.
I apologized to Davan for suspecting him so much though. I don't know how much of what she said was true, but probably only half at most, so I suspected him twice as much than I should've, at least.
Maybe she wasn't telling the truth when she said she was just bored, and this is how she's getting back at Jecht for something. That's what Spook said. It doesn't make me feel any better.

So Tye got back yesterday evening. And today Psyche told me I could set a punishment for her. And said she believed in me. Anyway. So Tye got out of class and I was waiting, and I told her: whenever a Manticore finishes eating before she does, she has to take the tray up, and if she finishes before anyone else does, she has to wait for nine more Manticores. And that she had to thank Psyche every day this week for letting her be a Manticore. And that she had to apologize to Davan.
I don't think she's actually going to do any of that though. She doesn't respect me at all, it's worse than Spook. I mean, Spook's just like 'you're little', Tye ignores me.
Claud thinks it's Psyche's way of making me a better leader, which is kinda like what Davan said. It's hard though. It's hard just hoping for a growth spurt or something.
Tye wasn't at dinner at all tonight. I guess she's trying to avoid doing what I said.
And I don't even remember most of what Father Auldlar and I talked about anymore.

So many things to write about. I wasn't going to write anymore, but I need to get some thoughts in order. First battle as a TL was ok - I got frozen really early on, so Jecht led the toon, and that worked out really nicely. Psyche wasn't there for it, because she was sick, but it didn't matter - we won, and I was frozen, and I didn't have to try to lead.
Second battle was scary, though - by that point we had only three toons, and Psyche and the other two toon leaders got frozen, and then so did Jecht. His killshot was lucky, but still, it took him out, so then there was just me. But we won! It was great.
Battle three wasn't a win. I mean, we made Condor fight for it, but we lost anyway. Battle four, Psyche piffed it, no polite way to put that. I was so mad, because it didn't have to go that way. We had it.
Battle five, thankfully, FINALLY, we won again. But Psyche decided that it wasn't enough of a slaughter, so she did four toons. And Tye finally got herself out of my toon. I'm glad of that... I mean, she never messed us up in battle or anything, but I knew she hated me, and she never did do what I ordered her to do.
Battle six was really horrorshow - Psyche got frozen early, actually basically toon A's part of the formation got frozen, and Siwdys is really good at commanding, turns out. He took command really smoothly.
So battle seven should be coming up soon. Seven battles as a toon leader! It's really cool being a toon leader. I mean, I was scared, and I still think Psyche was nuts for giving it to me that early, but at least I'm not a complete doll back.
I need to do a little more studying, but I think I'll ask the teachers for a favor once I'm done. A week, a month, I don't know, but I think... I want more than what I know.

So I was checking the roster yesterday, to see if the new soldiers we got were tooned, and when I did, I saw "None" as commander! I got Felix's attention, but by the time he looked, "None" had been replaced with a name. Augustine. All I knew is that I thought he was in one of the bug armies, but I didn't think it was Centipede, so that made him a Scorpion or a Spider.
Turns out he was a Scorpion.
And we were almost due for a battle, too! I hadn't thought about that until Felix reminded me that now we've got three months to go. Yuck.
Anyway, today, at practice-time, Augustine came in and introduced himself, said he was leaving the toons intact, and told us to send him a deskmail with something we liked. I think I'll tell him I like not being frozen, just to see how he reacts.

My birthday was today. I got a new uniform and a 'happy birthday, Ms. Kaminskiy', from the staffer. That's how I know. I don't watch the date very often. Nothing else was different - I haven't told anybody or anything. Except the last two birthdays I didn't get told happy birthday.

So I was in the library and this Rabbit was talking about how it was all right that she had a Rat uniform, because Gray knew. So I asked why not Davin? And she said, and I quote this exactly, "It's Gray that matters." No wonder Felix wanted out! Anyway, I called her on it. She got all defensive, said she'd rather hit Rats. I asked was she afraid, she said she'd just rather be iced for hitting a Rat.
Then she did hit me! It didn't hurt so much as shock me. I hit her back. Then Felix tackled her and I kicked her, and hit her in the same spot. I was really mad, and she gave ground so easily. And when Adalberto tried to grab me, I elbowed him. But then a teacher arrived and yelled for us to get against the wall and I did. That's when my face started to hurt, from my attention going to how much trouble I was in rather than how mad I was.
He made us march single-file to security. Every time I took a step I felt like it was thumping into my cheek. When we got down there, Adalberto fell backwards. I didn't mean to hit him that hard, but I guess I did. Then Felix and I got put together to wait.
So then the staffer came back and asked what happened. I told him. And Felix agreed. I was so afraid we were going to get iced!
But then he came back and asked us what a fair punishment would be. So I said laps and helping the librarian. And Felix said an essay! An essay! So we got both. And a night in the brig.
But we got our desks so I could write all this down so I didn't think about it.

Augustine had his first battle today. I think it might have been a little early, but I'm not sure. It was against Rabbit, and we won, of course. We moved up one spot on the scoreboard, to third; Rabbit moved down one, to nineteenth. Now Rat's ahead of them.
I bet that makes Rat really happy.
I bet Davin's really frustrated. He's lost all his battles so far. You can't make gold out of grease, though. Psyche could pull Manticore up because the army was good, just the commander had been bad. I dunno if Davin's a good commander, but the army's certainly bad.
Augustine talked to me and Felix yesterday. He was surprisingly not mad. He said our punishment is going to be learning self-defense and teaching it to the other Manticores at some of the practices. That's fair. And good.

So here we are, waiting for dinner, and we get a new launchie. I realize - because I'm brilliant - that we're due for a battle. What I don't realize - because I'm not brilliant enough - that it's going to be then. Seriously. He was in our colors for ten minutes and Augustine came in.
Fortunately he wasn't in my toon.
This was even more fortunate, since we ended up doing the pyramid one, the one that has its point pointing towards the enemy gate. UNfortunately, by the time the other three points had broken away from us to their stars, all of us in the top were frozen. I did not get a single kill. I got a whole lot of arms, so I might have managed to disable someone, and I got four legs, on four people, but... merda!
I don't think it was Augustine's fault, really, though he did order that formation, and all. And Eth - he's only a few days more senior to the new one, Sorcerer - didn't screw us up, I don't think. He stuck to Kyle, like I told him, we just... didn't win.
It felt like we were about to, though, for most of it.

So things aren't going so well.
First Drew lost his TL spot, which was probably good since he wasn't a great TL anyway, I dunno why Psyche had him as a second in command. I mean, he helped with training, but he's not that great in battle. But who gets the spot? Felix! It doesn't seem fair. Though I guess I wouldn't want that responsibility.
Then, just now - just now! - we lost Belenus for Juniper. JUNIPER! I'm going to kill her, I think. I mean, she doesn't seem to be here for the reasons I'm here - it's like she wants to be a den mother or something, not a soldier. I gave her a direct order not to interact with any Rabbits - I don't want my toon involved with that army almost as much as I don't want it involved with Rat - and she said she was going to disobey it. Just said it, in so many words!
I don't know how she's survived this long with that kind of attitude.
But Augustine put her in my toon because he trusts me to make gold out of grease, I guess. It's just so frustrating! Every cubic centimeter of air she inhales, every milligram of food she eats, every milliliter of water she uses is resources that's not being spent on someone better.

Feh, lost another one. My toon was wall-sliding and we got pinned between two segments of Scorpion. They got my arms and a leg, but it was close enough that they didn't bother actually getting the kill.
It was really hard not yelling curses as they opened our gate. But I didn't.
There was an in-class essay, too, but I missed the first part of the class, so Captain Luna told me to get as much done as I could. Which wasn't very much. Still, there were three other Manticores and five Scorpions there, so she'll probably grade us all decently.
I hope.
Still, I can't remember anybody icing just for failing classes. So that's good.

I looked back at all my entries, and I think I was promoted into Manticore a year ago today. That's a long time - it hasn't really felt that long.
I certainly wasn't expecting to already be a toon leader in a year when I was promoted! Psyche gave me a toon outstandingly early. I mean, then there was Gray, but Davin's insane. Even though he did win one. Somehow. By luck. Or something.
Juniper got traded out today, too. I kinda regret that she spent any time here at all, but it's not like she cared about battle or her standings, so she won't be running to tell Alex all our secrets. I hope.
We got Kurdt for her. He's about the same age she was, I think, so it's a fair trade. Not to mention he can't be as weird. Most boys aren't as weird as girls are.
I kinda wish I were a boy sometimes. It'd be easier. But there are more boys here than girls anyway, so I'd be less unique.

We went up against Squirrel yesterday. And lost, dammit. I don't know how much of it was Augustine's fault - I got badly turned around when my part of the formation broke up.
This morning he gave me Siwdys's toon, and gave Kurdt my toon. Except he kept Ignignot as my second, which was nice. He's very good in battle. And none of the people in my toon have been there before - except Jecht, but he's not my second or my keeper this time. I hope he remembers that.

We finally won again!
Not with much help from toon B, though. We went after one of their stars, and every single one of us was destroyed before we could push off anything to get away. I think all of toon D was at least disabled, too and the same with C.
Felix was awesome though! He and his toon held off the rest of the Leopards and WON! I was expecting it to be a draw, honestly, but we had seven at the end.
I suppose not all of C could be destroyed, since Kyle took the gate. But I don't remember who had the corners.
But anyway, we won!
And then yesterday, after practice we ran laps - eleven of them, actually - and Augustine said he was going to be working on endurance with us. I think we need to work on aim, myself, but I didn't say that. And that, since we won, everyone will get a night to sleep in the commander's quarters - or his dessert that day.
It'll depend on whether or not he has pudding. If he has pudding, even if it's not the green kind, I know how I'll choose.

Leopard battled today. I mention it partly because it's sooner than two weeks - it was only thirteen days between our battle with Squirrel and our battle with Leopard, and then they got another battle twelve days later. I expect ours will come a little later than fourteen days. I'm sure the reason for the compressed timing is the new commanders popping up.
I also mention it, because they battled Rabbit, and Rabbit's new commander refused to battle. So the teachers gave her command of Phoenix and gave command of Rabbit to a Leopard. Which left Leopard one short in battle.
But that's not the point. The point is that Rabbit's commander just refused to battle! I've never heard of anyone doing that before. Why else accept command of an army? (Though, I've never heard of anyone not accepting, either.)
Still, the moving around thing happened at least once before. It happened a little after I arrived as a launchie. I had to read that entry to remember what armies were involved, though. Scorpion and Salamander. So I guess it's normal to give someone a really high-ranking army for their second army. I don't know why Salamander commander got Scorpion, though. I think I'd have heard eventually, launchie or not, if it were because she refused to battle.
Girl commanders are weird and crazy, all of them, I think. I hope I don't go weird and crazy when I get command.