My sleep in this unfamiliar new home was disrupted by the sound of bells chiming in a specific pattern, signaling what I had to assume was the beginning of the day for this city. I thought about how bizarre it was to have a specific time for waking up, but shrugged it off as something I didn’t care about in my groggy state and stumbled out into the halls of the dorm house. I remembered my talk with Arceia and Lillian last night about scheduled times for each of us to dominate the bathroom as needed, and how smart that was to prevent infighting over silly things. Arceia was calculating about almost every aspect of her stay here, which in contrast to my fumbling about the city streets yesterday certainly kept my perspective as a country bumpkin in check.We had three walks of life in this house alone, in the form of my ignorance, Arceia with her cool head, and Lillian with her experience. Between the three of us, you’d imagine we would handle things relatively smoothly.
“Morning June.” Lillian greeted me from the common room, seated in her chair with a mug of what I assumed was more of that deliciously bitter coffee from last night.
“Hey there. I’m a mess right now, don’t look.” I joked back. She seemed to be relaxing around us slowly, though her timidness about our rank was still evident. Well, Arceia had rank. I had connections. I sat in my own seat, hair an apocalypse zone and just barely put together in the attire Sir Mirroheart bought for me at the pier. This would also mark the second day of two total that I saw Lillian exclusively in her Magnum uniform.
I then realized something peculiar and somewhat counter to what I was told.
“Hey, out of curiosity, when I was assigned this room I was told you graduated Flux courses, and were taking combat. But that’s the opposite of what you said you’re doing. What’s up with that?”
“Sounds like an honest mistake on the secretary’s part. Nothing to fret over.” she responded, taking another sip. “You did get to the office just before closing. The person working at the time likely really wanted to get home and skim read my information.”
I shrugged at the ease of the explanation. The more I spoke to new people, the more it became clear that not every detail was worth lingering on like that. Different people have different responses to the same things and this was just another of those. For as simple a concept as this was, it was used to greatly exaggerated proportion in a place like this compared to my tiny home town.
“Oh yeah, I forgot to ask last night. You’re Lopriel, right? I came from a village founded on Lopriel ideals, but I’ve never actually met one until yesterday.”
“That’s… Neat?” Lillian seemed slightly less interested in that topic. “I was raised in a fairly mixed area, so cultures sort of blended together. You probably know more about Lopriel culture than I do, to be honest.”
“Oh, I doubt that. I know very little.” I responded, realizing my own words and stammering out an addendum. “By that I mean I grew up in one spot, so to me that was just what people did. I don’t know how much of that is different from other places or cultures yet.”
“I get it, don’t worry.” She nodded, crossing her legs. “By the way, until your uniform comes in you can probably borrow one of mine if you like. I’m a little smaller than you, but it should fit well enough.”
“Thanks!” I exclaimed. “We can see if it fits later tonight after we’re all done whatever we’re doing. How long do uniforms usually take to be sent to people?”
“After your fitting, it’s only a few days.”
“Fitting?”
She visibly became concerned for me.
“You didn’t do yours yet, did you? That makes sense, you just got in last night. Remember the office you went to? You’ll want to go back there and set that up.”
At that moment, I heard the door to the bathroom click open, and out stepped Arceia, covered in a long towel, making a beeline for her room. She seemed to have some sort of red mark on her arm, but I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable by asking about that and I was already mid-conversation, so I dropped it for now.
“Alright, I guess that’s the first thing I’ll do today once I put myself together a bit more.” I nodded, making my way to the bathroom for my allotted turn. “I don’t think that will take all day though, so what would you suggest I do to prepare?”
“Why not go see if you can introduce yourself to your professors? While you’re at the office you can ask if they would want to meet with you during the week. If they can do it today, wonderful! If not, set it up for later in the week and try to find some sort of activity to do. Part time work, or maybe an athletics team.”
“Athletics sound nice. Give me a moment and I’ll have plenty more questions about that.”
Without an answer being needed, I closed the bathroom door and got a look at myself in the mirror. I was even more of a wreck than I thought, with my hair defying gravity in some places to points I thought dangerous. My weapon of choice to handle this was one of the few things I brought with me, in the form of my trusted hair brush. A quick bathing session that I’m omitting for modesty sake later, and I felt like a human being again. I decided it’s probably best not to dwell on things like my morning routine more often than necessary. These are constants that won’t change, after all.
I returned to the common room to see Arceia in her seat now, fully prepared for her own day with some sort of book in hand and wearing a slightly more casual but still expensive looking Imperial emblazoned blouse, and a skirt that I was immediately jealous of for its pockets. Both were a black base with various hems in red and gold, contrasting the mismatched purple of her eyes that I continued to be surprised and captivated by.
“Good morning.” she said lazily, never removing herself from the book she was reading.
“Morning, Arceia!” I greeted her warmly, which I felt bad doing because I only greeted Lillian in my horrible half-asleep state. “So, Lillian, about those athletics teams?”
“Right. Depending on what you’re into, there’s combat racing, long distance running, fencing, and all sorts of other athletics. Considering what you’re studying, I’d probably ask your professor what they think you’d excel at in one of the martial athletics.”
“Sounds good! Guess I’ll head off right away then.” I headed back to my room, plain as it was, and grabbed the map I’d picked up yesterday at the office to navigate. Determined to do this myself, I didn’t even wait to see if one of them was offering to guide me, and before I knew it my bedroom door and the front door of the house both closed behind me, and I was out in the man-made wilderness that I was so unfamiliar with once again. So much for plenty of questions, I supposed to myself.
The streets were different in the morning. Despite it looking just as crowded, it seemed most people were still in preparation for their day, with many stopping to check their belongings and chat. Perhaps this was normal behavior and I was too starstruck to notice yesterday, but it was new to me now, and that’s what mattered. Plenty of differences in uniform told me a lot about which classes people were taking, but considering there was no semester happening right now, it also told me who the most class pride belonged to. I almost spoke up and asked Sir Mirroheart a question in regards to that, before remembering that he was gone, likely back to his home in the Tower District.
Still I wouldn’t disappoint him and slack on the lessons he was starting with me. It was harder to hear my own footsteps in the crowd as I proceeded, following my map closely, but I was able to eventually isolate the noise of my own stride and minimize it to a decent enough degree that one would have to focus on the specific sound to find me. I decided to maintain that for as long as it took me to get to the office, weaving through the streets and their water-laced, almost rune-like design. Awnings of specific insignia taught me what was a public use building and what was a dorm, with placed I was allowed to freely walk having more of an overhang and being closer to the streets than the fenced off dorms.Signs also aided in this, but as someone moving at a pace and in a way that focused all my attention on following a guide and remaining silent, it was too big a task to break my focus to read them at the moment.
I suppose I was too focused though, as I made the silly mistake of walking directly into someone in front of me once again. Thankfully I wasn’t able to budge them, so they didn’t fall or anything, but it did startle them and myself.
“Sorry, sorry! I-” they cut me off.
“New student?” they asked, turning to face me. It was a masculine figure, very muscular with no sleeves under their uniform, which was one of the robed variants telling me that despite his bulk he was taking magic courses. He seemed huma, until I caught a glimpse of his ears, pointed downward like Arceia. Darker complexion and a tint of green eyes with nearly black-green hair cut short.
I nodded and they shrugged. “Where are you headed in such a rush?”
“M-my check in office, for my fittings and to pick an athletic to do.” I responded sincerely. The man put a hand to his chin, as if sizing me up, before nodding.
“Well, you’re headed the right direction for that, but for a team, why not join mine for combat racing?” he proposed, basically without any reason in my eyes. “We’re short two members for the Imperial Cup.”
“What would I be doing? I’m only really good at heavy lifting.” I replied, to which he shook his head.
“That’s part of it, but you also laser focused on what you were doing, which can be good for a few positions on a team. Never heard of the sport have you?”
“Not since this morning briefly.” I confessed. “Oh! My name is June by the way.”
“Dubro. Nice to meet you.” he replied, going immediately into his explanation. “Combat races are a lot like normal sprinting, but adding martial arts elements. There’s a start and finish line, which you have to cross a few times depending on the size of the track, and your goal is for as many members of your team to place above the other team as possible. Usually the team with the first place member wins anyway, but if it’s just that person, then five of the other team before another of yours then the other team will still win. With me so far?” he asked. I nodded.
“So far it makes sense. I’m guessing the combat part is to stall other racers?”
“Exactly! See, you’re a natural. There’s a few positions to consider. The fastest and weakest members of the team are called the Bolters. They don’t fight, they just try and get as far from the crowd as possible. To help them along, there are the second fastest and second strongest members whose sole job is to open a path for the Bolter. These are called the Vanguard. The strongest members stay in the crowd intentionally as Stallers, trying to slow the other teams Bolters and Vanguards while also keeping the other Stallers busy.”
“By that logic, I’d probably be a Staller if I joined any team.” I nodded. “What are the expectations for each role?” With that question he seemed to get more excited. I thought I saw him tearing up.
“Stallers aren’t expected to place high, so if you’re worried about your speed it’s the least important role for that. Usually Stallers come in the final four places of the race. Vanguards are expected to try and take second and third respectively, with Bolters taking first. Each team can deploy five racers per race, but can have ten members on the team. If someone gets injured or has to swap out, the other member of the team that relates to that position is called in to take the reins like a relay.”
“That makes sense.” I nodded again, and even I who is usually oblivious to social cues could feel this man’s enthusiasm radiating off of him. He really cared about this sport.
“Hey, no need to make a decision right now alright?” he reassured me. “Let’s just exchange info and stay in touch about it when you’re more settled in, alright? Do you have a Sending Heart?”
“Not yet.” I confessed. “That’s next on my list after getting a way to make money secured.”
“Ah, I see.” I could feel his heart sink as he said those words. “Then the old fashioned way it is. My team meets on the racetrack every other day, with today being meeting day, right before sunset. It should be on that map of yours. Swing by if you have any questions or want to join!”
With that, we parted ways, albeit relatively awkwardly. We were headed the same direction, and traffic flow demanded we both keep going, so we made really awkward small talk about the weather until I was able to break away to the office. He seemed like a nice enough person, but our conversation had clearly ended and we were still forced to interact, making both of us sloppy at it.
For the time being though, I returned my focus to the office. Following the map made things a lot easier, and I recognized the building right away, so without a second thought I made my way inside.The person at the desk was not Matthew, however, but a new face entirely who was in the middle of a conversation with a very short female.
The one behind the desk I could identify as a new species of Riel I had never seen before, which still wasn’t that hard. He seemed to have some sort of antennae sticking out from his head, as well as relatively large shoulders that rounded off nearly perfectly and such strongly defined muscles that they showed through his clothing to an almost uncomfortable degree, if not for the fact that I could tell he couldn’t help it. While I couldn’t see much beyond that, I did also note he had two very small extra eyes diagonally up and behind his normal set of two.
The girl on the other hand was shorter than me by two heads, which was impressive. She had hair that was glowing a radiant white which reached her shoulders, and from behind I couldn’t make out much beyond her attire being a long black cardigan with some form of shorts or skirt behind it I’d wagered, she was as pale as I was, almost identically so, and some sort of metallic bracelets and matching anklets that seemed otherwise out of place on the girl.
“Don’t make excuses, just tell me!” she demanded. “What class is she in?!”
“Y-yours, it looks like.” the man responded, a timid voice more so than any other I’d heard recently. “But-”
“No buts!” she stomped her left foot like a child, which I admittedly found kind of funny for someone who I’d picked up was a professor from this brief interaction.”I want her address, I’m going there right now!”
“W-we’ve been told not to interfere with her growth yet though-” she cut him off.
“And? I just want to meet her. What’s so wrong about that?” the woman huffed a bit. “Or did you want to see me reenact the Battle of Skade Peak in this office?” she delivered this line with an almost sinister tone, something that the man sounded like he was about to cry over before he scribbled on a paper and handed it to the woman, who turned away from him in satisfaction, arms crossed and reading the paper at her side before catching a glimpse of me and freezing.
“No trouble, please.” I said calmly. “I can wait until you’re done.”
“No shut up, stand still.” she responded, glaring at me intensely. One of her eyes was golden, and the other was brown. It was an off-putting mixture. “Curl your hair.” she demanded.
“Wait why-” she cut me off.
“Just do it.” she demanded, tapping her left foot with all the patience of a child. I did so, and I saw her hand gesture toward me, which she snapped her fingers and sent a gust of wind my way. This caused my hair chime to trigger a sweet but unrefined note, as I hadn’t curled it properly for such a thing yet. All at once, the girl smiled and approached me, curling her own hair. She blew straight up the way I’d done yesterday and produced an even sweeter sound from her own hair, which took me by more surprise than anything else thus far.
“Thought so.” she said. “The moment I saw you I could tell you looked like Freja and Heath’s kid.”
More surprises still, and it was too early for me to really process this evenly. I blurted out my astonishment in a few words.
“Who are you?” I asked simply, to which she gave me a hug that I was not prepared nor consenting to. I think she could tell I was uncomfortable because she backed off immediately and grabbed my hand, which I realized was still curling my hair, bringing me back down to a neutral stance.
“I’m surprised they never told you about your grandmother.”
Magna Varia 