[b]colab between Toxic and Ryonara[/b]
She was falling. Plummeting at a breakneck pace. The wind tore at her hair and stung her eyes, she let out a scream but none of the sound reached her ears as the wind tore it away. She tried to snap open her wings to catch the air, but there were no wings. She panicked. She flailed her arms and tried to think, tried to reason, but she was only overcome by pure terror. The feeling only increased as she saw the sparkling surface of a vast, unending ocean. No! It can't end like this! She closed her eyes just as the water rushed up to meet her.

Aruna's eyes snapped open as the stranger in the room threw their weapon. Her heart was still pounding in her chest. She quietly tightened her grip on her knife and prepared a plan as the stranger began murmuring to herself.

Mei gently placed her weapon back against the wall before she laid back on her bed. She closed her eyes half expecting to immediately fall asleep, however it didn't surprise her hen a few minutes passed without so much as vision. She tried to change her sleeping posture to get more comfortable, but the more she tried to sleep the more restless she got. "Aarg!" Mei spread her body out over the bed in a last ditch effort to sleep, but nothing came from it. "Sure. The one time I'd like to rest, my body won't allow it. Whatever..." Mei got back to her feet. She began to do some stretches and threw a few punches in the air. "Alright than, I'll just look around. Who knows, maybe I'll make some friends! Or maybe I'll find that elf from before. I could use a good fight. But first... What does this do?" Mei walked over to the button on the wall and pressed it.

Aruna relaxed her grip on the knife. While it was unclear if the girl was a threat, it was obvious that she had no idea Aruna was even in the room . Aruna decided that she would rather betray her presence than have someone potentially dangerous find her snooping. That tended to end bad "That button changes the room to fit the users liking." She uncoiled and sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Her previous dream had left her heart pumping and her body wired with adrenaline. No matter what she did, she wasn't going to sleep now. "Also, I'm Aruna." She stretches and when she dies her still sore wings unfurl to their full extent, stretching just like the rest ofher. She ends the stretch and looks to see the girl's reaction.

"Uwa!?" Mei jumped when she heard a voice behind her. And this was before the room began to change. The first thing that happened as a wooden hitting post popped out of the ground between Mei and Aruna. Instinctively, Mei knocked it away with a single kick, breaking it in half. She jumped away from her side of the room as it began to transform. It didn't take long before it finished. It certainly had an oriental touch: the walls looked as though they were made of some sort of paper, with a soft light illuminating from them. However they where made entirely of stone, though they felt like paper on the touch. Her bed shifted as well to a more modest bed roll. Her floors changed from solid stone to wooden mats, solid enough to be difficult to damage but soft enough that it wouldn't hurt to walk on it barefoot. A rack for her weapons also appeared near where her bed once stood. Lastly, there was a table. But it wasn't a normal table. For one, it as only about two feet off the ground. However, covering the edges was a thick quilt, and on the underside of the table appeared to be a rune of sorts. "Oh! I never thought I'd see one of these here..."

After recovering from her initial surprise, Mei looked to Aruna. She recognized her as the dragon-girl from before, who flew in during the opening ceremony. The knowledge that Mei completely missed her when she came in was not lost on Mei, so she tried her best to ignore it. Meirin bowed her head to about waist length and kept it there. "Ah, hello. My name is Meirin Kurenai. B-but you can call me Mei! It's a pleasure to meet you, Aruna."

Aruna flinched a bit as Mei broke the hitting post. She almost reached for her knife, but she was didn't want to tell her potential enemy where her weapon was, so unless attacked directly she wouldn't reach for it. As the girl studied the changes to the room so too did Arua. It was very sensibly made, with a modest touch. She spied the weapon rack and used the number of pegs to tell her how many weapons the girl had in the room. After seeing the amount Aruna's tail itched to have her tail whip back on.

Then the girl, Mei, turned and bent at the waist to introduce herself. Aruna recognized this as a trick she often had used when she tried to flatter or ingratiate monsters or demons she knew she had no chance of besting in combat. The fact that this girl used it confused her slightly. This girl was obviously an accomplished warrior, yet she is bowing? Does she think I could overpower her? Then another thought occurred to her. Does she think I'm a demon?

"Umm... It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Mei."

An awkward silence followed. Normally there's more to say than just that, at least in Mei's experience. She figured that Aruna was just shy though, so she took it upon herself to begin the conversation. "You must have come a long way to immediately head strait to bed after the opening ceremony. I don't even think it's pass noon yet and you've already made yourself at home." Though Meirin herself had nearly fell asleep a few times here before, and she didn't even do much of anything to tire herself out. But moving on, Mei continued. "If you don't mind me asking, here do you hail from?" Aruna nodded to Mei as she spoke about coming a long way. When she asked where Aruna came from the halfling dropped her eyes and rubbed the back of her neck. She had trusted Ssarak with the information, but now she regretted it. She didn't intend to make the same mistake twice. She tried to give her best bashful look

"I, uh, I am from a small town by the scorchlands. O-on the human end of the border though. I had to fly here, I hope that there wasn't any problem with me leaving."

She was trying to seem as shy as she could, keeping the information off of her but it was Tearing her up that she had to act so.... Weak.

"Um, what about you? W-where do you hail from?"

Mei nodded her head as Aruna spoke little of herself. She was quite vague, but Mei didn't blame her: as far as she knew, they were both strangers. Or maybe leaving home was hard for her? Either way, Mei figured that she would open herself up as the two became better acquainted. When Aruna asked where Mei came from, she wasn't so fearful of telling her.

"I used to live in Djarkel. My home was a monastery in the mountains, just a little bit off a trade route. It... I cannot describe it perfectly with words. Djarkel seems like such a dark and dreary place, but at the monastery, it makes you forget where you are. It shows both the power of nature and the strength of men, as it was built to make sure it did not drastically change the nature of the place, and to do so it's founders built it where others would think impossible. It was a place of spiritual enlightenment and physical empowerment. We always offered a space for visitors and helped them get to town safely, because for all of it's scene peace, it was still Djarkel. We had to deal with bandits and raiders every so often... But we were not a people of peace. Sure, we did not go about robbing people either, but the artists at the monastery never showed weakness. I still remember seeing all those men hanging by the trees on the way up to the monastery..."

Mei was about to drone on about the monastery when she remembered that Aruna was still here. "Ah, forgive me, I was rambling. I loved my days at the monastery, but I'm at a part of my life where I need to learn the world outside of it. I would love to return there one day, but for now, this college will be my new home." Once she finished, Mei could feel a knot in her stomach. She was a bit hungry. If she remembered correctly, Khan said that the dinning hall would be open for those who feel peckish before dinner. A light lunch would be nice. "So, Aruna... Care to join me for the feast? We may be a bit early, but better than being late, no?"

Aruna listened intently about the monastery, it sounded like an amazing place. She could imagine being at peace in a place like that... But not yet, she had to finish what she had started. At that line of thought Aruna's thoughts turned morbid. Though she didn't realize it, her face reflected her mood.

Then Mei asked about food and before Aruna could fashion an appropriate answer her stomach growled.and she gave a small smile. "Um... I guess food wouldn't be that bad. Sure, let's go." So with that she went to the door of the dorm and opened it for the two of them to leave.
---
At the dining are Aruna and Mei found that, while they were early, there were still some students who had come in before them. It was there that they split paths. Mei left to go and speak with the other students, while Aruna found a seat in the corner of the room with the best view and clear line of sight with the doors. There the two girls were when the flood of students and teaches came into the dining hall.