Well he got the answer to his curiosity, Marth quickly made his decision of music and horticulture. When traveling and doing jobs as a mercenary it can get somewhat boring in transit. Marth always wanted to learn how to play a subtle instrument like a flute or a Ocarina. He also circled horticulture since it allowed him to be by wild life and nature, a change of classroom environment is always healthy since he is gonna be indoors majority of the day, it was also an interest to learn about many of the plants that are in the land.

He was hoping to take Monster hunting in hope of awakening his ability as well as combat training, maybe he can take it next semester. Well while he has time he might as well fix up his belongings, he picked up his bags and turned to Lilac. "If you need something just let me know, I am gonna be fixing my belongings". Marth waddled into the other side and began fitting clothes into drawers and in the closet, he wanted this day to be relaxing before the school year started just so he can adjust his mind set on what he wants to accomplish. His main goals were finishing top of the class in exams and awakening his ability.

@Hammerman

---

"I am glad we can achieve an understanding," Lilac replied after hearing him relenting and changing his choice to music and horticulture. She still didn't understand why he would want to crouch around digging with your dirty hands in the latter class, but she supposed everyone had their own preferences.

"Yes, I suppose I should start unpacking as well," Lilac replied after Marth excused himself to his side of the room.

The unpacking process was a chore to Lilac, who was used to having servant and maids taking care for her clothes. She was tempted to just leave them inside her luggage, but that would make it hard for her to take them out if she needed them, leading to more chores later on. With a sigh, she opened her luggage and began taking out her clothes one by one.

The first thing she saw was her uniform, to be worn every day while in school hours. She chose the blazer and unlike last year, where she chose the long skirt as she was used to wearing those from the long dresses she wore back home, she chose the short skirt this year. The long skirt wasn't as comfortable as she had expected them to be. And she wanted to try wearing short dresses for a change.

After she put everything on her wardrobe, she decided to take a bath and clean herself a bit. She certainly sweated quite a lot carrying the heavy lullage to the academy, and she hated being unclean. After knocking on the bathroom door, making sure that Marth wasn't inside, she entered, taking off her white dress and hanging it on the provided place. As she showered, her thoughts came to what she would do now in the second year. She liked her familiar as he seemed to be an understanding and dependable guy. With him, she could finally take the steps to become a full-fledged mage. She just hoped he shared the same enthusiasm in his role as a familiar.

@pkken

Loke Blackhardt

Loke was scrawling furiously into his pocket book as he made his way with the crowd. Everyone he had taken notes on in the previous year has changed in one way or another, and Loke had to update his now inaccurate data as quickly as possible. He had been so enthralled with his note taking that he wouldn’t have even noticed the group entering the Sun Room if it wasn’t for the sudden change of color. He paused for just a moment as he took in the ambiance of the ceremonial room. It was truly an amazing room, in both architecture and importance. Loke had visited this room only twice before and every time it was as if time stood still in this place. A another few moments of appreciation, and then Loke returned to his notes.

A few minutes later, Loke was just finishing up the last few details on the student next to him when the headmaster began his opening lecture. Closing his book, Loke looked up and watched the bear of a man speak to the entirety of the class. He made sure to pay close attention to the Headmaster as he opened with the story of the Magi. Loke had been intrigued by the legend for a while now, and he has since bought plenty of books detailing the story in a multitude of ways. Everything he has read only scratched what seemed like the surface of what was really there, and he wasn’t satisfied. The Headmaster then moved onto the details of the Sacramentum. Loke couldn’t help but smile as Magnus introduced the two magisters. This is one of the days that he has been anxiously waiting for for years. With this ceremony, so many options will open up to him, and it made him absolutely giddy. He will finally be one step closer to becoming what he wants to be. When the Headmaster began calling out the pairings, Loke promptly reopened his book and began writing down each pairing as they were called out.



Loke looked up from his book as his name was called. A sudden ball of excitement and anxiousness formed in the bottom of his gut. He closed his book, shoved it into his back pocket, and made his way up to the podium. Once he had finally reached the podium he slipped off the two duffle bags worth of luggage he had on his shoulders and ascended to the top. Once there he respectfully greeted the two magisters, and turned to wait for his partner. “Ruby Doer,” he whispered to himself, “She’s in my notes. If I remember correctly. She’s roughly the same height as me at 5’7”, Red Hair, and her most recognizable known associate is Korrigan a.k.a Korrey...Yeah sounds about right.” He was hoping that reciting everything he knows about his soon to be partner would ease his nerves, but alas it had the opposite effect. “...Yeah. Great. That didn’t work. I just sound like a madman rambling random facts to himself now.” He let out a long sigh and silently waited from that moment on.

@onenote

Vyvyan Ngiwan

Within a minute, they had finished the ritual, the pair soon off stage and headed towards the dormitory.

"So, Vyvyan, nice to meet you, I guess we're partners now huh? Anything I should know about you since we'll be sharing a room? Do you snore? Sleep wa...talking?"

Between the rolling of several sets of wheels (his bags, all passed off to the chatty seniors with the exception of a backpack he kept on his lap, taking first place) and a fair bit of hearing loss, Vyvyan mishearing the taller boy was not all too much of a surprise. "Eh? Ah, no, I don't think I snore. And I don't fall asleep while talking or anything."

Narcolepsy...? Odd question.

"Um, might be noisy, a bit, sometimes, though. I'm taking Music, and I listen to things sometimes too." Vyvyan swore that he was getting less coherent by the milisecond. "I, um, sing, and play the saxophone."

He had half a mind to just stay quiet and let his partner offer prompts, which would have worked much better if one was willing to dominate the conversation. But then things would be damn awkward, more so than they already were. Especially in contrast to the other bonded pairs around, the volunteers handling their baggage most notably. With this line of reasoning, Vyvyan hopped into the world of socialism. Socialising. Close enough.

"Ah, Samuel? What electives are you taking?" Wait, why couldn't I have asked the same thing he did? "I'm going for Music for sure, but what about you? Monster Hunting?"

Mentioning that particular elective must have been a trigger flag or something, because one of the seniors immediately piped up, "Monster Hunting's mandatory now, by the way. Headmaster fiat." Vyvyan didn't miss how the third year's eyes scanned across him, amidst his very sudden development of tachycardia. "You could try to get an exemption or something, I guess? But that's probably not happening."

Vyvyan looked up at Samuel, then back at the messenger of bad news, before returning his stare to his Mage.

"...So, second elective?"

'Geez, my new partner is super quick," Nancy thought as she watched Nathan speed over and get his stuff and then speed right on over to the volunteers right as she was getting to his luggage. Was this dude on the track team or something...did the school even have a track team? Heck if Nancy knew, but hey if they did she was pretty sure Nathan would make the cut. Nancy quickened her pace so that she wouldn't keep her new partner waiting and once she was over there, the volunteers started to show them to their room.

"Man, I missed this place..." Nancy said as she took the sights in as they were lead down the castle's halls. Over the course of last year, this place had become a second home to her. It was where she had met two of her closest friends and last year had been the first time she had been so far from home for so long. She grew up in a lot of ways in just her first semester here and now that she was bonded, she was bound to grow up even more. It was going to be an interesting year!

When the volunteers finally got them to their room and handed them their elective sign up sheets, Nancy thanked both of them before heading into the room. "Woo!" She cried out happily as she saw how much room she had now. Communal living had been fun for maybe the first week, but after all the excitement had died down, it actually kind of sucked to be crammed in with that many other people at once. Especially during flu season. That had literally been the worst. But, now she was sharing a large room with only one person and there was even a retractable wall to make it feel like she had her own good size room all to herself! Being an upperclassman, even if she was only second lowest on the totem pole now, was the best!

Nancy quickly turned to Nathan, eyes wide and smile big from this new rush of happiness she felt. "Okay, so we need to decide who's on which side, ground rules for the room, um," Nancy looked down at the sheet that held the list of electives on it. "We should probably figure out these first." She looked at them. Hort and Cooking were the ones she wanted to take. But she had to take Hort, that's what her sponsor wanted after all. But...She looked down monster hunting. She heard it was mandatory. "I guess we'll be taking monster hunting together. I plan on taking Horticulture too. I have to take that class actually." Nancy told Nathan with a chuckle. "What about you, dude?"

@mechonraptor

---

Ruby's anxiousness had come back with a vengeance as she continued to wait to hear her name. So many pairs had gone up now, it seemed like half the room was gone. Being called on last never felt good. It was like being told you weren't good enough to get your name called before that point, even if that wasn't the picker's intention. If that wasn't bad enough, some students held the superstition that the pair called on last was the least likely to get along and do well. It was probably from the fear that if they couldn't find you a pair sooner, you might not work well with anyone and thus had to be paired up with the only other person left. Ruby knew those were silly notions but she couldn't help thinking of them as yet another name was called. She wondered if her sister had felt this way when she had waited to get paired up with her partner.

And then, like a sudden crack of thunder, she heard it. Her name, as well as her partners, being called out to come up to the podium. Ruby felt some relief that she wasn't called last, but now it was time to meet her partner for the year. With a deep breath, Ruby got up, leaving her things at her seat as she made her way to the podium. Ruby could see Loke walking to the stage as she did. Around her height and white hair. While she didn't regret spending as much time as she could with her sister last year, she did regret not getting to know the other students a bit more, so that she might know who this guy was. But well, she had the whole year to figure that out right?

Ruby quickly climbed the podium's steps and gave a nod of greeting to both the headmaster and the Druids that would be bonding her and Loke, before turning to the boy himself. "Um...Hello." She said in an unsure tone. What did one say to the stranger they were about to be bound to by their very souls for the next school year? Nice to meet you? No, to generic. Nice weather we're having? No, to out of touch with the current situation. You and I are about to become one huh? No, that sounded super awkward even in her head, Ruby couldn't even imagine how awkward it would sound if she actually said it. "Uh, yeah....ready when you are..." She ended up saying as she rubbed the back of her head in an awkward way. It wasn't great, but nothing better had come to mind. Hopefully, her partner wouldn't take that as a sign that she just wasn't interested in him at all.

@heartlessnobody

Sam sighed quietly when Vyvyan either didn't notice or didn't care that he nearly asked about sleep walking. "I'm totally okay with music, I can't really play any instruments. I know a couple of things on piano, but that's because I just memorized which keys to hit." Sam was starting to feel more comfortable with the boy already, just the first few sentences were the awkward ones.

Hearing one of the volunteers say Monster Hunting was mandatory kind of disappointed Sam, that wasn't one of the classes he was keen on taking. When he saw Vyvyan was his partner he was glad because he doubted Vyvyan would be taking Monster Hunting so that'd leave him free to take the two electives he really wanted to be taking.

Before he could tell Vyvyan which electives he was considering they got to an elevator and one of the older students used a key card or something to open it. "Oh ya, dorms are on the second floor," Sam said as they all got in and went up a floor. The elevator was pretty spacious, which he supposed was expected since students with wheelchairs would be the ones using it. "Anyways, I'm torn between Cooking and Horticulture for my other elective, and since you're not taking either of those it doesn't help my decision." He chuckled slightly as they got to their dorm, room 222, "easy enough to remember at least," Sam opened the door then stood aside to allow Vyvyan and the people bringing their luggage inside. This was the real start of his second year at St. Fortuna's, he had his room, he had his partner, and he had the drive to do great things.

@Republic

Marth took off his shoes and placed them near the doorway, as he walked through his room his feet thumped against the floor, he had placed his shoes, dress clothes, and uniform in his closet so that they were placed where they could find them. He chose to wear the school blazer with slacks this year, it seemed it would be more comfortable to wear.

He heard the water in the shower running, seemed like Lilac was taking a bath, Marth looked out his room window and saw a a portion of academy's landscape. Marth opened window and sat halfway on the ledge, the wind blowing Marths hair crazily as he looked into the distance. A couple of knocks was on his door but Marth was lost in thought, soon the knocks turned into banging. Marth whipped his head and walked to the door openining it, it was a volunteer at the door.

"Sorry to disturb you but we have a change of rules, an order from the headmaster, Monster hunting is now a mandatory class that all students must take." Marth smirked a little "Thank you for the information I will relay this to my partner, have a good day" Marth closed the door and smirked, he was going to be able to take monster hunting but then his expression went neutral, Lilac won't be too happy, she might even think that Marth is lying. He took his elective paper and erased music, maybe next senester, horticulture and monster hunting it is! Marth didn't hear any running water, he decided to walk over to Lilacs side, he placed his hand on the sliding door but quickly stopped himself almost forgetting to knock. "That could have screwed everything up" Marth knocked 3 times on the sliding door, maybe she couldn't reach it open now or perhaps getting dressed. He projected his voice so that she could hear him "Lilac, a volunteer just came by saying the monster hunting class is now mandatory for all, I also have something I need to talk to you about as well" hopefully she wouldn't be too upset about having to do more physical education.

@Hammerman

---

After about fifteen minutes in the shower, Lilac turned the water knob off. They certainly didn't slack off on the infrastructure department. The bathroom was designed really nicely that it reminded her of her own fancy bathroom back home. Of course, here, they didn't have a bathtub that she could relax it but she figured that would cause problems as the bathroom was shared between two people.

Grabbing the white towel provided, she began drying herself up. She didn't know that there was a knock on the door as the sound of the running water obscured it from her notice. So, she took her time putting on her bra and panties before putting on a fresh new white dress.

As she was clothing herself, she heard a knock on the sliding wall. Thankfully, the boy had the sense to knock first like she had told him to or else he would see her in a half-dressed state, which would certainly be embarrassing for both parties involved.

Then, before she could answer back, Marth shouted through the door. "Lilac, a volunteer just came by saying the monster hunting class is now mandatory for all, I also have something I need to talk to you about as well!"

Her expression quickly turned into a frown. Did she really hear him right? Monster hunting class had become mandatory?

After she finished dressing up, she quickly slid the door open, finding Marth on the other side waiting for her.

"What did you just say? That the monster hunting class has become mandatory?" she asked him. She tried to put on her interrogative face as she didn't want to believe it, but inside, worries began to pop out in her mind. What if it were true? Then she had to spend hours chasing and fighting against monsters throughout the whole year. She didn't come to this academy for that!

@pkken

Talia looked at all of the other electives as she talked to Leo. There were a lot of electives but she had one choice left, since Monster Hunting already occupied one of her choices.

“Please just call me Leo. ‘Mister’ makes me sound old.” Leo said with some sternness to it. “Oh sorry, I’ll keep that in mind next time.” That was obviously something he did not like, so she made herself a mental note to stay away from the word mister.

She looked at the range of the electives again and was having trouble deciding. On one hand she enjoyed music, on the other she also wanted to make art, and on the third hand, she wanted to learn how to cook also, a useful life skill indeed. She thought over the choices. She did like music, but probably not the kind this school would teach, since she mainly listened to electronic music, trap, dubstep, and a few other genres, but she tended to stay away from that old timey instrumental stuff. She decided music was not the right fit for her.

It was really between art and cooking then. She hit a fork in the road. She could not make up her mind, that is until Leo spoke up about what he was picking. “So I’ve decided on Monster Hunting and Cooking. What about you, Talia?” She spoke up eagerly and flustered a bit, “Y-Yeah what a coincidence?! I was planning on taking cooking too!” She was not planning on taking cooking. “Yeah, I think it will help down the line…” She looked down and hurriedly circle Cooking along with Monster Hunting and handed her sheet to one of the guides. Upon obtaining her sheet one of the guides said “Well enjoy yer stay,” as they both left. (Did I get the accent right XP)

She took her bags to her side of the room and set them down next to the bed, then she promptly laid back on the bed and sighed, what an eventful day it had been.

@TheHangedMan

Marth stood on the other side with a neutral face while Lilac had a frown, his perception of the situation was spot on as she was a little flustered. "Yeah, a volunteer just came by and told me." Marth said. Marth saw the worry on her face and confirming what he just said didn't seem like it would help. "It won't be all that bad, we most likely are gonna be working in pairs so I'll try and pull the physical weight if your that worried" Marth said trying to put Lilac at ease.

He couldn't really do the class without Lilac putting in effort, "At least give it a shot, I can't exactly do good if your not at least trying a bit, just think of it more as extra magic practice" marth said trying to show his willingness to cooperate. Hopefully it wasn't super extrenuous activity they would be doing.

He almost had forgot what he has to ask lilac, "Oh I also wanted to ask you what your ambitions...that is if you don't mind? I just thought maybe it would be good to know each others goals and possibly assist in completing it... Marth said scratching his head again, though it is a god question it can sometimes be a rather deep one some people might not want to tell a person they just recently met.

@Hammerman

---

Lilac's frown didn't disappear when Marth comforted her, saying that he would help her in the tiring physical tasks. She never liked relying to others. Sure, she had maids cleaning her room and washing her clothes back home but she saw them as servants that she didn't owe anything to. They got paid after all. But here, the situation was different. Marth was her partner, her equal. To rely on him made her feel like she was dependant on him, and she didn't like that notion at all.

Lilac huffed angrily when Marth brought up the notion that she wouldn't try hard. Of course she would! She always tried her best in any classes she attended, whether she liked it or not! She was quite insulted in him thinking that she was some lazy student!

"Of course I'll try!" she responded, her eyes glaring at her partner. "Do you take me for some lazy, good-for-nothing student?"

"And as for your question..." she paused for a moment, crossing her arms below her chest as she thought what to say. Then, she looked back up to Marth's eyes and said, "My only wish is to study magic and to master it someday. Nothing more, nothing less."

@pkken

It was fair to say that Mikayla was a bit upset. When she had arrived at her stop on the train, no one had noticed her and no one had the decency to offer to help her carry her luggage. Putting modern feminism aside, Mikayla had a habit of over-packing and the girl was small. Perhaps a few kind souls had looked her way and had intended on helping her, but her icy glares must of scared them off. She was also wearing boots with a high, stiletto-y heels and unfortunately, these boots were not meant for walking, making her trip all the more difficult. Anyhow, someway or another, she managed to reach the school in time for the speech in the Sun Room even though it did ruin her new boots.

As students began to pair off, Mikayla could not help but wonder what her partner would be like. Having your first Familiar was a big deal. A part of her wondered if maybe they would be friends. But she quickly silenced those unnecessary thoughts. "You're not here to make friends, you're here to be one of the best," she reminded herself mentally. Still, she scanned the room for potential partners. Every once in a while, she would think,"Oh, he's kind of cute." But then he would be quickly paired off with some other person.

Finally after what felt like forever, they announced,



As soon as Mikayla heard her name, she tried to fix her hair and look as presentable as possible. "Darn that walk!" she cursed silently, as the sweat had made her hair stick to her face. She did her best to maintain her composure as she walked up the podium. She dragged her stuff behind her and probably looked a lot less graceful than she would have liked. Somehow she managed to reach the podium before her partner and tried to search for anyone that was walking through the crowd toward it. Her partner was a girl, Mikayla could tell that much by her name and while it did sound familiar, she couldn't put her finger on where she had heard that name before.

Monty glared down at his electives sheet, stumped. He had been told that monster hunting would be good preparation for the police training, but he also had cooking and horticulture. He was fine with either, but it basically meant choosing between his sister and his best friend. He doubted Nancy would take cooking, as she already had enough teaching in that and he believed she had mentioned something about horticulture, but he knew Feli would take cooking. He bit his lip, lost in thought, before deciding to give up and ask his partner. Tuning back into the conversation, he turned to Regis. First he had to finish the conversation at hand, it would be rude not to.

"Wow uh, that's quite a lot. That must be quite useful. Personally, I only know some basic survival training. But hey, it's kept me alive this long!" He responded, laughing awkwardly. He hoped his partner didn't mind Monty's humor, it was the only way he could think of to lighten the situation.

"So wait, you taught that all to yourself?" He lifted one of his brows at his partner in confusion. Felicity had told him it was a habit of his, though she never specified ether it was good or bad. Seeing as he often did it towards her, he suspected she meant bad.

"That's pretty neat. Uh, but..." Dang, now he was getting awkward again. Was there a polite way to ask your partner why they were alone all the time? Maybe he liked being alone? Monty hoped this wasn't the case, as he himself hated being alone, and was hoping to be able to befriend his partner. Well, he would ask carefully. Yes, that would do, just be very subtle about it. "But why? I mean, uh, what about your parents?" He trailed off, wincing. Well, so much for being careful about offending his partner.

He was about to apologize when a knock interrupted the conversation. One of the volunteers stepped into the room, grinning. "Sorry to interrupt y'all, but there's been a bit of a change bout your electives. Turns out, monster hunting is mandatory now! Something bout 'curriculum requirements' for next year or somethin'. Anyways, y'all have fun with that!" And with a wink at the two she was back out the door.

Monty stood for a minute, processing what had been said. "Well uh, guess that takes care of that." He said to himself, shaking his head. Now all he had to do was choose between cooking and horticulture. As much as he loved horticulture, cooking had more benefits for him. Feli was there, and he was trying to work on his cooking more. Nancy would probably understand, and he could take horticulture next year. Mind made up, he turned back to Regis with an excited smile.

"I'm going to be taking cooking as my elective then." He bent down and quickly marked it on his sheet. "So, what are you planning on taking? All of these seem interesting."

---

Beatrice watched as her friend was called up on stage, grinning at him. He was nervous. She could see it in his stiff movements as he walked to the stage. She turned her gaze toward the other boy, sizing him up. His stature wasn't very intimidating, but he made up for it in his posture. He looked even more serious than Richard. Great, this was going to be awkward. She had hoped Richard would get someone a bit more... Energetic? Happy? Something to balance him out and ease the conversation.

She could hear Richard from the stage, and winced at his stuttering. She didn't think of it as a problem, but Richard was always so embarrassed about it. Gods, she wished there was something she could do to make him feel less uncomfortable, but there was nothing to be done. He wasn't making eye contact with anyone, and she couldn't exactly make him look up from where she was. She settled for visiting him as soon as possible. Hopefully their dorms were close together.

More people came and went on the stage, and Richard stepped off, away from his partner. Well, that was one of the most awkward things she had seen in her life, but at least it was over. She definitely was visiting Richard as soon as possible, most likely with some coffee candy to cheer him up.

Her train of thought ended just as a woman stepped onto the stage. Beatrice immediately recognised her. It was Professor Knotte A. Munster, the professor teaching the monster hunting elective. It wasn’t hard to recognise her, given her unique appearance. She was in her mid sixties, but the only signifier of her age was her stark white hair. She was incredibly fit, with impressive muscles and many scars from years of battling and training. Most strange about her was her attire. She always wore a armored breastplate, and had a navy blue cape attached to the armor on her shoulders. She had gauntlets and shin guards protecting her arms and legs, and was quite an intimidating figure over all. The room quieted immediately at her stern glare across the audience. She stepped toward the front of the stage, rejecting the mic offered to her by a volunteer. Her voice was already loud enough, and she was easily able to get the attention of the students. Almost everyone knew her, and many students felt uneasy at her sudden appearance, Beatrice included. Had something happened?

“Due to a change of curriculum in my class for the third years, monster hunting is now mandatory for all second years.” Whispers broke out across the room, a wave of emotions crossing the faces of the crowd. “Quiet! You will have one free elective this year. Electives last all year, so choose wisely.”

Beatrice let out a breath as the imposing woman left the stage, just as quick as she had come. Monster hunting was mandatory now? She personally didn't mind, she had taken it first year, and had planned on taking it again. People were frightened at first, but it wasn’t all that bad if you followed the rules, and there were always accommodations for students that needed it. A grin broke out across Beatrice’s face as she remembered the service monsters, specifically the giant dog monster. He was so fluffy, she was hoping the gentle giant would be there again this year.

@Discontent

The moment that Mikayla laid eyes on her partner, she knew exactly who she was. Alice Anderson, the girl that every other girl wanted to be and every guy wanted to date. Not only was she gorgeous, she was a talented singer and dancer who had already made a name for herself. And the worst part of all, she was really nice and popular. If all eyes weren't on Mikayla on the podium before, they definitely were now.

Mikayla forced herself to smile as Alice greeted her in a sickeningly pleasant manner. "Mikayla Iovine. Pleasure to make your acquaintance," she said, then lightly grabbing only the tips of Alice's fingers and giving a small shake. She then turned her head toward the excited crowd and sent them an icy glare which seemed to shut them up for a moment. "Shall we?" she asked, motioning towards the steps off the podium.

As she was about to leave the Sun room to search for her dorm, one of the professors went on the stage to make an announcement. "Monster hunting is required now? Just great," Mikayla groaned internally. First she had an awful time getting to school, then she got partnered up with Miss Perfect, and now she's forced to take a rigorous elective that will surely cause her to break a sweat... or worse, give her a tan! And there was absolutely no way Mikayla was going to take Music now. Not while Alice was going to be there, being all amazing. She'd have to settle for either painting or cooking since she would rather be caught dead than be "working the land".

Once the announcement was over, Mikayla continued to be on her way with her luggage being dragged along the floor behind her. Whether or not Alice was following her did not concern her. But if she was, Mikayla did not make it difficult, going at a snail pace. All she could think about was how the school year was going to be absolutely horrible.

Suddenly as she took one fatal step, the heel of her boot snapped causing Mikayla to lose her balance. She fell backward onto the floor but first hit her back against her luggage. She was unsure if her ankle was sprained, but it did hurt. She held back her tears, not wanting her non-waterproof mascara to run down her face. The only positive side to this was that she made it out of the Sun Room so the entire school didn't have to witness her blunder. She took deep breaths as she took off her boot, and revealed a slightly swollen ankle. It wasn't too bad of an injury and she would most likely recover in a few days, but she didn't feel like she could get up. At least, not without some help.

@TheHangedMan

@onenote
"Me too..." Nathan whispered as he agreed with Nancy's statement, he too was glad to be back in Fortuna. This place was like home to him, much more than he could ever imagine. A place where he could study what he desired without the limitations that Maefeld had. And while it was occasionally interrupted by others, often… they weren’t so bad as their appearances deemed them to be. He glanced over at Nancy, a person whose first impression was pretty much the opposite of who she really was. And, while he doesn’t know her that well, he believed he knew enough to be overall content with his situation. In fact, looking back at last year, he was surprised how little he knew of his class. There was the one he tutored last year, the guy who looks off putting but is rather outgoing, and then Nancy. But that was alright in Nathan’s book… It let him focus on his studies.

When they arrived in the room, Nancy did the thanking for the both of them before she could not contain her happiness. Nathan had simply tipped his hat at the volunteers as a way to say thanks before staring at Nancy, tilting his head slightly left with a questioning smile on his face. While he was excited for the new year, he wasn’t much for showing it, and instead he turned his attention to the actual room they were in. It was an overall improvement to Nathan, going from the loud, annoying environment of last year to a much simpler, quieter room for two. Well, if he was being technical, it was more around two rooms that could become one giant room if they kept the sliding wall, well, not slid. He doubted they’d have it as one big room though, as the place was not only designed to be two, but he liked his privacy.

Nancy began to speak once more, causing him to turn his attention to her and immediately take notice of her continued happiness. It made him smile gently; a tiny, happy expression was what he returned. Ground rules, whose room was who… Nathan wasn’t particularly picky other than that they be relatively calm here. But, those could be established later, seeing as she wanted to discuss electives. She mentioned how Monster Hunting was mandatory, and while it wasn’t his first option, he had to roll with it. At the very least, he could not only train to use his ability, but study the monsters of this world. That was something to look forward to. Glancing down at the sheet, he believed he already knew the other one he’d like to take.

“ I’m going to sign up for music.” He replied honestly, as it was an interest of his… Music, that is. But Horticulture… He looked down at his elective sheet, reading the short description it gave. Gardening, huh? He wondered if she’d like that class, but then again, he hardly knew Nancy outside of her baking. Maybe she’d find new plants to cook? He shrugged at his own thought, instead looking at Nancy and waiting for her response.

Janine looked between her friends continuing to chat lightly noting the other group of students had walked away and she stayed for what only felt like a few minutes but then the blonde looked away noticing only stragglers from the crowd still behind. She had a little moment of panic as she realized she might be late to the sacramentum ceremony if she stayed any longer outside of the academy. It was a bit rude of her but she gave a quick "goodbye" getting herself moving towards the grandiose academy once again with a fair bit of haste as the girl could never forgive herself if she missed the chance to meet her mage. After all she wanted to learn just who they were not to mention how tolerable they were so she could pace herself when dealing with them, only right that she be comfortable first as always. The walk up made her a bit nostalgic of her first year when her and her sister teamed up to make fun for themselves getting towards the top of the popular kids hierarchy. For her it was a nice way to socialize and find her place among the rest of the student body while getting to explore her power just a little bit.

The blonde knew she could do Astral Projection but it was very limited and tiring which is why the sacramentum was exciting for her because she could find out just how much she could do. Nothing like getting a little gossip under her belt either using her lack of presence to find out anything of interest that might benefit her or just was fun to know at the time. Learning was a big part of why she loved St. Fortuna's because the girl wanted to know everything she could get her hands on though she would have to think about electives this year, always a subject of debate but she supposed it would have to be taken up with her mage once the time came. There had been few moment she regretted in being here and she planned to have even less of them this year maybe even making anew friend or two if it could be helped. It was a hope that weighed on her longing to be more open to liking the other students around her, something to strive for on the side really.

Janine made the last few steps up until she was just outside of the Sun Room with anticipation reaching a peak the girl walked in melding in amongst the crowd wanting to get closer so she could see the pairs and the ceremony. This room was just magical to her in almost every sense between the stained glass, the gorgeous murals, the sudden changes in temperature and winds lightly breezing past. Being here made her feel small in a way but also proud she made it this far to get to be in such an important place making sure she wanted nothing but to excel to prove she was ready to be part of a pair. The blonde watched on as the older mages and familiars were in position calling the names from in the crowd to stand up on the podium for the sacramentum, an event which would surely change them for the better. She listened on as the headmaster began his speech bringing a light laugh from her at his joke but enthralled by the reciting of reason they were familiar and mages. Admittedly she herself fell under the thinking that it was convenient but if it were true that would only make for more questions which was also fascinating to think about. Either way this was the rite of pass for all of them which only make her want to be a part of the ceremony grow as students started to be called up from the crowd to be attended by the druids.

~Oh if only I knew which mage was going to be my bond, there are certainly some nice looking ones around here.~

Franceska seethed at the proceedings, her impatience swelling with every called name that wasn’t hers. Long waits were an annoyance that an esteemed Vrodiskovich rarely had the displeasure of dealing with. Any peasant worth their salt would know not to keep someone of her status waiting.

And yet…

The scion rubbed the material of her silk gloves between her fingers; partly to pass the time, partly out of displeased trepidation. Had she known that the ceremony would be preceded by a history lecture as pointless as croutons in bouillabaisse, she would have passed this pathetic farce in favor of another fencing lesson.

She brought her gaze down to her gloves. So she was to make physical contact with the undoubtedly disappointing second-string that was to be her partner for the next year, then ‘accept’ the other into her soul. Franceska shuddered. As if any plebeian in this hall had the right to even breathe the same air as a Vrodiskovich, much less receive the prestige that was to be her constant presence in their life.

Had her father been present, that deranged oaf Loyola wouldn’t have dared kept Franceska waiting so long. But he wasn’t and she could do nothing but glare furiously at the proceedings. So she waited.

Vyvyan Ngiwan

The journey to the dorms felt oddly quiet, the fact that Samuel was the only one of the pair to puncture the silence only contributing. Until reaching their room, its door bearing the pristine label of '222', Vyvyan didn't verbally respond to any of his Mage's remarks. Not out of pride or anything of that sort; he simply hadn't quite adjusted to having a partner. The slight excess contraction of his muscles was testament to that. On the other hand, since leaving the Sun Room, Samuel seemed to have largely relieved his own tension. Hopefully that meant things would proceed more smoothly, with at least one party relaxed. A single jumpy nervous system was more than enough.

As Vyvyan mouthed a word of thanks and entered the room with baggage in tow, the doorway fortunately just large enough to accommodate, he pondered on what first to do. Unpacking was of course the most obvious option. There was, however, always time for the non-crucial activity later on. Vyvyan had just met Samuel, and what do groups tend to do upon meeting for the first time?

It took a bit before anything coherent came out of Vyvyan' vocalisations. "I, let's have an icebreaker!" The sentence popped out too loud, having apparently built up pressure whilst choked up in his throat.

Why'd I do this—

"Guess my ability! I'll try to give hints." It felt paradoxical, being both committed and regretting absolutely everything tangentially related to the line of thought that had dumped him here. Maybe he was in shock? The break hadn't been spent dozing away mornings and lounging around in the afternoons, but it was still weeks of far more rest and play than usual.

Beginning to move the furniture on his claimed half of the room so as to enable access to the bed, his right arm occupied with stacking chairs onto the round table that his other lifted, Vyvyan asked, "Is that all right?"

It looks like Marths words at the moment wasn't sitting right with Lilac, as she snapped at the white haired boy. Relax, I meant as in giving it a try as in interest, you never know it can possibly interest you, it wasn't an attack on your work ethic." Marth looked at her his expression unchanged and aloof, this girl has an innate sassiness, noted.

She then followed up with an answer to Marths initial question on what she wishes to accomplish, she kept it short and sweet saying she wants to master magic. That goal was somewhat bland and overused, Marth knew there was more too it but the true goal will follow soon enough, he could tell by her expression and the look in her eyes. "What will you do once you master your magic, what use will you put your prowess too?..I hope the answer to these questions will reveal itself...as for me. I have many goals, my main goal right now is to discover my ability. Better to tell her now then later, "Hopefully I can awaken my ability early, on now that I am bonded, basically we are going to need each other if we wish to accomplish our goals quicker." Marth said with a smirk, the two young adults were similar yet different, this was gonna be a fruitful year.

"Well that is all I really have to say, I am going to go back to fixing my things comefortably and probably do some light workouts, just knock if you need me" Marth said walking away into his side of the room.

@hammerman