The day was turning out to be one of those baking hot, shimmers above the pavement, suck your breath away kind of days. And Haley loved it. Ever since she was a little girl, she had reveled in the heat of summer, seeming to take energy from the sun instead of wilting beneath it’s rays like most people did. Her family had called her crazy and had quickly taken to calling her the family lizard. She had taken it in stride, even going as far as purchasing little toys of lizards or finding jewelry that featured the scaly reptiles.

The sun hot on the back of her neck where her a-line haircut didn’t cover the skin, Haley Matthews was the picture of happiness as she hurried across campus, her pretty face displaying a wide grin, long strides energetic. People stared at her. A lot. But it didn’t really bother her all that much. It meant that no one was really getting in her way. In one of her hands was her cell phone, the screen displaying a map of the college campus, and periodically she would glance down to make sure she was still heading in the right direction. One that would take her to the biology building. Still a freshman, she hoped she would learn soon enough where all of her classes were and could stop relying on a map.

On the wrist of the hand that held her cell phone, a tiny silver charm of a lizard holding onto its tail with both front feet clinked quietly against the bracelet it was connected to as Haley Took one last look at the screen before pressing a button on the side to lock the device before she slid it into her back pocket, hurrying over to the biology building and heading inside. She wrinkled her nose slightly at the blast of air conditioned air that hit her in the face upon entrance, briefly rubbing the palms of her hands over her arms before loping down the hallway and into one of the biology labs. Taking a moment to glance towards the professor to make sure she had gotten the right room, the young woman then headed towards one of the long black topped tables spaced at even intervals in double rows on either side of the room, taking a seat at one of the middle tables. Shrugging out of her backpack, she dropped it to the floor next to her before unzipping the top, collecting a notebook and her biology textbook, Setting them on the table in front of her before pulling out a mechanical pencil and clicking lead into place. She took a moment to glance around the room, hoping she would recognize one or two of the faces. Unfortunately, she didn’t. But she was usually good at making friends. If the boxes and equipment the professor was arranging on his desk was anything to go by, they would be doing some sort of lab today. And if he also planned on having them work in pairs, Then chances were pretty good that she’d have an opportunity to get to know someone. She‘d just have to be patient.

Ryu knew it was going to be a miserable day when he woke up early in the morning. The sun had just began to rise and it was already blistering hot! Slowly he unwound his hundred yard body by snaking his way around different trees to enable himself the room to unwind. Once his dragon body was unwound he began the process of changing his cells and structure to his shape of the same beings that killed his family. A human.

It was the first day of class, and Ryu had decided he needed to learn more about these creatures that destroyed his home if he wanted to survive. He was not alone in his mission, three others had survived that fatal night and they had all agreed learning more about these humans was their best shot at survival.

Walking through the campus surrounded by his fellow dragons, ryu couldn't help but start to notice some of these habits the humans showed. Everyone was walking around with these "cell phones" in their hands. Not a single one paying attention to the world around them. No wonder these humans do not care about the beautiful world around them, Ryu thought with a shake of his head.

After a good bye to his tribemates he made his way into his first class. The room was set up with tall black tables in rows facing toward the front, each table set up with two stools each. Just as it was outside, all the humans were absorbed in their cell phones instead of interacting with each other. After scanning the room several times. He finally took the last seat available in the class next to a female with a lizard charm bracelet. He started at her bracelet dr a moment, transfixed by the sight of the lizard eating its tail. It looked similar to a dragon, but why would she wear a dragon like symbol?

"I am being... rude." He said as he pulled his eyes from her bracelet. His voice had a slight accent to it, as if he did not quite have a grasp of how words should be pronounced in English. "My name is Ryu, I am a transfer from Japan. How are you?"

After some time had gone by and no one else in the room had lifted there eyes from their phones and Haley still hadn’t been able to strike up any conversations, The young woman had finally huffed out a breath, flipped Open to a fresh sheet of paper in her notebook, and begun scribbling down a to do list for the week. By the time someone had finally sat down next to her, she had gotten lost in some stray thoughts, doodling absently on the bottom of the page. She was going off the assumption that the newcomer had also pulled out a phone and was busy checking some sort of social media or texting friends when she glanced over at him, ready to turn back to her drawing at once, but hesitated as she noticed that he was actually looking at her. Well, not her, but the little charm on her bracelet. She blinked once, glancing down herself at the little reptile holding onto its own tail, trying to understand what was so fascinating about it. Sure, it was a little unusual, but...

Her head shot up at once as the stranger actually started talking to her. Eyes widening a little, Haley managed to scramble around in her head after a moment and come up with a decent response just before she took a bit too long and the other might think there was something wrong with her. ”Not rude at all! Nice to make your acquaintance Ryu. I’m Haley.” She responded with one of her best smile’s, offering one of her hands and trying to remember if the Japanese did handshakes. Should she bow instead?

Ryu tilted his head slightly to the right looking at her outstretched hand. What on earth was she doing with her hand? He remember watching people in Japan say hello in a bow and he could recall that people he watched in the streets hugged each other in greeting. However he had no idea what to do with a hand stretched out to him. He debated pulling her into a hug as he had seen so many humans do these past couple of weeks. Despite all of his observations of humans in this land, he still felt like a complete outsider.

Finally he decided to just copy the movements of this human and held out his left hand making himself a mirror image of Haley. "I am still a little new here, Hailey, so please forgive me. I have no idea of what to do with our hands stretched out like this. I was under the impression that hugs were the form of greeting in this land." Ruy laughed a little while leaving his hand out awkwardly.