Daria simply blinked as Yon just swallowed the whole thing entirely, then smirked. Not exactly the way they did it in the tribe - Daria was forced to admire the simple efficiency of it, even if it was a little odd.

But Helena didn't look so good - while it was possible that Helena wasn't exactly comfortable with the display, Yon seemed totally oblivious to the cause of her illness. Daria simply shook her head at Yon's suggestion about the birds, though.

"Medicine man taught me that bird guts wrapped in feathers swallowed uncooked is best medicine." A serious, almost fervent voice spoke. The leopardess pulled her knife from the bird, allowing the blood to spill down her arm as she physically extracted the guts and began to remove the feathers with her hands, taking the entrails and using feathers to tie them up. "Spirit of the Great Flamingo enter in with a chant." As if gesturing to her own pink hair, some blood in the bird spurted out and sprayed into her own hair.

Daria stood up, making a circle of blood on the ground with the body of the bird before placing it in the center of the circle, laying her 'medicine' on top. Then the barbarian began chanting and waving her arms around dramatically as she conducted the ceremony.

"FLA-MIN-GO.

FLA-MIN-GO.

FLA-MIN-GO.

OOOOOHHHHH.

FLA-MIN-GO.

FLA-MIN-GO.

FLA-MIN-GO."

The chant began slowly, but began to pick up pace as Daria repeated the name of the Great Flamingo several times over - eventually chanting very loudly as she closed her eyes and extended her arms. She waited for a few moments - as if waiting for the spirit of the great beyond to enter her.

Then her voice would boom through the tower. "GREAT FLAMINGO WHO HAS KEPT ME BENEATH THEIR WING! I, Daria, daughter of Chief Alleloop, beseech you to grant HELENA your bountiful health!" Helena would feel Daria start trying to push her in the center of the ring of blood to the offering made of her. "In the guts of this bird may you place your essence, so that Helena may heal to her fullest! May you change its feces into your blessed shits, so perfect and round, so that those of us who are worthy may feast upon the guts upon which they are contained!" If Helena hadn't lifted the 'offering' up by now, Daria would do so, looking at her expectantly.

Professor Admas Alemu (Spellmaking)

It was the first day of classes in Fae Creek and professor Admas Alemu took a deep sigh while looking out of the window. How did she end here? It was horrible. Spellmaking was the most basic of classes when it came to a magical school, it was not only the backbone of it but its whole skeletal structure! And yet... and YET...

She had easily got the position of spellmaking teacher because there was no one to teach the topic at the moment.

It made her want to shoot someone. For years she had dealt with the PTSD and shell shock of having fought in the federation's wars, and now, all she wanted was to go back and choke the life out of someone. All of this was wrong, and she couldn't imagine how this could be worse, except maybe if those kids from the Imperial Institute showed up but that was pushing it.

It was fine, it was FINE. She would do it right at lest. She had her scrolls, she had her books, she had her tools. She would make a proper informative class and teach these kinds something worthwhile, it was the least she could do for the margrave.

Smiling, she sat down in the center of the traditional classroom, waiting for the students to start coming in. Trying to look the most proper she could.

Professor Celia Reed (Alteration)

Starting the year as the alternate class of the day was a bit of a dishonor for some. Not for Celia Reed, the less brats the better, though she hoped she would see that girl, what was it, Sarah, again.

The Sphinx laid in the circular open space classroom, alternation was not something that needed a lot of space, and often any attempt at adding desks and chairs just ended in those being changed into something else.

The class itself was quite simple and she was pleased with what she had prepare, being the first day she would have to talk a bit more than usual but she was sure she could manage it. In the end she wouldn't be telling these kids how to transform themselves today anyway, so it was fine to just let them play around without supervision, it was unlikely any of them would end up doing something with catastrophic consequences.

---

After reading for a long time, Adara looked at the time and realized that the night had already passed "Guess i read too much. It's already time for the first class." She said as she stood up and walked out of her dorm.

As she was searching for the class she selected. "Spellcasting, right? Or was it Spellmaking?
Argh.. i will ask once i find a teacher" She mumbled.

As she was making her way down the halls she spotted a classroom that looked quite normal with what looked like a teacher sitting in it, so she decided to ask her where the spell-whatever class is held.
"Hello miss, could you perhaps tell me where the spell-something class is held?" She said whilst trying to put on a friendly face.

---

@Zinita

It was a good thing Helena believed in miracles, otherwise she'd struggle to explain why her stomach's contents were still where they belonged, inside her stomach.

It seemed both of her roommates had a bit of a... misunderstanding regarding what made the Ice Mage feel unwell. While Yon's comments about keeping some birds for her she could brush off, Daria's reaction was a bit... unconventional.

The catgirl began talking about some kind of flamingo. A spirit or a deity perhaps? Either way, the girl seemed to have some kind of... ritual in mind, as she pulled the knife out of the dead bird, blood leaking down her arm and even spraying into her hair. Then, she began to draw a circle. With bird-blood. With the bird's corpse in the middle.

Whatever appetite the mage had left had long thrown itself out of the tower, whether or not it survived to ever return would depend on the rest of this school year.

Then, Daria began to chant. Helena didn't keep too close a track of exactly what it was, more focused on not throwing up and being polite than anything. The catgirl ended the ceremony with something about excrement, before pushing Helena into the circle of blood.

The ice mage closed her eyes, worried something might happen.

When nothing did, she carefully opened them, and glanced at Daria for a moment, and then at the bird corpse. Taking a deep breath, she reached down, picked it up, and held it up. She had no idea what she was doing, but she'd read various books about cults in the past - quite some of them fiction, she'd had to admit - and holding up the... sacrifice seemed like it would fit right in.

Helena could only hope nothing would cause her to add her own stomach's contents to the mix as she still fought to keep herself from vomiting.

---

Alura stared quietly at the photographer and her camera, saying nothing for a moment. There was definitely curiosity in the girl's eyes... but there was also something off about them. Her right eye's pupil and iris seemed like they were about to split, as part of the girl's skin began to get a bit of a darker tint...

Only for a new roomie to arrive! Immediately, Alura spun around to face her, a big smile on her face. "Oh! Hello! I didn't expect us to get a fourth roommate! This means two of us will have to share the big room!" The girl said excitedly, extending a hand. "My name's Alura, what's yours?"

At the same time, the drawings on Alura's book began to glow faintly, while the temperature in the room dropped slightly. Just enough to be noticable if you'd been in the room for more than a few moments. At about the same time, there was a faint whisper in Kate's ear, audible only to the photographer. "You are quite a curious person, Miss Kate. I hope we get to talk again soon.

---

Aelich blinked a few times, chuckling at the first remark. Clever noble, at the least. Noting the cigarette with a frown, Aelich gave a small shake of the head. She never liked the things. Supposedly they helped with stress, but she had tried some herself, and noticed a negative impact on her respiration she had to fix... Unbothered by him drawing closer, Aelich drew herself up, taking a deep breath and folding her arms beneath her chest. "Ah. My mistake then. In which case, my name is Aelicherenordiana, and you may call me Aelich. The full thing is a bit long." A soft chuckle, the girl cool and collected even as he approached her threatening, almost yelling, but Aelich held no fear for him. After all, fear required there to be danger, and that was something that wouldn't come to her often. Too close to avoid him slipping, however, Aelich's eyes widened just from surprise, the pair both tumbling onto the floor as Baron accidentally launched himself at her, thumping into the desk, then tumbling into the floor. Aelich winced at the pain of hitting the desk lancing through her nerves, biting her lips as she hastily repaired her rather minor wounds, shaking her head, and pushing Baron off of her, her roommate having ended up landing atop her after the fall. "Get.. off, you oaf... how did you miss that puddle being there, were you too busy trying to intimidate me?" From her tone, it was clear that she still didn't respect Baron herself, though her irritation with him being a noble was lessened by the fact that he... wasn't a noble. And humble, but not self-deprecating...

They took a walk to get to their dorm, which was fine. Reagan could have displaced them there, but he didn’t mind getting a more detailed overview of the school grounds. He’d need a while yet to completely familiarize with the place, so taking a stroll with his companions was all well and good. Besides, he didn’t know exactly where their room was, except somewhere in the basement. He hadn’t thought anything of that fact. That proved to have been a colossal oversight.

They descended…the stairs and hallways were ominously dusty, moldy, and cobwebbed. Not a good sign. They passed some machining rooms, full of rusted garbage. Definitely not a good sign. Their…room…Their room… “T-this is it?!” Ray exclaimed, suddenly feeling weak. He swayed, leaning on a dreadfully grimy wall. Ohhh, his parents hadn’t been kidding when they said they’d cut him off. He was certain they couldn’t have possibly guessed or even imagined that he’d be put into conditions such as this. Though…it would also not be completely unlike them to attempt to shock him into running back with his metaphorical tail between the legs.

“Cleaning!” he echoed August, sounding oddly excited about the prospect. “Yes, yes, I can just relocate this crap!” Ray clapped his hands. Of course! Cleaning! Using their abilities to their advantage! It wasn’t exactly what he’d been expecting, but so what? He wasn’t helpless, and he wasn’t so desperate that he’d go cry about it. He’d just been…surprised. All the filth had simply induced a temporary gloominess upon him. That could not be forgiven. This place was in for a renovation!

A manic grin stretched Reagan’s lips as a veritable storm descended upon his mind, gathering ideas in a chaotic whirl of cohesion. “Alright, you guys. There’s so much crap we’re gonna need to sort it.” The teen unzipped his jacket, and fished a notebook from one of his inner pockets. He leafed through its contents, muttering quietly to himself as he did so. “Aha!” he proclaimed happily, ripping out a page. “Here, put this runic sequence on every item you want to keep, alright? Anything untagged gets thrown out.” Ray handed the page to August, since he only had the one copy, and the other male had suggested this.

Reagan stored the notebook back, then brought out another item. It was an engraved cigarette case – his father’s, in fact – but instead of what one would expect of the contents, there were multiple coloured chalks inside. He handed a yellow one to August, and a red one to Feier, while taking a purple one himself. Ray then proceeded to walk around the room, seeking usable things. It was like trying to get something functional out of a garbage heap, but at least there was a lot of stuff. He tagged a table, some chairs, a few kitchen appliances, and one of the mattresses. He grimaced at the metal bed frame, and left it untagged. It honestly looked worse than putting the mattress on the floor.

In the spirit of renovation, Ray had a follow-up idea. “By the way, how are you two with transmutations? We could make us some better furniture. It’ll be just like one of those IIM projects – except useful this time,” he suggested. First, he’d need to displace all the shit items they didn’t need, for sure…And he had just the place to put them. Reagan smirked, wondering what his parents’ reactions would be at all of this suddenly appearing in their bedroom. Oh, if he only could witness the pure horror on their faces…

---

---

@xia@Aviaire

"Quite a tale, Mala. Perhaps we can find you a way to stay human, if you'd like. Actually, your problem is similar to mine. I have troubling holding my shape, too. It's really uncomfortable to wake up as a newt." She looked up at a clock and then swore. "We're late for Alteration! Oh, crap!" The red-haired witch raced out of the dorm at top speed, which wasn't much in such dimly lit, cramped space.

Jackie heard them having a conversation in the other room, and decided she would go and introduce herself to the new comer. Though...what if I scare her off...? Not many people have heard of a candle girl around here... She decided she would take her chances, and she walked out of the bathroom, and greeted Kate and Alura once more.

"I didn't know I would have two roommates...now I feel overworked..." She mused. "That's more people to disappoint."

@Ponn@Cotton

Yon didn't really understand much of what was happening either, just because she was weird it didn't mean she understood other types of weird, in fact in her view she had been pretty normal so far, except maybe not knowing what ice was.

If she understood correctly, people down in the earth believed in a bird god called Flamingo, how peculiar, the ritual itself did seem weirdly bloody and icky, but she was not one to judge others, so she clapped along with them.

"So that is how people do medicine down here on earth? Wow! It is so different from my homeland. Up there we eat these little circular stones and some types of syrup, we wrap people in cloth and use special uhh ropes to measure their vital... aura and sometimes we stab ourselves with iron needles to keep the sickness away." she didn't want to cause trouble by using overly scientific terms so she adapted all names to basic objects, she was pretty sure now moon medicine was nothing like earth medicine.

"Anyway, I will prepare that tub and get the water flowing, it seems like we might need it!"

@Cotton@RabidAnubis



"You would be impressed at how often people don't notice my face, sometimes they think they have gone mad, and sometimes I think some pretend to not see my face!" she puffed her cheeks.

"And yes, those transformations were why we were made to share a room but, hmm, while similar the issue is different, you might turn into a newt, but you aren't actually a newt..." she suddenly took a deep breath. "But I shouldn't spend my time wallowing in self pity! I should go and do my best!"

@Ponn@blackdragon

Kate

Uh, yeah... Sure thing... Kate thought to herself after hearing the strange voice whisper in her ear. Alura was certainly an odd one, the photographer reflected, but she'd have to do some serious work in the weirdness department before she could hold a candle to Nykannis.

And speaking of candles, no sooner had their third roommate appeared in the doorway, than a fourth roommate emerged from the bathroom. A roommate that looked like a humanoid candlestick.

"Oh, sweet! You're a Candelabra, right?" Kate asked with obvious excitement. "I've heard about you guys, but I've never seen one of you in person before. Say, would you mind if I took your picture?"

---

"Late for Alteration?" Parr wondered aloud."But Miss Sarah, classes don't start until... Oh, bother," he added after noticing that his red-haired roommate had already disappeared out the door. "Not to worry, though!" he declared, giving Mela a wink. "I shall simply reverse the temporal compression I performed eariler and everything shall be right as rain!"

With that, Parr once again produced his hourglass-looking temporal compressor and activated it with the tap of the intricate rune at its base. And, once again, for the briefest of moments, the universe came apart at the seams. For the span of less than a thousandth of a second, anyone you asked would tell you that 1+1= Cerulean Symphony, and such an answer would seem perfectly correct. After that less-than-a-thousandth-of-a-second had passed, however, all returned to normality (whatever that word even means...), and giving such an answer would probably get you sent to a place rather like Fae Creek Academy...

"Ah, here we are, then!" Parr announced. "One full day into the future! Come along Miss Mela! We mustn't be late for our first class!"

"My picture...?" Jackie muttered. "I've never had a picture taken of me before. It's kind of exciting...in a weird way. Sure, go ahead and take the picture."

@Ponn@Cotton

Daria paused for a couple seconds as she looked over Helena's face - she was happy Yon hadn't reacted so negatively, but it was rather clear Helena was starting to become ill. She hadn't expected for the other catgirl to so openly just believe her ridiculous tale about the Great Flamingo. It was rather obvious at this point though that the joke had gone too far.

She nodded at Yon, hoping that she'd leave for a couple minutes.

Helena would likely be surprised as Daria just removed the contents from Helena's hands and just sort of looked for a couple of seconds at Helena's face before her eyes turned to the floor. "Helena ... sorry ... go sit down or something." Daria herself pulled a rag out of her belongings, cleaned herself off, and then brought a fresh one for Helena. She'd spent the time walking and contemplating how to do something she rarely did: apologize. She didn't need her new roommate to hate her.

"Th-That went too far ... There is no Great Pink Flamingo - I just use hair dye. And yes, I pluck the feathers and clean kills before I cook and eat them. And I'm not going to kill Low Constitution from the welcome party either." The words seemed to stumble awkwardly from Daria's mouth, and it would be apparent to Helena that the Leopardess was nervous.

Helena raised an eyebrow at Yon's talk about stabbing yourself with needles to get better. To the ice mage, that sounded like a rather... painful solution to health issues, but Helena wasn't one to judge. Still, she was prevented from asking about it when the girl declared that she'd prepare the tub and get some water, likely to clean up the blood.

It was then that Daria told Helena to sit down, with a rather... curious look on her face. Worried that she had done something wrong, Helena does not comment on it, and instead does as instructed, and sits down, only for Daria to apologize, which was about the last thing the ice mage expected. Daria was apparently just joking or something similiar, as she had apparently made that much up.

After a moment, Helena couldn't help but begin to giggle. She'd truly, genuinely believed the pink-haired catgirl, and in retrospect she couldn't help but be amused at her own gullibility. "Daria, you were really convincing." Helena said with a smile, taking the rag to clean herself with. "Don't worry, I'm not angry over it or anything. And I think Ray at the very least deserves a kick in the ass."

---

As Kate and Jackie began to talk about the former's camera, Alura took it upon herself to chat with the newest of the roommates. As the girl - Katalynn - mentioned she could sleep on the couch, Alura began to shake her head. There was no need for that after all, one of the rooms was big enough for two.

"Don't be silly! One of the rooms can house two, so it's only a question of who share it. Kate said she wanted one of the single rooms, so it'll either be you and me, you and Jackie, or Jackie and me!" Alura explained with a smile.

"But they're busy taking pictures right now, so we should wait with asking her opinion about it... so tell me a bit about yourself!"

Jackie noticed the new girl, and almost wanted to go and hide in the bathroom. "So many new people...I didn't know about having to live with so many, I'm afraid." She said. "I guess I have to introduce myself...yet again. My name's Jackie O' Lanamere...I'm from Candela, it's misfortunate meeting you."

@Bartimaeus

Kate

"Cool, thanks!" Kate said after Jackie had given permission to have her picture taken.

*Snap!*

"And you said your name was Katalynn?" she asked, turning to face the girl standing by the doorway. "I'm Kate Carson. Nice to meet ya!" she added with a smile as she held out her hand.

Gertrude smiled when AJ suggested tea. "I'd love that, AJ. A good chamomille sounds wonderful right now." She got up, smoothing out a wrinkle in her sleeves. "So, do you do anything for fun? Reading? Art? Exorcise... er, exercise?" A little wink, to let him know she was having fun. She might have been what she was, but even she wasn't completely above it all.

@Stone

"It'll be misfortunate because I tend to have a rather adverse effect on people...I've been told I'm quite the 'Debby Downer', or whatever that means..." She explained to Katalynn. "I'm not from 'Canada'...I've never even heard of a place like that before." She was starting to kind of like her new roommates...even if they were a little strange, she could just chalk that up to the unusual school they had all enrolled in. It didn't get its reputation from nothing, after all. The dorms were nice, and she even sort of liked the halls, however she definitely wasn't going to express this. It was too much work on her poor, melted face. "I wonder what the teachers are like...I never got to meet any, I'm afraid...on account of being so late to the welcoming party."

@Bartimaeus@Ponn@Cotton

Daria let out a sigh of relief as it seemed that Helena was willing to forgive her and even found that whole incident humerous - and that quickly turned into a somewhat devious smirk as Helena approved of her delivering a well-needed beatdown. "I try." Daria started to clean herself - and her hair - with what was quickly becoming a bloody rag. "Anyways ... classes?" The leopardess gave Helena a somewhat confused glance. Then decided to clarify about her illiteracy some more in case that alone was confusing. "Cannot read. No joke." She hoped Helena actually believed her this time after her previous ... performance.