---

"Do you mind if we sit with you?" Sarah politely asked, motioning to the empty seats beside the two of them.

While she'd been following along with her roommate to get to the auditorium thus far, at the same time the white-haired Primalist felt a certain sense of peculiarity about Sarah's choice of....people to sit next to. Not that it was much a matter to think of, but it was something to be certain.

The first was a girl with likewise oddly-colored hair, whether it was as natural as Elena's own was since her awakening was an unknoown, but given the girl's matching odd eye color she was getting a sense of deja-vu to her own post-awakening situation. Yet the rest seemed to speak volumes in an initial sense, given, between the 'hip'-looking glasses, the tied-up hair, visible undercut, and even the piercings spoke to a "modern 'rebel without a cause'" archetype of sorts perhaps. Or a hipster. Or some form of anti-social sort, perchance? Hmm. But that was all simply poitential anecdotes wrought by an observation of one's appearance, which gave her little to work with and less to assume aside from the basic knowledge that this girl was, as with everyone else there, a Primalist. But there was one other beyond this girl sitting there as well.

A giant of a boy, likely nearly one foot taller than herself to be blunt, whose towering height was certainly among his first most-noticeable visible traits to her eyes. Second was that left eye of his-....or rather stark lack of said eye thereof that was replaced with a scar that looked far less than 'pleasant to have recieved'. Third-so was his right arm, itself placed in a proper sling, and the way about him that seemd to shout 'rough' combined with everything else. Further,, his eyes seemed somewhat 'tired' in way that felt melancholy or depressing, frankly, and beyond this it was easy to ascertain the burnt stench of a cigarette on his person that he didn't seem to be wanting to hide at all to her initial perception. Perhaps someone who grew up in a bad place? Rough life, maybe? Hmm. Again this was only enough evidence to make initial guesses at the nature of this person, but she felt she could rule out 'a very happy ray of sunshine all of the time' out about this person for a surety.

In any case, she didn't want to seem as if she was simply staring at these two peers of theirs like they were oddities at some olden-day carnival exhibit. It was a....'distasteful' sort of approach that would be to make others feel like. Sure she may have raised an eyebrow mildly for a moment, but would return to a 'usual' professionalism of sorts rapid again thereafter as she tried to keep a polite equivalent of a 'poker face' on for the time being. However, one hand did briefly rest closer to her right hip in a more casual manner, admittedly, as her thoughts went briefly back to her stomach. She wanted to get this whole affair over with here well enough, and then at least in a basic manner satiate her stomach and curiosity about the school's cafeteria and how such facilities were. Because it would be good to know if certain times of day and meals they made were of better or lesser quality, though knowing how big the school was it was perhaps certain that it wouldn't be five-star dining of course. Not that she was looking for such at this school as much as she just wanted to get a feel of the food there, mass-produced, frozen and thawed, or potentially more handmade or not as it could/might be.

She meanwhile had a few things stashed for using in the kitchenette back in her and Sarah's room if need-be, or if she simply felt like it, though at this point in time they had remained concealed in her things due to the prior day's tiredness after her arrival there. But part of her couldn't help but imagine trying to sprout up some edible portabella mushrooms and some others to cook with. A nice mixture provided by her, admittedly still vexatiously strange by their nature, new powers that would save potentially a bit on food costs and so forth. Wait. Did they even have a spot to buy ingredients around here? Blast it all, she needed to check that out as well! Or perhaps there was another here who could conjure dairy or something for some in-room cheese ripening at a more rapid pace? Hmm...

Meanwhile, she'd simply give an assenting nod and maybe a breif wave with her free left hand to support what Sarah was asking if they looked to her at all. Nothing much, just enough to get the cordiality out of the way among peers.

@BurningCold@Carlyle

---

Nothing particularly stood out to Emiliano during his walk to the auditorium. Not surprising, he is part of the last groups to flood inside the building. All the good seats were probably taken at this point, so there was little reason to rush on his part. As others went on ahead, Emiliano staggered behind, thinking about the hotplate situation again. With any luck, he could probably find someone around his seating area in possession of one.

There weren't many options available to him as the rows quickly filled, though some areas were more empty than others. It appears some students have already established their friend circles by now. Which was great because he could ask all of them at once for kitchen equipment. As Emiliano scanned for a spot to claim, he noticed NPC John gesturing to him among the crowd, with an empty seat next to him.

Well, that just makes things easier!

“Yes-Yes, coming!”

Emiliano hurried to his seat while being mindful with his footing for those already seated in the same row as he passed by. He apologized to NPC John for taking too long and thanked him for saving a seat. From there, they had a casual conversation while waiting for the assembly to start. They touched a bit on politics, specifically the anti-primalist senator. Emiliano couldn't contribute much, he didn't exactly follow American politics, but did remark the prejudice against primalists is pretty much the same back in Europe. Even in his peaceful hometown, there was the occasional bad apple seeking trouble.

Eventually the conversation steered into a more lighthearted topic. It started with a question some rando asked from the next seat over.

What's your element?

When it came to Emiliano's turn to answer, he didn't hesitate.

“Salt.” He responded with a deadpan tone.

---

---

Vinegar grimaced as she stared into the mirror, yanking her tie this way and that in an attempt to find a position that was even remotely comfortable. She hated ties, always felt vaguely like she was being choked whenever she wore one. What kind of cruel and unusual punishment was wearing a uniform, anyway? There were way too many layers for this time of year, and god the trousers were so stuffy and stiff. UGH. She gave a final yank that she felt was finally comfortable--and realized as she did that she'd just yanked the entire thing off. With a long, heavy sigh, she closed her eyes and pinched her nose between thumb and index finger. It was going to be a long day.

Another few minutes for her to get the damn thing back up again, tight enough that it wouldn't come off and loose enough that she only felt a little like she was being strangled, and took a deep breath, resting her forehead against the mirror and staring at the ground. She'd barely been here at all and it was already lonely. Her lips curled into a faint snarl that her shitty foster parents had sent her here. Yeah, yeah, she got it, she was a primalist, she had to go to a primalist school to make sure she didn't boil anybody she didn't like, made sense. That didn't mean she had to like it. Maybe the campus allowed visits or something once she demonstrated she could be allowed to run around without cutting anyone in half with a heat beam.

Well, and she guessed she could at least try to get along with her new enforced company. She glanced back at the door to the 'living room.' Somewhere on the other side of that was this "Johnathan" that she'd be living with from now on (honestly, what kind of school did coed dorms?). But, also, on the other hand--"ATTENTION STUDENTS. PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU ARE AT THE WOLKWITZ AUDITORIUM FOR THE CEREMONY IN THE NEXT TEN MINUTES."

Well, that.

She'd spend two or three further minutes adjusting her damn tie after the announcement, so she only had so much time to get where she was going. With a purposeful stride, she flung open the door, breezing through the common area and exiting her dorm. If Johnny boy was in there, then he could catch up if he wanted. But Vina Lilliane had places to be! She'd never really been a rule follower, to say the least. But since she was a primalist, she was stuck in this stupid school for who knew how long? So it would be best for her to make at least some level of good impression on the faculty before she started driving them up the wall with her incessant habit to cause trouble, even if she'd been trying to get a handle on it before.

She took the stairs down to the building entrance three at a time before bursting out into the balmy warmth of a New York late summer. Almost instantly she clocked the big building that approximately everyone on campus was moving to; so that was the auditorium, then. It had been maybe three minutes since she'd left her dorm when she finally made her way into the cavernous space, doing her best to not shove by people and only slightly failing. Five minutes to, then, and all the seats were filling up with people. She sucked in a breath and stayed up near the doors, where the seats were less crowded, and she could plop herself down right on the aisle with a short huff and a stretch as she bounced her foot against the floor.

"And now we wait," she grunted.

@Shylarah

John was up quite early to go for a run around campus. He always went for a morning run back home, and there was no reason to let that habit fall by the wayside just because he was in a new place. The morning was comfortably cool, though it promised to warm up as the sun rose higher. After half an hour it was back to his dorm for a quick shower and to change into his school uniform -- white shirt, black sweatervest, red tie, and black slacks. John was far from thrilled. It really took a bit of the life out of things, having everyone dress the same. And a tie! Ties were uncomfortable at best, and downright annoying at worst. The blazer he draped over his shoulder -- it wasn't cold enough to need it at the moment.

It was still early, but by then the cafeteria was open, so he went for breakfast. It was nice to be able to have a hot breakfast, he reflected. Back home, breakfast usually consisted of a bowl of cereal with milk, and maybe a banana. He sat at a table with a couple of other students, and the group chatted some about where they were from and what their elements were.

Eventually an announcement came over the intercom, saying the students should head to some auditorium. John followed the flow of people towards another building, presumably the auditorium. Inside, he cast his gaze over the crowd of students, noting that he wasn't the only one with dyed hair. Sure, there weren't many who had gone for color, but at least there were a few. He found a seat towards the front of the room, less than a third of the way back, and settled into it.

Conner tilted his head, weighing the options like he was deciding between two equally good flavors of ice cream.

“Hmm, socializing could be fun. Then again…” He said, stretching out his arms. “I’m not really in the mood to mingle with a bunch of kids taking this whole thing way too seriously…”

He let his gaze sweep across the auditorium, noting the scattered students, the empty seats, and the group Wren had pointed out. Then his eyes landed on a blue haired boy sitting near the front. He looked put together. Like he actually wanted to be here. What really caught his attention was the hair color. Sky blue, which suggested he wasn’t a total stick in the mud.

After a beat, Conner grinned. “Come on, let’s make some first impressions!”

Conner confidently sauntered up to the blue haired guy, and sat down next to him. “Front row huh? Bold choice… You actually excited for this? Or are you just trying to suck up to the professors?” He chuckled, and made a finger gun gesture. “I’m digging the hair bro. Blue is my favorite color.”

@IAmTheIsland @shylarah

Sam was in the cafeteria when he heard the announcement for all students to head to the auditorium. He normally didn't care much for a fancy breakfast, cereal was perfectly acceptable to him. But that was when he had to prepare it himself, being able to just grab eggs and toast and whatever else he wanted made the idea of a full breakfast much more palatable.

Students were leaving the cafeteria but Sam stayed seated, he really didn't want to get caught up in the mass of bodies all heading to the same place. He'd be sure to get there in time, but at the current moment he was going to finish his coffee. He didn't even particularly like coffee, he had just always found the idea of starting the day with a coffee so quaint and fun.

After a few minutes Sam got up and made his way to the auditorium. It was easy enough to find, plenty of students still seemed to be making their way. But now Sam wasn't concerned he might get trampled in the crowd. Inside the building students had seemed to have taken up all the seats close to the front. That was fine with Sam, not like this was a concert or something where he wanted a good seat.

The back of the hall had lots more open seats, though they were filling up fast. He noticed a girl with light blond hair sitting in the aisle seat, bouncing her leg up and down. Same figured the whole auditorium would be filled so there was no point trying not to sit next to someone.

"Sorry, 'scuse me," Sam said as he scooted by her, careful not to step on her feet, as he took the seat next to her. "Hi there," he spoke with a friendly tone and a brief smile before going back to his usual somewhat grumpy expression. The room was hot, even if it was air conditioned having so many people in one place was just going to make the room unbearable. Sam created a tiny ice cube in his hand and rubbed it on his forehead and the back of his neck. It helped, but he was really hoping this assembly wouldn't take too long.

@Lemons

A brown-haired young man settled next to John, with a dark-haired young lady following suit. "I'm hardly in the first row," John scoffed, though he smiled as he said it. His grin widened at the compliment of his hair. "Heck yeah, blue's my favorite color too!" He ran his eyes over the two other students, taking in the guy's unbuttoned top buttons, the untucked shirt...the blue socks with...fish, maybe? The girl had dressed more conservatively, though even she wore a pair of boots with chunky soles. He held out a hand to shake. "I'm John. What are your names?"

@IAmTheIsland @Crimson Flame