Lucaris woke up with a start during the early hours of the morning. He sat there, his lungs heaving for air, and reflected upon what had woken him up so roughly. Lucaris' dreams weren't joyous ones for they were filled with fire and shouts that made Lucaris feel as though his heart was being torn out. The fire wasn't the only thing that visited him in his dreams. Behind the fire, almost as if taunting him, were faces he's seen during his travels over the past few weeks. Faces he's never wanted to see again. Faces that haunted him not only during the night, but his ever waking memory. Lucaris curled up as tears began to well up and pulled at his hair as he choked back sobs.

"It's not my fault. I swear it's not my fault. They just wouldn't stop. If they had just stopped everything would have been fine."

Taking several minutes to calm himself down Lucaris stood back up and finally took a closer look at his surroundings. He was so travel weary the other night that he hadn't even bothered to explore his new home. Now that he's slept, however poorly, Lucaris began to rummage about the room. On the wall next to the door was a clock which reminded him of the one he had at his old home. Walking up to it he examined the little details that were etched into the frame letting that fill his mind to replace his memories of his nightmare.

[i]I wonder if anyone is awake at this time? Six o'clock in the morning, huh. I didn't really sleep all that long did I? I wonder if there's any clothing in those drawers next to the bed. I hope so because I'd rather nobody saw mine.[/i]

Lucaris continued to ramble on in his mind as he opened one of the drawers and took out a pair of trousers from the drawer. After a small search of the other drawers he concluded that there were around six pairs of identical outfits total. He assumed if anyone wanted to wear something different then they would have to obtain it through their own means. Stripping off his smelly, blood stained clothing Lucaris looked around the room for a place to hid his clothes. Because of his thick travel cloak he knew nobody would have seen his blood-stained clothes, but he also knew there was no way he would be able to wear his travel cloak all the time. Removing one of the drawers from the frame it was set in Lucaris stashed the clothing inside the dresser so that it would be hidden when he put the drawer back. Not the perfect hiding spot but it would have to do.

[i]Now, where did Victoritta say the dining hall was?[/i]


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After about half an hour of making his way through the maze like halls of the academy Lucaris finally made it to the dining hall where all the other students gathered to have their meals before, between, and after classes. The first thing Lucaris noticed was how little people there were total. For such an enormous building one would expect it to be filled to the brim with people. Instead he could count the number of people in the dining hall on his two hands with a few extra still needing to be counted.

[i]Maybe it's still too early. It was nearly seven in the morning when I finally left my room, and I'm pretty sure it took me nearly an hour to find this place. Half an hour? Who knows, but it should be eight fairly soon. Now how does this system work?[/i]

Lucaris continued to stand and watch as students would periodically go up to where all the food was located, grab a plate, and pile anything they wanted onto the plate from the food bar. The system was fairly simple and it took Lucaris no time at all to catch on. The main problem was what exactly he was going to choose to eat. Everything looked cooked, which would only make it a little difficult to swallow whole, and there were some things that were way too small to even attempt to chew with his teeth. All in all there were so many choices to make and Lucaris felt a little overwhelmed by the amount. Quickly grabbing a large slab of meat labeled "T-Bone Steak" Lucaris quickly grabbed a fork and knife as well as a glass of water before quickly finding a seat before anyone could ask him about his odd behavior.

[i][b]That meat looks pretty dry don't ya think so? Hell there isn't even an ounce of blood oozing from that slab of animal flesh. What kind of cooks are these?[/b]

As much as I hate to say it. This is the one thing I will agree with you on. Only because I'm used to eating my meat fresh. Don't let this get to your head.

[b]Hmph, it was only an opinion of mine. I'm allowed to have those you know.[/b][/i]

Lucaris took his time with his meal. Making sure to chew the meat slowly so that it would go down without an issue. It was a process that sped up over time as he became accustomed to consuming the greatly cooked flesh. As Lucaris was nearing the end of his meal his table was suddenly invaded by another's presence that seemed to have come from nowhere. A woman he had never seen before had sat down at his table and immediately began her greetings as well as introductions without even considering if it were okay. Lucaris wasn't too bothered by the sudden company, and he looked at this woman curiously as she spoke. She had large wings that hung relaxed from her back like a mantle, and bright blue eyes that looked much like his mother's. Her eyes weren't the only thing bright in colour as her hair was a sort of bright pink that seemed to match her initial personality quite well according to Lucaris' first impression of her.

"Ah, erm, hello there. Tokarin was it? My name's Lucaris Cain. It's, erm, a pleasure to meet you." 

Lucaris said all this in his usual soft and quiet voice while he tried to divert his gaze from hers, but found it difficult to do so. As he spoke Lucaris slowly placed his hands in his lap thus hiding them under the table. His own physical abnormalities weren't much compared to someone like Karnage, but his experiences with humans in the past has made him weary and cautious when it came to meeting new people.