Dawn blinked, somewhat taken aback at Duma’s response. “Oh, uh, thank you. It was my great grandmother’s name, I think. And I’d be glad to be your friend, in that case.” She smiled again, the realization that the other might be trying to hit on her slowly coming to light. That was...surprising. Not many people tended to do that, although the fact that she hadn’t brought up her last name might have had something to do with it. Somewhat unsure of how to take the idea, Dawn turned back to her meal, shoveling into a pile of fried potatoes with relish. Whoever had prepared everything, their talent was undeniable. 

She had just finished the potatoes, and was moving onto a few strips of bacon when Duma suddenly announced he was leaving. Dawn looked up, swallowing her latest mouthful and dabbing her mouth clean with a napkin. That was...fast. 

“Well, good luck with the unpacking, Duma.” She nodded at him, a bit of flush creeping around her collar as he threw out one last flirt. “I’ll, um, see you later, then.” With that, she ducked her head, quietly sipping her orange juice as he went. She really needed to learn how to handle that better.

Soon enough, Dawn had polished off her plate, and had risen to put away her things when she spotted a flash of red out of the corner of her eye. Before she could turn to register what it was, however, the blur suddenly started screaming at the top of its lungs, charging at Larke from across the room and knocking him into the buffet table. 

Kora Norrevinter, then. While the initial impact had been shocking, the connection made it less so. The Sterling-Norrevinter feud had become nearly the stuff of legend by this point, brought to fame through just how devoted the two had become to the quarrel. Despite its...relative normalcy, Dawn watched somewhat uneasily, quite aware that not much could get between them at this point.

Save for the professor that strode in, casually plucking Larke from the mess and scolding the combatants. Dawn relaxed a bit, turning away from the remains of the fight to see what appeared to be another professor casting lights about himself and summoning what looked to be a giant fire wolf in the middle of the floor.

That wasn’t quite what Dawn had expected upon coming to Marchand, but she supposed that trying to expect normalcy in a magical school would be rather hard to do. Shaking her head slightly, she began to examine the rest of the apparent professors. Two women, three men. The women looked completely unfazed by all that surrounded them, as did the professor who had separated the fight- although the grizzled looking one seemed almost unnerved by everything. As if he expected the whole facility to suddenly turn at him all at once. There was only a small sampling of staff in the room with him, and it was already shaping up to be quite the mixed bag.

The year certainly wouldn’t be boring, at least.

[hr]

Esperanza didn’t notice the roll immediately, busy with mopping and wiping and occasionally scooping some of the mash up into the napkins. It was only upon rising to throw away the latest batch that she noticed the bandages offered to her- and immediately beamed, as if Helena was offering her an early birthday present instead of simple gauze. 

“Thank you very much! I will only use some, so you can use it later.” Nodding firmly to herself, Esperanza took the roll from Hel, and carefully began to wind it around the worst of her cuts. 

“Defense magic is very...very…” She licked her lips, struggling to find the proper word. “Very wonderful. Useful? Both of those things. I am sure that you will get better at it. I am the Necromancer, myself.” Esp snapped the bandages with a flourish, then passed it back to Hel.

“It is very scary at first,” she admitted. “Then, it is not so bad. You will need some granola, so you can get the blood back after, but it is just like getting the needle at the doctor’s. Except instead of getting medicine, you will be using the magic to keep strange people out of your window at night. Or other things.”

With that, Esperanza gave a cheerful smile, throwing a lump of tissue into the trash bin. “I think that we have finished. There is no-” She was cut off by a loud roar of “TYRRRR” behind her, followed by a crash as something heavy collided with another. Startled, Esperanza whirled on her heel to find a woman pinning a boy to the buffet table and pouring yogurt in his hair. The two were insulting each other the whole time, although the girl was much louder in her efforts than her captive.

She looked at the girl, then the boy. Then the girl’s red hair. Then the boy again.

A wide, goofy grin split Esp’s face. 

This- [i]this[/i] was the Norrevinter-Sterling fighting that her mother had told her about.

Amazement pounding through her veins, Esp fumbled in her pocket for a moment, pulled out her phone, and immediately began to record the whole thing. Her sisters would love to see this, she thought gleefully. Unfortunately, before she could get some good footage, a professor had stepped in to split things up. Waves of nullification magic leaked from his body.

Esp snapped the camera off, pushing it back into her skirt and turning back to Helena.

“That was so exciting!” She gushed. “I was not expecting for there to be a fight on the first day! And it happened so fast- do you think that every day will have a fight, Helena?” Her eyes were as wide as saucers, smile stretching from ear to ear.

This had to be the second most action-filled day in her whole life.  

[@VitoftheVoid]