[center][h2][color=a187be]Ohon Katann[/color] and [color=c4df9b]Professor Katarina[/color][/h2][/center][hr][center]Breakfast Fight Breakup[/center][hr]

Shit was hitting the fan faster than Ohon had expected. He wasn't much of a fan of big brawls, but while looking up at the ceiling, he saw the big student throwing his hand towards the asshole standing on his wing. He'd have to thank the big one later. He blinked once and almost missed it, but a stream of just barely visible energy erupted across the room towards the big one and halted the strike before it landed. The other student lifted his foot, but Ohon didn't notice and continued lying on the floor - as much as he hated having his wings damaged, he very much couldn't feel what may as well have been iridescent sheets of paper sprouting from his back.

[color=a187be]"I thought I told you to fucking [i]move[/i], asshole. You have three seconds. One..."[/color]

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of one of his acquaintances from the previous year, Celeste. Cel was one year ahead of him at the Institute, but may as well have been four years ahead, given the disparity between their grades. Ohon's previous year had been spent in remedial courses, half of which he'd almost failed: not out of lack of effort, but out of lack of brainpower. He had to retake his mathematics and science courses again and was on par with entry level students in all areas but single combat and magic usage.

If nothing had happened, Ohon would have cemented his poor reputation in the minds of all of the entry level students just as he had with the older ones. His weapons and magic equipment were in his locker, but his fists were hard enough to put any of these doughy softies down. But something that, on further reflection, should've been completely expected [i]did[/i] happen.

[h3][b]SLAM.[/b][/h3]
[color=c4df9b][b]"HOLD IT!"[/b][/color]

The air froze, and all students involved found themselves petrified and silenced by the force of unimaginable magical energy wrapping about them, holding them in place.

The double doors at the back of the room slowly came to a close with a severe looking woman standing before them. She was dressed in the olive green greatcoat of Mordhaben's Institute's staff uniform, with a pair of black combat boots planted firmly upon the floor and her arms crossed behind her back. Dark golden skin and shining green eyes drew attention to the thoroughly unamused look on her face, sitting below an ancient, stereotypical wizards' hat, black and crumpled with age. Older students would immediately recognize her as Professor Katarina, disciplinarian and doctor in Common and Writing. She periodically appeared in upper level courses, taking classes alongside the other students to further her already vast knowledge, and was in charge of doctoral courses in Common comprehension and philosophy.

She turned to the pileup and addressed the crowd, one by one. [color=c4df9b]"Azerus. Keep your rage in check. You don't know what others are capable of, and your first punch may also be your last."

"Holliday. Save the monologuing for when you become a comic book supervillain. If you have something to say in a tense situation, say it quickly like Breckenridge."

"Breckenridge and Bayamar, you showed good judgment here. Breckenridge, I see you came prepared and made good use of your Condenser, but there are rules in place here at Mordhaben's Institute for Aspiring Mages regarding carrying equipment. I know you're new and that we haven't assigned lockers yet, though, so I'm willing to overlook it this time."

"Ohon... God damn it. You know my usual lines, so I won't waste my time."[/color]

She indicated each student with an open palm as she addressed them before continuing. [color=c4df9b]"Those of you who aren't aware of how Breckenridge used magic of that magnitude, he used a type of energy storage device known as a Condenser."[/color] She held up a small ceramic cylinder the size of an AA battery, with two small prongs at one end. [color=c4df9b]"You will be given training on how to use these at a later time. For now, just know that using magic without a Condenser or other convenient energy source requires taking it from your own body, and you will generally be limited to low intensity and nonlethal magic usage unless you intend to exhaust yourself into a blood sugar coma. Condensers are categorized as weapons, and your weapons will be stored in a locker outside of combat courses, with the exception of an unloaded rifle or pistol which you will carry with you at all times. You now have seven minutes to finish eating - do it quickly, as the Entrance Examination is starting in ten. If you don't finish on time, leave the tray where it is: there will be wrapped protein bars handed out at the testing area and our staff will clean up after you."[/color] After the short lecture, the veil of unbreakably powerful magical energy lifted, and Madock found himself standing two feet to the left, away from Ohon and his wing.

Ohon leapt up and dashed through the air to a seat on the other side of the room with a loud buzzing sound and a blast of air from the beating of his wings, and sat, carefully nursing the crinkled and nearly torn footprint on his top left wing. A soft glow swept over it as he worked to fix it.

[hr][center][h2][color=39b54a]Groundskeeper Billy[/color][/h2][/center][hr][center]A Late Student[/center][hr]

The old, red-haired gardener stepped outside into the rain. A new student had entered the school grounds and after the staff were given an alert by the railroad platform, he was found to be the closest person. Some sort of mixup regarding weaponry had happened - most likely a new employee at the railroad station who wasn't yet informed that Institute applicants and students were permitted to carry weapons on the train. With a wave of his hand, the rain stopped - or rather, it started striking an invisible dome over the courtyard again.

The new student was fairly small and gave off an odd scent that nobody but a trained outdoorsman like himself would have caught. She was admiring his handiwork, sending a surge of personal pride through him. Not many people noticed the different breeds of flower and tree he had planted about the campus, and the tropical plants surviving in the courtyard were one of his greatest works.

[color=39b54a]"I see you like my work,"[/color] he said to the new girl as he walked over, his back creaking with strain with each step. Despite the arthritis, he was lithe and fit and forced his way through the pain. [color=39b54a]"Arthesian Corpseflowers. Morbid name for a beautiful plant - you wouldn't believe the lengths I went to to get them to stop eating every squirrel that hops the fence. The skeletons were getting hard to clean up. 'Course, I still let them eat the moles and rats, heh!"[/color]

He gave the girl a careful lookover. Her scent suggested she wasn't quite what she seemed and his sharp eyes caught glimpses of tiny details that others would never notice. But he opted to say nothing, instead reaching into a pocket and pulling out a handful of small bars of fruity gelatin with a thick, chewy texture. The wrappers read, 'Quikmag, the breakfast for mages on the go!', and were packed with protein, vitamins, and carbs. Nothing about the wrappers suggested they tasted good in any way whatsoever.

[color=39b54a]"If you're here for the entrance exam, it's starting soon. Breakfast is over, but... Eh. Here, have these. You'll need the energy. Follow me, it's this way."[/color]

[@FlitterFaux]

[hr][center][h2]The Written Exam[/h2][/center][hr]

After the students finished their breakfast, Professor Katarina raised a hand to emit a bright flash to catch their attentions. [color=c4df9b]"We're heading to the testing area now. Follow me: the written portion of the exam is first, followed by more... [i]practical[/i] testing."[/color]

The Professor turned to leave the Cafeteria through the double doors, glancing back over her shoulder to check who all followed along. Ohon joined the group, along with a small group of older students, who quietly chatted to themselves about what the entrance exam this year might be. They seemed like they wanted to watch, and the applicants could hear whispers of how many had failed the exam in past years and how. By all reports, it was [i]very[/i] difficult to pass.

The group passed through the administration building and exited through a large pair of doors on the other side from the courtyard to a huge open area with neatly trimmed grass. Walkways and a wide street cut through the campus, with several large groupings of buildings three stories tall in front of them. Off to the left were rows upon rows of three story buildings that looked like dormitories, and to the right was a road that lead out of the main college campus. A series of armored, open-top cars rolled down the road pulling carts full of students in the school's combat uniform, all armed to the teeth, and disappeared over a hill towards the training grounds.

Three minutes after leaving the cafeteria, the group had entered the first building across the street on the left, walked down the wide hallway past herds of students wearing casual outfits (the uniform code seemed lax), and came to a pair of double doors. Inside would be a series of large desks and chairs of varying sizes from human scale to monstrously large chimera-friendly desks and stools for students with tails. An exam booklet and a stack of answer sheets sat upon each desk with a series of booklets written in the Common equivalent of braille for blind students and small audio ribbon based recording devices for their answers. The braille sheet desks were surrounded in a visible Silence field to avoid other students being disturbed by the answers.

Professor Katarina moved to the front of the class and sat at a desk in the front, facing the classroom in front of a chalkboard no less than ten meters wide and three meters tall, covered in scribbled notes on page numbers and schedules. In the middle, in large lettering, was a list of instructions on how to take the exam. An hour was given to answer fifty questions covering every major educational topic, with a further half hour given after the first hour was over for an essay on why each student wanted to become a professional Mage.

[hider=Instructions]Feel free to describe how your characters perform on the written exam and the rough concept of what they wrote for their essay. No need to go into detail: the written exam isn't something that can be roleplayed quickly or easily, but there are a number of trick questions on medicine, biology, and history that sharper students might catch.[/hider]

[hr][h3]The Practical Exam[/h3][hr]11:00 AM, August 6th, 1210PW. 42 Degrees Fahrenheit. Cloudy.[hr][color=f7976a]Boorkat Malkin took his position as Administrator of Mordhaben's Institute for Aspiring Mages today, following his predecessor's scandalous usage of entrance exams to gain sexual favours from applicants.[/color] - The Unoctoc View, January 12th, 1207PW[hr]
After the written exam had finished, Professor Katarina had passed the applicants to Professor Brovak, who had taken them by bus to a location far outside the school. All in all, the trip had taken a half hour, and the applicants and observers stepped off of the bus to the sight of an old, burned out town. Buildings were only barely standing, the brickwork scorched but intact, and buildings taller than two stories seemed to have collapsed after the woodwork crumbled. It was an ancient place, preserved through magic. The crowd of applicants was slightly smaller than it had been - perhaps some of them had decided to turn back and go home instead of risking their lives trying to become Mages.

Professor Brovak walked towards the burnt-out town some, then spun about. [color=7ea7d8]"Applicants will stand at attention in a single line, side by side. The Practical Exam begins in fifteen minutes. I will go over what you will do during the exam."[/color] He waited patiently for the potential students to order up before continuing, [color=7ea7d8]"We will be doing things slightly differently this year. The Exam Commission has been instructed to accept as many new students as possible and only reject those who are completely and totally unsuited for Magery. We are [i]not[/i] happy about this, however. Instead of rejecting students based on poor choices, we have opted to instead make the practical exams as unpleasant as is safely possible (and I use that term [i]very[/i] loosely). You will be permitted to give up and leave at any moment if the exam is too painful or difficult, and I strongly encourage you to do so. I am required to inform you that medical services will be given after the exam is over, and staff will be overseeing the exam to intervene and prevent any untimely deaths through advanced medical and temporal magic. Standard issue rifles and ammunition will be passed out, as well as Condensers, as this is going to be a full-force, objective based combat test."[/color]

[color=7ea7d8]"Organize yourselves into squads of three. You have ten minutes, and I do not care how you choose to do it. Those left without partners will be grouped with eachother at random, so unless you want to risk being stuck with someone completely useless, make your decisions now."[/color]

[@Eragon][@HeartlessNobody][@Dark Light][@semicolon][@GrafRoy Zeppeli][@Etranger][@hagroden][@Jay Kalton]