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[hr][center][i][b]• The School Cafeteria •[/b][/i][/center][hr]
Mallory was about to return to her food when another person intervened, displaying their magical ability for the whole cafeteria to see. Although the boy was probably doing it to stop the conflict altogether, his use of magic made her wary. Mallory was joking when she told the students in front of her that the whole fight might end up in a few bruises to the face, but now she was a bit more on edge when the fourth boy to arrive decided to bust out some magic. It could have gone extremely downhill from there.

Then, everything in the cafeteria came to a silent halt as one of the Professors stomped in.

The conflict had been resolved, for now. Mallory would find herself in a mini lecture as the imposing woman explained the source behind the previous boy's magic, as well as giving a good telling off to the rest of the boys in front of the entire cafeteria. Mallory snorted, taking the last bite of her bread.

[b]“[color=mediumpurple]Well, they totally had it coming.[/color]”[/b]
[hr][center][i][b]• Classroom Exams •[/b][/i][/center][hr]
The revelation of written exams weren't much of a surprise to Mallory. This was a prestigious school for professional mages after all; written tests like this, Mallory thought, were inevitable to come across in the first few days of the school year. Mallory wasn't incredibly intelligent by any means, but she considered herself smart enough. Had her parents not been the incredibly intelligent people they were, she wouldn't even have the slightest sense of what half the questions on the paper meant. The next time she went home, she would have to thank them for that.

Mallory answered what she could. But then came the time to start writing up her essay on why she aspired to become a professional mage. At first, her mind went completely blank. She had agreed to attend the institute for the sake of honing her powers as a mage, more so to gain good control and understanding over them. The more knowledge the better; her parents couldn't stress this enough, especially after what happened when Mallory decided to do a little 'experiment' on the one day she was left home alone. However, just recalling those memories all the way back to the first time she discovered her magical affinities struck a chord in Mallory. With that one idea in mind, she began to write.

[i][b][color=mediumpurple]Magic is a wonderful thing, but the more you know, the more fascinating it becomes.[/color][/b][/i][hr][center][i][b]• An Old, Burned out Town •[/b][/i][/center][hr]
For some reason, Mallory felt a bit drained after the written exam. Scribbling away on sheets of paper for an hour and a half in complete silence wasn't something she particularly enjoyed. But now it was time for the practical exam, which everyone else seemed more enthusiastic about. During the thirty minute bus ride to her next location, Mallory restrained her mischievous mannerisms (she didn't have the energy to play 'who can out-insult the other person' at that time) and decided to quietly rest up for the entire journey. Perhaps there were some short conversations in between, but Mallory made sure she was mentally and physically relaxed before the practical exam begun. She would definitely need it once she got off the bus.

[i]Full-force, objective based combat test.[/i] Mallory was ecstatic.

The whole group sorting thing was pretty chaotic. Everyone was scuttling around in desperate search for decent partners, and Mallory could only let herself flow through the crowd in order to not get trampled on. With only five minutes left and having just escaped the more concentrated area of students, Mallory still had no one else to team up with. Her thoughts went back to the magic card boy from a few hours back, but in this large crowd she had no such luck finding him. She didn't have any time to thoroughly do so.

Somehow, the flow of the crowd had swept her towards the few people she did recognise. It was the victim and the peacemaker; two of the four boys from the cafeteria incident. Another, shorter person was there too, not looking very amused by the boy that stood over them. From what she could hear, harsh rejection against the boy followed soon after. Luck just wasn't on that boy's side today.

[b]“[color=mediumpurple]Luck just isn't on your side today, is it?[/color]”[/b]

Mallory waited for an appropriate moment to approach the boy with that statement, preferably when he wasn't standing as close to peacemaker boy and his shorter comapnion. She thought it was likely he would take the opportunity to group up with her after being turned down by someone else, and the closer Mallory was to a full group the less likely she would end up with someone less tolerable. This kid seemed nice enough at least, better than she had come across so far.

[b]“[color=mediumpurple]You know, I think the both of us could do with an actual group.[/color]”[/b]

[@HeartlessNobody]