[h3]Dorm Assignments[/h3][hr]1:00 PM, August 6th, 1210PW. 51 Degrees Fahrenheit. Overcast.[hr][color=f7976a]'Terraphage' purpose identified! New laws have recently been passed restricting the formation of new industrial zones near the Deadlands for the safety of Unoctocan citizens. Furthermore, Deadlands expeditions will no longer use fuel operated machinery, lest they prompt Terraphage response.[/color] - The Parliamentary Watch[hr]

Some time passed. Boorkat Malkin and some of the other staff members kept things running as smoothly as possible while some students stayed in the dorm quad for lunch, and Professor Volkova accompanied those who decided to have lunch at the cafeteria building. Either way, it seemed to them that the students had begun to choose their roommates with some measure of success. After a while, students handed in their papers, while others were given roommate recommendations. And eventually, the staff came to some decisions regarding roommate and dorm room assignments. Not all of the students had finished choosing their roommates, but the staff still took that into consideration with their pairings.

Volkova tapped Magnhilde and Rikka on the shoulders, flashed them a quick smile, and gathered their papers. [color=c4df9b]"Congratulations, you two. You're officially staying together. You will be staying in Room Q1-221. When you're finished eating, the Kio-Farat boys will help you get your dormitory room set up. Just talk to the R.A. - her office is in the southern common room in building Q1, on the west side of the quad,"[/color] she said, then she turned around to give other students in the cafeteria their room assignments.

Back in the dorm quad common area, it had started raining, though the Groundskeeper's magic was somehow keeping everything from staying wet for any more than a split second and the warmth of the plants kept it from being terribly unpleasant. Boorkat stayed quiet, instead opting to let his granddaughter handle the dormitory assignments. The young third generation lobster chimera quickly dashed about, taking up peoples' papers. Those who hadn't yet signed their papers but seemed to be getting along exceptionally well were put together just as those who had signed their papers were. All others were assigned at random.

[hider=In the end, the dormitory assignments were as follows:]
L'ilisht, Arkan Higaeyt - Q4-121

Mark Steel, Berke Bayamaar - Q1-224

Bawen Coridell, Honehe Bitter-Tooth - Q2-107

Magnhild Voll, Rikka Kishimoto - Q1-221

Jhin Naugna, Lucannus Murdoc - Q2-108

Mallory Mortimer, Jesse Belladonna - Q2-210

Matt Dorn, Ohon Katann - Q2-310

Alexander Breckenridge, Joseph Milit - Q1-114

Louis Martin, Elyse Steiner val Hattan - Q2-218

Yrhen Oharra - Q3-414

Mionrask ar Wahaca, Deegon Bigknifestabby - Q3-212

Mycona Frisa - Q3-172[/hider]

Boorkat's granddaughter translated for the humongous lobsterman again, giving the students their assigned rooms and some quick directions to their dormitory buildings. [color=00a99d]"You're free to speak to the Resident Assistant in your dormitory building to get your key and move your furniture in at any time between now and 18:00. You have a little under five hours to get yourselves situated, after which point you will be provided with only the very barest furnishings until you figure out how to move everything else in yourself. Have fun, don't get yourselves into too much trouble."[/color]

Some of the listed roommates were missing.

[hr][h3]Later That Day[/h3][hr]1:30-6:00 PM, August 6th, 1210PW.[hr]

Over the course of the day, various groups of students moved into their dorms. There were quite a lot more than had been in the group at the opening ceremony, and overall the campus seemed much, [i]much[/i] more lively than it had been only a few short hours ago. Where there had been only the occasional old scholars shuffling around before, now far more younger people had come out of the woodwork, including the Kio-Farat Fraternity - large, musclebound humans (and one bonobo-esque second generation chimera), who helped assemble furniture brought over by truck from the Warehouse, organized furniture choices, and teleported peoples' belongings and furnishings directly into their rooms.

When students entered their dormitories for the first time, depending on whether they picked up furniture before or afterward, they encountered a sparse room perhaps 8'x10' with a thin blue carpet, off-white walls, a large curtained window with a small balcony, and a tiled area directly to the right of the entrance containing a magically enhanced icebox, a sink, and a gas-heated range, all in rich mahogany. On either side of the room lay two doors, which opened into mirrored opposites of bedrooms, which were much smaller with only barely enough space for a bed, a small desk, and a dresser, though there was also a tiny coat closet on the side towards the dormitory hallways. At the back of each bedroom was also a tiny bathroom with a toilet, a small sink on a pedestal, a mirror-cabinet, and a circular shower pan afixed with a pipe framework holding up the showerhead and curtains. The room looked like it would get very wet very quickly if one weren't careful.

Students were able to bring in their own furniture, or choose from a series of different styles, depending on their needs. Beds ranged from classical human style beds to stone slabs to boxes of sand to small circular cushions. Couches and lounge chairs had similar differences, though many had their back rest elevated above a gap meant for tails. Essentially, every biological need was covered, and within a matter of hours, every room had what it needed, though the rooms lacked any sort of entertainment. If someone wanted a radio, they would've had to have brought it themself. Otherwise, the library and athletics compounds would be their best bets for entertainment - as well as New Mordhaben, the small college town just a couple miles down the road leading southwest through the forest and across the railroad tracks. Finally, special needs students had their dormitories modified (often magically) to meet their needs.

At the end of the move-ins, the loudspeakers and information boards around the school provided the new students with vital information: They would be taking their entrance exams at 7:00 AM the next morning, and would be woken up an hour prior to that.

The missing roommates still hadn't arrived.

[h3]The Written Exam[/h3][hr]6:00 AM, August 7th, 1210PW. 44 Degrees Fahrenheit. Still dark, slightly windy.[hr]

The next morning, after moving in and meeting roommates, students were woken up - loudly - by the school loudspeakers. Rikka's special accommodations involved her bed violently shaking and a notice teleporting onto an info board next to her bed, just like the other students with hearing difficulties had. The school loudspeakers and the written notices honked five times (the written notice quite literally had '[b]HONK[/b]' written across the top repeatedly as the result of a speech-to-text artifact being built into an automatic printer), followed by instructions:

[b][center][color=ed1c24]New students are to report to the cafeteria for breakfast and placement examinations in 30 minutes. I repeat, new students are to report to the cafeteria for breakfast and placement examinations in 30 minutes. Other students may disregard this message.[/color][/center][/b]

[hr]

At the cafeteria, staff were lined up and getting trays of food for themselves. Many of them were just as sleepy as several of the new students were, though a handful looked no worse for the wear: primarily the military professors and some of the more 'unnatural' ones. The school apparently had gotten a new shipment of Guavl - a type of stimulant beverage similar to extremely potent coffee, though with a more 'woody' flavor - and a pungent odor. A handful of upperclassmen who had never had it before took a single sip and their pupils visibly dilated, and the woodlike and acrid scent of the drink flooded the cafeteria.

The day's breakfast "special" was a bright red omelette made with Hakakos (a type of enormous flightless bird) eggs, diced whip vines, and stoneflower petals, and it had the taste of very lightly fermented flame-roasted beef, courtesy of the unique enzymes present in the stoneflower. The dish was packed with more protein than some students would have in a week at home, and the chefs in the Unoctocan quarter made sure that everyone knew it. Imported tropical fruits from southern Swazivan were served with the omelette as a side.

[hr]

After breakfast, Professor Volkova (once again) gathered the new students together - this time making absolutely certain that [i]everyone[/i] joined them immediately. [color=c4df9b]"The placement exams are starting shortly. Follow me,"[/color] she said, and the group made its way to the Social Building. Downstairs, in the basement, there was a large and warmly lit room packed with desks, each of which was pre-prepared with a pencil, a booklet, and an answer sheet. The desks themselves had visual barriers etched with complex runes along the edges of the outside, presumably to block both vision and Vision. Trying to see through them or around them while inside their area effect was futile as the result of a harsh glow that filled one's sight if one looked away. More observant students would notice that the runes etched along the edges of these screens were identical to the runes lining every single dormitory bedroom's door frame, and they would also notice that the screens were attached to wires that dove down into ports in the well-trodden purple-carpeted floor.

[color=c4df9b]"Take a seat, and do not lift your pencils until instructed. You will have thirty minutes per section of the test. Follow directions to the best of your abilities."[/color]

When the students had all been seated, and Volkova had led Louis to a separate desk containing a braille booklet and a microphone inside a noise-dampening screen (which she pointed out), she spoke up again: [color=c4df9b]"You may begin."[/color]

The written test covered basic reading and writing skills in the first section, followed by mathematics, followed by general science skills, and finally, followed by general magical knowledge (mostly regarding Foundation, Vision, and Compromise). A fifth portion was given five minutes, and was in the form of one question: "Why are you here?"

[h3]The Physical Exam[/h3][hr]9:10 AM, August 7th, 1210PW. 54 Degrees Fahrenheit. Clear skies, slightly windy.[hr]

After the written exam, the group was led to the Field behind the Athletics Compound. They hadn't seen it during the tour, but it wasn't surprising that it would be present. Like the indoor court, the field included a series of adjustable goals of varying shapes and sizes, and was covered in astroturf. A concrete track with lightly banked turns made its way around the field, with some very rudimentary aluminum and concrete stadium stands equipped with adjustable seating for multiple body types standing on the north and south sides of the field.

Two young third-generation Chimeras were waiting for them: an avian Chimera with wings in place of arms and white, blue, and black feathers, and a wolflike Chimera with strawberry blonde hair kept in a long braid. They were professors Fiona Shenfield and Alison Jakar.

The physical exams were fairly simple and fairly short. Students were given a number of tasks to complete in the form of a kilometer run (completed as quickly as possible), a long jump, a test involving pulling a heavily laden wagon, and a flight test for those who were able to take part. The tests were individually rated, and the professors jotted down the results in their notepads. All in all, the tests took another couple hours, and the students made their way to lunch alongside the professors.

Thankfully, the cafeteria wasn't quite as smelly anymore, though they were still serving Guavl. The lunch special was a type of Swazivani sandwich made with Sunloaf cheese and roasted spikeweed, with a slightly toasty and mildly fungal flavor, served with a side of barley-based pasta swimming in a creamy and spicy white sauce. More cultured students would note the presence of ground cricket in the sauce.

The magic exams (first technical, then practical) were coming in fifty minutes, and upperclassmen were bombarding those new students who would listen with stories about how horrifying the magic placement exams were. Not all of the stories were made up.

[@HokumPocus][@liferusher][@Rekaigan][@ghastlyInc][@Avant][@Jay Kalton][@Etranger][@Illiren][@hagroden][@pkken]