[color=fff79a][b][h3][center]Berke Bayamaar[/center][/h3][/b][/color] [color=fff79a]"Oh, well, like I said, Altay's not too big, so there's not that much to say."[/color] Berke began, surprised to find someone that wanted to hear about the tiny little village he had come from. A lot of people were more interested in talking about themselves. This was a refreshing change of pace, of course. [color=fff79a]"Anything unique about it is more just the way much of the region acts, really. We've got these zebra monsters we ride on, you see, and-"[/color] Berke would have continued, had the alarms not gone off. It seemed it was time for them to pack up and leave. Berke would have expected that to be the end of their discussion, but it appeared that Elsa was keen for them to talk more. [color=fff79a]"No no, it's quite fine, Elsa! Come along, I can tell you all the little things about Altay you want to hear, and anything else you're interested in too."[/color] He got up and beckoned for her to come along with him. If the dorms were the only place to go, then the dorms would be their destination. --- In the days to come, Berke went through his classes as middlingly muddled as ever. He didn't understand Brovak's magical theory class in the least, but taking on faith that the professor knew what he was doing, he attended to all the strange tasks with utmost diligence. He had many misgivings about throwing water balloons at administrator, however, and apologised profusely after each time. Emilya Vance's lectures were much more straightforward, though Berke's ability to preform Vision left much to be desired. Berke found Professor Thorne most bizarre, but at least his Compromise was better than his Vision skills. Hans Vance's class represented a return to normalcy, and even better, Berke found that his Foundation was his greatest magical skill to date. None of his magical skills were exceptional, but at least he could boast above averageness in Foundation. The Groundskeeper's Botany classes were almost like a slice of home life for Berke. While Altay wasn't much for farming, they did have to deal with more than a few hostile pieces of shrubbery that cropped up from time to time. The Altay approach to botany was less to find a clever way to deal with plant life and more to punch, slice, and burn it out until it didn't pose a threat to their activities. Berke didn't really understand the purpose of Professor Chompi's class; after all, what did all this economics stuff matter if they could just learn to work together? Berke wondered if they shouldn't be studying how Altay did things rather than all these greedy bank things. All that was past him for now, however, as today they were set to have some "mock battle" or the other. Berke was all down for a friendly spar, as long as it remained that way. Given magic was involved, Berke was a little worried that someone might get hurt badly, but he assumed that the staff knew what they were doing. Not only that, but this would all be overseen by members of the Mage Corps, including Clarissa Uoyovvo, whom had been heard of even in Altay. With all these big shots around, Berke couldn't help but be a little nervous, but he was still going to do his best and nothing less. ------ [color=f6989d][b][h3][center]Mycona Frisa[/center][/h3][/b][/color] Mycona would have launched into an excruciatingly detailed description of what she had been doing lately, had it not been for the sudden ringing noises. Zyphyria insisted that at this point, they go to the "dorms" instead of staying there. Mycona agreed to come along, eager to tell Zyphyria all about what she had been doing lately, and to find out if this large other wanted to be friends as well. --- Mycona was pleased to finally get around to the magicking. She had been here a while already, and nobody had taught her anything new about magicking. Mycona, for one, loved Brovak's classes. She loved investigating every tiny phenomenon that he instructed them to investigate, and she especially loved telling him in excruciating detail all the things she had learned about licking dust and other curious activities. She was a little lost when it came to the free time moments, but she always found something to do. She once asked Brovak if she could magic him, and he said yes. The result was uneventful, however, and Mycona did not learn much other than that Brovak did not react much to her magic. Mycona found that she had already read a few of the textbooks used in the Vision classes, though while she could effortlessly regurgitate the text found within verbally, anyone that tested her would realise she didn't fully understand what she had read. It was clear, however, that it was more of a technical problem surrounding the meaning of words and other basic concepts than it was an inability to actually wrap her head around the idea of using Vision, and when explained more and more, she proved to be much better at using it than first demonstrated. Mycona's Compromise also proved to gradually improve with time. At one point, Mycona volunteered for Xanderthorne's "extra credit", though before she could figure out what he meant, they had a chance encounter with Leonora. Leonora told her that any further mention of "extra credit" or other offers made by Thorne were to be reported to her first, and afterwards took Thorne off somewhere. Mycona was not sure what happened, but Thorne never offered her extra credit again. Mycona took to Hansvance's class about as well as she took to Emilyavance's, which proved to be a recurring theme for most lessons. Mycona did not understand why they had a Botany class. She had thought she had come here to learn magic, not to deal with plants. However, while it might be outside her intent on coming here, she was just as eager to learn the intricacies of Botany as she was to learn about everything else. Mycona found Gnomechompi's class very informative, though she was starting to suspect that her constant interruptions to explain the definitions of words and concepts were irritating people. In fact, in many classes, at least a few people seemed bothered by her questions. Mycona had come to many realisations during her time at Mordhaben's. One key understanding she had come to was the concept of a "lie". She had read of the word before, but she had yet to fully comprehend its meaning. Many times she had spoken to people and been told things like "there's a pot of gold right around the corner" or "if you run around the fountain all day you'll get one wish" and other such 'lies'. It was only after having fallen for them many times and having the fact that these were all deliberate falsehoods explained to her by Leonora that she began to understand what was happening. Now she had become more careful about what people told her, always wondering if a sneaky little 'lie' hid behind the words of others. She did not know why people wanted to waste her time and fill her head with false notions, but she did not enjoy the prospect. She wanted to learn real facts, not ones that only existed in a few cruel words. Apparently they were to have a "mock battle" today. Mycona didn't fully understand the concept, but she had been told it was like the fight she had been involved in during the 'test', though Leonora had stressed again and again that she wasn't to make anyone dead, as that would be very bad. There was some group called the "Mage Corps" there to watch them, but Mycona didn't understand the significance of that, nor did she have any idea who the important members of their group were. All Mycona knew was she was here to have a 'fight' and stuff her face with as many of these rations as she could before they got started.