[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/rJicBem.png[/img][/center][center][h1][color=2E8B57]M[/color]anfred [color=2E8B57]H[/color]ohenfelter von [color=2E8B57]M[/color]eckelin-[color=2E8B57]T[/color]handau[/h1][/center][hr]
When Manfred had awoken in the morning, he'd been greeted by a hole - pitch black - in the fabric of reality. He'd heard of aberrations, of course. They were a growing problem. He'd never actually seen one before. He'd considered absorbing it, to be honest. He'd been told all sorts of bad things by the people in charge of magic, which usually meant, from his experience, that this thing threatened their dominance. It would not do to draw suspicion, though, and perhaps there was some truth to their consistently dire warnings. When he arrived downstairs for breakfast, Zeno Zemana was just getting back in from his morning run to Balthazar Hall. Karim was already downstairs, chattering excitedly about a shipment of cloudmelons coming in from his parents. They exchanged greetings and he cast about for the others. Mayu, he could only hear: muttering and scolding Cumin from somewhere upstairs. Eun-Ji, too was there, and she was often somewhat quiet and pensive, but even more so today. She was not her usual self.

The Tan Keoulean was already downstairs, sitting down on a chair absently. Her mind seemed like it wasn't really focused, with her staring at nothing in particular while being completely silent. She did notice Manfred after a while, and gave a simple nod in greeting. It didn't look like she was in the mood for conversations at all, as if she was too bothered with something or simply too tired for it. After that simple nod, she returned to gazing absently at practically nothing.

[i]Definitely out of sorts,[/i] Manfred thought, and he wasn't one to pry. He nodded in her direction as well and that was the entire scope of their interaction. He'd made up his mind to tell the Zeno about the aberration and wondered if she'd already done the same. Busy pondering, he marshaled the awareness to at least rise and help set the table.

As he was doing so, however, he noticed Karim slide towards their master and speak in a low voice in Virangish. The Kerreman furrowed his brow. Zeno Zemana looked surprised and then concerned. His eyes moved quickly past Eun-Ji, however. "Manfred, my boy," he exclaimed, in his trademark manner, "can you watch these strudel for a moment?"

"Of course, Master Zeno." Manfred rose and stepped dutifully towards the cooking area, too proud to admit that he had no idea how to cook strudel. [i]Just don't burn, little buddies - delicious little buddies - and we'll be good here,[/i] he thought at them. Eun-Ji out of sorts, Karim wanting a private audience with the Zeno, Mayu unusually cross about something. Had they, too, seen aberrations on their nightstands? 

In the event, Manfred didn't burn the strudel, mostly because the Zeno swooped back in with perfect timing and took over. When he had a moment, he mentioned that he, too, had seen an aberration this morning. It was still there and he did not know what to do with it. He received a pat on the shoulder, some assurances, and a lovely breakfast. He fed a bit of it to Kurbis. Now that he thought about it, the cat had seemed skittish this morning. Something was undoubtedly wrong. The question was "what?"

[hr]When he lined up outside of Balthazar Hall, Manfred was loath to gossip, but also more motivated than ever to start making someheadway against the mysteries that this place had thrown at him. Aware of the effect that he could have on certain women, he found a group of Perrench girls and eventually got them to admit to having seen aberrations on their nightstands as well. They'd made a sort of game out of making each other reveal whether or not they'd absorbed those. Two had even admitted to receiving the Blood Magic Course invitations and one, he recognized from the previous day: the one-legged girl, Penny, who'd spoken with Eun-Ji, who was perhaps not to be trusted. Standing next to her for an extended period, there was something that stuck him as familiar. He wasn't sure what. Her face... reminded him of Nina, somewhat, were she a few years older.

[hr]His courses were...courses, for the most part. Mozaru was a disciplinarian, but one of those offbeat types. Manfred managed not to stand out. Alcaster Serra's word game bored him. He managed not to stand out. Luria Colloy worked them hard and gave them these little rods. Karim was there and there was a short boy in a heavy bascinet helm who seemed amused, but Manfred had no use for lightning and decided that he would learn next to nothing in the class. It was Jurgen Mendenhoffer's class that he'd been looking forward to. He knew the Zeno, of course, though he found that he received no special treatment. This man, at least, was a magusjaeger, and Manfred did his utmost to perform to the best of his abilities. He noticed a similar commitment from Eun-ji, who seemed to be doing a little bit better than she had in the morning.

[hr]Manfred's evening, however, was fairly mundane. He settled Kurbis into his dormitory and the cat was less than happy at being moved again, but it couldn't be helped. The Kerreman found himself next door to a studious Torragonese named Selio who he exchanged polite greetings with but little else and across from a boastful and obnoxious Belzaggicman - Jomurr Ikon - who he took an instant disliking to. Being at the very end of the boys' wing, he was close to the girls, and a pair of Eskandishwomen - Marlijn and Anesin, in particular. The both were... rather distracting and he was almost glad of the usually-locked door between he and them. [i]This is not time for the wolf to be loose in the hen house,[/i] he scolded himself. He had hoped to reconvene with Eun-Ji in the evening, but she was over in the commons dormitories and had seemed very much in her own head today. So be it. He wasn't exactly sure why he'd found himself caring so much about what she would or would not do. In fact, he found himself mildly annoyed at his preoccupation... but still a bit disappointed that they had not met up. He thought about making the trip over, but decided that she would do what she would do and they would reconvene when either of them had anything worth sharing.