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[color=fff79a][h2]Balzani Wind-and-Song[/h2][/color] - Outside the Academy[/center]
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As the evening slowly began to turn and the festivities beginning, a caravan of Mothfolk lead by two Orc guides arrived to the front of the academy where students were being left by families, clans, and whomever they hailed from alike. Balzani was no different in this front. As he sat in the protected carriage, next to his mother, father, granny, and two eldest siblings, there was a sorrowful tension in the air. This was to be the last time in a while the moth was going to see his family. They exchanged many stories and great conversations on the long trip to the academy, but now the time has come.

It was time for Balzani to leave his tribe.

He'd go around the small area, bidding farewells to his family and pressing his forehead against theirs before they'd share their final sentiments with one another. Being the head voice of their family, Granny Grensia stood up and rubbed the head of her grandson. "We are all so proud, Balzani. Make our family proud." Many of the others voiced their praise for the young alchemist and his acceptance into the school. After a few moments of tear shed, and another round of moth-y hugs, Balzani stepped out of the carriage, walking towards the towering Lepikari who carried his supplies at the front. [color=fff79a]"Thank you sir."[/color] Balzani spoke with a bow of his head. The courier nodded back to the boy before heading back to his post.

As the short Moth began skittering towards the large building, he heard a shout. Looking back, he saw his older brother, Balaris waving his hands to get his attention. Turning to face him, the brother held his hand out to the younger moth. "Here. Take this with you." Opening his hand to his sibling, Balaris dropped something softly into his younger brother's hand. The object fell into the younger's hand with a soft plink as metal chains collided with metal. Upon Balzani's inspection, the chain was his older brother's necklace he had earned from the brotherhood of mages in his town: an artifact held dearly by the rankings of the mages. The trinket was simple, adorned in elven silver and jeweled in a soft red. Looking up confused as to why he was being given this. "Keep it safe so that you can give it back to me when you become a Magus." His brother ruffled the fur near his antennae before turning.

Unable to speak for a moment, Balzani stood quietly, mildly flabbergasted. He'd wave for his brother's attention once more as he neared the carriage, a small tear in his eye as his brother boarded the carriage. [color=fff79a]"I'll take good care of it Oba! I promise I'll return it!"[/color] His brother, rather than turning to face his younger brother, simply bit his tongue as he himself held back a sorrowful exchange and gave his little brother a simple thumbs up before entering the vehicle once again. Just as soon as he entered, they rode his, Balzani's eyes glistening with sadness before they faded off into the distance.

...

Able to muster strength to push through his sadness, the small moth man was able to go through the opening ceremony and dinner of the academy's welcome. Surprisingly, the food contained a wide variety of culture and many of the students took to the alcohol provided. Balzani grimaced at the idea of drinking anything besides water and juices, so naturally he avoided drinking anything with alcohol, not to mention how sick drinking it makes him. While not particularly noticing it at first, many students may have avoided the Lepikari, not for his appearance, but rather for his bad table manners and... [i]interesting[/i] way of ingesting food. It is always highly advised to avoid watching a moth man eat meat.

What was also as surprising as the great food Balzani munched on was the surprising line up of teachers, who of each race specialized in a different form of magic or other practicality. While the young moth knew his main focus was alchemy, he couldn't help but know on instinct he was going to be visiting the experienced combat teachers to learn how to defend himself. Sure, he was interested in magical brewery the most, but what's a support member of a team supposed to do if he can't even support himself. Definitely something for the young man to look into later.

Another interesting member who caught Balzani's eye was the large crystal who was named Athena. He'd be surprised if she hadn't noticed his curious eyes prying her for extended times while eating. This entire school was a bit of culture shock to Balzani, but he was sure he'd get used to it eventually [i]even if he was used to sleeping in leaves and hay for a living.[/i]

In his thought, Balzani walked through the courtyard where many other students fumbled across the grass and stoned paths in a drunken mind, trying to find their way into the living quarters. Balzani had found the situation rather amusing, but stifled laughter behind his buggy mouth to be polite to those who found themselves in a state of "post-party-itus" AKA being drunk. Smiling to himself, the boy opened his acceptance letter which had been conveniently been turned into a map-compass combo where the arrow pointed to the location of his room where he would later meet his new roommate.

As he followed the arrow to his room, he admired the new, and admittedly more advanced, scenery of the academy. He never really got to witness the full structure on his small tour, and most certainly not the student restricted areas. Gawking at nearly every new thing, Balzani had almost completely forgotten about his very quickly realized homesickness. It took all of his power not to curiously inspect everything with his antennae by instinct, but he managed to hold himself back. That wouldn't be very appropriate.

Once Balzani had found the room after a few minutes of walking, searching and [i]figuring out why the spinning needle kept moving as he walked past his actual room[/i], he finally stood in front of his place of dormancy for the year to come. As he prepared to find a way to open the door, he was shocked to discover the room opened merely by his presence. Amazed, Balzani began inspecting the door heavily, trying to find any signs of magical or technological tampering. His little brain couldn't comprehend it in time before he heard a nearby voice.[color=FFC0CB]“Welcome Balzani Wind-and-Song.”[/color]

Balzani jumped. [color=FFC0CB]“This will be your dorm room for the foreseeable future. There is a bathroom in the door to your right that you and your roommate may share if you do not wish to use the public baths. While sleeping in the dorm room is not strictly required, sleeping in any non sanctioned area of the school is forbidden and may result in disciplinary action.”[/color]

After clearing his startle, Balzani immediately walked towards the small crystalline figure in his room. His antennae began gently brushing against the crystal, before he quickly pulled them back embarrassed. [color=fff79a]"I... I'm sorry. Instinctual."[/color] He stated simply, hoping his outburst hadn't disturbed the guide any. Balzani knows how weird his habit of fulfilling his curiosity with antennae frisking can be, even other Lepikari still do it. He'd bow his head gently before she spoke to him. [color=FFC0CB]"There is no fret. Some students may find it odd, but I understand your kind well enough to know this is not your fault."[/color]

Balzani politely raised his little head. [color=fff79a]"Thank you miss."[/color] The boy was lucky he was fluent in Moth, Common, and Elf, otherwise this would've been an awkward for him. It was weird to use his taught language for the first time in so long. Normally, Moth Folk speak in a tongue similar to Elvish but with more clicking, so speaking in human language was uncomfortable, though possible. Perks of being born to a diplomatic heritage.

While the boy was well kept and didn't particularly smell bad at all, Balzani decided maybe he could take a bath. Nothing better than fresh fur smell. He figured the design would be similar enough to elvish baths that he could draw the water himself. Walking into the bathroom, he was amazed by the sheer size of the room. [color=39b54a][b]The tub was huge!!!![/b] [i]At least to his standards[/i][/color] Walking to turn the tub on, it wasn't long before Balzani sank into the tub, poured a modest amount of soap into the water to create a nice smelling solution, and dipped his body into the suds.

...

As he returned to the room, now dried off and exceptionally poofy, Balzani found himself needing to prepare, specifically set up his side of the room. The first thing he did was clear the desk of any current decorations, objects, or elsewise and immediately began neatly arranging his alchemical set-up on top, turning bottles so that their labels face forward, and retying any magical materials in pieces of twine. As his desk was completed, he now found himself with a small bag full of decorations.

He had no intention to go crazy, but rather just wanted to place a few of his homely objects on the walls just to make his homesickness feel just a pinch weaker. The first thing Balzani placed on the wall with a carefully placed alchemical equivalent to glue was a very large bundle of leaves which strung from about 5 feet off the ground to near the bottom. There was quite a lot of room until the ceiling, but that didn't particularly bother the boy. He admired his work before continuing.

Next, he gently removed the blanket from the bed and folded it into a neat square before tucking it away underneath the bedding. He had brought his own blanket from home, but left the large pile of hay back at home in placement of his room's bed. Balzani never thought he'd miss sleeping on a pile of hay compared to sleeping on a human bed, but it's what he was used to. Replacing the blanket with a large green leaf, the boy attempted to center it as to make his bed still look neat, while still retaining the earthy-naturey feel of his cottaged home. Nodding he found his work nearly done besides one artifact he found himself acquiring before his family left for their return home.

With Balaris' necklace in hand, Balzani gently pulled his head through the small stoned jewelry to wear it as he admired the pretty red stone in the middle. He had to take good care of it! A promise is a promise. 

After deciding he was done decorating his room with his small scroll of leaves and "blanket", Balzani took one of his large books from his bag and sat down at the desk. The book's title read "Incantations and Potion Buffs". Delving into the read, Balzani sat quietly, yet eagerly waiting for his new roommate to arrive.