[h2]Elastasia[/h2]

Ribbon... check. Stockings and shoes... check. Hair neatly brushed (and even years after gaining a second lifetime's worth of memories, the ease with which magic simplified dealing with that still gave her a warm feeling), and [i]not[/i] all done at the last second because she'd gotten too wrapped up in a book to remember. For once, Elastasia had managed to prepare for and show up to an event without prompting! Okay, it was also a huge event everyone at the academy was going to, which made it hard to miss, but she could [i]still[/i] have ignored all that and missed the ceremony.

But then she would miss seeing Terys on his first day, relegating the younger boy to trying to seek her out somewhere amidst the school. For all his diligence, he didn't know the way around just yet. Besides, she missed the years where they'd see each other daily (even if the her that missed them wasn't the same as the her of now), it'd be a great opportunity to say hello.

Actually [i]listening[/i] to the speech, Elastasia wished that she had chosen to skip after all. Not only was it boring and denied her the chance to read, being situated at the back with all the other third-year students meant that she couldn't [i]see[/i] anything. Bored face after bored face in every direction, a speech regurgitated by rote to the point she was sure some of the better orators here could copy it verbatim...

It wasn't a fun experience, all in all.

Nor was fighting [i]against[/i] the current of people leaving the courtyard, the occasional too-tall boy walking into her and having to make a hasty apology. Really, it was bad enough that by the time she actually [i]got[/i] to the first years, the area was half emptied already, and trying to find her also-short brother amidst this sea of giants.

So, she relocated to just outside the entrance instead. Maybe Terys would have better luck finding her.

Hmm... already, there were a few familiar faces, bringing to mind how significant the upcoming year would be. That green-haired mop was undoubtedly the tutorial merchant, liable to run into the heroine soon more often than not. Whether he'd be quite as helpful in reality as in the game was debatable; a few of the individuals she'd met seemed [i]quite[/i] distinct from their written personalities--Serrica always stood out as being rather different, for whatever reason.

And there was no way to tell what actual [i]personality[/i] Anne would come into the world with. Bland? Exciting? Her looks were Elastasia's type, as generic as they were, but she [i]hoped[/i] to avoid any hopeless confessions in her actual life.