19-School

Impact threw her out of stance, as jab landed cleanly in her abdomen.  Not quite capable of returning ready to block fast enough, she felt a hard hook to the side of her face.  The pain was easy to handle, but her balance was lost, and if she couldn't reclaim it, the fight was lost.
The opponent backed off, gloating.  He wasn't a thinker, just knew how to throw a punch and roughly how to take one.  The brute wasn't aware that he had just thrown it all away.  He even went so far as to show his back.
Taking the opportunity, she placed a blow on the back of his head, not full strength, but enough to get his attention.  When he turned around, she stepped in too close for him to comfortably ready himself and gave him a fast strait to his amble belly.  His response was to try and grab her, but she was too quick and easily slid under his grasp.  She twisted around behind him, and reached under with one leg to pull his out from under him.
The tactic worked perfectly, but he was back standing in no time.  They continued this dance until the time ran out, inevitably, she was deemed the victor, since neither were injured and she was picked for a quick knockout.  The judge must have liked her, but she didn't stick around to ask questions.  She took the prize money and left as quickly and quietly as possible.
Counting out her earnings, she would have enough for lunch the next week, but she couldn't fool herself.  If that guy wasn't so stupid, she wouldn't stand a chance.  If she ever met up with a guy as strong that wasn't lacking in the mental, she'd be in real trouble.  But her grant only covered classes and the room, and she couldn't settle for a clerk job.  She'd just have to get better.
Around an hour later, she made it back to the dorm.  The first day of the new term was only two days away, and she was already having trouble with funds, and she didn't want her roommates finding out.  They were all noble types, like the rest of the school, but they were cool.  She wasn't sure if she could handle the pity.
Entering the front door, she was greeted by Mishka, who was still awake making herself a snack.  The Dawish girl, fully bearded and proud, always seemed to show up at the most awkward times.  They crossed glances, but otherwise didn't acknowledge each other's presence.  Our hero just continued to her room and collapsed on her bed.
She looked at the other bed, the other girl, whomever it might be, hadn't shown up yet.  The staff had mentioned someone named Chaste, which sounded like a KabaneBuson.  It would be nice to have another around, since that would mean not being the only "under privileged" individual.  However, at this point it could be likely that this girl wouldn't show up at all, and that would mean a whole room to herself.

It was early morning, the weight of his few belongings keeping him from standing strait.  Max had already checked in, and was given a small slip of paper explaining where his dorm was, but he soon found that he was searching for a needle in a haystack.  For whatever reason, the few people awake weren't willing to help him, probably busy with whatever school related business they might have.
Eventually he came to a building that shared an address with the one given to him.  He took a deep breath and approached the building that looked more like a home for a large family.  He reached for his key and tried it on the door, which accepted it cleanly.  Gauging that no one would be awake, he stepped in.
He was wrong, however, one of his roommates was awake, and watching what appeared to be a television, which led Max to wonder.  The roommate was an Ealnorian, Fate Aligned, which gave her a royal blue skin tone but otherwise unremarkable physical characteristics, she could pull those weird mind tricks however, and was likely pretty powerful.
She nodded and stood, her expression was rather dull, probably pretty tired.  "Taen," she yawned, "Tu bas Macillious?"  It took Max a minute to sort it out this early in the morning.  He mulled it over in his head and translated it to, "Hello, are you chaste?" before reminding himself that his name was Macillious.
"Yeah," he returned the yawn, "Which room is mine?"
"You're in with Understood," she said, "But she's asleep."
He paused with the name.  Lu, didn't sound that odd, however to have a name be such a common word must be awkward.  With a sigh, he realized that his own wasn't far off, but he had only learned that fact years later, and he didn't answer to his full name.  That would have to change.
Max hoisted his bag, containing what few belongings he still had, over to the side of the empty couch and drew his attention around the television.  It looked as much as the same device he had back home, though a little smaller, and not quite as thin.  A Saywoit man stood on a stage, with a speaker off screen so that the camera could pick up what he was saying, addressing what appeared to be a room full of higher ups.  Eventually the camera shifted to another Saywoit, and the speaker shifted his voice a little trying to keep the audience from getting confused.  Confused already, it would have helped if Max had prior knowledge of the event.
"What's going on here?" Max querried.
The roommate waited a moment to hear the end of the current character and returned, "It's live.  They're saying the war in Garroh is over."
For some reason, that sounded familiar.  It was a few minutes later that he spotted Master Torrid, with his incredible stage presence and his own speaker backing him up, though maybe it was the speaker he recognized first.   They all looked so alike.
"My brother was fighting under Torrid," his roommate explained, "I know he's always enjoyed his work, but it's good to know that he's safe."  She though about that for a moment, "Relatively safe, I don't think he's going to slow down anytime soon."
"He lived in the area?" Max fished.
She smiled, "He's a mercenary."
Surprised by the comment, Max took a moment to read if she was serious.  There was no waver in her, she wasn't pulling his leg.  Without a sense of what he should think about the concept, other than shrivel in the sheer adversity to his prior belief system the profession presented, he tried to return with introduction.
"I guess I missed your name," he let his voice trail a moment.
"Ignatimus," She glanced at the monitor for a moment before adding, "My brother is Thaddeus Illador.  He's my sponsor."
Not giving the reaction she expected, Max instead sorted through possible nicknames for her.  Ignatimus was a mouthful.  Iggy was cute, maybe too cute.  Riser, as in "Early Riser" was, in his own mind, cleaver enough to catch on, if the phrase was used, and he wasn't sure if it was.  His creativity cut short quickly as one of the other roommates loudly burst through the door into the main room.
This second one was a Saywoit.  While sex isn't always obvious for them, and gender almost non-existent, he placed her as female.  Possibly it was the gruff way that she walked, or the fact that she had her hair in the traditional Barbarian cut, or how she randomly punched the wall as soon as she entered the room.  Really it was the pure rage that filled the room, as her aura mixed into Max's senses.
Stopping halfway along the trip to the water closet, she paused and met stares with Max.  After a few seconds, she pulsed her name, its spelling and a possible phonetic behind it.  "Thaithin."  She hinted, of a desire to know his, but reserved more interest in her current task.
"Max," he responded before a long sigh.  So far he wasn't sure if he was going to get along with his roommates.
"The war is over," Iggy stated, "We're watching the peace meet."
Thaithin, in a total surprise, rushed over to the television set and stole a spot in front of Max.  It became immediately obvious that she was from Garroh, and was very happy to hear the news.  Her patience with the "peace meet" process ended quickly as she returned to her trip to the water closet.
Not long after Thaithin slammed the door on the way in, another door opened.  This time a second Ealnorian poured out.  This one was Life aligned, as her pale skin and blond hair hinted.  The sub-race also sported solid black eyes, and long faces that matched their frail build.  This one was very overweight, however, and had hips and limbs that did not remind Max of his anorexic cousin, instead being built like the stereotypical cheerleader.
She grumbled and pounded a fist on the bathroom door, yelling incoherently as she decided whether or not to wake up.   Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she chose to check out why Iggy woke before her.  Only after an exaggerated display of sleepiness ending with a stretch standing, and a second stretch after finding a seat next to Iggy, did she notice Max.
"You here for Lu?" She yawned again and continued her display.
Retracing over the names he had received so far, he recognized Lu as the one he was bunking with, so he mistakenly answered, "Yes."
"She still getting ready?"  Considering the circumstances, "This is pretty early for such business."
"He's bunking with Lu," Iggy corrected.
"That's funny," she didn't laugh however, "This is a girl's dorm."
Second guessing his presence, Max fumbled through his pockets for the conformation of the little slip of paper that told him which dorm he belonged to, only to be reminded that his key had worked.  With a heavy shrug, he considered the idea of living with so many girls.  It felt like the plot of a horrible sitcom.  As Thaithin returned to the room, he decided that it might not be the greatest of ideas.
"It's probably a mistake," Max looked over his belongings, "Who would I speak with to get it changed?"
Iggy left her eyes trained on the television as she pondered the situation, "The school is booked solid.  It probably won't be easy."
"So we're stuck with him?" the blonde feinted another sigh in disgust.
"I could look into it," Iggy smiled and directed herself to Max, "If you would come by the front office sometime after lunch, I'll be on shift."
Before Max could thank her, another crash occurred as the final roommate kicked her door open.  This one was a KabaneBuson, a race Max hadn't encountered before, unless he counted his own self.  They were an artificial slave race, created by mutating foxes.  This one was a warrior, strong yet slim on her smaller than human yet larger than Ealnorian frame.  Her fur was a deep read, matted and under groomed with what appeared to be a full body bed-head, though Max would soon find out that she tended to leave it that way.  She was angry with her sleeping conditions, having a terrible pain in her back and apparently a few other places.  As soon as she saw Max, her face turned completely sour for about half a second before returning to her neutral of morning daze.
"Morning, Lu," the blonde half-sang, "The guy your bunking with showed up."
"Yeah," she pulled herself halfway across the room before saying anything, then managed to fail her attempt to not state the obvious, "I wasn't expecting a Lavorian."
"And you might be stuck with him."
"Door's open if you want to unpack," Lu scanned Max over, noticing the bag sitting next to him, "Is that all you brought?"
Standing and retrieving his bag, Max gave a weak smile and confirmed her query.  However unnecessary, she led him back to the room.  There wasn't a real hallway and all the bedroom doors were visible from the living room, but she felt the need to discuss bunking conditions.
Even though Lu had been there for less than a week, the room looked very lived in, or the half opposite the door that Lu had claimed.  She also had very few items, enough clothing to nearly fill one of the dressers, a computer that though Max hadn't noticed was nearly as old as he was, a small collection of books, and a large unsharpened sword.  Relieved as Max was to see the existence of computers, he was a little unsure about bunking with a girl.
Lu stepped into her half of the room, "Macillious, was it?"
"I usually go by Max," he sighed, "We were talking about trying to get me moved to another dorm."
"I'm not afraid of you."
"I wasn't trying to suggest that you were," uncertain as to where the statement came from, Max couldn't help but wonder if that would be different should she learn more about him.
"Sure, but it'll be a wasted gesture."
Throwing his bag on his bed, Max realized that he didn't bring a pillow, "What makes you say that?"
"You're new here," Lu shook her head, "They've got this 'priority system' to determine who gets what services and in what order.  Kid's whose sponsors donate large sums of money go first, then kids whose parents pay a little extra, then if there's time left the rest of us get heard.  You're in a low priority dorm, you're not going to get moved up, and we're all packed."
"You already try to move?"
"Yeah," Lu lowered her voice a little, "Tetra gets on my nerves."
Not recognizing the name, he was left to guess, "The blonde one?"
"Of course," She rolled her eyes, "I was stuck with her last year as well."
They stood in near silence for a minute, each looking for clues as to whether having to deal with one another would be painful or not.  Eventually Max took it to himself to continue the conversation.
"What's a Lavorian?"
Taken totally off guard, Lu let loose a sharp laugh.  After a moment she caught on that he wasn't joking, then let herself calm a bit before answering, "You're a Lavorian."
"I caught that, but what makes me a Lavorian?"
Rolling her eyes, Lu grudgingly explained, "It means you're half-Notan, and obviously half-KabaneBuson.  It was a big deal twelve years ago when the KabaneBuson were freed and the Notans left into hiding."
"Thanks," scratching the back of his head, Max admitted, "I'm from a back-world.  I'm not going to know things like that."
"How did that happen?"
"I was abducted by extra-terrestrials," he smiled weakly.
"I mean, how did you get there?" Lu then dared to explain the obvious, "The KabaneBuson have only existed for fifty years, and our people are from Dellot."
Not knowing the history of his own kind, Max considered the concept, "How did that happen?"
Lu shook her head is disbelief, "Wizards in a lab.  Do you really not know these things?"
"No, I'm here to learn these things."
"I hope you don't expect me to tutor you."
"I've already been assigned a tutor for history."
"He's got his work cut out for him."
Max let out a sharp laugh, "Yeah, that's exactly what I said."
Taking a moment to examine her bunkmate, Lu let the idea of having someone to talk to that she actually had something in common with slide away, but he didn't seem like that bad of a guy.  Maybe he was a little on the undereducated side, but at least he was aware of his shortcomings.  He was probably also the other student she'd meet that wasn't of at least an upper-middle class (even though he was prior to events she wasn't yet aware of).
Deciding that she could handle skipping her morning jog at least once, she made an offer, "Have you had a tour of the campus yet?"
"No," Max sighed in relief, "You'd be willing to do that?"
"Sure, just let me get dressed first," Lu turned to her dresser and then back to Max, "That means you should probably leave the room."
Max smiled sheepishly before apologizing and returning to the living room.