Melor froze for a half second. He turned around, meal in hand, and mustered the friendliest smile he could.
“Hello.” he replied. “Er, I was just getting back to my room.” He started moving towards the door.[edit_reason]Giving Starx’s Character Reaction Time[/edit_reason]
A small white business jet gently came to a stop down at the quiet fixed based operator. Within the plane a young businessman and an older woman sat across a table from one another talking in hushed tones whilst another twenty year old woman, Sylvia Whitehall, sat by herself, idly gazing at a phone. As the plane came to a stop the main door opened and a staircase descended down to the ground. The man approached Sylvia, “Miss Whitehall, we have arrived.”
She responded with a lazy wave of her hand, eyes still fixated upon her phone whilst the man awkwardly stood waiting for her. She glanced up towards him with a sigh before pushing herself up, taking a wide brimmed felt hat from her table and proceeding to walk past him and out down the staircase, shielding her eyes for a moment she set the hat upon her head and began to walk forwards, greeted by a sleek black car, fit with tinted windows and adorned with a white logo of a pillar head and the word, “Whitehall.”
An attendant opened the passenger door for the older woman, allowing her to take a seat, closing it behind her before turning his attention to Sylvia and swiftly moving to open the other door. Sylvia took her seat besides the other woman, the attendant closing the door after her. She momentarily gazed around the spacious two seat cabin, the front covered by a tinted visor, separating the passengers from the drivers. The older woman set her attention towards Sylvia, breaking the silence. “We’ll be arriving in approximately half an hour and there’ll be no time to linger. Also, your mother has informed me that separate accommodation may be arranged if the dormitories are not up to standard.” She paused, looking quizzically towards Sylvia who had gone back to looking towards her phone, shooting a glance towards the older woman momentarily with an unenthusiastic, “Yeah sure.” The older woman let out a dissatisfied murmur before withdrawing her own phone, beginning to dial a number before looking back towards Sylvia, gesturing towards the phone and her ear. Sylvia rolled her eyes, taking a pair of headphones from her pocket and plugging them into her phone, putting them into her ears as she closed her eyes; drowning our the other woman’s conversation with music.
Eventually the car came to a stop and after a few more moments the passenger door swung open. Sylvia stepped up and out of the car, wincing as her eyes adjusted once again from the dark interior of the cabin. She stood in place, looking around the academy, one arm outstretched with her elbow dipping down. The attendant opened the trunk and hurried back towards Sylvia, sliding the strap of a purse onto her arm, then moving back to the trunk to heave two heavy suitcases out, lifting them towards the dormitories, practically running within the building as he tried to find Sylvia’s assigned room, knocking into the walls as he staggered under the weight of the two cases. Once her luggage was set down in her room he brushed himself off and began to walk back out, trying his best to ignore any looks anyone gave him as he did so. Making his way back to the car he closed the door beside Sylvia and bowed his head ever so slightly, “Miss Whitehall, everything is arranged, follow me if you would.”
She walked after him at her own leisurely pace, taking in her surroundings with a relatively unimpressed expression. Opting for the elevator they quickly arrived on the fifth floor. Her interest was piqued as she looked towards the various flags adorning the doors of the dorms, “This is your room here Miss Whitehall.” The attendant stated as he opened the door. Sylvia peered down at the two unopened suitcases pursing her lips, the man noticed her expression and quickly chimed in, “Your mother has arranged catering and cleaning, but with the time restraints…” He trailed off, growing ever more uncomfortable until Sylvia let out a sigh, “It’s fine.” He visibly relaxed, glancing down the hallway before back to her, “If you need anything, there’ll be someone on call though I really must…” She interrupted him with a dismissive wave, moving to close the door behind her. The man stood by the closed door for a few moments, letting out a sigh of relief before heading back towards the elevator and out of the building.
Within her room, Sylvia looked around and took it all in. It was far smaller and blander than she was used to. She moved towards the window, swinging it wide open before falling backwards down onto the bed with a sigh, “It’s too hot here.”
[spoiler]Age20Height5ft 9HairVery long dark brown hair.EyesBlueNationality/EthnicityEthalrian/CaucasianFinancial StatusElite 1% - Daughter of an Ethalrian Arms Industry business magnate.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]http://i.imgur.com/kWXssJP.png
[/spoiler]
“Two Mint Ice Creams, please!” Lily walked away, sharing one of cones with Athena, who barked happily.
Velhanz stopped listening to music, putting it away in his bag. He then pulled out a G9 strawberry sports drink and drank from it.
“What a clear sky… Clearer than the sky over Luzen I bet” He chuckled, then wondering why he was talking to himself in the first place.
I gestured politely, noticing a new person walk past behind me.
“Well, OK, have fun.” I said. Looking enthusiastic.
I walked over to the food. I inspected the place, quite literally. Looking for faults for at least a minute. Afterwards I was finally satisfied at the quality of the room, and worked over to the food.
“Hmm.” I spoke, thoughtfully whilst still staring at the food.
Melor walked back to his room, plate in hand, quietly arguing with himself along the way concerning whether he should apologize for his abrupt and somewhat rude exit. After deciding not to go back, he walked into his room.
Even though he had barely decorated, it reminded him a bit more of home with his belongings. Perched on a shelf was an old flintlock gun from Stratarin’s past. On a small table in the corner was a snow-globe with a little house in it, and next to that was a small, framed photograph of himself with a similarly aged blonde girl.
Melor closed the door, sat down, began eating in silence, and wondered how life here would be for him.
As evening settled across the beach, the bonfires where ignited with a cheer from the surrounding students.
The music was turned up, and some people started to move to the beat.
Jey moved to the music as he continued to chat up with the group he was currently with.[edit_reason]verbiage[/edit_reason]
“A honeycomb for me please!” asked Alexi, paying wirelessly with his phone, before taking the ice cream back to the seafront.
Lily and Athena sat enjoying of bonfires’ heat, huddling together against the colder twilight air.[edit_reason]Punctuation is v important kids[/edit_reason]
Velhanz wore a light jacket and stared at the bonfire.
“Wait, isn’t this a thing for new students to socialize with each other?” He looked up, wondering.[edit_reason]VELHANZ, NOT JULIAN, SHIT![/edit_reason]
“I think so. Did you get to meet Athena yet?” The fox was half asleep in Lily’s lap, soaking up the warmth from the fire while the cool ocean breeze ruffled her fur and sent Lily’s unbraided hair into wild spins around her hairline.
“I got to take a look at her, but I don’t think I met her yet.”
Alexi returned to the bonfire, watching the flames silently and occasionally looking up at the sky, which the stars now dominated. He snapped out of his trance and turned to Velhanz and Lily.
“Athena seems mighty calm for a fox,” Alexi queried, tossing the last remaining fragment of ice-cream cone into his mouth. “One of my friends back home had a pet fox, and I cannot remember any point at which it ever stood still for more than a second.”
Melor walked out onto the balcony outside his dorm. He took a moment to relish the cool air of the waning day, breathing it in and out. After a moment, he looked over at the beach, where he saw some of his fellow students crowded around a bonfire. He wondered for a second, Should I go down there? Perhaps I could make a friend or two… After a moment of wondering, he let out a small, harsh laugh. “You should be a comedian, Melor,” he muttered aloud to himself. “You don’t need them, and they certainly wouldn’t want you.” He then returned to his dorm.
“Yeah, I thought foxes were more rowdy.”
Jey sat with some other students around one of the bonfires chit-chatting, occasionally lightly flirting with some of them. Once in awhile a bottle is passed around and he takes a small sip when it comes his way again.[edit_reason]verbiage[/edit_reason]
“She’s exhausted from a day of giving me heart attacks, that’s what it is. Isn’t that right, you little menace?” Lily pet the dozing fox lightly with one hand, cooking a marshmallow on a stick with the other. “She’ll be as annoying as ever tomorrow morning.” Sensing that the discussion was about her, Athena swished her tail lazily, and earned herself another round of pats from Lily.
As she stroked the fox, a figure appeared briefly in the window up on their floor. “Hey, Vel, did you see that… Never mind.” She had tried to wave as she spoke, but the shadow left before she completed the gesture. Huh…[edit_reason]What if our dorm is haunted… by an antisocial Stratarinian! Spoopy.[/edit_reason]
“Hm? See what?” Velhanz perked up, interested.
“There was a person in the window.” Must’ve been a late arrival, she thought.
The crescent moon overhead was unperturbed by the figure, and continued around the Urth in its slow arc behind the wispy night clouds. The sea crashed on the beach, occasionally spraying the gathered students with mist from the more energetic waves.
“A person?” He wondered who would’ve arrived this late.