Ryker started to laugh but covered it by coughing and clearing his throat. He didn't think Percival would be so straight forward.

A short, beautiful looking human girl entered into the common room from the staircase, chatting with a few other girls as they had just come from eating dinner. Her blonde hair hung in ringlets down her back and over her shoulders, and she was clothed in bright colors: a cream colored shirt tucked into a knee length skirt of bright red. The other girls laughed as she grinned, heading to one of the tables to wait as they continued to talk. 

From his room, a quiet half orc emerged and stuck to the back walls of the common room. His shoulders were bowed and he kept his head down, watching everyone in silence as he took everything in. He seemed of the nervous sort, and he messed with his tusks anxiously, hoping not to draw attention to himself. 

“Yeah, easy as can be,” Ryker said, nodding. “I’ve been working in towns just like yours for years, I’m fine with adapting to accents.”

“Alright! Quiet!” Suzanne announced, clapping her hands. A few people were still chattering quietly and she crossed her arms, waiting. The shorter human girl shushed them and the room fell silent. “I’m going to take attendance and then we’ll get started. Say something if you’re here,” she said, looking down at her roster. “Rodrick?” The half orc spoke up quietly. “Here.” She looked over at him but didn’t immediately say anything. She moved through the next few names and then called out “Delphinium?” Suzanne called out after a moment of pondering the name. “It’s Delphi,” the blonde haired human answered with a smile. Suzanne made a note and moved on. “Camus?”

“How do you come up with some of these words, is it in everyone’s speech?” Ryker asked.

Delphi giggled a little bit but fell silent as Suzanne looked up with a frown and wrote something on the roster. Thomas leaned over her shoulder and almost seemed to huff a laugh as he read it, before straightening up again. She continued through the roster one by one, as Rodrick whispered to himself, “Did that cat just laugh?”

“Sarabella?” Suzanne called.

"Ah, what're your hits then?" Ryker asked.

"And...Ken?" Suzanne called as she reached the end of her roster.

"Ah, no?" Ryker asked, chuckling. "I suppose that's fair."

"Right, that's everyone then, good. Some of you I have in my Intro to Arcana class so this might sound a little familiar," Suzanne said, putting the sheet down. "First things first, I want to get rules out of the way. There is no curfew, but there are quiet hours. After the moon rises, you have to be quiet or I will cast a silencing spell on you. This is the common room, if you dirty it, clean it up, or you will be on bathroom duty. Keep the bathrooms clean, I am not your mother, this is your home so treat it with respect. I don't care what you do, so long as you don't get me involved. I am not here to do your homework, and I'm not here to baby you. If you're going to hex your roommate, know the reversal spell first, or I'll hex you too. I don't care what you do, but don't keep me up, and don't get me in trouble. If you...." she paused and took an irritated sigh, "need something, this is my room," she gestured to the door behind her. "Knock, if I don't answer, I'm probably not here. The only reason you should knock twice is if it's an emergency. My door is set to alert me if someone knocks twice. Don't. do. stupid. things."

"Evocation magic and ritual casting are not allowed within the dorms. I will know if you do either of them. I will kick you out if you do either of them, you get one warning. Please don't get kicked out, none of the other dorms are as cool as I am, none of them have familiars, and half of the other RAs are stupid. They have stricter rules and the RA's make you do stupid group bonding activities. Now, before we get on to real introductions, are there any questions about the rules?"

"Noddalavus speak clean king's common." Delsin pointed out. "Or queen's common in y'er case, s'pose."

Ken raised his hand, but Sarabella spoke outright, "Yeah uh, what's the rules on guests and visitors?"

Richard asked "When tomorrow?"

Eric said "After Lunch"

Bair was quiet as he started to move another log thinking about Veronica back at the Castle. He wondered what she would say to all of this. She'd probably just freak out on Grim.

Grim said to Bair "What's troubling you?"

"Veronica," Bair said with a sigh "I kind of wish she could have came"

"You seem done," Ryker commented to Percival.

"Rituals are defined in this case by duration, and the use of components," Suzanne said. "They are banned because in the case of several rituals, interrupting them before completion can have dire consequences."

"Like I said earlier, with your practicing she's not going to have a hard time finding us," Hypha commented from where she sat.

"Well, what did you bring?" Amelia asked, putting her current book away.

"Drinking, or talking?" Percival asked.

"Oh, if they need components does that make them different from what I do, enchanting my clothes?" Ken asked, tugging on his robe slightly in explanation. "Or does that count as a component?"

Emily sighed "I don't know I just picked one at random"

Bair looked at Grim and asked "Did I do a good job?"

Grim looked at it and said "It's a bit big but it'll do for shelter, a few creative things on my end and it'll be just fine."

"Are you...okay?" Amelia asked, setting the book aside. "You've sighed like, three times now. You're acting really weird, Emily."

"I didn't take an army man to be a wood carver," Hypha said. "Also, why do extra things?"

"Sorry for being showy, during the fight," Ryker chuckled. "Been a while since I fought in public like that."

"Alright, then," Suzanne said. "I guess we can do introductions, now." She shifted and sat on the table that was just outside her door, crossing her legs as Thomas settled in her lap. "A word of advice: you should leave your expectations and prejudices at the gate of Arcana, nothing here will be as you expect it to be. I am a witch, I am the only witch in Arcana, and I am the premier scholar of arcane foci, so wands, staffs, crystals, holy symbols, really anything can be an arcane focus but I won't go into the spiel on that now. You'll take my class eventually," she said, waving her hand as her staff appeared in her hand. She set it down on the floor, leaning against the table. "I am studying conjuration and abjuration, but I have extensive experience with rituals and all types of magic because I'm studying the arcane foci. This is Thomas, my familiar, he is 3,762 years old, I am not that old. He's been tied with my coven since it's formation, and now he is mine, hmm?" she looked down at him as he looked up at her. She tapped his nose and looked out at them. "Any more questions, this is the only chance you get to grill me about who I am, I'm forced to care today, I won't moving forward." 

"I don't blame you, it was a sound decision." Percival replied. "Demoralize the stragglers by making it clear he was outmatched, rather than a single lucky hit bringing him down."

Ken raised his hand as innocently as one could appear, straight-faced as a new question surfaced in his mind.