“Oh man, what the hell is wrong with me?” Sylvester groaned dejectedly as he looked at the sorry state of his credit balance.
700.
He completely and utterly failed at holding himself back, not even caring about the price or size portions. Thankfully he felt full before he could do further damage to his wallet.
“The food tasted great though, so it was totally worth it!” Sylvester continued to lie to himself. Yet no matter how much he tries, it won’t change the fact that he gave in to his most primal of desires.
Feeling defeated, he took out his ID once more and tapped it twice. The display changed into a map that was pointing him in the direction of his dorm.
Within a few minutes of following the direction the ID was taking him to, he ended up in a lightly wooded area with a cobblestone path cutting a path through the trees. The road was lit by floating lanterns floating in mid air.
Sylvester was not alone in this trek as there were quite a number of students following the same path as him. So at the very least, he seems to be going the right way.
He continued to follow the ID’s direction and walked through the path, after a few minutes he ended up in a village-like area. The structures inside featured a Baroque inspired style mixed with a few modern design philosophies. Almost all of the buildings were two storeys tall.
In an attempt to give more flavor and individuality, each building features some minor tweaks like a different colored roof or wall, or even window placements. All in all it made the area feel a little quirky.
Taking his eyes from the scenery. he could see his fellow students walking about, either with their eyes glued to their IDs or simply basking themselves in the new environment.
Following the ID GPS still, Sylvester ended up in a sort of “town square” with what looks like a well in the middle.
“What? Is this crummy looking well here to add some atmosphere? I can respect that.” He joked to himself as he turned left and stopped at the third building on his right.
Like the others in the area, it too was two storeys tall but with a teal colored roof and comically tall chimneys to separate it from the others.
Sylvester was about to enter when a thought suddenly flashed in his mind, stopping him just outside the door.
“They’re gonna be here again aren’t they?” Sylvester thought to himself as he opened the door and sure enough-
“Welcome to the Really Teal student dorm!” A pair of familiar voices greeted him as he entered. One was filled with joy and enthusiasm and one was mired in indifference and boredom.
“Really Teal? What kind of name is Really Tea- Ohhhhh. Very direct to the point huh?” Sylvester thought to himself even though the name of the dorm should be the least of his worries.
“H-hey there miss Tinri and miss Nitri!” Sylvester replied with his mouth twitching an uncomfortable smile.
“I knew it, I freakin knew it!” Sylvester screamed silently from within his head.
The twins were there in front of Sylvester once again, manning a front desk. Again.
This time however they have computers set up in front of each of them making this scene a little more normal and modern.
Normal if you ignore seemingly omnipresent twins.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Oh well, I should really just get used to this.” He told himself as he walked up to the twins.
“Good to see you two again.” Sylvester greeted the twins with a polite smile.
“Good to see you too, mr. Sylvester.” A monotone voice responded to him. Surprisingly it was Tinri who replied to him first which surprised Sylvester quite a bit.
“How was your first day at Inanis Orbis then, mr Sylvester?” The bubbly Nitri then asked.
“Ah it went great! I got to taste some good food-” and with that Sylvester’s mood then suddenly dropped like a rock.
“Is something the matter? Oh it must be something credit related right? Cheer up! I’m sure a few days of fasting or even starvation won’t kill you!” Nitri replied, her rather morbid reply clashing with her happy tone.
Sylvester was kind of taken a back but didn’t really bother reacting to Nitri’s comment.
“Rrright, okay then.” And without any instructions he then handed over his ID to the twins. Nitri took the ID card and swiped it in front of the scanner. After a few seconds a sharp beep was then heard from the scanner and Nitri returned the ID to Sylvester.
“Your room is room 203 on the second floor.” Tinri declared.
“Oh oh, before you go up there, let me tell you a few ground rules first.” Nitri declared, demanding Sylvester’s attention.
“Okay, I’m listening.” Sylvester complied.
“First off, while there is no curfew, you should go inform us whenever you plan to go out of the dorm in the middle of the night.” Said Nitri.
“Okay fair enough.”
“Secondly, There is a canteen on the first floor of this dorm, but it closes at the wee hours of the night. And yes food from the canteen will also need to be purchased.” Said Tinri.
“Ah crap.” Sylvester was now feeling the sting of his little food adventure. Tinri then continued the explanation for Sylvester.
“Finally, you are not allowed to bring students of the opposite sex to your room no matter what time of day. This is to make sure no “accidents” happen.” Her monotone voice now commanding and stern.
“I- I see.” Sylvester tried his best not to get flustered from the implications of that rule.
“Now then, you must be quite tired. Please rest well and charge up for tomorrow. All your luggage is already in your room.” Nitri explained.
“Okay the-”
“Ooh I almost forgot!” Nitri cut off Sylvester
“Your roommate arrived a while ago, please be sure to get along.” Tinri said with an expectant smile.
“Roommate huh? Oh well. See you tomorrow Miss Tinri and Nitri.” With that Sylvester headed up to the second floor and headed straight for room 203.
Upon reaching the door, he realized that there was no keyhole in the doorknob. He then wanted to check if it was locked when suddenly the door knob changed its shape and morphed into a hand.
Quite frankly, It was a little disturbing.
Sylvester, while a little bothered, simply turned the “doorknob” as if it was all normal and not a creepy and wrinkly hand. Then the familiar sound of a door clicking open greeted him.
The room looked like an average apartment at first glance, a rather spacious one at that. There was a wooden table in the middle with two wooden chairs, the set had minimal designs on them and were as plain as you can get. White tiles lined the floor giving a clean finish and the walls were lined with intricate white lines that contrasted with a teal background.
Walking further inside he saw that there was an opening to his left that led to the kitchen that contained all the usual suspects and to his right, there was an open door that revealed the inside to be the bathroom.
Directly in front of him across the plain table and chais was another door that Sylvester deduced to be the sleeping quarters.
His roommate was nowhere to be seen at this point so he naturally thought he was in the sleeping quarters. In order not to come off as rude, Sylvester opted to knock first before entering.
*Knock knock.*
For a moment there was a silence, then a voice from inside said “Come in!” in a muffled raspy voice that was out of breath.
Once he opened the door and entered the room he saw a half naked man wearing black jersey shorts doing three finger push ups. His blond hair was tied up into a neat ponytail and his extremities were of a slightly darker tone than the rest of his body, basically tan lines.
“Okay then. Not what I was expecting in a school for mages, but okay. Exercise is needed to maintain a healthy body after all.” Sylvester thought to himself as he decided to greet his roommate.
“Hello there.” Sylvester opened up.
“97-98-99-100! euuugh!” The man now covered in sweat hoisted himself up and faced Sylvester.
“Yo!” The man replied to Sylvester’s greeting.