The lunch bell rang, and all the students headed towards the cafeteria.

Once Thomas entered the cafeteria, he saw two serving stations-one for carnivores and a much bigger one for herbivores. Thomas made his way to the herbivore station first, since it was the closer one anyways, and he wouldn’t need to wait that long in line for the carnivore station.

Thomas waited in line, as a student in front of him turned around warily, watching him with two of their four eyes.

Only Javqua and a couple of students from the higher years were going to the carnivore station, grabbing their food, and sitting down on one side of the cafeteria by themselves. Thomas was handed a tray, and he began loading it up with some odd-looking plants that he was apparently able to eat, but then again, he could eat pretty much all Xeno food.

He then made his way to the empty carnivore station, taking a few foodstuffs that resembled sausages and some delicious-looking steak thing, before looking around.

Dozens of students were staring at him, most likely in shock, surprise, or curiosity. Ignoring the stares, he looked around for his classmates. Thomas wasn’t able to recognize any of his classmates in the crowd other than that carnivore from before, and so he went over to her.

Thomas heard people whispering and gossiping as he walked over to the carnivore side of the cafeteria, and, oh boy, were these Xenos bad at whispering.

Is that a human? Wait, that’s the hellworlder? Watch out, it’s getting close. Why is it so short? Do you think it’s a female?

There was only one long table for carnivores, with the higher years sitting together on one end and Javqua all alone on the other. Feeling somewhat sorry for her, Thomas made his way over to her end of the table and sat down, startling the reptilian female.

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As Javqua sat at her end of the table, she began to think back on the day so far; to think that she finally had another carnivore in her class was definitely special. But Thomas isn’t a carnivore is he? Thomas is...an omnivore. Javqua thought.

Sentient carnivores like herself were rare enough, but to think Thomas was part of the only known sentient omnivore species was something else.

She continued to think about Thomas - his surprisingly athletic body, light gold and brown head fur, and blue piercing eyes.

Then she looked up, and there he was. He had just appeared, as if from thin air, in front of her.

Suppressing the urge to jump out of her chair, she quickly composed herself. Doing her best to be friendly, she decided to initiate a conversation.

I hope this doesn't go as bad as the time I tried becoming friends with the herbivores. She thought darkly for a moment.

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Javqua seemed to compose herself, before greeting him. “Hey, Thomas! Good to see you again - you scared me for a moment there.” She said casually.

“Yeah, sorry about that. Anyways, call me Tom - that’s what my human friends called me, I prefer it.” Thomas said, smiling kindly.

“Okay, Tom.” Javqua played with the word in her mouth and started to smile alongside Tom. Looking past Javqua, he saw that all the herbivores in the cafeteria were staring at them with the expression of fear plastered to their faces.

While Tom was digging into his meal, Javqua asked a question. “Tom, may I ask how your species hunted when you were primitive? It’s been plaguing my mind since I first saw you, sorry if it’s an odd question.”

Tom found it cute when Javqua was embarrassed, before answering. “Humans used something called persistence hunting - we’d constantly chase our prey till it collapsed from exhaustion.” He replied, looking at Javqua’s shocked face.

“You would be great at long-distance sports then,” Javqua said slowly, and Thomas nodded.

“I guess you could say that,” Thomas said wryly, as the two finished the last of their food. They stood up and took their trays to the drop-off table before Javqua suggested that they go to one of the garden zones of the institution to talk.

Tom reluctantly agreed, following her to one of the emptier garden zones, which soon became completely empty as the few herbivores there left when they entered.

They sat down on a large bench, Javqua stretching. “So Thomas, what’s your hellworld planet Earth-like?” She asked, and Thomas paused.

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“Earth our 'Cradle World', has lots of different biomes - there’s mountains and valleys, forests, tropical rainforests, deserts, and tundras…and there’s seasons, that change every few months… or so I've been told,” Thomas continued, as Javqua listened enthusiastically.

“What’s your planet like?” Thomas asked in return, and Javqua cleared her throat.

“My homeworld is called Kravenka - it’s a semi-hellworld. There’s only one biome - a giant temperate forest, and one big ocean. No fancy...seasons or anything.” Javqua explained.

“Sounds nice, wouldn't mind visiting at some point,” Thomas said before the bell rang. “Let’s head back,” Javqua stated as she stood up, and so did Tom, as they began heading to their next class.

They exited the garden zone, and Thomas spotted two Magistra who seemed to be fighting over a girl, which wasn’t hard due to all the brightly colored feathers flying off of them. He tapped Javqua’s shoulder, pointing down the long hallway towards the small scene that was going on.

Javqua squinted down the hallway, looking at him, confused. “Two Magistra are fighting over there, think we should intervene?” Thomas said.

“You can see that far? All I can see are a few blurry figures,” Javqua murmured.

“I guess I can,” Thomas replied, and Javqua shrugged. “Magistra don’t like escalating things - they don’t wanna ruin their image. Let’s just leave them be.” She explained.

The two resumed walking to their class, and Thomas watched as everyone hurriedly moved out of their way, letting him and Javqua make it to their class at a record speed.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, with Thomas getting lots of correct answers and praise from his teachers.

“So, how was your first day of school?” Javqua asked, and Thomas shrugged.

“I mean - it was alright, I guess.” He said, and Javqua frowned.

“Alright? Something wrong Tom?” She lowered her voice, and Thomas sighed.

“I guess I’m not used to having people be...scared of me,” he admitted, and Javqua put a scaly hand on his back.

“Yeah-it hurt for me too, when I was younger. But at least we have each other, right?” Thomas looked up at Javqua, who had a hopeful look on her face.

“Yeah - we do.” Thomas watched as Javqua beamed, giving him a toothy grin.

“Oh - right! I almost forgot! We’ve been assigned a dorm together. Isn’t that fun?” She exclaimed, and Tom tensed.

“Like, together, or-” Javqua cut him off. “Yeah, together! It’s because we’re the only predators in this grade.”

Thomas blushed, and Javqua looked surprised and slightly concerned. “Tom? Why is your face all red?” She asked, and Thomas shook his head. “It’s nothing. Just...lead me to our dorm! Let’s go!” He said.

“Sure!” Javqua chirped. “The dorms are right over there - see those tall apartment buildings?”

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A few minutes later, they were in their dorm room, it was a pretty spacious place, with a simplistic, modern design. There were luckily two bedrooms; which was a big relief to Thomas, as he had always been one to enjoy his alone time and privacy.

Thomas unpacked his bags, personalizing his room a little bit. A few posters here, a few books there, and some exercise mats and dumbbells on the floor.

Javqua had already decorated the whole dorm to her liking since she wasn’t expecting a dorm mate. Luckily, she had good taste - changing the white furniture and walls to neutral earth tones via the room settings, along with placing various potted plants here and there.

Time passed by quickly, as he and Javqua finished their homework together before ordering food from the school.

Javqua began to eat something that looked kinda like a ham, only much stringier and darker, along with some weird sauce that smelt faintly of blood.

Thomas began eating his own meal, which he had put together carefully, trying to be healthy. Some greens, something that resembled flatbread and a big fish, nothing too special.

Every now and then he would catch Javqua taking glances in his direction. mainly aimed towards his food, but on occasion, she would stare at him directly, most likely when she thought he wasn't paying attention.

After they had finished their food Tom realized they still had loads of free time before they had to go to bed. Using this knowledge, Thomas decided to introduce Javqua to the wonders of human cinema; of course, starting with the classics.

As the night went on, Javqua became more and more immersed by the movies. Thomas, on the other hand, was finding it quite hard to enjoy the films as much as he usually would; he was more focused on the seven-foot-tall reptilian sitting next to him.

Thankfully, it seemed like she was too preoccupied to notice his gaze, and Javqua continued her pass time, allowing Thomas’s gaze to go unnoticed by her.

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Morning made its presence known to the inhabitant of a very naturally colored room, by unceremoniously blinding the groggy carnivore; forcing a near-silent growl from between her razor-sharp teeth.

Slowly, Javqua dragged her seemingly numb body out of her heated bed; immediately regretting such a decision as her cold-blooded body tasted the crisp morning air circulating through her bedroom.

Cursing herself for not setting the timer for her heater, Javqua stumbled into the door to her bedroom. As she opened it, she was bombarded with the scent of sizzling meat and the sound of a soft melody emanating from the kitchen, where she guessed Tom to be.

So entrapped in the moment, Javqua nearly failed to notice the small form of Tom, a bright smile plastered to his face.

Without saying a word, the cheerful human placed a plate of seemingly human cuisine in her claws.

“How are you so awake?” Javqua groaned, wondering if Tom took sleep-enhancing drugs - it really wouldn't surprise her if he did.

“Well, I can run with five hours of sleep if necessary, but your schools start at midday, letting me get a good amount of sleep, at least by my standards.” The human replied, tucking into a plate of his own human food, leaving Javqua bewildered. claws. Even though Tom should be even more out of it than her since he stayed up to watch an extra movie, the human seemed wide awake. Her six hours of sleep really wasn't enough for her brain to properly function.

So she did the only thing she could - stare blankly into the distance as the mammal continued on his merry way, humming that same beautiful tune.