"Rectangular box is convenient because - uh, electronics 001, the way we do things without magic is usually that we bind electricity to complicated pieces of metal? And the complicated pieces of metal are flat, so, rectangular box full of complicated pieces of metal, plus a screen you see things on. We have, um, video games? Ether gazing sounds like maybe it's video games. Whateley laptop can't handle most of them, and you're technically not allowed to download games onto it anyway."

"Ether gazing is - the interface for the ball; you gaze at it, and kinda concentrate on what you want to do. I'm not hugely into video games and figure even having jeans doesn't mean you'll have Island Nations Four."

"Oh. Instead of ether gazing we have keyboard and mouse - not a literal mouse it's just called that - and you do things with your hands to tell the computer what to do. You're probably going to be put into the Computer Literacy class, they'll explain it way better than I can. We don't have Island Nations Four but we probably have something similar, I think most of video game space has been explored at this point."

"Okay. I don't think I'll get a fancy computer till I know how to operate a computer at all. Island Nations Four is a game where you control a bunch of settlers on an empty island and then you sometimes have to manage conflicts with neighboring islands but mostly you customize your society and expand to more islands."

"Yeah, we've got plenty of civilization building games. They're fun. Anything else you need?"

She grabs a pack of socks. "What do most people get? How much furniture and stuff does the dorm room come with, do I need a pillow?"

"Room comes with two desks, two lofted beds, two closets, and a sink. You will need a pillow. Also pillowcases, but I think that's in the sheet set. Um, dorm checklist... You'll want an alarm clock and a wastebasket and a laundry basket, and I think that's all you're missing. Unless you want, like, snacks, or posters. They've got some nice posters."

"Oh, I'll have a roommate? I had a single at Magisterius but okay." She takes a pillow, fails to identify alarm clocks on her own but picks one once Morty points them out, and takes a laundry basket. She inspects the poster selection.

"Yeah, only seniors get singles. I mean, seniors and Hawthorne kids, but with the Hawthorne kids it's because they might accidentally kill them."

Posters are available in many varieties! Some denote affection for a band or singer. Some are reproductions of presumably famous works of art. Some are just nature scenes or pretty patterns. One is of a cat hanging on to a branch with the caption HANG IN THERE!

Bella takes a nature scene; they're not that expensive. "They might kill their roommates?"

"Hawthorne's the dorm for kids with uncontrolled or otherwise dangerous powers. There's a boy who can't be looked at directly because he drives people insane with his beauty, a little kid who's the involuntary host of an ancient demon, a girl who projects her own emotions so strongly that she gives people aneurysms... It's nasty all around."

"Oh dear. Is not sharing rooms enough of a precaution?"

"No, they've got specially built containment measures too. But for obvious reasons, Hawthorne rooms are singles."

"Understood." What's the snack situation?

Expansive, if not healthful. There's chips, there's candy, there's soda. Also an incredible variety of chewing gum.

She will take some candy after reading all the ingredients and some single serve bags of cheese popcorn, for snack emergencies. "Is gum really popular here?"

"I think having way more gum than seems reasonable is just a natural feature of convenience stores."

"If you say so." She doesn't buy any gum. She swings through the aisles to see if anything else catches her eye. "What's that?" she asks of a rack of cell phones.

"Oh, I knew I was forgetting something - those are cellphones. They're like tiny computers that also allow you to talk to anyone who also has a cellphone. They're very useful and you should probably have one."

"Okay. Science pocket mirrors."

"Sounds about right."

"Are there also wall mirrors? Big stationary ones on walls so you can get a better view of each other?"

"You can video chat on a laptop? That's the closest thing I can think of. Oh, and phone calls are audio-only - there's ways to send text and pictures but that's a separate thing. You can technically video chat on a phone but I find it kind of annoying to deal with."

"Huh, okay. I think mirrors used to be visual only."

"Parallel technologies are always fun."