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In an unremarkable bedroom in an unremarkable city on an unremarkable planet, a teenage girl is frowning at whatever she's looking at on the holoscreen in front of her. She's absorbed in her reading and isn't paying much attention to her surroundings.
a Merlin becomes a magical girl
give-the-world
"Yeah, so was I." Merrin isn't sure why she had any expectations at all for the academy, but apparently she did.
"This campus does seem pretty small, if it's training magical girls from all over the galaxy. Maybe a lot of teaching happens outside or something? That would be nice."
"Oh, um, I read something once that said the Academy was first built during a period of eco-conscious architecture and a lot of it is underground so as not to disturb the landscape."
give-the-world
"Cool! I guess that explains it." Merrin looks around appreciatively. "Looks like they didn't want to mess with perfection."
give-the-world
"There might be. They'd probably be pretty hard to find, though, if they're meant to be secret."
Food.
The dining hall is back near where they started. It's self-serve style, with food stations around the perimeter and seating in the center. There's a frankly bewildering variety of galactic cuisine on offer, everything from marh chips to Bourghillei brisket.
give-the-world
Merrin will start with things she recognises—oh, but she'll try a bit of this, and that...
the-perfect-the-perfect
Nira is more wide-ranging in her choices, and visits a solid two-thirds of the stations before declaring her plate finished.
Kait is apparently depth-first, going to only two.
give-the-world
"That's a pretty sensible way to do it. A lot of these foods aren't meant to be eaten together, so it makes sense to stick to one or two per meal."
give-the-world
Merrin nods. "That's sensible too. I mostly stuck to familiar stuff as well, but I'm trying this vegetable thing because it smells nice, and this other one looks kinda like something I've had even if it's not exactly the same."
give-the-world
"Yeah. Starting at a new school can be enough 'new' for one day. We've got time to try things."
Enough talking about food, time to eat it. Merrin discovers that she quite likes one of the new foods she was trying, but the other one has a weird taste. Oh well. This is why she made sure to get some familiar stuff as well.
the-perfect-the-perfect
Nira evinces no dissatisfaction with her choices, and Kait seems satisfied enough.
"I hope the quality stays up."
give-the-world
"Me too. It would suck if they were just trying to impress us with good food on our first day."
give-the-world
Merrin shrugs. "Do institutions always do things for reasons?"
She tries to think of an example, but nothing's coming to mind for some reason. Oh well.
give-the-world
Merrin is not actually interested in continuing this debate, and goes back to eating so she doesn't have to come up with anything to say in response.
Pretty soon all the food is gone and they can do other, potentially more interesting, things.
Apparently there's a fair of some sort where the various student organizations are showing off to attract new members.
