"Assuming this place is consistently nice and we don't have to kill anyone in the martial training. We should be okay."

"You guys are really fixating on the child soldier thing."

"It disturbs people. I was raised to kill people, too, but mine was less systematic and more 'my mom was a crazy supervillain'. And no, you won't have to kill anybody in martial arts training. It is in fact very much discouraged."

"I am so sorry. I think part of the issue is that - at least in the demonic world - people that reincarnate are not considered quite as immature as first-life children. Not that I am defending the practice. Tartarus is a horrible place."

"Well, you're well out of it," she says philosophically. "Now that you've got your classes sorted out, what's next... oh, I should show you to Poe and then you should get your shots. Do you guys fly faster than you walk?"

"Faster!" Herods says leaping into the air. Maybe this will cheer up the mood. "What are shots?"

Ariel rises into the air and starts towards Poe at a fair clip. "Shots keep you from getting sick. You have to get a bunch of them because we have different diseases than you and you're potentially vulnerable to them."

"Cool. Less vice spent on being not-sick."

"Is that magic?"

"Nope! Pure science. You'll probably learn about it in your acclimation class."

"So much to learn."

"That's the nice thing about science."

They reach Poe pretty quickly at their flight speed. It's a brick building, no-nonsense construction. Ariel leads them inside; it's pleasantly furnished, with a TV room to one side and a weight room to the other and stairs up to the dorms in between. 

It's not that different from the rest of the school, but impressive by their standards.

Gavriel gawks at the TV room. Then he peers inside the wieght room. Any interesting guys in there?

Someone of indeterminate gender, covered in what looks to be molten gold, is deadlifting a barbell capped with rune-covered plates. The room is otherwise empty. 

"That's Rani," Ariel whispers. "Do not fuck with Rani."

Herod pulls Gav away by the horns. "Understood, but why?"

"Bipolar and Diedrick's, plus they could literally crush you like a bug. They're a TK-6, meaning they can apply about 5 tons of force. Rani could lift a car in each hand. -a car weighs about as much as three cows, for reference, does your universe have cows?"

"Livestock animal that's source of meat, milk and leather? Yeah, at least it matches with an animal from Prime according to the translation. What Bipolar and Diedrick means?" Herod pulls Gavriel further away from the weight room, still by the horn.

"They're not that much of my type," Gavriel mutters, but he doesn't make an effort to escape the grasp.

"They're mental disorders. Bipolar makes them swing between emotions too quickly, and Diedrick's makes them just go crazy sometimes, paranoid and self-aggrandizing and spiteful and shit. I'm friends with them, but only because I can beat them in a fight. Not really safe for squishy mortals."

"I see, sadly, we do have experience avoiding the type."

"On the bright side, they're pretty much the only one like that in Poe. There's other folks with problems, but none as violent or as powerful. Poe's a good place."

Ariel leads them up the stairs to the second floor. "There's one room available," Ariel exposits. "All rooms have two beds, two desks, and a window with a charmingly pastoral view. Bathrooms are at the end of the hall, east for girls and west for boys. Showers are communal, which I'm sure Gav will appreciate. You're starting as freshmen - how old actually are you, by the way?"

"Twenty five."

"In Tartarus years," Herod quickly adds, "when we got to the papers we rounded down to eighteen of years."

"Huh, you're a couple of years older than me. Weird. Well, you're starting as freshmen, so the showers are going to be occupied by 14-year-olds - though they're not going to look like it, Exemplars are kind of creepy that way - so don't have too much fun."