"Is five people okay?"

"If you're going to be packing in five people, I can assign you one of the bigger houses so there's space for everyone. Thanks for being good sports about this. I have orientation packages for all of you." She reaches beneath her desk and pulls out a handful of amulets, along with a stack of brochures. "Maps with your house marked, class schedules, and Fusil runes for everyone. Have fun!"

Kumi takes the stack of brochures and the handful of amulets and passes them out so everyone gets one of each. 

"Oo ty."

"Also, Fusil runes?"

She takes her items, and examines them carefully. 

"They do fertility or contraception. Student Council public health measure."

The runes are engraved on small polished stones, each one identical but for the base rock it's marked into.

"A wise enough precaution. Are there any similar measures for diseases?"

"Witch physiology is generally robust enough to protect against such things. If you have a problem there's an infirmary on the map."

"'nd don't have to worry about like, becoming an asymptomatic carrier for that kinda shit, I hope?"

"Certainly not. The diviners would catch that. Is there anything else?"

"Who should we contact if something else comes up later?"

"There's phone numbers for the student guides and the campus police and the registrar in the brochure."

"Lovely. That should be all, then."

She nods, and twirls back, strutting off towards their new lil home.

Kumi falls in behind Tourmaline, already putting on her amulet.

Nix follows, her long black hair trailing behind her.

Audrey brings up the rear of the pack.

She watches them all go with a casual calm lust, and follows along. 

The boardwalk creaks underfoot as the group walks toward town, passing bushes, trees and more advertisments by the side of the road. The false-sun hovers low in the sky, casting golden shadows that illuminate every twig and flower. 

The town itself is rather quaint, something out of the American fifties, more for nostalgia's sake than because it's really that old. The houses are sprawled out, each with its own plot of land; there's one with a swing seat in a tree outside, another with windchimes carved with runes, another with an owl nesting on its roof. 

Eventually they come to the center of town, where there's a general store and a library in glass and a town square. In the middle of the town square, two witches are holding a mock fight between a pixelated Charizard and an equally pixelated Tifa Lockheart; one or two others are sitting on the ground nearby, apparently waiting their turn.

"Oo we'll have to check these out more sometime - digicastin's pretty fuckin' cool."

"Is that what they're doing?"

"Yeah, it's Arcadia's specialty magic, evoking things from fiction into real life. With a lot of limitations, obviously."

"I've head you can go live in whatever fantasy world you want to for a while! It's all false-matter, obviously, but that doesn't matter if you're visiting your favorite shall-we-say-romance-novel."