Indeed. Still, all we can do is play the hand we've been dealt. 

And maybe check out one of those brothels. 

Cher-ry!!!

Kidding, I think. I mean, they were legal in Australia back in our homeworld. But I know you two are too strait-laced to want your first time to be at a brothel. 

Can we move off this conversation topic, please and thank you. 

You two are no fun. Anyway. You should probably say hello to your new roommate at least.

Yeah, probably a smart move. We can shop later. 

She goes and lets herself out into the common kitchen and checks what's in the fridge. 

Honestly, what's up with the arcade machine? I'm getting the impression this place is just bristling with distractions and timewastes. Gambling, arcade games, TVs... 

It's paradise! 

It's sick. Unhealthy. Too many displaced people from too many different places, all mourning their homelands. No wonder the place has more distractions than Vegas. 

Respectfully, Clematis, you're kind of being a huge downer right now. 

Sorry.

The fridge contains a chaotic bunch of Tupperwares with what look like the remains of homecooked meals, labeled by date and neatly stacked. Half empty gallon of milk, tortillas and a bag of shredded cheese. Eclectic canned drinks. Also a box of cereal. In the fridge. For some reason. And a bag of baby carrots, and another of apples.

Probably not smart to eat any of this. 

You still haven't eaten your pizza, you know. 

Oh! Yeah, right, she knew that. She will eat her pizza and drink her pop to kill time and see if her roommate appears.

Message from Amaris Fuller (Room 1, unit 302):

Juniper told me I have a roommate now. Hi. Please don't eat my leftovers.

Oh, right, system messaging. 

Hey, nice to get your message. It's okay, I've brought my own pizza. 

It's alright if you're not in a chatty mood, but since we're going to be living together it'd be nice to know you a little. I'm Bluebell, I do magic feng shui. I'm Canadian.... well, I was Canadian. 

I'm on a tour but it's unexpectedly boring. So I can chat. UK, C, Ground Wright. Amaris. I want to be a civil engineer. Actually, I want to be a superhero but I have realistic expectations.

B, Unique Wright. But I expect to become an unusually good interior designer. With some study I might be able to become an unusually good architect, that would be fun. They tried to put me in Rabbit but I'm more interested in helping people than making Argold over my living expenses. 

Turns out even superpowers don't get you out of going to college. 

Architecture is very cool.

Because of the unique part?

I wish I had healer or rabbit. You can afford really good healing if you're a rabbit and impress important Artonans. Life extension grade healing. Nobody wanted to trade for freaking Ground Wright though. Obviously enough. Ground is hard to work with.

Yeah, because of the unique part. 

I guess I got lucky, then. I'm not sure I'd want to optimize my life to impress the Artonans though. I have the distinct impression they've got a drug problem and I've only been here fifteen minutes and read one intro guide.

I've heard that too. They give people on multi-day summons sleeping pills, wakeup pills, anti-nausea pills, strong painkillers, and more. It's not great. But they're the British Empire and we're Sri Lanka. Or more optimistically, Imperial Japan. Nobody has any clue how magic really works. Only Artonans can study at Artonan magic universities. And so on. So we have to do our best with what they give us. It's not even necessarily like they're being stingy, they have the whole fairness and debt thing and give us lots of tech and stuff, but it's still uncomfortable.

Yeesh. Now I'm real glad I'm not in Rabbit. Money's one thing but I didn't even drink before I got here. Getting random pills from an employer and being expected to take them sounds like a nightmare.