Consider it compensation for being thrown into an entirely different universe.

I'll do my best. 

She fills out the necessary forms and waits for her car.

Car arrives! It has a smily driver who introduces herself as Roberta.

"You've come at a quiet time, not as many kids going into Intake as usual. The place is all the way down in F-city- Want to stop anywhere along the way? I have to stay with you 'till you get there but that doesn't mean we can't stop and grab some quick dinner or something. I got out of intake just a year ago myself."

"Now that you mention it I am kind of hungry. Are there, like, fast food places we could stop at along the way? I've got my resettlement card if nothing else."

"There's lots of food, some of it fast! Great restaurant scene. So does that mean Americana? Burger and fries? And it'll be my treat, because I can call it 'integration activities' and get reimbursed."

"That would be very comfortingly familiar right now."

The car goes somewhat slowly; Walking paths and mass transit dominate the area, and cars are less omnipresent. After a while Roberta parks on a side street and shows her a restauraunt boldly labelled 'Benji's Big Beautiful Burgers'. It's set up like a fast food joint, with an ordering bar and a few tables, tasty looking food on display in a bunch of glass warmers, plus background music. Burgers, fries, pizza, chicken tenders, ribs, and sub sandwiches. The prices are on the order of 1-2 argold per item.

"Get whatever you like! Any questions so far?"

"Not so far, just taking in the city. It's hugely multicultural, huh? I guess the System translates?"

She gets herself an order of pepperoni pizza.

"It does. Should be pretty seamless once it settles in. And it'll do maps, messages, and stuff too. Plus warnings for certain areas. It can be iffy on when it translates sometimes, deciding what you're paying attention to and what counts as a private conversation, but it'll always do signs and stuff, for example. These just happen to be English, this is an English neighborhood."

Roberta orders a cheeseburger and pays for them both.

The two pepperoni pizza slices are pretty good! The crust crunches just so, and sauce in particular seems to be special in some way. They also get cups for an old-fashioned soda fountain.

"It's good of you to help out with the intake process. It must be a pretty interesting and varied job, seeing everyone who comes in to the island from all around the world."

She goes and gets her fountain drink. "Will there be time to eat once I get there or should I eat it while it's hot?"

"Thank you! I do like meeting people. Though I'm more a general on-call driver than an Intake person specifically, technically... Oh, there's no rush at all at this point. Not as far as 'today' goes, you might want to go shopping? Get some essentials taken care of? The closest thing to a deadline is going to be your intake counselor wanting to have a chat about your goals."

"In that case I'd prefer to eat back at intake, so I'm not holding you up and I can get used to my new room."

"However you like."

She shouts 'To-go please!'

"So, do you have any idea of your plans now? I'm taking you to the Wright hall, but I hear being a Wright can get expensive."

"I'm hoping to be able to fund my powers with my powers. I do feng shui designs that actually work. At least theoretically. Since I'm only nineteen I'm stuck in college; I'll probably take some actual interior design or architecture classes to supplement my powers with."

"That sounds cheaper than needing rare magical beetles or berries only grown on one Artonan island or whatever else, at least!"

The food comes. They get back in the car.

"You're better off talking to other Wrights about it, I gotta admit. I've also heard there's a good market in secondary components. Make charged sand or hydro wing nuts and sell to other Wrights, boring but profitable."

She gets back in the car as well. "I'll see what I can do! For now, I guess I'll just focus on my education and on settling in."

"Sensible!"

The traffic on Anesidora is not that bad, despite all the teeny streets. Maybe because there are relatively few cars.

They pull up to the neighborhood soon. Upon crossing some invisible boundary the System informs her:

Welcome to the Intake Neighborhood. To avoid overwhelming our newest neighbors, access to the buildings on this block is restricted to new Avowed, Intake staff, emergency responders, and individuals on the authorized guest list. Thank you for your understanding!

There's a few large apartment buildings on the block, with a subtle boundary between it and the rest of the city. Extra-wide streets and more green space. Three tall towers, a couple of small outbuildings, a square apartment block, and a low concrete building that looks vaguely prison-like, and a pair of semicircular apartment towers, all with a large courtyard in between them. They head for the square apartment block.

"And here we are! The Wright Place." Roberta snickers. "Your intake guide will be out in a minute. The food stop was serendipitous, since she had a meeting run long- I've been texting her. Her name is Juniper, and she's a good soul. She'll be able to let you into your new room and answer your questions much better than I can. I'll sit right here until she comes and says hi, and then I'll wish you all the best and head out."

"Thank you for taking the time to escort me," Hazel says. "I know it's part of your job, but it's nice to see a friendly face in a strange place."

"You're quite welcome. If you want to thank me pay it forward, hon. And remember to stop and smell the flowers sometimes.

-Oop, there's Juniper now."

Juniper is a dark-skinned woman in cargo pants and a green raincoat-looking thing, plus a wide grin and a toolbelt, and carrying a brown paper bag.

"Hello, dearie! Our newest Wright, and such a <interesting> one! Unique wright! No longer does the rabbit building have sole claim on the most interesting kind of a very interesting set of people." She thrusts out the bag. "Here, toiletry pack! Straight from the convenience store when I saw in the notes that you didn't have luggage. If you hate that particular brand of toothpaste or whatever, let me know and I'll travel back in time to slap myself for the mistake. Or not, 'cause I definitely can't do that." Pause. "Yet. And also let me know if I should tone down the energy. Some people can really use it to keep their minds off things! Others, not so much."

"Less energy would be nice, thanks." 

Clematis picks up her pizza and drink and tucks the toiletry bag under her arm. "Thank you for the toiletries, I appreciate them." She looks around at the surrounding buildings, the greenery. "Probably gets a bit chaotic sometimes, what with the constant stream of new arrivals, but you're out here doing your best anyway. I appreciate that as well."

She takes a slow breath. "Right now I'd like to focus on getting situated and figuring out the basics of life here. I've never lived independently from my family before, so it's a big step. Can you walk me through what a typical day here is like? I also understand I'll need to apply to a college or university - what are the local institutions?"

"Low energy mode. Bye, Roberta, have a nice day! Here, let's head inside and show you your room. On a typical day in Intake you'll wake up, get ready for the day and fix yourself breakfast in your room's shared common area, then probably head out and take part in various activities- Placement tests, interviews with schools, social events, intro exercises, shopping trips, and so on. We also have some basic workshops in the basement to try out your skills with, we'll get into the rules for those later. There's a variety. Lunch, either packed or back in your dorm again or eating out some place."

The halls are plain looking, high quality warring with an obvious sense of durability. The fancy subdued color stripes of tile and paint are nice without looking too nice to walk on.

"Here's my office! It's cozy. We can go right on past, to the elevator. In the afternoons people typically start coming back to this building, for the workshops or to socialize and show off or play around with their powers. In a safe and reasonable manner. Dinner the same as lunch, and after dinner the dorms tend to be fairly busy with a lot of people hanging out. You have to sleep here, and quiet hours start at eleven PM Anesidora time, or midnight on Friday and Saturday. It does vary a lot based on what you want to do, your interests and inclinations. You have to participate in a certain number of... <Introductory>? Getting-to-know-the-island classes. There are a lot of options for schools, there's something for everyone really. And some of them aren't much like traditional schools if you think that would disagree with you."

They pass a few people in the hall, including a pair lightly arguing about whether a <riordo impact ring> technically counts as an enchantment or not.

"I have no idea how I'd manage to do magic architecture or feng shui in an unsafe or unreasonable manner and will endeavour not to find out. So, basically make sure to do your intro classes, be back for curfew, stay in school, don't be a... inconsiderate person. On weekends your time is your own and within reason and the law you can do what you like as long as you come back at night to sleep. Do I have that about right?"

She likes the physical surroundings here so far, though the constraints are certainly constraining. 

"You have that about right. It doesn't even matter when or how or which, as long as enough intro classes get done. And it's my job, to help you. I've been around for a while. Depending on your skills and goals, I hope I can point you in good directions. Oh, you can move out as soon as you find a place to live and a school or alternate and finish the classes, for full freedom."

Ding. The elevator arrives.

"The settling in period will probably be a bit complicated but I'm tentatively looking forward to getting situated and figuring out good ways to apply my new abilities. Money and freedom are nice, helping people is better." 

She gets in the elevator.

"All shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well. You mentioned feng shui? That's neat! More designside skills aren't as common for Wrights."

Floor three. Ding!