"That's a good question! Are we unique in the world, for video games?"

"Artonans seem to take everything so seriously. And like... Poetically? They'll have different genres, I bet, if nothing else. Less shooters and conquest stuff, more atmospheric stuff or puzzles, I would guess?"

"Now I want to play alien video games, thanks for that."

"Uh, no problem?"

"It's going to be so inconvenient to get ahold of them if they aren't already a known thing on Earth, but it's nice having goals."

"I mean- Hold on, let me just Google it, I mean do a search-"

He starts pecking away at invisible System windows.

"-There's at least a few. This one's translating as 'Collector of Essences' and looks like an action-puzzle? 'A relaxing game to train the art of seeing a larger pattern', uh... 'Be mindful of waste and plan your movements without hesitation'... 'Rotate the rings and move each object to its correct place'."

"I guess that sounds either Artonan or like the copy was written by somebody who thinks about Artonans a lot."

"Well, the page is in Artonan at least. Some company called Comet Games publishes it. Five argold. Can I text you the link?"

"Sure, thanks!"

She gets a text a few seconds later.

The Artonan in the description and screenshots is pretty fluent and sure scans like something an Artonan actually wrote and not Earth authors imitating them. There's a short gameplay video and a warning admonishing the young mind to not simply look up how things in the game work, but rather discover it through 'joyful exploration'.

She needs to have a sitdown with her budget soon. For now she just bookmarks it for later.

Sammy the Rabbit is happy to text his buddies in silence for the rest of the bus trip.

He hops off one stop before the bus actually gets back to Intake.

"Going shopping. I had fun! Good luck with your moonjumping, see you later maybe!"

"See you around!"

A bit later in the evening (it's getting late), Neha sends her an e-mail (or whatever System messages are called)

It's pretty detailed, but boils down to asking if any of these three appeal:

Celena North High Political Science Track. Neha's Notes: Celena North is highly competitive, and does what they call 'talent development'. The idea is to stress you out and push students to the limits, both on power-related and non-power things.. It's in the rich part of town and is a good place to make connections. The culture is a little elitist. It's more known as a hero school but it's a big place and one of the best for a LOT of different things.

Franklin High, Econ/Law Prep Track. Neha's Notes: The idea is to go to a 'normal high school' but optimize everything for a future political career. Stack lots of electives, stand out from your peers, volunteer at things like charities and student organizations, and other sorts of merits, then go for a polysci or econ college program and eventually intern with one of the Anesidoran councilmembers or go into activism with a visible public profile, etc etc.

West Beach High, Artonan Studies Track. Neha's Notes: It still covers all the gen-ed bases, but is geared towards people who want to be summoned often and get along with Artonans. There's Artonan language intensives, culture studies, politics and history and geography of the Artonan Systems, and studies on what is commonly known about magic. They advertise a few events with real Artonans and wizards for practicing the language and etiquette in final year.

With some dithering Elisabel rules out Franklin; normalcy is overrated. The other two are both compelling in their own ways... does she have to do all the superpower gym class dueling stuff at Celena North if she's tracked for poli-sci?

Nope! In fact, she couldn't even if she wanted to! The competition for timeslots in CNH's gym is fierce. It's booked solid even overnight.

How convenient. What are the alumni up to? The poli-sci ones. Compared to the West Beach folks.

This one's an ambassador to Canada. That one's assistant to the Councilman for Brutes. This one runs a law firm. This one works for the Velras in an unspecified capacity. The West Beach folks seem to mostly end up having summon-heavy careers; Lots of Rabbits with photogenic social media profiles.

She really, really wishes she had any idea what she'd be good for on a summon.

Elisabel tells Neha she's tentatively leaning Celena North.

We should schedule another time to meet tomorrow and go over what you need to do to prep for it. When works well for you?

Elisabel hands over the schedule of all the mandatory enrichment she's signed up for.