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Dorm deck, Sunday afternoon

Lana had settled in, gotten the lay of the land, and gone shopping for clothes. Now she was sitting on the deck attached to the dormitory and meditating, determining her first impressions of the place and people and what it all meant.

To anyone not Force-sensitive, it would probably appear she was kneeling, her head bowed. To anyone Force-sensitive, well, there was a well of feeling around her, hatred and fear strong as she worked on connecting to the local currents.

This might take some time.

[OOC: Open deck!]

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Astrid felt like she was trying to wake up, which was difficult to do when you were never really sleeping. The last few weeks felt like an odd dream, a strange blur, something she couldn't possibly have experienced, and yet there was evidence all around her. Her still sore ankle, the new attempts at drawing again like a flower slowly trying to bloom. Did she even go to the welcome picnic? She hadn't talked to anyone, she barely ate, like a ghost, but there was the evidence in her sketchbook. And what about the woods? She thought about forcing herself into them again to try to conquer her newfound xylophobia, but the mere thought of it just made her sick to her stomach.

Baby steps, then. Maybe if she went out to the deck, she could sit and try to see if she could draw some trees, and that would help. It might also force her to be a little more social, which she hated to admit could be a good panacea.

In fact, she was even going to say hello to the other girl already out there when she reached the deck, but she was quick to notice she was involved in something. Yoga maybe? Meditations? Either way, it was something she probably didn't want to interrupt, so she just tried to move as quietly as she could to one of the chairs, to sit down, and cast her attention elsewhere, toward the preserve, and get to work.

Except that...she didn't really do anything, just sort of got caught staring off and getting mired in her thoughts again.

Lana felt and heard the other girl approach, took a moment to focus and corral her feelings, then looked over.

"Hello."

Astrid glanced back over with a faint hint of a smile, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Hi," she said. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt or anything."

"Not at all," Lana said. "I can meditate whenever. Lana Beniko. You are?"

"Astrid Magnussen," she offered in return. "And you're one of the new batch, aren't you?"

"I suppose so," Lana said. "I arrived yesterday. How long have you been here?"

Rufus was neither one for pointless niceties or mindless socializing and not being at home meant he was free to cheerfully not do either of those nearly as much as he did when he was playing daddy's good little heir.

But having a dog meant that sometimes such things were forced upon him. Dark Nation, still wound up from chasing the books in the library, spotted the blondes on the deck and, well, off her went.

"Dark Nation, no!"

Rufus hurried his stride as Dark Nation bounded up on deck to see who would be more willing to give him all the pettings. The dog was a jumble of long, skinny body, longer legs, and a tentacle that protruded from the back of his head that lashed with excitement as he clattered onto the deck, eager to have attention paid to him.

Lana looked over and blinked at the...whatever it was. It was clearly happy and nonthreatening, though, so she held out a hand to it.

Hopefully she didn't mind getting that hand absolutely covered in doggy kisses, since that was what Dark Nation was going to do, wiggling with delight at the new person.

Hi, new person! Hi!

"Not very long." Even if it felt like forever. "I'm part of the last new batch. It's a little weird," upsetting, "realizing I'm not the new kid anymore."

"Ugh!" Lana grimaced and pulled her hand back, but patted the creature awkwardly with the other as she tried to keep it from getting her too slobbery.

"Is this yours?" she called to the boy who'd come with it. "What is it, and does it always do this?"

Something deep inside of Astrid that she couldn't quite understand reacted strongly to the dog suddenly bounding toward the deck, and it didn't even have anything to do with the fact that, yeah, that was a tentacle coming out of its head, wasn't it?

Though that could be a convenient excuse for her reaction.

Her eyes danced up toward the guy from brooding class. "Yours?" she asked.

Yeah, she'd happily let Lana take its attention, even if it did seem friendly enough.

"It's mine," Rufus confirmed as he climbed onto the deck, eyebrows quirking as he realized that all three of them on the deck had blond hair.

It was a blond parade.

"It's a dog," with a tentacle, "and he's just trying to be friendly. Dark Nation, come here."

That last was said sternly and still wiggling with excitement, Dark Nation pranced over to Rufus. Rufus sighed.

"How many students are there here?" Lana asked.

Dark Nation was friendly enough to nearly make up for Rufus' near complete lack of friendliness, even.

"Mine," Rufus confirmed, with a quick glance to make sure Dark Nation hadn't destroyed any of her belongings. "His name's Dark Nation. Astrid, right?"

"Thank you." Lana wiped her hand on her pants. "That's a dog?" It didn't look much like a dog to her. "He certainly is very friendly, if a bit...sloppy."

'Dark Nation' didn't strike her as particularly odd for a pet name.

It still amused Rufus how few people wondered about his dog's name.

"He's still little more than a puppy," Rufus explained, kneeling to rub Dark Nation's head and behind his ears. Admittedly, Dark Nation was quite large for a puppy, when sitting his head reached Rufus' waist, but... details. "He'll settle more as he gets a bit older. He is a dog, though not one from this universe. I brought him with me from home."

Rufus was... actually quite happy to talk about his dog.

Now that Dark Nation was a little more settled, Lana stood and reached out again, petting him. "That would explain why he looks nothing like the dogs I'm used to. How large will he get?"

Dark Nation's tail went wild with glee, but he stayed where he was, panting happily.

"He should gain another six inches to a foot in height," Rufus said, standing, but leaving his hand on Dark Nation's head.

He was going to be a big dog, definitely. Though always a skinny one.

"Not much more weight, though? Is he for hunting or protection? Or simply a decorative companion?" Lana asked.

"Not much more weight," Rufus confirmed, and smiled faintly. "He's for protection, actually. His tentacle here," Rufus ran one hand down it, "allows him to cast both lightning spells and barriers to keep attacks from reaching either of us."

"Really?" That was interesting! "Can he do that already, or not until he's grown?"

"He's starting to send up sparks when upset," Rufus said easily. "The full spells won't be accessible until he's fully grown, however."

Lana nodded. "That should be interesting to see. I've had training in throwing lightning myself; I'm curious how it would compare. But not yet, apparently," she said with an amused look at the dog.

"Oh, sorry. Lana Beniko," she said, nodding to Rufus. "I'm newly arrived here."

Rufus inclined his head.

"Rufus Shinra," he said, "I've been here for a few years now."

Then, because he was in turn intrigued by her mention of throwing lightning around, he added, "I know a spell or two myself that are roughly analogous to what he'll learn to do naturally, if you'd be interested in comparing lightning at some point."

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Dorm deck, Sunday afternoon

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