Room 223, late Saturday

[sairis]

Sairis still wasn't entirely sure what was going on here or how (or if) he'd ever get back home, but after a stressful day of getting ready for a trip to the capital, raising a horse, a night of riding through a storm, and a day of whatever this was, he was more than ready to get to the room he'd been given and fall asleep.

He found the room and unlocked the door. Hm; he might have to do some wards there. Tomorrow. He walked in and blinked; it was easily larger than his master's room back home, though the two beds said he'd be sharing the space. Which might be awkward, when he was awake enough to think about it.

For now, he went to the bed in the left corner and dropped his bag on it, then dropped himself on it.


[Open post for the roomie or anyone dropping in!]

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[not_a_haint]

Caleb likewise had had a lot to process, which he hadn’t quite done yet. He’d spent some time trying to familiarize himself with the campus to distract himself from the task of dealing with the oddness, then finally headed to his room.

Wow this was even nicer than the hotel room he’d stayed in last night.

When he saw one of the beds was already occupied he tried to be quiet with his own settling in. So of course everything made noise.

[sairis]

Sairis tensed up, looking toward the noise. "Who's there?"

Probably whoever his roommate was, but you never knew.

[not_a_haint]

"Sorry, sorry," Caleb sighed, abandoning his failed stealth attempt and just sitting down on his bed, "I was tryin' not to disturb you. I'm Caleb, and I guess I'm your new roomate."

[sairis]

"Caleb?" Sairis sat up and conjured a mage light, glowing green over his hand so he could see a bit more. "Oh! We never did get names, did we? I'm Sairis. Don't worry, I wasn't asleep yet."

[not_a_haint]

Oh, that was new. Magic where Caleb came from tended to be more subtle, at least that he'd seen. Home remedies, invisible wards, maybe some flashy banishings or something.

Mysterious lights were one of those things kids were warned to steer clear of. Good thing he already had an inkling that things worked differently here.

"Oh hey there. Sorry I didn't introduce myself before. Pleased to meet you." His room assignment had listed Sairis as his roommate, so it was odd (he was going to have to look up more words for that. Strange just didn't sound right though) that he'd arrived on the island without knowing that he'd already been enrolled. But what the hey, Caleb had apparently time travelled so why not.

[sairis]

Whereas this sort of magic was fairly innocuous where Sairis was from; it was the necromancy that would get you killed.

"And you." Sairis rubbed his eyes. "I suppose I should warn you I haven't shared a room with anyone since I was little." What kinds of things did roommates need to worry about? "I'm tidy, but I have no idea if I snore."

[not_a_haint]

"Oh that's alright, I lived for around ten years in a bunk house with about ten other boys. I can sleep through snoring." As long as he didn't speak in tongues in his sleep like one or two of the kids he'd grown up with he would be fine. And even then he'd deal. "We got cleanliness ingrained in us from a young age too so I guess we got that in common."

Wow this bed was also comfier than the one at the hotel, and he'd thought that room had been like a royal suite.

"Earlier, did you know you were coming to a school but this wasn't what you expected? Or was it even weirder than that for you?"

[sairis]

This bed was much thicker and softer than Sairis's cot at home. He was enjoying it.

And Sairis, as it turned out, neither snored nor spoke in tongues (well, not while asleep).

"I wasn't expecting to go anywhere but a city a night's ride from home," Sairis said. "I don't know where this place is or how I'll get home." Which he was trying to put aside for now until he could deal with it. "Though I will say it being a school is a point in its favor." He'd always wanted to go to the university.

[not_a_haint]

If Caleb didn't trust the folks who'd arranged his matriculation here, he'd think that seemed somewhat sinister. Someone or something snatching up unwitting folks like that. And again it was a puzzle how Caleb's paperwork had this man's name down when he didn't know he was coming.

"That is bizarre," a much more impressive word than odd, "I knew I was comin', I mean I got admissions paperwork in the mail an' folks told me they was arrangin' for somewhere to go. But I didn't expect to...apparently I've been shunted almost a century into the future."

And yet somehow they couldn't bring themselves to move the welcome picnic indoors when it was below freezing.

[sairis]

"I'm apparently not even in the same world anymore," Sairis said. "It's a bit unnerving. And somehow they knew when I was coming, and I didn't even know! But my advisor seems..." Hm. Not nice, no, but she seemed like a teacher that wanted to teach him, which was as close as he'd known. "Good."

[not_a_haint]

"I'd say you probably win in the 'unusual circumstances' department. What's your world like?" A question he never thought he'd have to ask.

[sairis]

Sairis shrugged. "Drier than here, though that's mostly my home, not everywhere. The villages I've been to were less crowded than this one looks to be, more farms and fields. I've never been any further than that. What about yours?"

[not_a_haint]

"Climate tends to depend on the season, but that's not too different at the moment. This is the," he thought a moment. "I spent last night in Baltimore which was the first city I ever been to. So I guess technically that was the biggest town I ever saw. I guess this would be the second. I lived most of my life in an isolated commune and before that I lived in small towns that were definitely less crowded than this."

But that had been long enough ago that even a place like Baker's Gap, the closest he could come to having a hometown might seem like a bustling metropolis.

[sairis]

Sairis chewed his lip before sighing. "I've lived in a tower with my master since I was five. I've never been to an actual city before."

[not_a_haint]

"I can't vouch for the ones in your world..." he was just going to have to get used to saying things like that he supposed. "But the little bit I saw of Baltimore was pretty overwhelmin'." He was very glad that the hotel had been right across the street from the station. He was even grateful to the man who'd helped him flag down a cab, even if he was pretty sure the guy had grifted him out of a lincoln.

[sairis]

All of this was fairly overwhelming for Sairis, but he wasn't sure he wanted to say that. "I've never been there, either," he said instead.

[not_a_haint]

"Yeah it's a city on my world. I guess it's the closest population center to here, relatively speakin'. I ain't sure I can tell you too much that's useful since a lot mighta changed, and I'm really not sure how the whole dimension travel thing works."

[sairis]

"I'm not, either, though my advisor mentioned learning." He hoped he could do that soon, so he could back home before too long.