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Maggie-of-the-owls' Anna-Seraphina exists in Rockeye's new setting Soulfire
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Stern nods. "Good."

Bored says, "You'll need to get a student ID... Come back at lunch period and we'll do it then. The machine's broken now, Claud said he'd fix it when he gets in. Here, a meal voucher for the first day. Unless you packed lunch? I'll show you to your first class and talk to the teacher. I hope you enjoy your education experience here at Sandstone Creek High School..."

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"I didn't pack lunch," she says, accepting the voucher.

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It's an almost painfully typical school hallway. Beige-painted cinderblock walls, rows of green lockers, 'Don't Do Drugs' posters here and there.

They manage to get to the classroom before class starts. English, with Ms. Terese. Some students are milling about or already in their seats. Some of them look at her and mutter to their friends furtively.

"Welcome, welcome. You'll be glad to hear I've already got the other school's paperwork, so you can mostly keep your previous grades. You can have my copy of Hamlet for today since you probably had a different reading list before. I'll make sure to get you a copy of the course plan tomorrow morning."

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She glances nervously at the mutterers. "Thank you," she tells Ms. Terese.

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Ms. Terese smiles widely. "No problem. We do have assigned seats here - there's two open, second row far left, or in the middle of the third row."

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...She takes the second row seat after thinking about it for a minute.

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Her neighbors introduce themselves but don't ask more than the basic courtesy questions - any clubs or sports? What's your next class? - but don't press if she's quiet. English class commences.

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She answers their questions--nothing yet, but she's thinking about some things--her next class is thus--but doesn't volunteer anything they don't ask for.

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The teacher reads a few important passages out loud, and calls on a bunch of people - some who didn't raise their hand - but not Anna-Seraphina unless she does volunteer it.

English class ends without incident. As do the rest of the morning classes.

Lunch: Is mediocre. She can sit alone and not interact if she likes. Or chat amiably with a couple people.

Afternoon classes: She is assigned a lab partner in Chemistry. Her lab partner browses her phone rather than pay attention to the lecture.

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...She will tentatively sit next to someone at lunch. It's important that people think she's not insufficiently socialized and likely to kill someone else.

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The person she sits next to doesn't say much. Pretty much just 'hey, what's up?' before going back to her homework.

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That works. Does her lab partner seem content to let her basically do the lab herself?

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She does seem to understand what's going on when it's time to work. They can divide responsibilities and do the lab without saying more than twenty words.

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She's more chatty once they're done with the experiment. "Sucks to move in the middle of the year. What happened?"

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"...My foster parents...died."

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"...Sheesh. Hug? Forget I poked it? Something else?"

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"They...weren't good to me. I wish they had exited my life in some other manner than what happened but I'm glad I'll never have to see them again."

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"I have zero context for how you maybe feel around now. It's probably good that you're talking about it from what I hear about shrinks?"

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"I guess? I dunno, it's better that you not have context for how I feel."

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"...Okay?"

Teacher appears! "Hey, why aren't you two doing the lab?"

"Oh, we already finished. And cleaned up."

"Turn it in and read or study, please. This isn't lunchtime."

"Yessir."

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...Okay. Reading until class is done, then.

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And after class is done, "Mr. Bartel is strict when he's not lecturing. Should've warned you."

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