"Yes, he was indeed still watching you," Rubina says to Mae. "Fortunately, a couple others must be interested in the Cheer Squad, so his attention is pulled elsewhere now." 

"I've been mostly a solo performer myself," the other woman says. "I'm Aurora. I play my own songs at the Bow's End Tavern. But the Show Band is a different experience as a musician." She shrugs, "I play the shawm in the band. What instruments do you play Mae?" She sounds very interested to know. 

Knap heads for the table marked with the 'Strixhaven Iron-Lifters Society' sign.  A well-muscled Dwarf is at the table and immediately greets you. "Ah! Interested in lifting iron?"  Her bright red hair is pulled into two bushy tails to either side of her head.  She sizes you up for a moment. "You look to have a bit of strength in those arms. Have you done weight training before though? I'm Greta Gorunn. What's your name?" 

Mina nods at Mei, trying to soothe her as she is obviously getting flustered. "Oh no. I certainly didn't mean...  umm... not that book of course. Others." She looks a little worried when Mei seems to almost hit her head on the table with her bow. Quickly, as Mei is departing, she says, "Best of luck. I hope I see you again." 

As Mei moves towards the table where Knap has gone, the red-haired dwarf girl at the table suddenly points down at your feet and lets out a very loud laugh. "Oh! Look at that! Someone got you really good! How in the world did they trick into wearing those! I wish I had come up with something like that."  She continues laughing, even slapping the table in front of her a couple of times.  

Mae shook her head a little. "Well he can keep his attention elsewhere. I've seen too many of his kind. And I don't mean genasi." She sighed and looked at Aurora, "Oh that's lovely! I usually stick to flutes and drums myself, but I've dabbled with quite a few different things over the years. You play at the tavern? Hmm, I was thinking of getting a job too, and I heard they might have something. But I'd love to come hear you play sometime. And this band...it does sound like quite an experience. A better one than..." she cast a half glance back toward the cheer table. "I'd say don't tell him that but somehow I get the impression he wouldn't care."

Rubina jumps into the conversation with Mae. "Hey, I play the flute as well! Newcomers can come tomorrow afternoon after the first day of classes. No pressure to join now, just come and see what it's like."  Aurora nods. "Yea, no pressure. It's not the finest music ever, but again, it is different at least than playing on your own."  She looks over to the Cheer Squad table as well. "If anyone cares it's Zanther - at least about people being spirited. But I'm sure he won't worry about you not joining the clubs he's in." 

Mei, already a tomato personified for how red her face has become, stops in her tracks at the dwarf's laughter. She blinks in confusion, then follows the direction of her finger to the floor. Where her... bunny slippers are currently enveloping her feet rather than her shoes. 

She looks back up at the laughing student and blink-blinks once more. Then bursts out in a fit of laughter as well. If anything is to go wrong today, let it just be this! Though she'll be lucky to get out of here without a nickname like Bunny or Slippers it seems.

"Noooo," she protests through giggles with a shake of her head and wipes at the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. "No one tricked me, I just forgot to change them. Oh, Stars, what a featherhead." The muscles of her abdomen ache and she pats it with a wince. "I could be persuaded to give them to you to use for tricks though," she smiles. "Size six and a half if you've someone in mind that would fit." 

The dwarf only laughs louder when she hears it was Mei herself that forgot to change out of her bunny slippers. "Oh! Who knows, perhaps you're starting a new fashion!" she bellows.  After a moment, trying to take a breath and stop her laughing, she continues a slight bit more seriously. "I couldn't take your slippers dear, how would you get home? But anyway, I can't imagine how I'd ever pull off switching shoes for slippers on someone.  But perhaps I'll look you up if I ever need something."  

A few more moments later the red-haired woman has calmed down even more. "I'm Greta Gorunn and it's very good to meet you."  She pauses, looking Mei over. "You don't look like an iron lifter, but we always welcome people just starting out. It's more the camaraderie of working out together, setting goals and pushing each other to meet them."

"Mei Fujimori. Nice to meet you too! And it's that obvious, is it?" Mei replies with a sheepish grin, rubbing the nose of one bunny against the back of her other calf. She'd guessed she'd be laughed at over at this table, but for an entirely different reason. Though she thankfully doesn't feel any judgment in Greta's assessment of her strength (or lack thereof, rather), simply an honest observation which endears her to the dwarf even more.

"I, um... I'm rather dependent on magic to do things. It would be nice to feel..." she glances at Greta's muscular form with no shortage of envy, "strong." She's watched her father tear logs in half and carry two full grown boars from the village back into the forest, but was never encouraged to follow the same physical pursuits when it was her mind's eye that needed training. "Is there a test to join? Do we have to... challenge you at arm wrestling?" 

There's a lighter laugh from Greta at Mei's question. "No! No test. And we don't have to arm wrestle unless you want to!"  She looks at both her and Knap, who'd she been talking to before the commotion of the bunny slippers. "All are welcome to join. LIke I said, you just have to have a desire to work out together!" 

"Interested in both, but might have to limit myself to one", Guardok replies to Zanther. "Need to figure out the coin situation first, because I doubt I will have time for both of those and a job".

"If I do have to pick, I am leaning towards the cheer squad. I am more into the performance aspect you see. I can play musical instruments and I know a few illusions that would be really fun to use. I am not so into the aerial though, us earth genasi prefer to keep our feet on the ground", he explains, and as he speaks of aerials, his eyes widen as he has an idea.

"One of my new friends might be perfect for aerial displays though, hold on", he turns around and scans the room for a moment before seeing who he is after.

"Chara! Over here!", he calls out and waves his arms.

Mei glances down at Greta's arm as she considers it with a tilt of her head. We're meant to be trying new things, aren't we?  "What do you think?" She looks to Knap and puts on a little accent like the gunslingers in some of her romance novels seem to have, "Fancy some arm wrastlin'? I wouldn't mind seeing just how far behind I am in comparison. Oh, I mean... if you wouldn't mind showing me what-for, Greta?" 

Chara is hanging back a bit, looking completely overwhelmed (again) when Guardok starts calling her name. She jumps into the air, beating her wings a few time to get over the crowd and land next to the earth genasi.

"Um, you needed me, Guardok?" she says.

Then she notices Zanther.

"Oh, hello there! I'm Chara... what's your name? Are you one of the club leaders?"

As usual, Chara continues to come off as very socially awkward, but in a sort of adorable way.

"This is Zanther, he runs the cheer squad. They do grand aerial displays...well, he can tell you better", Guardok says excitedly, giving Zanther a chance to answer.

Mellori is transfixed. Insides the Activities Center, two tables are vying for her attention first. Her head swivels from one to the other. Which to approach initially? On one hand, the Dead Languages Society feels as if it should be her first choice, then the draw from the Dragonsguard Historical Society pulls at her.

Closing her eyes, she slowly turns on the spot. Once she feels she has performed at least one full circle, she opens her eyes again, slightly unsteady on her feet. Closest to her line of sight was the Dead Languages Society. So, she visits that table first before heading over to the Historical Society. With both, her conversation is the same. "I don't need to know more about you, I just need to know where to sign up."

Malvyn's fiery red eyes looks between Mina Lee and Mei, not quite catching what Mina found funny about critical analysis of the book they referred to, which made him feel a bit awkward but also heightened his own curiosity about that book. He then accepts the pamphlet offered by Mina with a polite smile. Book reviewing, perhaps that was something he could do too, he certainly had read enough to do that, but again, he somewhat doubted his own ability to make the review interesting enough to read. "Yes, we could do that." He hears himself saying as Mei mentions critically analyzing things privately, but then he deflated inside, realizing she would most likely not be interested in the same quite esoteric literature as him, still quite oblivious to what kind of literature Mei was talking about, almost relieved he didn't have to follow up on waht he said as the purple-haired and quite energetic girl heads over to his roomie. "Well, thank you for the information Mina, perhaps I will see you at that meeting then." Malvyn says with a polite smile and glances around the Student Activities Center, briefly debating if he should go and say Hi to the girl that ran into him yesterday, but seeing her and Mae talking he doesn't want to interject, she probably didn't even remember him anyway, instead deciding to head back to Lesviel to start the actual orientation, impatiently walking back and forth, one hand on the tome in his shoulder bag for a while before deciding to head over to the information desk to ask about work in the Biblioplex while waiting for the others to finish up in the Student Activities Center.

Zanther nods to Guardok. "As a team, any good aerial preformance starts with a solid base at the ground. So you'd be a valuable addition Guardok!"  He then turns to Chara, giving her a big smile, which he always seems to be doing. "Well, well! Your friend is right! You could provide a fabulous addition to our aerial feats! Would you really be interested in joining the Cheer Squad? I'm Zanther Bowen."

Quickly he grabs up a number of brochures, handing the Cheer one to both Guardok and Chara. He gives Guardok one for Gymnastics as well.  "These have all the information about tryouts. It's not really a competition though - both accept members of all skill levels."

Greta gives a loud whoop as Mei suggests an arm wrestling contest. "Yea! Of course! Always up for a friendly little challenge. Nothing fancy, just a friendly try right here?"

She pushes away some brochures to clear space on the table.  "Come round here and take a seat," she says, pointing to a spot back behind the table next to her. "Ready when you are." Greta places her elbow on the table, her hand ready to grasp yours once you're in position. 

Mei's heart flutters at the chance. How often she watched her brothers competing with the other kids from the window--their laughter and similar whoops of joy luring her out of meditations. As she shuffles around to the other side of the table and sits, she asks with a wide grin, "Any tips before you utterly and absolutely trounce me?" Her hand gently clasps the other young woman's and she marvels at the feel of Greta's calloused palm and fingers. Strong.

When Mellori reaches the Dead Languages Society table, the tall minotaur quickly picks up a pamphlet and gives it to her.  "Looking forward to seeing you join us then," he says in what seems almost a soft whisper. It could easily be missed. 

She then approaches the table marked 'Dragonsguard Historical Society'. A Loxodon stands proudly there, clad in gilded plate armor. "Very good. A girl that knows what she wants," he replies. He shifts a piece of paper over to her and offers a pen. You note a space for your name, hall, and room number. 

While waiting for you to write, he says. "My name is Bhedum Sooviij." In saying this, he makes a few unusual sounds by blowing air through his trunk. "Most just call me Rampart though.  A rough translation from my actual name."

Malvyn arrives at the Informstion Desk and is greeted by an older human with a short beard. He tells you about positions available at the Biblioplex. "Students usually start as a book shelter. It may sound mundane, but what better way to learn where books are kept! Often our top shelves will move on to be book clerks.  We also need students to help with cleanup, tend gardens, work the café, and work the store. To sign up we'll need you to fill out this brief form with name, hall, and room number. Plus what shifts you want - though we can't guarantee what will be available. We'll start bringing in people next week."