The open air tasted sweet to Knap. As impressive as the Biblioplex was, nothing beat an endless sky. But Knap wasn't feeling a light hearted as he thought he would on his first day. He knew he'd be nervous, but not like this. He started to think more seriously about the possibility of foul play and the trunk. He was still a bit confused about Mel's sketches and dreams. He also knew his friends were clever which brought some relief to his heavy thoughts. 

Before heading to the lounge Knap went back to his room to look at his shield and quarter staff leaning beside the door. I shouldn't leave this too far behind anymore.

Knap enters the lounge and sits criss-cross on a cozy spot near a pot plant, meditating. 

After prestidigitating her slippers clean, Mei excuses herself from the group under the pretense of using the restroom. It’s some time before she returns, changed out of her uniform into a comfortable robe and carrying a tray of tea with the same teapot and cups as well as a small jar of honey. The soothing scent of chamomile wafts through the room as she sets the tray down on the coffee table. “

I'm sure we could all use something stronger than tea, but…” she trails off with an apologetic smile, her eyes far puffier and more reddened than when they’d arrived some ten minutes earlier.

Having learned her lesson the night before, she settles herself on the floor and pours a few cups of tea, but does not offer them to anyone in particular. She instead rests back against the sofa Malvyn is nearly asleep in and cradles a cup in her hands, enjoying the warmth of it before taking a sip, her gaze distant. 

Mae is rather relieved to have concluded their business at the Biblioplex, enjoying the outdoor air again before the got back inside their hall. She put her bag back down in her room, setting the new plushie on her bed for later, and then came back to the lounge where the others were gathering, sitting down near Mei and taking up one of the cups of tea upon her return, giving her worn eyes a sympathetic look, but declined to comment on them. "Tea is just lovely, Mei. I prefer it to stronger drinks personally, though I quite understand why those might also be appropriate." She took a small sip and closed her eyes briefly, "Mmm, it's delicious."

Mellori puts her things back in her room tidily, placing her soft toy and pennant on her bed for now. Leaving Mei to get changed, she headed straight away into the lounge, where the others said they would congregate. 

She finds a comfy armchair and awaits the arrival of the others, quiet in her own thoughts. Once Mei comes in, she gladly takes one of the cups, but a quick sniff tells her this isn't regular tea as she knows it. Remembering her parents' words on the subject, she feigns a sip and puts the cup on a side-table adjacent to the chair she's sitting in. All the talk of stronger drinks intrigues her. She knows what they are talking but but has never tasted alcohol before, so lets the conversation go.

But, wishing to participate, she offers, "Well I'd like to think that wasn't a standard day here. Or maybe I would...I'm not so sure now."

Guardok heads to his room and steps inside.  He does note that the door to Piero's wardrobe is slightly ajar - it hadn't been earlier. But other than that, he doesn't really notice anything else. 

Most of the other floormates have assembled in the lounge. The room is a bit quiet, although there is a bit of conversation.  And of course, the hot tea provided by Mei. It is still fairly early in the day - just after midday.  You all have your schedules for the start of classes tomorrow.  But for now you really have nothing that needs doing. 

A few minutes later, there is the faint sound of the levitation disk. However, nobody seems to have gotten off. You presume nobody left, unless it was Guardok. Though perhaps it might have just been someone from a higher floor passing by.  

Mae took a sip of the tea again and looked over toward the levitation chamber, studying it for a moment before shrugging and turning her gaze back to the group. "So still no sign of the roommate, hm? How very mysterious. Not unlike the maniacal trunk earlier. I do hope our days are not filled with such adventures though. Might be a bit too much excitement, but it is curious. Is everyone ready for classes tomorrow?"

Although sincerely appreciating the effort from Mei to constantly take care of her floor mates, the purple-skinned tiefling declines tea, not ready for any more novelties just now. He was about to bring up what Mellori had found on the trunk but he realized Guardok was still not there. "Well, if Professor Sharpbeak is to be believed, monsters on the schoolground is not that uncommon. It would seem we can handle that though." He says, looking around at the others with an impressed expression. "Not sure what preparations are needed for classes though but I doubt they will be more challenging than our orientation day." He adds with a brief chuckle.

"I would agree..." the winged tiefling says, casting sacred flame on a seat to make sure it won't bite her tail off before sitting down. "But... I wasn't really expecting to fight an evil costume chest on my first day at school either, so it's probably best if we don't jinx ourselves..."

Mei, who had already nodded off—teacup still held aloft for a sip—startles as her chin dips into the hot tea, the liquid spilling over the rim down her chest and into her lap.

With a softly uttered, “oh,” she stares down at her tea-soaked front then leans forward to set the dripping cup down on the tray. “I, um… I heard stories from my father about—“ she pulls one arm out of the robe and then the other, “—a few incidents when he was in Witherbloom. And apparently there are the,” her voice lowers as though she might get in trouble just for bringing it up, “unsanctioned duels as well.” Hips tilting upwards, she manages to get the robe out from beneath her and bunches it all together to prestidigitate.

“But what happened today seemed…” her shoulder rise and fall with a heavy exhale. She’s quiet for a moment, fussing with the robe before she finally finds enough nerve to take responsibility. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything. We could’ve… maybe we could’ve stopped it before it happened if I had. And poor Hedix he…” her voice wobbles and she quickly shuts her mouth, not trusting the next words to come out without tears.

(OOC: sacred flame doesn't actually have any effect on inanimate objects... which is why Chara in her newly-paranoid state is using it to test for mimics)

Chara manages to cast her spell, but it has no effect at all.  She is able to take her seat with some peace of mind. (Note - although the spell is ineffective it still uses a spell slot to attempt the casting. Actually, it's a cantrip! I will say though that per the spell description, you must see the target also. So were there an invisible creature present the spell also would not have worked!) 

By the time Mae wanders over to the levitation disk area, nothing is happening.   A minute or two though after she steps back to where the group is in the lounge, you hear it working again.  This time however, Lesviel steps out of the chamber into the hallway. "My goodness! You are all back! I just heard about what happened in the Biblioplex a few minutes ago!" 

The purple-skinned tiefling gives Chara and amused smile as the winged tiefling uses her magic to check for more toothy threats, then sitting up abruptly in the couch as Mei spills her tea, his fiery red eyes filled with a mix of annoyance and sympathy, quickly helping the purple-haired girl to clean up (prestidigitation).

His curiosity is piqued as she mentions unsanctioned duels, briefly imagining himself teaching the flamboyant actor a lesson in humility. As Mei goes on to speak about possibly stopping what happened he leans in closer, feeling a strong urge to try to comfort her, about to say something as Lesviel enters the lounge. "Ehm...yes, indeed, it was a bit of an unexpected incident, but evidently the students of Dresar Hall's fourth floor are quite capable of dealing swiftly with such things." He says with an amused smile, looking around at the others.

Malvyn then turns back to speak more softly and sincerely to Mei. "It can be quite a burden to see the future, but there was no way you could have known exactly what would happen and when, please don't blame yourself in any way for what happened." He says, briefly and a bit awkwardly laying a gentle clawed hand on her shoulder before retracting it. "I'm sure Hedix is alright now, much thanks to your resolute action Mei." He adds with an encouraging smile.

Mei looks back at Malvyn in surprise at the comforting touch--there and gone again and wholly unexpected from the tiefling--and tears spring anew to her morning glory eyes. Beholden to that offer of comfort and kindness, her smile is soft with gratitude. His encouraging words continue to chisel at the tower of guilt, pieces crumbling from the foundation, but it's a tower that was built in her heart long, long ago and has withstood all attempts of absolution.

"Y-You healed him too," she stammers, not wishing to take the credit as she wipes the heel of her hands over her eyes. "And Chara. I think, between the lot of us, there will be nary a skinned knee left untended to," she laughs, the sound caught halfway between performative and genuine. 

Seeing and hearing Lesviel in the hallway, and finding relief in their RA's return, Mei asks, "What did you hear about it? Was anyone else hurt in the rush to flee? Are you alright?" and her eyes widen with concern after every question.

Lesviel nods. "I am just fine. I had left the Biblioplex to practice a bit.  But hurried back here once I heard something had happened.  Evidently some creature got into the Biblioplex and started going after students?  Someone thought it was the Live-Action Roleplayers that brough something in."  She looks around at all of you. "I presume you are all safe as well?" 

Having asked her question, she glances about at everyone in the room, a bit of concern crossing her face. 

Knap, crosslegged in a corner, speaks up. "I'm fine yes, but safe...I'm not sure. I don't mind a bit of rough and tumble but to be honest I wasn't expecting a face off with a toothy trunk this morning. Together, I'm sure we'll be able to look after each other but I wouldn't want to be caught out alone if something like that happens again. Does stuff like that happen often? We spoke to Professor Sharpbeak and were told that monsters occasionally find their way into Strixhaven. Which makes sense, I guess, a place of power and all..." he pauses still trying to piece together what happened and the clues his companions perceived. "I think, maybe, It wasn't really a monster though?" 

Guardok looks at the wardrobe door for a long moment before his curiosity gets the better of him and he decides to take a look inside. He moves up to it cautiously, not taking any chances after the monstrous toothy trunk incident from earlier, and gently pulls the door open.

Looking inside the wardrobe, Guardok sees nothing out of place.  There is a target threadbare cloak hanging there that you don't think was there before. And the old backpack sitting in there is slightly opened and looks riffled through. Like someone had grabbed something out of it in a hurry.

Lesviel says to Knap, "Oh! You saw the creature? And spoke with Professor Sharpbeak? She runs the whole first-year Orientation. How did you end up speaking with her?"

She then returns to your question. "I have heard of the odd creature coming on campus. It's fairly rare. Usually not a big deal. Sedgemoor is known to have its dangers, but that's off on the Witherbloom campus."

At the end though the Elf focuses in on his last comment. "What makes you say it's not a monster? Sounds very much like a monster to me."

It felt good to see Mei smile again, the purple-skinned tiefling smiles back at her as she mentions others helping too. He had to agree, the students of the fourth floor of Dresar Hall were quite resourceful, and that could prove important if they were to investigate the mysterious incident further together.

"Oh, you didn't hear all that happened at the Biblioplex then." Malvyn says a bit confused to their RA, realizing he had assumed too much from what she had said. "Well, not only did your assembled floor mates see the creature, but some of us actually made short work of it with their magic while others took good care of an unfortunate student who happened to be next to it. Professor Sharpbeak turned up moments later and congratulated us for our resolute actions. She even gave us a piece of platinum each for what we did." He explains with a somewhat proud smile now, looking around at his floories. "I suppose it was a monster in some sense, but when it was hit with enough magic it simply reverted to be a quite ordinary and non-magical trunk again." He goes on to explain to Lesviel.