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A new semester meant a lot of things to many students. New classes, new friends to make, maybe a new job or two. At Hillworth Grammar School, it also meant new transfers.

Enter one Howl Wickham. He had recently transferred to the school due to unpleasant circumstances from the last place he had been. As a welcome to the school, the young man had undergone an extreme psychological evaluation as well as a physical evaluation. His situation had been analyzed, and a placement had been decided for him in the dormitory.

As he walked behind an administrator through the hallways of the rather grim looking building, he reminded himself that under the advisement of his lawyers, he was to keep the particular reason as to why he was in this new situation to himself. As his strangely turquoise hair trailed behind him, his eyes danced curiously from door to door. The office personnel had warned him that he was being placed with one of the more eccentric students in an attempt to create some balance. Though now, as he thought about it, he couldn't help but wonder what "eccentric" in a place like this could be. His fingers gripped tightly to the two suitcase handles, though it was more out of a need for security than out of nervousness.

"We're here, Mr. Wickham," the administrator stated in a rather emotionless voice as he came to a hault in front of a door. Howl noted the dorm's number was 230 before stopping next to the admin. The admin knocked on the door, then offered his last bit of advice: "You better not wear those girly things while in uniform."

The new transfer didn't say a word, nor did he let any sort of negative expression come across his face. Howl knew it was an appropriate time to listen carefully to some good advice.

Despite how fast everything seemed to happen, Howl seemed to adjust to the quick pace with ease. He caught Mr. St. Germaine's heavy stare, and returned an extremely polite smile to him. As the administrator fled the scene, Howl's manners insisted that he call out down the hallway a "Thank you for showing me to the dorm!" While his attention had been swayed towards the hallway, weight had been lifted from his right hand quite suddenly and was replaced with a firm handshake. Not wanting to seem rude, his sights returned to Franz who was now maybe 4 inches away from his face and returned the handshake with a much milder one of his own.

"Indeed, I am Howl" he stated calmly, paying no mind to the commentary about his name. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Franz." The boy had insisted he be called such, instead of something more formal. Once released, the boy calmly walked to his bed and set his own suitcase carefully upon the mattress. He paused and thoughtfully looked around at the room. It was quite grim. Even grimmer than he had imagined. Not wanting to rub the school personnel the wrong way, he meandered over to the sheet of paper on the wall. Apparently it was the rules.

"I believe it is my first time in this facility, Franz," he offered politely. "I only just arrived a few hours ago." A few being around 7 hours prior. He then set to concentrating on the list of rules. These would probably be important to know.

Howl just got past the part about removed privileges when he received his first official greeting. Delicately, he swept the long portion of hair that sometimes obscured his eyes away with his fingers and turned to face the blonde.

"It is nice to know that things are not..."

And then there was a hug. Had the new student been of the rude variety, he probably would have pushed the lad away and called him gay. However, Howl had been raised in a rather close family where hugs were not thought of as foreign customs. He could not help but wonder if this is what they meant by "eccentric" when they referred to Franz in the office.

Either way, there was no struggle, and the effeminate boy waited until he had been released to complete his statement. "...that things are not as bad as I heard." Glancing over himself, he found that his shirt had gotten a bit rumpled from the close contact, so he set to tidying it up with a few brushes of his hand. To make certain he was getting everything correct, he repeated back what he had understood.

"No stuff on the wall. With school stuff and family photographs being the exceptions. Posters are not to take residence on the walls. We are to be in bed, lights out at 10 P.M."

There was a thoughtful pause as he formulated a few questions about the policies: "Since you are familiar with the rules, would I be able to put anything out on a desk, like a picture frame or flower pot? And what other sorts of spot checks do they run in this facility?" Casually, he set his fingers to touch one of the stones hanging from his right ear.

The boy's fingers still smoothed over the edges of the stone hanging from his ear. For a moment, he seemed deep in thought as he kept his fingers occupied. His nose piercing was something he coveted highly when it came to his personal appearance. And Howl did think highly about his own physical appearance. He could take the stud out and perhaps put in a clear one, but then he might get in trouble. He was not out to create any problems, and if he caused any problems, some of his "privileges" could get revoked.

With his mind going a mile a second, Howl asked as casually as he could "So would it be far fetched to assume that a clear stud for the nose would result in some sort of penalty?" Many options still had to be weighed before he could come up with a conclusion.

Making his way back to his bed, he sat down and crossed his legs, one leg over the other knee. Despite being in what seemed like a pile of rubble, he still held an air to him of elegance. Even if he had mixed feelings about his situation, his posture held himself up straight and high.

"I suppose I should read up on the rules a bit more, to double check. I wouldn't want to cause problems so early in my stay." His fingers finally released the earring he had, allowing the oblong gem to swing down and dangle once more. His eyes once more found Franz looking to him, almost as if passion had swept over the blonde boy. A thin finger went up to the long-haired boy's lip, almost as if in a coy gesture.

"Hmmmm. I would like to think I can follow rules well. I do not believe it would be in the school's interest if I joined a council. It is not a role I am well suited for."

He paused casually and bounced another question back in his new room mate's direction. "How frequently are we allowed to go to the City? And what sort of privileges are students awarded for good behavior?" While he awaited a response, his hands went to his lap and the fingers laced together to rest.

Howl watched Franz as he spoke. He really had a lot of energy, and his attention seemed to go from one task to another rather quickly. Franz made an interesting subject to watch, but at the moment, more of Howl's attention was on the words being spoken. The perks spoken of seemed reasonable. Howl had been afraid that he'd have no opportunity to get himself a cup of tea, nor any time to go observe the general populace of this new area.

When he got the information about he needed about the nose piercing he had, his fingers unlaced from where they had been resting and one once more came up to his earring to play gently with the gemstone. The other hand remained on his lap, simply wanting to remain at rest. Howl could manage with a tiny plastic piercing for his nose, and to add to the "invisibility," he could cover up with a touch of concealer. The answer seemed simple enough for Howl, but then his mind went with the still remaining negatives. If he got in trouble for such a small piece of beauty, then he'd have to forfeit his town visits. No cafe visits for a cup of tea. No people watching while he enjoyed his beverage in the cafe.

"I thank you, Franz, for all that helpful information." Howl smiled in the blonde's direction, though he somewhat doubted this lad was even paying attention to something so delightfully beautiful. "You have been ever so kind in answering my silly little questions. I will see if I am able to answer your single question." The long haired boy could still hear the various tidbits of advice his lawyer had given him just before coming. If the awkward question had anything to do with why he was here, the question would have to be dismissed.

Instead of any sort of shock or accusations being thrown in Franz's direction, his question was greeted with a very polite, yet familiar chuckle. His fingers which had been occupied by his jewelry once again abandoned the gemstone and went over to his mouth, as if to cover his "rude" laughing.

"I am actually quite the opposite of gay," he reassured gently. "I actually got that accusation a lot as I was growing up, mostly in highschool." His hand left its new post at his mouth and went to flip some of his hair out of his face again. "Rest assured, I am as straight as a board. Part of the reason why I was eager about going to the City was so I could start admiring the girls of this area." A wispy, dream-like sigh escaped him as he seemed to think about something, though what, it wasn't obvious.

The air which surrounded Howl only seemed to prove his statement. Many closet cases would have been very nervous about responding to such, but the new transfer student was even more calm and comfortable with the subject than one could imagine. With a smile, he added "You won't have to worry about covering for any of my misgivings."

With the amount of work his blonde room mate had been doing with unpacking, Howl finally decided to begin working on such as well. With one clean motion, he stood himself up, and then he leaned his upper body over the first of his two suitcases. While he had been unzipping it, the whistle from a stray student reached his ears. He tried not to react to such a thing, but he couldn't help but smile in appreciation. After all, such a whistle usually hinted that someone acknowledged his obvious beauty.

When he finished opening his first suitcase, Howl stared at the contents, then strangely went to the second suitcase and began to unzip that one. As he worked, he nodded to whatever Franz had been saying at this point. It was only when the second suitcase matched the first one that he realized one question he had.

"Franz, my dear. I just thought of another question." Lifting out his protective gear from his fencing club, he spun around to show it to the strange lad. "Does this school have a fencing team? I know the school is very competitive with sports, but I didn't read up on which sports."

Delicately folding up the piece in his hand, he set it on top of the desk on his side of the room. "I would consider Fencing to be quite classic as a sport. It does date all the way back to the Renaissance. A show of skilled swordsmanship rather than brute strength." Walking back to his two suitcases, he glanced back and forth between the two rather than getting started. It was always such a tough decision to figure out which of the two to start with. Certainly, he had technically started with suitcase number 2, but that was more or less to ask a question. There were objects in suitcase number 1 that he'd really like to take out as well.

The mention of Franz and the cheer-leading squad did cause a mild response in Howl. He turned around and gave the other boy a good looking over. "Franz, my dear boy, I hope that cheer-leading here is not made a mockery like it is when lads participate in 'Powder Puff Cheer-leading.'" The idea of his boyish room mate dressing up like a girl disturbed him quite a bit. It really must have been difficult to have a cheer-leading squad in an all boys school.

Either way, one thing was very obvious. Howl would not be finished with unpacking for a while, based off how easily he got distracted from his work.