text | un: iwouldprefernotto

[kunimeh]

they pay us to go to school here
THEY pay US

and theres no entrance exams or anything just walk in and get paid for school

so uh anyone wanna split an apartment with me and my lion
and anyone here play volleyball jw

[Kunimi misses his old school and team more than he'd like to admit, but he's absolutely in favour of the education system here. Being in a hotel full of other newcomers already has him feeling crowded and overwhelmed, and the fact that attending classes will cover rent with a roommate is... way too appealing not to try out, honestly.

He probably should've asked over video so that potential roommates would know who's asking, huh...]

oh yeah im kunimi
just got here im almost 16 yo im a guy and i like quiet ppl

[There we go. That should be enough, right?]

Comments

[rediscovering]

[ No need for pleasantries indeed, and Zuko's quite relieved for it. He follows by Kunimi's side as they start out, but mostly keeps his eyes elsewhere, his tea, the ground, straight ahead... It's still strange to be meeting a stranger even if it's an inexplicably chill one. He gives it a moment of thought, sipping his tea before he speaks. ]

Well... My sister went to school, but not me. She went to the most prestigious school in our nation, elite. She studied history, survival training, weaponry, combat, military strategy... Among other things. It required a lot of diligence and I guess the headmistress was very strict. I imagine all schools teach different things but require just as much dedication. My ex-roommates went to another prestigious school in their world, and theirs had different after school clubs. That's how they made their first friends ever — and my sister made her only two friends at school, too... So there must be a lot of socializing. Oh, and I know it's important that all schools teach the children to love their nation and know its history and respect its ruler. Schools are the cradles of patriotism. I guess that's about it. I honestly don't know anything about public schools...

[ Wait... What the fuck kind of wealthy, violent, nationalist world is this guy coming from? If you thought you made a normal friend, Kunimi, think again. ]

[kunimeh]

[Kunimi already gets the feeling that Zuko's world has been rather... small up until now, or at least recently. Homeschooling, mostly referencing his sister when he speaks outside of his own experience, and almost always reaching beyond said personal experience for worldly knowledge - he's not surprised to find out that Zuko comes from money. Swap out the military and combat training with brutally exacting academic and physical standards, and the school Zuko describes could just as easily be Shiratorizawa.

But yeah, that sure sounds like an imperialist nation caught up in some sort of war. Weird that they're training their daughters and sheltering their sons, but also, Kunimi has to admit, kinda cool.]

Yeah, I go to private school too. [Just a statement of fact, with no hint of bragging or apology in his tone.] Not an academy or anything though, it doesn't have dorms and all that. Just high fees and higher entrance exam requirements.

[Hmm... Kunimi's not accustomed to making long speeches about anything, so he takes his time to chew over the information Zuko's given him once more before adding to it.]

Most schools are pretty - all-in-one, I guess? Like you learn the same stuff no matter where you go, but with higher standards put on you and maybe more class selection. You'll get languages, math, sciences, social studies, and then add on from there with whatever you're into. You don't really focus in on career stuff until after high school, when you're an adult... that's where you'd have a military academy like you were talking about. [Another pause.] The, uh - patriotism stuff depends what country you're from.

[rediscovering]

[ Ah, another private school student. So this guy's family must have money, too, then, it sounds like. All his friends he's made from other worlds come from money just by coincidence. How's he find them all? Money magnetizes? ]

Right... So is this school like that, then? Except with magic? And what do you mean, "add on from there with whatever you're into?" Like what?

[ Zuko doesn't really want to learn math and sciences... Why should he? All of it'd be beyond him, anyway, even just technologically. Social studies, he'll need in life. Languages — well, he's still wrapping his head around that one. His world is literally small, even if his own personal world were wider; there's only one global language. Being introduced to foreign languages from Earth from a multilingual friend was mind-blowing. Their planet is huge. So many countries. He can't fathom how there's not a century-old war there, too, with so many players in the mix. ]