Of all the pairs of people to arrive at Carramba High School, this one beat the rest. When Magg wears clothing, he's quite the lady-killer. When Anima stops touching people, she's rather a nice normal girl.

Neither of them want to do those things, of course. Touching people is Anima's perrogative, and Magg... doesn't much like wearing things that do not show a lot of his skin.

Together, they are Animal Magnetism. Apart, they're what some local priests and politicians like to call 'the ruination of today's moral structure'. To hear Anima and Magg say it, they're the liberation of the human soul and body. All in one (or two, as the case may be) pretty package.

***

"Are you ... sure you're not an adult?" Cybill asked Magg. She eyeballed him as he sat uncomfortably in a sweatsuit on the chair opposite her desk. "I mean, you look pretty mature. And you're what, six-one? Six-two?"

"My copyright date says 1987," Magg announced. "I do look a bit old for my age. Don't I?" He leaned in, feral green grey eyes gazing at the woman. "And I guess height runs in my family. I wouldn't know..."

"Why is that?" Cybill asked, and Magg narrowed those eyes a bit. He looked away.

"I don't know my family, I can only guess who my parents are. I've heard rumors, but when I asked the ... people in question they were pretty put off by the idea."

Cybill furrowed her brows, and wrote 'orphan' in the section of her notes appropriate to parentage. She gazed down further on the page, and tilted her head. Then, she shuffled out Anima's paperwork and compared the two.

"You two can't stay in the same dorm room," she said flatly. "It's totally against policy."

"But... we're together." Magg said, softly. "And she is the only family I have."

Cybill was firm. "You'll just have to learn to get by separately."

Magg's face showed that he knew just what to say. He was a white mask, pale skin perfect and unmarred by any teenage acne or blemishes. His hair was a wild mop of silvers and greys, not prematurely white, but obviously born that way. Whoever his father or mother was, they were handsome - their features showed beautifully in this mature young man.

"Then you'll have to imagine what trouble we'll get into separately, if you put us into other people's rooms..." He grinned widely, big teeth showing.

"Okay, you win," Cybill said, shortly. "I swear. Kids today. If I hear any complaints about it though, you're going to be split up!"

"Fine, that's fair," Magg said. "Is everything ready to go?"

"Not quite, you and Anima have to choose some classes first." Cybill handed him a folded up pamphlet, which contained the course load schedule for Carramba's classes, along with a map of the campus.

"Thanks. Will tomorrow be good?" Magg asked, standing and adjusting the chair. Cybill chastised herself for watching a sixteen year old's butt. It did look good under those sweats...

"uh - Yes. Tomorrow will be fine," she snapped herself out of it, and didn't notice Magg grinning wildly as he left the room.

Cybill breathed out a long, careful breath. That pair would be the death of her. Or, they'd be invited to some interesting parties when they graduated. Probably both.

***

"So you got us in?" Anima asked, excitedly and in a hush. Her big hair flew slightly in the breeze, and she could hardly contain herself. But that was perfectly normal for Anima. When was she ever contained? Magg nodded with his big smile unable to be hidden.

"Yeah, but we have to choose classes now. And the dorm thing is okay." He said, as they walked along the cement walkway into the 'alien/humanoid' dorm building at the north end of the campus. "I can't believe she fell for that..."

"Don't let it get out," Anima said. "We'll get separated and I don't want that."

"I told her not to want that either, I think it worked." Magg winked at his partner.

Anima swayed around him, swooshing her long hair, entwining her long tail around his midsection. "I want to tour the place, can we do that? It's a nice campus. Not like that last place. Not like with those Vocorr jerks hanging around."

Magg shuddered. Their travels around the galaxy had finally brought them here, not for lack of trying. They weren't really ready to settle down on a planet, but this one had a lot going for it. It was free-raced, meaning that most of the people on the planet didn't much mind that aliens and furries and multidimensional travelers were there, and in fact they all also had rights if they remained on the world long enough.

Perhaps they should become more goal-oriented, Magg thought. He looked at Anima, and wondered if she could ever have a goal beyond the next five minutes. They found a nice flat area with chairs, stools and a big round table that had an umbrella shading it, and sat down. A couple other people were nearby, getting coffee from the gigantic java-mug shaped reactor core building. They paid only enough heed to the pair to notice that there were two wildly attractive people new to the campus - the locals threw the pair a wave and a hello, and went on their way.

"I really like this place," Anima said. "Now, what's on the course list? How many things do we have to take?"

This went on for a while, they looked over the requirements. They'd both passed entrance exams that put them at Sophmore level, meaning they would have a total of three years at the school. They had to pace themselves for that. Nothing too outrageous or advanced.

"This looks fun, 'Hyperdimensional Calculus'." Anima said pointing at the course description.

"Are you insane? We don't even have a credit for Just Math!"

"But it looks fun," Anima said. "And I bet I could do it."

"You can if you put your mind to it," Magg said. "But let's assume that they won't have first-years in that class, right? Realtime Geometry sounds about the right speed for the moment."

"Hmn, I guess." Anima deflated a bit. They moved from one course area to the next, history and science, literature and finally electives.

"This one. I want to be in that class." Anima punched her sharp nail onto the page. It impacted precisely over the "Dragon Riding and Tactics course.

"Well, it's a special trade elective. Let's write it in, and see what we get. What else?"

The course booklet filled out, as the sun went down over the campus. The western side of the campus held the two six-story high Staff and Resident apartments, and two more beautiful glass-walled buildings, which lit up with the sunset. Their dorms were a bit more mundane, set in the north building and spacious enough for them to have a bed each, a big shared table arrangement, and room to set up some 'stuff' if they had any. The kitchenette and bathrooms were down the hall, and they would welcome the bathing facilities - if they could use them together. Probably get kicked out for that, though.

***

The next morning, the campus started to come alive with more students. Anima and Magg had arrived just in time for the fall season to start, and within one week or so, the whole campus would be at its peak again. They handed in their course requests to Cybill, who ran them through the computer at her desk (which connected directly to her head via a pair of thick wires at her temples).

"Everything looks okay. Do you think you want to stick with this Advanced Cheerleading, or head over to the Closed Circut class for performance, Anima?" Cybill asked. The morph fox-demon perked up.

"I wasn't sure what that class was for," she admitted. "What's closed-circuit?"

Cybill explained that the campus had a local broadcasting booth, for both radio and television. They had an acting course, but also a live-broadcast news station simulation, which Cybill thought she might get a kick out of.

"Maybe next year," Anima said. "I want to fit in first," she added quietly.

"Oh, don't worry then. You'll do fine in the cheer course. I just wanted to try filling up Vax's class room is all. There'll be other kids wanting in there, so..." She wrote down their final schedule. "Well, I'll see you around. Don't get into trouble."

"How much trouble can we get into, we've got no cash." Magg said, half smiling, as they left. Once the door had closed, Cybill shook her head and laughed.

"More than you could possibly get into with money, sweetcheeks...." She said.

***

"But we've only got three classes together!" Anima said, half exasperated, half bemused.

"That's what happens when we choose different classes," Magg reminded her. Their first day of school was mostly getting to know how to get from one class to another. The campus was large, but they both could move through crowds easily, and both of them got used to the campus before classes started. Living in the dorms helped too, as they would be able to look out their window and check which building was where and plot their day.

They had Realtime Geometry first, which was as Magg expected more than enough for Anima, but didn't much challenge him. Next up was Locals Only History - a history class taught by what appeared to be a humanoid construct but she didn't let on. Magg and Anima couldn't seem to "influence" her with their odd little ways and means - they both concluded that they'd just have to learn the history of the place they were staying at, instead of goofing off.

After that, Anima headed off to Optimism Under Duress - an interesting class that her endless enthusiasm and bouncy air helped with a lot. Magg went to the Public Relations class held by none other than Cybill herself, and she knew right off that this was a field he'd excell in if he only chose to wear some clothes.

They shared their Dragonriding course, but this early in the year there wasn't much going on. The instructor wasn't even there yet, he had to go somewhere quick and only got back at the end of class. It seemed that Hollis had done this on purpose, too, to allow the students some time to look at the big tactical maps, glance at the anatomy and egg growth charts, and just chat about what they would be doing later on.

Fifth period also brought changes between their schedules, as Anima went to the Interpersonal Relations class taught by Zeth Rubio - and he knew the class wouldn't be the same any more with her in it. Of course, Sanger's Posing and Weight Training class was mostly 'posing' with Magg there. He could almost pass as a young, very pale version of the instructor - but neither of them would admit that.

Then it was off to Music Theory for Anima, and Speech for Magg. They'd chosen their classes well, even if they didn't get to see each other except for the mornings. Seventh period was fun for Magg, in Fashion Tech, because the instructor Urd immediately began using him as a model for certain lovely wraps and silken garments. He'd get a kick out of that class all year. Unfortunately, English 101 was a bit dull for Anima.

Their last classes, Political Science with Helen Graves for Magg, and Advanced Cheerleading for Anima, went well enough. Graves was a bit insistant that if Magg was going to be taking a Fashion class he'd have to actually show up in her class with some on him. The cheer class went so well that they stayed late on the practice field, with Anima learning chants easily and making friends quickly.

Their first day done, both students collapsed in their dorm and didn't even bother trying to do their homework until very late.

***

It was during their first real Dragon Riding class that they both got a taste of things to come. Hollis paced around, framed by two or three of his 'local' riders. He gazed at the group of students, and cleared his throat.

"Now, I'm going to say this at the start of our course, because I don't want this to come as a nasty surprise to anyone later on. Some of you will not be finishing the course properly - because some of you won't be bonding dragons."

There was a sigh and shuffling from many of the students, muttering that 'he can't mean me' or 'that's got to mean someone else'. He waited for the muttering to cease before continuing.

"This is not through any fault of your own - remember that on almost any dragon bonding world, Nexus to Old World to Historic, dragons do the choosing. Not the other way around. You can't just walk up to a nest or clutch and say 'I want this one!'. It just doesn't work that way."

Anima could tell that the girl beside her was about to burst into tears. She raised her hand, and Hollis allowed her to speak.

"Sir, does it matter if we don't bond? I mean, there will probably be people who won't, but none of us has a dragon yet. And, how are we supposed to get one, then? I didn't see anything about it in the manual."

Hollis nodded his head, mop of pampas silver hair dancing - almost like Magg's did when he walked. Only, tamer.

"We'll be doing a tour of several dragon Sites, based on what our search riders here come up with." He indicated the trio of people at his side, the first of whom was a yellow-eyed white-haired man. "Ard is from Blackstone, where I'm from. Viyan is from Zekira," the four-armed extremely dark man nodded. "And Temih is from Planet Twenty and the Healing Den." The feline cheetah-Kin used her human-instinct and smiled, baring sharp fangs. "Their dragons are outside, and if you're all ready we can go do some searching."

Hollis indicated that everyone get up, file out of the room, and down to the field. Near the track area was a newly added arena locale, which currently doubled as the dragon landing flats. Four dragons rested there - a big sharp blue, a gigantic brown, a mid-sized dappled brown and green, and a gigantic bronze. From the first sight of them, the whole class paused and some gasped in awe.

"Never seen one before," someone said. "They're amazing!"

"They're scary, I.... don't think I'm cut out for this after all--" Said one girl. It was the one who was fearful in the class, and Anima turned to her.

"Now cut that out," she said, hooking her elbow around the girl's arm. "Even if you don't ride one, there are always things to do. Right?"

Hollis paused, and looked at the girls. "Yes, yes there are. There are many recordkeeping and technical details to look over, health issues, and location details. Most of those would usually be taken care of by a staff of the site involved," Hollis took that as his cue to continue the instruction, even with the search dragons standing there. "There is upkeep that can't be ignored. When a hatchling is young, they must be fed regularly and with the right kind of meat or foods. They usually have to be washed and scrubbed every day until their skin, hide or scales are sound."

Hollis walked around to Viyan's brown, Ummidvarth. "Ummid, here, is a large sized brown. Browns are what most Sites use as their "average" dragons. They aren't as common as most places have for greens or blues," he nodded to Ard and Trelerth, "but not everywhere can support dragons either as large as Synesth," he waved at his own giant bronze, "or as differently colored as Kelssyroth," he indicated Temih's female brown.

"They've each got different features," Hollis continued as the search dragons sniffed over the group. "You'll note how one wing is very long, this other is curved, and some have solid leather instead of finger spars," he discussed the basics of dragon anatomy as those same dragons got right up close and personal with the students.

There were twelve students, and of those, three of them seemed of no interest to the dragons at all. However, not to Anima's surprise, the fearful girl was not one of those three. She was nudged by Kelssyroth into the circle where the "chosen" students stood.

"Now," Hollis continued, "you might wonder what you three will be doing from here on out?"

The trio, a jock and two aliens who looked somewhat unhappy about this, stood and grunted some answer.

"Well, you'll be there for any hatching we attend. There is always the chance that your enthusiasm for bonding will actually wind up getting you a hatchling." They perked up at that, visibly. Magg kind of snickered, because he was the first searched.

"But it will also get you a lot of work, along side your friends here. They'll be needing help cutting meat, washing their dragons, and in any case, cleaning up after them." Hollis smirked at the distasteful remarks that came from that revelation.

"So this is them, then?" Hollis said, privately to Temih. The feline nodded, and handed Hollis the list of their results. "All right. Well, back to the classroom and - I hear the bell anyway. You're free to go, and I'll see you in two days. You all need to make sure your travel forms are filled out, because we're going to be flying at the end of the week."

Giddiness thrilled most of the class, as they went to their Sixth period classes. (The school's schedule was odd and even classes every other day and all 8 on Fridays, just so you know.) But a bit of hesitation came from Magg, on his way to Speech. He mulled over what he'd do about getting a permission slip signed.

Surely they could arrange something, he was an orphan - so was Anima for that matter. He'd have to talk to Cybill the next day about this.