On the Road [September 1991]

[Reseph Elserdi]

Reseph watched Hakeem go off to the side and briefly wondered what would happen if they were not in the same House. It did not seem to be something that he could control outright, and he sat there and nervously sweated it out until his time would finally come.

[Hakeem ibn Al'Abbas]

After a few more students, it appeared they had finally gotten to Reseph, and the Professor called out the young boys name. This was when Hakeem got nervous, only more so. He didn't know if the House of the Desert would appease his father, he didn't really know what would happen, what if Reseph wasn't in the same house, was he expected to make more friends already?

[Reseph Elserdi]

Reseph's name was finally called what seemed like an eternity later, and he too made his way to the front and placed his hand on the sundial as Hakeem had. He was not sure what to expect, when it flashed the same pale green that it had for Hakeem and the Professor announced his membership of the House of Desert, Reseph was filled with a profound sense of anticlimax. Nevertheless, he was excited to be joining Hakeem, and he raced over to join the boy and gave him a high-five.

[Hakeem ibn Al'Abbas]

Given the highfive, Hakeem grinned. At least he had someone he knew in that house, unfortunately being quite sheltered in his time as a magical kid, he didn't really have friends outside of what he was now expected to make here in the school, though he was sure to make plenty of friends, and he knew for a fact that he was going to tell his father all about it, so he could be really proud of him!

[Reseph Elserdi]

"This is totally the best House." Reseph said with a nod, glad that he and his new friend were going to be together. "The House of Sea kids can just cry about the fact that they're totally inferior!" he added with a grin.

[Hakeem ibn Al'Abbas]

"Yeah, they can be super wet and we will super awesome and dry and like... They won't have a chance..." Hakeem didn't know that made sense, but it made sense to him so who in the world even cared? Nobody, that's right. He let out a sigh and leaned back now that they were sorted it was just a matter of waiting, he noticed a girl, being sorted and sit on the House of the Desert side too, he stared at her. She sure seemed familiar.

[Reseph Elserdi]

"Exactly!" Reseph declared with a smile, "And then...you know...we'll just own the heck out of them!" Yup, they were utterly the best, there was no doubt about that! Reseph had never had a superior feeling in his entire life, and it felt quite good to be better than someone else.

[Hakeem ibn Al'Abbas]

Hakeem grinned and nodded, and soon, soon after the ceremony seemed to end and all the first years were helped to their dormitories by the lead of older students, and head boys and girls. There was another House, but it didn't appear to be like the other two, it was special in some way, only older students were in it! That must be the House of the Sun, something Hakeem wanted to be in, for his dad.

He followed the head boy for the Desert House, looking over to Reseph on occasion. "Hopefully we get our beds next to each other, so we can talk all night and stuff."

[Reseph Elserdi]

Reseph seemed to barely be conscious of the passing time, and when Hakeem spoke to him it seemed as though he was just snapping out of a daze"Yeah, that would be awesome!" Reseph replied excitedly. "We'd be able to do like...all sorts of awesome stuff!" Reseph couldn't think of anything, but he was sure there were things to do.

[Hakeem ibn Al'Abbas]

They were led into beautiful dormitories, lavished in gold's and light brown's. Hakeem was excited, and immediately had his eyes wide open and staring at everything, suddenly the headboy turned and stared at everyone. "Boys sleeping quarters are up the stairs on the left, and girls on the right. All of your luggage has been brought already, and will be pinned with proper colors overnight."

Hakeem looked amazed and in awe, and when the boy stopped speaking, and everyone was left to do what they wanted. Hakeem almost immediately ran up to the sleeping quarters to see what was up.

[Reseph Elserdi]

Reseph followed Hakeem upstairs and pointed to the bed where his trunk - which anyone who knew anything about the financial situation of the Elserdi family would immediately know was stolen - and said "This is mine! R.P.E.! Where's yours?" he asked, spinning around in the hopes that it would be somewhere nearby."

[Hakeem ibn Al'Abbas]

Hakeem looked around, and raised an eyebrow at all the suitcases, until his eyes landed on a very nice prestige looking black one. It was well taken care of, and brand new, perhaps a little shiny even. The boy walked over to it and patted it. His initials inscribed right at the front for everyone to see. "Right here.. So I guess we aren't next to each other.. But a bed over, huh..? Close enough..!" Hakeem laughed.

[Reseph Elserdi]

"Yeah super close." Reseph said with a nod, looking around before saying "But...you think anyone would notice if I just switched my trunk with this kids?" Sure it probably didn't matter all that much - but Reseph would prefer to actually be right next to his new friend - and certainly the boy wouldn't notice if someone moved his trunk before he even got here.

[Hakeem ibn Al'Abbas]

Hakeem shrugged, "If you want.. I don't really care.. I mean, it would be cool and all that, but... Well just do it before the other kid comes in.." Hakeem waved Reseph on, though he wasn't about to engage in this activity with him, he didn't want to get in trouble first night. Nope!

[Reseph Elserdi]

Reseph looked around hastily and, without taking his eyes off the door - slid the two trunks to the side and switched their locations. Being a street-kid who often had to steal to survive, Reseph was used to such hand actions without looking at what he's doing - and the doorway was still empty when Reseph had finished. "Boom! Done." Reseph said with a smile.

[Hakeem ibn Al'Abbas]

Hakeem laughed, "Well good job! That was better then I had expected that to go.." Hakeem was honestly thinking he would have gotten caught and then he would have had to play hero and try to get Reseph out of trouble, first night. Which would have been pretty bad, but fortunately that didn't seem to be the case now, and so Hakeem plopped down on his bed. "Man this bed is smmmaaalll~" He shook his head, being used to a Queen sized bed back home.

[Reseph Elserdi]

"Oh yes...unbearably so." Reseph agreed, though of course he was lying as he sank into the bed with a feeling of great contentment - it had been a long time since he had slept in a real bed.

[Hakeem ibn Al'Abbas]

"Do you have a big bed at home too..? These beds are nothing in comparison to mine.. Mine is like... BOTH of ours put together!" He mimicked with his hand, though he wasn't sure if that was about right, his bed might be even bigger, it did take quite a bit of his room up at his house.

[Reseph Elserdi]

"Uhh...wow...mine isn't that big." Reseph said in amazement, looking at the beds and trying to imagine something that big. Meanwhile he generally slept on a pile of rags and anything else soft that he was able to gather together to keep himself comfortable through the night.

[Hakeem ibn Al'Abbas]

"Yeah, well.. I suppose I'm just really lucky..?" Hakeem asked, his father was fairly rich, not only from the family fortune but also just in general him making money all the time, and making new discoveries. Brought in quite a bit of constant money. "Dad is pretty rich.." He grinned proudly.

[Reseph Elserdi]

Reseph had assumed that Hakeem was rich by this point - though by Reseph's standards everyone was rich - and he just nodded at the boy's words and replied "Yeah, I guess that does make you pretty lucky." doing a better job than he expected of hiding his bitterness.

[Hakeem ibn Al'Abbas]

Hakeem smiled and nodded, "Yup. But, dad gets it through hard work, I barely ever see him anymore, unfortunately.. He's always busy, I'm always stuck with my mother, and she's a muggle.. Unemployed and super religious and all that.." Hakeem waved with his hand.

[Reseph Elserdi]

"I'm sorry to hear that." Reseph said when Hakeem said he barely ever got to see his dad anymore, "But at least you get to see your mum." Reseph was not close to either of his parents, though both were present in his life daily. They were simply there, and attempts to establish greater personal bonds were on hold so long as the family was still in such dire straits.

[Hakeem ibn Al'Abbas]

Hakeem nodded, "Yeah I suppose.. Though she tries to make me into a muggle all the time, it's really annoying.." Hakeem stuck his tongue out in a bit of disgust, not wanting to be a muggle whatsoever. After a moment, he stared at Reseph and then raised an eyebrow, "Do you not get to see your mother too much..? Is she dead or...?" He inquired, a bit insensitively, but still at least he looked concerned.

[Reseph Elserdi]

Reseph frowned when Hakeem explained that his mother was always trying to make him into a Muggle. "Who would ever try to do that?" Reseph asked, finding the idea to be quite repulsive. His own situation with his mother was rather complicated, and he explained slowly "Well, I do see my mom every day, but she's usually too busy for us to do much together."