After our (rather lengthy) meeting, their caseworker left and the provost freed us from his office confinement. Hong and I walked towards what was going to be our shared apartment. They struggled to carry their belongings, and when I’d asked them if they wanted me to carry the box for them they declined, perhaps out of pride.

“They never told me that we were gonna be roommates,” they said, wrapping their arms tightly around the box, shifting its weight so as to avoid dropping it.

“Unsurprising, it is not the typical arrangement. I’m only living in student housing at the moment because it was the most inexpensive option for someone as, er, financially challenged as myself, though I had to pull a few strings in order to move in. I do not think any of the other staff members here live with their protégés,” I replied, “I hope this arrangement is no issue to you.”

“It’s not an issue at all! I’m actually kinda glad I’ll have a roommate, I mean, I’ve only ever had roommates my whole life, practically. I’ve never lived on my own before, and I still have to get used to having my own freedom. I only turned eighteen like, a week ago, y’know? They taught me how to do some stuff back at the facility, but I still have a lot to learn about being an independent adult.”

…Yes, that was right. Hong was just barely an adult, and had spent a good portion of their life in a children’s psychiatric facility, apparently, where the residents were minded over constantly and had very limited freedom; due to this, Hong had almost none of the life experience someone else their age would have acquired. I’d wanted to protest this, at first, as I’d signed up to be a mentor for a competent, mature magic-using adult, not a handler for some developmentally stunted teenager. But, I was assured that what they lacked in independence and maturity, they made up for in magic prowess. The way it was explained to me made it seem they were some sort of savant. I was told their magic was unlike anything that had ever been seen before from someone who’d never had any guidance or training. Had I seen this magic at the time? No, but I wanted to believe the things I was told about them. And it made me curious, as well… A diamond in the rough, needing refining; it seemed that all they needed was a push in the right direction. At the time, I’d assumed that this natural talent of theirs would make my job incredibly easy. (I could never have been more wrong.)

“I just hope you won’t be like my old roommate at the facility,” Hong half-smiled, dark eyes squinting cheekily at me and tearing me away from my thoughts, “It was this guy named Curtis. He was nice, mostly, but whenever he’d get mad, he’d start screaming and throwing things. And he threatened to blow up the whole building with his magic one time! Because of that, he had to be by himself for a while and I got a new roommate. Um, you don’t get mad and start screaming and exploding stuff, do you, Anton?”

I could tell it gave them great pleasure to use my name so casually. I’d instructed them to do so; the common practice would be to use my last name, but even now I find it to be a pointless formality and my family name is one I do not wish to claim anyway.

“I… do not have such an incorrigible temper, though I am prone to frustration like anyone else would be. I’d like to think I am not too terribly quick to anger, though at times, some emotions cannot be helped,” I sighed, “Prone to frustration, but not prone to violence. My specialty is healing magic, anyway, I don’t think I have it within me to cause explosions.”

Hong looked strangely at me, though it took me a moment to understand why.

“It is the way I speak? Does my manner of speaking unnerve you?” I asked them, finally realizing.

“I guess,” they mumbled shyly, “I’m not exactly bothered bothered by it, it’s just that I’ve never heard anyone talk like that before. You talk like you’re from a book, but I’m not saying that to be mean or anything! …It makes sense you’d talk like that, since you’re really smart and stuff.”

“Hm. I figured that was the case. You are not the first to tell me such a thing, that is why I had asked.”

No, they were not the first to say this, and I knew they would not be the last, though their reaction was more understanding than most others. My manner of speech may be strange to most, but I am an academic, and I feel it is fitting to speak in such a fashion. (It also filters out all the dull people who I wouldn’t wish to speak to anyway.)