Welcome to Gaia! ::

Trent was sitting quietly meditating in his green house looking over all the plants that had quickly taken over the small building. In the corner a white flower bloomed, silently it's pearly white petals revealed themselves to the sun as it shined in through the roof. A thought crossed Trent's, mind didn't seemed odd to him that he restricted himself to that single building for fear of upsetting some rule that was so enthusiastically enforced.

Oh well it didn't matter as long as he would eventually leave this world for the forests he left behind because of some threat of war and destruction. He got up pressing his robes straight stepping outside.

Kenny had nodded earlier, not volunteering her own name simply because no one ever asked anyway and she'd gotten out of the habit. Later, during lunch, when the announcement came on, she frowned, then shrugged. It'd be better than Home Ec, God knew, so why not?

With this in mind, she dumped her half-empty tray, then set out for the meeting spot. Once there, she found a convenient tree, climbing it to doze off for a few minutes before the class began. Another reason she hated skirts. They really sucked a** when it came to climbing things.

Before the bell had rung--but only a few scarce minutes before--Aurora had left the library, making her way through halls that she knew would soon be flooded with chattery girls and it would be quite difficult to move from, nearly, one side of the school to the other. Where the lake would have been farther, as it was to the east while the library was to the north, the lake also was nearer to the main hallway. The library was a little stroll off, and a few turns down. This meant the halls there were thinner, and more prone to congestion.

It was a good decision, she had decided, to leave before the bell, and so she did. In fact, as the bell rung, she was already outside the building, and within sight of the obvious placement for the new class. After all, why else would so many students be congregated in that particular area? If not for the class, it would actually be quite uninteresting.

Paying little attention to anyone else, Aurora made her way to the crowd, then stood at the base of a tree. Internally, she debated for a moment on climbing it--but quickly declined that urge in favor of simply making herself taller, in the literal sense. It often was useful to be a shapeshifter.

Aurora quickly began to feel awkward standing up when everyone else appeared to be sitting down, and she also made her way for a stump-desk. She wound up in the front, but to the side near a rather unhappy-looking creature that seemed to be here for no reason other than previous arrangements.

{{Dragons RPers will recognize one of these creatures. biggrin *}}

Ever smiled at her friend and nodded. She followed her to the front, also excited that they could be so close to the creatures. And she also noticed a girl sitting near them in the front row, a girl she had never seen before. It was odd because Ever thought that she at least knew the names of almost all the girls in the school. Maybe this girl took a lot of the classes that Ever never took, like Home Ec.

She gave the girl a friendly smile and then turned her head back to the front to watch the creatures. A few moments later, Ever gasped and whispered to Akira, "Akira, look! There's something that keeps flickering in and out! Look over by the post of the fence furthest away from us!"

After a few moments, the creature flickered in again. It was mostly transparent, and it looked like a fox! "See! There it is again! I think it's a ghost!"

Then, the bulkier woman with white hair who Ever had seen carrying animals to the fenced in area cleared her throat and held up her hands to the large group of girls before her. As Ever looked at her, she was taken aback by how pretty the professor's face was. Her body looked bulkier and rougher than most women, but her face was smooth and had very pretty feminine features.

When she had everyone's attention, the professor smiled kindly to everyone, "Hello young ladies. I am so glad that you all have taken an interest in this class. My name is Professor Jenny Markums. I have been hired by your Headmistress specifically for this class, "Magical Creatures as Familiars". Or, as I like to call it since it's shorter, "Familiars 101."

She laughed softly and then gestured with her hand over to the fenced area to her right. As you all can see, there are many different kinds of creatures we have brought here. Those who are not picked will be released back into the forest. Now, I want you all to know that we did not 'trap' these creatures. All of these creatures would like to be someone's familiar. They increase their own magic by their connection with you, as you do with them, and any creature longs for that friendship and connection that forms between a familiar and their owner."

The professor moved closer to the fence and gestured to different creatures as she continued. "Now, some of these creatures are fenced off from others so that they do not attack each other. Some of the creatures are more volatile than others, but all would be wonderful selections as familiars. This bunch here is from a group called "Automotons." They are different creatures that can turn into different metal objects, like keys, weapons, a small airplane... although, only the larger creatures can turn into small airplanes. And any object they turn into has to be metal."

The creatures Professor Markums was gesturing to all shone brilliantly in the sun. There were small and large dogs, cats, horses, birds, just about any creature you could think of, but they almost didn't look real. If they just stood still, they looked like brilliant, shining nick knacks.

Then, the professor moved to a large, tall see-through tank of water where mult-colored fish swam. Some were small, some were dolphin sized, and some were transforming back and forth between small and large!

"These are Ichthyes, or, the Fish of Aphrodite. These fish are powerful in water. You can sit yourself atop of them and traverse an entire ocean in a couple hours. You could even submerge yourself under water for hours simply by attacking your mouth to the blowhole on their back. Now don't worry, it's completely sanitary. The fish don't use it at all. It only gives air to humans whose mouths are on top of the blowhole. The fish also have fierce electric attacks. Now, you can see that they're changing sizes. They can make themselves very small so that they can be in a pendant of water that you can take with you anywhere, and they can make themselves large enough for you to ride on."

One of the fish began to spin quickly, forming a little tornado of water where it was, and then stopped, facing the students. It almost seemed to be smiling!

The professor laughed and said dryly, "And they also like to show off."

She moved onto a small fenced in pen. It had no top on it so that the small bunny-like creatures could float in the air if they wanted to. The professor smiled softly at the adorable creatures. "And this, girls, is the Winderbee."



"It doesn't have any offensive attack powers, but it is a powerful healer, and it is a wonderful, adorable companion. They are also very strong and can carry things ten times their weight. You could hang on to their torsos and they could fly you short distances."

Then, the professor went to a very large enclosure that was placed quite a distance away from the other creatures. They were tall, incredible-looking horses. Some were normal-looking, but most were extraordinary. One had flames for a mane, tail, and hooves! Others were wispy and seemed to float on the ground back and forth instead of running. And their manes seemed to be made of... wind? A few seemed to have bodies that were blue and rippled, as water did. There were also winged horses.

Ever gasped softly when she saw them and whispered softly in awe, "Oh s**t.... No way!" She definitely recognized those horses and she couldn't believe that some of them actually lived in the forest near Bai Ching. Some had lived here this entire time!

Professor Markums grandly gestured with her outstretched hand to those horses. "And these magnificent creatures are the immortal horses of the Gods. We have Abraxas, Boreas, Phobos, and Pegasus as well as many others. Contrary to popular belief, they do not and never have had an emotional connection to the Gods, for those of you who believe in such things as the Gods. These horses were merely treated as servants, driving the chariots of different Gods or behaving as a warrior God's champion fighting steed. These horses have had offspring that have now taken their parent's place in Mount Olympus. They are now looking for magical humans to connect with and truly befriend. Each one is of a different Earth element."

And finally, the professor went over to the fox creatures that Ever had seen fading in and out like ghosts did. Ever really wanted to know what they were!

The professor picked one of the foxes up, or at least looked like she picked it up, and held it above her outstretched hands. Yes, above them. The fox was floating.

"And this is a Banshee. Yes, I know what most of you are thinking. Banshees are ghost-like women who scream. That is true, but those are the Banshees over in Ireland. Here in Bai Ching, they take the form of ghost foxes. Believe it or not, but when you can hold one, they feel fluffy like a normal fox would, even though they have the appearance of a ghost."

Professor Markums grinned at the girls. "And this creature does something truly remarkable."

She reached upward and allowed her hands to touch the fox's torso. Moments later, the professor faded out with the fox! When she faded back into view, she had the same ghostly appearance that the fox did! She even walked back and then forward through the fence post! She grinned at the startled girls and then dropped her hands back down. The fox remained in its ghostly form, but Professor Markums was back to her normal, human appearance.

"As you just saw, if you touch this creature, you can take on the form of a ghost and disappear! You can also go through any object."

She then guided the fox back to where the other Banshee foxes were behind the fence. After that, she turned back to the ground and clapped her hands once.

"Alright! I would now like all of you to come up, come into the fenced in area, and see if you feel a connection to any of these creatures. Don't try to force anything. We have many days ahead of us for you to find a creature that you connect with. And some of these creatures I did not identify simply because we have so many that there is no time to describe them all. But if one of you feels a connection with them and you have a question, come and find me and I will be more than happy to tell you about that creature. Just make sure you all are careful and very respectful to all these magnificent creatures. They're not merely animals. They're magical creatures just like you and I."

She opened up the fence and gestured for the girls to go in with a bright smile on her face.

Aurora had returned Evermore's smile with a polite nod, trying to at least make herself look pleasant since she didn't smile. She knew that this often threw people off. All of the creature she had spoken of truly were interesting... but none of them really took Aurora's attention. The Winderbee was cute, the Automatons seemed pretty cool, the Banshees were interesting, and the horses were something else, but... nothing called out to her.

Then again, Aurora had never truly believed that something would just 'call out' to you. She thought that, if one wanted something, then one mustn't wait; one ought to find it for themselves. As such, she often criticized the logic of 'love at first sight,' though she didn't speak debatedly on the matter as some tended to.

Standing, she looked around her. Lots of girls had already gone to what interested them. Unsurprisingly, the Winderbees had a rather large group of girls. The creature in front of her, the disgruntled one, moved away, seeming to know that now it was allowed to go find someone. This either made it happy or it didn't care; she couldn't tell.

As if window shopping, Aurora began to walk amongst the animals. She looked at all of them. Some looked truly interesting but--oh. That was pretty.

Aurora looked at the creature, and the creature stared right back. It seemed to be some sort of cat, but it was too big for a housecat, yet too small for a wildcat. (Or so she thought, anyway.) It had the most beautiful golden fur, with black 'eyeliner' that rather reminded her of the Egyptians. It was a very slim cat, but not skinny, and its fur seemed rather short. Its large eyes blinked at her, and it seemed to incline its head. Entranced, Aurora moved towards it, and reached out a hand to touch it.

She blinked.

The cat was still there, but it seemed to be smiling now. Taking away her hand, she saw some sort of marking upon her wrist--an... ankh? She tilted her head at the cat, who just smiled some more before rubbing against her legs.

...It was a pretty cat. She decided maybe she'd like to keep this one--and that maybe there was such a thing as love at first sight.

((I don't really want Aurora to know exactly what this not-too-mysterious cat is, so she doesn't. Laura, I'm going to send you a PM sometime tomorrow about this cat, so Prof. Markums can tell Aurora about it, but for now I'm going to bed.))

(( biggrin ))

((XDDD That's so funny! Ah, that's just great~))

Looking up from the cat-like creature, Aurora shook her head. "No, I don't. My name is Aurora." The creature began to purr, seeming happy to know her name as well, which made Aurora blink and look at it curiously once more. The cat simply blinked right back, that mysterious smile never leaving.