Welcome to Gaia! ::

At the very least Raven's explanations were being met with some ventured guesses. If she had gone through that and they still failed to attempt an answer, she might have ended the class prematurely. As it was, she eyed the first girl who spoke- Alaqua, was it?- and nodded. "A simple way of putting it, but time of day, month, and year all relates to certain spells. We will be briefly discussing this in class, however spells cast at a certain time of day are considered on a rotational requirement. Ones at certain times of month, often the most prevalent, are on a lunar requirement. And at differing times of year, often on sabbaths, are a solar, revolutional requirement. Some mages refer to the different categories as spells of Gaia, the moon, and the sun, but there is argument about this."

Next was that Preston girl. She definitely gave an amusing answer, one that drew a wry half-smile from Raven. "Animal components are certainly used in many spells. The majority of spellcasters today concur ethically, in that other beings should not be harmed. When parts of an animal are required, they must be parts that can be removed without harm, and with permission from the creatrure, or from one who has already fallen. Many softer casters use totems to avoid taking parts of animals altogether, but this has not been proven to be effective yet. I will say," she added as an afterthought, "that the essence must be pure. Animal DNA blended with human would cause the components to become impure, and thus be rendered useless.

"And yes," she said to the bat child- the charge of that insipid man- who had a good point. "Emotional components often are required for more unusual, emotion-driven spells. Often, however, these can be messy, since you must be in a certain state of mind to even attempt them. We will not touch much on these for some time."

Relatively pleased with the answers, Raven stepped back to the blackboard and pulled down a chart with the phases of the moon. "Can anyone identify this for me?"

She'd been right! In a don't try this at home sort of way, but right none the less. Unusual spells huh? Earako couldn't help but wonder what might be considered unusual, or messy, for that matter. Probably just about everything, since Teacher didn't seem the sort to like the weird or the out of place.

As to the question, well, it looked like someone else was taking it, and she was more than happy to keep her mouth shut. She'd seen jewelry like that, though. A pretty necklace that she'd admired but found too expensive. Trust the batling to find a connection between her lessons and fashion, but it didn't mean that she wasn't listening. It was just easier to think of things in terms of things she already knew. While she waited for the teachers response, she copied down the moon chart, mostly because she liked the look of it.

Ligeia was listening to all that was said from both the teacher and the students taking down detailed notes but found himself pausing several times to listen closely as if he didn't understand. How did one use emotions such as anger when they were casting spells when one was supposed to have total focus? Weren't anger and focus on two different wavelengths? Maybe when you got really good at a spell you didn't need to focus as much to call it up and you could still do it even if you were angry? Maybe? It would make sense he supposed.

The lunar chart was copied down and he looked it over, the moon? He wondered if that would go along with chronological stuff since the different phases happened over times or if it were tied to something else entirely. He would wait and see before making any guesses on this one in his notes not wanting to have to scratch them out if he was wrong.

Alaqua quickly scrambled to sketch the chart and attempt to write down everything that the teacher was saying about it. She got lost in the long list of moon names, but was glad that Raven just told them to think of it as one of four stages. She wrote those four down, drawing arrows to the corresponding pictures in her notebook.

She looked up at the glowing green lines, copying them on her own chart. At the teacher's question, the girl remained silent. She had no idea and... she figured someone else could answer this question. She'd answered the last one. That was how things worked... right?

A little list of moon names was quickly added to Earako's notes, with a second sketch of each individual phase. In addition, she wrote manifesting under the waxing moon, banishing under the waning, circled the full moon and crossed out the new. There, that was clear enough. Though it seemed like a lot of details to keep in mind to just do a spell. Magic seemed more and more complex with every class she took, and Earako was quickly losing her youthful, fairytale facination with it.

She did not, however, venture a guess for the question. The only thing that jumped to mind was that the waning moon might be a good time to try and make someone sick, or kill them. And that didn't seem very nice at all. She wasn't sure she was right about it anyway. Sure, she knew what banishing meant, but she couldn't think of anything she'd like to banish.

Maybe the other magic teacher. But he was mean.

Well, there was someone with half a brain in the class. Remarkable, even if the answer was a bit obvious to anyone who ever tried studying. "Yes, summoning is a textbook example of a manifestation spell. Some, uneducated people wonder why the presence of spirits and strange creatures is higher during a waxing or full moon. Those who have studied realize that the moon has something to do with that, though there are of course other factors involved."

The simple answer taken care of, Raven smirked and set about handling the more unorthodox one. It was cleverly put, she mused thoughtfully, but would rather lose her job than say that out loud. "Well, Miss Preston, that is an interesting idea. To be honest, I have heard nothing to support such an unusual theory, however I can see where you might get that idea. Perhaps, once you get to advanced magic, that could be an experiment for you to try. Yes.

"More in the line of banishing," Raven continued, "you could perhaps choose to banish a habit, or the presence of someone who is causing you trouble. Or the person as a whole, but I feel obligated to warn you that such a spell would be classified as dark magic, and the threefold law would take affect in such a way that could prove to be less than desirable."

If the students were on their toes, they would have copied the lunar chart down by the time that Raven pulled the cord on the bottom, causing it to roll back up neatly. Next, she pulled down another, this one picturing a circle marked with various colors and symbols at its four compass points. She gestured towards it and looked at the class expectantly, and silently.

Earako dutifully began to copy down the new chart, a frown of consentration on her face. This was the first thing in the class that seemed completely unfamiliar, so she was careful to do it exactly as was on the board. The batling petted Vimber absently as she worked, glancing up every few seconds to make sure she was doing it right. Now, if she only knew what the thing was supposed to mean. Maybe she was the only one. That would be embarrassing. But, if she didn't ask, she'd remain the only one.

"Excuse me, Ma'am? What does this chart mean?" She asked, hesitantly.