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Tethys looked….intimidating, but Erzalie was growing up and couldn’t keep being a baby forever. Plus, this was a class and the Geist was their teacher - so it was unlikely they’d be eaten. The little hybrid listened intently to their teacher, twin tails swishing slowly back and forth while Tethys spoke,

It didn’t take long for Erzalie to pick which city they wanted to to talk about from the text book; the commonly known city in Euros, Shellmount.

Not only because they were familiar with it, but because the food there was absolutely delicious and both Twitch and Erza were very into having their bellies filled. Especially when being there also allowed for the observation of Geist zeppelins, which were super cool and super interesting and the pink-haired hybrid really wanted to go on one!

They waited at some of the other Freshlings spoke about their chosen cities, and then piped up. “I really like Shellmount! The air there has so many smells, all salty and savory and even though it makes my hair frizz so bad Mom has to practically glue it down, I always wanna go. Those big not-birds are there too, the um…um…” Here the hybrid lost a word and required a moment to recall it, “Zeppelins! Those things! Yeah! I like to watch them while I eat…maybe someday I’ll get to ride on one. When I’m bigger.”

With that having been said, Erzalie deflated and began doodling in their margin of their notebook, a little picture of themself inside a zeppelin…making faces at their siblings crying on the ground.

It hadn't taken Kara much to suspect that the thing that Odessa liked had to do with books. She smirked a little, listening to her friend talk about the characters and what the book was about. She had heard of it before, but it wasn't the kind of genre she usually cared for.

She took out her own pencil and looked down at the sheet of paper. Her writing never was as neat as her friend's, but she did her best to write it as neatly as possible. My paper is about my friend, Odessa's, favorite book series. It's called A Whim of a Dream. It's become pretty popular among teenage girls in recent years. It's about a young woman who has to find her place in the world, dealing with the pressures of life when she finds a boy who has fantastical dreams of what he wants to do with his life. The book talks about how she has to come to terms with her feelings for him while trying to figure out what she wants out of her own life.

Dianthe was very excited about this assignment. It meant she could find out new places and the history behind them. She combed through the textbook, trying to find a city she hadn't read a little blurb on. It took a while, but Dianthe came across a city that piqued her interest. She scribbled down notes as she read, as she wanted to remember the key facts when she was presenting to the teacher. "I found a city called BoneBriar. It was discovered by a group of Fallen explorers up in the east of Boreas, past Death's Kiss. They didn't stay there for long when they first found it, since it was so cold. What was really cool was that they found the bones of ancient familiars there, and left soon after finding a couple to go get more explorers and better supplies and equipment. Some of the bones were bigger ancestors of the Flitterrat and the Jackalope! I would want to go there to see if I could find ancient familiar bones, but I don't think I could stand the cold for that long."

Ella nervously poked through her textbook, nibbling her bottom lip. Oh no, she wasn't good at this... In fact, she was terrible at anything related to books! She nearly jumped when it came her turn to present, mouth tightening into a tiny and petrified frown before she grabbed her textbook and carried it with her to the front.

"U-Um." She squeaked before looking down, staring at her book before looking back up. "I-I found New Valir. It's in Zephyros and it's n-not done yet. It's the upcoming new capital for the Geists.... um... it said it had an aeroport in it... I'm not sure what that is... There's some pictures of it still being constructed... I guess not a lot of people live there." She trailed off, nervously scampering back to her seat and hiding behind her book.

New Valir? Anara had been keeping to herself this entire time. She had decided to herself to not speak up, despite getting a zero in the class, but when she heard the other freshling talking about the new Geist capital she couldn't help herself. She mused, standing up when it was finally her turn. "I... think I agree with the other girl.." She said quietly, looking at Ella for a few moments. "I think it'd be neat to see New Valir.. It's a place of new beginnings, right? Everyone deserves a second chance, and I think it'd be a great place to make something of yourself with no expectations." She spoke as loudly as she could, though she knew others would have a hard time hearing her. She let out a breath and slipped back into her seat, trying to get the attention off of herself.

Oh, this was easy. Nissa knew exactly what place she wanted to visit the moment Tethys finished explaining the assignment. Once it was her turn to speak she sprung from her seat, literally flying across the room to point at the map at the front of the room, poking repeatedly at a spot in Euros.

"I wanna visit Taratos! I mean, I'm sure it's pretty sad there, since that's where everything with the war started... but I still wanna go there! I bet there's so much history there! So much to see and learn! Plus, it's on an island, and I love islands! Like I said, I'm sure it's sad, but... I bet it's pretty, too! Everything in Below is pretty!" the young Fey explained rather enthusiastically, grinning as she nodded to the teacher, before fluttering her way back over to her seat, flopping down heavily into her chair.

Decran

Decran’s eyes searched over the classroom, unsure of who he would choose as his partner for this particular assignment. When his eyes fell onto Syra — a litch he rarely associated with — she glanced up and gave a small smile. She was pretty, that much Decran could tell. And she obviously cared about her looks. Beyond that, he really didn’t know much about her. Shrugging he made his way over to her and asked if she wanted to be his partner for the assignment. Thankfully, their interests were varied enough that they wouldn’t end up writing about the same things.

His part of the assignment was, apparently, going to be about an up and coming rock star named Stellar Wicked. Decran talked to her, making sure to jot down notes, before they moved onto talking about what he was currently interested in, that was popular. When they split ways, he pulled out another, clean, piece of paper and began to write a small summary about the musician.

Stellar Wicked is a female geist and demon hybrid. She started out rough, her father having died when she was young and her mother struggling to support her. Thanks to Ava and the academy, though, she was able to grow up around the very thing she liked — music — and was able to make it into university where she studied music intensely. Not only can she sing but she is also able to play several instruments and writes all of her own music. She’s a newer star but working her way up the charts quickly.

"Ozryn!" Gale chirped happily. "My mom and I are actually going there soon on a vacation! So I'm actually just really excited to go and spend some alone time with her. It has been a while. I hear it's a resort city ... my mom is a huge shopper. I'm less of one, but I do like trinkets and treasures as souvenirs ... maybe if I'm lucky enough I'll find something to bring home for my dad and my sister!" Gale gave a cute little wiggle. Oh, she could barely wait to spend some much needed time with her mummy!