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 Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 11:53 pm
Another day, another group of initiates to, well, initiate. Raven twirled a strand of hair idly. She was not quite expecting a large group this time, but whoever did show up, she hoped would show up soon. Even though it was not quite time for class to begin, the sooner she could get started, the better.
The room was set up already, and the blackboard was in its usual shape for a beginner's class, with her name and topic of the day, "The three elements required of all spellcasting are:" written in her neat script. All that was needed were the students.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 8:43 pm
Emi would have been able to say that she slid in silently if her shoes hadn't been squeaking, if her breath hadn't been so harsh. She was a dancer so she was used to sprints, but this had been directly after a strenuous class, from the drop off point, and she had been trying to keep up with Odette. Thus, a bit out of breath.
She squeaked when her shoes did and froze in the doorway. Bright blood flushed her pale cheeks as one hand pressed flat against the wall near the door.
"Ah - I. I'm sorry. I'm not late, am I...?" It reminded her eerily of the beginning scene of one of Lians movies. It ended with all the kids killing each other but it began with a shy, quiet girl getting to class late to see no one else there. --Later, the teacher was stabbed.
Emi really hoped she wouldn't be forced to kill her classmates. She'd be the girl who hid out in the shed with a taser.
"This is magic class. ...Right? I'm - ah. I'm Emi. Emi Kusheth."
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:45 pm
Raven stood and picked up her clipboard, walking over to the door. "Fortunately for you, Miss Kuseth, you are not late. However, anyone who arrives after you will be marked as such." Stepping behind Emi, she shut the door, and then headed back for the center of the room.
"Please state your name and that of your dragon, and take a seat. Take out your writing implements, we will begin as soon as you have settled."
If Emi was nervous, Raven's chilly demeanor wouldn't help. But really, she was disappointed. Teaching one student took any joy she got out of the job... but maybe this student would be special. There was only one way to find out.
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Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 9:12 pm
"Oh - oh, that's good then, right?" She smiled, nervous, just a little, but stayed standing. She would have looked around at the other students had there been any. Unfortunetly, there were none, so Emi just stood there for a minute.
"Ah - m-my name is Emi Kuseth. This is Odette." The swan sit firmly in her seat, crossed her ankles near delicately underneath. The paper and pens were brought out and laid on the desk, expectant glance thrown everywhere.
"...I. I think I might be hte only one?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:07 pm
"It is very fortunate for you, Miss Kuseth. You are off to a good start." Raven didn't even glance at her student until she finished scribbling something on her clipboard. After she put it on her desk, however, she met Emi's gaze squarely. "I will be honest: I was hoping for more students. I believe small group-sized classes are best. But we shall make the best of this situation." She sat on the edge of her desk and crossed her legs, something she would never do with a full class present. But with just one student, Raven was slightly more relaxed.
Still, the lesson plan would have to be altered somewhat. After a moment's thought, Raven nodded. "If you please, Miss Kuseth, tell me what you know about magic."
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Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:40 pm
"Magic?" Emi kept Ravens glance for just a moment before glancing away, down at her desk, at her little skinny fingers twisting together. "I. Well. Rakha always says that there's more than one type of magic. That is comes from i-inside the person. I've never really seen anyone do magic, though."
She hesitated, glanced up at Raven from under pale eyelashes.
"H-Honestly, I don't think I'd be very good at it. I don't feel powerful, or.. Or that there's anything in me. I- I can't even talk as loud as normal people and.. And I can't imagine being... Being anything strong enough to.. To be noticed."
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:35 pm
"This Rakha of yours is correct," Raven commented. "There are a great many kinds of magic. For example, my specialty is Ritualistic Magic, which deals in lengthy procedures in order to obtain difficult or specified results. Of course, this does not mean I am incapable of performing other styles of magic." Even if those other styles didn't work for her as well as she'd like them to.
Frowning slightly, Raven crossed her arms as well as her legs and leaned forward. "Allow me to ask you something, Miss Kuseth. When you first started talking, was it in complete sentences? When you learned to write, did you immediately use perfect grammar?" Her tone is sharp, but not impatient. "Did you run before you could walk?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 7:18 pm
"Rakha is usually right." The words came out before she could stop them. Emi sank down a little in her chair in her embaressment of such a slip up, her small hands rising to her mouth. Raven didn't seem to mind it - although she hunched her shoulders even more with that tone and the rapid fire questions.
"I- I-" The floundered for a moment, a blush once more covering her face, dark eyes wide. "I- That was rhetorical, wasn't it?" Emi squirmed uncomfortably in her seats, but she didn't let herself look away from her teachers face. Dagger would be upset if she backed down. So, so upset.
She took a deep breath.
"I want to be good at something other than dancing. Do - do you think I could be good here? Can we find out?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 5:52 pm
Raven raised an eyebrow, but decided not to comment further. Listening to her elders was a promising sign. Despite her lack of confidence, maybe there was some hope for this one.
"Yes, it was. Unless you really did run before you could walk. It is not unheard of, but the point is that most people need to start from the beginning." Herself included, but Raven wouldn't dream of saying that, even to help a student. At least she realized the question was not meant to be answered.
At Emi's final question, Raven uncrossed her arms and stood again, critically surveying the girl. After several seconds, she nodded curtly. "Finding out is what you are here for. Don't sell youself short until you know enough to make an educated estimate."
It looked for a moment like Raven might actually smile, but before she let herself slip that far, she turned around abruptly and went to the blackboard. "First, get out your writing implements, and tell me what you think magic involves."
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Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:34 pm
"I don't think I did," She agreed, almost shyly in her attempt at humor. It was weak, but it was there. She liked this teacher - Raven almost reminded her of her Aunt Rapier, and very nearly acted the same. It was a good thing. Emi liked her Aunt more than she did her own mother.
A fidget and Emi sat back again, heavily, into her seat. She stared down at her notebook, flipped it open. A pen followed, a pretty light pikn thing that Rakha had bought for her and she had hidden from Dagger. It even managed to bring a smile to her face.
It took a moment and a few slow scratches of the pen before she was able to settle away from the desk, a faint flush over her cheeks.
"I think this is it?" She all but squeaked, staring up at the teacher. In large, flowing, almost lovely script, Emi had four words written: dedication, desire, strength, and need. "Was it supposed to be ... longer?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 10:59 pm
Raven raised both eyebrows this time. She hadn't meant for the girl to write her answer. But at least it proved she was listening.
"It merely needs to be long enough to express your thoughts," she replied, peering at the answer. It was definitely promising. "A good start. We'll address these points, and move on from there." Raven nodded, hoping her student would sit down. She wasn't terribly good at one-on-one interactions; they made her uneasy.
Before starting, she wrote Emi's four points on the blackboard, then pointed to the topmost one. "First, dedication. This is always something I hope to see in students, but it is sadly not always present. Unfortunately, it is not strictly required in order to perform magic. There are many... dabblers," Raven spat, clearly disgusted with the idea. "While they will never achieve true greatness, they do have a moderate level of capability."
Raven crossed dedication off and tapped her chalk against the last item. "Need works very similarly. While it is quite helpful to have a pressing need, it is not necessary, which is why one sees so many magic users flaunting their abilities." Sounding annoyed again, she struck that word out as well. "Strength, actually, is vital for most kinds of magic. One must have the fuel to power their spell. This does not always take the form of raw power or aptitude, however. And this is where your final term comes in.
"Desire. In other words, will. One must go beyond simply wanting something to happen; this desire must fuel the spell. Without this, power is impossible." Raven paused. "In ways, it is very much like both need and dedication, but more complex than either of those words."
Raven paused to circle both Strength and Desire, drawing an arrow from the circle that led to the word Will. Following that, she wrote two more words on the chalkboard: Imagination and Procedure.
"Tell me what you think of these."
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Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 1:33 pm
Emi sat as the teacher walked away, ankles crossed like the little lady she was supposed to be and her pen poised at the ready when Raven started to talk. She scribbled along with the words as quickly as she could, including a little frowny face when Raven sounded irritated.
"Imagination and Procedure?" She frowned, then. Hrm. Imagination. Procedure. "... They. I mean, they don't really go together, do they? Spells on - on the fly, I guess, and the ability to put them together? If.. If we're talking defensive or offensive, they could mean different things."
She stopped talking abruptly, looked down at the small desk. Talking so much sort of bothered her the same way her standing bothered Raven. It was uncomfortable. Still, Emi continued on, voice quiet.
"People need the ability to adapt to the situation as... as well as be able to follow tried and true protocol." She peeked up through her lashes. "... Am. Am I anywhere close?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:56 pm
Raven didn't say anything until she was certain that Emi was finished. Some of the girl's ideas were rather odd (spells on the fly, indeed) and some were way off base, but she seemed to get there in the end. Or close enough for Raven to be satisfied, anyway.
"Very good. While that is not exactly what I teach, you have the heart of the matter. One must know when to follow instructions to the letter, and when to improvise. There is more to it than that, of course- the element of imagination is key in many spells, as visualizing the outcome is a potent energy source. But we will get to the specifics in time."
Raven paused, chalk poised for more writing. But this was the essence of her introductory lesson. It took so much less time to explain to just one student, and while she didn't want to get into more complex material just yet, she also didn't want to dismiss the student prematurely.
"Are there... any questions thus far?" she asked, slightly uncertain.
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Posted: Sun May 09, 2010 7:22 pm
Lack of critique from Raven had the nervous swan relaxing quite a bit, the taunt twist of her shoulders falling to a near slump. She liked this teacher, no matter how cold she tried to come off as: when you lived with people like Rakha or Rapier, one learned to come to terms with the less-than-affectionate adults.
"N-no," Emi shook her head, licked her lips in nerves at the direct question. She tucked a few stray strands behind her fluffy ear, finally dared to look up at Raven, the actual teacher, not just the board. She managed to scratch out the notes without looking down, script a bit less proper than usual. "I think I understand it. You need to be able to see what you want to happen while you do it, otherwise it's - it's a shot in the dark, right? You need to imagine it."
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