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 Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 9:50 pm
She should have known better than to get her hopes up. That girl, the awful Preston woman's charge, had done reasonably well in the first class. And though Raven would never admit it, she actually hoped she had found a good student. Her hopes, however, were rewarded with empty classroom seats. However many classes the girl had missed, it was too many. And she intended to drill that fact into her student's brain before any actual studying that would take place.
The blackboard was bare for once, and all seats in the classroom were unoccupied. A single folding chair had been set up at the table at the front of the room, at the worktable. The lectern had several sections of notes, all from classes her student had missed. It was time to catch up. And if Raven could arrange it, the process would be painful.
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Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:47 am
The Indigo who walked into Raven's classroom that day didn't seem to be the same girl as the one who'd gotten into so much trouble in her first magic class. Gone were her bright-colored clothes in favor of drabber colors, even her glasses replaced with more practical black frames. Citrine, too, seemed to have taken a change for the more sober--at least, from the way the copper wyrmling carried herself as she followed her partner into Raven's classroom, she didn't seem as jocular as was her species' wont. No protesting at rough treatment this time, nor even so much as a "hi" when the pair stepped through the door, taking a moment to get their bearings before heading straight toward the chair--like convicted criminals to an execution, almost.
They stopped in front of the table, Citrine settling down with her tail around her paws, Indigo looking down at her shoes with all four hands folded in front of her. Neither of them said a thing, apparently waiting to be spoken to before speaking.
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Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:04 pm
Well. This was a change. And one that Raven wholeheartedly approved of. It seemed that the girl was learning from her past experiences and appreciating the gravity of her situation. Surprisingly, Raven couldn't find fault in Indigo's behavior, her dress, or anything. At this rate, with her potential, she could someday be a sorceress in her own right. But that remained to be seen. Certainly nothing could happen without proper grounding.
"Welcome back to class, Miss Preston," she said firmly. "I appreciate your finally gracing us with your presence. Since you seem prepared, shall we begin? There is much material to cover."
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Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:57 pm
Indigo seemed to shrink a little as Raven addressed her, glancing up once at the teacher before looking down at her toes again. She scuffed a foot against the floor, antennae drooping--then nodded once, dropping into the waiting chair and folding all four hands in front of her on the table. "Yes'm. Sorry I was gone for so long," she mumbled at her hands.
Citrine looked over one shoulder, then the other, with exaggerated care before settling into a sphinx-wise crouch. She lay her head down on her front paws, rolling her eyes toward Raven and considering the woman a moment, before heaving a sigh, eyes fluttering shut, and falling asleep to all appearances.
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Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 11:55 am
The change in the girl was absolutely startling, and for once Raven wasn't quite sure how to handle it. Praise was still out of the question; no student of hers would be applaused for missing so much work. But then, if she was too harsh, she would only distance herself further and alienate potential talent. Such introspection was usually alien to Raven, but when she was in the role of mentor she had a better handle on such personal interrelations, especially since they never got too close.
"Yes. Well, let's begin. We have much to catch up on," Raven finally said, taking a seat behind the worktable and motioning for Indigo to sit down as well. Her hand absently brushed the cover of a thick manila folder before opening it, revealing a concise lesson plan. Organization was key to making sure that the session went smoothly.
Glancing briefly at the first page of the plan, Raven looked keenly at Indigo expectantly. "First, Miss Preston, perhaps you can refresh my memory in what you remember learning here. Then, we will move onto the topics you were not present for."
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 11:54 pm
"Yes'm," Indigo repeated.
Then she took a moment, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, seeming to mentally reorganize herself as she had before. One of her lowers closed on an edge of the desk, the other resting in front of her while her uppers were folded demurely beneath her chin. "Uhm." When asked about what she remembered, she glanced up, reaching to adjust her glasses on her nose, uppers joining her lowers on the surface of her desk.
"The, uhm. Elements of magic--will, i--imagination, and--" She squinted at Raven's desk, one toe doodling a circle on the floor beneath her desk. "--preparation? I think." Her antennae drooped again, and she looked up hopefully.
"I kno--know we didn't get awful far in that class."
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Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:46 pm
Well, she started out well. Will, imagination... the last one she slipped up on, however, and Raven shook her head. It wasn't a bad guess, but guesses were not memorized and comprehended answers. "Procedure, Miss Preston. Magic can happen without preparation- though the end result is usually extremely messy and rarely what the caster had intended. Though procedures exist that require little to no preparation, that must be realized."
Not one to waste time, Raven went right on. "After covering the basic elements, the classes performed some simple exercises in focus and imagination. Now." Fumbling on her desk, she pulled a scrap of parchment with a few symbols in livid green ink scrawled on it, and handed it to Indigo. "Can you tell me what this might be, Miss Preston?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 3:13 am
Being corrected was a far cry from being snapped at--and honestly, Indigo had expected worse for not quite being sure of her third answer. The look in the velvet worm's eyes as Raven corrected her was faintly incredulous, if a brief glance up over the top of her glasses before she looked down at her desk again was any indication. She swallowed hard and nodded once then, a murmured, "Yes'm," escaping her lips to show she was paying attention.
One upper hand snaked out to take hold of the paper as it was offered to her. She drew it in close, studying the symbols while chewing on her lower lip. After a moment she turned the parchment upside down, as if to get a better look at the designs, before righting it once more. "Some...kind of spell scroll, ma'am?" she said, hesitantly.
Citrine, unable to sleep, raised her head enough that she could sort-of see what her partner was holding. "Shoppin(g) lissst," she rumbled, before putting her head down once more.
Indigo coughed demurely.
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 11:20 am
Raven sighed. Some kind of spell scroll indeed. A comatose fungus would be able to spot that. The comment from the dragon did not serve to help Raven's mood. "I advise you to keep your dragon quiet, Miss Preston, if we are to proceed. Magic must be taken seriously."
Taking the parchment back, Raven smoothed it out on the table. "Tell me, Miss Preston, have you ever heard of a talisman?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:08 am
"S-sorry, Miss Millner." Gulp. Indigo had the feeling that her answer hadn't been a good one, either, and that on top of Citri's joking. Fortunately the copper dragon didn't need to be chastised more than once; she rolled her eyes, but quickly fell back into a doze without another complaint.
The velvet worm's antennae drooped as she looked at her hands before her. Had she heard of a talisman? "I th,--yes'm, I have. You can put magic in those, right? Or u-use them in spells."
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Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 6:02 pm
That was a much more suitable answer. "Actually, you can do both. A talisman does contain magic potential that was put into it by the maker. It can be called about to release that potential energy by the holder, whether or not that holder is the maker."
She handed the parchment back to Indigo. "Do you have any guesses as to what this talisman was created for?"
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