Welcome to Gaia! ::

The classroom had been arranged specially for the lesson that day. Leaflets left on the desks depicted compass points, the phases of the moon, and other similar information, but did not contain words. On the chalkboard, another diagram of a compass had been sketched, also unlabelled. The worktable contained a number of things that had been isolated, like stones and herbs, insense, candles, cups full of water and dirt, and some that were empty. There was also a calendar, filled with information about the phases and signs of the moon, as well as several nearby planets.

And at the door of the classroom, Raven waited impatiently even though the class wasn't scheduled to start for a few minutes yet, holding her standard clipboard and attendance sheet with several names underlined, and one or two even highlighted. It was time to get into the nitty-gritty of magic theory.

[This class is only for students who have taken a Spellcasting class before, either with Raven or Thomas. 4-5 students as per the usual. Please only start if you can keep up with the class. Thank you.]

Ligeia looked down at the schedule that said which class he was taking and with which teacher, Magic 102 with Raven. He liked her and Thomas both, they were good to learn from. He was dressed in a simple white button up shirt tucked into dark slacks today, hair was tied up and back so that it wouldn't be in the way. Upon entering the room he looked around at all that was set up with wide eyed interest, "Wonder we are learning today." He murmured, looking over to Vorel.

The Frost Dragon gave a little shrugging motion then closed his wings to his back, slipping into the classroom. He followed after Ligeia who took a seat at the far side and front of the classroom so that Vorel could lay down next to him despite his side and not be in the way of other students. He reached over to pat Vorel's head, smiling at him. Then looked over to see who was here so far. Alaqua, he remembered her from a while ago and with her was a dragon, "Hello." He greeted the koala girl, a greeting was echoed by Vorel to the dragon that was with her.

Between their disastrous first class with Raven and the remedial lessons that had followed, Indigo and Citrine had taken it to heart that the woman teacher needed an approach very unlike their usual selves. So while Indigo wasn't dressed as soberly as she had been for her last meeting with Raven, there was certainly a cautious air around the velvet worm as she and her partner entered the room not long after Earako did. "'Lo guys," she called to Ligeia and Earako, keeping her voice to a respectful "inside" volume. She waved as well, even offering Alaqua a hint of a smile and wave as she crossed the room to sit near the two kids she knew.

Citrine paced after her partner at a respectful distance, tail held stiffly behind her for balance--and so it wouldn't snarl around one of the chairs or tables again. Much of her attention was on placing her feet just so, so she didn't notice Vimber's presence until they were much closer to the red dragon. The sudden scent of brimstone made the copper check herself, sitting down on her haunches and staring at Vimber distrustfully as Indigo placed her backpack on the neighboring desk and pulled up a chair.

"Aww, c'mon, Citri, she's not gonna bite you. Earako's nice, they wouldn't give her a mean dragon!" Indigo said to her partner, voice just a little above a whisper. Citrine merely blew out a breath through her nostrils in a loud hough, showing what she thought of that. Nothing good could come of reds!

By that time Raven had learned their names well enough to check them in as they entered. It was an interesting mix of students that ended up in that particular class. The lackluster koala girl and her unoriginally named dragon were the first to arrive, possibly the most enthusiastic. Then came the child of the skills teacher, who she was pleased to see had taken to dressing in a manner far more befitting a student of his level. Ah, and then the child of that wreched man, and that of the horrid woman. At least they seemed to be respectful and far more restrained than their parents, so Raven refrained from comment. She did, however, give the Preston girl a slight nod of acknowledgement. So, she was returning to normal classes. About time. The unrememberable cheetah girl and her lindworm rounded out the bunch.

Or almost. Only a few seconds after the previous student had found a seat, a newcomer rushed in, closely followed by a red dragon. "S-sorry," Anoki panted, trying to catch his breath. Why was he always late to classes? It was beginning to get annoying, and he just knew that Raven would have something to say about it.

"You're late," Raven said in a very impersonal manner. He was supposed to have been there first, to help him set up and so she could brief him in his role. He was not only there as a student, but a "willing" volunteer for a couple of small presentations. Still, she would have to make do with what she had. "Take your seats, students."

Anoki quickly slipped into the nearest seat, gently pulling one of Myung-Ki's horns so that the dragon would follow and not make any trouble. The class was starting, and Raven was already mad at him. If he did anything else wrong, even he wasn't sure what she would do. Better to focus on the class. He was so intent on following directions that he paid no attention to any of the others, and indeed missed the first couple of sentences of Raven's lecture.

"You have focused on the three necessary elements of magic- will, imagination, and procedure." As she spoke, Raven listed the three on the blackboard for the forgetful, sparing them embarassment for the moment. There would be ample opportunity for that. "Today we will focus on other magical elements. There is more to making up a spell, or casting an existing one, than merely saying a few words and waving your arms around. While incantations and motions are part of the equation, there are physical, mental, biological, chronological, and psychological components that can be intoduced. Can anyone name a specific example?"

Earako almost bounced in excitement upon seeing Indigo. This would be a good class then, with people she recognized. Indigo and Ligeia both! She lifted one of her dark gloved hands and wiggled her fingers in a quick wave, and then she saw Anoki, and the albino bat would have been grinning if grinning weren't unladylike. She smiled instead, and would have said something, had Raven not begun to speak.

Earako flipped open her notebook, which had more doodles in it than notes, and began scribbling down the teachers words. And she used big ones! How was chronological spelled anyway? And for that matter, what did it mean. Nevermind, at least this teachers wasn't doing that thing that made her head dizzy. Anything was better than that, including trying to spell words she'd never heard before.

Ligeia's words got noted down as well, under a quick little sketch of the pretty bird boy, made in a few short lines. She however, didn't submit any guesses. Raven seemed like the sort to snap at her if she was wrong.

Vimber, meanwhile was ignoring all the other dragons in favor of Vorel, who she stared at with some hesitation. He hadn't been quite so big last time, had he. Arrogant, but not stupid, the red quickly decided that while this was a dragon she liked, it was also one she should be careful around.

Twisting to look at Citrine she let her mouth fall open enough to expose all those lovely sharp teeth. Nice dragon. Oh, sure she was. Didn't she look friendly? Her expression, after all, could almost be called a smile.

Girls were awesome, obviously.

Citrine dropped her lower jaw in a return "grin" at Vimber, hissing like an angry snake right up until Indigo planted a bare foot on the top of her head and muttered, "Citri, hush." At which the copper dragon did hush, tucking her limbs under her body and narrowing her eyes at Vimber, tail tip beating out a slow tattoo on the tile floor. She'd be watching this one, oh yes--which probably spared poor Bob from being the brunt of her jokes for the duration of the class.

Indi took her foot off her dragon's head after a moment, attention turning to getting her notebook and pencils out of her backpack. Her taste in bright colors proved to carry over to her arsenal of writing implements; a veritable rainbow of felt-tipped pens spilled out onto the desk before the velvet worm, who swept them rapidly into order and deposited them into the over-sized pencil keeper they'd fallen out of. Selecting a green one, she opened her notebook to a clean page--much like Earako's, most of the rest of the notebook was awash in doodles and half-finished games of Dots and Tic-Tac-Toe rather than notes--and popped the cap off her pen, poised to begin writing.

Anoki's arrival distracted Indigo from this ritual; she perked up immediately, antennae coming to attention, and offered the ibex a huge grin and a wave from one of her lowers. "Hey, 'Noki!" she stage-whispered, before turning back to look up at Raven.

Stirring beside her partner, Citrine raised her head from her forefeet to eye Myung-Ki with disgust. Another one? The copper had good sense not to hiss this time; she just buried her face in her front paws, giving a noise of exquisite disgruntlement. Ugh.

Indigo feigned ignorance of the display, tap-tapping her pen against her lower lip while Raven spoke. She had no real idea what "chronological" meant, but she thought she had a guess on some of the other ones. She put up a hand, then wrinkled up her nose and put it down again. "Biological, like--pieces of plants and animals? Or blood?" she asked. "...And what, uhm, what's chrononological?"

Anoki smiled and waved meekly to both Indigo and Earako, but didn't say anything. He didn't want to get in any more trouble, or worse, get anyone else in trouble. He quickly flipped open his notebook and started to scribble in it, pausing briefly at the longer words. At least he wasn't the only one struggling with them though, which made him feel a little better.

Myung-Ki sauntered past Citrine, eyeing the copper with scorn. If she didn't recognize greatness when she saw it, she wasn't worth his attention. Still, he lashed his tail ever so slightly before curling up next to Anoki, completely alert.

If Raven were a different sort of teacher (Lilly perhaps) she would have smacked herself, to keep from smacking some sense into her students. Instead she simply shook her head, rubbed her temples, and took her chalk in hand. If their parents didn't instruct them in simple vocabulary she had no reason to. But she would, just this once.

"Stamina and focus are most certainly important," she said to Ligeia. At least he had ventured a guess; the others were either too scared or too stupid to even do that much. "But they are not what I am referring to. Planta and animals are closer, yes. But I must ask you to research these terms on your own time. I will make an exception today, but do not expect it to happen again."

Chalk at the ready, Raven wrote in her practiced cursive on the blackboard. "Biological- relating to biology. Biology is the study of what living beings- plants and animals, as well as fungi, bacteria, and the like- are made of. You will be studying this further in the future. Chronological- relating to time, and the sequence in which it passes. For instance, a specific day of the year, or phase of the moon, could act a certain way on a spell. Psychological- relating to psychology, which is the study of the mind and the ways in which it works. A psycological component might be the presence of an emotion, or a specific state of mind." She assumed that they knew what physical and mental meant, if not, she was definitely going to be in trouble.

"Now then, what is an example of a specific component that could have an effect on a spell?"

Indigo hadn't even bothered to try and write the words down before seeing them spelled--well, mental and physical and biological she did, but the other two, no go. She made an appreciative "ahh," at the explanation of the unknown term, making sure to jot that down in her notebook as well.

The next question had her tapping her pen against her lower lip as she thought, face composed in a faint frown. What were some specific spell components she'd heard of? "Like, uhm--the eye of a newt?" ...wait, Chath was a newt. "O-or the blood of a bat?" ...She shot a guilty look over at Earako, and stammered on: "Or owl feathers?" Ligeia! Oh, this wasn't working well. Indigo clamped on to the top of her pen with her teeth, wincing. Oh my gosh! All my friends are spell components! At least she hadn't heard of any that called for velvet worms.