Glanchester Academy (An Advanced Roleplay) discussion

Pyre's training room

North slipped into the training room. Quite a few other students were already in there. It seemed Pyre students were eager to start. But they were all sitting quietly in rows on the floor, legs crossed and hands folded in their laps. A tall lady with bright red hair stood at the front of the classroom, posture military straight. She ran her eyes over North, assessing her, and gave her a nod of indifferent acknowledgement. North could feel herself squirm.

She recognized Edwin from the other day and he tossed her a grin. He seemed like her best bet, so she slid into the row next to him, matching his position.

Esme began to panic as she entered the hall to the training room. She didn't want to make a bad impression as the person who's always late. But she couldn't help that Tal, her secretly kept pet, had dug through North's belongings.

Esme let out a sigh of relief when she saw North enter the room, maybe she wasn't so late after all.

Inside, it seemed everyone had already sat down in rows on the floor, so Esme sat down behind everyone, giving the teacher a nervous smile.

Lucas burst into the room (bag straps jangling, of course), coughing a bit. Maybe he should have waited until he was standing still to swallow his milk...
He wiped the tip of his sleeve across his mouth to clean up a few stray droplets.
Dang it, dang it, dang it...last one in.
He quickly took a seat and hoped that he wouldn't be called up front.

Esme felt bad for the boy who had just burst into the room, yet she also felt relieved that she wasn't the last one in. She adjusted herself to see around the tall boy in front of her, and paid attention as the teacher began to speak.

As Esme sat listening to the teacher begin, Esme flinched. Had she locked Tal's cage? What if Tal got out? Would Esme be expelled? And what would they do to Tal? Shaking these thoughts off, Esme tried her hardest to pay attention to the fiery haired teacher.

This teacher made North nervous. She looked strict. The teacher cleared her throat and silence immediately fell over the group, except for the occasional noise made by a year one student shifting.

"I am Desyril Slemain, your instructor. I will expect all of you to obey quickly, not cause any trouble, and to be responsible." She looked each of them sternly in the eyes, and North squirmed. "If you do not, there will be consequences. Fire is a dangerous element, and wielding it can be disastrous."

Esme squirmed a little as the teacher began. She was glad to have a strict teacher, yet she was afraid she disappoint her first teacher ever. And, Esme was a little on the rebellious size, and as Desyril mentioned, fire is a dangerous element.

Lucas heard the teacher (her hair reminded him of the fire flower Edwin had mad earlier) say routine warnings ("pay attention, listen, don't goof off, try not to kill yourself--or anybody else").
He moved his pack onto his lap. His legs bounced a bit and set the buckles rattling against each other. He stopped after a minute and tuned back in to the lecture after having imagined himself wielding fire.

Esme began to become jittery. She was so excited. She would be the first in her family to go to school. A school where she'd learn to harness, or at least try, fire!

[Is it alright if I fast-forward a little? :)]

Breathing exercises. Okay, he could do that.
Lucas sat cross-legged, copying the poses of the other students.
He breathed in. Held it. Let it out.
Breathe in, hold, out. Breathe in, hold, out...
He wondered how long he could hold his breath. He took a quick glance around. No one was looking. Oh, they had their eyes closed. Must have missed that part of the lecture.
He closed his eyes.
Breathe in, hooolllldd...four, five, six...
His chest went tight.
Twenty, twenty one...Just a little longer...thirty!
The urge to cough nearly made him lose his focus, but he fought it back and watched a few spots flicker in his vision.
And out.
His exhale went smoothly. For about half a second.
Then his lungs stretched for more air, forcing what was left in his lungs out. He coughed, which earned him a few snapping glares from those nearby.
He kept his eyes shut and wondered if he would pass out.
Breathe in...
Nope, he was fine.
He wondered if he would be able to get up to a minute before the exercise time was over.

North wished that guy would just behave. Her temper would flare up soon, and who knew what might happen then. She focused on keeping her breathing steady, keeping time with Edwin next to her. Edwin caught her gaze and gave her a wink.

Esme sat, breathing. This wasn't so bad, maybe she could finally settle her raging nerves.
She finally had calmed her nerves when she heard a boy start coughing. What was he doing?
Esme opened her eyes to see who was driving her crazy. It was a boy sitting on the edge.
Casting a quick glance at the teacher who wasn't looking her way, Esme tried to twist to see who it was. Leaning a little more she could almost see the boy's face when she lost balance and tipped over onto the kid next to her.
Shoot.

All the teenagers tipped over like dominoes. The teacher turned her way, an annoyed, almost angry, look on her face. Pretty quickly Ms. Slemain was right in front of her.

"What were you doing? Disrupting my class will not be tolerated."

Her first real school experience blown on her first day.

Heat flushed to Esme's face as all the upright students turned to her, and all the fallen ones sat up, staring.

"I, uh." Esme felt tears prick her eyes. For an instant Esme thought about grilling the boy who had started the whole mess, but she didn't want to be know as the girl who blamed other people. "I'm not quite sure, Ma'm."

Before Ms. Slemain said anything, Esme looked to see the face of the coughing boy.

HAHA! A FULL MINUTE!!!
Lucas smiled, happy with himself. A few angry hisses caught his attention.
What was everybody doing on the floor? Had he missed something?
Since he was still catching his breath and trying not to pass out, he decided against tilting himself to the side. He'd tried that once...while he was working with a press...it hadn't gone so well.
Just as well, since everyone else was righting themselves.
The student to his right nudged him and muttered something derogatory. But, since it didn't directly pertain to him, he didn't pay attention to what was said. He just grunted and gave a half-hearted nod.
Lucas noticed someone looking at him from across the room. She was getting a talking-to from the teacher. That had to sting.
At least it wasn't him.
He glanced at a fiery hourglass positioned on a ledge behind the teacher. Time for breathing exercises was almost over.

While the teacher was giving her a lecture, Esme glared at the boy who had started it all. Was he... smiling? No way. She was sitting her getting a lecture while the boy was sitting there looking proud of himself. No. Way.

"Are you listening to me?" Ms. Slemain asked.

"Sorry Ma'm."

This school was turning out to be just like home, Esme was always getting in trouble; intentionally or not.

"I expect this to not happen again." The teacher went back to the front of the class.

Esme didn't listen whole heartedly as Ms. Slemain talked, instead she fought off the burning tears and tried to cool her flaming face.

North straightened. The boy was in the last row, just behind her to the right. She glared at him. If only she could strangle him, or give him a lecture. Edwin let out a growl. "He's my roommate," he said under his breath, soft enough that Ms. Slemain didn't hear him.

Ms. Slemain clapped her hand sharply. "Stand." Everyone stood to their feet automatically, and North scrambled to keep up. Ms. Slemain began directing students of different years to go to different corners of the room before making the year one students follow her to the fourth corner. She had them sit in a circle around a large bare circle on the floor, just large enough for the ten year one students to sit around.

A fire sprang up in the circle suddenly, not big enough to be dangerous, but larger than a normal campfire. Ms. Slemain motioned to it. "The first step in your training, before everything else, is to learn heat. Fire is heat, and therefore to manipulate it, you must learn to feel heat. Close your eyes and stretch out one hand to the fire. Feel how the heat pulses over your hand and heats your skin." She paused. "Don't get too close to the fire," she warned.

Esme sat in a circle, the boy who had started her whole embarrassment to her right, and North to her left.

Ms. Slemain began talking to them about heat. Esme was tempted to say "if you want to feel heat, you should feel my face', for it was still burning. But she held back her temptation and tried to enjoy the thrill of learning to control fire.

Esme stuck out her hand and closed her eyes, though she kept opening one slightly to make sure her hand wasn't to close to the flames. If she did two screw ups in one day? Catastrophic.

Lucas kept his eyes open for a little longer, watching the flames. There were so many shapes; men in armor, clawing beasts, forms that were almost human, things with wings, snakes writhing...
He closed his eyes and stretched his hand out.
Some part of him must have expected something, because he felt a keen sense of disappointment.
It was hot. That was it.
No pulses, waves, or anything. Just hot.
His entire face scrunched in an effort to feel something more.
Maybe if he leaned in a little closer. He had been a ways back, right? So it couldn't hurt.

North felt the boy - the guy from earlier - moving closer to the fire. She'd sat next to him on purpose, for this very reason. With one hand still stretched to the fire (she could feel the waves of heat, and she thought she could feel the heat from the people sitting next to her, too), she used her other hand to grab his arm, sending him a one-eyed glare. "Don't you dare," she snarled in a whisper.

Esme sat, her hand out. She had expected something awesome to happen; to her or someone else, but she was disappointed when nothing happened.

Looking to one side she saw the troublemaker leaning closer, which Esme longed to do so herself, and North grabbed his arm. Esme tried to lean in to tell what she whispered to him, but couldn't tell, and plus, last time she leaned it didn't end so well.

Heat scalded her skin, and Esme looked back at the fire to see that her hand had been inching closer, unbeknownst to her.

Ms. Slemain had better not count that as 'doing something else'.

Jerking her hand back, Esme stared into the fire seeing many images; animals and plants, men and buildings, and other stranger things that she couldn't explain.

Fire. Was. Awesome.

Lucas ground his teeth at the interruption. He could've sworn he felt something that time! Really subtle, but it was there.
Like brushing against someone in a hall.
He returned her one-eyed glare and jerked his arm free.
Keeping one eye open to give North a look, he leaned in again. Just not so much as last time. (He had felt a tongue of flame get a tad too close.)

North rolled her eyes inwardly. Then suddenly the heat disappeared and she opened her eyes. The fire was gone, and Ms. Slemain stepped into the middle of the circle. "How many of you felt anything like what I described?" North hesitantly raised her hand, and a few others did, too.

Esme was disappointed that she didn't feel anything. When the fire disappeared and Ms. Slemain asked those who did to raise their hand. A few reluctant ones slowly rose up, Esme not one of them.

Esme turned and saw that North had raised her hand. At the sight of her hand, Esme felt slightly happier. If Esme couldn't feel anything, she was glad that her only friend could.

"Congrats," she whispered to her roommate.

Lucas hunched his shoulders and lifted his hand up a fraction. He held it there noncommittally, waving back and forth in an, "ish" motion.

Lucas waited for the teacher's next words, shifting in place and laying his hands across the tops of his feet.

Esme sat uncomfortably. She still got weird stares from some of the students, no doubt because of the 'incident' moments earlier.

She tried to focus on what the teacher was saying, but the stares were getting to much. Her cheeks were flaming, and Esme felt as if they were hotter then the fire before her. Tears threatened to come, but she pushed them away and attempted to put a brave look on her face.

[*poke*]
[I think we're all waiting on the teacher...]

(*cough* I'm having trouble finding time...)

Ms. Slemain nodded, her expression not changing. "We'll keep working on this. Everyone hold out your hand towards the circle." She relit the fire as she stepped out of the circle. "I'll come around to each of you. When I get to you, close your eyes. I'll either lessen the fire or strengthen it, and you tell me which I've done. Understand?" North nodded along with the others.

Esme took a deep breath. Ms. Slemain was only a few students away from her.

When Ms. Slemain came to Esme, she nervously closed her eyes. She extended her arm out towards the fire, and waited for something to happen.

"Lessened or strengthened?" Ms. Slemain asked.

For a frightening moment, Esme felt nothing. Then she felt the fire's heat grow.

"Um ... Strengthened?" Esme answered nervously.

"You can open your eyes," Ms. Slemain said.

Esme did, then nodded. Ms. Slemain walked onto the next student.

North grinned at Esme. "Good job," she whispered. She closed her eyes as Ms. Slemain stood behind her.

"Which one?" Ms. Slemain asked.

North focused every muscle. The heat dimmed. "Lessened," she said confidently.

"Correct." Ms. Slemain moved on to the boy, and North relaxed.

"Thanks," Esme replied. She waited until Ms. Slemain was done with North to whisper, "You did great yourself."

[Ah, gotcha. :)]
Lucas quickly shut his eyes and put out his hand. He accidentally bumped it against the teacher's leg. "Sorry," he mumbled, and shifted position.
Ms. Slemain posed her question.
Lucas waited a few seconds before replying. "Strengthened," he said.