Group Project!

Group project!

Done with their lunch, Lily and John bid their goodbye to Moira and were leisurely walking in the direction of the classroom of Ms. Wentworth with plenty of time to spare. It was an odd, unfamiliar feeling, but he could get used to getting along well with pretty girls, not that he believed he would be lucky enough for it to happen with someone beside Lily or for him to bring their friendship further..

<Gaia: Not with that attitude, you won’t. How about you grow some balls, big ones at that!>

John fell silent as he eyed the message. Was she taunting him or giving him genuine advice? Yet he couldn’t think on it further, as Lily had noticed him stopping and was looking at him.

<Gaia: Have a little faith, Johnny boy. Oh and I forgot to grant you a skill earlier.>

New Skill Acquired!: Sculpting - Crafting lvl.20
The ability to shape three-dimensional objects as you desire. Modelling for people without a hot body or knowledge in software. This skill enhances the quality of your works.

“You commin’?’ she asked, one hand on her shapely hips, the other pressing a small bundle of books against her chest.

“Y-yes,” John stammered back, dismissing the windows as he catched up with her.

—

The duo sat together near a window, the classroom slowly filling with students as the electronic chime rang across the halls. Ms. Wentworth stood by the door, her gaze fixed on her watch. Once the second chime rang, she pushed the door shut, locking a few tardy students out.

Ms. Wentworth was one of the teachers with the oldest tenure at Ashcroft, yet she looked in her early 30s at most, the discrepancy was uncanny when he stopped to think about it. Her lustrous raven hair was tied into an elaborate bun; her hazel iris, which bordered on a golden tone, peered at the classroom from behind silver framed glasses.

While she was always dressed in more concealing attire, her silhouette betrayed her attempt, unless she strapped them down, her breasts were of an average size, but her hips, by Gaia she had hips, and ass.
No amount of old fashioned dress she had worn since he had started at Ashcroft had managed to hide it.

A loud tap on the board tore the class’ attention away from the door. Ms.Wentworth was observing them with a stern expression that made a handful of students gulp reflexively. “Now that I have your undiluted attention, as per my announcement at the end of our last class…” She turned around to write on the board.

A wet sound, coming from Lily’s direction distracted John. Taking a peek he observed Lily licking her lips in hunger, or so it seemed to him from his quick glance, bringing his attention toward Ms. Wentworth before she noticed him being distracted. He liked her classes, and he believed or at least hoped she appreciated his effort; it was kind of hard to tell at times due to how stern she was.

“... so in short, team up in pairs and create a presentation on a belief system and its influence on history.” She wrote a few more words before underlining twice with her chalk. “It will be due in one month, no delay will be permitted.” She paused, massaging the bridge of her nose. “No christianity, I can’t read another one of those.” She pushed back her glasses into place, sitting on the edge of her desk. “Now, go on, choose your partner wisely and come up with something original enough and I will consider granting your team extra credits.

He had missed a few details, but most of the requirements seemed to have been written on the board thankfully. Shifting in his seat, he leaned sideways on his desk, resting his cheek on his palm. “Any ideas?”

“Mayyyyyybe.” A wide smirk plastered across her as she side eyed Ms.Wentworth. “What’s in it for me?” Her smirk was getting more smug by the minutes.

“A good grade.” He leaned back in his chair, a small hint of his own smug smile cracking his lips. “Oh, and the clay miniature I guess,” he added, looking at his nail nonchalantly.

“Oi!” Lily leaned toward John, shaking her fist playfully at him. “You told me I could have it!”

“And you told me, we’d partner up.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Now just tell me, will you.”

“Fiiiiiine,” the redhead fake bemoaned for a bit, before continuing in a more serious tone, “The Verdant Path, ever heard of it?”

“No, maybe?” John leaned his head back. It felt familiar, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. “Sounds like something straight out of a TTRPG to be quite honest.” He paused. “Something druid related?”

This drew a hearty chuckle out of Lily. “Ahah, eh, I can see ya would think that.” Her sentence cut short as she thought on how to explain. “It’s close, the name certainly doesn’t help. It is linked to nature, yes; however, it was not practiced by druidic circles per se.”

While Lily meandered in her explanation, as if she was circling around something, he noticed that Ms. Wentworth had lifted her head slightly, looking at Lily with interest. It seemed like they might have a good chance of earning those extra credits she told them about earlier.

“You know what, Lily, that sounds amazing and I’m sure she will like it,” John cut her short with excitement, pointing back at Ms.Wentworth with his thumb. “Honestly, you’ve set my interest ablaze. I’m surprised I’ve never heard of it, where did you say this was from?”

“Ah, uh, well, there are different branches, but the one I’m familiar with is from Europe, a mixture of Ireland, France, Germany,” she answered, a hint of surprise in her tone; she hadn’t expected his sudden interest.

“It’s settled then, when do you want us to work on this?” John asked.

“My schedule is quite open, ya had any time in mind?” Her head tilted. “How about after gym, ya said ya wanted to train, right?”

John took his chin in his palm pensively. “That would be efficient. Not having access to a car, the less time I waste in public transit the better, if I’m honest.”

Lily clasped her hands together, a bright smile on her face. “It’s settled then.” She then pulled out her phone. “Remind me, what’s ya address again, I’ll stop by your house and we’ll go together!” she added, full of pep.

“Sounds good to me, I’ll text you later with the details. Oh, and by the way, not that I mind, but are you sure you want to do the detour by my house?” He scratched his cheek with his index finger. “Not that I mind, but I don’t know where you live and I wouldn’t want to **** you to do a huge detour.”

“Nah, mate, don’t worry about me, it's fine.” Waving off his worry with her hand before pouting slightly. “Not that I want to, but we gotta plan out the workload, uh… such joy,” she commented in a dry tone as they began discussing the different parts of the project.

In a stroke of pure curiosity, nearing the end of class John used [Observe] on Ms.Wentworth, wondering what her level was.

Victoria Wentworth
Level Scarlet Witch
Opinion +15 (Interest)
Using divination on me, Mr. Newman? Please stay after the bell.

<Gaia: My bad, forgot to mention that while [Observe] is pretty stealthy, it ain’t omnipotent. Well, it is quite potent; she’s a special case, so, uh, don’t worry too much, just this once I interceded in your favor as an apology.>

A shiver, cold as a river from the arctic, ran down his spine as he read the result from [Observe] and the following message from Gaia. Noticing Ms. Wentworth, the so-called Scarlet Witch, staring at him didn’t help his nervousness as he tried to focus on Lily and their work.