Intermediate Alchemy

Your day started off strange but it has certainly improved by this point. Then again, it seems like anyone's mood would be improved by a good round of sex.

On top of that, your next class is Intermediate Alchemy, which makes you glad for the extra day to unpack because the Alchemist Ring you needed for the class had been buried deeper in your belongings than you had realized. The reason this makes you particularly glad, however, was because one of your classmates is the brunette who first caught your attention during orientation. On top of that, she takes the seat next to yours and gives you a small, shy smile and nod in greeting when she notices you looking at her.

You learn through rollcall that her name is Parisa and you catch yourself whispering it under your breath to help memorize it better. If Parisa heard you, she gives no sign, which is good because you do not want to come off as a creep right off the bat.

Soon enough, your attention is drawn to the class as Professor Schwartz somewhat over-dramatically begins by giving a recounting of the history of Alchemy, which had its origins in greedy people wanting the secret of turning lead to gold, and how it became much more than its capitalistic origins. Somehow this story leads to the Professor making a flaming sword out of an iron ingot, a strap of leather, bronze coins, and eight vials of colorful powder. You are not sure why that particular demonstration was needed but any story that ends with a flaming sword has to be worth telling.

"I'm afraid however," Professor Schwartz says, "that I must dampen your initial enthusiasm, as flaming swords will not be a project you undertake for quite some time. For today, I want you all to simply follow the instructions on the board and try to make your bowl of water turn to ice."

Once the students begin working, you place your hand into your bowl of water and look around curiously, getting a feel for the room. It seems a simple enough task for most of the students, though some of the more skilled ones are able to shape their ice into more perfectly shaped cubes compared to the others. Your eyes widen in surprise, however, when you look over at Parisa and see that instead of a simple cube, she has created a small but intricate looking ice-tree.

"Wow, that's amazing," you gasp, leaning over to whisper towards Parisa "How'd you do that?"

Parisa starts slightly at your exclamation and looks over, the shy smile returning to her lips as she says, "Oh, ummm, I... I've had a little... experience with this kind of magic before coming to school."

You smile back at her, amazed at how, even though you just had sex with Amelia a short while ago, you can feel your lust stirring again just at Parisa's soft mannerisms and gentle sounding voice.

Though it seems this is the second time that your distraction while having your hand in a bowl of liquid has had an unexpected result as you hear the sound of Professor Schwartz clearing his throat and commenting, "I realize that youth is a time for pushing social boundaries but if you are going to do so in my class, may I please recommend trying something I have NOT seen many times before. Or at least not doing it so openly on the first day."

You blink, first looking up at the teacher and then down at your bowl. Your face quickly turns red as you see what was once water has turned to ice but instead of a cube or a tree what sits there is a very distinctive tube shaped object with a flared tip on one end. Parisa looks over in curiosity and quickly puts a hand to her mouth, looking flustered while you can hear muffled nervous laughter coming from her. The rest of the class is starting to look over as well and this seems like it may put a bit of a mark on your reputation.