Purification And Rejuvenation Arts

You had a feeling that classes about magic would not be like your typical schoolroom affairs but you still were not expecting your very first class to be taking place in a large, green meadow encased within a greenhouse. At the edges of the greenhouse walls are plots for sunflowers, sesame, flax, and chia plants while there is an almond tree at the northeast and southwest corners that are mirrored by pecan trees growing in the northwest and southeast corners.

In your excitement to begin, and your nerves from the meeting boosting you along, you have actually arrived a little early and both the teacher and other students are not currently present. Though there are some pink blankets with white trim laid out on the ground you guess are meant for you and those other students, so you sit down on one to wait. As the proper time approaches, you are eventually joined by your first classmate and, oh hey, it's that cute little shy guy you saw at orientation. He seems surprised someone is here before him and makes a beeline... for the blanket in the top-most corner and pretty far away from you, takes a book that does not look like the text book for this class from his backpack, and starts reading without a word.

Little rude but hey, if he is on the shy side he may not be the type who is nervous approaching new people first. You notice he IS peeking at you from behind said book every now and then, so maybe he does want to talk but does not know where to start. Deciding to take matters in your own hands, you stand up, brush some non-existent grass off your butt when the guy looks up at your movement, and walk over. He visibly stiffens but does put his book down as you approach. "Hi," you say simply before sitting on the towel next to his.

"H-Hello," the guy replies before staring at you awkwardly and squirming.

You smile at him and nod your head at his book. "Sorry, this is my first class and I noticed that isn't the textbook I was given for it. Is it some kind of extra credit material or for another class?"

Okay, not the best opening line you could have come up with but it is something at least and does get him to talk a little more as he replies, "I-It's extra credit... for another... c-class."

"Oh?" you ask, hoping your voice carries the tone that you are legitimately curious now on top of just trying to strike up a conversation, "Which one? Maybe it's another one we have together."

"U-Unless you're one of the... three... other students in E-E-Ethics Of Necromancy," he replies, his blue-grey eyes shifting around to not look directly at you, "I d-doubt that."

"Can't say I am. They teach Necromancy here?"

He nods.

There is an awkward silence for a few seconds before you extend your hand and introduce yourself.

"A-Artie," he replies before very briefly taking your hand for the barest of shakes.

At the touch, you feel a strange tingle in your fingers and up your spine that does not immediately fade when he lets go. "Artie," you repeat, flexing those tingling fingers as you place both your hands in your lap, "I saw we have the same pin, so you're a Pegasus too? Must be quite the experience living with so many girls."

"I-It's... something alright," he says, a note of bitterness entering his voice before he realizes he is actually talking to a girl and throws in, "N-No offense."

"None taken," you reply, "Trust me, I understand how hard we can be to deal with. I mean, I'M a girl and I barely understand what's going on in my head most of the time."

Artie does chuckle and very softly smile at your joke, which thrills you a little more than you would have expected it to.

Before your conversation can continue you hear the doors to the greenhouse open and see more students, as well as the teacher, walking in. "See you around the House later?" you ask.

"P-Probably," he replies, though another brief upward twitch of his lips gives you the feeling he might be being just a bit coy.

You go back over to your original blanket, since that is where you left your book bag, but before you can move it to the one next to the guy, a skinny, pale-skinned, long haired blonde sits down next to him and a twin pony-tailed one sits behind him. Oh well, just means you may have to commit to the "later at the House" plan for now. Plus, it is important to pay attention to the teacher as she clears her throat to start the class.

Said teacher is also a pale-skinned, long haired blonde but much more... voluptuous is the word that seems the best fit for her figure. She is in gardening gear, thick brown overalls and a long sleeve green shirt beneath it straining slightly against the push of her large breasts, her blue jeans are almost brown jeans due to the amount of caked dirt and mud covering them (and also face the same straining struggle against her wide hips), a beaded headband not unlike those you sometimes saw in tourist shops claiming to be "Genuine Native American Goods" while having a Made In China sticker on them, and thick, dirty gardening gloves are over her hands.

She smiles at you all as she absentmindedly brushes back a lock of her hair to reveal a long, thin ear not unlike the one you saw earlier on Professor Zizana but without any scarring. Her only real physical flaw, if it could even be called that, are that her eye colors are mismatched with the left one being green and the right one being blue. Her voice as she starts to speak is energetic and musical, making it one that is pleasant to listen to now but you are sure must draw the ire of people who have early morning classes with her and are not fully awake yet.

"Goooooooood morning everyone," she chirps, "My name is Professor Ilyana and WELCOME to Purification and Rejuvenation Arts! Before we begin the class proper, I would like to ask you all a queeeestiiiiiion. Why... are we here?"

There is a long, awkward pause before the pony-tailed blonde raises up her hand and answers, "Because this is where the syllabus told us to go?"

The other students snicker save for the other blonde, Artie, and you. The other blonde visibly shakes her head as Artie becomes even more interested in his own lap than he was already and you are too busy wondering if it is your place to answer what you think the woman you are sure is the second elf you have ever seen ACTUALLY means by her question.

"TECHNICALLY correct," Professor Ilyana replies, "But not what I meeeeeeeaaaaaaant. Would aaaaaaaaaaaanyone else like to try?"

After another few seconds of uncomfortable silence you decide to give it a shot and cautiously raise your hand. When the teacher and class turn their attention to you, your voice is shakier than you expect it to be when you say, "Because... stuff like healing and rejuvenation work better in an environment with more... nature?"

Ilyana gives you a small golf clap. "It's more detaaaaaaailed than that but you've got the basics of it, Cutie! New classes in this course always start here in the Greenery Room because having healthy plant life around does indeed boost the power of the spells we will be learning. But, I'll warn you nooooooow, we're only going to be here long enough for you all to get a feel for how the spells work. That's sooooo much simpler to do if they're easier to perform at the start, so think of this place as your training wheels... or training wings if anyone still uses broomsticks anymore."

You are still recovering from how red your face has turned at being called "Cutie" as Professor Ilyana suddenly turns and bounces (as that's really the only way you can describe her body's movements in all respects) towards one of the almond trees, plucks one of the nuts off, bounces back, and holds that almond in her palm so the class can see it. "Also, seeds and nuts, particularly almonds and pecans, have qualities that can restore a bit of mana quickly. So if you ever feel like you may have overexerted your reserves...."

She pops the almond into her mouth, chews, swallows, and smirks. "Getting a good nut in the mouth does wooooooonders."

A few snorts come from several students, including you, and once the amusement dies down Professor Ilyana goes to a table that contains multiple small flower pots and starts handing them out to each student. You look curiously down at yours and are surprised to see a withering dandelion, its yellow petals drying out and visually displaying its failure to have reached the stage where it could have launched its seeds.

"We'll be starting with some simple rejuvenation," the Professor explains, "If you will reach out with your senses, you'll notice those flowers are not quiiiiiite dead yet. Your first task is to find that spark of life and use both your energies and the energies around you to coax the little darlings eeeeeever so gently back to bloom. No need to worry about any curses or other impurities for the moment. Just you and the poor, dying plant."

Everyone around you starts doing as asked, some, like Artie, closing their eyes to concentrate and building up energies while others, like the blonde with the two pony tails, seem to be able to simply wave their hands over the pot and return color and life to the flower they tend to. This is probably a test, you realize, for the Professor to see what she is working with and get a better idea of how deep into the subject she can start. A small worry about your unfamiliarity with magic, despite you potential, makes you fear you might end up holding the rest of the class back so you get to work seeing what you can do.

You can indeed feel the incredibly faint tingle of life in the dandelion as well as the much more powerful flow of life from the plants and grass around you. Your fellow students are also giving off life energies but they feel somehow different and thus you can avoid grabbing onto them as you reach out for some of the life energies around you and pull them towards the dying dandelion. However, unexpectedly, that "some" turns out to be far more than you expected to pull in and instead of the trickle of energy you wanted, an absolute flood of magic zaps into the potted plant.

The result is that your dandelion does indeed return to life... but then almost instantly transitions to its seed head state, launches those seeds, and while still in mid-aid those seeds transform into new dandelions that launch their own seeds before they can hit the ground. By the time you manage to cut off the flow of energies, the students around you have scattered away behind their nearest neighbors and you are absolutely covered in dandelion seeds, as well as dead stems and roots. Professor Ilyana bounces over towards you after the initial commotion and she thoughtfully looks down at you as you sit there.

You sneeze, sending most of the seeds on your face into the air again.

Ilyana smiles at you before she asks, "You pulled, didn't you?"

Only able to nod lamely in reply, the Professor looks back up and around at the rest of the class. "This is actually a quite useful demonstration of something I noticed some of the rest of you doing toooooo and is a rather common mistake. Though not with quiiiiiiite as spectacular results as Cutie here, of course. Every form of magic is different and while there are some universal rules, they must be wielded in different ways. While many offensive and defensive forms of magic do required forcefully pulling energies from yourself or the environment, ours requires a more gentle touch. Think of yourselves not as straw or sponge sucking up the water to spit or squeeeeeeeze out where you need it, but as an irrigation furrow. You are still directing the energy you need to where you want it to go, but allowing it to do so in a more natural manner, and not accidentally being so forceful that you hurt the ones you are trying to save, the surrounding environment, and most important of all, yourselves."

After pausing to let that all sink in she adds, "Ooooooor to put it more simply: We are Pegasus. And a Pegasus is at their strongest when they fly with the flow of the storm. Even if that flow may seem to be to our disadvantage on the surface."

With those words, the class resumes after the Professor hands you a towel to try and brush yourself off with. She spends the rest of the class time further explaining the basics of what it means to "rejuvenate" and "purify" something, telling you what chapters in your text to read for next class, and letting you know she would be having another flower pot with a wilted flower delivered to your rooms to practice with some time in the next few days.

During that time, you notice a few class members sneaking peeks in your direction and whispering to their neighbors. Artie does the occasional glancing part but he does not whisper anything until one of the blondes says something to him first and whatever he says causes the straight-haired blonde to look back at you. It is not an outright unfriendly gaze but you do get the feeling you are somehow being measured up before her attention returns to the class.

When the bell sounds and class ends you stand up, brush a few more dandelion seeds out of your hair, and look over to see those two blondes still talking with Artie. You have a few minutes until next class, so you could maybe see about joining in on the conversation. Get to know more of your classmates beyond only one of two students you have anything remotely resembling a talk with so far. And who knows, they might be as nice and friendly as they are kinda hot looking.

But at the same time, the three seem somewhat comfortable in their conversation, so your presence might be seen as an intrusion on that. Not to mention you have never been the best jumping into talks already in progress and you could just see about learning more about Artie and those two blondes later from Parisa or someone else at Pegasus House.

You have a few minutes... but only a few minutes... to decide where your life is flowing next.