Your first class!

Your excitement is unlimited as you push open the door to a new classroom, Cameron silent but shuffling along beside you. You're not late, but the rest of your class is already here and in seats. Aw, man! The last two seats are separate, and neither one's next to Jace, so you don't get to sit with either of your new friends.

Cameron shuffles past you to take a seat on the far side of the room. That leaves you with just one seat to sit in. Still! You won't let this get you down! It's not that you're separate from your existing friends, it's that you're adjacent to your future friends! You put your bag down next to the desk and take your seat. You're sitting next to Miranda, the quiet girl, and you give her a little wave. She definitely sees it, but she goes back to setting up her pens and books all neat on her desk. Maybe the friend's a bit further in the future than you thought....

(((((((((((((((((((((FRONT)))))))))))))))))))))
...[Cameron]...[Miranda]...[Debbie].......
.....[Delilah]........[Jason]........[Lexi].......... (((DOOR)))

After a few minutes of sitting in silence -- well, of sitting and listening to Delilah talking to Jace way louder than she needs to, and Lexi whistling to herself and lightly drumming on her desk, and Miranda's pen writing on paper -- hey, how's she already taking notes? -- the sliding door grinds open once again and the room goes silent, for real this time.

There's a good reason for the silence as you all turn your heads to eye up the back-lit silhouette standing in the door frame -- none of you know exactly what to expect from this teacher. That's because your first class of the year is Combat Class. How strict would they be? How hard will you have to work? How strong will they be? It's extra nerve wracking, because your Combat teacher will only teach your class, and follow you all the way through to the end of third year before starting a new first year class, because it's by far the most frequent and important one at the university!

As your eyes adjust to the sunlight beaming in from the glass walls behind the doorway, you begin to make out more and more features about this silhouette -- female. Ponytail. Long ponytail actually, looks like it goes a bit past her shoulder blades. Your eyes fully adjust and you can see- oh, she's smiling. Nice. You expected someone all stern.

"Good morning class!" she sings out to you all, pulling the door shut behind her and walking to her desk at the front. She's quite a lot younger than the other teachers here -- she's in her super early twenties, and most of the other teachers are forty eight and up. "I do hope you all had a good time last night, and feel comfortable with the campus now." She places a briefcase atop her desk, pulls out her seat, and sits down. "You can all call me Professor Phoebe."

She looks across the room with a smile. Her eyes hold on you and Delilah for a little longer than the rest of the class. Or, nah, that's probably nothing.

"Now, I am acquainted with each of your physical states and mental aptitudes. The timing of our first class is perfect, as you'll be ordering your personalised armour and arsenal at the end of today, so I'll get a chance to speak with you all one-on-one before you make that choice. I'll call each of you up when it's time to chat. Meanwhile, if you'd each like to reach inside of your desks -- yes, they do open- n-no, Cameron, you lif- you need to lift the tabletop, it's like a lid- there you go. You'll find a catalogue of the equipment you'll be able to order later on inside of that. I'd like for you each to begin looking through there and making plans while I'm speaking with your classmates."

This is cool! You only have a quick flip through, but it's got all sorts of mock-ups and designs of different armours and weapons, each detailed with the upsides and downsides. This is gonna come in really handy!

"Debbie, if you don't mind, I'd like to start with you."

Oh! You nod, leave the catalogue on your desk, and get up to carry your chair over to her desk. Professor Phoebe waits just long enough for the rest of the class to begin reading before starting with you. Delilah and Jace are quietly but audibly chatting back and forth. Hmm.... why does that make you feel kinda mad? Well, Jace was your first friend here, and Delilah was really mean to you for no reason, so it sort of makes sense.

"Now, Debbie, I must say you rather impress me." You beam up at her. "I mean, just look at these things!" She reaches forward, and brushes aside your tie to get a grip on the underside of one of your boobs through your shirt.

.....what? You pulls your body back!

She takes her hand back with a smile, and continues. "Now, I think we should focus on your physical abilities first and foremost. No use learning fighting techniques if you don't have the strength to make them matter. And it's difficult to improve your strength if just the stretches have you panting and heaving. You're a good few steps behind the rest of your class, so you and I will need to work.... quite closely to make sure that you can catch up. The first step of that is improving your endurance." She licks her lips a little. Um, her lips must be drying a bit. You know what that's like. "So, Debbie, you're going to go back to your seat now, and look through the catalogue -- I'll meet with you later to discuss equipment. But first things first, take these."

She pulls two egg-shaped domes out of her inside jacket pocket, and hands them over to you. One's blue, and the other is red. Cautiously, you reach forward and take one in each hand.

"Put one of those into your pants pocket -- it doesn't matter which -- and take the other over to Delilah in the corner over there. Tell her to do the same. Then you can return to your seat."

Umm.... okay.... taking a bit of **** from Delilah, which you're getting better at ignoring but it still kinda hurts your feelings, you hand her the red egg and return to your own seat. You rub your hand over the blue egg-thing in your pocket. You wonder what it is? Well, anyway, you should read the catalogue for now....

***

A little while later, Phoebe's talking to Lexi at the front -- the last one she needs to talk to -- and you're pretty deep into the catalogue. It's interesting, but it might be a little while before you decide exactly what you want... at least you have until the end of the day. You've almost completely forgotten about the egg-thing in your pocket, getting lost in the ornate carvings and decorations of the armours.... it all looks so cool....

click

Oh, what was that? Professor Phoebe flicked a little switch on the briefcase from earlier. You wonder what that was.... h-hey, what's this buzzing- is the egg in your pocket starting to vibrate?

You lean back in your seat a little. The egg sucks the fabric of your pocket all towards it. You can't take it out now, it's like a little vacuum -- you suck in a quick breath as the egg's starts slowly rolling around the inside of your thigh. You hear quiet squeaking from off to your left in the room. W-what's... who's doing this?

A look up to the front of the room lets you see Professor Phoebe, still engaged in conversation with the ever-bouncy Lexi at the front. Professor Phoebe's thumb is resting over the little switch that she just flicked. You're not sure, but for a second you think you see her eyes shoot over to meet yours. There's an evil glint in them. W-woah, the egg's rolling around the inside of your thigh faster now, it's getting- kind of close to....

DING! DING! DING! DING!

O-oh, hey, that class went fast! The bell just rang, so that means it's lunchtime. Lexi hops up from the desk at the front dramatically, gives you a quick wink and a grin, and skips past you to grab her stuff from her desk. T-the buzzing just stopped, and you pocket's all un-vacuumed, so you guess you should start gathering up your stuff too?

Professor Phoebe's just staring at you. She holds your eye contact for a few seconds, then with a contented smile looks over to Delilah across the room from you. S-she looks all red-faced and flustered...

Anyway, it's time to eat! You shove the catalogue into your backpack, stand up quickly, and throw it over your shoulder, ready to grab some food and move on quick, but you're stopped.

"Oh, Debbie and Delilah? If you don't mind, I'd like to speak with you both for a short time. Don't worry, I won't cut too much into your lunchtime. Haha!"

Drat. Alright then. At Professor Phoebe's request, the two of you bring seats up to just in front of her desk while the rest of the class leaves. Jace waves goodbye to you and Delilah. After he's gone, you scooch your chair a little away from Delilah's. She's glaring at you for some reason, and her face is still all red.

"What were you trying to pull with that egg?" She quietly hisses to you. "You think you can just embarrass me in front of Jason like that? He's my roommate, you know."

Hey, those eggs weren't yours! Before you can defend yourself, Phoebe interjects, grabbing both of your attentions.

"So then, girls." Phoebe grins widely. "I hope it's not too much of a trouble, me keeping you here."