18 Jan 2025, 19:46
In the House of Broken Clocks
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Her sleep had, once again, been troubled by relentless dreams, and the few hours her eyes had managed to shut down were not enough to sustain her body throughout the day. As it was her first period, potion was at the moment not looking particularly thrilling, and the raven had trouble staying awake. Slightly stretching, she let her eyes wander across the class, trying to spot familiar faces. The lions had conquered the classroom, although at her great relief, one was missing. Satisfied, she rubbed her tired eyes and returned to the sketching that was slowly forming on a side of her potion book. As her pencil scratched the paper, in harmony with the ticking clock, a strand of golden hair fell before her eyes, concealing the rest of the classroom to her view.
Her wandering thoughts came to an abrupt stop as a sharp, clear voice called her name. "Elena Clark..," Professor Regan's eyes were piercing through the class, pairing students for the upcoming activity. "... and Edwin Westbridge." That name rang no bell in Elena's mind, as she was positively certain they had never met. She gathered her notebooks, and crossed the class towards his table. At least I'm sure I won't be paired with that damn lion.
Upon reaching the work table, she allowed herself a second to run a quick analysis of her soon-to-be potion partner. He appeared to be quite a lazy student, judging by the messy way his uniform fitted. His eyes, a light blue-grey, reminded her of the smooth pebbles resting at the river's edge, bathed in the warm glow of a summer day. He looked like he had just battled with a strong and fierce wind - and perhaps the wind had won. Sliding her books on the table, she smiled at him. "Hello," she introduced herself, her voice soft. "I'm-"
The heavy wooden dors slamming open cut the end of her sentence, as a - oh god not him. The infamous Demarest boy, a lion who seemed to have the peculiar habit of making her life a living hell, had just barged in the classroom, looking visibly upset. "Mr. Demarest," the professor noted with a hint of surprise lingering in her voice. "Since you arrived after the groups were already formed, I'll have to slot you into one that’s already together," the teacher said, her tone clipped with mild impatience. Elena stifled a groan, shifting on her stool. Propping her chin on her hand, elbow braced against the table, she let her navy gaze drift over the boy and his disheveled appearance. Bleeding sun. Demarest - greek tragedy, a strange yet compelling feeling he wore draped like a cape, as if he carried the weight of some long forgotten empire. Icarus if he had been king. Sapphire met agate blue lace, and the air felt heavier.
Ripping her gaze away from his, she ignored the way her insides dropped when they locked eyes - anger was not something she wished to nurture. The loathing she felt regarding the sun-kissed boy threatened to overrun any reasonable senses she possessed - skills that would without a doubt be required for today's lesson. "....with Mr. Westbridge and Miss Clark." You've got to be kidding me. Within a blink, he was walking towards them. The gods must hate me, she thought as she moved her books, freeing a spot on the table.
"Demarest," she said with a controlled smile that didn't reach her eyes. "What a pleasant surprise." She didn't meant a single word of this sentence, and that fact was obvious enough. In addition to her general dislike of his persona, that moron had managed to send her to detention, on her very birthday. The resentment she harbored towards him was unmatched, simmering beneath the surface like a fire that had yet to ignite. It was as if he were intent on unravelling every thread of her carefully stitched life - or so she might claim, if she was the type to hold grudges or indulge in theatrics. But, of course, she wasn't.
Not in the slightest.
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20 Jan 2025, 22:31
In the House of Broken Clocks
@Elena Clark | @Sanguinius Demarest
Speech
Potions wasn't often a class that Edwin was overly enthused for, the theoretical side of the subject often enough to bore him to sleep. However, on the occasion that he had the chance to apply any practical skills, potions would skyrocket to being amongst his favourite classes on any given day, and today was one of those days. And so, he sat in silence, his finger idly tapping along, synchronised with the ticks of the clock, counting down until he would finally have the chance to do something interesting.
Only so much motivation could be drawn from the looming prospect of brewing a potion, and so as the clock continued to tick by, Edwin found himself easily distracted. He spent a moment glancing around the classroom, seeing if he recognised many faces. Whilst there was a few faces that he could have picked out of a crowd, most were, unsurprisingly, still unfamiliar. He'd never been the most sociable after all. After his brief attempt at people watching, he redirected his gaze downwards towards his open text book, figuring that he should at least try to familiarise himself with the potions brewing method before he was assigned a partner. If he were to make a potion, he'd at least try and make sure it was a good one, why try otherwise?
Whilst he was focused on reading through the steps, his attention was abruptly dragged away as he suddenly heard his name being called for. He bit back an instinct to raise his name, and answer, as one would do during registration, and instead glanced about the classroom, finally noticing a blond girl walking in his direction. Oh, groups he realised, shifting his textbook to the edge of his desk, ensuring that there was space to work. "Hello," He returned the greeting, a moment away from introducing himself properly, before the opening of the doors drew his gaze away. "Punctual." He muttered beneath his breath, watching as the boy arrived.
Edwin peered back down towards his book, as the professor deliberated on where to send the new arrival, rechecking that he was confident in all of the necessary steps. Once more, just as he had begin to focus on his reading, he heard his name being called out once more. This time he wasn't as caught off guard, looking over towards the boy who was swiftly approaching the table. Edwin scooted his stool around the table, once again ensuring that there would be enough space for the three of them to work with. Whilst he wasn't overly bothered by having to work in a trio, it did likely mean each of them would end up doing very little, considering the potions had few steps to begin with, and those were now, presumably, going to be split three ways.
"Hello." He offered another greeting towards the other boy, before falling silent, the girl seemingly already familiar with the other boy. "Whilst you two catch up," He began, his tone laced with boredom and disinterest. "I'm going to grab all of the stuff we'll need." With that, he excused himself, slowly dragging himself towards the back of the classroom, and the cupboards containing various herbs, or other types of ingredients.
"Snake fangs," He muttered, grabbing half a dozen snake fangs. "Horned slugs, and uh.. Porcupine quills." He continued to list off the ingredients, reaching to grab more and more of them, which was turning out to have been quite a stupid task for him to have volunteered for. Whilst it wasn't a huge amount to carry alone, he was visibly rather disgusted by having to carry four slugs.
"Vile things." He said with a scowl, returning to the table, his hands filled with an assortment of ingredients, before discarding them into the middle of the table. "Edwin, by the way." He glanced over towards the Demarest boy. "Don't think you'd of heard when my name was first called."