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If it were up to her, all classes would be like this one. 

Imogen thrived when she wasn't forced to sit for hours on end, listening to the professors [i]talk[/i] about strategies in the battlefield instead of practicing it. Or worse, having to pay attention to which rich or powerful house did this or that and remember how they screwed over their people. Spending the day training was fun and seemed more like play than learning, especially as she began experimenting on her new choice of weapons. Caius had more than once tried to make her understand the concept of her sword being an extension of her arm, but the idea never clicked. With the gauntlets – well, her hands were actually extensions of her arms so it made more sense.

Getting to train with Iz was a plus, as well! After watching her demonstration, Imogen all but hounded her fellow deer, begging to learn some of her techniques. Sure, it was enjoyable going crazy and letting loose on the targets, allowing her instincts to take over and guide each strike. But Iz looked really, really cool doing her attacks and she wanted to look like that too. And, uh, there's probably some practical reasons to learn some proper techniques too.

Imogen ended up eating a lot of Iz's time, although she hoped their training session wasn't too one-sided. There were times when Iz seemed to be holding back, for no reason she could discern. Imogen tried pushing her past this invisible line Iz seemed to have drawn for herself, but she knew not to prod too much, too soon.

Not too long after, Professor Mik called them back for a break. Although the others seemed to welcome it, the tolling of the bell brought upon a sense of dread for Imogen instead. She would have much preferred spending another five hours training with her gauntlets than have to face Professor Lys after class. It was no use letting him know she was as broke as the recently beheaded dummy (may he rest in pieces)—the professor had been adamant about her paying for the damage she caused. That meant she had to figure out how to scrounge up some gold after class because she was certainly not going to ask Caius to send her any.

Instead of dismissing them, Professor Mik led them to the Black Eagles' classroom, and there Imogen had experienced her first miracle: she was actually grateful for a quiz. Her meeting with Professor Lys has been delayed [i]and[/i] she gets to fill her plate with pastries! Plus, the quiz didn't seem all that difficult at all. Not like those written tests with questions so long, it was a struggle just trying to read it all the way through.

As was often the case, it was Clary who got the Deer started. Her evaluations were comprehensive, so much more thorough than Imogen would have ever thought to do. Imogen tried her best not to drift away into her daydreams, but she did slip for a moment as she thought that Clary would be a good professor and imagined her in Professor Mik's place.

[color=ffb5c2]"Aw, thanks,"[/color] Imogen said through a mouthful of lemon cakes, after listening to Clary's assessment of her. The critiques she made were ones she had heard before, repeatedly, but she sincerely took them under consideration. [color=ffb5c2]"I promise I'll try! Sometimes, it's just hard to slow down, y'know?"[/color]

After inhaling another mouthful of pastries, Imogen stood up and gestured to herself. [color=ffb5c2]"Okay, me next!"[/color] There was a brief pause as she tried to collect her thoughts, and she looked almost silly glaring up at the ceiling as she recalled each Deer's demonstration. 

[color=ffb5c2]"Clary, I love watching your magic! It's so sparkly and it makes me feel all warm inside. I also think it's wonderful how you can save people in a battlefield instead of just hurting the enemies. Um,"[/color] Imogen paused, realizing she was more gushing than evaluating. She wasn't knowledgeable enough about magic to pinpoint any flaws in her spellwork, but she supposed she could bring up things she noticed before. [color=ffb5c2]"You take really good care of others, but you need to think of yourself too. In Luin, you rushed in to save Professor Euphie and that was really brave and you saved her life! But you could have also gotten hurt, and if that happened, a lot of people would have missed out on your amazing healing. When something like that happens, you can trust us more to have your back!"[/color]

She turned to Jory next and grinned. [color=ffb5c2]"You're like the main character in the stories I read, Jory! Always swooping in at the right time to save the day. You're like [i]bam, arrow in the eye! bam, arrow in the chest![/i]"[/color]—here, she mimicked nocking an arrow and loosing it for effect—[color=ffb5c2]“You seem to always know what to do… oh, except when you're mad or annoyed! I noticed that before. Like with Princey! At one point, I thought you were going to hit him instead of the enemy. Maybe don't do that in the future?"[/color] Imogen wasn't entirely sure what her point was; maybe something along the lines of being more patient with your allies? She knew she would have the hardest time trying to critique him when she was always in awe of the things he did.

For Iz's turn, Imogen gave her a hug before stepping back. [color=ffb5c2]"Iz, you're the best! I learned a lot from you in that short time we practiced. Like how I can flip someone twice my size if I use their weight against them—I definitely want to try that out."[/color] She spotted Aubie across the room and wondered if he'd let her try on him. He was probably a whole foot taller than her; he'd be great practice. [color=ffb5c2]"I keep telling you this, but you need to realize just how awesome you are. Look, I watched you fight once and now I want to be just like you. I know you worry a lot and you overthink things. Maybe we can work on that together? Clary says I don't think enough, so maybe we can find a way to even it out."[/color] Imogen laughed. It was almost like Iz had an anti-Dogberry, one who warned her about everything, even if it wasn't something dangerous or concerning. [color=ffb5c2]"But honestly, I think it'll help if you tell that mini-Iz on your shoulder that's worrying about everything to shush every now and again. I can teach you that, I have a lot of practice."[/color]