[hr][hr][center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/01989753-c0d4-751e-94b6-ac932f65638b.webp[/img][hr][@Achronum][@Trainerblue192][@Morose][@Blizz][@Kirah][@PatientBean][@KazAlkemi][@kittyluna45][hr][h3][color=57F287][b] Early Afternoon - Fri. Nov. 1st, 2040 [/b][/color][/h3][/center][hr] Amongst the concerns of the covens, of the curiosities uncovered, of the eclectic and ancient magics, the gong struck once more and the stillness that offered these pockets in the academy their moments of contemplation shattered like glass. Students seemed to pour from every corner, life suddenly filling the empty corridors and quiet spaces all at once, and in the hustle and bustle, the covens were released from their duties as they had yet another to attend - It was time to meet their advisors. — [u]Prof. Gray - Chaos and Wild Magic[/u] Advisees: Jake, Cassie Arcane glyphs and sigils traced deep blue walls in gold and bronze, candles and lanterns floating in constellation patterns near the ceiling cast warm light down on the room, and deep blue, red, and gold rugs tastefully covered the marble floor. Red plush couches with blue and gold throw pillows were arranged around a gathering of warm wood coffee tables, each stacked high with books and tomes that sometimes rearranged themselves when no one was looking. Bookshelf on bookshelf lined the walls, containing books and artifacts and the occasional fossil of the weird and weirder, and various urns and ceramic jugs were cramped under every available space. Several throw blankets covered the few individual chairs in the room and piles of candles seemed placed in every corner, burning without melting the wax. In the center of all the chaos were two desks, two pens, each labelled for their respective audience. [hider=To: Jake]I am writing about homework this year. I’m sorry to tell you I’m on vacation because I’ve been planning a nice visit for my dear husband all year — a vacation you probably can’t imagine. But that doesn’t mean I can’t teach. Below, you’ll find a file of your daily habits, mental, physical, and emotional reactions to managing your emotions during stressful times. With these exercises and the mantras in your file, I can track your progress and answer all your questions. If you need immediate assistance, contact Pixie. She is an old friend of mine; we went to high school together. Prof. Grey[/hider] [hider=To: Ms Bellafontaine]I am writig this letter in response to this year's course materials. I would very much like to be there and witness the success of the other Chaos witches, but unfortunately I am on extended leave this year, having dedicated the entire year to planning and organizing a fantastic vacation for my beloved husband, something you probably wouldn't understand. But that doesnt mean I wont be teaching you. At the end of this letter you will find a folder containing daily spells, exercises for the mind, body, and soup, and important exercises for controlling your emotions in stressful situations. With these tasks and the magic pen in your folder, Madam Bellafontaine, I will be following your progress and answering any questions you may have. If you need further asistance immediately, you can contact Pixie. She is an old friend of mine and we studied together in the past. Prof. Grey[/hider] [u]Prof. Gwynn - Illusions and Enchantments[/u] Advisees: Nicky, Barty, Finley + Dysphoria Meggan Gwynn was hardly ever called by her legal name and she was referred to even less as Prof. Gwynn, even among her students. No, instead she was known simply as [url=https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019c160a-36db-7488-bdab-4e28759e8eb9.webp ]Pixie[/url], half-mutant, half-fae, full time and active member of the X-Men, model, ex-girlfriend of Nico Minoru, op of Illyana Rasputina, and professor of illusions and enchantments at Strange Academy. Her preference as a teacher was hands-on, active problem solving. For instance, students were rarely welcomed into her office, instead ushered into a mystical danger room she had collaborated with Prof. Gray on. But Agatha had told her that she didn’t have time to give her students a near death experience today, that the point of this was for them to meet their advisors and ask if they had any questions, blah blah blah - to be honest, Pixie had tuned her out after the first few sentences, instead thinking about everything she was missing on her Snikt feed at the moment, as her phone didn’t work outside of the AV club’s wifi cafe. Not even Limbo was this much of a wifi dead zone. She would have sent a quick message spell off to Max to complain, but he was out of range. [i]Boo.[/i] She was two students, despite being the advisor for three - Finley Darling was co-advised by Croan and would be meeting with him for this session. The other two she wasn’t incredibly thrilled about. They reminded her of her father. But at the same time, she was an X-Man - and that meant believing that people could change for the better. “Hey guys!! Come on in, come on in - anyone peckish? I’ve got some crisps set out, and I’m making tea if you’d like any,” Pixie offered. Her office was at the top of a tower, the stone leading up to it a romantic soft pink. [url=https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019c1610-f6ab-757a-9e0f-2d8ae2c0904f.webp]The main space[/url] was gaudy and tacky, pink furs dangling from the stone ceiling, the silver stones reminiscent of a disco ball glued to the walls, and pink furniture in the style of a retro dinner booth, curling into a semi-circle. A bright chandelier provided the majority of the lighting, continuing to bathe the space in a pink glow, and a spiraling staircase led further up in the tower, presumably to Pixie’s living quarters. She fluttered around, getting everything just into place, before facing her students with a beaming smile. “Wow, I can’t believe it - the coven system, yay! You’ve all grown up so fast!” she gushed. “Today is just an informal hang - we can just vibe, I can answer any questions you all have, we can have some snacks, maybe film some things to post on Snikt later, and call it a day. Sound good?” she preened. [u]Prof. Ravoux - Healing and Necromancy[/u] Advisee: Connie This year, [url=https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019c15f8-c581-731e-b182-6da2881aed87.webp ]Zéphyrine[/url] had only been allotted a single student from the coven system. But as luck would have it, her sole mentee was one of the most talented young witches she had had the good fortune to meet, in this century and any other. Connie was co-advised with Prof. Marino, but she knew her pupil would be coming to see her before too long. Prof. Ravoux taught a variety of courses at Strange Academy, having resided in this swamp since long before the Sorcerer Supreme had even been able to mutter an incantation. And while her specialty was in brewing potions and herbs, creating tinctures and salves to push the balance of the scales of life and death, she also instructed students on innate transformations, having cursed herself with lycanthropy almost a lifetime ago. [url=https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/019c160f-9719-767f-9df7-7e01302031b0.webp]Her office[/url] was on the grounds of the school, more of a hut, a small wooden cottage, than the traditional space the other professors preferred. It was surrounded by overgrowth, with a small pond near its base - the water coming from the very swamp Zéphyrine had called her home for so long, its mud having properties she still described as miraculous, forming the basis of most of her salves. Its exterior was decorated with bells, feathers, knots, and other such charms, and the occasional white chalk sigil, painstakingly refreshed each full moon. Muddied boots were left outside, along with torn clothing in need of mending, and empty jars, faded labels only hinting at what they once would have contained. “Come in, mon amour,” Zéphyrine called out, as Connie approached. “‘Elp me wit’ t’ese, will you?” she instructed, not bothering to glance over her shoulder. When her student stepped over the threshold, a cleansing bell would be disturbed by the opening of the door, removing any negativity or ill-intent that could be brought into the swamp witch’s sanctum. The interior of the cottage was no less messy than its exterior - hundreds of bottles crammed onto rickety, wooden shelves, containing specimens and samples, potions and antidotes, salves and herbs - and a thousand other wonderful things. Books were open on every available surface, their pages muddied and dirtied, notes scrawled into the margins in Zéphyrine’s own short hand. It was her living space in addition to her office, yet rather than have any discernable bed, a pile of blankets and rags and clothing was strewn in one corner, more of a nest than anything else, covered with the thick, brown hair of a dog. She wore a series of torn skirts, loose blouses, and tattered shawls, her hair a wild, tangled mess of curls - and despite the nature of her work, today was no different, as she set about skinning a rabbit. She nodded towards Connie, indicating for her to join her in the task, as another one sat there unattended. “Leave t’e foot as it is - we’ll make a c’arm for you out of it. T’ere’s a bad wind in the air.” [u]Professor Varn Croan[/u] Advisees: Annika, Finley Croan’s office offered little variation from what people would expect. A stunning floor to ceiling wall of windows with a small set opening as a door for Croan’s late night escapades. A heavy wooden desk, flanked by bookshelves and tall gothic candelabras that burned with smokeless light, was framed perfectly in the and a set of black leather chairs faced it. Two statues, towering representations of Italian art from centuries ago, watched the room with a dedicated glint that spoke volumes of their care. Croan sat behind his desk, one hand at his temple to hopefully curb the ache his coven and their theatrics offered him. The Macleod was annoying but useful, the Winnel slow but gifted, and the last one… It was a rare night he felt his vampiric nature so dreadfully tested. It’d been some time since his last hunt, let alone feeding. He would slake his thirst this evening however, the return of the students certainly assured him of that. The… thing steeped in wild magic exhausted him to no end and Croan knew it would take far more than the normal amount to keep his vampire from tearing Jake’s throat out. However, these thoughts turned towards the present and true as the doors opened and his advisees arrived. “Good afternoon. Mx. Darling and Dysphoria, you will also fall under the jurisdiction of Ms. Gwynn so please feel free to address her with any questions you may have as well. You may consider me as a resource for your development of blood magic.” Croan informed the duo, direct and to the point. His attention turned to Annika next. “And as for you, Ms. Hawthorne, I shall be a resource in your advancement of shadow magic. Should either of you find your skills faltering in your advancement of your coven’s responsibility, I am available during most afternoons for a brief conversation. How did your first evaluations go? You are both in the same coven, yes?” [u]Professor Mikkail Genesis[/u] Advisees: Callighan, Willow Despite knowing their way to Mikkail’s sitting room, they had been instructed that morning via letter to instead meet their advisor at the observatory - a specialized tower at the edge of the forest that shimmered a faint blue during the day but displayed a gorgeous aurora around it at night. It was nearly 1,000 stairs in total, long and curling along the inside of the building with a wickedly painful drop down the center. There was evidence of a railing once but it had either crumbled away or collapsed out of poor maintenance. However, the door at the top permitted entrance into one of the most magical places in the school: a room that would offer you a full look at the night sky around you from any point in time and any point in space. It was a gorgeous thing, a magical artifact uncovered ages ago from a place between time itself and Mikkail loved it dearly. The professor arrived shortly after his coven diligently pursued their quarry with single minded focus. He’d felt a pang of homesickness for a place he’d not seen in nearly a thousand years. The sky of his home filled the observatory, gaseous colors of purple and red and white curling in the sky and constellations consumed by time and consigned to memory for all eternity winked at him. He ached to soar in the heavy skies once more, ached to feel the blistering vapors across his scales and sing in unison with his weyr. Those days were long gone and the pain of memory long since faded into a dull ache, but still he yearned for something he would never see again. It shrouded him like a cloak, even as his advisees entered the room, and his smile was tinged with yearning and his eyes clouded in nostalgia. “Now, it has only been but a matter of moments my friends.” Mikkail laughed as he crossed the room, clasping both their hands tightly for a moment. “So I do not expect you to need another introduction, though should you be interested I can certainly put on an entertaining act. We should have a typewriter for you in your room shortly, my dear Willow, so please be at ease and rely on your friends a little longer. I know it may be odd that I am both your mentor and coven head but I certainly could not relinquish my favorite student and I believe that no one else can quite help you like I can, Willow. So, while I am your coven head, my capacity as your mentor is more to guide you in your development of your magical craft, help make sense of the mysteries and concerns that magic brings, in any which way I may.” [u]Professor Sariel Marino[/u] Advisees: Rohan, Franklin Unlike with Finley and Annika, Sariel snatched both Rohan and Franklin by the ear before they could escape. “Since you two are with me in both coven and mentee, then you may as well come to my office upstairs now. We’ll get this knocked out and you can be on your way to wrestle with your friend, drink, or make drama however you’d care to while I am not there. Come along, we won’t have all day!” Sariel released them before leading them back out of the endlessly convoluted mess that kept the entrance to the Neverish protected. On the second story, a door tucked away in a far corner could have easily been overseen as a broom closet. However, as Sariel inserted a key and her magic flowed through it, gears in the wall shuddered to life and the clinking and grinding noise echoed down the hallway. The door clicked open moments later and warm afternoon light and bird song floated out. Inside the left wall was all glass, overlooking the forest below, and a long table crafted from a lightning struck tree dominated the center. Twelve chairs sat around it and the walls were covered in gorgeous mountain sceneries from across the globe. Each one was oil on canvas and different music played softly from each one. “Welcome to my home away from home. A little break from the madness.” Sariel waved at the table, indicating for them to take a seat. At the far end was a small drink cart, Sariel pouring herself a glass of bourbon. “In the meantime, would either of you care for a drink? I understand that you may not quite qualify for these; however, you are to experience the wonders and horrors of dimensional magics and I feel that itself deserves a kinder touch. With that being said…” Sariel pushed the drink cart over, a glass and bronze affair, and settled at the head of the table. “Here, we are to discuss your projects and efforts pertaining to your magical development. Yes, the coven challenges are there to offer you an obstacle and a goal all in one; however, developing the talents and skills required will demand efforts outside the challenge. So, what thoughts, questions, concerns, or any other pressing matters would you care to discuss?”