@Ennui "And there it is," he said as Yelena tried again, this time holding steady. Her tactic was well chosen; of all the elements, water could be one of the most particular when it came to the wielder's emotional state. Before, she'd been nervous and even a little desperate. But now, having calmed herself, the contrast was amazing.
"Keep at it, Ms Kasyanenko, and I'm sure you'll go far. Now then, best to vacate this spot, let someone else up to the plate, hmm?"And with that, he'd gone off to continue observing.
-Later-
@Spriggs27Ah, Marshall thought to himself, so she's one of
these, is she? There always seemed to be one such student in every class, even back when he attended; impetuous, disdainful, withdrawn, and very often with a superiority complex to make Sun Wukong blush. But, he reminded himself, they could be brought around; in fact, the one he remembered most from his school days was now his fellow faculty. It just took the right teacher and a bit of effort. Ans so he found himself climbing down to her level, willing his own icy seat into existence- albeit a simple desk chair, rather than an elaborate throne.
"Actually," he responded to her dismissal of his question,
"I was more wondering about the callousness. In fact, from where I'm sitting, it almost looked like contempt. Were they not to your liking when they assembled themselves? Or... was it perhaps something else? Something to do with those symbols etched onto them, perhaps?" That was, of course, the thing about ice sculptures; no matter what face the elementalist put on when creating them, they always seemed to reflect the inner thoughts of the shaper. Even Claudia hadn't been able to fully deceive her ice, and she'd had decades to try. There was more to this than just thinking the trial was beneath her...
"But, if it's a challenge you're after, I can oblige you," he said, a smile never leaving his face.
"Since you've proven you can make sculptures so easily, I'd like you to do it again. But this time... I'd like to see something specific. Why don't you tell me a story with them? I'll give you..." He thought for a moment, then raised his right hand into the air with his index and middle fingers extended and rotated his wrist clockwsie so that the fingers made a swishing shape in the air. Six puddles of water appeared from beneath the earth between the two of them, pooling distinctly and evenly apart.
"Six statues, one from each pool. Any tale you like, fictional or historical. And please, let them stick around for a bit this time. When you're ready, Ms Sterling-Silva."He spread his legs apart and leaned forward slightly, and with another wave of his fingers the back of his chair melted away and reformed in front of him, reversing the chair without ever getting up, and he leaned forward onto it.
"You've made it clear you have power. I'd like to see if you have finesse and vision to back it up." 
kittyluna45,
AlteredTundra