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The lack of echoing clicks to accompany her pace was somewhat odd for Amaris, having grown accustomed to wearing some form of heeled shoe wherever she went. It had been quite some time since she had worn a flat soled shoe such as the black converse she had paired with the outfit of the day, but she couldn’t deny how much more comfortable they were to walk around campus in; a fact she would be sure to keep in mind moving forward.
Pausing outside of Cardinal Hall, Amaris took a few moments to breathe and bring her emotions under control. While she couldn’t see them, she was almost certain her eyes were still rather harsh in comparison to their normal hue. She didn’t want her classmates getting the wrong idea about her so quickly out of the gate. Once she found herself feeling more comfortable, Amaris ducked inside to find her lecture room.
At first glance, the room seemed to be set up just as the auditorium was. The seats were arranged in neat rows, raised a level with each additional section so that the front of the room was visible no matter where you were sat. Instead of there being a stage, however, the front of the room was flush with the floor. Display monitors and a podium were the focal point of the space, suggesting a good mixture of spoken lecture and image references for those of the more visual learning spectrum. There was also a table present, but it wasn’t all that large in comparison to the rest of the pieces that made up the professor’s ‘stage’.
It wasn’t until after her initial inspection of the space that Amaris noticed the figure dancing about at the front of the room while the other worked at setting up their materials for the lecture. An odd sight to be sure, but amusing all the same… or at least amusing to her. Somehow, she doubted the woman setting up the laptops shared the sentiment, if her expression was any indicator. Amaris could already tell that if these two were going to be her instructors for the next year, her learning experience would be engaging in the best of ways.
As per usual, Amaris caught sight of the four lonely seats set apart from the rest of the group. Front and center were the designated seats for the noble representatives, her own house crest staring back at her in a semi-mocking fashion. She made her way down to the front row and claimed her chair, setting her bag on the floor beside her feet once she had pulled free a pen and notebook. While waiting for the lecture to begin, she found herself twirling her pen gracefully about her fingers, never once faltering as she tracked the dancing vampire with her eyes. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but there was something odd about the man… aside from the unique choice in fashion.
Before she could figure it out though, the woman stepped up to claim the attention of the student body. She and the dancing professor were introduced respectively, a curt explanation given to excuse the strange behavior being displayed by the elder. Amaris couldn’t help but to smile at the notion of an elder discovering something for the first time. What delighted her even more was how much the man, known as Nasir, appeared to be enjoying himself. The lady, who had identified herself as Lucille, seemed less entertained by his notions suggesting his antics were something of a regular occurrence to her.
While Professor Tariq amused himself with the walkman, Lucille wasted no time in diving into their first lesson of the day: some program or site of some sorts known as Blackboard. She wasn’t at all familiar with it, not being the most tech savvy, but the concept seemed simple enough. From her understanding of things, Blackboard was essentially a digital planner. It was where the syllabus information could be found, had a calendar to keep track of due dates far in advance, and best of all, a place for assignments to be submitted from anywhere. Her preference for handwritten notes wasn’t going to change, but she couldn’t figure it taking a whole lot of effort to transcribe her physical copies of assignments into digital ones. She would have to touch base with Cassandra to see if she would be comfortable with sharing access to her calendar for the sake of keeping academics on track.
Before Lucille had the opportunity to continue with her demonstration of the education portal, she was promptly cut off by the sudden appearance of a pineapple. Slipping off the headphones that had been previously occupying his attention, the professor interjected with his desire to begin addressing the class’ true purpose. Amaris had to admit that she was somewhat surprised by the reasoning behind the curriculum, having figured all fledglings would have been exposed to feeding from a living source long before attending the academy. It was possible that in the excitement of it all students had forgotten themselves, an embarrassment that few were likely to ever admit. By making lessons such as these mandatory, it cut out any need to single students out and instead ensure the standards were reinforced via a reward system.
As Amaris suspected, there was little presented in the first lesson that she did not already know. The list of pros and cons for each location were a nice addition to the curriculum, however, a neat list made in her notebook leaving enough room to add other arteries or techniques if need be. Surprisingly, there was one thing in particular Professor Tariq touched upon that was completely new to Amaris. She had always been aware that the feeding process had some physical effect on the mages but she had never put any additional thought into what sort of effects they may be. At most she expected a sense of comfort to mask the potentially lethal consumption that was taking place, either an evolutionary cushion on the mage’s part or a predatory advantage on the vampire’s. However, from Nasir’s lecture, it sounded as if there were certain other factors to take into consideration. Things such as physical arousal caused by feeding from particular locations, or purposely feeding from painful locations for similar effects… it was a bizarre concept for Amaris, but a fascinating one all the same.
She was pulled from her thoughts as the professor was dropped to the floor, Lucille having dodged some sort of demonstration she was uncomfortable with. It was a fun and comfortable dynamic to watch, something she hoped she could get out of her own partnership with Cassandra. Granted, Amaris doubted their would be any instance where she would be trying to publicly disrobe the mage… but the sentiment still stood.
Amaris looked up as Nasir opened to floor to questions, pausing only a short moment before she calmly raised her hand into the air. She allowed her hand to fall flush with the rest of her body as she pushed herself to her feet, her eyes twinkling as they did whenever she got particularly excited about a topic.
“I apologize if this might be a bit off topic and I hope you can forgive my rampant curiosity. But is there a specific purpose to the pineapple you hold in your hand? Correct me if I am mistaken, but it is inedible unless your biology is embraced. So what need would you have for such an… exotic plant?” The countess awaited a response with more anticipation than would be warranted by such a bizarre question. She had realized that it was the presence of the fruit that had been weighing on her the entire time. She could never be truly certain with some vampires as to what their origin may be, but it was often assumed than elders his age and status would be pureblood. Despite this fact, even if Nasir were embraced, the man would have to regurgitate the food at some point anyways. It was because of these things that his continued possession of the item nagged at her throughout the presentation.
