Violett had known from the moment she had seen Yukio that the two were not going to get along if anything short of a miracle happened. They were far, far too different for a stable relationship to ever be accomplished. Yukio seemed like a quiet soul, the kind of girl to be perfectly happy having a calm, sensible conversation with her fellow classmates and move on to have a few calm, sensible friends that she would keep for her calm, sensible stay at the Vale Institute of Magic. It would all be considered a success as long as she didn't draw too much attention to herself. Unfortunately for Violett, this represented everything that she was not, and that meant that Yukio would be incredibly fun to toy with. She couldn't say she was surprised when Yukio left in a hurry the moment Jack turned his eyes away from her, looking as sour as if Violett had stood up and slapped her across the face.
A smirk creeping along her lips, Violett waved to Yukio as she left with a waggle of her fingers. She was tempted to call out one passing comment before Yukio left but decided it might be a little too antagonistic. So she stayed silent, her eyes darting across the cafeteria before finally laying back upon Jack as he returned to the table.
The confused Ferromancer rubbed his temple for a second, about to tell himself he couldn't believe he had acted like that, until he was reminded that he just had.
Well... that happened. I guess it was just my day to be an idiot, and miss shapely everything didn't help. I'll have to track Yukio down and apologize when she's had time to cool off. When he slid back into his seat he noticed Violett looking at him again. "What?" He asked in a tone that was neither as flirtatious as before or as cold as he felt now before taking another bite of his food.
"Nothing," replied Violett, although she hadn't wiped away her teasing smile just yet. She looked Jack up and down, almost transfixed on him as he slowly sunk back into his seat. Those students who had kept an eye on Violett and Jack as they flirted were especially keen on how the conversation had developed and Violett could feel the eyes on her. "I just thought it'd be nice if we could talk for a while, sensibly. I felt like that girl you were talking to was terribly boring and a bit of a third wheel."
"Let me start my introduction again, if that's alright with you. My name is Violett Feurst-Shaw; I'm a new student as I suppose most people here are. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Jack huffed for a moment at the fact that she was still acting so cordial, but despite the fact that she seemed to enjoy it, it was his own responsibility for making Yukio angry.
No reason to be a jerk. "I rather enjoyed talking to her, and after being so nice to me I think she deserved better. But I'm Jack Marrick, I got here yesterday but this is my real first day at Vale. It's nice to meet you Violett."
He dipped his head. "And... I must admit, your name is beautiful, I've never heard anything like it before." That would have to be the last compliment for a while, he didn't want her think he was still playing or, god forbid, that he liked her. He was still a little pissed off that she'd shown up at that table even if it was really his own fault he'd been an idiot.
Violett raised an eyebrow. Regardless of what Jack originally thought of Yukio, salvaging his first impression with her was almost impossible now. The younger girl was long gone, likely to never speak to Jack again. Violett didn't quite understand why Jack seemed so obsessed with her but letting the query play on her mind meant that she had lost this little game.
"Maybe she didn't deserve to leave in such an angry state but that was no fault of mine. I said nothing to provoke her but what is done is done. Regardless, Jack, charmed I'm sure. I hope we have the opportunity to enjoy each other's company over the course of the year. You seem like an intriguing individual," Violett replied. It was true, she wasn't entirely sure if Jack was being genuine with his compliments or simply trying to appeal to her better nature, but he seemed pleasant enough. She ran her tongue over her lips, speaking again. "But thank you. I appreciate the flattery."
While she opened her mouth to speak again, Violett found that the words were halted by a far louder bellow from across the room. Violett turned her head although she barely had a chance to analyse its source.
"Found ya!" a displeased voice cried. Violett felt a thick hand grab her arm and she was pulled right off her seat, barely able to maintain her composure. Tempted to lash out against her would-be attacker, Violett held back the gut reaction when she realised who had grabbed her. "The hell da ya think ye're doin' flirtin' after the bell!"
She was one of the institute's teachers.
Other students didn't seem to care, or did well to pretend as such, as they wrapped up their breakfast. They knew Eva was a fierce teacher and definitely the loudest. Many of them thought that it'd be best to keep their heads down around her, especially when the woman was on a warpath. The only teacher who could've been worse was Clayton, but that was because he sat around playing his guitar and singing country songs.
"Lazy ass cowboy betta be there when I get back," Eva spat. Before she absconded with her captive she turned to Jack who did little more than stare in shock. "An' you! Get ta class!"
Jack blinked for a second at Eva, wondering if she was really so aggressive, but after a few seconds of staring he realized she was the woman with the attitude problem who'd assigned him his room.
Oh great, she's actually a teacher? Not just some lowly staff bi***? So first some pretty girl with an attention addiction shows up and helps me make myself look like a total tool and now this lady's the teacher... maybe I should just go straight to bed after class.
His apprehension didn't stop him from following Eva and Violett to class. Violett wasn't willing to be dragged along by the teacher despite her willingness to comply, instead slipping from the woman's grip and following behind just a little ahead of Jack. She turned her head back over her shoulder, looking at Jack.
"She seems charming," Violett said, just too quiet for Eva to hear.
"Absolutely enchanting," Jack added sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.
"I can hear ya, brats."
Jack just shrugged and continued on silently, running his mouth had gotten him enough grief that day already. Violett hadn't been quite so wounded by her own tongue but, understanding the risk that an angry teacher posed to her health, kept quiet. The pair of students followed Eva silently, weaving down the seemingly endless passages that composed the school. When Violett had heard about Vale she had expected some old castle nestled in the mountains, surrounded by mist and barely touched by civilisation. In fact it was the complete opposite, looking like some brand new and incredibly lavish office block... in the middle of a desert.
Violett and Jack arrived at homeroom a few moments later, almost forced into the room by Eva. "You," she aimed at Jack, "get ta yer seat." Then she turned to Violett, ordering her to stay up front by the board.
Their entrance into homeroom was loud and clumsy, many of the students turning their heads to spy on who had disturbed them, but they quickly silenced when they noticed Eva. Violett was accompanied at the front of the class by a cowboy-looking staff member and another student with long white hair. Magic seemed indiscriminate about its users, from grumpy chicks to cowboys and albinos. Jack noticed it to be the girl he saw fighting a geomancer yesterday. She couldn't have possibly been a freshman like he was.
Eva looked to the classroom as she took her seat at the teacher's desk once again, annoyed by the fact that some students still weren't in. Whatever. They didn't want to learn how to get stronger, it's not her fault. "Okay, brats, like the announcements earlier said, ye're gonna be learnin' about usin' two elements to make a new one. There are seven dual elements. Ye're learnin' about three today." She then pointed to the cowboy, presumably signalling that he'd be the one actually teaching the class instead of her.
Clayton glared at Eva. He was under the impression that he was only there to reel her in if she went on one of her many tirades. Why Kristen would ever hire such a foul-mouthed hothead was beyond Clayton's grasp. Regardless, he had a job to do, even if it wasn't the one he had planned on. He stood up and took a step towards the class, all while chewing on his trademark piece of wheat.
"Now look, th' name's Clayton, but for all a'y'all students, it's Mr. Fields. Soren Kavanagh," he gestured towards the albino, "is one of our third year students, and has been asked to assist in our demonstrations today. And I'm sure y'all have noticed the pretty new lass on my other side, too. Miss, would you please introduce yourself to your new classmates?"
Violett bowed her head as Fields motioned her to introduce herself. This was the first impression that Violett had been waiting all morning for. She fixed her jacket and brushed a lock of hair out of her face, finally taking a step forward and then presenting herself to the class. "My name is Violett Feurst-Shaw," she said. "Firstly I would like to apologise for my absence yesterday. Like many of you, though, this is my first year at Vale, and I'm very excited to be here. I hope to have a good time with you all."
She couldn't help but feel some déjà vu. She had said almost exactly the same thing to Jack a few moments prior when she was introducing herself. Violett took a step back once she had finished, glancing back at her teacher. "Thank you, mister Fields."
"Thank ya, Ms. Violett. Since introductions are over and Ms. Eva over here decided she didn't want to actually teach her own class, I guess that means it's up ta me. Now, before we begin, I'm sure y'all know about the five basic elements of fire, water, and, well, y'all know the rest. I'm a specialist in geomancy, but I've also got a talent for pyromancy that ain't nothing to gawk at. So y'all might be wonderin' what that means for this class, so let me explain it.
"There are three elements y'all are gonna be learnin' about today: lightning, vapor, and magma, to be specific. Soren here is one of our best electromancers—might even be better than the lazy crud in the chair." If Eva wasn't playing on her phone, she might've yelled, but all she did was scoff at Clayton's claim. "I myself am handy with magma magic, and Ms. Violett, if my information is correct, is able to use vapor magic. This means she can control things like smoke and steam."
Having already prepared something of a demonstration, Violett pulled a pencil from her pocket. She held it by the graphite tip, perpendicular the ground, and in an instant it ignited. Flames wrapped around the object, smoke beginning to spill from the sides of it. Instead of rising and clouding at the ceiling, the smoke laced its way through the air towards Violett's free hand, darting between her fingers and slithering up her arm as if it had a mind of her own.
The heat that entrapped the pencil burned brighter until it had disintegrated entirely, leaving Violett's hand empty. Her performance had not stopped there though, every tiny piece of matter that had been reduced to smoke clouding around her hand, soon focused into a tiny fist-sized ball.
Then, with the same hand, Violett blew a kiss. A huge puff of vapour poured from her hand, vaguely heart-shaped and a clear white colour, weaving across the room by Violett's command. Manipulating with simple hand and eye movements the cloud struck Jack's chest, dissipating around him. Violett winked and gave a final bow, rather proud of her own performance.
It was at that moment Jack heard the bells toll in his head and knew he was doomed. Now there was almost no hope of redeeming himself for his earlier actions in the cafeteria. There wasn't even any way he could react right then to really save himself, so he simply leaned back in his chair and kept watching the lesson. All he could hope for was that some of his fellow students would be smart enough to see she was doing it for attention, not because she actually liked him. Either way more eyes would be focused on her than him. She was the pretty one after all.
Then came Soren's demonstration, fire circling around her arms and quickly sparking until it turned into light blue streaks of electricity. In a moment, it spread across her body and onto the ground, covering her in a force field that made everyone's hair stand on end, and even hers was going wild. There wasn't much either she or Clayton could do that wasn't dangerous, so the field of lightning surrounding her body shrunk into a tiny fireball in her hand before disappearing completely.
Clayton's turn came around. Stamping his foot on the ground, he kicked up a basketball-sized lump of dirt and stone from under the floor. Liquid fire started to spill from the core, pooling on the outside until the entire thing was made of lava. Then, just to show off, he grabbed it in his hands and took a nice, Texas-sized bite out of it. "Tastes like Ma's chili." He gave the class a toothy grin to hopefully get everyone relaxed for the actual lesson.
"Now," he continued, "if you haven't noticed, all of our dual elements are directly related to fire. Mine combines with Earth, Soren's mixes with Air magic, and Ms Violett here mixes Fire and Water. There are another four elements you're going to be learning about over the next coupl'a days, dependent on different combinations.
"Before we go back to regular lessons, does anyone have any questions?"