Mana Academy (IC) (Open, Fantasy)

[Luminesa]

Amanda Stradt
The Storyteller
Outside the Aquo Building

---

---

"Hehe," Amanda says, a little haughty feeling, "either way, don't think it's a wholly new revalation. More it's just a mindset to take towards magic. Theories always have limitations. It isn't like imagining magic as something that flows through you will ultimately change one's magic entirely. It merely gives differing ways one can handle it; less like a force and more like a fluid body. I'm also not teaching the students about this, it'll just require some effort."

She then looks up to Cecily, "so about ready for the second stage of the midterms? I'm quite proud of it. Also gives me something to do." She cracks her knuckles a little, a fierce fire in her eyes.

“I am very much ready to start this second part of the exam! John is outside with Artosh though, so perhaps you could be the master of ceremonies this time?” Cecily inquired. She enjoyed listening to the conversation between the two professors, and she wished today could just be another day of class. Yet what had to be done had to be done. “Attention everyone!” she called. “Finish your food and pay attention! Professor Stradt shall announce the second part of the exam! And remember, this is your group exercise, so you should all be near your groups and ready to move out together!”

Soleil heard the announcement and finished gobbling down his food. He had been eating slowly, trying to relax after the long test. Yet the students were far from done. Fortunately, according to his paper, he was with a team he liked, and he was hopeful that they could all work together to pass.

Meanwhile, Ambrosia was suffering indigestion from eating her food so fast, and she had her head down on the table next to her empty plate, as she waited for the announcements.

[Segral]

"Don't underestimate mud. You can slow down tanks with enough of it. A machine that weighs several tons and could theoretically kill thousands can be slowed down or even stopped with enough mud.
While not straightforward, it's a pretty nice element if you think about it strategically." Oliver followed.

The problem with Oliver wasn't necessarily that he was flustered, it was mostly from the fact that any interaction with him usually ended up with him going on semi unrelated tangents and a distinct level of trouble with appearing natural when starting a conversation. Indeed, he was much more at ease when somebody else started the conversation, or when he could carefully insert himself in it.

After having finished his sentence, Oliver picked up on a smell, distinct, and very familiar.
"Alcohol. Rum. Do you buy it or do you distill it yourself? I'm more of a whiskey person, but I tend towards mint liquor these days, if you want to try it out."

Nick let out a laugh as Oliver continued, pretty much composing an entire saga on the subject of mud. Maybe he should hire this guy to write his poem about mud, seemed like he would be better at it then him, the actual resident mudbender. Although, Oliver did have a point. It wasn't that Nick doubted the capabilities of mud, but it was a bit of a messy job, and didn't exactly give anyone the highest opinion of you. Although it was a useful element, it definitely was better than something like dust or sweat or something stupid like that.

"Eh, maybe I'm doubting it." he said, tossing a careless shrug. "I suppose it can be a bit of a bugger for the other guy, having a big ol' wave of mud thrown on his face. Isn't exactly the best for my shirt, though."

However, the subject soon shifted to alcohol. And it appeared Oliver was a bit of a drinker. Drinkers were always fun people. friendly atheists with a work ethic, and an affinity for sex and chess. Or were those drinking scientists? Either way, fellow drinkers were nicer to talk to than most, drinking could make a decent conversation piece.

"Nah, I don't have the time to distill my own drinks. I buy when I can, drag up enough cash to buy some half-decent drinks and head back out. Although, I am curious. What exactly is mint liquor?" he asked, ending his sentence with a slightly concerned glance towards the now motionless form of Ambrosia, apparently knocked out with a bad case of indigestion.

[Saleon]

Amanda Stradt
The Storyteller
Outside the Aquo Building

---

---

"Hehe," Amanda says, a little haughty feeling, "either way, don't think it's a wholly new revalation. More it's just a mindset to take towards magic. Theories always have limitations. It isn't like imagining magic as something that flows through you will ultimately change one's magic entirely. It merely gives differing ways one can handle it; less like a force and more like a fluid body. I'm also not teaching the students about this, it'll just require some effort."

She then looks up to Cecily, "so about ready for the second stage of the midterms? I'm quite proud of it. Also gives me something to do." She cracks her knuckles a little, a fierce fire in her eyes.

“I am very much ready to start this second part of the exam! John is outside with Artosh though, so perhaps you could be the master of ceremonies this time?” Cecily inquired. She enjoyed listening to the conversation between the two professors, and she wished today could just be another day of class. Yet what had to be done had to be done. “Attention everyone!” she called. “Finish your food and pay attention! Professor Stradt shall announce the second part of the exam! And remember, this is your group exercise, so you should all be near your groups and ready to move out together!”

Soleil heard the announcement and finished gobbling down his food. He had been eating slowly, trying to relax after the long test. Yet the students were far from done. Fortunately, according to his paper, he was with a team he liked, and he was hopeful that they could all work together to pass.

Meanwhile, Ambrosia was suffering indigestion from eating her food so fast, and she had her head down on the table next to her empty plate, as she waited for the announcements.

Amanda grins, her eyes with a devilish determination. She rolls over to the outside courtyard. She had already had the outside set up with a number of chairs, large tables, and a marker-board: "Class will be outside today." She begins marking out the basics of fluid dynamic magic, laying the simple knowledge behind the session.

She adjusts her glasses and waits for the students.

---

Amanda Stradt clears her throat.

"This is your skills test. You will be tested on your ability to work in your group, on precision, on communication, on control. You'll need to find the seat with your name on it. There is a sealed packet that will describe your project. It will also contain some materials you will need for your tasks. Not every group has the same task," --she says, gesturing outwards to the students-- "but they will require the exact same skills and expertise.

She then rolls towards the other side of the board.

"Magic has different purposes than just combat, I'm sure you all know. So for this assignment, you will also learn about a very different use for magic. This will be a very difficult assignment, but if you follow the instructions, it will be manageable," she remarks, "also, I needed to change some of the group orders and members. There were a couple of new students, and also because I needed to make some changes as to enable my secret master plan I needed to shuffle things a bit." Her smile turns eerily--or maybe playfully-- suspicious.

On the side of the markerboard is a hefty looking magical circle. It seems somewhat unrelated to the material on "fluid dynamic magic," and it features many intricate designs. On the side of the circle, it says: EXTRA CREDIT WILL BE AWARDED IF ANY STUDENT GUESSES WHAT THIS CIRCLE CAN DO. The circle, at least since it is on the board, seems somewhat related to the assignment.

The tables are circular and have 4 simple seats. They are about as big as a simple table at a restaurant, maybe. The seats have engraved plaques with each person's name in fanciful font. The packet on the top of the table stands out as it is the only thing on them. It, also, has the names of each team-member on it, along with each house they are from. The groups are as follows:

Group 1:
Ambrosia - Ignis
Oliver - Solum
Nick - Solum
Elias - Aquo

Group 2:
Soleil - Venta
Sanja - Ignis
Lynn - Aquo
Shaun - Solum

Group 3:
Alphonse - Ignis
Jadwiga - Solum
Nemo - Aquo

Group 4:
Dominique - Solum
Kadnikov - Ignis
Gwyn - Aquo
Iris - Venta

[Luminesa]

“Huh? Why’re we switching around groups? I thought those were set already!” Ambrosia questioned. Of course, she did not have much to complain about, since she had Oliver on her team and the other boy Nick. But what sort of challenge would require a switching of all of the teams? As Professor Stradt explained, her confusion did not fade away either. “...I suppose we’re supposed to find-out what our test is...while we’re doing it?...” she mumbled. Her stomach and her head still hurt from eating too fast after the last test, but as the teacher finished talking, she walked over to her table and began to read the packets. “...Huh?...What is all of this?...” She scrutinized the bags, feeling them and sniffing them for some clue about their assignment.

Soleil did not complain, as he was now going to be grouped with Shaun and with one of the twins. He did not know Sanja at all, but he was sure that the group could accommodate him in some way. Quietly, as Professor Stradt finished talking, he walked over to the group’s table and began to look at the condiments. However, all they had on their table was some sort of powder...and a cup. “...Are we...making something?...” He opened the bag, and began to look-over the contents.

[Serah]

"Don't underestimate mud. You can slow down tanks with enough of it. A machine that weighs several tons and could theoretically kill thousands can be slowed down or even stopped with enough mud.
While not straightforward, it's a pretty nice element if you think about it strategically." Oliver followed.

The problem with Oliver wasn't necessarily that he was flustered, it was mostly from the fact that any interaction with him usually ended up with him going on semi unrelated tangents and a distinct level of trouble with appearing natural when starting a conversation. Indeed, he was much more at ease when somebody else started the conversation, or when he could carefully insert himself in it.

After having finished his sentence, Oliver picked up on a smell, distinct, and very familiar.
"Alcohol. Rum. Do you buy it or do you distill it yourself? I'm more of a whiskey person, but I tend towards mint liquor these days, if you want to try it out."

Nick let out a laugh as Oliver continued, pretty much composing an entire saga on the subject of mud. Maybe he should hire this guy to write his poem about mud, seemed like he would be better at it then him, the actual resident mudbender. Although, Oliver did have a point. It wasn't that Nick doubted the capabilities of mud, but it was a bit of a messy job, and didn't exactly give anyone the highest opinion of you. Although it was a useful element, it definitely was better than something like dust or sweat or something stupid like that.

"Eh, maybe I'm doubting it." he said, tossing a careless shrug. "I suppose it can be a bit of a bugger for the other guy, having a big ol' wave of mud thrown on his face. Isn't exactly the best for my shirt, though."

However, the subject soon shifted to alcohol. And it appeared Oliver was a bit of a drinker. Drinkers were always fun people. friendly atheists with a work ethic, and an affinity for sex and chess. Or were those drinking scientists? Either way, fellow drinkers were nicer to talk to than most, drinking could make a decent conversation piece.

"Nah, I don't have the time to distill my own drinks. I buy when I can, drag up enough cash to buy some half-decent drinks and head back out. Although, I am curious. What exactly is mint liquor?" he asked, ending his sentence with a slightly concerned glance towards the now motionless form of Ambrosia, apparently knocked out with a bad case of indigestion.

"It's a type of liquor that I make through my own distillation station in my room. Being entirely alone has its perks. Takes one hell of a lot of mint leaves, so I don't have as much as I'd like.
Usually I need to grind about 50 kilograms of leaves to have a few flasks of it. That said, the alcohol concentration more than makes up for it during the fermentation process. Usually it hits 60%, but on really good batches, it hits 70%. It's probably one of the few things that wake me up in the morning, as much as my liver would beg to differ. At least it's not absinthe." Oliver explained most of the process to distil the liquor on his own. Laughing about his liver.
"I don't usually have the money or will to get out of my room and buy alcohol, one thing follows the other and solutions come around. Keep the secret and I should be able to distil you some for free."

The conversation however was soon cut off by Ms Stradt's intervention and the continuation of the test.
As they headed outside with the explanation, Oliver raised an eyebrow as to the subject of the test.

"Fluid dynamic magic? I know my way around it, but... Who else does except teachers? Maybe Soleil, I gave him the very basics." He muttered as he looked towards his table and a realisation suddenly hit him.

"Naaaaaan... Quand même pas, elle a pas fait ça. Si c'est ce que je pense, le test va être très, très pute." Speaking a little louder, he however clearly only spoke to himself.

"Ambrosia, what do the packets say? I think I've figured it out." The man continued, shaking his flask as a reflex and sighing despairingly as he clearly heard the liquid hitting the metal.

Dammit. This was my last batch...

[Luminesa]

Ambrosia had only heard a tiny bit of Oliver’s conversation with Nick. Apparently he really liked alcohol, so much so that he was brewing it in his bedroom. She was a little unnerved by such behavior happening right on campus, but she did not want to lose him as her potential...

No! No, Ambrosia, he’s not your boyfriend! He’s just a friend who is a boy. He probably has a girlfriend somewhere...Maybe one of the older girls...yeah, I’m not cool enough...but I need to FOCUS ON THIS EXAM.

After she regained her composure, she listened to Oliver and examined the packs. “...Some sort of flour...a mix of stuff...egg substitute?...WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?...” She yelled a little louder than necessary, and then turned to look at her teammates. “...Um...I guess we need to...follow these instructions...” She picked up a piece of paper with the instructions, and read through it. “...‘Use the following incantation...flour pops out.’...Then what...” She jumped slightly as the bag of flour seemingly fell in front of her onto one of the circles. “...Then...sugar pops out...” The flour was now joined in the circle by the sugar. “...I think we might need like a bowl...Hm...” she thought. She looked over at Oliver and Nick, holding the instructions out to them. “Let’s take turns. That way we all do something. Here, Olly, you read the next...”

OLLY?! YOU’VE KNOWN HIM FOR LIKE A DAY AND YOU CALL HIM OLLY?! AMBROSIA WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!

“...R-Read the...next instruction.”

[Serah]

Ambrosia had only heard a tiny bit of Oliver’s conversation with Nick. Apparently he really liked alcohol, so much so that he was brewing it in his bedroom. She was a little unnerved by such behavior happening right on campus, but she did not want to lose him as her potential...

No! No, Ambrosia, he’s not your boyfriend! He’s just a friend who is a boy. He probably has a girlfriend somewhere...Maybe one of the older girls...yeah, I’m not cool enough...but I need to FOCUS ON THIS EXAM.

After she regained her composure, she listened to Oliver and read the packs. “...Flour...milk...salt...egg substitute?...Orange extract?...Cream of tartar?...WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?...” She yelled a little louder than necessary, and then turned to look at her teammates. “...Um...it...looks like...we’re making...cake. With...magic...” She was dumbfounded. All of the magnificent things they could be learning, and they were expected to make food with magic? Then again, she had no idea how to make cake, so now would be a good time to learn. “...Um...so...does anyone have a pan?...” she inquired. Turning toward Professor Stradt, she waved her arms around. “PROFESSOR! Does this come with some sort of instructions?...I’ve never made a cake before!” she called.

And indeed, neither did Oliver figure out that this was cake baking.
He suddenly made an uncharacteristically loud and comical "AH!" noise before sitting down and putting his hands in his face.

"Well, clearly, the circle is one, for baking or two, for the actual creation of the cake." He lamented, loud enough to be heard by his teammates.

"Je m'attendais à un coup de pute mais là... Je sais pas faire un foutu gateau moi... Tu m'aurais dis, fait des crêpes ou je sais pas, un boeuf bourguignon, un risotto même! J'aurais pû le faire.
Mais un gateau putain... Un gateau..." He lamented further.

He personally couldn't find it in himself to like cake at all. Nevermind how basic or complicated it would be, he never liked it properly. He always found something that made it distasteful.
As such, he found himself distanced from the pastry, and in fact did not know anything as to how to make one, save for a few memories of his childhood.

"Ollie? Been a while since someone's called me that." He perked up from his hands. Indeed, very little people actually used the nickname for him, some of his friends even went as far as to give him other comical names. Like Billy for instance, Ollie was more reserved to family as an affectionate nickname. That said, he did remember one teacher that used it.

But be that as it may, he had to work through his ineptitude. So he grabbed the necessary instructions, said the necessary incantation and summoned a pan while he was at it.
From the looks of the instructions, the whisking would have to be done through magic.
Breaking down minerals was usually something seen as a starter for survival classes, mainly to purify and finding better metal to make better tools. It also helped quite a lot to summon or straight up make lesser relics.

"I hope you know how to break minerals Nick. Otherwise, I'll have to teach you on the fly and it's probably not going to be too good."

[Luminesa]

Ambrosia had only heard a tiny bit of Oliver’s conversation with Nick. Apparently he really liked alcohol, so much so that he was brewing it in his bedroom. She was a little unnerved by such behavior happening right on campus, but she did not want to lose him as her potential...

No! No, Ambrosia, he’s not your boyfriend! He’s just a friend who is a boy. He probably has a girlfriend somewhere...Maybe one of the older girls...yeah, I’m not cool enough...but I need to FOCUS ON THIS EXAM.

After she regained her composure, she listened to Oliver and read the packs. “...Flour...milk...salt...egg substitute?...Orange extract?...Cream of tartar?...WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?...” She yelled a little louder than necessary, and then turned to look at her teammates. “...Um...it...looks like...we’re making...cake. With...magic...” She was dumbfounded. All of the magnificent things they could be learning, and they were expected to make food with magic? Then again, she had no idea how to make cake, so now would be a good time to learn. “...Um...so...does anyone have a pan?...” she inquired. Turning toward Professor Stradt, she waved her arms around. “PROFESSOR! Does this come with some sort of instructions?...I’ve never made a cake before!” she called.

And indeed, neither did Oliver figure out that this was cake baking.
He suddenly made an uncharacteristically loud and comical "AH!" noise before sitting down and putting his hands in his face.

"Well, clearly, the circle is one, for baking or two, for the actual creation of the cake." He lamented, loud enough to be heard by his teammates.

"Je m'attendais à un coup de pute mais là... Je sais pas faire un foutu gateau moi... Tu m'aurais dis, fait des crêpes ou je sais pas, un boeuf bourguignon, un risotto même! J'aurais pû le faire.
Mais un gateau putain... Un gateau..." He lamented further.

He personally couldn't find it in himself to like cake at all. Nevermind how basic or complicated it would be, he never liked it properly. He always found something that made it distasteful.
As such, he found himself distanced from the pastry, and in fact did not know anything as to how to make one, save for a few memories of his childhood.

"I can make a pan." He spoke in his hands, still quite annoyed.
"Just give me a minute."

And sure enough, without him even needing to look, he created a bowl, a pan, and a whisking whip.

"We'll need this as well, I figure..."

Ambrosia suddenly perked-up and clapped, seeing that Oliver seemed to have the first part of their project solved. He made a bowl, a pan, and a whisking whip, all out of Earth Magic. “Yay, Olly!...Er...I mean...um...” She dumped the flour and the sugar into the bowl, and then she looked at Nick. Trying to pull attention away from herself, she hastily stammered, “H-Here! Read the next couple of instructions and then we’ll keep going! We’ve all got to do something, maybe you can mix the stuff too! We have all these other...um...ingredients to use too!” She was quite skittish, and hoped that Oliver did not think she was being weird again. Of course, that might have been unavoidable. She was quite odd after all.

[Caruolinda]

Kadnikov Valerianovich

His own thoughts came into existence and faded back into nothing repeatedly, resonant with what the Professor said. Working as a group and communicating... as a group? As much as Kadnikov didn't want to admit it even to himself, it was clear he feared these words. Not necessarily what they were, but what they meant: it seemed like the test was not going to be based on individual performance.

His entire plan, gone with the wind. Would he fail both the written test and the practical one? Regardless of what they were going to do, he would now have to rely on others for achieving something remotely comparable to success! There was no way this could go right, at least from his perspective. Then, again, more unfortunate news: it seemed like the groups had been altered, reshuffled, whatever that meant. Sanja and Dominique? Likely gone, for there was a good chance his two partners were entirely different now, but Kad would still have to confirm that nonetheless.

As much as Kadnikov was distressed on the inside, he maintained his shell looking as normal as ever, something he had mastered over time, whether he liked it or not. He was one of the first ones to move, wasting his luck on something as trivial as immediately finding the correct table. Yay him. The seats seemed to have engraved plaques, so he took the initiative to read out the names, being slightly relieved that at least one of his original partners was still in his trio. "Dominique, and..." Kad hesistated for a moment. "Gwyn, Gween, Gwain?" He seemed to call out, trying one different kind of pronunciation at a time. Although there was obviously way more at their table than just the engraved names, Kadnikov felt like waiting for the entire group to be assembled before trying something. His pride was at stake, after all, there was no way he was failing this.

[Segral]

Nick Rider

Admittedly, it was a bit concerning about how much Oliver liked alcohol. Not only did he seem to have memorized the recipes for various alcohols, along with their exact concentration percentages, but he even had an official in-dorm distillation center for brewing fresh alcohol. As tempting as it sounded, it was a tiny bit worrying, and the girl beside him, Ambrosia, also seemed slightly concerned about it.

"I...see." he began, looking slightly uneasy. "Sounds pretty good, maybe a little strong? Never held mint well, always burns the roof of my mouth off." He then hushed his voice slightly. "Although, if you could distill something fresh, maybe 40 or 50% concentration, I'd love it. Your secret's safe."

---

Heading outside for the next part of the test, he followed behind Oliver closely, looking quite small compared to the rest of the students, his 5'5 frame being swallowed by the crowd. Shuffling silently into a chair, Oliver and Ambrosia flanking him on either side, he curiously looked towards the lone packet sitting on the table, his confusion only growing as Oliver began to swear like a sailor in French, swinging his flask around.

As for what was in the packet, it seemed to be...flour? Suger? Eggs? Why would they need this stuff? Wait...they weren't...baking?! BAKING?! HELL YEAH! Nick loved baking, back in NYC, he would cook all the time, he was pretty good at it too. His baking wasn't as good, but he could make a decent cake or two.

But that begged the question.

How?

Nick barely had time to blink before they were reading incantations, making metal utensils, and calling each other "Ollie". And there was no way in hell Nick would be called "Nicky". Just no, no, no no no no.

Snapping out of his stupor at the sound of Ambrosia's extremely loud and energetic voice, causing him to recoil slightly. Taking the instructions gingerly, as if it was something delicate, he quickly scanned the paper for said incantations. For a minute, it seemed as if he was simply staring at the paper, eyes boring into it, something going on behind his eyes.

Then, suddenly, his eyes widened, brightening up and he let out a loud whoop, having finally figured it out. They were making cake batter, that was what all the ingredients were for, and then heat would make the cake rise. Exactly why there was a fire mage! It made PERFECT sense...except for the one problem.

How were they supposed to break down the minerals?

Finding the incantation once again, he let out a small satisfied sigh, and set the paper down. Settling his eyes on the ingredients in front of him, in the bowl or elsewhere, squinting slightly, he chanted the incantation quietly, attempting to break the minerals apart into powders to mix up.

It...kind of worked?

Nick worked with mud, a mix of dirt and water. He didn't know shit about minerals. Sure, if he was just a soil manipulator, this would be easy. But when soil was saturated with water, controlling the minerals was a bigger pain in the ass. In short, his control over minerals was somewhat....limited.

The minerals thinned a little, but they still remained very solid, and not a powder quite yet. Staring in almost shock at the disastrous attempt, he then turned to Oliver with a slightly nervous smile.

"You know, teaching me on the fly might be a good idea."

[Saldinado]

Shaun Calhoun

Well. This was a surprising turn of events. He has been so use to combat training ever since he got here that a genuine expression of shock came across his face. And nevermind the fact that they had their partners switched up once more. But then again, he wasn't really that torn up about it; he had seen who his original partners were and frankly, was glad that he didn't have to work with them. There was something about those two that seemed rather off to him. But now, he was working with someone that he very well-Soleil. And from what he can see, the latter didn't see that bother at the change of partners as he casually sat down. A small smirk came across his face as he watched him, only to have it slowly disappear upon seeing the other students that he had to work with. He had little to no idea who these other student were, and knew nothing about them. A soft grunt escaped his mouth before making his way towards his assigned seat and looked down at the name on it: Shaun - Solum. And then he looked at the others.

"Hm. Alright then." He said out loud to his group members, particularity Sol as he read the packets. Suddenly, the exaggerated noised of Ambrosia as she looked at the contents on their table and what was on theirs made Shaun raise an eyebrow in confusion. They said that each group will have a different task at hand, but from what it sounded like from Ambrosia's group, it appeared to be something...baking related. A small laugh escaped his mouth as he found it cute, only to then wonder what they would be doing.
Shaun looked at Soleil who was as content as could be and smiled at him. "So buddy. Know what we're doing as well?" He said looking down at the packet of powder and cup.

Dominique Corleone

"..."

A small, yet annoyed sigh escaped his mouth upon hearing that they would have different team members than before. He was just starting to get some form of connection with his original group. However when he walked over to his chair outside to find his seat, he saw that at least one of his original members was going to be with in. Now, a small sigh of relief escaped his mouth as he looked over and Kas and smiled warmly at him. "Hey there again. Nice to be with you...Um...again." He chuckled.

As he waited for the last member of their group to come towards them, Dominique looked at the table in front of him and listened to what the others were talking about. Looking down at their own contents, his eyes got bigger and a smile grew across his face as he was now excited for their new task. "Well this is quite fantastico. Non posso attendere per vedere come va!"He exclaimed. It was almost like a breath of fresh air from the normal sparring or combating that he was use to here.

Shifting his direction towards his group, he clapped his hands once, creating a loud sound unintentionally and looked over at Kas and Gwen. "So. Let's see what we're gonna be doing today."

[Saleon]

Amanda Stradt
The Storyteller
Outside the Aquo Building

---

---

Nick Rider

As for what was in the packet, it seemed to be...flour? Suger? Eggs? Why would they need this stuff? Wait...they weren't...baking?! BAKING?! HELL YEAH! Nick loved baking, back in NYC, he would cook all the time, he was pretty good at it too. His baking wasn't as good, but he could make a decent cake or two.

But that begged the question.

How?

Nick barely had time to blink before they were reading incantations, making metal utensils, and calling each other "Ollie". And there was no way in hell Nick would be called "Nicky". Just no, no, no no no no.

Amanda steamed a little in her chair. hefty steam blew from her nose. She grumbled a little bit before pulling out a number of markers from her pocket. She looked at each one of the students who had dared to summon metal utensils with their magics. She looked over at them. One hand lifted an array of markers, her eyes having identified her targets.

She launched the markers at each of the magically created utensils. The markers cracked at the core of the magic that flowed into the temporary "aids". The magical fibers that built them shattered immediately.

"I will not fault you guys.... this time..." Amanda says, looking at all the students like a rogue monster out to kill mankind, "but next time follow the instructions to the dot. They are in all of your packets."

Ambrosia, Oliver, Elias, and Nick had the following instructions:

1 ) Two sets of incantations are written in the instructions. One Solum student will use the first incantation
2 ) and then the other student uses second incantation
3 ) break the minerals into powders.
4 ) Both casters should then mix the ingredients softly, like two tides clashing in repetitive motion.
5 ) after they are well mixed, place wet packet.
6 ) wait for packet to dissolve and for mixture to be homogeneous.
7 ) Ignis student shall heat at 350 degrees.
8 ) this will go for roughly 25 minutes (i'll just cut it short since 50 minutes would kill Ambrosia), earth students ensuring the ingredients stay within the fire encasing them. (endurance and precision)
9 ) You shall know when it is ready.

Seemingly, the other groups had similar instructions:

1 ) choose an herbal incantation to your liking. The instructions come with a list of herbs, including things such as peppermint and ginseng, along with possible health benefits of all of them
2 ) use the incantation listed on the incantation.
3 ) Aquo shall summon a dome of water to encase the herb.
4 ) Venta (if there is one, if not skip) shall summon a heavy wind inside the bubble of water.
5 ) Ignis must summon a dome of fire around the bubble of water. They should not touch, but come as close as the student can handle.
6 ) Maintain a simple heat until the water is bubbling.
7 ) Aquo students must maintain all steam within the dome.
8 ) You shall know when it is ready when the water and the herb have mixed carefully.

She eased back into her chair, a vein popping up a little as she then returns to her clipboard, writing notes for each of the student. For those who are curious, she knows french and italian. She also looked towards some of the grumpier students, "and don't worry, while I am testing how well each of you can work in a group, if you guys feel you are being pulled down by your groups, I am grading each person individually."

[Luminesa]

“...Um...” Soleil read the group’s set of directions, scanning the requirements carefully. “...S-So...we need to...pick an ‘herbal incantation’...Um...” He tried to think of some herbs that might work well with cooking, since it seemed they would all be cooking food. He turned toward Shaun, and mumbled, repeating the incantation the way Ambrosia had done, “...Dandelion...pops out...Oh!” As he spoke, a little packet of tiny, yellow dandelion petals fell onto the table in front of them. His eyes glittered. He had never used incantations like this on a test. What would they be cooking?

“...O-Okay...um...w-we...need a dome of water...” Soleil looked around his group, which now contained a couple more members, and he nodded to Lynn. “We have to put the little packet in the water, and then...I-I put some wind in it to swirl it around...and then we make a dome of fire around it...and once it’s hot enough, it should be done!...Um...Shaun, can you make a bowl that we can put the final product in?...That...w-would be helpful...”

As he was talking, however, Amanda seemed to get rid of all of the cooking utensils at the other table. She then warned them to not try to create any magical cooking utensils. Of course, Soleil was then entirely confused. If they were not supposed to make utensils, where would they put this liquid? On the table?

After a moment, however, he eyed the extra-credit circle. ...Maybe that’s the key!...But we have to make this...liquid...first...

“Instead is a bowl, m-maybe you can shake it around?...” he suggested, quietly, “...Y-You could...make two little blocks and move the liquid around?...We have to shake it, after all...and we’re all getting graded individually. Plus...she didn’t give any instructions for the Earth Mages...” He eyed Professor Stradt worriedly for a moment, and then turned back to his teammates. “Let’s...all do our best!” he piped-up.

[Khasinkonia]

Kazimiera Wojciecha Jadwiga Baskerville

The test was...neither easy nor hard. Some answers were painfully obvious, others inconveniently used words that had definitions which Jadwiga knew not, and was too prideful to ask for their definitions. Nonetheless, she finished the test, and it overall felt relatively manageable. Not likely to be a grade to make Alphonse particularly proud, but, being that they were following a very traditional marital model, it wasn’t as if her getting perfect grades was at the top of the to-do list.

Time spent dwelling on it wouldn’t really be time well spent, though. Her understanding was that Alphonse had business to attend to somewhere, be it the restroom, food, or something else, so it would perhaps be wise to find one of her group members after getting food. So she did. The Nięmo, or at least she thought that was her name, girl was alone at a table, so it probably wouldn’t hurt to sit by her.

“Hello,” she said as she sat down across from the girl, her Polish accent giving a distinct taste to every word she spoke, “You are Nięmo, yes?”

Nemo

For a few short minutes, Nemo had been able to relax alone at her little table away from the now mostly assembled groups, letting her mind wander as it usually did while she absentmindedly picked at the meat on her tray. Normal food, as served in these establishments anyway, was always tasteless and bland to her, but luckily she never found herself overwhelmingly hungry, and thus was able to focus on things aside from whatever mild pleasures that others might have derived from the activity.

In this case, the focus of Nemo’s thoughts lie with the next part of the examinations. The professors had arranged for the creation of groups for this portion, and this could equal any number of scenarios in which she and the rest of the students could be evaluated. She could imagine that one of these scenarios might involve fighting or sparring between the teams, with scores depending on how well members used their magic and how well they were able to cooperate and coordinate their efforts with their teammates, or perhaps simple sparring among group members to see how well students were able to deal with opposing elements and adapt themselves to overcome an equal foe in a combat situation.

Then again, Nemo wasn’t quite so sure that they would pick the most combat oriented option available, given the school’s apparently violent history in recent times. The exam could just as likely be some scavenger hunt to see how well students could apply their elemental magic and skills to non-combat tasks, or even some project where students could perform some combined display of magic where they could be graded on planning and execution of ideas and application of magical theory...But at this point, Nemo knew she was going into a realm of pointless speculation, more for amusement than in actual preparation of the next phase of testing.

Even so, she had little else to do. That was, until her first groupmate showed up to greet her and move to sit across the table from her. Nemo’s first instinct was to look her over, and when she spoke, listen closely to what words she said and how she said them. The girl’s long and well maintained golden blonde hair caught her gaze immediately, along with her choice of attire, a modest red and black polka-dotted dress which was rather refined and conservative in comparison to the rest of the school’s collective wardrobe. Her voice, cheery and amiable, was heavily accented with what sounded to be an Eastern European tongue (which Nemo immediately guessed to be Czech), most notably in how she mispronounced Nemo’s name, to her slight annoyance.

Even if the girl didn’t say much to start off besides a simple hello, Nemo was able to discern that she was of European birth, and thus might be a Nobleblood as she was. Given that nobles generally possessed superior, or at the very least more unique magic than most of the common folk, she figured that this could serve well as an advantage for her team in the next part of the exams.

For the moment it took her to process this, her head tilted and her crimson eyes narrowed, though with her current expression of boredom she looked more curious than anything approaching menacing. After the girl had gotten to sit down, Nemo let a tiny grin show on her face before returning a greeting.

“Te saluto, amica, and congratulations. You have indeed found no one,” Nemo said with a quiet laugh, smiling sweetly as she made her joking introduction. It was not meant to be a jab at her, merely a play on her own name, as the name Nemo meant ‘no one’, and had at one point been used for comedy in the Roman adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey. Much like the girl sitting across from her, it was laced with a telltale accent, though it was noticeably lighter and harder to detect when she did not outright use Italian vocabulary. “I apologize in advance for something so petty, but if I may be so rude as to correct you, my name is not Nięmo. It is Nay-mo. With that out of the way, what might your name be, amica?”

Kazimiera Wojciecha Jadwiga Baskerville

“I am Kazimiera Wojciecha Jadwiga Zdunowska Baskerville,” she replied, sticking her fork daintily into the steaming scrambled eggs, determining whether this batch might need salt while pondering this ‘Nemo’s’ little joke. She made use of the same archaic tongue Jadwiga had grown familiar with in the Catholic Church, and seemed in good humour about the evident mispronunciation.

“You joke, yes? This is a reference in your name to Odyseja in your name. You have an accent, are you from Europe as well? I hate to be so quick to know you, but we must leave for our testing soon.”

[Serah]

Nick Rider

Admittedly, it was a bit concerning about how much Oliver liked alcohol. Not only did he seem to have memorized the recipes for various alcohols, along with their exact concentration percentages, but he even had an official in-dorm distillation center for brewing fresh alcohol. As tempting as it sounded, it was a tiny bit worrying, and the girl beside him, Ambrosia, also seemed slightly concerned about it.

"I...see." he began, looking slightly uneasy. "Sounds pretty good, maybe a little strong? Never held mint well, always burns the roof of my mouth off." He then hushed his voice slightly. "Although, if you could distill something fresh, maybe 40 or 50% concentration, I'd love it. Your secret's safe."

---

Heading outside for the next part of the test, he followed behind Oliver closely, looking quite small compared to the rest of the students, his 5'5 frame being swallowed by the crowd. Shuffling silently into a chair, Oliver and Ambrosia flanking him on either side, he curiously looked towards the lone packet sitting on the table, his confusion only growing as Oliver began to swear like a sailor in French, swinging his flask around.

As for what was in the packet, it seemed to be...flour? Suger? Eggs? Why would they need this stuff? Wait...they weren't...baking?! BAKING?! HELL YEAH! Nick loved baking, back in NYC, he would cook all the time, he was pretty good at it too. His baking wasn't as good, but he could make a decent cake or two.

But that begged the question.

How?

Nick barely had time to blink before they were reading incantations, making metal utensils, and calling each other "Ollie". And there was no way in hell Nick would be called "Nicky". Just no, no, no no no no.

Snapping out of his stupor at the sound of Ambrosia's extremely loud and energetic voice, causing him to recoil slightly. Taking the instructions gingerly, as if it was something delicate, he quickly scanned the paper for said incantations. For a minute, it seemed as if he was simply staring at the paper, eyes boring into it, something going on behind his eyes.

Then, suddenly, his eyes widened, brightening up and he let out a loud whoop, having finally figured it out. They were making cake batter, that was what all the ingredients were for, and then heat would make the cake rise. Exactly why there was a fire mage! It made PERFECT sense...except for the one problem.

How were they supposed to break down the minerals?

Finding the incantation once again, he let out a small satisfied sigh, and set the paper down. Settling his eyes on the ingredients in front of him, in the bowl or elsewhere, squinting slightly, he chanted the incantation quietly, attempting to break the minerals apart into powders to mix up.

It...kind of worked?

Nick worked with mud, a mix of dirt and water. He didn't know shit about minerals. Sure, if he was just a soil manipulator, this would be easy. But when soil was saturated with water, controlling the minerals was a bigger pain in the ass. In short, his control over minerals was somewhat....limited.

The minerals thinned a little, but they still remained very solid, and not a powder quite yet. Staring in almost shock at the disastrous attempt, he then turned to Oliver with a slightly nervous smile.

"You know, teaching me on the fly might be a good idea."

Oliver on the other hand had little trouble breaking down the minerals, in fact, it seemed as if he had done that for a while.
Maybe in another life, he could've been a baker wizard. But that wasn't the point right now.

If Nick had time to pay attention as to how he did it, he'd notice small expending and circular motions from Oliver's hands.
This was a way to help concentrate as it often felt like moving your hands around made whatever the mage wanted to happen actually happen. Some didn't need it, and Oliver mostly did it out of habit. Much like all he did in his own personal life.

Hearing Nick having some trouble, Oliver looked somewhat perturbed.

"Ah... I'd hoped you wouldn't say that. Alright, listen carefully, because I only know one way to go around this that my teachers taught me. And that I remember.
The first one, you need to think of the very basics of your magic. In your case, mud. Mud is a mix of water and soil, so all you need to do is either imagine clay and imagining it breaking down into sand or simply clear your mind of the aspect of water. Take water out of the equation entirely and focus entirely on earth, then it should be much easier to break down shit." As his own part became fine powder, he let it sit on the table, figuring that, without bowls or utensils there was no other place to put it.

[Segral]

Nick Rider

Alright, he needed to concentrate. He couldn't mess this up, he was being marked on his performance. Just focus on the earth, don't think about the water. He was Solum, not Aquo, he was Toph, not Katara, he was an aardvark, not a wha...he needed stop. He was panicking again. He could do this. He just needed an example, something or someone to base his efforts off of, that was all he needed.

Staring at Oliver's movements, he noticed the small circular swirls he was making with his hands as the powder crumbled before him. He made it seem easy, as if he wasn't breaking a sweat. Why was he such a fuckup? Couldn't he do anything right? It was obvious he was no good at this, he would just have to stick it out until the end.

Concentrating as hard as he could on an image of soil, earth, with smells and feelings in his mind, trying to picture earth and clay so realistic it could be in front of him.

And then, he concentrated on breaking it all apart.

Miraculously, he watched the minerals begin to slowly fall apart as if being grinded, slowly growing thinner and thinner as the pieces grew smaller and smaller. His hands were almost shaking, he felt nervous, he felt like he was about to faint. But somehow, that thing got grinded up harder than Kim Kar...not important. The point was it was gri...breaking apart, and they were moving forward.

Slumping back in his chair with a sigh of relief, his hand soon found the instructions, eyes skimming over the paper. Step 4...Step 4...ah, here it was. "Step 4", he began, reading aloud to other two. "Both casters should then mix the ingredients softly, like two tides clashing in repetitive motion. Huh...tides? Oh...ok, got it." Looking towards the pile of powder near Oliver, he motioned to him to begin mixing, beginning to drag his own powders in the space between the two original piles. This had got to be the weirdest cake he'd ever baked, but, fingers crossed it would work.

[Serah]

Nick Rider

Alright, he needed to concentrate. He couldn't mess this up, he was being marked on his performance. Just focus on the earth, don't think about the water. He was Solum, not Aquo, he was Toph, not Katara, he was an aardvark, not a wha...he needed stop. He was panicking again. He could do this. He just needed an example, something or someone to base his efforts off of, that was all he needed.

Staring at Oliver's movements, he noticed the small circular swirls he was making with his hands as the powder crumbled before him. He made it seem easy, as if he wasn't breaking a sweat. Why was he such a fuckup? Couldn't he do anything right? It was obvious he was no good at this, he would just have to stick it out until the end.

Concentrating as hard as he could on an image of soil, earth, with smells and feelings in his mind, trying to picture earth and clay so realistic it could be in front of him.

And then, he concentrated on breaking it all apart.

Miraculously, he watched the minerals begin to slowly fall apart as if being grinded, slowly growing thinner and thinner as the pieces grew smaller and smaller. His hands were almost shaking, he felt nervous, he felt like he was about to faint. But somehow, that thing got grinded up harder than Kim Kar...not important. The point was it was gri...breaking apart, and they were moving forward.

Slumping back in his chair with a sigh of relief, his hand soon found the instructions, eyes skimming over the paper. Step 4...Step 4...ah, here it was. "Step 4", he began, reading aloud to other two. "Both casters should then mix the ingredients softly, like two tides clashing in repetitive motion. Huh...tides? Oh...ok, got it." Looking towards the pile of powder near Oliver, he motioned to him to begin mixing, beginning to drag his own powders in the space between the two original piles. This had got to be the weirdest cake he'd ever baked, but, fingers crossed it would work.

Oliver sighed in response, he'd read the steps and knew what would happen next, but he frankly couldn't wrap his head around the fact that they were bloody baking.
That said, he didn't refuse to do whatever was asked of him.
Only briefly looking at the pile of whatever kind of dust he had grinded up and started humming a repetitive rhythm to keep himself from going too fast or too slow.
He expected Nick to follow his lead, but would eventually slow down or speed up if needed.

His pile of ingredients started swirling at first in a mini tornado until it progressively calmed down in a gentle tide going back and forth. Similar to one that someone would make in a tub.
Oliver's hands moved left and right in rhythm.

"I'll adapt, do as you will."

[Kingdom of Irhk]

Nemo

For a few short minutes, Nemo had been able to relax alone at her little table away from the now mostly assembled groups, letting her mind wander as it usually did while she absentmindedly picked at the meat on her tray. Normal food, as served in these establishments anyway, was always tasteless and bland to her, but luckily she never found herself overwhelmingly hungry, and thus was able to focus on things aside from whatever mild pleasures that others might have derived from the activity.

In this case, the focus of Nemo’s thoughts lie with the next part of the examinations. The professors had arranged for the creation of groups for this portion, and this could equal any number of scenarios in which she and the rest of the students could be evaluated. She could imagine that one of these scenarios might involve fighting or sparring between the teams, with scores depending on how well members used their magic and how well they were able to cooperate and coordinate their efforts with their teammates, or perhaps simple sparring among group members to see how well students were able to deal with opposing elements and adapt themselves to overcome an equal foe in a combat situation.

Then again, Nemo wasn’t quite so sure that they would pick the most combat oriented option available, given the school’s apparently violent history in recent times. The exam could just as likely be some scavenger hunt to see how well students could apply their elemental magic and skills to non-combat tasks, or even some project where students could perform some combined display of magic where they could be graded on planning and execution of ideas and application of magical theory...But at this point, Nemo knew she was going into a realm of pointless speculation, more for amusement than in actual preparation of the next phase of testing.

Even so, she had little else to do. That was, until her first groupmate showed up to greet her and move to sit across the table from her. Nemo’s first instinct was to look her over, and when she spoke, listen closely to what words she said and how she said them. The girl’s long and well maintained golden blonde hair caught her gaze immediately, along with her choice of attire, a modest red and black polka-dotted dress which was rather refined and conservative in comparison to the rest of the school’s collective wardrobe. Her voice, cheery and amiable, was heavily accented with what sounded to be an Eastern European tongue (which Nemo immediately guessed to be Czech), most notably in how she mispronounced Nemo’s name, to her slight annoyance.

Even if the girl didn’t say much to start off besides a simple hello, Nemo was able to discern that she was of European birth, and thus might be a Nobleblood as she was. Given that nobles generally possessed superior, or at the very least more unique magic than most of the common folk, she figured that this could serve well as an advantage for her team in the next part of the exams.

For the moment it took her to process this, her head tilted and her crimson eyes narrowed, though with her current expression of boredom she looked more curious than anything approaching menacing. After the girl had gotten to sit down, Nemo let a tiny grin show on her face before returning a greeting.

“Te saluto, amica, and congratulations. You have indeed found no one,” Nemo said with a quiet laugh, smiling sweetly as she made her joking introduction. It was not meant to be a jab at her, merely a play on her own name, as the name Nemo meant ‘no one’, and had at one point been used for comedy in the Roman adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey. Much like the girl sitting across from her, it was laced with a telltale accent, though it was noticeably lighter and harder to detect when she did not outright use Italian vocabulary. “I apologize in advance for something so petty, but if I may be so rude as to correct you, my name is not Nięmo. It is Nay-mo. With that out of the way, what might your name be, amica?”

Kazimiera Wojciecha Jadwiga Baskerville

“I am Kazimiera Wojciecha Jadwiga Zdunowska Baskerville,” she replied, sticking her fork daintily into the steaming scrambled eggs, determining whether this batch might need salt while pondering this ‘Nemo’s’ little joke. She made use of the same archaic tongue Jadwiga had grown familiar with in the Catholic Church, and seemed in good humour about the evident mispronunciation.

“You joke, yes? This is a reference in your name to Odyseja in your name. You have an accent, are you from Europe as well? I hate to be so quick to know you, but we must leave for our testing soon.”

Alphonse Baskerville

"Yes, we must."

In contrast to Jadwiga's Polish accent, Alphonse always seemed to speak every letter of the sentence and let the sound be amplified by his British accent and by the way he carried himself: Like an English aristocrat at the height of the Victorian era, he always seemed to fill the empty spaces of the rooms he entered, engulfing others in the darkness he emitted, specially Jadwiga, his wife, who showed a complete devotion to every word he said.

"I see that you met someone new, my dear. I had to grab some things before the test itself, which is why my lovely wife here wasn't accompanied by me. I am Alphonse Baskerville. I overheard part.of the conversation - I know, not a polite habit - and I take that you are Nemo. Is that correct? Jadwiga, do you know anything about the incoming test?"

[Hinodium]

Kazimiera Wojciecha Jadwiga Baskerville

“I am Kazimiera Wojciecha Jadwiga Zdunowska Baskerville,” she replied, sticking her fork daintily into the steaming scrambled eggs, determining whether this batch might need salt while pondering this ‘Nemo’s’ little joke. She made use of the same archaic tongue Jadwiga had grown familiar with in the Catholic Church, and seemed in good humour about the evident mispronunciation.

“You joke, yes? This is a reference in your name to Odyseja in your name. You have an accent, are you from Europe as well? I hate to be so quick to know you, but we must leave for our testing soon.”

Nemo

As Jadwiga spoke her own name aloud for the first time, Nemo arched her eyebrows in mild but pleasant surprise. She listened carefully to the series of Eastern European names followed by one that was distinctly English, and shortly concluded that she was in fact dealing with a fellow European Nobleblood. If the mere length of it was not enough of a giveaway, the fact that she possessed a surname that so starkly contrasted with the rest of her name clued her in to the possibility of this girl either having mixed Anglo-East European blood, something extremely rare outside of rich and powerful families who could afford to marry out of country, or less likely that she was married to an Englishman, again an occurrence that rarely happened outside of noble blooded or otherwise rich families. It may have been practically impossible for her to pronounce correctly, but the fact was that she now had almost certain knowledge that a Nobleblood with possibly unique magic was on her team, and that was balance enough for Nemo.

“My, my, that’s quite a mouthful,” Nemo quietly said with a gentle smile, both attempting another short round of humor and subtly voicing her realization. Jadwiga’s response to her words so far had been reasonably positive, so she felt that it wouldn’t hurt to keep up the decent first impression she had made.

“To answer your first question, yes, that was a little joke on my part. My name actually means ‘no one’, and it was the name of one of Odysseus’ crewmen. I could go into a little more depth regarding that, but as you’ve well noted, we haven’t the time for such frivolities,” Nemo nodded, her crimson eyes set on Jadwiga‘s own as she continued. “To answer your second question, amica, your assumption is correct. I am actually from Italia. Veneto, if I must be precise.”

Nemo’s little smile stayed on her face as she let slip the little details regarding her background, but she kept them noticeably brief as she stopped there, not inflating her sentences with praise of her homeland or noble house like a good many of the prideful sort of Noblebloods might have in her place. Either she was keeping a close eye on the clock and was keen on not wasting time, or she simply did not want to divulge details unless specifically asked.

“I do not mind brevity or quick introductions...We are on the clock, after all....”

Alphonse Baskerville

"Yes, we must."

In contrast to Jadwiga's Polish accent, Alphonse always seemed to speak every letter of the sentence and let the sound be amplified by his British accent and by the way he carried himself: Like an English aristocrat at the height of the Victorian era, he always seemed to fill the empty spaces of the rooms he entered, engulfing others in the darkness he emitted, specially Jadwiga, his wife, who showed a complete devotion to every word he said.

"I see that you met someone new, my dear. I had to grab some things before the test itself, which is why my lovely wife here wasn't accompanied by me. I am Alphonse Baskerville. I overheard part of the conversation - I know, not a polite habit - and I take that you are Nemo. Is that correct? Jadwiga, do you know anything about the incoming test?"

Nemo had been about to stand up and get ready to leave for the next part of the examinations before another one of the students, a towering Nobleblood boy with dark hair and equally dark eyes, came onto the scene and addressed Jadwiga with complete familiarity...and a mildly sinister aura from Nemo’s perspective of things. As he approached, her blood red eyes narrowed and followed his movements closely, though she kept the gentle smile on her pale face, clear for the newcomer to see. More than anything else that she was actually feeling in that moment, Nemo simply looked curious. And that she was, especially as he continued to speak to Jadwiga.

In those next few seconds, her questions regarding Jadwiga’s name were answered. It was the latter possibility she had thought of, the less likely conclusion that Jadwiga had been wed to an Anglo by the name of Baskerville, a name she vaguely remembered from the title of a Sherlock Holmes book she had read some years ago. Even without the named introduction, the undeniably heavy English accent likely would have led her to the same conclusion regardless. Even so, Alphonse was hardly what Nemo envisioned when she imagined an English Nobleblood, expecting more the fair hair and light eyes of Germanic people rather than the darker features she saw now, but it mattered little. Her analysis would need to end there.

“It would seem that you overheard correctly. Nemo is indeed my name. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances, but I do believe the examination at hand is currently more important than the pleasure of full introductions...”

[Luminesa]

Kazimiera Wojciecha Jadwiga Baskerville

“I am Kazimiera Wojciecha Jadwiga Zdunowska Baskerville,” she replied, sticking her fork daintily into the steaming scrambled eggs, determining whether this batch might need salt while pondering this ‘Nemo’s’ little joke. She made use of the same archaic tongue Jadwiga had grown familiar with in the Catholic Church, and seemed in good humour about the evident mispronunciation.

“You joke, yes? This is a reference in your name to Odyseja in your name. You have an accent, are you from Europe as well? I hate to be so quick to know you, but we must leave for our testing soon.”

Nemo

As Jadwiga spoke her own name aloud for the first time, Nemo arched her eyebrows in mild but pleasant surprise. She listened carefully to the series of Eastern European names followed by one that was distinctly English, and shortly concluded that she was in fact dealing with a fellow European Nobleblood. If the mere length of it was not enough of a giveaway, the fact that she possessed a surname that so starkly contrasted with the rest of her name clued her in to the possibility of this girl either having mixed Anglo-East European blood, something extremely rare outside of rich and powerful families who could afford to marry out of country, or less likely that she was married to an Englishman, again an occurrence that rarely happened outside of noble blooded or otherwise rich families. It may have been practically impossible for her to pronounce correctly, but the fact was that she now had almost certain knowledge that a Nobleblood with possibly unique magic was on her team, and that was balance enough for Nemo.

“My, my, that’s quite a mouthful,” Nemo quietly said with a gentle smile, both attempting another short round of humor and subtly voicing her realization. Jadwiga’s response to her words so far had been reasonably positive, so she felt that it wouldn’t hurt to keep up the decent first impression she had made.

“To answer your first question, yes, that was a little joke on my part. My name actually means ‘no one’, and it was the name of one of Odysseus’ crewmen. I could go into a little more depth regarding that, but as you’ve well noted, we haven’t the time for such frivolities,” Nemo nodded, her crimson eyes set on Jadwiga‘s own as she continued. “To answer your second question, amica, your assumption is correct. I am actually from Italia. Veneto, if I must be precise.”

Nemo’s little smile stayed on her face as she let slip the little details regarding her background, but she kept them noticeably brief as she stopped there, not inflating her sentences with praise of her homeland or noble house like a good many of the prideful sort of Noblebloods might have in her place. Either she was keeping a close eye on the clock and was keen on not wasting time, or she simply did not want to divulge details unless specifically asked.

“I do not mind brevity or quick introductions...We are on the clock, after all....”

Alphonse Baskerville

"Yes, we must."

In contrast to Jadwiga's Polish accent, Alphonse always seemed to speak every letter of the sentence and let the sound be amplified by his British accent and by the way he carried himself: Like an English aristocrat at the height of the Victorian era, he always seemed to fill the empty spaces of the rooms he entered, engulfing others in the darkness he emitted, specially Jadwiga, his wife, who showed a complete devotion to every word he said.

"I see that you met someone new, my dear. I had to grab some things before the test itself, which is why my lovely wife here wasn't accompanied by me. I am Alphonse Baskerville. I overheard part of the conversation - I know, not a polite habit - and I take that you are Nemo. Is that correct? Jadwiga, do you know anything about the incoming test?"

Nemo had been about to stand up and get ready to leave for the next part of the examinations before another one of the students, a towering Nobleblood boy with dark hair and equally dark eyes, came onto the scene and addressed Jadwiga with complete familiarity...and a mildly sinister aura from Nemo’s perspective of things. As he approached, her blood red eyes narrowed and followed his movements closely, though she kept the gentle smile on her pale face, clear for the newcomer to see. More than anything else that she was actually feeling in that moment, Nemo simply looked curious. And that she was, especially as he continued to speak to Jadwiga.

In those next few seconds, her questions regarding Jadwiga’s name were answered. It was the latter possibility she had thought of, the less likely conclusion that Jadwiga had been wed to an Anglo by the name of Baskerville, a name she vaguely remembered from the title of a Sherlock Holmes book she had read some years ago. Even without the named introduction, the undeniably heavy English accent likely would have led her to the same conclusion regardless. Even so, Alphonse was hardly what Nemo envisioned when she imagined an English Nobleblood, expecting more the fair hair and light eyes of Germanic people rather than the darker features she saw now, but it mattered little. Her analysis would need to end there.

“It would seem that you overheard correctly. Nemo is indeed my name. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances, but I do believe the examination at hand is currently more important than the pleasure of full introductions...”

“That is correct.” John stood behind the three students and stared at them, a little peeved. Everyone else was beginning to work diligently on their projects, with Group 1 looking to possibly finish first. He crossed his arms and stared at them. “You all had plenty of time to introduce yourselves to each other. Right now you need to get started on your exam. Given you’re all late to starting your third exam, I’m taking five points off your performance grade for the second exam. For all three of you. Now go to your stations and read the instructions. You’ll all get another short break after the second exam,” he explained firmly. He did not wish to be harsh, but he had to get them started on their exam, or they might never finish.

[Khasinkonia]

Kazimiera Wojciecha Jadwiga Baskerville

Jadwiga promptly nodded, and stood up, then cleaning up after herself, muttering the Hail Mary in polish under her breath so she wouldn’t curse.

“I apologise. We shall begin working promptly,” she replied, returning to the exam room.

---

Jadwiga and the others in her group returned to the exam room, and began the second part of the exam. Jadwiga immediately looked at the first set of instructions.

“So, it seems we must choose a herb. Something basic should be best,” she stated, picking out an incantation of her own accord along with some peppermint, “Forgive me, Nemo and my dear, we must work fast.”

She then began the incantation required, gesturing at Nemo to look at the next instruction on the table as she dealt with the peppermint. This whole ordeal was already off to a poor start. If much else went wrong, this exam was not to be a pleasant experience. Hopefully, as long as she preformed her duty properly, and Alphonse and Nemo did as well, all would be fine, and the five points lost would be negligible. Of course, there was no predicting it, and concentration on the task at hand was probably better than concerning oneself with the outcome.

Gwyn Talyllyn

Gwyn jumped slightly in response to Dominique’s loud clap. It was a rather unusual feeling to not be right next to his twin, but that wasn’t something to worry about. Testing was more important. Looking over at what other groups seemed to be doing, this whole task was going to be a bit tricky to coordinate.

“Sure, Dom,” he replied, looking over at the instructions, “Do you mind if I just call you Dom?”

Lynn Talyllyn

Lynn smiled awkwardly as Soleil seemed to slowly unravel. The poor guy was so stressed! She summoned a bit of water, which still floated around as a shapeless blob, stood next to Soleil.

“It’s okay. We’ll be fine as long as we work well,” she softly said, patting him on the shoulder, “Let’s just try and finish it. Could you please open the packet while I try to get better control over my water?”

[Luminesa]

Soleil appreciated Lynn’s encouragement. He felt her hand on his back as he spoke, and the sensation felt strangely comforting. His worries about not passing started to melt, and he smiled toward her. “...Th-thank you...” he whispered, a timid smile on his face. With his fears somewhat abated, he turned toward the orb of water she had formed.

“...I...I-I don’t think we need to open it...We just...need to make sure the packet mixes with the water and then bubbles, according to the instructions,” Soleil suggested. He then gently lifted the little packet in an orb of water. After lifting it, he held it in the orb, and began to whirl it steadily in the water. He then turned and looked toward Sanja. “You...should keep the water at a soft boil, so that it will heat but won’t entirely disappear. And...let’s see...while you’re doing that...”

He turned and stared back toward the extra-credit circle, as he began to swirl the packet. “...Once it’s all mixed...Shaun?...Why don’t you go over to the extra credit circle?...Maybe if you step in it...we can...activate it and see what happens...” he suggested. He felt his group would be able to finish the assignment, but everyone had to do their part. Given Shaun would not get to have much of a role in this assignment, either, he had to make sure he could do something.

[Haedros 92712]

A hallway in the school
Iris

“Hellllooooooooo? Gywnn? Anyone?” Iris had lost her group. It wasn’t her fault! She had had to go back to her dorm to get something, and when she came back, her group was gone. “Aww jeez!” Iris began jogging down the hallway, knowing she would find someone eventually.

Another hallway
Elias

Elias heard his sister long before he saw her. She came running down the hall, just as Elias turned to meet her. And then they crashed straight into each other. Elias’ books fell and scattered all over the floor. “Dang it...” he heard his sister mumbling. Elias stood, his face flushed. “What do you think you’re doing you klutz?! You’re lucky it’s me you ran into and not an administrator or something!” Elias sighed. Maybe he was being a bit too harsh. He looked at his sister to see... wait what? She’s...crying?! Elias was flustered. How must this look to everyone around them? Iris on the floor, bawling her eyes how with Elias just sanding there over her. “Hey hey hey! Quit crying would you? Look, just be careful where you’re going please?” His sister nodded. Elias set about collecting his books, while his sister walked off. What in the world was that?

[Saldinado]

Shaun Calhoun

Shaun stood there silently listening to Soleil read off the instructions only to giggle and smile as he watch the latter's reaction to making the packet of weeds appear. Calming down some, he listen to him speak once again until he observed his movements and words about creating a dome of water. Smiling and grunted, Shaun held out his hands and began forming what easily appeared to be a ball of water encasing the dandelions on the table. Watching as their second team member created a capsule of water around Soleil's work, Shaun listened to what the latter had the say about his part and nodded.

"O-oh. Well um, sure!" He said sorta confused. There was a lack of things that he himself could do given his situation but he could try something. Looking at the swirling mass of water, Shaun looked down at the contents and tried to think of a way to make the process go faster. "So let's see...uh..." He simply said to himself before holding his hands out towards the contents. Soon what looked like a pair of clay, blocky substances before he began to make the bottom of the blocks to stretch and form around the bottom of the mixture of water and connect it before he moved his index finger in a swiveling motion, causing the contents to spin quicker than before.
Shaun then looked backwards to see what this circle was that Soleil was talking about, he moved backwards towards the circle until he stood where Soleil wanted him. "Okay, so now what?" He said to the group while continuing to focus on mixing the substance.

Dominique Corleone

"Oh? Nah, its cool. Everyone usually calls me Dom. Also uh, sorry about scaring you..." He softly chuckled in embarrassment when he saw Gwyn jump from his actions. Looking towards Shaun as he saw what he was doing, he squinted and nodded to himself.

Seeing as we're practically the only ones that have little to nothing to do, maybe I should follow in his footsteps.

"Hold on...." Dominique said to Gwyn before walking towards the activation circle and standing next to Shaun. Looking at the rest of his group, he sighed and looked at Amanda and deadpanned at her before looking back at Gwyn. "Okay, so what do we do now?"

[Caruolinda]

Kadnikov Valerianovich

Kadnikov noticed it didn't take long for the entire group to be gathered... Or did it? Were they missing anyone? As much as he hated to admit it, he would need to work with as many people as possible for that work flawlessly. Nonetheless, the few moments Kad spent looking for anyone else who could be missing turned out to be fruitless, so he faced his teammates: Gwyn and Dominique. His friendly expression remained unaltered, and it was clear he would have to try leading that unbeatable trio into being the best one - or die trying. A quick reread of the instructions made Kadnikov assume they were cooking something. If that's what they were doing, they had to do something oustanding, something that would put shame even to the greatest chefs in existence!

"First..." He started to speak out, reading from the list. "We have to choose a herbal incantation..." A herbal incantation? Really? That was one of the things he knew very little about, although he had just been saved by the fact said incantations were actually listed. He would hope people liked ginseng, for roots of that plant were what showed up in group after he quietly chanted something. Then, he continued reading. "Now... 'Aquo shall summon a dome of water to encase the herb.'" He glanced around at his group, then back at the roots. "Uh, maybe we should break these in smaller pieces so that it's easier for whoever can do water stuff?"