Fable - Ask The First Group Project (College of Elbion, Freshman Class)

[Aiko]

ENCH 101: Intro to Potions​

“Right then, we’ll take the last few minutes to go over the syllabus.” Maester Ironheart, oft called ‘Ironlung’ behind his back, began waving an eraser off the black board behind him. He spoke for a while at the importance of honesty, that only a knife-ear would dare cheat on a test, that no dwarf had ever been convicted of plagiarism at Elbion. That potion making was serious business and it wasn’t something a mage could learn by ‘cramming the night before the exam’. That potion making was essential even if a mage didn’t plan to go into enchanting, and several other things that only a small portion of the students pretended to care about.

"All right then, I guess it's time to get to what you folks actually care about, the grading scale." Ironheart said, and Aiko noticed a distinct shift in her classmates, perhaps 70% of them.

"You will have six assignments throughout the year, each worth five percent of your overall grade. An in-class midterm at week seven will be another thirty percent. Then there's the good news that there is no final exam for this course." The dwarf smiled. "Instead the last forty percent of your grade will come from a group project you'll submit at the end of the semester. Each of you have been randomly selected into a group of four to make a single potion with some advanced properties. These potions are each distinct, so you will only be able to rely on your group mates, and not other groups. There are four stages your team will go through that will require a checkin. First, proper identification of the potion and it's material components. Next is acquisition of quality components. Next is the initial brew, and ideally the last step is refining the brew process into a proper potion. In the back of the class I've put together sample draughts labeled with each of your names. The members of your group are the student's who have the same potion as you, which you can identify by it's color. " The class almost immediately shifted it's eyes away from Maester Ironheart and to the back of the room. Aiko caught a wry smile on the Maester's face.

"There is no curve, and you must obtain grade of at least a B to take any 200 level courses with the enchanting department. I will see each of you in class Thursday." Maester Ironheart said and left the room, afterwards the sound of eager footfalls echoed as everyone rushed to find out what color they had been assigned.

Aiko followed behind the rest of the class, aiming to show dignity over enthusiasm. She scanned the remains of the small bottles until she found one simply labeled 'knife-ear' and sighed before picking it up.

Entranced for a moment by it's soft blue color she looked around the room for matching bottles. Just who would she be paired with?

 

[Atticus]

Blue.

It was perhaps a colour he should be grateful for, as he had used the colour a great many times in his paintings over the years. It wasn't his favourite, nor was the potion inside... just what was it? Atticus held it up to his nose, but could not smell anything that gave away even a smidgen of something.

"Oh! Blue!" He exclaimed, seeing Aiko in possession of the same. Holding up his own, he grimaced as he had been about to shake the potion in it's bottle but now treated it as if a reaction could burst through if he had. "It is the same, isn't it?"

Of course it was. He compared his bottle to her own, glancing between the shades before determining them to be the exact same. "They sure are!"

His face fell, seeing the label meant for her.

"We can do without that." He declared, pulling off the ghastly label and crushing it in his fist.

 

[Yuebing Coquelicot]

There was a noticeable tension in the air. One that Yue promptly ignored. Thus far her schooling had been grueling pass or fail trials. Knowledge was precious in her family one didn't get the privilege of learning more if they failed to master the previous lesson.

She silently made her way to the back to find her own bottle. Scanning over the remaining bottles she retrieved the one labeled for her. She held up the blue bottle so that the light from one of the windows shone through it. After a moment of careful inspection she flicked her eyes around the room.
They landed on a familiar face and a boy. As she approached and overheard the boy talking a suspicion simmered. For all his lecturing about honesty.....this group seemed not so random to her. Perhaps the dwarf had intentionally tried to stack the students he felt would know the least with the so called knife-ear......or perhaps he knew nothing of Dornoch and it really was random. Besides she hadn't confirmed the boy was actually from Dornoch. It didn't matter. They would pass even if Yue had to pry the dwarfs hands by force. .....she wondered if there were a potion to briefly force him to change shape....perhaps a drought from the mushroom that grows in rings.....

She gave a small nod to Aiko in acknowledgment. Her sharp eyes might have betrayed her rampant imaginations and machinations, but really she was quite pleased with this grouping.

 

[Aiko]

Aiko’s eye’s wandered to the scruffy brunette human boy as he made his way over. His hand carried the same potion as hers. He seemed to grimace as the potion shook in his hands, yet returned to an almost plucky state rather quickly. There was a definite excitement about his discovery that they shared the bottle. A passionate student of enchantment, or just friendly?

“You seem quite excited by this project.” Aiko said to Atticus . “I am Aiko.” She bowed her head at the introduction, but did not directly acknowledge the paper he took. She would have liked to say it didn’t bother her. Alas, she could not, so she attempted to avoid the topic altogether.

It was not long before the pair were joined by Yuebing Coquelicot “This is Yue I believe?” Aiko said. She seemed to remember meeting the girl at the convocation, but so much happened that day it was a bit of a blur to Aiko. As Aiko made the less confident introduction she began to notice the rest of the class begin to file out.

“It seems we may not have a fourth.” Aiko said to the pair. The deck was beginning to look stacked against her. Be that as it may, Aiko was motivated to prove Ironheart wrong about her. “Do either of you have other classes soon? I’m free for the next three hours if either if you would like to meet. We should be able to grab a table at the cafe. I’m told it serves tea and coffee at all hours.”

 

[Svenia Albrecht]

Damn, damn, damn!

Every nerve on the left side of her body was aflame by the time she managed to stumble through the door into the classroom. She'd earned a tsk of disapproval from the professor overseeing the class heading the other way. She was too winded and wound up to bother offering apologies or excuses. And it wouldn't be the first time she had earned a huff from an instructor, either.

She pushed through the door in a rush, puffing from exertion. All of the other pupils had already retrieved their potions, and so for a moment Svenia was left standing in the doorway thoroughly confused as to what everyone was doing. It only just then dawned on her that she had seen the instructor heading the other way, leaving the class to whatever devices it was he had laid out for them.

And she had no idea what that was.

Flustered, she tried to scan the room without looking up so as to hide her disfigurement as much as possible. It wasn't really a conscious thing.

"Late, Ember?" She didn't look up at the voice. "You just missed the Maester."

She said nothing. She already felt a fool, running behind for something as simple as a cup of tea. She didn't need to add to it by making herself look even more foolish.

"I was... delayed," she said after an uncomfortable moment. "Could someone please fill me in on what I missed?"

 

[Atticus]

Atticus barely heard Aiko and Yue, for his eyes gravitated to the door and he heard a quiet in his ears as he recognised who stood there.

Svenia.

Her question pulled at him, stirring him back to reality and he turned to look at the tables where their vials and bottles were placed. He strode towards a stray blue bottle, and the grin on his face was the largest one he wore today. "Over here Sven!" He waggled the bottle towards her as he wandered back to Aiko and Yue. "Group project."

Atticus held out her bottle with her name written in scrawling letters to show she was indeed their fourth in the group.

 

[Yuebing Coquelicot]

"Correct."
Yue replied softly confirming that Aiko hadn't gotten the name wrong. Though she wasn't quite so used to people cutting straight to the shortened form. She also decided in advance that she would forgive it of the boy as well if he followed suit. There was no point in accidentally spoiling the mood with another lecture.
He seemed like the type to be overly familiar by nature rather than purpose. That and this certainly wasn't Dornoch.

"I have time enough for tea."
She supposed the college did build a spirit of....comradery.
They were all close in age....or no perhaps not. She pondered very briefly over how she might subtly get a hint of Aiko's actual age. There were some types of pointy eared kin that aged not so different from humans but that seemed far from the norm. For some reason Yue found the notion comforting. She gathered most of the girls were older than herself but they seemed to lack... confidence? or was it grace?

One such girl scrambled in looking very fluster indeed and glancing about from under her bangs. She moved like she had a terrible secret that she was very bad at keeping. Sort of shifty and frightened. It reminded Yue of a small furry animal.... perhaps a rabbit...or a mouse. Yue watched a little impassively as it was revealed she too was a part of their group.
"Well, that's one mystery solved."

 

[Aiko]

The ‘green monster’ quickly made it’s way through Aiko as she bowed, introduced herself to the boy Atticus, and his eyes went towards another girl coming into the classroom. It was a bit easier to push down as the girl turned out to be Svenia Albrecht .

“Svenia!” Aiko smiled. “We were just going to get a cup of tea and discuss the project. I can copy a set of my lecture notes tonight, or loan them to you if you need it sooner.” The girl began making her way out of the classroom and towards the coffee shop.

“Have you managed to try any the teas here yet?” Aiko turned conversation to Yuebing Coquelicot . “I’ve kept to my own stock thus fad. I need to get a better understanding of the local supply.”

 

[Svenia Albrecht]

She turned at Atticus' call with a feeling of relief that she wouldn't have to pry information out of anyone or call any more attention to herself than she already had. The feeling was short-lived, though; she followed the young man with her eyes as he went to the last of the bottles awaiting claimants and picked up the one with her name writ on it.

She winced as he shook the thing and then laughed at her own foolishness. This was no alchemist shop, and it wasn't likely to explode if mishandled.

Probably.

"Thank you, Atticus," she said warmly as she joined the group with her awkward gait and clicking staff. Her eyes lingered on him a moment longer as Aiko welcomed her into the group. "Transcription is a thing I am excellent at, Aiko. I appreciate the offer - perhaps later today. It should not take more than a handful of minutes." She nodded to Yue stiffly, head kept lower when dealing with that particular girl. "Yuebing," she said in a stiff but carefully neutral tone. There was something about the young lady that made her itch. It was something of the noble-born class that considered themselves above others. She wasn't particularly blunt about it. Nevertheless, Svenia could feel it.

"If there is a particular type of tea you prefer, let me know. I can most likely procure it," she said as they made their way out of the room.

There were bound to be contacts of the family in Elbion - there were everywhere else, after all - that she could exploit.

 

[Atticus]

He grinned, deciding to stay where he was beside Svenia. After all, he knew her better than the others as he had more classes with her. Atticus then changed his attention to the others in their group, the ladies discussing tea as if it was something that needed to be planned. Atticus' experience of tea was more grass based, dried and powdered and used in tea ceremonies.

His mother taught him all she knew, for she served in the Royal Tea House in Dornoch. The Dynast always enjoyed the ceremonies...

"If you get permission to wander Elbion, there is a popular tea house that likes to source one of a kind teas. Allirian, Obanese, Dornochian... even a nice selection from the Empire." He had visited once, to find a tea that soothed aches in the muscles for his step mother in the final few weeks of her pregnancy with his younger sister. It felt like stepping into a store of every culture, almost like home. "I can write down the directions if you want, but you're gonna have to figure out which fountain you start from because I have no real clue how to describe it..."

 

[Yuebing Coquelicot]

The flicker of bitterness in Aiko's expression did not go un-noticed. It was the sort of emotion Yue was deeply attuned to. Luckily, here in the college it was more amusing than alarming. So she had some interest in the boy. whose name was Atticus it seemed. Or perhaps Aiko simply preferred to shine the brightest.
It was an old habit to take note for latter. Though she doubted that their little love triangle amount to more than a mild annoyance as they tried to work on the project.
If she was lucky she could pretend not to notice and avoid being dragged in to...whatever this was.

She turned to Aiko with her characteristic displeased expression. "I...tried some at the cafe once early on....but it wasn't to my taste...." She was very partial to a refreshing tea made of roasted barley back home. So when she saw roasted tea on the menu she had given it a chance. Only to discover that it was definitely made of the same leaf variety as normal Elbion black tea ....but with a burnt taste.

She offered Svenia an impassive nod in response. A sable...? no....a mouse...no maybe it wasn't something fury. Maybe it was some kind of a bird. She had continued to mull over what it was the girl reminded of.
That train of thought was interrupted by Atticus' declaration about a specialty tea store.
Her mouth set in a tight frown. It would be convenient to know a place in the city.....in spite of her own connections and the portal stones it sometimes took ages to replenish her own stock of teas.

But she had just decided not to get entangled. The directions seemed like a subtle invitation to show a girl around town. She raised her sleeve to cover her mouth in thought. Even if it wasn't and it really was just good will on the part of Atticus,
Yue wasn't at all used to simply asking for things she wanted. Without realizing she had started glaring at him quite intensely.

 

[Aiko]

Atticus was the boy's name. He and Svenia seemed close, in a 'just hit off but not super connected yet' sort of way. The elf shot Svenia Albrecht a wry smile as she used his name, but did not keep it for long. It was a face every young girl knew that both implied meaning and pressed for gossip at a later date.

"I should quite like to see this shop at the next outing." Aiko responded to Atticus . "If there is something missing I may have to lean on your talents Svenia." She continued as the quartet walked into the coffee house. Upon walking through the door they were each hit with a waft of scents comprised of herbs, nuts, honey, spices, and steamed milk. The elf's nose was a bit more sensitive than the normal humans, but Aiko could not say it was unpleasant. Students, overwhelmingly human, sat around tables, booths, and generally occupied every nook and cranny one could smuggle into with a book. Aiko noticed one set of students rolled what appeared to be a sort of flexible glass onto a wall while another waved her hand to cast some sort of diagram atop it. Another three students stared at the diagram intensely before waved a finger and put another few lines in sporting a different color, prompting all sorts of debate.

The upper class discussions appeared quite intense. Aiko took note as she headed to the counter. While the student base clientele was majority human by a good margin, the barista staff was a menagerie of species, several of which Aiko could not identify. A male halfling climbed a ladder on the other set of the counter and greeted them, asking about their orders.

"I will be a minute." Aiko said softly as she stared at the blackboard behind the halfling. Yuebing Coquelicot 's response had given her pause. The options were overwhelming.