Would it be better to approach them without transforming? Perhaps they might end up somewhat startled by the sudden presence of Arras, but to be frank, the extent of his goodwill had already been reached. He intended to speak with this person and help them with their magic as best he could. He wasn't trying to baby them, whoever they were. He couldn't bring himself to care much more than that while he still had a rather potent headache.
And so he took a step closer, into the light of the individuals flame, and then it went out. When it next manifested, Arras watched as the person before him breathed in. He hadn't noticed from his prior distance, but their eyes were closed. They waited for a few seconds, and then they breathed out. The flame disappearing.
"Pardon the intrusion."
"Wh-who's there?!"
Perhaps Arras could've gone with a gentler approach, but he was feeling rather unsympathetic to the plight of others at the moment. He was doing them the courtesy of not being a voice in their head, that was as far as he was willing to go at the moment. He'd need to be doing this for the classroom anyways, if he was doing this for experience with the job, better to fully commit.
"In front of you." He stated simply, his tails flicking about as a few of his own flames lit up the night. Painting a clear picture of their surroundings.
"E-excuse my surprise." The... Arras wanted to say male person, mumbled an apology, for some reason.
"No need. May I ask what you're doing?"
"Practicing... Sir?"
"Well, I assumed so." Arras nodded to himself as he sat down and continued to maintain eye contact. "But, practicing what exactly? I couldn't quite figure it out from a distance."
"...You couldn't?"
"Yes. I wasn't sure what method you were using to cast your magic. It's slow, weak, but it's precise. Eerily so. If you were using a Casting Pattern, it would make sense, but why a faulty one which weakens the spell you're casting? On top of that, it takes you an eternity to ready a new spell. Far longer than any simple pattern should take you. And if you're not using a Casting Pattern, how are you maintaining an exactness to each spell you cast? I wasn't able to understand, would you care to explain?"
"I-I'm sorry, who are you...?" The person who Arras was fairly certain was human, stared at him wide eyed. Their prior surprise quickly transitioning into shock. "Are... you a professor...?"
Arras tilted his gaze to Illia, whom was listening to the conversation from a mild distance. She merely shrugged with her wings. She wasn't quite within range of a mind link, but she didn't think she needed to be. The answer was fairly obvious.
"Yes." He nodded slightly. Not quite bothering to sit all the way up.
"May I... ask your name?"
"Arras... Veile." He admitted the last name with a healthy degree of hesitation. He supposed that by the standards of the Kingdom, it certainly was his last name at this point, he just didn't exactly have a favorable impression of the family.
"O-oh! Professor Veile! I... didn't expect you to be a... fennix?"
"Spirit fox." Arras corrected with an irritable twitch of his tails. And after a momentary pause, a thought occurred. "You already know me?"
"Of course! I'm taking your class, what kind of student wouldn't know their own professor's name? You... asked what I was doing, didn't you? Well, I'm trying to practice my memorization. So I'm using a lesser version of a Willow Wisp spell... though as you pointed out... I guess I'm not exactly making much improvement, am I?" He smiled somewhat sadly
"...If it takes you that long to cast with a Casting Pattern, why even bother?" Arras questioned after a moment. "Isn't the entire point of them to help those who can't cast as fast as some people can naturally?"
"I-excuse me...?"
"If you can't properly work with a Casting Pattern, why not just do away with it entirely?"
It certainly didn't seem like the kind of thing you'd stay dead set on working with to Arras. If it didn't work, why would you spend so much time trying to make it work? Twelve and a half seconds on average to make a spell as pointless as this one work was frankly ridiculous. If you couldn't even properly improve your usage of it, what was the point?
"Because... Casting Patterns are almost always the faster way to use a spell...? They can be designed to guarantee the same result each time. Sure it can be difficult to memorize them, but..."
"...You're taking my combat class, are you not?" Arras asked after a few seconds of silence. Sure, he could certainly see the use of a Casting Pattern that took the individual a long time to use in the case of a non combat scenario... But...
"If you're practicing for a combat class... what's the point of a spell that would take you a long time to use if you'd be dead before you even manage to cast it? If it takes you five seconds to cast a spell instead of fifteen, you're far more likely to win whatever fight you're in. A spell having a flaw in it is far less of an issue in comparison to simply not being able to use a spell at all."
Of course, five seconds was still terrible and would almost certainly get you killed, but he didn't need to mention that at the moment. Nor his general ethos of prioritizing efficiency over speed. Still though, Arras saw no fault with his point. A difference of ten seconds would be vital in any battle of any kind. If Arras took even a second to work his magic on demand, he'd have died, MULTIPLE, times, in the past.
"I... suppose you're correct...? But, what else is there to do?" The student asked as they tilted their head ever so slightly. "I'm not... exactly skilled with the use of Primordial Casting. I can do it like anybody else can... but..."
"Would you mind trying?" Arras questioned innocently. This entire venture had been born mostly of curiosity, he may as well have seen it through.
"I... suppose I could try." They mumbled and closed their eyes. Arras in return narrowed his own, focusing as best he could on the boy before him. It was much more difficult to track the magic inside of an individual as opposed to the magic outside of one, but it was at the least possible. Especially so given that they were merely sitting in front of him with no active resistance against his perception. They didn't possess nearly enough magic to obscure his senses either.
A slow buildup of magic coursed through their body, a conduit of power forming between them and a space above Arras. It formed slowly, over the course of seconds, it formed poorly, Arras could practically see the magic leaking from it, it was weak at best, barely any magic flowing through, some of the already tiny amount leaking from its poor control. It was worse in every way when compared to the magic that had been wrought from the Casting Pattern. Except for one.
"Ten seconds."
"...Hm?" The student blinked their eyes open as the flame they conjured faded almost immediately.
"It took you ten seconds to cast that. Would you try a few more times?"
Perhaps it had just been a fluke, it had taken them ten seconds to cast with a pattern as well a few times. And so he asked them to do it again, and again.
Eleven, ten, eleven, ten...
And again.
Nine, ten, eleven, ten, nine... Eight.
"...Are you sure you're worse with Primordial Casting?"
"Yes." They sighed with a prominent frown. "I never had much talent for it. My mother tried to help me by providing me with plenty of study material and a few tutors... but learning alternative forms of spell casting never quite worked out for me. I was hoping a practical combat class would be able to help me break through this issue... but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to find a work around."
Arras thought about it for a few more moments. They hadn't been able to produce nearly the same results power wise, casting with only their natural ability... But in terms of speed, they'd shown a marked improvement. If they weren't talented, at the very least it was better for them. And so Arras had to wonder, if most people don't improve as quickly as he does, then could it simply be that they hadn't tried the right methods?
"How long have you been practicing magic?"
"That's... an odd question. Practically since I could think, so five or so years...? Well, perhaps not that much time. I haven't exactly dedicated my life to it. I was educated at home, certainly so... but mostly on noble matters, I'm sure you understand."
For the record, he didn't, but that also didn't matter. "How much of that time did you actually spend practicing Primordial Casting?"
It was difficult to believe that they were completely hopeless in the field. An average of eight to eleven seconds was around average for those untrained, or so Arras had read. A weak spell like the one they'd casted had been par for the course. If they hadn't put any extra effort into the field, it was still a possibility that they may be better than they thought.
"I don't quite see how this matters..." They began to mumble, but Arras remained steadfast. He wasn't asking in an attempt to mock, or to criticize... he was just genuinely curious. "Admittedly, not for long. I learned how to use my magic, and... I'm not exactly sure how long I spent practicing, I was quite young... But I suppose it couldn't have been more than a week or so. The skill of an individual generally doesn't improve much when it comes to Primordial Casting." They explained dejectedly.
...It... doesn't improve? That didn't sound quite right to Arras. What had he been doing all his life, if he wasn't improving? He was living proof of the exact opposite of what this person had just said. Sure, he'd been told he was special dozens of times now, but so what? It was always "you improve faster". That he learned quickly. Not that he did the impossible... Even if it would take somebody longer, surely they could follow in his footsteps?
Arras thought over his next actions for a moment. To be frank, this person was a stranger to him. Any investment he had in him was merely curiosity. Sure, attempting to learn what they were doing and helping them improve would be good experience for the months he had coming... but...
He glanced back in the direction of Illia. She was still there, waiting. And he certainly hadn't meant for this to be a long experience.
"Hm... I still have things I need to do tonight." Arras began as a few of the flames he'd been keeping alight vanished. "But I must admit, I'm somewhat curious about your skills. So, I have an offer for you, if you would."
"A... contract? No thank y-"
"What? No, of course not." Arras huffed dismissively. Why the hell would he want a contract? Those things were miserable. What would he even want one for?
When the student didn't respond in their abject embarrassment, Arras continued a moment later. "I'd like to help you somewhat. I haven't taught a class before, and I think this could be a good first experience for me. I'll admit, I don't really care about you in particular. But the discrepancy between your skill sets is interesting. And I think you might have some potential for Primordial Casting, as opposed to Casting Patterns. If you'd be willing, would you care to meet me... here, around this time, tomorrow?"
"I-pardon...?"
Arras's muzzle twisted as he prepared himself to re-cast his entire offer, starting with an annoyed tone. "I'd LIKE to h-"
"No, no! I understood you, just... that's rather sudden, don't you think?"
"No? Not really. Now, yes or no? I'd like to get going."
"S-sure...?"
"Excellent. See you tomorrow."
"Okay...?" They mumbled confusedly as the last of Arras's flames vanished, leaving him to walk off into the now completely dark night.
...
"Now, I was totally eavesdropping..."
"I don't mind." Arras shrugged slightly as he made his way through the halls once again.
"...I mean I figured you wouldn't, but still better to come clean right?"
He shrugged again.
"Anyways... What came over you tonight? Let alone just deciding to talk to somebody you don't know, you offer to help them practice with their magic free of charge? I don't know whether to be surprised with you, or to feel bad for them."
"Excuse me?"
"Uh... ignore that. Anyways, seriously, what gives? I mean, I don't mind, just... what's going on?"
"Well." Arras gathered his thoughts as he fumbled with the key to his room. "I suppose it's because I felt so anxious?"
"...Wha?"
"I know, it sounds stupid. But I guess... I've always been able to deal with my anxiety better when something is actually happening. I've had my life on the line multiple times, but when I get scared, it's not like my body shuts down like it would in the middle of a thunderstorm. I wanted to see if I could replicate that. And you already heard my other reasons. I think it'll be good experience for me. Theory only gets you so far, I've read about what I need to teach, I know what's expected of me, I've memorized the required lessons. But I haven't put any of it into practice. I'd rather have an idea of what to do, before I need to do it."
"I mean... I guess? It just kind of feels like a one eighty from what you're usually like."
"I guess so. Maybe the quiet night helped me? I'm not quite sure what to tell you, to be honest. I was curious about their magic, and after speaking to them, I figured why not offer my assistance? It's got benefits for me, and if they're going to be in my class, it couldn't hurt to already know them."
"You're not wrong... And this isn't really a problem, just... I was just curious."
"I know." Arras smiled gently as he unlocked his room (after various trial and error attempts). "Now, enough about all of that. Don't you want to see what's behind that other door?"
"...Kind of." Illia agreed with a nod.
"Then let's see." He continued to stride forward, opening the door leading to the what seemed like an interdimensional space.
There were a few more people around now, some found themselves reading, others were eating. A few people were even up here with Arras, making their way to their doors, presumably. But none of that was important, he'd been curious about this door for a good hour now. After a quick test, Arras confirmed that yes, the key to T31 did in fact work for this one, and with a twist, he opened the door.
Once again, he hadn't exactly been sure what to expect. Some other entirely new space? A sheer drop into the face of oblivion? Perhaps a fall to where the door to this place should've led initially? No, it was... much more quaint.
"...This is kind of nice." Illia craned her head around as best she could without displacing herself. Glancing every which way. It was just a room. A room much like the one he'd had back at the Ephimarus estate. It did still maintain that same consistency of color that the rest of this place had, deep hues of blue and purple, but unlike the somewhat unnatural, almost arcane disposition of the hall behind Arras, it felt more like a normal room. Perhaps because it was just simple.
The walls were nice, the lights were nice, the bed looked nice, there was a desk which Arras would probably make frequent use of, there was a carpet that he wasn't sure about, but that was the most questionable part of the room. There was also a second door inside of the room, though that one had no lock.
It wasn't exactly small, but it was small-er than the T31 room outside of this place. That was mostly fine, it did stoke his natural response to indoor spaces, but he'd gotten much better at dealing with such impulses. By the standards of the Kingdom, it was a perfectly cozy environment. And also by the standards of the Kingdom, this room was... if he wasn't wrong... entirely his. Well, by technicality it was probably the Academies property, but he owned it.
...There was a slight smugness to that which he found rising in himself, and he couldn't quite pin it down either. Oh well.
Turning on his heel, Arras stepped in front of the fourth door as Illia fluttered off his shoulder. There had been the initial door, the door into this place, the door into this room... and now this one. Where could it lead? Perhaps to another space? He wasn't going to hype himself up like he had for every other door, he just wanted to see-
It was a washroom.
Well he couldn't exactly say he was disappointed, it made perfect sense. With a shrug, Arras closed the door.
"This bed might be a little too soft. I suspect the use of magic." Illia noted sarcastically as she was sitting down.
"...What?"
"Just sit down." She unfurled one of her wings, which she had gone to great length to furl, and loosely patted the surface next to her. Getting herself folded in again was quite the task, but one she didn't bother to complain about.
Seeing no reason to reject their request, Arras promptly took a step forward, dispelling his artifact's magic and falling forward. Hitting the bed with a-
Arras blinked in surprise as it literally gave way under his weight. And no, it wasn't like he was particularly heavy. Maybe if he had touched it while still transformed he could've made sense of it, but as it was it felt like he just... sunk. It wasn't like the bed engulfed him or anything, but there was a distinct give to it that nothing else he'd touched ever had.
"...What in the world?"
"I know right?"
It leveled itself naturally within short order as he created a layer of force magic to support himself. Though Arras remain just as shocked, the impression made on him lasting far longer than the impression he'd made in the mattress.
"So, what do you think?" Illia readjusted herself slightly, the impact having ever so minutely budged her.
"...This is odd. But, not terrible. I think I might just sleep on the floor though."
He wasn't sure of the prospects of bedding that changed THAT much.
"What? There's no need for that. It'll grow on you! ...Probably. I mean, I'd appreciate the company. It's not like there's a post for me to sleep on at the moment."
"Fair enough." Arras agreed with minimal struggle. He'd have to give it a chance. If not because he was curious, because he wouldn't simply hang Illia out to dry. "But before that, I'm not really all that tired." Arras admitted as he scanned the corners of the room. Lo and behold, he found the object of his search within moments. A clock, which currently read nine eleven PM.
"I think I'd like to go look around this place some more. Do you want to come with me?"
"...How long do you think you'll stay out? I'm kind of ready to go to sleep myself, to be honest. I didn't get all that much while I was helping you with the wound I caused... Oh, uh, how is that by the way?"
"It's fine. My arm still hurts somewhat, but it's mostly negligible." Arras dismissed any concern as quickly as he could, and then jumped off of the bed. In the process of doing so, the give of the thing almost sent him careening into the floor. The force he judged necessary completely backfiring on him.
There was an awkward silence, before Illia broke it in slight worry. "Uh... are you alright??"
"I'm fine. I'm going to go look at some books, so... anywhere from an hour till midnight, I suppose?"
Illia stretched as she thought it over, before burying her face into the covers "...I'll come find you if you're not back by ten. Unless I'm asleep by then. Probably won't be though."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
With perhaps slightly more than an hour of remaining time with his artifact, Arras activated his metamorphosis spell once again and stretched.
"Okay, be back as soon as I can."
...
There were a few people still out and about, but Arras didn't exactly want to speak to any of them. Right now? He was just interested in a good book. Not of any particular persuasion, quite literally, just anything. He also wanted to see what was really available. There was quite the assortment, so he was quite curious as to what he could find.
He'd never been in a library quite as large as this. Actually, forget the quite, not anywhere NEAR as large as this. Just finding his way around was a sizable challenge at first. To be frank... he wasn't exactly sure where to start. And it certainly didn't help that, what he assumed to be the directions for this veritable maze, were written in Arian. Or at least, what he could only assume to be Arian.
Actually, on that note, maybe that was what he could look into? Most instructions in the Academy were written in the cipher. It certainly couldn't hurt for him to figure that out. Illia had said it shouldn't take him that long. Or had she said it didn't take long in general? Perhaps not that important of a distinction, but...
Arras shook his head, he was quite good at distracting himself. So, he had his plans. Now he just needed to figure out... how to... find a book on that. If they even had one. Surely in a library as big as this, there was bound to be something about it, right?
...But what would the book even be called? What would it look like? He only had so much time... as much as he'd love to just pick something up and start reading it, he only had forty five-forty FOUR minutes to grab whatever he wanted. And his internal clock only continued to tick. Tick, tock, tick...
"Pardon me?"
Arras paused in place, slowly turning to face the feminine voice behind him.
"Are you alright? You've been pacing around for a few minutes now."
...Why did she care about him? Arras certainly didn't know the person before him. Actually, he supposed he could relate somewhat. After all, hadn't he practically done the same thing not thirty minutes ago? He'd certainly felt a little put out himself doing something similar... so why not put a good foot forward? It certainly couldn't hurt. Well, unless they had a quality to them that Arras disliked, something he couldn't quite put a finger on, but a very clear buzzkill for him. Hopefully, they wouldn't be like that.
"I'm just trying to find a book."
"Oh! Is this your first time in the library?"
Straight forward enough...
"Yes."
"I see. What are you looking for? I'm sure I could spare a moment to help."
Arras thought it over for a moment, before nodding slowly. He could use the help. "I'd appreciate it. I'm looking for a book on Arian."
"Have you not familiarized yourself with the changes to the cipher coming next week?"
"No, I haven't." Arras “admitted”, despite not having even known when the cipher would supposedly change.
"Well, it shouldn't be an issue. The books will be distributed to the students soon enough, but for now you can find them right over..." She paused and craned her neck as she looked past Arras. "there. Books on language and codes are sorted there, just look for Arian, 1884. It should be on one of the bottom shelves.
Arras nodded once again, but paused before he turned back around. "1884?"
"Yes, the current calendar year?"
...But what did year represent? How old the Kingdom was? How old the world itself was? Maybe? Did it take 1884 years to construct the city this Academy was in? Surely it wouldn't take that long to do it, right? That seemed like a very long time. He could just ask but-
"Well, I do think I'll be retiring for the night. Enjoy your... ah, how rude of me. I neglected to introduce myself. Before I go, you may call me Madam Maria Birav. And you?"
...What was it with the title conventions this Kingdom adopted? He knew he'd learned about them somewhere... Ah, of course.
"Sir Arras Veile."
Lord and Lady were used to refer to those of a higher station than you, with Ma'am or Madam and Sir being used to refer to those who you're of equal standing with. At least that was how it was for noble etiquette. It also carried over to some other faucets of life, but he couldn't quite put his paw on which parts. There was also some drivel for different titles, and some respect and what not... But regardless, that didn't exactly matter at the moment. He didn't really look too far into it, he just… did not care about it. He only knew what he needed to know, as far as he knew.
"Oh? I wasn't aware the Veile's would be allotting an instructor to the Academy. Well, good night Sir Veile. I wish you luck in your efforts."
Arras wasn't exactly sure what to say to that... but he supposed a nod of appreciation would suffice. If she was telling the truth, which he certainly believed she was, why would she lie about something so trivial? Then he could actually finish up within the time he sitll had left. It only worked out for him.
With a slight pep in his step, Arras made his way to the shelves which that Birav had so kindly pointed out. If there were to be the kinds of people that he would be working with, he supposed he could get used to it. She'd kept things short and simple, hadn't bothered him, helped him out with something completely unprompted, they didn't quite feel condescending either.
Well, he certainly hoped anybody who he'd have to interact with would end up maintaining a similar level of professionalism.
Brexan... Sounds interesting, but not what I'm looking for... Cillif, Deepspeak... Deepspeak? That seems like an odd one out, perhaps later. Am I going in the wrong direction?
Arras paused as he turned his gaze to the books on the other side of the initial tome he'd drawn. There was an assortment of the exact same book spine, one after another. With an even hand, Arras plucked one of them from the shelf.
Arian. Well, Arian translation guide. The book was, somewhat disappointingly, small. Arras just assumed that it would be a quick read in that case.
Illia would probably be expecting him to go to sleep when he came back, to his chagrin, so Arras guessed he had about forty minutes to get a grasp of the concept.
...Not the strictest time constraint. He could work with that.
...
Arras wasn't really sure how he felt about the bed. Getting figuratively eaten alive by the thing wasn't exactly... a terrible experience, he supposed? He certainly couldn't say he enjoyed it more than previous places he'd slept in though. Illia had just kind of rolled in on top of him at this point as well. She was still asleep, her legs kicked up every once in awhile, he could literally feel it in the air, but she was pressed up against him firmly at the moment. The depression in the surface of the bed kind of gave way to her rolling on top of him, and from there they'd just kind of gotten more tangled and Arras hadn't bothered to wake her up to fix it...
Partially because he didn't want to, and also because he didn't think he'd HAVE to. Illia was a heavy sleeper, sure, but... not quite THAT heavy. She woke up with sufficient prodding within short order, the only times she hadn't being when she was exhausted...
Well... Arras figured she HAD been exhausted. Yesterday, if not physically strenuous, was certainly mentally taxing for her. Neither he nor she had been expecting a run in with her family, THEIR, family, he supposed. On top of the accosting from the Headmaster that still made his blood run cold at the thought of it. It was for Arras as well, but he wasn't really the type to sleep his problems off.
Though it didn't really matter too much, Arras could certainly afford to wait awhile for her to properly wake up. It wasn't like he really had anything at all in particular to do today... It would be another two days until the Academy picked up in proper, and the only thing he'd obligated himself to doing today had been helping a supposed student of his practice with their magic later.
Well... he also had to speak with his "family", whatever that entailed, but they hadn't given him a time nor a place, so who could blame him if he just so happened to not actively seek it out? You know, to perhaps make it take slightly longer than it otherwise would've. Just an innocent little mistake. Yup, that sounded nice.
And so he relaxed as best he could, closed his eyes and...
Nevermind, Illia started rolling around.
"You wanna make up your mind?"
Her thoughts were slow, groggy at first. It took her a solid moment to properly respond.
"...Wha?"
Well, properly in a loose kind of sense.
"No, no, nothing important."
"...Why am I upside down?"
“Are you sure we can’t just sleep on the floor? There’s a carpet it doesn’t seem that bad.”
“...Arras, what are you talking about?”
“I think you can figure it out.”
She went quiet for a moment as she rolled herself over. It was a slight struggle without the explicit use of her wings, but she managed it within a few moments.
"Oh wow that really does have a lot of give.”
“I feel like I’m being eaten alive.”
“Alright, alright, you’re so overdramatic you know that?”
“I am adequately dramatic.” Arras huffed indignantly as he shuffled himself out of the crater that had formed around him.
“Anyways…” Arras leaped down moments later, touching down on the carpeted floor. “What would you like to do today? I don’t think we can go do whatever you wanted to do in the city yesterday, given I haven’t actually been paid yet? But I’d love to do anything else you’d like.”
“I appreciate the offer. But I’m just as new to all of this as you are Arras.” She admitted readily. “Actually, that brings something to mind. Do you want to just… take a look around the city? That sounds nice to me. Oh, and we can wash up before we head out. I think?”
“Hm?”
“You know? The shower in the other room?”
“Is that what that is?”
“Yeah it’s not really designed for smaller creatures like us, but we can make it work. Probably? I mean, I saw some bottles in there, so I’m pretty sure we have everything we’d need.”
“I… don’t really know how that works.” Arras shrugged after having activated his magic. Opening the door a moment later.
“Yeah I haven’t actually used one of these myself before either… We’ll figure it out together.”
…
Arras couldn’t stop fidgeting with his hair. At all. It was an all day thing. It was damp, and a little stiff… Which made sense, because that’s what his fur had felt like. Illia had come out no worse for wear as far as he was aware, because there was no occasional thought of annoyance with her feathers.
He’d gotten the hang of working with them fairly quickly. It was a different process, but not a difficult one to understand. Their feathers needed individual cleaning as opposed to a more overarching touch that would do his fur some good. Which Illia hadn't quite seemed to properly fathom. At least not until they'd already been in the shower for almost half an hour. Speaking of the shower, it was an interesting contraption. Water was good at removing things, apparently.
As far as Arras could tell... it was some kind of artifact that produced water. Said water fell down a drain, and from there the manifestation of it vanished. Where exactly it brought the grime that it removed, he wasn't sure, but it was certainly convenient. Appearances were important, and while it hadn't exactly crossed his mind before, keeping oneself extensively clean was a rather obvious conclusion if you cared about how others perceived you at all times.
He was fairly sure he hadn't done it properly somehow though, surely you weren't meant to feel uncomfortable after the fact like he did? Illia was evidence enough of that fact... Regardless, he supposed it didn't matter too much now. Hopefully he'd stop itching soon enough.
It had been a mostly pleasant day. They hadn't had any plans, and also not much to actually do... So just as Illia had suggested, they spent the day familiarizing themselves with the location. It was pleasant, but not much exactly deserved mentioning. Out of all the days in Arras's life so far... It was relatively mediocre. While he wasn't exactly in a hurry, what he was looking forward to was what he almost always looked forward to.
Magic. Obviously. Specifically, hopefully what would be his first experience with actually teaching. They'd been out all day, and the sun was also beginning to set now. It should only be a matter of an hour or so till it was... what did Arras say again? Around this time, tomorrow? Well, it was around that time, tomorrow.
"You remember what I told that student from yesterday, right, Illia?"
"Of course I do. It was a pretty abnormal thing for you to do."
"Yes, so I'm going to head on over to the classroom. It couldn't hurt to be a little early. And to be fair, I've barely been using magic today. It'd be nice to get a warm up before I'm doing anything else. So, do you want to head inside, or will you stay out here with me for the moment?"
"What do you think?" Illia thumped her head against Arras's neck. "Obviously I'll stay out here with you. Just don't be too harsh on me when I inevitably get sucked into this alright?"
"I'll go easy on them at first. I can't promise I'll do the same for you though."
"Well, try not to scare off your own prospective students." Illia remarked dryly.
"Whether they want to learn or not is their own choice." He shrugged defectively. "If any of them are anything like me they'd welcome the chance."
Illia drooped in an exaggerated fashion before brandishing a wing threateningly "Yeah, if they're like you. You're not like other people, you doof!"
And down came the feathery hammer.
----------------------------------------
Dictionary
Primordial Casting
Every single creature on the face of the planet is born with the innate ability to cast magic. Some are more skilled, some are worse, but every single creature with the gift of magic is capable of this method of spell casting. Simply put, it's one's innate talent to weave magic without outside influence. Though, talent wouldn't quite be an apt descriptor. Many sources believe an individuals ability in Primordial Casting to be determined from birth, however, various individuals have been able to improve in this skill through rigorous practice.
While it can be difficult to learn, Primordial Casting allows for much more flexible spell work, as opposed to the more rigid and precise method of Casting Patterns. Unlike Casting Patterns, there isn't exactly much to say about this method. Other than that attributeless magic is generally easier to learn for those more skilled in this field. Which does give them somewhat of an edge over those who would work with Casting Patterns, the aforementioned method being unable to utilize attributeless magic through imagery.
----------------------------------------
Brexan
The native language of the Syrene peoples of the seas. A reclusive people in nature, their language has not spread too far, but it's not quite a buried language like some others. Should one look hard enough, it likely wouldn't be difficult to find a source to translate with. However, it is mostly independent of other languages, very few words surviving a direct translation from one language to the other. As such, it can be rather difficult to learn.
----------------------------------------
Cillif
A somewhat unique form of dialect wholly borne of attributeless magic. In all honesty, it's somewhat of a stretch to go out and call Cillif a "language". Though, it's not as if far stranger additions to this whole do not exist. Cillif is the weaving of magical patterns outside of an individuals body. Under normal circumstances, one could certainly consider such a thing to be language, akin to sign language, but in this case, Cillif is more so communicating with the instinctual feelings of more magically attuned creatures such as elemental spirits.
To the untrained, they likely wouldn't even know they're being spoken to in this language. And even to the educated, it can be difficult to make out what information is being given without an excellent understanding of magic in general.
----------------------------------------
Deepspeak
A varied pattern of actual noises and body language. But do note, those aforementioned noises are only actually possibly reproducible through either magic or being one of a specific sub-set of monsters inhabiting one of many Pits. While there is some discrimination against native speakers of this language, it's rather difficult for those who would lower themselves to such standards to interact with them to begin with. Usually only properly educated combatants in search of practice or training find themselves in places like this, and to such an individual, such denizens are usually a welcome reprieve from the usually mindless clusters of monsters that roam these locations.
While not the most articulate language, it accomplishes what is needed of it rather easily, and it's relatively simple to learn. Perhaps only a few dozen gestures and noises needing memorization, as opposed to the standard thousands of a normal language. It has also on numerous occasions saved the lives of more intelligent monsters. Not every creature borne from the Pits is a mindless beast, and understanding Deepspeak can help greatly in communicating with such creatures, provided they were smart enough to comprehend the language on their own time.