"And that is what I want you all to be practicing today," Professor Flynn has just finished saying. They've been learning how to cover their desks in flowers and grass and as many things as they can fit on the small surface. Some people are flourishing with it, but Sophia is having a bit of trouble with this one. Earth magic has always been her worst. Professor Flynn is her favorite though, he's fresh out of the academy himself and he lets them do so much practical work, so it doesn't become long days of lectures. They've only started to begin more of their harder magic classes, most of them having just found their eggs and some still looking. Of course it could be harder, but the academy likes to work them up to the harder things and not just moving quickly.

Sophia can get white flowers to grow over her desk a little, but it's not going the best it could. Along with that they have training after this and she's been eager to work on moves they'll need with their dragons now. They've got to be able to protect the eggs until they hatch and then they've got to make sure that they don't let their dragons get in harms way without helping some.

Earth magic is the worst. It really really is and of course the kid next to her is getting it as if it's nothing. Stupid earth magic users and their ability to make anything grow anywhere. "Alright, it'd be best if you could make some vines go around your desk as well if you can do the flowers," Professor Flynn calls out to the class. "And maybe help out your neighbors if they're struggling." Sophia reaches out to touch one of the flowers and watches it wilt with a groan.

Athena was frustrated, to say the least.

What was the use of taking magic classes that aren't your strongest affinity? She didn't know. She thought it better to be stronger at one specific thing than weak in multiple. Looking around the room, it was easy to tell the earth affinities from the rest of them, as they were excelling dramatically. She could barely grow a single flower, let alone twisty vines and grass. The girl had originally thought that earth classes would've been held outside, but instead they were indoors, using their desks as a substitute for the ground. Not taking well to her failure, the girl firmly planted her head on the desk.

"Ugghhhhhh, kill me now." She groaned, not really caring who heard. Although usually she wouldn't do such a gesture, all her cares were tossed out of the nearest window. "Stupid earth magic, stupid stupid stupid." She muttered under her breath, balling her fists up and keeping her head firmly planted on her desk, oblivious to the small area of air around her getting colder.

She couldn't wait to get to training after this. She needed a healthy outlet for her frustration, and she'd heard they'd be working on moves they'll need with their dragons; To protect the eggs and then help and protect their dragons. Athena hadn't known about dragons and their rider until she found her egg, but that was a different story for a different time.

Drake was most definitely struggling to say the least. He could barely grow a leave and even if he did manage to grow something he doesn't think it's good enough and tries to improve it. Then he accidentally manages to uproot it by accidentally using wind. He looks around and notices the natural Earth affinity people. Though he looks around at some of the others. He sees one girl touch a flower and have it wilt. Could be worse... Seriously this must be impossible for people like her who have dark magic affinity. He gets a few thin vines across his desk before he really feels useless. Ugh! why can't I do this?!?

Drago snorted as he watched Clara's grass wilt. Her index finger was absently spinning in the air, magic unchecked, as she watched the students around her either struggle or flourish. Have an air affinity meant that her skill with earth wasn't the greatest but it wasn't the worst. Drago was most likely an air mage also, but without the confirmation of a dragon egg, it was still up in the air.

Drago poked his twin in the side and she jerked abruptly. Her dark blue eyes snapped down and her mouth twisted into a rueful smile. Her dying grass perked back up at another gesture. She was never very fond of the earth anyways. Not like Drago was. Though soaring through the sky on the back of a dragon did have it's own appeal.

Alright, it'd be best if you could make some vines go around your desk as well if you can do the flowers

He returned his attention to his own desk. It was covered with a variety of flowers and grass. A frown flickered across Drago's face. He jumped as his sister's long finger jabbed him in the side. He hiked up an eyebrow and communicated silently.

What?

I forgot how to make vines. The wiggle of Clara's eyebrows was enough to make Drago snort.

Me too. He offered up a crocked smile as a consolation prize. Neither of them were the best students.

Peyton glanced across the room and absently stroked her hand across the small patch of grass that had appeared on her desk. "Alright, it'd be best if you could make some vines go around your desk as well if you can do the flowers," Flynn stated softly, encouragingly to the class. She groaned inwardly and cut her eyes at the twins a few seats beside her and wondered vaguely what had been so funny. She shrugged her shoulders slightly and turned her focus back to the task at hand. Biting her lip, she waved her hand in a small circle over the grassy patch and willed a vine or two to appear. All with no luck. "Seriously," she murmured, frustrated.
A flower suddenly sprouted in the middle of the patch. Professor Flynn walked by and smiled encouragingly. "Good job," he said to Peyton. She stammered a small thank you and blushed furiously. When she touched the flower, hoping to make them spread, it burst into a small orange flame and turned to ash. "Crapola," she muttered under her breath. Peyton glanced over at the girl beside her. Sophia had touched her flower and it wilted under her fingertips. "This is harder than I anticipated. I think I'm starting to really dislike flowers," she whispered to Sophia and smiled slightly.
Peyton wasn't great at talking to people, and the small exchange with Sophia made her blush slightly. She bit her lip and brushed the ashes off her desk. She couldn't wait for the next class. Hopefully it wasn't as flammable as the flowers.

There was a reason Julia vervain was Fire affinity. She could easily destroy things, but creating new life from the ground up was near impossible. But she had been living breathing magic since she was young. Well, maybe not breathing, but certainly trying to control it. She willed her magic to flow out of her and into the young patches of dirt on her desk, and slowly,very slowly, the vines began to grow.

The vines tentatively stretched out themselves and began to encircle the desk. She gritted her teeth and pushed a little more of the small earth magic within herself to run through the vines and make small pink flowers sprout from the vines. It was a small improvement which she had been working on since she entered the academy.

Her dark eyes darted around and look around the classroom. Julia saw a girl that had a flower burst into flames, a pair of twins that didn't seem to know how to make vines, and a couple of other students that weren't faring any better. It was only when she turned back to her desk that she noticed her vines were shrivelling like an old hag. She gritted her teeth in anger knew that was herself at fault. She hadn't been paying attention and her magical energy disapparated. She took a deep breath and tried to start again.

Andy's smile crept across her face as she absentmindedly waved her hand over her desktop and a thick, lush patch of green grass grew effortlessly. Twirling her fingers slightly, three beautiful white daisies sprouted before her and after smiling at each one of her "babies", as she so often called them, she placed her head on the patch of grass. Allowing the warm, comforting scent of life to fill her lungs, she spread out her fingers and blocked all the sound around her, vines were never easy but she had figured out that if one is to grow a vine, they must be totally focused.

After a minute or so, her eyes shot open and she reached her hand gracefully into the grass by her right ear and slowly began to coax out a thickening dark green vine. "Come on, come on little one. You can do it..." She whispered and smiled to herself. This was cake! Blessed with the affinity for earth magic, Andy had always excelled in Flynn's class, she loved to practice her skill and grow in confidence and power. With one last encouraging comment, Andy lay her hand to rest and the vine, now about two feet long, wrapped itself easily around her desk and four tiny purple flowers erupted from it's tip. Looking around her, she desperately wanted to help the others and show them her tricks, but Mr. Flynn had forbidden her to do so, knowing she was skilled in this area of magic.

Lynx looked around the class room, as nervous as can be, at all her classmates because she already KNEW that she couldn't create life HAVEING a dark affinity and all. She could only make life possable, but with a small groan she tried to stay positive and try again. Wiggling her fingers over the dirt trying to force something out she scrunched up her eyes. Once she was sure she'd managed to produce something she peaked and smiled as a sprout appears through the ground, only for it to turn black and shrivel up. "Bloody rain" she curses. Looking around the class she notices that the girl in front of her was very successful, so she leans over her table and taps on the shoulder of the girl known as Andy "'Scurz me miss, can you help me please?" She asks as her southern accent can be heared clearly and desperate.

Sophia's a little surprised when the girl next to her speaks up, she wasn't expecting her to have said anything. "You're telling me, but I love flowers so this is so frustrating." She wiggles her eyebrows at Peyton and narrows her eyes to concentrate on growing something, when it's just a little flower that can barely stay alive she ends up rolling her eyes. "Fucking- Sorry. This can't be as hard as we're making it," she mutters to Peyton and glances around the room. "How do you think they're doing it?" she whispers, tilting her head towards the twins and then glancing at Andy. She puts on a happy smile when Flynn comes back around the room and pretends that she's actually doing well.

"At least we'll be practicing all the other affinities too, so it's not like we can look this bad in them all." Plus she's sure she'll do better in the next class and since Peyton has a fire affinity she's sure she could hold her own against someone trying to hurt her dragon.

Cal looked rather absentmindedly at his desk. He wiggled his fingers slowly, not really paying attention to the small stem growing out of his desk. When it finally caught his eye he panicked and the stem stopped growing. "God Damnit." Earth and Water magic reply were t that far apart from each other. They had to do with life and living but when he loses his concentration, which he tends to do a lot, it usually changes for the worse.

Now he was concentrating too much, and the stem would barely grow at all. Frustrated, he slammed his hands on the tables, and scowled at the earth affinities having no problem with this at all. He didn't really think they were fantastic, but he did tend to get a twinge of jealousy every now and then wen someone did better than him at something.

Drake looks over at the guy next to him, who is Cal. He heard him slam his hands. "Hey... Frustrated?" He continues trying to grow some things... But doesn't do much better then before. "How do the Earth affinities do it?"

She glanced over at Andy's desk and bit her lip. It was thriving. Peyton glanced at the clock behind her and groaned inwardly. How much longer did they have to endure the torture of making things grow and then killing them. "How do you think they're doing it?", Sophia whispered. Peyton surveyed the room once more. "I have no clue. I can get them to grow, but them they just erupt like a volcano." Surely the other classes wouldn't be like this. Surely she could excel at something here. FIRE. She bit her lip to keep from smiling. Once she got to that class she would feel better and stop being so self deprecating.

After multiple more tries, Athena had finally managed to get a few flowers on her desk. Cheering silently, she tried making a small vine. 'Careful... careful...' she lectured herself, putting all of her concentration into it. She was still frustrated about her previous failure, but pushed it to the back of her mind as she kept trying. She got the vine to grow. Not too long, so it didn't wrap around her desk, but it was long enough for her to feel proud of it.

The girl jumped at the sound of someone slamming their hands on the table, her concentration waning and fear kicking in. A few of her flowers scattered, but two remained upstanding. She realised it was one of the students in front of her that got frustrated, and his seatmate seemed to be starting a conversation. 'I guess neither of them are Earthies.' Athena giggled to herself at the nickname she'd come up with, folding her arms on her desk, then proceeding to rest her head on them.

She'd done enough earth magic for the day, she could just hope that her scattered flowers didn't land on anyone's desk and cause an annoyance. Letting herself relax, she listened to the conversations going on in the room whilst daydreaming about what the next class would be like. It was usual for her to do this in classes that weren't Air or Combat, so the majority of professors didn't mind it so long as she tried to do the work and had something to show for it. Thankfully, her vine was still standing sturdy after her scare. Perhaps it was a good thing that it wasn't too long.

Julia jumped a little as she heard thumping behind her. She glanced back and saw a man getting frustrated. While earth magic was her strongest she definitely wasn't the worst at it. She turned back around and let the vines shrivel and die. Conversation had broken out in the classroom and she knew once it started there was nothing to do but let it happen. Her concentration wasn't going to resume anytime soon.

The redhead leaned back in her chair slowly watching the vines and the pink flowers on them die. She stretched her hands up and glanced around. There were a few people sitting next to her, but none that she knew. Most of her comrades had found their eggs and were working with their baby dragons. She had been left utterly friendless. Again. She knew it wasn't their fault but she couldn't help but blame them.

Julia glanced at the clock. This class seemed to be dragging on forever. She leaned further back in the chair and resigned herself to watch.

@TheHunter

Cal continued to try and create a flower until a pale yellow covered his flower stem. He looked up and saw the layers of colored hair. "Hey. Redhead. Please, lean back farther. It really adds a nice touch to my desk," Cal said annoyed. Cal put his feet up on the back of her chair with a smirk on his face.

Clara hummed softly as she stared at her flower covered desk. Drago was focused on making vines as per instruction. Or he was naping with his eyes open, having given up on the task. Clara couldn't tell.

"Aley iska threuvl." The young woman sang at her desk. Her hum becoming a song. All her plants russtled then settled back down leaning just ever so slightly towards Clara as if she had become their own personal sun. The girl's eyebrows drew together as she studied the movement.

Julia's attention flicked back to the person sitting behind her. Her chair slammed down hard into the challenging floor. Julia felt her temper rage and like fire it was starting to consume her. Julia spun around dark eyes glaring at the soul who had rudely put their feet on her chair. His words bit into her and she quickly calmed down. Her eyes flitted down to his desk and she let out a little huff.

"It seems like your desk needs a little color. I mean there's not much else there, now is there?" Julia's eyes danced dangerously as the words left her mouth. She glanced over the man who had been so snarky. She might have seen him around but had paid him no attention.

@TheHunter

Cal's eyes opened as the redhead make her remark. He slowly removed his feet from her chair and instead leaned forward on his desk with his forearm. His eyes rolled as he looked at her desk with vines and flowers. He had to admit, the vines and flowers were pretty damn amazing for a fire affinity, but he couldn't lose this one. He after all , was the one who made the first remark.

"Well I'm sorry I don't waste my evenings alone, looking through a book for countless hours just to tell a few people around me, 'hey, I can do things right out of a book!' Instead I like to tell people, 'Hey, I'm not an unimportant loser with nothing else to do but study out of a god damn useless book, just so I can tell the friends I don't have!'"

Cal then placed his feet back on her chair, and his smirk grew a little.

Drake looks over keeping a regular face in appearance, but dismay in his mind. Does everyone hate each other in this school?

"You know there's no real point trash talking one another, it makes you both sound stupid and childish... Especially with the insults you're throwing. So why don't you both calm down a couple notches?"

Athena listened as the guy in front of her started...insulting the girl in front of him. Was insulting the right word? She was unsure. All the poor girl did was lean back, she might've been unaware of his desk being there.

Rolling her eyes slightly, she sent a small spout of air his way, aiming for the back of his head. It wouldn't be enough to hurt, she couldn't even do that yet. Not that she wanted to... much. It would just be enough to cause an annoyance, most likely, and get his attention. Now, as much as Athena didn't like confrontation and social situations, being such a bookworm she was slightly irked at his attitude towards studying books, and people who study from them. Making sure to mind her vine and flowers, she leant over her desk, her mouth opening before really thinking it through.

"What's so bad about studying to be good at something?" She asked, pausing for a moment. "The amount of friends a person has doesn't determine their worth, unless I guess you're shallow-minded like that." She said, her voice staying quiet. "If you know what's good for you, you'll listen to your friend there and cool it."

Were they friends? Perhaps. She didn't know. If she said 'seatmate' it wouldn't have sounded so good, but if they're not friends... 'Eh, if they're not friends it doesn't really matter. Worst case scenario it just makes me sound sarcastic.' Athena was proud of herself for confronting them, and she was beaming happily on the inside.