Jideh spat out the blade of grass and stared. He watched at Zeke scrambled off of Dia, and felt an awkward silence beginning to brew. Jideh, as it so happened, hated awkward silences.

"So shall we go find a teacher or something? I'm honestly dying to know where we'll be roomed!" Jideh exclaimed, going to throw an arm around Zeke and waving to Dia to follow along. Immediately following this, he tried to bring Zeke's head down next to his as he hunched over and whispered furiously. "Dude! Why would you do that? She was just starting to open up! ...I think. Let's just forget that just happened, and act normal." 

Jideh gave Zeke a pointed look, and then to Dia added, "Dia! We'd both be happy to be your first friends! Do you want to come find a prof with us? I'm getting hungry!"

[@Regitnui] [@Old Amsterdam]

[hr]

Jordan scratched at his chin, nodding approvingly. "This is very well-written Kanako, I have a feeling you'll ace the language parts of the classes you're in. It kind of sounds a tad... Cold? I'll spice it up when I deliver it! Thanks a bunch. Would you like to go see where said speech is going to be delivered?"

As he awaited Kanako's response, Jordan almost unconsciously gathered a large amount of dust into a swirling cloud next to his desk. The cloud then began to coalesce into a long oblong slate, and as it did, engraved troughs formed on the surface of the slate. As Jordan's idle eyes swept over the speech on the screen, the sand copied it down, word for word, letter for letter. At the very end, a complex series of marks and scratches formed a signature of sorts, followed by a smiley emoticon.

Jordan drew the slate to him, and caught it, brushing off some excess dust, and blowing the slate clean. It was perfectly formed. A very hard skill to learn indeed, and try as he might, without Kano, Jordan might not have mastered it even now. The slate was a featureless, uniform layer of stone, as though formed in the heart of the earth. Millions of grains of sand melded into one unblemished form. The engraved letters even had concentrations of mineral deposits that shaded in the troughs, a kind of ink that could never be erased, save by breaking the actual tablet.

Jordan smiled fondly, admiring the handiwork. It was the responsibility of the teacher giving the speech to somehow codify and preserve their work for storage in the vaults below the Academy. Most earth elementalists made some variety of slab, having by and large the easiest and most practical form of material to use for speech recording. However he'd seen some spectacular feats performed by fire users, water users, wind users, and above all light users. Jordan couldn't recall a year where Kano had called on a member of staff who wielded blood, lightning, aetherial, or... any other kind of element, and it was probably intentional.

Still as Jordan gazed over at Kanako, he knew it would be wrong if he didn't do her justice. At the very lower right corner where some space was left, he engraved her name and year of initiation. Finished, Jordan placed the slate lightly on his desk in a clear spot. He felt a sheen of sweat tickling his brow, and opened a drawer in his desk, retrieving a bottle of water. As Jordan drank, he felt his depleted energies peak a bit, and he also realized he had to visit the john.

"Kanako, meet me outside, in the courtyard. You'll recognize it by the stupid-looking statue of Headmaster Hargor. Seriously, it's massive. You can't miss it. I think he might be overcompensating for his tiny–" Jordan frowned, and then shook his head. "Just meet me there." Jordan promptly ran out of his office, tripping over numerous items that had shifted when he'd created the speech-slate. The "john" was waiting.

...

Loud cursing and curls of smoke enter into the office from outside. Followed by the sound of coughing and frantic footsteps.

[@Hammerman]