Help With Homework (Emerald!)

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

"Ah!" Arthur said, feeling embarressed. "Right, write..." Bringing his quill to the parchment, he looked at what he had written already and did his best to make an introductory paragraph.

The wand is the one of the most important and valued tools in any wizard or witch's arsenal. While today most wands are simplistic, in the past they were often complex and ornate. This paper will be going over the most common and the most unusual wands seen throught history.

Arthur held up the paper for Hana to see. "Um... how does this look?"

[emeraldknight]

Hana's eyes scanned over the paper, expecting the worst. "This kid was probably asleep when they taught him how to write an essay". As she read, though, she realized that the paragraph was actually rather well-written. "Wow, Arthur, that's good! I'm impressed!"

Rather pleased with the result of her coaxing, she decided to offer an incentive (and maybe an opportunity for herself). "How about, if there's still time left when you're done, we play a game of Monster Mash?

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Arthur's face lit up at the girl's offer, the bags under his eyes seeming to disappear. A  girl wanted to play Monster Mash? With him? She was already helping him with his paper! "Okay! Y-yeah, I'd love to!" the boy said, cheeks flushing slightly. Immediately he began to write again, facts about wands seeming to pop back into his memory instantly. 

"So, um, Hana?" Arthur asked quietly as he scribbled frantically. "Uh... What kinds of subjects are you here to learn?"

"Oh Kia, why is it so hard to talk to girls?"

[emeraldknight]

"Geez, this kid must really love that game!" Hana was quite happy to see him writing so quickly. Tutoring Arthur really wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. In fact, it was actually quite nice to have some corporeal company for once.

"What kind of subjects? Well..." Honestly, it was a good question. She sighed as she thought back to her parents, sending her off to Wyrdwood against her will. She supposed it was probably for the best, but still, it really wasn't a place she could feel at home at. "My parents sent me here to get me out of the way. I really can't do much magic, so..." She trailed off again as she said this, gripping the edge of the table a bit tighter, her face getting a bit tenser. "So, I just try to learn as much as possible."

Hana wiped a bit of sweat from her brow, cursing internally at how hard that simple question had been to answer. "So, what about you, Arthur? What are you here for?"

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

The boy frowned, his scribbling slowing down. "Her parents want her out of the way?" he thought, suddenly feeling rather somber. "Man, I thought my dad was bad..."

Arthur put his quill down, looking at the floor. "I don't want to be here. My dad is making me go, he says it's my duty to the family." He sighed, loosening the buckle on his hat slightly. "I don't want to be a mage! I want to be an author!" the boy said, a bitterness in his voice rarely heard by his classmates. "But no, I have powerful magic so I gotta take up the family torch and be a dumb executioner!" Arthur crossed his arms in a huff. "It's stupid and I hate it."

[emeraldknight]

Hana truly didn't know what to say. She stared down at the table. "Damn, that's bad. I can't even imagine being an executioner." Killing people for a living just seemed way too grim for a kid like him, even if he'd be older by then. She just couldn't imagine it. "Maybe he'll execute me someday." She pushed the thought out of her head. It was too morbid. "Hopefully you won't have to. Who knows what could happen from now 'til you graduate? At least you still have a few years to go. I have no idea what I'll do when I'm out of here." She didn't want to think about that, either. General conversation was just full of uncomfortable topics.

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Arthur slowly picked his quill back up, scowling. Answering Hana's question had gotten him angrier then he wanted to admit, calming himself down was never something the boy had an easy time doing. "Yeah. Whatever." he muttered, scribbling angrily. "I'll show them, just wait. If I get the lowest grades possible, dad will have to admit I'm a lost cause!" Arthurs eye twitched. "My power's not so great anyway..."

[emeraldknight]

"Woah, hey, it's okay!" Hana was rather shocked at the sudden rage displayed by Arthur. She looked around the library, searching for something to shift the conversation with. He'd mentioned his power. "What is his magic anyway?"

"Hey Arthur? What's your specialty? You know, elemental, holy, primal. What do you do?"

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Arthur's eye twitched. "That's not what I want to talk about right now." he thought, looking up at Hana. "Enchanting." he said flatly. "But like, on people, not things." He shook his head. "It's really lame."

"Ugh, gotta change the subject!"

Arthur attempted to smile, but his heart wasn't really in it. "So Hana, what are your powers?"

[emeraldknight]

"My powers?!" Hana felt a sudden rush of anxiety. No, not anxiety, fear! "Just the ghosts, the ghosts!" "I have ghosts, no and, no but!" What was the fear? The fear and the doubt and the horror and the jolting and why would she ever think of an 'and', she'd always known that was all, ghosts, ghosts, more ghosts, all the way down! Her heart beat faster inside of her as she felt an urge to tap two fingers to something, anything. Arthur, herself. As calmly as possible under the circumstances, she stated, "I don't have any special power, just the ghosts. My parents sent me here to get me out of the way, and so I don't learn in class, I study in the library or read in the back, the ghosts shroud me, and I do it be-"

She caught herself. "So, nice, um, nice... Lighting, in here?" She had to change the subject. She'd already acted weird, been seen by Arthur. She just needed to keep the conversation going without thinking about it any more. Taking a couple of deep breaths, she calmed her mind and tried her hardest to block out all intrusive thoughts.

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Arthur frowned. "That can't be right..." he thought, tilting his hed slightly. "It cost's a fortune just to become a fellow and use the library! And her parents bought her tuition just to get her out of the way?!"

The boy fidgeted with the buckle on his hat. "Um..." he murmured, unsure of how to process Hana's behavior. "Yeah, the lighting is... comfy? Like, you could take a nap here and the light wouldn't keep you awake..." He rubbed his eyes, beginning to feel sleepy again. "...Are you okay? You look upset..."

[emeraldknight]

Hana pulled a slightly forced smile onto her face and sat further upright. "I'm fine, really." She exhaled slowly, before tensing up again. "Wait, what's the time? Shouldn't you be in your next class by now?" The library seemed much emptier than when she came in.

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Arthur's eyes widened. "Oh Myyla, you're right!" he said, looking around frantically. It seemed tht apart from Miss Fare and a few fellows and teachers assistants, the library had been completely abandoned. "I have runes! Professor Trueflower told me if I was tardy again, he'd-"

"Oh, don't worry! Professor Trueflower is sick today!"

A snide voice from behind him caused the pillow-headed boy to flinch, and he quickly spun around to see the school tattletale, Beatrix Evans, smirking at him. The boy groaned. "Oh come on, that's not true! You always lie about stuff like this!"

Beatrix crossed her arms. "Is too! There was a note at breakfast, didn't you see?"

Arthur blinked, uncertainty filling his mind- he had slept through breakfast that morning. "Um..." He looked to Hana, a worried look on his face. "Was... was there a note? I overslept..."

[emeraldknight]

She'd never spoken to this girl, maybe only seen her once or twice. But she was certainly bad news. Hana stiffened up and stared over at the intruder. Unfortunately, Arthur's question proved rather difficult to answer, since she'd had her head in a book the entire time. Still, if this girl was lying (And Hana was certainly inclined to believe she was), then it would probably be best to not let her believe she could fool her. "Bullshit, there was no note. Now would you mind if we moved along? We need to go make sure Professor Trueflower knows that Arthur isn't to blame for being late."

Somehow, Hana suspected that doing just that wouldn't be quite as easy as she hoped, what with the blue-haired menace there. Maybe it was just because of her weird-looking shadow, but she was suspicious.

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Beatrix stamped her foot of the ground angrily. Hey! I'm trying to save you time! Why won't you just listen to me?!" The girl's shadow swayed a little, as if it had a will of it's own. "I'm being-"

Beatrix stopped abruptly, smirking. Her gaze lingered on something behind Arthur and his friend, and she threw her arms into the air as if in celebration. "You did it Aahva! Teamwork, yay!"

Arthur gasped, and spun around to see the Thanati boy had snatched his still unfinished paper while he wasn't looking. With a grin, the bully turned heel and ran, laughing maniacally. "Aahva stop!" Arthur yelled, standing up to give chase. "I need that!"

[emeraldknight]

This was why Hana hated underclassmen. Always so immature. "Arthur, you did put your name on that paper, right?", she sighed. Really, it was a stupid question. It was very unlikely that someone like Arthur would have bothered, or even remembered, to mark the work as his own, at least from what she'd seen. Still, if there was the faintest glimmer of hope, then she had to find out. But if her suspicions were confirmed, then that would make this very annoying.

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Arthur looked back at Hana, panic in his eyes. "I... I..." he stammered. "I don't remember! I don't always, my brother says my handwriting is a signature of it's own..." The boy began to run in the direction Aahva had gone, but he wasn't quick enough to close the distance. "Get back here Aahva! I'm gonna tell Magister Maergath!"

Beatrix giggled, slinking back into the shadow of a bookcase. "Arthur makes it too easy!" she exclaimed as she seemed to melt into the darkness. "He'll never beat Aahva..."