The atmosphere is humid, warmth clinging like musk to the ancient walls of the lecture hall. It's grand, long and tall fitted with wooden seats covered in worn and faded red fabric. The room is brittle, once made from dark oak with intricately woven designs embedded into them; now it stands caked with a layer of dust. Similarly, once bright carpet that lay the floor is now nothing but a matted grey. The windows are nothing but mere slabs of glass, unable to be opened and restrict any means of ventilation.
It is torturous for the couple hundred of students in session. They dot sporadically across the room, several congregating in groups whilst some sit alone. Most of them are heavily drowsy with the want for sleep, the late afternoon tantalisingly teasing, with some having succumbed entirely, pens and papers spilling to the floor and their heads pressed against the minuscule attached desk, soft snores hidden between the brim of low chatter that echoes throughout the room. The room leaks of boredom, with almost all of the students having lost focus amidst it all.
Plopped at the front, is a wiry-framed man, fixed with thick black spectacles on his narrow face. A small screen has been propped up, fitted with basic/uninformative notes, yet the professor talks about a plethora of more ideologies, that most students are unable to catch due to his dull tone, giving up entirely.
Lucrezia sits at the front with a curious face, furiously scribbling down into her pale pink notebook, holding a purpled-gel pen. She is much too engrossed with the content of the lecture, ignoring all the scornful stares from surrounding students, wondering how on earth she was able to grasp onto it all. A stack of textbooks pile high next to her, her pen going into her mouth subconsciously as she analyses what she's written.
The female sits alone on the front row, her group of friends being ditched when they had walked in. They currently sit at the very top, giggling with each other and scrolling through their phones.
A buzzer bursts through the room, followed by the relieved scuttle of students throwing their books into bags and crowding the aisles, desperate to leave the suffocating room and into real air. Lucrezia's friends are slow with their movements, casually hanging back and taking their time, watching the crowd flood out. They all know too well the antics of their friend, who is already holding up the professor with a series of questions, arms weighted down by all her books.
"Alright Lux, let the man go free. He's got a wife and kids y'know," a tall, lean male says, grabbing her books for her.
His hair is almost white, with the tips hued the faintest of purples. His skin glows silver, with ears heavily pointed at the tips and features sharp. Most fae-folk had elf-like features, with bright hair and skin.
Pluto was an exchange student and had been studying the same course as Lucrezia the past year. The human and fae kingdoms were very closely aligned, and since neither species posed a direct threat to each other they allowed such mingling. It was becoming more and more common through the years, though the vetting process was painfully difficult.
Lucrezia cuts her eyes at him darkly, lashes fluttering. Her black hair had been put up loosely, front pieces falling out and framing her freckled face. She turns back to the professor, asking one last question to satiate her curiosity. She never felt embarrassed about enjoying her subject.
The group tumble out in a whirl of chatter and laughter. There were five of them, though Lucrezia had only been close friends with Belle since childhood. Their friendship group kept changing, with people coming and going, but the pair were untouched. Their conversation quickly spirals into talks of a new nightclub opening in the heart of town, and how it was simply tradition to bless it with their presence on its opening night.
Their plans are set, the group disbanding and going their separate ways. Lucrezia and Belle stroll through their campus together, Lucrezia only having agreed to this plan if her best friend accompanied her to the library for the next couple of hours.
