Tuning in more completely to the world around her, her notes were momentarily forgotten, as her eyes shifted their focus to the man behind the podium. He was a stout sort of man, the sort that wore tweed suits with patches on the elbows, that adjusted his pants when shifting in place because they’d constantly shift around the slight girth of his belly. The thick, horn-rimmed glasses were constantly sliding down his nose. His receding hairline had long since begun its retreat north and was slowly disappearing behind his head while grey hair lingered about the sides.<br/><br/>He was the sort of man whose face read far more than his words needed to, though they were aptly able to cut as deeply as any knife could have. He was the sort that could make or break your college career with a careful swipe of his pen.<br/><br/>This ability was shown in the first minute or so of the actual class, causing Talyah to sit a little straighter, to tune in a little harder, her blue eyes turning more focused, intent on what he had to offer or say. Even though his words were to tell a girl closer to her, a girl who seemed eager to answer and then retreated into herself when reading off some quoted text, she didn’t want to take them for granted, filing them away for later recall and note if and when she got called upon in his class. Her reaction was about as well as could be expected, shutting down as the teacher’s attention turned elsewhere. His eyes skimmed the page before him, reflection on the glasses hiding his eyes from view until his head lifted once more and his eyes honed in on someone even closer to her.<br/><br/>Her own gaze shifted to look at the person speaking. Clearly he had read the text and didn’t need to have it laid out in front of him to answer; She didn’t even see the textbook in front of him, which was lightyears ahead of the first student who’d answered. Even better than herself, if she were truly honest as she still wanted the notes there, still wanted to have them there in case she unintentionally forgot where she was going with whatever answer she was giving. But he...he seemed confident. Pause included, his words were eloquent in their simplicity, cutting directly to the chace, to the fact of the matter without the fluff that others would have injected into such a concise summary.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Nicely done,</span>Talyah silently commended him, turning her focus back to the professor who parroted her sentiment in a teacherly sort of response.<br/><br/>Oblivious to the pair of eyes on her, she went back to reading her notes, preparing for whatever questions she could hear being scribbled on the board, the squeak grating on her nerves. Visibly, she tensed, eyes fluttering at the sound as the nonsensical shapes she’d been tracing stopped, a finger pressing harder into the table’s surface as though to somehow stop the sound being produced some feet ahead of her. Her only saving grace was that she was able to tune out the bulk of the offending noise by tuning in so completely to her work. It allowed her to momentarily escape the world, to dive into the known and the comfortable. No surprises, just facts.<br/><br/>It was these facts that she was so immersed in that she’d missed the part where they had to pair off. Instead, she’d been skimming over her notes about interactions and the types that were generally present in everyday conversation when it was taken from her with no warning. Just like that book had been “ripped” from her possession, she was ripped back into reality; A less squeaky reality, but reality nonetheless.<br/><br/>An uncomfortable reality...that consisted of intense eyes boring into her own, locking onto hers and leaving her without the ability to look away...and a dejected girl somewhere off to the side. They were a profound shade of blue, one that stole her breath and made it hard to think the longer they held hers. While her own were also a shade of blue, these were different. These were like looking into a cerulean sea, the waves momentarily calm and the surface like glass; a clear sort of water that held no bottom. A sort of water that she could drown in.<br/><br/>She felt stifled, taken aback by the sharpness of his gaze, the probative nature that they seemed to stare into the depths of her being, and she said a silent prayer of thanks when he looked away to addressed the aforementioned dejected girl off to her left. Her hand lay in the space between them, left hanging as his were holding her book, the smile on his lips a disarming one that made her feel all the more uncomfortable as he turned it back around to her.<br/><br/>...And said he knew of her?<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">How is that even possible?</span>she thought, the confusion clearly evident on her features as her eyes sparked up with a light frown, her mind trying to make sense of it all.<span style="font-style: italic">How does he know anything about me when we’ve never met?</span>A hard worker, she could justify as her nose had been buried in a book since she walked into class that morning, but anything else that he seemed to allude to knowing…<br/><br/>“Uh…”<span style="font-style: italic">Yes, very succinct,</span>came a self-deprecating thought as her eyes finally broke free of his of their own volition. That freedom was short-lived however, as they ventured a haphazard glance in the other girl’s direction and instantly regretted it. She wasn’t sure what could have caused venom toward her when it wasn’t she who chose the partner pairing. No, he’d chosen her so whatever gripe she had about that needed to be taken up with him, and not her. As it was, she felt like she were in the middle of some unspoken fight, he avoiding the first and she trying to glare him into submission.<span style="font-style: italic">Wonderful.</span><br/><br/>“I like music, and to play music.”<span style="font-style: italic">Better. Much better.</span>“Namely piano and emotional scores are what I gravit-...”<br/><br/>But, even a well crafted thought couldn’t stand up to the doodle that Patch was drawing in front of her. His mind seemed to have gone elsewhere, which meant their interaction was null at that given moment; It did, however, afford her a jumping off point.<br/><br/>“...That’s a pretty amazing talent you possess,” Talyah tried, nodding her head toward his doodle with interest. “Do you mainly draw supernatural beings or does your artistry span other genres as well?”