reserved for Idrial
BEN HAD FINISHED PACKING UP his notepad and pen well before the other few students in the class, but he dawdled in order to speak with the lecturer.
Sam was one of the few who'd volunteered to lead a class. So far there were only six classes, and Sam's was one of the later ones, beginning at midnight and ending at two. This was very good for the younger vampires in her class (like Ben), who needed to go out and feed first in order to properly concentrate on what she was trying to teach. So far it was all theory, but Ben knew there were a few exercises coming up, because he'd studied her prepared curriculum.
Sam's class was one of the few that seriously interested him. There was another that he found a great deal more tedious but not something he'd skip; new city politics. One of Connor's people was leading this class, and for what he lacked in exuberance, he made up for with bundles of information. Ben thought it would be smart to understand the new layout. He no longer had the protective sphere he'd had when Kerr was Luminary.
That class, and this one, were the two he wouldn't miss. The others he'd already skipped because he was busy trying to expand the Academy into a bigger home, with more students. This was a temporary location, he and Connor had decided, because there were more interested students than teachers. It had been surprising how many applications they'd received - and a lot of them weren't just from vampires, either. Ben wasn't trying to start a inter-species war, so it was good to have subjects (like 'City Politics') that anybody could come along to. Murphy was in that class, but not this one. Ichabod had yet to show up to the same class Ben was in, though he'd heard that his fledge brother had come by and looked around. Whether that was bad information or not was difficult to know - everyone here seemed to want to please him. It was weird.
"Sam, hello. I liked your lesson," he started speaking as he approached the front of the class. She'd already organised herself to leave but obviously noticed he'd hung back to speak with her. They were alone now. He gave her a brittle smile, because it was still hard for Ben to smile easily these days. He could turn up the wattage if he really needed to, but right now he didn't want to fake it.