[Astraea Olath'barra]

Given the basis of the class, what happened was actually exactly what Strae expected would happen. Her teacher would materialize out of nowhere, perhaps having been there before her. However, she couldn't hide her surprise and revulsion at the fact that the one who'd be instructing her was...male. Just thinking the word left a bad taste in her mouth, as though forced to drink one of the poisons she'd learned so much about. In fact, she still had her vial of barbbark. Perhaps when he wasn't paying attention...

...But no, she had things she needed to learn from this male, so she would simply have to suck it up, no matter how distasteful she found the idea. Her other two instructors for previous classes had been women. One had been a decidedly odd fae, but she at least was palatable. A male, though...

Her brother Motias had been different. He'd been one of the few good ones. A good stock, a healthy, cunning, and reliable one. Still not nearly the equal of a female, but he hadn't been as worthless as so many others of his gender. She could only pray that this one had those same qualities she'd preferred in her brother.

She loathed how he'd not asked but commanded her to come with him, as though he had some imperious right to be so arrogant.

He does, she told herself, hating every moment of it, He's teaching you because he's better than you at what you want to learn. Reign it in, or you'll never learn what you paid to learn. He's an instructor, respect him like one...at least as long as he has knowledge worth taking. Once his worth has run out, however... As she followed, she satisfied herself with empty dreams of torturous deaths for the male, until they wound up in the cliche dark ally.

She hated to admit it, but he was good. he moved well both in a crowd and out of it. Everywhere he went it was as though he belonged; as though he were a natural part of the scenery to blend in and be looked past. She loathed when a male was better than her at something, which for now was quite frequently. The point of this class was to reduce that tendency.

As he folded his arms and waited for her, she slid in after him. With arms crossed and posture relaxed, she couldn't help but feel irritated, as though his very body language was screaming 'any brightening now...'

With a frustrated sigh she only barely managed to contain and a look of disgusted hostility veiled behind nothing but sheer willpower, her flared hips cocking as her hands came to rest on them, her own posture a mixture of belligerence and the very dangerous 'what's your problem?' She would listen and learn, but she would be damned if she was going to bow and scrape to a mere male just to teach her what she'd paid good coin to learn.