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It would be in a rather timely manner that Cricket made her way into the classroom, carrying with her a rather large box. What was in the box would remain to be seen, but Cricket didn't seem apologetic for not being there when people filed in. Nor did she seem to particularly mind how many students were there by sheer volume. She'd dealt with large classes before.

She would handle large classes again.

Still, she looked over the students assembled with a rather cool expression, her eyes lingering on a few in particular before she stepped up to the pen, setting the box she had with her on top of the wooden plank she had set across it. "I hope everybody who is here is willing to be friendly today." Cricket warned, something almost suspicious about her tone. What exactly was she going to be having them doing?

They would have all the time in the world to try and make guesses at just what it was Cricket was going to be having them do as she suddenly started to pass out, of all things, Protection Charms. Yes, the same foil wrapped things that most students were familiar with. Intimately familiar with in some cases.

Pun both intended and not.

Still, her expression didn't change even as she made sure everybody in the room had one.

"Do not open this yet." She warned, her voice firm as she again made a round in her little circle, nudging people closer together.



"You now have a partner - or you should. If you don't, let me know and I'll either find you one or work with you. Either way, your next task will be less simple than you think - you're going to be applying that protection charm I gave you to your partner. You each have one, so you'll each be taking a turn." Cricket explained as she took a charm out of the box herself.

Quickly enough, she pulled the foil apart, leaving one half of the packaging in tact as she turned to show the entire class what exactly was inside of the foil. It looked like...absolutely nothing, actually. At least for a moment. Exposed to the air, the surface of the foil suddenly began to glow, a faint rune exposed in a shade of purple.

"For those who don't know, a Protection Charm is a packaged spell which absorbs FEAR your body tries to release. This can be used for several purposes, but I'm not going to pretend I don't know exactly what you all care about it being used on. However, if you want an alternative use for it for the sake of curiosity - I used these spells to keep from burning people with poison once I was told it was an option."

There was probably a moment's worth of thought at imagining Cricket actually wearing a Charm like this all the time.

"The spells themselves may vary slightly based on whatever family or manufacturer is making them, but I'm also going to warn you that there are people who will take these spells and alter them to have extra effects. The talented will end up with a better product, especially if they know how to use magic. Those who don't, well.... disastrous things can happen." She didn't elaborate, but she passed a meaningful glance across the room.

"Don't alter the spells you're given, or else you might not like the result." she warned calmly, taking the spell she had opened and carefully pressing the glowing marking on the surface of the foil to her skin, rubbing the other side of it and then pausing to wait. She held it there, still, for about thirty seconds, before she peeled away the foil, leaving a mark on her skin as clear as a properly applied temporary tattoo.

She made sure everybody was able to see it before the markings on her arm devoured the symbol. "I cannot continue to wear the spell, as my job requires me to have expendable FEAR, so I have removed it. The most effective way to remove a charm is to simply scratch the entire symbol off of your skin. However, a partial remaining mark may still hold onto some of the spell you apply, so please take this into account. Otherwise, simply wait a few hours and it will fade on its own. This time will vary, again, based on who made it."

With her demonstration completed, she proceeded to get to her instructions.

"I want you each to apply this charm to your partner. Whoever does the better job will need to see me when you are done so I can give them the next part of your assignment."

Uh oh.

Aleria peered at their partner, cocking their head. "My name is Aleria," they announced, in a voice that rang like clear bells, neither feminine nor masculine. "Since you are my partner, I suppose I should gather your name?"

They stared at the foil, examining the given charm. "Intriguing," they murmured. The demon read the label carefully for Jack Frost's Frigid Frost Prevention (Never get stuck to your lover again!), eyes scanning the ingredient list before finally peeling it open.

"Charmed to meet you, whoever you are, I'm sure. Now don't move, dear, thank you--" Aleria smacked the charm over his lower jaw, inspecting their work.

They were...a little sloppy.

"Any sort of pressure will work, as long as you're firm with it and willing to hold it in place for a while." Cricket answered to Thackery's inquiry.

Nuru raised his hand... flailed it even. He wasn't sure how he wound up at a table with the ear toucher or how his demon wound up... over there... but this had to be rectified before he was even more panicked.

"Teacher. Teacher. Teacherrrr." He begged for Cricket's attention.

demon_pachabel

and I got permission too XD

Cricket seemed to notice that there was a student asking for her attention, and the nurse walked over to Nuru, leaning over his table, and then looking to Danny.

"Is there a problem?"

Pleased by Cricket's answer, Thackery decided he was going to get real superior up in here. Everyone else could use their normal fingers or normal claws or whatever else was on the end of their arms, but not him. He was going to-

Yelp like a puppy as Ash sat him down on the table, apparently. He pressed his toes against his boilfriend's legs for stability, peering down towards his tummy as the charm was firmly, expertly applied. All this time he'd been worried about doing all of this stuff properly, and Ash was so good at it that he might as well have been teaching the class by himself! It probably should have bothered him to discover that he was so inexplicably fantastic with protection charms, but the Cerberus was just too thrilled with this new discovery and the potential for another study session that none of that really sunk in.

"Woah, Ash, you..." He marveled at the design of the charm, fingertips hovering just slightly above it, not wanting to prematurely rub it off. For the sake of their own safety, he should have just asked the reaper to apply his own protection charm. But this was an opportunity to be the best and impress everybody, and he wasn't going to pass that up.

Shimmying off of the table's edge, he dropped himself back into Ash's lap, glancing up at him with his best trust me I got this expression. He wanted to be sure that his boilfriend was protected, but knew that he didn't want any of those patches showing to the other students. Just one Sex Ed class wasn't worth making him uncomfortable.

Most of the others seemed occupied with their own charms, but he didn't want to risk it. He bowed his head and deftly undid the top two buttons of Ash's shirt, held the fabric up to shield his exposed chest, and gently placed the unwrapped charm against some unaffected skin.

With utmost seriousness, he leaned down, put his mouth over the charm, and pushed against it with his tongue.

Each second was counted down with an unintelligible little hum, and when he finally reached fhhndy he pulled away, leaving Ash with a horrendously applied charm and a significant amount of Cerberus slobber.

He wiped his mouth and looked up with a frown.

"...Ash. Teach me. Teach me the way."

Friendly? Oh, yes, Shine was willing to do things with her new friend! She gave Nahm another shy smile as Cricket nudged the two of them together, pleased that they'd actually been paired up. He was so nice to extend the offer to help her, and it all appeared to be working out for the best. Maybe leaving her room without Rain wasn't going to be so bad after all.

Not that she particularly liked being away from her, but it was nice to know that she could do things by herself if she had to.

She listened as Cricket explained, hoping that she could remember all of those instructions well enough to do this without ruining it. There sure was a lot of pressure, knowing that Nahm was already apparently well-practiced in this subject, but...well, maybe he would be willing to help her out if she couldn't make it work.

"Good kind?" she mused aloud, wide eyes watching as he smiled and reached towards her. As requested, she sat as still as she possibly could, nervously looking down at her toes...which she began to wiggle. Luckily, it didn't seem to cause much of a problem for her partner.

"I...um, thank you. For the...beautiful thing. And for...keeping...me safe." She admired how well he'd done, the charm so crisp and perfect against her dull, bruised skin, completely neglecting to see any relevance in its position on her chest. "You are good. At...this."

After watching owlishly as he moved the cloth away from his skin, she extended two fingers to very gently brush against it, brow knit with worry. She wasn't sure that someone as inexperienced as she should be partnering with someone as good at this as Nahm, but she had to make sure he was protected too. It was only fair.

She tried her best, holding the charm against his skin...but between her worry and the uneven skin on her fingers, only the tiniest fragment of the charm transferred.

"...oh, Nahm," she cried, flinging herself forward to hug him, tears brimming in her eyes. "I'm...I'm so sorry, I...I didn't protect you..! Can...we still be friends?"