@exploringxshadows wants to head to university.
▪▪▪ It was a dark, gloomy morning in England. The blanket of storm clouds overhead blotted out the sun, swollen past the point of bursting. Rain tapped on windows and across cobblestones, leaving murky puddles in their wake. The soft breeze that weaved through winding streets left a chill in the air, a damp cold that could soak down to your very bones.
The sprawling university grounds, normally bustling with faculty and students alike, was notably quiet this morning. Everyone had retreated into the depths of the old buildings to seek reprieve from the weather, leaving only the poor souls that tended to the grounds and other menial work to face the elements.
The gas lamps hissed faintly, bathing halls and classrooms in golden light, chasing off the sleepy gloom that would've otherwise settled into every nook and cranny of the massive buildings. It was still early, certain professors setting up their classrooms and presentations for the day while others were already greeting their classes and starting their lectures.
Barnaby Ashewright was one of the professors who still had an hour's time before his students would start funneling in. The machinery for his class had already been set up, small models of engines that could be scaled up eventually for use in factories - now it was simply a matter of making sure he had everything written up on the stretch of chalkboard at the front of the class, and all of his supplies for the students were on hand.
Many of the professors at the university were focused on the sciences - all matter of new and fascinating subjects that were once only pipe dreams to humanity. Medicine, chemistry, what could be done with plants, fringe subjects that most scientists dared to brave. If you could think it, someone likely taught it - or pursued it outside of class hours. While he was not among those who pursued the more medically-inclined positions, he was still a scientist. And an engineer.
His study was machines, the future of industry and what machine meant for man. Whether it was mechanical beasts of burden, less dangerous machines that worked just as if not more efficiently, prosthetics that could replicate a living appendage - and his class was to encourage others to pursue that same lens and want to improve the world.
In the room with rich wooden paneling and marble tiling floors, he stood out as he stood by the chalk board. A man in his mid forties with tanned skin and a fiery head of hair with a matching beard and mustache, dressed in a suit of blue and cream. He leaned on a cane, nursing his bad leg as gloved fingers drew diagrams and notes. He hummed a simple tune under his breath as he adjusted his glasses and shuffled, too preoccupied with his work to notice if anyone stopped by the open door of his classroom. ▪▪▪
