On Theo’s side, he had reached his first improv class. Everyone found a seat and sat down. This wasn’t a normal lecture classroom, and the seats were arranged to form a circle while a small table was attached to the side of the chair.

“Good morning everyone, I trust you are all well. It truly doesn’t matter if you are not, I hope you can pretend you are. Aren’t you all here to learn acting? You can start now.”

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“I am your improv teacher so you can call me Professor Thiago. If you can’t remember my name, just go with teacher or professor.”

“Now that I’ve done my introductions, you can start with yours. Seeing as everyone has found a seat, we can start from my right-hand side.”

‘I guess Kayden was right.’ Theo thought.

Mr. Thiago came off to be a very no-nonsense guy, very straight forward and Theo liked that. Since the introductions were starting from Professor Thiago’s right-hand side, Theo was second.

The person before him was another freshman male. His looks were above average, nothing outstanding, but people couldn’t help but have a good impression of him.

He gave off a really clean and refreshing feeling.

“Hello everyone, I’m Dean McCallan, acting is my passion and so I hope to become an actor in the future. I will work hard with everyone so if anyone has any constructive feedback, they would like to give me, feel free.”

His introduction was meant to be short and sweet. Everyone already had a somewhat good impression of him just from his appearance and so they didn’t find his introduction lame. It also wasn’t boring or mundane since he was the first.

His humble tone enforced the impression that he was already giving everyone previously, a friendly guy with a passion.

Everyone clapped softly out of politeness as Dean sat down, smiling at Theodore who was next.

“I’m Theodore Wei, I guess you can all call me Theodore. I don’t have any experience in acting, but I’m willing to learn, so I’ll have to thank you in advance for your patience.”

Theo didn’t really know what he should say, but he didn’t want to start off on the wrong foot with his future classmates.

He decided to keep it as short as possible, the more he said, the more places he could go wrong. He had learned that one from Emilin.

Theo ignored the female gazes that had landed on himself less he’d feel a chill down his spine from the intense stares.

Another round of applause was given.

The introductions continued in such a manner until they reached a tall female. Even seated, you could just tell that she was not short, especially with those long legs.

Tall for a woman, reaching around Theo’s shoulders if placed side by side so around Kayden’s height.

The girls seated beside her all seemed excited just to hear her introduction.

“Hello. I’m Charlotte. Since we’re all going to be classmates from now on, you can just call me Char. I’m glad I’ll be able to go through this learning process along with everyone.”

Charlotte gave a shallow bow with a small smile on her face, dazzling some of the male counterparts.

The girls around her applauded significantly louder than everyone else in the class while the other side of the room could only sit thinking to themselves, ‘just who is this girl? Is she famous or something?’

Indeed, she was.

She had acted as a third female lead in a popular drama recently and so she could be said to be ahead in the industry when compared to her peers.

The rest of the introductions were all somewhat similar to the previous ones.

Theo took note of all of their names without paying much attention to much else, stopping when they made a full circle back to Professor Thiago.

“Though we don’t have much time left for a full lesson, there is still much for you to learn from today’s class.”

“Please take note of which people you have the strongest impression of.”

“Why do you think you remember them so clearly. Was it because they introduced themselves first? Last? Was it because of what they said? Because they had something in common with you or maybe the person before them. Did you know them beforehand? Or maybe it was simply because of their presence.”

“What made those select few people memorable?”

“I assume you are taking my class because you want to start a career in acting, or perhaps hone your skills.”

“If that is so, and even if it isn’t, you should take note of all the previously mentioned topics.”

“When you go in for an audition, though you may hope that everything will be based solely on your skills, it is not.”

“Your audition won’t be memorable because the person before or after you was just that much more skilled. If you are after a long line of auditions, the judges will already be tired of hearing the same things over and over again, so if you don’t bring something new to the table, you’ll be forgotten.”

“There will of course also be cases where some of the other actors auditioning for your role are much more famous or even well connected. They are more known than you. Then how can you win?”

“Your presence is key.”

“During these introductions, you were all judges. You make your first impressions of these classmates and the auditions will work in the same way. So, if you were to give a job to one of these classmates, who would it be?”

“There are people like your classmate Charlotte here, who some of you seem to already know. You might give her the role because she’s more experienced.”

“Of maybe you give it to Dean over here because he seems friendly and you remember him because he went first.”

“Some of you may give it to Theodore here because he looks like someone who would do a good job.”

“In retrospect, none of you actually know how well they will do at the job you give them, but you have already made an impression of them.”

“That is what the preliminary auditions are for.”

“The order in which you audition, your previous experiences, your aesthetics, what you say, and your mannerisms are all part of your presence.”

“Whoever has a presence best fit for getting the role they are after, wins.”

“Ponder on this lesson and bring your questions in for the next class.”

Everyone’s eyes followed Professor Thiago as he gave his lecture. He paused after every major point to give his students some time to think about what he was saying and stopped when he knew that they were still processing.

His presence enraptured the students of his class. Something as simple as an introduction class was made into a lesson that would leave a deep impression throughout the lives of these aspiring actors.

Theo couldn’t help but be amazed at the aura around the teacher.

It was unlike Emilin’s authoritative aura when she was M and much less like his Big Brother Nathen’s shapeshifting aura, and even unlike the aura that the Professor had at the beginning of class.

It was an aura, both mellow and imposing. His words weren’t to be questioned, not because he was forcing them down your throat, but because he had already persuaded you to swallow.

To swallow the lesson whole.

When Theo left the class, he was left pondering on the issue.

‘When will I be able to cultivate something like that?’

The professor seemed to be able to use that aura to make people listen, to make them think about what he wanted to convey. To lead.

And he even seemed to be able to turn it on at will.

Theo felt that he was much more behind than he had originally thought.

Before this lesson, he had yet to realize that both his siblings had already been able to wield such a presence. It was something most people wouldn’t be able to notice, but couldn’t help but be influenced by, all the time.

Something that he seemed to be sorely lacking in.

‘I guess taking this class was the right choice after all. I wonder if everyone can use their aura like that in this industry or if it’s just him.’

Professor Thiago was, after all, a professor at this university.

His background couldn’t be simple.

Theo was immersed in his thoughts as he left the classroom.

He hadn’t looked back and so he didn’t notice that his Professor, was watching all of his new student’s reactions.

Thiago had a wide grin on his face as he observed these students take on his lesson. Years of experience told him that he had quite a few potential diamonds in the rough in this class.

‘Then again, they could end up being simple pebbles on the road, but even those can leave a mark.’

‘I guess I’ll have to wait and see, there’s still a long year ahead of us.’