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 Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 8:01 pm
It was a good thing he had agreed to meet Xiu a few hours after their cooking lesson. It had taken him that long to prepare the telescope, carefully taking it apart to clean it inside and out, paying special attention to the lenses and mirrors. Not that it helped he was having to fend off his pets for those cookies he'd brought home, hopefully he hadn't left any crumbs in the telescope itself!
At the moment he was in a staring contest with the cat of evil, the last cookie hanging from his mouth, both hands on the telescope as he reattached the last piece (he knew the telescope well enough that he could have taken it apart and put it back together blindfolded).
"No, you can't have it! I gave you one already."
And then the cookie was gone, a fact that was met with a sulk and a hiss. He was going to pay for that later he was sure, either he was going to return to his room later to find books shredded, or his tail was going to be attacked in the middle of the night. Well maybe if he brought back something tasty said cat would spare his books and his tail.
A last look exchanged between dragon and cat, Sheridan moved to the bookcase to pick out a few books he felt would be good for a beginner. He placed the books in his backpack which he then slung over his shoulder along with the tripod for the telescope, the telescope carried in both hands, he opened the door to his room.
"Don't eat my books and maybe I'll bring you back something."
Closing the door behind him, the dragon left the monster dorms en route for the demon doors and Xiu's room. Hmm, it was evening already, that meant the stars would be out soon.
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 9:26 pm
"DONE!"
Slamming her textbook closed, Xiu threw her arms up into the air and stretched, grinning as she felt her tense muscles relax. The past few hours had been spent finishing off whatever homework she had left, going through textbook after textbook and reading chapter after chapter. Now that she was finished with that though, the Baku could spend the rest of the evening learning how to use the telescope Sheridan was bringing over.
Grinning, she leaned back in her seat, balancing it on it's hind legs. A telescope, huh? While she had obviously heard of the object, she had never been given a chance to actually touch one, never mind try it out for herself. She was fortunate that her new friend had been generous enough to lend one of his to her!
A quick glance out of the window determined that the evening was slowly drawing near. Soon--so long as there weren't any clouds or any fogs, at least--it would be dark enough to see the stars. He's probably coming around now, Xiu mused, I've left the door open, but I should probably get up and greet him when he comes--!
Suddenly slipping, the chair that she had been balancing on precariously tumbled backwards, earning a surprised, and very loud, yelp from the ghoul who had been seated on it a moment ago. While the chair simply thumped against the carpeted ground, unharmed by the fall, Xiu sat there and rubbed at her hip. Ooh, not another bruise! Really, what was with her lately?!
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 9:59 am
A trip across campus was much faster when one had wings. Having left his room on the highest floor of the monster dorms, it was a short walk up a flight of steps to the roof, then wings spread Sheridan glided across the campus grounds, over the neighboring dorms and landed on the ground in front of the demon dorms. Readjusting the telescope in his arms, the dragon walked into the demon dorms and made his way to Xiu's room.
Ah, there it was. Shifting the telescope again to hold it's weight with one arm, he raised his now free hand to knock on the door then reshifted the telescope back to both hands.
"Hello? It's Sheridan."
He hoped that she would enjoy the telescope and the books that he had brought with him.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 1:13 pm
She jerked her head up upon hearing the knock on the door. Could that be...?
It was. "T-the door is unlocked!" Xiu called, but she scrambled--or rather, stumbled--to her feet anyways, hurrying forward to welcome her friend in. Reaching the door, she paused to pat herself off--that fall had made her a little disheveled--before opening it and smiling up at the dragon. It had only been a couple of hours since he had been here, cooking with her, but it felt a lot longer for some reason. Perhaps it was because time went so slowly when she was working on her homework.
"Good evening!" She chirped, moving aside to let him in. Her gaze drifted towards the object that he held in his arms, and the Baku's tail swished behind her. "Is that the telescope?" Despite her attempt to seem relatively composed, she was betrayed by the excitement that was clearly visible in her eyes.
Remembering her manners , she gestured towards the kitchen. "Would you like anything to eat or drink?" She still had some spookies left over, as well as some of the chilled tea from that afternoon.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 3:42 pm
Sheridan smiled at Xiu as she opened a door, a nod as he stepped through into the room. "It is." The telescope he carried was medium in size, fairly short and compact, though it may have been heavier than it first appeared. The barrel was blue, the eye piece on one side with the mount for the tripod on the other. Attached to the telescope was an electronic control for easy aim and focus. While compact, it was more powerful than one might think, capable of viewing details of the outer planets as well as finding the closer galaxies. And while not powerful enough to see to nebulae or the true detail of stars and galaxies, it was an excellent beginner telescope. When she was ready to look further into space, he would invite her to look through the larger telescope in his room. Setting the telescope on the table for a moment, Sheridan lowered the bag and tripod from his shoulder, setting the tripod next to the telescope before he opened the bag to remove the books which he set on the table as well. "These are for you too, they should give you a good starting point, and I will do my best to answer any questions you have." A quick glance around the room, searching for the best place to set the telescope. "Where would you like me to set it up?" Oh, he blushed slightly, unsure if he should actually ask for anything or not. Even if it was offered, he felt shy about asking for anything, she had already given him lunch and a bag of delicious spookies which he had already devoured. "Um...maybe something to drink?"
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 1:55 am
Xiu gaped at the telescope as he set it onto the coffee table, kneeling down so that she was eye-level with the object. A real telescope! "This looks really cool!" She chirped, briefly turning her attention towards Sheridan to smile. Cool, but kind of complicated-looking as well. What were all those pieces for? Or the buttons on the keypad-thing? ...Which end did she look into?
Oh, Xiu had a lot to learn.
Her smile grew at the books, as did the speed of her rapidly waving tail. "Sheridan, I...thank you so much! You really didn't have to go through so much trouble!" She straightened up a bit so that she could lean over and stare at the covers of the books, scanning the titles eagerly. He had really gone out of his way for this, hadn't he? Or at least, it certainly seemed like it to her!
Standing up, she shot him a grin before heading towards the kitchen. "Sure! Give me a second to get you something." While she was pouring the drink, she thought over her previous question and hummed thoughtfully.
"By the biggest windows would be best place for the set-up, I think?"
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 2:39 pm
Sheridan looked to the windows as if debating for a moment, and then nodded his head before walking to one of the windows. By a window was certainly the best, however the largest was not necessarily the best choice. It all depended on which window had the best view.
Wandering to each window he looked outside, searching for the one with the best view of the sky. The larger window may have seemed an obvious choice, but the one next to it had the nicer view, unobstructed by the the forest at the edge of campus.
"This window has a good view."
He smiled, taking the tripod from the table which he quickly opened and set on the floor in front of the window. Next he went for the telescope, lifting it with both hands and carrying it to the tripod where he matched the mounts and attached the instrument to it stand. It seemed he had done this a few (or many) times before.
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 12:43 am
"Does it?" Xiu blinked, poking her head out of the kitchen to look at the window Sheridan had chosen. Now that he mentioned it...well, that window really was better, wasn't it? At least there wasn't a big building obscuring most of the sky there!
She started carrying the drink over when she paused, glancing around at her room. She should probably get a seat for him or something, shouldn't she? Spotting her desk chair, she held onto the drink with one hand and used the other to pick up the chair, awkwardly stumbling along.
"Here's your drink," Xiu smiled, holding out the glass, "And a chair for you." She wasn't sure that he would be using the chair while he was setting the telescope out, but at least it provided a nice surface to put his drink down for now.
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 2:38 pm
Sheridan made sure the telescope was properly and securely mounted on the tripod before he turned, gratefully taking the glass with a smile.
"Thank you."
He took a long sip of the drink before setting it down on the conveniently placed chair. Then he was digging in his bag for a few accessories, a soft cover for the eyepiece, a microfiber cleaning clothe, a set of lens covers, and finally the remote control.
The last step was to plug in the control a quick check. He pressed a few buttons, checking the pan and tilt of the scope. Everything was set and working (not that he hadn't checked it out in his room first, but it didn't hurt to check again).
"It's all set."
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 4:53 pm
Reaching out, the Baku very carefully ran her fingertips over the telescope, eying it with wonder. How could such a little thing be powerful enough to see the stars? Smiling, she turned back to Sheridan, her pink-red eyes lit with eagerness and anticipation.
"Where do we start? Is there anything I should know first, or something I should read?" She figured that she would, at the very least, need a run down of what all those buttons on the telescope was for, along with the remote. It looked a lot more complicated than she had initially imagined that it would be, but she was ready to learn.
There was one thing that she figured she should do though, and that was open the actual window that the telescope was positioned in front of. She leaned forward to push it open, carefully not to lean too far out. As she didn't possess any wings, Xiu didn't think tumbling out would be very good for her.
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 6:02 pm
Sheridan smiled, stepping away from the telescope and indicating she should stand where he had been with a gesture of his hand.
"It's not as complicated as it looks. You look through the eyepiece here."
He indicated the eyepiece to the side of the telescope and then holding up the remote went through the basic functions.
"You move the telescope with this. These two buttons for pan, and these for tilt."
As he spoke he pushed each button in turn, the telescope responding by swiveling left and then right as he pushed the pan buttons, then up and down with the tilt.
"And this is for the focus, zoom in with this button and out with this one. Make sure you use the remote to turn the telescope, this one isn't meant to move manually. It gives you better control over where it focuses. For the numbers on the control, you can select pre-set coordinates for specific planets, stars, and galaxies. There's a list in the manual I brought you."
He pointed to one of the books he had set on the table, a more in depth guide to using the telescope with an index listing coordinates to a large number of well known celestial sights.
A quick adjustment on the scope itself and then the control, Sheridan calibrated the instrument for the direction it was facing, and then punched in a code he had memorized long ago.
"Try looking through it now, you should see the Andromeda galaxy."
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 8:49 pm
She listened intently, her eyes falling on each of the buttons as he explained what they were fall. Xiu tried her best to memorize each of the explanations that he gave her. She would have to refer to the book Sheridan brought over once she had the time.
For now though, she was distracted by watching her friend adjust the telescope. "Andromeda?" She echoed, looking puzzled. Instead of asking any other questions, however, she obediently leaned forward and put her eye to the telescope's eyepiece, peering in. After a moment, she pulled back. For a while, she said nothing, and then she turned to look at Sheridan with giant, awe-filled doe eyes.
"...W-wow!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands together, "I...I never knew that it was be so pretty! There were so many stars, and in the center was this really bright thing. Was that the...um, the Andromeda galaxy?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 5:02 pm
Sheridan smiled and nodded, taking one of the books he had set on the table and flipping through the pages until he found the image he was looking for. Having found the image of Andromeda, he handed the book to Xiu still open to the selected page.
"This is a better view of it."
It was an image taken with a telescope far more powerful than either this one or the one in his room. The detail of the image was spectacular, the arms, center, and surrounding stars clearly visible. What he would have given for access to a telescope capable of looking deep into the universe, into nebulae, black holes, and distance galaxies.
"It is one of the closest galaxy to our own, but it is still over two million light years away. Beautiful isn't it?"
Oh Sheridan, your geek is showing.
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Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:22 pm
If Sheridan was a geek, then he was starting to rub off on Xiu. Either that, or she was simply easily awed by beautiful things. Possibly both.
"It's stunning!" She agreed, poring over the book with interest. If only it were possible to them to find a telescope as powerful as the one that had taken that image! The ghoul took the time to flip through a few more of the pages before looking up at the dragon, eyes wide. "Where did you learn about all of this anyways?" Was he brought up learning it from his parents, she wondered? Or was it simply a hobby?
As she scanned the pages of the book, she paused every so often to stare at a particular picture and read the caption. This was definitely a fascinating subject, and one that she wished she had started on earlier! There was certainly a lot to read.
"Can I try changing the coordinates?" She asked, looking hopeful. She wasn't sure what she would change them to, but she wanted to get a good grasp on how to use the object.
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Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 5:33 pm
Sheridan smiled, tail flicking with his excitement. Better watch it Xiu, one the dragon starts geeking out, there is no stopping him! Now he was thinking of introducing her to some of the higher theories of the universe, time, relativity, forces, dimensions, quantum physics (okay so that one he was still working on himself). But perhaps now was not the time, small steps first.
"I've always been taught about the stars, it's part of being a dragon."
Or at least part of being a celestial dragon. To be a celestial dragon, it was impossible to not learn about the stars, it was their true home.
"We are...connected to the stars."
He watched as she looked through the book then quite happily handed over the remote.
"Of course."
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