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 Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 9:48 pm
 Ustule listened to Miss Kanna's lecture, a piece of pink notepaper crumpled in her claws. When she learned she'd be going to classes today, she'd asked her caretaker what that meant. They'd had a serious discussion about it, resulting in that notepaper--a list of all the classes she would be going to, and what they were. According to the list, this class was called social studies, but was more like...history, the people who made it, and where it happened. That sounded like a good class to her--a very worthy class. It was something the grown-ups back home would teach them, bit by bit, all of the important stuff first, and then the incidentals. So...this class should be easy, right?
But of course things had to be more complicated--Southerners loved making simple things complicated and complicated things simple. It was such a strange disconnect, and she didn't understand it--not one bit. Would she ever? She had a sudden horrible vision of the future, being trapped in this strange world forever, eternally caught between understanding and total confusion. She interlocked her fingers and squeezed her hands together to relieve the stress. No. Don't think about that. Stare ahead, and listen to what the grown-up--teacher--is saying.
She was telling them about an assignment. And now she was asking them to pick partners. So wait...they got to work together on this? That was...actually sort of a relief. But who to ask? The room suddenly got very noisy as students turned and asked each other to be partners. There was screaming, laughing, whooping--
Ustule resisted the urge to sigh. She fiddled with the paper in her claws. She missed having friends. She didn't bother talking to the other students. She didn't know them, and so many of them were races she'd never even seen before...how could she ask any of them for help? What if she had to ask a Demon? You couldn't trust a Demon...
"Is there anyone who doesn't have a partner?" Miss Kanna asked. The little Litch raised her hand, eyes fixed on her desk. "Excellent," the teacher said. "Ustule, was it? You and Jezebeth can work together."
Ustule looked up to see the student that their teacher was pointing to. They had bird wings. Which was, um...which race was that again? Oh! Fallen! Ustule gave the Fallen, Jezebeth one of her trademark smiles--so tiny, you could barely see it.
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Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 9:41 am
Jezebeth sat as she often did in class, with her legs swinging beneath her as they didn't quite reach the floor. Miss Kanna's class was actually one of her favorites. She knew that growing up in the academy she was missing out on various parts of what it actually meant to grow up as a Fallen. However, in Social Studies, she got to learn not only about the history of her own race, but those of others. It was certainly a worth while class, and Miss Kanna was good at keeping her attention as well.
After lecture the teacher went on to tell them about a project that would be due at the end of the week. It would involve them picking a partner! Oh well, she hadn't exactly made friend in her class yet. As she told them to pair up, Jezebeth glanced around, but waited for someone to come to her to be a partner instead of seeking one out herself. As things started to settle down she raised her hand.
"I don't have a partner Miss Kanna." Her voice was soft, gentle, and probably a little hard to hear for those further from her in the class, but Miss Kanna had at least understood. She asked if anyone else didn't have a partner. When the teacher looked toward the back of the class Jezebeth turned to look as well. There was a little Litch student in the back with their hand raised. Their eyes met when the other student raised their head to look toward her. She gave the little girl a wave and her own smile, although much more noticeable.
"Alright now, pair up and I'll pass out the things you'll need to start your diorama. You'll need to pick a location, design the diorama, and talk about it in front of the class by Friday." As the student rearranged themselves Jezebeth packed up her own things and headed to a now empty spot next to Ustule.
"Thanks for being my partner on this project Ustule!" She had hoped she was pronouncing the name right, but it wasn't like those she had heard before. She had done her best to copy the way Miss Kanna had said it though. She opened her notebook up to a fresh page and looked toward her fellow student. "Do you have any location in mind? I'd be happy learning about any of them." She had quite the general thirst for knowledge and was certainly willing to work with Ustule on an particular interest she had.
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Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 9:55 pm
The smile the Fallen gave her was a friendly one, and that lifted her heart a tiny bit. When Jezebeth walked over there with her things, Ustule diligently pushed her things aside with one arm and a foot. With the space cleared for her...partner...she put some serious thought to a location. They'd already been told they couldn't do continents, which was disappointing. If they had been allowed to, she would have said Boreas in a heartbeat. But sadly, Miss Kanna had thought of that already. She would have to think of somewhere specific. Frostfyre? Snowgarden, possibly? But not cities. So it would have to be more like...
"The Scepters, perheps?" she asked softly. "I ken a leetle of them, so I perceive we could do them quite nicely." She could hear her own voice, so strange against the southern accents throughout the room. She didn't know what other students thought of her voice--if the grown-ups were anything to go by, they thought it strange. No stranger than Ustule found their names, though--"Kanna" was less exotic, but "Jezebeth" was a little unusual. "Thank you for being my partner es will. I do not know enyone een thees school. I em new here," she added quickly. Maybe that was unnecessary. She blushed, but Miss Kanna had come to the rescue with a bottle of glue, pieces of construction paper, and a cardboard box.
When she had passed, Ustule turned back to her partner. "What ees a diorema?" she said quietly, so the teacher couldn't hear.
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2015 2:21 pm
Ustule was certainly proving to be the most unique Freshling she had ever met. She was at least easily identified as a Litch. But her accent was a little hard to understand. Jezebeth had a thoughtful look on her face, her eyes squinted just a bit as she tried to puzzle out every since word her partner had spoken. She was silent for a bit as she puzzled them out, hopefully that didn't scare her partner too much. She often put too much thought into things.
"Did...did you say you've seen The Scepters?" Jezebeth's voice was quiet, while she spoke clearly, her voice was simply soft. However, the wonder was there and so were the wide green eyes and open jaw staring at the pink Freshling. Jezebeth had never even been off the Academy grounds. It was simply baffling to her that Ustule has actually see The Scepters themselves. She cleared her throat and tried not to look too...what she though came off as enthusiastic.
Miss Kanna brought them the materials needed to start on their diorama them, sparing the both of them the small embarrassment. She thanks the teacher and start arranging the items in front of them. She smiled at Ustule as she asked her question, not at all disappointed that she didn't know what it was. She was getting the hints that Ustule was new to school period, where she had known it all her life.
"Well, we're attempting to create a model of The Scepters using the materials in front of us!" She figured The Scepters would prove easy enough, they were just really big mountains right? Like, maybe they could pick the biggest one? Or try to represent them all. There were honestly a lot of different options.
"They're in Boreas right? Are they snow covered? Were they covered in snow when you saw them?" Her curiosity was taking over. She did however take some of the construction paper and start to make cones out of them, they were making mountains after all.
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Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 5:10 pm
It wasn't always easy for the new student to understand other people's dialects, either. She actually thought she was becoming more understandable--after all, she was getting better and better at understanding everyone else. But apparently she was just as incomprehensible as always. She shook her head. "Nay," she said. "Only I hev heard of thim. They are to the east, end my keen end I leeved een the wist. But I heve heard miny tales of thim, end I theenk I would be of the most hilp if we did thim es our sahbjict." She blinked, hoping that Jezebeth understood all of that. Um, probably not. But she had to try communicating, right? She blinked slowly at her classmate. At least Jezebeth was interested, though? She seemed shocked and even, yes, awed by Ustule's knowledge. Why should she be so astounded? Besides the fact that, um, this was a clear indication that Ustule hadn't grown up here.
She supposed, come to think of it, that had she met a stranger in the village, she would have been just as awed. But now having seen so much more of the world than she ever knew about...well...maybe she was just a little jaded. Still, that was no reason for Jezebeth to be jaded, she decided firmly.
She gave Jezebeth once more her tiny smile of approval and gratitude. "Thet sounds like a fahn thing to do." She picked up the construction paper. It was mostly bright colors. Hm, no, that would not do. Mountains weren't pink! She set the paper aside, turning it over as she did. A squeak of surprise passed her lips then: the other side of the paper was purple! She stared at them, then looked up at Jezebeth and nodded. "Yis, all year around. They are sahpposed to be very grand." She followed Jezebeth's lead, making a cone out of the purple paper. "We should make wahn for every big peak," she said, matter-of-factly.
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Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 2:05 pm
Ah! So Ustule hadn't seen them, but she'd heard of them! And lived up north, Boreas right? That was still super interesting. Jezebeth had read a lot of books about plants and as such knew a little bit about the area, but only things she had read. She'd never seen them with her own eyes, ,outside of pictures that is. This little Litch must have knowledge from her experiences living in such a land, Jezebeth could hardly imagine. She'd only known the academy life.
"Diorama's are fun! It's nice to get a change to be creative and share your knowledge all at the same time!" She was smiling as she worked, usually she was hesitant with group projects, but Ustule would be a great help! She took a glue stick and started to continue working on the cones, than they could use something to make snow! Or color the peeks themselves! How many peeks were there?
"A bet our book will be helpful!" She reached down and pulled the book out from where it was on the floor, she wanted as much space on the desk as possible. She flipped through it until she found a section that spoke of the Scepters. It seemed, oh my. There were a lot of peeks. "Maybe it would be better to pick a few? Or make it a smaller scale, than we could fit them all in!" She slide the book over so that Ustule could read as well.
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Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2015 9:09 pm
"Creative," Ustule said slowly. She tried to say it the way Jezebeth had said it--all curvy and strange. It was a very odd way of saying things. But if people around here liked to curve their words too much, she...well, she'd have to learn how to hear through those curves. But that was more than just a word, that was an imperative. They had a project to do, and with Jezebeth making the cones of the mountains, she looked around for something to do. There was a bottle of glue as well as two glue sticks, and a jar of a crumbly, pale stuff. She peered closer at it. Flat paper or plastic or something and it was very shiny. She gave the bottle a shake and silver flakes flew up in the air and dusted her nose. She stared at them, big pink eyes going cross-eyed. Oh! Perfect!
She held up the bottle of glittering stuff. "I deem we heve our snow!" she said. Her voice was steady and even--or rather, almost steady and even. A little bit of enthusiasm came out and shown out through her usual reserved smile. She carefully picked up the cone that Jezebeth had made and smeared some of the liquid glue on the top, then gave it a judicious dusting with the sparkles. As she did, she watched Jezebeth grab a book. Would a book really help?
She leaned over to peer at the page, glitter sifting down into the binding. Oh my! This book had pictures, and not drawn woodcuts, but actual photographs! They were a rarity back home. "Thet is a lot of peaks. Maybe we could do five? Five is a nice number," she explained.
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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 9:13 am
It was nice to see the Litch start to slowly come out of her shell. Others often got the wrong idea about Jezebeth, thinking she was shy and bashful. Rather, she was just a quiet person and actually preferred working alone in a lot of different settings. She had a best friend already, but even when they spent time together they both often sat around reading book at the same table or on the bed together. They talked very little, but always managed to communicate well.
She couldn't help but giggle a bit when Ustule announced that they had their snow. Ah, the glitter would most certainly do the trick. And it would make their diorama look really, really cute! She was totally stoked and wasn't even bother by the fact that it was getting all over now only their project, but the desk, book, and themselves as well.
"Five does sound like an adequate number." She tended to read a lot of books in her spare time, so her vocabulary was pretty good for a freshling her age. "And then we can find a way to make some small trees maybe and some grass around the bases? Maybe was could draw in some lakes somewhere. Surely there are some around the bases? And make some dark spots that could be caves!" This was already shaping up to be a really fun project. As she thought about what all they needed to add to their diorama, she continued to make up the final mountain peeks.
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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 3:13 pm
Ustule was ahead of Jezebeth on the tree front--with the mountains dusted with their glittering snow, she was picking up pieces of green paper and cutting them into pines and furs. A dab of glue would be given to each on each one when the mountains were done, and she could put them into the box in front of the mountains. That should create some nice perspective. As for the lakes? She glued another piece of green paper onto one side of their box, then added a blue circle. "There, a lake!" she said triumphantly. She held up the box and tilted it so that Jezebeth could see.
As for caves? She nodded. "We heve to include caverns," she said. "The Chimeras live in them. End there are many mines underneath them, full of jewels. Maybe we should include some jewels?" She held up a box full of sequins. Yes, these would do... "We could glue them to the outside, along the rim. Thet way, we can show off the exorts. The epzorts." There was a word there that she couldn't remember. She frowned and pulled the book closer, looking for the familiar shape on the page. She pointed to it. "Ex-ports. Of the Scepters."
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Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:08 am
"I had read that they lived in caverns! What do you think that's like?" Jezebeth couldn't really wrap her head around what it would be like to live inside of a mountain! Did they have doors and floors? How did they keep in the heat when it was so cold outside, especially for those closer to the peak of the mountain? She could probably find a book in the library that told her all about how that worked, but oh! She was getting side tracked. her mind had wandered off and she had missed what Ustule had been talking about.
She started paying attention again when Ustule pulled the book closer. Jezebeth leaned over as she pointed at the word 'exports' and then was holding some sequins. Jewels! She was talking about adding jewels to their diorama!
"Yes! That will give us something else to talk about as well! I am on board with this decision!" She held up the bottle of blue then and started placing small dots of the substance along the rim of their bow so that Ustule could follow her and place the sequins on as they went. She had to admit that she was actually having some fun with this group project. She usually dreaded them, but Ustule was a good partner.
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Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 12:19 pm
"I theenk eet would be very frigid een a cave," she said softly. "Unless there are many people end a fire, then eet could be mahch less chill. Chilly. I theenk they hev meny firepits or suchlike so thet they cen stay warm. But maybe I em just guessing. I theenk eef they deed not like eet een the caves, they would hev left already." She picked up the box of sequins and started delicately applying each one with the end of her pencil to the glue dots. She smiled at Jezebeth. She liked the care her partner was taking in this project--Jezebeth was a good partner. "The Chimeras used to leeve on the top of the mountains unteel the war. Then they moved eenside--even the Chimeras of Zephyros live een their caves now." She tried to remember what they'd discussed in social studies a few weeks ago. "Baht I guess they might be conseedering leaving their caverns now?" She set down the sequins and shrugged. "I em sort of confused on thet point."
Ustule sat back and inspected their diorama. It was looking very neat! She picked up a black marker, drew some dots to represent caves on the mountains, and started gluing them in place. "I guess we should start working on the talking part of thees essignment now?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 6:17 pm
Jezebeth nodded at the mention of it being cold inside of a cave. She couldn't imagine it would be all that cozy really. The walls and floor would be made of rock! Rock and dirt anyway. How did you keep a cave clean? Of course if you had a fire in a cave that could make it really warm. Too warm? Surely the Chimera must have had some way to live inside of them comfortably or else they simply wouldn't be living inside of them. She shrugged at the mention of the Chimera leaving their caverns.
"I think they're trying to be more social with the other races now..." She didn't know too much about it herself outside of what had been discussed in the class before. She flipped through the book a little bit more at the mention of what they'd actually be talking about in front of the class.
"We can talk about their goods that they mine! And how they leave in the caverns. And the snow! Maybe some of the plants in the area?" As she was flipping through the book though to study some more Miss Kanna announced that class time was over. Sure assure the class that they'd have more time to work on their diorama and presentation in their next class together before presenting their work the following class period.
She started to pack up her things then. "That was a lot of fun Ustule! I'm going to study some more tonight! So that I can know what things we need to consider talking about! Did you maybe want to go to the library with me?" She had her things all packed in her bag, but they still had the other arts and crafts things to put away before leaving the class room.
Geyser Eelborn One more post from Ustule to wrap things up ! I figured this would be a nice place to end things. ♥
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Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 5:03 pm
Ustule hid a giggle. She was pretty sure that her new friend was starting to talk like her--she'd said "leave" instead of live! She didn't mention it, in case she offended Jezebeth. It was funny, but not enough to risk alienating someone so friendly and nice. Wait a second...she went back a few thoughts. Jezebeth. Friend. She snuck a glance at the Fallen, who was pouring over their textbook as Ustule put the finishing touches on their box. Yes. Friend. It was really nice to have a friend...it had been so long... But it looked like her luck had finally changed. A friend. Jezebeth. She certainly enjoyed working with her... She wondered how good Jezebeth was at throwing a snowball.
"Eet ees nice thet they heve decided to eenterect with the rest ahf us now. We heve meny things to deescahs weeth them, I think. End yes--plents would be a good idea!" But before she could say anything more, the end of class was announced. Ustule slid her supplies and notebooks back into her backpack and scooped up their art supplies to put away. She looked at Jezebeth and smiled.
"I would lahv to come to the library weeth you, Jezebeth," she said. Her smile got a little bit bigger. "I lahv spending time weeth friends."
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