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 Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 9:28 pm
Dev wasn’t fond of dancing. Well, she didn’t hate dancing per say, but she didn’t love it much either. Even if she did not enjoy the activity, the ghoul figured it would be enlightening to at least try it out. Besides, the cu sith was not alone. She had friends to enjoy the Conquest Isle with. The thought brought a toothy grin to her face. When she entered the room, Dev was transfixed by the peculiar instruments the two female horsemen held in their hands. They were ones she had never seen before, but were at least similar to instruments she was familiar with. When the horseman introduced herself, Dev’s ears flicked before she bowed from the waist. “Thank ye, Professor Zhang.” She dearly hoped she hadn’t butchered the name with her accent.
Eyes widened when the other ghoul stood up to demonstrate. Hurriedly, Dev seated herself, legs folded underneath and skirt straightened out. Her lips slightly parted at the demonstration, her gaze never leaving the dancer as she moved around the room. Beautiful. How could she live up to that? Lips pursed for a second before they formed a determined line. She would just have to do her best!
Dev nodded her head and moved to grab a dress before disappearing to change into it. When she walked back out, she donned a dress that was mostly green with yellow trimming. Around her waist was a yellow wrap and a small, puffy bow in the back. Curiously, Dev twirled around to unsuspectingly reveal the multiple layers of clothing she donned. Underneath the dress was a pair of white, silken pants and light green slippers that matched her dress. Somewhere along the way, her braid had somehow come undone in favor of a simple ponytail that swayed back and forth. She looked at the others. “Well? How dae ah look?”
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 12:29 am
[ PERFORMING ARTS TRAINING: WEEK ONE, DAY TWO. ]
Changing into the costume was... ah, different.
"This is very heavy."
Fumbling his way back out and into the room, Fallow lifted his arms to examine the heavy silk and cloth now draping his arms and body, two layers wrapped tightly to his frame by a sash in the middle. The Púca was used to things he could run in. Things made of light cloth and easy to move his limbs in. Speaking of moving, how was he supposed to dance in this? Flicking his tail, Fallow continued his examination, turning nearly in a full circle in an attempt to inspect every part of the costume, every small detail and piece of cloth used. "It is very lovely though I suppose, and I do like the way it feels." He finally commented, simmering to the fact that it was very pretty, if not the most easy clothing to move around in.
Ears quirking forward, Fallow bent his neck to try and see the pipa-holding-ghoul just a bit easier. "And that is a very lovely instrument, I wish I could learn how to play it." He rumbled in thought. The isle of Conquest seemed to have a great many things to do that all tied back to their ancient culture, and though not all of them were things the Púca was very adept in, he certainly enjoyed learning. Or trying to at least. Curling his ears, the monster turned his head back and forth and watched as others came and went from the room before clearing his throat and looking back at Zhang. Carefully, he adopted a straighter posture as though to draw himself up and look more respectable to the professor, folding his arms together beneath the long sleeves.
When Dev came about and spoke as well, the Púca's attention turned to her, bright and glowing eyes examining what she had been dressed in. "Hmm." It was a very nice color on the Cu Sith. Fitting. "I do like it, very much." Fallow paused, examining her closely, "it does look much lighter than this though."
Which seemed odd, considering that she was a girl and he was not.
Ah, but how important was gender really?
Turning his attention back to Zhang, Fallow brightened considerably at the prospect of beginning. But first, he supposed it was time to pick a prop. And then to try dancing as exotically as the young ghoul -- though certainly she'd been at it far longer than him. Fallow sighed.
Hopefully he would not make a fool of himself this time.
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keiifuu rolled 1 4-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-4)
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 12:33 am
Streamers?
Hm.
"Streamers. Alright." Fallow stepped away from the prop box, delicately replacing the lid in his very concentrated attempt not to break anything. So far he seemed to be doing well; he hadn't destroyed the sleeping quarters they'd been permitted to, and he certainly hadn't broken anyones nose, beak, bird, tea cup, or otherwise fragile property. Tail swishing, the Púca gave a soft and thoughtful rumble, flicking his wrist experimentally to see what the streamers would do. He'd never danced before, and certainly it wasn't the type of the thing for him to ever be interested in, but this far away land seemed to be either doing wonders to his mentality, or horrors to the instinctual beast that usually told him what to do and how to parade around like a lunatic without a brain.
Ah, manners were so difficult after all. But, he supposed rather wryly, it beat having the ire of a thousand horsemen at once. Twisting his tail, the Púca settled back and looked over towards the musicians, chanting distantly to himself as the music began, don't slip up, don't slip up again.
He snorted softly under his breath.
As usual.
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keiifuu rolled 1 20-sided dice:
15
Total: 15 (1-20)
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 12:39 am
Twisting and twirling and, ah, not tripping was a lot harder than it looked. Barely aware of how his feet moved, the Púca simply tried to go along with the music, imitating the ghouls earlier dance with a slight change of pace. The music was very lovely, and it was so easy to get swept away... what a tranquil place, and yet he was actually starting to like it here. How... odd. Peculiar even. The streamers were more use than he'd originally expected, and giving himself a final whirl, the Púca settled back down in front of Zhang, the music ebbing to a stop, and with it his calm. Suddenly full of nervous excitement for what the Horsewoman had to say, the Púca went deathly still before tucking his sleeves together and bowing; was that right? Was one supposed to bow at the end of a dance? Or simply at the beginning of a meeting? Ah, why did manners have to get so confusing in different places?!
The Púca made a private note to figure it out later on.
Tail lashing back and forth in a neon haze, Fallow listened to the sounds of women - wait, why were they laughing?! - giggling in the background, and though he had little to call shame in his body and soul, the Púca's cheeks did go a touch red. But looking up at Zhang, he felt himself cool just a bit. It had been his first time after all, the indignant voice said in the back of his mind. Fallow rumbled softly as though to agree with himself, folding his ears deep against the darkness of his hair. And he hadn't tripped.
That had to count for something. Had to.
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 1:56 am
[ week one :: day two :: dance training ]
The soles of her shoes must have been worn as the Mouryou had been pressing against them so hard while she watched the ghoul perform a sort of poetry with her body. Alluring, captivating... only some words Mea could use to describe what had transpired. Nothing short of perfection of the art of dance - something the rabbit had never bothered to delve into on her own. It was magical and her ears agreed as with every sweet note plucked on a chord they twitched happily.
It was so that she couldn't stop staring.
But staring is rude.
The thought struck her as odd as she grasped her arms together in a self-scolding hug. "Find out for myself, but what if I find out I have more than one left foot." Mea said with a pout, moving to a quick bow to her instructor before taking off to a changing room.
Immediately she felt constricted and thus, sticky - like some of her favorite snacks, but she was less than amused thinking herself a finely wrapped treat when she was attempting to train under the beautiful horseman. She let out a sigh of admiration as she moved back out to the area. Clacking against the floor in her new sandals she made quick, frenzied steps towards them, the back end of the purple fabric trailing behind her.
Purple was not her color, but it had been the one on top thus it was suitable enough. It was elegant, but simple with golden adornments and patterns. Absolutely stunning! But on someone else. She thought, turning to pay a glance to Dev and Fallow. She felt herself snort at Fallow who was attempting his best to keep a straight and noble posture. Dev seemed more at home and Mea gave her an approving nod. "Wonderful Dev, you look wonderful!" She said with a clap.
It was met with a disapproving gaze and she shuddered under the gaze, moving her hands in the same motion as Fallow - both hands together under the sleeves.
Here goes nothing she thought, and approached the box. Slowly she slid a small hand inside...
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kuumeii rolled 1 4-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-4)
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 1:57 am
...and found the bottom of the box itself!
Mea grimaced and sighed, pulling her hand out and approached Professor Zhang, taking her place in front of them. She could see it in her eyes, a simple phrase being brought out from within her and reflected there in the horseman.
Show me what you can do on your own.
Something so profound yet so simple. It made Mea's tummy grumble in irritation and she looked back to her comrades again for support. What met her gaze made her smile. Frustration melting into happiness she could see the Puca spinning with streamers of all things. She stifled a giggle and held a sleeve over her mouth to avoid offending her host.
Once she had finished she let out a strong grunt of self-confidence and moved her arms up to the starting position. Ears poised, tail ready - she could do this, surely she could!
With the first step she began.
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kuumeii rolled 1 20-sided dice:
10
Total: 10 (1-20)
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 2:08 am
Her eyes were closed and her body moved as she had envisioned the graceful ghoul in her mind. Each step in time and movement of the hands in their own subtle greatness. Inner peace, self-confidence, she had it all and in all of that grace had captivated Mea before. If she followed the same, could she get the same result? Would others find her breathtaking?
With a small grin she opened her eyes to look down at what she was doing, the rhythm of her body and how it must shine like...
Mea shuddered as she watched herself stumble a bit and she felt her ears droop as she watched her legs move awkwardly and completely out of time with the music. Aiming to get it over quickly she finished a twirl with her arms outstretched like a clumsy ballerina. Mumbling incoherently under her breath she clasped her hands together into a tiny bow before staring back at the eyes of Professor Zhang.
They were quite, still, showing no signs of happiness or sadness. After a moment of awkward silence she could see the tell-tale signs of A for effort?. With a squeak she scurried off quickly.
Birds weren't her bag and neither was dancing. Was the tranquil land of Conquest meant for a Mouryou or had she not found her knack yet?
Maybe some snacks could set her on her way...
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Syusaki rolled 1 4-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-4)
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:28 am
Dev snorted at Fallow’s remark as he entered the room once more. She grinned at the puca. “Ah pure loch ye dress, Fallow. Very nice. Same fur ye, Mea,” she noted as observed their outfits. The colors suited them both. The ghoul took a few steps back as she allowed the others to have a try first. Intent eyes watched them both reach their hands into the box, white teeth flashing when Mea failed to pull out a prop. So the horsemen danced without prop sometimes? Interesting. Fallow went first, and although she had not made so much as a peep during his dance, her lips were twisted into a smile at the horsemen’s laughter. A slight cough as mea went next and she leaned over to whisper softly to the other ghoul, “Dun worry abit it.”
“Guess it’s mah turn.” She slowly got to her feet, smoothing out the crinkles in her dress as she trotted over to the box. Her hand reached in and pulled out streamers, just like Fallow had. Dev raised both eyebrows at the result. She flashed back to the boil’s dance, re-examining his moves with the streamer before she moved to begin her own dance.
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Syusaki rolled 1 20-sided dice:
16
Total: 16 (1-20)
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:29 am
The music began, slowly and calmly. Her head bobbed with the beat before she finally began to move with the music. Dev tried to move with the music while still keeping her gestures slow and steady so she could mull over what to do next. The fabric of her dress rustled as she spun across the floor, the streamers in her hands flowing behind her in lazy circles. At first her expression was tense, her brows knitted together as she concentrated on her dance, but the longer the music played the more at ease she began to feel. By the end of the dance, her muscles had relaxed and her expression softened.
Ears twitched as the notes grew softer. She took it as her cue to end and finished with a flourish, wrists flicking to swirl her streams in a spiral around herself. Nervously, Dev looked toward the horsewomen for a response. She was met with surprise when she found them to be smiling. Her ears flattened, startled, but quickly she returned it with a grin of her own. “Thank ye.”
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:38 pm
Well, this was certainly different. Bongani sighed, pushing the long sleeves of his new outfit over his hands, only to have them fall down immediately after. No use trying that, he supposed. Still the garments were strange and the witch doctor seemed to fidget slightly as he emerged from the changing room. At least he didn't seem to be the only one uncomfortable. He watched Fallow, Dev, and Mae seem a bit apprehensive as well.Bon held up the hem of his outfit, letting his red sleeves trail as he stepped up with the others. "You all look dashing," he commented, though it wasn't clear if he was teasing or not. He had never been good at dancing, but was willing to give it a go if everyone else was going to. Bon had a feeling he would trip on his own feet more. While he may have been graceful in many things, dancing was not one of them.
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Honeybii rolled 1 4-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-4)
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:40 pm
Bongani took his turn at the blind box and ended up pulling out a fan. Great, just great. Not only would he have to make sure he didn't trip on the long train of his outfit, but he had to USE the fan too? The witch doctor snorted unhappily, rubbing the bridge of his nose in his telltale sign of unhappiness. Grinding his teeth, he gripped his fan and took himself into the line behind his companions. At least he was last, thankfully, and would be able to watch the others. Better able would he be to gauge their technique and see whether he should be nervous or not. If everyone beefed it, then Bongani wouldn't have to worry about tripping at all!
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Honeybii rolled 1 20-sided dice:
17
Total: 17 (1-20)
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:42 pm
By the time Bongani's time came to dance, he was sweating like a pig. Everyone had done so well, Dev in particular. The ghoul was practically amazing and Bon tried not to show his apprehension. As he stepped up, passing Dev in the process, he nodded to her in congratulation, not about to begrudge a job well done. If only he'd be able to do half as good. Hoping his fan didn't slip out of his sweaty palms, Bongani allowed himself a fortifying breath before he began his dance.
Everything was just a whirl of light and music and when it was all over, he was panting for breath, his body tight as a bow string. He realized his eyes had been shut and he had to peel them open to look at his teacher. The horsewoman was actually smiling! Bon would have gaped if he was inclined that way, but opted instead to just blink in astonishment. He'd actually done well. He hadn't dropped his fan or tripped or made a general fool of himself. Eyes practically twinkling, Bon fled the floor, feeling good about his accomplishment.
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Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 4:40 pm
KUMIKO: While the ceremony of Kodo is a complex one and may take years to master – upwards to 30 being the quoted amount – it seems that the Clan of Conquest has taken it upon themselves to at least bestow a small challenge of observation upon the students in the form of a game that, in theory, is rather simple. One of the younger members of Conquest’s Clan, for the sake of difficulty adjustment, has set up 5 different samples of incense on scentless bamboo squares.
A small demonstration is made as how to smell them – also known as ‘hearing’ the scents, with the square held up to one’s nose and the hand cupped over the square in order to scent it.
With this done, the rest of the explanation is given: Your task is to determine which scents are the same, and which are different! Several scents might match each other, some might not match any of the others. For this task, you are given several different sizes of block.
Using these blocks, you stack them so that a top bar may be put across matching incenses, which will form certain Genji-mon (also called Genji-ko) to denote chapters of the Tale of Genji (a strange tale from the Human World O_O!! )
For example, if the first and the last scents match each other, you would stack your blocks to form the chapter ‘Maboroshi’ (Chapter 41, ‘The Wizard’) with three shorter blocks in the center, and two taller ones on each end with the longer block set across the top of them.
The trickiness comes in that some scents may be very similar to each other, but not the same, and some might be exactly the same just to trick you!
Once you have ‘heard’ each scent and set up your blocks, the individual who set up the challenge will let you know how you did.Mechanics! [ Mechanics: ] You will roll twice for this! In both posts, roll 5d6. In the first post, the dice represent your students ‘guess’ at the scents. Any matching numbers are matching scents! The second post is the Horseman who set up your challenge telling you how you did. However.As there are only 5 blocks, the number 6 is a wildcard! You may alter the number 6 in your roll to be any number of your choosing! How nice! What the numbers are exactly doesn’t matter, it simply matters that numbers repeat in the same places in each roll. Example First Post Invictus rolls 5d6 He gets 33113 That means he guesses that the first two scents and the last one match, as do the third and the fourth one. That means his blocks resemble the chapter ‘Wakana no jo’ (Chapter 34, New Herbs, Part 1). Second Post The Horseman who set up the event rolls 5d6 He gets 44226 This means that because the last number is a 6, it is a wildcard! I can now change this ‘real’ answer’s 6 to a 4, and have the same matching pattern as Invictus had in his guess! Gasp! He got it right! WHY:
You get points based on your accuracy! (SELECT ONLY ONE)
If you 100% match the Horseman’s set up, take 3 points!
If you were one block off of 100%, take 2 points!
If there are multiple matches and you only get one of the two correct, take 2 points!
If you were one off of the second match, take 1 point!
If you matched the wrong pattern, but there was an existing pattern, take 1 point!
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kuumeii rolled 5 6-sided dice:
3, 5, 3, 3, 4
Total: 18 (5-30)
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Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 4:47 pm
[ week one :: day three :: kumiko ]
When Mea had first walked up she felt a knot tying in her stomach. Thus far she had done very well in training - which to her had been expected especially considered most of these things were completely foreign in her nature. She had expected to at least find the one thing she was good at though, at least if it indeed existed.
Chance happened to be on her side as she studied over the scent test. As a creature who enjoyed the lovely scent of the freshly buried and as a connoisseur she had pride in her ability to sort out scents. Current knowledge of the Conquest Clan made her doubtful though, they'd already thrown her for a loop several times. Enjoyable, yes, but humbling in a few ways and tasty in a few others. Mea licked her lips and concentrated on the scent.
It was as if her entire body went into meditation mode and she sat perfectly still among a light breeze that had picked up. So melodramatic. She thought to herself and her body relaxed. Giggling she blinked her bright eyes back to the horseman. With a subtle bounce of her ears along with a twitch of her tail she pushed forward with her guess.
3 5 3 3 4
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