Welcome to Gaia! ::

Alex stood up and addressed the teacher. "The person before me, Fang, appears to be some sort of cat human or neko as he prefers. This is made apparent by the comment he makes about 'weird people without animal attachments', implying that he does have them and he's unused to seeing people without them.
His dress is either the school unifrom(that I seemed to have missed) or he is simply a regal dressed person, with the cape and nice clothing. He could also be a traveling gentleman of wealth, seeing as how the cape has gold trim. From his introduction he sounds as if things went sour for him in his world since he was banished and fell off a bridge(this might be a nicer way for executed?).
Dragn thinks Fang's personality seems to be very energetic, as he was the first to hop up and vault over the desk to be first to introduce himself. He also seems to talk with much excitement in his voice. At least that's how he read things. This also could be a bit biased seeing as how he was the person with the most exclamation points used for his statements out of everyone introduced."
He gestured to the elven gun wielder with his head, flicking his hair around in the process.
" Dragn's favorite intro so far? I'd probably have to say that Lloyd or Tombstone was the one that wowed him the most.
To him, Lloyd was described as this lax, elven gunslayer who had seen and committed his share of good and dark things and knows how things work in his world. He sounds like a pretty knowledgeable character and that he does indeed know how to use those weapons he has strapped at his sides. Although his posture seems misleading, he appears to be ready for any sign of danger. At the same time, he puts off a beautiful aura of being pretty laid back, but serious simultaneously. The way he describes his world also is pretty apparent- a wild west style wasteland. There's a possibility that its maybe an apocalyptic wasteland, but there's nothing that flat out spells that out('Never seen this much green in one place before'?)."
Alex nodded at the teacher, indicating his speech was finished.

"Oh, sorry about that, I'm not much a fan on waiting to get the job down." Garret spoke, letting his head fall a little, he broke character.

"In order to achieve this clear picture..." Garret began trying to recover, "His dress is clearly appropriate for the whole 'cowboy' thing he's got going on, and so is his physical traits: sitting impossibly far back in a chair, having arms crossed, not really caring to get up, really create the cowboy effect. The way his words flow out almost remind me of Fallout, I hear his voice kind of like the narrator of that game who says 'war, war never change.' Other introduction were very well written as well, but not of them captured the character and formed the image so precisely as this one in my mind." As Garret spoke his confidence built back and he regained the character he was at first playing. Feeling satisfied Garret leaned back in his chair a little, for he had been sitting straight up this entire time and his back had finally gotten tired of it.

Mr. Vay checked his watch then tapped the glass again with a pouty little frown before glancing to the clock on the back wall. “Guess that's enough time,” he shrugged and pushed himself off the desk to wander idly down the center isle as he talked. “Congrats, Pointy-ears,” the teacher flashed Tombstone a grin as he pulled out something from the inside pocket of his blazer. “Yer popular. Have a cookie,” he held out a hand-sized chocolate chip cookie then set it on Lloyd's desk before turning away to look over the class, “Fer the rest of you, don't worry – this ain't a competition. Though it does look like some of yer's next class is gonna be LIT 101 if ya don't clean up the grammar. Remember guys, this is a class. Put some thought and effort into this, take time to proofread your posts and seriously think about your answers. Lookin' like we might have to work on some a yer analyzation skills too,” he shook his head with a slight mutter then waved it off. “Get to that later. On with the lesson,” he turned with a twirl and headed back to the front.

“Introductions are almost always hard things to do. There's a lot of emphasis put on em too cuz people really do tend to judge a person within the first few minutes of meetin' them,” he turned to give the class a wry grin, “Pretty sure you've all got wonderful little opinions bout me by now,” he paused to give Fang a nod. “I know you do,” he nearly purred then looked to the rest of the class again. “Funny thing is though, I'd bet the salary they're not paying me ta teach y'all that it's not all the same opinion and at least some a ya are off base with it.”

The professor gave the class a moment to consider that before going on, “Fang there,” he waved a hand at the neko, “doesn't seem to have caught my sense of humor,” he glanced at the boy and whispered, “Saddle was a joke,” before looking back to the others again, “And he mistook my general laziness for apathy, though there is a good bit of that in there too. More notably he misread some of the details completely. 'My wife didn't dress me today' doesn't really imply that she forced me to come, kind of the opposite actually. If she'd forced me she would'a done it right an been sure I was dressed to tha nines. No, she was busy handling the registrations and trying to pry lesson plans out of the rest of the faculty so I could've slept in an skipped out on y'all. But I didn't. Couldn't help a joke 'bout it but I came on my own volition. Really. I did.” He flashed a coy grin at them then waved it off. “Moving on. I'm not sure what the teachers you're used to are wearing but,” he glanced down at the t-shirt and faded jeans he had on, “this ain't the usual professor attire. I did put tha jacket on in attempt to rectify that but I'd specifically mentioned earlier wearing 'the same, basic t-shirt and jeans combo as most of the class' which is looking like yer average student, not professor. You did pick up on my looking young and if I was properly dressed that would be an attempt at looking older,” he paused and pulled out a pair of thin rimmed glasses from the breast pocket of his blazer. “There,” he nodded after slipping them on, “Maybe got a couple years with that. And, let's see,” he scratched his chin, “Ah yes, probably shouldn't have shaved,” he ran fingers over his upper lip then drug his palm over his jaw, sprouting a bit of scruff. “Better?” Vay only paused a moment, not really looking for an answer before he went on.

“Besides misreading a few things, there's several more little details that Fang here either didn't pick up on or just didn't bother to put in his summary. But you know sumthin, that's ok,” he gave the neko a reassuring smile, “Actually I was counting on it. Had you done a better job it would have been the exception to the rule and I'd not have been able to make an example. Have cookie,” Vay snapped his fingers and a cookie appeared on Fang's desk in a puff of smoke that smelled faintly of catnip, as did the cookie which was vaguely shaped like a mouse. “The world would be a much better place if we could do that in real life,” the teacher smiled wistfully then shook his head, “Back on topic.”

“No matter how well you do it, how much of yourself you put out there in that first introduction, there's going to be something lost in translation. Now, there's things we can do to help and that's what this class is all about, but even seasoned players have to reinforce their character traits after the initial introduction. Notice most of the traits that Fang there picked up on were not just mentioned once. They've each got multiple examples either explicit or implied which display that trait throughout my posts. That's reinforcement: a repetition of detail to make sure people pick up on it. And that can't really be done if your introduction consists of a few adjective heavy sentences strewn together in what I like to call a 'description spew.' Outside of being generally boring to read, description spews are a bad way to introduce a character. It's kind of the RP equivalent of walking into a room and shouting 'Look at me' then just standing there as people stare at you. They put too much emphasis on physical appearance and unnecessary detail without really getting to know the character. Look at any good writer and you'll notice that they don't tell you the color of the character's socks right off, sometimes you don't even get the color of their eyes or hair. Instead they focus on personality, history, and relationships – the things that make a person, you know, a person.”

“Now let's look at Pointy-ears for a moment,” Vay waved a hand at the elf, “He starts out with something dangerously close to a description spew but managed to salvage it by adding in little active details here and there: leaning back in his chair, stroking his guns, and tapping his foot. It's still a description block but at least he's doing something more than just standing there. More over he uses the actions within to imply his personality, which we get a clear picture of without him ever having to say 'dangerous p***k,'” Vay paused to give Lloyd a wry grin, “No offense,” then looked back at the rest of the class. “Beyond the initial block he goes on to reinforce that personality with speech patterns, a sorted background, air of confidence, and callous behavior. No wonder he won the votes. Had nothing at all to do with his player's being faculty and Crew on top of that, now did it,” Vay grinned coyly then shook his head and leaned back against his desk.

“Honestly though, most of you did a passable job. There's hints of personality in the text of what most of you wrote, there's just too much talking and not enough doing to really show that off. Couple of you did better'n others. Basira's got a good hyperactive twitch goin there with the ruler and finger tapping and she's got a lot of personality in her voice workin with the dialog. Levi there has hints of a story in his subtext while playing the emo angst, Garret's working the confident all-star, Alex is hitting slacker spot on, and Fang actually reminds me of my cat – kind of an overeager spazz,” Vay shrugged then flashed that wry grin again, “Not to say ya don't need some work but it ain't irrevocably full of suck.”

“If I were to pick the best one though, I'd be a touch torn between Pointy-ears there and this lovely little ball of nerves up front,” Mr. Vay gave Alice a sweet smile and wink. “Like Pointy-ears said, she's got the whole package wrapping up to describe a shy little nerdy girl. The description spew tacked on at the end could be handled better and the character seems a touch cliché but the introduction is artfully done with good grammar and everything. If she had broken up the details of the physical description and inserted them scattered about the rest in appropriate places (mention eye color when she adjusted her glasses, describe clothing when she straightened it, describe hair falling to cover her face when she looked down at the end, and simply leave out some of the minor detail) she would have won my vote completely. You see, what's holding me back on Pointy-ears there is probably one of the things that got him so many votes. He's a post-apocalyptic gunslinger – don't really jive as well with the academic setting as shy nerdy girl sittin' in the front row. Now I know you were encouraged to be creative but appropriateness is an important factor in character creation so,” he snapped his fingers and a cupcake appeared on Alice's desk in a puff of vanilla scented smoke. “I sure hope no one's diabetic.”

“Now then, I've got one more I'd like to call out before we move along,” the teacher tilted his head at D'cund. “Rocky, if ya don't mind, git out yer creepy little hand dood and have him translate for ya. While I give props for anyone willing and able to keep up a thick accent like that, it's just good manners to translate for those of us not linguistically inclined. Also I think the two of you work better in tandem seein as the big guy's not got much goin on,” Vay gave the pile of rocks a nodding smile then looked to the rest of the class again.

“Now, time for the next assignment. I'm gonna give y'all a chance to do what I did up there,” the teacher pointed lazily up, “with what Fangs said bout me, only you gotta do it with what the others've said about you,” he nodded for emphasis then gave a coy grin to Lloyd, “Got yer work cut out fer ya, Points.” The he looked to the rest of the class again. “So, I'll lay it out simple,” he walked to the chalk board and found a blank spot to scrawl the assignment out:

1) Refute or affirm what has been said by others about your character.
2) Reinforce your character traits while doing this.

Vay turned but stayed by the board with chalk in hand. “That second part should really be done all the time, it's called 'consistency,' but make extra sure to do it in this one. And I'm not talkin about mentioning the traits in dialog. We're doing 'show not tell' with this (a topic that will be beat into your heads in most the classes here) so be sure to give us examples of the traits in everything you do, not just say.” Then he turned back to the board and added a third item:

3) Explain what makes a good character good.

“Another multi-part, I know, but this one's kind of the point a tha class,” Vay grinned as he turned back to the class, stepping aside so they could read the assignment. “Also ye've got the time for it. Speaking of time, I'll give ya a deadline fer this one. Gonna start trying to have due dates Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday from now on. Gives ya two-ish days to do each. So, let's try and have this one in by Sunday evening, shall we. Also I'll be taking this one as a PM so don't post it to the thread. And, lastly, put some thought into this guys. I want more than a few sentences. I can, and have, written five pages on that last one so I'm expecting at least a few paragraphs.”

"Ahh the first non-verbal assignment, I suppose I will execute the verbal one first though." Garret spoke with a bit of enthusiasm, he was excited that his acting skills had really shone through. Everybody thought he was confident, exactly the character he wanted to play for the class. He stood and with the same character he had taken on before he spoke.

"Basira, was pretty spot on. She understood the impression of the stride, although the imitation was a bit crude to say the least." He paused to give Basira a quick smile. "My fitness is very much a side effect of my JROTC, and I have done a couple musicals." His hand brushed through his his dark hair as he faced down, cheeks turning a little red. "I'm a- bit of an overachiever, I had intentions to join the military but decided instead to come here. I consider myself to be on the smart side, and not quite the king a' cool, but I'll take that compliment. I like to think you'd want to be around me" He gave a quick look back to Basira with a somewhat cheeky grin.

Garret then sat back down in his seat, and looked around the room to see treats on everyone else's desks. I wonder if I could get away with eating in this class, I went on a run before I came here and didn't get a chance to. Slowly Garret reached down for his bag and grabbed a protein bar. He opened the wrapper and took a bite of what- to others- must have looked like fecal matter.

Upon completion of the poo-bar as he fondly called them, Garret took out a piece of paper and a pen and began to write very carefully in tall and neat print. I should probably get a head-start on this assignment since I have the chance.

"Oh, hey, way to just miss the line, Alices," Vay gave the shy girl a wry grin then shook his head, "It's ok. I won't fault you for seven minutes. We're still waiting for -some- people," he gave a pointed glare to the two unintroduced students in the corner, "to give us their first assignment." He looked back to the rest of the class with a pleasant smile, "Don't worry about getting behind, just drop in when you can and try to keep up. I'll try to stick to that Sunday, Wednesday, Friday schedule so y'all know when to expect stuff."

The teacher blinked when one of the students stood up and orated the first half of their assignment. "Ah, well. . . I'd not really expected that out loud just yet but I guess that works. Rest of y'all can post the first half I s'pose. Just be sure to PM the last part."

When Jikial popped up and spoke Vay tilted his head slightly and gave him a polite, "Thank you." Then he cringed with a shiver when the creepy little dude crawled into the rock guy's eye socket. "Ok. You can't tell me that's not creepy" Vay muttered shaking his head then looked to the class. "Alright now, get to work."

"Well... It is true that I am a cat person and I haven't really seen much of you weirdos without animal attachments, no offense though!" Fang laughed a little too loudly, and continued after he finished. "In my world, the clothing, however, is commonplace, seeing as they wouldn't let me take any of my royal stuff. I'm not a gentleman of wealth. That would be kind of cool though! My own butler.... I want to be one now!" He coughed, realized he was getting off topic. "Things did go sour for me, but I wasn't executed. I'm pretty sure I can't fly through objects and I don't have any knowledge of an afterlife." He began to stroke his ears again as his tail flicked behind him. "Sorry for going off on so many tangents! I like to ramble, eh-heh." He kind of sunk low, which didn't really help much, seeing as he sitting on the desk rather than the chair.

Only a few of the students had managed to turn in their written (PM) assignments and about the same number, though oddly not all the same students, had given their oral answers by the time Vay looked up from the book he'd been reading and arched a brow at the clock. With another slight pout he tapped the glass of his watch again then shook his head and set the book down as he pulled his feet off the desk to stand up.

"Ok, guys. Assignment was due yesterday and I've only got about half of them. Let's get those in, ok. Those of you that gave me the whole thing in PM go ahead and stand up for the class with the first part," he waved for Alice and D'cund to stand up then glanced at Fang and Alex, "Those of you that only gave the first part please turn in (PM) your written portion. The rest of you get off yer asses and get your work in," he gave a pointed look to Lloyd, Basira, and Levi then walked slowly across the class to stand by Mayura's desk.

"It's ok, darlin', I was hoping one of the slackers in the corner would chime in for ya but they're about dropped out now so don't worry about the refute. Just focus on the rest," Vay gave the girl a friendly smile. "Yer doin ok," he told her softly as he turned away to stroll through the other desks and glare at those that hadn't turned their work in.

Her left hand continued to rattle across the table as the right twisted her scale bar in between her fingers. A grin grew on to her face as she looked down to her hands. Two different aspects at once! HA! Ah. Ha. Right. He’s rambling again. Now her eyes jumped from her hands, to the teacher, and lastly to the shaky girl. I want a cupcake… At this point she had stopped her tapping and instead stopped to crack all of her fingers, from knuckle to knuckle. God she stumbles a lot. Speak up! Chitter chitter chitter. It’s always the quiet ones. Obnoxious. Like gas. No, I suppose that’s noxious. Noxious gas, obnoxious people. They go hand in hand I’d guess. Like, if people, when they talked, it was obnoxious so listening to it, is like noxious gas. I bet the words have the some origin in common. Scatter brained. I’m not scatter brained! By the end of her thoughts the theatre fanatic dropped her fist on to the table. Not quite loud enough to cause a disturbance, but enough to make a small ’thump’

I’m getting’ a damn cupcake!Action! Lights! Sound! Action! I’m not an actor. “Well ********.” Basira mumbled more for her own thoughts. She crossed her arms and shuffled them about a bit. Her back slid deep into the chair and beneath her feet crossed. As Alice spoke Basira began to slide her jaw back and forth, tap her feet together, stretch her toes inside of her black and white sneakers, and glare at the cup-cake winner. “…cupcake….” She grumbled as Garret rose to speak. Her harsh gave lifted to hear the ‘king a’ cool’ speak. A lopsided grin emerged as he mentioned her comments, and even smiled back. Soon others spoke, and their words turned to garble. Ha! I did well. Not cupcake well. Maybe I should just steal her cupcake…throw a brick at her and take the damn thing. I feel like it wouldn’t be the same…is a cupcake by any other means still a cupcake? I suppose. Ill gotten gains and what not..It’s still a cupcake…I wonder—

Basira was now feeling a brief sting from the other part of the room. As she broke from her thoughts she noticed a commanding finger barking to do some assignment. “s**t. Right.” Basira shot up from her seat, almost knocking the chair over. “I’m not scatter brained. Well, yeah. Maybe. Hyperactive, maybe. No. Not really. I just have a lot to think about, it’s not scattered. I think uh, that…thing…” She motioned to the rock creature across the room, “D’cund? Yeah. That’s the one. I think he was more spot on than Mayura. Quick thinker. I prefer quick thinker. It’s what its like in the city. You miss one train you think of 2 buses and a walk. You know what they say, on time is late and 5 minutes don’t even bother showin’ up!” Her eyes widened as she looked to Mr.Vay. “Well, not in this situation. That’s during strike or uh, load in. Not class, well class too. Sometimes. See! Not scattered. Okay, to you all. Yes. But there was an entire pathway. I just….it would be too long to get into so….yeah. I’ma…I’m done…” Basira plopped back into her chair and dug around in her bag to find a piece of scrap paper. Her hand writing was as quick as her mind, and her words seemed more like scribble.