Welcome to Gaia! ::

“I was in the library. Have you seen it? It’s amazing! So many books!” Ella-Brook said in response to Zane’s question. She hoped to go back there later, maybe after class was over, so she could further explore the place.

E.B didn’t tend to think of herself as shy, so whenever Mr. Vay referred to her as “Shy Girl #3” she was initially somewhat shocked. When she thought about it, however, she realized that she was fairly shy. That explained her nervousness in front of the class and why it took her until after Mr. Vay had spoken to muster up the courage to once again speak about herself to the whole class.

Standing up, Ella-Brook began to speak. “Well, um, I guess my strengths would be that I’m smart, a fast reader, organized, open-minded, pretty competitive, and I have a pretty good singing voice. I think that’s all. Maybe that’s not all but it’s all I can think of right now and, uh, I’m gonna move on to weaknesses now. So, um, for weaknesses, I guess I can get pretty distracted sometimes, especially when I’m really focusing on something. Oh! Focus! That’s another strength. And I guess my other weaknesses are that I’m not really good at being in front of people and talking to them like I’m doing now because it makes me really nervous and also I talk too much, so I think that’s another weakness. Um, but, it’s really only a weakness when I talk to groups of people so maybe it isn’t an actual weakness?” By this point Ella-Brook had lost track of where she was going with her answer to the assignment, and paused to think for a moment about whether or not her talkativeness was actually a weakness or if it even existed at all. When she remembered that she was standing at her desk and speaking to the class, E.B blushed and continued with her answer.

“Sorry, um, my other weaknesses would be that I don’t really like large crowds of people and, um, I’m not very good at talking about myself. As for physical stuff, um, I’m not the strongest person ever, so I guess that’s a weakness. I’m pretty good at dodging balls in dodgeball, though, so that’d be a physical strength. I can’t really think of anything else right now, so I’ll go ahead and sit down now.”

Ella-Brook quietly sat back down in her seat. She felt like she’d just revealed too much of herself to the class. Now they’d be able to figure out how to surpass her academically. That was definitely not a thing she wanted to happen. Unfortunately, the assignment had been to reveal one’s strengths and weaknesses, and she couldn’t very well both do the assignment and protect herself. It’s too late now, she thought, What’s been said has been said. So, she resumed her note taking.

Evan doodled in his sketchbook while in thought. His doodle was quickly developing into what he imagined himself to be if he had a bit of magic of his own. Satisfied, he closed the book once again and looked at Vay.

"I don't play any sports, but I do keep myself in shape. As for a skill that I completely lack, it would be keeping my anger in control some times," he said, a smile on his face as again his face turned red.

Mayura waited until the others were done talking, she had been thinking about what the teacher said, so she raised her hand and started talking without standing up, "I guess I am shy, but I would call it crippling, yes I'm not that confident, as well as not very athletic and not familiar with the language, however I would have to say that my intelligence is only average, and I don't love books, I don't mind reading a good fantasy book, but I rather play online games and such, I'm not that awkward in social situations, I think I can manage" she paused trying to think if she was covering all that the teacher had mentioned, but she couldn't remember anything else "Well I think that's all.." she said smiling a bit and the redness on her face coming back a little bit.

Well after the last assignment's deadline the teacher looked up from the book he'd been reading (more of a manuscript copy by the title of SOUL), and frowned at the clock on the back wall then glared at the woefully short stack of papers on his desk and shook his head with a tisk.

"It looks like I am going to have to add the obvious to our list of Good Player attributes," he half muttered as he put the book down and pushed himself up from his chair to wander back to the chalk board then scrawled "PARTICIPATION" under the Good Player chart.

"Seriously guys, you can do everything else perfectly but if you don't do this most basic one then you can't be a good player. I don't care how great of a writer you are, how nice and good of a person you are, how awesome and well developed your character is, if you don't play the game then you're not a good player. You're not even a player at all. You are Dead Weight. You slow things down for everyone else and kill a game. So," he almost huffed then pushed his glasses back up on his nose as he moved away from the board to tap a finger on the stack of papers turned in.

"I have six backgrounds turned in so far. Two of which were late. The other half the class just hasn't turned theirs in. You have at least been better about the oral work but I've still not heard from three of you, that's a quarter of the class." He paused taking a deep breath to chill a moment. "Now, some of you are doing well. And this isn't for you," he gave the few that had turned all their work in a gracious smile before looking to the rest of the class.

"But the rest of you need to step up or at least call in. We understand life gets in the way but you should be able to pop on for the two minutes it takes to post a note in the OoC that something's come up and you're going to be late. That's all it takes. Just let us know. Else we get the impression that you don't care. And that's hurtful." He paused a moment to let that sink in.

"Now. Since I don't want to move on with half the class behind, I'll not issue the next assignment just yet (though you can check the OoC to get a head start). What I will do is offer extra credit for anyone that steps up and gives suggestions to anyone else on how they can expand on their strengths and weaknesses. Don't just repeat each other and don't all help the same person. You only get credit if you say something new.

"Oh, and, for those of you that aren't checking the OoC, it's more than chatter. I've been posting your next assignment ahead of time in there so you have more time to work on it (so you have no excuse for being late) and there's been some discussion on the future of the Academy as well as explanations of how things work here. Such as the fact that you will be graded on this work and those grades will be publicly displayed on your transcripts.

"So. Yeah. Put some work into it," Vay flashed the class a smile then plopped back down and picked up the book again. "I suggest you do the extra credit."

Roll Call:

A small knock on the door followed by a platinum blonde peeping into the classroom signified a visitor. "Um, I'm very sorry to disrupt, but I believe I am supposed to be in this class." A young girl shuffled into view as she gripped her sketchbook against her chest. The further into the room she got, the likelier people noticed her blushing face.

"I really am sorry for being so late. My name is Reina Trasfer, and it's nice to meet you all." Reina had felt fairly certain that she was giving a sincere smile, but it probably looked like a strained smile to the others. She glanced at the professor and mumbled, "Have I missed a lot?"

"O-oh. Okay then." She had a lot to catch up to, and she wasn't sure if she would be able to keep up with the rest of the class. "Um, well...you already know my name is Reina," she nervously chuckled. "I'm an--elf!" Her eyes widened when she saw a gunslinger with pointed ears. "Oh, I'm so glad I'm not the only one around," she said as her shoulders sagged with relief. "Where did--oh wait, sorry," she said to the class. I need to finish the assignment. Maybe I can talk to him later. She noticed that no one was looking at the male elf with scorn. I guess I don’t have to worry about that here. Reina finally sat down in one of the seats closest to the exit and bit her lip.

"As I was saying, I'm an elf. I come from a place where elves aren’t...well, aren’t very numerous,” Reina said with a frown. “And people tend to like it that way.” Her voice was oddly flat and she chose not to look at any of the humans at this statement. She played with the frayed edges of her skirt as she tried to come up with something else to say. Let’s try and think of something happy.

“Sorry about that. Anyway, I like to draw. It's one of my favorite things to do," she said with a tiny grin. "Here's a picture of my player. Her name is Isa-sama." Reina opened up her sketchbook to a page where a monochrome elf girl was leaning against a wall with a scythe in her hands. An ornate border lined around the page. "I'd have given you a more realistic picture of her, but I think she likes to be a little mysterious." Her voice was tinted with amusement as she spoke about her player.

At this point, the rather ordinary drawing became unordinary. The grey elf girl turned her head to look at the audience and beamed. The drawing started waving and as the figure walked towards the audience, the drawing bumped into something that caused it to rub its nose. Isa-sama quickly stood up and started banging on the piece of paper as though she were trying to escape. Reina snapped the sketchbook closed before anyone could see if the cat girl could actually get out of the book. “I-I probably should have w-warned you,” she stammered, “that my drawings aren’t exactly normal.” Reina analyzed everyone’s faces as she hurriedly stated, “but it’s okay, I can control it! There’s no need to panic.” She gripped the book to her chest tightly. “I am not here to learn how to control my m-magic. I came so that I could learn to change.” The elven girl took a few deep breaths before visibly forcing her body to calm down.

“So I’d have to say one of my strengths is my motivation. It might take me a while before I can do whatever it is I’ve set out to do though.” That was a somewhat sad thought, but she continued with her assignment. “I think my magic is a strength too. It has helped me out of a few situations before. And,” she paused, “I don’t know if this is a strength or not. I guess it’s your personal opinion when it comes to this, but I’m really good at getting myself out of situations. I have a bad habit of being aware of what’s around me and then figuring out ways to escape if need be.

But then that turns us to weaknesses. I guess my biggest weakness is how afraid I get. I’m not strong. And where I’m from, being part elf is just as bad as being a full elf. Full elves can use words to power their magic though, and all I can do is draw it. Drawing can take a lot of time too, which is a problem when I’m in a lot of trouble and not enough time. And I panic easily, and I don’t stand up for myself often. But if I stop being so scared, the panic will go away…right?”

Why was she even here? Her dad always tolerated her behavior but he never seemed to ever care for the way she had become. Then all of the sudden she get some letter and in what felt like a flash, here she was, standing before a broken down building with her bags in one hand and acceptance letter in the other.

She could have run. Eventually she would find some form of civilization right? She could just start her life anew there… Right. With all your experience of getting fired, you’d make a great hobo. She sighed in agreement with herself before stepping forward. What could it hurt? Who said it had to be terrible here?

A step through the entrance and she almost dropped her jaw at the change in scenery. There was no way she slipped down any rabbit hole… or had she when she was too busy rambling to herself?

After a moment of being dazed, she was brought attention to the lovely blue haired woman. Of course, dear Evalyn had to stop from staring. Whose hair was naturally that color but elder women? Sure long auburn hair wasn’t anything new but blue… She continued her conflicted stare, not even noticing her bags gone or that she stopped in front of some door. With a wave, the woman was gone and there Eva was, staring at the door of a classroom…

Well, if she was going to enter, it might as well have been then. Going any later would make no difference.
So, with a proud stance, she walked through the door and waited for the teacher to take notice. Surely he wouldn’t completely ignore her, or so she hoped.

Vay listened to the new elf-girl's introduction and list of strengths/weaknesses with a friendly little smile and gave her a nodding shrug for the end question before he glanced to Evan with a nod and started to comment but the door opened to let in another new girl and Zane spoke up. The teacher listened to Zane speak then gave the new new girl a pleasant smile and waved her in.

"Welcome, have a seat," he told her gently when she didn't speak. "Looks we might have a shy girl #5," he flashed a grin at the rest of the class then shook his head. "Tell us a little about yourself, darlin', then have a seat just anywhere," the teacher smiled back to the new new girl. "I'll give you a minute to collect yer thoughts while I address a thing," he winked slightly then looked back to the class.

"First, reading between the lines is something we do want you to do, as much as your character can without using the subtext. So, those are two different things. Reading between the lines is making inference based on given evidence - guessing basically. Subtext is what's not dialog, description, or action. It's those inner thoughts and author's notes from other characters and players that you, not being a mind reader, can not hear. So you can't acknowledge them. Doing so would be OoCK (Out of Character Knowledge) abuse which we have established is a bad thing.

"Faculty here have the special condition of actually being our players (yeah, this ain't a character) so we get to be in on the subtext. The rest of you don't get that as you are not your players (it's just a thing, go with it) so can not perceive the subtext. Your players can and should recognize subtext in their own heads but they can't tell you about it, because that would be rude.

"We do this because subtext is a useful tool for players to be able develop their characters without giving away character secrets to the other characters. Other players get to know and appreciate the secrets but their characters can't because they have no way of knowing them because it was never shown in any way they could perceive" Vay paused with a look out over the class.

"Understood?" he asked slowly but didn't really wait for a reply. "This is an important matter as OoCK abuse is a punishable offense under most GMs so if you don't get it, please ask and I'll try to explain again. For now I'll move on.

"Zane's explanation of the severity of a trait making it a weakness or strength rather than a quirk is quite accurate," Vay paused to give the boy a slight bow and, "Thank you," then looked back to the rest of the class. "However, it is also a bit incomplete. A weakness should be severe enough to make things difficult for your character but does not need to be crippling. In fact you should never give your character a crippling weakness without serious consideration and commitment to that weakness as it will define your character.

"A good rule of thumb is to treat it as a psychologist would (and now you know why the character development classes are under the psychology department). Psychologists determine the difference between a personality trait and personality disorder by how much of an impact that trait has on the person's life. If the trait (or group of traits) cause the person so much trouble that they have difficulty functioning then they are considered a disorder. Do not give your characters disorders lightly as they are very difficult to deal with and make game play a challenge. We have a whole class dedicated to characters with disorders (PSY 301) because of this.

"Now, let's expand on the shy trait for an example. Someone who is shy as a quirk probably blushes when something crude happens, gets nervous speaking in front of groups, and is generally self conscious. Someone who is shy as a weakness has all that plus it is hard for them to speak even one on one, they are uncomfortable in crowds, they have low self esteem, and are nervous when trying new things. Someone with a social anxiety disorder (which is fancy talk for extremely shy) has all that plus a tendency to simply avoid social situations altogether, very low self esteem, fear of trying new things because they generally expect failure, and occasional panic attacks which can actually make them stop breathing.

"See the difference there? How about another one to really drive the point in. More than one of you have mentioned a certain apathy towards others as a weakness. A mild amount of selfishness isn't really a weakness it's just a quirk, and a common one at that, but maybe you do have it enough to be an actual weakness, something that actually causes your character notable difficulty. Now, I hope this apathy is only what psychologists would consider a personality trait (weakness) and not a symptom of one of the many disorders characterized by an extreme lack of compassion. Such as sociopathy - which is an inability to feel emotion of any kind, not just compassion. Serial killers tend to be sociopaths and, well, you can kind of see how that might be a problem.

"So. Yes, severity should be taken into consideration when giving your character strengths/weaknesses to be sure you're not just listing personality traits but actually things that make a considerable impact on your character's life. If the trait is not severe enough to make things easier or more difficult for your character then it is not really a strength or a weakness but a quirk.

"We'll come back to this in a moment but I'd like to interject here on Evan's mention of showing things in action. Yes. Strengths and weaknesses both not only can but should be shown in actions. It's part of the show not tell doctrine the Academy plans to drill into y'all throughout your education here. Everything about your character should be shown in their actions, thoughts, ideas, behaviors, mannerism, and right down to the basic decision to turn left or right at a fork in the road. All that, everything you say, think, and do are all evidence of your personality - your identity. It's who you are, a sum of all those parts.

"Rather than calling yourself shy, because really who does that, you need to show us that you are. Little things like stepping into a room without a single word," Vay waved at the new new girl, "To a fast talking over explanation with stuttering stops, filler words (um, uh, oh, anyway, yeah, etc), and self questioning," he waved at the elf-girl then to Alice, "All show us traits of a shy personality without ever using the word.

"Strengths can be shown, or even implied, as well. Such as Mr. Pointy-ears over there who simply oozes badass with every last detail about him but also more subtly with our artists. Alice's origami," he nodded to the folded note that had been passing between her and Alex, "is obviously something she's quite good it and then we've Evan and. . . Miss Pointy-ears, I'll get your names eventually just be patient with me. Both of them have sketchbooks which generally implies at least a passion for, if not actual skill at, drawing.

"And let's not forget the obvious, physical cues such as our talking pile of rocks, who I'm willing to bet my non-existent salary that he's pretty damn strong. Something to do with being made out of rock. But even just a buff guy would get that implication just as I'm going to assume that Kitty back there," he waved at Fang, "probably has much better hearing and sense of smell than the rest of us do, simply by being part cat. Unfortunately he might also be colorblind - given that humans are actually quite rare among mammals in their ability to see the full spectrum of colors.

"Mention of that lovely little disability brings up physical weaknesses. Yes, disabilities actually happen and they are severe weaknesses. Much like a personality disorder is a crippling psychological weakness, a physical disability is a crippling physical weakness and as such should be only inflicted upon your characters after careful consideration.

"And, yes, being colorblind is a disability as recognized by the ADA. I would know. I am red/green colorblind. This means I see reds and greens as yellow - which makes driving fun. It also makes instances where anything is indicated by red vs green vs yellow things very difficult (power indicators on most electronics for example) and it makes picking out clothing somewhat of a challenge. So now you know why my wife usually dresses me.

"Though it seems like a little thing on the surface, being colorblind affects nearly every aspect of my life and is a major part of my identity - just as being in a wheelchair would define a paraplegic (though admittedly not to the same degree of severity). I always have to guess what color something really is and the rest of you don't even realize how important color is or how damn often you use it to describe things. I can't pick the red door out from the green or yellow one. If you've put yellow text on a red background (happens a lot) then I can't see it, let alone read it. If you put bright red or green text on a white background then what I see it this god damn yellow s**t. And now you know why I don't want y'all using colors.

"Having this disability makes my life harder in ways that most of you simply don't understand. Without actually having the disability, or doing considerable research on it, you wouldn't know how to convincingly portray it in a character. Same as with psychological disorders, physical disabilities are so far removed from most people's experience that they require research so you should not inflict them upon your character lightly. These sort of severe weaknesses are, by their very nature, major parts of the identities of the people who have them. Which brings us to what I really want out of you guys.

"This whole class is about defining your identity - who you are as people. This is going to require a lot of introspection and self analyzation. Through looking inward and answering a whole bunch of questions about yourself, we will build up a representation of your identity, commonly called a character profile. The first step in this process was done when you submitted your applications with the very basic character concept. That concept should be laying the foundation for everything you do here but it should not be rigidly sticking you to the original skeleton. You need to be flexible here and let your character grow as we flesh out the details.

"And that is what this current exercise is all about. We're taking the basic concept of who your character is and giving them strengths and weaknesses that will match that concept. These don't need to be things you already had in mind. These can be completely new things. Things you just thought of. That is what we are here to do. Take the very basic concept and turn it into a well developed character. And that is done by simply adding things to the character. More specifically by adding appropriate traits that will fit with existing properties to build an interesting and enjoyable character.

"Now then, some of you already have well developed characters. Those of you that could quickly and in great detail answer any question I could ask about your character aren't the ones who this class is really for. If your character already has a catalog of dozens of strengths and weaknesses each with conditional statements and layers of personality deep enough to drown in; if you've got quirks, and mannerisms, and preferences, and morals, and accomplishments, and fears, and failures, and hopes, and dreams, and secrets, and lies; if you've got family, and friends, and enemies, and colleagues, and lovers, and mentors, and rivals; if you've got birthdays, and weddings, and first days, and last days, and bad days, and better days, and rainy days, and summer days, and holidays. If you've got all that then you don't need my help. You are here to help me help those of you that don't have those things.

"Now. I hope that covered everyone's questions. If not, please ask again. I'll restate the current goal we've got going here which is for you to help each other flesh out your characters. General advice is nice and all but I'd really like to see y'all get specific. Turn to a classmate and say, 'Hey, Mr. Pointy-ears, I bet you're also pretty darn good with tha ladies, what with you having the two girls at once an all' or something of the like."