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 Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:27 am
Many teachers fly to the Minder's enclave to teach. That's where the students are, after all. The teacher Barkbeak has just started a lesson for some of the older fledglings that have shown to be the most promising. These are the Clan's future combatants - scouts and rangers, hunters, watchers and gatherers. Today they are learning more advanced flying than the simple flapping and gliding exercises that he teaches the younger fledglings.
Specific details: The fledglings are currently stretching before taking off from the platform, and they don't know that they are watched. Verdigris and Ravenmoon have sneaked up close to the platform to spy on the lesson, each previously unknown to the other and for their own differing reasons.
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Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 11:21 am
Ah, little ones...so close to growing up, yet so far away from true adulthood. To be young again! And yet...
Verdigris smiled to himself as he made a final, tidy turn and landed at a prime observation point to the lesson. It would do him good to see these particular younglings, especially since it was getting nearer to those days when he would volunteer, as always, to teach some of the more talented fledglings. Keeping an eye out for that talent had to happen in every class, and since these students were the most advanced...well, Gris had a lot to look forward to.
Preening quickly to put his flight feathers back into place, he didn't let his eyes leave the class. Barkbeak was a good teacher, one Verdigris respected greatly, and the fledglings' technique was already admirable. He could tell these particular little ones would be doing quite well in the future. At least a few would be Elites someday. That was certain.
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Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:10 pm
To be as good as them she thought....her eyes drifted upwards as she watched the students rise and fall to the platform where they began their warm up. Ravenmoon hopped along some close knit branches to get a better view of the more talented ones. "Maybe by watching I can learn..." she spoke quietly. She creeped along a large moss covered branch, lost her balance and tumbled to the platform below. "Ugggh not good..." She picked herself up quickly and looked around wondering if she was spotted. She was.
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:46 am
So focused was he on the lesson, it came as a surprise when something dark and rather noisy fell somewhere behind and to the right of him. Verdigris drew himself completely upright at the noise, swiveling his head in the direction of the ungainly 'thud'. He was even more startled when he realized that the faller wasn't, as he had suspected, one of the rarer black-shaded squirrels (and, he had to admit, it was somewhat disappointing. He rather liked how striking they were, and admired them right up until the point where he ate them) but instead a small Shadow fledgling. Huffing and muttering to himself, he opened his wings and nearly floated down to the platform.
"Lucky little fledgling didn't have to fall too far, eh?" he said lightly. "And lucky little fledgling fell onto a platform that wasn't the one holding Barkbeak's flight class." His voice held a warning. Barkbeak was strict, and it would be rather detrimental to interrupt a class so advanced as this one. Pushing the little one back onto its feet with his Will, he took a moment to inspect it.
Little shadow female, younger than the flight class. Expected. Verdigris sighed softly and fluffed his feathers. He was so looking forward to watching, as well. "So, little one. What has you out and about?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 6:26 pm
Raven felt her small body being lifted up. She never experienced being manipulated by Will before and was in 'aw' for the short time. She felt so bad interrupting him from his watching. "I'm sorry sir...I didn't mean to startle and interrupt you." She hung her head. "I heard that some of the best fliers were going to be out practicing and I wanted to see them..."She paused for a second then continued. Her voice still shaky. "and possibly see something to help me be better." She looked up at him then looked away quick to her feet.
Her young Mus looked down from above on the branch she fell from. He decided to show his face and skittered down with ease to her side. "Raven okay?"
"Yeah I'm okay Coal." She ruffled herself,still feeling disappointed in her fall. Falling is not getting better she drilled in her head.
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Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:35 am
“Oho, I’m quite all right with this, little one,” Gris said, quickly working to put the little fledgling at ease. He didn’t want her to be upset with him, no indeed, especially since such a bewildered little one probably needed much more attention than he would probably otherwise give her with a class running. But he laughed when he realized that they were there for rather the same reasons. “What fortuitous circumstances,” he said lightly. “I’m here for exactly the same reasons. I sometimes teach small flight classes, you see.”
There was a pause while he watched the little mus, and quickly he picked up that the small thing’s name was Coal, and the fledgling’s name had Raven in it. He thought for a moment, but realized he had no real idea as to any fledgling named Raven. He knew only the talented ones by name, the ones he was looking for.
“My name,” he said suddenly, hoping to initiate conversation, “is Verdigris. I am a Skydancer.”
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Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:33 am
The little shadow looked up at him with a thrilled expression. "You teach classes too!" Her head was swimming with excitement. Raven did a small hop and flapped her wings when he told her he was also a sky dancer. "Wow..." was all she could say. Her mom use to tell her stories of the very talented sky dancers and their amazing flying abilities. She only dreamed of actually meeting one.
She had a bunch of questions she wanted to blurt out all at once but decided to be respectful. Tilting her head to the side she asked. "So what more could you learn from watching?" She thought a sky dancer would know all the tricks of the trade dealing with flight.
Coal scurried up to Verdigris with a large sized blue berry. “For you.” He laid it at the birds’ feet and scampered back to Ravens side.
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Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 1:50 pm
Verdigris laughed a little bit at the young shadow’s enthusiasm, tilting his head one way and then the next and smiling at her. “Yes, I do teach sometimes. When the end of graduation comes near, I like to take a few of the strongest fliers and work with them. Every Sentinel has something to teach, even those who aren’t teachers. Even scouts and the Elites have benefitted from the art of the Skydancer.”
When Raven so charmingly misinterpreted his intentions, it was everything he could do not to laugh. "Oh, no, little one," he said lightly. "I do not learn from them. I watch them, you see, and take aside the little ones I think have the most promise. I help them learn to use their quick wings, and maybe someday one of those fledglings will become a Skydancer after learning some of the craft."
Then the mus gave him a blueberry, he hooted in happy surprise, immediately flicking the treat into his beak. "Why thank you, little mus," he said, smiling brightly.
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Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 4:28 pm
"Ohhh okay."She understood now. The young shadow was eager for the class to start. "They MUST be very special." She peeped. "I wanna be a great flier too!" She flapped her small silky wings but got no where.
Coal chittered, sat down and washed behind his ears with his paw.His tail curled up then around Ravens toe.
"I hope they start soon." She was a little impatient but she couldn't help herself she was young after all and had a strong curious nature of the sorts. "So what are they doing up there anyway?" She turned her head to the side and watched them. Her golden eyes blinked fast.
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Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 5:58 pm
Oh, so this little one was still learning. Looking at her, Verdigris smiled again. She was indeed still a young fledgling, hatched later in the season than the class he was currently watching, and probably not anywhere near ready to graduate, like the classes he usually taught. She would learn to fly soon enough, though, and if she hadn't started trying out her own wings, Verdigris would proclaim himself a hawk and wear the feathers to prove it!
"Right now," he said, giving the little one a running commentary of the lesson for her own benefit, "most of them are still stretching their wings and preening. See how carefully they preen? That is to make sure their flight feathers lie right. Keeping feathers orderly keeps wings silent," he added, glancing at Raven.
"Soon they will probably start to do a little bit of flying back and forth, to stretch their wings more." He nodded thoughtfully, looking back at Raven again.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 4:37 pm
Raven peeped and watched excitably. "I bet they will be as silent as the spooky ground monsters!" She nodded. "I should really do some preEewwning..." She stumbled on the word and looked at her right wing as she sat. "Li..ke...dis?" She dragged a few feathers through her beak and looked up at the Skydancer. She saw it done before but never really done it herself. Now knowing how important preening is for her to be a great silent gatherer she was determined to not forget the task.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Coal; he was running around his mus friend tempting him to chase.
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Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 6:31 am
Verdigris couldn't help but laugh and wonder what sort of 'spooky ground monsters' this little one had seen...and then realized it was highly likely that what she had seen was instead a clever ploy to keep curious little ones off the ground. And that made sense. A grounded fledgling was probably a dead hatchling.
He watched her preen with a bit of a smile, and bobbed his head in approval when she had finished. "Good," he said smoothly, leaning down and sweeping his beak through his primaries, wing outspread wide in demonstration. "Try to move as quickly as you can, smoothing out the edges and making sure everything lies flat. Preening quickly means you won't take up much conversational time, and also that you can be ready to go again at a moment's notice, which is very important."
He smiled again at the little one.
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