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 Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:53 pm
The door to the magic classroom is open, the lights on, the seats vacant. Everything appears to be prepared for another lesson.
There is something unusual, however. The teacher is uncharacteristically absent from the room.
Or is she? If any inquisitive students poke around, they may notice the padlock on the door to the laboratory is missing, the door itself slightly ajar.
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Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:38 pm
The day had not been good for poor little Lian. Teeu had attacked him, the butthead, and Dagger had forced the new babies onto his butt. At least he was able to escape to class and it as with a teacher he LIKED! Which kicked butt. The same one that had at one point been covered in baby puke. If it hadn't been for the special shampoo, it would still be stuck in his fur.
"Helllooo?" He called out when he came into an empty room. Xiao slid in after him, flew to the open door. It was why D-Corp gave him to her, he figured. She was observant while he just stood there like a dummy. She trilled and he hopped over, tail swinging, and pulled the door open. "Miss Raven?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:48 pm
There is a SLAM, as Raven drops a particularly heavy book. Fortunately for her, it falls into her desk in the lab, instead of her foot. She looked up, unusually surprised. "Who's there?" she called, her tone somewhere between impatient and anxious. Wasn't this her prep period?
Then Raven finally glanced at the clock on the wall, her eyes widening as she took in the time. When did it get to be so late? And why didn't her alarm go off? "A moment, please," she called, searching for the wristwatch she had enchanted. It wasn't on the desk, or in any of the drawers, but after getting on her knees she found it under the adjacent counter, glowing brightly.
"You're supposed to chime," she told it crossly, finally looking up at her student. "Mr... oh, it's you. My apologies for the delay." And, since fair is fair, she looks evenly at her student. "Did you have any specific punishment in mind?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 2:36 pm
"Punishment?" Lian blinked with that one, his eyebrows going up on the fuzzy forehead. It took a moment before he grinned, honestly, and Raven was actually on the recieving end of a dismissive hand way.
"Nah! I mean, you gotta put up with me for a whole 'nother class," He shrugged, hands spreading out in demonstration. Lian glanced back into the actual classroom. "--And only me, looks it. Isn't that punishment enough?" He grinned, crooked, and looked away. "Ma says it is."
"Anywho!" The panda rocked back on his feet, tail whipping to and fro in his excitement. "Should we get this party started?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 11:58 pm
Raven continues to look at Lian for several moments before breaking the stare. "Very well. Though you may regret that decision later, once I've put you through your paces." She was almost looking forward to it, actually. Ever since his display in the last class, she was itching to know if he was truly talented, or if that was just luck.
"Back to the classroom, if you please. You have the assignment for me, I presume?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:07 pm
Lian was halfway back to the classroom when he heard Ravens question. He spun on his toes, a flash of color and fur before flashing her a pair of blinking big eyes.
"Huh? Oh!" Understanding dawned, a grin bursting out over his face. A piece of paper was pulled from his pants pocket, folded into a four square and just a bit crumpled. Lian waved it in the air. "Yeah! It was really cool, too! It was outside and I did it in the dark and, oh, man, it was so cool! I felt like Goku! I wanna kamehameha, like, a tree or something. Not people."
The panda shrugged, movements lax. He was in a good mood.
"Are we gonna do something different today? That'd be fun. I did the little hand-glowy thing, like, twice, 'cause Ma didn't believe I could do it. Let's do something harder this time!"
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Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 8:47 pm
"Yes yes, I'm sure your display was marvelous." Raven plucked the paper out of Lian's hand and, eyeing it distastefully, placed it on her desk. Hopefully the contents would be better than the presentation. "While I fail to understand how magical discharge relates to the Monkey King and dead Hawaiian kings, I am pleased with your progress. And, I admit, a bit surprised."
Really, Raven would have never pegged this particular slacker as someone with magical aptitude, but it did tend to run stronger in otherwise eccentric individuals. If nothing else, his success seemed to have increased his interest, which pleased her. It was far more pleasant to have an enthusiastic student than a bored one.
"This class involves more mental work and some writing, but if you manage to complete the preparatory steps, I believe you will enjoy the end result. It is certainly more complex work than the last class. Today, you will begin learning how to craft spells."
Raven moved over to the blackboard and picked up a piece of chalk. "First things first. What do you think goes into making a spell?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 9:13 pm
"Huh? Oh, no, Goku in this isn't the Monkey King - Toriyama totally ripped off Journey to the West, like he could make up the stuff as cool as Wu Cheng'en could! No way! He's this alien who shoots blasts of energy out of his hand and calls it the kamehameha - that's a Hawai'ian king?! No way!" Lian continued to chatter, his face brightening up. Read classical Chinese tales? Of course he did! What else did a boy curious in his heritage do?
He waved his hands in the air dramatically, that moronic grin still plastered to his face. Lian flexed his fingers, peering into his claws.
"I know I'm, like, totally friggen off the walls an' all that good stuff, but I am so not the dumb sort. I promise! I can totally do more than that weird stand up and imagine your soul stuff that we did in the last class."
Lian stifled his chuckles, squirming in his shoes. Despite his casual attitude, his eyes focused in on the chalk. "I thought D-Corp was friggen' loaded. They need to get you guys one of those rock-awesome SmartBoards! That'd be ban-- Oh, spells? Uh. Well, you sorta need to know what you're sayin' and how you're sayin' it, I guess. Right? It's not like you can say "I want a puppy!" do the soul-finding stuff and get a puppy. Right?"
He paused. "Right? Cause that would so suck if that were how spells were done. It's like weaving or something, layers and shi-- stuff. Yeah? You said it takes thinking! Saying doesn't involve thinking."
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Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 9:55 pm
Eccentricity, check. Double check, in Raven's personal opinion.
"I... see," she replied, even though she definitely did not. Her knowledge of culture was limited to classic literature and history and did not extend to fictional aliens. But if it was what got her student excited, she would have to deal with. At least, until she found something else to get him excited. Nothing came to mind, but she kept trying, her brain working so hard it almost started smoking.
His claims were met with a bemused smile. "I look forward to seeing what you can do." If he did have talent, it would make their class time a little less grating on her nerves. "As to the question of SmartBoards, keep it in mind. I'll answer it properly in a few minutes.
"You are correct. There is more to spells than a statement of intent. For starters, that is because statements of intent can be misconstrued. Have you heard the saying 'be careful what you wish for?' One must be specific in order to manifest power properly, and that specification is difficult to achieve with mere words. Your likening it to weaving is an apt description, actually."
Raven wrote 'words' and 'soul' on the blackboard. "What other threads do you think are commonly used in spells?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 10:28 pm
"Yeah, haven't you heard of the story about the monkeys paw? It's the total, I dunno, what's the word, like - epitome? Yeah! So, it's like the total epitome of careful what you wish for. Have you heard it? Dudes parents get this dried monkeys paw with three wishes. First wish is for a fortune, their kid dies so they get a settlement. Wife wishes for the kid to come back and he comes back as a zombie cause, y'know, he was DEAD! And so the dad has to wish his son back into the grave to keep them safe.
It's SUPER cool," Lian grinned, his eyes narrowing critically at the plain old chalk board. So, they were weaving. Huh. Cool. Okay. Words. Soul.
Words.
Soul.
Uh.
"Ability? I guess? I dunno, really. Ability, soul, and words all kinda... I dunno. They seem like they could do it?" Lian squirmed again, this time mildly uncomfortable. "I dunno. What else?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 11:41 pm
"I have not heard of that particular tale," Raven admitted. "But it does sound like it illustrates the principles I am trying to get across. Since magic can be interpreted as granting wishes, crafting a spell is much like crafting a wish. If care is not taken in the fine details, you will have to be responsible for consequences you may not have anticipated." She eyed Lian meaningly, as if to say 'don't disappoint me.'
She was curious, almost excited, to see what he would say. So when he finally did give an answer, it was all she could do to keep from smacking her head. "That is... not what I meant. Soul was a poor way of phrasing it, I suppose, but I was trying to use your words. A bad choice, I can see.
"Soul refers less to the singular soul everyone possesses, and more to the power you manifested in the last lesson. Calling it energy is more accurate, especially since while part of it comes from within, part is drawn from the surroundings." Raven erased 'Soul' and wrote 'Energy' in its place. "Think along the lines of why you use words. What do they represent, and what might help represent similar things?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:52 am
Lian frowned at the floor, to the tip of his twitching tail. Something Raven said plucked at him a little, made him kick at the ground idly with squeaking shoes.
"I don't think words do all that much. I use them to fill up space. No one means anything they say, even if they say they do - which is useless, 'cause that's like a liar saying they aren't lying that one time," The hands in the air again, fingers fluttering in an almost-flail. "Words are s'posed'ta show things or actions."
His lips puckered, nose wrinkled, and he gave Raven a grumpy look. It was out of place on his usually cheerful frame, almost ridiculous in a kitten-sense.
"Rakha once said 'Words are power', that, like, knowing someones real name could give you control over them since it represented their soul - their actual soul, not their energy thing. I guess, for spells, they can be used to specify what you mean, sort of... I dunno, direct what you mean at the thing or person you want it to be thrown at," Oh, how quickly the thought of being good at this fled him as he fumbled for the correct way to say things! Lian shrugged again, awkward, and chewed on the inside of his mouth. "I still think that actions speak louder than words. Like, a drawing or picture can grab someone quicker than their name."
For a long minute, Lian was quiet. Finally, he sighed heavily, and when he spoke, his voice was light. "I sound really stupid, huh?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 8:38 pm
The forcefulness of Lian's words took Raven by surprise, but pleasantly so. The best students, she found, were ones with that spark of intelligence, that burst of passion about important things. That same spark made them annoying and difficult to control, and if he wasn't behaving well, she wouldn't have been so pleased with him.
"So jaded for one your age," she commented dryly. "You're right, of course, at least in part. Many people do use words for purposes other than the conveyance of truth. Many people pervert the tools we were given to get ahead. And part of magic is knowing how to use words to your advantage, twisting them to shape your needs. Words can be used to describe how things are, but in magic, they can also be used to describe how you want things to be."
Raven paused, giving Lian another once-over. "Such a truthful young man as yourself may have some difficulty accepting that fact." It was impossible to tell if she was being serious or sarcastic with that comment. "Tell me truthfully then: do you think you can use words to suit your needs, and not to just fill space?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 4:14 pm
"My first guardian said he'd take care of me and my sister, and he left. Azoc's new guardian said he'd let us see each other an' he's a b*****d. I'm not sorry I just swore either. He's a jerk. Chath is still supposed to be my friend, I should be able to grow up to be anything I wanna be and, like, we all know that's a lie," Lian grinned like he did so many times before, shoving his hands into his pocket and rocking back on those odd feet of his. "So I guess we can call it jaded!
"Do you think I can?" Lian laughed, eyes squinting at his teacher. "I think I can. My imagination is, like, rockin' and I'm pretty sure I can 'twist' my words. Like loopholes, right? Making them do what you want, despite what they were supposed to originally mean? Let's do it! Try, anyway. 'Cause I think I can."
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