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 Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 7:39 pm
Sparrow was, yet again, taking a walk.
It had become a sort of habit of his as of late. He had taken to simply meandering around the wide, expansive school grounds just to relax and spend a little time to himself. For the most part he had been so caught up in schoolwork and in all of the festivities occurring one right after the other (prom, the festival), that he had begun to feel the strain and exhaustion begin to take toll. He needed a break; some time to just spend quietly by himself.
So he took walks. Not the most exciting endeavor, nor a particular interesting one, but it was pleasant nonetheless. And sometimes Sparrow ran into people on his outings - people like the lovely LW. Who, now that he had seen her once, Sparrow hoped to see again sometime, though he had not yet achieved this.
This morning he had chosen to stray closer to the forest's edges than usual, his curiosity getting the better of him as he peered into the darkness, his gaze flitting from tree to tree. The last time he had been in the forest, Sparrow had stumbled across that beautiful mermaid, Amphi. She had been quite a delightful ghoul to converse with; perhaps she was there again?
He stepped into the forest, hands tucked neatly into his pockets, his steps slow and careful as he breathed in the rainy wood scent. It was quiet in here, an almost eerie silence, and Sparrow was cautious in his movements, not wanting to disturb anything...unpleasant (this was Amityville, after all).
Except he somehow missed the rope.
In one quick second, Sparrow felt his leg jerked out from underneath him, crashing to the earthen floor in a disgruntled, surprised heap. Something was wrapped around his ankle; something thick and heavy, and when he managed to push himself up onto his elbows to see, found a huge, braided rope threaded around his lower leg.
"What the Jack - "
He couldn't quite reach his leg; not without causing himself quite a significant amount of pain. The rope led from his ankle upwards, looping over a thick tree branch and disappearing into the ground. It hadn't pulled Sparrow completely upside down, but it had dragged him partially vertical, his lower body off of the ground, his leg in the air.
"Well," said Sparrow aloud, glaring at the offending object. "This is embarrassing."
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 12:22 pm
"It appears I caught something interesting." The voice from the bushes behind Sparrow was soft, and a little raspy, but held more than enough amusement. When the academy's substitute teacher stepped out he circled around to face the captured student. "Although not what I was expecting."
Mikael Walker crossed the path to untie a rope somewhere out of Sparrow's field of vision and was unusually careful to let the reaper down unharmed. Despite his dragon lineage he was very gentle with things that were smaller than himself.
"It is a good thing this trap was made for one smaller than yourself. Hanging upside down for any period of time can be... unpleasant, so I'm told." Mikael chuckled. He began coiling up the rope as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
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Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 5:48 pm
The damn trap had wrapped itself around his ankle as easily and simply as if it had been lying there in wait for him to just step in it. And in a way, it had been - though whoever had set it had probably not been expecting a grim reaper, of all creatures, to step into it. Sparrow lay there, propped up on his elbows, eying the rope with a rather suspicious stare.
"You know, I'd rather have not been caught, thank you very much," he said to it, as if the thing were sentient and could understand him.
"It appears I caught something interesting."
Sparrow had, in fact, not been expecting a reply back, so this caught him somewhat off guard, and he gave a startled glance back at the rope. Except the voice hadn't been coming from it; instead a figure emerged from around the bushes, boned tail swishing on the ground behind him.
"Oh," said Sparrow. "Hello, professor."
Out of all the people he thought to see, the substitute from the not-really-a-math class had not been one of them. Did one even call a substitute professor? He did not really know, but he thought it polite to do so anyway.
"Thank you," Sparrow said, once his leg was free. He reached a hand down, rubbing at his sore ankle and pushed himself to his feet, attempt to walk. Except having his leg mostly vertical had made the blood run back and his leg had fallen asleep. This resulted in more a wobbly stagger towards the nearest tree, rather than a walk, and Sparrow sheepishly slid back to the ground, attempting to massage the life back into his leg.
"Apologies," he said, and shook his head ruefully before casting a curious glance back at the trap. "Er...might one ask just what exactly you are looking for with that, er...contraption?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 8:53 am
"Insight," the dragon said simply, and rather cryptically. He finished coiling the rope around his forearm and tied it to his belt, and then moved to sit next to the young reaper. Students really were such tiny, fragile things, to be temporarily crippled by so brief a hanging. Mikael always had a soft spot for fragile things.
He let his head tilt back to admire the foliage above. "If you remain still it will subside on it's own," he said, his voice rasping slightly.
The professor offered no further words of advice or conversation, he simply sat and listened to the little sounds that broke the silence every now and again. A telltale scratch of little claws on bark, the crackle of something shifting under the dead leaves. A bird in the distance giving little more than a hesitant chirp. There were sounds of students occasionally drifting through the trees, a particularly noisy laugh or shout. These were not noises he was used to, being most at home in the deep wilds.
It was a wonder he had taken on this position, teaching these fragile little students in this school were everything seemed so tame and passive.
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:49 pm
"Er," said Sparrow, with a bemused glance towards the dragon. "Insight, professor..?"
The man was slightly cryptic; but then again, Sparrow had noticed that fact during the class-that-wasn't-math (he still was wishing it had been, thinking back on it wistfully). Walker seemed to be the type to say little unless directly questioned, but at the same time Sparrow wasn't even sure a direct comment would make him answer; or at least, not clearly.
"Thank you," he said, still rubbing his ankle. He supposed the other was right, though Sparrow was the type who did not really enjoy sitting still. But listening to and respecting his teachers - even substitute ones - was crucial to a good school life, wasn't it?
It seemed the dragon had lapsed into sort of a musing silence, missing Sparrow's question entirely as he adopted an unreadable expression. Sparrow sat for a moment, wondering if he should interrupt him or anything, but then again, would that be rude?
However, after a short while, he leaned forward curiously. "Erm," he said. "Professor..? Might one ask...what, ah...you're doing out here?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 9:27 am
"Insight. Knowledge. To most it is a very important commodity." The professor was unusually still as he sat and observed the woods, he could have passed as a statue save for the occasional blink of his eyes. "It is also easily gathered if one has patience and both eyes open."
He turned to look at Sparrow, regarding him with a long glance. He was already learning quite a bit about students, this one had been clearly disappointed during his first class and yet still remained polite, inquisitive, and held a desire to understand that pleased the draconic teacher. Mikael decided to humour him by speeding up the explanation process.
He stood up, gesturing for the boil to follow him through the forest. "It takes time to adjust to one's new surroundings. Even when one has little to fear it is wise to proceed with caution, or risk disturbing the existing balance. A seamless merging of one's self with the prevailing environment is necessary for observations unclouded by artifacts."
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 11:29 am
Sparrow eyed the professor somewhat curiously. Clearly he was not the type to just give answers straight out; the kind of man for whom personal gain was more important than being told what was true or not true. It was interesting, mostly because most of the people Sparrow had met so far (and the list was not very long in the slightest) were not nearly as cryptic as Professor Walker.
...he still wasn't sure if the other was actually a teacher or just a substitute, but to be safe he would call him professor.
He reached down, smoothing over the pant leg that he had raised to rub at his ankle and brushed off a few strands of grass and dirt. In his mind he was trying to figure out what to say that did not sound like an adoring student (except he was; though Sparrow was an adoring student in any class, since his schoolwork was the most important thing to him at the current moment and he wanted to be respectable to his teachers), but the dragon spoke before he could say anything.
"Yes, I quite agree," Sparrow said, scrambling to his feet to follow after Walker. "I'm afraid I'm not...quite as adjusted as I would like to be yet, but I am working on that."
He gave a rueful laugh, shaking his head. "I sometimes wish I could adapt better, but to each their own, right? I suppose that it takes a different amount for each person."
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 2:49 pm
"Without successful adaptation to a new environment, most creatures will die," the teacher replied in his dry, soft tone, without a trace of humour to lighten the words. In fact, his expression was pensive rather than amused. Although he looked only years older than some of the students at the academy, Mikael Walker had seen many things change during the course of his travels. Creatures change with the land, and if the land changes too fast, sometimes they can't keep up.
Thankfully the dragon didn't go too far before offering up a distraction from the morbid thoughts his words surely brought about. He paused, one hand held up in silence, and then suddenly his long ears flicked up to follow the sound he was listening for. He moved on again without a word, and after passing a small copse of pumpkinberries he gestured at some fresh tracks in the soft soil.
"Rats. They appear to grow quite big in this area."
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Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:41 pm
Professor Walker had a strange habit of replying to Sparrow's questions and comments with a completely abstract answer that only just barely gave any indication he had actually listened. If he hadn't known any better, Sparrow might have thought he was being taunted, but the professor did not seem the type, nor did he give any sort of appearance that he was. It was simply the way he was.
"True, very true," Sparrow said agreeably, his gloved hands tucked into his pockets. He couldn't deny that Walker's response had been...er, a tad morbid, perhaps, but they were still relatively believable. Vaguely he wondered whether or not the dragon ever smiled.
Sparrow stopped obediently at the raised hand, peering around slightly apprehensively before following the dragon farther, ducking down to peer at what the professor was gesturing at.
That was not the answer he had been expecting.
"Er," said Sparrow. "...rats?"
There was a small pause.
"Like...rats? Little furry creatures that live in dirty places?"
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