|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 7:35 pm
 Vaden tossed the last of his books into his bag and hefted it on his shoulder. He had a stack of homework, three projects and so many other things to do it was ridiculous. Well it couldn't be said that the Academy was lax in it's education standards. This was more work than he'd of had at home at least...but then again education at home had be more...streamlined than the education he was now receiving.
He sighed and started off towards his dorm room feeling a little homesick. It was strange kind of homesick though, he didn't miss his parents, just his room, and books, and the feeling of...a space being His. Here he was crammed into another room with a complete stranger, who didn't much understand 'go away.'
Making that realization he veered off from the dorms towards the quads. It was late in the afternoon and he was unlikely to find a vacant room in the library to study in, so maybe under a tree in the quad would work? Worth a shot anyway. Feeling a little better, his posture immediately improved, shoulders back, chin up and went off to find a nice tree to sit under.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:58 pm
Forced outside once again. Maybe they shouldn't have lost their temper, but honestly, that kid was kind of asking for it. They had told him to leave them alone at least two times before making those observations about his skin condition. They hardly understood why they were the one sent outside and not the other kid. Was it because of the tears? Maybe they should try that out some time.
Bored, they wandered the grounds of the quad for a little while before spotting what appeared to be an older student - an older Geist even - up ahead. How strange. Intrigued, they picked up their pace until they were trotting quietly behind the older student.
"What are you doing here?" Despite the curious expression on their face, the question was flat, barely any inclination to hint that it was a question in the first place.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 10:14 pm
Vaden hadn't realized he was being followed until the tiny voice, monotone voice behind him cropped up."Ah..." he turned slightly not seeing anyone directly behind him until he glanced down into the very violet eyes of the Geist freshling standing there. "I'm...trying to find some place to work on my homework." he said flatly. "I thought I might find somewhere out here to catch a bit of peace and quiet and plow through one or two before dinner."
Turn about was fair play after all. "And what are you doing out here?" he asked leveling the child with an unimpressed expression all his own. He'd spend years developing it, and while it wasn't as good as it could be, it did convey a certain level of boredom and lack of interest.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 11:36 pm
Ganymede frowned. Apparently this guy wasn't used to talking to someone so small. All the more suspicious he'd be all the way out in the quad for 'homework.' Though, they had to admit, the unimpressed look was pretty good. They of course mimicked it with as flat a stare as they could manage.
"Timeout. Why'd you come all the way over here? Don't you got a place of your own?" That's what the caretakers had said anyway. The big kids weren't around because they had their own dorms or something like that. Must be nice, they thought. Privacy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:29 am
Vaden sighed. Was it really so hard to believe that someone would come out this way to get some peace? Or was he somewhere that most Juniors and Seniors didn't stray? He frowned slightly trying to recall the map of the campus in his head. Yes, there were buildings that were marked as being Freshling territory...but it seemed hard to believe that older students never strayed into it. All things considered, this appeared to be the fastest route between several key locations, especially between the upperclassmen Eldritch buildings and the building housing the history department and several other classrooms.
"Of course I have a room of my own." he said somewhat flatly."Otherwise the reasons for walking this way go: because as far as I know, no one told me I wasn't allowed to walk this way, it's far quieter here than in the common room of my dorm building, I hate crowds, it's too late in the day to get a study room in the library, and as for why I don't return to my dorm, my roommate is insufferable," he paused. "Do you know what insufferable means?" he asked raising one eyebrow slightly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:56 am
Ganymede rolled their eyes. Quite the impressive display, really. "Yeah I know what "insufferable" means, I'm not stupid." They shrugged, shifting their weight on their feet. "Y'know it isn't that quiet here." As if on cue, some smaller freshlings ran by, shouting in glee.
Ganymede stared after them, expression souring for a moment before he looked back to Vaden. "What's your name anyway?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 9:02 am
Vaden gave the freshling a look. "Asking if you know what a word means in no way infers that you're stupid. 'Insufferable' isn't exactly something I would expect to be in a freshling's vocabulary, as it doesn't seem to be in a great many people's vocabulary who are older than you. It's one of those words that people may know the meaning of, but no one ever uses it in conversation." he said.
He watched the group of children run by, considered the shouts and giggles that accompanied them and then gave the child he was talking to a shrug. "The noise of children at play is far less disturbing to me than the incessant chatter of teenage girls giggling about some boy one of them likes, or the latest escapades of some sports team."
He watched the kids around the dorms chase after a ball for a few minutes then back to the little Geist as the interrogation continued, but this time they were at least getting around to introductions. "My name is Vaden, I'm in house Eldritch, and before you ask, no, I'm not an orphan, I'm from one of the Geist capital cities, Zayen, to be specific." he said just giving the kid an information dump to let them think about. "And you are?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 9:17 am
"That's what it means when other people ask it, it's in the tone." They shrugged, not at all perturbed by the lecture on what Vaden was actually asking. "If it's that not used how come you bothered to use it?" Honestly they were just asking to ask the question, they'd use words they thought others wouldn't know if they knew any... The sense of superiority would be too tempting to ignore.
"That sounds..." they trailed off, trying to remember that one word a caretaker had used when she thought they were out of earshot... "Aggravating." There, that was it. "I wasn't gonna ask 'cause I'da just asssumed since y'know. Most of us are." They quirked a brow, they weren't really sure they'd ever met someone who wasn't an orphan.
"I'm Ganymede. Did your parents send you here because they don't love you or something?" That seemed to be the only logical reason to be so far from home without family. To them, anyway.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 9:43 am
Vaden sighed but the child did have a point. He'd been a little snarky with the child, and trying to cow him a little bit with his "superior" Senior intellect. "Fair enough. I apologize for insulting your intelligence. I was being petulant." oops another word that might be out of a child's league, but there was no taking it back now. It seemed talking to children was another thing he wasn't particularly good at.
Vaden had to smile just a touch at the child's own word usage. "It is, very much so." he said with a nod and then shrugged a bit. "I suppose that is a fair point, I haven't run into anyone who wasn't born and raised here." he said looking around. "Or perhaps I haven't really been looking...that's also a possibility."
"It's very nice to meet you Ganymede." he gave the child a polite nod of his head. The question about his parents stung a bit, he'd always had a very...different sort of relationship with his parents compared to what he supposed was "normal" for other children. "Ah...no." what to say though? "They're going through some marital problems..." he said slowly. "I believe they sent me away because they'd rather not have them in front of me."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:33 pm
They shrugged, though an apology was a first... "It doesn't matter... but thanks, I guess." Another big word... this one Ganymede wasn't entirely sure of the meaning, but they'd heard it before. This was no time to admit not knowing, though, so they pretended they understood and just nodded a little. Nailed it.
"Prolly. If you're here that means there's others." They nodded again, shifting their weight once more. "Nice? That's new. You're kinda interesting so I guess its nice to meet you too." A bit of a wave of light flashed through their facial markings, displaying a bit of surprise. Normally people attempted to leave within a few minutes of their meeting...
"Sooooo they maybe don't, maybe do, either way its messy and you'd be in the way, huh?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:56 pm
"You're welcome." he raised an eyebrow though. It seemed this child wasn't used to people apologizing to them. Ah, perhaps they were one of those kind of kids that were usually getting apologies coaxed out of them. Possibly and most likely, very reluctantly. "Not used to people apologizing to you, I take it?" he asked gently. He wasn't trying to accuse the child of anything, but all signs pointed to Ganymede being an antagonist of some sort.
He nodded. "The odds are high that there are other students like me, yes." he said agreeing with them.
He hefted his bag and looked around. There was a tree close by that looked nice and shady. "Perhaps we can continue this conversation over there?" he gestured with his head towards the tree. "It's just that the books in my bag are starting to get heavy."
He sighed. "I think it's more of they don't want me to take sides. I...like both my parents, and I think they rather me not be exposed to whatever issues they're having and ruin my opinion of them."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 2:47 pm
They shook their head. "Nah. I don't get my feelings hurt like a lot of the others." They shrugged again, nonchalant in expression. Usually they were the one to start something anyway. In all honesty, 'hurt feelings' was putting it lightly. They peered around him to get a look at the tree, then looked to his backpack before nodding.
"Sure. Do they make you carry a lot of books? I heard you have to read a lot of books when you get old." They made a face that definitely didn't match their monotone, and started off towards the tree without really waiting for Vaden to move. "You like them both evenly? That's weird. Everyone's got favorites."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:01 pm
"I see." he said without much inflection. He was about to respond further but the Freshling was already off towards the indicated tree, and Vaden had to heft his bag a bit before starting off after them. His much longer legs allow him to easily catch up with them.
"Well I had a full class schedule today, so today, I had to carry a lot of books. Sometimes I don't have as many on me." he crossed the little divider that separated path from grass and went over to settle under the tree, dropping his bag with a rather dull thud. It also didn't help that he had at least three other books on him at any given time that were on his personal reading list. "Yes, you do have to do a lot of reading sometimes, but reading can give you new ideas, and sometimes let you have experiences you never thought you'd have." he sighed and opened his bag, pulling out math book and the binder he kept his notes in and started working on the assignment he'd managed to start but not finish before class ended.
More questions about his parents. He supposed it was normal. Most of the kids around here had never had the personal attention that was brought from being with one's own family. Then again, Vaden hadn't exactly had that personal attention either. His parents had always been rather busy, and when he'd said he only "liked" them it was true...he'd never really felt any sort of deep emotional bond that he thought tied them together forever. He shrugged a bit. "I suppose I'm just strange. I'm not overly inclined to favor one over the other. They were both very busy when I was growing up so I suppose I never go to know them well enough to pick a favorite."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:34 pm
Ganymede plopped down once they reached the tree, then looked over to Vaden while he spoke. That sounded dull... they didn't exactly hate reading but it wasn't really their favorite thing either. "Do you at least get to choose what you read?" Maybe they'd like it better if they got to pick their own books. All of the books for their classes were dull. "New experiences... you mean like story books?"" They tilted their head, actually acting their age for once.
"So even though you got parents you kinda are more like us since they were too busy to take care of you, huh. I guess having parents isn't all its cracked up to be!" With a snort, Ganymede leaned back against the tree, arms folded over their middle.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:31 pm
Vaden tapped his pencil against the binder as he worked out the problem in his head and wrote down the steps to get the answer. One down, five more to go. "Sometimes, like for Language Arts or if you're working on a project and you got to pick the topic. Other times the teacher will assign you something that they think is important that you should read, or sections to read out of chapters so you can answer questions and things like that." he frowned slightly at the math problem and flipped back a few pages to look at the example problem at the start of the section then back to where his homework problems were. He erased the step he'd written down and redid it. He didn't particularly care for math but understood it was a necessary evil.
"In story books...or show you places you've never seen before and the people who live there...like the people who live on the ice sheets up in Boreas." now that he'd fixed his error from before the rest of this problem was moving along nicely now and he finished it and had four more to do.
Vaden stopped working and looked up at Ganymede and sighed. "Just because my family was like that doesn't mean that Every family is like that. Some are closer than others...it's just when you have parents who have important jobs like...doctors or lawyers, sometimes their jobs get in the way." his shoulders dropped slightly and his expression was one of resignation and loneliness.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
