Welcome to Gaia! ::

Selkie picked up a huge stack of books and sat down. He was actually waiting for his partner for a research assignment. Well it wasn’t an assignment; it was more of a ‘meet your classmate’ kind of an assignment which unfortunately was his least favorite assignment. What was it with teachers and their need to try to get everyone to socializing.
Then again their answer would probably be something along the lines of learning people skills so you didn't turn out to be a serial killer. . However it seemed like his partner wasn’t here yet and he was at the library, it was a perfect time to try to read some of those books he had been trying to find. Of course they were all like high school or college level books so he didn’t understand everything being written.

admittedly this did give him pause but he had a system. He would take notes, circle things he didn’t understand on the paper and then go and pull out more books until he understood what the author was writing. Occasionally he would look up to see if his partner had shown up, but then really it was his fault for showing a good hour before the meeting time.

“Yeah but why does the effect occur” Selkie muttered underneath his breath. It was one of those books that were documenting more what had occurred than the scientific reasons behind it. With a sigh he pushed it to the side and moved a strand of wayward hair behind his ear, the only thing that marked him as a hybrid. Out of all his siblings he looked the most like one race. However really it wasn’t that big of a deal for him. His mother was a nixie and so it wasn’t like he didn’t fit in with the family. It was a silly thing to be self-conscious about.
However it seemed he was going to have a hand in bringing himself out of his thought process when someone stopped at his table. He stared back albeit less intensely before averting his eyes to the side. He was trying to work more on manners. So his next statement was a given.

“Hello Cleo. As you just said I’m selkie. Pleasure to meet you” Selkie stated a bit dryly. Why did adults think socializing was such a good idea again? "Shall we get started?"

Once again Selkie wondered about the practicality of this assignment. Just from the first few moments he could tell neither one of them was a people person. Selkie himsel didn't like sharing personal information but he wasn't the type to lie either. However he did give points that Cleo seemed to jump straight into the assignment with prepared questions.

Truthfully Selkie typically didn't have preplanned questions on the rare occasion as he got the meet and greet assignments because you never knew what type of person you were going to meet but at the same time he was impressed at the thought. Going prepared was one way as well and he liked that Cleo had just bypassed all the other flimsy questions like favorite color. He wondered what his first question would have been. It was a moot point however because he had given the ball to cleo's court. He would do his best to follow.

However his medical history might have been a steep first question. What could he say about it. Well he would be truthful that was a given.

" I have mostly been healthy, although I do have a mild allergy to almonds and peppers. The only major event was a spider bite i had a bad reaction to about four years ago. Other than that nothing worthy of note. I guess it's my turn? What is your favorite thing about your race?" Selkie answered.

Selkie wrote down all the answers and thought about cleo’s answer. It was true that a lot of people where losing touch with their culture. They were either cache children or they ended up adopting whatever fit the best with them. A lot of students were even hybrids. He wondered if there would be one universal culture one day with only traits from their different races being the thing that set them apart. He nodded in the appropriate places and then took a deep breath when she asked her question.

“I would normally be in a position to actually answer that as a hybrid since I have only ever known my mother who was nixie. However she was never one to associate being a nixie. I have no connections to race. Other than I dry out faster than others.

In short, I don’t associate myself with either of my two races. I know of my demon heritage living here in asphodel of course, and I study nixie culture if only to write reports for history class. I guess if I had to pick, I like that nixies don’t do arranged marriages. There isn’t a pressure to continue the line on. We do what we want when we want to do it and if at all. “ Selkie answered. “I now ask you about your personal medical history. I did not ask as my first question because I didn’t want to make it seem like I was just copying your questions.”

He nodded at the appropriate spots and wrote the answer down on the piece of paper. Somehow he didn’t think this was how the teachers expected a meeting between two people to go, but then everyone had a right to be antisocial if that was what they wished. He did almost smile though when she mentioned sea food. So many people actually didn’t seem to like seafood. Guess it added a touch of normalcy to the whole thing in a way.

“Well I do all the normal things, get up, have breakfast with the family and catch a portal to go to school. I try to get here early so that I can hit the library up for books on whatever I am researching that day. If they don’t have what I want to learn I then hit up a laptop to check on the internet but I try to avoid the internet because you get so many fake things.” Selkie answered. “Then of course school happens and I go out ghost hunting for lack of a better word.”

Selkie paused feeling like this could be a potential mind field. He knew that there were orphans at the academy, or people from the cache, basically people who didn’t have a family. He was never the type to rub in what he did have so he answered her question with a basic nod. She seemed to want to change the subject and he agreed leaving his answer at that.

“Its okay to find it absurd. After all I think mostly the absurdity comes from how it’s handled. You have so many charlatans it’s hard to know what exactly is real and those who are genuine get ridiculed. I guess I just want to learn more to see if there is something there. Bring credibility to it. I can’t do much at the moment as I don’t naturally see ghosts. However there is magic spells for when I am a senior. So I study what there is about the field so far, see what myths might have truth to them or what people are preying on others for money reasons. I want to be ready for when I am a senior.

So to sum it up I am learning what I can do from a scientific viewpoint. There are instruments to read temperatures. Voice recorders that record at different frequencies and other like equipment.” Selkie started. He didn’t want to overwhelm Cleo with all the stuff but she seemed generally curious and he wanted to give a good answer.

He wasnt sure what to expect after she had started with it was absurd, but so far he was learning to not jump to conclusions. He was glad that cleo seemed to be accepting of what he wanted to do, it wasnt as if he needed approval, but it was always nice to see some one else understand. So often when the more unknown things about their world were brought up people scoffed and just brushed it aside as folly or silliness for the most part. He was out to change opinions obviously, but at the same time he wasn’t adamant about it. Shoving beliefs done others’ throats never got you far. However when she smiled, he gave a small tiny one of his own back. This morning had been interesting.

Interesting as it was though, it was getting closer to their first class of the day, or at least Selkie’s and he wanted to mentally prepare himself for the energy that was dealing with his schoolmates. It almost seemed as if Cleo agreed but then reading people was always a tricky thing.

“You’re welcome, and I think I have enough. If the teacher tells us otherwise when she checks our progress, then we know meeting here works. Thanks for coming today” he answered after pondering the question for a while.