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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on May 23, 2010 18:09:38 GMT -5
Aurora noticed superficial differences - mostly the color and shape of leaves, or what the trunk looked like. More of a hands on type, she started collecting peices of bark and leaf samples. She quickly found that it was difficult to reach some of the leaves - the ones on the floor were usually brown and wilted and didn't look the fresh ones - so she added hydralics to her arms and legs so it could stretch out further.
As she moved through the forest, it seems like she was on silver stilts with arm extensions.
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Post by Miriam O'Neal on May 24, 2010 0:46:43 GMT -5
Miriam wandered, careful not to stray very far from the others. She nearly walked into a tree, remembering and correcting her path just in time, and made herself focus on the other trees, and on noticing the differences between them. She took mental notes instead of physical, preferring to focus on the trees rather than pen and paper. Not to mention she hadn't exactly come prepared.
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Post by Aelita Selena Auberon on May 25, 2010 15:38:28 GMT -5
Aelita fluttered down so that her head was level with the Professor's.
"Princess Aelita Selena Auberon, youngest child of King Oberon and Queen Tatiana." She paused for a moment and then added, "This looks mildly interesting, but why does it matter when I arrive?" She seems genuinely curious about this point.
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Post by Aravind Shiyal on May 25, 2010 23:57:37 GMT -5
Aravind nearly groaned in frustration. Every class in this bloody school should be subtitled "And Remedial Life Skills," honestly!
"Well, for one, it shows respect. If you arrive at the scheduled time, you're proving you care enough about the class to not make everyone wait. For another, if you show up late, either you miss things, or I have to waste my time explaining what happened to you. Neither of those options is beneficial." He paused, licked his lips, and added, "And just a first name is fine. Your full title doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Now, if you caught the last few minutes, what we're doing now is observing the trees. Take note of what, exactly, makes each tree different, and how you would identify them at a glance."
The last bit, he announced to the class at large. "I'll be coming around to check up on you individually. Or in groups." Noting the silence, he shook his head. "It's a naturally hushed atmosphere in here, and shouting is frowned on, but you're not forbidden to talk and collaborate."
That said, he moved towards the nearest student, who happened to be Aurora. "Good use of those... limbs," he said, nodding in approval. "You seem to be figuring this out pretty quickly."
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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on May 26, 2010 3:35:12 GMT -5
"Thanks," she replied, flashing an adorable smile. She was quickly running out of armspace to put the leaves and slowed to a stop, trying to figure out how to stow them.
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Post by Aelita Selena Auberon on May 26, 2010 12:33:13 GMT -5
Aelita landed and looked closely at the trees. Then she announced, "They're lives are different. See the auras? Everyone tells a different story."
(ooc: ;D)
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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on May 26, 2010 13:28:24 GMT -5
Aurora looked at the tree that Aelita was staring at, then to the one closest to her. "I don't see anything." She couldn't hear any stories and certainly didn't see any 'ore.' If there was metal, it wasn't refined, or she would be able to sense it.
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Post by Mellianne Joss on May 26, 2010 13:34:02 GMT -5
Mellianne turned her attention to Aelita for a moment. "Not everyone can see auras. In fact most people I've met can't." She neglected to mention that she herself couldn't see auras as she went back to observing the trees.
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Post by Ada Turing on May 26, 2010 14:04:58 GMT -5
Ada nodded.
"I can't," she offered. "I only see with my eyes."
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Post by Aravind Shiyal on May 26, 2010 17:10:14 GMT -5
Aravind nodded at Aelita, raising one eyebrow. "Well, that's true," he said. "But every living thing has a different aura-- trees are just easier to perceive, because they ha--" he stopped. Was it okay to say trees had souls? Did that cross the line? ...Screw it. "Well, trees have souls, so their auras are easier to perceive. But since few people can see them naturally, we probably won't be focusing on that. Instead, I'd like you to look at more physical differences. Not so much between each individual tree, but each different kind of tree."
He looked over at Ada, Aurora, and Melliane. "Most mortals can't naturally see auras of animals, let alone trees. It takes intensive training, in shamanistic arts and reiki-- and even then, without constant practice, the ability dies. Unfortunately, we don't really have time to go into the metaphysics of the thing in this class."
On a different tact, he looked over at Scott and Miriam, wherever they happened to be, and called out. "You doing alright, there?"
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Post by Mellianne Joss on May 26, 2010 17:39:19 GMT -5
Mellianne shrugged. "I'm not surprised they have souls. I mean, they're alive aren't they. Plus I grew up on tales about beings like Dryads. And while I can't personally see them, my younger sisters can. Just mentioning that not all of us have the ability. Sorry, didn't mean anything else by it." She stretched a bit and went on taking notes.
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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on May 26, 2010 18:19:53 GMT -5
"Wow, really?" Aurora had never so many things about souls and auras before. She looked at the nearest tree again, squinting and concentrating. Maybe if she tried really hard she could see them. At first, she thought she could see them - then the pain of a headache dawned and she realized she her vision was just getting blurry.
Shaking her head a bit, she turned back to the group. Her lower lip protrudes a bit, pouting that she couldn't see the auras. A beacon of maturity, tolerance and understanding, she replies 'That all sounds pretty silly."
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Post by Aravind Shiyal on May 26, 2010 19:57:02 GMT -5
Aravind raised one eyebrow a fraction of an inch at Aurora, his tone utterly dry. "Yes, it's terribly silly to immediately dismiss a practice that you were told takes years to master after trying it for about thirty seconds."
He inwardly sighed, and outwardly brushed a hand over his hair. People with no patience annoyed him. How could you expect to learn anything from a forest if you were unwilling to listen to it, first? He'd been practicing and studying for years, and could only see a tree's aura after about an hour of meditation-- less, if he had silence and some calm, but probably longer, with the stress of teaching and the amount of noise the students tended to make.
((OOC: So, I figure when this conversation stalls, he'll dismiss the class. He might also, if students ask, try teaching them how to... listen to the forest, or whatever you would call it. But he probably won't advertise that at all.))
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Post by Mellianne Joss on May 26, 2010 21:02:45 GMT -5
Mellianne, as a water person and not a woodsy person, was a little skeptical to try to see the auras of the tree. However it was worth a shot, especially after Aurora had tried.
She tried focusing on the trees in front of her with her ears subconsciously listening for sounds. She got a headache rather quickly. Right before the headache occurred though, she thought she saw something. Mellianne rubbed her head. "Ouch. Definitely not a good idea to do suddenly, specially since I've been pretty busy this past week. If I try that again, I'll definitely have to make sure I'm better rested."
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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on May 26, 2010 23:22:52 GMT -5
Aurora visibly pouted at being rebuffed, but seeing that it was gathering her little sympathy, dropped it. She would open up to the idea once she'd cooled off about it.
Noting that she still hadn't solved the problem with the leaves, she let them fall to the ground and moved closer to Mellianne. "Can they really see stuff in the trees?" She asked her in a quiet voice so that the professor didn't overhear her. "If they have souls, why do they get cut down to make wood?"
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Post by Mellianne Joss on May 26, 2010 23:35:33 GMT -5
Mellianne blinked at Aurora. "Can who really see the auras of trees? And as for you're second question; elves like myself, some of the other magical and non-human inhabitants, as well as a few humans only cut down trees that are very old and that feel like they would like to rest, but are replaced with seedlings.
"Others cut down what they wish, but they don't realize that can hurts the trees, similar to how some cut down animals for fun and not for food, or other members of their race for fun instead of self-defense and the like.
"And also, sometimes the trees are sick or hurting the area where they are planted. Least I'm think that's right. If you want a better answer as to why trees get cut down, you might want to ask the professor."
She got her water bottle out and took a drink. Man, long explanations made her thirsty.
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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on May 27, 2010 0:22:13 GMT -5
Initially she wanted to answer Mellianne's first question, regarding 'who,' but felt that clarifying that she suspected the professor of playing some kind of practical joke wouldn't be well accepted.
"So you're an elf? Like in the fairey tales?" Her mother used to read her from this big book of stories about Knights who fought dragons and helped save beautiful elven maidens. Elves were usually always princesses or wore volumous colorful dresses though - whereas this girl, although she was very pretty and had very exotic hair, looked mostly ordinary.
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Post by Mellianne Joss on May 27, 2010 0:38:29 GMT -5
Mellianne turned to Aurora, her violet eyes twinkling with the odd lighting of the forest. She brushed her hair out of the way and back behind her pointed ears. "Aye, I'm an elf. However I don't think we're all that similar to the faerie tales. Least my family isn't. We have a ranch in the middle of no where that raises and breeds animals, both normal and magical.
"I don't know if there is even an elven kingdom or country anymore besides the Fae, like Aelita, which is another word for Fairy. Even if there was, I don't think my family would fit in very well. We're too acclimated to technology and the modern world. Plus we're Americans so it would seem odd to live in a place where everyone had the same cultural background."
She paused for a quick stretch. "Though I do suppose my family is one of the richer elven families in the US, and our clan is a very rich clan out in the world, so we're not of the middle or lower class. And as for the faerie tales, some are based on truth, but I don't know which ones you're talking about, so I can't say what exactly isn't true and what is."
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Post by Destiny Valencia Everett on May 27, 2010 19:51:12 GMT -5
"Hello?" A voice called from the forest. "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"
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Post by Aravind Shiyal on May 27, 2010 21:33:00 GMT -5
Aravind whirled on the voice and moved swiftly and silently towards the source, motioning to the class to be silent and stay where they were. Before too long, he'd come across Destiny. He frowned down at the girl. "How did you get in here?" He'd have to talk to the headmistress about students wandering into the forest without taking any trail-- it was too easy to get lost, and pretty dangerous, like any forest worth the name, if you didn't know what you were doing. Which, he thought, with a cursory glance at her dress ((I'm assuming she's in a dress?)), was unlikely.
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Post by Destiny Valencia Everett on May 27, 2010 22:33:14 GMT -5
((Yes, Destiny is wearing a pink sundress and sneakers.))
"I'm sorry!" Destiny said, talking fast. "I was running late and just trying to get to class and I thought there was a path, but there wasn't a path, only sometimes there is one, but there isn't one here, and I went on the wrong path that wasn't there! And I thought I was going to be on time just one time and I'm sorry and..."
She realized she was making absolutely no sense and started over. "I was lost... I guess you're the Forestry professor?"
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Post by Aravind Shiyal on May 27, 2010 22:36:44 GMT -5
Aravind waited for her to finish, then nodded. "Alright, don't worry about it. We're probably about finished, but it was just an introduction today-- the others can catch you up." He started to walk back to the class, assuming she'd follow. "Next time, look for a trail marker before you enter. There are deer paths and... well, other paths, and, as you say, things that aren't paths. The trails built for student use will be marked with a cairn," he finished, then remembered everyone might not know what a cairn is. "It'll be a pile of rocks, about waist-height. Don't go into the woods unless you see one."
As they neared the rest of the class, he paused. "The others will probably tell you this, but dresses aren't a good idea for this class. It'll be much harder to move. And-- ah, right. What was your name?"
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Post by Destiny Valencia Everett on May 27, 2010 22:47:47 GMT -5
"Destiny... Destiny Everett. Everybody calls me Desi."
She knew the professor was right about wearing dresses. Her legs were scratched from where she'd tried to get through some thorny undergrowth. She hadn't ruined her dress, though. She never seemed to ruin her dresses. Destiny figured she was just lucky that way.
When they reached the rest of the class, Destiny looked at the other students and said, "I guess I missed stuff. I'm supposed to ask somebody to catch me up." To her surprise, she actually cared, a little, about learning something in this class. Of course, that might just have been because she had no desire to repeat the day's experiences.
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Post by Mellianne Joss on May 27, 2010 23:00:34 GMT -5
Mellianne turned to the new student. "We're studying the trees, looking for ways to tell them apart using different observations and how to identify them. That's basically it. The professor said that since this was the intro class, that's all we're doing today." She turned back to her notes.
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Post by Aravind Shiyal on May 29, 2010 23:11:10 GMT -5
"Alright, then." Aravind looked around, glanced up at the Sun, and realized he had absolutely no idea what time it was. Guessing that they'd probably been out here for long enough, he cleared his throat and looked around at the scattered students.
"I think that's enough for today. Those of you who are interested in Survival as well can meet back here after the break-- class is late afternoon to evening; at exactly three o'clock pm. All of you have been given the time, and I expect those of you who show up to be on time. Survival is a much faster-paced class, and we won't have time to hang around back.
"Anyway, you're all free to go, for this class. I want you to think about the things you've learned today, though, over the week, and continue to try and pay attention to the differences between trees. We'll pick this up same time next week."
And with that finality, he turned and walked back up the trail, towards the castle.
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