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Post by piñata on Jul 21, 2010 12:13:30 GMT -5
Alira watched from the back of the classroom as the other students walked in. The people of this world were endlessly intriguing, often making bizarre fashion statements that Alira feared she would never fully understand. Like the young man that had just walked in... he had some sort of greasy material holding his hair in place, and was wearing modified leather armor in a place where combat was extremely unlikely to occur.
Still, the leather made Alira identify with him immediately... he was a warrior, much like herself. She would have to get to know him better. A girl with pale skin who had dyed part of her hair pink walked in a few moments later. The pink hair was yet another example of a bold fashion statement, though if it meant anything in particular Alira had no idea what that was. The look certainly worked for her... she was pretty, in the way that many very young women look good but don't realize it or are ashamed of it for some reason.
Alira never got that... this girl was quite attractive, but chose to cover it up with rather conservative clothing and act in an introverted manner that would turn most suitors off. Alira had once, shortly after arriving in this world, heard someone say "If you've got it, flaunt it." She was a devout believer in this philosophy, and didn't understand why someone would wear something like that almost comically enormous hoodie when they really had nothing to be ashamed of underneath it.
An older man walked in. He was making a bold fashion statement too, but what his clothing seemed to say was "I'm homeless." Tweed didn't really do much for Alira.
"Welcome to Folklore and Mythology 101," he said in an accent not unlike that of the men of Aberforth in Alira's home universe. "I'm Professor Banks, but you don't care about that. Every year it's the same... you're here about the sodding vampires. Open your books to, ironically enough, page 101, and let's get started."
(OOC: Okay, that's hopefully enough to go on. I didn't really supply a lot of stuff to respond to, but the pace will pick up later. I just suck at starting threads.)
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Post by Rosy on Jul 21, 2010 12:44:57 GMT -5
Vampires are pathetic. BB thought to herself while flipping her book open. She was sitting in the back of the classroom, the best place to take a nap. From the way the professor was acting, she doubted he would care if she snoozed through his class. She slouched down in her seat and pulled the hood over her head. It was so big that it drooped over most of her face.
The only reason BB took Mythology 101 was because she needed 14 credit hours and taking an art class would require participation, something she wasn't too fond of. She'd heard it was an easy class and the professor wouldn't notice if she skipped a few sessions. Being the first day she decided to attend. That didn't mean she had to pay attention.
She showed up on time, intending to find a seat far from any other students. However, one boy ran in right as the class started and took a seat next to her, on the right. He kept trying to strike up a conversation with her, even though the professor had already started talking.
"Hey," he said, "I'm Troy." Beebs ignored him and crossed her arms over her chest. He looked kinda confused. She hoped that meant he would give up, but not even two minutes later, he started talking about vampires and vampire novels. BB resisted the urge to throw up. She knew already that this class would be long one.
((Just threw something down lol. I love the way you introduced us, btw. Very clever.))
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Ape
Apprentice
Posts: 90
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Post by Ape on Jul 21, 2010 18:38:05 GMT -5
Why did he always bother attending class? He could take the final right now and pass it anyway, so what was the point? This was going to be another long, boring year filled with numb-skull professors 'teaching' him the most mundane tripe every 10 year old already know.
Rick let out a sigh and left his book unopened when the professor asked to begin. Instead he pulled out his favorite book of poetry, A Boy's Will by Robert Frost, its pages worn and well-thumbed. It was his third copy and it was already crumbling from overuse. It always relaxed him. He knew every line, having spent countless hours gleaming over its magical words. He didn't need to read it, not anymore, he just flipped through it, and felt it's calming effects on his mind.
There was a girl behind him being pestered by some idiot blabbering about vampires or some such nonsense. If Rick wasn't such a loner maybe he would stick up for her, but why should he care? She probably liked the attention, doesn't everyone? They put up their walls and pretend to ride their high horse, playing coy and hard-to-get, while inside they're roiling with the excitement of another person's courtship, however clumsy it may be. Rick shook his head in annoyance.
He realized his jaw was clinched and his fists were balled. "I guess Robert Frost isn't doing the trick today," he thought. He glanced casually and, hopefully, subtly over his shoulder and saw the girl. If she was pretending to not enjoy the kid's conversation, she was certainly a good actor. Rick didn't know why people put up with that, he'd have broken the guy's nose by now if he was in her shoes.
Rick took off his worn and faded leather jacket, dropped it casually to the floor without any care for how dirty it was, and leaned back in his chair. A tiny, minuscule portion of the tattoo on his arm became visible. He was normally very careful to hide it, but his frustration, unfounded as they may have been, were tugging to heavily on his attention to give a crap.
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Post by piñata on Jul 22, 2010 13:43:59 GMT -5
A village somewhere is being sorely deprived of its idiot, Alira thought as she started reading the so-called "facts" in the mythology textbook, which was trying to convince her that vampires didn't like garlic. Vampires seasoned everyone they ate with garlic. They absolutely loved it. She flipped carelessly through the book, stopping briefly -- with a disgusted expression on her face -- at a picture of a green dragon. There were five colors of dragons available for this artist to get right, and he still had to go and pick a color that never occurred in nature? And the teacher was proclaiming this cart full of manure to be fact?
Closing the book, she looked around. The first thing she saw was the boy in front of her, turned around in his chair so he could look up her skirt. She was wearing a very short skirt, with the intention of flaunting her body, so she couldn't really be angry at him. She simply smiled and invited him to see if it tasted as good as it looked. He got a stricken look on his face and turned back around. It had been the same with almost every man she had met in this world... her forwardness scared the hell out of them, for some reason. The women were even worse... apparently, there was some cultural taboo among these backward people about people of the same gender having intimate relations. Alira loved women... she didn't get why there was something wrong with this at all.
She looked around at the rest of the class. The warrior had taken off his leather armor and looked like he was trying to relax, but Alira could sense his anger boiling just beneath the surface. She wasn't a full-fledged empath like her cousin Seldona, but she did get flashes of strong emotion from the people around her every once in a while. There was something on the warrior's arm, but she couldn't see it clearly at this angle. It looked like a tattoo of some sort, so it was probably the emblem of whatever unit he served with.
"Is my class interrupting your conversation?" Professor Banks snapped. Alira followed his gaze to the people sitting just behind the warrior... the girl with pink hair she had noticed earlier, and an embarrassed-looking boy.
"Sorry," the boy said. Alira listened half-heartedly as the teacher asked him his name -- it was Troy -- and told him to be quiet.
The teacher got her full attention again as he addressed the class at large. "So, now that you know some vampire folklore, how does modern pop culture try to subvert the established myths and legends surrounding vampires?" Alira watched as a legion of hands went up. Hers stayed down... she knew very little about modern pop culture, having just arrived in this universe a few weeks ago. In fact, she still hadn't quite grasped the concept of long-distance travel without horses, and was rather afraid of these things the locals called "cars".
(OOC: If anyone has an answer to Banks' question, feel free. Ape's character will probably want to show off his intelligence, and even if Rosy doesn't have anything to say as BB she can certainly RP Troy's response.)
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Post by Rosy on Jul 22, 2010 18:47:36 GMT -5
After Troy got in trouble, most of the class turned to look at him. BB sunk a little deeper into her seat, not appreciating the attention. She heard Professor Banks start to ask a question, but she didn't hear it because Troy started talking again.
"So you like the color pink?" he said quietly. He was trying so hard to strike up a conversation but Beebs was having none of it. She turned her head toward Troy and gave him a long, hard glare. He stared for a few seconds and then looked away. She turned her head back to the front and smiled. Victory.
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Ape
Apprentice
Posts: 90
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Post by Ape on Jul 23, 2010 6:33:00 GMT -5
Rick wasn't exactly paying attention, he didn't have to, but as soon as he heard the professor ask a question he leapt, almost literally, to answer the question. Without raising his hand or giving any indication he was going to speak, he eagerly began his speech, "Nothing can subvert a myth, sir, because I don't think mythology can truly become 'established.' Myths are form-fitting to whoever tells the tale. They're campfire stories, passed down from generation to generation. Just because someone eventually wrote them down, doesn't mean that is the exact definition of the myth, but only that particular author's interpretation. Vampires aren't real, so there can't be any precise description of them, only what human imagination can create. So, really, there is no way to distort the picture of something that doesn't truly exist.
"However, to answer your question, it's sex, of course. Our current pop culture revolves entirely around sex, so that is our current representation of the myth. Lust and passion and lots of screwing. In the 80's when everyone was afraid of satanist cults they were devils. In the 40s and 50s, in the age of innocence, they were scary-looking monsters. I don't know if these are subversions, just never-ending iterations of an ethereal concept." Rick stared at the Mr. Banks in a challenging manner. "Now, you find me a real vampire, and maybe we can really see how far off we are from the truth" he said with a slight but clearly visible sneer.
Rick looked around the class, his fist still balled, daring someone to disagree.
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Post by Rosy on Jul 25, 2010 12:49:16 GMT -5
The second Rick started talking, Beebs knew she disliked him. He struck her as arrogant and immature. The way he talked automatically made him more annoying than Troy, especially the lack of respect he was giving the prof. There were a lot of words for guys like him. a**hole, jackass, jerkoff... She had little patience for people of his sort.
She said nothing, of course. BB simply rolled her eyes and then put her head on the back of her chair. She would much rather sleep than listen to this idiot talk anymore but secretly hoped the professor would rip him out or kick him out or something.
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Post by Rosy on Jul 28, 2010 15:22:27 GMT -5
((Pinata? Post please? We need you to go anywhere in this thing.))
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Post by piñata on Jul 30, 2010 10:59:30 GMT -5
(Sorry. Had a busy week.)
Professor Banks glared at Rick for a few moments, then said, "First of all, don't place any emphasis on the word 'sir'. It's disrespectful. What you're basically saying is 'With all due respect, go f**k yourself'... and I'd be a lot more inclined to accept that if you weren't such a bloody coward that you have to preface it with a term of false respect."
He smiled slightly as he added, "And secondly, you should be thankful that real vampires don't exist. A real vampire would likely rip your throat out just to shut you up." Banks had had people like Rick in his class almost every semester since he had started teaching... they were a dime a dozen, and there was only one way to deal with them. Humiliate them, and they shut up.
Alira smiled as well. There was some steel in this teacher... that would be useful if things went the way she thought they were going to.
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Ape
Apprentice
Posts: 90
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Post by Ape on Jul 30, 2010 12:30:11 GMT -5
Rick was admittedly surprised the teacher had the wherewithal to actually respond. He was used to grown men stammering and stuttering as they try to think of a suitable way to react. Of course, the agression wasn't anything new. He had experienced it countless times, those in authority responding with anger. Teachers usually just threw him out of the class - their befuddled brain whirling uncontrollably as they try to cover their embarassment and recover an ounce of dignity. At least this guy had the balls to curse at him.
"You can insult me all you want, professor, though you might want to check my criminal record before you call me a coward. Regardless, you can't dispute my point."
Rick knew he wasn't doing himself any good. He could feel the ridicule already, he knew his classmates were rolling their eyes and laughing at him. Well, screw them. He didn't need anybody's approval or acceptance. He did fine by himself.
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Post by piñata on Aug 4, 2010 12:11:31 GMT -5
"I'll tell you what," Professor Banks said. "I'll get a transcript of my criminal record, and we'll compare notes. I'm fairly sure the streets of London are meaner than the ones in this town. And I had to do it all without access to guns, too." If this guy thought he could intimidate him, he had another thing coming... when he had been Rick's age he had gotten into some pretty serious trouble.
Alira looked back and forth between the two. This was unproductive in the extreme, and she had to do something about it. She cleared her throat to call attention to herself and then said, "If you two are done measuring, zip up so we can get back to the lesson." Even though she was technically a student rather than a princess in this world, she couldn't keep the note of regal authority out of her voice.
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Post by Rosy on Aug 4, 2010 15:56:23 GMT -5
BB couldn't help groaning as Rick continued his greater-than-thou rant. All she wanted to do was get some sleep but that would be nearly impossible if the prof and the douche kept trying to updo each other. She never thought Mythology 101 would turn out to be such a soap opera. As the [slighty slutty] girl sitting a few rows ahead of her starting talking (in a manner Beebs found marginally less annoying than the douche), she reached into her bookbag and rummaged around until she found her waterbottle. Usually she saved the drinking until after class, but this was a special occasion. She popped the top and took a quick swig. Of course it wasn't water, but it's hard to tell the difference between vodka and H2O. ((I figure since she doesn't know Rick's name yet, Douchebag would be a nickname she would use. ))
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Ape
Apprentice
Posts: 90
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Post by Ape on Aug 4, 2010 20:12:59 GMT -5
When Professor Banks mentioned having a criminal record of his own, Rick was admittedly quite surprised. He knew college professors came from all sorts of places, they weren't all the annoying, snotty little cowards he knew in high school. He just didn't expect Somewhere deep in the recesses of Rick's convoluted little brain, he gained an ounce of respect for his teacher.
He wasn't going to back down though, if anything he was happy to meet a worthy challenger. But before he could respond, a young lady in front of him attempted to dismiss the issue after coughing delicately like a child. Rick knitted his brow until his forehead was sore while a boiling lake of molten anger boiled in his chest. He couldn't believe these people. He opened his mouth to spew forth his venomous hate...but it stopped on the tip of his tongue. He couldn't do it...he never could. He didn't know how to address women. They...confused him. He couldn't fight them and, he was always awkward and submissive around them. It was hopeless. He shifted his gaze around the room distractedly, glancing at the walls and windows, as the heat in his chest dissipated.
He looked up for a brief second and made eye-contact with Professor Banks. "...whatever," Rick muttered under his breath.
He lowered his head and stared at his desk, calmer than before, but still tense and uptight. He heard the girl behind him drinking from a water bottle, but he paid her no mind. He paid no mind to anyone. He just wanted to sit, and brood.
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Post by piñata on Aug 7, 2010 1:49:38 GMT -5
Alira sensed the heat coming from behind her, and tensed for a physical confrontation. She started gathering her power, in preparation to summon her daggers. But then she sensed the warrior calming down, and relaxed back in her seat. Her nose wrinkled, and she quickly pinpointed the source of the alcohol. None of the humans would be able to smell it, but Elves had heightened senses. She glanced over at the girl with the pink hair and gave her a wink, as if to say 'Your secret's safe with me'.
Professor Banks let the "whatever" hang in the air without responding to it. Instead, he shuffled the papers on his desk nervously. He had just admitted to his class that he had a criminal record, which was probably not a good thing. His train of thought was interrupted by a metallic clang as a ridiculously heavy silver paperweight -- one of the more hideous gifts his mother, whose tastes ran toward the kitschy, had sent him -- was knocked off the desk accidentally and clattered to the floor. He bent to retrieve it, and rolled his eyes when he saw that the girl who had ended the argument with Rick wasn't wearing panties. "Oh, for f**k's sake," he muttered under his breath. His students got weirder every year.
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Ape
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Posts: 90
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Post by Ape on Aug 7, 2010 15:32:36 GMT -5
Rick sat hunched over his desk, his head downturned, angry at himself for being so docile. He just wanted to punch something. He raised his head and glared at the back of the pretty woman's head. Females, they'd be the death of him.
She turned her head suddenly, glancing back in his direction, and winked at him. His mind reeled at the unfathomable act. She was stunning, really, he realized it even though he was pissed at her. He pretended not to notice the heat in his cheeks - WAS HE BLUSHING? In this heightened state of awareness, he realized that it was the cute girl behind him that she was winking at, not him. Rick was infuriated with himself, and literally kicked himself for being so foolish. He shook his head, disgusted with this horrible day, and reopened <i>A Boy's Will</i> by Robert Frost, desperately craving its calming effects.
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