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Post by Zari D. Thorn on Jun 23, 2016 19:52:01 GMT -6
The air was dry, cool, and unyielding in the early morning. Clouds swam in the heavens as the sun struggled to climb over the horizon which trapped it. In the center of the open field sat one of Vytal's professors. There in the darkened field he stood atop his staff, Midnight Thorn. As the grass waved underneath him Zari Thorn remained unmoving with his arms crossed. The only sound he made was his heartbeat. Should someone had watched him, they would have thought hours would have flown by as he stayed in that statue-esque pose. Zari knew the time though, five fifty-seven. Based on the amount of ticks his watch produced. The pale-haired gentleman had kept his eyes closed for the past several minutes. While he was dressed for a wedding, his face portrayed he attended a funeral. Flat-lipped, relaxed brow, and pale faced. Meditation was a relaxing state of mind he practiced three times a day. Right after he woke up, right at noon, and right before he went to sleep. Useful for soul searching, thinking, and coming to an understanding. In addition, it increases patience and self-control. A value he attempted to install into his students daily. Today being like any other day. Yet it was a special day today.
Word had spread about Rift. About the Legion invasion which took the life of a number of people and the King himself. Though Rift was his hometown, he would not leave Vytal to visit the carnage nor did he care about the city itself. He had abandoned Rift long ago. Zari had no right to even think of it as his homeland anymore. Cela was the land of his rebirth, and Vytal his home. Possibly till the day of his death. For the first time since he had awoken, Zari cracked the most minor of smiles. It was at the though of his funeral on Vytal. "Where would they put the headstone?" He asked himself. The words floated into the wind to never be heard again.
The true meaning of his presence in the training field would hopefully be realized soon. Zari opened his eyes to look at his watch-- Five fifty-nine. One more minute until six o'clock. It was thanks to the events in Rift that Zari announced to his students of all years that he would be having a detailed training session today at six o'clock. All students who attended would receive advanced training in the use of aura and assistance in training their semblance. In addition to this, if anyone cared, they would receive extra credit for their grades. A minor detail to reel in the grade-jockeys. It worked every time. It was sad, but true. "I pray to not face disappointment." He would mutter, hearing footsteps approaching him. "Right on time."
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Post by Carmen Eistir on Aug 24, 2016 16:57:46 GMT -6
"i'm ready for the change, meet me in blue sky" | Would you still call it a class if you’d planned for it to be one, told hundreds of students it was happening, but then only ended up with one ‘volunteer’; or did it turn into a personal mentoring period? Carmen had no idea because she wasn’t even sure why Professor Thorn was out here in the first place. Though good with scheduling and punctual with her work, she hadn’t found herself anywhere near as reliable when it came to remembering what people told her was happening. She’d frustrated several teachers with the fact at this point, obviously; or at least enough so that they gave her written notes now, at any rate.
Her jacket rustling in the breeze and her hair streaking lightly behind her, Carmen angled her light jog off course so she’d pass by the Professor eventually. This just happened to coincide closely enough to 6am that morning; not that there was anything particularly noteworthy about that time to her. She bounced from foot to foot as she stopped some feet shy of him; an attempt to keep herself active, as she really didn’t like stopping and starting in the middle of a run unless it couldn’t be helped. The stoic professor had sparked enough of her curiosity to make an exception this morning.
“Sorry, Professor, if I’m intruding on something important, but what brings you out here this morning?”
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Post by Zari D. Thorn on Aug 25, 2016 20:10:45 GMT -6
The professor watched the young Huntress-in-training bounce along like a great well of power. He took a moment to respond to her, standing there in silence as a breeze passed him by. After that moment the teacher hopped down off his staff and turned to face the girl. Fixing his shirt, Zari said, "I had announced I'd be here for additional torturing. Many dangerous things have been happening lately. So before anyone runs off to normal classes, I said I'd help in combat and aura management. However no one has shown up." An uncharacteristic sigh escaped his lips. "It is very disappointing though. I even said they'd be getting an addition A+ marking for showing up. Though I guess grades aren't what they used to be."
When Zari started his job as Professor, the students would battle like hell to get top grades. Any little credit or mark-up would be worth missing an hour of sleep for. Though he saw it, and it brought him joy to know people cared-- he never went through that. When he was there age...well, he was there age at a time. And may god forgive him for what eighteen year-old Zari did back then. Loosening his tie, he would pull his staff from the earth and put his hands behind his back. Contrast to his active student, the man was still and relaxed. An opposite in almost every sense of the word. For the time at least.
"But aside from waiting, I was meditating. Helps keep the mind sharp when your body is already deadly." A small smirk appeared. "And you would be up early because reasons right? Probably a nice jog to get the blood going. It is nice." For a moment, Zari considered being that old-kind of teacher. The one that is slow in his speech and talks about the past and acts like it was the greatest thing ever. When really the current generation didn't give a flying fuck. "Would you mind keeping your professor company, Miss Carmen? Perhaps a race would be up your alley?"
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Post by Carmen Eistir on Aug 25, 2016 22:20:57 GMT -6
"i'm ready for the change, meet me in blue sky" | Carmen had no idea what’d been going on lately. Her entire network of news had come from her work before; people making orders for certain events, or cancelling them due to complications. Small talk when she was carrying something heavy for someone, and lunch break news bulletins heard over a café TV while she was eating. She definitely hardly remembered the latter of all those, with how quite TV’s tended to be when lunch rush started in Pinnacle.
Now she was here, hundreds of miles away and without a reason to do anything but learn, train and sleep. On a similar thought, she had no idea how important grades actually were.
It’s not like her lack of them had ever stopped her before coming to Vytal Academy. She settled down from her bouncing, finally, and moved onto leg stretches. Carmen doubted she’d get much more done this morning if she was supposed to attend a lesson now; so she might as well work herself down from running while she had the chance. “I’m always up at this time Professor; it used to be for work, but… well. Obviously I don’t have a job now since I’m here.”
She transitioned to heel holds, and considered the proposal she hadn’t originally thought was a possibility. “I don’t really race much, but if you’d prefer that to trying to salvage your lesson then I can spare some time?” |
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Post by Zari D. Thorn on Aug 28, 2016 21:47:45 GMT -6
Zari smiled an pleased smile as his student agreed to his lesson. Slowly he began to under his red tie while walking back to his black staff. "Well I suppose you could think of this race as a warm up to the lesson. Aura is connected to all aspects of the body and soul. Emotion, your thoughts, and your physical state. So think of this as getting the ball rolling. Yes?" Offering another polite grin, Zari began to wrap his tie against the tip of his staff. Ensuring the knot was tight, Zari inspected the silk of his neck ware contrast against the black weapon. A thought came across the educators mind. Perhaps Carmine was in better shape than him. While it was true he was the professor and had been in peck condition since before she was born, maybe the girl had some power which would assist her? There does seem to be a whole generation of speed-based semblance users.
The thought would dissipate though as the wind began to pick up a bit. "Okay, Carmen. I'm going to toss this across the field." Zari pulled his staff out of the grass. "If I reach it first, I'm going to throw it again. And we will do this until you either reach it before me-- pulling off my tie-- or I say so. Are we clear?" This time a dark and wicked smirk appeared across his face. A brilliant plan began to formulate in his mind. At first it was going to be as simple as he said. But now he was devising a better way to work back to the original plan of this tutor time. After he got Carmen exhausted, or at least he blood going, Zari would attempt to have the girl meditate and calm down quickly. This was a very difficult method. Once the blood starts going, the mind could grow restless like the body.
Dominating yourself, and creating a clear mind while projecting aura was a good way to strengthen control. "Are you ready?" He asked just before throwing his staff like a javelin. The grooves in the weapon caused a somewhat frightening wail to echo across the training field. Even pouring onto the campus. "Get set." While the staff was still in the air, Zari kicked his well-made shoes off along with his socks. Exposing his scarred and worn feet. Finally the staff landed one-hundred and fifty yards away from the student and pupil. Sticking out of the ground like a beacon. "Run." For a moment, Zari held his position. Offering Carmen a head start.
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Post by lilywilde on Sept 1, 2016 19:42:48 GMT -6
Lily had found herself not too far off of School grounds. She still frequently slept her nights away in trees or in the grassy areas surrounding the school. It's not that she didn't like sleeping indoors, she was simply more used to sleeping outside, and taking a great sense of pleasure in being able to do so without fear of Grimm murdering her if she didn't properly conceal herself or set tripwires connected to alarms around her encampment to wake her if something drew near. Here at the school, she could lay down under the stars, and fall asleep safe. She was growing accustomed to life inside of the school, and finding herself more and more at home.
It was for this reason that she had accidentally allowed herself to sleep in. She was in the middle of some deep, peaceful sleep when she suddenly woke with a start.
"Shoot! The training!" She scowled in an innocent expletive that she'd picked up from one of the other students.
She hopped down from the tree, still only garbed in her tattered black dress. Still wearing nothing in the way of shoes, and with a hair of head almost as wild as the girl herself. Twigs and leaves poked out in some places, and her hair was held back in a ponytail, secured by a string made of animal sinew that she'd had since she arrived, a primitive and perhaps disgusting to some method for keeping her hair out of her face in combat scenarios. She began rushing towards the school training grounds. She didn't use her Semblance, deciding to maintain her aura for anything that might relate to the course. She was a bit timid about the whole affair. The class was being run by the teacher who was the second person to welcome her to Vytal. The teacher seemed nice enough in their previous meeting, and had offered her a sweet but earthy drink that left a pleasant taste in her mouth, but she had come to understand the dynamic between teacher and student. Her own skills, advanced though they may be for a freshman, really paled in comparison to what some of the teachers could do.
She had also come to understand the system that the school called "Grading"
She understood it to be a competition between students to mark their talent. She was determined to be one of the highest ranking in this "Grade" system, so that she might show her true worth to the others around her. So, she started keeping an ear out for any opportunities to advance these grades.
She was here to learn, and there were few things that appealed to her more than training to improve her knowledge and ability.
She bounded over walls and buildings, taking the straightest line to the field as possible, and finally found herself approaching the grassy field where the Professor and another girl stood. She stopped for as second. She didn't recognize the girl. Her usual threat analysis debilitation kicked in, but she overrode it pretty quickly. She'd been getting better about that since she'd been meeting new people more frequently. She listened for a second, and figured out the gist of what was transpiring between them.
She wondered, was this a test meant only for the punctual student? Or one designed for all students that were in attendance that day. Which, wait, where were all of the others? On the one hand, the thought of fewer students excited her. It would mean that she'd get more individualized training from the teacher, which would lead to better growth. At the same time however, it saddened her deeply, and left her feeling a slight sense of disgust. How could these other students not take an opportunity like this seriously. She decided to make a proper entrance. Activating her semblance, and deciding not to handicap herself to benefit the teacher, she goes all out from the start. Lining her body up as well as she could so that she would neither run into the teacher or the girl, she took off, a white trail of light glowing behind her lit up the morning. She charged forward at an astounding Mach 2. Like this, she could cover over two thousand feet in a second should her need be great enough. She hoped to make it to the staff first, wondering if that would impress or annoy the professor.
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Post by Zari D. Thorn on Sept 9, 2016 12:38:13 GMT -6
As Zari performed his tasks at a rather slow pace, almost annoyingly so, a grin was on his face. He was the fastest person he knew in the whole world. Though that was when he used his semblance. And that was a rare and dreadful act when he did so. However even without it, he was still ahead of most of the students. As he should be. Zari wasn't even forty years old yet. He still had a lot of life left in him! So when he saw a bolt of light zip past across the corner of his eyes, the professor was speechless. Standing there was his mouth agape and eyes glued to Lily as she moved. "Wha." I all he said.
"This girl...She...She..." Zari shouted at the top of his lungs with a stern authority. "Girl! That is the not point of this exercise! Come here at once!" Zari placed his hand on his hands with an anger only a teacher or leader could have. To have a person just waltz in and defile the spirit of an exercise was unbelievable! He'd have to give her a firm talking to about that sort of showing off. Hopefully he didn't scare her with his bellow. Lily did have a way of being weary of crowds and attention. His yell might also trigger one of her instincts.
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Post by lilywilde on Sept 9, 2016 15:22:00 GMT -6
Lily looked crestfallen. So then it was just meant for the other girl, and I think I skipped straight past annoy and went straight to angered. She briefly considered running away, it'd be easy. Almost nobody could catch her, but she stayed where she was. For a moment, she then started trotting over to the angry professor. Her version of a leisurely run was about on par with an average person's sprinting, though it was a pace that most of the students here at Vytal could probably keep up with easily enough. She suppressed her urge to run away because she was trying to be a good student. Students did what their teachers told them to do, and she might still learn something. Assuming that the teacher didn't just yell at her and tell her she had detention or something. He had threatened her with detention once before, and while she still hadn't ever had to deal with that, she wasn't looking forward to it.
When she arrived where the teacher and the other girl were standing, she stood there with her eyes down, ears flattened, and small frame looking even smaller than usual. She awaited whatever verbal abuse would be coming her way. She wanted to explain herself, but she knew that if she tried her voice would tremble and she'd sound like an idiot. I didn't know! She screamed inside her own head, but couldn't actually find the courage to say something to the angry teacher.
She kicked the ground in front of her, her eyes glued to her own feet, hoping that nothing too bad would come from this encounter, but an irrational amount of fear and anxiety assured her that she was in fact in lots of trouble.
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Post by Carmen Eistir on Sept 11, 2016 20:54:38 GMT -6
"i'm ready for the change, meet me in blue sky" | Well, that all happened at some point. There’d been a lot of questions to the exercise exactly; had the professor been expecting her to use aura? Her own Semblance? Did he even remember what the Semblances of his students were; and even if he didn’t would he have ever admitted it? She didn’t know her teachers well enough to answer those sorts of questions; it wasn’t like many of the students and teachers made time to socialize with each other without being forced to for their educations.
Carmen, for example, wasn’t big on people holding back when it came down to it. At least she could put off that awkward moment a tad longer. That deserved some small sigh of relief at least.
The girl arrived back in short order; another shorty, though this girl likely being younger than her made it easier to explain that away at least. She had to be younger; newer to this place then her at any rate, if she didn’t even know the basics of classes yet. She placed a hand on the Faunus head; with some force when it comes to it, but she wouldn’t consider it as such. That was just her ‘normal’ way of handling things, when she wasn’t handling stuff she knew was definitely too fragile for that.
“First time here? Word ‘o advice, generally good form to greet the teachers before you start their lessons, yeah?” She rubbed the cats ears, as it were, and removed her hand from the others head. “Same activity Prof, or do you want to do something else now we’ve got a friend?”
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Post by Zari D. Thorn on Sept 11, 2016 21:24:37 GMT -6
Now with both girls right beside him Zari held his head as he figured out how to word his intentions clearly without freaking out or hurting either of the students. It was such a pain at times being a professor with teenagers and young adults as your class. They always had things to prove or were far too relaxed about everything. His gloved hand tapped the side of his temple while the mind calculated a course. First the other hand was placed onto Lily's head before Zari patted her. With a voice of sympathy, though still grasping authority, Zari said "I'm sorry Lily. But that is not the purpose of this exercise. I understand you might want to impress others but you can't always do that. Like Miss Carmen said. Visit me to learn what the purpose of the exercise is first."
Retracting his hand and placing it behind his back, Zari nodded to Carmen. "Actually I'd be having you two do a different activity. This will better allow me to judge Lily. Since her abilities are unknown to me i'll be taking this chance to view them. And I understand if you wish to continue your morning jog. I'd like for you to stay but if it is too much trouble, feel free to do as you wish. I'll give you a small bonus for keeping an aging man company."
Picking up his footwear, Zari slowly walked over to his staff. "Lily, since you are here, I'll like to do something I like to call the Cloak exercise. Basically you will take a mediating stance. Sitting on the ground you will do your best to clear your mind. At the same time you must project your aura around you. Holding this position for as along as I demand, or until you grow too tired to continue. It is a simple little thing most freshmen do when they first come in." Zari paused before turning to the girl. "You seem to have some advanced potential. However I will treat you like any other student. And start you with the basics. Breaking you down before building you into a better person."
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