"Well, that makes things more interesting."
"That was the plan." Ta'Su says dryly
"Oh are we adding an extra element to class today?" Asch asks Ta'Su as he dodged a boulder.
"The Blur isn't challenged by the boulders anymore, and she doesn't want to keep healing since people get sloppy when she's here, so I'm providing a distraction."
Kitty cracked up. "Oh, that's good. That explains what was stuck in your hair in that picture. I didn't really understand when I looked at it."
"Okay, so for homework I'd like you to write a paragraph or two on where you think magic comes from. Those who don't hand in this assignment are signing themselves up to be my volunteers for next lectures demonstration. Consider yourselves fairly warned. Alright, you can go now."
"Oh great, homework on magic's source. Not like there are hundreds of possible sources or anything." Oneiro says under his breath as he packs his things up.
Kitty cracked up. "Oh, that's good. That explains what was stuck in your hair in that picture. I didn't really understand when I looked at it."
"And Mom decided not to explain because she knew I would. Typical."
"Either clean that fish in silence or risk cutting yourself, young man." Sylvia says, a bit of humor in her stern tone as she continues taking notes on omurice preparation.
A paper bird flew up to Oneiro and unfolded itself.
"I would like to discuss paper magic with you further at some point. Meet me after classes today, or let me know what time would be convenient for you. Thank you. Ori Reading."
Kitty cracked up. "Oh, that's good. That explains what was stuck in your hair in that picture. I didn't really understand when I looked at it.""And Mom decided not to explain because she knew I would. Typical."
"Either clean that fish in silence or risk cutting yourself, young man." Sylvia says, a bit of humor in her stern tone as she continues taking notes on omurice preparation.
Kitty looked confused. "Er....has he not been cleaning fish long? Only....we had to practice so much. If you couldn't clean and debone a fish in under a minute by the time we were ten, we didn't get to eat any. Just rice gets pretty boring after a while. Makes for a very good incentive to learn quickly. But....well, I guess not everyone has to practice their knifework that intensely, do they? Huh. You know, I never really considered that before."
"A moments distraction does not care how quickly you can work a knife." Michael explains. "Mom doesn't care how fast I get things ready as long as I don't lose fingers and the food is ready in time for dinner." Michael starts to say something else, but then there is a strange sound and his eyes go wide. He turns and holds up his hand, covered in red and missing a thumb. "Case a-a-and point..."
"I've told you before to stop wasting tomato juice on that joke."
"But you gave me such a great set up for it!" Michael complains, wiping his hand --which now has a thumb-- and taking the fish out of the sink. "The fish is ready for however it needs to be prepared for the omurice."[/i]
A paper bird flew up to Oneiro and unfolded itself.
"I would like to discuss paper magic with you further at some point. Meet me after classes today, or let me know what time would be convenient for you. Thank you. Ori Reading."
Oneiro writes "That's fine." on the paper, and turns it into a simple paper plane to return it to Ori. He gives her a nod before leaving for his next class.
With just as much suddenness as before, Ta'Su kicks out low to slice into Ephebe's legs. He keeps an eye on Asch in case the dhampir decided to join in.
"It doesn't think." Gustav shot back. "And it's too small to do anything."
"Mmmm..." Diayu nods thoughtfully. "Perhaps you are right, Sifu Stonecutter. Perhaps a thing that is too small, cannot really be a thing, and if we do not think, then what are we?"
There is a pause, then the Sifu stands. "Sifu Stonecutter has given us all our homework for this night. We shall all take time to meditate tonight, on nothingness, and size, and what it means to think. I greatly anticipate the lessons you will bring to our meeting tomorrow." She bows low to all the students, who return the bow as manners dictate, or not, if they are feeling impetuous or rebellious. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference to Chen Daiyu.
"Now please bow to Sifu Stonecutter for giving us all such excellent questions to meditate upon. These are questions that have vexed many great minds, and are most worthy of your consideration." She bows again to Gustav, along with some of the students others make faces at Gustav, or just don't do it at all.
"Please leave in peace." And with that, class is dismissed.
Although Ta'Su is expecting Asch, what he doesn't expect is Jim, now on the other side of the classroom, coming into play. As he closes, he punches downward, missing Ta'Su and taking out a small chunk of the floor.
"Two on one is twice the fun." Ta'Su says as he does a spinning handstand and lashes out with the razor-wire in all directions.
"Okay, so what pans do I have to work with here? Also, should we do this the simple way or the fancy way? The simple way is easier to learn from, but the fancy way is easier to watch," Kitty said, absent-mindedly twirling the knife she'd been using, completely ignoring Michael's tasteless joke.
"Kitty said, absent-mindedly twirling the knife she'd been using, completely ignoring Michael's tasteless joke.
"Michael, your taller so you can get the pans down. Kitty, got with the fancy way. It's fun to watch people cooking."
Jim doesn't even block, most of the wire simply scratching the surface of his adamantine body. You're going to have to do better than that." Jim says, while you can see what may be a warforged smile.
Perception
Khassar notices the three way scuffle going on below. While at first he thought the golem was helping the other guy he now see that is not the case. He tosses 2 tanglefoot bags to foul up that razor wire.
Fighting defensively:
Phaezeriel bows politely to Sifu Daiyu and Gustav and leaves quietly and heads to PE.
She steps inside a rock to avoid getting slashed with the skate and steps out in time to see that two more have joined the party. She blinks out of view for a moment before the tanglefoot bags are abruptly redirected and she reappears. She grinned at Khassar.
"Sorry, but those would have totally ruined my fun."
"Okay, so I need the two biggest skillets you've got....or a griddle. Actually a griddle would be better."
Once Michael gets the pans for her she starts heating them on the stove. She drips a little water and when it sizzles away nods to herself.
"Okay, here we go." She drizzled oil on the pan and picked up two knives. She twirled them, tossed them, and caught them before using one knife to grab an onion that she rapidly sliced on the griddle into a tower. "This is the part where you're supposed to light the tower on fire, but I've never been allowed to do that. They trust me with sharp objects, but not flame. Go figure." She quickly sliced up the onion, blades moving almost too fast to see and then did likewise with the rest of the vegetables making sure to put them on in the correct order so the things that needed more cooking time would have it. She added the rice and tossed everything together, then cleared out a space on the griddle. She picked up an egg between the knives and deftly cracked it over the open space, flicking the shells aside to an empty bowl on the counter. She repeated that until all the eggs were there and then flipped and tossed the whole mixture together along with what sauce she'd been able to put together. She scooped the omurice onto a witing platter before quickly slicing the fish into small filets, leaving some raw pieces for Saffire to enjoy. Pieces of fish flipped through the air as she tossed them on the griddle, making sure that they didn't overcook.
"Okay.....ummm.....it's all done now," she said after adding the fish to the platter with the omurice and tossing the knives so they landed in the cutting board with a solid thunk.
She steps inside a rock to avoid getting slashed with the skate and steps out in time to see that two more have joined the party. She blinks out of view for a moment before the tanglefoot bags are abruptly redirected and she reappears. She grinned at Khassar.
"Sorry, but those would have totally ruined my fun."
"Then we shall continue to watch you lead the dance." Khassar says as he dodges a boulder and then bows slightly.
Turning slightly to Ephebe, he says "Well, I hope you don't mind if I join in the fun? Name's Jim, by the way. Jim Rivets. I don't believe we've met," as the wire continues scratching against his plating.
"Nice to meet you, Jim," she said, deftly dancing through the razor wire narrowly missing being sliced for the most part, though the places where she did get hit healed quickly all on their own. "I'm Ephebe Su... you know, actually my last name just got kinda complicated," she said, blushing a little. "Ummm....I'll have to get back to you on that."
"Not a problem, Ephebe," Jim says as he tries to catch one of the wires.
Enre shakes his head at others horsing around, as he stops the boulders that fly toward him.
"Now please bow to Sifu Stonecutter for giving us all such excellent questions to meditate upon. These are questions that have vexed many great minds, and are most worthy of your consideration." She bows again to Gustav, along with some of the students others make faces at Gustav, or just don't do it at all.
Gustav gritted his closed teeth in frustration at the perceived mockery. Taking a lesson from his dwarven friends back home, Gustav acted like a statue, following the rest of the students out of the strange room and down the far-too-many-steps staircase. He didn't relax his face until everyone had passed him by in the hallway.
Stifling a shout of anger, Gustav took out the map scroll again. Introduction to Agartha. Finally. Something quantifiable and rational. Following the map, the black-haired foreigner wound his way through the hallways to his second class.
Catching the wire soon leaves Jim holding a bunch of limp razor-wire, because as soon as the line goes taut it snaps off of the heel.
"You know, you are the only who has ever even tried to grab the wire." Ta'Su tells Jim as he drops to the ground to avoid a boulder. He stands quickly. "Of course, no one else was ever made of metal. I'm going to have to upgrade my training pair to deal with you."
A boulder passes between them and suddenly Ta'Su is gone. Looking around reveals he's using the boulders flying through the air like platforms. He kicks a few of the smaller ones toward Jim and Ephebe.
"Okay.....ummm.....it's all done now," she said after adding the fish to the platter with the omurice and tossing the knives so they landed in the cutting board with a solid thunk.
"Well, I don't know about cracking the eggs with knives, but I think I can do that. It was nice to watch you cook, Kitty." Sylvia says, getting plates.
"Next time, you should try setting the tower on fire." Michael tells her. "That sounds like it would be really cool to see."
"Thank you," Kitty said, smiling and blushing, not accustomed to being praised, but enjoying the attention.
"Yeah, I've always wanted to try the fire thing, but I was afraid to do it in you guys' kitchen...I didn't want to accidentally set anything on fire. Maybe I'll see if I can get permission to use the school kitchen...I think there might even be a cooking class that I can get into if I can get an official schedule."
Jim drops the wire to the ground, rising and punching through these smaller boulders. After the onslaught, Jim remembers he is in a class, and flips a switch on his mechanical hand.
"I'm probably going to be one of the first for a lot of things around here."
Just as Ephebe was thinking about how to get up there after him Aananda blew the whistle.
"Okay, kids. Class is over. Time to hit the showers and get to your next class. Good practice today. And I'm happy to see some of you showing initiative to make this class more challenging."
"Ephebe, can I see you for a minute?"
"You have your study period now right? Would you mind very much taking over the general PE class for a bit. James is -"
"Ready to kill something? Yeah, I noticed. Things must not have gone well with Fieri's parents. Yeah, sure, I'll get them started on dodgeball or something until you get back."
"What's that?" Vai asks curiously as the paper bird flies up to Oneiro. Source of magic? I... don't usually like to think about that...
"Maybe we'll continue the sparring next class." Ta'Su says as he lands and heads for the showers after collecting his wire.
Jim dismisses all effects, returning to his normal size."Sorry about your boots, there. Name's Jim, by the way. Jim Rivets." Jim reaches out an adamantine plated hand, still scratched a bit from the wire, for a handshake.
"What's that?" Vai asks curiously as the paper bird flies up to Oneiro. Source of magic? I... don't usually like to think about that...
"Just a bit of paper magic to deliver a message." Oniero explains. "And there are plenty sources of magic if you don't like one. Nature, gods, willpower shaping energy. Even dreams."
Jim dismisses all effects, returning to his normal size."Sorry about your boots, there. Name's Jim, by the way. Jim Rivets." Jim reaches out an adamantine plated hand, still scratched a bit from the wire, for a handshake.
"Ta'Su." He replies, taking the metal hand and shaking it. "Don't worry about the wire. It was made to do that in case they got caught on anything. It's easy to reattach."
Fei bows respectfully to his sabumnim, then makes his way to the showers to clean up before heading to his Advanced Art class.
"I figured that was the case. Do you mind if I take a look at them sometime? I'm a bit of an engineer myself."
"Their nothing special, just my training pair." Ta'Su takes his blades off and hands them over. "Basic stuff really. Just a miniaturized version of a skimmers propulsion system with blades that can be extended or retracted. The wire is a more recent addition."
"Maybe I'll see if I can get permission to use the school kitchen...I think there might even be a cooking class that I can get into if I can get an official schedule."
"Yeah, probably not a good to try something with fire for the first time in a tree..." Michael says thoughtfully. "You know, you would be surprised just how similar Alchemy is to cooking. The omurice is a prime example."
"I see. Interesting nonetheless. And we should definitely continue sparring next class. It was, as I've heard said, a blast."
Jim, actually knowing something of showers, goes in to rinse off the dust accumulated from destroying boulders, but is out again soon.
"I'll be ready for you and Ephebe next time, so don't let me down." Ta'Su replies before showering, getting dressed, and getting ready for his next class.
Not a chance. Jim says, roughly smiling.
"Yeah, probably not a good to try something with fire for the first time in a tree..." Michael says thoughtfully. "You know, you would be surprised just how similar Alchemy is to cooking. The omurice is a prime example.""Maybe I'll see if I can get permission to use the school kitchen...I think there might even be a cooking class that I can get into if I can get an official schedule."
"Really? I would never have thought of them as similar at all....but I don't really know that much about alchemy."
Jim puts his articulate hand up to his temple, finds his objective, and plots out the most efficient route.
"Saffire is a mix of different creatures, albeit with some interesting differences. Omurice is a mix of different ingredients. Cooking is just another form of alchemy when you think about it like that."
After class Enre changes his armor back to normal cloths. He heads to the changing room where he changes his clothes. Once done he goes to his next class.