bravenewworld | 001. Class in Session

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001. Class in Session

[It's another beautiful morning in Union and what does that mean? For some students, it means being up at 8am for Professor Albert Heinrich's Pokemon Ethics lecture course. The giant blackboard in the university's smaller lecture hall is covered in notes all written in neat and even rows of white chalk and Albert paces in front of it. Today's class, as it's near the beginning of the term, is an overview of Legend of the Savior and an open discussion on how humanity came to be so arrogant in the past and what they can do as a society to prove that humankind has learned in the time since the Savior.

If any student wants to speak up in class all they need to do is raise their hand. If they want to discuss today's lecture, feel free to catch Albert after class. If anyone's late, they'll need to stand at the back of the room but are still required to participate. Disruption will not be tolerated! Professor Heinrich has a reputation for being something of a nurturing hardass; try and stay on his good side.

And remember, Pokemon are allowed in class, but if they can't behave the consequences are on the trainer.]

((ooc: Any sort of interaction is welcome for students! He takes all ages in his class and encourages lively debate either with him or each other so long as it doesn't become disruptive. If it does you might get detention.))

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[While Lux was no longer a student at the academy, she had business there that day. An arrangement made long before with Ondorus, his office located within the school itself--despite the fact that he was only a historian--she decided to take the long way there, feeling nostalgic.

All of the classrooms looked the same, and she may not have missed Albert completely had Camille not poked her head in. She recognized him right away, letting out a happy little melodic hum as she slinked into his classroom. It was the berry man!]

[He looks a little harassed as he tries to comb down his curiously mussed hair but his expression lightens when he sees the serpentine dragon pokemon wriggle her way down the length of the room.]

Oh, hello there! Camille, right? Are you and Miss Lux here to visit?

[He crouches down to pet her behind the ear fins, glancing up at the door to see if her trainer is following.]

[Camille tilts her head in anticipation, continuing to hum.

Lux was not too far behind, poking her head around the door frame.]

Camille, are you in here?

Oh! Albert, hello! I didn't know you taught classes here.

Yes, pokemon ethics. It's good to see you again. What brings you to the university?

[She might be a student but she isn't carrying the usual trappings of notebooks and such so he has to ask.]

[Former student, despite her age. A bit of a brainiac, this one.]

I remember that class, although I had a different teacher obviously.

I'm delivering a letter to one of the historians here.

Edited 2014-01-21 20:29 (UTC)

Yes, I just took it over. I've done quite a bit of research on the subject regardless, but the last professor left some big shoes to fill.

[He stands again from where he'd been crouched to pet Camille, Gertrude bleating quietly in welcome to the other pokemon from her pad in the corner.]

Oh? Have you discovered something?

I know you can handle it.

[Well, she didn't necessarily know, but it felt like the right thing to say. Camille cooed in affirmation. Or because she was content to be pet. It was hard to say.]

Oh, no, nothing that exciting. I'm here to discuss possible funding for supplies with one of historians.

Oh, so you're off to discover something then. Are you a Delver? I suppose I didn't ask before.

Nothing exciting like that, unfortunately. I guess you could call me a freelance researcher.

[Jet was in no way a morning person and having to sacrifice his beloved sleep for an 8am class was torture pure and simple. But talking about humanity and it's past arrogance in how it treated pokemon is something Jet had always had an interest in and actually enjoyed talking about it.

So, unlike some other days when he might be more quiet with only the occasional two cents thrown in for participation, he was right there raising his hand and discussing the topic like it was a passion. Even his paper he reserved more for doodles (gotta stay awake somehow) than notes was entirely blank for how attentive he was being.

It was a good day!

Until Ikarus decided she'd had enough jostling with Jet raising his hand and speaking animatedly, how was a Fletchling to sleep when her perch insisted on being more active than usual?

So she chirped angrily at him and took off from his shoulder, sailed down across the rows of tables and landed quite happily on the softest looking thing at the front of the room.

Professor Heinrich's hair.]

Edited 2014-01-21 05:44 (UTC)

[Albert enjoys when his students are engaged, especially students who fell asleep during the orientation class. He understands his lecture is early in the morning, but once someone reaches this level, it's expected they have an interest enough not to sleep. Regardless, he's glad to see there's more energy in the room today and he starts writing the questions that pop up on the board to be answered.

Or he was until he felt something plop down on top of his head and rustle down into his hair.

Albert's chalk skids on the board, the noise screeching throughout the classroom and effectively bringing the lively discussion to a similarly screeching halt.]

What in the world...?

[This was one of the moments when everything seemed to go in slow motion and Jet knew what was about to happen the moment he felt that little weight on his shoulder take off.

He tried to make a grab for the fletchling, but she was far too fast for him and he could only watch, mortified, as the little creature flew over and nestled in the older man's silver hair.

He bolted for the front of the classroom even though the damage was already done, the snickers from the other students fluttering to his ears.]

I'm sorry, Professor Heinrich she kind've just--I mean she doesn't usually just do that to people she doesn't know...sorry.

[His face was on fire, but to his credit, he was still able to maintain eye contact even while he stood awkwardly, unsure what to do. It wasn't polite to just shove your hands into your teacher's hair to retrieve a wayward pokemon.]

Edited 2014-01-23 23:48 (UTC)

Mister Link, if your Fletchling can't behave herself in class then perhaps she shouldn't attend.

[Albert reaches up and nudges Ikarus' little feet with his hand, trying to get her to perch there instead of worsening the mess of his hair. If she won't move, he can't afford the distraction of continuing to interrupt class and he'll just teach with her there in his hair, but either way for Jet, detention is likely imminent.]

[Lucas never speaks up in class if he can help it, given his bashful personality, but his pencil will scribble furiously today. Morning classes are best for his schedule, and although he was a little concerned at how much older most of the other students seemed to be at first, he had found that sitting behind taller people made it easier to hide, anyway.

Still, though... He has a question today ~~will this be on the test~~ and so after class, he'll pause for a moment or two.]

Um... Excuse me... Professor?

[Shuffling some papers at his desk, Albert turns to see one of the younger students trying to get his attention bashfully. He smiles gently, thinking he knows at least marginally how the boy feels considering he was shy and quiet at that age as well.]

Yes, Lucas? What can I help you with?

Um.

[It was a strange question, he knows, but...]

I think I just wanted to ask... what you think about all of this. The story and -- everything we're supposed to be learning now...

What I think personally?

[Albert takes a moment to think of how to answer, folding his arms and crossing his legs at the ankles as he leans against his desk. He doesn't like to impress his personally held beliefs on his students, preferring to let them come to their own conclusions.]

I'd like to hear what you think about it first, if that's alright.

[No it was not OK Lucas preferred not to have opinions on important things in case they were wrong. ...He supposes that's probably not the point of this class, though. After stammering for a moment or two, he'll eventually manage to be coherent.]

Well...

I guess I'm asking...

If you think it's all real. It's not about the message - all of that is good, and I think people forget it sometimes. Or a lot of times. But... it's hard to believe things could ever get to that point. War and complete destruction...

I've... only ever met one Pokemon that killed humans without a reason I could understand. And maybe that's my fault.

There's always a reason, just as there's always a reason for people to do the things they do as well. They're not always good reasons, but something has to drive someone to act, positively or negatively. That's part of the nature of living beings.

[He tilts his head a little at Lucas, postulating that there must be something that happened to him to have him ask such a question. Still, Albert has a duty as a teacher to remain on the subject matter, though he takes a more open ended approach to try and get Lucas to open up a bit.]

It's my job to teach the legend as fact, that these things really happened and that's why there are Enlightened. It's what we've all been taught from a young age, and we can see the evidence around us just through who we are and our small numbers. But that's only one interpretation and only from the Human point of view. As I pointed out today, there are different ways to tell the story and it's been written all these myriad of ways throughout our history.

What do you think happened, Lucas? If you wrote the history of the Savior, how would the story go?

...Um.

[This was a strange question and Lucas doesn't really have much of an idea where it's supposed to go. He'll go along with it, though.]

It would be a lot more boring, probably.

I don't want to think we ever tried to destroy each other. No matter how bad it gets... there should always be another way. There should've been more than one Savior - more than one person who knew the right thing to do.

...And everyone would have a chance to be... more. It's not fair that you don't get a chance just because you were born to the wrong people, right? It should be a gift... to help people and Pokémon understand each other even better.

[Laurent is busy writing down the professor's notes word for word in his journal for this class, as well as anything Albert says concerning them. He's not one to argue something much in class, but he always has a lot of questions. Some of his teachers found it bothersome, but he liked Heinrich's way of doing things. Debate is one of his strong points.]

Professor Heinrich. [He raises his hand.] On the board you note Union stood siege for five months, but in lecture you said eight. Is it a legendary estimate? Stories are so trifling with details... especially when they're fit for children.

[His Solosis is making no trouble for right now, sleeping on his lap.]

Good catch.

[Albert moves toward that portion of the board, turning pages in his notes.]

The legend has been written down by several historians and religious writers for different audiences over the last five centuries and it has become difficult to sort out the actual length of time the original Union withstood the siege. The earliest known written account of the story-

[He points to another section of the board that he hadn't reached in his lecture quite yet.]

-is from 87 A.S. and only explicitly states "many" months as a quantity. We can gather from the use of 'months' instead of 'years' that it was less than a year and by the use of 'many' that is was more than two months, but beyond that the Delvers have not yet found concrete evidence of a solid span of time. The five months is a historian's estimate, written in a more contemporary time while eight is used in a religious text and scholars expect that the eight used there is an arbitrary number assigned from numerology more than having any basis in historical fact.

So it's simply a stand in for a figure they don't know.

[Laurent makes a note.]

Professor, there's a large amount of difference between scholarly and religious writing. Which do you believe is more truthful? Do you believe the legends wholly or do you perceive some as clouded?

I prefer not to share my personal opinions in class, but I encourage you students to come up with your own.

[He addresses the room at large.]

That's actually your assignment for next class. I'd like an essay, at least two pages but no more than five regarding the various retellings of the Savior legend and your personal interpretations of them based on the data given. I'd like you to pay special attention to the purposes for which each version was presented and take that into account. If you have a drastically different idea of what may have happened historically, I expect you to be able to support it with citations. This isn't a creative writing class.

[There's a small titter of laughter across the assembled students but it's tempered by the several who are mentally groaning over having to write an essay.]

I'll give you the last twenty minutes of class to get started on your outlines. If anyone has anything specific to their paper they would like to ask me, please come up here and speak to me at my desk.

[A cacophony of shuffling papers kicks up as Professor Heinrich takes a seat. If Laurent would like to pursue his line of questioning, he's more than welcome.]

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001. Class in Session

After Class

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During class

eww it's you

Wow really rood

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During Class

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