Post by miokalia on May 2, 2007 0:05:55 GMT -5
"Great armies and great wars... it seems perhaps 'Age of....", Doyte was cut off by Li gesticulating wildly to shut up.
Pavilon then seemed sure that Doyte was making fun of him until he said, "I'm not insulting you for the purpose of insult. I just find you to be extremely alien. And I was attempting to strike some kind of commonality through humor.
I didn't realize you were, from quite so far."
Doyte had come across the realization that he and Pavilon actually had almost nothing in common, and barely understood eachother. And in discovering this eventually, he ceased speaking to him for short while.
Eventually this forced Pavilon to ask, "Okay. What's going on here. There is something wrong isn't there".
He began checking himself to see if it was perhaps something on his clothing or face that everyone saw except for him.
"Why did they send you here. Why did they send you to
Hokyldaryon. Why not just 50 miles north or east into one of the more rural schools.
It could have been much easier. So much easier for you there.", Doyte finally said.
"Perhaps they sent me here for that very reason. They sent me here because of the difficulty. I prepared myself to be challenged by the professors...", began the lion but then Doyte interjected.
"Not the academics. That's a whole different matter altogether. They could have sent you to a more accepting place, but instead they sent you to the third largest city in the country. And the highest concentration of my species as well.", said Doyte.
"I have heard very little things of your lot, only a few rumors of passing mention.", said Pavilon.
"I don't know what they say. But I'm going to tell you right now, if you mix conspicuous wealth and conspicuous heritage, you will likely have a great deal of horrible things said at you in Kohtohkhan from them.", said Doyte.
"Am I in danger?", asked Pavilon, "I was told that displays of excessive personal wealth were uncouth in this culture. Is this too much?", he reffered to his clothes.
"No. No... No. That's fine. In fact, it's interesting. That's why I asked about it. We don't get angsty about nice clothes. You can go around wearing anything... It's when you have like, a diamond ring for every finger and a car the size of a bus that it starts to get nasty. Right now, you're fine.
But I'm saying you need to watch out because in this culture: Hierarchy is mostly determined by quantity of respect. Not the other way around.", said Doyte.
"I was informed that the invokation of my history would have no meaning here. I have avoided it for that reason. Since I was told such a thing was rude here.
I have made an effort not to be rude here, can you appreciate that?", said Pavilon.
"If you were doing something wrong, you would know. And you wouldn't need me to tell you.
I'm telling you this because I really don't know how much they taught you before they shipped you out, loaded you up and shot you across the planet....
Space monkeys. Exploration by proxy.", said Doyte.
"What?", asked the Lion.
"Nevermind", said Doyte, "What's your schedule?"
Pavilon pulled out a paper he had gotten from his orientation packet. He set it out and said, "I'm still having a little trouble reading the... corru... um... variation of Hanzi the Nimiyapo language uses. The grammar is totally different."
Li was slightly miffed. Doyte didn't seem to care and took to interpreting it.
"You have ECE 1080 Enviro-Econ, that's a natural science-economics-integration class....", said Doyte.
"I'm in that one too", said Li.
"And Core coursework: CCE 1005 Ethics.... hm...
And... oh no.", said Doyte, reading from the schedule.
"One of those characters means 'literature'. I know that.", said Pavilon.
"Why, oh why did they put you into that literature class?", said Doyte.
"Is it hard? What is it?", asked Pavilon becoming increasingly anxious.
"Core coursework: CCL 1501 Extraglobal Literature, 64500 to present.", said Doyte.
"It may be enlightening.", said Pavilon.
"You won't be able to get through Planuk, Arron or any of the Dincotian grotesquists. Seven people claimed they threw up multiple times while reading Hnapf Hoy Datsk last semester.", said Doyte.
"This will be a challenge of constitution then.", said the lion.
The three finally shared a much-needed mutual laugh.
"And you also have: ECE 1045 Land and Civil Econ. That's pretty straight forward...
And you have: AEC 1010 Environmental Psychology... We're sharing that class it seems. That's an architecture minor course if you're in econ or something else. Though it may just be on here as an elective. It satisfies a science elective requirement.", said Doyte,
"Yeah, that's taught by Ainan, and a lot of people have said he's very tough. He has high standards and high expectations. He doesn't give out C's Only A's and F's. Pass well, or fail."
"And this is an elective?", said Pavilon.
"Ainan's not a nice guy. He's hard. Really hard.", said Doyte.
----
AEC 1010 - Enviro-Psych.
A black and brown, particularly reptillian looking dragon walked across the front of the room. He was dressed in somewhat anachronistic clothes, and carried on his side a metal rod in a sword-sheath.
Pavilon was utterly confused by this.
The dragon began,
"This is environmental psychology 1. If you are taking this as a minor or an elective, I salute your courage to understand what is to most people, a random and irrational science.
If you are in architecture then you must pass this class. Or you ought to reconsider your carrier.
If you wish to leave this class. If you fear me and my coursework then you may...
you may cower and run. Run from the truth! Shield your eyes and cover your ears from the reality of one of the foundations of civilizations!"
The dragon paused a moment and then hit the metal rod against the apparently stone floor of the lecture hall and said,
"You may be fooling yourselves. Such boldness must be backed up by something substantial. Prove to me you are worthy to take this class!
Your first homework assignment is today!
You will write an essay about how an example of a piece of landscaping, a room, a building or a garden is constructed without thought put into how it is used and how people perceive it.
To understand what is right, we must understand what is wrong!.
After this paper, and only then. Will I impart on to you the knowledge and wisdom required to know the difference.", he said.
Pavilon looked a bit shocked for a moment at this method.
The somewhat stocky brown t-rex next to him noticed this and then said, "He's just trying to scare people away, it's not as hard as it sounds. I know how to get through this."
"Perhaps we should work together on this. I'm afraid I have no idea what's going on though. I'm not even from here.", replied Pavilon quietly.
This time he got a good look at the t-rex and noticed this creature had slightly recessed eyes. And there was something else about him. Something that just couldn't be explained. Pavilon dismissed it and simply dismissed it as one of the many strange things he had seen here.
"I go to Universitat Dorigan during the regular year. I'm just down here for now. Doing some exploration. Journeying. You know.", he said.
"Yes, I understand that.", said Pavilon.
"I'm Occa, by the way.", said the dinosaur.
"I'm Pavilon.", said the lion.
"The key to the assignment he just gave us is simple:
He wants you to write an essay about how ugly and gross a dumpster behind the dining hall is.
Trust me. Do that and you will succeed.", said Occa.
"This actually does make sense.", said Pavilon.
After class, Pavilon met up with Doyte again while walking with Occa on their way to the dining hall.
"I'm going to go back to the dorm. I'll see you tomorrow or something", said Occa as they entered the dining hall.
"Is he not hungry", asked Pavilon as Li approached them.
"No. He doesn't eat he...", began Doyte before Li pulled back on his feathers, thus causing him interrupt himself with a high-pitched squawk.
"Occa isn't hungry. He has... unique dietary requirements for his... um...
His condition.", said Li.
"His condition.", asked Pavilon.
"Yes, he has to eat only certain things. And such. Yes.", said Li.
Pavilon was slightly suspicious.
Doyte picked up a couple of feathers from the ground which had been pulled from him.
"That's one way to put it.", he said as he stuffed the feathers into a pants pocket.
Pavilon then seemed sure that Doyte was making fun of him until he said, "I'm not insulting you for the purpose of insult. I just find you to be extremely alien. And I was attempting to strike some kind of commonality through humor.
I didn't realize you were, from quite so far."
Doyte had come across the realization that he and Pavilon actually had almost nothing in common, and barely understood eachother. And in discovering this eventually, he ceased speaking to him for short while.
Eventually this forced Pavilon to ask, "Okay. What's going on here. There is something wrong isn't there".
He began checking himself to see if it was perhaps something on his clothing or face that everyone saw except for him.
"Why did they send you here. Why did they send you to
Hokyldaryon. Why not just 50 miles north or east into one of the more rural schools.
It could have been much easier. So much easier for you there.", Doyte finally said.
"Perhaps they sent me here for that very reason. They sent me here because of the difficulty. I prepared myself to be challenged by the professors...", began the lion but then Doyte interjected.
"Not the academics. That's a whole different matter altogether. They could have sent you to a more accepting place, but instead they sent you to the third largest city in the country. And the highest concentration of my species as well.", said Doyte.
"I have heard very little things of your lot, only a few rumors of passing mention.", said Pavilon.
"I don't know what they say. But I'm going to tell you right now, if you mix conspicuous wealth and conspicuous heritage, you will likely have a great deal of horrible things said at you in Kohtohkhan from them.", said Doyte.
"Am I in danger?", asked Pavilon, "I was told that displays of excessive personal wealth were uncouth in this culture. Is this too much?", he reffered to his clothes.
"No. No... No. That's fine. In fact, it's interesting. That's why I asked about it. We don't get angsty about nice clothes. You can go around wearing anything... It's when you have like, a diamond ring for every finger and a car the size of a bus that it starts to get nasty. Right now, you're fine.
But I'm saying you need to watch out because in this culture: Hierarchy is mostly determined by quantity of respect. Not the other way around.", said Doyte.
"I was informed that the invokation of my history would have no meaning here. I have avoided it for that reason. Since I was told such a thing was rude here.
I have made an effort not to be rude here, can you appreciate that?", said Pavilon.
"If you were doing something wrong, you would know. And you wouldn't need me to tell you.
I'm telling you this because I really don't know how much they taught you before they shipped you out, loaded you up and shot you across the planet....
Space monkeys. Exploration by proxy.", said Doyte.
"What?", asked the Lion.
"Nevermind", said Doyte, "What's your schedule?"
Pavilon pulled out a paper he had gotten from his orientation packet. He set it out and said, "I'm still having a little trouble reading the... corru... um... variation of Hanzi the Nimiyapo language uses. The grammar is totally different."
Li was slightly miffed. Doyte didn't seem to care and took to interpreting it.
"You have ECE 1080 Enviro-Econ, that's a natural science-economics-integration class....", said Doyte.
"I'm in that one too", said Li.
"And Core coursework: CCE 1005 Ethics.... hm...
And... oh no.", said Doyte, reading from the schedule.
"One of those characters means 'literature'. I know that.", said Pavilon.
"Why, oh why did they put you into that literature class?", said Doyte.
"Is it hard? What is it?", asked Pavilon becoming increasingly anxious.
"Core coursework: CCL 1501 Extraglobal Literature, 64500 to present.", said Doyte.
"It may be enlightening.", said Pavilon.
"You won't be able to get through Planuk, Arron or any of the Dincotian grotesquists. Seven people claimed they threw up multiple times while reading Hnapf Hoy Datsk last semester.", said Doyte.
"This will be a challenge of constitution then.", said the lion.
The three finally shared a much-needed mutual laugh.
"And you also have: ECE 1045 Land and Civil Econ. That's pretty straight forward...
And you have: AEC 1010 Environmental Psychology... We're sharing that class it seems. That's an architecture minor course if you're in econ or something else. Though it may just be on here as an elective. It satisfies a science elective requirement.", said Doyte,
"Yeah, that's taught by Ainan, and a lot of people have said he's very tough. He has high standards and high expectations. He doesn't give out C's Only A's and F's. Pass well, or fail."
"And this is an elective?", said Pavilon.
"Ainan's not a nice guy. He's hard. Really hard.", said Doyte.
----
AEC 1010 - Enviro-Psych.
A black and brown, particularly reptillian looking dragon walked across the front of the room. He was dressed in somewhat anachronistic clothes, and carried on his side a metal rod in a sword-sheath.
Pavilon was utterly confused by this.
The dragon began,
"This is environmental psychology 1. If you are taking this as a minor or an elective, I salute your courage to understand what is to most people, a random and irrational science.
If you are in architecture then you must pass this class. Or you ought to reconsider your carrier.
If you wish to leave this class. If you fear me and my coursework then you may...
you may cower and run. Run from the truth! Shield your eyes and cover your ears from the reality of one of the foundations of civilizations!"
The dragon paused a moment and then hit the metal rod against the apparently stone floor of the lecture hall and said,
"You may be fooling yourselves. Such boldness must be backed up by something substantial. Prove to me you are worthy to take this class!
Your first homework assignment is today!
You will write an essay about how an example of a piece of landscaping, a room, a building or a garden is constructed without thought put into how it is used and how people perceive it.
To understand what is right, we must understand what is wrong!.
After this paper, and only then. Will I impart on to you the knowledge and wisdom required to know the difference.", he said.
Pavilon looked a bit shocked for a moment at this method.
The somewhat stocky brown t-rex next to him noticed this and then said, "He's just trying to scare people away, it's not as hard as it sounds. I know how to get through this."
"Perhaps we should work together on this. I'm afraid I have no idea what's going on though. I'm not even from here.", replied Pavilon quietly.
This time he got a good look at the t-rex and noticed this creature had slightly recessed eyes. And there was something else about him. Something that just couldn't be explained. Pavilon dismissed it and simply dismissed it as one of the many strange things he had seen here.
"I go to Universitat Dorigan during the regular year. I'm just down here for now. Doing some exploration. Journeying. You know.", he said.
"Yes, I understand that.", said Pavilon.
"I'm Occa, by the way.", said the dinosaur.
"I'm Pavilon.", said the lion.
"The key to the assignment he just gave us is simple:
He wants you to write an essay about how ugly and gross a dumpster behind the dining hall is.
Trust me. Do that and you will succeed.", said Occa.
"This actually does make sense.", said Pavilon.
After class, Pavilon met up with Doyte again while walking with Occa on their way to the dining hall.
"I'm going to go back to the dorm. I'll see you tomorrow or something", said Occa as they entered the dining hall.
"Is he not hungry", asked Pavilon as Li approached them.
"No. He doesn't eat he...", began Doyte before Li pulled back on his feathers, thus causing him interrupt himself with a high-pitched squawk.
"Occa isn't hungry. He has... unique dietary requirements for his... um...
His condition.", said Li.
"His condition.", asked Pavilon.
"Yes, he has to eat only certain things. And such. Yes.", said Li.
Pavilon was slightly suspicious.
Doyte picked up a couple of feathers from the ground which had been pulled from him.
"That's one way to put it.", he said as he stuffed the feathers into a pants pocket.