<span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span> <table class=ooc><tr><td> This is the third in the Hawking Series, and is open only to the list of people who participated in the first lesson. The following individuals (In Character (Player) format) were involved in the first lesson: Eka Tsyjn (Lautir), Salme Cajtse (Pirateferret), Fester Lovcat Scorpium Shatz (CobaltThorn-If you still want, you can join is as if you’ve been in all the classes), Nafel Isunari (Isiltari), Ebony Fang (madgirl2003), & Thi Rauosi (X_Dragon_Gaurdian_X) If you are not one of these individuals, I’m sorry. Plot is closed to all others. (And yes, a series of classes is a Tiny Plot ;) ) This thread has been released before the completion of the thread before it, as some people have been extremely slow (it’s understandable) on their replies in the 2nd thread. Your homework in the last thread would have been to “Practice the new commands, and Feel free to come down and use the field. Do not take the birds off the lead, as they must be 100% flawless in these commands before it’s considered." This should work, as no other problems should occur in the 2nd class. Posting order is I post, all of your post just to keep things moving along at a good rate. Sadley, my intro section on this lesson is mostly one instruction, so this one is short…</td></tr></table> Timestamp Current Day: 40 Current Quarter/Month: Tria (Summer) Current Year: Year 81378 Current Time: First Class Period after the morning meal "Greetings again, class." Professor Turrush Sjoahaujs stood before a class that was quickly becoming a very familiar sight. All of his young students, with their hawks, was a sight that was pleasing. The only unusual thing about this lesson was the fact that they were IN the aviary instead of outside it. "As I told you last lesson, today is the day we remove the leads. If you are not comfortable or do not think your bird is trustworthy off the lead come and talk to me so we can set up a private lesson later and you can go begin work on Stay and Come. I will not hold it against you if you don’t think your hawk is ready for this important step, an important part of training is knowing when is and isn’t the moment to move your birds’ training forward. Now, those of you who think your bird is ready, remove your leads and return them to your bags." He then waited for students to either comply or remove their leads and put them away.
Eka stood once again with the rest of the class in front of Professor Sjoahaujs, with her hawk on her arm. She was happy like usual to be here, but today she was tried, she hadnÂ’t gotten much sleep the night before. She had had a test in healing and it took some energy out of her. So by that time she hag gotten through all her homework and working with Antirian it was late and she had collapsed onto her bed. On of the other days was just as hard, she had gone out in the field to train with Antirian and as soon as they had gotten started the sky slowly clouded over and it had started to rain. She didnÂ’t mind the rain and Antirian didnÂ’t complain for a while. So they had stayed, but soon they could hear thunder and Eka soon took her hawk inside. She didnÂ’t want to take any chances. Other then those two days everything had gone pretty well. Giving the commands had caught on quit fast. She was pretty happy with how everything was going. As she tried to stifle a yawn she slowly moved to remove the lead from her Trisk leg. She fumbled with the leash for a few moments before it finally came off, she then knelt down and put it into her bag at her feet. She was fairly confident with how Antirian would react. With that she stood once again. Waiting for their next instructions.
Salme stood in the small crowd of students with her hawking bag beside her. She and Inarik had practiced many times in the dorm the Tsui and Kyna comands. She had felt to lazy most of the time to go out on the field. But she did anyway, and she and Inarik had bonded alot. Inarik almost knew exactly what it meant when Salme held up her arm, even without the comands. The bird had also learned to trust Salme even more than she had before. After the last lesson Inarik had for some reason taken a likeing to standing on the young pendragon's head, and that was precisely what she was doing at the moment. Salme also prefered it as well, she would rather the bird's talons sink into her cap (that almost never came off her head anyway) than into her arm. She already had a couple of scaps and scratches from where the bird had clawed into her. The only problem was that it was not a part of the class, for all she knew there was a good reason for her to keep Inarik off her head. He lifted her arm up to her head and gently nudged Inarik with it. "Inarik Og." She said and the bird obeyed. She leveled her arm once again with her soulder. Salme looked at the jess that was strapped around the bird's foot. Gently, she undid the leather straps and shoved them into her bag. Inarik did not seem to relize her sudden freedom, that she could just fly away now if she wanted to. She just tilted her head and watched at her master put the leather straps into the bag. Salme looked at Inarik and smiled. "Don't go testing out your new found reedom just yet." She gently stroked the silvery feathers of the bird, wondering how this leason would go. But with all the practice she and Inarik had put in, she was confident nothing would go wrong.
Nafel nodded and obeyed the professor's instructions. She coaxed Asarian to put her leg up long enough for the lead to be removed, and was winding it up to put in the falconer's bag when she noticed a small tear in it. <span style='color:#00cccc'>Oh, yeah. From last class. I should ask him about that, it probably needs to be fixed.</span> Nafel raised her free hand to get the professor's attention before speaking up. <span style='color:#00cccc'>"Professor, when you have time, can you look at my lead? It seems to have a tear in it..."</span> Nafel knew that he would check it over when he could, probably after he had given the class their instructions for the day. At least, if this class followed the same format as the others had. Nafel ruffled Asarian's feathers, knowing that the bird liked it. She had worked hard with Asarian to get her to the point where she was reliable to be taken off the lead. Nafel was slightly short on sleep because of this, but not enough that it really affected her. Just enough that she yawned every once in a while. <span style='color:#00cccc'>Like now.</span> The turquoise femme smothered the yawn so as not to seem bored with the class. She wasn't, of course, Nafel enjoyed these classes. She smiled at her trisk as the bird made noises of contentment, and then dropped her hand. She turned her head to look at the professor and see what they would do next, since most of the birds seemed to be off their lead.
Thi smiled. But she wasn't entirely sure how she was going to get her flitter back from the proffesor. Just in case, she had brought Panik's hood along with her. Thi gave a look to Panik who always seemed to watching her. -You ready Panik?- She asked softly. Panik tilted her head to the side. -Og- she said and Panik raised her leg so that Thi could remove the lead. Once Thi had removed the lead Panik cooed softly as though she understood what was going on and reassuring Thi that the worst would not happen. Thi smiled happily and sratched Panik's head. She had realized Panik liked this when Panik would wander over Thi's homework late at night.
<span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span> <table class=ooc><tr><td>First order of business, sorry for the lack of posts on my part. First I forgot that madgirl was on vacation, and then I just plain never got time for a long post like this would need. Now, on to the class!</td></tr></table> "Excellent." Turrush nodded in approval of his class. "Now, I’d like each of you to demonstrate your grasp of the Stay and come commands before we move on. You will each come before me, place your bird on the ground and tell them to stay. As you can see I have marked a line on the ground here. You will them move yourself out to the other line that is marked, and wait for 60 seconds before calling the bird to you." While talking, Turrush indicated the line directly in front of him, and the one that was marked 20 feet away. "Begin now." <span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span> <table class=ooc><tr><td>Don’t worry about ‘Lining up’. Just role play as if your place in line is after the people who RPed for you. I don’t want to have to wait for people to post, so just post in whatever order you show up like normal.</td></tr></table>
Eka stepped up with Antirian on her arm. Even that she knew that she had run through these commands so often she could now do it in her sleep and her hawk would listen but it still made her nerves having to do it in front of the teacher. She really wanted to pass this and get on to flying, hunting and things more exciting. So she took the last few steppes towards the line and knelt down with her arm extended. Antirian didn’t need instruction any more to step off her arm. They did it so often that her hawk now knew exactly what to do. It always put a smile on Eka’s face to see the improvement they both made; it gave her a feeling of accomplishment. Eka looked down at Antirian in the eyes.<span style='color:green'>“Tsui"</span> She waited a few second to make sure that it stuck. She then took one step back wards then turned and walked normally to the other line. She was feeling pretty good about it but on the last few steps she quicken her pace to make it to the other line a little faster. She then turned around to look back towards Antirian. Her trisk of course of still there, but she wouldn’t hide the fact that she was relived, she knew that she would have to trust her trisk more. She then started the count to 60. When she finally reached the number, while watching her hawk shift her weight from one talon to the other in anticipation, she extended her arm and said the next command.<span style='color:green'>“Kyna"</span> With a few switch beats of her wings her hawk of airborne and flying toward her. She then made a graceful landing on her arm. Eka stroked her feathers once smiling. It couldn’t have gone any better. After that she quickly retook her spot with the rest of the class.
Thi walked up to the spot and placed Panik down on the ground. An unlit ciggarette had been placed in Thi's mouth and it dangled there as she spoke -Tsui!- She stepped away, occasionally looking back to make sure her Trisk was still there. When she reached the line she spun back around and locked eyes with her bird. She had found this the most effective way of keeping Panik to stay. when the 60 seconds were over Thi held her arm up and called -Kyna!- Panik launched from the ground and flew straight to Thi's arm. When Panik had landed Thi began to praise her bird.
Salme walked Inarik over to the starting line and bent down and patted the ground. She hopped off, knowing this command all to well. Salme stood up and looked Inarik in the eyes. She seemed like she was confient, the bird just sitting there waiting for the inevitable commands that came eveyrtime this exercise was done. Salme smiled, and she grew a littleless uneasy to know that Inarik was not nervous. It was strange though, not to have the lead firmly in her hand, knowing she was in control, she would be able to handle anything. Then again that was what this class was about, learning to trust the bird and getting it to trust you. Salme took a sigh and her twin tails twitched nervously. "Tsui." Hesitating for a moment she turned her back and slowly walked to the other side. She did not want to walk to fast, she thought tht Inarik would get frighnened of her leaving her or something. She walked slowly but her pace quickened slightly, she wanted to get this over with. When she reached the finish line she spu around as fast as she could. There was Inarik at the opposite end, just as she had left her. Salme smiled, thanking the trisk over and over in her mind. She held out her arm and raised her voice. "Kyna." Without a moments hesitation Inarik spread his wings and soared over to her, landing confidently on her head. Salme game a guilty grin and once again lifted her arm to her head and wispered "Og." Inarik obeyed and she lowered the trisk to her side.
Nafel had arranged herself so as to be near the end, since she was nervous. She knew that Asarian was aware of the commands, and that they had worked on them. She knew that there was a minute chance that things would go badly. She knew it, and she was still shaking. It was just a reaction she had to tests and the like, especially things like this involving demonstrations in front of the teacher. Looking for reassurance, she smiled at the bird perched on her wrist, who blinked in reply. Seeing that it was their turn, Nafel walked out to the spot in front of the teacher, reaching the first line. Nafel clicked her tongue a little, and the bird hopped onto the ground. The silver female turned to face Nafel, looking curious. Nafel smiled at the bird's "Well?" expression. <span style='color:#00cccc'>"Tsui."</span> Turning the other direction, Nafel began to stride towards the other line. Her shaking had subsided now, and she was beginning to feel more confident. Asarian had obeyed the "Tsui" command without hesitation, which was unusual. Oftentimes, she fidgeted. Reaching the other line, Nafel began counting in her head. <span style='color:#00cccc'>1, 2, 3.... 59, 60</span> She raised her arm, saying as clearly as she could manage, <span style='color:#00cccc'>"Asarian, Kyna."</span> With that, Asarian flew over to Nafel, landing with typical avian grace on her wrist. Nafel smiled, stroking Asarian's head. She took her place in line, happy. Asarian had done splendidly.
Ebony was standing with the students quietly, stroking Resina's soft feathers of a cool silver. Resina was happily perched on Ebony's right gloved arm, glancing at the other students and their Trisks occasionly before preening herself. They'd practised long and hard, now knowing each other quite intimately, and Resina was often sitting on the end of Ebony's bed or ontop of the wardrobe, watching Ebony work. Ebony's grades hadn't slipped at all when she took on the responsibilty of looking after Resina. She was pleased at that. Ebony had taken Resina to the field to practise at least once a day when it wasn't bad weather, and Resina obeyed her owner willfully now and there were no more boredom sessions either as long as Ebony took due care to change where they practised slightly. Ebony knew that Resina was ready now and took the lead off of the bird's leg. Resina peered at Ebony quizzically but she remained on Ebony's wrist. Now it was their turn to show the professor how well they'd developed. Ebony moved forward and set Resina down by patting the earth once with her other hand. Resina obeyed and hopped down gracefully before turning to Ebony, awaiting instruction. Ebony was very nervous about this but knew that this had to be done in order to move on in the training. Resina, Tsui she said firmly and kindly before she then turned and walked slowly to the other line. Please stay.... please stay there... she repeated in her head like a mantra but she didn't have anything to worry about. When she turned round to face Resina, she was sitting exactly ashs she'd left her. Preening her feathers again. You vain girl she thought with a slight grin on her face. Then she began counting up to sixty. Resina didn't seem to be bothered at all, happily preening her feathers. When she reached sixty, Ebony raised her left gloved hand into the air and called out to Resina to grasp her attention. Resina looked up curiously, wondering what was going on. Resina Kyna Ebony said confidently. Resina immediately took to the air and straight to Ebony's outstretched arm, landing gently on it to be stroked in reward and told what a good girl she was as Ebony returned to her place. <span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span> <table class=ooc><tr><td>as you can see, I'm back :D</td></tr></table>
"Well done, class. You’ve all made excellent progress with your birds. This is important because week we’ll be spending the class outdoors, reviewing all known commands without leads. Basically, a test of your training quality and how well you’ve done. But, all those who pass that classes test will be moving out to begin training for hunting, the true job of a tame hawk." Turrush gave his words several moments to sink in before resuming his lecture. "Now, before this test there are two more important commands that need to be added to your birds repertoire. ‘To Wing’ and ‘Back’. To Wing is used to tell the bird to take to the air, and is basically a prelude to the ‘Hunt’ command. ‘Back’ is a variation on come that can be used to draw the bird back to the airspace above you. ‘Back’ is the command that you will also be teaching the bird to think of as the whistle." Turrush strolled over to a small table that was off in an alcove and retrieved a small white hawk whose pinions where tipped in a delicate coat of gold. "Back will be today’s first command. In Ramathian it is ‘Rukc’. What you’ll be doing is placing your bird on the ground, moving at least 20 feet away, and calling them using the ‘Come’ command. As soon as your bird is on the wing, call out the Back Command, ‘Rukc’ and give a short blast on your whistle. Please work with each other so that only one person is working at a time, so that the birds don’t get confused about which whistle is the one they should be listening for. I will demonstrate." Turrush walked out and coaxed little Aven off his wrist. Once she was down he muttered "Tsui" and stood up and walked away, stopping around 20 feet away from her. Then he turned around and stuck the whistle that way around his neck into the corner of his mouth. He held out his arm and gave Aven a clear command. "Kyna." Once she was in the air, he gave a shrill blast on the whistle that cut through the blue sky and called out the second command, "Rukc.", before she reached his arm. Once she was there he praised the tiny hawk. "Allright, class. Why don’t you each give it a few tries." <span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span> <table class=ooc><tr><td>Remember, when you the instructions, carry them out. The only posting order we’re using is Teacher-Class to make sure things go as fast as possible.</td></tr></table>
Thi looked at Panik. she placed her bird on the floor and spoke -Tsui- She stepped the length away. When she reached it she called back to Panik. She stretched out her arm and called -Kyna- Panik launched from the ground and started to fly to Thi. Thi fumbled with the whistle but fiunnaly got it in her mouth and gave a short blast. -Rukc- Panik hovered in the air in stead of settling on thi's arm.
Eka was amazed by how well the first student’s trisk had listed. Had they trained for this before? Eka knew that she herself had never even tried using a whistle on Antirian, she just hadn’t found it necessary yet. She wondered how her own bird would react to the shrill sound. She waited till the first group had quieted down before stepping up and trying it herself. She lowered Antirian to the ground and she hopped of like how they trained. She then faced her bird, looked her in the eyes and gave the stay command. She held the gaze for a few moments then turned and walked the 20 feet away from her hawk. She then turned back and looked at Antirian waiting impatiently. The bird seemed to love to fly, and who could blame her, but even being a little edgy to get into the air she waited to the command. Eka wished he had will power like that. She then extended her arm and held the whistle close to her mouth, ready, she didn’t want to have the timing off. She then gave the come command and waited a few seconds before her hawk had gotten closer then gave a sharp blow on the whistle. She then yelled out “Ruck"command. It seemed to steer Antirian off course and made her fly in a big circle before coming back to rest on her arm. She let out a small sigh, how was she going to get this into Antirians head. She then gave it one more try, her hawk stayed in air a little longer this time but again landed on her arm. She then fell silent to give others the chance to try.
Ebony listened to the profesor closely, watching how he demostrated the use of the back command. Resina too watched, and at the sound of the whistle, she perked up a little and got a bit excited. Ebony hushed her as Thi took their turn, performing the task with quite a good accuracy. Eka and her bird had more of a difficulty with the task and Ebony knew that Resina was probably too hyped up to complete the task with such accuracy as her classmate had shown but it was worth a try. Ebony stepped forward and patted the earth like before and Resina hopped down. Tsui, she said softly to the bird before backing away to the other line. Ebony placed the whistle near her mouth ready and called Resina to fly to her, raising her arm. No sooner had Resina taken to wing, she called out Resina Rukc before blowing a shirt blast on the whistle. Resina got confused and flew back to where she'd come from to land back at the line. Ebony tried again and this time was a little better and Resina stopped within about three feet of Ebony and Ebony praised her for the effort before calling Resina to her arm and moving back into the line to allow another student a go.
Nafel waited until there was a lull in the practicing noise. She took this as a sign to try to get Asarian to obey the "Rukc" command. Since no one else seemed to be trying to practice, Nafel walked up to the cleared space and lowered her arm to the ground. Asarian hopped off, blinking a few times. <span style='color:#00cccc'>"Tsui, dear."</span> The turquoise femme trotted back to the other end of the area, digging in her bag for the whistle. She found it, and held it in her left paw while the right one was raised for Asarian to land on. Nafel had discovered that since her right arm was stronger (because she was right handed), it jarred her less to have the bird land on it. Making sure that Asarian was paying attention (as opposed to cleaning her feathers), Nafel called out the "come" command. <span style='color:#00cccc'>"Asarian, Kyna."</span> As soon as the silver hawk was a few wingbeats off the ground Nafel called out the next command. <span style='color:#00cccc'>"Rukc."</span> She gave a short, sharp blast on her whistle, dropping it so that it hung by a cord from her wrist once Asarian landed. <span style='color:#00cccc'>"Good girl, Asarian. Yes you are!"</span> Nafel smiled and rufled Asarian's feathers, giving more of the nonsense-talk that her bird seemed to take as praise. She took herself and her bird back to the line, so that someone else could try. She was amazed that Asarian had gotten it on the first try, but she figured that it might have just been that she was familiar with "kyna", and was ignoring the other command. Either way, though, she had done it.
Salme placed Inarik back atop her head while she rumaged in her bag for the whistle. Finaly she found it and she watched as the others commanded their birds. Salme did not think she would have such luck as some of the others, and doing the commands one by one sorta spottlighted each person. This was something she was not particularly comfortable with. Finaly she stepped forward, hoping it was indeed her turn. She kneeled down and patted the ground, Inarik jumping off her head happily. She turned and started walking away when she relized she forgot to tell the bird to stay. She turned slightly still walking away and called back to her bird. "Tsui." Salme felt embarased as she continued walking, but at least Inarik had not moved, despite her fogetfulness. She is used to it. Salme mused. She reached the oposite end and looke toward Inarik. "Kyna." She said. Inarik took wing and as she did, Salme called out to the trisk the second comand, "Rukc" and blew into the wistle. Inarik seemed confused and imediately landed back on the ground just a few feet from her. She looked around and decided one more try could not hurt. She placed Inarik back and walked away then called the trisk to her. Kyna. Again Inarik took to the air, this time a little more hesitant. Salme waited a bit longer before saying the second comand and blaring the wistle. "Rukc." This time, Inarik went passed her outstreached arm and flew around in a circle around her before landing on her arm. She seemed confused at the new comand so Salme strocked her and reasured her, to let the triskknow she had done what she was supposed to do.
"Now, we have another command for today. I’m not expecting you to even get to training this command today. Instead I’ll teach you how to teach your birds, and you’ll be training this command later in your private training sessions. The ‘to wing’ command shouldn’t be taught until you’ve gotten secure with the ‘back’ command." Turrush stood before them, Aven on his wrist. "To Wing is ‘Sy Femd’. It’s used to tell you bird to take to the air. It’s trained in a similar way to ‘Rukc’, though you’ll be giving the command before the come command. After they start to associate the ‘To Wing’ command with flying, you then begin to tell them it while they’re sitting on your wrist. A slow process, but well worth it. I’ll demonstrate it, and then you can go back to practicing. Remember, you need them steady with the back command so that they’ll come back to you while flying before you start to teach to wing." Turrush knelt and placed Aven on the ground, then walked away from her. When he was a decent distance away her turned to face her again. "Sy Femd! Kyna." he called out, the bird taking wing and flying towards him. Before she reached him, he bled the whistle. "Rukc." and then she landed on her wrist. The little bird was more than happy to accept his praise for her good work. "As you can see, you use the commands they already know to make them understand what you want them to do. It’s a slow process, getting them to understand the purpose of the new command. Basically, you drill them with both commands, and then introduce the new command. If you work hard, before the next class your birds will go to wing from your hand, and be willing to come back to you on command. Now, back to work. Drill only the commands you think your bird is ready for. They must understand ‘back’ before you start to teach them ‘to wing’."
Nafel turned to watch the teacher's demonstration. She nodded, locking it into her memory. She knew the basic concept behind the training method, and understood why and how it worked, and this made her happy. She couldn't stand not knowing why they did what they did. It annoyed her. Deeply. The practice field seemed to be empty again, and since the demonstration was over, Nafel returned to work with Asarian on the "Back" command. Nafel trotted over to the line again, the only difference this time being that Asarian made a noise of protest when Nafel stumbled slightly. Nafel blushed and apologized to the bird, regardless of weather or not it could here her. Asarian seemed to forgive Nafel, and hopped onto the ground obediently with minimal coaxing. <span style='color:#00cccc'>"Tsui, girl."</span> Nafel walked to the other line, standing with her right arm upraised. <span style='color:#00cccc'>"Asarian, Kyna. Rukc."</span> The blast that was supposed to accompony the last command, however, didn't come. Nafel raised her eyebrows, trying to blow the whistle. No sound came. <span style='color:#00cccc'>Why me?</span> Nafel sighed, giving a week smile to her concerned looking bird. She walked over to the teacher, waving slightly with her free hand to get his attention. <span style='color:#00cccc'>"Sorry to bother you, sir, but my whistle seems to not be working for whatever reason... maybe something in it is stuck or something?"</span> She raised the offending instrument, so that the teacher could examine it.
Thi sighed. This was going to take awhile to teach to Panik. She placed Panik on the ground. -Tsui!- She said and began to walk away. when she was a sizable distance away Thi called -Sy Femd! Kyna!- Panik looked confused at the first command but launched from the ground and flew towards Thi. Thi gave 1 long loud blast from the whistle and called -Rukc- Panik stopped short and hovered in place above Thi's head before Thi extended an arm allowing Panik to settle. <span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span> <table class=ooc><tr><td><span style='color:gray'>Sorry for how long it took me to respond! I was prepping 4 hurricane Frances!</span></td></tr></table>
