Ugh. I have nothing to say but HURGLRBGURLGBRGB.
Thanks for reading, guys. Couldn't do it without you. Well, I guess I could still write it... but that wouldn't be much fun, would it? Seriously though, you guys rock.
I was in a foul mood from the moment I woke up. Part of it was what had happened in the cafeteria the night before and the dreams I’d had because of it (Retis making out with Brue, Brue making out with Fallon, Fallon dismembering Brue—okay, that last one was kinda cool, if a bit messy). But the real reason I was in such a bad mood was that it was Tuesday, which meant I had Nedrak Culture and Religion. Which meant seeing Professor Verris. Which meant eating a nice big pile of shit. Not literally of course (at least I would hope not), but I couldn’t think for a second that he had forgotten what I’d said to him at the welcome dinner.
I walked to class as slowly as I could, but of course that only prolonged the agony. I could practically hear my father’s voice telling me to shape up. Face it like a man, he would say. Meet it head-on, admit your mistake, and accept the consequences. Be a man, Sha’anyr.
Even when he was miles away, my father was still hovering over my shoulder. “Fuck that,” I thought. “I’ll show him being a man. Verris can go suck a gob; I’m not going to kiss ass so that racist piece of shit will pass me. I don’t care if he was a count—he’s not anymore, and he’s still an asshole."
I stood up straighter with my newfound “fuck you” attitude. I started to walk faster, my steps becoming more emphatic. I scowled as I marched down the sidewalk; people gave me weird stares as I passed, but I didn’t care—I wasn’t taking anyone’s shit today.
I stomped into the room and up to the third row of seats, dropping myself down in the dead center of the small lecture hall. I glared at the chalkboard in the front of the room, determined to stay pissed off so Verris would see I wasn’t someone who could be pushed around or intimidated.
After three or four minutes of sitting there, staring at a blank chalkboard with my jaw clenched and arms crossed, I got bored and my mind started to wander. I took a look around the room: there were about fifty kids in the class, most of them Nedrak—as one would expect in Nedrak C&R. Except for a handful of Nagiri, the rest of the class was human (or close enough).
The human turnout made sense since they’ve never really had a problem with the Nedraka; humans stayed “neutral” during the Dragonblood Crusades, meaning they continued to trade with all sides and politely looked the other way when it got to the “genocide” bit. That didn’t exactly earn them a lot of love, but the Dragonbloods were too busy hating each other to worry about humans.
Seeing the Nagiri in class was a different matter; I wish I could say I was surprised to see them, but I was more sad than anything else.
Nagiri tend to be fairly tall and have a much slighter build than other Dragonbloods. Their long, thin necks arch back to support their undeniably serpentine heads, earning them the title of “snake-people” (though it was probably their voice that inspired “hissers”). Everything about them is smooth and graceful—from their soft, round shoulders; to their barely perceptible hips; to the gliding, almost liquid way they move.
They would be beautiful if they didn’t all act like kicked whelps—always half-crouching, avoiding eye contact, constantly afraid of some unknown punishment. No, they are beautiful, but that just makes them even more tragic.
Of all the Dragonblood races, Nagiri are the least hostile toward Nedraka and have the best reason to hate us: we slaughtered thousands of them in the first battle of the Dragonblood Crusades, nearly wiping them out altogether.
While the Nedrak Knights were experienced Battlemages led by a group of seven incredibly powerful Archmagi called the Palatinus Drakon, the Nagiri were hunters and fishermen living in small tribes with no leader or organization. Historians now refer to that battle as the Keti River Massacre.
Well okay, to be fair, the Palatinus Drakon did demand that they confess to blasphemy, heresy, and sacrilege for their claim of Dragon blood, promising them safety under Nedrak rule... So at least they gave them a chance to give up their entire culture and heritage before the Nedrak Knights slaughtered them, right?
The Nagiri who survived were put to work for the Nedrak nobility. The lucky ones became farm hands or servants; the unlucky ones served in a more carnal capacity. The shock of being ripped from their homes had left them numb—their families were gone and their faith had been taken away; they had nothing left of themselves, nothing to hold onto. That emptiness never went away. They passed it on to their children, to their children’s children, because there was nothing to stop it.
I had been watching the little group of Nagiri for a while before I snapped out of it and remembered where I was. Huh, I thought. I wonder if Verris will cover the Keti River Massacre. Seems like his kind of thing.
“I doubt it,” said a blonde guy a few seats away.
“What?” I asked. “Were you talking to me?” He hadn’t looked up from whatever he was doing, so I couldn’t tell.
“Not on the first day, anyhow.”
“What? What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping.” He put his pencil down and looked up. “You were just watching those Nagiri so intently I couldn’t help myself. I thought it was gonna be dirty, but you surprised me.”
“You were in my head the whole time?”
“Oh don’t be so dramatic, I wasn’t in your head. It’s more like ‘thinking over your shoulder.’” He shrugged. “It’s not like you have anything to be embarrassed about; that was good stuff, you paint a very vivid picture. Lotsa good reds in there.”
“You’re sick,” I said, my attitude returning. “Fuck off.”
“Yeah, fuck you too. Hey listen, you’re a Nedrak, right?”
I gave him a look that I hoped made him feel really stupid.
“Right. So is it true you guys have horns under your hair? Can I feel ‘em?”
I gaped. He couldn’t possibly be in college and actually think that.
He laughed. “Of course I don’t really think you have horns! I’m just messing with you, man.”
“Would you get out of my Gai-damn head?” I growled.
“Shhh, the professor’s here. And only ten minutes late. I’m Chris, by the way.”
I hadn’t even realized that class was supposed to have started already. Professor Verris rushed in, dropping his briefcase on the desk and turning to the chalkboard in one swift motion. “I’m Professor Verris,” he said, writing on the board as he spoke. “And this is Nedrak Culture and Religion.”
He turned to face the room but didn’t actually look at us. “You are the students,” he said, opening his briefcase. “And this is the syllabus.” He dropped a stack of paper on the desk. “All your reading assignments for the semester are listed in the syllabus. There will be a quiz at the beginning of every class; your quiz scores will make up sixty percent of your final grade and your final exam will be the other forty. Any questions?”
He waited exactly three seconds for someone to raise a hand. “Good. Pick up a syllabus and go home. Your first quiz is on Thursday.” With that, he closed the latch on his briefcase and was out the door.
“Well,” Chris chuckled. “You sure showed him, huh? Who don’t take no shit from no one? My man Shawn don’t take no shit, hooo-yeah.”
“How did you know my—” I started. This time it was his turn to give the don’t be stupid look.
“Right. Well, fuck off, Chris,” I said, picking up my bag and heading for the door. As I walked down the hall, I gave myself a little pat on the back for getting the last word in—and profanity, no less.
“See you Thursday,” Chris’ voice echoed in my head.
“Gai-Damnit!”
Table of Contents
- Chapter 1: Welcome to Raekos University
- Chapter 2: Scramble, Mythical Monkey!
- Chapter 3: Professor Jerkface
- Chapter 4: Talking to Rocks
- Chapter 5: Ow, My Ear!
- Chapter 6: Puff the Magic Dragon
- Chapter 7: Shower Scene
- Chapter 8: Playing with Pebbles
- Chapter 9: Over the River and Through the Woods
- Chapter 10: Of Books and Ballet
- Chapter 11: And Then the World Started to Hurt
- Chapter 12: Teddy Bears Have Boring Picnics
- Chapter 13: Overabundance of Stupid
- Chapter 14: Dinner and a Show
- Chapter 15: Shawn Shall Take No Guff
- Chapter 16: Really... Shut Up, Squishy
- Chapter 17: Rock Is No Water When It Comes to Slides
- Chapter 18: I Fell Off a Mountain, Didn't I?
- Chapter 19: Let’s Not Forget Who the Damsel Is Here
- Chapter 20: Mmm... Entrails...
- Chapter 21: Stabbity Stab-Stab
- Chapter 22: Tryouts and Tribulations
- Chapter 23: Are They Supposed to Explode?
- Chapter 24: Roo's Mom is... Intense
- Chapter 25: Ooh, a Project...
October 15th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
aHAhahaHAha! Okay, you made me sad and interested and then you made me laugh. Today, I needed just one more story. Overall, you introduced new world information and a possible new friend. Wow. Fraking nice job!
October 15th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Thanks! What and excellent comment/ego boost. I really wasn't sure about this one, since it does run the full gamut from genocide to telepathy humor.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:50 am
Great job on this one, i've had days like that, where i started off dreading something and then getting generally pissed off. I can't imagine how akward it must me to have a class with a telepath, and i hope i never find out. By the way, I love the telepath idea non the less, it's going to a place i didn't know you could go to in the story.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
other than the fact that i really want to punch chris in the face (which is a good thing really, isn't it?)..i enjoyed it. definitely good to see that Shawn can be petulant. and an interesting history lesson. while verris is an ass i can't wait to learn more in the class.
October 17th, 2008 at 4:34 am
what an anti-climax for poor shawn lol. and i like chris. he does something that would piss most people off, then tells shawn he's done it to him, then calmly takes the flak sent back his way - all in an (apparently) non-hostile way. i wonder if he turns out to be a complete jerk, or if his nonchalant attitude will continue and earn him cred?
October 17th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Very cool chapter. Chris will be useful finding out exactly what Verris thinks. Tried the podcast. What program runs an *.M4a file?
October 17th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
should just run in the browser window. Do you have quicktime installed and up to date?
October 17th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Good scene with Chris. No relation, I hope.
October 17th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Haha, no. But I did actually wonder if you would mention it/ think about it.
October 18th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
I REALLY liked the first part about the Nagiri. Your descriptions and Shawn's mixed feelings about it were great. It's interesting to examine that sort of racial conflict in such a fantastical setting, and your writing does the conflict justice.
I wasn't as impressed as everyone else seems to have been with Chris. Honestly, I immediately thought of Violet from MoarMU. =P Same sort of intrusive but well-intentioned telepath sort of character--so far. I'm sure you'll be taking him in a different direction than AE has with Violet (who's actually one of my favorite MoarMU characters), but for now I'm more waiting for him to become interesting than already interested.
October 18th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Oh, I haven't read More Tales of MU since chapter 15 or so, so I don't know that character...
I'm glad the Nagiri thing is working for you guys; I thought it was pretty interesting, and definitely a little heavier than standard CotF fare. Expect more about the Dragonblood Crusades in the future. (They're kind of important... you know, war and all that.)
October 19th, 2008 at 1:30 am
yay war.
i wonder if we're gonna see verris' wonderfully bigoted take on the Dragonblood Crusades
October 19th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
first, i think chris was meant to say see you thursday there at the end, that being when their first quiz is.
other than that while i don't specifically dislike chris i can't say that i like him. not in the bad character kind of way but in the way that would have him constantly ducking sideways from all the mental punches i'd be throwing at him. he's too cavalier and casual about what is private and sacred to others. even if he is well meaning and generally harmless about it he's still an ass.
he kind of makes me wonder all over again about fallon, who is thus far my favorite character.
October 19th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Heh, that's funny that you spontaneously created a character similar to one in a work by an author you like. XD Anyway, long story short, Violet is Jamie's telepathic neighbor who routinely wanders into his head. He was annoyed at first (much like Shawn) but has come to accept it and even enjoy it sometimes. The point is, I think AE's walking a thin line there, and that it's very easy to have that type of character become cliche and unrelatable. Her bonus story about Violet, where she explored her background some more, was probably her saving grace, but it's hard. I'd be much more interesting in seeing conflict develop between him and Shawn, or just generally see the character taken in an interesting direction besides "Aw shucks buddy you can't help that you're telepathic any more than I can help being Nedrak let's all hug and sing songs about togetherness!"
Not that I think you would. =) But it's the only feedback on the character I can really provide at this point.
October 19th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
And I appreciate that feedback, but I'm not gonna tell ya what i have planned or how Chris will act. What fun would that be?
@michael: You're right. I meant Thursday.
October 20th, 2008 at 8:37 am
@alex: about thursday: either that or chris is a precog and know he'll be sick on thursday
October 20th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Oh, I wasn't expecting you to do so. In fact, I'd be kind of mad if you did. =P
October 20th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
@Pan: I figured. I was just being cheeky.
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:58 pm
I just started, today and read up to here in one sitting.
This whole story is really interesting, You've got a lot of the kind of humanoid creatures all together in a story that has a great background.
I like how Chris fits in so far, I am wondering whether he'll be one of those "Dammit stop that" characters(Which I personally Kind of like in some stories), or something else.
So far I like all of the character in your story. They are all unique and help the story. Fallon is the most interesting. I wish all my teachers were like Lenis too.
Really looking forward to the next chapter.
(I won't have another comment anywhere near this long.)
October 24th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Thanks! I'm glad you're liking it.
And please, feel free to comment as often as you like and write as much as you want (your comment wasn't even all that long. Certainly not too long.)
October 30th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Just started reading your story. Man Chris is a funny guy and a mind reader to boot. That class should be very funny.
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:08 am
find Chris amusing so far.
need closing quote mark at end of paragraph 3.
please keep up the good work.
May 24th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Thanks, I had missed that. Fixed now.
Though really, all of that should be italicized, not in quotes; Shawn's thinking it, not saying it, and I usually put thoughts in italics. Usually being the operative word here. At some point I'm going to go through all the chapters and make changes like that for uniformity (capitalization, italicization, et cetera.)
May 27th, 2009 at 3:03 am
I disagree with Mike here. Personally, I feel that if I had powers like chris, I would act in the same irreverent way, so I can't rightly say I hate him. I associate with him strongly.
Oh, also.
War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!