A satellite of the prestigious Viden Academy, this collaborative effort has truly been successful on Scalvoris and many great inventions and discoveries are made on a regular basis!
When Shl'drei stepped past the threshold of the classroom door, pretty much all eyes went on him. Not because he looked funny or was loud with his entrance, but because he was late. By about a thirty bits. Damn it.
"I assume you're Shl'drei then." The professor fixed him with a stern look, and Shl'drei all his willpower to keep his gaze locked with his professor. That said, he slouched a bit - if only to make himself smaller - and nodded meekly, apologies dying on his tongue. "Find a seat, I'll have you on time or locked out after to-trial."
Warning aside, he nodded in approval and Shl'drei found a seat quickly. When the professor silenced everyone, Shl'drei took the time to retrieve his supplies and order his desk as the professor continued to speak about whatever Shl'drei hadn't caught. Looking up, he found the Professor seemed familiar but he couldn't quite place why. Once he finished, he devoted himself to the lesson, filing his questions away for the no-nonsense professor for later.
"Now that Shl'drei has joined us, I'll introduce myself again. I'm professor Seams. This is the intermediate animal training course. I expect good things from all of you." He inclined his head, keeping his eyes on Shl'drei who simply nodded and noted down the information. Professor Seams looked like a nice enough guy, but something told Shl'drei never to get on his bad side.
Briefly, his mind wandered to the qualification exam he'd taken - it saved him one class but it also meant he had to prove he was worthy of the skip. When Shl'drei had attempted it, it came naturally to answer the questions thrown at him. Though his proctor was swift and harsh, he was well meaning. He had made sure the tamer was absolutely deserving of his skip before he let him out of the room, and had leveled with him when he entered the exam area. Blinking from his thoughts, Shl'drei focused on his professor once more as he spoke of their assignments.
Once the lecture was over Shl'drei gathered his belongings and made his way to the academy library. Having been giving their assignments the tamer figured a bit of studying couldn't hurt. He had looked at each of his classmates and was only a bit disappointed to see Lyah still hadn't returned. He wouldn't sulk for her - she was probably just getting approval from her parents or still taking her time to come to terms that they might not accept her wishes. He hoped at least they would let her continue her studies if nothing else.
Speaking of, he'd reached his destination rather quickly. He crossed the distance and barely noticed the cool air until he was pushing open the doors. The academy was situated across form the library - according to Lyah their were fees to borrow books if you weren't a student or teacher. He wondered if previous students retained their no fee usage. He strode forward, eyes going everywhere to look at everything he could. No matter how many times he entered, Shl'drei was always impressed by the vast wreath of knowledge - in book form of course - that rested in the library.
Once he'd settled his things near a relatively empty table, he made his way to Lissie who seemed to be jotting down something in hurried scrawls. As much as he wanted to wait for her to finish, Lissie tended to get carried away and ignore the world once she was busy. She was friendly enough! She was just a tad bit of an airhead. "Excuse me, Lissie?"
"Huh?" She responded with excellent manners, her quill stopping mid letter. "Oh! Can I help you?"
"Ah, yeah," He responded, keeping his smile from his face. He gave her the details of the book type he was seeking - it was vague and not too helpful since he didn't have a title, only a general idea of what he was looking for - and Lissie listened almost attentively. He knew books on fauna weren't small in number, be he needed something that could tell him more about avian behaviors and mannerisms. He gestured a bit as he explained, and finally he paused before adding the last of his request. "Oh, and it doesn't have to be super specific, just generalizations are fine."
Lissie sat up a tad bit straighter when he finished, and gave him some directions to the animal section and which row to peek at for things that might help. He thanked the junior librarian for her help and bid her goodbye before setting off in the direction she'd indicated. He ran his fingers along the book spines as he searched for anything avian related he could find, taking two book at first and then a third before he settled back at his table.
After finding nothing of interests just by reading fact books about Avian creatures in general, Shl'drei honed in on a particular avian and latched as hard as he could. Of all the animals he could possibly train, none had caught his interest as much as the falconry arts. Birds of prey - those used in hunting or just kept as pets - they always intrigued him. With the tamers sight more focused, his studying got easier. Birds of prey were also sometimes referred to as Raptors? He kept reading while jotting his notes, classified by sharp bills and talons, most birds of prey were carnivores according to the book. Invested in his angle of study, He hyper focused on Eagles and Falcons. While it would probably be more reasonable to study the smaller raptors, he couldn't stop wandering back to the two each time.
Most of them - birds of prey, mind - tended to display sexual dimorphism. And while Shl'drei tried to go as far back into the library as he could, he couldn't find much on why. He supposed a basic need to reproduce was ingrained in everything. With a shrug, he continued his reading. Some of the images - sketches that captured the likeness of eagles, stilled his breath. Truly birds were beautiful - the Eagle made this clear. He wondered if he could get a away with focusing on a larger avian like the eagle. Surely their was more to find? Though as with most species their were subclasses, and Eagle was a broad term that didn't cover every breed or species of eagle. Skimming information his eyes caught on one in particular.
Harpy Eagles.
He dived into the material he had been handed, quill scratching against parchment in a furious manner that betrayed his interest and excitement. Shl'drei had always liked the idea of training birds, but he'd never seriously studied any. Starting though, he was entranced by the beauty of the Harpia Harpyja. The scientific name or some such, a bit of a mouthful really. The tamer would stick to the Harpy for the time being. Diving back in to refocus he only paused his sponging to scribble notes.
With a wingspan equal to at least six long, it was a bigger species than he originally thought. According to his current read, the could be found in Scaltoth Jungle - a very dangerous place, but one of many species he had yet to see, he was sure. A diet consisting of tree mammals, sometimes the Harpy was known to snatch sloths from their place in trees. Some were recorded to have weight a good twenty pounds and the height was that of half a n average adult torso. Awed, Shl'drei filed that in his mind as well as on the parchment. According to the text they were rather long lived as well, though not uncommon for birds.
The more he read the more fascinated he was. With huis mind reeling for the intake of information, he stopped his reading to properly collect his thoughts and notes and transfer them to his parchment.
Breaks and Breaks later, Shl'drei had managed to make sense of his thoughts and do some more diving into avian facts. He's spent a good break afterwards reordering each sheet of parchment and then again to put it neatly into his backpack before he stood and headed for the door. He exchanged a few words with Lissie before thanking her for her help and apologizing for constantly distracting her from her... work, so often. When Shl'drei had filed the books away again and returned the ones he couldn't to Lissie's desk he was quick to head straight to one of the lecture halls.
He passed a few vaguely familiar faces, but kept moving and only waved and or smiled when he noticed someone looking or speaking to him. The trial passed quickly into evening and Shl'drei decided to sit in on a random lecture. He zoned out a few bits in, instead doing a mental recap of the information he'd found on Harpy eagles. He even had enough brain power left to take out a blank sheet and jot down some questions he's have to look for the answers to when his next chance arrived. He jotted slowly, a stifling a small yawn as he stretched his shoulders will a languid roll.
He looked out one of the high glass windows and noted it was getting darker. With lazy scratches, he opened his minds eye to anything he might want to know. Temperament? Common diseases and aliments? Reproduction? Lifespan and adaptation in captivity? Grooming? General upkeep and care if recorded? Once he'd spent another break, he filed the paper away in his sack and stood quietly to not disturb anyone. Once he was passed the lecture halls threshold, he yawned in earnest. With a satisfying pop from his back, he stood full height and headed home. He had a few more trials before the assignment was due and he found eh was looking forward to his presentation on his chosen avian.
Knowledge:
Socialization x2
Writing x2
Research x1
Logistics x1
Skill Review: Appropriate to level.
Notes:
Hello, hello! Let's get started, shall we?
This was a lovely little solo! Sometimes with research-heavy pieces, it can be hard to make them *not* feel like info dumps. I struggle with that a lot, but this was beautifully written. Including snippets of his thoughts was a great way to break up the information, as well as noting things going on around him.
Slice-of-life solos are some of my favorite because the reader gets to see what a normal day looks like for a character. Shl's just going to class, talking to people and doing some studying. It's hard to pull off a good slice-of-life piece of writing without it coming off flat, but you did a great job inserting enough other elements that it's interesting and makes the reader want to know more. Good job!!!
