All you are is learning

Pixie Frost · 11-14-2010, 11:46 PM

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Backdated November 13th, just after Pixie meets Bangle. Also, she walks into Skye’s house, of course. =)
300+

Pixie was glad to have met a fellow musician, especially one with such a personality as Bangle Guffawri. He definitely was someone she’d want to see the next time she came here. But she remembered her initial reason for coming to Cercatori D’Arte territory, and that was to meet up with Skye and teach her how to play guitar. And, in turn, Pixie would learn how to read and write, so she could finally look past the diagrams in her guitar handbook. The only words she knew how to read and write were her own name, Magic’s name, and the names of several other members of her old pack; she had asked her brother, who knew how to read and write, to teach her how to spell those names before he left the pack. But she never got the chance to learn what each letter was and what sounds each of them made.

On Magic’s back, she wandered into an abandoned human village that had canine scent all over it. It reminded her of the abandoned town in which she had acquired her guitar, except this one wasn’t entirely abandoned; Pixie had a feeling that Skye’s pack had taken over these buildings. The stallion was sniffing the ground, finding the scents of the many generations and species that had lived in this place.

She got off of Magic, telling him to stay put, and looked around at the small, seemingly unoccupied houses. The guitarist stepped towards one of them, her ragged cloak swishing in the breeze. She thought she heard something inside the house, and Skye’s scent was more prominent around this particular building than any of the others. Placing a clawed hand on the door, she slowly pulled it open and stuck her red-maned head in through the doorway. “Skye?” she asked. “You in here?”

Skye Collins · 11-21-2010, 11:18 AM

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ooc: haha! hi! : D

Skye was working in the garden. She'd seen some weeds start to pop up and she tore them out, angry that they dare come into her garden. The fact that they grew in summer also was enough to bamboozle her - but she banished them all the same. She supposed it was the fertilizer she'd used - she had taken the peelings of several fruits and scattered them all over the garden. They'd rotted, and were helping the plants grow nicely. She had also covered the plants with water so they'd get the warmth from the water, and that seemed to be working as well - they were growing nicely as sprouts, and she grinned at them.

She had also taken some broken bits of wood she'd found and thinned them until they were stiff, thin boards, ready to be written on by the pencil she had. She had carved holes in the boards and tied them together until they were a bundle, like a book - and on the cover of the bundle, she'd written, "Journal."

She flipped to the first page and wrote, "Day 1 - Plants are doing well. I put fruit peels to help with their growing, and have weeded out some of the weeds. I hope they grow before summer comes, so that we have an extra food supply." She then closed the book - having her own journal would help her writing as well as keep track of what was happening.

Suddenly, however, she heard a noise. Looking up from her journal, she saw Pixie sticking her head through her door. Laughing, she waved from the garden - the space between the trees was large, and she'd be able to see Skye from there.

"Hi, Pixie! I'm over here!"

Pixie Frost · 11-27-2010, 07:53 PM

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She really does need reading lessons XD

Pixie was surprised to hear her friend’s voice from outside the house, but when she stepped back from the door, she saw Skye waving to her. “Oh, hi, Skye!” she called back, laughing as she walked over to her friend.

Her clumsy feet barely managed to avoid the plants as she maneuvered through the garden. “What’s all this you got here?” she asked. “Did you grow all these plants yourself?” The blue-gray fae always find gardens curious things; they were an excuse to play in the dirt, that was for sure. And flowers were pretty, too, though Pixie had never found herself enthralled with the beauty of them.

“Oh, I think I can read this!” She had noticed the book and the writing on the cover. “It says…‘Book.’ It says ‘Book,’ right?” It was a complete guess, of course, but it was a book, after all. Besides, learning to read and write was one of the reasons why she was here; if she was perfect at it, there wouldn’t be any need to learn it.

Skye Collins · 12-04-2010, 12:28 PM

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Skye grinned at her friend, proud that she could see her plant-ish skills in growing the edible, green delicacy. "Yes, I grew these all from seeds. In fact," Skye said, pointing to a small bush with green leaves on it, "this is the plant that grew from one of those berries you gave me when we first met! Remember?" Skye wagged her tail, happy that Pixie could see what had happened to the gesture. "Soon, they'll be big and full of bright red berries to eat."

Skye laughed as Pixie pointed to the book and said that it said 'book'. "Not quite," she said. "It says, "Journal"! This is where I write all the things that happen in my life, and that includes the garden." She pointed to the letters written on the cover in turn, saying their name out loud. "Each of these markings stands for a letter," she said, "And the string of letters makes the word 'journal'."

Pixie Frost · 01-03-2011, 12:14 AM

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Sorry for the late post. Word Count: 384

“Oh yeah, I remember that!” Pixie gazed at the berry bush, amazed that the handful of berries she had given Skye a month ago was helping her whole pack. “How’s Cercatori D’Arte doing, by the way? I’ve already talked to a couple of other members. I met Ouija a few weeks ago; in fact, he agreed to give me a tattoo, and once it heals completely, I’ll be coming back here to get it colored. I also just met Bangle today. But how’s everyone else doing?” She was curious to see how her friend’s pack was growing and changing. Even though it had only been a month since the pack started, it seemed to be doing well, especially with its appeal to artists and musicians.

The blue-gray fey grinned when Skye explained that the word was ‘journal.’ Well, she was close enough. Pixie already had a sort of journal like Skye’s, where she documented things that had happened to her, except instead of words, it was in the form of drawings on whatever paper Pixie could find. They were the least bit professional, more like random doodles that were barely understandable, even to Pixie herself. But it made them fun to look back at them in the future, trying to decipher exactly what they meant. It wasn’t very practical, but it was a cheap form of entertainment and a good way to find ideas for songs.

Then Skye started pointing to the letters and naming them. “How many letters are there? Twenty, right?” She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know; more letters meant more time spent learning their names and how to write them before she even wrote one word. True, the lessons meant she could spend time with her friend, but Pixie wanted to actually start writing songs and reading the lyrics of the ones in her book as quickly as possible.

“So, do you want to learn about the guitar first, or should we go over reading first?” What Skye had told her already about ‘journal’ didn’t seem enough to be called a lesson. She didn’t care whether she or Skye taught first; she already had planned out the guitar lesson, which included learning the names of the strings and how to push on them with one’s fingers to create chords.

Skye Collins · 01-20-2011, 07:20 PM

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ooc: oh man! i'm so sorry for the delay! D: D: wc: 400

"It's doing great! And a tattoo? What's it look like?" Skye was quite curious about this new adornment of Pixie's; she hadn't had any tattoos or piercings on her because she didn't quite like the idea of how she'd look with one, but she always agreed that they looked good on others. There were so many ways one could put a picture on their body, and she wondered what Pixie's was of. Maybe a guitar.

"Shaw and I are getting ready to brave the winter. It'll be the pack's first. I hope everyone will be alright," she said uncertainly. She was afraid that a disaster would come and tear the pack apart - and just after they had became one, after Skye and Shawchert's hard work repairing the houses and recruiting new members. She was confident that they could survive the winter, but she had doubts.

"Twenty six," she said in response toy Pixie's question of how many letters there were. "And that's good enough for me - there are some languages that have whole symbols for words instead of letters that make them up, and there are hundreds upon hundreds!" Skye thought to if she had learned something like Chinese that had that many symbols instead of something simpler like English and was glad she was born here. If she learned a language like that, she's surely still be learning how to read back home instead of being here in Souls!

"Doesn't matter to me - want to learn to read first? I have my Journal right here." Skye had no qualms about letting Pixie read her diary - it was mostly just stuff about how her crops were doing and how cute Bangle was and stuff like that, and she was confident the girl wouldn't grangerize it.

She opened up to the first page in her Journal, which was loaded with words. She pointed to the first one - it read 'Today'. "Words are made up of letters," she said. "That word reads 'today'. It has five letters - t, o, d, a, and y. Each letter makes the same sound, and can make up more words - for example, 't' makes a tuh sound, and can make the word 'today', 'ten', 'team', and other words like that." She went on in this manner, teaching Pixie about the different letters and going over that they can create words and sentences.

Pixie Frost · 01-21-2011, 02:06 AM

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It’s fine. Finals suck—unless I totally cram words into my posts, I’m gonna lose SSWM. Sad Word Count: 465

“It’s kind of hard to explain what it looks like,” Pixie said of her new tattoo. “I’ve always thought it looked like a bird flying.” She turned around, showing the design on her back. The burnt and cut flesh was not completely healed yet, but the bald spot was clearly visible on her fur. The thin lines cut into her skin formed shapes that looked almost like out-stretched wings. “I’m not sure if it was a good idea having it on my back,” she joked, “because I have to stand with my back to a mirror and my neck turned around to see it!” Turning back around, she added, “But from what I’ve seen, it looks like Ouija did a good job with the design.”

She sighed and put her hand to her forehead. “I wish you guys good luck. I’m not looking forward to winter much. I think the pack will do alright—we had the manor for shelter if things get bad. But I’m worried about my horse; we don’t have a proper stable for him. And I hate being stuck inside…” There was more to it, of course, but there was no point bringing it up now. It was a long story and she would rather not think about it with winter approaching soon, even though she knew not thinking about it wouldn’t make it go away.

“Wow,” was all the blue-gray fae said when Skye told her that there were some languages with hundreds of symbols. Hundreds of them? And all of them had to be learned? Twenty-six seemed easy compared to learning all of that. Why would they make it more confusing? It made no sense to her; she hadn’t delved into different culture much, and if she had delved into different forms of writing, she wouldn’t be here. “I kind of do that, too—I draw pictures to remember songs and poems that I’ve come up with. But I don’t have a whole system for it.”

She nodded. “Sure, that sounds like a good idea.” As the cream-furred wolf opened her journal, Pixie looked over her shoulder and was mesmerized by how many strange symbols there were. It became less confusing when Skye pointed to one of the words and started explaining what each symbol was and what sounds they made, but it was still difficult for her to understand. Still, she managed to keep her focus and listen to Skye’s explanation of words and sentences. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to listen; she was just too eager to begin actually writing letters and words and sentences and poems and songs and…she reminded herself that it would be a while before she could write any of that. It was frustrating, but she would have to deal with it.

Skye Collins · 01-23-2011, 11:54 AM

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D: you can do it! wc: 356

Skye looked over at Pixie's back to see the tattoo that her friend had gotten. It indeed looked like a flying bird, with spread out appendages that looked like wings with the feathers splayed, prepared to take off or land. She giggled at Pixie's joke about how she shouldn't have put it on her back, but Skye thought it was a perfect place for it to be. She nodded when she said that Ouija must have done a good design - he had, and Skye would remember that.

"Keep your horse in your house, if you don't want to lose him, maybe?" Skye wasn't sure - she was sure that a horse would fit in her own house, but she didn't know how large Pixie's was, or if the horse would like it there. Surely if, during the winter, there was a storm, the horse would gladly have protection from it. She understood when Pixie said she hated being inside - Skye herself liked the wide open spaces of Cercatori d'Arte. And, of course, her garden.

Skye nodded. When she was little and didn't know how to read or write yet, she would draw pictures in the sand or dirt or her notepad, reflecting how she felt about them. Usually they'd be illustrated pictures describing her day, or the way she did something. Sometimes she would just draw for the sake of drawing, adding many details as well as shading and other things like that. Skye still drew, although for her primary use of communication now, she used words and writing. No pictographs for Skye.

Skye was happy that Pixie was catching onto her lessons quickly; she quickly grasped the concept of sentences and letters and words, and as Skye described the more complicated parts of the craft of writing, such as homographs and synonyms, she listened with an adept student-like awareness. Skye wrapped up the lesson by adding another word or two about sounds that have two letters mixed together such as 'th' or 'ch'. She grinned at Pixie. "You're great at learning," she said earnestly.

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Pixie Frost · 01-26-2011, 02:23 AM

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*scurries* Well, if I lose, there’s always next year Tongue Also, Pixie’s a lefty—who knew? Also also, Skye could just return the guitar in our next thread. Pixie doesn’t need it for any of the threads in between. Word Count: 649

Pixie laughed darkly. “Well, I would, except I don’t have a house. Everyone has a room in Haven Manor where they sleep. I don’t know of anyone who sleeps somewhere else, especially not this time of year. There isn’t even a door to the inside of the manor that he can fit in, much less a room that he can stay in. And there aren’t that many other choices for shelter in the rest of the territory.” There was the cottage and the windmill, and that was about it. Both were not in the best state and wouldn’t do a good job keeping out the weather. “Hopefully we’ll get a stable built sometime soon.”

Listening intently, she wished she could write down notes of her own to remember all that Skye was teaching her, even though that, of course, made no sense. Some of the things she talked about, such as two letters coming together to create an entirely different sound, confused Pixie, but after asking a few questions she was able to understand it better. At Skye’s compliment, she smiled and rolled her eyes. “Let’s hope I’m a good teacher, too.”

Picking her guitar up, the musician laid the instrument in her lap. “The guitar works in a pretty simple way. You strum the strings like this with one hand…” She dug through her satchel and found a guitar pick, then glided it up and down the strings a few times. “…and with your other hand, you hold down the strings up on the neck of the guitar, which creates different notes and chords. See the lines on the neck? Those separate the frets—the sound of a string changes depending on which fret you hold the string down on. Generally I use my left hand to strum and right hand to hold down the strings, but I’ve heard of other guitarists playing it the other way. It all depends on what feels more comfortable to you.”

She went on to explain that learning how to play chords would be tedious at first because holding down the strings was difficult to get used to, and she warned Skye that calluses on her fingers from playing the instrument were not uncommon, but that once she got it, learning would be much smoother.. She also briefly explained hammer-ons, pull-offs, and bending the strings, telling her friend that she wouldn’t learn those until she had gotten through the basics. She even briefly showed her how to play a simple song that consisted of three chords, though she had difficulty explaining them, since she didn’t know the names of letters yet.

“The handbook I learned all this from called the different chords with letter names,” she explained, holding out the book to her. “Same with the names of the strings. Apparently they call musical notes by letters, too. I don’t know how to pronounce them, just what they look like. But here’s the three chords for this song.” She went to the page with the song on it and pointed to the A chord, the E chord, and the D chord. “I know that first one is ‘a’ because that was in ‘journal,’ right? But I don’t know how to say the other two.”

Smiling sheepishly at the other wolf, she continued, “You’ll have an advantage when it comes to learning the guitar over me, because you can actually read the book’s instructions and the lyrics to the song instead of just studying the diagrams. You can keep it if you want to study; it’ll be more useful to you than me. In fact…” Slowly, she lifted her guitar from her lap and held it out to her friend. “You’ll need this to practice. But be warned: I’ve never let anyone else borrow it before. So be careful with it—if you damage it in any way, I won’t easily forgive you.”

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