[Nautica] [December 2003] Gods and Monsters [Nautica]

Juggling a life outside of school was a new challenge for Erik, but worthwhile. He was home, in Döttrar Vik, with Charlotta, every weekend. He tried his hardest to stay on campus during the week to keep up with his Head of House duties and coursework, but considered perhaps stepping down and letting Aldemar take over the HoH responsibilities. In fact, he was pretty sure Aldemar would love it—perhaps a bit too much. The other man loved discipline, whereas Erik was pretty lenient by comparison. He didn’t love the responsibility, and didn’t care one way or the other about the power, but he liked being able to have a touch of forgiveness for misbehaving students. As a brave man said—and he wasn’t sure which one—the true test of courage wasn’t in knowing when to kill a man, but when to spare one. 
 
Even with Aldemar as Head of House, he might have a little say. Aldemar listened to him, usually. They were very close friends, and he trusted the other man to care about his input. Galya was a strong woman and a great Head of House, but she was a bit of a stickler for rules and a little hard with punishments. He thought they made a nice balance between them, but that was really just Erik’s opinion.  In three months’ time, he would be so busy with the baby that he might realistically not be able to handle it all, though, and he considered that. He didn’t want to leave his job, not unless there was something more fun afoot, but he might need to take a little time off in the interim.  He hoped to be around for the annual Nautica/survival trip, but he wasn’t sure if he would even be around for that.

Today, he was preparing for an interesting lesson on sea monsters and creatures. Of course, he planned to tell the story on when he bested a kraken, but he didn’t want to brag too much too soon. He was feeling so good lately, he didn’t want any rumors of him being a braggart floating around.

He waited for the students to begin streaming in, and smiled at them as they took their seats. “Welcome to class everyone.” He started. “Today, we’re going to be talking about sea monsters and creatures, familiarizing yourself on what you might find if you were out on the ocean yourself. Can anyone name a famous water creature or sea monster?” He asked. “Go ahead, just call it out. We’ve got plenty of time to go over everything.” He assured.  He wanted to talk briefly about Sirens, too, but they weren’t necessarily sea monsters, nor would he really call them creatures.

Ruslan wasn't sure he was going to like nautic magic. It was one of those classes he'd mentally classified as potentially dangerous; in other words, somewhere he might injure himself and thus affect his artistic flying training program. He was keeping up with that quite well, considering he had all his classes to attend and homework to do as well. Durmstrang wasn't like being at home, they didn't let him put his flying first, Ruslan found that frustrating, but reminded himself that it was the same for all competitors his age.

He was glad that today's lesson was in a classroom. That meant it wasn't going to be anything too dangerous. Learning how to tie knots and magically enhance them maybe? Or perhaps a lesson on how to recognise the weather whilst at sea? Both those things were mentioned in his textbook...well, the pictures he'd glanced at during a cursory flick through, anyway. The first year took a seat near the centre of the room - no point drawing undue attention to himself - and resigned himself to a dull lesson.

A moment later, he perked up. Sea monsters? Okay, this might be interesting after all. Obviously he didn't want to actually meet a giant fanged octopus or anything dangerous, but learning about them was alright. He glanced around as people started to call out names, and racked his brain for anything sensible. His first through was the murtlap, having had cuts and abrasions healed with murtlap essence in the past, but he wasn't sure if it counted as a famous sea creature. It was hardly a monster, either.

"Oh! Sea serpents!" he exclaimed a moment later, pleased with himself. Ruslan was pretty sure there were actual sea serpent species that had names, but he couldn't think of any of those right now. Hopefully the answer would be good enough and he wouldn't be called upon to add anything else.

Conrad liked Nautic Magic in practice, but not so much in theory -- though he could handle himself on a boat just fine, the past six and a half years had rather gone to show he couldn’t handle himself in a classroom. Not even with Fisker, whom he actually liked. Conrad thought he could have been in the most interesting class in the world, with the kindest professor alive, and still look stupid as soon as he was called on to answer a question.

This was about as close as he’d ever gotten to the most interesting class in the world with the kindest profesor alive, though, so he did his best. Or whatever was nearest to that. He sat closer to the center than to the back, at least, though he stayed at the edge of the classroom closest to the door.

Fisker was kind of a braggart; though Conrad preferred practical or mundane lessons, about knot-tying or ship construction or wind patterns, he didn’t mind it when the professor had an excuse to tell stories in class. He was sure most of them were rather grossly exaggerated -- possibly he just hoped so. He had heard more of Fisker’s personal life than he thought he had ever needed to know courtesy of being friendly with Delchev’s daughter; it almost discomfited him to picture their short, agreeable Nautica professor as the protagonist of any of those tales.

Liking this class more than any of his other classes didn’t make him any more willing to volunteer information he hadn’t been picked on to share; his classmates started to answer Fisker’s question, but Conrad hunched his shoulders over his desk and pretended to search his book for answers, even though -- having been in this class seven years -- he could have named a number of aquatic creatures. (His mind flicked to the sirens in Döttrar Vik; he was still uneasy going to the village, though he did so often just for an excuse not to wear uniform.)

In retrospect, it was difficult to believe that half the school year was nearly over – but at the same time, it had gone by quickly. Rei had certainly been keeping busy, between attempting to befriend the Koldovstoretz transfer students, trying her hand at Artistic Flying, participating in a covert Dueling Club practice, and preparing to audition in the next few days for a play in Döttrar Vik. The former Kitsunebi was at her best when she had a full [social] schedule.

Nautica felt like less of a chore to keep up with than some of her other academic tasks, which was refreshing. She rather liked Professor Fisker and the opportunity for mostly hands-on learning. Choosing a seat (and saving the one beside her for Anna, of course), Rei tried to focus on preparing for the lesson instead of constantly glancing at the door as she waited for her friend. Instead, she began doodling aimlessly in her planner until Professor Fisker’s voice brought her back to the moment.

“Can anyone name a famous water creature or sea monster?”

At this, Rei thought immediately of the Kappa. Granted, she wasn’t sure how ‘famous’ they were around the world, but growing up she’d heard endless tales of their exploits – both good and nefarious – along with those of many other yōkai. They also weren’t exactly a creature one would find in the ocean, as they mostly kept to ponds and rivers at the largest.

The more she thought about it, the less this actually answered Professor Fisker’s question, but it was the best she could come up with for the moment – and at least more specific than ‘sea serpents’. She took her chances and raised her hand.
“We have many stories about Kappa in my home country… though you would more likely encounter them while sailing downriver than in the open ocean,” she qualified.

"Sorry, thank you, sorry," Anna whispered, her voice high and out of breath as she slipped into the seat next to Rei. She had been practicing again, really practicing this time, not just watching Zina and Zheyna flying and pouting about it while doing Pilates. Her feet were cramped from pointing, her hands still dusted with chalk and wrapped in tape, and her tights were still her practice tights and not the uniform ones. She was still sweating, having run from the pitch to class. She looked at Rei with a grin while she caught her breath. Not having time to gossip at all before Fisker started was miserable, but, like, whatever. Anna turned forward, not even bothering to get out her notebook before leaning forward, elbows on the desk, to listen.

Rei had an answer, she was so smart. Anna nodded, hopping that Fisker would talk more about Kappa (Koppa? Koopa?) or, like, something else. He was very lenient compared to the other professors, so he wouldn't mind if the two Klyk Vampira girls tuned out, right? She was almost a little curious about the creatures -- "Have you ever seen one?" she whispered out the side of her mouth to Rei.

It took Fisker a little while to move on -- "Are you doing the play, then?" Anna asked Rei when the coast seemed clear. "I don't have time for the dance rehearsals but I got a few shifts with the lighting crew, Sturm --" she pointed at the back of Conrad's head with the half quill she was chewing on -- "he's on the crew too, I think. Do you know him yet?" She gave Anna a beat to answer, then, "He came to gala for some reason, which is weird, because I think he doesn't like flying. Or, like, anything." 

She was glad that Anna had made it just in time; Rei had seen how some of the professors here handled tardiness, though Professor Fisker did seem like a pleasant exception to the general demeanor of the teaching staff.

“Have you ever seen one?”

Rei glanced cautiously at the front of the room, waiting until Professor Fisker looked away before replying.
“No,” she whispered back, “but one of my cousins swears he did when he went up to Tōno one summer… he is really dramatic, though, so I doubt it.”

She nodded an affirmative when Anna asked if she was doing the play, and glanced over every so often to let her friend know she was still listening.
“I tried-out for an on-stage role but didn’t get anything, so I'm doing stage crew,” she replied, trying to move her lips as little as possible. Rei was all for side-conversations in class, but tactfully – she and Anna had gotten that down near-perfectly.
Her gaze followed her friend’s to the older boy in front of them and she tilted her head slightly, considering.
“I… don’t think so. Have seen him but never actually met him.”

“…because I think he doesn't like flying. Or, like, anything.”

Rei barely stifled a snort of laughter at the bluntness of Anna’s last comment; she hastily disguised it as a sneeze, and took the opportunity to hide her face in her shirt for an extra moment to straighten out her expression before re-emerging.
“Wait, who brought him?” she asked, distracted as she racked her brain – had she somehow missed Anna telling her this before? It seemed like something Rei would have known about by now if it were of significant consequence, she supposed. “Is he friends with one of your cousins…?”


happy fossday, Fosse!! <33

No, said Rei, and Anna sighed. It would have been cool to be one degree removed from a Kappa sighting. Anna wondered briefly about Rei's cousins. Maybe they were normal, and not all in on one niche, insane sport. As a family exercise. Anna leaned in a little closer. "He a liar, that cousin?" she asked, her voice light and breathless like it was a secret.

"Crew!" Anna said, eyes lighting up. "I'm doing lights --" had she already said so? -- "So we can work together, then!" It was pleasant news. She leaned back, keeping her gaze straight ahead and voice carefully low. Fisker was wandering around still -- no way he would notice them. "Oh, but Sturm will be with us, too."

Rei laughed, or rather, she choked down a laugh into a snort. Anna couldn't help but smile. It always felt like a small victory when she made Rei laugh. It made her anxious sometimes, like one day she might tell a joke and it wouldn't be funny, the language barrier or the cultural one slamming down between them with violent force. It hadn't happened yet, thank Merlin.

Who brought him? Anna frowned. "I don't remember," she mumbled, "I think maybe one of the Shishkins?" That could be so many, though -- only Filimonovs were underrepresented in the artistic flying world, on account of there only being the two of them. "Who knows, though." Zhenya probably knew -- Anna resolved to ask her. "Doubt he's friends with anyone, though."

She wrinkled her nose, considering. Rei wasn’t quite sure she liked the label of ‘liar’ – but that was sort of what she’d described, wasn’t it?
“I guess,” she admitted, “though not all the time, I don’t think. But he does exaggerate a lot.”

Her expression brightened and she chanced a sidelong glance at her friend, communicating her excitement with her eyes.
“Thank Merlin – I couldn’t remember if you’d said you were for sure doing it or not.”

Anna thought ‘one of the Shishkins’ had brought Sturm to the Gala, and Rei couldn’t hold back a smirk.
“Well that really narrows things down, thanks.”

Anna’s rejoinder brought a faint crease to Rei’s brow: “Doubt he's friends with anyone, though.”
How could someone not be friends with anyone? Surely he had at least one friend…? The concept was absolutely inconceivable to the sociable former-Kitsunebi.
“He really that bad, you think?” she murmured back uncertainly, again flicking her gaze to the back of boy-in-question’s head before returning her ‘focus’ to the front of the room. He looked harmless enough… a dark-and-brooding type, perhaps, but harmless.