"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
I'm glad you're enjoying learning - one more, and then I'll let you go home.
The god of knowledge and arts looks around class with mild interest - of course, they're only his temporary subjects, but perhaps if they learned something, this whole ordeal has been valuable. His eyes linger on the bay horse that has kept on trying to cause trouble, none of which seems to actually affect the other students. Good. Tir suspects that Zain might learn the most from these classes. If only that messing with teachers is a bad idea. Let's see how he does in the last one.
When he's looked each horse in the eye, he presents their results first. "Pond, special congratulations on finding the disease's other name, dryland distemper. It might interest you to know that Strangles is also commonly known as equine distemper."
Zain
Pond
Breckin
Lucrezia
Grammar, typo's, punctuation (10%)
9%
10%
8%
10%
Word count (10%)
5%
10%
10%
10%
Style (report, paper) (10%)
10%
10%
10%
10%
Cause (10%)
10%
10%
10%
10%
Incubation period (10%)
0%
10%
10%
10%
Ways of contracting disease (10%)
6%
10%
10%
10%
Course (10%)
10%
10%
10%
10%
Cure (10%)
5%
10%
10%
8%
Disease name (5%)
3%
5%
3%
3%
Readability/creativity (10%)
8%
8%
8%
10%
Bonus question (5%)
5%
5%
5%
5%
Total (100%)
71%
98%
94%
96%
Without any other warning, everybody is transported. One instant they're in their classrooms, the next they find themselves in a confined patch of grass, where other horses are grazing. All classmates wear a leather-made contraption around their heads, but it doesn't prevent them from talking or grazing. If they were to look around, they'd see the other horses in the meadow also wear those things. Suddenly they understand what they see: a stable, a meadow, a paddock not too far away, and humans. As if they've known all their lives.
"Welcome to drama class' stage. Please, blend in. Report back to me in proper English when I transport you again. @[Zain] and @[Breckin], for you that would be in the past perfect progressive tense. @[Pond] and @[Lucrezia], in the future perfect progressive tense please."
With that, Tir vanishes, and each classmate finds themselves separated from the other Beqannians.
Assignment rules
-600 word max, total.
-Mind your grammar! All sentences must be in your assigned tense.
-For the time being, you're a stable horse! What do you do - sports, riding, or are you a broodmare/stud? A mixture of those? Do you like your life?
-Interact with one of the other horses in the meadow in some way (but do not interact with your classmates).
This assignment will be due Wednesday, August 8th, 23:59 PM.
They had just finished their most recent assignment, when suddenly the teacher arose from his seat. Swiftly, and without warning, they had been transported to a time and place he is unfamiliar with. Here the creatures like him had dooned contraptions upon their face and backs. Leather straps and metal rings fastened the unnatural pieces to their bodies and his fiery eyes had starred in sheer terror. When he had finally realized that his classmates and even himself wore such things, his eyes had grown wide. The deep hue of their red had burned with intensity before he had lunged into a canter across the sizeable paddock. His classmates had disappeared along with the teacher and he had found himself alone.
Not completely though, other horses had been housed within their own paddocks. Some accompanied by strange creatures on two legs, that had held leads attached to those straps upon their faces. He had come to a stand on the far side of his enclosure to watch from a safe distance. Nares flared to catch scents upon the light breeze as he had looked on. Maybe it was is nervousness that had caused the neighboring equine to approach. They had whickered a greeting to him and it took all his strength to peel his eyes from the aliens to look at the roan. "Hello," she had said, "You must be new here. I am Pistol. What is your name?" He had no time for small talk and gave nothing but a snort to the horse. His gaze had returned to the activities near the stable, noting a few small two-legged things running towards his pen and having jumped up onto the picket fence. Noises had emitted from them that he did not understand, which had caused him to become even more unsure of their presence. His head had tucked to his chest in a threatening display. Half rearing, he had settle back onto his hunches and raked the air with his hooves. A deep whinny had rattled through his chest cavity as he landed again on all fours. His eyes had viewed others having begun to gather near the smaller beings, 'Stay away from here. That thing is crazy and will hurt you,' they had said though he understood none of it.
Soon the two-leggeds had walked away with a backwards glance but nothing more. A satisfied snort and toss of his head had been given, before looking to the roan. "Zain," is all he had said before lunging into a canter towards the other corner...
OOC: Short but something at least. Now to work whoohoo :|
*Be Warned*
Possesses health transference
and may steal your health.
Tir had been expecting a recount of her experiences in a certain tense, and so she had given him what he asked for.
"I had been standing in the meadow vexed, unaware of the device on my face, until another horse had tried to grab it playfully. My reaction had been instinctual, and I had snapped at them. I had startled them enough that they had frozen, which allowed me enough time to look at the wooden barrier around us; I had also taken notice of the humans beyond. With no other option to gain answers, I had looked to my frozen counterpart, "Is this Hell?" I had asked him. It had taken him a moment to respond and had shaken his head in denial. I had found that hard to believe.
It had been quiet until my companion had found his voice, "I don't know what your problem is today, but you had better get over it before Liz gets you for the lesson. You love your job, remember?" He had then left me alone to my confusion because on some level, his words had rung true; I had loved my job.
It hadn't been much longer until a female had entered the caged meadow, and still, I hadn't moved. She had come to me, and I had let her approach, the sound of an audible metallic clip came from under my chin. I had intended to flee, but not before I had gathered information to find when that opportunity would arise, and so I had gone willingly. Liz guided me into the stable, basically a cave with straight edges, and it had smelled like dead wood. She had let me stand untied on the hard surface while she had been fussing over me and I had let her until something heavy had landed upon my back. My body had gone rigid, even more so when something had slithered behind my elbows and had wrapped itself snuggly around my barrel. That was the point I had had enough, and I had fled. I had no idea where, but I had taken off all the same.
I had been galloping, when a small human appeared directly in my way at the end of the straightaway, the contraption she had sat upon had two round things in the front and two larger ones in the back. If she chose not to move, I would have had to barrel into her, and I would do it if I had to, because I would not stay there. But that child had not moved, she had simply raised her limb to me with an unphased giggle. The distance had been quickly closing, it had been a matter of seconds before I would have been upon her. Until her eyes had met mine, and a sudden overwhelming sense of pure innocence had washed over me; she had been as innocent as a newborn foal, and had not been deserving of being trodden. At the last second, I had halted my momentum, slid to a stop just in front of her. I had been straightening my body before I exhaled heavily, which had sent a wave of air that had tousled the girl's mane. It had caused her to giggle in delight and I had smiled at her amusement. She had been raising her limb still as if she had expected something, but I had understood her desire. I had lowered my head, pressed my nose into her palm, and closed my eyes while the shouts of adults died behind me."
The jolt of their transportation would have been a little disruptive if Pond hadn’t already been prepared for the teacher’s tricks and hadn’t already been used to the shifting sands of her old home. When Tir finishes explaining their assignment she nods her head...and then notices the contraption on her face. It frightens her and she thrashes for a moment, trying to toss it away because it seems like something that will trap her if she can’t get rid of it. But then a broodmare in the paddock notices her discomfort and hears Pond’s squeals of uncertainty of her impending entrapment.
The mare, a black bay with four stockings and a large blaze, comes to calm the yearling by chuffing to her, calming Pond with gentle nibbles on the filly’s shoulders that might have been helpful. Pond takes several deep breaths and shivers her withers which, in another life, would have eased her anxiety. Pond opens her eyes and looks up at the mare, gleaning a face that may have comforted her some time ago, before her world had been quite ruined and altered. The mare’s coat gleams copper-black in the sunlight and it almost reminds her of her father, had he been here to help her.
“I’m sorry young one,” the mare says to her and Pond looks at her with what would have been confusion if she hadn’t already realized what was happening. “It looks like your training begins today. Just try to stay strong, they won’t hurt you.”
Pond snorts in confusion, staring up at the mare for a moment more. “What do you mean? Training? Training for what? To become a queen like my mother?” She may have understood, if they were still in Beqanna.
“Queen?” The mare chortles with a laughing neigh. “Queen of your own personal world, maybe. You’re going to be trained for riding of course.” Pond stares up at the mare in further confusion - riding? What is ‘riding’? She stands there confused as the mare wanders off...and then realizes that there is another creature coming towards her. It is narrow and bipedal, small and thin with something that looks like a snake slung over its shoulder.
She wants to balk and screech, but the narrow creature has snagged her by the face, keeping her from running away by snatching the device on her head. She tries to toss it away again but she still cannot. ”Get off of me!” she tries to shout but no sound comes out now.
She is trapped.
The snake-thing is strapped to the contraption on her head and she squeals constantly, pulling back and shouting out how much she hates it, how she wants this to stop. How could this be okay? How could the other horses just let this happen to her? Why would no one help her?
She cries for her mother, for her father…. But they are not here. Eventually she is too tired to fight anymore. Too tired to care. She has been told already that her life is not the same as she once knew. How would she ever make her life the same again? Perhaps this was part of it too. Perhaps she has fallen through the cracks once more.
She is sad. She is afraid. Will the others have left her now? Will the mare from the meadow have forgotten her? Will her parents have forgotten her now? Will her brother Harking have forsaken her in his afterlife? Will she have failed?
She sighs heavily and concedes defeat, following the human’s lead at last.
08-09-2018, 12:27 AM (This post was last modified: 08-09-2018, 12:28 AM by Lucrezia.)
By the time Lucrezia will have been transported back to the classroom with Teacher Tir and the other students, the assignment will have been completed. She will have walked to the front of the classroom and report her experience to the other students.
"I will have felt the leather straps and metal rings around my face. The taste of metal in my mouth will have been disgusted me. I will have never grown fond of this new thing around my face since I will have been new to wearing it.
Heavy winds will have been blowing, it will have awakened me from my day dream. My eyes will have looked around me, finding that I am within a familiar meadow. I will have noticed several other horses around in the meadow—there will have been at least eight of us. I will have then seen in the corner of my eye that one of the horses, a chestnut, will have approached me.
There will have been a familiar emotion in my heart, something I will have felt for the chestnut horse. My memory will have reminded me that he is my father. Without a doubt I will make this connection as my heart will have leapt for joy. I will have remembered we have been happy where we are—we will have lived a life on a horse farm. He is a well-loved horse among the others on the farm and has lived a life as a race horse. I will have been considered a well-loved horse, but will have been sold due to my endurance and physique. I will have been reaching my second year of life by the end of the month.
He will have greeted me as a loving father does. “Hello my daughter,” he will have said to me as I smiled from ear to ear when I will have looked at him. He and I will have embraced each other. I will have no doubt knowing I will have missed moments as the days are counted down.
“Shall we go on an adventure today?” He will have asked me and I will have given him the biggest smile I could possibly muster. He will have known I would have never turned down an adventure. My father will have run off by the answer of my smile. I will have squealed with excitement at the top of my lungs. I will have felt my hooves moving faster than I will have ever imagined. The wind will have my mane in a tangle creating a mess, but I will have not cared because I was feeling happy.
My father will have been running ahead of me, but I will have known he is not going the fastest speed he can go. By the time he has sired me, he will have been a life-long racing championship multiple times. I will have eventually catch up to him. I will have been pushing myself knowing I was capable of catching him. By the time I will have reached him, I will have nipped at his shoulder and run off into the other direction. I will have turned back and yelled “Tag you are it!” before he turned around and got me again.
I will have laughed when he caught me so quickly and have tears rolling down my face. By the time my tears will have stopped, I will have been crying since I realized I will miss these child games we played. There will have been nothing more in the world for me to get to stay and be with my father. He will have comforted me and encouraged me that this was the way, but I will have continued to carry the memories of us by the time I will have left the farm."
---
Bold indicates the portion of the assignment.
Word Count: 594
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Zain
