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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 11:23:54 GMT -6
A few days after they had finished learning how to read (or at least, gotten to a point where Fiera felt safe distracting them with a new lesson), Fiera gathered Amber and Alice at the public park again, guiding them to a park bench once more. They had taken well to Fiera's last lesson, but if they wanted to be taken more seriously by people, there was still more they had to learn. "Alright girls." She said, sitting down at the bench. "I know you're looking to... garner a little more respect around here." She said, looking at them evenly. Amber nodded. "Well yeah. I mean I might be less than a foot tall, but I'm still a person." "We're trying." Alice finished. Fiera nodded. "Of course. But you won't get too far sounding like that." She said. The twin sisters glanced at each other- what was that supposed to mean? "To put it simply, if you're going to involve yourself in politics, or medicine, or... anything else really, you have to know how to hold yourself. How to not just speak, but speak properly." Alice chuckled. "Like you do when you're trying to get us to listen to you." "Yes, precisely- hey." Fiera said flatly, pressing her ears back.
Fiera 1
Amber 27.1/14.1
Alice 24.1/11.1
Proper Language 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 11:34:21 GMT -6
Despite that though, the two did seem prepared to learn. It wasn't enough to know information worth passing on to others- you had to know how to properly compose your sentences as well and convey the information accurately. Fiera did her best to express that to them... and then they began their lesson of nuance and etiquette. Thankfully, this was a topic that the humanish knew well. A miserable childhood in a rich family conveyed at least a FEW useful lessons to her, even if some were ones that she would rather forget. Fiera started with their pronunciation. Sure they knew how to speak common and their dialect was functional enough, but their language was riddled with slang, dropped syllables, and poor grammar. The grammar at least was an easy fix. They had been obligated to study sentence structure for a long time while learning to speak and write, so they both knew that they knew how to form sentences properly. It was just a manner of whipping them into shape such that they actually did so more often than not. They had casual conversations with each other- about the weather, about current events, and every time they slipped up Fiera would carefully nudge them back on the right path.
Fiera 2
Amber 27.2/14.2
Alice 24.2/11.2
Proper Language 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 11:40:52 GMT -6
Their enunciation took a bit more doing. The fact of the matter was that Alice and Amber were a great deal smaller than Fiera, so any words they spoke were going to inherently sound a little wrong to her ears. They would just have to do their best with what they had. She could at least get them to pronounce words ending in -ing as such instead of '-in', or "have to" instead of "gotta". Fiera wished she could say it went swimmingly, but the fact of the matter was was that it was a long, hard lesson, and not an especially exciting one. The girls understood the importance of it, but it didn't come easily. After several hours, she had finally gotten them to straighten out their odd pronunciation. They almost sounded like proper ladies, albeit in miniature. Their voices even reminded Fiera a bit of when she was young. Each word was carefully clipped and arranged perfectly in their sentences... though sometimes they would end up breaking out in a fit of giggles from how different they sounded. Fiera didn't chastise them for it though- they were normally so serious that it was nice to see them find a bit of levity in it.
Fiera 3
Amber 27.3/14.3
Alice 24.3/11.3
Proper Language 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 11:44:39 GMT -6
They weren't out of the woods yet, though. As nice as they sounded, it didn't matter much if they didn't know their pleases and thank yous. Fiera had taught them language of course, but proper politesse had thusfar escaped them. They knew the words, but not quite when to use them. Thankfully, Fiera had brought a small book of etiquette with them to the park. She used it as a guide, explaining when exactly to thank people, how to ask for things politely, what topics were appropriate to bring up with strangers and which were not. The pair of harachiu found some of these rules... frustrating. If the whole point of this was to get people to listen to them, why were certain topics out of bounds? Fiera shrugged. She wasn't the one who made the rules, she was simply the one conveying them to them. If they chose to ultimately break some of the rules, that was up to them- but they needed to know what they were, first. So they read through the book, learning exactly how to tip people, or make orders in shops, or how to comment on ones' appearance. And while it wasn't exciting, Amber and Alice took to it well.
Fiera 4
Amber 27.4/14.4
Alice 24.4/11.4
Proper Language 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 11:47:55 GMT -6
Of course, it wouldn't do to just learn from a book. After an hour or so of this, there was only so much Fiera could teach. Theory was one thing, application was another entirely. So she gave them both a few credits and took them out on the town, letting them pick out various shops to look around in. While they were there, Fiera encouraged them to strike up conversations with people. She smiled to herself as she watched peoples' eyebrows slowly creep up at the sight of such well-spoken harachiu. Most of the fairies you found in the lab weren't exactly talkative due to the number who had never been taught common, let alone well-spoken. Amber and Alice were certainly a unique sight. They followed the rules of etiquette that Fiera had set up perfectly as well, never mispronouncing a word or asking a rude question. Money was exchanged and overall, the pair had made quite a good impression on everyone they had met that day. From there, Fiera took them home with the spoils of their shopping adventure. There was nothing else she had to teach them- they had been taught, and they had demonstrated that they could use that information to their advantage. That was all she could ask for.
Fiera 5
Amber 28.0/15.0
Alice 25.0/12.0
Proper Language 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 12:41:05 GMT -6
Amber had been asking Fiera to teach her more about science for a while now. Begging her, practically. Her interests differed a great deal from Alice's however, so Fiera had never really had the time to set up a one on one lesson with her while there was still so much they could be taught together. Now that Fiera had gotten through some of that however, it was time to sit down with Amber for some more... interesting lessons. To put it simply, Amber was stoked and ready. She had her pencil out (a little nub of a thing) and ready before Fiera had even sat down at the picnic table. "Alright, hold your horses." Fiera said as the harachiu drummed her fingers impatiently. The humanish opened her backpack, pulling out a few biology textbooks she had managed to snag from a bookstore. She wasn't sure if they were out of date or not, but it was a place to start. Fiera 6 Amber 28.1/15.1 Biology IV 1 |
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 12:43:47 GMT -6
"Okay how about we start... small." Fiera said, opening up a book. "Like... bugs?" Amber asked, peering up over the top of it. Fiera rotated the book, pointing the pages outward so the harachiu could see. She pointed at the page with a manicured finger, gesturing to a diagram of a bacterium. "Like cells." She said, tapping on the page. Amber tilted her head. "Uh... I've done a lot of exploring, but I haven't seen one of those things before." She said, a little unsure. Fiera chuckled. "Yeah, you wouldn't. They're small. Like, REALLY small." Fiera explained how cells made up all living things- even Fiera, even Amber. How they worked together to make up the different parts of the body, and how they needed to be fed, kept at a certain temperature, and given water to survive. "I'm sure you know how things get hungry, thirsty, and need to... expel waste." Fiera said, putting it politely.
Fiera 7
Amber 28.2/15.2
Biology IV 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 14:05:22 GMT -6
"However, these components of your body need to do all that too." Fiera explained how cells needed energy, what parts consumed it and what each section of the cell did. Amber followed along, nodding slightly. Every so often, Fiera would stop and ask a question to make sure she understood what Fiera was talking about instead of just letting it flow past her ears. Amber was able to repeat what Fiera said and even explain things... but she still seemed confused. "...Have any questions?" Fiera asked, leaning the book back a bit. "No, I'm... ok." Amber said, her ear flicking. Fiera just stared at her, her mouth pursed shut. "...Ok, fine. This is cool and all, and apparently it's what makes up... me." "And me!" "And you, yes, and everything else, but I don't really get... how it all goes together? Or why I need to know it? I want to learn how to... how to fix the big stuff."
Fiera 8
Amber 28.3/15.3
Biology IV 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 14:12:22 GMT -6
That was right. The goal of all this... Amber wanted to be a doctor someday. Or at least, the closest a harachiu could get, considering she was far too small to work with creatures Fiera's size. That was fine by her, though- she wanted to provide medical care to other fairies. "Ah, but the big stuff is MADE of these smaller pieces, remember! You can't fix a thing if you don't know how it works!" Amber gave a small "hm" of assention, but Fiera figured it was time to move on before she got too bored with this particular topic. "But let's teach you about what those structures are. Moving on to... tissues and organs!" Fiera said, cringing a bit. She had seen plenty of organs before of course, considering the war she was in back in the day... but not in the most scientific of contexts. Still, the book's diagrams were clean and sterile.
Fiera 9
Amber 28.4/15.4
Biology IV 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 14:18:34 GMT -6
Amber leaned in closer as Fiera gestured at the diagrams. Slowly but surely, she learned how cells were arranged into sheets of tissues that performed different activities, and how tissues worked together to form organs that carried out major functions of the body. She went over all the systems she could think of- gastric, nervous, skeletal, explaining how each one worked. Fiera also made sure to link it back to the lessons she was trying to teach earlier too, such as explaining how muscles worked by each individual cell contracting to move muscles, which tugged on bones to create movement throughout the whole body. Amber seemed a lot more interested in this part of the lesson, asking extensive questions- several of which Fiera didn't know the answer too, but she bet Amber could go to a library later to find out. Fiera was pretty good at biology, but not "knowing the exact biochemistry" good.
Fiera 10
Amber 29.0/16.0
Biology IV 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 14:24:10 GMT -6
After Fiera answered as many of Amber's questions as she could, she continued through the book. She explained how different organ systems worked together to, finally, form a complete creature, with each system performing a vital function. Amber took to it like a fish to water, Fiera had to admit. Every so often the humanish would ask a question and the harachiu would answer it in far more detail than she was expecting- apparently reading the pages faster than Fiera could summarize them. Still, that was far better than the alternative, and Fiera skipped ahead to get to the next part. After all, after interactions between organ systems to form a complete creature, there was the interaction of the creature with the world. Fiera explained the difference between types of living thing- plants, fungi, bacteria, and animals. Different living things obtained what they needed to survive. Fungi absorbed nutrients from their environment, plants gained energy from the sun, and animals consumed other living things to survive.
Fiera 1
Amber 29.1/16.1
Biology IV 6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 14:26:41 GMT -6
The harachiu slowly learned the difference between carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores, and what traits those types of animals usually have (and revealing herself as an omnivore in the process as well, like Fiera was.) That also allowed her to learn about food webs- how each animal linked together to make a living environment, like how each organ linked together in organ systems that linked together into a full creature. Each link on the web fed into several different creatures, and each one had its own individual niche. Evolution was a concept that was explained... though admittedly, it was one that the Menagerie Labs and WELP Corp had ignored at pretty much any opportunity, opting to create new species much, much faster than usual. There was a chapter on magic in the book too, but it was short and could be summed up pretty much as "we don't really know the full extent of magic on biological creatures".
Fiera 2
Amber 29.2/16.2
Biology IV 7
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 14:30:49 GMT -6
That was a bit of a letdown for the two of them, but it made sense. Magic was still a very poorly studied field for most civilians, and Fiera couldn't blame the authors of the book for not being able to make sense of how it affected living things. If they could, it probably wouldn't be magic, it would be, well... just more science. From there however, Fiera explained how life interacted with the world. Different environments had different traits- rain, temperature, access to water, soil composition, storm frequency, elevation, so on and so forth. And this affected the sort of traits that creatures needed to survive there. Fiera was able to link that in Amber specifically- based on what they had learned so far, Fiera quizzed her on what sort of creature she thought harachiu were. "Well... some sort of mammal, I think. And I really like fruit so... maybe we're from somewhere that grows little berries?"
Fiera 3
Amber 29.3/16.3
Biology IV 8
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 14:39:23 GMT -6
Amber continued, rubbing behind her ear as she thought about it. "And our wings... we can't really fly very far, but we're pretty maneuverable. More like songbirds than... something that soars. I don't really like the heat though, so something tropical is probably out. So... maybe we lived in forests back in the day? Is that right?" She said, looking up at Fiera expectantly. Fiera smiled, but could only shrug. "I'm afraid I don't know! But before you roll your eyes at me- yes, like that- think about what that means! You couldn't even BEGIN to guess at what sort of creature you were before this-" She explained. "-But now you have the scientific forethought to come up with theories based on what you know. That's a valuable skill- with a lot of application for what you want to do someday, don't you think?" She said, looking at Amber expectantly.
Fiera 4
Amber 29.4/16.4
Biology IV 9
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 14:41:36 GMT -6
Amber paused for a moment, thinking about it, before her face split into a smile. "Huh. I guess you're right. Good point!" Amber said, reaching out for the book again. Fiera was surre they had finished it, but... admittedly, the humanish had just given it a brief skim for Amber's sake. "Would you mind if I borrowed this? I definitely want to learn in more detail." Fiera removed her hands from it. "Sure! It's yours! All of these are!" Fiera said, gesturing to the bag full of books. "This is way too big a topic to tackle in one day... but I'm sure you have the wherewithal to figure it out on your own." Fiera said, offering Amber a smile. With that, they packed up and headed back home, with Amber a few books richer. Sure enough, Fiera could hardly pry her off of them in the coming days- apparently, her interest had been piqued.
Fiera 5
Amber 30.0/17.0
Biology IV 10
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