50 Ymiden, 724
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After countless classes watching and listening intently to every bit of information he was given, and after numerous study sessions where he nearly broke his brain trying to comprehend various facts and ideas, and after lengthy nights and caffeinated mornings spent ruminating over notes and memorising methodologies, Kotton finally held within his hands the opportunity to teach a science class of his own so that he could be awarded a charter in science.
This had been his dream for cycles now, arcs really. If you were to consider his dreams as a child, then even longer, but the past only made the present day all the more nerve-wracking. There was a lot he was counting on in order to acquire such a magnificent prize. He had put his heart and soul into reaching this exact point in time. However, now that it was here, there was nothing but voracious bubbles of bile eating away at the lining of his stomach. Curse anxiety. He had acid reflux- bad- and had wanted to vomit more times than he could count on one hand. He held it in of course, and wouldn't let his anxiety show unless he was behind closed doors, juuuust like the closet he was in at the back of the very classroom he was going to use to teach in just over a quarter of an hour from now.
He needed to rid himself of all the bugs and jitters so he hopped around a few times. He jumped and flexed and wiggled his entire body as quietly as he could in the likely case there were already students taking their seats in the next room. Once aplenty charisma had been replenished, he plastered a smile onto his face, brushed a stray piece of hair from his eyes and casually strode out of the closet back into the room. Fortunately, there was only a single soul sitting at one of the tables and she hadn’t seemed to take notice of Kotton emerging.
After he had made his mark at the front of the room by placing both feet rigidly against the wooden floorboards directly behind the podium, the young man cleared his throat and gazed out into his audience of one.
“Just you?” he asked, daring his voice to tremble. It did not.
The individual was a petite woman with sun bleached blond hair, luminous green eyes, and unnaturally pale skin. He could faintly see a blue tint to the hue of her flesh and the thin veins that meandered underneath it. Using the basic knowledge he had of races, he assumed she was of Eidisi descent. She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her left ear and cleared her throat. Her eyes glowed as she looked into Kotton’s. “So far,” she announced timidly.
Kotton sighed with relief. If his audience could only be as nervous and socially awkward as he was, then this teaching gig would be a cinch. But that was highly unlikely, especially when he knew other students would be showing up within the next few minutes. His class had yet to start after all.
Instead of twiddling his thumbs like an idiot, the half blood drew his shoulders back, commanded himself some semblance of confidence and intoned a conversational start-piece. “How long have you been interested in science?”
The young lady looked to her feet as a small smile pervaded her face, especially her cheeks, which had been made ruddy with embarrassment. “Not long. I’m just getting into it. Thought it was cool.”
Kotton smirked and delivered a sincere chuckle. “Well, I assure you,” he said. “It is very… cool.”
Suddenly the room was no longer filled with two anxious souls. Several additional headcounts invited themselves in and swiftly took their seats to the left, right, back and front of the room. He counted them as they sat: seven students total. That was manageable. Enough. Whilst he hadn't gotten to know the rest, the time was now. He lifted from his knapsack his notes and placed them gingerly against the wooden podium before flipping them to the page most prevalent to his purpose.
He had learnt so many things during his time listening, researching, studying and conversing. He had spent so much time attending classes sharing and conspiring and practising and experimenting and all had been necessary in order to make him the person he was today. The time he spent, the experience he had undergone, it all led up to this very moment. He was not unprepared just nervous.
He threaded his fingers together behind the back of his head before gazing down at the first page of his notebook. He cleared his throat and raised his head so that it was eye-level with his students. Really, though, he focused his attention toward the young woman he had spoken to earlier, finding her as someone he could lean on in times of emotional turbulence (aka right now).
“Since this is a basic course on the topic of science, we won’t go heavily into particular terminologies and methodologies and all of the jargon you may have heard of or seen in the local papers.” He paused, not just to take a deep breath, but also to encourage a sense of mystery or thrill that may coerce his pupils into engaging their rears against the forefront of their seats.
“I’m here because I want to endow others into the magic of science just as I once had been,” he continued. “I mean, science is everything," he flirted. "Science helped me grow as a child. It kept me thinking, kept me curious. Our minds are only done learning when we say we’re done, do you understand?” He was getting a little carried away, shot off into the realm of the psychological, less scientific. He reeled himself back to the topic at hand and took a deep inhale of sweaty air. “You’re here because you want to know how the world works, right?” He didn’t wait for verbal or gesticulated action, even if there were some. “I mean, me too." He fidgited with his collar which had suddenly felt too tightly wound around his neck. "Well, I will give you some knowledge of how the world works but only if I know you're serious about learning it. Science is serious so I need serious thinkers, otherwise what’s the purpose?”
It was incredible that every person before him remained eye contact with them. No one dropped their sight down into their laps, looked to the window in boredom or otherwise chatted with their partner. It seemed he was in the presence of individuals with high levels of both emotional and intellectual maturity. He had gone into this gig thinking there would be students who didn't care, talked over him, rolled their eyes at his words but here in front of where he stood was simply a flock of elegant caterpillars patiently waiting for their turn to turn into beautiful butterflies.
His confidence surged. “Right, so-” he flipped the page of his notebook until it landed on the experiment he had practiced for this very session. Then he smiled. Loudly. He wrung his hands with excitement- fear had nothing to do with it this time.
“Ever heard of centripetal force?”
There was not one nod of the head but that was okay.
“Well, I’ll tell you about it.” Kotton was finally finding his groove with his students. “When something accelerates, that is advances or speeds up along a circular path, there is this thing called centripetal force and it keeps it going in the circle that it has been introduced to. For instance-” he took from his knapsack a visual display to further concrete his meaning. It was a piece of cardboard with every corner tied by a piece of thread so it hung from his hand with ease. Then he placed a random object, a ceramic cup in this instance, in the very centre of the piece of cardboard. But he wasn’t done just yet. He added from his own pocket a few coins into the ceramic cup, making sure to clink-clink-clink the object so that everyone knew there was something inside. Then, he grasped the thread and began to move it side to side, side to side. He went side to side with this thing until he applied enough pressure to make it go upside right, under and over, until it was back again, parallel to the ground. The currency inside the cup hadn’t left and the ceramic cup itself hadn’t fallen and broken against the floor.
“How-?”
“What-?”
“Could you-?”
There were so many questions coming from so many students and Kotton was all too happy to answer them. To his mind, he had practically performed a magic trick.
“Gravity,” he answered the first.
“Not magic, but science,” he answered the second.
“I could do it again, but that would mean you weren’t paying enough attention to the first time I did it,” he acknowledged the third.
“Gravity,” he announced, after recoiling all the toys he had meant to use for his experiment. “It’s quite interesting, don’t you think?”
Maybe there was a bell toll or a tick of the time, perhaps there was something else he hadn’t quite figured meant his students need move from class to class, but all of the sudden his classroom had packed up their things and vanished after a doleful beep unregistered to his ears. Everyone except that one young woman who appeared to have stayed because she had unresolved questions.
“Why did you want to study science?” she asked, tucking another stray lock of burnt platinum hair behind a tiny ear. “I mean, besides, you know, wanting to be a teacher.”
Kotton closed his eyes with the confidence that he knew would simply disappear once he re-opened them. He plundered his thoughts and emotions, his ideals and principles, and all the values that lay branched between the thickets of purpose that lie in between.
He cleared his throat for the umpteenth time this trial and focused his gaze into the young woman’s warm, yet piercing emerald eyes.
“Because I was tired of people telling me I was wrong.” He didn’t give her anything other than that, but still hoped she could conclude his reasons based on that sentence and that sentence alone. If she were to make sense of his words, it would be less because of his vagueness and more due to her own intuition. If he ever became a permanent teacher, he would not simply give out answers, but would lead his students to devising their own.
This had been his dream for cycles now, arcs really. If you were to consider his dreams as a child, then even longer, but the past only made the present day all the more nerve-wracking. There was a lot he was counting on in order to acquire such a magnificent prize. He had put his heart and soul into reaching this exact point in time. However, now that it was here, there was nothing but voracious bubbles of bile eating away at the lining of his stomach. Curse anxiety. He had acid reflux- bad- and had wanted to vomit more times than he could count on one hand. He held it in of course, and wouldn't let his anxiety show unless he was behind closed doors, juuuust like the closet he was in at the back of the very classroom he was going to use to teach in just over a quarter of an hour from now.
He needed to rid himself of all the bugs and jitters so he hopped around a few times. He jumped and flexed and wiggled his entire body as quietly as he could in the likely case there were already students taking their seats in the next room. Once aplenty charisma had been replenished, he plastered a smile onto his face, brushed a stray piece of hair from his eyes and casually strode out of the closet back into the room. Fortunately, there was only a single soul sitting at one of the tables and she hadn’t seemed to take notice of Kotton emerging.
After he had made his mark at the front of the room by placing both feet rigidly against the wooden floorboards directly behind the podium, the young man cleared his throat and gazed out into his audience of one.
“Just you?” he asked, daring his voice to tremble. It did not.
The individual was a petite woman with sun bleached blond hair, luminous green eyes, and unnaturally pale skin. He could faintly see a blue tint to the hue of her flesh and the thin veins that meandered underneath it. Using the basic knowledge he had of races, he assumed she was of Eidisi descent. She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her left ear and cleared her throat. Her eyes glowed as she looked into Kotton’s. “So far,” she announced timidly.
Kotton sighed with relief. If his audience could only be as nervous and socially awkward as he was, then this teaching gig would be a cinch. But that was highly unlikely, especially when he knew other students would be showing up within the next few minutes. His class had yet to start after all.
Instead of twiddling his thumbs like an idiot, the half blood drew his shoulders back, commanded himself some semblance of confidence and intoned a conversational start-piece. “How long have you been interested in science?”
The young lady looked to her feet as a small smile pervaded her face, especially her cheeks, which had been made ruddy with embarrassment. “Not long. I’m just getting into it. Thought it was cool.”
Kotton smirked and delivered a sincere chuckle. “Well, I assure you,” he said. “It is very… cool.”
Suddenly the room was no longer filled with two anxious souls. Several additional headcounts invited themselves in and swiftly took their seats to the left, right, back and front of the room. He counted them as they sat: seven students total. That was manageable. Enough. Whilst he hadn't gotten to know the rest, the time was now. He lifted from his knapsack his notes and placed them gingerly against the wooden podium before flipping them to the page most prevalent to his purpose.
He had learnt so many things during his time listening, researching, studying and conversing. He had spent so much time attending classes sharing and conspiring and practising and experimenting and all had been necessary in order to make him the person he was today. The time he spent, the experience he had undergone, it all led up to this very moment. He was not unprepared just nervous.
He threaded his fingers together behind the back of his head before gazing down at the first page of his notebook. He cleared his throat and raised his head so that it was eye-level with his students. Really, though, he focused his attention toward the young woman he had spoken to earlier, finding her as someone he could lean on in times of emotional turbulence (aka right now).
“Since this is a basic course on the topic of science, we won’t go heavily into particular terminologies and methodologies and all of the jargon you may have heard of or seen in the local papers.” He paused, not just to take a deep breath, but also to encourage a sense of mystery or thrill that may coerce his pupils into engaging their rears against the forefront of their seats.
“I’m here because I want to endow others into the magic of science just as I once had been,” he continued. “I mean, science is everything," he flirted. "Science helped me grow as a child. It kept me thinking, kept me curious. Our minds are only done learning when we say we’re done, do you understand?” He was getting a little carried away, shot off into the realm of the psychological, less scientific. He reeled himself back to the topic at hand and took a deep inhale of sweaty air. “You’re here because you want to know how the world works, right?” He didn’t wait for verbal or gesticulated action, even if there were some. “I mean, me too." He fidgited with his collar which had suddenly felt too tightly wound around his neck. "Well, I will give you some knowledge of how the world works but only if I know you're serious about learning it. Science is serious so I need serious thinkers, otherwise what’s the purpose?”
It was incredible that every person before him remained eye contact with them. No one dropped their sight down into their laps, looked to the window in boredom or otherwise chatted with their partner. It seemed he was in the presence of individuals with high levels of both emotional and intellectual maturity. He had gone into this gig thinking there would be students who didn't care, talked over him, rolled their eyes at his words but here in front of where he stood was simply a flock of elegant caterpillars patiently waiting for their turn to turn into beautiful butterflies.
His confidence surged. “Right, so-” he flipped the page of his notebook until it landed on the experiment he had practiced for this very session. Then he smiled. Loudly. He wrung his hands with excitement- fear had nothing to do with it this time.
“Ever heard of centripetal force?”
There was not one nod of the head but that was okay.
“Well, I’ll tell you about it.” Kotton was finally finding his groove with his students. “When something accelerates, that is advances or speeds up along a circular path, there is this thing called centripetal force and it keeps it going in the circle that it has been introduced to. For instance-” he took from his knapsack a visual display to further concrete his meaning. It was a piece of cardboard with every corner tied by a piece of thread so it hung from his hand with ease. Then he placed a random object, a ceramic cup in this instance, in the very centre of the piece of cardboard. But he wasn’t done just yet. He added from his own pocket a few coins into the ceramic cup, making sure to clink-clink-clink the object so that everyone knew there was something inside. Then, he grasped the thread and began to move it side to side, side to side. He went side to side with this thing until he applied enough pressure to make it go upside right, under and over, until it was back again, parallel to the ground. The currency inside the cup hadn’t left and the ceramic cup itself hadn’t fallen and broken against the floor.
“How-?”
“What-?”
“Could you-?”
There were so many questions coming from so many students and Kotton was all too happy to answer them. To his mind, he had practically performed a magic trick.
“Gravity,” he answered the first.
“Not magic, but science,” he answered the second.
“I could do it again, but that would mean you weren’t paying enough attention to the first time I did it,” he acknowledged the third.
“Gravity,” he announced, after recoiling all the toys he had meant to use for his experiment. “It’s quite interesting, don’t you think?”
Maybe there was a bell toll or a tick of the time, perhaps there was something else he hadn’t quite figured meant his students need move from class to class, but all of the sudden his classroom had packed up their things and vanished after a doleful beep unregistered to his ears. Everyone except that one young woman who appeared to have stayed because she had unresolved questions.
“Why did you want to study science?” she asked, tucking another stray lock of burnt platinum hair behind a tiny ear. “I mean, besides, you know, wanting to be a teacher.”
Kotton closed his eyes with the confidence that he knew would simply disappear once he re-opened them. He plundered his thoughts and emotions, his ideals and principles, and all the values that lay branched between the thickets of purpose that lie in between.
He cleared his throat for the umpteenth time this trial and focused his gaze into the young woman’s warm, yet piercing emerald eyes.
“Because I was tired of people telling me I was wrong.” He didn’t give her anything other than that, but still hoped she could conclude his reasons based on that sentence and that sentence alone. If she were to make sense of his words, it would be less because of his vagueness and more due to her own intuition. If he ever became a permanent teacher, he would not simply give out answers, but would lead his students to devising their own.