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Post by The Jenn on Jan 11, 2010 18:21:42 GMT -5
"I'm not sure yet. We haven't seen the rest of the exhibit." Khushrenada replied with an amused twist to the edges of his beak. Such a curious girl with never-ending questions.
He was about to answer her latest question about the rather lovely deer carving when someone else beat him to the punch. Accurately, even. And he hadn't known the bit about the Esterberry university. He regarded their fellow appreciator of the arts, pleasantly surprised to note that she was the same mix. Not the most uncommon, but less apparent in the city than in either region. An exhibit like this would be one to draw in a more cultured side of Avington, wouldn't it?
"Thank you for the answer, Miss," he said with a small nod in her direction. "Very informative. My charge has never been to a museum before and I'm trying to make sure that she gets the most from the experience. My name is Khushrenada, and this is Mirriam. And you are?"
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Post by Lucca on Jan 11, 2010 18:42:01 GMT -5
Mirriam, fully having expected Khushrenada to answer her question, just like he had all the others, was caught off guard by the sound of a different, unfamiliar, feminine voice. Curiously, she turned, and smiled as she saw another Avington! But with golden swirls just like Mr. Birdy Man has. "Oh wow, that's cool that you know all that! You must know everything then! So the Spade must have had really good skills to make something like this," she squeaked. It was then that she took a really good look at the woman, and gasped in delight. "I've never seen a snake with antlers before! They're pretty, kinda like mine!" She touched a wingclaw to her own antlers, and then jumped back a bit as her mentor introduced them.
Ooops. She'd forgotten that again in the excitement of the moment. "I'm eight years old!" she volunteered, tail twitching excitedly and wings beating just enough to keep her hovering at the level of most of the carvings. "We're here so I can earn my first Sprout badge and become a cultured individual!"
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Post by Kari Muffin on Jan 11, 2010 19:01:19 GMT -5
Oh goodness. She was quit adorable little girl filled with energy. It wasn't every day she meet someone as adorable as that. Maybe one day she would be lucky enough to have a precious little girl of her own?
"My name is Viola," She bowed her head briefly, "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Khushrenada, and Miss Mirriam."
Eight years old huh? And what was this about Sprouts? She had heard about some sort of organization in passing that involved children and badges, but she had never heard the actual name.
"I'm afraid I don't know everything Miss Mirriam. I just like a few of the artists here and happened to learn about them when I was younger. I supposed more information stuck than I thought. And thank you very much for the compliment. It's not every day I meet an adorable girl like yourself from Avington." She tilted her head to the side as she glanced up at the bird before looking back to the little girl. Somehow she seemed a lot easier to talk to. "What exactly do you need to do to become a cultured individual according to the Sprouts?"
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Post by The Jenn on Jan 17, 2010 17:44:45 GMT -5
Such energy in the girl! Khushrenada could have laughed at her assertion except that he agreed with her, however simply and innocently put. Children needed to visit museums. They needed to see and appreciate the works of the masters, gain an appreciation for the world around them and the people in it.
"Miss Viola, a pleasure. It's good to see another face from the forest and the hills. I haven't seen another such mix since I left my homeland, oddly enough." He drew his hands together behind himself to stand in a relaxed military posture. It seemed that they may have stumbled upon a conversation without even meaning to. Wonderful. And she was a rank worthy of respect, which also pleased him. He wanted his charge to meet the right sorts of people as she grew, as well as any other friends she might make through the Sprouts.
"I'm trying to expose her to different cultures and ways of thought. A good beginning, besides her everyday schooling, seemed to be a museum. The presence of this exhibit gave us an excellent start to our visit."
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Post by Lucca on Jan 17, 2010 18:38:59 GMT -5
Mirriam's big brown eyes shone in something close to admiration as Viola talked to her. It had actually been a while since she'd met many Avingtons...well, besides Mr. Merlin with the Scary Rat-bird but she'd been a bit...out of it during that. So she couldn't help but be hit with strong memories of home even more so than she'd been experiencing all through their tour of this exhibit.
"Oh! Well that's cool. Are you an artist too?" The fact that Viola would find it hard to paint or sculpt without any paws or hands didn't really occur to her. She beamed at the compliment, fluttering excitedly. "Oh! All sorts of stuff! I get to go camping and to museums and put on a play and interview people and draw pictures and I need to write lots and lots of reports on everything!" The little bat hovered in the air, looking back and forth between the two adults. She hoped they wouldn't start discussing boring 'adult stuff' and using big words and saying things they wouldn't explain 'until you're older', whatever that meant. Because that would be boring, and she didn't like being bored.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Jan 19, 2010 13:59:11 GMT -5
Viola smiled at the gentleman's comment. He seemed very nice and polite. He probably was high ranking with a uniform like that. And wasn't that the diamond crest? Perhaps he was a court noble? She should have done a better job keeping up on politics. The court of Hearts had changed hands so many times she was close to giving up on following her own courts affairs.
Right, but she was focusing on two conversations at once. No point in lamenting over her lack of political knowledge.
"It's good to know people are making an effort when it comes to educating children," she said brightly before she turned her attention back to the little bat. "Oh no, I'm not an artist. I just know a few things here and there about art."
She smiled. Dear suits this child was filled with quite a bit of energy. "That sounds exciting. What are you interested the most out of all of those?"
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Post by The Jenn on Jan 24, 2010 13:52:07 GMT -5
Khushrenada had quite the energetic charge. It was one of several reasons he'd included a variety of outdoor activities and options in the badges. Mirriam needed to go camping, and honestly, he would enjoy taking her. She needed to understand the role of the natural world within the context of society. She needed to know how to take care of herself in a variety of situations. Making it all a fun challenge with rewards now would get her that knowledge, which she could use as she got older.
Her tutor at the Court of Diamonds would certainly see that she broadened her mind, but only in the scholastic realm. The rest was up to him. It was quite a responsibility.
"We are indeed trying, Miss," he agreed amiably, content to watch Mirriam and the woman interact. She needed more exposure to strangers. She saw plenty of the same faces at Court, especially because he kept her away from certain areas and people at her age. Supervised socializing in the city seemed an acceptable route, especially people in locations he approved of. Museum-goers as a whole were more likely the sort of company he wanted her to be familiar with. She had plenty of exposure to children as a Sprout - adults were another matter.
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Post by Lucca on Jan 25, 2010 8:43:32 GMT -5
"Ah, I see." Mirriam's little nose scrunched up in thought. "Is it really hard to be an artist? There doesn't seem to be a lot of them around." And even in this exhibit, many of these artists were long dead, even longer dead than Queen Cerevanna! And some of the sculptures were by the same person! Maybe it was a rare trait passed on from parents to children, like her antlers were. She fluttered a bit, thinking about this...
And then was promptly distracted by the next question. "Definitely the camping! I'm looking forward to that one a lot! I get to be out in nature, and I'm going to learn to set up a tent and to live in the wilderness! Though I did live in the wilderness a little bit before His Highness founded me in Avington, but I was real young then and I was confused of how to find enough fruit and water, and I was lost. We won't be lost camping because we're going to have a compass, and we're going to learn to tell time by the sun!"
Mirriam actually had no idea what a 'compass' was, but she'd been reading a guide book on the subject of camping, and that was the sort of thing it talked about. She knew a compass was something to help you find out where you were and where you should be going, though. "Have you ever been camping, Miss Viola? Did you see a moose?" Another thing Mirriam had never seen, though the book had had a picture, and the moose had some amazing antlers. Apparently they lived in the woody parts of the Sorgaire Range.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Jan 25, 2010 9:58:59 GMT -5
Her ears paned forward at the man's comment. Apparently he seemed content on saying very little.
Of children Viola had met and had to deal with, Mirriam was the most energetic one. Enough that she was left blinking a few times as she looked at the girl who bounced from subject to subject. How was she supposed to handle this? Was she supposed to answer the question about artists or was she supposed to answer the current one.
Really the girl had probably forgotten about the artists already.
"Camping? That sounds exciting. I've never actually been camping before," she paused. "I'm not really built for that sort of thing. And no, I've never really seen a moose beyond a stuffed one on a wall. I've heard they aren't very friendly so it might be a little dangerous seeing one in person." She tilted her head to the side. "Are their any other animals you want to see?"
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Post by Lucca on Jan 31, 2010 18:41:56 GMT -5
Mirriam was distractable enough that she forgot most questions approximately ten seconds after she asked them, unless it was a particularly interesting subject. Then, of course, she'd badger and badger until an answer finally came to light, though sometimes it wasn't a very fun answer!
The artists were happily pushed out of her mind by the camping.
"Not built for it?" The little Bat tilted her head curiously. "Anyone can go camping, though! All you gotta do is sleep outside in the woods, and it counts! You don't even need a tent if the weather is nice. Just have a sleeping bag under the stars! Or if you're a Bat like me, you could just find a tree and sleep upside down in it. It's really comfy to sleep upside down, but I guess not if you're not a Bat. I like to do it as often as possible!" And she'd gotten lectures a couple of times for hanging from the curtain rods...apparently they weren't strong enough to take her weight, or so all the adults claimed, but she'd never seen one break and she knew she didn't weigh very much at all.
She was a little sad that Viola had never seen a moose, but then, she'd never been camping either. "Well, if it's dangerous, then I can just make a tree grab it while we run away!" Oh yes, she knew that would work just great, and she grinned, not knowing that this might be confusing to someone who didn't know about the ability her little magical flower granted her. "Oh yes! I want to see an owl and a bear! And maybe a little chipmunk. Of course the most exciting would be to see a wild Bandersnatch, but those only live in Tulgey Woods and I don't think I'm allowed to go camping there." Though it would be really cool! This time she'd just make sure to keep her distance from the Bander, and it wouldn't attack her, and everything would be fine! She knew that the other Bander she'd met in that nice King's room hadn't meant to hurt her, it was just protecting its babies!
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