Optics Review

StarCraft Courtyard
Where the hills of Gar meet the softer plains of the valley, rock slowly turns to gravel, dust and earth, leaving a large natural courtyard tucked against the walls of the hall. A low wall marks a boundary for the courtyard, rock and earth's battle for domination kept outside of it. Strong doors set in the hill wall, provide a new way to get into the hall, long windows letting light into the otherwise quite dark hall. They look out upon a grassy valley, filled with water, vineyards and herdbeast. Trails formed by the feet of human wind around rocks and trees, trailing off into the wilderness.
It is a spring before dawn.
Stretched out on the low wall are Venusnv, Azrael, and Crais.

Idoru glides in from the StarCraft Main Hall.

Cress moves slowly in from the StarCraft Main Hall.

Linora is stretched out on a worn blanket on the flagstones, peering up at the sky through a distanceviewer.

Cress comes running out after Idoru, "where're you going, 'Doru?" he yells, stopping short as he almost trips over Linora. "Oh, hiya, Lin... What're you doing here?"

Idoru glides to the Gar Hold Field.

Nuage sweeps in from the Hold Field.

Linora doesn't move, even as she's nearly tripped over, fixed on whatever she's looking at. "Hi," she says absently, not bothering to explain the obvious.

Cress sits down beside Linora, and smiles at her, even if she doesn't see it. "When did ya get a distance viewer?" he asks, looking at the green firelizard as she flies toward the Hold. "What're you looking at?"

"Everything." Linora can't put the thing down. "I got it the other day, when I took the DV class from Riina."

"You finally got it, eh?" Cress notes, his attention drawn from the lizard to Linora. "That's great!"

Linora lowers the viewer long enough to grin up at Cress. "Yeah... that was my last class. I took it again with Carise, just ta make sure I got it all." The spell of the viewer broken, she pulls herself up to a sitting position, carefully cradling the precious viewer on her lap. "It was kinda complicated, but I think I get it."

Cress raises an eyebrow, "yeah, well maybe you can explain it to me," he says and leans back on his hands, tilting his head. "'Cus I don't get it yet... Just don't tell the journeypeople," he adds in a whisper."

Linora giggles. Course she wouldn't do /that/. "I can try," she offers. "What didn't you understand?" She shifts a bit to face him better, forgetting all about her stargazing.

Cress straightens, and leans his elbows on his knees. "Well, I didn't really get the part about the difference of the DVs... Reflectors, and mirrors, and all that stuff," he says after a pause. "And I can't remember the names of the different DVs either."

Linora chews her lip, thoughtfully. "This one's refracting... " one hand patting her own viewer. "There's a lens at each end to magnify what you're looking at. And ya gotta have two, because each one flips the image." Looking at him to see if that much is clear.

Cress nods, concentrating on her words. "Refracting," he repeats, as if to store it somewhere in his mind. "Right, they're the simple kind, true?"

Linora nods. "Yeah, they're the simplest ones." She thinks a moment. "The ones with mirrors are reflecting." A grin. "Mirrors reflect and stuff, so that's easy to remember."

Cress grins broadly, as that fact enters his mind. "Yeah, of course. Why didn't I think of that," he says, shaking his head. "And then there're the big ones, right? What is it they're called?"

Linora hesitates a moment. That was a /really/ big word... "Cata... " Stops to chew her lip, closing her eyes to picture the word in the book. "Cata-di-optric." Hoping she said it properly, since it's the first time she's tried it. She opens her eyes again to look at Cress. "They use mirrors /and/ lenses. Together."

Cress nods slowly repeating that word in his head. Cata-di-op-tric. Hard word to remember, and he's not sure he will in the future. "Right, mirrors /and/ lenses. Cata-di-op-tric," he says and sighs. Then he shrugs, "I'm still not sure I'll remember this in the future... I hope I won't have to," he says and looks up at the stars.

Linora grins. "Well, you'll prolly hafta teach someone else about it, when ya get to be a journeyman." She flops back on the blanket again without waiting to see Cress's reaction, looking at the stars /without/ her viewer, wondering how many constellations she'll be able to recognize.

Cress' eyes grow big as her statement sinks in. "You think so," he says, looking down at her. "Even if I'm specializing in the Red Star?!"

Linora kinda half-shrugs in a lying-down kinda way, her eyes still on the stars above. "Sure. Journeymen gotta teach everything, not just what they specialize in." See, she /has/ been asking around.

Cress winces, then hangs his head. "Well, I guess, I'll have to read up on some stuff, then," he mumbles, and picks Dixie off his shoulder and starts to scritch the brown's eyeridge.

Linora blinks at the sudden change in tone, and moves her head to look at Cress. Her eyes widen at his expression and she scrambles back to a sitting position, tilting her head to try and see his face. She hesitates, not sure what to say.

Cress shrugs, just a slight movement of his shoulders. "I just never really thought I'd be teaching, you know," he comments in a low voice.

Linora hugs her knees up to her chest and rests her chin on her arms. "I been asking around," she says quietly. "That's mostly what journeymen /do/. That and study and stuff." A little grin. "Sometimes they travel and stuff ta teach." She looks at him a bit more closely. "Ya don't hafta know /everything/... don'tcha take notes and stuff?"

Keris wanders casually in from the StarCraft Main Hall.

Cress nods, "sure I do, I'm just not so sure I'd be a good teacher," he says and looks up as he hears footsteps. "Oh, morning, journeyman Keris."

Linora blinks and looks up too. Keris? She takes a good look. Yes, she's seen him before. The ticking of her brain is almost visible on her open face before she sets her features in a wide smile. "Hi." Is it morning already?

Keris
Tousled, blond hair rests upon this young man's head, thick waves of polished gold covering his forehead all the way down to his eyebrows. Eyes the color of Harper's blue beam with a lively brilliance, half-covered by errant locks of hair. Smooth skin stretches over high cheekbones, the color a bronzened contrast to blondish hair. A strong chin marks the end of his face, often being tilted upwards in a stubborn motion, or downwards in a pleading ditto. Full lips are often twisted into a grin or a snicker, creating dimples 'neath cheeks and baring white teeth. If looked upon closely, a small scar might be noticed, running from hairline to behind left ear. At 6 feet tall, he stands at a pretty average height. Lithe and agile body is subtly muscled, though not too apparently when covered in clothes. Limbs are long and slender, muscles too, making movement an almost floating sensation of agility and energy.
Plain, black trousers cling tightly to long legs, disappearing into calflength boots a neutral color of brown wherhide. A strip of red leather is wound around slim waist, keeping the trousers in place around narrow hips. Forest green and royal blue are woven together in a tight pattern, mixing in a bluish green adorning the tunic covering from broad shoulders 'till black waistline, subtly accenting eyes of sparkling blue. The subtle shining of silver buckle on red belt is the only piece of would-be jewelry, neck, hands and wrists being bare.
A double cord of red and silver with a loop, a long tail and a tassle, all bound in gold thread, denotes a status of Senior Journeyman in the StarCraft. Situated right under the knot is a small badge, showing a speciality in Charting for those who are familiar with the StarCraft symbols.
Keris is 24 Turns, 8 months, and 17 days old.

Morning? Who needs mornings when they, like Keris, have a stack of charts under one arm, a 'viewer under the other, a mug of klah in the hand and a grin, albeit a bit sleepy, on the face? "Morning, morning. Good to see you're out studying hard!" So what if that's now what they're doing? He can be in denial all he wants, right?

Studying, right. Well Linora /had/ been teaching him about distance viewer hadn't she? That counts as studying didn't it? Cress grins at Lin and gives her a wink, hoping the journeyman doesn't catch it.

Linora grins right back at Cress. She hadn't missed the /studying/ jab either, but harbors no feelings of guilt. She looks up at Keris from her seat on the worn blanket on the flagstones. "I was helping Cress figure out distanceviewers." Well, she was. "You prolly don't remember, being busy and stuff, but I'm Linora?"

Keris wouldn't catch Belior if it hit him in the head, so he just smiles that obliviously happy smile at the two apprentices and pauses his energetic stride for a moment, fiddling with his beloved charts. "Distanceviewers, huh? Well, yes, it's a good idea to have those figured out indeed," journeyman nods eagerly, grinning down at Linora. "Linora? Of course I remember!" Ha. As if. He can't even remember Riina's name at times. "And I'm Keris. And you're..... Cress, right?" He must've been in a recent class. Recent as in, yesterday.

Cress nods, "yes, sir. Cress is my name. We met when I just came here a Turn ago or so," he says. Keris being the first StarCrafter he met of course, after coming here. He picks at the blanket he's sharing with Linora, and tries to smile at the journeyman, but fails misarably, as he gets nervous when there's authority nearby.

Linora stifles a giggle, never having seen such a bundle of distracted energy in human form before. Yeah, she notices the knot, but she doesn't miss the personality wearing it. And doesn't believe for one second that the journeyman remembered she even existed, much less remembered her name. "I just got my distanceviewer. From Riina, when I took the optics class." One curious eye on the charts... she's never seen charts before.

"From Riina, huh?" Yes, he knows Riina. Yes he does. Uh-huh. Keris sends Linora an amiable smile, and shuffles around a little. "A Turn, huh? You like it here, then, I take it," he notes to Cress, sending the apprentice a slight grin.

Cress smiles now, earnestly too, and nods. "Yes, I like it here," he says, glancing at Linora. Even more so since she came here. Yes indeed. "Riina's my mentor," he notes to the somewhat distracted journeyman.

Linora doesn't miss the glance. She keeps her smile in check but her eyes are dancing. She leans back on her hand, the better to look up at Keris without straining her neck. "I like Riina," she offers. "She's been real nice to me and stuff." Thinking she needs to get this mentor thing straightened out... her eyes cloud momentarily, then the grin returns.

"Yes, Riina's very nice," Keris comments - ignore the grin on his face, please. "She's your mentor? Mm, lucky you," he notes to Cress, sending the apprentice a wink before nodding at Linora. "Very nice indeed. So, what are you two doing out here? Working hard, I'll bet." He'll bet. Yah.

Cress gives the journeyman a halfsmile, "yes, very nice," he repeats. "Lin is giving me a lesson on the DVs.." he says before he can stop himself. "That is.. We're just sorta revising the DVs, just to make sure we understand 'em." He glances at Linora again. Back me up will ya, his eyes seem to say.

Linora nods earnestly. But didn't she already tell Keris that? A quick frown, which just as quickly clears. "Yeah. I just had the optics lesson?" The smile is gone, and her eyes search Keris's face questioningly.

"Ohh, clever of you. Some apprentices think they can just show up to class, listen and then walk away and always remember. But that's wrong. You have to refresh things once in a while," Keris nods approvingly, grinning encouragingly at the two. "And DVs can be tricky. Or well, they can't, but it's hard to learn. I remember I couldn't keep concave and convex lenses straight for at least a couple of sevendays," journeyman confesses, grinning impishly.

Cress blinks at the journeymans confession. A smile is shot toward Lin, and he gives the brown in his lap a scritch. "I've more trouble with the different types of DVs," he says. "But Lin's helping me remembering the difference," he says, nodding toward his fellow appy.

Linora's grin returns. Concave. That part was easy. She nods agreement. "I just learned 'em, so I remembered... " She nudges Cress. "But ya /don't/ hafta have it all memorized," she tells him. "You can look stuff up." Looking back up at Keris for confirmation. "That's what the books are for, right?"

"How nice of Lin," Keris notes, sending said apprentice a genuine smile after grinning at Cress. "That can be quite confusing too, true. But they'll probably ask you about that if you want to try to earn a journeyman's knot, so it's all about remembering everything." Easy enough, no? "Or write it down, of course, if you can't remember. From the books, yes."

Cress gets up from his almost comfortable seat next to Linora, and nods to the journeyman, "I should actually get my project finished. I only need to enter a few lines and then I'm done," he says, and gives Lin another wink, and a wave before leaving. "See ya?"

Linora nods, waving to Cress as he goes. "Yeah... see you around and stuff." She gets to her feet and gathers up the blanket, shaking it out and rolling it over her arm. "Nice... um... seeing you again, Journeyman." Safer to be formal, she thinks. Even if he /was/ kinda nice and stuff.

"Well, bye," Cress says and goes inside.

"Sure, sure. Go have fun," Keris greets in goodbye, waving at the pair before taking a firmer grip on his charts, preparing to walk off to wherever he was headed. Probably to sit and gaze and work. Right.