Correspondence Scholarship, Class Two [Tuesday Morning, June 17th]

[theexdisgracedacademic]

When the students arrived to their domed classroom, there was a broad-shouldered clay man standing before them. A pair of goggles were awkwardly affixed to her face. The hour to begin arrived, but no other tutor came with it.

The Clay Substitute laid her hands upon the podium. "PLEASE. OPEN YOUR TEXTBOOKS TO PAGE-"

Much the same as last week, there was a hubbub in the hall outside. The door slammed open, and one figure marched another to the front of the class. The Beleaguered Dean, swathed in a coat of thick tweed and a thicker coat of nervous sweat, was all but pushing The Ex-Disgraced Academic back into their pace behind the podium.

The Academic wasn't missing a beat in the argument: "-can't at all see what the issue is, so long as they learn the material-"

"You cannot offload your duties to an Underclay aspirant!" The Dean's fury is only matched by the fearful tension in his voice, "And an unfinished one at that! How did you get it up here-"

The Academic's eye widened in almost-honorable affront. "You can't prove that this perfectly capable worker is unfinished, can you?"

"No, but I can certainly prove that it's not on the faculty list." The Dean wiped his brow. "Get on with it, man!"

The Clay Substitute barely moved, but the grinding of her turning head rumbled through the floor. "I WAS TOLD THAT I WOULD BE PAID IN FULL, REGARDLESS OF HOW LONG CLASS WENT?"

Coin was exchanged, and, the Dean ushered The Clay Substitute out of the room. The Academic hissed through their teeth, clearly ready to vent their terrible mood at the first faces to cross theirs.

They turned to look at the class. And smiled a terrible smile. "Good morning."

Targets acquired.

"So! You've all decided to return for a second week. I suppose it can't be helped. Any damage you incur from here on out is upon your own heads." They began their lecture. 

“English is a phonographic language, as the distinct letters of the alphabet each represent units of sound. The Correspondence is logographic, meaning that similar to the languages of the second and fourth cities (and the Khanate, of course), Correspondence Symbols each represent units of meaning.”

 

 

In bold, rapid strokes, The Academic scrawled a symbol onto the chalkboard:

They whirled around, pointing an accusing claw at anyone unfortunate enough to still be moving their pens. “Do not copy this into your notes! If you fancy yourself cheeky and attempt to copy it whilst my back is turned, I will still know, so do NOT try me.” They turned back, circling the image. Anyone foolhardy enough to ignore the command would earn immediate combustion to their notebook, and a quick, scathing look of satisfaction from The Academic.

“This is the symbol for “an unmappable direction. It is one of the more frequent symbols to be found in practical human application of The Correspondence, as well as in architectural engravings ranging from first city ruins all the way up to lapsarian London. It is also exceptionally flammable. None but the most expensive of papers can contain it.” And with a terrifically wicked smile: "Chalkboards are fine, though." 

They continued. “The Correspondence is a purely semiotic construct. There are currently no known pronunciations or verbal applications for these signs-“ The Academic covered a bark of laughter, and then continued, “-apologies, but I would hate for my lectures to contradict the well-documented research that the Ministry of Public Decency has gently requested I adhere to."

The Academic pushed their current chalkboard up and out of the way, revealing an unblemished second layer. They added a tidy column of six simple symbols. "There are one hundred and eight basic radicals, and we've discovered twice as many in total. But for this course, we will begin with six."

 

 

And, after writing these on the board, the academic turned to the students. “These you may record in your notes, however-“ their tone sharpened, slicing through the momentum of those who may have rushed to begin- “confine each radical to its own sheet for practice.  None of these, alone, is a complete symbol. But some can be converted very easily into real Correspondence symbols, and it is vital that you do not accidentally do so. Spend the rest of today's duration memorizing and practicing these radicals until you can reproduce them by heart. You'll know if you're doing well, because you paper will become warm to the touch once half-full. I will also be writing additional complete correspondence symbols on the other chalkboards. Your homework is to discern which of these six parts of speech each of the symbols is.”

The Academic pointed once more at the spray bottles on each row of desks. “At any sign of smoke, you are to douse the offending student’s work, without hesitation. Last week was not a one-off exercise. Consider this both a basic safety precaution, as well as your first taste of operant conditioning. Get to it!”

 

Comments

Re: Before Class

[the_soft_hearted_maven]

Before the Dean arrived, The Soft-Hearted Maven approached Thursday. They had only spoken briefly last week before class started when she returned his wayward pen and her hoped to speak to her a bit more, "Hello there, how are you today?"

Re: Before Class

[the_dye_stained_socialite]

Thursday looked up from their organizing, expression softening just slightly to see the Maven again. "The one who returned my pen! Hello." Hands searched his desk until he found the specific pen she had rescued, then held it aloft triumphantly, as if to say: this one! "How I'm doing? Uhh... Well, I've had a ton of coffee, and I can't say for certain what it's doing, but uh, I think it's doing... something?" Thursday gave an awkward impression of a smile, followed by an even worse impression of a laugh. Maybe it was the coffee, or maybe they were just always this bad at interacting with people.

What part of the conversation came next? Maybe they should just repeate what she had said. "How are you today?"

Re: Before Class

[the_soft_hearted_maven]

Maven's smile grew. Something about Thursday made her feel her at ease, they seemed very straightforward, not one to bother with a lot of the social mind games that many people engage in. She laughed a little, "Yes, coffee will most certainly do that! So far my day has been alright! Just spent time baking for the children at my orphanage before coming in, so I'm a little worn, but other than that I'm fine."

Re: Before Class

[the_dye_stained_socialite]

"Oh, I'm an orphan!" Thursday stopped just shy of asking if they got her baking as well.

And then it occured to them that perhaps that wasn't appropriate to share, nor was it something they had necessarily wanted to share. They grimaced at their slip of the tongue, and hoped the Maven had a short memory. "Er, ignore that, please?" Why were they so awkward?

They searched around, desperate for a distraction. They caught sight of her Devil friend. Good enough. "Your friend, how, uh." They forgot to find an actual topic. "Are you two friends?" Oh gd damnit. "No, sorry, not what I meant. It... seems like he doesn't, uh, doesn't really want to be here? Or he's... bored?"

Re: Before Class

[the_soft_hearted_maven]

Maven blinked a bit at the exclamation, then as Thursday was looking around just smiled politely and said, "So am I." Perhaps next class she'll bring scones for everyone to share if she has time to make enough. She looked over at the Brash Devil, "It's... complicated? If I were not here he probably wouldn't be. He is already quite fluent in the Correspondence already."

Re: Before Class

[the_dye_stained_socialite]

"Oh!" How did they respond to that? They couldn't say 'so am I' back, she already knew that, and congratulations were... bad. They settled on "Your kids must like you". It was an unpleasant similarity to share, but it was nice that they found someone like them.

"That makes sense, I saw him arguing with the Professor. Why are you attending this though, if he already knows?"

Re: Before Class

[the_soft_hearted_maven]

"I believe so," Maven nodded. It was not easy to earn the trust of urchins as an adult. But from the beginning of her time in the Neath, she had spent time associating with the urchins before the idea for the orphanage had even entered her mind. The fact that she did not seem to want to round them up and force them in if they didn't want to helped as well. And as Thursday said, there can be a bit of comradery among fellow orphans, even if she would not be one of them. So even as they continued to tease her with claims of her being "soft" and an "easy mark" she also became known as a safe adult. One that, should an urchin decide they want to go live in an orphanage, they could "certainly do worse than hers" as one has put it.

"Oh, it's for me," she explained, "I am trying to learn the Correspondence, but I've been having issues with my independent study. I was hoping this class my help me. And like I said, he is only here because I'm here."

Re: Before Class

[the_dye_stained_socialite]

It certainly made a nice impression in their mind to see the Soft-Hearted Maven living up to her title. They just hoped no one would make her regret that soft heart. "Was a bit old to go to one myself. But you know, I'm alive." For one so prone to strong emotions, the Pawn had a remarkably blasé opinion about their lot in life. Maybe they were avoiding thinking about it.

"Oh, right, that explains it, the Professor's gave some pretty serious warnings. Didn't wanna practice on my own myself, even with the help from..." How to describe him? "Why do you study?"

Re: Before Class

[the_soft_hearted_maven]

"Sometimes that's all you can hope for" Maven nodded, noting the blasé tone and felt a strange tug at her heart, like a recognition of something in herself, "I was... lucky to get taken in by family-" (Her usually warm expression strained here and briefly turned cold, as if it hurt to call it 'lucky.' Or was it the mention of the family? Hard to say) "-but I know not everyone has that opportunity. And I know many urchins don't want to be forced into such places, like I've seen other orphanages around London try to do. The urchins have their own little communities that work for them. But if they should want another place, a safe place that isn't going to try and force them into being something they aren't... I think every child deserves that chance."

"Well, there is the scientific interest; the Correspondence is a fascinating language that can do interesting things that no other language can. Beyond that... well, it would be beneficial for me to become fluent in the native language of my paramour," she said as she glanced at the Brash Devil. Now that there were well into the swing of class and she was getting to know her fellow classmates (the ones she didn't know before), she found herself more comfortable with being open about her reasons. She had been worried about being judged for what some may think is a comparatively superficial reason to join the class. But the Professor was right, she shouldn't have to justify wanting to expand her knowledge, whether it be scientific curiosity or because she wants another facet to communicate with her lover.

"And what about you? What brings you to the class?"